MILLIONS of new pensioners were warned this week that they face a retirement of poverty after weeks of slashed annual payouts.
Pension companies have cut rates offered on their guaranteed annuity incomes 24 times since the start of summer. Standard Life is the latest to do so, lopping five per cent off the rate offered to the newly-retired and those approaching retirement. And male pensioners will suffer an extra blow later this year with the introduction of the EU’s new “gender directive” which will further force down annuities for men. Craig Palfrey, founding partner of independent financial advisers Penguin Wealth, said: “Annuities are in meltdown. We’re way beyond red alert. They have been coming down relentlessly and Standard Life’s decision to take a sword to rates is just the latest example. Twenty years ago a £100,000 pension fund would have guaranteed an income of £15,640 a year for life for a 65-year-old man. Now it is just £5,140 a year. And the crisis decimating pensions is set to continue for months, perhaps even years, piling on the agony for the newly-retired. Experts warn that the situation is likely to worsen as annuity providers struggle with volatility in the stock market and the Bank of England’s quantitative easing (QE) strategy to tackle the recession. The money-printing policy has been attacked for triggering “a death spiral” in pensions, which some experts say has led to the worst retirement payouts in history. NOW is the time to take control of YOUR pension before it is too late - SIPP LINK. Chat show host invests in the 5* Buccament Bay resort on Saint Vincent in the Caribbean.
Link to the information page - HOTEL RESORT SALES A LIFESTYLE INVESTMENT FROM ONLY €50,000
PURCHASE A LUXURY HOTEL ROOM OR SUITE IN BELLE PLAGNE IN THE FRENCH ALPS ROOM PRICES FROM €50,000 Euros – (NOT FRACTIONAL OR TIMESHARE). SELLING PRICES SHOW A 10% SAVING ON CURRENT MARKET VALUE. ALL MORTGAGE CHARGES AND MANAGEMENT FEES PAID FROM RENTAL INCOME!! EXIT STRATEGY AFTER 5 YEARS OF 296% or €147,946. THIS IS A FULLY MANAGED BY ONE OF THE UK’S LEADING TOUR OPERATORS AND IS A NEW BUILD DEVELOPMENT PROVIDING WINTER SKIING AND SUMMER HOLIDAYS. ADDITIONAL BONUS OF 7 DAYS FREE IN WINTER AND 7 DAYS FREE IN SUMMER (NOT INCLUDED IF PURCHASED VIA A SIPP) Link to further information - 4* SKI HOTEL ROOMS KINGSTOWN, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Argyle International Airport is on target to open in late 2013.
This has been confirmed by the developer responsible for constructing the new St Vincent and the Grenadines international air gateway. According to the International Airport Development Company (IADC), work has been completed on close to three-quarters of the earthworks for required for the airport’s runway, apron and taxiways. Earthworks on the airport commenced in August 2008 and since then the work team, comprising Vincentians and Cubans, have been have been hard at work, clearing and grubbing the area, demolishing the abandoned structures on the site, and removing the top soil. The IADC affirmed that “work on the terminal building continues apace”, ensuring that it is on schedule to be completed by the contracted date of December 2013, in time for the tourism high season in the Caribbean. The Argyle International Airport is being built on about 290 acres of land, with a paved runway 2,743 metres (9,000 feet) long, and 45 metres (150 feet) wide. Its runway length will allow for direct flights to St Vincent and the Grenadines from USA, Canada, Europe and Central and South America. The airport is designed to accommodate jets as large as the Boeing 747-400s. The US$216 million airport is expected to boast a single 1.5 million capacity per annum terminal built over three-storeys on 145,000sq ft with dedicated areas for ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ passengers. The terminal building will have about 8,700 square metres of floor space, to handle about 1.4 million passengers per year. As of May 2012, the contractor, Overseas Engineering Construction Company (OECC), had completed 23 percent of the work on the building. To book a holiday to St Vincent follow the link - HOLIDAY To invest in the 5* Buccament Bay resort which is being built to help cope with the influx of the 1.4 million visitors a year follow the link - INVEST Millions will see pensions slashed by up to 20% as new EU rules are set to send annuities plummeting22/6/2012
MORE bad news on pension's!! TIME TO ACT!
