Category Archives: Financial Information

Financial Information

Financial, Financial Information, Insurance, Insurance Services, Investment

Insurance Social Networking, Predictive Modeling and Microinsurance Presentations Available

Three insurance-related presentations and videos have been released for immediate viewing at ClaudePenland.com/multimedia. All presentations are free to download and share.

The first presentation is called “LinkedIn Social Networking for Insurance Professionals”. LinkedIn is the most active professional social network in the world.. According to their press materials, they have over 90 million international members, with roughly half of those members residing in the United States. If you work in insurance or reinsurance as an underwriter, attorney, accountant, actuary, actuarial analyst, risk manager, claims professional, financial analyst, agent or other insurance role, this presentation will list for you some of the more active insurance-related jobs and discussion groups on LinkedIn.

“Microinsurance is Exciting” is the second presentation. Microinsurance is generally designed for low-income businesses and individuals who aren’t typically covered by traditional insurance. It is usually sold at low premiums and low coverage limits / caps. It has a potential eventual annual premium of $40 billion worldwide.

A third presentation is titled “Predictive Modeling for Life, Health and Property & Casualty Actuaries”. This predictive analytics presentation provides eight examples of strong industry presentations and articles where actuaries can apply predictive modeling to life insurance, property and casualty insurance and health insurance / actuarial data.

These presentations were authored by Claude Penland, a casualty actuary and webmaster with twenty years of insurance industry experience. On ClaudePenland.com, Claude writes at least six times a day on the international insurance-related and web-related issues that he explores daily, and regularly posts interesting presentations, videos and articles at ClaudePenland.com/multimedia.

Via EPR Network
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Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Financial Software, Investment, Money

Vebnet and Towers Watson Announce Partnership Throughout Latin America

Vebnet, a market-leading global technology provider of total rewards and flexible benefits solutions, and Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW), a leading global professional services company, have announced a formal partnership in Latin America.

The partnership combines Towers Watson’s expertise in benefits, investment and communication consulting with Vebnet’s market-leading technology to support organisations that need portal-based flexible employee benefit schemes. Vebnet and Towers Watson have a similar, successful partnership in Asia Pacific.

“The increasing diversity of today’s workforce makes flexibility an essential component of benefit provision and total rewards programs,” said Segundo Tascon, Latin America benefits director of Towers Watson.

“Together, Towers Watson and Vebnet will offer a fully integrated yet highly configurable solution to clients and their employees. Vebnet’s FIX&FLEX is an intuitive and highly configurable technology application that enables companies to provide education and information content through engaging communications and consistent messaging within a common employee brand.”

By combining Vebnet’s technology, bespoke communication programs delivered through multimedia channels and highly experienced consulting and implementation teams, Towers Watson can develop and deliver a differentiated employee benefit strategy and solution to leading companies. This solution can include communications plans, total rewards statements, flexible benefits and online pay slips to bring more choice, empowerment, flexibility and automation to the company’s benefit scheme. The technology can be deployed in multiple languages and currencies and be the application controlling multinational or global employee benefit scheme provision and administration.

This technology currently supports over 260 organizations, covering 400,000 employees. The technology is deployed in over 20 countries and in different languages including Chinese, Thai and Spanish.

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Business, Currency, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Forex, Investment, Money, Profits, Trading

TradingFloor.com Releases Video On European Growth

TradingFloor.com, the home of Saxo Bank’s trading commentary, financial research and analysis, has released a video discussing the current European growth.

The European growth situation is particularly in focus, with quite a bit of key macro data being published which is expected to confirm the ‘growth story’. In the video Mads Koefoed, macro strategist at Saxo Bank’s TradingFloor.com discusses the growth in Europe and in the U.S.

Mads first discusses Eurozone industrial production in addition to the Eurozone and some individual members’ GDP reports. The industrial production numbers of -0.1% were a little below consensus expectations but above TradingFloor.com’s expectations of -0.4%. Even though the numbers had declined, the manufacturing sector is still growing strongly in the Eurozone. The declining numbers are thought to be attributed to the very strong November numbers, which saw industrial production rising 1.4% month on month, so some give back is it to be expected in December’s numbers. The very poor weather in December will also have had some affect on production numbers. Mads expects the numbers to improve for January.

