Did you know that in the coming weeks, some insurance premiums will go up simply because you’re a woman? If that sounds like discrimination, think again. In fact it’s the opposite; the European Court of Justice (ECJ) last year ruled that it is discriminatory for insurers to offer preferential rates based on gender. As it stands at the moment, as a woman, you’ll typically pay less for life insurance than men because you have a longer life expectancy – the chances of you needing to cash the policy in are lower.  Because of the ECJ ruling, after 21^st December you’ll pay more.

Women will pay more

21^st December 2012 has become known as G-day. After this date, life assurance, among other financial products, will be quoted on a gender-neutral basis. In other words, women will pay the same rates as equivalent men and vice versa.

Save twice, and for life

Money Adviser, as usual, has your interests in mind. Set up life assurance with us before 21^st December and you’ll not only benefit from the current rates skewed in favour of women, but we’ll give you a shopping voucher for €100. Think of it as an early Christmas present from us. Here’s the kicker too: it doesn’t matter if you already have a policy. You are not contracted to maintain it and we are really confident of saving you more money on the new policy. It couldn’t be any simpler.

Bear in mind that the gender-specific rate you are quoted before 21^st December is valid for the entire term of your policy, so it’s not like you’re only benefiting from the lower rate for the first year. You benefit for life (excuse the pun!).

Act quickly

Although G-day is 21^st December, you need to act quickly. While most insurers can issue cover almost immediately, where communication with doctors or specialists is required, things can get delayed. Underwriters have established their own cut-off dates, some as early as 25^th November, after which they will only quote gender-neutral prices, so be sure to give us ample time to set up your policy.

Don’t forget that Money Adviser will do the shopping around for you and will select the most appropriate insurer for your circumstances, so the only thing you have to do is get in touch and we’ll take it from there.

Priority 1. Do not neglect the essentials

I think we’ve all heard of someone who scrimped on home insurance and regretted it bitterly following some biblical disaster brought about by the freakish Irish weather of late.  When your renewal dates for home and car insurance come around, do shop around but remember that not every policy is identical.

Life assurance for dependants is essential in my view. It ensures that, in the event of your death, your bills such as your mortgage will be paid out of the policy, thereby removing a huge financial burden from your spouse or children. It will also pay some sort of replacement income to your dependants, making up for the fact that your income is no longer coming in.

Priority 2. Save €1,000

Sounds like an impossible task? Think again. You could save this much from one quick visit to the Revenue’s website.  Are you sure you are getting all your tax credits and tax relief?  Although waste disposal charges are no longer tax-deductible, visits to your doctor or a consultant (or at least the portion of them not covered by your private health insurance), child care bills, income from renting a room in your home and other items may be.  Check Revenue’s website to make sure you are claiming all reliefs due to you. 

We all accumulate far too much stuff.  Go through all your possessions and identify items you no longer need for which there is a demand.  Sell them on eBay or bring them to a car boot sale. Many towns now have a second-hand clothes shop which will pay you a percentage of the sale price of an item of designer clothing sold by them on your behalf.

Could you walk instead of taking the bus, at least on fine days? Could you do without that caramel latte that has become a daily occurrence? Surely you could at least do without the extra shot?  Do not underestimate the psychological advantage of achieving this target.

Priority 3. Plan for retirement

You’ve got a pension? Great start, but how much are you contributing?  I advise my clients to contribute at the very least 10% of their salaries to a pension fund. It may seem like a lot to remove from your disposable income but with people living longer and longer, you’ll find it will just cover the basics when retirement comes.  If you can afford to contribute 15%, that will give you a margin for comfort and if you want to travel the world in your golden years, put 20% of your salary into your pension.

Figures show that if you delay your pension contributions by another 5 years it can cost you an additional 30% overall. It’s time to make headway on this one.

Priority 4. Deal with toxic debt but do it your way

If you have a lot of debt, you have two choices as to how you tackle it (note that one of the choices is not to ignore it!).  I am a firm believer in people having as much input as possible into how they deal with their finances so I suggest that they either tackle the most expensive debt first or take on the smallest one to give themselves the early psychological boost, whichever approach they think will work for them. Read more about the strategies we promote when dealing with debt related issues here. 

Priority 5. Bolster your emergency fund

When you have your debt under control, think about the unexpected things that could happen to throw you off balance again.  The way to negate the effect of bolt-from-the-blue expenses such as a car crash or an illness is to have a rainy day fund.  Ask your financial adviser for the most appropriate savings accounts and start saving by setting goals for the short, medium and long term. You will get such peace-of-mind knowing that should an emergency – or an opportunity – crop up, you are prepared.

