I’ve been sharing my top tips on sorting out your insurance. Just in case you missed them, here’s my six best pieces of advice in one shot!

Insurance can be complicated and it’s easy to get the wrong policy.

If you need insurance, whether its life insurance, income protection, critical illness insurance, or insurance for your property, there are certain things you can do to ensure the process goes smoothly and you get the right policy for your needs with the minimum of hassle.

Here’s my top tips for doing just that…

1. Do your homework and be clear on exactly what insurance you want. Use the pages of my website at www.markgrayshan.com to check out the different types of insurance available or give me a call and I’ll talk them through with you. For example, decide if you need life insurance, who it is for (you or you and your partner?) or if you need insurance to protect you if you become ill and can’t work or are made redundant. Do you need insurance for your home?
2. Get out a pen and a pad of paper and work out what you need to cover. Take a look at your household bills and see how much you or your dependants might need to manage on. What are your mortgage payments? What are your big monthly bills? If you died tomorrow, what would your dependent need? Similarly, how much is your property worth and what valuables do you have in it, that you need to insure?
3. Find out what cover you already have. Dig out all that paperwork you filed away years ago and see what it is all about. You might already have some life insurance cover, which you took out years ago – when you took on a mortgage, for example. Similarly, you may have home and contents insurance for your property. But in both cases, is it still right for your needs? Some life insurance policies expire at age 60, for example – do you need to extend it? Have you added expensive gadgets in the last few years that should be insured separately?
4. What does your employer offer? If you are enrolled in a company pension scheme, for example, you might have a ‘death in service’ benefit that pays out to a named benefactor if you die. It’s worth checking how much this is worth and how long it is valid for. Do you need to take out a new policy to top it up or extend it beyond its current deadline? Also look at any sickness benefits your employer pays – would they cover your monthly bills?
5. When it comes to applying for your insurance policy – be honest. There’s no point in hiding any pre-existing illnesses or conditions to try to keep the premium down or not mentioning a family history of illnesses. The truth always comes out and you might find a policy won’t pay out if you haven’t been honest about your health and that of your family.
6. Be open about your lifestyle. Little things can trip up applications for insurance, put pay-outs at risk or even completely nullify a policy. So be open about your height and weight, for example. And if you drink, smoke or use e-cigarettes, be honest about it. Similarly, if you like to go white-water rafting or sky-diving, it can have an impact on your insurance.