The overall GDP reports were also fairly good and what was expected. Countries like Spain performed better than expected with a result of 2% up. With Germany continuing to drive the Eurozone, Mads predicts a fairly robust growth in the Eurozone in the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, also in focus is a meeting of Europe’s Finance Ministers and any indications of increasing the debt stability of southern Eurozone members. While Mads does not foresee much news coming out of the event, he does foresee them discussing the Germany and France proposal to put in place a measure against debt increase to hopefully ensure a more harmonized corporate tax system in the Eurozone, despite other leaders not being completely behind this.

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Financial, Financial Information, Insurance, Insurance Services, Investment

Substantial Presentations on Insurance Trends, Emerging Risks and Pandemic Modelling Released by Actuary

Claude Penland, casualty actuary and webmaster, has produced at ClaudePenland.com/multimedia three informative PowerPoint presentations and videos foractuaries, actuarial analysts, underwriters, financial analysts, accountants, consultants, claims personnel and others in the insurance and reinsurance industries.

The first presentation, “10 Influenza Pandemic Models”, profiles models from the Society of Actuaries, Milliman, VirSim, Risk Management Solutions, Military Science, INFORMS, Los Alamos, open source alternatives and others.

The second is entitled “40 Insurance Trends for 2011”. Forty insurance trends are considered, including healthcare, health plan grandfathering, asset quality, Takaful, microinsurance, emerging risks, insurance industry job losses, predictive analytics use, as well as other global insurance and reinsurance trends.

The third presentation is called “10 Emerging Risks for Insurers and Reinsurers”. These risks include infrastructure, cyber attacks, space weather, nanotechnology and municipal bankruptcies.

Via EPR Network
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Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Insurance, Insurance Services

Consumers Can Now Research Specific Providers in the New Reviews Section of CarInsuranceRates.com

Car Insurance Rates has eliminated the need for visitors to go elsewhere to research individual auto insurers online. The site has added an entire section devoted to insurer reviews to help inform visitors’ coverage decisions.

CarInsuranceRates.com (CIRS) has revamped its site to include a section dedicated to reviews of specific providers. Visitors can find information on most major carriers, including Allstate, Farmer’s, AIG, Nationwide, and more. The reviews include information on the carrier’s history, financial standing, reputation, and customer satisfaction ratings.

“After our visitors review car insurance rates on potential policies through our free quote-request system, they typically want to conduct research on individual providers to see which insurer is best-suited for them. Rather than having to go to several different sites to investigate prospective carriers, shoppers can now look up all the pertinent information they need by simply navigating to our new insurer review pages,” explained CIRS spokesperson Nathan Ackerman.

At present, nine reviews are available to visitors, and CIRS hopes to expand the section in the future as additional providers join its referral network. To access the reviews, visitors have only to click the logo of the carrier in which they are interested. The reviews are user-friendly, concise, and informative.

“The new review section is also part of our ongoing effort to make Car Insurance Rates a one-stop-shopping site for auto insurance coverage. These reviews don’t just contain information a consumer would find on the insurer’s official site; they also offer valuable policyholder satisfaction and financial rating information that may otherwise be hard to find. Thanks to this new section, our visitors can now visit only one site rather than dozens in comparison shopping for policies,” Ackerman added.

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Business, Currency, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Financial Software, Financial Solutions, Forex, Investment, Money, Profits, Trading

TradingFloor.com Releases Video on the German Economy

TradingFloor.com, the home of Saxo Bank’s trading commentary, financial research and analysis, has released the video ‘Why the German economy continues to outperform in Eurozone’.

Despite a minor correction in industrial orders in December, the German economy continues to stand out from the rest of the Eurozone members in terms of growth. In the video Mads Koefoed, macro strategist at Saxo Bank’s Tradingfloor.com, discusses the performance of Europe’s largest economy versus the 16 other Eurozone members.

Mads Koefoed discusses two main reasons why he believes the Germany economy is continuing to outperform other countries in the Eurozone. Germany is turning part of its foreign exports away from other countries in the Eurozone and towards Asia. While Germany still continues to do a lot of trade within the Eurozone, by turning to Asia, where more solid growth is taking place, it is doing better than other Eurozone countries that have not moved some of their trade overseas.

