Life insurance for young adults

Whether you need cover depends more on your circumstances than your age. At most of the insurers we checked you can apply from 18, while LV= accepts you from 17 and Vitality from 16.

Legal & General says cover is worth considering once a partner, children or other family members rely on you for everyday costs like bills or childcare. It also says life insurance is more common from age 30.

MoneyHelper says life insurance suits you if you have dependants, such as school-age children or a partner who relies on your income. It can also suit you if you want your loved ones to be able to cover your funeral costs.

MoneyHelper says it wouldn't suit someone with no dependants, as it only pays out when you die. You might also decide against it if you're single, your partner earns enough for your family, or you're on a low income and could qualify for benefits.

Ask yourself who'd be left short of money if you passed away:

• Would a partner struggle to pay the rent, the mortgage or the bills without your income?
• Do you share a mortgage, a loan or a tenancy with someone?
• Do you have children, or are you planning to in the next few years?
• Do you help support a parent, a brother or sister, or another relative?
• Would your family have to find the money for your funeral?

Young adults do make claims. LV= says its youngest life claimant in 2025 was 26, against an average age of 66, and Royal London's youngest protection claimant that year was 19. Our guide is life insurance worth it? has more.

It's worth considering once other people depend on your money, Legal & General says. Many people get cover when they buy a property with a partner, marry, enter a civil partnership or have children. The ABI suggests thinking about it when you marry, buy a house or have children.

Buying a first home or renting

You don't legally need life insurance for a mortgage, though some lenders may make it a condition of lending. Most mortgage providers offer cover automatically with a mortgage, but MoneyHelper says you might find a better deal elsewhere.

On a repayment mortgage, the amount you owe falls each month over a term that's usually 25 years. Decreasing term cover reduces each year to match a repayment mortgage and usually costs less than level term (where the payout stays the same).

Legal & General says its Decreasing Life Insurance can be a cheaper form of cover for young homeowners. Our guide to mortgage life insurance explains how it works.

If you rent with a partner, they might have to pay the whole rent alone. MoneyHelper says your rent or mortgage, debts, number of dependants and take-home pay all affect how much cover you need, which our life insurance calculator can help estimate.

A partner and children

When a partner dies, the mortgage is normally among the first debts paid from their estate (the money and property they leave), or from life insurance taken out with the mortgage. Even on a joint mortgage, your partner can't simply transfer it into their own name.

Couples can buy one joint policy or two single ones. A joint policy usually costs less than two single policies, but it only pays out on the first death: see joint life insurance.

In England, Citizens Advice says partners who live together without being married or in a civil partnership can't inherit from each other unless there's a will.

If you don't name a beneficiary (the person who gets the money), the insurer pays it into your estate. It could then take a long time to reach the person you want, and might be subject to Inheritance Tax. A policy written in trust isn't counted as part of your estate and can be paid outside probate (dealing with the estate) and Inheritance Tax.

MoneyHelper says life insurance is especially important while your children are young. If your family would need regular payments instead of one lump sum, family income benefit pays out that way. Our guides to family life insurance and life insurance for mums and dads have more.

Student loans and other debts

If you die, the Student Loans Company cancels your student loan once it's told and sent evidence such as an original death certificate. For other debts in your name only, Citizens Advice says (for England) that creditors generally can't recover what your estate can't pay from anyone else, including your relatives.

Joint debts in England, such as a joint account overdraft or a joint credit agreement, can still be recovered from the surviving person. Someone who lived with you may also be liable for property debts such as council tax or water bills.

So in your 20s, the debts that matter for life insurance are the ones someone else would pay: a joint mortgage or loan, or bills your income covered.

Usually, yes: Legal & General says life insurance is cheaper for young adults than older people, all things being equal. Guardian also says your premium (the amount you pay) is usually lower the younger you are when you apply.

Age is only one factor. Your premium also depends on your health, lifestyle, whether you smoke, your family medical history, dangerous sports, your job, and the type, amount and length of cover.

Some insurers publish their own price examples, listed A to Z below. Each is for one person on one date, so use them to see how age and smoking change a price.

In Legal & General's April 2026 example, the price at 40 (£17.80) was about three times the price at 20 (£5.89) for the same cover. In its October 2025 example, the price at 45 (£28.47) was about two and a half times the price at 35 (£11.16).

Legal & General says its life insurance starts from £5 a month depending on your circumstances, and its average cost was £26.33 a month in 2025. Our guide to average life insurance cost in the UK explains more about what drives the price.

The age you buy at can affect what you pay for years:

• With Legal & General's life insurance, your premium stays the same for the whole policy unless you make changes. Beagle Street promises its premiums will never go up unless you ask to change your policy, whatever your age or health.
• Not every policy fixes the price. Level term premiums stay the same unless the policy is reviewable (the insurer can change the price later), and reviewable policies tend to cost less at the start.
• Legal & General says life insurance is generally more expensive the longer you leave it. If you cancel a policy and take out a new one later, you'll face higher premiums because you'll be older.
• Legal & General says it may be wise to buy when you're younger, as future illness could raise premiums or restrict your ability to get cover. MoneyHelper also says that as you get older or develop medical problems, it may be cheaper to keep a policy you bought when you were younger.

