Posts Tagged ‘banking’

When you have a certain level of wealth, you really need a professional who understands your unique needs and offers customized advice accordingly. If you are also on the lookout for something similar, you may want to use some services offered in private banking.

Private banking is actually a combination of different high quality services. For instance, a private bank can offer investment advice. They make use of different methods to manage your investments and finances in a much better way. They sometimes make use of discretionary management and sometimes help you with advisory mandates. Whatever the method, they always offer regular reports to help you get information about the current value of your investment.

Today, financial markets fluctuate on a great speed. It is due to this particular reason that you need to react to the situation almost immediately, or else you will lose a lot. You can expect great success by making use of the services like discretionary asset management. Here, your personal relationship manager sits down with you and determines your specific investment goals and expectations. While doing so, they always consider your investment horizon, risk tolerance, anticipated cash flows, and income needs. Once done, an investment strategy is defined for you, which is often adjusted according to the ever-changing marketing conditions. Usually, the investors who opt for this type of service come with long term investment point-of-view and ask a banker to take care of their investment portfolio.

On the other hand, you can find some people who prefer to make their decisions on their own. For these clients, a private banker comes up with active advisory services. When you have fixed objectives, you can make use of some private banking to get tailor-made solutions. These advisory services are usually available for a variety of instruments, including bonds, equities, commodities, investment funds, foreign exchange, and structured products. Here, you are free to make your own investment decisions, but your banker provides you with all essential details and info. Since several private banks manage teams of professionals all over the world, they let you know when they think the time is right to buy, sell, or hold.

What sets a private banker apart from others is that they always keep your personal and professional situation in mind. This puts them in the best position to find a right strategy to help you manage your portfolio. Not only this, some of these institutions can actually help you with private financing, which is much better than mainstream finance options.

The fact of the matter is that private banking is something much more than traditional banking services. It’s all about getting services that are exclusively designed keeping your unique circumstances in mind. It doesn’t matter if you have short-term investment goals or you need to manage your portfolio over a longer period of time, you can always get in touch with a private banker to find out more about the best strategies for yourself.

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Non-conforming business financing, also known as creative financing, is available to business owners who are unable to secure funding from traditional lenders, such as commercial banks. Non-traditional financial companies typically provide this type of financing for start-up and operating expenses for any business.

Most non-conforming business financing options provide leasing for computer, construction, medical, and heavy equipment. With this funding method, entrepreneurs can obtain the necessary equipment needed to start or maintain their businesses. Most leases are for three to five years, which is about the lifespan of most computers and other advanced equipment. Therefore, instead of purchasing equipment that is obsolete within a few years, leasing allows businesses to obtain new machines once current leases are expired. Most leased equipment is also tax exempt.

Financial companies may also offer non-conforming business financing in the form of loans. These loans may not require as much financial documentation as traditional loans; therefore, they are much easier to obtain. Because these loans are few application requirements, borrowers tend to be individuals with poor credit histories. This makes non-conforming business loans have much higher interest rates than typical funding methods. Most of these financing options are unsecured loans, which means that the lender relies on the borrower’s signed promise to pay instead of collateral. Funding may be used for any general business purpose unless specified otherwise. Common non-conforming business financing options include construction, land, hard money, and purchase loans.

Non-traditional banking is usually offered by independent financial companies to assist businesses and individuals with matters that traditional commercial banks do not offer. While these companies may provide many of the same services, such as ATMs and checking accounts, as banks, they mostly deal with the selling of mutual funds, annuities, stocks, and bonds. These companies may also offer debt and credit counseling to individuals. To compete with these companies, many banks now offer many of the same services.

Many Internet-based financial companies also provide non-traditional banking. Some companies focus on one aspect of non-traditional banking, such as stocks, while others encompass all aspects. There are many sites available that allow stockholders to access stock reports and buy and sell shares for affordable monthly fees. These sites may also provide in-depth reports on the progress of shares owned by an individual and give beneficial advice on how to manage those stocks.

For individuals and businesses in financial crises, non-traditional banking can provide the financial counseling needed to restore credit ratings. Non-traditional bankers may also provide seminars or other helpful resources to help people manage and improve their debt situations. Some companies may provide these services free-of-charge to members, while others may charge one-time or monthly payments to compensate for the financial advice.

Other services provided by banks and other financial companies that may be considered non-traditional banking are online bill pay and opening new accounts via the Internet.

www.BankingInterviewSuccess.com Testimonial by Ted on my method to master the most difficult investment banking interview questions so that you can land your finance internship and kick-start your investment bank career. Many more examples of banking interview questions when applying for a job in investment banking coming… If you found this insider information helpful, make sure to get my free report, “5 Reasons Why Good Candidates Fail Investment Banking Interviews”. It’s free and it contains 5 of the biggest causes for why great applicants fail to land their dream investment banking job over and over. Just go to http See you there!
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Instruction


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A member of 20088 gets some musical advice from his instructors.

