What insurance do you need?

Some kinds of insurance are compulsory – for example, you need to be insured to drive, and the terms of a mortgage will require that your property is insured. Where other products are concerned, you will need to think about the likely impact on you of the event you’d be covered against in order to work out whether it’s worthwhile getting cover.

When thinking about purchasing Life Insurance it takes careful planning to choose the right life insurance policy for yourself, your family or business. It is also important to review regularly your life insurance needs to make sure that they keep up with changing personal and economic circumstances. Surveys have shown that one person in three had no life insurance at all. A further third have not reviewed their life insurance needs over the previous five years, so they may now be underinsured.

When looking to purchasing a pension, you may find it helpful to look get some background information on what pension arrangements are available. There is a Government website which gives general, impartial information about pensions. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is an independent body that aims to promote public understanding of the financial system and secure the right degree of protection for consumers. They produce a number of helpful guides for consumers in their ‘consumer help area' you may find their Decision Trees useful in helping you consider your pension options.

If you want to find out how much you need to save for a comfortable retirement or you’d like to learn how much pension your saving is likely to produce, have a look at the Pension Calculator. This is a simple, easy to use tool that allows you to input details of how much you can afford to save and then calculates the likely pension that this will produce.