First Time Buyers - Life Insurance: Where do I start???

You need professional guidance on this. Speak to a qualified adviser / broker and they will guide you through your options. They (generally) wouldn't charge you either for this advice

sal_III wrote: »

Joint life insurance is not really worth it, the price is like 80-90% of two separate policies and it's cancelled if any of you two dies. If you both die it only pays once..

Not sure the regulator would agree with your sentiment on 2 x life as opposed to joint life. They are all over this at the moment, as if you have one mortgage but 2 x life policy's, you are effectively overinsuring yourself

I agree with YHM, you take out life insurance to cover a need - the need is the Mortgage so once it has paid out and cleared the Mortgage you no longer need that policy.

You may decide that 2 policies are needed but the chances of needing 2 for the Mortgage amount, the mortgage term and on a decreasing basis are slim. It is probably more like a life policy to cover the Mortgage and then say another policy to provide an income (so in that case you might be looking at Family Income Benefit) or an amount for university fees or whatever it may be.

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To the OP, the things you have quoted covers most things. The issue however is that very few people can afford all of them for the amount needed so there is usually some give and take to get it to fit affordability.

But it would be a good idea to speak to a broker as there are so many options. Guaranteed or reviewable premiums, if decreasing cover - what percentage do you put in?, deferred period(s), do you want to choose a policy on price or do you want to spend a little more and get more conditions and more ABI+ defintions covered and extra such as best doctors, nurses support should you make a claim? Do you go with own occupation, suited occupation, any occupation, ADL when taking out income protection?

I am not trying to baffle you wish science, but it is important to get it right. If/when you come to make a claim, you will be very annoyed if it does not pay out because of a misunderstanding in terminology OR it only pays out a fraction of what you expected.

If you do go down the path of single life policies (rather than joint), which trust do you put it in? Would you even put it in trust?

I used to work for a life office and I had 2 months worth of training. 4-5 months down the line of doing the job every day I was still learning what everything meant.

I have a trainee broker working for me and I double check everything they do on the protection front because the chances of her making a mistake and opening us up to a complaint are quite large (not to say she is stupid, far from it. But it is a complex part of the industry).

Exactly...

It's worth having a look at any sickness or death in service benefits provided by your employer and your partners employer before you make a decision.
There's no rush to get it all in place before you buy, there's no reason you can't take out a policy the week or 2 after (moving house is stressful but probably won't kill you!).