Also, while policies have a 120 days exclusion period, look out for those where there is only a 60 day exclusion period for new or remortgage borrowers, and no exclusion period for those homeowners who are transferring from existing policies.

A good policy will also allow you to purchase up to 25% additional cover for household or other expenses for when you need money most.

Most homeowners can take out MPPI – it is available to both new and existing mortgage borrowers aged between 18 and 65. With a good policy, there will be no restrictions of occupation, employment status – including self-employed and contract workers – or people who work either on a full or part time basis, provided they have worked for a minimum of 16 hours per week over past six months. Again, applications should not be discriminated against on grounds of gender and sexuality.

In a nutshell, mortgage borrowers should not feel obliged to take out their lender’s mortgage protection cover. By spending just a little time shopping around for best deal from a reputable provider, you can make significant savings.

* Research from Burgesses Ltd. compared MPPI policies from top ten UK lenders and found average monthly repayment on a £100,000 mortgage to be £604, and average MPPI rate to be £5.78 per £100 of monthly cover.

Over 25 years this represents a total MPPI cost of £10,473 (£604 x 12 x 25 x 5.78% = £10,473). This compares with a rate from Burgesses of only £4.00 per £100, or a total cost of £7,157 (£604 x 12 x 25 x 4.00% = £7248) representing a total cost saving of £3225 or £129 annually. Applied to 2.2m UK MPPI policies, savings figure comes to £7.095 billion

• Watching power of stick-to-itiveness and common sense in action. The only thought, or possible concern? – Why didn’t I do this 20 years ago?

• Taking advantage of stock market volatility to increase already ever-increasing income from each and every stock market investment.

• Having a stock market investment plan that understands that in stock market there are always gains and always losses, and using losses only to accelerate ever-increasing dividend income. Building a foundation of ownership in only those companies that are strong enough to raise their dividend year after year.

The above are components of what is really a simple and common sense approach to investing in stock market that I discuss in my book The Stockopoly Plan- Investing for Retirement. Apply simple common sense, stick to it – and then watch plan perform its magic: financial peace of mind!

The PREFACE from book The Stockopoly Plan – Investing for Retirement can be found at: http://www.thestockopolyplan.com