What would be your last meal on earth? It's on us.

Young and single

In the early years of your career you’re possibly paying off student loans and spending a large portion of your pay on rent.

You might not have kids or many financial assets yet. So do you need insurance?

Income protection insurance is worth considering. Your ability to earn an income may be your biggest financial asset. As much as we’d like to think we’re invincible, illness and accidents can affect anyone. Would you be able to pay your rent and other expenses if you were suddenly unable to work for several months?

Our Living Insurance comes with options for Serious Illness Trauma cover and Income Protection Illness cover, which could help ease financial burdens if you were out of action for a while.

Mortgage and/or kids

As soon as you’ve got a mortgage and people who depend on you financially, then it’s worth reviewing your Living Insurance cover and think about adding Life Insurance to the mix.

Have a think about whether you might need Income Protection Illness cover and Serious Illness Trauma cover to take care of your household finances if you can't work for a while.

Taking out life insurance means that if you died, your loved ones could be financially looked after with a lump sum to help pay off the mortgage, and other bills and expenses.

You need to consider how your family functions, which means that it’s not just the household’s main income earner who needs insurance. If you’re a stay-at-home parent, think about who would look after the kids if something happened to you? Would your partner give up work, or would they use childcare?

Either scenario will require money – either to make up for a lost income, or to pay for a service.

Older with more assets

With a few more years of work under your belt, you’re possibly on the way to paying off your mortgage and building up a healthy pot of retirement savings. You might still have financial dependents or adult children living at home.

It’s worth regularly reviewing your policies to make sure they still meet your needs. Big life events like getting a divorce, marrying or re-partnering are all good triggers to take a look at your finances – and that should include your insurance. If your relationships have changed, or you’ve had more children, you might want to change your beneficiaries.

You should also check that your cover is at a level that will meet your needs – so you’re neither under-insured nor over-insured. For example, if you’ve paid down the bulk of your mortgage, you should look at how much life insurance you have – you may want to think about reducing it.

If you're still working, Income Protection Illness cover and Serious Illness Trauma cover are still worth thinking about – a serious illness or job loss at this stage of life could derail your plans for your financial future.