Many people feel that life insurance is at the top of their priority list, especially those who have loved ones who depend on them for their financial security. Life insurance policies offer comfort to those who want to make sure their dependants can survive after they are gone. Finding out you a

re HIV positive may make things harder when searching for a policy that will cover you now. Some life insurance companies will offer enough insurance to cover the cost of the funeral for someone who is HIV positive but there will be very few willing to offer lump sum payments to your dependants after you pass away.

You should check to see if you have any existing policies in place already. You may have life insurance from your employer or through your home mortgage. Check to see if any existing policies include rider policies. Your employer may have a life insurance policy that is automatically extended to you and will pay out a percentage of your wages to your beneficiaries. If you have any policies that are in effect be sure to keep them active, if they lapse you will most likely not get them back with an HIV diagnosis.

The social security department should be contacted to find out what your death benefits are and who the beneficiaries are for those benefits. You can find out how the payments will be made and make any changes if necessary at this time.

An attorney can be helpful to explain the death benefits that you have in place and to answer questions about beneficiaries and how they are to be paid after your death.

The human resources department at your job will be able to assist you with any programs or life insurance policies that they offer that may be available to you. Many employers will automatically have you insured through a group life insurance policy that pays out a certain percentage of your wages in the event of your death. These policies require no underwriting and no pre qualification. If you are not already a part of this program you can find out how to go about getting included in the policy. It is usually a very small amount paid directly from your paycheck.

If your job does not offer any type of life insurance policy with the employment benefit package you might consider finding a job that will. You could possibly earn less and you may not be doing what you were trained to do but having the peace of mind that your loved ones will be cared for is worth it.

Your HIV AIDS counselor will also be able to help with finding you programs or life insurance companies that may be able to assist you in your search for peace of mind. There are several insurance companies that are now accepting clients that are HIV positive because of the great results the AIDS medications has on their life span.

You can find guaranteed life insurance policies from companies that will insure anyone. The premiums will be much higher on this type of policy and you can expect that the pay outs will be much less. Some insurance companies will only offer burial costs at an extremely high premium for terminally ill clients such as someone who is HIV positive.

Graham McKenzie is the content syndication coordinator a leading South African Life Insurance and Life Cover portal. For tips on how to save on your life insurance visit our website.