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Landlord insurance is essential and will protect you during unforeseen circumstances, where you are unable to use your property. More people than ever before are choosing to purchase second homes, to rent out and receive an income. However, there are risks connected with this, and being insured will give you peace of mind.

Property is an expensive asset that you will want to ensure is protected from several different events including, fire, floods, theft and malicious damage. There may also be legal disputes between you and your tenant, which can cost you money. You can cover for as much or as little as you want with the insurance policy, depending on your budget.

You will need to ensure that you search for the best landlord insurance, and the Internet is often the best place to begin. Looking at different websites such as http://www.totallandlordinsurance.co.uk/ will give you an idea of the different policies available. You may want to only cover the basics; however, you will be surprised how much you can cover with a top quality policy.

Comprehensive insurance policies are ideal for many landlords and offer a huge array of different situations. This style of insurance will cover both the contents and the building, guaranteeing that you are covered in full. You may also be covered if your property is considered to be inhabitable after the damage, and insurance will help with the cost to rebuild.

As with all legal contracts, you need to understand what you are signing, and ensure that you have the cover that you want. Far too many people sign documents without reading the small print, which will notify what isn’t covered with the insurance. You do not want to be in the position where you need to claim, but are not covered for that item.

You will also need to take out the correct policy for the style of building that is being insured, private residential property is different to commercial buildings. If there is a mortgage on the property the insurance is likely to be included in the agreement. However, you are welcome to take out further cover. If you are unsure of the different policies available, speaking to a professional is advised, before you take out a policy.

Some landlords like to cover every part of the property from the pipes in the ground, to the communal areas. This guarantees that if anything happens the property can be restored, and remains in excellent condition. The better the property, the more likely, you are to be able to rent it out, and receive top money.

Once you have the landlord’s insurance in place, and the tenants are paying the rent, it is a policy that can simply be paid every month without any worry. If you need to make a claim, you need to ensure that you do so immediately, and have the correct work carried out to the damage. Your policy may increase in the future; however, you will find that the insurance is financial viable.

 

There are applications available for everything, and market trading has become the latest to receive its very own platform. Traders like to be able to keep up to date with all activity involving their shares and money. Therefore, downloading the market trading application is ideal, and will ensure that you never miss an opportunity.

Offices are no longer seen a something that is in one place, and more people than ever before, are using their mobile devices as a portable office. Regardless of where you are, the ability to check the market trades is available. You can easily use the application to check the latest share prices, alongside the open and close positions.

Market trading often needs decisions to be made in minutes; therefore, if you are out and away from the PC, you want the ability to continue trading. The information that is available is up to date, and allows you to be in full control. The amount of online trading through the City Index application has risen steeply in the last six months.

Surprisingly over 40% of trades that are performed using a mobile phone are done through City Index, proving that they continue to be the market leader. People enjoy the flexibility that the mobile application provides, and the ability to monitor their money is appealing.

The technology behind the application is improving all of the time, and it will not be long before mobile trading is identical to being on the PC. The trends to use this form of trading continue to be popular throughout the day, often in the lunch hour. City Index strives to be the market leader for all mobile trading, and if they continue they will be a huge success.

People who have decided to secure a future income by purchasing an annuity may be worried about the impact of the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) ruling last year (the ‘gender directive’) that insurers can no longer take gender into account when calculating the cost of people’s premiums, including annuities.

The annual income you can purchase varies depending on a number of factors, but mostly on the size of your pension pot – and until 21 December 2012, these factors also include your gender.

Presently, annuities are 5-8% cheaper for men because their life span tends to be shorter than that of women.

So how does this affect retirees?

Men could see an estimated 3 -4% drop in their annuity rates, and women could see theirs rise by approximately 1-2%.

However, this shouldn’t encourage men to rush into buying their annuity in the hope of getting a higher income, because an annuity is a lifetime investment.

And similarly, women shouldn’t necessarily wait until after the directive is enforceable to purchase theirs either – because it is vital that they consider what income they might miss out on while they wait.

What’s the best thing to do then?

The moral of the story here is that you should do your research and take an income when you need to, considering a range of income sources, for example income drawdown, where cash remains invested in the stock market, but regular withdrawals occur.

This is simply because it’s very difficult to tell what the rates will be after the gender directive officially comes into play.

Shop around

Speak to an expert (or, equally, any regular Joe with their head screwed on), and they’ll tell you that it’s vital that you shop around the open marketto find the best rate available.

Be honest

It’s also vital that you are completely honest with your provider about any medical or lifestyle issues (e.g. smoking), because this could increase your income – for example, even relatively minor conditions like high blood pressure can mean that you qualify for an enhanced annuity, which in turn will mean that you could receive much as 40% more.

If you’re bewildered about your retirement income options, then you should visit somewhere like mypensionexpert.co.uk for advice as to what the best option is for you.

 

As an entrepreneur or small business owner, knowing the credit score of your suppliers, competitors and business partners will help you make smart financial decisions, and can inform the financial terms you agree to with a supplier or subcontractor.

For someone with a poor credit score, business owners will want stricter terms on contracts, with potentially harsher penalties for late payments or deliveries, and possibly other stipulations as well, in order to hedge their bets and play it safe.

For those with good credit scores, businesses can relax and be more generous when it comes to terms they might set or agree to with a third party. Of course, knowing a credit score of a competitor can potentially inform your business strategy. For example, the credit score of a competitor will give you a good idea as to how likely that competitor will be to secure bank loans or extra credit lines in order to make improvements, invest, buy additional product, make physical improvements, or enter into new markets.

Credit scores are so valuable because they are looked at by banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions as indicators of how risky a potential borrower is, and banks and lenders set lending limits and interest rates accordingly. The great news is that this same information is available now to small businesses, and can help empower you to make smarter decisions with your money in terms of whom you do business with, when you do business, and how you approach your competition from a business perspective. Look up credit scores at Duedil.com now to start making better decisions with your money, and know more about your business partners and suppliers.