Does not having life insurance impact on a mortgage offer

[rossub]

In nearly 20 years working for a large NHS organisation, I only know 1 person that died while still in employment - of a heart attack when out hill climbing. Contracts are terminated after 1 year, when it's obvious the person cannot return to work due to ill health. Not many people die within 1 year of being diagnosed with cancer for example.

For the sake of less than £10 a month to get £100k of cover, it's worth that peace of mind.

[shep1001]

Sarnie said:

^^^^This, in bucket loads.

You would not believe the amount of people who I speak to, who are happy to rely on an employer provided benefit to protect them and their family should the worst happen.

It should be viewed as a great perk of employment, to potentially provide surplus funds to a surviving family, it shouldn't be the sole thing a person relies to look after their family..............don't forget, your employer is a corporate entity.......they may be good to you and pay you a year or two sick pay if you are really ill, but if you look like never returning to work or worse and a potentially DIS payment may be looking likely to be on the horizon..........I wouldn't want to rely on the trustees of the fund to look after my family.

As The Leaper says, DTA cover for most people is pretty cheap......probably about as much as 3 or 4 pints in London, per month.......

This is the conclusion I am coming to, LV do joint policies for less than £10/month.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Zigster said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

You cannot rely on death in service cover. Most people who die within working age don't die in service. They get ill, cancer or whatever, and have left work by the time they die a couple of years later. Death in service is great for the heart attack / car accident type death.

Really? I'm surprised at that. Have you got anything to back up that statement?

I'm not challenging aggressively, I'm just surprised/sceptical - I would have expected people who get seriously ill while in employment would go on long-term sick leave and so remain covered by death-in-service. People who die suddenly while in employment (which is a large proportion of working age people) would obviously remain covered by death-in-service benefits.

Rossub's post below sums up my experience. I've been working for 35 years and no one I've worked with has died in employment. Not one. A few have got cancer, and died after a couple of years, but long after having their employment terminated. And of course many have died after retirement. Maybe I've been lucky, but no one I've been working with has died in an accident, that I can think of.

rossub said:

In nearly 20 years working for a large NHS organisation, I only know 1 person that died while still in employment - of a heart attack when out hill climbing. Contracts are terminated after 1 year, when it's obvious the person cannot return to work due to ill health. Not many people die within 1 year of being diagnosed with cancer for example.

For the sake of less than £10 a month to get £100k of cover, it's worth that peace of mind.

[Welshbeef]

rossub said:

In nearly 20 years working for a large NHS organisation, I only know 1 person that died while still in employment - of a heart attack when out hill climbing. Contracts are terminated after 1 year, when it's obvious the person cannot return to work due to ill health. Not many people die within 1 year of being diagnosed with cancer for example.

For the sake of less than £10 a month to get £100k of cover, it's worth that peace of mind.

I know someone who sadly worked right up to the end - terminal cancer but no one knew apart from his line mgr and the HR business partner. He was a great guy a proud family man approaching retirement age. He died 3 weeks after becoming too ill to work.

He did get his payout/his estate did - they didn't need it nor do I think he carried on just for it instead he loved what he did and maybe believed keeping busy might keep him going longer.
Not sure I would do anything but say thank you and I'm leaving to spend as much time with my family

[Zigster]

I guess my experience comes from having worked for large companies. It must be quite different in other businesses.

I've worked for about 5 companies over the last 25 years and they've all provided PHI. I've never known anyone being sacked while on long-term sick leave, and my experience of HR is that they are too risk averse to ever try firing someone who's on long-term sick leave because of the risk (cost and hassle) of unfair dismissal cases.

I'm relying on my employer provided life assurance - if I'm ever out of work I can look at purchasing my own cover then. But I can't see much of a need for life insurance in retirement (assuming mortgage paid off, kids left home, etc). Plus, life assurance once you get past about 60-65 gets much more expensive for the obvious reasons.

Edited by Zigster on Saturday 4th March 13:46

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Zigster said:

I guess my experience comes from having worked for large companies. It must be quite different in other businesses.

I've worked for about 5 companies over the last 25 years and they've all provided PHI. I've never known anyone being sacked while on long-term sick leave, and my experience of HR is that they are too risk averse to ever try firing someone who's on long-term sick leave because of the risk (cost and hassle) of unfair dismissal cases.

Edited by Zigster on Saturday 4th March 13:46

I think if someone is long term ill and they have PHI cover thru work, a claim is made on the insurance cover and the insurer are then paying the salary. I doubt if that person is still an employee on the books, and i doubt they would be entitled to DIS.

[The Leaper]

It is a critical part of insured disability benefits that the employee remains employed. If not then the benefits cease.

R.