Hi all
Myself and my wife had a financial review at the end of last year, the main purpose or intent from our perspective was:
1. To get adequate life insurance cover for my wife since the mortgage and associated life insurance is currently in my name only.
2. To protect our fairly considerable savings, especially against the possibility of a euro collapse
3. To find a vehicle for short term (12-24 months) saving investment and return.
4. To provide for our childrens education.
We are both fortunate enough to be in permanent secure jobs in the public sector with guaranteed pensions (well as guaranteed as any pensions can be anymore!).
The outcome of the review was, in my eyes in any case, not particularly satisfactory.
What I discovered or, my perspective on the review was:
1. The bank in question have very little clue about the variety of products offered even by their own institution and tend to be very focused on one specific area only. It seems necessary to do your own research on line and present this to them to show what exactly you want.
2. They are apparently running scared about giving any sort of investment or savings "advice" bar giving you info on the products that they have available.
3. They seem intent on selling particular products more for their benefit than for yours.
4. The review seems to have completely disregarded my mortgage life cover currently in place, which would presumaby pay off the mortgage in the event of my death?
In any case the outcome of the review was
1. Getting new combined life term cover for the remainining period of the mortgage for approx €18 p/m to cover us both.
2. Mortgage life and specified illness cover for €114 p/m.
3. Critical Protection cover for the two of us at a combined cost of €250 p/m
TOTAL COST OF RECOMMENDATIONS for both of us per month approx €385 p/m
MY QUESTIONS or THOUGHTS:
This seems a collossal amount of additional outlay each month for against the possibility of something happening? It is nearly half our mortgage payment again with no return whatsoever.
Having worked in insurance telesales myself for a period, the sales pitch for these sort of products tend to be based on instilling fear.
It would appear a much better investment from my perspective to seek out a new basic life insurance policy for my wife which would also provide a lump sum to repay the mortgage if she dies, and to invest the remainder of the cost of this proposal in savings bonds or longer term savings or some kind of life assurance with a guaranteed return at the end of a period of investment.
To me personally, I regard this potential outlay as money down the drain with presumably a nice commission for the adviser who conducted our review. If they had though they could use the same tactics to pitch pension at us they'd have done so too but dammit we're public sector employees so no sale there.
If we do nothing more than what is in place at present, my thoughts however fatalistic would be
1. Currently if I die the mortgage will be fully paid off?
2. If my wife dies she has some life insurance cover which would help me to pay the mortgage
3. Even in the event of one of our deaths the other would presumably hopefully be in a position to keep working.
4. In the event of one or both of us getting a serious long term illness, we would be entitled to state disability and associated benefits and it would mean a drastic change in our lifestyle in any case which would include us having to considerably reduce our current expenditure. Neither of us would envisage a problem with this being in a position to save a considerable amount of our present incomes and having survived well enough on social welfare as recently as 8 years ago.
5. Because of our savings track records we are fortunate enough to have sufficient savings that we could use to offset or supplement mortgage repayments in the event of death or illness that would carry us through for an extended period, during which time we'd probably be considering off loading the house when the market improves and falling back on the state to provide for us instead anyway!
I guess in conclusion I just dont like or much trust insurance salespeople of any ilk. I unfairly or otherwise put them in the same category as used car salesmen and QVC demonstrators.
Am I a fool to be so dismissive of the proposal put to me and to seek instead for safe investments with some sort of guaranteed return at the end instead of money down the drain?
Myself and my wife had a financial review at the end of last year, the main purpose or intent from our perspective was:
1. To get adequate life insurance cover for my wife since the mortgage and associated life insurance is currently in my name only.
2. To protect our fairly considerable savings, especially against the possibility of a euro collapse
3. To find a vehicle for short term (12-24 months) saving investment and return.
4. To provide for our childrens education.
We are both fortunate enough to be in permanent secure jobs in the public sector with guaranteed pensions (well as guaranteed as any pensions can be anymore!).
The outcome of the review was, in my eyes in any case, not particularly satisfactory.
What I discovered or, my perspective on the review was:
1. The bank in question have very little clue about the variety of products offered even by their own institution and tend to be very focused on one specific area only. It seems necessary to do your own research on line and present this to them to show what exactly you want.
2. They are apparently running scared about giving any sort of investment or savings "advice" bar giving you info on the products that they have available.
3. They seem intent on selling particular products more for their benefit than for yours.
4. The review seems to have completely disregarded my mortgage life cover currently in place, which would presumaby pay off the mortgage in the event of my death?
In any case the outcome of the review was
1. Getting new combined life term cover for the remainining period of the mortgage for approx €18 p/m to cover us both.
2. Mortgage life and specified illness cover for €114 p/m.
3. Critical Protection cover for the two of us at a combined cost of €250 p/m
TOTAL COST OF RECOMMENDATIONS for both of us per month approx €385 p/m
MY QUESTIONS or THOUGHTS:
This seems a collossal amount of additional outlay each month for against the possibility of something happening? It is nearly half our mortgage payment again with no return whatsoever.
Having worked in insurance telesales myself for a period, the sales pitch for these sort of products tend to be based on instilling fear.
It would appear a much better investment from my perspective to seek out a new basic life insurance policy for my wife which would also provide a lump sum to repay the mortgage if she dies, and to invest the remainder of the cost of this proposal in savings bonds or longer term savings or some kind of life assurance with a guaranteed return at the end of a period of investment.
To me personally, I regard this potential outlay as money down the drain with presumably a nice commission for the adviser who conducted our review. If they had though they could use the same tactics to pitch pension at us they'd have done so too but dammit we're public sector employees so no sale there.
If we do nothing more than what is in place at present, my thoughts however fatalistic would be
1. Currently if I die the mortgage will be fully paid off?
2. If my wife dies she has some life insurance cover which would help me to pay the mortgage
3. Even in the event of one of our deaths the other would presumably hopefully be in a position to keep working.
4. In the event of one or both of us getting a serious long term illness, we would be entitled to state disability and associated benefits and it would mean a drastic change in our lifestyle in any case which would include us having to considerably reduce our current expenditure. Neither of us would envisage a problem with this being in a position to save a considerable amount of our present incomes and having survived well enough on social welfare as recently as 8 years ago.
5. Because of our savings track records we are fortunate enough to have sufficient savings that we could use to offset or supplement mortgage repayments in the event of death or illness that would carry us through for an extended period, during which time we'd probably be considering off loading the house when the market improves and falling back on the state to provide for us instead anyway!
I guess in conclusion I just dont like or much trust insurance salespeople of any ilk. I unfairly or otherwise put them in the same category as used car salesmen and QVC demonstrators.
Am I a fool to be so dismissive of the proposal put to me and to seek instead for safe investments with some sort of guaranteed return at the end instead of money down the drain?