A new survey by Saga Insurance has found that the grown up children of elderly parents may well end up financing their parents long term care from what was their inheritance.
As a company that works exclusively with the over 50’s Saga Insurance took the opportunity to discuss their plans and found that only 10 percent of people have actually discussed long term care for elderly parents. More worrying still perhaps is that nearly half of them fail to appreciate the actual costs, which are around GBP25 – 30,000 per year.
The view of nearly 60 percent of those who discussed the matter with Saga Insurance is that any inheritance will be used to finance the long term care parents may need. A large part of this may be that, with all the other financial pressures on people, trying to put aside money for parental care is just not possible, at least for the majority of the population.
The Abbey National is aiming to help smokers kick the habit by encouraging them to save the money they would normally spend on cigarettes.
The typical 20 cigarettes a day smoker spends around GBP170 each month that could be used for many different and ultimately far better uses. Over the period of just a year a smoker who gives up and puts the money they would have spent into a monthly savings account such as the Abbey National Fixed Rate Monthly Saver would have a balance just 12 months later of almost GBP2,120.
An Abbey National spokesman urged smokers to think seriously about their options and consider the benefits of using a savings account to put money to one side. It can quickly build up into a tidy sum and the person becomes healthier into the bargain.
The Nationwide Building Society is readying itself for the provision of savings products to customers in the Republic of Ireland.
As long as the proposal is approved by both the FSA and the Irish equivalent then the Nationwide Building Society will begin selling savings products to Irish customers by telephone, online and through the post. The move is being seen as a good strategic option for the Nationwide as it expands their geographic coverage and increases the funding options.
Industry commentators have said that the Nationwide Building Society is already in a strong financial position so this step into Eire is set to improve that position still further.
