Whole of Life Assurance

As the name suggests a Whole of Life policy is designed to provide life assurance cover for your whole life and doesn’t finish at a pre-defined term. If you continue paying into a Whole of Life plan it will eventually pay out on your death so they are normally significantly more expensive than the equivalent term assurance (in terms of the level of cover and what age you are when you start the plan) as they are effectively guaranteed to pay out their benefit eventually.

Certain existing Whole of Life plans can contain a savings component,  The idea of which is to build up a fund in the early years which is used to subsidise the high costs of life assurance in the later years. In some cases, this may provide you with a lump sum if you cash in the plan after many years, but it is not a savings plan,  The insurer is effectively buying themselves out of the ongoing life assurance risk. In most cases even if the fund runs out of money,  The Whole of Life plan will still provide the death benefits originally agreed but you should carefully check your policy wording.

In most cases, premiums are fixed for the term of the policy but in some cases premiums are reviewable based on the investment return and may need to be amended depending upon investment returns.

However most new Whole of Life plans are Guaranteed Whole of Life (GWOL) Pure Protection type contracts which do not have an investment element as described above.

Whole of Life plans and Inheritance Tax (IHT)

Whole of Life policies are often used to provide a cash sum to cover the estate liability to inheritance tax on death. They can be relatively inexpensive at pre-retirement ages and particularly on joint life second death plans which only pay out after you and your partner are both deceased. The reason they are useful and relatively inexpensive, is that if you are married your partner will not pay any IHT on your death (and vice versa) but when the second life dies the whole estate will be subject to IHT. The Whole of Life plan is written in trust (thereby not attracting IHT on the lump sum payable on death) and pays out to cover the beneficiaries IHT liability. Life policies in trust can be used to remove wealth from the estate on a regular basis and so reduce tax on death, as well as actually funding for it.

This is just one option to look at if you will have a significant IHT liability on death. We specialise in effective tax planning across income tax, capital gains and estate planning. Please contact us on 01895 457 440 if you wish to discuss any aspect of your finances with us.

TAX TREATMENT IS BASED ON INDIVIDUAL CIRCUMSTANCES AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN THE FUTURE.

THE FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY DOES NOT REGULATE INHERITANCE TAX PLANNING.

Also See:

Inheritance Tax (IHT) Capital Gains Tax Income Tax

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