Life and disability insurance, beneficiaries, emergency fund

Life and disability insurance, beneficiaries, emergency fund: what are the options?

Parents usually land on one of these 3 approaches.

1. 1. None

   You have no insurance or savings set aside for this.

2. 2. Basic cover

   You have some life insurance, often through work.

3. 3. Full plan before the birth

   Before the baby arrives you have life and disability insurance, updated beneficiaries and several months of expenses saved.

Life and disability insurance, beneficiaries, emergency fund: what does the evidence say?

Your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

Named as an ownership card in Fair Play; no coverage data gathered

Sources

• card definitions

What else is worth knowing?

Life insurance pays out if a parent dies; disability insurance replaces income if a parent cannot work. An emergency fund covers a few months of expenses. A child's arrival is the usual time to review all three.

Questions to ask each other

• How much would our family need if one of us died or could not work?
• Who are our beneficiaries and do they need updating?
• What is our emergency fund and is it enough?

More in Legal, financial and "what if" planning

• Will and guardian nomination
• Prematurity, NICU and birth complications
• Pregnancy loss
• Special needs, disability and neurodivergence
• If the child is not who we expected (temperament, interests, ability, gender expression)
• Major life disruptions (job loss, serious illness, death of a parent, ageing grandparents, moving)
• Travel consent, passports and relocation
• If we separate