Bread, Milk and Car Insurance

Written by Andrew Bowen


With increased competition between supermarkets to gain market share and improve profitability,repparttar range of products on offer is getting ever diverse. Now,repparttar 112392 big three chains, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have caught on torepparttar 112393 fact that their brand name can sell just about anything, including of all things, car insurance.

Car insurance is one of those very boring expensive products that you loathe having to pay for but have no choice if you want to drive a car on Britain’s roads. Why therefore would supermarkets want to be associated with such a seemingly expensive pain inrepparttar 112394 pocket? Well it seems thatrepparttar 112395 public think it’s a great idea and are buying it from these stores in their thousands withrepparttar 112396 belief that it must cheap ifrepparttar 112397 supermarkets are selling it. The strange thing is thatrepparttar 112398 companies behind these deals, who are actually underwritingrepparttar 112399 risk, arerepparttar 112400 same companies who have been selling you car insurance for years.

Tesco for example seem to be incredibly successful in selling motor insurance to their customers with statements proclaiming that you could save up to £150 compared to some leading insurers. Tesco of course is not an insurer. If you look closely atrepparttar 112401 bottom ofrepparttar 112402 Tesco car insurance webpage, you will notice it says thatrepparttar 112403 policy is provided and underwritten by a company called UK Insurance Limited. Who on earth is this company you may ask. UK Insurance Limited is part of Royal Bank of Scotland who also own Direct Line along with Churchill and Privilege.

Sainsbury’s state that you could save up to £165 on your car insurance compared to other leading insurers - £15 better than Tesco. Of course, like Tesco, Sainsbury’s is not an insurer either. A quick look at their webpage shows that policies are arranged and administered by Esure, who are part ofrepparttar 112404 Halifax Bank of Scotland group. Maybe Sainsbury’s are about to swap Jamie Oliver for Michael Winner – maybe not.

Retirement Planning the Offshore Way

Written by R.L. Williamson


Retirement Planningrepparttar Offshore Way

Why do so many of us constantly pushrepparttar 112391 thought of retirement planning torepparttar 112392 back of our minds?

Reluctance…!

1Reluctance to save for an event that seems so far off 2Reluctance to tie in to an inflexible pension scheme 3Reluctance to put a large portion of our current income out of reach forrepparttar 112393 long term

But in terms of retirement planning, putting off until tomorrow that which you could get done today will end up costing you very dearly.

Every month you delay your retirement savings planning, you significantly reducerepparttar 112394 value of your future potential retirement fund. Or put another way, every month you delay your retirement savings planning you significantly increaserepparttar 112395 amount that you will need to invest to achieverepparttar 112396 same level of retirement income than if you’d started today.

If a 25 year old and a 35 year old were to start saving for retirement at 55 andrepparttar 112397 25 year old invested £300 a month towards retirement,repparttar 112398 35 year old would have to increase his contributions to £803 a month to achieverepparttar 112399 same potential returns.

Atrepparttar 112400 state retirement age of 65repparttar 112401 average man will have some 19 more years to live andrepparttar 112402 average woman, 22 years. You will have to support yourself without work and, very likely, without state income.

This means that you will spend 25% to 30% of your life in retirement.

You will need substantial sums of money to support yourself in retirement inrepparttar 112403 manner to which you will have become accustomed throughout your life to date.

Recent figures show that individuals aged between 25 and 44 are saving 1/3rd ofrepparttar 112404 amount they should be saving in order to support their current lifestyle in retirement.

In most countries you are forced to make your own pension provision if you want to have any chance of a comfortable retirement. The value ofrepparttar 112405 government pension that you could once rely on is diminishing every year.

Ready to Start Planning?

If you’re an expatriate you are in a more privileged position than most – chances are you’re enjoying a higher salary and extra benefits as a result of working away from home. Furthermore expatriates have greater freedom when it comes to making investment decisions: they are not necessarily restricted byrepparttar 112406 same regulations that domestic investors experience.

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