Charles Monat Associates: August 2007






PREVIOUS POSTS Wealth Transfer: 7 Ways to Maximize the Value of Y... Rowbotham & Co LLC article : Expatriation: A Growi... World's wealthy favour London and New York, with A... The Best Financial Advice I Ever Received Greatest Love of All OSU Cowboys' Death Wish Goes Unanswered, Lose $33 ... The domiciled, the deemed domiciled and the comple... Inheriting money from abroad is a pain. It should ... Individual becomes resident while in the UK on hol... Fuss to investors: Avoid these fixed-income ETFs ARCHIVES April 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 October 2006 November 2006 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 February 2008 October 2008 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 June 2010 July 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 June 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 January 2012 February 2012 March 2012 April 2012
	Wednesday, August 29, 2007 UK: Pick yourself a life insurance bargain Anyone who bought life insurance more than seven years ago could be paying more than they need to, thanks to significant cuts in the price of these policies. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:03 PM \| 0 comments UK: 10 tips to protect your family's wealth You don't need to wait for the politicians to make up their minds about whether inheritance tax should be scrapped - you can take action now to protect your family's wealth from the posthumous grasp of HM Revenue & Customs. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:00 PM \| 0 comments Early planning can prevent estate problems Only a co-ordinated estate plan may ensure the right assets go to the right people at the right time. Estate planning refers to the overall process of determining how the assets you've accumulated in life could be distributed on your death. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 10:58 PM \| 0 comments Friday, August 24, 2007 Why Family Business Succession Plans Fail & What to Do About It Many scholarly researchers have concluded that a staggering 90% percent of family businesses fail by the third generation. This sobering statistic becomes more perplexing when you consider the army of attorneys and CPAs available to assist families with cutting edge business succession planning strategies. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 8:59 AM \| 0 comments A few things to consider when looking for a life insurance policy Put simply, life Insurance is a legal contract between the insurance company and the policyholder. The policyholder agrees to pay a set sum at regular intervals to the insurance company. They, in return, agree to pay a set sum of money to stipulated beneficiaries in the event of the policyholder’s death. There are many different types of policy available and premiums will vary considerably depending on variety of factors. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 8:56 AM \| 0 comments India: Insurance cover should be 20 times one’s current income The need for buying an insurance policy not only differs among individuals, but also varies with people’s lifestage. The insurance needs of a working executive when he is in his early days of employment (and not yet married) are different from his needs when he is middle-aged and married with children. It is, therefore, important that the individual evaluates his insurance need, considering his lifestage, following which he can arrive at a suitable protection and investment mix, and tenure. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 8:54 AM \| 0 comments Malaysia: Why Leaving a Will is Important All human beings must come to terms with their own mortality sooner or later. Yet, most of us would prefer to avoid this subject and take life as it comes. But wait! Haven't you thought of what you will be leaving behind? What is going to happen to your loved ones and your assets after you are gone? Are you going to leave them penniless or leave them as the beneficiaries of your estate? Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 8:50 AM \| 0 comments US: Use of Life Insurance Trust avoids IHT One of us is confused -- I thought life insurance payouts were never taxable and would not be considered part of an individual's taxable estate? Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 8:46 AM \| 0 comments Thursday, August 23, 2007 Talking with the Receptionist, Pausing When You Speak and Other Secrets of Leadership Success A receptionist is a corporate concierge. They will talk to more important people in a day -- suppliers, customers, even CEOs -- than you will talk to all year. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 9:29 AM \| 0 comments What's Ahead for the Stock Market -- and Quant Funds Around the world, investors have been reeling from widespread problems in the subprime sector of the U.S. mortgage business. Stocks have fallen, especially among financial firms. Yields on Treasury securities have dropped, as people pile into an investment that's seen as a safe harbor in times of tumult. And companies – lumped together with the big crowd of homeowners who have defaulted on their loans – are finding it hard to borrow money. