Life Insurance/assurance difference

Hi, just wondering what the difference is between the above two.

I was advised to undertake life insurance there a year or two ago but not sure if i need it. i dont have any dependents and i dont have a mortgage. Reason why i got it was in case i were to die my family wouldnt be able to afford the costs involved. I dont think they would be that substantial though. I may get a mortgage in the next 2 years and possibly dependents then, should i keep it now? its €20 a month. would i lose anything by cancelling it? apart from obviously not having the cover.

a new job im moving to offers life assurance as a benefit.

any thoughts would be appreciated

I thought that insurance covers something that may happen (e.g. an accident) while assurance covers something that will happen (e.g. death) but otherwise they are the same sort of thing (i.e. they pay out in if/when the relevant event happens). If you have no dependents and no mortgage then you don't really need life assurance especially if your job offers such cover. It might make sense to put aside some money to cover funeral expenses if you don't want your next of kin to have to worry about these but this alone is no reason to take out life assurance! Who "advised" you here? If/when you take out a mortgage or have dependents then you can sort things out. At that stage have a look at this thread:

Mortgage Protection and Mortgage Repayment Protection Policies

thanks clubman. I was "advised" by a insurance/mortgage broker who covers my parents but saw me in the house one day and kind of duped me into thinking i need it. i hadnt really got a thinking cap on back then. hes alright tho, he would talk for ireland so he got me fairly quickly.

There would be no consequences for pulling out of this no, i wouldnt owe them money or would they owe me any money?

househunter7 said:

There would be no consequences for pulling out of this no, i wouldnt owe them money or would they owe me any money?

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I can't say - you'd need to check the terms & conditions of the policy. Is it a simple life assurance policy or a combined life assurance and savings policy? If it's the latter then there may be some encashment value to you. Is it a term or whole of life policy? I suspect the former given the price. Ultimately you need to check the details to make sure that there are no adverse implications of cancelling prematurely or no overriding reasons why you should keep it up. Of course, it sounds like once you tell your man about this he will do his best to retain your business and maybe even flog you more products. Caveat emptor. If in doubt get independent, professional advice on what's best for your individual circumstances.