Petrol prices fell across the UK today as a price war brought a hint of relief to motorists struggling to fill their cars.
Supermarkets led the way last night as they followed Morrisons in announcing cuts in fuel prices – and today BP and Shell say they have followed suit reducing their prices on the forecourt.
The price drop will give Morrisons customers a national average of 107.7p for unleaded and 119.2p for diesel, but no overall national figures will be available to test the price cuts until Tuesday.
The AA says that last night a national fall of just a fifth of a penny had been measured. On this day last year the average price for a litre of petrol was 95.22p. Nonetheless customers at supermarkets with aggressive price policies were surprised and delighted to see petrol back below 110p per litre today.
John Black, 25, from South Milford, North Yorkshire, said: “They’re going back down, that’s all right really. It’s still expensive but it’s better than it was.
“Because of the high prices, I haven’t been putting as much petrol in my car recently and I’ve tried not to drive as much.”
Dan Howard, 25, a traffic management operative, was buying fuel from Morrisons, in Knottingley, West Yorkshire, where the price of unleaded had fallen to 108.9p a litre.
Mr Howard, from North Yorkshire, said: “It’s better for motorists obviously. I think they’re still too expensive, they should be about 70p a litre but that’s just wishful thinking.
“Everyone will be happy. It’s got to be a good start at least.”
Mr Howard said it was not always possible to find the cheapest petrol station. “I just stop wherever I am. If you’re running out of fuel you’ve got to put it in,” he said.
The uneven nature of fuel pricing will be highlighted once again by the supermarket’s price cuts said an AA spokesman.
Any town with an Asda, Morrison’s or Tesco petrol station will see prices falling on all forecourts in the area, Shell and Esso garages in areas with less competition, however, will keep their prices relatively high.
Supermarket chain Morrisons sparked the latest price war yesterday by announcing it was cutting the price of fuel by 3p a litre across its 285 stations.
Darren Blackhurst, trading director at Asda, called on rivals to match its move in the price war.
“We are calling on other retailers to follow our lead and give drivers a fair deal at the pumps, not just those that live near an Asda,” he said.
A fall to 107.7p would bring prices back to the March level when a new high was recorded in the wake of oil pushing through the $100 per barrel barrier. The highest national petrol average price this year and indeed of all time was 119.7p recorded on July 17.
An AA spokesman predicted that prices would continue to fall in the coming months but that to see a return to last year’s figures would require a significant spike in the value of the dollar or a global recession which would force down demand.
Earlier this month, the AA said petrol prices were still too high and the drop in the price of oil was not being passed on to motorists.
AA president Edmund King said prices were 2p higher than they should be and that oil companies had been “too slow” in passing the drop in the oil price on to customers.
The price of crude oil fell below 100 US dollars a barrel earlier this week for the first time since April - down around a third from the July peak of 147 US dollars - but the Petrol Retailers’ Association (PRA) insisted this was not the only factor contributing to prices at the pump.
Ray Holloway, director of the PRA, said: “The price of fuel at the pump is influenced by a range of factors beyond just the price of a barrel of oil, but despite this, forecourt retailers have still managed to reduce the cost of fuel to the motorist at the expense of their own profit margin during recent weeks.
“Prices for crude oil and forecourt fuel are obviously linked but they do not move in tandem. Therefore they do not automatically move up or down at the same time.”
Mr Holloway said that while the price of crude oil had fallen, the wholesale price that retailers pay for petrol had remained the same.
Article Courtesy : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4787491.ece
Friday, September 19, 2008
Govt needs $100b to revive infrastructure, says ambassador
THE Ambassador of Nigeria to Germany, Mr. Abdul Bin Rimdap, has said that Nigeria needs about $100 billion investment in infrastructure development.
He said there was the great need to develop infrastructure to aid industrialisation, trade and commerce.
In a paper he presented at the fifth Trade Development Forum, organised by the Nigerian German Business Group in collaboration with Cashcraft Asset Management Limited recently in Germany, and obtained by The Guardian in Lagos, Rimdap called for the export diversification of the economy from oil and gas production, adding that the economy has the largest gas reserve in Africa.
