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Professional indemnity insurance is essential for advisers. Following the collapsing house prices and the economic downturn a stark reality is that people will be looking to attribute blame towards estate

Recent research has shown that renting a property during retirement costs nearly four times as much as owning your own home.

It costs an average of £11,500 a year to pay

In the past six months almost two million people have had their credit card limits cut. Research shows that companies are imposing stricter lending criteria as they are becoming

Insurance tycoon Peter Cullum has given up plans to sell part of his £3bn Towergate business to Candover the private equity group.

Along with other senior executives he had wanted to

Lloyd’s of London, the 340 year old insurance market is expected to post a pre-tax profit for 2007 of about £3.8bn Lloyd’s of London is the world’s largest insurance market

With everyone currently losing confidence in the banking system following the Northern Rock decline, the Financial Services Authority published a report last week which was such a catalogue of errors

A guide to finance

Listed below is a helpful guide to some of the terminology that you will encounter. You should read this prior to selecting a policy from the menu above.

What is the difference between a secured loan and an unsecured loan
What are the advantages and disadvantages of business loans

What is the difference between a secured loan and an unsecured loan

A secured loan gives security to the lender on the loan rather than just a promise to repay the loan. This would normally be a first or second mortgage on the borrowers home. Generally secured loans offer more flexibility in loan repayment terms.

Other names for secured loans are homeowner loans. Other names for unsecured loans are personal loans, car loans, holiday loans.

THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE SECURING OTHER DEBTS AGAINST YOUR HOME. YOUR HOME MAY BE REPOSSESED IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR ANY OTHER DEBT SECURED ON IT.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of business loans

Advantages of Business Loans

Retain Ownership. Instead of raising funds by selling an interest in your company to an investor, you retain the current ownership of your company. The lender is only entitled to an interest return on its loan, not a percentage of the profits or a share in the company that an investor would expect.

Borrower is legal owner of equipment. If you decided to take a loan against your equipment, unlike some other forms of financing you remain the legal owner of the equipment.

Tax advantage. Interest payments on your loan are tax deductible and are made with pre-tax money. Purchases financed with profits, in contrast, are made with after-tax money.

Disadvantages of Business Loans

Additional guarantees. Depending on the credit rating of your company, the lender might require additional guarantees. These may be provided by you, your partners or your bank and could affect your personal credit rating or your standing with your bank.

Collateral. The lender may insist on a pledge of some asset to secure the loan.

Defaults. The lender may define a variety of events that will constitute a default on the loan, including failure to make any payment on time, bankruptcy, insolvency and breaches of any obligations in the loan documents.