Critical Illness and life cover

[bauldy]

I'm looking to sign up for some critical illness and life cover. Can anyone recommend good cover?

[kaiser78]

Have a look at Old Mutual (ex Skandia). I have my CI/L cover with them.

[PermMCCon]

I'm looking to sign up for some critical illness and life cover. Can anyone recommend good cover?

Liverpool Victoria are also very good. If we are honest, all the biggies are pretty good.

[ladymuck]

I have Critical Illness with Prudential/Vitality/whatever they call themselves this week, until I need to claim on it, I have no idea if it's any good!

Never bothered with life cover as I have no dependents and the cash is no good to me when I'm dead.

[WordIsBond]

Life cover -- you should probably get this as a Relevant Life Plan for tax efficiency purposes.

Critical Illness cover -- Aviva is offering a RLP for CI as well. It has not yet been challenged by HMRC. Vitality offered a RLP for CI and HMRC challenged theirs, so they've withdrawn it. As far as I know, Aviva has still not withdrawn theirs, which would suggest a substantive enough difference that they are willing to take the risk of continuing to sell it. I'd think they could be vulnerable to mis-selling claims if they lose this, so you may consider it worth going for it.

Any of the big providers should be fine. As a general rule, you want insurance to be there when you need it, so you don't want a small company that goes under at just the wrong time. Obviously big companies can get in trouble too, but if I want insurance, I want a bigger company.

[EdwardJF]

Critical Illness/Life Insurance

Royal London took over our cover from Bright Grey last year. Would recommend as competitive monthly payment. My other half was diagnosed with BC and received a payout under the critical illness section of the policy. We didn't think we would get anything, and only took out critical illness as the financial advisor insisted we should. So glad we listened to him.

[l35kee]

How much are you guys paying for this stuff... I have the following via IPSE:

• £250k life cover for £14pm
• Up to £5,000 compensation for jury service
• Up to £2,000 compensation if you are ill/injured for 3 weeks
• Up to £1,000 compensation if an agency breaks its contract

That all works out at about £40pm (not including tax benefits). Obviously the illness cover is pretty basic, with a wife (who doesn't work) and 2 toddlers I think I need some extra illness cover (on top of the warchest i am starting to build up)...

Definitely be interesting to see some figures from people if happy to share....!

[WordIsBond]

How much are you guys paying for this stuff... I have the following via IPSE:

• £250k life cover for £14pm
• Up to £5,000 compensation for jury service
• Up to £2,000 compensation if you are ill/injured for 3 weeks
• Up to £1,000 compensation if an agency breaks its contract

That all works out at about £40pm (not including tax benefits). Obviously the illness cover is pretty basic, with a wife (who doesn't work) and 2 toddlers I think I need some extra illness cover (on top of the warchest i am starting to build up)...

Definitely be interesting to see some figures from people if happy to share....!

What I pay won't be helpful because I'm a lot older than you. But I hope what I do say is helpful. If that's all the cover you have, you probably need a swift kick in the rear.

If you have a heart attack and die tomorrow, is your wife left with a mortgage? Do you know how far £250K will go for her? Do you want your kids to lose both parents at once, you to death, her to work, because you didn't buy enough insurance? Two toddlers?

So she's not pursuing a career so she can be home for you and your kids, that's commendable. A lot of people disrespect that decision, but I think it's great, and that a lot of families would be better off if one parent was home with the kids. The thing is, though, it should be respected by you. Wouldn't it be nice if you made sure she was taken care of, since picking up a career (if something happens to you) may be completely impossible, after being off work, and having traumatised kids to care for?

£14pm for £250K. So, how about £28pm for £500K? Don't you think she's worth that extra £14pm to have her be at least a little more comfortable if something happens? I can't imagine any contractor who makes the kind of money you are undoubtedly making struggling to come up with 30 quid a month to make sure his wife and two young kids don't have to keep a tight budget if something happens. Funeral costs, she'll probably need to take a holiday with the kids to deal with the trauma, and suddenly a tenth of that £250K is gone already.

If you have a house mortgage-free and maybe £100K in your warchest you might be close to enough insurance. Maybe. But I bet a guy with two toddlers hasn't been playing this game long enough to have that. So buy some real insurance. She's worth it and your kids are worth it. Personally, I'd think closer to a million insurance is better given the age of your kids, especially if there's a sizable mortgage.

Illness cover -- I'd probably invest in that, too. What you have is paltry. But it is very expensive. My recommendation to my sons is to buy the stuff and run it for about three years, but also set aside dedicated savings, and once they've racked that up, drop the cover, but keep putting some into that dedicated savings. Because it is expensive, but in the short term until you get the savings built up, you want to protect your family. If you are ill, perhaps you could be home with the kids while the wife works -- it's not necessarily the same devastating family effects. So you might not need so much insurance for that purpose.

Good luck -- but buy enough insurance to show your wife you value her enough to provide really well if something happens. She'll appreciate it even if it is (hopefully) never needed.

[FrontEnder]

WIB is right there. I'm pretty much in the same situation. 2 kids, ages 1 and 3. Wife doesn't work, but is studying open university so she can go back

I recently sorted all this out and got £500k life cover. I also got a critical illness/life policy for £100k, so I wouldn't have to worry about work if I was diagnosed with something that's covered, or my wife would have the extra £100k otherwise. I pay a little over £50 a month in total.

[l35kee]

What I pay won't be helpful because I'm a lot older than you. But I hope what I do say is helpful. If that's all the cover you have, you probably need a swift kick in the rear.

If you have a heart attack and die tomorrow, is your wife left with a mortgage? Do you know how far £250K will go for her? Do you want your kids to lose both parents at once, you to death, her to work, because you didn't buy enough insurance? Two toddlers?

So she's not pursuing a career so she can be home for you and your kids, that's commendable. A lot of people disrespect that decision, but I think it's great, and that a lot of families would be better off if one parent was home with the kids. The thing is, though, it should be respected by you. Wouldn't it be nice if you made sure she was taken care of, since picking up a career (if something happens to you) may be completely impossible, after being off work, and having traumatised kids to care for?

£14pm for £250K. So, how about £28pm for £500K? Don't you think she's worth that extra £14pm to have her be at least a little more comfortable if something happens? I can't imagine any contractor who makes the kind of money you are undoubtedly making struggling to come up with 30 quid a month to make sure his wife and two young kids don't have to keep a tight budget if something happens. Funeral costs, she'll probably need to take a holiday with the kids to deal with the trauma, and suddenly a tenth of that £250K is gone already.

If you have a house mortgage-free and maybe £100K in your warchest you might be close to enough insurance. Maybe. But I bet a guy with two toddlers hasn't been playing this game long enough to have that. So buy some real insurance. She's worth it and your kids are worth it. Personally, I'd think closer to a million insurance is better given the age of your kids, especially if there's a sizable mortgage.

Illness cover -- I'd probably invest in that, too. What you have is paltry. But it is very expensive. My recommendation to my sons is to buy the stuff and run it for about three years, but also set aside dedicated savings, and once they've racked that up, drop the cover, but keep putting some into that dedicated savings. Because it is expensive, but in the short term until you get the savings built up, you want to protect your family. If you are ill, perhaps you could be home with the kids while the wife works -- it's not necessarily the same devastating family effects. So you might not need so much insurance for that purpose.

Good luck -- but buy enough insurance to show your wife you value her enough to provide really well if something happens. She'll appreciate it even if it is (hopefully) never needed.

Thank you so much I really appreciate that response. I'm just about 2 months into my first contract after being a permie for 10+ years and had never given this much thought before. You've really put it into perspective for me!