London, UK -- Life insurance and protection comparison service Money-minder.com says its innovative ‘Finance Navigator’ tool is the closest thing yet to being able to provide fully automated financial advice for life and protection products and could save consumers hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
Visitors to the Money-Minder.com website can use the tool, developed over the last 5 years by experienced IFA and Money-minder.com founder Ray Black, to help them decide the type and amount of cover best suited to them before going on to compare insurance products from different insurers.
Customers who use the finance navigators to research the different products available can save themselves hundreds and sometimes thousands of pounds by becoming what Ray calls ‘Do It Yourself Financial Advisers’ (or ‘DIYFAs’) and making their own informed decisions aided by the finance navigators as opposed to having to speak to a human adviser.
Ray Black, founder of Money-minder.com said: “Level term assurance is one of the simplest protection products and most people using our finance navigator will easily be able to decide what cover they need and then compare deals from different insurers. Despite what some life insurance brokers will tell you, most consumers taking out a simple term assurance policy should not need to pay what could easily be hundreds or thousands of pounds more in higher policy premiums for human advice when they could get all the help they need from an automated guidance service like our finance navigators.”
Using one example1 of a couple looking for £250,000 of level term life assurance for 25 years the lowest guaranteed premium found by money-minder.com was £13.13p per month together with a one off £35.00 admin charge. If the customer opted for advice over the telephone there would not be an admin charge but the premium would increase to £16.24p per month. Over the full 25 year term of the policy the cost of taking advice would cost the consumer an extra £898.00.
As premiums increase so too does the cost of advice. Using an example2 of a 29 year old male looking for £250,000 of life and critical illness cover for 25 years the lowest guaranteed premium was £39.29 per month again with a one off £35.00 admin charge. If the customer opted for advice over the telephone there would be no admin charge but the monthly premium would jump to £49.47. Over the full 25 year term of the policy the full cost to the customer of taking advice would be a whopping £3019.00!
Ray Black continued: “Given the choice, most people would probably opt for spending a bit of time doing their own guided research and learning more about the product they were considering rather than handing over £3000.00 to an adviser. Because the cost is spread across the term of the policy the difference doesn’t look like much when you compare monthly premiums but it does mount up. Our finance navigators guide you through the most relevant questions a human adviser would ask to be able to provide a recommendation. However, the finance navigator has the added advantage of being able to help you establish your own needs at any time of the day or night from the comfort of your own home.”
Another advantage of the Money-Minder.com approach is that customers get unprecedented choice and transparency when comparing the results of a search for life or protection products. Four price options are displayed side by side giving the clearest indication of the savings which can be made if consumers are confident in making their own choice or the cost of receiving advice from a qualified IFA. If customers are still unsure after using a finance navigator they can opt to get advice over the phone or face to face in the full knowledge of how much extra their monthly premium will be.
The prices displayed on the search results page comprise:
1. Flat Fee: The cheapest monthly premium as Money-Minder give up all the initial commission. The customer prints off and completes the application form and Money-Minder process it for a one off £35 fee.
2. Minimum Hassle: The customer provides a few details and Money-Minder do the rest. There’s no processing fee but the monthly premiums are usually slightly higher.
3. Advice over the phone: Money-Minder will call at a time to suit the customer, give them advice over the phone and handle all the paperwork.
4. Face to Face advice: Money-Minder will arrange for a Money-Minder approved IFA to meet the customer at a time to suit them.
The Money-Minder.com service is unique in that unlike other life insurance and protection websites it doesn’t require customers to choose an advised or ‘execution only’ route to make their purchase at the very start of the process.
Ray Black said: “It’s convenient to some life insurance brokers to force a customer to choose an execution only or advised service route at the start of their search when they have had very little information to base this decision on. However, for a straightforward product such as term assurance some simple guidance and explanations may be all that’s needed for a customer to go ahead and choose a product without advice. Unfortunately if they selected an advised route at the start of their search they wouldn’t be aware of the savings they could make by choosing a self advised approach instead.”
About Us / Contact Us
Jason Wyer-Smith at 42 PR on 07824 818242
Email: jason@42pr.com
Ray Black at Money-Minder.com 01529 300300
Email: ray@money-minder.com
Notes to Editors:
To link to our site please use: http://www.money-
Quotes generated on the 22nd April 2010 using money-minder.com
1 Example is a 25 year joint life, first death level term assurance policy with £250,000 of cover. Male 30 next birthday, female 28 next birthday. Premiums quoted are for a policy with LV with guaranteed premiums.
2 Example is a 25 year life and critical illness policy with £250,000 of cover. Male 30 next birthday. Premiums quoted are for a policy with PruProtect with guaranteed premiums.
Money-Minder.com was founded and created by Ray Black, Dip PFS, an Independent Financial Adviser. Money-Minder.com is online personal finance website that incorporates an exclusive and unique interactive comparison service providing free genuinely online quotes and is full of useful information to help customers choose the right cover and product to suit their needs.
The site currently provides comparisons on life and protection products - term assurance, critical illness, mortgage protection and income protection. The site’s ‘Finance Navigators’ help customers to make their own informed choices and decisions but Money-Minder also provides easy access to highly qualified independent financial advisers (IFAs) if required.
Money-Minder.com is fully authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)
Contact:
Jason Wyer-Smith
Money Minder
Church Cottages
Norfolk
07824 818242
jason@42pr.com
http://www.money-