Smoking and vaping

At Legal & General, vaping counts as smoking. Its non-smoker definition rules out any use of cigarettes, cigars, a pipe (including shisha), vapes, e-cigarettes or nicotine replacements in the last 12 months, even without nicotine.

If you stop and later meet that definition, you may be able to take out a new policy as a non-smoker. Our guide to life insurance for smokers has more.

Health questions and medical checks

At Aviva, most applicants don't need a medical exam. It asks a few health and lifestyle questions when you apply, and if it does ask for an exam, it covers the cost.

At Guardian, younger applicants can get more Life Protection cover before medical evidence is needed. The limit is £1,000,000 if you're 30 or under and £770,000 at 31 to 40, falling to £100,000 at 61 to 64.

Long enough to cover the years someone relies on you. Legal & General says some people choose a term to match a mortgage or the years before a child leaves home as an adult.

Term life insurance runs for a fixed period, such as five, ten or 25 years, and pays a lump sum if you die during it. Legal & General's policies have no cash value and pay nothing if the term ends without a valid claim.

Term assurance is typically set up for around 25 to 30 years at first, often in line with a mortgage. A repayment mortgage usually runs for 25 years, and Legal & General suggests checking your policy is long enough to cover it.

Maximum policy lengths in the table below run from 40 years at Beagle Street (direct) to 72 years at Guardian and Royal London. There can be a minimum too: a Legal & General policy can't end before your 29th birthday, so a short policy taken out at 18 or 19 has to run until at least then.

Adding cover later as your life changes

If you start with a smaller amount, several insurers let you add cover later without answering health questions again, after set life events and within limits. Royal London and Vitality only include this option if they accepted you on standard terms (without a higher premium or exclusions).

Both pay out while you're alive: critical illness cover on a diagnosis, income protection when illness or an accident stops you working. Life insurance only pays out when you die. You can also pay extra to add waiver of premium, which pays your premiums if an accident or illness stops you working.

Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a condition listed in your policy, which can help pay off a mortgage, treatment or household bills. It pays out once and the policy ends, though some policies make a smaller payment for less severe conditions, or if one of your children has a listed condition.

The conditions covered vary: the most comprehensive policies cover 50 or more, others far fewer. Citizens Advice says critical illness cover tends to cost less than income protection, but covers a very limited range of illnesses for a shorter period. Common conditions like back problems and stress aren't covered.

Income protection replaces part of your income, typically 50% to 65%, if illness or an accident stops you working. There's often a waiting (deferred) period first, most commonly 4, 13 or 26 weeks or a year. Payments run until you can work again, retire, die or the policy ends, and it covers most illnesses, including stress and mental health conditions.

Without cover, an eligible employee gets Statutory Sick Pay of £123.25 a week or 80% of normal weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for up to 28 weeks. If you're self-employed, you won't get sick pay, though you might qualify for benefits.

New Style Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) needs enough National Insurance contributions, usually from the last 2 to 3 years. For the first 13 weeks, while a claim is assessed, it's normally up to £75.65 a week under 25, or up to £95.55 a week at 25 or over (2026/27 rates).

Critical illness cover is typically set up for around 30 to 40 years, and income protection for 30 to 35 years. Both prices depend on your age, job, smoking and cover amount, plus your health for critical illness and the waiting period for income protection.

You can still apply for Legal & General's Income Protection Benefit if you're unemployed, a houseperson or working under 16 hours a week on average. If that's the case when you claim, it assesses you against the activities of daily living (basic everyday tasks), not your ability to work.

It may not be, because the cover stops if you leave that employer. Employee packages often include death in service benefit, which provides life cover linked to your salary only while you work there.

Some employers also offer group income protection. The employer decides how long it runs, how it's funded, the share of salary it pays, who gets it and how long you must be off before it starts. HMRC treats employer-funded sick pay as taxable earnings. If you work for yourself, see life insurance for the self-employed.

A personal policy is separate from your job, so it stays in place when you move employer, as long as you keep paying.

Check the amount and term, answer the health questions carefully, compare quotes and decide who gets the money.

1. Match the amount and term to who relies on you MoneyHelper says the amount you need depends on your take-home pay, day-to-day living costs, debts and mortgage or rent. Some people set the term to cover a mortgage or the years until a child is an independent adult, using level or decreasing cover.
2. Answer health and lifestyle questions carefully Under the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, you must take reasonable care not to give wrong information. If you didn't answer truthfully or accurately, or left something out, the insurer might not pay out.
3. Compare quotes across insurers Premiums vary, so it's worth shopping around and comparing quotes. Reassured, a broker, says it compares multiple life insurance quotes from a panel of leading insurers.
4. Name a beneficiary or put the policy in trust Without a named beneficiary, the insurer pays into your estate. A policy written in trust isn't counted as part of your estate and can be paid outside probate and Inheritance Tax.
5. Remember the 30-day cooling-off period You have 30 days from buying a policy to change your mind and get a full refund.