Southern countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy have also seen higher cuts on public spending than have happened in Germany, meaning Germany should recover much stronger.

Mads is optimistic that the economic growth of Germany will continue throughout 2011 and hopefully into 2012, because while Germany is cutting costs, it is not doing it as harshly as other countries.

Northern areas of the Eurozone such as the Netherlands and France are expected to catch up with Germany first, though it looks doubtful whether the southern countries will make real advance any time soon. Mads mentions that other countries outside of the Eurozone, such as the UK, should catch up fairly quickly as well. While the UK may see a weak first half due to the rise in VAT and the public spending cuts, the second half of 2011 should see a strong rebound.

The Eurozone economy video is available to view on the Saxo Bank TradingFloor website.

Via EPR Network
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Costs, Financial, Financial Information, Money

Survey Shows Increase in Worries Over Finances and Jobs As Cutbacks Begin

Findings of new survey comprising of 2,000 people reveal concerns as increasing over finances, the economy and job security as Government Cutbacks start.

• Government Cutbacks worry 84% of participants
• 69% reveal they think the extent of the cuts are not being truthfully shared by the Government
• Concerned about the security of their jobs are 56%
• Expecting to be up to £300 worse off every month due to cuts are 77%
• Thinking the cuts by the Government will harm the economy are 50%

07 February 2011 – The new survey saw 2,000 people take part, and showed that due to local authorities getting rid of thousands of employees, inflation going up to 3.7% and unemployment rates in the UK going up to 2.5 million, many are getting rather anxious about the affects of the Government Cutbacks.

DiscountVouchers.co.uk is one of the nation’s top money saving website range, and were behind the national survey. They found that 84% were concerned about the cutbacks being made by the Government; whilst 69% did not really believe the Government is being honest about the depth of the cuts.

Simon Terry, Managing Director of DiscountVouchers.co.uk remarked, “There is a real sense of concern surrounding the Government cutbacks. We have seen that county councils are axing thousands of employees, and with the increase in inflation it is causing many to feel insecure and worried about the safety of their jobs and the state of their finances.”

The new national survey also found that each month 77% of participants are now expecting to be worse of by up to £300. 11% said they believe their figure will be up to £1000 and only 10% said they did not think their financial situation would be affected by the cutbacks.

Also, 50% said they were concerned about how the cuts will impact the security of their jobs. 63% said they worked in the public sector, or were aware of someone else who did, and were concerned about the future of their on-going position.

With many starting to be increasingly worried about their finances and jobs, the survey found many were deciding to delay buying expensive items and even put off major life changing decisions. For example: 40% are now postponing home improvement; 38% will now delay buying a new car or going on holiday; 22% said they will now delay moving house; 17% will not change their jobs at this time; 7% say they are now putting off having a baby; and 7% have decided to hold off on their wedding plans.

Via EPR Network
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Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Insurance, Insurance Services

Young Drivers Face Catch-22 Conundrum Reports Tiger.co.uk

The recent publication of The AA’s 2010 Insurance Premium Index has again highlighted the growing problem of increased car insurance costs for younger drivers. The Index estimated that insurance for 17-22 year old drivers increased by over 58% in 2010. This equated to a massive £829, increasing average premiums for this age group to over £2,250 – more than the cost of many first cars.

The team at Tiger.co.uk, a motor insurance comparison site, has highlighted another statistic about young drivers that also needs to be considered. The Motor Insurance Bureau (MIB) has estimated that 5% of motorists – over 1.2 million – are driving without insurance and 20% of these (243,000) are 17-20 year olds.

The same organisation estimates that the high level of uninsured driving has contributed towards the extraordinary level of inflation in car insurance premiums, adding about £30 to the cost of policies for legally insured drivers.

When viewed together these statistics lead to a worrying conclusion: as car insurance becomes increasingly unaffordable for younger drivers, so they may be increasingly tempted to drive without any insurance at all. This, in turn could lead to a rise in uninsured drivers’ compensation costs, again fuelling further increases in car insurance premiums.

