Boring I know. Just a rough appreciation of how much is considered a sensible about. I’ve read about 10 times annual salary plus mortgage amount.

Also you have to decide how many years, how do you guess when your are likely to be pushing up daisies? Go with the biblical three score and ten or the UK average of 78.5 and hope for the best.

If you get a policy that covers the mortgage term, then do you take out another one if this runs out when you are in your fifties?

You are very unlikely to get life cover over aged 75. Just get enough to cover the mtg and a bit more for a funeral and a bit for your kids if you like. If you increase your mtg in the future then increase it then.

We just have one that pays the mortgage. Its a start. Looking at either critical illness or income protection soon anyone got thoughts on pros and cons?

AA thats what we have currently but hopefully moving house soon so looking at it all again. Haven’t decided on critical illness yet but I will probably get it.

Do you actually need the insurance? The amount of cover that you need is dependant on your circumstances. I have it now by virtue of my job and it is 4x my salary. If I didn’t have that then then I wouldn’t have any as I don’t need it. I have no dependants and if I die then the mortgage company can have the house, that’s what the loan is guaranteed against afterall.

Think about what you actually need and act accordingly, but once your mortgage is paid off what do you actually want the money for, should the worst actually happen?

but once your mortgage is paid off what do you actually want the money for, should the worst actually happen?

the wife and kids I imagine

check you dont have cover through your work. I do – thankfully ….

Ive found my work is quite a good way to shut mortgage advisors up when they start their hard sell and wont quit till you at least let them quote….

“i work abroad alot”

“where”

“west africa , middle east , eastern europe”

“awooooga awoooga do not sell insurance to this man”

the wife and kids I imagine

I suppose what I’m getting at is how much after the mortgage is covered is a reasonable amount per child?

I just sat down and I though if I died how much would my wife need not to have to work while she looked after the kids, as she’d be a single parent.

Joint insure for that, as if your wife died you’d then also be a single parent.

And if you both die who’ll look after the children, make sure they’ve enough cash to not have to work – as they are now looking after your children.

We then just got a basic death policy to cover – cheaper when you are young too. The mortgage, when we had one, was also covered, and I’d 4x my salary from work too.

According to LV the average cost from cradle to 21 is £222k per child 😯

http://www.lv.com/assets/pdfs/other/COAC-10-report.pdf

If you know what you are looking for the below company is hard to beat with the commission paid upfront.

http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/index.php

Thanks crofts got a great quote from Cavendish

No probs! All about money in your pocket……

I would highly recommend that you take out critical illness cover as well. You are much more likely to get ill rather than just dropping dead or being involved in some kind of fatal accident.

I had been paying critical ilness since 2002 and developed an illness at the end of last year. Had to get a major operation but i was only off work for 3 weeks and i got a payout. I was almost set to stop the payments prior to getting ill as i thought i was just throwing money away and it was of no use. Thank god i didn’t. You never know what’s round the corner!!!

We get Life Insurance through work which is 4x annual salary.

CI

i agree in principal but having been around when my dad was refused payouts after multiple heart attacks left him unable to work for nearly a year as a heart attack isnt an illness ……

they can stick their policies where the sun dont shine.

out of interest – did your payout = anything like what you paid in.

We also get Critical illness cover through work as well. One colleague had a sinus infection spread to the brain lining, which swelled up and caused a black out. It was very close, he ended up in an induced coma with half his skull removed and was in intensive care for months. Sadly he suffered brain damage as a result. They paid out (75% of salary) for several years until he was well enough to go back to work. He’s not quite all he was but 85% there and still improving.

We’ve two young kids, and if anything happens to either or both of us, we don’t want the remaining parent (or the future guardian) to have any financial troubles, which to us means not having to work til the kids are grown. It doesn’t cost much to buy a respectable amount of cover, and if you’ve got dependents I think you really should have a goodly amount of insurance. The monthly cost is pretty much peanuts if you’re a non smoker in reasonable health.

We were told its better to have two separate policies- doesn’t cost much more than a joint, and in the event of both parents dying there would be two payouts, makes it a bit easier on whoever gets to bring up your kids.

Agree that there’s probably not much point if you’ve no dependents, unless to pay off a joint mortgage.

Legal and General just paid us out £110k under the critical illness policy. My wife had a mild ish stroke a couple of years ago…

No drama, no messing, would recommend.

i agree in principal but having been around when my dad was refused payouts after multiple heart attacks left him unable to work for nearly a year as a heart attack isnt an illness ……

they can stick their policies where the sun dont shine.

out of interest – did your payout = anything like what you paid in.

Yes it did. I had been paying just over £60 per month for 2 seperate policies and both paid out £100000.

I have a mate who had a heart attack at the age of 28 and he never got a payout either.