According to a study by LifeSearch, the number of women in the UK buying life insurance in the UK has doubled over the last six years. As women are increasingly closing the gender related pay gap and even becoming the main breadwinners in a household, they are also becoming more vigilant about their finances and less financially dependent on their partners.

Linda Tyson, a policy advisor for LifeSearch stated that the increase was attributed to the “growing awareness of the importance of protecting the financial stability of the family. More and more women are either the main or only breadwinner and are realising the importance of protecting their incomes.”

An additional advantage for women is upon applying for cover, they pay less in premiums than men, which is additional money to save, invest or spend on holiday with the girls. This reduction in premiums is based on the fact that women live an additional seven years longer than men. Insurance companies deem men a greater insurance risk when it comes to life insurance. In general, a woman pays 25% to 35% less than a man.

The most cost effective way to buy life insurance is term cover, which allows for a lump sum to be paid out over a given period upon the death of the policy holder. The lump sum will protect the partner or family and the extent of the cover will vary on how much the policy holder wishes to invest and length of time over which they wish to invest it.

Alternatively, there is the option of whole-of-life insurance, in which case a lump sum will be paid out upon the death of the policy holder - whenever that happens. Given that the payout is guaranteed, the premiums for this type of life insurance are much higher, although women still pay less than men.

Websites such as moneynet provide an easy method for women to review different life insurance policies, the risks and associated costs and given that the ratio of male to female web users is almost 50:50, it’s not surprising that women have the web (and their finances) under their thumb.

Resources

Channel 4 Money
Moneynet Life Insurance
Women and life insurance

About Rachel:

Rachel is a straight talking little lady who lives in the Scottish hills. She survives on a diet of Irn Bru and haggis, which allows her to see wild animals in the night and roast them with her fiery breath. Rachel also writes for the personal finance blog Cashzilla: a wee bit of banter on finance related issues.

E-mail: rachel@positiveinterest.com
Phone: 0131 561 2251

family finance, Insurance, life assurance, life insurance, life insurance women, personal finance

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In 2005, Buildings Insurance increased on average by 1% to just over ?205 for UK customers, and Contents Insurance rose to ?151 on average, that’s a 2% increase. But within some of the mainstream insurers the price increases have been even more noticeable, with Norwich Union customers experiencing a premium increase of around 6%.

So why is this happening? Naturally premiums are going to increase with inflation, but with all the competition out there, why are premiums going up and not down?

Let’s study the situation in detail.

The cost of repairing and rebuilding houses

Labour and building materials increase every year, and therefore so does the cost to the insurer when people make a buildings insurance claim. Cost inflation also affects the insurance companies’ own operating costs as they have to pay higher bills, more wages etc. It’s to be expected that insurers will add on a little extra to cover these issues!

The British weather

Michael Fish got it wrong that infamous day the hurricane hit, but even though that storm came from the blue, it is a fact that storms, especially floods, have been increasing in frequency. According to the Association of British Insurers, flood damage causes huge waves in the insurance industry, with an average insurance claim of anywhere between ?15,000 and ?30,000. In the last 18 months we there have been some extremely destructive floods that have affected whole communities, namely Boscastle in Cornwall, Carlisle, and Helmsley in North Yorkshire. Those catastrophic floods will have the cost the insurance industry millions of pounds.

Burglary

Burglary claims have increased in value, and now average at around ?1,400. There are 2 main reasons for this:

Many people have houses full of the latest electronic technology - from Ipods to laptops, Playstation 2s and digital cameras. These are all expensive items and as far as the burglar is concerned, have a high resell value. Burglars find themselves spoilt for choice!

Burglars often target well-off neighbourhoods - with expensive items like jewellery in the house, the value of the claim shoots up.

In light of this information, the insurance companies base their quotations on other claims that have been made in the postcode area. If a particular problem with flooding or subsidence has occurred within your postcode area, then you will pay a loaded premium. Similarly, if a lot of your neighbours have suffered break-ins, then you will suffer a higher premium because as far as the insurance company is concerned, you are more likely to make a claim.

A no-claims discount will help to offset the pressure of increasing premiums, but after 5 years they cap your discount, and it can no longer protect you from the general premium increases levied on all their customers.

So is there anything you can do to escape these rising premiums?

The easiest, and the most effective, solution is to make sure you shop around for the cheapest deal, every time the policy comes up for renewal. It’s not much fun but it will only take 30-40 minutes of your time and you will no doubt find a cheaper quote than your insurance company can offer you on renewal. Applying online often gets you an extra 10% discount, and paying by direct debit will also trim off a bit more. Take a look on this website and you may find the cheapest deal is already ready and waiting!

There are other things you can do to reduce your premiums, for example home security. Insurers look kindly on neighbourhood watch schemes, and give discount if you have security locks on your windows. External security lighting, better locks on your external doors and a burglar alarm will also see your premiums go down. Of course it will cost you money to install these security devices, but they will also make your home less of a target to burglars. The neighbourhood watch scheme comes for no extra cost though!

As a general rule, don’t just blindly accept you insurance company’s renewal quotes. They offer the best deals to their new customers, not their loyal customers that have been with them for years. You could save considerably by shopping around, so it’s definitely worth a try!

Brokers Online offer access to Life Cover, Home Insurance Quotes, Loans and much much more. We also provide a family finance blog which includes helpful tips and tricks to ensure you make the right decisions about your finances.

Home, Insurance, premiums, rising

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If you’re thinking about becoming an insurance adjuster, you should first understand what one actually does, and what’s expected of you as far as schooling. Insurance adjusters and examiners don’t have the boring job you may think they do. It isn’t all paperwork. They spend a lot of time in the field and like detectives, handle evidence which could lead to a very deserving family get the money to survive a loved ones tragic accident. Or, when you are becoming an insurance adjuster, you may gather evidence from a fire and prove that the owner had the place torched on purpose in order to collect the insurance money.

To oversimplify, insurance adjusters and examiners decide how much to pay on insurance claims. In becoming an insurance adjuster, you get to be kind of a detective, going over evidence left at the scene of the crime, as it were, and making determinations about claims after burglaries, fires, and car accidents, to name just a few. You need to be able to gather evidence and know what to look for, and you get to interview fire examiners, medical examiners, and witnesses. If you’ve already worked in the insurance world previously, or have some very basic skills already, you’re on your way. You will need to know basic word processing, computer applications or programs, have taken some business classes, know English and technical language, a lot of math , and consumer law.

Insurance companies are looking for people set on becoming an insurance adjuster. They should already have a bachelor’s degree or extensive experience in the insurance and claims field. If you used to be a mechanic, you may be able to get on in the auto claims office at an entry level position. Check out your states licensing requirements for insurance adjusters by searching the web or by contacting your local office.

The downside of becoming an insurance adjuster is that most insurance companies don’t really like to pay out money, so if you want to be happy in your job, you need to work with an honest one. In becoming an insurance adjuster, there is an awful lot of paperwork involved. If you are naturally inquisitive and don’t shy away from catastrophe, becoming an insurance adjuster may be the career move for you.

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Insurance, insurance adjuster, insurance claim, insurance refund

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