Would you take out life insurance as sole applicant?

rec0286

Hello

I am close to exchanging on a house - first time buyer - hooray! I was offered life insurance by the broker and after thinking about it I have decided to turn it down because I am the sole applicant without children. My thoughts are that later down the line, should I take out a mortgage with my boyfriend or if we have children, then I would want life insurance. As it stands it seems like an unnecessary cost... does this sound sensible? I'm worried that I'm doing something stupid by turning it down, but as it doesn't cover things like non-terminal illness/loss of job etc it doesn't seem like the best way to spend my money?

Thanks for your thoughts

kingstreet

Do you want someone to inherit the unencumbered property on your death?

If you do, take the cover.

If you are happy for the property to be sold by your executor or repossessed to repay the mortgage, don't.

PasturesNew

I'm single. I've never bothered with it. I've always figured the house, when sold, would cover the mortgage and so that covers it really ..... it's worked so far. I didn't die so that'd have been money wasted.

ACG

There is no right or wrong answer.
The thing to think about however is what would happen if something were to happen to you tomorrow - something bad but not enough to finish you off (so to speak)? When it comes to applying for life insurance/critical illness/income protection, you may find you are uninsurable or the cost rockets because of historic health issues.

Personally, I would have thought PHI/Income Protection was more important your current situation than life insurance - although thats not to say there is not a case for both.

rec0286

Thanks for your replies. I will have to look into income protection. As far as what happens if I die over the next 5 years (unlikely at my age - touch wood - but of course you never know!), with my current situation I would be happy for the house to be repossessed. It sounds like no life insurance for this initial period is the right decision for me then, although should my situation change and the mortgage become joint or should we have children, I will certainly get insurance at this point.

Thanks all

davidmcn

rec0286 wrote: »

with my current situation I would be happy for the house to be repossessed.

That's pretty unlikely, unless it ends up in negative equity. Your executors will sell it and pay off the mortgage from the proceeds.