Do I need life insurance?

A question about : Do I need life insurance?

Hi all

I recently had a kick up the !!! from my friend as I was paying way too much for insurance on my life and critical illness and home insurance. I'm now in the process of finding much better deals for these types of cover but am wondering if I ever really needed life cover in the first place? I am a single man, probably will never get married or have kids. Which is all fine with me so don't feel sorry, lol! But in the unlikely event that I die then who is going to benefit from it??? There isn't anyone, not a spouse at least. So am I throwing money down the drain with having life insurance? I should really sue my financial advisor as it was him who told me to take it out in the first place. Also, what sort of critical illness cover should I get? I already get 2 months sick pay from my employer and my friend said that as you pay national health you deserve to get that entitlement and should receive help anyway once the 2 months is up.

Best answers:

• I would ask the following
  if you are ill and unable to work could you survive financially?
  If the answer is yes in terms of large savings, rich parents or generous work cover for example then you might not have an insurance need.
  If the answer is no then looking, as a single person towards income protection might be more appropriate
• Life insurance - if you have no dependents you don't need it, however it tends to get more expensive as you get older, so it's not necessarily a bad idea to have it if you think you might have dependents at a later stage (which may have been in your financial advisor's mind when he recommended it)
  If you do have it,then (unless you nominate a specific beneficiary) it would normally go into your estate so would benefit whoever you leave your assets to - so it might help out your siblings / nephews & nieces / close friends or whoever else you decide you want to leave things to.
  Critical illness cover and/or income protection insurance are more likely to benefit you personally. Critical illness cover could reduce your financial worries if you were to become seriously ill and unable to work, for instance by allowing you to pay off your mortgage, or to have money to pay for care, for example.
  Income protection - how much do you have in savings? If you lost your job, how long could you go without getting another? Yes, if you pay NI you will be entitled to Contribution based JSA but that is a maximum of about Ј72 per week - how does that compare with your current income and outgoings?
• If you add life cover to critical illness cover, there may be no noticeable increase in the premium.
  In fact, one of the best known providers of the combined cover doesn't offer stand alone decreasing critical illness cover for mortgage protection and its combined cover is cheaper than other providers' stand-alone CI.
  Therefore you may have been advised to have combined cover to get a lower premium,
• I would def look at Income protection plans 1st and then perhaps a critical illness plan - if you were to have a serious illness such as cancer or a stroke how would you cope? - As previous person said Life+ cic is better value as a combination plan - You can do a IPP/PHI plan and add CI cover onto same plan.
  Try a new menu plan with add on split benefits as they will give you the best value