Many people who face financial difficulties often feel that they are the only one dealing with such problems. However, throughout the years, many famous and successful people have experienced similar troubles, and in some cases bankruptcy. Perhaps the earliest case of a famous person having to file for bankruptcy to discharge their debts was Rembrandt Haremenszoon Van Rijn, the successful Dutch painter, who accumulated more…
There can be no doubting that for most adults, their biggest financial obligation is their mortgage. Sometimes you can be tied to a particular mortgage for a number of years so it makes certain sense to do your research before you sign on the dotted line. A step by step approach is the most secure and logical way to approach it. If you are not…
Everyone knows that renting a property is so called ‘empty money’. You could rent somewhere for twenty years and get nothing out of it except for a roof over your head during that time. If you bought a place of your own however, you would be eighty per cent of the way towards owning it outright in that same time frame, assuming you borrowed the…
The principle behind a debt consolidation loan is simple: to bring together two or more of your debts into one new loan and therefore only one interest rate that will reduce your current monthly outgoings. With Britons carrying a combined debt of over ?1 trillion, debt consolidation loans are big business in the UK today and generally there are three main types. The first is…
Life insurance may not be one of your favourite subjects, but you should still give it a serious amount of consideration. Most of us take on a huge amount of financial obligations in our lifetime, and should the worst happen we wouldn’t want to leave our loved ones without financial protection. Buying a property and buying life insurance often go hand in hand. It is…
Financial flexibility is becoming increasingly popular with consumers due to many mortgage lenders offering new types of flexible mortgages, or ‘lifestyle’ mortgages as they’re often known. The idea of having your mortgage, current and savings accounts tied together in the one place can make looking after your money simpler than ever before. So what do these new types of mortgages offer that the traditional ones…
There are so many different types of life insurance policy it can be difficult to decide which is the most suitable for you and your family. Whether you are looking for cover that stays the same for a fixed period, or one that changes over time, there are plenty of options to choose from. Make sure, however, that you know exactly what it is you…
If you no longer need your endowment, either because you have changed your mortgage to a capital and interest mortgage or have been lucky enough to pay off your mortgage using other means, perhaps through an inheritance, you will probably be thinking what is the best thing to do. You may feel there is little point in paying regular premiums for an investment that you…
Product development over the past few years has been dramatic to say the least, and the equity release market today is only a faint shadow of its former self. The providers who have lead the way may not have realised the real impact that they would have on the market. Northern Rock was the first to introduce the concept of drawdown to the market; whilst…
If you’ve recently received your endowment plan annual statement you may have been left feeling disappointed and thinking “Why did I bother?”, especially when the value of the plan is not much higher than the annual statement last year. Unbelievably, however, in some cases, the plan may not have increased in value at all. So, the question is, what do you do? There are various…