A Jordanian visa can be obtained from the embassy at 6 Upper Phillimore Gardens, London W8 7HB (071-937 3685), pounds 33 to British passport holders.Further information: Israel Government Tourist Office, 18 Great Marlborough Street, London W1V 1AF (071-434 3651). Jordan Information Bureau, 11-12 Buckingham Gate, London SW1E 6LB (071-630 9277).(Photograph omitted). THE WEIGHTY judgments from Europe this week about the equal treatment of men and women in company pension schemes have brought into focus the confusion surrounding the subject. First, you have to know whether your company has a pension scheme and, if so, what type it is. There are two forms of company pensions - one racks up benefits in the form of fractions of your salary when you leave, while the other gets real cash put into a pot and grows (or shrinks) according to the investment climate.A final salary scheme will typically tot up at the rate of one-sixtieth of your salary when you leave for each year of service. So to get the maximum two-thirds pension allowed under tax law you would have to work for 40 years.At any point you can stop paying in and have the rights translated into a cash sum that can be transferred to a personal pension or another employer's scheme. The sex equality case, originally brought by a man, rests on the fact that many schemes let women retire at 60 on full pensions while men had to work on for five years.When a worker chooses to retire early he or she will lose about 4 per cent of pension for each year short of normal retirement age.The case of women workers at Avdel Systems, of Welwyn Garden City, Herts, arose because women were made worse off when the retirement age was raised to 65 for all on 1 July 1991 to comply with a European judgment in May 1990.This week's ruling is that the disadvantaged men must have their terms improved to match the womens'in the period before a common retirement age was set.But companies were free to pick any age to make the sexes equal and women could legally have their contracts changed to make them work a further five years to qualify for a full pension - or suffer a reduced pension if they retired at 60.If the retirement age for women was moved from 60 to 65 half way through a woman's working life with a company, then if she retired aged 62.5, half her pension would be enhanced because she had postponed retirement, and half would be docked because of early retirement.With the ruling that confirmed that part-time workers have the right to join a scheme if they can show an element of sex discrimination in their exclusion there is an element of back-dating that has angered employers. The catch for employees is that those in schemes where the workers have to pay something must make back payments to 1976.

Employers will have to put in their share of contributions and any investment gains. Employers such as banks, having schemes without employee payments, fear a huge demand for this free ride.When it comes to calculating transfer values and swapping the pension savings in a money purchase scheme into a stream of income to see you through old age, men and women will continue to be treated unequally.This reflects the fact that women live longer, so it takes a larger lump sum to buy them the same monthly income.(Photograph, table and graphs omitted). PEOPLE who took out term insurance to cover their mortgages a few years ago may be able to save considerable sums of money by cancelling their contracts and taking out new ones. Term insurance rates have been cut by many insurers over the past few years because Aids is no longer viewed as such a virulent threat, and life insurers have made rates cheaper for non-smokers. One accountant, Blick Rothenberg, claims to have saved clients between pounds 30 and pounds 50 a month on premiums on policies of up to 25 years in length.Andrew Croker, who works for a sports goods company, had two term assurance policies taken out three years ago from Norwich Union - one in his own name for pounds 250,000, and one with his wife for pounds 100,000, both for 28 years. The premiums were pounds 103 and pounds 66 per month.He is planning to cancel his policies and take out two new ones with Scottish Widows. Despite being three years older, his new monthly premiums are pounds 87 and pounds 44 a month over 25 years - a total saving of pounds 38.20.Mr Croker said: 'I was very surprised about the amount of money I could save, which over the term of the policy can mount up.' Anybody who believes he or she can get a better deal by reinsuring through a new company will have to have another medical.There are also savings to be made on smaller policies, and by switching within the same company. For example, anyone who took out a 10-year term assurance policy for pounds 100,000 assured at aged 30 in 1990 with General Accident would be paying pounds 18.50 a month.

If he or she decided to reinsure with the same company today for a six- year term, the payment would be pounds 13.50 a month, and taking out a new 10-year policy would cost pounds 15.. MANY people are opting to take dividends in the form of extra shares. One investor has found a big difference in the charges levied by different registrars for consolidating his ever-burgeoning number of share certificates into one. Peter Frean, a retired jewellery importer from north London, said: 'Nowadays you have the option of taking shares instead of dividends and you accumulate ever so many share certificates. They just become a nuisance.' He wished to consolidate seven Suter share certificates into one. He was surprised to learn that Northern Registrars wanted to charge him pounds 15 plus VAT for the consolidation.He said: 'I have made similar requests to other registrars and they have all obliged without making any charges.' These include Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays.Northern Registrars has been making the pounds 15 charge since last October, before when it was pounds 7.50.

Stockbrokers said that this sort of fee had been gradually creeping in over the past few years.Write to Money Grouse, The Independent, 40 City Road, London EC1Y 2DB. Do not send SAEs or original documents as we cannot guarantee to deal with every letter personally.. Skipton Building Society has launched two share dealing services. Its exchange account is aimed at members of its telephone share dealing service and pays 5.5 per cent gross on all balances. It is also offering a free nominee service in conjunction with the stockbrokers Wise Speke Details on 0532 444095. Up to a million pensioners could be missing out on unclaimed state benefits worth up to nearly pounds 50 a week, according to Age Concern It is launching a campaign to encourage pensioners to claim. There is a confidential phone advice line (0800 289404) and a free advice leaflet, available from its shops or by sending an SAE to Can You Claim It?, Information Department, Help the Aged, St James's Walk, London EC1R 0BE..