OBN Financial Services Blog

Stay Active and Save Money on Your Life Insurance with a Free Garmin Fitness Watch

General, Life Insurance, Protection,

Zurich Garmin

Health and fitness is a hot topic at the moment and many people now spend a significant portion of their leisure time involved in sporting pursuits. In recognition of this increased interest in all things fitness related Zurich Life Assurance have recently introduced a special offer which will help you to monitor your progress whilst also saving you money.

Zurich Life Assurance are currently offering new customers a free Garmin Vivosmart 3 Fitness Watch if you take out a new Guaranteed Term Protection Policy with a minimum monthly premium of €25 per month and agree to remain active with Zurich. Not only will new customers receive a free Garmin watch, you will also enjoy a 10% premium discount on your protection policy for the full term of the policy. Furthermore, subject to complying with the terms and conditions Zurich will give cash back of four months premia and at the end of year 2 they will give further cashback of 2 months premia. Continue reading Stay Active and Save Money on Your Life Insurance with a Free Garmin Fitness Watch →

Who’s Keeping Track of Your Pension Entitlements?

General, Pensions,

lost pension

I was thinking over lunch about writing another blog post and wondering what subject I might pick and on returning to my desk the answer was staring me in the face in the form of an email from a pension administration company which I have been corresponding with for the last six months.

At the beginning of August 2016 a client asked me to review his existing pensions and to make a long story short I have spent the last six months corresponding with this company in an effort to locate one of his pensions from an employer which he previously worked for. I’ve had to endure some very high minded rebukes from this company to the effect that I was wasting their time etc and in mid-November they told me that they weren’t willing to investigate the matter any further unless I was able to provide evidence that the pension was managed my them. Continue reading Who’s Keeping Track of Your Pension Entitlements? →

***Deadline Extension*** for return of ACC Bank Pension Option Forms

General, Pensions,

acc-bank

It’s not too late to late to make a decision about what you want to do with your ACC Bank pension entitlement. The deadline for return of your completed option form had originally been set for 31 January, however Aon Hewitt have extended the deadline to 8 February.

If you previously worked for ACC Bank / ACC Loan Management and were a member of the Bank’s defined contribution pension scheme you will have received a letter in recent weeks informing you that you must transfer your pension out of the scheme. The letter gives you the following options; Continue reading ***Deadline Extension*** for return of ACC Bank Pension Option Forms →

Bond Markets, Bubbles and Tantrums

Pensions, Savings and Investments, ,

id-1009160

There’s an old saying (which I don’t subscribe to due to its crudeness!) that there are three roads to financial ruin – alcohol, gambling and women. The saying goes that alcohol is the most certain, gambling is the quickest and women is the most fun. The world has changed and there are now many more roads to financial ruin and some of them aren’t near as much fun as any of the above.

Anyone keeping even one eye on the investment markets in recent months will have seen headlines which declare that there is a bubble in bond prices and that it might be about to burst. So why would bond prices fall, is it likely to be severe and why should you care?

Continue reading Bond Markets, Bubbles and Tantrums →

Do you have a pension entitlement from a previous employer?

General, Pensions, ,

  • Did you leave a previous employment where you had a pension entitlement?
  • Do you know how much it is worth or what it is invested in?
  • Do you know how much is deducted in charges?
  • Do you know who has responsibility for the stewardship of your pension?
  • Can you make fund switches with ease and speed if you need to?

If you have a defined contribution pension entitlement from a previous employment, it usually makes sense to move it into what is known as a Personal Retirement Bond, also known as a Buy-Out Bond.

If left in your previous employers scheme any amendments you wish to make to your pension must be signed off by the Trustees. This can take considerable time. Some companies who administer company pensions impose their own rules such as restricting fund switches to certain times of the month. Some companies have a lock in period during which no fund switches can be performed. Continue reading Do you have a pension entitlement from a previous employer? →

Income Protection

Protection

Income Protection provides you with a regular income if you are out of work due to illness or injury.

If you are employed but not entitled to payment while sick you should consider Income Protection.

You can use Income Protection to replace up to 75% of your income less your social welfare entitlement. Payment of benefits commences when you have been off work for a specified period of time (called the deferred period). The payments continue until you are fit to return to work, or until you chosen retirement age. Continue reading Income Protection →

Discounts available for a limited time on Mortgage Protection, Term Life and Serious Illness Cover

Uncategorised

A relatively small reduction in the monthly cost of your protection products can save you thousands over the term of your policy and there has never been a better time to check if you can obtain cheaper cover. Two companies are currently offering discounts on new policies;

Mortgage protection cover – Aviva will price match the best quote in the market and they will give a 10% discount off that price.

Term Life Cover – Zurich Life are offering a 15% discount off the cost of their term life cover. Where the policy includes Serious Illness, a 10% discount will apply. Continue reading Discounts available for a limited time on Mortgage Protection, Term Life and Serious Illness Cover →

Is it Possible to Save Money on your Mortgage Repayments by Making Your Repayments Fortnightly?

General,

I had a query from a client recently on whether she would save money by making her mortgage repayments fortnightly rather than monthly. The answer is yes but the effect of this has been greatly exaggerated by many media article’s, some of which miss the point a bit. You will make a small saving by making fortnightly repayments Continue reading Is it Possible to Save Money on your Mortgage Repayments by Making Your Repayments Fortnightly? →

Discounts available for a limited time on Life and Serious Illness Cover

Life Insurance,

A relatively small reduction in the monthly cost of your life or mortgage protection cover can save you thousands over the term of your policy and there has never been a better time to check if you can obtain cheaper cover. Two companies are currently offering discounts on new policies;

Mortgage protection cover – Aviva will price match the best quote in the market and they will give a 10% discount off that price.

Term Life Cover – Zurich Life are offering a 15% discount off the cost of their term life cover. Where the policy includes Serious Illness, a 10% discount will apply.

The following may also mean that you can get a better deal by taking out new cover now;

– Market rates may have reduced since you took out your existing cover

– If you were a smoker when you took out your existing life assurance policy but you haven’t smoked for over one year, you are likely to obtain cheaper cover if you seek it now.

– A loading which was previously applied may not apply if the policy was underwritten now. You may have lost weight for example.

– If you had mortgage protection (reducing cover) your current level of cover for the remaining term of your mortgage may cost less than your current premium. Continue reading Discounts available for a limited time on Life and Serious Illness Cover →