20088, comprised of 5 seven-year-olds, claims itself as China’s youngest rock bank. Along with a growing fan base, the band has also performed at a few BOCOG functions.

Investment banking may be the most competitive position to apply for after graduation from University. It is not unusual to have 500 to 1,000 resumes for only 25 to 40 vacancies. How well you do on your investment banking interview determines whether or not you make the short list for those few vacancies. Here is some advice on how to stand out from the crowd so you will be selected for an investment banking position.

Show interest and dedication

Investment banking is a job that averages 80+ hours of work each week. Candidates who show the motivation and desire to put in the necessary hours will easily make the short list. No company wants to spend the time and money to hire and train an applicant that will get burned out on the hours and quit in less than a year. If you are able to stress that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job your resume will end up in the short list.

Be prepared

The majority of the questions you will be asked in your interview will be technical in nature. This will range from calculation of formulas to solving case studies. Since this is the meat of your interview questions, you should focus most of your preparation on how to answer these questions. Spend time reviewing how to calculate formulas and practice several different case studies. Companies want to see how well you can solve problems. Your ability to answer these questions correctly will be a determining factor on whether or not you will be considered for the position.

Are you a good fit?

You will be asked several questions about why you want to be an investment bank. Your answers will allow the company to measure whether or not your expectations for the job meet the requirements of the job. If they are not a good fit then you will never be selected for the job. Another question is what are you long term goals as an investment banker. The company is trying to gauge how serious you are about the position and working for the company long term. Companies want to hire people that will be with them for a long time instead of somebody who are there for a short period to get experience and then move on to other opportunities.

Do you have the right character?

Make sure you answer every question in your investment banking interview factually and truly. If you stretch your answers because you think that is what the interviewer is expecting in your answers, you lose credibility. If you are willing to lie during an interview, you will probably do much worse in dealing with the bank’s clients. No company wants to hire someone who is of questionable character. Do not risk your chance of being hired because you embellish your answers.
Investment banking is a one of the highest paid positions in the financial industry. For this reason many people attempt to enter this position after university. Follow this advice and you will succeed in your quest to be hired as an investment banker.

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Toombeola – Church Gable


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TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. [A picture of this castle is to be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/ ] From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

When it comes to your career, you may not be happy with what you are currently doing. Have you thought about an investment banking career change? It is one of the most lucrative and satisfying careers to choose and if you have the right help, you can find employment rather quickly.

 

Helpmegetajob provides that help. This website was created for people just like you that want to improve their quality of life with an investment banking career change. It is full of information and training resources to help you find just the perfect job in the investment banking world.  You need this information so you can advertise yourself correctly.  In today’s investment banking, you must sell yourself to potential employers.

 

This site was created by investment bankers and financial experts that have over six years of experience. Over 100 people have found their way into investment banking with Helpmegetajob. Once of the best aspects of this site are the seminars offered by Marathon Financial. These seminars are designed especially for those people that want an investment banking career change. For example, one of the seminars will show you the top ten tips for getting hired into the highly paid investment banking job force.  You will learn how to complete applications and how to have an interview that puts your name to the forefront of all applicants.

 

You will also find courses on personal development and even commodities.  Despite all of the world’s economic problems, commodities are one area that is still recruiting people. You will learn how to design an investment banking cover letter that will introduce yourself to prospective employers in a way that makes them want to meet you. There are also seminars on how to create the right resume. Since a cover letter and a resume are often the first impression a prospective employer will get from you, it’s imperative that they are concise and perfectly formatted.  Errors, any errors, can quickly cost you the job.

 

You will also find a terrific resources section that offers advice on cover letters, resumes, interviews, and important techniques to make sure you get the job offer, not another applicant.  Listen to Al Pacino’s Inspirational Speech to get you motivated for your upcoming investment banking career change.  There is also a half hour video with Richard Branson, one of the wealthiest people in the world.  Watch this incredible interview and see if you don’t feel like you can accomplish anything.

 

Helpmegetajob also offers one-on-one coaching to see what improvements you can make on your way to an investment banking career change.  They will offer advice on your investment banking cover letter and resume.  With the Elite Investment Banking Coaching Programme, you will discover some things about yourself you didn’t know, such as your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to landing that dream job.

 

If it’s time for you to make a change, then Helpmegetajob is the place to go.  With its comprehensive services, you’re sure to land that one investment banking job that is perfect for you. While it may not happen overnight, you can be fairly certain it will happen. Take charge of your life.  Make the change over to investment banking. Years from now, you will be very happy you did.

