Archive for the ‘Economy’ Category

Of Crossword Puzzles and Red Wine – A Study in Economics

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May 14th, 2012

How to stay normal when the whole world is crazy

How is it possible, I ponder, as I fill in the C, that the answer to the clue “Warm up” in the New York Times crossword turns out to be ‘DEICE’? One of these days, I promise myself, I will dip into my pocket and treat myself to a new crossword dictionary, one with all the latest words, like DEICE which means ‘Warm up’. I am sadly out of date and lagging behind in my crossword English.

Shopping

“We’re going shopping!” The cry comes from the kitchen. I look around. There are only two of us here and we’re going shopping? The penny drops and I unwind from the couch with a groaning performance straight out of a grand opera.

Sunday night in the supermarket?

“They’ve got specials for one night only!” And the whole town knew about it except for a few crossword fans who were busy with the really important stuff. The supermarket is standing room only. “DEICE” meaning ‘Warm Up’? Oh you idiot, I tell myself. It’s DE-ICE and everyone turns to see who is shrieking with crazy laughter. Of course it’s DE-ICE. Now you are stuck in the supermarket. May as well be positive. Anyway DE-ICE wasn’t exactly fair. The clue should have indicated that the answer was hyphenated. What’s on sale?

The Red Wine Special

There are cases of red wines piled dangerously high in the corner under a large sign that says

1 bottle – $20
2 bottles – $35
3 bottles – $48
4 bottles – $62
5 bottles – $75
6 bottles – $87

Which one?

Hmm, which shall I take, I think. There are Pinot Noirs, Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons and Merlots. There are wines from Chile and Australia and a dozen countries I have never heard of. There are men crowded around the boxes and up to their armpits pulling out bottles and making smacking noises with their lips as though they are already sipping the stuff. “And just look at these prices! I’m taking 5 cases!” I stand back and watch with interest. Most of these men would be lot happier if they were pulling out bottles of beer. “How many are you taking?” asks my wife. “None. I just decided that I don’t like red wine. Have they got a deal on whisky?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

The $9 deal

They are running a $9 Sunday night sale on all sorts of goodies. Like 3 cans of pickles for $9, 2 packets of cookies for $9, 4 boxes of fruit juice for $9, and more. There’s a catch in very small print. You have to spend $100 to qualify for the $9 deals. We came home with packets of all sorts of stuff we don’t normally buy, but we made the $9 deal! It cost plenty.

Loaders or Loafers?

The clue is easy: “They have no ties”. Who? Idle (Free) Loaders on the streets or those Loafers that you pull on your feet when you’re off to the beach? Even the new dictionary wouldn’t help here.

Tags: Crosswords, Red Wines, supermarket, wines
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Plan For the Life You Want

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May 13th, 2012

It is possible to plan for all of life’s eventualities, including the unforeseeable.

“Money doesn’t create happiness. It can provide you with temporary happiness, but lasting happiness comes from what you do with your life,” Craig Torr says. As we age, we tend to want to do things rather than to buy things, he says. Financial planning is about living a great life and not just about making a good living. You choose the life you want to live, and your choices affect how you live at every stage of life, he says.

Planning ahead

The foreseeable includes buying a house or starting a family: children will fall sick and they have to be educated, so it is imperative to have medical cover and to save for their education, he says. The unforeseeable, such as untimely death, disability or contracting a serious illness calls for more complex planning, Torr says. Here you need to consider how much life cover, health insurance gap cover and income protection will be enough. To do this, meaning to cover your risks and protect your assets sufficiently, you need to understand your assets. Torr says assets fall broadly into four categories:

Assets

Business assets: These are not just the tools of your trade, but essentially the skills you use to earn an income. These assets fund your lifestyle and lifetime assets.
Lifestyle assets: These include your home, motor vehicle, holidays and “toys” such as a bicycle or camera equipment.
Lifetime assets: These are your investments, including shares, retirement funds, unit trusts or an investment property. These assets generate an income for you and are used to fund your retirement.
Surplus assets: These are assets that you do not need to maintain your lifestyle, what you may have inherited or plan to bequeath to charity.

