to expect parents to have life insurance as a matter of course?

[probablyoverinsured]

Is it not the first thing you think about when you first hold your newborn? How can I best care for this little one? What do I need to do/sacrifice to ensure their welfare? in any circumstances?

I appreciate you can't be insured for every eventuality, and with the best will in the world, you can think you have taken out adequate insurance, and in the event it doesn't actually pay out for some reason or other.

But it's about £2 a week, in most cases - surely this is factored into the cost of providing for a child, when you do your calculations? I expect there are a few that can't afford it, but most can.

I am just amazed to hear of someone recently, really struggling, with no life insurance payout for the children, because there was no policy.

Am I living in a fool's paradise? Don't most parents have life insurance? Am I just showing my ignorance? Why wouldn't a parent have life insurance? Do you? if not, why not?

It's not £2 a week. It's more like £50 or so a month minimum.

Also most salaried people have death in service cover which may be considered adequate

We have it, and it's definitely not £2 a week.

Only my husband has life insurance. It's very significantly more than £2 a week! And I'm virtually uninsurable due to health conditions.

It's a rather naive to assume everyone can get life insurance for £100 a year! And even if they could, that's still unaffordable for a significant minority who are struggling so much they rely on food banks to feed their children adequately.

I wouldn’t absolutely check that your policy cover is accurate. There’s no way a forty-something-year-old smoker will be covered for critical illness at that price.

well, I just plugged in 30 year old non smoker to various price comparison sites, that is where I got the £2 a week from, and that was discounting the cheapest ones, of £6 a month

no critical illness cover

*I would absolutely check

£2 a week seems unbelievably cheap. Where are you getting that figure?

I looked into it recently and it was £100's for us. I don't have it. In my experience putting in insurance claims they try to wriggle out of everything and it's very stressful to actually get them to pay out.

We have it, it's not £2 a week! No critical illness cover though because that is too expensive. It's not always a condition of mortgage these days, and often the recommended insurance company is way more expensive than if you get it separately.

Its never been a requirement of any mortgage Ive had (since the 90s), and for my first mortgage I was stupid enough to go along with the 'need for life insurance' (didnt even have kids!) and was uninsurable due to health issues at the time anyway. Never bothered since.

also, of course it depends on level of cover, the higher the cover, the higher the price, the amount I plugged in was £200 000

Just gone through to proceed with the 56 quid a month one and they can't offer it to me because of my RA. So I need specialist insurance. And this is where my bothered runs out. Plus it will be a dam lot more than 56 quid

"But it's about £2 a week, in most cases"

It isn't

"are you sure you don't have one attached to the mortgage? They are normally sorted out together, aren't they? You normally need the life insurance documents to get the mortgage - at least my generation did - maybe it has changed"

Nope. And I doubt you're much older than me OP. This is not and has not been a thing in the decades I've had mortgages.

"I agree that in an ideal world, Critical illness cover is good to have too, but again, I think it comes attached to most mortgage agreements."

Nope. Wrong again. Are you not very financially savvy? I suspect you might've been a prime victim of PPI

Definitely something to get in your early 20s when it is very cheap. As soon as you have any health conditions to declare it becomes expensive quickly. I can see why people don’t/can’t prioritise it after a certain age.

Surely op you understand everyone is a different age with different medical problems which affects the price?

Im 30. I have life insurance at £6 a month since i was 25. My dp doesnt have life insurance and i would dread to see the cost of his as he has heart disease.

No insurance of any kind was ever mentioned with my mortgage

I've never seen one as low as £2 a week, most of our quotes were £30-60 pcm which is a lot if you are struggling, even if you aren't struggling in the current climate people are cutting back and it's yet another additional expense.

Generally speaking people don't like to think of their mortality, I've also been reluctant as I know of 4 friends/acquaintances who have really struggled to get any kind of pay out.

@ComtesseDeSpair ahh forgot to mention the life cover is on a decreasing basis which brings the cost down. I went with Aviva

I agree with your general sentiment. I've always ensured there's some type of insurance protection when dependants would be left in the shit if I died, whether that's death in service or standalone cover, or a combination.
Not always for the 'full' sum insured in an ideal world, but always something depending on realistic circumstances and available budget.

I've been declined twice in recent months because I have previously had MH issues despite going though a broker and being in good health (physically and mentally) now. Its not as simple as you make out.

It’s not £2 a week for everyone, where have you got that information from?

Fair enough. I’m just suggesting you make sure your husband has been accurately recorded as a current smoker. £40 a month would be a cheap critical illness premium for a single person policy of a non-smoking forty-something, let alone a joint policy with one person a smoker.

I can't believe the vote on this one! I was a struggling lone parent with my first but still had a small life insurance policy to make sure she'd be financially helped at least a little if I died. Now, married with 2 DC (the eldest is an adult now so only 1 dependent), I have fairly decent cover (£250k but we're mortgage free thankfully) plus cancer cover plus death in service benefit of (I think) four times my annual salary.

There'll be no go fund me or just giving pages set up to finance my family if the worst should happen - it's a basic responsibility of a parent, as the OP says.

What's the point in paying for life/critical illness insurance if it means I can't afford to pay my bills?

Cancer is prolific in my family, my father had MND and more than one stroke, plus I'm overweight. The price of insurance would be prohibitive.

Fortunately I do have death in service attached to my job that isn't risk based so as long as I die whilst employed I'm covered.

For most people insurance is theft.

it's a basic responsibility of a parent, as the OP says.

As is feeding your children. Yet how many parents are relying on free school meals and food banks to do it? It’s a bit tone deaf to declare it unbelievable when we already know how many parents aren’t able to perform other “basic responsibilities” due to lack of money.