He said with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $166.8 billion in 2007, the economy has great investment prospect in such areas as telecommunication, infrastructure development, construction and agro-industries.
The envoy said the economy is the largest domestic market in Africa, the second biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, and economically, most important country in West Africa to German.
Speaking at the event, the Regional Director for West Africa at the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade, Mr. Dieter Grau, adjudged Nigeria as Germany's second largest trading partner in Africa after South Africa.
Gau stated that Nigeria was the second biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and economically, most important country in West Africa to German.
He said that Nigeria has the largest domestic market in Africa with about 145 million inhabitants and economy dominated by oil and gas oil production.
He listed German export to Nigeria to include machineries, vehicles and parts, electrical goods, plastic, iron and steel, metal hardware, paper, measurement and control technology.
Speaking on the repellent sides of the economy, he explained that the country depend heavily on hydrocarbons.
He added: "The structure of Nigeria's foreign trade has been dominated by petroleum since the early 1970s, since then oil has generally accounted for around 95 per cent of total exports. Gas became second largest export commodity after rise in LNG shipments since October 1999. Nigeria's main export products are petroleum and related products, as well as cocoa, rubber, machinery, chemical, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals."
In his remark also at the event, the President of the Nigerian-German Business Group, Mr. Joe Femi-Dagunro, advised the German businessmen to support the growth of Nigeria business by involving themselves only in genuine and transparent businesses.
He said the report of Transparency International showed that some foreign companies have taken Nigerians for granted as a habitat for corruption and advised the Nigerian business community to create a better business attitude, encourage the development of their youths and promote grassroots political development for an accelerated and sustained business growth.
Speaking on the opportunities in the Nigerian capital market, Dagunro stated: "The outcome of the investment in the stock market in the past one year is however a mixed bag because of the market melt-down experienced by the Nigerian stock market between March and August this year. The market capitalisation, which peaked at N15.265 trillion in March dropped to N10.920 trillion in June and reached an all time low of N8.8 trillion in the last six months before the government intervened in the market in August, in line with global practices because of the linkage of the financial markets.
"By the time the government intervened, the market had dropped close to 50 per cent. I wish to assure you that the prolonged correction in the market is not unusual. Volatility is a main feature of investments in the capital market. Other emerging markets, like India and Pakistan, which witnessed such corrections recently are on the path of growth agai, just like the Nigerian stock market, which started to recover with government intervention late August."
He therefore assured that the Nigeria economy was getting stronger, as corporate performance was now improving and that government at various levels were addressing the issue of decadent infrastructure
He said there was the great need to develop infrastructure to aid industrialisation, trade and commerce.
In a paper he presented at the fifth Trade Development Forum, organised by the Nigerian German Business Group in collaboration with Cashcraft Asset Management Limited recently in Germany, and obtained by The Guardian in Lagos, Rimdap called for the export diversification of the economy from oil and gas production, adding that the economy has the largest gas reserve in Africa.
He said with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $166.8 billion in 2007, the economy has great investment prospect in such areas as telecommunication, infrastructure development, construction and agro-industries.
The envoy said the economy is the largest domestic market in Africa, the second biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, and economically, most important country in West Africa to German.
Speaking at the event, the Regional Director for West Africa at the German Federal Agency for Foreign Trade, Mr. Dieter Grau, adjudged Nigeria as Germany's second largest trading partner in Africa after South Africa.
Gau stated that Nigeria was the second biggest economy in sub-Saharan Africa and economically, most important country in West Africa to German.
He said that Nigeria has the largest domestic market in Africa with about 145 million inhabitants and economy dominated by oil and gas oil production.
He listed German export to Nigeria to include machineries, vehicles and parts, electrical goods, plastic, iron and steel, metal hardware, paper, measurement and control technology.
Speaking on the repellent sides of the economy, he explained that the country depend heavily on hydrocarbons.