Planning

Planning for both untimely death and eventual death is a critical aspect of your financial plan, Torr says. This is all the more important if you are married and the family is reliant on both your income and your spouse’s, he says. Traditionally, financial planners would assess your risk, by establishing your tolerance for risk through a risk profile questionnaire, and then selecting asset classes accordingly.

Post-retirement

A new and better planning approach is to start with the post-retirement lifestyle that you want to live, Torr says. Your chosen lifestyle will determine the investment returns that you need to achieve. The returns you need to achieve will drive the asset allocation that is required, Torr says. And your asset allocation will determine your risk profile. Some trade-off may then be required if the level of risk required is not one you can tolerate.

Retirement decisions

If you are unhappy with your retirement plan, you have only four choices, Torr says. You can:

Delay retirement;
Save more before retirement;
Spend less in retirement; and
Take more investment risk.

Retirees run out of money because they:

Do not have a game plan.
Make bad financial decisions.
Underestimate how long they will live.
Retire too early.
Over-spend.

Tags: Financial planning, Investments, Retirement, Savings
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We Are Living In the ‘Sail Age’

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May 11th, 2012

Awash with romance in a new age of sail

If you reach into your pockets you too can experience the luxury of a super-yacht worthy of an oligarch in the Mediterranean. In an age of mega-size cruise liners, there are some ships that still resemble ocean-going vessels rather than floating hotels. Perhaps the most romantic are masted sailing yachts, which offer the charms of a relaxed, intimate atmosphere and the ability to moor in small harbors or drop anchor in secluded coves.

Want to sail away from the crowds…

Budding sea dogs might want to sail the Med on Star Clippers’ five-masted Royal Clipper, where you can volunteer to help hoist the sails or climb a mast. A four-night cruise from Civitavecchia, the port that serves Rome, takes you to Corsica to moor overnight, Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda and finally to Elba, where Napoleon was briefly held captive.

Automated sails

On the three yachts of Windstar Cruises, there’s no need for anyone, crew or passengers, to climb the rigging: the sails are fully automated. The sleek part-yacht, part-cruise ships have a casual dress code and the mood is laid-back luxury. Wind Star – one of the two smaller vessels, with just 74 cabins – has a six-night cruise from Rome to Barcelona departing on July 15, costing from $1,500 per person. You’ll call at Elba, Porto Vecchio in Corsica, Alghero in Sardinia and Palma de Mallorca. Alternatively, you can head to the Baltic Sea on the magnificent, five-masted Wind Surf, one of the two largest sail cruise ships in the world, on a week’s cruise from Oslo to Stockholm leaving July 27.

Copenhagen

It stays overnight at Copenhagen and calls at Rugen in Germany – where you can see spectacular white chalk cliffs that flank one of the two national parks, and also the Danish island of Bornholm, with its dramatic landscapes and historic buildings. The cost is from $1,200 per person. Built as the identical twin to Wind Surf, Club Med 2 sails on a variety of itineraries around the Eastern Mediterranean for the French holiday company. A seven-night cruise from Bodrum to Athens costs from $1,500 per person.

The French option

A French option for lovers of Gallic chic is the Compagnie de Ponant fleet. Le Ponant is a three-masted sailing yacht for 64 passengers. The company also operates L’Austral, a new ultra-smart super-yacht launched last year. It has 132 cabins and suites. A week aboard Le Ponant sailing from Nice on July 7 to St Tropez and western Corsica costs from $1,500 per person, and a ten-night cruise on L’Austral from Venice to Croatia and Montenegro sailing on August 10 is from $1,750 per person. The price includes 150 Euros per person onboard credit.

Mega-yachts

On glamorous twin mega-yachts SeaDream I and II, there are plenty of attractions to lure you out of your luxury cabins. In the evening you can go to sleep on deck in a ‘Balinese dream bed’. SeaDream say their itineraries visit the intimate ports, harbors and yachting playgrounds larger ships cannot reach. A week sailing from Dubrovnik to Venice on SeaDream I, departing August 4, is from $2,300 per person including tips and open bar.

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