In no way does the title of this article mean you should not take out home insurance on your property. The correct home insurance policy can provide excellent protection for your home and the possessions within.
The purpose of this article is to highlight how much money UK homeowners waste on uncompetitive house insurance policies and how you can avoid falling into the same trap.
A recent survey by the Post Office discovered that nearly half of homebuyers bought their home insurance from their mortgage lender. More over the survey found 10% of home buyers thought this was compulsory.
This lack of understanding has resulted in thousands of people taking out expensive, uncompetitive home insurance policies. Around two thirds of people questioned believed buying home insurance from their mortgage lender was more convenient. While it may be convenient it does not offer the value for money you are entitled to expect from today’s market.
Rather than take the supposedly easy option of buying home insurance from your mortgage lender you should look to shop around for your buildings and contents insurance. Today you can compare hundreds of home insurance quotes online in a matter of minutes. There are many UK providers offering policies and comparing quotes from multiple lenders can help you find a more competitive deal and increase your chances of making a saving.
As well as finding cheaper home insurance searching a wider range of insurance companies allows you to find a policy that offers the correct level of protection that you require. Buying insurance directly from your mortgage provider increases the possibility that the policy may not provide the protection that your individual circumstances require. Should you have to make a claim on your insurance the consequences of taking out inadequate cover could be costly.
So if you are currently in the process of buying a home and your mortgage lender offers you home insurance bear in mind you are under no obligation to take a policy with them. By taking a little time to compare the market you stand a much greater chance of getting the right home insurance deal and a much better price.
Trading Stocks Online--Top 5 Secrets to Making Money
Want to make money trading stocks online? If you follow these five simple tips, you'll be way ahead of the pack.
1) Listen to the charts
You may have found a great stock, and it could have the best fundamentals in the world, but here's the truth-- that's not enough! Even if a stock has a million fundamental reasons to go up, it's not going anywhere unless people are buying it. People don't always act rationally, so you can't assume that a stock will behave as it should. That's where technical analysis (chart reading) comes in. By learning to read charts, you can spot stocks that are poised to move up, or conversely, stocks hopelessly headed down. Reading stock charts will allow you to find stocks which actually will move up, not just stocks you think should move up.
2) Use stop losses
No one is ever right 100% of the time. That's just the nature of the game. Even the best stock pickers sometimes pick lemons, but that's not necessarily a problem. Picking losers, which is inevitable, is only a problem if you let them kill your account. You absolutely must set stop loss orders every time you make a trade, otherwise you may wake up and find your entire account decimated. Remember, to make money trading stocks online, you don't always have to pick winners-- your winners just have to be bigger than your losers. You accomplish this by always cutting your losers early, and then letting your winners run.
3) Don't step in front of a speeding train
One of the biggest myths about making money by trading stocks online is that you have to buy low and sell high. That's a very dangerous way of thinking. Why? Because people, searching for stocks to buy low, eagerly buy stocks which are spiraling downward. They hope, often falsely, that soon after they buy the stock, it will turn around, go higher, and then they can sell for a profit. But ask any experienced trader and he'll tell you that stocks which drop precipitously tend to keep dropping. Don't step in front of a speeding train. Instead, find stocks which are healthily moving up and will keep moving up. Think of it not as "buy low and sell high," but "buy high and sell higher."
4) Ignore the people on TV
There is no shortage of media personalities who love to recommend stocks. Follow their advice and you'll become rich, right? Wrong. If you could make millions by following the guy on TV, everyone would be rich. You've got to do your own homework. You see, it's not necessarily that the people in the media don't know what they're talking about. They often do. It's that by the time that information reaches you, it's too late! Think about it...there are professionals who spend all day looking for the next great stock to buy. Do you really think that by the time a stock pick reaches the general public on TV, the smart money hasn't already bought it? Of course it has, and by the time the little guy buys himself, he's left holding the bag. If you want to make money trading online, you've got to think independently. Otherwise, you'll be behind the curve.
5) Don't overpay on commissions
Let's say you start trading stocks online with one thousand dollars. Now let's say you're paying ten dollars per trade. And finally, let's assume you make thirty trades per month. If you do the math, you'll see that you're doomed regardless of how good your stock picks are! People often get so excited about trading stocks online, they forget about all the money wasted on commissions. If you want to be successful over the long term, you have to find a broker with low enough commissions for your trading style. With some brokers charging as low as one penny per share, there's no reason to waste all of your money in fees. In this way, researching online brokers is just as important as researching stocks.
Keep in mind these five tips and you've already set yourself up for success in trading stocks online. Good luck!
Article written by Ethan Lux
Stock Picks - Day Trade
Boy Racer Car Insurance to Fall
An announcement by one of the UK’s largest insurance providers could lead to a drop in the car insurance premiums of so called ‘boy racers’. Swinton has revealed that drivers who have 6 or 9 points on the licence will effectively be treated as having a clean record when applying for car insurance with the provider.
Such a move is likely to see many drivers, who have penalty points, seriously consider moving their car insurance when renewal time comes around. Given how competitive the UK car insurance market has become in recent years it will be only a matter of time before other major insurance companies follow suit. This will give yet further options for drivers with penalty points to make a saving on their motor insurance costs.
The reasoning behind the company’s decision is based on the growing number of UK drivers who have points on their licence. Some 10million motorists now have their record blemished by penalty points. This increase is mainly due to the growing number of speed cameras present on UK roads. There are currently more than 6,000 speed cameras in active use.
As penalty points become more widespread their contribution to identifying dangerous motorists diminishes. With speed cameras trapping some 2million drivers each year it is becoming less practical for an insurance provider to use penalty points when judging the risk in providing a driver with car insurance.
This move has opened the door for motorists to be assessed more as individuals and avoid the routine increase in their car insurance premiums that result from acquiring penalty points.
Should other insurance companies go down the same route there could be a real chance for many drivers to make a saving on their car insurance. One of the best ways for motorists to take advantages of any savings is to search for cheap car insurance online. Comparing quotes from multiple insurance companies increases the chance of finding a lower premium and making a meaningful saving on your car insurance.