He added: "The structure of Nigeria's foreign trade has been dominated by petroleum since the early 1970s, since then oil has generally accounted for around 95 per cent of total exports. Gas became second largest export commodity after rise in LNG shipments since October 1999. Nigeria's main export products are petroleum and related products, as well as cocoa, rubber, machinery, chemical, transport equipment, manufactured goods, food and live animals."
In his remark also at the event, the President of the Nigerian-German Business Group, Mr. Joe Femi-Dagunro, advised the German businessmen to support the growth of Nigeria business by involving themselves only in genuine and transparent businesses.
He said the report of Transparency International showed that some foreign companies have taken Nigerians for granted as a habitat for corruption and advised the Nigerian business community to create a better business attitude, encourage the development of their youths and promote grassroots political development for an accelerated and sustained business growth.
Speaking on the opportunities in the Nigerian capital market, Dagunro stated: "The outcome of the investment in the stock market in the past one year is however a mixed bag because of the market melt-down experienced by the Nigerian stock market between March and August this year. The market capitalisation, which peaked at N15.265 trillion in March dropped to N10.920 trillion in June and reached an all time low of N8.8 trillion in the last six months before the government intervened in the market in August, in line with global practices because of the linkage of the financial markets.
"By the time the government intervened, the market had dropped close to 50 per cent. I wish to assure you that the prolonged correction in the market is not unusual. Volatility is a main feature of investments in the capital market. Other emerging markets, like India and Pakistan, which witnessed such corrections recently are on the path of growth agai, just like the Nigerian stock market, which started to recover with government intervention late August."
He therefore assured that the Nigeria economy was getting stronger, as corporate performance was now improving and that government at various levels were addressing the issue of decadent infrastructure
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Managing Your Money...
In Michigan, an advertisement offers this come-on to those 60 and older...
Come learn from the IRA Technician" at a seminar that more than 10,000 seniors have attended. Top sirloin steak will be served — along with tips on "how to guarantee your IRA will never run out, regardless of market fluctuations."
Just don't bring your financial adviser. Agents and brokers are not invited, the ad says.
As the first of 79 million baby boomers turn 60 this year, free-this and free-that financial seminars are thriving. Community centers and hotels have become a backdrop for what regulators see as aggressive sales pitches geared to seniors. (Chart: What to know about senior financial adviser designations)
While people 60 and older make up 15% of the U.S. population, they account for about 30% of fraud victims, estimates Consumer Action, a consumer-advocacy group.
As this gargantuan generation of boomers starts to retire, "You're going to see more of these seminars and more of these sales pitches," says James Nelson, assistant secretary of state in Mississippi. "Wherever retirees are congregated, you're going to have these people preying on them."
Older people have long been a lucrative market for the financial-services industry because of the assets they've accumulated. But the sheer number of baby boomers approaching retirement and seeking a place to park their assets is causing a frenzy of aggressive sales tactics.
Boomers have more than $8.5 trillion in investable assets. Over the next 40 years, they stand to inherit at least $7 trillion from their parents, research firm Cerulli Associates estimates
As baby boomers swell the retiree population, regulators worry not just about estate-planning seminars for seniors but also about sales of promissory notes, unregistered securities and lottery scams.
"It's the topic of the next few decades: senior investments and senior fraud," says Patricia Struck, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, or NASAA.
"There are marketing seminars that are being held nightly and in every city," says Bryan Lantagne of the Massachusetts Securities Division. "They get you to come in and do a financial plan. Their goal is to put you in one of these products."
Senior estate-planning seminars aren't new. But they're drawing more regulatory scrutiny because they're ramping up in areas with large elderly populations. Typically, the people who attend them need advice about leaving assets to their children, managing income or minimizing taxes in retirement.
Beverly Buhs, 81, of Millbrae, Calif., attended one of these financial seminars with her husband, Art, in 1997. They bought a living trust on the spot, she says. They were told it would let them avoid probate court, the sometimes expensive process by which your assets are allocated after you die.
They also bought an equity-index annuity. That's a high-cost insurance product with returns based partly on the stock market.
After her husband died, Buhs found the trust didn't fully protect their assets from probate. And she couldn't access the money in the annuity without paying big penalties. Her complaints are part of a class-action lawsuit against the financial agents and companies involved in the seminar.