Millions of people could see the value of their pensions slashed by up to 20 per cent because of new EU rules. Those with a £100,000 pension fund could be more than £1,100 per year worse off in retirement because of the reforms, research has shown. The Solvency II rules, which are due to come into effect in January 2014, will force pension funds to hold a higher proportion of 'safe' Government bonds. As the bonds - called gilts - have such low rates of return it will drive down the returns on retirement fund annuities, which are used to pension income. The reforms are designed to make pension funds safer and reduce the risk of them going bust. Annuities, which set retirement income for life, have already fallen to historic lows because of the impact of quantitative easing. At present, a pension annuity fund may invest 20 per cent in low-yield gilts and the rest in riskier corporate bonds which have a higher rate of return. But under the new EU rules, annuity funds will be forced to hold a higher percentage of gilts. New research by Deloitte suggests annuity rates will plunge by between five and 20 per cent when the directive comes into force in January 2014. A £100,000 pension pot currently gives an income of £5,837, but once the regulations come into effect they will be between £292 and £1,167 a year worse off. Take control of your pension by investing in Alternative Investments via a SIPP. LINK TO SIPP INFORMATION PAGE AND VIDEO - SIPP's LINK Read more: ARTICLE LINK A new concept in affordable housing
– £44,950 purchase price – 30.84% below market value -- £20,000 instant equity -- 8% net yields -- SPECIAL OFFER - BUY 5 for the Price of 4.5 - Saving £22,475 Beacon Apartments encompasses an exciting new living concept of one-bedroom UrbanPads for key workers and young professionals and are ideal for first time buyers and investors alike. Located near the centre of Gateshead in the North East of England, Beacon Apartments will be the ideal location for young professionals and those working in the nearby towns and cities such as Newcastle and Durham. The property is situated in close proximity to main motorways and transport links and provides quick and easy access to business centres. Beacon Apartments sits near to the A167 Gateshead Highway, which provides surrounding areas and also the A1 via A184 and the A19 for those commuting to places of work. A converted 1970s building with fully renovated interiors and exteriors, Beacon Apartments is a modern property and provides an attractive option for people looking for central living spaces. The new concept development will be converted into 112 Urban Pads. They are 30m2, one bedroom suited for urban living preferred by young professionals. Each pad will consist of a living and kitchen area, a bedroom and a bathroom. Highlights of Beacon Apartments - Close to areas of interest such as Newcastle and Durham. - Urban Pads concept providing 112 urban pads with rents from £395 pcm. - High Net Yields. Email for further information - EMAIL Student accommodation will continue to offer attractive investment returns in spite of upcoming changes to tuition fees, this is according to all the major market analysts.
Private investors have been attracted to student property as an asset class due to the relatively high yields on offer, driven by the imbalance between the supply of accommodation and the high demand for university places. With an offer on at the moment of buy five get one free there has never been a better time to buy into this market especially when you consider that the current value for student accommodation is £45,000 per unit whilst the deal offered nets the properties down to £25000 per unit. Link to further information – Student pods. Demand for rental properties in Portugal is growing as more Portuguese nationals are forced to rent rather than buy, due to a lack of mortgage liquidity, presenting potential buy-to-let investment opportunities for shrewd property investors.
The latest Portuguese Housing Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Confidencial Imobiliário (CI) shows that the country’s rental sector is benefiting from ongoing weakness in the sales market. Ricardo Guimaraes, CI Spokesman, said: ‘Tight credit conditions are pushing both households and home owners to the rented sector. Households can’t access mortgage finance to purchase a house and therefore home owners in most cases can’t sell their house. This is resulting in sharp increases in both the demand for and supply of rented accommodation.” A further bonus for anyone thinking of buying property in Portugal is the fact that residential property prices in the country are falling due to a lack of activity in the sales market, presenting investors with opportunities to negotiate significant property price reductions. Josh Miller, RICS senior economist, said: “Although sales volumes in the housing market continue to fall, volumes in the lettings market are booming at the moment. This is because households who cannot access mortgage finance are opting for rented accommodation instead.” He added: “Given the deteriorating macro-economic backdrop and tightening in credit conditions that is already underway, the lettings market is therefore likely to continue experiencing high volumes of activity in the near term.” LINK to Portugal property pages EMAILfor the latest must sell properties As businesses across the capital counted the cost of the destruction and theft, the alleged perpetrators posted pictures on the internet displaying their booty.
