The good news in this day and age is that we tend to have more open conversations with family and friends about money, and getting support wherever it might be needed.

Quite often when people are having money worries, they look at their outgoings each month and might think about cancelling some of their direct debits, one of which could be protection insurance.

Having protection insurance in place can be super important, so we’ve come up with 3 things to think about before cancelling a protection insurance policy.

Review your policy

Speak to your Adviser. It could be that your circumstances haven’t changed since taking out your policy, and it will still be the best option for you.

But on the other hand, your situation might have changed, and it might be worth getting advice to find a new policy to better suit your needs. Also, it’s wise to ensure you understand the cover you have and the benefits built into it, so that you know if / when to claim.

If you don’t have an Adviser and purchased directly from an Insurer, we are more than happy to review it and make recommendations, working with you to secure appropriate cover if changes are required.

Would cancelling your policy really make your money worries vanish?

Cancelling your protection insurance policy might save you a little bit of money each month, but would that little saving really make all your money worries go away?

Once you’ve cancelled your policy, you may then have different money worries, as you will no longer have that important financial protection in place if anything was to ever happen.

Some insurers can offer payment holidays if you’re struggling to pay your premiums, it could be worth asking the insurer about how this works before you cancel your cover.

Remember that quite often the reason that you took out a policy was for a specific reason, maybe to support the family. If they would still require that financial support, cancelling the cover isn’t always the best choice.

We don’t want to be the ones that say cancel your Netflix subscription, season tickets at the football club, or trip away with the girls, so that you can afford your insurance (they’re way more fun than insurance), but it’s worth having a really good think before any cancellation takes place.

Cancelling a plan - you will lose value added benefits!

A great thing about protection insurance is that many policies now come with value added benefits. These are things which are provided for free by the insurer, examples are:

- 24/7 online GP – access to a GP 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week. This can be great for those who work 9-5 or have other commitments which don’t allow for a regular appointment. These appointments are often by phone call or video call.

- Mental health support – support staff are readily available to provide support and treatment. They will assess your situation and provide you with some guidance and most importantly, they will listen to you.

- Rehabilitation services – support in returning to work at a pace that suits you. This means that you don’t rush back into work before you are truly ready to.

- Second medical opinion services – a second opinion on your medical case or diagnosis, who can also recommend suitable treatments. A leading expert in your health condition will look through your medical reports and tests, and double check that everything has been thoroughly assessed for you.

- Wellbeing services – access to nutritional plans, fitness programmes and online health checks.

- Parent and child cover – protection if your child was to be diagnosed with a medical condition or needs to have an operation.

We know that these really can make a difference. For instance, if you’re on holiday and come down ill, you don’t have to worry about finding a nearby doctors surgery, and being concerned about language barriers etc. You can use a 24/7 GP instead. If your policy is cancelled, you will automatically lose access to these.

Cancelling your protection insurance policy may seem like a good idea, but there are definitely several things to think about before actually doing so.

If you’re looking to have your policy reviewed, we have experienced advisers on hand to help and make sure you have the most suitable policy, at a price that is within your budget.