How much Critical Illness cover do we need?

Beckipeg

The renewal document has just come through for my Critical Illness cover and the charges have gone from £48.26 per month to £61.95 per month for £155,035.00 cover. My husband (main income earner) and I (home maker) took out similar separate Skandia policies around 9 years ago and the cover is good - more than most available currently. Since then we have had 2 children (5 + 6) and paid off our mortgage but taken on the cost of school fees. My husband has life insurance cover.
Is there a "rule of thumb" to suggest how much cover we actually need? At our review last year we decided that it was better to reduce costs by reducing cover rather than changing policy but what would be a reasonable amount?

Thanks,
Beckipeg

dunstonh

Skandia CI is very comprehensive and one of the better ones out there. Its not the cheapest but they take the quality view.

all debts + 2x salary is a rough guide.

Also, i would suggest you get a guaranteed plan rather than reviewable so you dont find yourself in this sitation again

deemy2004

Try http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/

They can't be BEAT on premium pricing for the obvious reason that they don't charge a commission !

dunstonh

They may be cheap but you pick the provider and the level of cover. So, you may pick a cheap company but how do you know which is best? Cavendish will not tell you. Which is why they do not charge for advice.

payless

Whilst I have time for their services - for cases when the person knows what they want - on an no advice basis -
I do wonder whether that fits in with the request for advice on a forum

I do worry that the wrong plan can sometimes be purchased when buying "execution only"

this is even more of an issue when looking at more complex products like CiC

--

Note they do charge either commission or a fee - most advisers will do this( its the differing level of fees/ commission charged against the differing levels of "advice" provided)

Also note that there appears to be a major provider missing from the list of the "site" mentioned,

brm_2

Beckipeg wrote:

The renewal document has just come through for my Critical Illness cover and the charges have gone from £48.26 per month to £61.95 per month for £155,035.00 cover. My husband (main income earner) and I (home maker) took out similar separate Skandia policies around 9 years ago and the cover is good - more than most available currently. Since then we have had 2 children (5 + 6) and paid off our mortgage but taken on the cost of school fees. My husband has life insurance cover.
Is there a "rule of thumb" to suggest how much cover we actually need? At our review last year we decided that it was better to reduce costs by reducing cover rather than changing policy but what would be a reasonable amount?

Thanks,
Beckipeg

You and your husband seem to have everything under very good control.
Have you both done a risk assesment regarding your current situation?.
Do you know what critical illness's you are covered for? for what you are both paying each month or as a total.
You say you have paid off your mortgage but are now paying school fee's for both of your children which is what all parents aspire to.
Please consider whether you actually need to pay this type and amount of insurance each month after your assessment.