Critical illness, life, income protection etc

proformance

Hi 

Broker is offering (fairly strongly) insurance products such as life insurance, assurance, critical illness, income protection and contents insurance. 

Just wanted to know the community's thoughts on whether this is normal practise and whether or not some or more valuable than others? 

avawat20

I have had the same though my broker (local to me). Seems normal and we are considering it all but I am shopping around first so would recommend you do the same!

davidmcn

Normal for them to offer to sell insurance. Whether (and which) you might want depends on your circumstances (any dependents, other rainy day funds you might have, attitude to risk, etc). 
Contents insurance is the most ubiquitous, but also the easiest to sort out yourself - see the advice elsewhere on this site. 

greatcrested

He earns commission, so wants you to buy.

1) whether you want /need one or more depends on your circumstances, you attitude to risk etc

2) whether you should buy via him depends whether you think he'll sell you the best and/or cheapest (not the same!) policy.

Life insurance? Well, are you married? Kids? If not why do you care about your estate getting a payout if you die? If you have dependants, what would happen to them (financially) if you died?

Critical illness/ income protection - well even if no dependants, could you continue to pay the mortage (or get evicted) if you became too ill to work, lost your job etc?

Contents? So what would it cost to replace them if the house burned down? If you have a studio flat with a room full of cheap stuff, probably not worth insuring. If on the other hand you have a 5 bed house stuffed full of antiques, top-of-the-range furniture etc,.........

TheProfessional

Our mortgage broker quoted on a life and critical illness policy and we could source exact same policy from an online broker for 2-3k less over the course of the policy.

Our broker said they would not match as she won't eat into her comission. Tbh if she had come close we would have gone with her but fair enough she didn't budge so we went with the online broker 

proformance

For the "Critical illness" stuff, is it recommended (as it was as strongly) to get the cover for the FULL mortgage amount?

Verix

The adviser will be suggesting it because they are paid on it. We are paid a lot more for any insurances sold than on the mortgage we're arranging. 

With that being said, it is still worth looking in to what is being offered. Obviously the more cover you have the better protected you will be should the worst happen but it all comes with a cost. You need to work out an amount that you're comfortable to pay long-term otherwise it's pointless having. When you look at the money coming out of your bank each month it should reassure you, not pain you. At least that's the way I see it. 

Feel free to shop around online but i'd suggest going back to your broker before taking anything you find so they can compare the different policies for you. If you prefer what you find yourself then go with that. 

greatcrested

proformance said:

For the "Critical illness" stuff, is it recommended (as it was as strongly) to get the cover for the FULL mortgage amount?

Again, that's a personal decision and should take into account your overall finances. eg If you have decent savings /investments you could use to top up the insurance payout to cover the mortgage, then perhapsnot. Or if you think it likely in those circumstancs that you'd sell and downsize, again maybe not.

Or if you also get some form of payout included in your employment contract.

Conversely you might choose to get cover for more than the mortgage, a) to cover shopping as well or b) because mortgage rates might rise in future

Marvel1

Live alone, so only got building and contents.

robatwork

All depends on your dependents.

Worst case - if you died would (housing wise) it inconvenience anyone ie. be homeless?

If so then as a minimum shop around for decreasing term life assurance if you have a repayment mortgage. This is the cheapest product and can really be obtained for peanuts if you look at a discount broker and you're young and healthy.

caprikid1

I guess asked the questions.
1. What would happen if I died
2. What would happen if I got a serious illness / was unable to work.
3. What would happen if I was unemployed for a length of time.
If the answer to the above it I don't care,  if your partner earns lots , I have 100,000's in the bank then ignore them.
Your mortgage broker is just about to sign you up to a life changing amount of debt, he would be a terrible broker if he did not have a common sense conversation about protection. I live with a widow who woke up one day with a 1 year old and 3 year old and large mortgage. Those small direct debits going out paid of the mortgage, allowed her to take time off work and have money in the bank, he partner could clearly see the benefit and common sense in what they were sold.