A 'major problem'
These seminars are a "major problem" in Texas, where many boomers retire, says Denise Voigt Crawford, the state securities commissioner.
North Dakota Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler calls these seminars a bait-and-switch tactic. The free seminar is the bait; the switch comes when the agents urge investors to liquidate the portfolio and put the money into other products, Tyler says.
Dan Danbom of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors — which helps train insurance agents, brokers and others to conduct senior seminars — says there's nothing "inherently dishonest about seminars, any more than there's anything inherently dishonest about advertising or direct mail."
And some agents argue that their financial seminars fill seniors' very real need for education. Theresa Bischoff, an insurance agent in Palatine, Ill., says she holds seminars because, "Baby boomers are starving for information on retirement and estate planning."
But regulators worry that seminars often serve as tools for unscrupulous salespeople. NASAA issued an alert in December cautioning investors that such seminars were sometimes being used by "bogus" senior specialists. The specialists may take only a few courses to earn their titles, then use these designations to create a "false level of comfort" about their expertise, according to NASAA.
In a typical scenario, financial agents will find out, at the seminar and in follow-up meetings, what assets seniors have, NASAA says. Then they'll recommend these assets be liquidated and put into equity-index or variable annuities. (State regulators say these recommendations could be considered investment advice, and anyone not registered as an investment adviser could face enforcement action.)
Variable and equity-index annuities are complex insurance products whose returns vary with market performance. Variable annuities' returns are tied to the stock market. Equity-index annuities' returns fluctuate with the market but also provide a minimum guarantee.
Both can be appropriate for people who want tax-advantaged savings or an income stream in retirement. But they're generally ill-suited for people in their 60s, 70s or 80s who'll need access to their money over the next decade. These costly products usually have stiff penalties for withdrawing money before the end of a surrender period that can last up to 15 years.
Louise Renne, a former San Francisco city attorney, says financial seminars often "are really fronts for (insurance) agents who want to sell annuities to seniors." Renne represents Buhs and others in three lawsuits against financial pros who conducted the seminars and companies that supplied the products.
Michael DeGeorge, general counsel for the National Association for Variable Annuities, says, "The vast majority of annuity recommendations are done appropriately."
Emotional pain
Whether scams involve inappropriate product sales or telemarketing fraud, they can be emotionally and financially devastating for victims of all ages.
Seniors, though, are particularly hard hit. Scams can wipe out an entire lifetime of savings. Unlike younger investors, seniors have few or no working years to recapture their losses.
The emotional pain of being scammed can also be magnified for seniors who keep silent about losing money. Many of them don't report suspected fraud out of shame and "fear that if the family realizes they've been ripped off, they'll be placed in an institution," seen as unfit to manage their finances and lives, says Jenefer Duane, chief executive of the Elder Financial Protection Network.
Thus, complaints about senior financial fraud are probably lower than they should be, Duane says. In 2005, consumers 50 and older filed 151,000 fraud and identity-theft-related complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. That total represented nearly one-third of total fraud and one-fifth of all identity-theft complaints among those who reported their age.
Online and telemarketing scams rank among the top complaints filed by older consumers.
Seniors who've been scammed often have to work longer than they'd planned — and harder. Take Neal Dukes, 71, of Grand Ledge, Mich. Dukes lost $250,000 a few years ago after a financial adviser persuaded him and 17 other people, mostly seniors, to put money into what the adviser said were high-interest-earning annuities.
The adviser, Daniel Neuenschwander, pleaded guilty, admitting he didn't invest the money in annuities but instead lost much of it in the commodities market or used it to support his family.
A Michigan circuit judge sentenced Neuenschwander in 2002 to up to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $2.2 million back to the seniors.
"It's tragic. Mr. Neuenschwander is very remorseful," says John Maurer, Neuenschwander's attorney.
Dukes says he hasn't gotten a dime back and isn't hopeful he will. He's been working eight to 10 hours a few days a week at his insecticide-spraying business to earn money.
