To not get critical illness cover?

[Rainraingoaway10]

Looking at updating our life insurance policies.

unsurprisingly the financial advisor is touting the need for critically illness cover too, but it’s a really expensive extra payment per month

is it common for people with kids to have this coverage? My job has v good sick leave policy

Is there a reason it's so dear? Ours isn't much I don't think, but it's tied to the mortgage which also isn't much.

Single parent here

I do. As does my ex

How much extra a month?

Our financial advisor always advises us to take it and we never do. It's so much more expensive and I get good sick pay and realistically if anything awful were to happen I think family would help or we'd downsize. Our health is good no history of anything in our families, obviously no one knows the future but for us we're prepared to take that risk. I think I'd rather put the money I'd be spending on it into savings incase we need it. Then we have immediate access to it. I also think the sooner we've paid off the mortgage the better off we'll be and will have more spare cash so it would be less of a concern.

Get it. I've seen so many stories of people who lose everything after a cancer diagnosis. Does your work sick cover also cover months/years off? Will it cover childcare? Mortgage? Daily living? What happens if you get a critical illness that means you can't go back to your current job ever?

Even with a decent sickness package, a critical illness cover would pay out a lump sum which could pay off your mortgage or make life a lot easier eg if you had cancer then yes your work sickness cover would cover your pay but what about your partners? Who would look after kids etc whilst you had treatment? These kinds of things are what extra cover can help with…

Yes, because you're statistically more likely to get ill than you are to die. I have critical illness, and income protection on top of our life cover. (DH can only get CI and life due to his job).

I'm (many!) years out of the world of insurance but there (used to be) several cheaper and less 'sexy' policies that were more appropriate than CIC for young families - Family Income Benefit, a type of decreasing life cover that pays an income rather than a lump sum on death, and Permanent Health Insurance which covers up to 75% of your income if you are unable to work for medical reasons.

Maybe have a chat with a fee based IFA who can advise you without the pressure of commision?

They'll be touting it because the comission will be decent for them. Depends on how much it costs and what kind of cover you're being offered.

Had it. They refused to pay.

I was unable to work for 4 months due to shocking Nhs treatment, but they wanted evidence of me trying to get work, when I was drugged up and out of it most of the time due to pain meds.

(And as public sector workers we both have good sick policies too, but if you leave that job and join another you'll be older and potentially with new pre-existing conditions that could make any future policy you do then want much more expensive)

Check the small print on anything of this nature and understand what it is you are buying.

Critical Illness will pay a lump sum usually on diagnoses of a critical illness that is life-threatening and a probability of death within 12 months. You are statistically more likely to get a life threatening illness when still relatively young compared to dying. The lump sum is paid on a diagnosis, usually a consultant's letter.

Family Income plans/benefits pay a monthly income where you are unable to work due to incapacity. Benefits are paid for only as long as the incapacity lasts. These policies are the ones where the insurer is on your back every couple of months to see when you are ready to work again. In historic cases they sent private investigators to film claimants carrying heavy groceries, playing golf or loading luggage into car boots on the way to holiday. Now social media does their policing for them.

Any employer schemes work out cheaper so look at those if you can.

I’m a civil servant, can’t see that ever changing. Would have six months full pay sick leave

quoted £50 pm for life insurance (joint)

£150 pm with critical illness added

it’s just so much extra

If you ever need to claim, the £150 pcm will appear cheap. But you must read the small print and understand what you are buying.

@Rainraingoaway10 well no I don't blame you there that's a stupid amount, without checking I think we pay £70 in total for all our life, CIC and IP. We took it out when quite young.

I'd still be minded to find a different broker to go through it all though, given the turbulent financial times I wouldn't be so confident in being a CS forever (I am one too), especially with how they want to reduce the redundancy packages, but no I absolutely wouldn't pay £150 a month.

The list of illnesses they cover can be very limited, so that is worth checking.

We pay 70 a month for critical illness and life cover. I want the mortgage paid if one of us gets sick. No one needs to be dealing with cancer and potential homelessness at the same time.

Ours is a lot but my husbands the sole earner and a high earner. It was a lifesaver when his dad was terminally ill so that was a factor in our decision too

I pay £90

Single parent for £350k life assurance and a very broad critical illness cover

Have you shopped around?

what is the health history like for you and your partner?

Just to add, we also get 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay if we were off sick.

My friends DH got cancer when he was 27 and she'd just had twins. They'd have lost the house if her parents hadn't paid the mortgage for them cos he was too ill to work for ages and then they had twins to contend with too.

We both have it, pay about £120 combined a month for life insurance and critical illness (though I'm not covered for disability due to a chronic health condition, wankers)
We've both got 6months full pay sickness cover at work but a)that won't go far with something long term like cancer and b)if one of us was critically ill/terminal we'd lime to be able to pay off the mortgage so that neither of us had go work or at least the well one could go part time for a while...or take the pressure off where we could.
To us it was important enough to pay for, though it undeniably adds to the premiums.

What do you mean by touting?

It's their job to make you aware of this, are they stating that it's compulsory to use a particular insurer?

That doesn't sound like something a reputable advisor would do. Pretty silly nowadays when everyone can access all insurers online

Our mortgage is very low/almost paid off

both in good health through ‘dodgy’ family health histories

If you have children, I wouldn't do a joint policy. You will find that two separate policies will be similar in cost and will mean two payouts to your beneficiaries if you were both to die at the same time.