Category: Finance

Guidance for your move abroad

Planning your move.

To make the most out of your life abroad, asking some big questions before you go about how you intend to maintain your links to the UK will be time well spent. Thinking about the practicalities and logistics will help ensure that your move abroad whether for career, personal development or lifestyle reasons works out well for you.

Planning exactly how you will keep in touch with family and friends and how often you plan to see them is just the start. Budgeting for the costs of staying in touch will give you a feel for what might be involved. Who’s paying for the flights home, for example, you or your new employer? You’ll also want to ensure you keep a grip on other practical financial matters such as how a move abroad might affect your tax status, whether you can claim benefits or even draw a pension.

If you own property in the UK and intend on letting it out whilst abroad, working out how you will manage this – either by yourself or through a property agency – is also vital.

It’s also worth establishing exactly what your relationship with the mother country will be. And, if you’re going for good, will you retain your rights as a British citizen? And how might this affect your tax position where you end up living? Continue reading “Guidance for your move abroad” →

What are prepaid funeral plans?

Do you want to decide for yourself how your funeral should be conducted after you die? Do you want to pay for those arrangements in advance, to relieve your family and loved ones from the financial stress and worry – at a time when they are already mourning your passing? Perhaps you want to make the arrangements for someone else, to give them the reassurance that everything is in order, and safely paid for, as they enter their final years?

Prepaid funeral plans allow you to do just that.

Here’s how they work

The principal role in any funeral is typically played by the funeral director. In addition to the care of the deceased’s body, its preparation and laying out for viewing, and arranging transport to the crematorium or burial site, the funeral director has many other duties which are outlined by the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD).

Not only do prepaid funeral plans let you pay for the services of your chosen firm of funeral directors in advance, but they also guarantee that that price will be held no matter how many years may pass before the services are required. Continue reading “What are prepaid funeral plans?” →

5 Benefits of Studying Finance for College Students

Finance is one of those subjects that should be taught all the way back in primary school. Not advanced finance, of course, but just the basics. If more people learned how to balance their checkbooks and pay off their debts, instead of learning the complexities of obscure wars that happened hundreds of years ago, perhaps our current generation and future generations would be better off financially. There are also a number of other advantages of studying finance that go way beyond our own personal needs. Industry insiders say that finance careers will grow by up to 20% or more in the next ten years.Here are 5 benefits of studying finance in college.

Studying Finance

  1. Secure yours and your family’s financial future. If you are in college, having children is probably the last thing on your list, but what about further down the line? Studying finance in college will give you the education you might need to better save and invest your money so that you can provide for your future children. Moreover, what about your children’s financial futures? How will you be able to support them before they reach adulthood? How will they pay for college? All of this postulating might be farfetched and abstract now, but studying finance in college will help secure your financial future – no matter what might be in store.
  2. Studying finance in college will also give you the knowledge and wherewithal to start your own business if you decide to do so after you graduate. Not only will you learn how to finance your own business, but also you will learn how to make your self-started company thrive in a vastly competitive market place and sluggish economy. People with businesses who have studied finance in college have a huge advantage over those that did not.
  3. Next, have you thought about your retirement? Financial specialists say that in this day and age it is crucial to think about your retirement as early as when you are still in college. This way you can find ways to invest your money so that when you get to the age of retirement you can have enough money saved up to provide for yourself without having to rely on social security or government assistance.
  4. Taking finance courses will also give you some insight on how you might be able to pay off your student loans after you graduate from college. Currently, recent college grads are being buried alive financially by their student loans. Even if you are getting your masters in health care administration, it might be worth your while to take a few extracurricular finance courses to get a better hold of your finances after you graduate.
  5. Lastly, studying finance in college will give you a world of opportunities. In the next ten years they say careers in the finance industry, like that of a stockbroker or financial adviser, will grow by 20%. Moreover, with a degree or background in finance, you will have a much better chance of being promoted to a higher position. Companies like to make sure their employees who can crunch numbers are very well taken care of.