'No golden years left'
"When you're 71 years old, you should be able to enjoy your life and your golden years," Dukes says. "But when you've been taken like this, there are no golden years left."
Financial recovery in senior scams is rare but not hopeless. Shlimoon Youkhana, 80, was one of the lucky ones. He got his money back after what had seemed to be a promising investment turned sour, draining his money with it.
A few years ago, he and his children invested $15,000 in the stock of a company that was supposed to file for an initial public offering. But the company never gave them their stock certificates. It eventually merged with another entity and changed its name.
Youkhana, of Rosemont, Ill., spent more than two years and hundreds of hours researching the company and documenting his experience, reporting his findings along the way to the Illinois Securities Department. The department did its own investigation and recovered investors' money.
Now, Youkhana offers to help other seniors in his community do research before they invest. "I'm not a Don Quixote or anything," he says. He just doesn't want others to be victims, he says.
The easiest way to avoid scams? Beware of any opportunity that sounds too good to be true. Seniors who are pressured to make a financial decision on the spot should run — not walk — away.
Robert Inman, 69, was wary about the living trust and annuity being pitched during a December free-lunch seminar he attended in Jackson, Mich.
He didn't feel the presenters adequately answered his questions — such as, what happens if the company that created the trust goes under? And he was bothered that they wanted people to sign up on the spot.
Also, a salesman called him multiple times after the seminar, stopping only after being invited to the house. "We thought that maybe this is the way to get rid of him," Inman says.
He consulted an attorney and decided to forgo the products. Inman's advice to seniors? "Don't jump into anything hastily. Take some time to do some checking."
Consumer groups act
Consumer groups are also stepping up efforts to alert seniors to potential scams. In Michigan, AARP, the advocacy group for those 50 and over, has found a way to counter "free lunch" seminars: It holds its own "free lunch" seminars.
No products are sold at the sessions. Still, "They're wildly popular," AARP's Sally Hurme says of the educational seminars, which feature such names as "What You Should Know About Living Trusts" and "How to Tell the Difference Between An Estate Plan and a Sales Pitch."
Says Anita Salustro, who leads the seminars for AARP in Michigan: "People want some consumer protection. They've been to these free lunches and want some balanced information from someone who's not selling a product."
Shlimoon Youkhana was able to get back $15,000 he and his children lost in a bad investment.
Article Courtesy : By Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
Jest a while................
Come learn from the IRA Technician" at a seminar that more than 10,000 seniors have attended. Top sirloin steak will be served — along with tips on "how to guarantee your IRA will never run out, regardless of market fluctuations."
Just don't bring your financial adviser. Agents and brokers are not invited, the ad says.
As the first of 79 million baby boomers turn 60 this year, free-this and free-that financial seminars are thriving. Community centers and hotels have become a backdrop for what regulators see as aggressive sales pitches geared to seniors. (Chart: What to know about senior financial adviser designations)
While people 60 and older make up 15% of the U.S. population, they account for about 30% of fraud victims, estimates Consumer Action, a consumer-advocacy group.
As this gargantuan generation of boomers starts to retire, "You're going to see more of these seminars and more of these sales pitches," says James Nelson, assistant secretary of state in Mississippi. "Wherever retirees are congregated, you're going to have these people preying on them."
Older people have long been a lucrative market for the financial-services industry because of the assets they've accumulated. But the sheer number of baby boomers approaching retirement and seeking a place to park their assets is causing a frenzy of aggressive sales tactics.
Boomers have more than $8.5 trillion in investable assets. Over the next 40 years, they stand to inherit at least $7 trillion from their parents, research firm Cerulli Associates estimates
As baby boomers swell the retiree population, regulators worry not just about estate-planning seminars for seniors but also about sales of promissory notes, unregistered securities and lottery scams.
"It's the topic of the next few decades: senior investments and senior fraud," says Patricia Struck, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, or NASAA.
"There are marketing seminars that are being held nightly and in every city," says Bryan Lantagne of the Massachusetts Securities Division. "They get you to come in and do a financial plan. Their goal is to put you in one of these products."
