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Life industry to start new year with a clean(er) slate
From January 1, the ability of the life assurance industry to take you for an expensive ride will be significantly curtailed. One reform has been forced on the industry and the other has been undertaken voluntarily.
[Full Story...]
How to ... use credit life assurance
It is extremely important to have life assurance to cover debt should you die, become disabled or are retrenched, but speciality consumer credit life assurance has a history of exploiting consumers. In the ninth part of our "How to" series on life assurance, we cover the important things you need to know about credit life assurance.
[Full Story...]
How to ... use dread disease assurance
Dread disease cover is a relatively new aspect of assurance cover. In the seventh part of our "How to" series on life assurance, we look at this often overlooked but important aspect of risk cover.
[Full Story...]
Advisers go after you to recover lost commission
People who cancel their life assurance policies now face yet another penalty: some financial advisers are trying to make their clients liable for refunding them any commissions the life companies claw back from the advisers.
[Full Story...]
Financial industry must change how it rewards advisers so that you are put first
Our front-page report about financial advisers who want to reclaim from their clients any commission they lose is symptomatic of most of the things that are wrong in the financial services industry and, in particular, the life assurance business.
[Full Story...]
Your life cover in your hands
Do-it-yourself online life assurance may prove to be quick and cheap, but be sure you don’t overlook some factors you should be taking into account.
[Full Story...]
Easy way for you to find out if an old life policy is still in force
If you find an old policy document in your files or those of a family member and the life assurance company no longer exists, there is an easy way to find out if the policy is still in force and which company has taken it over.
[Full Story...]
How to ... recognise the level of risk you pose to a life assurance company
Life assurance is not a case of all sizes fit all. Life assurance companies take all sorts of things into account in deciding whterh you are "insurable" or not, and how much they will charge in premiums to cover anything from death to the loss of your job. In the third part of our "How to" series on life assurance, Personal Finance looks at the significant issues involved in determining how risky you are to insure.
[Full Story...]
How to ... tell long-term from short-term cover
Insurance can be confusing. Many people do not understand the difference between long-term and short-term insurance. In the second part of our "How to" series on life assurance, we explain the differences between the two, and some of the ins and outs of long-term insurance.
[Full Story...]
How to assure your biggest asset - your income
In the first of our "How to manage life assurance" series, we look at why you need life assurance. Life assurance enables you to face the risks of life with greater confidence in the knowledge that, if anything happens healthwise to prevent you from earning an income, you and your dependants will be able to maintain your standard of living.
[Full Story...]
Life assurers change their tune on how they penalise you
It has been nearly five years since the life industry agreed to lower its penalties if you stop or reduce payments on its savings products, and a year since the Pension Funds Adjudicator decided Old Mutual could not impose the maximum penalty more than once on a single policy. We report on the latest developments.
[Full Story...]
FSB takes aim at adviser incentives that harm you
The financial services industry regulator is concerned that you, the consumer of financial products, are being made to switch products for the wrong reasons. As a result, it is clamping down on product providers that place their own financial interests above yours.
[Full Story...]
Tread carefully before you change assurance products
Switching financial services products, particularly when a life assurance investment product matures, is not necessarily a bad thing. You may get a far better deal, particularly when it comes to costs, which, if they are high, can significantly undermine your savings over the long term. And you may pay far lower premiums if you switch a risk life assurance policy.
[Full Story...]
Choosing the right pension for your retirement - Part II
This is the second and final part of our educational piece on retirement and pensions. In this case, how to get the most out of a living annuity.
[Full Story...]
Research on pensions is 22 years overdue
Traditional "straight line" expected return methods are not sufficient for making decisions on how to draw down your retirement savings in retirement, says Matthew de Wet, the head of investments at Nedgroup Investments in a comprehensive presentation on understanding investment linked living annuity (Illa) strategies.
[Full Story...]
New rules to ensure your living annuity lasts the distance
The Association for Savings & Investment South Africa (Asisa) has stepped in to set standards to improve the probability of pensioners and their advisers making better decisions when using investment-linked living annuities (Illas).
[Full Story...]
Choosing the right pension for your retirement - Part I
When must you choose a pension and what are your options?
[Full Story...]
Concerns over life products for low earners are justified
Recently, both Judge Brian Galgut, the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance, and Jonathan Dixon, the Financial Services Board's deputy executive in charge of insurance, expressed concern about life assurance savings products that are aimed at the low-income market.
[Full Story...]
Make sure benefits are paid to the right people
You can save your dependants a great deal of trouble if you name benefic- iaries to the proceeds of a life assurance policy, whether it is an investment or a risk policy that pays out on death, because the life company will pay the money to them directly.
[Full Story...]
Life assurers still confiscating your savings 25 years on
It is amazing how the life assurance industry simply refuses to treat its customers as customers. All too often, it treats you with contempt while relying on its perversely incentivised product- floggers to go out there and sell you poorly designed, expensive investment (endowment and retirement annuity) products that are not necessarily in your best interests.
[Full Story...]
Interest rates on policy loans can gobble up your savings
Beware when you take out a loan against your life assurance policy: the normal rules on interest rates may not apply and you could end up losing most of your savings.
[Full Story...]
Claims delays can cost your dependants dearly
Make sure your beneficiaries and the executor of your estate know all the details of your life assurance policies or they may lose out because of a delay when claiming.
[Full Story...]
Life assurers not telling you the real deal
The Financial Services Board (FSB) may have to come to the rescue of life assurance policyholders to ensure that you are not misled when you take out a life assurance risk and/or investment policy, Judge Brian Galgut, the Ombudsman for Long-term Insurance, says.
[Full Story...]
Your risk policy's small print could easily trip you up
You have risk life assurance so that a benefit is paid when it is required, but too often you are tripped up by what can easily be seen as unfair conditions.
[Full Story...]
Facing up to the often harsh realities of growing old
Recently, I was speaking to a respected actuary about the problems associated with things such as deciding when to move into a retirement village and, even more importantly, into frail care.
[Full Story...]
10 things you should know about income protection (Part 2)
This is the second half of the article on income protection.
[Full Story...]
10 things you should know about income protection (Part 1)
Most South Africans who insure themselves against disability do so with capital, or lump sum, policies. However, these policies have their shortfalls, especially if you become disabled at a relatively young age. Income protection policies, on the other hand, pay you a regular monthly income for the rest of your working life.
[Full Story...]
Disability claims increase during a recession, local actuarial study shows
The rate at which policyholders claim disability benefits in South Africa tends to increase when the economy is going through a recession, according to a study presented this week at the International Congress of Actuaries.
[Full Story...]
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