Most policies will also require you to pay the first pounds 35 on a medical claim and will have a strict list of exclusions, notably pre-existing conditions, and pregnancy after 28 weeks.Some of the most crucial things need to be considered before you travel. Inter Group Claims, Options’ assistance firm, despatched an air ambulance which made a night landing in a jungle clearing, and the injured man was airlifted back to a hospital in Glasgow. The Association of British Insurers says only one in four claims made under a travel policy are for medical expenses but they account for half of travel insurers’ total claims costs.
Columbus, a travel insurer, recently had a claim from a policyholder who suffered appendicitis in the US. The treatment involved consultations with a doctor and more than a week in hospital; a new air ticket also had to be bought as the man was forced to miss his return flight to the UK. The total cost was pounds 8,900.This sort of claim is fairly common, but medical treatment abroad can become far more complicated and expensive. Options Travel Insurance services dealt with an emergency call this summer from a man who who broke his neck while in the jungle. IF YOUR digital camera is stolen on holiday in the US you are likely to be down pounds 500, and if you weren’t insured, your holiday is probably ruined.

If you have a heart attack and require surgery it could cost pounds 50,000, and without cover, you could be ruined. While many people take out travel insurance primarily to cover their valuables, the medical section of the policy is by far the most important. M&S sells stand-alone pensions, schemes for additional contributions, and serious illness cover. It also sells lump-sum life cover.Internet users cannot apply online for life or pension products, but can request information and a personal illustration by calling a freephone number.In addition, M&S provides a useful pension calculator which illustrates the likely monthly and annual pension for a given premium, retirement age and the age of the applicant.The site provides a walk-though calculator that adds up outgoings and liabilities for a family. Sensibly, it provides some sample figures, such as the monthly cost of running a car or funeral costs, as well as a guide to the state benefits for a widow or widower.The process might seem a little morbid, but the resulting figures can be quite frightening.

For example, a professional person with a young family would need insurance worth several hundred thousand pounds to provide an adequate income after death.In recent years supermarkets like Safeway, Tesco and Sainsbury’s have also introduced financial products such as savings accounts, pensions and insurance. Boots is the latest to introduce a range of insurance products, including medical cover and travel policies.Tesco’s personal finance section consists of a page with some phone numbers to call for more information. Sainsbury’s takes a similar approach.Boots’ web site is rather more useful The company only sells insurance. Its health products include dental and family health insurance, child injury, adult accident and pregnancy. Travel policies include single and annual trip, winter sports cover, and a gap-year policy.Contacts: Boots, www.boots.co.ok; Marks & Spencer, www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk/financial- services; Sainsbury’s, www.jsainsbury. co.uk; Tesco, www.tesco. co.uk. One of them is Marks & Spencer, which has a large and sophisticated financial services arm providing loans, pensions and investments, as well as the company’s charge card.
M&S has revamped its financial services web site, which works with secure documents, using the browser’s encryption facilities. The site covers savings and investments, personal loans and a reserve account, which is a flexible loan facility, as well as account card services and life and pensions.New applications for the M&S charge card can be submitted and existing customers can change their address, their statement date, or opt to pay by direct debit online – although the direct debit form has to be printed out and posted as it requires a signature.The savings and investment section gives details on the M&S low-cost PEP, including the way it is taxed and how the company works out the value of investments.For loans, the site provides a calculator to work out monthly payments and secure online application forms for new customers.The most comprehensive part of the site, though, deals with life and pensions.

BANKS and building societies face increasing competition from retailers which see financial services as a profitable sideline. You can start paying into a whole-of-life policy in your fifties and they usually have a fixed payment period of 10-20 years.A 60-year-old male non-smoker paying pounds 20 monthly into a Scottish Provident whole-of-life policy would give a sum assured of pounds 9,628. This is far in excess of the funeral costs, although the additional sum could be useful if death leads to a number of other costs for the family.If you want the proceeds from the policy to go to your heirs and not to you, and therefore stay outside of your estate for inheritance purposes, Mr Klonowski advises people to have them “written in trust.”Contacts: Age Concern, 0800 387718; Avalon, 0161-236 3602; Chosen Heritage, 0800 221166; Co-operative Funeral Bond, 0800 289120; Dignity Plan, 0800 387717; Family Funerals Trust, 0800 334433; Funeral Ombudsman, 0171- 430 1112; Funeral Planning Council, 01222 382046; Golden Charter, 0800 833800; Golden Leaves, 0800 85445; National Association of Pre-paid Funeral Plans, 0121-711 1343; Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, 0171-267 6777.Sarah Jagger is a staff writer at Moneywise magazine.FUNerAL PLANSPre-paid plans on offer for mid-price or traditional funeralProvider Cost of Cost of payingfuneral monthly overfive yearsAge Concern Funeral Plan pounds 1,310 pounds 25.20Avalon Life Care Assurance pounds 1,450 pounds 32.63Chosen Heritage pounds 1,371 pounds 26.28Co-op Funeral Bond pounds 1,340 pounds 25.75Dignity Plan pounds 1,345 pounds 25.88Family Funerals Trust Ltd pounds 1,395 pounds 27.39Funeral Planning Services pounds 1,275 pounds 24.79Golden Charter pounds 1,310 pounds 25.70Golden Leaves pounds 1,227 pounds 24.86. This would also cover a standard funeral.Alternatively you could take out a whole-of-life insurance policy that pays out a lump sum on your death.

You agree to pay premiums for the rest of your life or up to a certain age, often 85, and the insurance company agrees to pay out a fixed sum (plus bonuses if the policy is a with-profits one). This would give you enough to cover the basic or mid-price funeral.Alternatively, by investing in a personal equity plan (PEP) growing at 5 per cent a year over five years, your pounds 20 a month would produce pounds 1,230, says Francis Klonowski of Klonowski & Co (but you’d have to use a new individual savings account (ISA) to continue monthly contributions after April 1999). This means that if you were to cancel you would only get back what you paid in.So would you be better off using a conventional financial product to save up for a funeral?There are several options. For example, by paying pounds 20 a month (the typical funeral plan monthly instalment) into an average instant access savings account paying 5.1 per cent net, you would stand to get round pounds 1,368 after five years, says Rebekah Kearey, of Roundhill Financial Management. Golden Charter is the largest funeral planning network in the UK and provides pre-paid funeral plans through the independent sector of funeral directors, which conduct of 60 per cent of funerals in the UK.CRS Funerals (Co-operative Retail Services) operates the Co-op Funeral Bond through its network of funeral homes.SCI is the world’s largest funeral business and in the UK it now operates the Age Concern Funeral Plan, Chosen Heritage Plan and Dignity Plan.Most providers do not restrict access to plans by age or health, but Graham Williams of the NAPFP says the majority who take out plans are in their sixties.Once you start paying money into a plan, you’ll see no return on it No interest is accrued. “We want to ensure that consumers know what they are buying and get the funerals paid for. We are working toward producing some form of consumer protection,” says David Mattes of the Department of Trade and Industry.In the meantime, the two main industry regulation groups are the National Association for Pre-paid Funeral Plans (NAPFP) and the Funeral Planning Council (FPC).You should also check before you buy a plan that the funds are held in a trust with independent trustees, and that the trust’s deeds and the names of trustees are published.The Funeral Ombudsman Scheme is concerned with redressing complaints when something has gone wrong with the funeral – it does not regulate funeral pre-payment plans.There are three main providers of national funeral plans.