Senior estate-planning seminars aren't new. But they're drawing more regulatory scrutiny because they're ramping up in areas with large elderly populations. Typically, the people who attend them need advice about leaving assets to their children, managing income or minimizing taxes in retirement.
Beverly Buhs, 81, of Millbrae, Calif., attended one of these financial seminars with her husband, Art, in 1997. They bought a living trust on the spot, she says. They were told it would let them avoid probate court, the sometimes expensive process by which your assets are allocated after you die.
They also bought an equity-index annuity. That's a high-cost insurance product with returns based partly on the stock market.
After her husband died, Buhs found the trust didn't fully protect their assets from probate. And she couldn't access the money in the annuity without paying big penalties. Her complaints are part of a class-action lawsuit against the financial agents and companies involved in the seminar.
A 'major problem'
These seminars are a "major problem" in Texas, where many boomers retire, says Denise Voigt Crawford, the state securities commissioner.
North Dakota Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler calls these seminars a bait-and-switch tactic. The free seminar is the bait; the switch comes when the agents urge investors to liquidate the portfolio and put the money into other products, Tyler says.
Dan Danbom of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors — which helps train insurance agents, brokers and others to conduct senior seminars — says there's nothing "inherently dishonest about seminars, any more than there's anything inherently dishonest about advertising or direct mail."
And some agents argue that their financial seminars fill seniors' very real need for education. Theresa Bischoff, an insurance agent in Palatine, Ill., says she holds seminars because, "Baby boomers are starving for information on retirement and estate planning."
But regulators worry that seminars often serve as tools for unscrupulous salespeople. NASAA issued an alert in December cautioning investors that such seminars were sometimes being used by "bogus" senior specialists. The specialists may take only a few courses to earn their titles, then use these designations to create a "false level of comfort" about their expertise, according to NASAA.
In a typical scenario, financial agents will find out, at the seminar and in follow-up meetings, what assets seniors have, NASAA says. Then they'll recommend these assets be liquidated and put into equity-index or variable annuities. (State regulators say these recommendations could be considered investment advice, and anyone not registered as an investment adviser could face enforcement action.)
Variable and equity-index annuities are complex insurance products whose returns vary with market performance. Variable annuities' returns are tied to the stock market. Equity-index annuities' returns fluctuate with the market but also provide a minimum guarantee.
Both can be appropriate for people who want tax-advantaged savings or an income stream in retirement. But they're generally ill-suited for people in their 60s, 70s or 80s who'll need access to their money over the next decade. These costly products usually have stiff penalties for withdrawing money before the end of a surrender period that can last up to 15 years.
Louise Renne, a former San Francisco city attorney, says financial seminars often "are really fronts for (insurance) agents who want to sell annuities to seniors." Renne represents Buhs and others in three lawsuits against financial pros who conducted the seminars and companies that supplied the products.
Michael DeGeorge, general counsel for the National Association for Variable Annuities, says, "The vast majority of annuity recommendations are done appropriately."
Emotional pain
Whether scams involve inappropriate product sales or telemarketing fraud, they can be emotionally and financially devastating for victims of all ages.
Seniors, though, are particularly hard hit. Scams can wipe out an entire lifetime of savings. Unlike younger investors, seniors have few or no working years to recapture their losses.
The emotional pain of being scammed can also be magnified for seniors who keep silent about losing money. Many of them don't report suspected fraud out of shame and "fear that if the family realizes they've been ripped off, they'll be placed in an institution," seen as unfit to manage their finances and lives, says Jenefer Duane, chief executive of the Elder Financial Protection Network.
Thus, complaints about senior financial fraud are probably lower than they should be, Duane says. In 2005, consumers 50 and older filed 151,000 fraud and identity-theft-related complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. That total represented nearly one-third of total fraud and one-fifth of all identity-theft complaints among those who reported their age.
Online and telemarketing scams rank among the top complaints filed by older consumers.
Seniors who've been scammed often have to work longer than they'd planned — and harder. Take Neal Dukes, 71, of Grand Ledge, Mich. Dukes lost $250,000 a few years ago after a financial adviser persuaded him and 17 other people, mostly seniors, to put money into what the adviser said were high-interest-earning annuities.