A spokesperson for Tiger.co.uk commented: “The relationship between escalating insurance premiums and the growth of uninsured driving is inescapable. It could well lead to a “Catch 22” situation whereby having more uninsured drivers contributes to increased premiums causing drivers, particularly young drivers, to risk driving without insurance – which is of course a criminal offence. We would recommend that young drivers take the following steps to try and get cheap car insurance:

• Use car insurance comparison sites like Tiger.co.uk to make sure you get car insurance quotes and compare policies and get from a wide range of insurers.

• Consider taking the Pass Plus exam after passing your driving test – premiums can be reduced by up to 30%.*

• Have a look at ‘pay as you drive’ policies such as those offered by Insure The Box and Coverbox – both of which are available via Tiger.co.uk’s comparison service (the only car insurance comparison site to offer both of these insurance brands).

• Choose your car carefully – go for something in a low insurance group.

• Drive carefully and build your no claims discount as this can significantly reduce your premiums.”

The spokesperson also reminded young drivers shopping for cheap car insurance:
“Don’t be tempted to get an older driver to “front” your policy for you. This practice of having an older more experienced driver as the main driver on a policy is illegal and can lead to insurance being void.”

Via EPR Network
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Financial, Financial Information, Insurance, Insurance Services, Investment

Expanding Insurance News, Web Trends Website Announced at ClaudePenland.com

A rapidly growing insurance news and web trends website was recently created and launched at ClaudePenland.com. This six-month-old website was conceived by Claude Penland, an established casualty actuary with twenty years of industry experience.

Claude writes at least six times a day on the international business issues that he explores daily. These global topics include insurance news (4InsuranceNews.com), insurance startup companies (InsuranceStartups.com), insurance mergers and acquisitions (WhoBoughtWho.com), insurance trends (InsTrends.com), reinsurance news and trends (ReinsuranceTrends.com), web startups (1000Startups.com), web trends (WebTrendInfo.com), web development, pension risk (PensionRiskNews.com), catastrophe risk (CatRisky.com), Solvency II European insurance regulations (SolvencyDeux.com), Takaful (TakafulMe.com), predictive analytics (PredNews.com), risk management (TheRiskNews.com), odd business ideas (OddBusinessIdeas.com), plus finance and investment.

New topics are frequently added to ClaudePenland.com and there is an interesting quote posted every Friday (FridaysQuote.com). 27 separate RSS news feeds are offered.

On ClaudePenland.com/multimedia, informative PowerPoint presentations and YouTube videos authored by Claude Penland are often featured. These include diverse presentations on worldwide topics such as catastrophe risk trends, actuarial news, predictive analytics, the China/Hong Kong insurance markets, reinsurance, social networking startups trends, Solvency II European insurance regulations, Europe’s insurance markets, insurance startups, Bermuda’s insurance market, executive recruitment, the Takaful market, web trends, India’s insurance market, job hunting and technology, web development, insurance mergers and acquisitions, as well as pension risk trends.

All presentations are free to download and share. Claude’s “40 Web Trends for 2011” presentation was recommended highly recently at ClaudePenland.com/recommendations.

At ClaudePenland.com/salary-surveys, compensation surveys are provided pertaining to insurance and reinsurance C-level executives. These surveys were generated from publicly-available U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. They include property and casualty insurance (CasualtySalarySurvey.com), life insurance (LifeSalarySurvey.com), health insurance (HealthSalarySurvey.com), and also property and casualty reinsurance (ReinsuranceSalarySurvey.com).

Via EPR Network
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Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Insurance, Insurance Services

The Business Octopus Lends a Hand in the New Year with Cheap Office Insurance

In recent years there have been plenty of businesses and entire industries that have suffered as a result of the tough economic circumstances. Business insurance expert, The Business Octopus, is now urging firms to protect themselves by taking out office insurance and making sure there are no more unpleasant surprises.

The Business Octopus provides companies with a wide range of insurance services and operates across a large number of industries, offering everything from teacher and tutor insurance to retail, restaurant, bar and pub, and landlords insurance.

Taking out appropriate cover and having a safety net in the form of a business insurance policy can prevent businesses from losing money through accidents, damage and indemnity-related issues.

Speaking for The Business Octopus, Patrick Herdman said: “The rise in VAT and other cutbacks have hit many businesses hard and this is why as we strongly believe that all companies should have some form of insurance coverage, to prevent them having to shell out even more this year.

