Author Archives: admin
Having your cake and eating it in Egypt
Egypt, land of the famous River Nile, long-dead pharaohs, spectacular pyramids and a civilisation going back some six millennia. Oh, yes, and glorious weather, too, manic Cairo traffic, atmospheric Alexandria and the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, so beloved of sun-starved Brits. Quite a list to be getting on with.
Yes, and good as far as the average tourist itinerary goes, but what’s it all got to do with savings accounts or any other form of personal finance, unless there’s a tenuous link with ancient Egyptian banking practices, perhaps? Actually, the ancient Egyptians did institute a rudimentary form of banking involving the storage and distribution of grain throughout their ancient landscape.
But that’s a completely different story. Seriously, if link there be, then it’s the fact Egyptian expatriates can both have their cake and eat it, too, so to speak. For they can enjoy the sights and sounds which attract millions of visitors from all parts of the world to Egypt whilst at the same time earning a decent living. It’s much like being paid while on a rather extended holiday in the sun!
Now, unless you’ve been living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean for the last few years, you’ll realise Egypt has had a problem or two struggling to shake off the dictatorial shackles imposed on the country by the now-deposed Hosni Mubarak and his coterie of henchmen. The January 2011 revolution and its aftermath has been well covered by the world’s media and the wall-to-wall reporting has certainly led to a decrease in visitor numbers.
But visitors are now returning, in their droves, as the country steers it way slowly through a political and economic minefield. Yes, visitor numbers have yet to reach 2010 levels but they’re climbing upwards as each year passes. In the meantime, business confidence is increasing as is foreign investment.
Indeed, some big players are beginning to look afresh at Egypt, particularly China which reportedly has increased investment by $200 million over the past two years, an increase of 60%. And it looks like there’s much more to come from the country which is looking to boost bilateral relations.
Other developments of note include a feasibility study prepared by the company AECOM into the establishment of an airport city around Cairo International Airport at an estimated cost of $20 billion. It was also reported that the Islamic Development Bank plans to pump $3 billion into the Egyptian economy over the next five years.
A particular concern of the Egyptian government, however, is ensuring the country has a dependable energy supply. It would certainly be high on the list of concerns of potential investors, too. The country has suffered blackouts over recent years as a result of growing energy demand and now the government is seriously looking at alternative options, including renewable energy.
According to leading international law firm Norton Rose, demand is estimated to be increasing at a rate of 1,500 to 2,000 megawatts (MW) a year because of rapid urbanisation and economic growth. Egypt’s aim of providing 20% of its energy needs through renewable sources by 2020 is expected to be met largely by scaling-up of wind power projects, with the share of wind power in total electricity generation being expected to reach 12%. This translated to a wind power capacity of about 7200MW by the end of the decade.
PPI Claims
It can get annoying when you get a lot of telephone calls from companies offering to help you with your PPI claims. It can even be enough to make you feel like you want to not bother to make any claims at all because you do not like the companies. You might feel that they do not deserve your business if they are going to keep disturbing you all of the time. However, if you have been miss sold PPI then it is worth you making a claim to get back the money that you paid unnecessarily. You do not have to use one of the companies that have called you and annoyed you. You can even make the claim without using a PPI claim company at all, although many people do choose to use one.
Many PPI claims companies will have websites and so you can find out more about them yourself. This could be a good way of doing research. You can find out about the company and how they can help you and if you call them you will find out what their customers services are like and ask any questions you might have, such as how much they charge. Finding out more about them, will allow you to choose which ones will be the best for you to use.
There are many companies out there, such as http://www.missoldppiclaimsco.co.uk who can help you with your claim. You may wonder how to decide which company to use, but hopefully by taking a look at the information on their websites, you can make a choice. There are a lot of companies to choose from but you will get an idea about each company and you will be able to choose which ones you feel happier about contacting. You may decide to go with a company that you have heard of, for example, perhaps one that has been recommended to you from a friend. You may rather go with the cheapest company or a local company. There are all sorts of considerations that you will need to make and these will help you to make a good choice.
It will take some time to call a selection of them, but it will help you to be confident that you have made the right choice with regards to which company to use. This will allow you to relax and know that the claim is being dealt with by a company that is well qualified to deal with it and should get you the compensation that you deserve.
