Over 55's plans

weighty1_2

McKneff wrote: »

Why not just save, in a seperate account enough to cover 2 funerals.
Say £6K. Unless you have some savings that you could put away into an Isa and then forget about it till nature takes its course.

I always think of these things like Currys 3 or 5 year insurance cover.
Never worth the money. Mind, in currys case, you may not need a repair of anything, a funeral, well that's inevitable. But no risk to your money,

Because funeral inflation is rising much faster than RPI inflation and putting £3k into 2 ISA's is not likely to match the increased costs of a funeral in 10-years, let alone 20+.

McKneff

Well, you have to think about that, £3k was just a ball park figure really, £10, £15K.

There is still the risk of paying £20k lining the insurance companies pockets and then just getting £15K back in kind.

My OH and I dont have any insurance of any kind, we will just pay what we have to pay when it happens, luckily we have the savings to cover them.

forgotmyname

When they took out these funeral plans one cost £2200, Less than 2 years later the same plan was £2800.

Surfer

Thanks. Lots of useful info so need to start shopping around and hope we don't get conned.

Mojisola

McKneff wrote: »

Why not just save, in a seperate account enough to cover 2 funerals.
Say £6K. Unless you have some savings that you could put away into an Isa and then forget about it till nature takes its course.

The problem with keeping savings in an ordinary account is that, if you ever need to claim means tested benefits, you are only allowed a certain level. If you're trying to save for two funerals, it doesn't allow much leeway if there's maintenance work on a property to be paid for or replacing big electrical items.

bigmatt1174

Also the beauty of a whole of life plan compared to an over 50's plan or saving is that if you have for example a sum assured of £5000 and you contracted a serious illness and died six months later the sum assured of £5000 would be paid out as long as the medical questions had been completed truthfully and honestly. The over 55 plan would not pay out and the savings account would not have enough savings in it!

Speak to an IFA and ask for Whole of Life insurance - there are too many hoops for IFA to jump through these days to try and con someone - the regulation is horrific. There are still some bad ones out there but my experience is the vast majority are decent people.

Find a friend who has dealt with one or if you this isn't viable speak to a couple of them - they will all have to tell you upfront if they are independent or not and who they can recommend - an IFA works for you - not a bank or insurance company.

I would avoid the banks as they are wither single tied or multi tied so not independent!