Life Insurance For Newlyweds: Which Policy Is Best?

Life insurance comes to the forefront whenever a major life milestone or event happens. A significant change in your life, for good or ill, is enough to make you think: is this something to protect?

Marriage is one of the most important milestones you’ll likely reach early in life.

There are many ways to protect a growing family, but one of the most important is life insurance. If the worst happens, life insurance for newlyweds can provide real peace of mind.

Whether you’re getting the payout from the loss of your spouse or you know you’re leaving behind that payout for them if something happens to you, it can be an essential way to secure each other’s future if one of you passes away.

If you’re shopping for life insurance for newlyweds, you have a lot of decisions to make. Let’s discuss some key considerations and what you might choose for your life together.

Newly Married? Help Protect Your Loved One’s Future. Compare Top Insurers. Find Your Cheapest Life Insurance Quote

Term vs Whole Cover

One of the first decisions you must make when shopping for life insurance as a married couple is whether to choose term or whole life insurance. Both can be effective, but they work differently and can produce different outcomes.

This is a topic we’ve discussed in detail elsewhere, so we’ll be brief about it here.

Term life insurance lets you choose a benefit and a term. That period can range from 5 to 40 years and determines the policy’s duration.

You pay premiums for the term, and if you pass away during that term, your beneficiary can claim your death benefit.

Term life insurance is generally cheap; a 20-year, £100,000 policy might cost less than £5 per month if you’re in your 20s or 30s and in good health.

The drawback is that if you outlive the term, you have less to show for it. You can often roll your cover into a new policy, but it will cost a little more because you’ll be older and in a higher-risk bracket.

Whole life insurance cover works differently. You buy a cover that lasts as long as you keep paying and stay alive.

The death benefit is paid out if you pass away while your cover is valid. There’s no term to expire. However, because of the guaranteed payout, a whole-life policy costs more per month.

As an added benefit, whole-life policies often include an investment account that remains yours even if you stop paying and cancel your cover.

Each type has its benefits. Some are more affordable and offer higher limits; others grow over time and function almost like savings accounts. Mixing and matching to get the best of both worlds is very common.

Cost of Life Insurance for Newlyweds (Based on £100,000 cover for a non-smoker in sound health)

Age	Level Term (20-year term)	Decreasing Term (20-year term)
20	£3.65	£4.32
25	£4.73	£4.92
30	£4.82	£4.97
35	£6.02	£5.06
40	£7.85	£6.05
45	£10.08	£8.14
50	£16.17	£11.97

Term cover is often the best option for young couples getting married. Whole life cover has a role, but it’s narrower and often used for estate planning.

Joint or Separate Policies

The second decision you must make is whether you and your spouse take separate, individual policies or get a joint policy.

The definitions of each are simple. A joint policy covers both of you, while separate policies cover each of you individually.

Joint cover doesn’t have to be for married couples, but marriage is a primary reason a couple might seek a joint life policy. Some interesting details about the joint cover are worth knowing before you decide.

The Two Types of Joint Cover

First, it’s important to distinguish between the First Death cover and the Second Death cover.

These terms refer to when the policy can be claimed and when benefits can be paid out.

With the first death cover, you and your spouse are covered. If your spouse dies, you can make the claim and receive the payout. At that point, the cover ends; it has served its purpose, and you can’t make any further claims.

If you have a child whom you want to be covered in the event of your death, or if you later meet someone else and choose to get married again, you will need to purchase a new policy.

With the second death cover, you and your spouse are covered. If your spouse dies, your cover continues.

You can’t make a claim or receive any benefits. If you pass away, as in the second death, whoever you name as a beneficiary can file the claim and receive the benefits.

The biggest choice here is in purpose. Neither one is worse; they’re just different products.

• If you’re financially secure, as is your spouse, and you can go on living without hardship if one of you dies, second death cover may be a good idea. It can protect your children’s or other loved ones’ future. It’s also a good option to insure against simultaneous death, like a tragic auto accident.
• If you’re less financially secure and rely on your combined incomes to maintain your standard of living, losing one of you and your income can be devastating. First, death insurance works best in this situation; you or your spouse receives the payout to go on living until you can stabilise.

And, of course, these are just options for joint cover. A separate cover for each of you acts more likea first death cover.

The Benefits of Joint Cover

Joint cover can be beneficial in a few ways.

The first is price. Joint cover is generally more expensive than single cover, but cheaper than two single-cover policies.

