Smokers who quit could save over £12,500 on protection products.

The insurer Prudential says that smokers who stopped smoking could save over £12,500 on life and serious illness insurance premiums.

The life company says people could get up to 50 per cent off their premiums and added to the savings they would make on not buying cigarettes, it would be equivalent to receiving a 9.5 per cent pay rise.

Apparantly, research has come out ahead of National No Smoking Day (March 12 this year) and found that 20% of smokers said they would be willing to pay up to £6 for a packet of 20 cigarettes, while 3 per cent of smokers said they would still buy cigarettes if they cost more than £20 per pack of 20.

A smoking habit at this rate would cost nearly £7,300 every year. When also taking into consideration the extra premiums smokers pay on their life and serious illness cover, it becomes £7,800 per year.

PruProtect CEO Sammy Rubin says: “National No Smoking Day is a time when smokers will be thinking about the true cost of their habit, financially and physically. At PruProtect we support both, and offer those wanting to quit not only a financial incentive by saving money on premiums, but encourage people to lead a healthier life style through our Vitality points scheme. To help those finding it tough to quit, we also offer heavily discounted entry to Alan Carr’s Easy Way smoking cessation courses.”

An ex-smoking (for over 30 years) Independent Mortgage Adviser says "If you are a smoker, stop smoking, save money, save your health, be able to smell and taste things properly, and think of your family and friends who hate being around a smoker".

Have a good weekend, y'all. I'm clearing out the garage !

A rare day out, mixing with colleagues and the stars!

My first entry for a few days. Been a bit busy you know!

Whilst not wishing to bore the reader with what's keeping me busy, I will say what I did yesterday.

On a rare day out for me, I went along to my Network's annual conference, which was held in west London. On a bitterly cold day, I had already decided that I'd go by my motorbike, (eco-friendly and free parking!) which after a few miles I regretted to my frozen-to-the-bone legs! I really must get some better cold weather gear.

Amongst all the information delivery that is the norm at such an event, we had two guest speakers. The first was the new Dragon in the Den, James Caan. He was a very good speaker, and he told us how he made his millions, and the process he went through. Effectively, when he starts a business, he writes down all the attributes that business should have. He then looks at that list, and thinks what name it would have if it were a person. That's why his businesses are named with real names and not corporate names. He even said he'd chosen his own name that way!

In the afternoon, we were definitely entertained by Ian Robertson, the BBC rugby correspondent (he of the Scottish accent), who gave us a quick- fire round up of anecdotes as a preparation to him interviewing the other guest speaker, Lawrence Dallaglio, who has won the Rugby World Cup in 2003 and was a Final loser in 2007. Lawrence likened the sports world to the business world in many ways, and he nearly gave us the 'truth' about what he really thought about Will Carling, but then added "I'll tell you what I really think in the bar afterwards" which raised a good laugh.

We also heard from the CEO of New Star investment managers, John Duffield. Whilst giving us his very considered opinion on the current investment climate, and how it relates to the housing market, he did say that the current price of shares should not reflect the pessimism of the buyer. Everyone knows that it is best to buy shares when the price is depressed and stock such as house builders now represent half the purchase price they did a year or so ago. (This does not constitute investment advice, by the way!) He also said that the stock market is traditionally half a cycle ahead of the economy, which is an interesting indicator for the laymen. He also said that currently it is quite possible that the economy is going to come down, and therefore it is an excellent time to invest. John Duffield founded Jupiter Asset Management in 1985 and built it into one of the UK's most successful retail fund management businesses. Within 15 years, Jupiter's funds under management grew to £14 billion and the company attracted approximately one million investment accounts. In the five years before he left Jupiter in 2000 it received more than 100 investment awards. He then went onto start New Star, which has won many awards for its marketing since it's inception. Not bad for an investment company.

Today, it's back to my desk and on with the work.

Remortgaging in demand, but FTB's 'wait and see'

Borrower demand for remortgages has increased by 25% in the last four months and has exceeded demand for advice from first-time buyers (FTBs) for the first time ever. The number of FTB's seeking advice is usually between 5 and 10 per cent higher than remortgagors but in September 2007, this switched over for the first time and remortgages have continued to rise and exceed purchases ever since.

An industry spokesman said “Borrowers are really astute at the moment in terms of looking to lower their mortgage rate, as the number of people looking for remortgage advice has risen by 25% since October. (ED: Wait a minute. They said September earlier, who's writing this stuff?) On the other hand the number of first time buyers has dropped, indicating a ‘wait and see’ attitude as they look to see if the housing market goes down any further.”

An experienced mortgage adviser (i.e the writer of this Blog !) said " This is what I've already said, as 1,400,000 people with existing fixed rate deals end during 2008, and the demand to replace these product will increase over the coming months. Therefore the need for Independent Mortgage Advice will also increase, which will keep me in business for the forseeable future, so says my crystal ball" Or else!

However, what's keeping me busy right now are people who have sold existing properties and are buying new homes. As always, 1st Call 4 Mortgages bucks the industry trend !

I'll leave you with a thought to ponder: What was the best thing before sliced bread?