Money-saving Insurance Alternative

UK personal finance guru and MoneySavingExpert Martin Lewis has a great tip if you’re worried about losing your shiny new £600+ iPhone or Android smartphone.  I’ve included a link to the full article below, but here’s a summary.

MoneySavingExpert’s cheapest insurance deal that includes loss cover is currently £5 per month.  That’s £60 per year!  Peace of mind, but at a stiff price!

MSE’s tip is to “self-insure” your phone: pay the money you WOULD have spent on insurance premiums (more if you can) regularly into a top-rate savings account.  Earmark that money toward replacement costs in case you’re unlucky and DO lose your phone.

The benefits are obvious: if you do lose your phone, you’ll already have at least some cash put aside to replace it, and if you haven’t parted with all that cash for unneeded insurance!

At WhosMyOwner we’d take this a step further (of course!).

Do the above trick, but put the first few saved pounds toward a WhosMyOwner membership. If you lose your phone with our label attached, you’ll have a great chance of getting it back.  Label as many phones as you like with the same reference code at no extra cost.  While you’re at it, why not label the whole family’s phones, keys, backpacks, wallets and passports.  Did I mention there’s NO EXTRA COST ?

Worth checking out this big money-saver?  Enter coupon code MSESELFINSURE at checkout before 31st October 2014 and get 20% off your WhosMyOwner starter pack.

If you’ve missed the deal, bad luck – but it’s only £15 to join anyway (and only £10/yr to renew). That includes a set of durable key and luggage tags, all the downloadable and print-at-home tags you could ever need, and if you’re not happy, just cancel.

Here’s the full article on MoneySavingExpert about self-insuring and here’s how WhosMyOwner works.