That can be particularly useful, especially for dual-income households, where financial hardship can affect either partner if one person dies.

In a single-income household, if the non-earner passes away, the financial impact is lower (though not zero; childcare and other household living expenses crop up).

A second benefit is also price-related. If you opt for a second death cover, the policy price is usually set after a health review of both of you.

This can save you money if one of you is in worse health and older, though the drawbacks of second death cover still apply.

Joint cover can also benefit overall estate planning, though if you’re just getting married, you’re probably not thinking about that yet. Maybe you should! But that’s a discussion for another day.

The Drawbacks of Joint Cover

Joint cover has some drawbacks that might make it worse for your circumstances.

First, it costs more than a single policy. In a single-income household, you may only need cover for the income earner.

A death benefit isn’t exactly enough to assuage a broken heart, but at least if the non-earning spouse dies, it’s not a significant financial hardship, the way a complete loss of income can be.

Another drawback is that if you opt for the first death cover, you don’t benefit from pricing based on your joint health. This doesn’t matter if you’re both in good health, but depending on your circumstances, it can make a difference.

Another potential drawback is divorce. Divorce is already a messy and complex affair in most cases, especially if it’s contentious and there’s no prenuptial agreement.

Sorting out the results of a joint policy can be trickier. This is worse with a joint whole life cover; a joint term life cover can be cancelled.

While it’s unfortunate to lose the pricing you had when you signed up, it’s better than fighting over who gets it if either one can keep it.

You don’t go into marriage expecting divorce. Still, since it’s always an option if things go wrong, you should consider it before enrolling in a joint life insurance policy.

Some insurance providers offer special riders to split cover, so you’ll need one to protect your policy against divorce.

If you have a critical illness cover rider attached to your life insurance, you can claim a payment before one of you dies, as long as you meet the critical illness criteria.

The drawback is that it can generally only be claimed once; if the other spouse falls ill later, they can’t then claim the same rider.

Another drawback is that joint life cover is a somewhat niche product. Many couples don’t opt for joint cover, and it’s less helpful for people without partners or loved ones to cover, so it’s relatively rare.

Many married-couple life insurance providers don’t even offer joint policies, so you’ll likely have to shop around more to find coverage, and it might not be as good as what you could get with a provider that doesn’t offer it.

Bundled Policies

Another consideration is whether you want to bundle policies. Building a life together, which often means bundling and combining assets and resources, is a significant part of marriage.

You may have a joint bank account, joint investments, both names on a mortgage or car note, and so on. It also makes more sense, for example, to purchase combined auto and homeowner’s insurance.

While the “in it together” life insurance is joint life insurance, you can often bundle a life insurance policy with another kind.

Many of the UK’s best insurance providers offer various types of insurance and can offer discounts if you get multiple kinds of insurance.

What About Spouse Insurance?

Spouse insurance isn’t a separate policy. Instead, it’s a rider you can attach to your life insurance that covers your spouse under your policy.

It’s often a lower benefit for a lower fee, attached but not joint, and can be dropped without retooling the whole plan.

Often, you see these as additional riders with life insurance coverage as part of an employment benefits package.

Multiple Life Insurance Policies

When considering life insurance for married couples, you may want multiple policies.

For example, you might sign up for joint cover with a first-death option. Choose a relatively low cover amount, enough to cover funeral expenses and perhaps a few months of living expenses, but not much more.

You can then purchase a larger single policy covering the primary income earner. This might be a standard term life policy or a decreasing benefit policy linked to your mortgage or another significant expense.

By combining different types of life insurance to cover various scenarios, you can build a stronger coverage plan than you would otherwise. On the other hand, the premiums do add up, and it can be a lot more work to administer than any individual policy.

What’s the Best Life Insurance Policy for Newlyweds?

There is no simple answer to this question. Fortunately, there is one good way to find out. Just click our form and fill it out.

You can get quotes from all of the UK’s best insurance providers in no time by providing a little information. Best of all, the process is free, and you’re not obligated to take any quotes if you don’t want what they offer.

Using our process, you can shop for the best life insurance for couples in your situation across the top UK providers.

It doesn’t matter if you want a £100,000 policy or £1,000,000 of cover, term or whole cover, or single or joint cover; we can help you get quotes. It’s fast, easy, and the best way to get the best options. Why not give it a try?

Life Insurance For Married Couples: Useful External Resources

• https://www.equifax.co.uk/resources/money-management/budgeting-with-a-new-partner
• https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/financial-advice/getting-financial-advice/