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The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism


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Naomi Klein brings us up to speed on how the economic agenda of the neo-cons came to be the mantra of American foreign policy and is now coming home to roost. I wanted to pour myself a stiff drink from the opening chapter where she describes what was really happening in New Orleans post Katrina. Her account of how the ideas of one man—Milton Friedman— in what was known as the Chicago School of economics (from the University of Chicago) was exported to South America, then Africa, then the Eastern block and Russia, South East Asia and finally to Iraq, is enraging, heart breaking and illuminating. She answered so many of my questions that she has forever galvanized my understanding of the last 35 years, just as Howard Zinn opened my eyes to the 200 years prior to that.

Much of what I knew already about the policies of the World Bank and the structural adjustment programs of the IMF was just the beginning of her tale. So much more was going on from the Ford Foundation sponsoring students from South America to study with Milton Friedman, to the banks freezing all loans in order to force Allende’s government to buckle to corporate takeovers of state factories, to the support of strongman dictatorships by the US, to Amnesty International erasing all mention of why people were being disappeared and tortured (so as not to offend corporate donors). Yes, why indeed? Why did we simply accept that South American dictators enjoyed such activities just for kicks? Turns out that most of those tortured and disappeared were leaders in the socialist party. Capitalism is not the preferred economic system of a democratic people. All over the world the neo-cons were having to fight democratically elected socialist governments and the tactics they used resemble war and now is war in Iraq.

The underlying thesis of Ms. Klein’s book is that the preferred strategy for forcing a country to embrace capitalism is to shock them with such severe economic hardships that the populace is too stunned to realize what is going on and when they do come to, they find out that their infrastructure has been sold dirt cheap to mult-national companies and that contracts have been made for so far into the future that the new governments are unable to stop the resulting rise in unemployment, 25% say, or the putting out of business of local businesses. Wal-Mart anyone?

I have long been looking for a way to explain the flawed thinking of free market ideology and now that I know it was just an extremist economic theory involving the desire for an unobtainable pure system, I can compare it to another extremist ideology. That of breeding the perfect race. It just isn’t possible and to do so would be to hack off all the parts that offend the ideal. We know where that got us in the racial cleansing department. It is my sincere hope that one day the phrase "free market" will be as abhorrent as the word eugenics.

Meanwhile, having been mauled by such free market extremism, the victim’s best bet is to play dead until the Grizzly bear moves on. In South America where the victim was left for dead, a new socialism is being born as countries are now banding together to make their own trade agreements and to keep prices stable. (Fluctating prices is how money is made on the free market by speculators/investors). And as long as profits are to be more easily made elsewhere, the beast will move on. That’s how South East Asia was tripped up. The Asian Tiger countries took the advice of free market advocates to allow capital to move freely and, on rumor alone, it did move, leaving these countries with no money in the till. Then when they said well that didn’t work let’s restrict capital again, the IMF swooped in and said oh no, no, no you can’t do that if you want to be part of free trade, you’ll scare off investors, you must take money out of public services. Ms. Klein makes a correlation between the 20% rise in girls sold into the sex trade in Thailand and the implementation of IMF structural adjustments.

Meanwhile with all this destruction going on, in the new world of post 9/11 war, terrorism and global warming, a whole new market has evolved in security and reconstruction. And we thought the defense industry was bad. Now the stock market can cheer on death and destruction because its good for more than half of all businesses.

The world was caught by surprise by such unfettered greed because, before we always had the example of the Soviet Union and communism to tame the beast. With the fall of Russia, capitalism could roar on. This could have been a very depressing story, but Ms. Klein ends her tale by describing how people learned from this experience and are fighting back by decentralizing power, localizing it in essence, and making laws that their people will now know to make stick. May it be so.

First it needs to be stated that no one has a crystal ball which predicts the future. These thoughts are just opinions and should be taken as such not as legal or tax advice. We will try to show the political positions of the countries that are not in favor of the tax haven offshore jurisdictions and the position of the tax haven countries. The countries most outspoken against offshore banking and offshore corporations are Australia, UK and USA.

Today there is a great outcry from these and other countries about the tax saving benefits afforded to citizens of certain countries by going offshore. These countries claim that their constituents are cheating them out of billions of dollars of taxes by going offshore. The offshore jurisdictions that are considered the tax havens say that is a nice allegation but we are not your collection agency and do not ask us to change our bank and corporate privacy laws because your constituents do not want to pay taxes, this is your problem not ours. The actual amount of taxes that are avoided unlawfully is a figure that one can only take a guess at. Many people set up offshore structures to do business outside of their home country and are not in violation of any laws the way they conduct their business affairs. Many people live in other countries and need to own offshore bank accounts, offshore corporations, offshore real estate, etc. Many people use offshore privacy to protect themselves from identity theft, kidnapping, blackmail, and possible extortion.