The adviser, Daniel Neuenschwander, pleaded guilty, admitting he didn't invest the money in annuities but instead lost much of it in the commodities market or used it to support his family.
A Michigan circuit judge sentenced Neuenschwander in 2002 to up to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $2.2 million back to the seniors.
"It's tragic. Mr. Neuenschwander is very remorseful," says John Maurer, Neuenschwander's attorney.
Dukes says he hasn't gotten a dime back and isn't hopeful he will. He's been working eight to 10 hours a few days a week at his insecticide-spraying business to earn money.
'No golden years left'
"When you're 71 years old, you should be able to enjoy your life and your golden years," Dukes says. "But when you've been taken like this, there are no golden years left."
Financial recovery in senior scams is rare but not hopeless. Shlimoon Youkhana, 80, was one of the lucky ones. He got his money back after what had seemed to be a promising investment turned sour, draining his money with it.
A few years ago, he and his children invested $15,000 in the stock of a company that was supposed to file for an initial public offering. But the company never gave them their stock certificates. It eventually merged with another entity and changed its name.
Youkhana, of Rosemont, Ill., spent more than two years and hundreds of hours researching the company and documenting his experience, reporting his findings along the way to the Illinois Securities Department. The department did its own investigation and recovered investors' money.
Now, Youkhana offers to help other seniors in his community do research before they invest. "I'm not a Don Quixote or anything," he says. He just doesn't want others to be victims, he says.
The easiest way to avoid scams? Beware of any opportunity that sounds too good to be true. Seniors who are pressured to make a financial decision on the spot should run — not walk — away.
Robert Inman, 69, was wary about the living trust and annuity being pitched during a December free-lunch seminar he attended in Jackson, Mich.
He didn't feel the presenters adequately answered his questions — such as, what happens if the company that created the trust goes under? And he was bothered that they wanted people to sign up on the spot.
Also, a salesman called him multiple times after the seminar, stopping only after being invited to the house. "We thought that maybe this is the way to get rid of him," Inman says.
He consulted an attorney and decided to forgo the products. Inman's advice to seniors? "Don't jump into anything hastily. Take some time to do some checking."
Consumer groups act
Consumer groups are also stepping up efforts to alert seniors to potential scams. In Michigan, AARP, the advocacy group for those 50 and over, has found a way to counter "free lunch" seminars: It holds its own "free lunch" seminars.
No products are sold at the sessions. Still, "They're wildly popular," AARP's Sally Hurme says of the educational seminars, which feature such names as "What You Should Know About Living Trusts" and "How to Tell the Difference Between An Estate Plan and a Sales Pitch."
Says Anita Salustro, who leads the seminars for AARP in Michigan: "People want some consumer protection. They've been to these free lunches and want some balanced information from someone who's not selling a product."
Shlimoon Youkhana was able to get back $15,000 he and his children lost in a bad investment.
Article Courtesy : By Kathy Chu, USA TODAY
Jest a while................
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sun to add Microsoft Windows to servers
This should benefit both of them in the long run . With a security deposit of pocketed $1.95 billion in their pockets, Sun shouldn't find this difficult
Sun Microsystems Inc. will begin building servers with onetime foe Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system installed directly in them, instead of forcing customers to install the ubiquitous software on their own or defect to a competitor for one-stop shopping.
The agreement announced Wednesday is the latest twist in a truce the companies, once bitter rivals, hammered out in 2004, when Sun pocketed $1.95 billion in a settlement payout from Microsoft over antitrust and patent allegations, and both companies vowed to make their products work better together.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun will begin incorporating Microsoft’s Windows Server 2003 software into its so-called x64 servers, which are corporate computers that run on 64-bit microprocessors from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Servers are the computers in corporate data centers that process large amounts of data such as Internet traffic or financial calculations.
