FTB - Critical Illness, Income Protection or Life Insurance?

strawberries1

Hi all,

I'm an older first time buyer.
I'm a late 30s female with no dependants and I'm looking into insurance cover. I feel life insurance isn't relevant for me at this time.

Shall I take out Income Protection or Critical Illness Cover?

Where do I look for competitive quotes?

Thank you.

dunstonh

Shall I take out Income Protection or Critical Illness Cover?

What else do you insure? Car, house, pet, phone etc?

Your biggest asset will likely be your income. Some people insure a £400 phone but dont insure something that gives them decades of income each month.

If your income was to stop, what would happen to you? Think that scenario through.

Where do I look for competitive quotes?

income protection comes in a range of forms from budget to comprehensive. You cannot measure the product by price as you could be comparing a pretty naff PPI version vs a comprehensive PHI version. Whilst the internet has a lot of coverage of the PPI version, the PHI version is still mostly retailed via IFAs and whole of market protection advisers.

ACG

It is not really a case of one or the other.
Income Protection will ensure you have an income to cover your bills.
Critical Illness can be used to clear your mortgage, make alterations to the house, pay for private treatment etc.

Although price normally means there has to be some sacrifice. Personally I would lean more towards Income Protection but it may be worth looking at a bit of each?

strawberries1

Thank you.
I feel I'll always be able to get a job except I'm ill.
I'll certainly go for critical illness cover and will look into income protection.

tom2205

There are different elements to each kind of cover. Some providers offer extensive ranges of conditions, where as some just cover the bare minimum when it comes to critical illness so is important for you to understand what is covered, taking into account their payout rates and small print.

Income protection is fairly generic across the board but some companies have specific perks for themselves that other companies do not offer.

Chris_Pollard

Strawberries, all I will say is that I understand you are confident you will always be able to get a job - that's great and shows you are self motivated. However, I'd not presume that people who take out income protection (IP) to safeguard income do not feel exactly the same as you do now. You simply don't know what the future holds. Critical Illness (CI) covers defined conditions but the majority of claims under IP are not covered by CI. Pop onto the LV risk reality calculator to get a view on how likely you are to claim under each. IP is more expensive, but I have now customers who had to stop work - they didn't want to - they simply couldn't due to health - they couldn't afford to keep up CI premiums as they had no income. Protect your income first. Additionally, and I'm not a financial adviser, but I recommend you seek professional advice. IP is complex but not complicated. Hope this helps.

strawberries1

Chris_Pollard wrote: »

Strawberries, all I will say is that I understand you are confident you will always be able to get a job - that's great and shows you are self motivated. However, I'd not presume that people who take out income protection (IP) to safeguard income do not feel exactly the same as you do now. You simply don't know what the future holds. Critical Illness (CI) covers defined conditions but the majority of claims under IP are not covered by CI. Pop onto the LV risk reality calculator to get a view on how likely you are to claim under each. IP is more expensive, but I have now customers who had to stop work - they didn't want to - they simply couldn't due to health - they couldn't afford to keep up CI premiums as they had no income. Protect your income first. Additionally, and I'm not a financial adviser, but I recommend you seek professional advice. IP is complex but not complicated. Hope this helps.

Thanks Chris. I'll look into it.