Pension savers could be paying tens of thousands of pounds in unnecessary charges over the course of a lifetime. Life insurers, who have traditionally dominated the market for private pension plans, charge over the odds. A 38-year-old saver with a £100,000 pension plan today and investing £10,000 a year for the next 30 years could lose almost £100,000 owing to excess charges.

The data is based on the charges levied by pension providers for access to the same funds. Traditional life insurers fare very badly in such comparisons as they tend to have percentage-based administration fees, and as the savers’ funds appreciate, these become very costly. Flat fees, by contrast, are often much more affordable.

Broadly, criticism of the life insurers that account for a large part of the pension-fund market is accurate. Percentage-based fees do penalise savers with larger funds and several insurers charge uncompetitive percentages.

Quote Of The Day

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

Vidal Sassoon

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it’s all checks and no balances.”

Gracie Allen

Money Statistics

$45 — the price of a single ounce of the world’s most precious brand of prime beefsteak: Japanese Ozaki.

One million — the number of shares Apple boss Tim Cook could receive in the business by 2025 if the tech titan continues to perform strongly. It would be his second stock grant, mirroring the one million shares he received on taking over from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011. The award is worth between $76m and $114m depending on Apple’s share price performance.

£7m — the price of a James Bond-like speedboat that can dive underwater. It is being developed for the British special forces.The Victa submersible is to undergo sea trials in early 2021.

£25.3m — how much the worlds’ youngest top birdwatcher (she has spotted half of the world’s 10,738 species), Mya-Rose Craig, 18, has sold the rights to her memoir for, following an auction involving 14 publishers.

€134,000 — the price for a tiny 6.51sm apartment at the top of a block of flats in Paris’ sought-after fourth arrondissement.

$383m — the amount Presidential candidate Joe Biden raised in September, breaking the $364.5m monthly record he set in August. It October his campaign said it had a $432m war chest at its disposal.

€500m — the value of benefit Italy receives from immigrants. In 2018, they paid €26.6bn in taxes, and received €26.1bn in state benefits.

£1.2bn — the annual earnings US rapper Dr Dre takes from his company.

$5.7bn — how much the eight films (plus spin offs) the petrol-fulled Fast & Furious franchise has made. There are plans for three more films before the old car is disassembled.

£1.2trn — the total value of assets so far that financial services firms operating in Britain have moved to the EU ahead of the end of the transition period on the 31st of December. That’s up from £1trn at the end of 2019.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SUNDAE DAY!

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What do you do with the ashes when a loved one or favourite pet dies? Well some people keep them in an urn, others scatter them in a place of significance, but a Missouri painter offers a different solution. Adam Brown offers clients one-of-a kind artwork made from the remains of their relatives or pets. 

He produces the art using cremated remnants sent in by relatives and mixing them with paint pigment to create a “lasting memory” composition. “Having ashes in an urn on a mantle somewhere is a good way to constantly remind yourself that person died, but when you use them in an artwork it’s a good way to remember someone lived, “Brown says. 

I don’t know anything about the process, but this seems like a nice way to use the remains to create a lasting memorial. If you’re an artist, perhaps this is an opportunity to investigate further.

Quote Of The Day

“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”

Jack Welch

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“I was on a date with this really hot model. Well, it wasn’t really a date date. We just ate dinner and saw a movie…then the plane landed.”  

Dave Attell

Trapping A Customer 

One of the hassles of travelling is packing and transporting everything you need for the trip. For business travellers, this is even more of a problem. They travel more frequently and often find themselves hauling their luggage backwards and forwards to the same destination. The Grand Hyatt hotel in Melbourne, Australia decided to do something about it, and gave themselves a competitive advantage at the same time. 

The Grand Hyatt now offers storage facilities for regular travellers complete with full laundry facilities. The hotel effectively becomes a home from home and once you have your stuff there well, where else are you going to stay next time you’re in Melbourne?

There are obviously advantages for the guest, but also advantages for the hotel. So is this an idea you could adopt or adapt? Is there some way you could ethically ‘trap’ your customers? Perhaps there’s something you could ‘store’ for them, meaning they will have to return. This will mean different things to different businesses, but something to think about.

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL MEN MAKE DINNER DAY!

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Home brewing equipment can take up a lot of space. Not much good when you live in a tiny flat or apartment.  It was this fact that led New York based, The Brooklyn Brewery Shop to develop a range of miniature brewing kits which fit the needs of it’s main apartment-based client base.