Priority 6. Do some homework on protecting your income

I mentioned life assurance, which would help your family in the event of your death, as an essential, but what if a long-term illness prevented you from working?  In this case, an income protection policy would pay out a certain percentage of your income before you became unable to work.  This is not necessarily a ‘must-have’, but desirable nevertheless, and as such policies attract tax relief they can offer good value.

Priority 7. Start saving for college

With the Leaving Certificate results just out we are going to be reminded once again of the financial strain on families of putting children through college. The total cost could be €40,000 if the student lives away from home.  Do not find yourself in this position, start saving as soon as you can.

Top-of-the-class Tip

We can break our finances down into three categories: must-haves, wants and savings.   As a general rule on savings, I suggest at least 20% of your net pay is saved for future events. If you feel as though you are falling short on this, contact us here.  

Download the free budgeting spreadsheet on our website to work the figures out yourself.

• You are a parent under 55 and your youngest child is 13 or under.
• You are not about to pop your clogs and make a claim.

Sure, I’ve given you the short version, but we like it when we cut to the chase. There are a few other things to flag, but it’s a little like Sean Moncrief on the Rabo ads, “there are some terms and conditions, but no nasty stuff”.

If you are interested in something for free, then drop a mail to info@moneyadviser.ie with your contact details and we’ll be in touch in the coming days. Alternatively, you can call the office on 045 855 823.

Money Adviser – Ireland’s Leading Independent Financial Advisers

For a family of 2 adults, 1 student and 2 children, it’s an increase of €1,510.89 per year/€125.90 per month.

If that’s not bad enough, VHI will also reduce the benefit paid for participating private hospitals for some knee, hip and shoulder joint replacement procedures and specified ophthalmic procedures from 100% of the cost to 80% of the cost.

Isn’t it time you understood the ins and outs of your private health insurance?

For more, contact Money Adviser

As you move through the various stages in life, it stands to reason that your needs change too. Marriage & divorce, family, retirement, graduation are some of the more common aspects to how our lives change and it’s important we keep up-to-date with the policies that are meant to protect us.

We have the solution

If you feel as though you need to take a close look at a number of policies that may no longer be suitable, why not ask a professional to do it for you? We contact the various companies on your behalf to review your product.

After making contact with the company(ies) in question, we report back to you on charges, allocation rates, encashment fees and other relevant aspects to your policies. We explain how these things impact on your policy and whether it suits your particular circumstances or not.

However, rather than a slash and burn exercise, we give the thumbs up to the suitable products and present alternative products for those that don’t make the cut.

If you would like more information on our policy review, please email us with “policy review” at the start of the message and we will contact you within 48 hours.

2. Insuring your spouse/partner as well as yourself on your car may reduce the premium by as much as 12.5%.

3. Declaring that your spouse/partner currently has a car insured in their own name or that they have the full time use of a company car can qualify you for a discount of anything up to 20%.

4. If you’re short of a full 5 years no-claims bonus in your own name, previous claims free experience as a named driver on another policy (e.g. spouse’s car, family car or company car) can help you make up the shortfall. This could save you 10% for each additional qualifying year up to the maximum of 5 years.

5. Security Features such as an alarm or an immobilizer can reduce the premium.

6. Discounts of up to 17.5% are available to Irish license holders with no penalty points. A lower annual mileage can reduce the premium with some insurers.

7. While Comprehensive Cover is preferred by most drivers – for very low value cars in might make sense to choose Third Party Fire & Theft.

8. Some insurers offer a discount of up to 10% on Motor Cover if your home insurance is also with them.

9. Compare prices and reduce your car insurance bill.

10. Online motor insurance quotation systems will automatically apply many of the discounts which are appropriate, but if you think you may be entitled to further discounts, then request a call back.

1. Cover for private accommodation in public hospitals, in most cases does not guarantee fast access to treatment. Make sure you have a plan with some access to private hospitals.
2. Check that hospitals local to you are not excluded and don’t have excesses applied to accommodation
3. Check that there are no shortfalls on specific treatments or procedures such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, orthopedic.
4. Check that you have full cover for day case treatment such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and colonoscopies in private hospitals – these procedures account for 60 -70% of all health insurance claims.
5. Try to ensure you have cover for direct settlement MRI and CT scan centres which are local to you. This means you won’t have to wait to get access and you don’t need to pay if they are classified as ‘direct settlement’ centres.
6. Try to ensure you have cover for major cardiac procedures in the Blackrock Clinic, Mater Private & Beacon Hospitals.
7. Check that there is a low outpatient excess, this will ensure you get more money back from your outpatient expenses.
8. If you want cover for day-to-day benefits such as GP, Physiotherapist and dentist ensure that you are getting long term value for money – check the cover for each benefit & how many visits are covered per benefit
9. Check for any other benefits that may be of interest to you – health screening, maternity benefits, kids benefits etc.
10. Consider the health insurance needs of all the family individually – consider different plans & levels of cover for each.