In one photograph that was circulated widely on Twitter, a youth can be seen posing brazenly with a large number of items including computer games, cosmetics and electrical goods. The individual involved made no attempt to disguise his identity, prompting widespread criticism from other internet users. Another photograph, which was also circulated on the Twitter site, showed a room almost full to the ceiling of shoe boxes. The Twitter user who discovered the image and posted it on the internet, wrote: “These looters went hard! Loot hard or go yard!” It is impossible to know whether the photographs displayed the spoils of an actual raid, or were simply mischief making by internet users. But critics have warned that such postings are helping to fuel the unrest by glamorising the activities of the looters. Widespread looting took place across London after the riots that erupted in Tottenham on Saturday night. Early on Sunday morning gangs of looters descended on a retail park in Tottenham Hale north London, where they ransacked several stores including PC World, Currys, Comet and Staples. At a branch of JD Sports looters formed an orderly queue as they waited their turn to help themselves to training shoes and other designer label sports wear. One woman, who was described by locals in Tottenham as a known trouble maker who had recently been evicted from her flat, even had time to try a pair of shoes on for size. In Brixton, south London, where there was also widespread looting, residents described how many thieves were speaking openly and almost proudly of their activities. Paul Thompson said he watched as a group of teenage girls ran past his Brixton flat carrying bags of stolen clothes. Mr Thompson added: “When I got to the High Street they had already broken into Foot Locker. ''People were coming from everywhere, they were even running over from the council flats opposite. It was everyone, old women, men in cars, everybody was doing some looting. “I stood and watched from about midnight to 2am as plasma screens and computers came out at a rate of about 10-a-minute. No one did anything to stop them. “People were driving into the estate and filling their cars with computers and flat screens. Most of the cars were so full their boots could not close. “At one point people said the bottom floor was empty and you need to go to the top floor to get stuff. They must have stolen everything.” One woman told how she had overhead a conversation on a bus in which an adult female was explaining to a friend how she was planning to return to a branch of H&M where she had stolen some items of clothing to exchange them for some others. Someone else told a public meeting in the borough how a man who had been making off with a stolen television had himself been robbed by a gang of youths. With the police deciding to concentrate on rioting rather than looting, many of the individuals targeting businesses even had time to try on clothes before making off with them. Witnesses said many of the looters drove their vehicles to the stores to enable them to make off with large bulky items such as plasma televisions and computers. By Martin Evans - Telegraph Governor King’s Inflation Report press conference will provide a timely update on how the Bank of England is viewing current financial market developments. The Inflation Report itself will contain medium-term forecasts for the economy. Lloyds TSB have argued that the Bank’s growth forecasts appear too optimistic and its central case is likely to be revised down from just under 2% this year and 2½% next. This is particularly true with the apparent materialisation of downside risks from the Eurozone. Lloyds TSB would also expect to see an associated softening in next year’s inflation outlook (although for 2011 should remain broadly unchanged) despite a boost from lower market rates that the Bank uses to condition these projections. Yet these forecasts still look likely to suggest a set of economic conditions very different from those that led the Bank to ease monetary policy to its historic lows. Nevertheless, with global financial markets threatening to reverse developed economies recoveries, the MPC’s discussions will be dominated by assessments of how much damage the current financial turmoil will wreak on the real economy. This week’s trade release will gauge the ongoing pace of rebalancing in the economy. May saw the deficit widen with trade (including services) breaching the £4.0bn mark for the first time this year. Much of this reflected a jump in imports that Lloyds TSB expect to reverse in June. Accordingly Lloyds TSB forecast the deficit narrowing to £3.8bn. However, Q2 looks unlikely to provide further evidence of an export led recovery. Export volumes look likely to have fallen in Q2 and net trade should have detracted from growth. As with the wider economy, one-off factors affected Q2. But with global economic activity seemingly slowing, export prospects have weakened.
The final release of the quarter is always somewhat historical, with preliminary estimates inferred from the GDP release. Official estimates for manufacturing that recorded a 0.3% contraction in Q2, consistent with a 0.2% rise in June. However, Lloyds TSB suspect that oil production staged a bigger rebound in June than assumed, something that would lead to a 0.6% rise in the wider industrial measure and result in a 1.3% quarterly decline (1.4% estimated). This will have little impact on Q2 GDP, but would provide some support for the expected rebound in oil in Q3. Given market developments, focus has now shifted to the likely pace of Q3 expansion. Written by Ashley Ingle - Excel Currencies August 8, 2011 at 10:57 AM |
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