Pensions

Will your children help you in your retirement?

The Mutual insurer Engage have produced research which shows that due to longevity and rising costs nearly a tenth (1.7m) of British adults have had to help their parents fund retirement.  Out of the 2084 people who participated in the research 22% have given money to their parents to help them make ends meet on a day to day basis.  22% are paying towards their parents care and 33% have taken their parents into their or a relatives home in order to reduce their cost of living and care. Read more »

Mortgages

Why did Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy?

John Greenwood, Invesco Chief Economist, gave the following comment in response to the news:

“At its core the Lehman-Merrill Lynch-AIG financial crisis is about balance sheets. On the way up the credit bubble helped to inflate the values of houses and commercial real estate and mortgage-backed securities based on them, as well as the values sof risky equities, high-yielding currencies and finally commodities. As long as asset prices were rising, investment banks, mortgage finance companies and hedge funds were only too happy to borrow more and more to fund such acquisitions. Rising asset prices fostered illusions of balance sheet strength.

“Now as the credit bubble bursts the positive feedback loop that strengthened asset values and investors’ equity in the boom years has gone into reverse. Two types of investors have been, and will be hit hardest: (1) those holding substantial amounts of assets in the previously targeted risky, high return areas such as real estate, high-yield currencies and commodities, and (2) those firms, funds, or individuals that are most heavily leveraged. Investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch were at the forefront of the balance sheet boom, but now their assets have gone bad, and lenders have been unwilling to roll over their loans. Lehman’s large holdings of real estate and mortgage backed securities, combined with their massive leverage has destroyed its business”.

Home Work

Audio Typing

Audio Typing

Summary
An audio typist who works from home will be required to type up letters, reports or ducuments within a given time frame from an audio recording.

Requirements
Although the job sounds straight forward you will need Read more »

Online

Why did Lehman Brothers file for bankruptcy?

John Greenwood, Invesco Chief Economist, gave the following comment in response to the news:

“At its core the Lehman-Merrill Lynch-AIG financial crisis is about balance sheets. On the way up the credit bubble helped to inflate the values of houses and commercial real estate and mortgage-backed securities based on them, as well as the values sof risky equities, high-yielding currencies and finally commodities. As long as asset prices were rising, investment banks, mortgage finance companies and hedge funds were only too happy to borrow more and more to fund such acquisitions. Rising asset prices fostered illusions of balance sheet strength.

“Now as the credit bubble bursts the positive feedback loop that strengthened asset values and investors’ equity in the boom years has gone into reverse. Two types of investors have been, and will be hit hardest: (1) those holding substantial amounts of assets in the previously targeted risky, high return areas such as real estate, high-yield currencies and commodities, and (2) those firms, funds, or individuals that are most heavily leveraged. Investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch were at the forefront of the balance sheet boom, but now their assets have gone bad, and lenders have been unwilling to roll over their loans. Lehman’s large holdings of real estate and mortgage backed securities, combined with their massive leverage has destroyed its business”.