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Parents to a newborn, do we need life insurance?

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  • 08-04-2023 9:12pm
    #1
    Masterofnun
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭


    Even without a mortgage? We don't intend to buy until next year when we will have a more sizable deposit. Looking at bonkers.ie it seems it would be expensive enough for us as a couple, so is it worth it without a mortgage, or something in your opinions that we should have just in case the worst happens? I was thinking of setting it up now possibly for the amount the total debt on a mortgage is likely to be. I understand advice can't be given here but I'd like to hear your opinions, thank you!



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    #2
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 9,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    It entirely depends on how you are covered now and what you want to cover.... for example:

    • For instance, you hop up on a table on Monday evening to quickly change a light bulb, the table gives way and as a result you paralysed for life.
    • One Saturday you are doing a bit of welding, a spark ends up in an open can of paint and for reason best known to yourself, you pick it up to carry it out of the garage to safety and it explodes in your hands resulting in you loosing 60% of your eyesight.
    • Your wife goes out for a short cycle one evening, it gets dusk and she forgot her lights. A couple of hundred meters from home she hits a large rock and is badly injured. It takes 18 months for her to recover and as a result she is unable to take care of your child during that period.

    These are not examples, I know the people who had these misfortunes. So you need to ask yourself, if bad things happened how am I covered and how would we cope - what could you expect from the state, your employer, health insurance, your savings and other insurances you might have. Only then will you know what cover you need and if it is worth it.



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    #3
    Henry Ford III
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 17,621 Mod ✭✭✭✭Henry Ford III


    Ask yourself "what happens if".

    You've a new dependent and the loss of a parent could be financially devastating.



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    #4
    Jim2007
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators Posts: 9,998 Mod ✭✭✭✭Jim2007


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456712#Comment_120456712

    People always go for the death option, but in my experience there is worse than dead! Being alive with no income and having the additional drain on the family income - the state will pay for a certain amount, but there is always extras that you'd like or need to have - home modifications, equipment and medical treatment or drugs that are not covered.



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    #5
    Sunrise_Sunset
    Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Sunrise_Sunset


    Yes, I would.

    One thing to keep in mind is if you take the policy out for less than whatever the cost of your future mortgage is, the bank will likely insist on you taking out a new policy at that stage. You can then cancel the old one though, if you choose, but the new policy is likely to cost you more as you'll be slightly older. This happened to us, we needed to borrow more money when moving and the insurance company wouldn't come to an agreement with us, so we needed to take out a new policy at that stage.



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    #6
    Masterofnun
    Registered Users Posts: 2 ✭Masterofnun


    Thank you everyone, I was leaning towards it myself. As god forbid anything happened to one of us it would be devastating. I'll sort that this week then, thank you so much I really appreciate it!



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    #7
    AndrewJRenko
    Registered Users Posts: 28,397 ✭✭✭✭AndrewJRenko


    I saw a link to this crowd recently, and got a good quote for life insurance for an older couple, worth checking them out.

    https://beatthebank.ie/life-insurance/




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    #8
    BronsonTB
    Registered Users Posts: 1,889 ✭✭✭BronsonTB


    Life assurance/Insurance - Pays out to family.

    Mortgage protection only. This repays the outstanding mortgage - no payout to family.

    Illness/Income protection - Pays out to you in case of life changing event.

    The older you are the more expensive the Life assurance/Insurance premium is.

    (If your health deterioates later in life, it can affect your ability to get life insurance/mortgage protection at all, this is never overly highlighted when young)

    www.sligowhiplash.com - 3rd & 4th Aug '24 (Confirmed!)



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    #9
    wingnut
    Registered Users Posts: 1,937 ✭✭✭wingnut


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120456773#Comment_120456773

    Same here but the first policy was so cheap we kept it and now have two. Planning to drop the second one when we remortgage in 5 years as the LTV will have increased enough for the first policy to cover it.



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    #10
    Sunrise_Sunset
    Registered Users Posts: 1,211 ✭✭✭Sunrise_Sunset


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120598080#Comment_120598080

    We kept our first policy too. The plan was to cancel it but I couldn't bring myself to do it for some reason, maybe because it was quite cheap compared to what we'd get now. The new policy has the option for conversion, which the older one doesn't. I don't know if that was a thing back then or if we chose not to go for it, I don't remember, but we're happy to have that option on the new policy. I don't know what we'll do longer term, whether we'll keep them both or not.



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