“Some industries may seem to be relatively risk-free, but incidents such as theft and disasters like flooding, can happen anywhere at any time. Making sure the company is protected and able to move on quickly from this kind of situation is something that should be on every business’ agenda”

‘Should your firm be giving advice in anyway, protecting yourself with a comprehensive professional indemnity insurance policy is important, with failure to do so leaving the company open to serious losses. Most industries and trades are covered by The Business Octopus and policies can be tailored to suit the company’s needs with a variety of bolt-ons to their standard business insurance policy.

Via EPR Network
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Business, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Investment, Money, Stocks, Trading

Singapore Options and Futures Exchange (SGOFX) Announces New Copper Contract

A new contract was released to subscribers. This contract is for copper ore and the length and investment opportunity for subscribers is unique.

Singapore Options and Futures Exchange continues to expand its offerings of pre-sold commodities contract participations with the announcement today of a Copper Ore contract that has an approximate length of 100 days from inception to payout.

“We are excited about our new Copper Ore offering, not only because we have expanded into this potentially lucrative commodity, but also because we are continuing to lengthen our contracts, allowing us to maintain attractive risk-adjusted returns while increasing profitability” said Mr. Samuel D. Brown, SGOFX press officer.

The future holds that even more contracts will be available. From Coffee and Sugar; to Iron Ore and Copper Ore, SGOFX is working hard to offer investors a variety of investment opportunities so that they can realize a more varied investment opportunity.

Via EPR Network
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Business, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Investment, Money, Stocks, Trading

SGOFX Visitors and Culture Center

Singapore Options and Futures Exchange (SGOFX), today announced its plans for the construction of its new Visitors and Cultural Center facility. The center will be located the SGOFX office and will greatly expand the footprint of the exchange space. The facility measures 1200 square meters and includes raised flooring, provides 24×7 climate control through grade air handling units and provides electrical power redundancy through a combination of Uninterruptible Power Supplies and diesel back up power generator. The SGOFX Visitors and Cultural Center will offer visitors a variety of presentations, in English, on the main aspects of the Securities, Commodities and Futures Exchange, its markets, trading systems, projects, indices and statistics.

SGOFX Visitors and Cultural Center is due for opening in April 2011 and is expected to receive 350-400 visitors a day. Here, visitors can watch 3-D institutional videos, lectures and simulations of trades carried out by a brokerage, in addition to learning about the history of the Exchange.

The space will as well provide visitors with the opportunity of enjoying works of art by renowned foreign artists and exhibitions of historic value.

“We are extremely pleased to announce the upcoming 2011 opening of our new Visitors and Cultural Center facility. This project is a major undertaking and our entire team handles the transition professionally and we now look forward to providing our customers an even better experience and understanding of the commodity markets and exchange insights”, said Mr. Samuel D. Brown, SGOFX press officer.

Via EPR Network
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Financial, Financial Information, Money

The Net Salaries Review is Ready to Launch The Long Awaited How to Work From Home Website

inally, After Months of Research The Net Salaries Review is Ready to Launch The Long Awaited How to Work From Home Website December 27, 2010.

2010 was a year that Net Salaries Review went back to school. The rising unemployment rate was a key factor in this decision. Research discovered work from home scams all over the internet. Research also discovered real work from home opportunities as well. Thousands of hours were spent researching and reviewing countless products. The research revealed the top online work from home opportunities today.

December 27, 2010 The Net Salaries Review site launches. The Net Salaries Review is an information website designed for people that really want to learn how to work from home online. The work from home products reviewed and tested have revealed priceless information for those wanting to learn how to work from home.

The work from home review site includes information on work from home scams. All types of scams are covered in great detail. The information provides which types of work from home scams to avoid and how to identify them. Other topics include how to work from home online and the skills needed to be successful.

About The Net Salaries Review:
The Net Salaries Review is dedicated to uncovering legitimate work from home opportunities. The Net Salaries Review provides accurate information for those wanting to learn how to work from home online and at the same time provide an alternate solution to the current unemployment crisis. Research has shown there are real work

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Business, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Money

Irevna Achieves Milestone as Argentina Crosses 50 Employees

Irevna continues to expand as its Buenos Aires, Argentina research center crossed the milestone of 50 permanent employees. Irevna Argentina currently now has a head count of 51 after three analysts were hired in April. Irevna has hired 15 new employees so far this year.

