What is life insurance?
Life insurance, or life assurance as it is correctly referred to, is a way of providing financial protection should you die. There are many providers of life assurance and these policies can pay out either a lump sum or a regular income payment upon death. The amount of cover that you decide upon is known as the sum assured.

The proceeds of a life assurance policy can provide an income or lump sum for your dependants, or pay off any outstanding debts, such as a mortgage.

With each life assurance policy you pay a monthly or annual premium to provide cover for a specific period of time or until death, whenever that may occur.

Life assurance policies provide a choice of options that can be included at an extra cost, such as critical illness cover and waiver of premium:

• Critical illness: cover pays out if you are diagnosed as having a specified serious illness.
  
• Waiver of premium: after a deferral period, your premium continues to be paid for you by the insurance company if you are unable to work through illness or disability.
  
• Terminal illness benefit: provided as feature by some life assurance policies at no extra cost. This means that if you suffer an illness that is terminal and expected to cause death within 12 months, your chosen level of cover will be paid out. There are variations on when this condition is payable, so it's important to read the conditions carefully in the key features document.
  

What else do I need to know?
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