Brits are risking financial shock when they hit retirement, as research reveals that many people are not planning for the future sufficiently.

International research carried out by Bupa found that Brits are amongst the worst in the world when it comes to planning for retirement.

The international Bupa Health Pulse study surveyed over 13,000 people in 12 countries around the world. It found that under a third of Brits think they need to put money aside to fund care in later life – the lowest of all countries polled.

Even more shockingly, only a third of those aged over 65 said they had saved money for their old age in general.

“We know that on average, someone over 65 is likely to need around £50,000 to cover care costs such as home adaptations, meals on wheels and care home fees, but one in 10 will need double that,” said Oliver Thomas, UK Director, Bupa Care Homes.

“Most people assume all care in old age is covered by the NHS, but it’s not, so paying for care can come as a shock.”

Despite living longer on average, the research found that women were significantly less likely to have saved for retirement than men.

Experts warn that more women need to start saving, as 70% of those in Bupa Care Homes  in the UK are women.

“The majority of enquiries to Carers UK’s helpline come from women, either women seeking advice about their spouse who needs care, or sisters, daughters or nieces who look after a family member,” said Baroness Pitkeathley, Vice President of Carers UK.

“We’d urge people to talk more about what care they might want for themselves in old age so if and when the time comes, their family know their preferences for care.”

There are a number of savings and bank accounts that offer a good rate of interest. These include S

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As I wrote in an article on Friday, even those who are back at work are not necessarily doing so well: only 7 percent of those who lost jobs after the financial crisis have recovered their income and standard of living. What’s more, the downturn and its aftermath have disproportionately hit people with less education. Even though the unemployment rates of high school dropouts and graduates have fallen from recent highs, they are still much higher than the rate for college graduates.

The Labor Departments jobs report for November, released Friday morning, also shows that the number of employed high school graduates actually fell by 187,000 over the last 12 months, while the number of employed college graduates has gone up 1.1 million during the same period.

Nevertheless, readers have pointed out that even among the college-educated, there is one cohort that is still feeling more pain: older workers. More than half of all unemployed workers 45 to 54 years old have been out of work for six months or more, and among unemployed 55-to-64-year-olds, close to 60 percent have been searching for work for more than six months.

People in the older of these two groups are worse off than they were a year ago. T

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HARGREAVES Lansdown,Britains biggest fund broker,has never been a fan of investment trusts.

The firm religiously excludes them from its influential list of fund recommendations, known as the Wealth 150. The only fundsthat make the gradeare all unit trusts or open-ended funds. Why? Sceptics might say the answer is that unit trusts pay commission toHL and the likes, whereasinvestment trusts (usually) dont.

Investment trusts dohave problems, such as the discount betweenthe traded priceand the underlying assets value; or the fact that they are sometimes not easy to trade.AndHLs investment analysts are quick to point these out as reasons whythe trusts are not promoted. The firms founder, Peter Hargreaves, has gone further,claiming investment trusts are fuddy-duddy vehicles, doomed to die like dinosaurs.

So last year when asset manager Fidelity took the unusual step of launching an investment trust, as opposed to the more usual unit trust,it was surprising to see how aggressivelyHL promoted it.

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Major financial institutions often employ traders to involve themselves in buying and selling on global markets. These traders make decisions on behalf of the financial institutions, as well as on behalf of clients. These traders can make a lot of money – but sometimes they go rogue as mistakes prompt them to hide losses and make big gambles in an attempt to turn the tide. The hope is that one big payoff can erase years of hidden losses and make everything right.

Unfortunately, rogue traders resort to reckless trades that can hurt their employers, as well as their clients. Moderate losses turn into massive losses as rogue traders try to cover their tracks, and as they make bigger trades in an attempt to force the market to move. Many use creative accounting practices and outright lies to hide their losses, which can add up into the billions. While some rogue traders lose millions over a short span of time, most rogue traders mount losses over a period of years – even decades – thanks to compounding mistakes, forged trade contracts and orders, and fabricated profits. Here are 10 of the top rogue traders:

10. Joe J

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Once in a while Martin Wolf is on fire. Economists can appear somewhat dissociated from real life. This piece is one where he strikes home. If you have any doubts about skepticism about banks then read this.

Bob Diamond’s unconvincing defence | ft.com

Did the economy at least benefit from the run-up in leverage? Hardly. We saw huge rises in banks’ exposure to one another, which worsened systemic fragility, and in the prices of – and debt secured against – property. Who thinks these provided durable benefits? Mr Haldane also noted that “The purchaser of a portfolio of global banking stocks in the early 1990s is today sitting on a real loss. So who exactly is it extracting value from these incentive distortions? The answer is twofold: short-term investors and bank management.”

He goes on to make the argument for ring-fencing (separation of retail banking from investment banking), and better capitalised banks.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

All in all, it is not that hard. When someone of Martins stature gets angry and writes a concise piece like this it all becomes clear.

Ban

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