Insurance Guides & Resources
Plain-English explanations of life, health, auto and home insurance — built for individuals and families who want to right-size cover without an agent's sales pitch. Educational only, not insurance advice.
Human Life Value vs Income Replacement: Which Method is Right?
HLV vs the 10x rule and DIME method — pros, cons, worked example, when each makes sense, and common mistakes to avoid when sizing life cover.
Read Guide →Term vs Whole Life Insurance: Which Should You Buy?
Term vs whole life basics, premium comparison for the same cover, the “buy term and invest the rest” debate, and how to choose the right product for your situation.
Read Guide →How Much Health Insurance Cover Do You Need?
Right-size health insurance by age, family size, city tier and existing conditions — including base + super top-up strategy, sub-limits and claim-settlement ratios.
Read Guide →Auto Insurance Coverage Explained: Third-Party vs Comprehensive
Third-party vs comprehensive, IDV, zero-dep and other add-ons, no-claim bonus, deductibles, and when to claim vs pay out of pocket.
Read Guide →Home Insurance Basics: Replacement Value vs Market Value
Structure vs contents, replacement cost vs market value vs ACV, perils covered, under-insurance penalty, valuables sub-limits, and tenant vs owner policies.
Read Guide →Renters Insurance Explained: Why Tenants Need a Policy in 2026
Personal property, liability, loss of use, ACV vs RCV, sub-limits for jewellery and electronics, and how to size cover in minutes.
Read Guide →Critical Illness Cover Explained: What it Pays, What it Does Not
Conditions covered, lump-sum payouts, survival periods, exclusions, and the gap critical illness fills between health and life insurance.
Read Guide →Pet Insurance Explained: Is It Worth It in 2026?
Accident-only vs comprehensive, breed and age factors, exclusions, reimbursement models, annual vs per-condition caps, and when it is worth buying.
Read Guide →Travel Insurance Explained: What to Actually Buy in 2026
Single-trip vs annual, medical and evacuation cover, trip cancellation and CFAR, Schengen requirements, pre-existing waivers and credit-card gaps.
Read Guide →Why InsureKit guides matter
Insurance is one of the few products people buy hoping never to use. That single fact creates an asymmetry: buyers cannot easily judge value at the point of sale, only at the point of claim — by which time the policy is already chosen. These guides exist to close that gap, explaining how each cover actually works, what the common exclusions do to a claim, and the order of magnitude of sums insured that match real-world risks.
How to read insurance documents
- Schedule first, wording second. The "policy schedule" lists what you specifically bought — sums insured, deductibles, named insureds, riders. The "policy wording" is the standard contract terms. Always confirm your schedule matches what you asked for.
- Read the exclusions before the inclusions. Marketing pages list what is covered; the exclusions section in the wording lists what is not. The exclusions are what actually decide most claims.
- Note the "conditions precedent". Most policies require notification within a window (24–72 hours for theft, 30 days for many medical claims). Miss the window, lose the claim.
- Check the limits and sub-limits. A £500,000 home contents policy may have a £2,500 sub-limit on jewellery. Sub-limits cap individual categories regardless of the headline number.
- Understand "indemnity" vs "new for old". Indemnity policies pay depreciated value; new-for-old pays replacement cost. The premium difference is small; the payout difference is huge.
Which cover for which risk
- Term life insurance — replaces income on death. Decreasing-term is cheapest and tracks a mortgage; level-term is more flexible.
- Critical illness cover — lump sum on diagnosis of named conditions. Pairs with income protection, not a replacement for it.
- Income protection — monthly benefit if you cannot work due to illness or injury. The single most-overlooked cover for working-age adults with dependants.
- Home insurance — buildings (rebuild cost) and contents (replacement cost). Most homeowners are underinsured against current rebuild costs.
- Renters / tenants insurance — contents and liability. Highest dollar-for-dollar value of any insurance product for renters.
- Auto / motor insurance — third-party is the legal minimum; comprehensive is almost always worth the small extra premium.
- Travel insurance — medical evacuation is the headline value; trip cancellation is secondary.
- Pet insurance — accident & illness tier is the only one that mathematically makes sense for most owners.
Sums insured — back-of-envelope starting points
Life cover: 10× annual gross income, or enough to clear the mortgage plus 5 years of household expenses, whichever is higher. Critical illness: 12–24 months of household after-tax income. Income protection: 50–60% of gross income, with the longest deferred period your emergency fund supports (longer defer = cheaper premium). Home contents: actually walk through and total replacement value — most owners undershoot by 30–50%.