May 2012

While most people will insure the breadwinner, they often forget the contribution made by the person who stays at home cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children. They may not contribute financially, but you’d be hard pressed to replace them. In actual fact recent research has calculated the cost of employing someone to carry out all the tasks generally undertaken by the stay-at-home parent could cost £32,812 (Source: Legalandgeneral.com, March 2011). So if you’re thinking of insuring the person who brings home the bacon, make sure you consider the person who cooks it too!

From 21st December 2012 gender neutral pricing will be introduced. Currently premium rates differ between males and females and by product. Typically females pay about 20-25% less for life assurance, about 50-80% more for income protection and about the same or a little less for critical illness. The tax changes on January 1st will generally mean that life and critical illness rates for many companies will increase across the board, and the rate of increase is predicted to be about 10%. Luckily income protection is not affected. Now is a great time to review your protection needs before the changes are introduced later in the year.

April 2012

We are delighted to announce that Phil Anderson Financial Services are to be the Match Ball Sponsor for the Scottish Football League fixture on 21st April 2012 between Peterhead and Clyde at Balmoor Stadium.

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The Co-operative Bank are the latest lender to announce that they will be raising their standard variable mortgage rate by 0.5%, from 4.24% to 4.74%, from May 1 2012.

March 2012

Several mortgage lenders have announced that they are going to soon be increasing their standard variable mortgage rates. If you are concerned that your mortgage payments may be affected please contact Phil Anderson Financial Services to arrange a for a free mortgage review. Those on fixed rate and tracker rate mortgages will be unaffected while they remain on the fixed/tracker deal.

Halifax - Currently 3.50% rising to 3.99%

Bank of Ireland - Currently 2.99% rising to 4.49%

Clydesdale Bank - Currently 4.59% rising to 4.95%

Royal Bank of Scotland - Offset Variable rate rising by 0.25%

The One Account (Now owned by RBS) - Variable rate to rise by 0.25% 

February 2012

The annual ISA allowance for the 2012/13 tax year has been set at £11,280.

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Due to a large increase in mortgage enquiries Phil Anderson Financial Services are looking to recruit another mortgage adviser. The position is full-time and is to cover the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire areas. If you are interested or know of anyone who would like to apply please ask them to email their CV to Phil Anderson (see contact details page for email/office address). 

January 2012

We are delighted to welcome Richard Bain to the team at Phil Anderson Financial Services. Richard is an adviser based in Lybster, Caithness and will specialise in mortgage and protection advice.  

December 2011

The Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed that auto-enrolement for small firms has been put back by 13 months. Businesses with less than 50 employees will now have until May 2015 before they are required to auto-enrole qualifying employees into a pension scheme.

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Ellon based Financial Adviser Phil Anderson has become one of the first financial advisers to obtain a Statement of Professional Standing from The Chartered Insurance Institute. These will become a mandatory requirement for all financial advisers from January 2013 and it shows that the adviser has met the required qualification standards and has complied with the Statements of Principle and Code of Practice for Approved Persons (APER).

November 2011

Junior ISA's are now available (see ISA Page for further details).  

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With the recent up's and down's of the stock market, investors are understandably still quite nervous. One way to reduce your risk is by investing in a "pooled investment" such as an OEIC. An OEIC (open-ended investment company) is a company which offers a number of funds in which investors can invest. Each fund has it's own objective, and will invest in a stated asset class, sector or region of the world. By investing in an OEIC or multi-manager fund, investors are effectively "pooling" their investments with other shareholders in the fund. These collective investments allow the fund manager to invest across a wide range of underlying investments on a scale that an individual investor would find impossible to replicate. The wide range of investments undertaken by the fund also reduces the risk for all the shareholders, as the risk of one poorly performing share is mitigated by the large number of other investments. Further information regarding OEIC's and multi-manager funds can be obtained by contacting Phil Anderson Financial Services.

October 2011

Phil Anderson Financial Services are please to announce that they are to sponsor the Ellon Bowling Club website for another year. As well as sponsoring www.ellonbowlingclub.co.uk, we have also committed to sponsoring the clubs super 6 competition again next season.

September 2011

For every person a mortgage broker helps buy a property, there's another person living in fear of eviction, repossession or without a permanent home. To help combat these problems and change someone's life for the better, Phil Anderson Financial Services has signed up to the Legal & General Mortgage Club scheme called Brokering Change. For every mortgage arranged by Phil Anderson Financial Services we will make a donation to the scheme and money raised will go to the charity Shelter.

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National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has withdrawn its Index-linked Savings Certificates and Fixed Interest Savings Certificates from general sale at close of business on 6 September 2011. The latest Issues of Savings Certificates have been on sale for almost four months (since 12 May 2011) and have been very popular during this time.

August 2011

The Government has confirmed that providers will be able to offer Junior ISAs from 1st November 2011. The accounts were announced in October last year and will effectively replace Child Trust Funds (CTF), which came to an end earlier this year. Both cash and stocks and shares Junior ISAs will be available. Up to £3,600 a year can be invested and this is significantly higher than the limit on CTF's. Junior ISA's will allow family and friends the opportunity to save in a tax-exempt way and this is a welcome boost for savers.

July 2011

Prudential's PruProtect plan now has the option to include education cover. This is a new and unique product designed to meet the education costs of your children in the event of your death or serious illness. The cover can be customised to suit your circumstances and the benefits automatically increases in line with rising school or university fees. The policy also includes up to £5,000 immediate financial support if the child falls ill. If you would like to find out more please do not hesitate to contact us.

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Phil Anderson Financial Services are to sponsor Ellon Bowling Club's Super 6 competition which is being held in August. The winners of the tournament will receive £300 prize money along with engraved crystal glasses donated by Phil Anderson Financial Services.

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The European Court of Justice has ruled that insurers cannot price products based on gender from December 21, 2012. The move will mean that providers will radically have to change the way they price annuities, life insurance, and health insurance.

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The Financial Services Compensation Scheme limit has now increased to £85,000 per financial institution (£170,000 for joint accounts). This increase is good news for savers however changes have also been made regarding protection on accounts involving merged building societies. Further details regarding the changes can be found at www.fscs.org.uk. 

Decisions should not be taken based solely on the content of this website and individual advice should be sought first.

Regulations, levels and bases of taxation are subject to change.

Pictured above is Phil Anderson receiving the match ball from Peterhead Football Club Chairman Rodger Morrison at last seasons match between Peterhead & East Fife.