UK life insurance. Seeking advice.

Which reminds me, I've got forms to fill out and return for my life insurance! Argh!

Actually, supposedly I have guaranteed interim cover now anyway! For more than my actual cover was supposed to be. If anyone wants to knock me down with a bus, now's the time to do it!

I'm not really sure if ilxor is the best place to ask about life insurance but hey ...

My wife is convinced we need life insurance. We're approaching fifty, both seemingly healthy. We over pay our mortgage but could pay as little as £530/month. I guess either one of us could die tomorrow but my guess is that we'll live to our mid-sixties by which time the mortgage will be largely paid off. We've been quoted £50/month for life insurance but it just feels like that is pissing away money to me.

Any ideas?

Check the bank isn’t already swindling you for life insurance as part of the mortgage payment.

hi, we've just gone through all this although circs are different. All insurance is pissing money away, until you need it!
Assuming no dependants, are you just wanting the mortgage to be paid off or a lump sum to cover loss of earnings etc? (the 'paying off your mortgage' money is usually a lump sum to be spent how you want anyway, iirc, but can be set up as decreasing as your mortgage decreases).

We are paying something like £80/month at the moment but we have small kids, hefty mortgage and currently dependent on one earner which makes things a bit more risky iyswim so also includes income protection which covers loss of earnings if unable to work - chose this over critical illness cover. Can re-look at it in future when childcare is less of an issue.
You might be best off going to a broker if you haven't already as £50 seems a lot in comparison.

xp oh yes that. We deliberately didn't get that but lots have it included.

I guess the idea is that if one of us died life would feel awful and we wouldn't really want it made worse by being skint.

No kids.

I kind of think I'd be able to cover the mortgage and I'd have the option at some point of getting a lodger (which would more than cover the mortgage).

I think if it's mortgage-based you can get it as a 'decreasing' payout which will give you a lower premium (I think) compared to a fixed lump sum kinda thing.

Do it. Do it and pray you don’t need it. Shit happens. And shit can happen any time. To any one.

We took out new life insurance including critical illness cover for the kids in may or June last year. In July our baby was diagnosed with cancer. Best financial decision we ever made. Wish it wasn’t, but there you go.

By contrast a friend of ours was diagnosed with cancer nearly two years ago, just after he’d taken critical illness cover off his own policy. He’d have got a lot more from it than we did, and it would have made life much easier.

We’ve been able to put a significant amount of money away for the first time ever, to cover potential future illness needs with the boy, Em’s been able to take a few months unpaid leave to spend time with him as a baby while he’s well (without needing to borrow money from family), and we’ve been able to finish various jobs on the house. It’s made a fucking awful situation a little bit better.

Thanks all.

I think I'd feel differently if there were children involved and I was thinking I had to make provision for them.

But, as it is, I kind of think, on balance, it'd be manageable.