Let me use an analogy to make a point. In Latin America there is an organization of five states called Mercosur. Mercosur consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Uruguay. Mercosur also has associate members which are as follows: Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Ecuador. The Mercosur countries engage in free trade and easy border controls with no passports, just national identity cards for border crossings. Mercosur recently issued a statement that they would in the future strive to resist any further attempts to get them to spend more resources on narcotics enforcement that stems from the UN. The UN says its member countries must enact certain kinds of laws to control narcotics and states these laws and insists on enforcement policies. The Mercosur spokesperson stated that this was an irrational policy since it has not worked for over a quarter of a century and it was severely draining the resources of their countries. Essentially they said they were sick and tired of the United States which is the nation driving these policies through the UN, making their problems, the problems of other countries and they were going to collectively attempt to legalize narcotics in their own nations to free themselves from this heavy burden of narcotics enforcement. This has already begun to happen in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Venezuela with the abundant legal availability of cocoa leaf. The cocoa leaf has cocaine alkaloids (real cocaine) and is commonly used as a chew like chewing tobacco leaf or made into tea leaves. Street cocaine is perhaps 30 times as potent and is diluted with harmful substances like turpentine, ether, etc. Cocoa leaf is a natural plant product used for centuries as a stimulant by people living in the high altitudes of Bolivia, farm workers etc. One can now see coca tea being sold freely on the internet but I would strongly advice you not to order any because you may get charged with narcotics importation, seriously because it can be lab tested to contain cocaine. So my point is a lot of countries have said ok enough is enough when it comes to narcotics. It is not working leave us alone, take care of your own problem. So Mercosur countries are now worrying about their own problems more and less about the narcotics issues in the USA and other nations. I think you will see more of the same type of thinking when it comes to offshore banking, offshore corporations, offshore foundations, offshore stock brokerage accounts etc.

Offshore jurisdictions have to go through all sorts of compliance that is not needed in say the USA or the UK. One offshore formation agent went to the USA and was able to open eight USA bank accounts in one day. In Panama a bank account can take five days after you collect and submit the reference letters and documents. In the USA and UK no bank reference letters are required to open a bank account, neither are any professional references required. In the USA and UK they do enforce money laundering protective measures strictly. One can buy USA corporations or UK corporations without any of the due diligence requirements that are required from offshore jurisdictions. So the playing field is not exactly level yet these countries are screaming for more controls not on themselves but on other countries. It seems that the offshore jurisdictions will scream enough is enough if any further controls are imposed on them and resist them. Of course one wonders what further controls they could come up with that they haven’t already imposed.

Let’s look at history a little to see how things deteriorated in the past regarding offshore privacy and offshore banking. Most of the older offshore tax havens are also tourist destinations such as Cayman Islands, Nassau, Bermuda, Grenada, Belize etc. These countries usually have little if any natural resources and need to bring in everything they consume. While some of them avoid income taxes instead they impose taxes on goods imported. These countries got heavily involved in tourism as a way to keep their economies moving. A cruise ship docking at these ports usually carries 2500 people. Each person probably spends an average of 0 a day when in this ports buying t-shirts, duty free liquor, tobacco, jewelry etc. many spend a good deal more. That is 0,000 per cruise ship. These jurisdictions get from 3 ships per week, to 40 ships per week docking there. The money from the cruise ships exceeds what would be earned from their previous offshore banking and incorporation activities. Remember a bank that controls hundreds of millions of dollars of deposits can only have 50 or so employees. A thriving cruise ship port can have thousands of employees working in the shops, restaurants, as tour guides, taxi drivers etc. So more jobs are at stake in the tourism business. We also have to take into account the resorts these countries have which create even more jobs and generate revenue in the form of a hotel room tax built into the rates. These countries also charge a head tax on every person coming into their country. Bottom line is there is much more money in the tourism business than there is the offshore business for the government of these jurisdictions. The governments of these countries don’t make much off of a bank account for instance, actually nothing. They have no income or capital gains tax. The offshore corporations would pay a few hundred dollars a year in taxes but that was it. The banks would pay a few thousand dollars a year for their licenses. So these countries sold out on offshore privacy to protect their tourism. If they did not do so the countries allowing tax free importation from these countries of tourist bought items might go away. Tourists returning from these countries by ship or air might find themselves stuck in long lines while they are searched and interrogated by authorities of various affected countries which would quickly and seriously discourage tourism to these countries. Other countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Luxembourg sold out due to pressure from the EU. But now we are seeing a reversal in position regarding the EU, not much of a reversal but at least a sigh of OK enough is enough.

