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As a mum in Ireland, whether you’re raising your kids solo or sharing the journey with a partner, ensuring the security and well-being of your children is always at the forefront of your mind.
Life insurance might seem like just another thing on a long to-do list, but it’s a crucial step in safeguarding your children’s future.
Let’s explore how life insurance can empower you to be a super mum, providing peace of mind and financial stability for your little ones.
Why Super Mums Should Consider Life Insurance
Life insurance isn’t just a policy; it’s a promise to your children. It’s the assurance that no matter what happens, they’ll be taken care of. Here are some compelling reasons why mums should consider life insurance:
Peace of Mind: Knowing that your children will be taken care of provides immense peace of mind. As a mum, you already juggle countless responsibilities. Life insurance takes one big worry off your plate, allowing you to focus on creating happy memories with your children.
Financial Stability: Life insurance provides a financial safety net for your children. In the unfortunate event of your passing, a life insurance policy ensures that your children have the financial support they need. This support can cover everyday expenses, educational costs, and even future milestones like college or buying their first home.
Protection Against Debt: If you have any outstanding debts, such as a mortgage or personal loans, a life insurance policy can help ensure that these debts don’t become a burden for your children. It allows you to leave a legacy of financial stability rather than debt.
What Could Life Insurance For Super Mums Cover?
If you’re a super mum who is not familiar with how life insurance might assist your family, here are some ways a lump sum could help your family in the event of your premature death.
Daily Living Expenses: From groceries to utility bills, life insurance can help your family maintain their standard of living.
Mortgage Payments: It can ensure your family can continue living in their home without the stress of mortgage payments.
Education Costs: It can fund your children’s education, covering costs from primary school to college tuition, which can significantly alleviate financial stress for your family.
Debt Repayment: Paying off personal loans, credit card debts, and other liabilities to relieve your family from financial strain.
Funeral and Burial Costs: Covering the costs associated with funeral services can be quite expensive.
Medical Bills: Helping with any outstanding medical expenses incurred before your passing.
Childcare Expenses: Providing for daycare, nannies, or after-school activities if your spouse needs additional support.
Income Replacement: Ensuring your family’s income stream continues and helping them manage their finances smoothly.
Savings for Future Needs: Building a financial cushion for unforeseen expenses or future goals like weddings, mortgage deposit or starting a business.
Inheritance: Leaving a financial legacy for your loved ones to secure their long-term financial stability.
Special Needs Dependents: If you have a child or dependent with special needs who requires lifelong care, a life insurance policy can ensure they are financially supported even in your absence.
By covering these critical areas, life insurance can provide a solid financial foundation for your family’s future.
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Which Type Of Life Insurance Is Best For Super Mums?
When it comes to securing your family’s financial future through life insurance, you have several options to consider. You can opt for a standalone life insurance policy that provides a payout in the event of your or your partner’s death.
Alternatively, you might combine different types of insurance to ensure comprehensive cover. For instance, Serious Illness Cover can be added to your policy to protect against specified critical illnesses, while Income Protection Insurance can provide financial support if you’re unable to work due to injury or illness.
Term Life Insurance
Term life insurance provides a lump sum payment to you and your family in the event of death. This type of life insurance applies to a specific fixed term; the policy will cease after the term has ended and no claim is made.
Whole of Life Insurance
Whole of Life Insurance will insure you for your entire life, continuing up until the event of your death. In most cases, this type of life insurance will cost considerably more than other products as there is a guaranteed payout.
Convertible Life Insurance
Convertible Term insurance is similar to Term insurance but has a different advantage.
The policyholder can convert the existing cover into a new, longer-term policy without requiring the insured person to provide further medical information at the time of conversion.
Read more about Convertible Life Insurance.
You can also change the policy to a “Whole of Life” policy, which guarantees you life insurance for the rest of your life.
Mortgage Protection
If you pass away before paying off your mortgage in full, Mortgage Protection insurance will cover the remaining balance.
Read more in our post about the most frequently asked questions about mortgage protection and the myths surrounding it.
Life Insurance – Types of Cover For Super Mums
Single
Getting a quote by yourself and taking out a single policy.
Joint
This policy covers you and your partner and will pay out once. This policy can either be set up on a Joint Life First Death basis, i.e., the policy will pay out on the death of the first life assured, and cease.
Or on a Joint Life Second Death basis, i.e., there will be no payment on the death of the first life assured, however, the policy will pay out on the death of the second life assured and then the policy will cease.