Although Sun customers have been able to run Microsoft’s operating system on Sun servers for several years, Sun would not install it in the factory. That left customers who wanted Windows in the lurch unless they wanted to install it on their own or already had licensing contracts with Microsoft, in which case Sun would install it.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, stands to gain from the agreement because of Sun’s reach in the server world. Sun is the world’s No. 3 server seller with 13% of the worldwide market, behind IBM Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., according to the latest data from market researcher IDC.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Denmark happiest country in the in the world
Denmark, with its democracy, social equality and peaceful atmosphere, is said to be the happiest country in the world, researchers said. Zimbabwe, torn by political and social strife, is the least happy, while the world's richest nation, the United States, ranks 16th.
Overall, the world is getting happier, according to the US government-funded World Values Survey, done regularly by a global network of social scientists. It found increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries analysed.
Overall, the world is getting happier, according to the US government-funded World Values Survey, done regularly by a global network of social scientists. It found increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries analysed.
Venus Williams wins Fifth Wimbledon title
Venus Williams beat younger sister Serena to claim her fifth Wimbledon crown on Saturday.
The defending champion recovered from a whirlwind start to land her seventh Grand Slam title courtesy of a 7-5, 6-4 win. Venus paid tribute to the performance of Serena, who had looked as if she might blast her big sister off court in the opening games.
She said that she couldn't believe it was five, mainly because she was in the final against and five seemed so far away.
She also admitted that she never found it easy to take on Serena, who comfortably won their previous Wimbledon finals, in 2002 and 2003.
Serena, who had won five of her previous six Grand Slam finals against her sister, admitted things had not gone as she expected.
Serena said that she was happy that at least one of them could win and that they were glad to be in the final.
The defending champion recovered from a whirlwind start to land her seventh Grand Slam title courtesy of a 7-5, 6-4 win. Venus paid tribute to the performance of Serena, who had looked as if she might blast her big sister off court in the opening games.
She said that she couldn't believe it was five, mainly because she was in the final against and five seemed so far away.
She also admitted that she never found it easy to take on Serena, who comfortably won their previous Wimbledon finals, in 2002 and 2003.
Serena, who had won five of her previous six Grand Slam finals against her sister, admitted things had not gone as she expected.
Serena said that she was happy that at least one of them could win and that they were glad to be in the final.
Nestor and Zimonjic win Wimbledon doubles title
Second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic defeated Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 to win their first Wimbledon doubles title on Saturday.
Bjorkman's hopes of lifting a fourth Wimbledon doubles title before retiring at the end of the season fizzled out in the third set, Nestor and Zimonjic getting a break of serve in the fourth game, rescuing a break point in the process.
Serbia's Zimonjic celebrates winning his first grand slam title having lost in the final at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2006, and the French Open earlier this year.
Bjorkman's hopes of lifting a fourth Wimbledon doubles title before retiring at the end of the season fizzled out in the third set, Nestor and Zimonjic getting a break of serve in the fourth game, rescuing a break point in the process.
Serbia's Zimonjic celebrates winning his first grand slam title having lost in the final at Wimbledon in 2004 and 2006, and the French Open earlier this year.
Kakkar is regional head of Unilever
Hindustan Unilever executive director (sales & customer development) Sanjiv Kakkar has been appointed Chairman, Unilever Russia, Ukraine and Belarus (RUB), with effect from the month of September 1, 2008.
Kakkar will be replaced by Hemant Bakshi, who returns to HUL from South Asia Unilever, where he is currently regional category vice president, skin. Bakshi, who joined the company in June 1989 and has worked in various sales and marketing assignments spanning personal products and home care categories, will be part of HUL's management committee.
Sanjiv Kakkar, who joined HUL in 1984 and has worked in sales and marketing assignments, was appointed as exexecutive director (sales and customer development) in May 2007.
Kakkar will be replaced by Hemant Bakshi, who returns to HUL from South Asia Unilever, where he is currently regional category vice president, skin. Bakshi, who joined the company in June 1989 and has worked in various sales and marketing assignments spanning personal products and home care categories, will be part of HUL's management committee.
Sanjiv Kakkar, who joined HUL in 1984 and has worked in sales and marketing assignments, was appointed as exexecutive director (sales and customer development) in May 2007.
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