Category Archives: Market Analysis

Pension Annuity Vital To Take The Open Market Option

Annuities are a form of insurance, called longevity insurance. A person buying an annuity with their pension savings has a guarantee that their pension will continue to be paid no matter how long they live after their retirement date. For most pensioners/retirees buying an annuity will be a better choice than income drawdown (unsecured pension), and under current rules it becomes compulsory at age 75. There is no obligation to take the annuity offer from the pension fund manager used when saving for the pension, in fact shopping around for the best annuity rate using the open market option will often yield more retirement income.

Many people feel confused by annuities, and simply go with the first deal they are offered, which will be from the company they used when saving for their pension. This is quite unfortunate, as research has shown that annuity rates can vary by up to 40 per cent between providers.

Each retiree must make a number of decisions about what to do with their pension fund on retirement. According to the current legislation, these decisions must be made between the ages of 55 and 75.

Part of the pension pot may be withdrawn immediately as a tax free lump sum. This is normally limited to 25 per cent of the total, although those with very small funds are allowed to withdraw 100 per cent. The remainder of the fund can then either be slowly withdrawn, or an annuity can be purchased.

The first of these options is often called income drawdown, although the latest official name is Unsecured Pension (USP). The problem with USPs (over the longer term) can be seen in the case of a pensioner who chooses to take 5 per cent out of his fund every year. If he then lives for 20 years after retiring, he will have no pension left to live on.

So, although income drawdown/USPs are permitted under the rules, it is always recommended that regular financial advice should be taken. Normally there will be a point at which purchasing a pension annuity becomes the best option, and under current rules annuities must be purchased at age 75.

Most people will receive a pension annuity offer from their pension fund provider when they reach retirement age. The pension annuity is a type of insurance policy, basically it is insurance against living too long and running out of money (longevity insurance). Annuities give a guaranteed income for life, in return for the retiree’s pension savings.

Annuities are provided by life assurance firms, and it is the life firm that bears the risk that the pensioner may live for a long time after retirement. In this case the firm will lose money, as they will have to pay out more money than they received originally, but for them that is balanced by other pension annuity customers who die earlier than the average time.

Career in Fashion Merchandising

If you like spending your evenings in surveying market to pick out the most trendy outfit for yourself and spend another hour or so in getting stylized accessories to match up with the garment you just bought, or your friends often borrow chic shoes or funky boots from you and religiously follow your style for themselves, walking down the Fashion runway to build your career in Fashion merchandising among all fashion designing courses may be the just right thing for you.

Fashion industry is a highly competitive industry. So, there exists immensely fierce competition for an opening even at junior level. Fashion merchandising is known best for offering more appealing job. This area of Fashion study basically deals with the knowledge in fabrics and the use of various textiles. Not only confined to this, it also covers the study based on cultures and subcultures that make you learn the ways to best dress up people. A fashion merchandising conducted through a top fashion designing institute course will make you a savvy business professional who will have his/her fingers on the pulse of world of fashion.

Highlights of Fashion merchandising

You get to learn every minute detail of fabrics and textiles
You get to know about origination, past, present and future of Fashion
Enable to seek out the latest trends
Opportunity to Examine different cultures
You have a knickknack on fashion industry

To make career in Fashion Merchandising is good for people who have flair in fashion and have a business-oriented mind. After finding Fashion merchandising is a right career choice for you, the next step you need to take is to get yourself enrolled in a top Fashion school. The fashion merchandising courses offered in schools include a great deal of practical work. Professors give important inputs to the students based on their experiences. Fashion Merchandising depends more upon project work, practical activity, rather than relying upon classroom lectures and notes. Before taking admission in a school, find out how frequently guest speakers are invited to share their experiences and make you learn about the industry valuables.

The duties performed by a professional are;

To advertise all about fashion
To attend fashion shows
To perform Fashion market analysis
To manage fashion stores
To dress up the mannequins in stores.

A career in fashion merchandising may be a complex field but the creativity, glamour, opportunities and compensation it offers are the reason why lots of upcoming fashion aspirants are opting Fashion Merchandising as their career.

3 Unique Ways A Professional SEO Company Dramatically Increase Sales

In the last few years, the world of SEO, or search engine optimization, has changed drastically as the top search engines work to make their product better. Every few months, algorithms are tweaked and ranking filter systems are updated constantly attempting to produce better results, all for the computer user eagerly seeking out information online. While these changes bode well for the user, they wreak havoc on the Internet marketing industry, especially those companies with poorly designed websites.

SEO Companies See the Big Picture

In an attempt to stay ahead of the changes, many large and small companies work hard at attempting to increase their ranking status in search engine results. Some businesses choose to do this in-house, in an attempt to decrease their budget by not hiring a professional SEO company.

The problem with this logic is most of these businesses do not have the capabilities or education to understand all the current developments in this ever-changing environment. Believing that the struggle to maintain their market share rely solely on how high they can get their rankings in search engines, they typically disregard all of the other, not so obvious, conditions that are causing theirreduced online traffic and diminishing sales.

Multiple Approaches for Improved Rankings

Just as important as managing their top rankings in an online search is the ability to maintain quality search engine optimizing using multiple approaches including article writing submission, to harness quality results through valuable click-through link building. This method of retrieving specific targeted traffic is created by surrounding the company’s website address in the search results, with articles containing links that drive the potential customer to the company’s site.

