Whole of Life

Each situation is different, of course, and for some WOL might be the only suitable option. This is usually the case when you have very little in the way of liquid assets (cash and investments). For instance, if your money is locked up in your home or buy to let properties that you do not wish to sell.

It’s not always possible to do all the desired planning in one go; often because, at the time people start IHT planning they may not be able to make large investments / gifts as they aren’t sure what capital they need for themselves. In those cases, our preferred method however is to utilise the WOL to ensure a solution is in place and treat it as a backstop solution. This is if capital is not immediately available, or if you are as of yet still unsure about what income and capital you will want in retirement. We would then work with you over several/many years to reduce your dependency on the WOL plan with other IHT solutions and reduce the cover before it becomes too expensive.

If you are lucky enough to be healthy now, hopefully you understand that you may not always stay that way. Previous ailments make WOL more expensive and sometimes unachievable as you may have become too high a risk. An earlier successful application makes any changes in health irrelevant as life providers can’t re-underwrite your lives.