How much Life Insurance should/do you have (2 adults, 2 children)?

[oliveoil]

I am looking into updating ours, it was taken out before we had the girls.

mine covers the mortgage (huge) with a little extra

dh's is based on his salary through work so would cover the mortgage plus a little lump sum

so you basically want to cover your mortgage and have enough to live off for x amount of years?

I have a file a foot thick at home and am loath to pick it up and do any research.

It is dullsville.

Mine and dh covers our mortgage (it's critical illness cover aswell). Dh has a death in service benefit that would give a big (I am led to believe) lump sum. I on the other hand have nothing. We pay about £100/month for the cover. HTH

We don't have any life insurance, we honestly can't afford it every month. I wish we could it scares me immensley.

mine covers the mortgage only - I pay about #7 a month
dh's covers mortgage and gives me a lump sum

ours atm is about £45

will have to research a bit

x

well as you are oop north I'm assuming you don't have a London sized mortgage - ours really only just covers the mortgage and leaves me with enough that I wouldn't have to worry about work for a year or so. My life cover is less than dh's (purely because his is done through work) and would really only just cover the mortgage at the moment (but our mortgage decreases all the time and the life insurance stays the same).

In an ideal world, you'd want something to cover your mortgage and give you enough to live comfortably while factoring in your potential salary/pension opportunities.

Well first you need to make sure that you know what you have in terms of job-related benefits as Death in Service is a fairly standard benefit if you have an occupational pension.

As well as life cover you should consider need for critical illness and permanent health cover (eg what happens if one of you becomes long-term ill).

Difficult topics to have to cover. We have PHI, Critical illness cover and life cover (all separate policies). The mortgage wasn't particularly our concern, but we are paying school fees.

I think you are talking in addition to the mortgage cover? Life cover is compulsory with a mortgage afaik. We have some, but I can't remember the details .

We re-jigged it all a couple of years ago. Will ask DH.

think you cna work it out on money savign expert finbar told me

As a very wide rule of thumb it used to be said that you should have 10 x your salary in place. Mumatuks have you priced life cover - you may fine it surprisly affordable - cheaper than Sky Tv or a broadband connection sometimes - usually cheaper than contents insurance too. You may have none off these but life insurance as a minimum should be very high on your financial priorities - without it, it makes a very difficult situation much much worse for all concerned.

ours covers mortgage for £23 pcm

as i understand it from half listening to moneybox and you and yours critical illness cover is bit of a scam, too many exclusions, be very careful

Each of mine and dh covers mortgage in full.

We both work and have 4 X annual salary death-in-service benefits to cover living expenses.

We have just taken out life insurance to cover mortgage (decreasing term). Critical illness cover (joint) for equivalent of three years mortgage payments (couldn't afford the whole mortgage to be covered on critical illness). DH has 3x salary death in service. I have a family income protection paying out £8000 pa until dd is 18.

BTW - life cover ISN'T compulsory for our mortgage, but it IS strongly advised that you have it (of course).

We have no mortgage but have cover of £200k for £21 per month. Not sure this is enough any more though the way house prices have risen

We have an insurance policy for life and critical illness for the duration of the mortgage, with a bit left over. When ds was born we took out a seperate policy that would pay out £100k if one of us dies. We can add to this policy when our next one is born.

Skyler - £21 per month for £200k is very cheap - who's it with?

Mine is 350000 and costs 25 quid

Standard Life. We were both under 30 when we took it on which is prob a factor.

Our solicitor has advised us to ensure that we have separate life policies that stipulate that they will be used to pay off the mortgage. Guess some fools might treat it as a windfall, blow the lot and then find they're not able to keep up mortgage payments. This is to ensure children have a roof over their head btw.

Think critical illness cover is ok, it's the employment protection thing that is a bit scammy.

mine is £6 a month for 120k and dh is £15 a month for £120k because hes an old smoker thats with direct line but i will prob increase it next year as i havent changed it since having two more lo's

We have a policy that pays a lump sum to pay off the mortgage and another one that gives a monthly income for long enough for any dcs to have grown up.It's a joint policy so we get the same amount whichever of us goes. If dh dies it would mean I wouldn't have to rush back intowork. If I died it would give dh enough to cover child care if needed.

We have enough to pay off the tiny mortgage and then enough for DD's school and university fees and the cost of living for her. Calculated it to be a really scary amount, but would hate to leave her without. It costs us a fortune each month.