Beat Overzealous Salespeople Through Filing PPI Claims
If you want to find the roots of the entire PPI (payment protection insurance) scandal, you would have to look first at salespeople. Now, this isn’t to say that all salespeople are bad. That’s not to say that sales can’t be a great thing — everything starts with sales, and many non-sales people have their employment through the successful sales cycles of companies around the world. That said, there is something to be said about overzealous salespeople who pushed lots of policies. Did they do it knowingly? Sure, they did. Did they necessarily like it? Not at all. They were pushed down that road by managers, who were in turn pushed by other managers….you get the idea.
What needs to be said here is that if you want to see any of your PPI money again, you need to beat these salespeople at their own game through PPI claims. Filing a claim shows the industry at large that you mean business. Sure, you could go out on your own to accomplish this goal, but it’s not going to end with the same results. It would be smarter all around to think about getting real legal representation that will immediately go to work for you.
A solicitor already knows the best methods of getting your PPI premiums back. It’s not just about the premiums — it’s about getting compensation for being separated from your money in the first place. It’s about getting what you deserve. Do you really want to keep going, knowing that the extra money could have had a higher purpose than before? You could use that reclaimed cash to open new doors in your life. It’s never too late to turn over a new leaf and move in a different direction.
Getting the process started with PPI claims isn’t really a matter of pulling teeth. It’s all about getting the right advocate to get ahead of you, to fight for you and get things done for you. That’s the real key to success, when you really step back and think about it.
If you’re serious about getting back all of your PPI premiums, going with a solicitor is really the only answer. Not only will they address the claims that you know you are entitled to, but they could discover more money hiding out there. You just never know until you step forward and handle things appropriately. Good luck!
Using an Equity Loan to Purchase Your First Home
Buying a home and getting on the property ladder is one of the biggest goals that many in the UK have. It’s not just something that’s limited to the UK, either — you might find that your neighbors across the pond in Canada as well as the US will definitely share your dream of owning a home. No matter where you live, it can feel like it’s downright impossible to buy your first home. Property values on the rise again, and tough credit conditions make it hard for “regular people” to find themselves in their first home. However, does that mean that we all just stop trying to make life better for ourselves? Not at all. You will definitely want to make sure that you focus on getting the loan that you need to get the home no matter what. It’s going to be the key to long term investing in your life.
Yes, renting is something that a lot of people do for a very long time, and you will probably need some time to work up a deposit. But what if you already have a deposit and you still don’t have enough to really get the home that you want?
There might be some help with you after all. The government has done a scheme where you can buy a home using an equity loan.
You can use FirstBuy or HomeBuy Direct to purchase a new-build home. The way it works can sound a little complicated at first, but don’t worry — it gets easier over time!
There are some restrictions that you need to make sure that you can follow below you apply for the program.
As mentioned earlier, these equity loans are only for certain newly built homes on specified housing developments in England. They are provided through HomeBuy agents — they hold the right to decide if you can buy a home this way. These housing associations can run schemes for people who have a tough time buying a home.
There is an income restriction — your household has to earn 60,000 GBP or less. In addition, you will have to prove that you cannot afford to buy a home in your area any other way. This is so that people that need help the most will be able to get their needs met.
These loans are going to be open mostly towards first-time buyers as well as anyone that rents a council or housing association property.
The basic scheme here is that you buy the home with 70% of the cost met by your mortgage and the savings that you’ve built up over time. The other 30 per cent is handled by the govenrment and the house builder through an equity loan.
Now, it’s important to understand the finer print here. The loan is called an equity loan for a reason — the value is going to change based on how much your home is worth. The amount you owe is going to rise and fall with the value of your home. The title will still be in your home, which means that you can sell your home at any time.
What happens when the home is sold? That’s a good question — the 30% that’s held by the government is going to be taken out of the proceeds of the house sale.
If you decide to keep the home, you will need to pay back the equity loan after 25 years.
There are indeed some fees involved with this scheme. There are no fees assessed for five years — this gives you time to save up for them. The 6th year that you have the loan you will be charged a fee of 1.75% of the loan’s value. Every year after this, the fee is going to go up. The amount of increase is calculated using the Retail Price Index plus 1 percent. You can find the RPI index in most newspapers, within the finance section.
Keep in mind that these fees are on top of your equity loan payments. You can pay them to the National HomeBuy agent, and they will contact you before the fees begin to set up monthly payments with your bank.
If you want to pay the equity loan back early, this would definitely be a good thing. It’s known as staircasing, and many homeowners use it when they realize that they can pay a little extra and have the interest costs kept to a minimum.
