Having always been an advocate of the fixed rate mortgage since buying my first home some twenty two years ago, I have only recently reached the end of a five year fixed-rate mortgage which, in retrospect wasn’t the best deal I have ever signed up for. Although the interest rate was not stupidly expensive it certainly meant that I wasn’t as well off as I could’ve been for a number of years, although I have to remind myself that the reason I elected to fix the costs was just in case the costs of borrowing sky rocketed leaving me with an unaffordable mortgage and the potential for repossession. What I have done, however, is to change the things I can change and decided that the mortgage was a thing that I couldn’t change so I wouldn’t cry over spilt milk. The comparison websites that dominate every advert break truly hand control of people’s money back to the people and I love the democratic way that the masses can vote with their feet and walk away from companies that they deem to be too expensive and move to companies that appear to be more welcoming, at least initially that is. I am aware that these companies do seem to lay on the charm to entice people into their lair after which they will try to increase the costs for the unsuspecting, but I intend to move my business to a new home when I begin to feel that they are trying to take me to the financial cleaners. I regularly sit down and review all my finances by logging on and getting a quote for life insurance on a website called mortgage protection quotes and check to see if my electricity and gas suppliers haven’t altered their tariffs to a rate that benefits them rather than me.
Tags: Advert, Advocate, Democratic Way, Electricity And Gas Suppliers, Electricity Suppliers, Feet, Fixed Mortgage, Fixed Rate Mortgage, Insurance, Interest Rate, Lair, Life Insurance, Love, Money, Mortgage Protection, Mortgage Quotes, People, Quotes, Retrospect, Sky, Tariffs, Year Fixed Rate MortgageA colleague of mine at work has recently had the news that her partner is about to be made redundant and like so many people her age had been spending virtually all their combined income without saving anything for a rainy day. I suppose they are relatively fortunate that she still has a job and that he’s quite prepared to do anything to bring in some money and believes he can pick up some temporary shift work in a factory but it won’t make up for the shortfall. They were faced with a scenario of having to save a few hundred pounds a month if they were to remain with their heads above water and stay solvent so they have had to sit down and analyse their entire spending to see what could be cut back on, what could be cut out all together and what they needed to prioritise like rent. There were a few quick wins; Sky was cancelled as was gym membership and direct debits to lottery syndicates etc. Charities have been shelved temporarily as have anything that wasn’t vital. She then used the comparison websites to source better deals on the home insurance, car insurance and life insurance, where she found a site called life insurance compare and made the biggest saving. In most cases she was able to save a few pounds to chip away at her shortfall.
Tags: Car Insurance, Charities, Colleague, Direct Debits, Gym Membership, Home Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Car, Insurance Life, Job, Life Insurance, Lottery Syndicates, Money, Quick Wins, Rainy Day, Shift Work, Shortfall, SkyA colleague of mine at work has recently had the news that her partner is about to be made redundant and like so many people her age had been spending virtually all their combined income without saving anything for a rainy day. I suppose they are relatively fortunate that she still has a job and that he’s quite prepared to do anything to bring in some money and believes he can pick up some temporary shift work in a factory but it won’t make up for the shortfall. They were faced with a scenario of having to save a few hundred pounds a month if they were to remain with their heads above water and stay solvent so they have had to sit down and analyse their entire spending to see what could be cut back on, what could be cut out all together and what they needed to prioritise like rent. There were a few quick wins; Sky was cancelled as was gym membership and direct debits to lottery syndicates etc. Charities have been shelved temporarily as have anything that wasn’t vital. She then used the comparison websites to source better deals on the home insurance, car insurance and life insurance, where she found a site called Mortgage Protection Insurance and made the biggest saving. In most cases she was able to save a few pounds to chip away at her shortfall.
Tags: Car Insurance, Charities, Colleague, Direct Debits, Gym Membership, Home Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Car, Insurance Life, Job, Life Insurance, Lottery Syndicates, Money, Mortgage Insurance, Mortgage Protection Insurance, Quick Wins, Rainy Day, Shift Work, Shortfall, SkyMy wife and I sat down the on Sunday evening to watch Bergerac and half way through the first advert break there was an advert called Mortgage Protection Insurance. My wife reached for the remote and paused the television program and asked me was that the insurance that our financial adviser had been discussing with us a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure, but after the program I checked through the notes of the meeting he had sent and it turned out to be exactly what he’d suggested that we should take out. As I understand it the policy is designed to pay out a proportion of my wages should I be unable to work through illness or injury and following a set time period. We then logged onto the financial comparison websites to see if what he was offering was indeed good value and whether we could get the same type of insurance any cheaper. What I find so surprising is that virtually no one seems to know about or even heard about this type of cover. I have spoken to friends and colleagues at work and no one has heard of it which either begs the question, if no one has heard about it why not, or am I being given the wrong suggestions by my financial adviser? There could be a third option of course that is that the advice my friends and colleagues have received isn’t as good as the advice I’ve received. Anyway, it seems like a pretty good idea to me as it seems to be one of the few ways that I can protect everything else I pay for.
