A little morbid but it's about life insurance

[sadkoala]

Sorry I have no idea where to post this but looking for some insight! Feel free to point me towards the right topic.

Death is a bit of a sad thing to think about I guess but me and DP have been getting out affairs in order recently and are looking to take out life insurance.
I think we are wanting both life insurance and a critical illness cover which pays out X amount at diagnosis just in case.

I am currently looking at comparison sites and they are asking me to input whatever amount I would like the cover to be for for both instances.

Has anyone got it?
What is an average policy?
Our mortgage has about 50K left on it so that would be good to cover it, funeral costs, a bit on top for DCs ?
Also how much in case of critical illness?

In my understanding the money would be to make things a bit easier at a difficult time.

[StrongerThanIThought76]

If you have dcs it is a no brainer. Cost will depend on lots of things, such as your ages, your health, your jobs, how much you want to cover etc.

In my circumstances ( single parent, 2dc) I have a decreasing term policy to cover what's left on the repayment mortgage, a level term policy to give the kids a nest egg should the worst happen. Both have critical illness options which would pay out in a number of scenarios (not necessarily terminal conditions but would pay out if I was unable to work).

[MissConductUS]

Life insurance is usually bought to replace income, so think about how much that would add up to for each of you for at least 5-10 years.

Dread disease insurance is usually a terrible deal (at least here in the US) because the coverage is so narrow. Assuming your medical treatment is paid in some other way, you shouldn't have a lot of additional expenses if you get sick, though you might lose some income. That's what disability insurance covers.

[nrpmum]

I'm a qualified advisor. I have recently stopped advising but am up to regulation so feel free to PM me if you like because it is not a simple answer, and more questions may need to be asked of you.

[AppleDump]

I would say to get single cover each as my advisor said that for joint cover if one person dies then the policy stops. Not sure if that is still true but worth asking.

Also try and get a policy for as long as possible. Dh's ran out age 45 and it costs so much more than when he was 30.

I cannot get life insurance now due to an illness so DH won't get much if I go.

[Pimmsypimms]

We have a policy with legal and general, it's life and critical illness. It's a decreasing term policy and pays enough to clear the mortgage. It would also pay a lump sum if we had a critical illness (£50k) as well as pay off the mortgage.

[FranklinTheCat]

We've just done this. We went for level term cover because there wasn't much difference cost-wise and we liked the idea of a bit of a nest egg if we'd paid off more of the mortgage.

A policy which pays off the outstanding amount on the mortgage is the minimum but you would want to consider extras such as whether one of you would have to/want to reduce working hours if anything happened to the other parents, and whether one salary would be sufficient to cover all other expenses apart from the mortgage.

We decided against critical illness cover as it was very expensive for what felt like very little. We both have good sick pay and it looks as though a better option for us would be an income protection policy, to start paying out after the sick pay stops. That seemed much better value than critical illness, although you do have to read the small print.

Look into getting life insurance written in trust - my understanding is that this means it isn't counted as part of the estate for inheritance tax purposes.

[Charley34]

I can't even get it got heart probs pacemaker atrial fibulation etc awaiting on 1 company getting medical history I'm not hopeful but as a single mum I'm so upset and angry my son won't have anything.

[RamblinRosie]

My “Whole of Life” policy has turned out to be excellent value, a bit more expensive than term insurance, but after 30 odd years I could cash it in for twice what I’d paid in, currently it will payout c15 times on my death.

[3in4years]

We have a joint policy that does not cover our mortgage BUT we both get a death in service payout too. No critical illness cover as we also have sick pay and felt it wasn't worth it. So our monthly payments are only £10 buy if the worst happened to one of us the other could be mortgage free.