Completely clueless about life insurance

[themaskedminger]

I am about to to take out a new mortgage for £108000. I am single, 39, and have 1DC aged 17. I earn 33k.

My mortgage provider went through a quote with me and I'm surprised by the figure. (It was approximately £60 a month, but that was in addition to my existing policy taken on a much smaller mortgage) However, I've no idea what I really need, especially considering the age of my DC.

I wanted to start from scratch and I know I need insurance to cover and pay off my mortgage if I die. That would then mean the house was left to DC. So not overly concerned about leaving him a lump some.

What confuses me is the critical illness cover. Should I take this too? I have decent sick pay terms of 6 months full pay, 6 months half pay, but I suppose that's not enough.

Please help! I've tried some websites, but I'm not really sure where to begin.

Another issue is, my family medical history is unknown, and I was diagnosed with depression 12 months ago, and have been on meds since.

The critical illness cover is the expensive part of the overall £60 cost. The benefit of including it is that it will allow you to clear the mortgage if you survive one of a number of life-threatening conditions, taking pressure off you to have to return to work/full earning capacity too soon if you don't feel capable.

If you want to reduce the cost you could reduce the level of CI cover, perhaps to be enough to clear half the mortgage. You'd still have enough feel some benefit if the worst happened and it will give you choices.

Your sick pay policy is very good but is not a long term solution; you may recover from a critical illness but be unable to return to full time employment. Would your household budget still balance if you only worked part time hours but also had mortgage payments to make?