Anyone who has children will know that a lot of time is spent worrying about them. You worry about their safety – both in the home and when they are out and about. You worry about their health, whether they are eating enough or too much, whether they’re making friends at school, what they will do when they grow up – the list of daily worries seems endless. But, chances are you're not spending even a portion of that time worrying about how your family would be affected if something were to happen to you. No matter how unlikely this may seem, nobody knows what the future holds, but you can do something to help them, even if you can’t be there.

Most of us don't like to think about their death; it makes us feel uneasy, but ignoring the inevitable fact that we are all going to die at some point will not help your loved ones if the worst should happen.

According to a report published in January 2016 by Aviva only four out of ten people in the UK have life insurance. Another protection review study, published earlier this year, found that the most likely answer to why more people do not have life insurance is because they regard insurance as an expensive luxury they can’t afford.

However, so often our price perceptions are wrong and it’s worrying that so many of us are making a decision based on what may be inaccurate information. So we’d like to set the record straight and give you some great news! Life insurance might not be as expensive as you think and protecting the future of your loved ones could be well within in your budget!

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A non-smoking, 40-year-old male can get level term life insurance for £150,000 over 20-year term for around £150 per year or to be exact £12.59 a month through Essential Insurance (prices correct on the 1^st September 2016).

To put this £12.59 into perspective, let's take a look at five things that you might be spending money on that are more expensive than £12.59 a month:

1. Date Night
   I think date night is important and I'm not saying that you swap your nights out together for life insurance, but… if you go out to the cinema and for dinner every other weekend, you could be spending somewhere in the region of £100-£150 per month on each other. If you think about it… two cinema tickets are around £10 each, plus a £50 dinner, multiplied by two nights per month is £140. And if you are lucky enough to go out every weekend, you could be spending £280 a month. So, instead of going out for date night every other weekend, you could spend one date night at home, get a take-away and save yourself at least £40—more than enough for a life insurance policy and what a way to show your loved one how much you really care!
2. Unused Gym Memberships
   If you pay for a gym membership and use it regularly, great, keep it up; being energetic is great for your well-being and general health. However, if you're paying £30 a month for a membership and you haven't hot footed it to the gym in the last six months, maybe it's time to reconsider this expense – you could even substitute it for insurance that will at least give you some peace of mind.
3. Cable/Satellite Channels You Don't Watch
   Have you ever flipped through your TV channels and thought to yourself, "why isn’t there ever anything good to watch?" And with the price of TV packages these days, you are likely paying a small fortune for hundreds of channels you don't watch. Consider downgrading your channel package for a less expensive one, and put the monthly savings towards a valuable life insurance policy.
4. Clothing
   Believe me, I know there's something about a new pair of shoes that just makes you feel incredible. And when it comes to handbags, I just can’t stop myself. But a new handbag, pair of designer shoes or jeans can easily cost more than £200. Even if you're not buying designer clothing and shoes, several less-expensive, spur of the moment ‘disposable fashion’ buys can quickly add up. So you could think about doing away with one monthly clothing purchase altogether and you should easily be able to purchase a life insurance policy.
5. Coffee Cravings
   Did you know that us Brits have a coffee habit of almost £3billion a year! And by 2020, sales are expected to soar to £3.75bn – that is a huge amount of coffee that we drink and big ‘bucks’ for the famous named coffee shops. Figures from market analysts Mintel show three-quarters of adults buy hot drinks when they are out and about, with most of us stopping at a big named coffee shops. So if you are buying a coffee every weekday you are contributing around £2.50 a day towards to their fortunes – which means you could be spending around £50 a month on coffee!!! That’s some habit we have. Just think if you cut back 5 coffees a month you’d have enough to invest in life insurance. I’d rather have the money in the pocket of someone I care about than the coffee shops that’s for sure!

So you see, none of us has to live like a pauper to secure our family's future. Minor adjustments to what we spend our money on now could ensure that our families don't have to make very large financial adjustments if the worst should happen.

All of our advisors are trained to assess your situation and help you evaluate your life insurance cover needs. Your advisor will explain how much, and what types of, insurance make sense for you and so you can provide financial security for your loved ones.

To learn more, call us today on 0800 612 8005 and we'll find the right cover for you, at a price you can afford.