Finance
In this feature Paul Brady Dip PFS a partner in St James Place
Wealth management takes a look at protecting your mortgage
Despite the fact that it can be a financial life-
saver, only half of all mortgage holders have
life cover, leaving millions exposed.
As a nation, we still gravitate towards the
dream of owning our own home. The number
of television programmes and column inches
devoted to the subject are testament to our
continuing obsession.
Yet our desire for bricks and mortar is not in step
with our appetite for life cover, even though it
could help our families keep their heads above
water if our lives were unexpectedly turned
upside down.
Buying a home is likely to be the biggest financial
commitment we will ever make, so covering
the mortgage debt should arguably go hand in
hand with picking up the keys. But a report by
Scottish Widows shows that 8.2 million people
are leaving their families financially exposed by
failing to have any cover in place.
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“None of us want to think about the worst, but our
findings show that there are an alarming number
of mortgage holders who are putting themselves
at significant risk by failing to arrange cover for the
unexpected,” says Johnny Timpson, protection
specialist at Scottish Widows. “Many people
believe that they’ll be able to rely on the state if
the unforeseen happens, but recent cuts to welfare
benefits are exacerbating their vulnerability.”
The financial protection gap is even more worrying
when you consider that millions of families rely on
a sole breadwinner to keep their finances afloat.
This problem is most acute for the self-employed,
whose families are disproportionately reliant on
their income. Two thirds of self-employed workers’
households are reliant on one wage earner’s
income, compared with 52% o