Dual
Dual cover will pay out on the death of both the first and second lives assured. On the death of the first life assured, the benefits will be paid to the remaining life assured.
The benefits will be paid to their estate upon the death of the second life assured. Once the policy has paid out on both the first and second lives assured, it will cease.
Read more about the differences between Dual and Joint and which one is better for your needs.
Secure your family’s future today!
Life Insurance for Single Mums
In 2022, almost 220,000 family households in Ireland were headed by a single parent, with 186,487 of these being single-mother families. For these single mums, life insurance is an essential tool in providing financial security for their children.
Life insurance ensures that, in the event of your untimely passing, your children will have a financial safety net to cover essential expenses such as mortgage payments, school fees, and everyday living costs.
Losing a mum can result in a major change in your children’s lives, and while it can never fully compensate for the loss, having a life insurance policy can provide a financial safety net to minimise the impact.
Life Insurance for Self-Employed Mums
For self-employed mums in Ireland, balancing a business and family life presents unique challenges, making life insurance a critical consideration. Without the safety net of employer benefits, self-employed mums must proactively secure their financial future.
Life insurance provides essential protection, ensuring that your family remains financially stable if you’re no longer around. This policy can cover outstanding business debts, replace lost income, and ensure that your children and partner can maintain their quality of life. Additionally, life insurance can provide the necessary funds to keep your business afloat or help your family transition smoothly if they decide to sell it.
As a self-employed individual, you might have considered key person insurance to protect your business, thinking it would also safeguard your family. However, each situation is unique, and life insurance might be a better fit for providing comprehensive security for both your family and business. In some cases, having both key person insurance and life insurance is the best approach.
By investing in the right insurance, self-employed mums can focus on growing their business and nurturing their family, confident that their loved ones will be financially protected no matter what.
Life Insurance for Older Mums
Life insurance is still a smart move for older mums to ensure their family’s financial protection. Although age typically affects the cost of life insurance, making it cheaper when you’re younger, life insurance for older mums is still very much worth considering.
You can explore options like Term Life Insurance and Whole of Life policies, as well as Over 50s life insurance.
Over 50s life insurance is perfect for those who didn’t secure life insurance earlier or want to boost their current cover. This policy is great for covering end-of-life expenses like funeral costs, outstanding debts, or leaving a financial gift for the family.
Even if you’re an older mum with grown-up children, you might still consider life insurance. It’s a valuable tool in estate planning, providing funds to cover estate taxes and final expenses, ensuring your assets are smoothly passed on to your dependents without selling property or investments.
Life Insurance for Stay-at-Home Mums
Life insurance is a crucial way to protect a family’s finances, but it’s not just about covering the loss of income from a working parent. Stay-at-home mums contribute significantly to the household, providing invaluable support that can be hard to quantify.
Consider all the tasks stay-at-home mums handle, from household chores to childcare. If a stay-at-home parent were no longer around, the family would face the emotional difficulty of the loss and significant financial pressure to replace these essential services.
Life Insurance When You’re Pregnant
Applying for life insurance when pregnant is no different than applying at any other time. It’s important to inform the insurer about your pregnancy when you apply.
As with any other applicant, you will be asked to answer questions about your health and lifestyle. However, an insurer cannot decide that pregnancy alone is a reason for you to pay more for your cover or to deny you insurance.
Insurers will inquire about your overall health and lifestyle habits, but pregnancy itself should not lead to higher costs or coverage issues, ensuring you can secure the protection your growing family needs without unnecessary complications.
Life Insurance for the Mums Who Are Homeowners
If you have a mortgage, you likely have mortgage protection, a type of decreasing life insurance designed to pay off your outstanding mortgage balance if you pass away. While this provides some peace of mind, it’s not the complete solution you might think it is.
Mortgage protection ensures that your mortgage is paid off, but that’s it. It doesn’t cover other essential financial needs such as daily living expenses, education costs for your children, or other debts.
To truly safeguard your family’s financial future, you should consider a comprehensive life insurance policy. This additional cover can help your loved ones maintain their standard of living and cover various expenses, ensuring they are financially secure even without your income.
Life Insurance vs. Mortgage Protection for Homeowner Mums
There’s a common misunderstanding between life insurance and mortgage protection. Mortgage protection pays off the outstanding balance of your mortgage if you pass away, whereas life insurance pays off your mortgage and then provides the remaining balance to your family.