In recent months the USA was exposed by the New York Times Newspaper in a scandal whereby they were monitoring SWIFT wire transactions for some years. SWIFT is a private company that enables banks to communicate with each other securely including sending wire transfers. SWIFT machines require a separate terminal and line so as to make them most secure. The USA served a court order on the SWIFT people in New York to turn over all the data they requested and gag ordered them to not mention what was going on. It went on for two years. This got the EU nations most upset. While they have not actually prosecuted the SWIFT people for violating the banking laws of the various European nations affected, there was serious talk of it. Whether or not obeying a USA court order to violate the banking laws of other nations is a viable defense has never been tested in any court, yet anyway. The EU position on this was they must get the USA to understand their banking laws call for privacy. This of course is not exactly giving ground for more privacy invasive laws which is what we mean by a reversal.

Today the most privacy oriented jurisdiction in the world is Panama. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered there. Panama requires corporation formation agents to be lawyers and their know your client rules are strict and call for criminal penalties if not followed. Panama banks follow tight anti-money laundering laws as well as know your customer laws. Panama does still allow for anonymous bearer share corporations which do not require the entry into any registry of any ownership names or identities. The anonymous bearer share corporations combined with Panama bank secrecy laws make for the best privacy in the world today. Panama foundations are also anonymous with no owners, beneficiaries or protectors names appearing in any registry or database. Panama is also in no tax treaty with any other country and is fairly unique in this regards. Of course one can ask the question if Panama can sustain their practices under pressure from other nations.

First off Panama does follow the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) practices. Secondly Panama does not exactly have a lot of tourism, actually it has quite a small amount of tourism and most of their tourism comes from Latin America not the EU or USA. This means there is no meaningful tourism that can be taken away. Panama is a small country and 15% to 20% of the workforce is employed by the international banks. Panama has 400,000 corporation registered there who each pay 0 in annual corporate taxes. This comes to 0,000,000 dollars and this is for a country of 2.9 million people. Also consider these corporations are paying for resident agents, nominee directors etc. Then we get into Panama Foundations which also collect 0 in annual taxes each year plus nominee council member fees. Panama will and has resisted attempts to compromise banking secrecy and corporate secrecy.

Again let us look towards history to see what we can learn, this time focusing on anonymous bearer share corporations. The issue with anonymous bearer share corporations is that when the international wires are monitored it is impossible to tell who the natural persons are behind the bearer share corporations sending or receiving the wires. The British Virgin Islands used to offer anonymous bearer share corporations. A few years ago they gave in to pressure from the UK and stopped issuing new bearer share corporations but they did make allowances for the existing bearer share corporations to remain anonymous for 10 years. After that time they would need to dissolve or operate in a non-anonymous mode. If we want to look on the dark side we can consider Panama doing the same if international pressure ever built up sufficiently to force a change. So of course those owning an existing bearer share corporation would be unaffected for ten years and these corporations would probably go up significantly in value on the secondary market. We have absolutely no indications subtle or otherwise that anything is going to change in Panama.

It is also a possibility that some other nations may enter into the bank secrecy arena in the near future and some other nations may return to bank secrecy as well. Only time will tell. Nothing we see gives any inkling of an idea that Panama will reverse on its position of bank and corporate privacy and it appears that things may have already sunk to an all time low and offshore banking and corporate privacy may actually soon start to improve, first with the wire transfer system and later on in other areas.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com

Working in banking either conjures up two images, one of tellers sat behind a counter at Barclays telling you how little money you have or the mysterious suited people who have banking jobs behind the scenes. Banking is a very lucrative business sector that offers very high salaries and great bonuses. But with these highly tempting positives come a lot of hard work and many long hours that may conflict with your personal life.

When it comes to deciding where to work within this sector, then there are plenty of business and companies to work for. You can work for commercial banks, building societies, investment banks, broking firms and financial advisors.

Roles within the banking sector also differ wildly and are not always clear cut. Banking can be roughly split into two camps, retail banking and investment banking and these areas can also be found within the same companies and organisation. High street banks will have both corporate and investment banking operations.

Retail banking is the financial services you will find in your high street banks and are offered to small business and individual customers. These services include safe keeping of money, transferring funds between accounts, providing loans, exchanging foreign money, providing advice, mortgages, insurance and stock broking.

Working within retail banks will involve managing staff, advising customers, authorising overdrafts and loans and creating and developing local business links. These roles tend to mix banking, marketing and human resource management.

Investment banking involves providing financial services and advice to commercial, industrial and government organisations.

Your role will deal with aspects of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, stock exchanges, arranging loans for corporations and government bodies, financing large projects, negotiating loans and credits and other tasks.

Investment banking employers will include large international banks as well as large UK based clearing banks, medium sized and small boutique investment banks.

The finance and banking sector have been hit hard in recent times and have been getting some negative press. But you can be assured they will be looking for some hard working experienced employees that can help them make it through these tough times.

