I am wanting to take out a policy and I have so many questions needing answered. When I saw ask the expert I knew this is a good place to start (hopefully the expert wont get scared as to the amount of questions i have). first a little about me so you understand where i am coming from:-

I have a young family and I know what it is like to have lost the main breadwinner in the household. Thats when the vulchers step in and slowly taken advantage of a mum trying to deal with the death of her partner while trying to raise 5 children all on her own (although I was oblivious to most of this untill recently). So now I am the breadwinner and I want my wife and child/ren not to worry about bills and know that should something happen to me they burden of paying debts will disappear with enough left in the pot for them to live comfortably! I hope you will be able to assist me with my questions and as your expert advice is free and impartial.

what is the difference between life insurance and life assurance? which is better?

A single policy is cheaper than a joint policy but i have heard you can have a single policy with joint ownership which means if any policy holder dies then it pays out to the survivor of the policy. which basically means this is like a joint policy but you would only pay the amount for a single policy. Please help clarify the benfits of a joint ownership etc.

I have heard you can only be insured for 15 times your wage but what options are there if you want a bigger amount? should you then take out another policy? for example your wife is on minimum wage but now that she is looking after her baby it would cost more for her to return to work and pay for childcare etc?

Why should I use and pay for an independant financial adviser (which costs about £500 fee) instead of just looking on line and choosing one there? I suppose they can provide expert advice but if I know roughly what i want and read all the terms and conditions then surely i can save this money?

If i take out a joint ownership policy in my name then its more expensive however if i take it out in my wife's name then it's a lot cheaper and we would both be covered. Do you see any issues with this?

Is there any policy that stands out above the rest?

Is there a life insurance/assurance company that has received a lot of complaints (FOS etc)? e.g. for not paying out and the FOS making them payout etc.

How do you know how much cover is enough? How do you work this out? What is the maximum cover you can get (how do the company work this out? is it worked out on your income?)

(PS i have no mortgage and if i did get one then I will hopefull have a seperate policy to cover that debt)

You really must talk to an adviser. I used to be one such, but have retired and am no longer authorised. Anyone who advises you without being authorised commits a criminal offence. Much of what you believe is totally wrong and would result in you buying the wrong policy. For instance, joint ownership can be in operation for a single life policy. Joint life is different, and can be "first death" - which is probably what you want, or "second death" - much cheaper - but is probably not what you want.

You could go to someone who is "free", but gets paid on commission - he/she would be tempted to sell you the most expensive policy. An independent will charge you a fee (just like a solicitor or accountant), but would then be acting only in your interests. If he still gets commission, he would probably be very happy to rebate this to you - perhaps totally offsetting his fee. A good adviser will want to ask you a lot of questions - if he/she does his/her job properly, the initial interiew will take anything up to 2 hours.

Thanks vp43, I have spoken to an IFA (got an initial meeting free lasting about 30 mins) and it is him who said you can have a single policy with joint ownership. He mentioned that if one of you die then the survivor would get the payout. To me it sounds like it has the benefit of a joint policy. Can anyone clarify on this? The IFA gets either paid by fee (£500) or commission. He worked out some figures and it works out cheaper to pay him a fee as commission based would result in a higher monthly payment resulting in paying 2k-4k (this is how much i would save by paying a fee) over the term of the policy. When i'm doing a comparison of life (using moneysupermarket.com, direct line, gocompare etc) none of these have the option to have a joint ownership policy - why is that? If anyone can tell me the pros and cons of a joint ownership compared to joint policy and of course single policy i would really appreciate this. Also any website links you could provide would be great!

Sounds like a bargain. £500 to save 2k-4k. How much of a bargain do you want? Go ahead, do it online, and make an expensive mistake (you have proved your lack of knowledge of a complex field). There is a fair chance that you will buy the wrong policy if you do it yourself. I retired as an Adviser 9 years ago, and now pay an IFA, because I have lost touch. Since he re-arranged my investments 4/5 months ago - at a cost to me of £3500, plus £1500 per year, his fees have covered themselves 3 times over. These guys now have so much studying to do, and so much research that they justify their fees and a lot more. I would't want to do it now.

I think you are crazy......

IFA's are usually tied in to two or three companies and are very rarely whole of market. Go to an independent INSURANCE advisor and you will get the advise for FREE and usually a cheaper policy that is still best suited to your needs.

Strangely enough not everyone in the world is trying to rinse you of all your money. As this gentleman has clearly stated apparently Advisors only offer you the most expensive policy.... that is actually against FSA regulations and could result in loosing there job and a large ombudsman case on there hands. as well as a polict that doesnt suit their needs....... FIRED in seconds !!

dont be scared to talk to people and if you want extra info on there abilities just google the company and read their IDD.