Greg was a mechanic, Heather a teacher and they were married with three young children. They didn’t have much spare money and Heather knew that if either of them died or was seriously ill, the family would struggle to exist on only one wage. She was determined to protect her family and asked me to arrange some insurance cover for them. That was the easy part – the difficult part was sorting out who would be the childrens’ guardians if neither Greg nor Heather were around. The grandparents were too old and so they decided to ask Heather’s married sister but she already had two children and wouldn’t be able to afford to take on another three. So what we did was to put the life policy into a flexible trust which could authorize payments to Heathers' sister. Things were now sorted – if something happened, Greg & Heather knew there would be enough money and that the children would be well looked after. Heather felt very relieved and told me “it feels great knowing the kids’ll be fine.”

And four years later that’s what happened – Heather phoned me in tears to tell me she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This was covered under her critical illness policy and so they could use the money to pay off their mortgage and to modify their house for ease of use in a wheelchair. The life policy has stayed in force but they know that the MS may affect Heathers' life expectancy and they’ve talked about this with their trustees. If the children have left home by the time she dies then the money from the policy will stay in the trust for the benefit of the children and their families. If the children are still dependent at the time Heather dies then the money will go to Greg to pay for childcare whilst he’s working or to lessen the pressure on him to work fulltime. And, because the policy benefits are in trust, they’re protected for their childrens’ benefit should Greg remarry after Heather's death. I’ve known Heather for almost 30 years and she’s a star. The policy didn’t stop her from getting MS but the insurance money made it easier for her and Greg to cope.

In one way or another Greg and Heather's case holds similarities for many of us. And it does demonstrate the range of ways in which insurance policies, trusts & wills can be arranged to suit. We all hope that life will turn out as planned but there’s one thing you can rely on in life and that is, it changes. Being prepared seems like a logical option. If you’d like a chat to find out more then just give me a ring.

By the time Jarrod took over the farm from his father he and Margaret were married and they had 2 children. Jarrod's father had retained ownership of the land but Jarrod ran the business and Margaret was worried about the financial position should Jarrod die. She was pretty sure (and she was right) that if Jarrod died tomorrow his parents wouldn’t leave the farm to her – it would be held in trust for her children. She quite understood why they would do that but she worried about her own financial position and she wanted Jarrod to take out some insurance so that she had money of her own. When I first met Margaret & Jarrod it was really quite funny because I didn’t have to do any talking. It was Margaret who was determined that Jarrod should take out the insurance. In the end she explained. Her father had died young leaving Margaret’s mother with two small children and no money and she had, had to, quite literally, marry the first man that came along. Margaret was determined that wasn’t going to happen to her – hence the pressure on Jarrod to take out insurance! That was a few years’ ago and we still laugh about it. Jarrod is still alive but his parents aren’t and Jarrod now owns the farm and has split it equally with Margaret. His insurance policy is still running and we’ve just changed his will and the trust so that, on his death, Margaret holds the farm in trust for their son and the proceeds of Jarrod’s policy goes to their daughter. So we made the policy work twice – once for each generation.

Death and critical illness can cause very serious financial problems as well as the obvious emotional ones. A life insurance policy is a safety net (made of money) designed to catch people’s loved ones when the unexpected happens.

It’s all about creating a lump sum of money, which goes to your family in the event of your death or serious illness. It’s INSURANCE to cover a possible risk – just like house insurance.

You take advice from an experienced adviser and, between you, you choose a suitable policy that works for you. Then you decide who you want to look after your family and set up a trust so that the money can only be used for your family’s benefit.

It’s not a pleasant task, planning who would take care of your loved ones and how – but you know more about what would work best, than any other person. And once those decisions are made, a trust can be set up to ensure the money is safe.