This article was written on behalf of Martin Ward Anderson who offer recruitment services for banking jobs and banking operations jobs

Atlantes


Image by flipsockgrrl
The "Atlantes" porch was formerly the entrance to the head office of the Colonial Bank of Australasia, constructed in 1880 at the north-east corner of Elizabeth and Little Collins streets. In 1918 the Colonial Bank amalgamated with the National Bank of Australasia and in 1932 the old building was demolished. On advice of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects, the bank presented the porch to the University of Melbourne. In 1972 the University re-erected James Gilbert’s "Atlantes" as a pedestrian entrance at the south-east corner of its new underground carpark. The porch is classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).

 

Whether you are seeking an off shore banking account in Costa Rica or planning on buying property, you can use the advice of a Costa Rican law firm.  Many businesses and commercial investors are taking advantage of the beautiful climate as well as natural beauty in Costa Rica by purchasing real estate.  Before you purchase real estate in Costa Rica, you will need to deal with a real estate law firm in Costa Rica. 

 

There is a lot of undeveloped property in Costa Rica, making it an ideal place for any commercial investor.  Because of the low cost of living as well as the climate and beauty, many people seek to have vacation homes as well as retirement homes in Costa Rica.  A real estate law firm in Costa Rica can help you find the perfect investment property for you.  You can then use the law firm to help you start your business in this country, including getting an off shore banking account. 

 

There are tax advantages to having an off shore banking account in Costa Rica.  This is why so many investors are looking to this part of Central America to make investments.  Because the price of the land is relatively low and can be developed for luxury condos, businesses and even single family residences, investors are seeking out this country in which to invest in both commercial and residential real estate properties.  There has never been a better time than right now to invest in Costa Rica real estate. 

 

A real estate law firm in Costa Rica can help you get started when it comes to buying property.  They know the law and can even advise you on your off shore banking account.  They will be able to take you every step of the way when it comes to your real estate purchase in this country.  If you are planning on setting up a business in Costa Rica, then your real estate law firm in Costa Rica will also be able to help you get your company chartered in accordance with Costa Rican law. 

 

Off shore banking is a possibility in Costa Rica.  A tax law consultant in Costa Rica can help you understand how to set up an account and what type of tax advantages are afforded to you.  If you are an investor who is serious about setting up a business in this part of the world, or if you just need to find an investment property for yourself, you need the advice of someone who is well versed in the real estate, tax and business laws of the country.  You can entrust your affairs to a real estate law firm in Costa Rica that will help you with your endeavors. 

 

Investing in Costa Rica right now is ideal as the country is relatively untouched and not overrun by tourists.  As this is a blue zone area in the world, where people tend to have a longer life span than in other parts of the world, you can expect to find many people choosing to retire and live in Costa Rica.  The time is now to invest.  If you are seeking an off shore banking account or simply want to buy property, you should seek the advice of a real estate law firm in Costa Rica. 

Problems in Contemporary Lexicography, Vol. 1


Image by xueexueg
UPDATE: I’ve realized that this sign is directed at boats on the river, not cyclists or pedestrians. Which explains everything: why it’s so far from the actual weir, why you should keep close to the bank (which should have been a contextual clue — "this bank" as opposed to "the other bank across the river", not "this bank" as opposed to "the field on the other side of the fence".) Which shows that it is important to know the intended audience/domain of the text you are reading, in order to understand the meaning.

See, "weir", right. I didn’t know what a weir is, so I looked around for contextual clues. On the whole it seemed to be saying not to fall into the water, which is pretty good advice. I thought maybe a weir was the river bank itself — like, the bank is soft, so if you ride your bike over it you may slip through the mud into the water — but that didn’t seem to be the case either. A weir is "a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow" (NOAD2). I could find no such thing anywhere near here. In the couple of days since then I’ve seen some other things I’ve identified as weirs, but there doesn’t seem to be any within warning range of this sign. So, umm, hmm. Is this a new, different sense of weir? Or is the weir just competely under water? But what is the risk in not avoiding it?

Almost all the banks at some point or another should be placed in bank marketing. Bank marketing will help give a price for your customers, improving the number of customers. Even if you want to get new customers, you also want to hold all of them in the future, and it is usually easier said than done. Since attracting new customers, but the shop is not only there, you might as well have not put money in the bank for trade from the beginning.

Using marketing of banks or Online Banking Services, is easy to meet customer needs, ensures their full approval. One of the biggest things you need to do is to find markets just happen to have happened today and what the market is likely to be profitable down the road. It should at all time with the current procedures and to access strategies to improve efficiency and also to meet demand. By only considering the goals in this way, you can create a successful strategy, which takes the bank’s far-reaching. Do not forget that you should adapt to changing circumstances in the banking market, so if you are on the verge of all the latest trends, the bank intends to do well.

