life insurance advice complete novice

donsaini

just in process of buying a house £250k. mortgage£220k. joint application.
also found out wife's pregnant due sept.

my salary is £50k, hers £12k.
i have no life insurance at moment. wife was sold an endowment 5 yrs ago by unscrupulous IFA, when she was single, with life insurance component of £20k.

wish to be able to be in position to educate kids privately, and pay their uni fees, so they start of debt free.

parents live close by if something to either one of us they would help out.

wondering how much life cover.

maybe £220k decreasing joint cover and £200K single level term cover for me,

would it be worth having level term cover both of us, considering our income disparities. would be for CI also.

or would say £400k level term joint cover be better.

wife doesnt like discusssing as says its too morbid


any help please. many thanx.

dunstonh

If your wife was to die, would you have to pay for childcare or take on a reduced workload/income? if so, your wife needs protection.

Its not a nice subject to discuss but point out to your wife that approx 1 in 5 will not make retirement and its better to discuss it and get it sorted now rather than do nothing, have it happen and then lose the house etc later on.

There would be advantages with some providers doing £400k level due to discounted premiums with a higher sum assured. The reducing mortgage balance would mean that the life cover, in effect, is increasing each year for the family protection. However, it would be more expensive than doing a mortage decreasing term assurance to cover the mortgage and a level term assurance for the family protection.

Without doing a analysis of your income/expenditure/lifestyle, no-one hear can tell you what exactly you need. However, £200k for someone on 50kp.a. is not very much for family protection. It would only cover 1/5th of your income in the event of your death.