“We at Irevna strive to offer the best solutions to fit the specific needs of our clients. This includes the capability to provide our customers around-the-clock service with research centers across geographies and time zones in countries such as Argentina, Poland, and India,” says Mani G. V. Mani, Senior Director, Offshoring Business – Irevna. “We continue to prioritize the needs of our clients first, which is the reason Irevna continues to experience such strong growth.

Irevna has been ramping up its hiring in Argentina as clients want the benefits of offshoring, such as labor arbitrage with highly qualified resources, while maintaining a high level of interaction with the offshore analyst. Many clients based in the US and Canada require real-time support during earnings season or periods of market volatility Outsourcing to Argentina, which is only one hour ahead of New York during most of the year, is a solution that many clients have been requesting.

“The increase in employees in Argentina is also the result of an internal strategic decision. Growth is a primary objective for 2010 and we are actively recruiting new analysts,” says Gustavo Araujo, Group Lead of Irevna Argentina.

Irevna was the first KPO to open a Western Hemisphere Deliver Center in Argentina in November 2006. Irevna has started a research center in Wroclaw, Poland to satisfy the demand for similar services in Europe. Irevna is the world’s top-ranked research, analytical and financial services offshoring firm with a global workforce of close to 1,300 analysts.

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Business, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Money

CRISIL-Irevna Buys Pipal Research

CRISIL-Irevna, the world’s top-ranked financial services and investment Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) firm, today announced the acquisition of Pipal Research (Pipal), a large player in the KPO Industry. Pipal is headquartered in Chicago. The combination of CRISIL-Irevna and Pipal will be uniquely positioned in the high-end analytical offshoring space with the widest range of services, geographic locations, and customer diversity. Pipal’s operations are complementary to CRISIL-Irevna’s, enabling the combine to strengthen its leadership in the KPO industry. CRISIL Irevna has consistently been ranked the No.1 financial services and investment KPO firm by the Datamonitor Black Book of Outsourcing.

Speaking of the acquisition, Roopa Kudva, Managing Director and CEO of CRISIL Ltd, said “This is an important milestone in the CRISIL-Irevna journey, enabling us to further strengthen our leadership position in the high-end KPO space. Pipal’s deeply embedded client relationships provide a strong platform for growth. The two organisations have complementary strengths, which will enable us to serve our clients better. We look forward to working with Pipal’s talented employees and providing them exciting career growth paths.”

Mr. G.V. Mani, Senior Director, Irevna, added, “The acquisition of Pipal Research not only gives us an opportunity to expand our spectrum of offerings but also presents us a strong customer base, partner franchise and most importantly talented employees, who will enrich our service capabilities.”

Pipal provides business research and investment research services. Its clients include leading global firms in the telecommunications, technology, consumer packaged goods, and industrial sectors, and in the financial services space. Pipal has three research centres in India (Gurgaon, Noida and Bangalore), and an office in Chicago. Majority-owned by Firstsource Solutions Ltd, Pipal reported USD8.1 million of revenue for the financial year ended March 31, 2010.

Via EPR Network
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401K, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Investment, IRA, Money, Personal Finance, Retirement

Financial Planners: Three Questions To Ask For The Current Market

Especially in today’s economic climate, many people are reassessing their financial planners. A large amount of people have been losing money in the market, so clients should not be unnecessarily harsh with their planner; however, individuals must find out if their planner is using this widespread downturn to cover personal mistakes. Here are three questions clients should ask their financial planners.

1. How many personal investment have performed? Clients should find out how their own investments measure up to the Dow and use the current situation to benchmark performance. Find out how these investment compare to relevant indexes or funds with similar strategies. These should be examined over recent months and years, not day to day activity. If it is found that an advisor is doing much worse than benchmarks, they may have made bad decisions. If it is much better, examine whether they got lucky on risky investments. Clients should get detailed explanations.

