took our life insurance 10 years on both myself and better half. had two offspring to consider but didn't overdo the insurance. everyone's circumstances are different and my better half had a death in service benefit and I had a defined benefit pension policy, we had no mortgage so it was mainly to see neither of us would struggle in the event of either of us snuffing it. The policy is on both lives and there was an annual increase (which I always agreed to) to match inflation etc. Today received a letter from Irish Life stating that following a review there wouldn't be sufficient funds in the policy to continue with the current level of cover and offering two options. one was to increase the weekly premium by 11.86% just to maintain current cover or alternatively I could continue to pay the current premium and the policy would be decreased by 7.85% ( my figures - Irish Life merely quoted the new premium/reduced cover). I am going to opt for the same premium and reduced cover as I suspect they will commence yearly increases next year again usually in line with inflation or above.
This cover although covering both lives is pretty basic and the amount is around €50,000, the terrible two are now both at college and while my wife no longer works for a company with death benefit, we are both covered for social welfare ( widow/widowers pensions) so I don't really feel the need for 'excessive' insurance as I know that life insurance companies up the premiums really seriously once you get into your later years. One only has to look at the offices owned by insurance companies, cars driven by insurance salesmen etc to know who is the real winner with insurance. And its not the punter.