Take banking for example. Many banks are working with an outside professional to conduct all their Online Banking Services. These services include the provision of electronic documents. Many bank customers choose not to receive e-paper, which explains the online delivery of documents if necessary. This type of benefit to the customers you build a dedicated customer and helps you get rid of waste paper and the cost of your bank.

You can choose one organization to help all the requirements of Online Banking Services and sometimes these companies have a number of other services. External companies can provides you financial institution against a lot of check processing, which perhaps might not have before. Along with the online banking sector, these companies can easily manipulate, print and send the documentation of banks in the United States. Some of the other check processing services can help the bank clearing of checks will help the organization and others.

Running a business bank quite difficult and sometimes you have to invest in bank marketing. Most banks do banking market, especially in the interest of both the financial institution and its customers. Using the right marketing, you are able to increase their clientele, but can as well provide fresh and better ways for existing customers. One of the most important principles to remember is that there is really no substitute for a better retention rate. Should generate a few good new customers, then you should keep both old and new customers.

Some other services that help its trading bank check processing services, printing and mailing of your documents and meet all your financial advice. Pay attention to your customers to provide the best experience possible, and you find your retention numbers will always be high. With financial advice and other documents, which means you should think about having another company take over the workload for you. If you do archive your files, you have the chance to make a personal relationship with customers completely. Fresh marketing ideas to your bank are not difficult, but you have to stay ahead of competition.

Just visit: Online Banking Services

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Saint Patrick’s, Toombeola – Scene of Martyrdom of fr. John Tully, O.P.


Image by Fergal Claddagh
According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. [A picture of this castle is to be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/ ] From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

Dublin’s historically favourable tax rates for big corporations, and Ireland’s promotion by financial services companies in recent years as a secure and excellent place to invest, have both been reasons for many expatriates to commit significant sums of their savings to this island which is now in financial crisis.

We have been receiving a high number of queries from concerned expat readers about whether now is the right time for them to get their money out of Ireland, or whether the governmental promises in place relating to financial protection and compensation are strong enough to mean that the Irish banking system is fundamentally safe and robust.

As the editor of Lee Byers I would just like to say that the questions people should be asking are perhaps bigger, broader and further reaching than this, because it is more than possible that the Irish financial crisis could affect all expatriate investors.  If you have any money saved or invested in cash or equities, read on to discover where the vulnerabilities really lie.

Firstly, it is critically important for us to state that we at Lee Byers are not qualified to give any form of financial advice – and that this article does not therefore constitute advice.  Rather you are always urged to take qualified and regulated advice before taking any action that could affect your financial position.

Where Does the Problem Lie for Expatriate Savers and Investors?

In my opinion, all savers and investors have one fundamental issue to be concerned about – and that is that Ireland’s style of fiscal management is neither autonomous nor unique.

Therefore, whilst you may be feeling safe because you’re perhaps not invested in Ireland or because you are invested but the government has guaranteed your investment, the situation you’re in is potentially no different to the position people were in as they watched Northern Rock collapsed ‘safe’ from their position as savers with Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander!

The real problem is contagion – the fiscal problems that have brought Ireland to its knees most definitely exist in other countries such as Spain and Portugal.

You can then add to this the very simple fact that the IMF and the European Union do not have limitless capacity to bail countries out.  Their financial capacity is documented – and if a large country like Spain ends up in the same situation as Ireland, that could clear out the coffers.

And if you’re asking yourself: ‘can Spain end up in the same situation as Ireland?’ – may I just ask you to look back at what happened during the recent banking crisis that notably rocked the US and the UK.  Think of Greece as Northern Rock and Ireland as Lehmans.  Do you remember what happened next?

What Can Expats Do to Protect Their Wealth?

It is critically important that we expatriates plan our finances so that they can deal with this potential scenario in the best way possible.

Here are just some of the possible outcomes that could happen from this point forward…

1) More than 2 European states fail, leading to the rapid and very messy end of the euro as a currency
2) Any investments held in euros could be subject to massive re-valuations at this point
3) Investments held in weaker countries and currencies could not be guaranteed if more than 2 states fail

So how do you protect yourself?

As with any type of investment it will be critical for investors to reduce their risk, and one of the greatest risks at the moment is for investors to be holding large amounts of currencies such as the euro.

Many advisers we have spoken to are not exactly confident that if the euro breaks, sterling will be able to stand up on its own two feet wholly unaffected by the euro’s collapse either…

At the same time, one perhaps needs to bear in mind the fact that the US is seemingly determined to print as much devaluation of the dollar into their economy as possible!

So, in summary, with nearly all of the major currencies potentially accelerating their value path to zero, perhaps you should ask yourself how large a percentage of your portfolio should be held in any currency?

Personally I am looking to investments that hold their value in a currency crisis – and yes, even some of these may take a temporary plunge, but they will generally recover.  Think real estate and commodities – both are potential options for investors during a crash.

