Critical illness/income protection

[puddleduckee]

Just sorting out life insurance alongside a mortgage. Critical illness/income protection has been recommended but it's so costly. Does everyone have this as well as life insurance? Is it worth having?

I had this for some years. Being critically ill for a long time can be far more expensive for your family than you being dead.

I dont. I do however, have life insurance which pays off the mortgage and sets my child up for life.

I don't. I have life insurance as should anything happen to me god forbid, my DS will have a nice sum of money. It wouldn't set him up for life but it will make a huge difference to him.

The reason I didn't take out critical illness is simply because I couldnt afford it. It was more that triple my life quote. I tried to add it on at a later stage because I worried not having anything in place was just asking for trouble. But I still couldn't afford it

And no to income protection. Again I couldn't afford it.
But I've seen those plans never go according to plan. My parents paid into it for years. And when they needed to use it it was the worst thing ever and they have to wait 9 months for any money after a long stressful battle. After seeing that I've never been sure about them

For me income protection would be more important than critical illness. Should you become ill and be unable to work it should give you some income

My DH has income protection because it's broader than critical illness and not 1 time only. Covers his "current" profession. He got it more due to risk of injury, premium is age related only and would pay out until 60ish if necessary.

Had no problem claiming after the 6 week wait period for 9 months plus off work.

I had and paid for it for years to cover mortgage payments, stopped it when the mortgage was paid off. It also covered unemployment and it paid out £900/month for the whole 2 months I was unemployed after redundancy.

We have critical illness cover with our life insurance - we nearly didn’t take it out as it was so expensive compared to just life insurance. However, we’ve had it for 7 years now and just factor it into our overall mortgage cost. We’ve seen many friends have critical illnesses over the last 5 years - as happens as you age - and whilst we’ve not needed it yet am glad to know it’s there. We’d be stuffed without a second wage. Ours also covers child illness if it requires a length of time off work . If you can afford it, I would do it.

Yes to both, statistically more likely to get into an accident or an illness than you are to die. DH only has critical illness as he can't get income protection due to his job. I think we pay £60 in total for our insurances including life, I don't think that's much considering the peace of mind.

I have income protection . I pay £15 a month and this would get me £2,000 a month should I not be able to work in my current profession (job specific). My life insurance is linked to the mortgage so decreases over time and is £17 a month. The critical Illness is for £60,000 lump sum and is £13 a month so I pay around £45 a month for everything (I must add that this is for both me and my husband so £22.50 each a month)

Thanks all
Avalanching and Sammy would you mind telling me how you found your policies? A broker? MSE? We've been quoted nearly £300 per month, both mid-thirties, neither is us have any significant medical history and both have office jobs.

The quotes I've just looked at are £148 for the full cover I want or £50 for a policy where I'd have to wait 120 days to claim for unemployment. We would be on our knees at that point!

@puddleduckee we went through a broker (one who specialises in military families) I can't remember the ins and outs of our policies but I know it doesn't kick in until after my work's enhances sickness policy runs out so there is a deferral period which might help bring it down? But best to go through a broker as it was all a bit confusing. We were late 20s when we did ours, no medical issues just DH's job that doesn't help!

We went through a broker too. I’ve had the income protection since I was 24 and the rest for 3 years and I do have health problems. The critical Illness and life insurance are with legal and general I believe but it went through a broker for better rates

Yes DH is L&G too and I think one of my life covers is, I'm with Royal London for the rest. The broker was great because she looked at both our situations and chose which companies suited which of our needs rather than trying to lump us together.

I'm self employed and have income protection through pgmutual. It's way cheaper than the big boys, seems to pay out quickly. The low price may be attributed to the fact the cover starts to taper down after 2 years of claim rather than till retirement age, but I figure it gives peace of mind and if you are so ill you can never work again, then life is about to change in all sorts of ways. A gall bladder op or broken leg won't put me into serious mortgage arrears.

And it was £35 vs £130 pcm with pgmutual.

Many thanks all - it's really helpful to hear your advice and experiences.
We have a broker, but I just couldn't help feeling 'sold' too about why we needed these types of policy, it's left me with a niggling doubt about the value of this type of policy and also questioning his recommendation. Perhaps it's time for a second opinion!

It depends on your employment, sick pay, other savings etc. It’s more expensive than life cover because the chances of you getting ill or unemployed are much higher than dying. It may be that critical illness on its own is cheaper than income protection, and agin depends on whether you could live on one income, how easily you think you could find another job etc.

Exeter Friendly Society have been good for us too. Really easy to deal with. Weren't massively expensive when taken out but obviously has increased with age. Relatively high risk profession for injury and some interesting hobbies too!