Where Next For The Economy?

Pensions and Divorce

Next to the family home, the single largest asset that needs to be considered when a marriage breaks down is often the pension benefits. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 gave the courts of England and Wales the power to take the value of a couple’s pension rights into account when dealing with a divorce settlement.  The Act established the right of the ex-spouse to claim against the member’s pension rights.  However, it was not until the Pensions Act 1995 that it was made compulsory for pension rights to be taken into account.

There are three ways in which pension rights can be taken into account and we look at each in our new Guide.

For a copy of our Guide: Pensions and Divorce please click on this link.

Peppa Pig Does So Love Muddy Puddles

If you have some idea of what I am taking about then you either have young children or you, like me, delight to be a grandparent of young children. 

I often think that if Peppa Pig could be employed by the Financial Services Authority to teach children the basics of savings and financial planning then it would help people avoid a lot of fundamental financial mistakes later in life.

My excuse for introducing this particular item in this way is the new Junior ISA which became available from 1 November 2011. The Junior ISA is a worthy replacement for the Child Trust Fund (CTF) which signally failed to catch the imagination of parents..

For a copy of our Guide: Junior ISAs please click on this link.

If You Must Fear, Don't Fear the Stock Markets ... Fear Inflation

It has been said that we are each separated from any other person on earth on average by six steps (referred to as ‘six degrees of separation’). 

Dr Angela Merkel (she was awarded a doctorate for her thesis on quantum chemistry) is currently the longest serving leader of a G8 country and arguably the most powerful person in Europe and I was only two degrees of separation from her!

If you want to know more about why long term investors need have no fear of the stock markets please refer to the Arch Blog.

The Outlook is More Encouraging From Kazahkstan!

If, as investors, we could get a better grip of what is happening in places like Kazakhstan and the way that the needs and desires of peoples like the Kazakhs will drive the world’s economy, we would stop leaving quite so much money in deposit accounts where it is of little use to anyone.  Instead we would invest in companies both here and abroad which can take advantage of the great global advancement in places which, until now, we might have found difficulty in finding them easily on a map.

For more information on this please refer to the Arch Blog.