As an example, imagine the number 2 result on the front page of the search has displayed the company’s website, and the number 1 and 3 results display articles about the same company, each with a click through link to that business. Now, instead of a one in three chance that the buyer could select to look at the company’s website, they have a three and three chance, should the user pick anyone of those options. Article writing submission is a powerful tool in increasing site traffic of potential customers.

Article Construction and Submission

However, to have these articles work to the full advantage of the company;they too must rank high in search results. To do this, it is imperative to have well-constructed high value articles, all with active links and submitted to sites set up for “crawling”, where search engines use “spiders” to gather pertinent information for each search. Additionally, it is important to continually submit new articles to businesses set up specifically for promoting businesses using click-through links.

The quaint early days of online website stores now reside in the shadows of nostalgia. Today’s highly competitive Internet shopping market is cutting a new path on how we look at buying and selling our products and services. Only by employing the skills of a professional SEO Company, designed to keep current with changes in market analysis and algorithm and filtering updates, can an online business maintain the leading edge over their competition.

Decluttering Your Home Before You Put It on the Market

Putting your home on the market can be a pretty big project, particularly when it’s done right; there are repairs to make, painting, cleaning, packing, and staging to do all before prospective buyers come through your home. The less amount of stuff you have in your home, the easier it will be for you to make repairs to your home and the easier it will be for you to pack and stage your home.

The best way to declutter your home and get things organized is to go about the project in a systematic way; divide up the work by room so that you have one area to work on at a time to avoid the project overwhelming you. Plan a half-day at a time to devote to organizing your home so that you aren’t swamped with work.

In each room you will need to haul out all of your stuff and decide what parts are necessary and which are only taking up valuable space. You will want to keep everything that is necessary, practical, and meaningful. Consider selling or giving away anything that you have that just sits in a box in storage; if it’s meaningful then display it. If you have items that have sentimental value that don’t lend themselves well to display, like baby items, then allow yourself to keep one box of the most treasured items.

For the kitchen, it’s a good idea to take everything out of the cupboards and throw anything away that’s passed its best before date; also throw away anything that you don’t remember buying. Go through all your storage containers and get rid of anything that is missing a lid. Also toss out any gadgets that you don’t use; most of us have a varied collection of kitchen gadgets that just take up space in a drawer.

While you sort through your belongings, take the time to pack away any seasonal items that you won’t reasonably need while you’re home is on the market. The less stuff that you have stored in boxes in your home, the bigger your storage areas will look.

Remember that the less stuff there is in your home when you start painting and staging it, the less hassle there will be in working around it and the cleaner and more spacious your home will appear and feel to be. Probably the best result of this pre-cleaning and organizing of your possessions though is that once your home sells, there will be less packing time and costs to endure when you move. Start decluttering your home now and get a head start!

Chinese Passenger Car Market Remains Optimistic in 2009

Since 2009, Chinese automobile market has begun to restore in a certain degree. In 2009H1, production volume and sales volume of Chinese automobiles reached 5.9908 million and 6.0988 million, rising by 15.22% YOY and 17.69% YOY respectively. Production and sales volumes of passenger cars totaled 4.4189 million and 4.5338 million, growing by 20.96% and by 25.62% respectively.

In 2009H1, sales volume of Chinese self-owned passenger cars was 2.0549 million, accounting for 45.32% of the total sales volume. In China, sales volumes of Japanese passenger cars, German passenger cars, American ones, Korean ones and French ones were 939,500, 648,200, 426,000, 347,900 and 117,300, taking up 20.72%, 14.30%, 9.40%, 7.67% and 2.59% of the total sales volume respectively.

According to statistics of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), in July 2009, sales volume of Chinese passenger cars exceeded 800,000 with a significant YOY growth rate. From January to July, sales volume totaled approximately 5.4 million, rising by over 30% YOY. The decline rate of MPVs reduced and growth rates of other passenger cars increased. Sales volume of crossover passenger cars within the seven months exceeded that of the whole 2008, performing quite well.

In July, sales volume of passenger cars came up to 832,600, with the link relative ratio of -4.62% and the YOY growth rate of 70.54%. Sales volume of basic passenger cars (cars) was 601,500, with the link relative ratio of -6.10% and the YOY growth rate of 66.69%. Sales volume of MPVs reached 17,600, with the link relative ratio of -6.43% and the YOY growth rate of 19.68%. Sales volume of SUVs was 58,400, with the link relative ratio of 9.49% and the YOY growth rate of 60.94%. Sales volume of crossover passenger cars was 155,100, with the link relative ratio of 3.17% and the YOY growth rate of 103.08%.

From January to July, sales volume of passenger cars reached 5.3664 million, rising by 30.91% YOY. Sales volume of basic passenger cars (cars) was 3.8455 million, growing by 26.89% YOY. Sales volume of MPVs was 120,100, dropping by 4.75% YOY. Sales volume of SUVs was 312,000, increasing by 18.07% YOY. Sales volume of crossover passenger cars was 1.0906 million, rising by 59.90% YOY.

In the long run, Chinese GDP will remain an average annual growth rate of 8%-9% with the recovery of the global economy. Therefore, demands for automobiles will rise significantly since revenues will be enhanced. It is estimated that Chinese passenger vehicle market will grow at a very high rate since 2011.

Source: China Research and Intelligence

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