I’m not suggesting you copy the idea but rather, that you consider the thinking behind it. Is there some way you could provide a smaller version of your product (or even someone else’s product), which would open it up to a whole new market of space-challenged consumers? 

It’s this sort of thinking that probably led to the development of Endless Pools, in which you swim against a current and don’t actually travel anywhere.  There have to be scores of other products which would benefit from a bit of positive downsizing.

Quote Of The Day

“Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.”

Zig Ziglar

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“People always say: You’re a comedian, tell us a joke. They don’t say: You’re an MP, tell us a lie.”

Bob Monkhouse

Jeans Rental

I love the idea of rental businesses for a very simple reason people pay you to use something, but you get to keep it. It’s like selling the same thing over and over again but only having to buy it once. How far can you go with the rental model? Well how about renting jeans?

I just heard about a company in The Netherlands, Mud Jeans, which for around 6 Euro a month will rent you a pair of high end jeans for a year. At the end of the rental period the customer can then either return the jeans, buy them outright or replace them with a new pair.

To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure why you’d want to do this, but I’m the sort of person who thinks you should be able to buy a decent pair of jeans outright for less than £50. The market isn’t for old folk like me, that’s for sure.

I’m telling you about this because it opens up all sorts of possibilities. If you can make money renting like jeans, what other seemingly ‘un-rentable’ products could form the basis of a business?

Today’s National Day

NATIONAL SAXOPHONE DAY!

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Cluttons offer advice on selling your property. ‘Listen to your agent about pricing – there have been enough recent transactions for market experts to have a clear understanding of what price is achievable for your property. There is a fine line between what price will generate interest and what won’t, it’s all about footfall, price your property too high and you will not generate the necessary viewings to sell your property.’

‘Look forward to your onward purchase – this is an opportune market for upgrading and your priority should be to focus on your onward purchase, establish what it is going to cost you and then price your current property accordingly. Hopefully, this will mean you can market your property competitively which will speed up the chain.’

‘Treat every viewing as a second viewing – in this market you can’t afford to be complacent, ensure you have done everything to present your property in the best light possible e.g. replace or clean the carpets, touch up the paint work, re-grout the tiling, jet spray the patio. It’s these superficial improvements which can make the difference between selling your property right now and not.’

‘Outside space – lockdown has placed even more importance on outside space, so if you have a garden or roof terrace get a gardener/landscaper in and make a real feature of it. A well landscaped garden, which has been cleverly designed to feel like an extension of your home, can add 10 per cent to a property price in London and in some areas more.’

‘Get your property on the market ASAP and consider renting – if you are thinking of selling then you should do so rather than later since Cluttons predict that going into 2021 there is going to be more supply and sadly, from some, an increased urgency to sell, which is going to have a detrimental effect on capital values. If you are fortunate enough to secure a buyer at a price you are happy with, but have not found somewhere to buy yourself, then consider renting to keep the chain in place.’

‘Have all paperwork ready – instruct a good conveyancing solicitor, it’s often worth taking a referral from your agent. Ask the solicitor to prepare the contract and if there is a managing agent make sure they have the Seller’s Leasehold Information Pack ready, so everything is in place when you find a buyer.’ Food for thought.

Quote Of The Day

“Every single person I know who is successful at what they do is sucessful because they love doing it.”

Joe Penna

Alternative Quote Of The Day

“So I was getting into my car, and this bloke says to me “Can you give me a lift? ” I said “Sure, you look great, the world’s your oyster, go for it.”

Tim Vine

The Transparent Fridge

I’m always getting an ear bashing for staring into the fridge several times an evening, looking for something unhealthy to eat. Maybe I’d get less flak if I had the fridge recently created by S home. It has a transparent door so you don’t need to open it, and let the cold out, to see what’s inside. Makes you wonder why nobody thought of it before.

I’m sure you don’t want to go into fridge manufacture, but it raises an interesting question – what other products would benefit from some transparency treatment? I own watches with display backs and I’ve had cars with transparent engine covers. So what else would people like to see working, or alternatively, what else would they like to be able to see the contents of without opening a lid, cover or door? Is there anything in the market or markets you know about?

Today’s National Day

CELEBRATING BONFIRE NIGHT!

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