Those who are in a relationship and are considering taking out a life insurance policy, it has been suggested to avoid joint policies or first death plans. These policies are usually taken out by couples to cover mortgages and other loans, or to provide for their children. However, although these policies are made to cover two people, the insurance company will only pay out once, on the first death, this means that after receiving the payout; the survivor of relationship may be uninsured and left exposed to fate. And so it recommended to buy two individual 'his and hers' plans so should anything happen you will end up with two separate payouts, so it would be one for each person.

Although taking out two policies may cost a few pounds more each month, the advantage is that should the tragic event occur of your death you get two potential payouts instead of one, which amounts to twice as much cover for a few extra pounds a month. Not only does this avoid the problem of leaving an uninsured survivor, but it makes it easier to divide up your protection if you were to separate or divorce. It's easy for two individual plans to go their separate ways, but almost impossible to split a joint policy down the middle. Also the separate policies route makes life easier when it comes to planning for inheritance tax, too.

In some circumstances, two separate policies can cost less than a joint policy, this usually when one partner is in much better health (or much younger) than the other person in the relationship. This is why it makes sense to shop around for two separate Best Buy life insurance plans, rather than the seemly convenient route of buying a bog-standard joint policy. At best, those few extra pounds each month could double your payout.