2. How do the current investments meet with personal goals? One of the top advantages of working with financial planners is that they should be choosing investments that fall within an overall financial plan and time frame. This is to keep long-term funds mainly in stocks for future growth without the need to sell in order to cover expenses. An advisor should know how much in emergency funds a client should have, where it is invested and how liquid it is.

3. What adjustments are being made for the current market. The best financial planners have plans in place for such market downturns. An advisor should not make rash decisions in a market downturn. This is especially true for well-diversified and properly time framed investments. An investor should recommend caution when looking at additions to equity exposure during a downturn.

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Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services, Investment, IRA, Money, Personal Finance, Retirement

Retirement Planning: Roth IRA Basics

A Roth IRA, or individual retirement account, is one of the most beneficially retirement planning opportunities available. They offer tax-free growth and are an ideal way to become financially independent by retirement. They are available to people who are not eligible for a 401(k) employer matching contribution and people who are able to save more money for retirement than the amount that their employer matches.

People can open a Roth IRA at the majority of bank and brokerage offices in person and online. The forms are basic and assistance is generally available. Typically all that is needed is a social security number and the social security numbers of any potential beneficiaries that may be placed on the account.

When creating a financial plan, an individual must consider their earned income when it comes to their Roth IRA. The contribution amount permitted is limited by the earned income, which includes wages and self-employed earnings. This, however, does not include interest or dividends. For people who are married, the contribution is limited to the total of the combined earned income.

The contributions limits for Roth IRA retirement planning accounts can vary from year to year. This can also vary by age. Generally, if you are under 50 years of age, you can contribute up to $5,000. If you are over 50 years of age, you can put in up to $6,000. These are the combined contribution amount. An applicant should obtain financial guidance to find out specifics.

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Assets, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Home Equity, Insurance, Insurance Services, Money

LV= Reports That Up To 1.2 Million Over-50s May Use Equity In Home To Supplement Pensions

LV= has revealed that ‘Home is Pension’ is a common mantra among the over-50s workforce in Britain as shown in a recent report published by the retirement specialist. Although 54% of the over-50s believe the value of their home has fallen over the last three years, an estimated 1.2 million ‘HIPpies’ (‘Home is Pension’) may use the equity in their home to help supplement their retirement income.

Only 19% of all over-50s still in work feel that they are financially on track to retire as planned, while the number of working over-50s that believe they may have to delay retirement for financial reasons has increased hugely, to 41% from just 28% this time last year. Homeowners over 50 estimate they have lost £60 billion in property value due to recent volatility in the housing market.

However, this has not put many off using the equity in their homes to help fund retirement, with nearly a quarter of working over-50s considering using some, or all of the equity in their home to fund their retirement. The ‘Home is Pension’ mantra is so valuable to over-50s, that 54% would suggest their children include investment in property as part of their retirement planning.

When working over-50s were questioned about the impact an interest rate rise would have, LV=’s research found that 40% would have to reduce their pension contributions just to meet the higher cost of paying debts. More than four in ten (44%) of all working over-50s and 34% of those aged 60-69 in work, have an outstanding mortgage debt on their home.

Vanessa Owen, LV= Head of Equity Release, said: “It seems to be increasingly commonplace for those approaching retirement to consider using the equity in their property as part of their overall retirement plan. Continuing doom and gloom over volatility in the housing market and seeing some properties fall in value, hasn’t deterred the UK’s “HIPpies” and many are still positive that the equity in their home is their best chance of having a more comfortable retirement.”

Via EPR Network
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Banks, Career, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Services

SBI Recruitment 2010

State Bank of India is a No.1 nationalized public sector bank in India has requirements for 6100 clerical staff for State Bank of India Associates Bank’s. Candidates are requested to apply on-line through Bank’s website www.sbi.co.in or www.statebankofindia.com. Complete information about SBI recruitment 2010 are as follows:

State Bank of India associates banks
State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur
State Bank of Hyderabad
State Bank of Mysore Bangalore
State Bank of Patiala Chandigarh
State Bank of Travancore

Important Dates to Remember to Apply SBI Recruitment
Date of Deposit of Fee: From 01.10.2010 To 30.10.2010
On-line Registration: From 01.10.2010 To 01.11.2010
Date of written examination: 16.01.2011 (Sunday)

-How to Apply for SBI Recruitment 2010:
Candidates are required to go to any Branch of State Bank of India / SBI and pay the amount of prescribed fees and get receipt from the branch. The candidates are required to apply on-line through website www.statebankofindia.com and www.sbi.co.in. No other means/mode of application will be accepted. The last date of registering applications is01.11.2010. Application registration on our website will be open from 01.10.2010 to01.11.2010.

