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Payment Protection Insurance
In today`s challenging work environment and due to the global economic downturn, there is a real concern for many people regarding the security of their job with the threat of being made redundant ever increasing. The biggest fear for many is that they may struggle meet mortgage payments or pay other financial commitments should they be made redundant. As people try to protect themselves against loss of income, they may opt for cover in the form of the controversial Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). Payment Protection Insurance is there to cover you should you fall ill, have an accident so you are unable to work or lose your job. Although this type of insurance can offer you the necessary cover you require there have been many instances where people have been mis-sold the insurance cover. This had lead to complications when trying to claim against the policy and has also left people paying far more for their policy than they should. Following this, it has recently been announced that people who believe they have been mis-sold Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) have now been given extra time to take their cases to the Financial Services Ombudsman. This specifically applies to people who have had a complaint rejected by the firm that sold them the loan, meaning they now have upto six months to take their complaint to the Ombudsman. At its peak, nearly 150 people a day registered official complaints regarding PPI with almost a third of the total number of complaints relating directly to controversial insurance payment product.

According to a study by LifeSearch, the number of women in the UK buying life insurance in the UK has doubled over the last six years. As women are increasingly closing the gender related pay gap and even becoming the main breadwinners in a household, they are also becoming more vigilant about their finances and less financially dependent on their partners.

Linda Tyson, a policy advisor for LifeSearch stated that the increase was attributed to the ?growing awareness of the importance of protecting the financial stability of the family. More and more women are either the main or only breadwinner and are realising the importance of protecting their incomes.?

An additional advantage for women is upon applying for cover, they pay less in premiums than men, which is additional money to save, invest or spend on holiday with the girls. This reduction in premiums is based on the fact that women live an additional seven years longer than men. Insurance companies deem men a greater insurance risk when it comes to life insurance. In general, a woman pays 25% to 35% less than a man.

The most cost effective way to buy life insurance is term cover, which allows for a lump sum to be paid out over a given period upon the death of the policy holder. The lump sum will protect the partner or family and the extent of the cover will vary on how much the policy holder wishes to invest and length of time over which they wish to invest it.

Alternatively, there is the option of whole-of-life insurance, in which case a lump sum will be paid out upon the death of the policy holder ? whenever that happens. Given that the payout is guaranteed, the premiums for this type of life insurance are much higher, although women still pay less than men.

Websites such as moneynet provide an easy method for women to review different life insurance policies, the risks and associated costs and given that the ratio of male to female web users is almost 50:50, it?s not surprising that women have the web (and their finances) under their thumb.

Resources

Channel 4 Money
Moneynet Life Insurance
Women and life insurance

For more information about this article and/or the author visit http://www.channel4.com/4money/smartmoney/features/sex_does_matter_200804_page2.html

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