Four things your clients will call you about this week

Nationals round-up: Another look at NEST, care home fees and a thumbs-up for life insurance.

Defined contribution schemes

The value of financial advice was once again touted in the Mail on Sunday over the weekend, with a look at defined contribution schemes and their guaranteed annuity rates. The paper gave the example of a 64-year-old lady who would have lost out on a significant amount of income if she had accepted the initial annuity calculation of the investment managers of her pension fund. Instead, she sought the services of an IFA and ended up with a much healthier sum.

NEST

Over the next few months and years, we're going to read more and more about NEST, and much of it could convince people to seek financial advice. This may be the case with the Sunday Telegraph's latest look at the topic, and specifically the risk and asset classes of some of the pension schemes. It says NEST's strategy will see younger employees invest their initial contributions in low-risk assets such as gilts. However, many financial planners have taken umbrage with this, saying greater risk should be taken during the early years.

Care home fees

There has been much focus in the news in recent days on the future of some of the country's largest care home networks and their potential collapses. Of course, the other big issue is how people save the funds to pay the fees in the first place. The Sunday Express had an in depth look at how to maximise state assistance with care home fees and avoiding eating into any potential inheritance one might want to leave to their children. The big takeaway for any reader is probably that they need some advice on this huge issue.

Life insurance

Some good news for advisers who deal with life insurance: you have the green light from the Independent on Sunday. The paper looked at the "good, the bad and the ugly" when it comes to cover and gave favourable opinion of life insurance, saying it could be a "godsend" for people with families. However, it was less keen on accidental death cover, citing the large number of exclusions, while mobile phone and extended warranty insurance also came under fire.