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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Do you have it?

89 replies

knittedbreast · 10/08/2011 19:33

Life insurance or assurance or what ever its called?

was just reading another thread and one lady said that when you cut back you dont cut that out.

I dont know anyone who does have life insurance, do you have it?

Is it the norm?

isnt it filled with lots of holes that get the company out of paying up?

Thanks

OP posts:
suzikettles · 10/08/2011 19:51

At 25, taking out a policy for a few thousand to cover your funeral and some money to leave for your children would be very, very cheap. You're incredibly unlikely to need it (hence cheapness), but if you do die it could make things easier.

They also tend to pay out on the event of confirmed terminal illness. It's all a bit grim, but I've known a couple of people who were saved an awful lot of worry because they had insurance - didn't have to leave the family home for eg.

Original poster
knittedbreast · 10/08/2011 19:52

sorry, do you mean that if we get insurance now and i die at age 75 my family will not get a payout?

so if i get insurance now they will insure me until aged 70 for example because after that im likely to die anyway?

OP posts:
LaWeasel · 10/08/2011 19:54

We got it when I got pregnant (we were both 21) therefore it was really cheap for whoppingly huge cover about £30pm fixed price for twenty years for 200k if one of us dies, and 100k critical illness.

Well, well, well worth it IMO. You just have no idea what will happen in your lives, and that kind of money would give huge security to surviving spouse (it's enough to buy a small house on it's own).

Malificence · 10/08/2011 19:56

Life insurance is normally for 25 years.
If you are 25, a fiver a month should get you at least £50k of cover.
Anyone with small children should have a minimum of £150k on top of any mortgage cover.

suzikettles · 10/08/2011 19:57

Ok, I did a quick Compare the Market search for you, and if you took out a £30k policy for 40 years (assuming that in 40 years time your children are grown so it's not so critical) the cheapest quote they had was £3.95 per month.

If it's something you're thinking about then it's worth having a shop around.

suzikettles · 10/08/2011 19:58

You could get £125,000 of cover for £5 apparently (this is assuming you're a non-smoker.)

herbietea · 10/08/2011 20:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
knittedbreast · 10/08/2011 20:00

so you pay them 5 a month and then after 25 yrs if yo havent died they get to keep all your money?

OP posts:
Malificence · 10/08/2011 20:00

There is also Life Assurance, which runs for 15/20 years and gives you a payout at the end of the cover - a long term savings policy as it were.
I have a "female" cancer policy ( breast cancer history in my family) , it's got a couple of years left and will pay back all my premiums ( about £2k) if I haven't claimed.

Original poster
knittedbreast · 10/08/2011 20:01

maybe i will have a look,

thanks all :)

OP posts:
Malificence · 10/08/2011 20:02

KB, it's no different to having house or car insurance - they also keep your money if you don't claim. Wink

Malificence · 10/08/2011 20:04

It's got to be worth £5 a month for the peace of mind alone?

I'd be able to retire should DH snuff it.

MadameLupino · 10/08/2011 20:09

Very timely thread, this is on my 'to do' list for this week and I've done nothing yet. I am sure MN counts as research Grin

For the Lone parents who have this, do you have to nominate someone to benefit if your children are under a certain age? Or someone to deal with it on their behalf?

suzikettles · 10/08/2011 20:09

Yep, like I say it's a bet.

Just like going to the bookies and putting a fiver on a horse. The bookie will happily take your money and give you odds that depend on how likely it is that they think the horse will win.

The insurance company will happily take your money and charge you a rate dependent on how likely they think they'll have to pay out. (and sometimes not take your business at all if they think you're too high a risk).

Most of the time the bookie/insurance company will win. That's how they stay in business.

But sometimes it pays off, and what you need to consider is what would happen if you died and the insurance wasn't in place? If you're single with no dependents you don't really need life insurance. If you have children then what will happen to them? Will your partner and they need to leave their home?

If you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. But if you can then it's not much money for some peace of mind and hopefully you'll pay the fiver or whatever every month for however many years and there'll never be a claim, because obviously that's the best scenario really Smile

Snuppeline · 10/08/2011 20:33

You really should have insurances in place as even if your on a low income (or no income) your family will still be worse off without you there.

I'm completely over the top as far as insurances go. I've got critical illness cover (which also pays out if I die), I've got a separate Life Insurance, accidental death insurance (which covers random things like dying of a terrorist attack, train accident etc which not all insurances cover), I've also got a Death in Service cover but its only one years salary so that wouldn't cover much for my family. My total monthly payments come to about £40 for all of them.

I lost my mom when I was young so I'm probably scarred but all I want is to make sure that if I'm not around my family can afford to live with a better quallity of life than if I was around (i.e. the insurance payout if I die will pay for my dd and any other childrens education and should be enough for a deposit on a home as well as allow their dad to sort out their childhood home).

I might be crazy and throwing money out the window but it helps me sleep at night.

aliceliddell · 10/08/2011 20:37

Make sure to compare the different brands, there's massive variation in cost/benefit.

Malificence · 10/08/2011 20:41

I lost my mum at 5, if she had been insured, my dad wouldn't have had to have 2 jobs and he wouldn't have met and married my bitch of a step mother.

Go through Quidco and get cashback too. Wink

It's better to have it and not ever need it, than not to have it and need it.

Sainsburys/Tesco etc, even do life cover and you get nectar/clubcard points.

kickingking · 10/08/2011 20:43

Yes, we have life insurance (lump sum payout if one of us dies) and decreasing term mortagage assurance (the mortgage will be paid off if one of us dies, it's called decreasing term because it will decrease as the amount we owe on the mortgage does).

It is probably the last thing I would cut back on. We have to have it with our mortagage, but I would sort something else out if we rented.

What we don't have is a will - we need to specify who will get the money/house if we both die Blush must get round to that.

kickingking · 10/08/2011 20:45

150K on top of cover?! We don't have that much.

BustySinclair · 10/08/2011 20:46

yes to pay off the mortgage if i kick the bucket. also have in-service lump sums for both of us

exexpat · 10/08/2011 20:49

Can I just say what I always say on these threads - if you have children, you need a will and life insurance (just basic term insurance until the children are 18 or 21). If you don't, do it. Now.

DH died at 41, when I was 38 and the DCs were 8 and 4. Luckily we did have wills and life insurance, because being widowed at that age is shitty enough without having all the extra worry about paying the mortgage/rent or dealing with lawyers for years to get bank accounts unfrozen.

superjobee · 10/08/2011 20:49

OH took out pet insurance for me Shock i am a 3 yr old golden lab apparently Hmm Grin fiver a month i cost him haha!! was a joke that keeps on taking £5 giving..

he does mention life insurance especially as we found out my blood count is dangerously low and could cause probs in labour he'll sort it out soon im just too lazy laid back to get round to it ..

Muckyhighchair · 10/08/2011 20:58

Ive got as part of the horse insurance.

I keep on getting trampled by him

catgirl1976 · 10/08/2011 21:02

We don't have a mortgage but we took out level cover life insurance due to me being pg. If one of us dies it pays out £200k and costs about £20 per month. It also pays out on terminal illness. That's with Aviva.

A will is next on the list. Bit morbid but I think if you have children you have got to make sure these things are sorted. Cannot imagine losing DH or vice versa but feel better knowing the money wouldn't be an added worry if it happened and they could keep a roof over their heads etc without me.

fivegomadindorset · 10/08/2011 21:03

Nope.