Tags: Advert, Advice, Break, Colleagues, Financial Adviser, Friends, Insurance, Insurance Plan, Insurance Uk, Mortgage Insurance, Mortgage Protection Insurance, Proportion, Sat, Sunday Evening, Television Program, Time Period, WagesMy daughter has recently taken a new job role for a big company in Staffordshire, England. My wife and I helped her move in to her house not far from the office and I took charge of making sure she had a telephone and that she shopped around for a deal that would provide internet and calls for a reasonable price. During our stay we were able to log on to the internet and systematically work down through her direct debits to save her money. Buildings and contents was a must and getting a life insurance comparison was available for a few clicks on a mouse. When we left her she said she couldn’t believe just what savings were possible and what a worthwhile exercise it had been and she has certainly learned a valuable lesson which I hope she passes onto others. My wife has told me that since we’ve returned home my daughter has now saved money on her mobile phone too and you can probably understand how proud that makes me feel.
Tags: Buildings And Contents, Direct Debits, Getting A Life, Insurance, Life Insurance Comparison, Mobile Phone, Money, New Job, Staffordshire England, Worthwhile ExerciseSince leaving university I travelled around the world for a few years moving from one job to the next as I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. The one thing that I became very good at over the period was managing my finances so carefully that I was able to spend longer travelling which enabled me to see more places. Since settling down my career has started but I have tried to maintain as strict a control of my finances as possible and to save me worrying I have tried to put certain cover in place which has enabled me to concentrate on the things that I enjoy without the worry that things going wrong. Having been in a relationship for some time now I now have others to think about and want them looked after too. Many people worry about things going wrong but for most of these scenarios there is an insurance policy that will pay out if something nasty happens. As such I have Life cover and am currently in the process of getting some mortgage protection quotes.
Tags: Control, Finances, Insurance, Insurance Policy, Job, Many People, Mortgage Protection, Mortgage Quotes, Nasty, Relationship, Rest Of My Life, Scenarios, WorryGetting my finances sorted out was one of my first goals once I started my first full time job as I had tended to live a very hand to mouth existence up until then and although my parents were able to help me out when I needed money it clearly frustrated them and it was the cause of many arguments and led me to leave home which looking back on it was probably the scariest moment in my life when I had to take life seriously for the first time. Colleagues at work were always telling me to do this and that and I really didn’t know who I should listen to but it was a financial adviser my Dad used to deal with who sat down with me and told me what was important to him and what I should be looking to do with my money. He talked about permanent health insurance which pays out if you’re sick and unable to work and a few other insurances that I should have in place. The government will pay a bit but not enough and it seemed to make sense. My job is not the most interesting but I do have a place of my own and I know that I can always pay for it if things go wrong. I also stumbled on the Compare Life Cover website and bought a life insurance policy from Bupa.
Tags: Bupa, Colleagues, Dad, Finances, Financial Adviser, Full Time Job, Goals, Hand To Mouth, Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurances, Led, Life Insurance Policy, Money, Mouth Existence, Parents, Permanent Health InsuranceSince my boyfriend and I been working my father has been telling me to save for a rainy day when you might not be able to work. As this has always worried me sick I decided to speak to someone at my bank about this and they told me that although my father was right in many ways. It would be a really good idea to take out a couple of insurance policies that would cover me just in case something happened to me and I was unable to work, which would mean me not having enough money to pay for rent and things. What I have taken out is permanent health cover which pays me if I’m off long term sick and life cover which pays my partner if I die. They have the same cover too and my father thinks this is a really good idea. It is possible to shop around for the cheapest cover on the comparison websites like you do for car insurance.
Tags: Car Insurance, Enough Money, Health Insurance, Insurance, Insurance Policies, Insurance Source, Permanent Health Cover, Permanent Insurance, Phi, Rainy Day, RentWorking for a building society I had always had it drummed into me about mortgages and how important they were; how important it was to get the right interest rate and how you should fix your rate for two, three or five years. Understandably people thought of little else apart from the monthly fee itself as it could make a difference to what they paid over a long period of time and their quality of life would depend on how much money was left at the end of each month. Life insurance was the other product that people would take out at this stage; most people arranging this through their financial adviser. It’s designed to pay out a sum of money that is at least the amount of money left on the mortgage at the time of death. However, not many people would ever take out permanent health cover, which to me seemed equally as useful and probably more so to single people. Over the years there has been a much greater emphasis placed by financial advisers on recommending this product as medical advances have meant that you are a lot less likely to die but could well live with an illness or incapacity that could stop you from working when there is still outstanding payments left on your mortgage.
Tags: Amount Of Money, Financial Adviser, Financial Advisers, Health Cover, How Much Money, Incapacity, Insurance, Interest Rate, Life Insurance, Many People, Medical Advances, Money Mortgage, Mortgages, Period Of Time, Permanent Health, Quality Of Life, Sum Of Money, Time Of DeathFew could have been predicted when CI was born exactly where it would end up. Who would have thought 15 years ago that so many key Critical Illness Insurance products would now be offered? The number of conditions covered under the CI product has increased significantly from the initial six. Greater product flexibility post sale has enabled customers to tailor it to their changing needs, more options and valuable features such as Best Doctors and health-lines have been included.
Here are the reasons we have reached a crossroads in Critical Illness: