Life insurance for mums

Whether you’re a new mum, a single mum, a stay-at-home mum or the sole family breadwinner, life insurance for a mother can help take away some of the worries you may have about the future and what should happen if you were no longer around.

life insurance options

There’s no argument that motherhood can be stressful. Kids of any age can be demanding – even the adult ones – and require almost constant attention. It can be difficult to turn your mind to the future, in particular a future where you are no longer around to support your children. As much as this is a future few of us want to imagine, it is sensible to plan for life's uncertainties.

Life insurance, for mums, is a way to bring about a degree of peace of mind when faced with this unsettling thought. Its entire purpose is to pay out a sum of money to beneficiaries when the policy holder dies, and therefore has your children’s needs at its core.

Why might I need life insurance for mums?

Mums want their kids to grow up in a world that is safe and in which they are able to flourish, and it’s every mother’s ambition to provide this type of environment. It’s only natural that mums often tend to be central figures in their family's life, so losing a mother can mean major changes to how your partner, your children and your wider family are able to continue in their lifestyle.

It’s therefore important to consider how to minimise the impact to elements of your family’s lives when you're no longer around. This might be a situation when a mother is the family breadwinner, for example. Without the ongoing financial support she provides, the family may have to adjust to any number of more practical compromises.

Life insurance for stay-at-home mums is also a valid concern. If the partner of the child’s mother suddenly became solely responsible for the child, he/she would have to either provide childcare – which can cost significant sums of money – or rearrange his/her professional situation to take care of the child in person.

No mum’s life insurance policy could possibly compensate for the loss of a mother. What it can do is provide a financial safety net that allows children and partners to come to terms with their loss at their own pace, knowing that financial concerns are at least partly taken care of.

There is an upside for mothers in this respect too: the peace of mind of knowing that you have done all you can to prepare for a situation in which you are no longer around. Since it’s a situation that no one wants, having life insurance for a mother might mean you don’t need to let it play on your mind.

What sort of life insurance is there for mums?

The first concern for a mother who wants to take out life insurance is whether or not you are paying a mortgage, as this will have a significant bearing on what type of future situation you are aiming to help your children with.

Decreasing term life insurance

Decreasing term life insurance

If you are paying a mortgage, then decreasing term life cover could be the most helpful. This type of policy often has the lowest premiums of the three most common term-life options (for the same amount of cover) and is designed specifically to cover gradual-repayment debts. The rate at which the payout amount on a decreasing term insurance goes down is designed to be broadly the same as how the outstanding balance of a capital and interest repayment mortgage decreases.

Therefore, should you die during the term of this policy, your mortgage obligations should not fall to your partner or children. Most providers have a cap on mortgage interest rates, meaning that mortgages with interest rates over that cap may not be fully-covered by a payout.

Level & increasing term life insurance

level term life insuranceIncreasing term life insurance

For the raft of other costs that come with life, there are level and increasing term policies. These have cash payouts of up to £750,000, depending on your age, with Post Office life insurance, which can be put to whatever use the beneficiaries choose.

You might have a child who attends a fee-paying school, for example, and you would not want them to have to alter their situation should you no longer be around. Therefore a cash payout can help to maintain stability in life if you were to pass on.

Childcare provision may be an important concern for parents should the mother die. If the remaining carer cannot renegotiate their professional position, then paying for childcare will be a necessary expense and can help diminish the obvious disruption that this death will cause. If the remaining carer is able to take time off of work (or leave altogether) to attend to the kids, then they will need financial provision to cover the cost of lost earnings. Life insurance for mums can help contribute toward this.

Critical illness cover and children’s cover

Critical illness cover and children's cover  pays if you or a insured child fall seriously ill, usually with a single lump sum payment. It’s important to make sure that you know what critical illnesses are covered by your policy, and what length of time your policy covers. It’s a useful way to help towards your expenses if you or your insured child is too ill or you’d struggle to meet bills like medical expenses or modifications to your home if required.

The benefit must be added at the time you take out your policy and will required increased premiums.

Here to Help

Losing a parent can be a harrowing ordeal for a child, regardless of age. It may have long-lasting emotional effects as well as powerfully impacting their lives at the time. Post Office Life Insurance offer a free service with all of their term life policies called Here to Help.

This is free bereavement counselling for the families of the deceased, with a dedicated nurse offering one-to-one assistance. Assessed therapy is also available if it’s deemed important.

Here to Help can be an invaluable service to those who have been recently (or not-so-recently) bereaved, helping people navigate their lives in the absence of such an important figure.

Life insurance for mums provides a huge range of benefits to those you hold dearest. It can offer you and your family peace of mind and allow you to give more focus to the present.

Health and Wellbeing Services

Health and Wellbeing Services Your health is your wealth, as the saying goes.  With any life insurance policy you buy with Post Office, you’ll get our health and wellbeing service for free. This is designed with you in mind to help you stay healthy and simplify your wellbeing needs. You'll have access, at no additional cost, to 24/7 Online GP (UK registered), Nutrition and Fitness professional to get you to your goal, Mental Health and Health Check specialist 365 days a year. There’s no cap on how many times you can use these services, and your partner and any children up to age 21 can take advantage too. You can get more information here.

Our life insurance calculator is an easy way to estimate how much cover you may need in your current situation. Simply enter a few details into the calculator to start.

If you’re convinced that you need life insurance, then consider a life cover policy from the Post Office.

Ways to get covered

Post Office Life Insurance

Choose between level, decreasing or increasing term insurance, each designed to offer you peace of mind based on your circumstances.

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Post Office Over 50s Life Insurance

If you're aged between 50 and 80 Post Office could help you to leave your family the gift of a cash sum or help towards your funeral costs

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Optional extras with your Post Office Life Insurance

Post Office Children's Cover

Get extra cover for your little ones and financial peace of mind that your children are covered, by adding the optional children's cover to your Post Office Life Insurance.

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Post Office Critical Illness Cover

Get extra protection and financial peace of mind by adding the optional critical illness cover to your Post Office Life Insurance.

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Still have questions?

You can find more information on life insurance by visiting Post Office life insurance guides and articles.

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