[I'm Batman]

I'm just not sure what you should expect it to cover. This is for dh as he's the sole bread winner at this time.

The mortgage? Existing debts?

If I just covered the mortgage I would have no income still. Would centrelink expect me to use any payouts I get to support myself and not get anything from them? Would they expect me to sell my house?

It's all something I have to think about when balancing the levels of cover.

There's also what else to include I the amount, funeral costs? Schooling? Cars? How long would you expect any insurance money to last.

I was thinking that I'd take out enough to cover our current debts plus 5%. Giving me ownership of the house plus any costs of maintenance etc for a year or two till I got on my feet.

[countrymel]

Work out what you can afford now.

There is no point taking out a huge policy if it makes week to week now a struggle.

We have a policy that covers the whole mortgage (don't have any other debts) and about $100,000 extra.

We don't notice it coming out... as it should be.

[Mummy fab]

See a financial planner, they can work out exactly what you 'need'and then together you can work out the best policy you can áfford'.

V

[Guest_Buy Me A Pony !_*]

Talk to a planner as they can forecast it for you. You should also consider coverage for yourself as your partner's needs will change dramatically should anything happen to you. You would be expensive to replace despite thinking that you're not contributing financially. You really are.

[Dionysus]

we both have cover - both working FT

Each other's cover is NOT based on income though. Not sure if that's the way to go, but we took out enough to cover the mortgage and about 100k more.

We can afford it so we did it that way. We each have it through our super, so it essentially comes out without us knowing.

[Luxe]

some financial planner came into our office and calculated based on loss of wages, cost of sending kids to school and uni etc.. and it came out to a couple of million.

[Fossy]

We went to a financial planner and looked at the cost of our debts, plus the short term expenses like funeral, time off work etc, then longer term things such as school fees, a nanny, cleaner etc, then reduced income. It's well worth looking into as it is surprising how quickly it all adds up.

[Guest_jaderuby_*]

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This post has been edited by jaderuby: 02/07/2012, 12:03 PM

[CalC]

I will start by saying that I am not a financial planner but work as a financial planners assistant. You need to consider cover for both DH and yourself.

Covering debt is probably a minimum.

If DH died would you want to stay at home with the kids till they reached a certain age or would you be prepared to go back to work straight away. If you don't want to work then you need to cover living costs till you are prepared to go back to work. THis is the same if you were to die. Would DH want to stay home? If so again need to cover living expenses. If the answer is no do you need extra income to cover child care costs?

School Fees if you are sending/planning to send kids to private school. Uni Costs?

Funeral Costs - I would say at least $10,000.

Many of the Industry Super websites have Insurance calculators that can give you a rough idea about possibly how much insurance you and DH should have. Having cover via super can be an affordable way for higher level of cover. But please be warned that they might not ask for a medical history but may not cover you for an existing condition.

In regards to your other question about Centrelink. You house is not assessed by Centrelink as an asset so they would just look at your other holdings to determine any benefits. Even with debts paid off Centrelink payments only may not meet your income requirements. I dont beleive Centrelink would assess you on any insurance payout that was used to payout debt but I am not 100% sure. If the funds were put into a bank account then it would be counted as an asset.