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 9:27 AM \| 0 comments Responding to the Rising Rupee: Why Indian Firms Must Rethink Their Business Models As India Knowledge@Wharton recently reported, many Indian companies and industry organizations -- especially those that are export-oriented -- have been complaining about the strong rupee's negative effects on their operations. Some have urged the Reserve Bank of India to intervene. Jitendra V. Singh of Wharton's management department -- who takes over as dean of Singapore's Nanyang Business School on September 1 -- has a different view. In this opinion piece, Singh argues that Indian firms should use the rupee's strength to their advantage by adapting their business models in innovative ways, much as Japan's automakers did during the 1980s. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 9:25 AM \| 0 comments Wednesday, August 22, 2007 Aegon to acquire Merrill Lynch Life for $1.3 bln Aegon, one of the world's largest life insurance and pension companies, and Merrill Lynch announced they will form a strategic business relationship in the areas of insurance and investment products. As part of this relationship, an Aegon company has signed an agreement to acquire Merrill Lynch Life Insurance Company and ML Life Insurance Company of New York for USD 1.3 bln in cash. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 8:16 PM \| 0 comments Small business owners aren't planning ahead A PwC survey findings released Tuesday show that 54 per cent of business owners do not have a plan outlining the future ownership of their business. That climbs to 70 per cent of the owners of companies with revenues less than $10 million. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 3:34 PM \| 0 comments Singapore's Temasek Raises Stake in StanChart Singapore investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. has increased its stake in U.K. bank Standard Chartered PLC to 15.29%, according to a regulatory filing. Temasek has been the largest single shareholder in Standard Chartered since buying an initial 11.53% stake in July 2006 from the late Singapore tycoon Khoo Teck Puat. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 3:24 PM \| 0 comments Standard Life: “Freeing Britain to Compete” IHT proposals On 17 August 2007 the Economic Competitiveness Policy Group (ECPG) published its 211 page report looking at equipping the UK for globalisation. The wide-ranging paper looked at a whole host of issues from energy policy, transport, science, higher education and pensions to taxation. Taking a narrow look at the policy recommendations for capital taxation (which includes inheritance tax), the paper referred back to the work done in 2006 by the Tax Reform Commission, chaired by Lord Forsyth. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 3:17 PM \| 0 comments Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Norway the Gangster's Paradise? A Political Myth is Born We would normally save stories like this for the more light-hearted Friday postings, but the article has a nice picture from my hometown... Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 9:46 AM \| 0 comments UK: Inheritance tax: a question of trust Tax doesn't have to be complicated – but it invariably is, particularly when it comes to inheritance tax and estate planning. But in a rare move HM Revenue and Customs, last week announced plans to cut red tape and simplify the tortuous process many people have to go through when they are giving money or assets away. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 9:36 AM \| 0 comments Monday, August 20, 2007 India: More time to phase out ULIPs: IRDA After banning certain kinds of unit linked products (ULIPs), a move that largely affected Bajaj Allianz Life and Aviva Life Insurance, the insurance regulator has issued a clarification that the companies will be given more time to phase out the products. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 4:47 PM \| 0 comments Saturday, August 18, 2007 Life insurers subprime exposure 'manageable' -- Fitch Fitch, one of the three U.S. major rating agencies, told a nervous market on Friday that the U.S. life insurance industry could weather the subprime crisis, and no individual company had enough exposure to create a credit problem. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 4:41 PM \| 0 comments Protecting your business assets with a ‘prenup’ While asking your sweetie to sign a prenuptial agreement before the wedding isn’t a very romantic notion, such an agreement can be a critical tool in asset protection – and it’s one that every business owner should consider. In New Hampshire, marital property will be divided equitably by the court. Equitable means that the property is fairly divided. All property, no matter whose name it is titled in, is thrown into one “pot” at the time of divorce and then divided equitably by the court unless there is a valid prenuptial agreement dictating otherwise. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 4:39 PM \| 0 comments Good Estate Planning Can Ease Heirs' Pain Good estate planning can ease the transfer of wealth between generations. But without intergenerational communication, it may all be for nothing. Even with it, it may be a close call. