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Christmas Present Tips for Guys

Christmas Shopping Tips for Guys

giftgreen1Most of us guys are useless at Christmas shopping. Here's a few tips I've picked up over the years.

Ladies, you might want to share this with the men in your family to avoid getting an undesirable and badly wrapped present this Christmas.

  1. Buying your Christmas presents at a petrol station or dairy on Christmas morning really isn't the done thing - apparently not everyone wants a funnel, box of biscuits or a car care kit. Don't do it.
  2. Get started early, no not on Christmas Eve, yesterday was already too late.
  3. First thing in the morning is the best time to Christmas shop, and I mean first thing, teenagers are still in bed.
  4. It's not the thought that counts, it's how MUCH thought that counts.
  5. Cash is a GREAT present for teenagers - and me.
  6. If you must give gift vouchers make sure they are from a shop the recipient actually shops in and try and avoid those with an expiry date.
  7. Wrapping and cards are important, you and I know it's just paper but for some reason they are important.
  8. Before you start browsing in a shop check that it does gift wrapping and accept the service - wait if necessary. If the shop doesn't do gift wrapping move on to the next. Unless you are an expert present wrapper - Yeah Right!
  9. Even if every present you buy is gift wrapped, buy plenty of wrapping paper and sellotape. You are going to need it because dairy's and petrol stations don't gift wrap and being a bloke you'll probably ignore number 1.

Guys ignore the above at your peril and have a wonderful Christmas.

Posted in Insurance.

What Determines The Cost of Life Insurance?

middleagedcoupleWhy Do Different People Pay Different Premiums for the Same Life Insurance?

There are 3 key things that will determine what life insurance costs you:

  1. Your age
  2. Your health
  3. Your lifestyle

People often wonder why insurance companies charge different prices for different people of the same age, and the answer is because they present different risks of suffering death, critical illness or disability.

While the odds of suffering from any of these are roughly the same for a large group of people who are all the same age, the different health history of the individuals makes a big difference to the risk.

It might not even be the health history of the individual themselves, but their family history. Say you are a pretty healthy 40 year old with no major medical incidents in your life, but for 2 generations close family have been having heart attacks in their mid-forties. That is statistically significant and changes the risk for you as an individual, so insurers treat that case differently to all the other people in the same age group who do not have that sort of family history.

The other big factor that goes into working out whether people are higher or lower risks than others of the same age is "lifestyle".

Lifestyle includes things like diet, fitness, drinking and drug use (recreational AND prescription medication) as you'd expect. Some things add risks naturally, but some things take some risks away too. Another big part of the lifestyle assessment, and how that impacts on the price you pay, is your work or occupational duties.

Most people would agree that a librarian probably has a less risky job than a demolitions expert, so insurers treat them differently. They are different risks and hence get different prices or policy conditions.

So when an insurer decides that somebody is a different risk to others of their age that doesn't mean they won't accept you or give you cover.

It might be that it is too big a risk, or a risk that they can't calculate and put a fair price on, so they might decline to cover someone. More often though the insurer will charge an additional premium, which is just a way of working out the actual cost for the risk that an individual's age, health and lifestyle history suggests is fair. Or they might exclude some conditions if those conditions are in themselves too risky. Usually that is health conditions that are likely to arise again, or family health that is likely to recur, or dangerous lifestyles.

These factors are what goes into working out a life insurance premium for a client, and even though insurers start off with a "standard" price for all people of particular ages, the reality is each person applying for cover has their own price etc for them which reflects all of these risks.

 

Insurance, Life Insurance

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