** As a responsible parent, what would you advise? **

codger

Just a quickie -- but help would be much appreciated!

Our son lives at home with us. He's 26. Very responsible. Has a decent job with a national retail company which ocasionally involves him haring off in his privately-owned car to different offices elsewhere in the UK.
He has no partner, no mortgage, and no medical history of any sort.
He's never smoked. He doesn't drink. He has a clean licence. In all things, he is a paragon of virtue and thus utterly unlike his, er, parents.

Currently he's away again elsewhere in the UK. . . at precisely the same time we learn from friends of ours that some folks they know have, sadly, lost their 23-year-old daughter in a motoring accident. The girl had no life insurance because she "never saw the need for it". The accident occurred three months ago and she has been in hospital ever since, 260 miles from where she lived with her parents. The costs and stress of being at her bedside have been, understandably, horrendous.

I don't wish to sound morbid, but it occurred to me that our off-spring has no life insurance, either. Nor accident insurance. Nor, well, anything (I'm assuming he's covered for something under his Comprehensive motor insurance, but don't really know what.)

I know if I mention this subject to him he'll think I'm getting paranoid. But as a responsible parent, shouldn't I be reminding him of the need to have insurance cover?

(And if so, what kind -- is there such a thing as a mixture of accident and life insurance or, or. . . What would be best for a single chap living at home with his doddery parents?)

Advice appreciated: thanks!

DaisyFlower

If he has no dependents, spouse or mortgage I dont personally think he needs it.

Elliesmum

I'm afraid I agree with DaisyFlower, I never had life insurance until I bought a property. I'm sure if my dependants had come first I would have taken some out to cover for them.

Obviously he can take out life insurance if he wants to, but the question is - does he need to?

EM xx

codger

Thanks DF and EM! Turns out, we now learn that he had looked into this himself last year and was quoted a premium of £5 a month for £36,000 for a term of 35 years (or the other way around, I can't remember.) He decided the proverbial fiver -- and more besides -- was needed to cope with the rise in the cost of petrol. Looking at it like that, well, there seems no contest really!

dunstonh

If this life assurance had been taken out through an adviser then it would be a mis-sale. Its as simple as that. Life assurance has to show an insurable interest and have a need. There isnt one here.

Jay_uk_2

I just read this and thought I'd sign up to "throw a spanner in the works" so to speak.

I'm 25yrs old and live with my Mother in a similar situation as the OP's Son.

Late last year I ended up collapsing and was taken into hospital where I was diagnosed with Pancreatitis. The following 5 days where I was stabilised the only thing I could thing of was how much my Mother would struggle with things financially without my salary coming into the house.

A few months later I did a LOT of reading up and got various advice before setting up a policy with Legal & General.

As I have no estate in my name I set up the policy in Trust and assigned my Mother as the sole benefit.

Other than my recent hospital I'm in good health, don't drink or smoke and weigh ever so slightly more than I probably should so my policy is a mere £6 a month for an extensive amount that would see my Mother have a comfortable life should the worst ever happen.

Jay (Not a mummy's boy honest! :shhh:)

WRabbit

One other thing to check out is his employer may have a policy for injury/death which he may already have as benefit or can be added on to his pension.

I know that my work (a small firm) has a policy that if I'm injured whilst on company business even in my own car there is a payout.

codger

I'm haring around today too much so apologies for the belated thanks to Jay and wrabbit! As ever, it's the kindness of others here that makes MSE so indispensable.

Re employer: yes, apparently there's employee accident cover etc (we didn't realise this until yesterday, doh!) Good to be reminded of that though!

Jay: welcome to MSE :beer: (and hopefully you're now as fit as the proverbial fiddle again).

Your post is giving food for thought -- fortunately, we wouldn't suffer an income loss if the unthinkable ever occurred, but as we are now both retired (my wife and I are merely 30, we packed it in early. . . ) I do wonder, sometimes, about what the future might have in store. And then think: ah, sod it!

Anyway. We will definitely look into the Legal & General / Trust aspect you mentioned -- the information gained as a result of your advice may turn out to be something to be squirrelled away rather than acted upon immediately, but far better to have it now than later. Thank you again!