You still have to talk to the National HomeBuy agent and figure out if there are nay additional costs for this.
Overall, we think that this govenrment scheme for first-time buyers and those with a low to moderate income is a good fit. Everyone should feel like they have the chance to own a home, and this scheme could be just what you’re looking for! Check it out for yourself today — you’ll truly be glad that you did!
A New Look At The Best Equity Release Schemes
Trying to make your retirement a little sweeter is the subject of a lot of guides, and for good reason. If you’ve worked hard all of your life the last thing that you honestly want to do is find that you really can’t provide for yourself after working so hard for so many years. There is something to be said about going beyond just living — you want to thrive and you want to be able to have a good time. It’s going to be up to you to look through any and all resources that you can use for this purpose. We really like equity release schemes, but we find that people really don’t know as much about these schemes as they would like to believe.
So this guide covers much of the high points of these schemes.
Overview
One of the first things that you need to know is that all equity release plans are going to reduce the overall value of your estate. So your surviving heirs will not receive as much for an inheritance as they might have — but if you already let your family members know upfront what you’re doing, they can actually plan ahead and still take care of themselves. These are pretty serious decisions that you should honestly make as a family rather than just assuming you must keep it a secret.
If you are entitled to state benefits, you will need to make sure that the equity release doesn’t affect this at all. This is something that you’re going to be doing for a lifetime, which means that there are some penalties for paying the loan back in full.
If you move into a long term care facility, you will have to repay the loan at this time. It can be done through the sale of your home, but it’s up to you.
The good part of equity release schemes is that you really don’t have to leave your home if that’s not what you want to honestly do. It can be better to stay in the home that you bought all of those years ago and tap into the equity than to have to move around. You get to keep your home, and there are no monthly repayments to meet.
You get to still use the savings or investments you already have.
Make sure that you go with plans that are SHIP approved — this stands for Safe Home income Plans. This guarantees that you don’t fall into negative equity and you can move home if you wish. If you want to stay in your home for life, you can do this as well.
The two top types of equity release out there are lifetime mortgages and home reversion plans.
The lifetime mortgage is definitely the most popular, because it allows you to receive a tax-free cash lump sum, and there’s no monthly payment schedule to have to deal with. You get to truly stay in your home for life — this is not a gimmick of any kind.
If you want to move and take the plan with you, you can generally do this. You may even be able to protect a percentage of your property and guarantee an inheritance.
Home reversion plans are a little more complicated, as they let you sell all or a part of your home to another company in exchange for a cash lump sum of income. You can still stay in your home for life, but the plan comes to an end when the company takes its percentage share of the property. This is usually when you pass away, but it can also be when you move into long term care.
What if your circumstances change? This is something that’s definitely on everyone’s minds. If you actually do need to switch plans because something has come up, you can definitely do this as well.
A qualified adviser can go over your unique situation and give you what you really need to know in greater detail than any guide can. Keep in mind that you will need to be at least 55 years old in order to enjoy any equity release scheme. Your home also needs to be 50,000 GBP or more.
Equity Release – A UK Scheme That Could Leave You In a Great Financial Position for 2012
As you get older, the time comes to make more decisions that are all designed to give you the best quality of life possible. You don’t want to find yourself unable to make these decisions, because they directly affect the quality of life that you’re going to enjoy. If you’ve worked hard your whole life to enjoy a home, then you’re going to need to start thinking about trying to figure out an option that’s going to allow you to enjoy your home to the fullest.
Many homeowners in the UK have worked hard to actually pay off their mortgages. Yet they’re left with a problem — they still owe bills. They still have things that need to be taken care of. This means that you will need to still need to make sure that your expenses are covered.
Equity release is a great way to make sure that you can not only release equity from your home and take care of expenses and other things that you actually want to do.
Trying to figure out the equity relapse market can take some getting used to. There’s a few different ways to make everything come together.
The two main types of equity release schemes available in the market are the lifetime mortgage and the home reversion plan. The lifetime mortgage involves taking out a brand new loan secured on your property, while the home reversion plan involves selling a share of ownership in the property.
The right plan depends on what you’re actually trying to achieve. You need to figure out how much money you can raise through either scheme, what will be left for your heirs, and what impact that dying earlier or living longer than expected can have. You will also need to think about the impact of inflation on your circumstances, which would include your income and the value of your property.
Many homeowners in the UK go with the lifetime mortgage option, because it allows them to often get a lot more money than the home reversion option.
