The End of Pension Term Assurance?
It looks like the end might be in sight for pension term assurance following the Chancellor’s recent pre-budget speech.
December 13th, 2006Warning On Tax- Free Life Cover
The BBC has published an article which warns about breaking the rules when it comes top pension term assurance.
The article quotes Tom Baigrie, founder and boss of LifeSearch who said that people could find themselves in a “tricky situation” if they break certain rules.
September 9th, 2006“The basic premium is higher than normal life insurance so if you break the Treasury rules you will end up paying a higher premium than you could have been.”For example, people who move abroad or lose their job and pay a lower rate of tax could find their premiums went up.
“Some life companies will offer you the chance to correct that at the old rate so you’ve got be careful which company you choose,”
Pension Term Assurance In The Independent
The Independent has written an article on pension term assurance, largely concentrating on the things to be wary of, rather than the savings that can be made.
July 10th, 2006…there are drawbacks to PTA. Above all, the cover you get will be of the most basic kind. For example, many people who buy conventional-term assurance also pay a small additional premium that allows them to keep their policy but stop paying premiums in the event that they are unable to work. This is known as “waiver of premium” cover, but is rarely available with PTA. Legal & General is the exception - offering it as a free add-on with its PTA policies - but as a result, the basic premiums are more expensive. Similarly, you cannot combine PTA with critical illness (CI) cover - which pays out a lump sum in the event that you contract any of a number of serious illnesses. Conventional life assurance is often sold with critical illness built in. A third restriction of PTA is that you cannot opt for an income to be paid to your dependants if you die. Unlike conventional life assurance, PTA can only pay out a lump sum on death. Liverpool Victoria is the only insurer that currently sells PTA on a joint basis - many couples prefer to buy cover this way.
Scottish Equitable Launches Pension Term Assurance Product
The Scottish Equitable Protect Life Protection tax relief policy has been launched, and some customers may be lucky enough to have the option applied retrospectively from 6th April.
June 28th, 2006Cut The Cost of Your Life Insurance By 35%
The Motley Fool has posted an article looking at pension term assurance, which suggests that you could cut the cost of your life insurance by 35%.
Whilst I’d be a little wary about expecting everyone to reduce their premiums by 35%, in most cases, standard rate tax payers can expect savings of 10% - 15%, and higher rate tax payers around 20% - 25%, which is a great saving nonetheless.
June 14th, 2006Barclays Launches Pension Term Assurance Online
As we mentioned a few days ago, Standard Life has agreed to provide Barclays with a pension term life insurance product, and Barclays have now made the product available for purchase online.
Barclays are offering £50 back if you can find a cheaper like-for-like quote elsewhere.
June 14th, 2006Standard Life To Sell Pension Term Assurance Through Barclays
Standard Life has signed a deal with Barclays Bank to sell its pension term assurance policies.
The life insurance policies with tax relief will be offered under the Barclays brand.
June 10th, 2006Bright Grey Launches Pension Term Product
Bright Grey has today become the latest life insurance provider to enter the pension term assurance market.
May 24th, 200650% New Policies Are Pension Term
Recent figures within the life insurance industry suggest that as many as 50% of all new life insurance policies being sold are being written as pension term assurance policies, and are therefore receiving tax relief.
May 20th, 2006Standard Life’s “Life Insurance with Tax Relief”
Standard Life has launched its Pension Term Assurance policy, deciding on the name Life Insurance with Tax Relief.
They are promising savings of between 8% and 30% because of the tax relief given to pension term premiums. It is available as both level and decreasing term cover, and also comes with a conversion option, which means that if you reach a point where you’re worried that the benefit from the policy could push you over the £1.5 million Lifetime Allowance for your pension fund, the policy can be converted to a standard life insurance policy.
Standard Life joins Friends Provident, Liverpool Victoria, Scottish Equitable and Legal & General in the growing pension term market.
May 1st, 2006