Of all the hundreds of clients I have seen over the years, it is a very small percentage who had adequate provisions in place to make sure they can enjoy their later years. Most had the view that it was so far off they could think about it later on, some felt pensions were a waste of money and a large number of deluded soles were of the opinion that the State would look after them.

I cannot stress enough the importance of professional advice for ensuring you have a retirement income to look forward to. So if you have not reviewed your pension for a while, or if you have had one or two pensions in the past which have been left frozen for a while then its a perfect opportunity to give me a call to let me arrange a free appointment for you.

Act now, the earlier you do this the better off your future will be.

Over the last few years I have covered hundreds of clients for life and critical illness protection and unfortunately a small number of them have had the misfortune to require a claim on their policy, I am happy to tell you that all the clients in question have overcome their illnesses and are now back in rude health - but as a silver lining to their trauma they have received a large sum of money to pay of their outstanding mortgage balance. It has given them options, they don’t need to rush back to work, their partners can look after them without the added worry of meeting the mortgage payment each month.

Life assurance has never been cheaper, the new EU ruling on equality will see insurance premiums rise for females from next year, so if you haven’t covered yourself now is certainly the time to do so. You will be suprised at how much cover you can get for your money, compared to covering your car!!

It doesn’t end with covering your home, you should also think about income protection to cover accidents and sickness which prevents you from working. All of these insurances can be built into an affordable plan which gives you and your family peace of mind.

If this blog has made you think, and you would like to see how much protecting your family and home costs, just give us at PT Mortgages a call on 0115 9638965.

On a personal note it has been a great start to the year with mortgage business up considerably on last year. This is a trend which I hope will continue as confidence begins to grow once again in the housing market. I have noticed that lenders have certainly been lending more and options have increased. I have noticed though that rates seem to be creeping back up again despite the base rate not having moved. If banks do put up their standard variable rates then it will be a good time to consider a re-mortgage as their are lots of options if you have equity in your property.

If you are reading this and you have left your mortgage on SVR unchanged for a few years now might be the time to consider a change, in the last week I have remortgaged three people who had not thought of shopping around and have saved on average £80 per month, better in your pocket than theirs!

Short and sweet today, will concentrate on the protection side of things in my next blog.

Jamie