Lifetime mortgages are straightforward. As mentioned before, you will be taking out a new loan secured on your property. You don’t have to make any repayments while you are alive. Instead, the interest is rolled up to be paid when the scheme is ended — if you pass away or move into long-term care, your house is sold and the amount that’s borrowed (including interest) is paid to the lender. After the costs, anything left over is passed to the estate at large.
You can check into lifetime mortgages with confidence, considering that they are regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
The top advantages of a lifetime mortgage is that you get a lump sum or a monthly income for the rest of your life. This money is secured as a mortgage against the property. You need to pay nothing while you live at the property.
These loans are often fixed-interest, so there’s no worry that your costs are going to drive up. Unlike in the US, the UK equity release scheme can be available to people as young as 55. There are also staged payment options available as well.
However, there are some cons that you will need to think about. For starters, the interest can mount up very fast, and it will reduce what your family will inherit. Your family could easily end up with nothing from the sale proceeds. So if providing for your family after you pass away is important, you will need to make sure that you have this taken care of.
You will not be able to get a top-up loan later in most circumstances. Less money is available than what you would receive with a home reversion plan, but this is not always the case.
You will also need to make sure that your tax position as well as benefits that you receive from the state are not affected. Talk to an independent specialist that only deals with equity release. They will explain it all to you with more specific information — this is just general financial advice.
Now is definitely the time to start thinking about an equity release scheme. If 2011 wasn’t the year that you expected or wanted, you have a fresh New Year to begin making all of the right moves — check it out for yourself!
Will Equity Release Mean I Lose My Home?
Many people worry that if they take some of the collateral out of their home, then it means that they will eventually lose their house. There have been scare stories in the past, when this has happened, but these days it is not often the case. There have been tales where people have been forced to leave their homes as they have to be sold to pay back the loan. Normally this does not happen because the terms are normally that the house will only be sold when the person has finished with it, which normally means that they have passed away.
The key thing with this sort of scheme, is to make sure that you fully understand the terms and conditions. You need to be completely aware of what you are getting yourself in to and what will happen in the future as well.
What normally happens is that you will be given a lump sum of money or a regular monthly income. This value will be taken away from your property. When you no longer need the property, it will be sold and the company will get the money.
This can be a worry for some people, because they want to be able to feel that they can pass the property on to their children. In some cases the property will be sold and not all of the value will be taken by the lender but whatever is left over will go to the estate of the deceased.
It is important therefore, to make sure that a sensible choice is made when choosing an equity release scheme. It is worth thinking hard about why you need the money and how much you need, to ensure that you are making the right decision. You also want to make sure that it really is the right thing to do. Think about whether it will improve the quality of your life and what a difference the money will make to you and what a difference reducing your estate when you pass away will do. It can be a very difficult decision. It should not be something that you rush in to, so it can be worth investigating before you have a need to do it.
Then, if you are suddenly desperate for money in the future, you will not have to spend so much time doing research and you are less likely to make an error when making your decision.
Is Equity Release Safe?
When equity release first came about, there was a lot of talk of it being a con. Many people felt that they were not treated well when they tried to get money from their property and they were worried that they may not be able to continue living there after a certain period of time. Sadly this gave the whole scheme a bad reputation.
Things have changed now and equity release schemes are regulated. This means that everything is overlooked and so should be fairer. However, there are still better schemes than others and so you need to be responsible and make sure that you choose the right one for you.
You need to think about what you want and how much money you need, then look at what is available. Look at how the different lenders work and then when you have found a few that you think will suit you, make sure that you read the terms and conditions very carefully, so that you know exactly what you will need to expect.
You will find that they will differ in how much they lend, how they charge for the loan and things like that. It is therefore important to look carefully at a broad range of options, so that you know what is the best option for you. You should find that the options are safe, but it really depends on how you define safe. You need to think about what you want from the scheme and which fits in with this. You will have to be prepared to make some sacrifices to get the money, in the same way that people always do when they get a loan and so you will need to decide whether you feel it is worth it.
It is also worth carefully choosing the company that you use as this will allow you to feel safer. If you use someone with a good reputation or that you have heard of, then you will feel better about using them, than if it is a company that you have not heard of and therefore have little trust in. Many companies do now have their own equity release schemes and so there is a high chance that you will find one who you have heard of or already trust. However, it is still wise to do some research in to the company and their equity release schemes to make sure that you are fully happy with them.
