Sorting Life Insurance & Income Protection

[NiceCupOfTea]

Looking for a bit of advice.

I need to sort out some life insurance and also some income protection insurance (as I am self employed). Life insurance seems relatively simple to sort out looking at the moneysavingexpert website, but finding Income Protection a bit more tricky to get my head around.

Would I be better off speaking to an IFA about this and will this net me the best deal? Any advice gratefully received!

[Sarnie]

I can help with this.......we provide lots of these policies to our self-employed clients.......happy to chat!

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks Sarnie, I may take you up on that. I have done a few online quotes and done a bit of reading, and have come up with a few thoughts - please let me know if I am barking up the wrong tree or am massively misguided!

Based on the fact I am early 40s, wife who works part time (employed), 1 young child, some savings.

• Life Insurance is a Good Thing - 20-25 years (until kid(s) out of full time education) for 10x my yearly earnings seems about right.

• Income Protection - a colleague recently has been recovering from cancer and having to work when she could due to her income protection being pretty useless. Sickness/Accident kicking in after 30 or maybe 90 days, running for 24 months, for roughly 1/3-1/2 of my monthly income would seem to fit the bill - long enough to recover (hopefully!)

• The Employment part of Income Protection seems unnecessary for me as I work for lots of different places (some as an employee), both teaching and as a performer - so if I lose one thing, or am unable to play, then I still have some income. On the other hand it doesn't seem massively expensive... but if it's useless to me I might as well save the money.

• Critical Illness Cover - this is an expensive one and on balance I think it's not that worthwhile. In the short term the I.P. will give me some cover and give me time to sort things. If money is needed for treatment/home adaptations/etc. then we do have some savings. It would be nice to have I suppose, but it seems to triple the life insurance quotes.

Those are my thoughts so far. Am I barking up the right tree?

[Sarnie]

swerni said:

From experience, i wouldn't discount critical illness so readily

Indeed, lots of people discount it due to it being "expensive".............but it's expensive based on claims history and the probability of the provider having to pay out................Life Cover premiums are cheaper because you are MUCH less likely to die within the specified terms than you are to get Critically Ill.

[Henners]

Re: critical illness cover.

I may / may not have something which would trigger a payout on this- still waiting on tests etc. Even though it would be very mild compared to some of the listed illnesses!

Its quite comforting knowing that cash is something that wouldn't be a worry if I needed to call on the policy, mortgage gone and a big lump in the bank.

Lets face it, how many sub 40yr olds (or sub 50yr olds!) can afford to jack work in at a couple of months notice.

[dalenorth]

You seam to be thinking on the right lines, we specialise solely in protection policies so fully understand where you're coming from. With your self employment are you set up as LTD or sole trader? If LTD you should look at a relevant life policy?

[Supersam83]

Give us a call at Halo Consulting and we will give you free advice and pricing for your needs. We work with all the major insurers to get something you will be happy with.

0116 366 6866

Our Website with useful explainer videos