International life insurance

This is up to you, but remember the more you insure your life for, the higher your premiums will be. Therefore, make sure you’re not over-insuring yourself – you don’t want to stretch your budget too far.

When deciding, you may want to ask yourself questions such as:

• Do I have any outstanding debts and how much will it cost to pay these off? This could include your mortgage, car loans, credit card bills and items bought on finance
• How much will my family need in the immediate aftermath of my death? Remember such things as school fees, medical bills and living costs
• How much will my funeral cost? And, if I die abroad, how much will it cost to repatriate my remains?

The maximum you can insure yourself for with William Russell is US$2 million.

Income protection insurance is a separate policy that you may wish to consider while taking out expat life insurance.

With income protection insurance, you and your family will receive cash benefits if you are unable to work due to serious illness or injury. 

Income protection insurance is a good option to have if you and your family depend on your income, and if the loss of your income due to incapacitation would cause financial hardship.

You can insure up to 75% of your annual salary. The maximum you can insure yourself for is US$144,000 per annum.

When taking out income protection insurance, you will need to choose a deferment period. This is the waiting period between when you stopped working and when you start to receive your replacement income.

Payment of your replacement income starts after your deferment period. You can choose a deferment period of three or six months. Bear in mind your premiums will be higher if you choose a three-month deferment period.

Accident benefit insurance is an optional extra. It provides an additional lump sum benefit if your death is the result of an accident.

Additionally, if an accident leaves you with life-changing injuries, we’ll pay the accident benefit directly to you while you are still alive.

Because death or serious injury in an accident is unexpected, accident benefit insurance is a good option to have. It can help your family to cope with your sudden and unexpected loss.

Accident benefit insurance can only be added to an existing expat life insurance policy – it cannot be taken out on its own. The maximum you can insure yourself for with William Russell is US$500,000, and the sum of your accident benefit cannot exceed the sum of your life insurance.

With international insurance, not all policies are valid if you decide to move abroad. Whilst it’s always best to check with your existing provider, international policies exist to ensure that in the sad event of your death you’ve got the adequate cover needed for your loved ones.

With William Russell international insurance, your location has no impact on the premium at all. Our premiums are the same for all individual clients worldwide.

In most cases, we can only provide life insurance to expats. By expat, we mean people living and working outside of their country of nationality (e.g., an Irish national living in China, an Italian national living in Canada).

Typically, our members reside permanently in a foreign country. But we can sometimes provide life insurance to people expecting to spend at least 6 months of the year living or travelling abroad. In certain countries, we can cover people living in the same country that issues their passports. These countries are Botswana, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritius, Estonia and Malawi.

We also provide international health insurance.

Yes, we do have an optional accident plan. How much you’ll pay for your plan depends on how much you cover you require, and your medical history.

Raising children can be expensive. Last December, the Child Poverty Action Group in the UK reported that the cost of bringing up a child is at least £190,000. Expat parents can expect that figure to be much higher, with private school fees, regular international travel, and all the perks that come with the expat lifestyle. Often, your income (or your partner’s) is the only way to pay for these costs of raising your child.

If you or your partner were to pass away, that could take a toll financially as well as an emotional toll. Life insurance is one thing that parents use to put in place a safety net. When parents purchase life insurance, they typically think about costs they would usually use their income to cover. For example, mortgages or debts, monthly bills, education and childcare, and everyday spending such as food and clothing. If the main breadwinner in your household should pass away, you’ll probably want help to cover these costs. That’s where life insurance can help.

There is no set ‘guide’ to when is the best time, but most people purchase life insurance at significant points of their life (e.g., marriage, buying a house, planning children).

Yes, you can use international life insurance from William Russell to cover a mortgage – we have numerous members around the world who have nominated their banks as the beneficiary of their policy with any residual benefit going to family members.