Amid the doom and gloom of economic predictions for the year ahead some providers of innovative guaranteed products in the pensions and investment markets may have more reason to be cheerful than the rest of us.
Having witnessed the success of such products in the US and Japan, providers have decided that the time was right to launch products in the UK. The products are aimed at providing guaranteed capital or income returns and are primarily designed for those seeking to take advantage of these guarantees as part of their retirement planning.
The guaranteed income products have been labelled “the third way” and are seen as bridging the gap between annuities and income drawdown, but variants have been launched which can accept both pension and non-pension monies.
After a quiet start to life in the UK arena a period of uncertain investment markets could herald an associated growth in the use of these guaranteed products as investors seek to bring some certainty to their portfolio. (more…)
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Anyone tempted to buy a pet or who received one for Christmas should not forget that a key part of having a cat or dog is making sure it can be properly looked after when it is ill, says Defaqto in its most recent report, Pet Insurance in the UK 2007.[1]New owners need to look beyond the immediate pleasure of having a pet to what can happen to it over its life. Not only are the costs of treating pets rising, but just as with humans, new treatments are being introduced all the time to improve a pet’s quality of life when it is unwell.
Although there are over 120 policies examined in the report, they fall into two main types: those paying claims only for the first twelve months of an illness only and those that will pay for the whole time the pet needs treatment for that condition, but with a limit on the expenditure each year.
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