PHI / Life/ ASU / Help!

merch

I am reviewing the insurances that were lumped in with my mortgage. Currently I have Life, Critical illness and Accident/Sickness/Unemployment (12 months)
I am aware I can get better/cheaper cover from other providers. Do any experts have an opinion on the priorities as far as insurances go?
I live with my partner and was considering PHI (2 x single, deferred for 12 months), Life (joint - payout on first death) and income protection (12 months)
All informed advice welcome!

lisyloo

First bit of advice is to check what your employers(s) offer.
Often you get life insurance but if youa re lucky some employers provide PHI.

They really aren't any definied set of priorities.
It really does depend on your circumstances.
If you have no dependents then you only really need life insurance if you can't afford the mortgage on one salary and your partner would want to stay in the same house.
Bear in mind that some of your pensions may pay out a lump sum on death before retirement. You haven't said your age or much about your circumstances, but if you've saved sensibly then by the time you are 35 your pension arrangements might remove the need for life cover.

It's not clear what the income protection covers. Does it overlap with the PHI? In which case you'll be paying twice.

For unemployment you have to consider how likely it is that you couldn't find another job and whether you could survive on one salary for a while.

We don't have an unemplyment cover but we couold survive on one salary for a while and have some savings and also wouldn't expect to be out of a job for long.
What package does your employer offer on redundancy? If it's good then clearly that has a bearing too.

So basically you need to consider a lot of factors I've mentioned like:

1) What benefits your employer provides
2) How you'd manage on one salary
3) what the survivor would do on first death e.g. stay in the same house
4) what redundancy package you have
5) How easy it is to find another job
6) How long you could manage on one income bearing in mind savings.

Personally I don't rate critical illness.
This is for two reasons.
Firstly it provides a lump sum which wouldn't serve you well if you couldn't work for the rest of your life.
Secondly you have to have one of a very small list of conditions.
Personally I think is PHI is much better as an income is much more valuable than a lump sum and it doesn't have a restriction of which illness you have only that you are unable to work.