Generally speaking life insurance is relatively straight forward, your policy will have stipulations attached to it that dictate the terms of it paying out, and similarly the premium may or may not vary according to the conditions agreed upon when first taken out. There are, however, some other types of life insurance that you may not be strictly familiar with and should be worth consideration.

Riders

A rider is a modification to the insurance policy added at the same time the policy is issued. A rider changes the basic policy to provide some particular features that the owner may wish for. The most common form of rider is an accidental death policy (which then becomes known as “double indemnity”) this is so that, in the event of accidental death, the policy value doubles. Another common rider is a premium waiver, which waives future premiums if the insured becomes disabled.

Joint Life Insurance

Joint life insurance is either a term or permanent policy insuring two or more lives with the proceeds payable on the first death. This is an extremely common and useful form of insurance, particularly for those who intend to spend the rest of their lives together, though it can become complex in the event of divorce or separation.

Survivorship Life Insurance

Similar to Joint Life Insurance, Survivorship life insurance is a policy covering two lives that pays out on the second death, this is much less common than joint life insurance.

Group Life Insurance

Group life insurance, predictably, is an insurance policy that covers a whole group of people. Standardly this will be the employees of a company, or members of a certain union or association. Unlike individual policies, proof of insurability is not normally a consideration in the underwriting. Rather, the underwriter considers the size of the group, and more importantly the financial viability of the collection as a whole. Generally speaking group life insurance also contains within it the possibility that a member exiting the group has the right to buy individual insurance coverage.

Single Premium Whole Life

Single premium whole life policy is a policy with only one premium which is payable at the time at which the policy is issued, this is uncommon as the original premium is almost always significant in order to cover the remainder of the policy.

Modified Whole Life

Modified whole life is similar to single premium whole life. The whole policy charges smaller premiums for a specified period of time after which the premiums increase for the remainder of the policy. This is useful if you wish to take out a policy at a time when you do not have much financial viability, but can be a risk when the premiums increase.

These are the main types of life insurance that are available from most policy holders. Riders in particular can be very important, as it is vital that your life insurance policy is most closely tied to the demands of your everyday life and for the provision that you expect to leave behind you for your nearest and dearest. As with all insurance policies it is best to look through a number of companies to be certain that you get the very best policy for your needs. Try Legal and General for life insurance and other savings ideas, like isas.

For some more general help with future financial planning, check out the Pensions service website, for  pensions and other investments.