Both types of insurance offer protection, but they work differently. With mortgage protection, the cover amount decreases as you pay off your mortgage. In contrast, the cover amount in a life insurance policy remains the same, providing broader financial support.
If you have a family with children who rely on your income, having life insurance and mortgage protection is crucial.
Example:
Patricia, a 45-year-old breadwinner, is married with two children. She has a mortgage of €300,000 and average monthly expenses of €3,300, excluding the mortgage. She decides to take out both mortgage protection and life insurance to ensure his husband and children can maintain their standard of living and cover essential costs if she passes away.
Mortgage Protection: This will pay off the mortgage, ensuring Patricia’s family can continue living in their home without the burden of mortgage payments or the risk of losing the property.
Life Insurance: This provides a lump sum to cover living expenses, children’s education, and alleviate financial stress during a difficult time.
In summary, life insurance provides comprehensive financial security for your family, covering much more than just the mortgage.
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Inheritance Tax Tips for Super Mums
If you have property or other assets you plan to leave to your children, it’s important to be aware that they might face a significant inheritance tax bill. This tax can be a considerable financial burden.
However, a Section 72 life insurance plan can help with this issue. When you pass away, the proceeds from this life insurance policy are used to cover the inheritance tax bill.
This means your children can inherit your estate without needing to liquidate assets to pay taxes.
Understanding how inheritance tax can impact your children is crucial to ensuring your legacy and securing your family’s financial future.
How Much Life Insurance Cover Do You Need As a Super Mum?
The life insurance calculator. is a useful tool for life insurance planning. This tool acts as a reference to help with your initial calculations by providing an approximate amount of life insurance that you might require.
Additionally, you can request a quote directly through our service, which compares the best life insurance providers in Ireland all in one place. This convenience allows you to shop around without the need to visit multiple websites—we do all the work for you.
Are you wondering why going through a broker could be the best option for you to purchase life insurance? Brokers have access to a wider variety of products at cheaper costs than you may find on your own and can provide you with tailored guidance.
To understand the advantages in more detail, read our article on why buying life insurance from a broker could be more beneficial for you.
Should You Put Your Life Insurance Policy in Trust?
Yes, setting up your life insurance policy in trust is a smart move. It ensures your beneficiaries get the payout quickly and your assets are managed and distributed according to your wishes by trusted individuals (trustees)
You can choose any adult as a trustee, including legal professionals, family, or friends. Trustees can also be beneficiaries, and an adult trustee will manage assets for underage children until they turn 18.
When planning for the future, it’s crucial to consider the implications of inheritance tax on your estate. While your spouse is exempt from inheritance tax, other beneficiaries, such as children, are subject to specific thresholds.
Understanding these thresholds and the tax liabilities they entail can help you plan more effectively. To ensure your estate is passed on efficiently and with minimal tax burden, read our article for detailed insights and strategies.
Is It Possible To Adjust Our Life Insurance Cover Over Time?
Many life insurance policies offer flexibility, also known as Guaranteed Insurability. Policies with a guaranteed insurability option allow you to increase your cover when significant life events occur, such as the birth/adoption of a child or the purchase of a home, without providing additional medical evidence.
Additionally, you can add Indexation to your life insurance policy, which ensures your cover increases over time to compensate for inflation.
This feature helps maintain the value of your policy, providing adequate protection for your loved ones as the cost of living rises. By adjusting your cover to keep pace with inflation, you can ensure that your beneficiaries receive sufficient financial support when needed without the risk of your policy’s value diminishing over time.
By reading our article, you can learn more about how inflation can impact your life insurance payout.
Life Insurance Myths vs. Reality
Several myths about life insurance can deter people from getting the cover they need.
One common belief is that life insurance is too expensive. However, this is not always the case; for example, premiums can be as low as €13.72 per month.
To help you determine whether life insurance suits your needs, we’ve debunked five typical myths and misconceptions surrounding it.
Understanding the realities can clarify the benefits and affordability of life insurance, encouraging more informed decisions about securing your family’s financial protection.
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What Happens If I Outlive My Term Life Insurance?
If you outlive your term life insurance policy, the cover simply ends. However, some policies offer options to extend the cover term without providing any additional medical exam.
Learn more by reading our article.
Can I Get Life Insurance for My Children?
You can’t usually buy life insurance for children under 18, but some providers offer policyholders life insurance for their children for free as part of their policies. If Serious Illness Cover is included in your policy, your children will be covered, too.
Payments can be up to €7,000 in the event of the insured child’s death. Claims can be made up to 18 years old or 25 if they are in full-time education.