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 4:36 PM \| 0 comments Friday, August 17, 2007 Forbes.com - Best Business Schools Our fifth biennial ranking of business schools highlights the appeal of one-year programs. Our survey ranks schools based on return on investment--meaning compensation five years after graduation minus tuition and the forgone salary during school. Each of the top five one-year foreign programs beat out all two-year programs because the opportunity cost, in lost wages, to attend is materially less. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 6:32 PM \| 0 comments Communication is Everything Bad communication is a problem. No communication is unforgivable. Productive and long lasting client relationships are nourished through frequent client communications. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 5:43 PM \| 0 comments PLANNING \| Decide how business will run after you leave Are you a business owner who spends time on succession planning? If not, you have company, as studies show that fewer than one-quarter of business owners give these issues serious thought. Business owners say they're too busy to bother to plan who will take over their businesses, but they should know that half of all business owners, regardless of age, will be out of their business or will die within a decade. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 4:56 PM \| 0 comments Singapore's shopping obsession inspires filmmaker Singapore can seem like one big shopping centre, where everything is neatly arranged and price tagged in air-conditioned comfort, and local film director Li Lin Wee knows it all too well. Wee's first feature-length movie, "Gone Shopping" in theatres this month, was inspired by the national pastime and centres on three characters - a lonely socialite, an abandoned Indian child and a dissatisfied young corporate executive - who seek comfort, love and fantasy in shopping malls. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 4:53 PM \| 0 comments Wednesday, August 15, 2007 Success--And Succession--Takes Planning As CEOs try to improve their companies, they have lots of tools at their disposal. They can buy and sell operations, of course. Pumping up marketing expenditures and expanding sales efforts are a frequently used measure. Other available instruments include cutting costs, boosting research and development expenditures and reallocating assets. But there's another tool that the best CEOs are picking up out of the toolbox: building management capability and establishing succession-planning as a key driver of organizational success. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:56 AM \| 0 comments You mean I'm not going to live forever? Uh, no. But if you take care of a few key financial tasks now, you can go back to pretending you will. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:46 AM \| 0 comments Family businesses face three challenges at their very core Families in business routinely deal with challenges ranging from a new competitor in the marketplace to a relative who's 100 percent on the payroll and only 50 percent on the job. But there are three special challenges that are at the core of what family business is all about: challenges of conflict, of continuity and of character. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:43 AM \| 0 comments Six Estate Planning Essentials Many people believe that having an estate plan simply means drafting a will or a trust. However, there is much more to include in your estate planning in order to make certain all of your assets are transferred seamlessly to your heirs upon your death. A successful estate plan also includes provisions to make sure your family members can access or control your assets should you become disabled. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:41 AM \| 0 comments Fate of estate tax worries planning lawyers Estate planning lawyers are increasingly worried that Congress may not act on estate tax reform before the estate tax repeal expires at the end of 2010. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:40 AM \| 0 comments Using Life Insurance Wisely Every family should have a life insurance policy on at least one of the financial providers. A policy should always be in place in case one of the primary breadwinners passes away so that the family will be able to support itself if no other source of income is available after the breadwinner dies. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 11:36 AM \| 0 comments Nothing succeeds like succession Two years ago, the most likely successor to the throne at media conglomerate News Corporation walked out. Lachlan Murdoch, the eldest son of 76-year-old News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch, had been tipped as the most obvious candidate to succeed his father at the helm of one of the world's largest media groups. Now, its unclear whether the top post will stay in the family, or be handed to a News Corp executive. Read more... posted by Charles Monat Associates at 10:50 AM \| 0 comments
Copyright © 2005 Charles Monat Limited. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy & Terms of Use