Whole-of-life

Your premiums buy units in one or more investment funds. The value of these units can go up or down in line with the investments that make up the fund, affecting the value that can be used to help pay for the costs of the life cover as the people covered get older.

There are four main variations of whole-of-life cover on ReAssure policies. You may have the option to switch between these variations, and should contact us if you’re interested in doing this.

Some policies have a Guaranteed Minimum Sum Assured amount, which means that your cover won’t reduce below an agreed amount as long as you continue to pay premiums. If your policy has this feature, we’ll let you know in your review pack.

Maximum cover

Maximum cover policies allow you to get a higher amount of cover for a lower initial premium. The premium is lower because more of it is used to pay the actual costs of your cover during the current review period, with nothing held in reserve to help meet increasing costs in later years.

When policy reviews start to take place, it’s normally necessary to increase your premiums in order to keep the same amount of cover. This is because your cover costs more as you get older and your policy is unlikely to have built up much of a fund to help with the increasing costs.

However, any changes in your health aren’t taken into account when working out the cost of your cover, as long as your premiums are maintained. This means that even though your premiums are increasing, the premium for a new policy could be even higher, depending on your health.

Standard/balanced cover

Standard cover policies start with a higher premium than maximum cover policies, but aim to maintain a more level premium throughout the life of your policy. The aim of the higher premiums is to build a sum of money in your chosen investment funds. This money is used to help meet the increasing costs of your cover in later years, reducing the need for your premiums to increase.

The level of growth achieved by this investment element can’t be guaranteed, so your premiums may still need to increase to keep the same level of cover. This is more likely after you reach age 65 (when life cover costs start to rise sharply), or once the value of your investment funds has been used up.

Low cost cover

Low cost cover is a version of standard cover which is focused slightly more on the level of cover than building a value. It otherwise works in the same way as standard cover.

Minimum cover

Minimum cover policies work the opposite way to maximum cover. The majority of the premium is invested with the aim of building a sum of money in your chosen investment funds. This money is used to help meet the increasing costs of your cover in later years, reducing the need for your premiums to increase.

As with standard cover, the level of growth achieved by the investment can’t be guaranteed, so your premiums may still need to increase during the lifetime of the policy. A Guaranteed Minimum Sum Assured is more likely to have an effect on this variation of cover.

Premiums are invested in a with-profits fund, together with the savings of other policyholders.  Bonuses are then added to the policy, depending on how the investments in the with-profits fund perform. There is no guarantee that a bonus will be applied each year, but once a bonus has been given, it is guaranteed. These bonds normally have a minimum final value (known as the sum assured) which is added to any bonuses due when a claim is made.

These pay out a guaranteed amount in the event of a successful claim.

Provides one or more types of cover to suit your protection needs.

Lifelong Protection Plan explained

The Lifelong Protection Plan is a flexible whole-of-life policy, which provides a cash lump sum when an insured event occurs.

Why you might have this policy

If you have an investment policy, it’s regularly reviewed to see if the premiums you pay are enough to maintain your level of cover. If they’re not, we’ll offer you the choice to increase your premiums.

Depending on the type of existing policy you have, we may have to start a new policy so you can increase your premiums. This policy is then administered alongside your existing policy. We’ll offer you the Lifelong Protection Plan if it’s similar to your existing policy.

You may also have bought the Lifelong Protection Plan because you needed some extra cover.

Important documents

The Key Features Document explains how the Lifelong Protection Plan works.

The Key Information Document tells you what you might get back from the Lifelong Protection Plan. It uses figures which are based on an example customer, and were calculated using past performance figures.

If you apply for a Lifelong Protection Plan we’ll send you an illustration, which will also show what you might get back from this product. It will use figures which take into account your circumstances and choices, and will be calculated using estimated future growth rates.