Your children up to age 25 are covered for up to €25,000 or half your serious illness benefit amount, whichever is lower, for as long as you are covered.
The availability and terms of this benefit can vary significantly among different insurance providers.
Is There Any Life Insurance Benefit I Can Enjoy While I’m Alive?
Life insurance isn’t just about providing financial security after you’re gone; it also offers benefits you can use while you’re alive.
For instance, Hospital Cash Benefit provides a daily cash payout for each day you spend in the hospital. This benefit helps cover out-of-pocket expenses, including meals, transportation, and parking fees, which might not be covered by your private health insurance.
These additional funds can ease the financial burden during hospital stays, ensuring you can focus on recovery without worrying about unexpected costs.
Read our article to learn more about the various living benefits of life insurance and how they can support you and your family in times of need.
Additional Benefits For Super Mums
Life insurance providers in Ireland do offer special benefits. Many insurers provide Children’s Life Cover and Serious Illness Cover for children as benefits when you hold Life Insurance and Serious Illness policies, respectively.
Aviva Care
When you choose Aviva for your Life Insurance, Serious Illness Cover, Mortgage Protection, or Income Protection, you can access an exclusive health and well-being service called Aviva Care.
This service is included free of charge with all new protection policies, offering a suite of valuable benefits designed to support your overall health and well-being.
Aviva Care provides policyholders with four great benefits at no additional cost: Digital GP, Best Doctors Second Medical Opinion, Family Care Mental Health Support, and Bereavement Support.
Helping Hand
Royal London goes beyond the typical insurance offering by providing access to a service called Helping Hand, which grants you access to dedicated medical professionals from the day your policy starts—not only when you make a claim.
This unique feature includes all nurses available to give you a second opinion on your diagnosis and future treatment options without additional cost. Helping Hand isn’t just for policyholders; your spouse and children can also use the service.
Should you ever experience a serious illness, injury, or bereavement, Helping Hand offers crucial support that extends beyond financial aid. To aid in recovery or coping, Royal London, through Helping Hand, may provide access to specialist therapies such as bereavement counsellors, speech and language therapists, face-to-face second medical opinions, complementary therapies, and physiotherapy for specific serious health conditions.
Are Life Insurance Payouts Taxable?
All life insurance payouts are tax-free to your policy’s named beneficiary.
Although the life insurance payout is tax-free, the beneficiary might still be liable for inheritance tax based on their relationship to you, the amount they receive, and the Irish tax laws applicable at the time of the payout.
Learn more by reading our article.
Can I Include Serious Illness Cover In My Super Mum Life Insurance Policy?
Yes, you can add Serious Illness Cover to your Life Insurance or Mortgage Protection policy, which pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a specified serious illness.
If you add serious illness cover to your Mortgage Protection or Life Insurance when the payment is made, the life cover amount is reduced accordingly. This is also called accelerated serious illness cover.
Alternatively, you can buy Serious Illness Cover as a separate policy. It’s called Standalone Serious Illness Cover and it means it is taken out as a separate policy and it is completely independent of any life protection you might purchase or already have. It is sometimes called additional, separate, or double cover.
To understand better, read our detailed article about Serious Illness Cover where we explain everything in depth.
Other Important Insurances For Super Mums
Serious Illness Cover: This policy offers protection by providing a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a specified serious illness. Learn more by exploring our Serious Illness Cover Guide.
Income Protection Insurance: Provides a regular income if you cannot work due to illness or injury. Learn more by reading our Income Protection Guide.
Health Insurance: This insurance provides cover for medical expenses, reducing the financial burden of healthcare costs for you and your children. Learn why health insurance is a must-have in Ireland.
Pension Plans
Contributions to a Pension: Besides providing for retirement, pensions can sometimes offer a death-in-service benefit, which provides a payout to dependents if you die while employed.
Read our Retirement Guide to learn everything about pensions and retirement planning.
Get a Life Insurance Quote For Super Mums
Speak with one of our financial advisors, who can guide you, help you understand your options, and ensure you get the best possible policy for your situation.
Whether you’re looking for term life insurance, whole-of-life cover policy, or a specific plan tailored to your circumstances, LowQuotes provides the tools and information you need to make an informed decision.
We also provide various financial services, such as mortgages, serious illness cover, pensions, financial planning, health insurance, and savings & investments.
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All our content has been written or overseen by a qualified financial advisor. However, you should always seek individual financial advice for your unique circumstances.
