I’m young and healthy so do I really need all this life and critical illness insurance cover? It’s a question that many younger individuals often grapple with, and, for the most part, many leave getting their finances in order too late. This view is further highlighted in the 2010 Life and Disability Insurance Gap Study …. »
Business assurance is undoubtedly a lucrative area for the financial advisor to specialize in, as it is such a technical and specialist area that the bulk of advisors tend to avoid it out of fear. Those specializing in it can find a nice niche area avoided by the ‘riff raff’. However, the area is fraught …. »
Advisors working within the business risk environment are sure to be familiar with the ‘Loan Account Redemption Plan’. Cynically, I have always viewed it as a solution suggested to clients as a means to earn more commission and not given with the client’s best interest at heart. However, I believe that such cynicism is unfair …. »
According to a new report by specialist risk consultancy, Control Risks, one of the primary threats South Africa will face in 2011 is difficulty in encouraging foreign direct investment. Dave Butler, MD for Southern and Eastern Africa, comments: “This is due to both the global downturn as well as systemic domestic constraints such as infrastructure …. »
The retirement fund-related changes announced in the 2011/2012 Budget herald a significant change for the retirement savings industry and members will have to rethink their retirement planning carefully. The announcement by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan that from March 2012 any contribution made by an employer to a retirement fund on behalf of its employees would …. »
This quarterly survey indicates that 9 out of 10 life insurers are satisfied with business conditions in Q1 2011. In a quarterly survey, the results of which were released today, Ernst & Young reports that life insurance confidence rebounded in the first quarter to 90 index points, after a marginally weaker fourth quarter, when confidence …. »
I delayed putting pen to paper until I had received the result of my RE1 examination. Having passed, I feel qualified to offer some, hopefully, objective comments. At the outset, let me state quite categorically that I fully support the objectives of the FSB. In the light of flagrant malpractices in the Financial Services Industry, …. »
Living annuities face a credibility crisis as the consequences of three years of market weakness and volatility hit home. We have sounded the early alert on a looming stress test for this popular method of assuring retirement income. Living annuities were never the retirement income panacea for every consumer, but over the past five years, …. »
Trusts remain a very useful estate planning tool, if set up and managed properly The unique feature of a trust is the separation of legal and beneficial ownership. This means that different legal personae hold the legal obligation to manage assets to those who are entitled to benefit from the assets. It is this unique …. »
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