What happens next?

We are now a few months into the year and the global economic situation appears as uncertain as ever with many sectors - and countries - facing their own set of difficulties.

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Beat exchange rates

Many of us will be thinking about sending money to Israel this year, whether it be to make vital donations to charities and other organisations, or for private business dealings, property investments or to make mortgage payments and the like.

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Data Dos and Don'ts

With the proliferation of electronic documents, the globalisation of commerce and disputes, and the availability of a range of different document storage options, businesses are increasingly turning their attention to their document management practices.

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Interest hikes are key

It has been a very volatile start to 2011 for sterling exchange rates.

We have seen some excellent gains for the pound spiking at over one-year highs against the US (1.6343) & New Zealand Dollar (2.2246). But on the downside we hit lows against the Euro of 1.1580, while holding fairly steady against the Israeli Shekel (ILS) hovering around the 5.7 level

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What a few months

When the financial crisis erupted in September 2008, there was a definite feeling that life as we knew it was going to be changed out of recognition.

But with equal clarity it was evident that this was a man made crisis. It was therefore up to man in the form of the central government, world bankers et al to sort out all
the mess.

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The problems and promise of investing in Russia

Having spent several years in the late 80s and early 90s campaigning for Soviet Jewry, it was somewhat remarkable to find myself recently chairing a panel discussion on investing in Russia.

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It's harsh for women

Major state pension changes are underway.

To save money, the government wants to rapidly increase the state pension age to 66. However, its plans will unfairly hit women, particularly those in their mid-to-late 50s, whose pension age was already rising to 65 by 2020 (under the timetable set in 1995). If you were born after 1953, you will be affected.

The Coalition Agreement originally promised no further changes to a woman's pension age before 2020. Shockingly however, it has reneged on these assurances.

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The funds not to fear

Recently, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), such as Australia's Future Fund and the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, have been active investors in UK property. But what are these funds, where do they invest and what is their end game?

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Expert View: Don't lose out on loss

The global downturn has had many significant effects on the way companies do business. One change that has arisen is that companies are now showing greater levels of awareness of the risks they face, and as a result, there has been a greater demand for insurance. A particular type of insurance that is attracting attention is business interruption insurance.

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What we're still learning from 2010

As the New Year gets into its stride we can take a more detailed look at what happened in 2010 and see how this might affect things going forward.

The rise in VAT is expected to cast a dampener over the retail sector and as the different companies report this month, it is clear there are wide discrepancies.

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