How much is your life worth?

With two children now both over the age of one, my husband and I can no longer put off the inevitable.  We need to think about the future; ensure our children are left with enough money so they don't have to struggle if anything were to happen to me or their dad.  Touch wood it won't of course *tries to find some wood to touch* *can't find any so touches own forehead*.  Yep, we've been thinking about our level of life insurance and whether it's enough.

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It's so hard to know what sort of amount to insure your life for.  How much is a life worth?  Of course, we want to make sure that money would pay off the mortgage but is that enough?  What about living costs?  Apparently, it can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to raise a child from birth until the age of 21 - that's an awful lot of money!

My husband and I took out our life insurance policy when we bought our first house (pre-kids) but, five years on and two children later, we're thinking now's the time to look again at it and make sure it's adequate for our family's needs.  If anything were to happen to us, there'd be enough to cover the mortgage with a bit left over, but is that enough?  Probably not.

This sort of thing can be a real minefield, exacerbated by all the compulsory questions you have to answer about every aspect of your health.  I see the process of arranging life insurance similar to that of an important exam; you can't get through it by winging it, revision is a necessity.  Plus, I remember that last time, while I waited on the phone to hear if mine and my husband's application had been successful, I experienced the same feeling of angst that I had whilst waiting for my GCSE results.  The sense of relief when I was told our application was successful was the same too.

So, while I'm not looking forward to re-living those sorts of emotions again, on we plough.  Ensuring our life insurance cover is up-to-date is not the most fun thing to do, but it is something we need to do.  For our children and their future.

But the fun and games don't end there.  Once we manage to get this sorted, it'll be onto the wills.  Does this mean I'm now officially a grown-up?

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