Guidelines for filling application are as under :

  • Candidates should have a valid email id. This will help him/ her in getting call letter/ interview advices etc. by e-mail.
  • Candidates should have the Deposit Journal No. and Depositing Branch code No. (receipt of payment of fees) from branch of SBI before applying online.
  • The payment of fees should be made up to 30.10.2010. This date will be same for the candidates belonging to far-flung areas.
  • Candidates should keep a copy of the Application printout and Payment Receipt with Deposit Journal No. for their record. An ‘Acquaint Yourself’ booklet will be sent to the candidates along with the call letter for written test. Original payment receipt will have to be submitted with the call letter at the time of written examination.
  • Candidates serving in Government/Quasi Government offices, Public Sector undertaking including Nationalised Banks and financial Institutions will be required to submit ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the employer at the time of interview, failing which their candidature may not be considered and travelling expenses, if any, otherwise admissible, will not be paid.
  • The reserved category candidate will have to produce his/her original caste certificate/ relevant certificates at the time of interview, failing which his/her candidature shall be cancelled and he/she will not be admitted for interview. OBC candidates, availing reservation will have to produce OBC certificate with Non-creamy layer clause issued on or before 01.12.2010 at the time of interview.
  • In addition to OBC certificate, the candidates are required to submit a declaration for availing reservation of OBC on prescribed format at the time of interview. Candidates belonging to OBC category but coming in the ‘CREAMY LAYER’ are not entitled to OBC reservation and age relaxation.
  • They should indicate their category as ‘GEN OR GEN (OH/ VH/ HI) as applicable. Information relating to reservations based on caste/PWD/XS once filled at the time of registration will be final. No further changes will be allowed.
  • Candidates are advised to be very careful while filling the category (SC/ST/OBC/ GEN.etc) and other details in the application.
  • NO OTHER MODE OF APPLICATION/ PRINTOUT OR DRAFT ETC. WILL BE ACCEPTED to apply SBI Recruitment 2010. Action against candidates found guilty of conduct.
  • Candidates are warned that they should not furnish any particulars that are false, tampered/ fabricated or should not suppress any material information while filling up the application form of SBI Recruitment 2010

Complete information available at:
http://getsarkari-naukri.blogspot.com/2010/06/sb…

Via EPR Network
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Assets, Financial, Financial Information, Financial Management, Financial Services, Insurance, Insurance Services, Money

LV= Promotes Best Practice For National Customer Service Week

LV=, the mutual insurance, investment and retirement group, is running a series of training and activities to promote and reward excellence in customer service as part of National Customer Service Week.

LV= is dedicated to delivering the best possible customer service all year round and will be using National Customer Service Week as an extra opportunity to highlight the value that customer service plays within organisations.

In addition to highlighting and rewarding those staff who have demonstrated customer service excellence, the group will be running a series of initiatives during the week such as problem solving training and ‘back to the floor’ sessions for senior management.

Two staff award schemes have been set up to celebrate the week. The LOVE awards are for employees who demonstrate Living Our Values Everyday (LOVE) and the Unsung Heroes awards are for staff to nominate colleagues who have gone the extra mile to improve an internal process or system.

In the general insurance business, each site has initiatives promoting great customer service throughout the week including managers’ mystery shopping and awarding prizes for great examples of customer service, quizzes themed around customer service, dress down and dress up days, job swaps and awards for the friendliest members of the customer service team.

Initiatives being rolled out specifically in LV=’s Bournemouth office include a dress like a rock star day, a ‘Know your Claims’ team quiz and retention spot prizes.

LV= handles more than 18,000 customer calls a day and has won numerous awards for its customer service, including the 2010 Moneywise award for best customer service in car insurance. The LV= general insurance call centre also won call centre of the year* in the 2009 National Customer Service Awards and is short-listed again for the same award this year.

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