Should you consider replacing your life cover policy?
- Are you paying smokers rates but have stopped smoking?
- Did you start your life policy over five years ago?
- Are you in good health?
- Have your circumstances changed?
- Does your current policy cover critical illness?
- Is the level of cover still sufficient?
- Is your level of cover fixed or is it periodically reviewed?
The cost of life insurance has dramatically reduced over the last few years, all the above are reasons to review your life cover.
You may be able to increase your level of cover without paying extra.
Did you know smokers rates are twice that of non-smokers? If you have given up for longer than 12 months we may be able to provide a cheaper option.
Old style policies did not have critical illness cover. Considering that you are more likely to suffer from a critical illness than die, this is worth considering.
Have your circumstances changed? Marriage, children it might be a good time to review levels of cover and include your partner.
For a free impartial review of your protection needs please contact us to arrange an appointment with one of our experienced advisers. If you do not ask you will not find out.
EFPG has just posted an article about considerations that both employees and employers should consider about the Occupational Scheme or Group Personal Pensions that the employer is offering or is going to offer.
The article is not technical but covers general points that EFPG believes to be the most relevant areas that should be reviewed.
For employees the article covers the points:
- How much will my employer pay into my pension?
- How much will I have to pay into my pension? Is this flexible?
- Will the combined contributions be sufficient to provide enough income in retirement? If not can you contribute more?
- Where is my money going to be invested?
- What costs will my pension face?
- How flexible is the arrangement? Are there any penalties for altering/stopping contributions? Can the pension be transferred? Can the arrangement be cashed in and invested elsewhere?
For employers the article covers the points:
- Should you offer your employees a pension scheme?
- If so how much should you pay into it?
- And at the end of the day will your employees thank you?
The full article is quite long but does give insight to the questions as posed above. If you would like to read it, please follow this link.
How much does free advice cost?
That might sound like a daft question. The answer is obvious. Nothing – free means it doesn’t cost anything, Of course that cannot be the case unless a charity, government body or similar is giving the advice – even then that definition of free is arguable.
Financial advisers who offer free advice are intermediaries and are compensated by financial companies via commissions. So, there is always that angle of conflict of interest that one needs to be aware of. You really don’t know whether what they are selling to you is really good for you or good for them as a commission-generating sale.
There are less clear costs of not seeking advice as well.
The Cost of Education.
Do you want to spend the time to bring yourself up to a decent level of knowledge? Then to stay updated with the constant changes? How long will it take you to become knowledgeable?
The Cost of What You Don’t Know.
There are things that you know you need to learn, but what about the things that you don’t know you need to learn? How are you going to become aware of them?
The Cost of Consequences.
Do you understand how different things are interrelated? Actions in one area can often cause harm in another. How are you going to become aware of all the interconnected relationships and consequences?
The Cost of Mistakes.
Can you afford to learn from your mistakes? Some mistakes are minor, while others can be quite serious. If you make a mistake, how costly will it be, and do you have the time and resources to rebound from your mishap?
The Cost of the Unknown.
Do you have the temperament to do what is necessary to succeed? Sometimes the correct action or behaviour is counter-intuitive. Professionals are trained to cope with unplanned difficulties and disasters. How will you cope?
The Cost of Time.
What is the value of your time? How will you determine when you are spending too much time trying to solve a problem versus the alternative of paying someone else to solve it?
While there is a clear cost associated with engaging a financial adviser these subtler costs of not working with one when the situation warrants it should be taken into consideration. When you stand to gain more than the fee charged by your adviser, the time is right to ask for advice.
How EFPG Charges – transparency
EFPG prefers to follow the UK’s RDR framework even though there is no requirement to do so in Gibraltar. When providing advice e.g. for a personal pension plan we would state the cost of the advice to you, the costs associated with investing your pension contributions (trading and custody) and the costs of the selected investments so you can clearly see all of the costs associated with your pension arrangement. We are completely transparent in this respect to give you the comfort in knowing that your investment for your retirement has no hidden charges or commissions that could negatively affect the quality of your retirement.
For the full article please follow this link
Everyone has heard of blockchain but most consider that it is synonymous with cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin.
Since the rise and fall of cryptocurrencies with Bitcoin trading at $3,588.38 (at the date this article was written) from a high of $19,783.21 in December 2017, one might consider Bitcoin and hence blockchain is dead or of little relevance.
This could not be further from the truth.
Blockchain technology has far more applications that are being researched and exploited.
This week HSBC has claimed to have settled three million foreign exchange transactions and made payments worth $250 billion using blockchain technology.
Blockchain is certainly not limited to facilitate financial transactions. The technology is being applied for uses in the logistics industry, to develop a decentralised internet, for real estate transactions and more.
Although crytocurrencies may have not been the best of investments at the end of 2017, investment opportunities in companies developing innovative solutions using blockchain might be very rewarding in the coming years.
For the full article please click here.
New measures introduced in the Italian 2019 budget are designed to attract people who have sufficient economic resources to be able to contribute to the Italian economy.
From 1 January 2019, any retired immigrants who are not resident in Italy and are in receipt of a pension could be eligible for a 7% flat-rate tax on all their foreign income.
Some local authorities are even offering houses for as little as €1 if certain conditions involving restoration of those properties are met.
If you would like to know a little more please see the main article.