Critical Illness Cover??

truescot

Opinions sought...

I notice that MSE states that they are not fans of Critical Illness Cover, and I am a dedicated moneysaver, however the one area where I would not cut costs is where my family are potentially affected.

So...39yrs old, healthy, stable job etc etc, married, 2 young kids, main bread winner.

Took out 2 seperate (me and wife) decreasing Term Mortgage Cover Policies with Critical Illness Cover. Chose a policy which my IFA (brother in law) advised had good condition coverage, But that £60 a month would be very welcome in our pockets if Critical Illness Cover is not really worthwhile. Would Life Assurance be an option (and is that usually alot cheaper?)

Any thoughts?

ACG

Life Insurance is probably quite important as the sole breadwinner and Critical illness (CI) cover also has its uses.

When im making recommendations, i tend to recommend Life, CI and PHI although peoples budgets usually kick so i have to look at getting them to fit in with the budget.

The first thing i usually look at reducing is CI. My personal opinion is that Income Protection should usually be seen as the priority - even if its not for the maximum cover available this followed by life insurance and then CI to some extent if affordable.

Dont take that as a recommendation as it isnt always the case but thats how i generally look at things. Speak to your brother in law, hes presumably not going to be ripping you off.

_Andy_

truescot wrote: »

Opinions sought...



So...39yrs old, healthy,

When you're healthy is the time to take CI cover, not when you're old/ill

dunstonh

The MSE article on CI cover is a disgrace to the site. It is written by someone that doesnt understand the cover and policy types and appears to have a bias against them.

Rising_Phoenix

I am currently looking through my levels of cover and have a question on this subject.

I am paying £52.25 per month for a Friends Provident Mortgage Protection and Critical Illness policy. From reading through this web site / forums I get the impression that I am paying over the odds however much like the OP my priority is to ensure that should anything happen to me that my family wouldnt be left in a financial mess.

Being relatively young at 29 would I see better value from a life assurance policy, which it seems would also be cheaper? I appreciate there are many variables and advice is difficult to give on so little information but any help would be greatly recieved.

dunstonh

Being relatively young at 29 would I see better value from a life assurance policy, which it seems would also be cheaper? I appreciate there are many variables and advice is difficult to give on so little information but any help would be greatly recieved.

My youngest claimant was 25. Had one a couple of years ago aged 31. In your 20s, cover is very cheap but leave it until your 30s and it starts jumping up in price quite quickly.

OshayAway

Rising_Phoenix wrote: »

I am currently looking through my levels of cover and have a question on this subject.

I am paying £52.25 per month for a Friends Provident Mortgage Protection and Critical Illness policy. From reading through this web site / forums I get the impression that I am paying over the odds however much like the OP my priority is to ensure that should anything happen to me that my family wouldnt be left in a financial mess.

Being relatively young at 29 would I see better value from a life assurance policy, which it seems would also be cheaper? I appreciate there are many variables and advice is difficult to give on so little information but any help would be greatly recieved.

Critical illness cover is more expensive than life cover for the simple reason that you are significantly more likely to claim on that than life cover in any given term. In relation to value, it's important to factor that in. It's also worth considering the financial impact on you and your family should you be diagnosed with something serious and fit the cover to any shortfall.