It can be tempting to think that taking out a lot of insurance policies could mean you could get a bigger payout. Maybe having two house insurance policy may seem like a good idea, so if it burns down you can claim twice and get the value of two houses.

However, insurance does not work like this. If you have two insurance policies for the house and it does burn down and you claim on both, they will pay you half the value each, you will not get paid twice. This would be the same for contents and car insurance. It is actually against the law to claim for something twice and that is why insurance policies split the payout like this.

However, having extra cover for life is different, unless it is against a mortgage. If you want insurance so that there is money left when you die, perhaps to cover funeral expenses or to give certain family members lump sums of money, then different and multiple policies can be taken out for this. There is a huge selection of such policies and you may choose to take one out each time you have a child or maybe at different stages of your life.

If you are unsure as to whether you can have multiple policies for certain things, then it is best to check with an expert. It would be upsetting to realise that policies you had taken out were a waste of time because you had been insuring the same thing twice. Insurance can be costly and if you are spending money twice on it then it would be even more costly.

Another thing to consider with multiple policies is that if you take them out with the same company you may be able to save some money. They may be able to offer some sort of discount or bonus and so it is worth asking about that.