Nottingham Insurance Services

Independent Advice
John Ward the Business Principal has over thirty years experience in financial services advice. This includes having worked for a bank as an investment adviser for a period of time and as a manager for a leading insurance company.
As no initial fees are charged appointments can be made to see clients in the comfort of their own home, at work or off premises without undue pressure. The advice given is Independent Advice, this means that an adviser is working for you as a client and it is their duty to select suitable products from those available on the open market.
This is the difference from an adviser that represents one company or only a small selection of companies. They cannot choose from the whole market.
Free initial Advice:
There are various ways in which advice can be paid for, Nottingham Insurance Services offers free initial advice and a free appointments system. Of course time has to be eventually paid for in some way or another, after all no one works without reward at the end of the day.
Advice is paid for when business is completed by the payment of a commission to Nottingham Insurance Services from the Insurance Company or provider of the policy to the adviser. Alternatively there can be an agreement to pay for the advice, after the initial advice, by agreement of fees payable by the client.
Commission payment has in the past lead to accusations in the insurance industry that the product that pays the most commission is the one that will be recommended by an adviser. This is not the case as all regulated plans have commission disclosure and comparisons will be shown to the client of the commission payable.
In fact the commission payable is normally very competitive from provider to provider and varies by only small amounts between them for the same product.
Because the initial advice is not charged, it means that the clock is not ticking and there are no worries over the time spent trying to assess your particular needs as a client.
The average client feels happier knowing that as much time will be spent with them as required to resolve their financial needs, if they do not complete business then unless a fee has been chosen by the client and agreed previously then no commission is earned.
When this is the case, the initial contact is hopefully the start of a future longer term business relationship. The initial meeting, once a relationship has been forged is hopefully for the long term benefit of the client and Nottingham Insurance Services.


Tax Efficient Investments
Savings and investments are only tax efficient if they are geared correctly to the personal circumstances and tax position of the client. That is why it is important to know the background and reasons before advice can be given. It is important to know what you are trying to achieve!
A confidential "fact Find" is usually completed and this enables an analysis and an assessment made of the relevant facts prior to a solution being researched. Then the independent advice can best be used to look at the whole of the market place to select products and make the best recommendations for the solution.

Online Quotes
The use of a specialist Independent Advisers Trading Computer Link provides instant and efficient communication between independent advisers Insurance Companies and product providers. This gives a summary and enables a printed record to be used for most products when showing a client the comparisons of different company products and charges. It enables the visual comparison of the research that goes into a recommendation. It would take an awful long time to phone round all the companies and get any meaningful comparison!

Independent Mortgage Advice
Nottingham Insurance Services is not tied to any individual lender and is a registered provider of independent mortgage advice under the Financial Services Authority. A fee of £200 may be charged by the adviser on provision of mortgage advice. Special schemes that are not available to the public are accessible through Nottingham Insurance Services.
Remember that there are not just Building Society mortgages but also specialist lenders, Banks and special schemes that may offer lending. These are all taken into account when providing full advice. Again it would be a long walk down the high street or a lot of telephone calls to get the comparison that you need.

Competitive Life Insurance
For the same life cover and term of plan, different insurance companies have different rates for the same client. These don't just vary by pence they can and usually do vary by pounds. Some companies are better for smoker rates and some are better for different age groups.
Independent advice means that the adviser will compare and base the advice on your specific requirements and these can also be related to cost. Again it is possible that a print out of the alternatives can be seen as confirmation of the competitive cost of a recommended provider.

Pensions
Pension planning is important. The government make it attractive by giving tax incentives to help you to look after your own future. Can you rely on state benefits even being available to you when you retire?
Is it important to you, of course it is.
Independent advice can help you make a rational choice about a very important long term decision. You need to know what you can do now about making a difference to your own future wealth and standard of living.

Annuities
Although you may have saved for your retirement with a specific provider, you do not have to take the pension only from them. You may have the choice of an open market option. The advice of an independent adviser may find you a better rate of pension income for your pension fund by choosing the correct provider for you. Also there may be better rates for a smoker or someone with ill health. When your annuity is paid it is for life and you cannot afford to make the wrong decision at this important time.

Health Insurance
This is an area that tends to be neglected. There are basically two types of cover that may be looked at.
One type of cover is one that you would "normally " use in conjunction with a mortgage or loan. This can provide cover for a maximum specific term of usually one to two years.
It can pay out on selected benefits such as sickness and redundancy. This can be used to pay the mortgage until state benefits may become available.
The second type of cover is permanent health insurance. This is protection that can last until a pre determined time such as retirement. It is usually payable after a deferred waiting period and whilst in payment it can continue until you get better or to the end of the chosen age is reached.