| There are several options to put refund to work
Yes, it's tax time. The good news is refunds are about 6 percent over this time last year. So far, the IRS has processed refunds for nearly 39 million taxpayers to the tune of $102 billion dollars. That works out to an average of $2,650 per refund. .
Blair 'successor' survives no-confidence motion
LONDON: British finance minister Gordon Brown, seen as the likely successor to Prime Minister Tony Blair, survived a rare no-confidence motion against him on Tuesday, after a marathon debate in parliament.
The motion, tabled by the main opposition Conservative Party, was defeated by 298 to 233 after a heated six-hour debate in the lower House of Commons.
It questioned Brown's handling of a 1997 decision to overhaul pension's taxation by scrapping a so-called dividend tax credit, which his critics argue has adversely affected pension funds.
British pension funds are big shareholders in companies and rely on dividends for part of their revenues. Though the governing Labour Party's majority in parliament served to ensure that Brown's position was not seriously threatened, the attempt by the Conservatives may re-focus attention on his handling of the pensions issue in the run-up to local and regional elections early next month.
Equitable Life claims improved solvency and lifts policy values
SIMON BAIN EQUITABLE Life made a return of 2.6% on its with-profits fund last year, and is increasing the values of policies without guarantees by 5% compared with 4.5% a year ago. Equitable's excess realistic assets, the best measure of solvency, improved from £669m to £884m, helped largely by a £281m drop in liabilities for guarantees, on the back of rising bond yields. However, it is paying no annual bonuses, maintaining the exit penalty from the fund at 8%, and paying holders of guaranteed return policies only their minimum guarantee. Even the 5% rise in policy values is not guaranteed, and could be reversed in future. Equitable stressed that its solvency had improved by more than 30%, and that the transfer of major parts of its business to Canada Life and Prudential would further stabilise the society.
Married Couples Mum About Retirement Income
Men are from Mars; women are from Venus and neither talks to the other, at least not about retirement: that's the scuttlebutt from a new survey released today by Fidelity Investments. The survey of married couples with household incomes of at least $75,000 or investable assets of $100,000 or more, aged 43 to 70 who plan to retire from their full-time professions, shows that, while American couples can agree that planning for stable income during their retirement is important, a shocking 77 percent do so separately. But that's only the tip of the iceberg. The research shows that the impending retirement income crisis is far from the minds of most married couples. While a whopping 74 percent agree that DC plans will make up the lion's share of their income during retirement, only 39 percent of couples could agree on what their primary source of income after retirement would be.
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