Life insurance for men

Life insurance for men is a special insurance policy designed for men who want to have a peaceful mind that after their death their family members will be safe financially. This form of insurance is becoming more and more popular and there are 3 main reasons for that.

First of all, recent studies have shown that there is a five-year gap in life expectancy when comparing men to the woman. In United Kingdom this gap is 4 years. According to the Office for National Statistics men live approximately 78.2 years and women 82.3 years. Secondly, statistics show that men are more likely to die from cancer and hearth diseases than woman with the same health conditions. This is explained by the fact that men lead a less healthy lifestyle and are more indifferent to the first symptoms of the illness. The third reason is that in a well developed countries where men earn sufficiently high wages they can allow their spouses to take care of home and children instead of working and earning money. As a result women become more vulnerable in case of the death of the only family breadwinner.

Because of shorter life expectancy and a higher tendency to die from critical illnesses insurance providers charge men higher premiums. However, there are good news because European court ruled out that from December 2012 insurance companies will not be able to charge different premiums solely on the basis on gender. However, those men who decide to wait for a year or so have to remember that during this period their family will not be protected. What is more, the older is the man when signing a life insurance contract the higher premium he will have to pay.

There are numerous ways man can follow to reduce the premium for life insurance. First of all, getting fit and quitting smoking is a good idea. Secondly, cutting life insurance cover as time goes by is wise if the policy is used to insure mortgage commitment. Lastly, one should consider limiting the insurance time period to the time when the insurance is really necessary.

It is also important to remember that there are alternatives to life insurance for men. The first option is a private medical insurance that covers the costs of private treatment. However, it can be costly if the man is not very young. A cheaper alternative is a critical illness insurance. This insurance pays out a tax-free lump sum of money on the diagnosis of a critical illness. At the moment about 30 illnesses are included in the list. A third option is an income-protection policy. This insurance policy pays out a regular amount of money to those who are unable to work. An advantage of this type of policy is that it pays out money regardless of the severity if the illness and cover such illnesses as back problems, stress and depression. The last option is a cash plan. It is the cheapest alternative but also the most limited. This type of insurance pays out money that are used to contribute to regular medical bills.