Mortgage free, no family . . . do we need life assurance ?

The_Salad

Hi, we are almost mortgage free:j, my wife and I have no children, no debts and a small amount of savings. Is life assurance really necessary?

kingstreet

Possibly not. However if one of you has an income and the other has none, what would happen to the survivor if the earner died?

After that, perhaps you should consider income protection cover to ensure the bills can be paid and your standard of living maintained in the event of inability to work due to accident, illness or disability.

lisyloo

It's not necessary if each of you independently can afford to carry on living as you wish from your own incomes (in the existing house if that's what you would most likely want).
Bear in mind that one of you now has to pay all the bills single-handedly although would have no mortgage/rent.
Also bear in mind that any private pension funds will most probably provide some form of pension/lump sum in the event of death before retirement.
You might also be lucky enough to have some "death in service" benefits. Some people seem to think this means you have to die at work, it doesn't it covers death whilst in employment.

dunstonh

If either of you were to die would the other be financially worse off? if yes, you need life assurance. If no then you do not.

Remember that you are looking not just at lost income but also lost or reduced pension.