Yes, the price of wheat may fall when a currency crashes, but because the fundamental demand for wheat won’t disappear, the price is unlikely to stay down forever or drop to zero.  Whereas let’s face it, the demand for the euro really could disappear altogether!

Expats Be Careful of Asset Bubbles

Lots of people can see that there is a crisis in currencies on the cards, and it’s fair to say that many may turn towards more heavily marketed assets than more well considered assets.

Gold could now potentially fall into this bracket.

Gold’s value has risen sharply and it may well continue – (and no one expects it to crash and lose all of its value) – but do you really think it’s a strong enough basket for all your eggs?

Possibly not!

The strongest type of investment portfolio that could conceivably carry you through the traumatic and turbulent times potentially ahead could be a diversified asset based portfolio.

When equity markets used to crash it was very common for the investor to liquidate investments to cash – I think it may be more prudent now to turn my equities and cash into assets!

Speak to your trusted, qualified, experienced and regulated financial adviser if you require any form of advice relating to how you should be protecting your assets.

 

Find More Banking Advice Articles

Wear sunscreen


Image by miss pupik
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you’ll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don’t mess too much with your hair or by the time you’re 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Offshore banking is an asset protection strategy that many professionals with a high net worth employ to safeguard and protect their assets.  This practice has been around for a long time and it is a highly effective method for protecting short- and long-term assets.  Although many professionals have used this practice for many years, there are still some myths about the practice of offshore banking.  Below is a list of some common myths: 

Myth #1 – Offshore banking is illegal.

Facts
There are a few countries in the world that prohibit their citizens from establishing and holding offshore accounts overseas but not many.  Countries with strict control systems such as South Africa, Venezuela, and Russia do not ban their citizens from holding offshore banking accounts.  However, most countries do have laws and policies that require offshore account holders to report the existence of an offshore account to a taxing authority.  No offshore banking institution advocates criminal activities related to money laundering. 

Myth #2 – Offshore banking is only for tax evasion.

Facts
Most people who bank offshore do not establish accounts for the purpose of evading taxes. They are looking instead for legal tax planning and asset protection strategies.  Some of these strategies relate to currency diversification and protection against political risk factors.

Myth #3 – You will need a substantial amount of money to have an offshore bank account.

Facts
This myth is true to some extent.  Many offshore private banks will only accept a minimum deposit of one million dollars.  However, there are a large number of offshore banks for middle class consumers.  These banks allow interested persons to open an account with as little as 0 or less, depending upon the jurisdiction. 

Myth #4 – Offshore banks are situated in remote corners of the world or obscure islands, thereby making it difficult to handle the account.

Facts
While many offshore jurisdictions are small islands, they are all connected by fiber optic cables! Today, the physical location of the bank is not really important, because you can deposit funds electronically and manage them over a secure Internet connection. For example, for withdrawals you can transfer and wire money using online banking.  You can also use an internationally-recognized debit or credit cards like Visa, MasterCard, or American Express to conduct banking and account transactions.

Myth #5 – You have to travel to the bank personally to open an account.

Facts
The best offshore banks do not require this. They have procedures in place for you to open accounts either entirely by mail, using copies of documents certified locally, or you can open accounts through other representatives or offices that may be closer to you in your home country.

Myth #6 - Offshore banking is tax-free.

Facts
In most cases you don’t have to pay taxes in the offshore bank’s jurisdiction. The notable exception is Switzerland which does charge Swiss withholding taxes on the income of foreign account holders. What you do have to remember is that many high-tax countries tax foreign income.  For example, the government of the United States taxes the foreign income of its citizens. 

Although people new to this banking option may believe some of the myths to be true, there are many benefits to going offshore. 

Harbor Financial Services (HFS)
Harbor Financial Services is a professional company that provides offshore financial advice and investment services to its clients.  HFS recommends offshore products and services to suit any personal and/or business need.  The company has helped clients find solutions to meet their long-term financial needs.  HFS has the experience and the expertise to create the best offshore package for you.  Visit www.hfsoffshore.com for more information about the company’s products and services. 

Disclaimer: Many countries have laws regarding offshore entities and accounts.  For example, citizens that form offshore entities, (for example an offshore corporation, offshore trust, offshore partnership, offshore limited liability company, etc.) own stock in offshore entities or hold positions within offshore entities may need to file a tax return. Citizens that form an offshore trust, move assets into an offshore trust or are the beneficiary of an offshore trust may need to file a tax return. Citizens that sign on offshore bank accounts or offshore investment accounts may need to disclose this fact to their government and pay taxes on any interest or capital gains.  We strongly recommend consulting with a local, licensed professional to obtain tax and legal advice in order to understand the law and to fully comply with all applicable laws and reporting requirements regarding offshore companies, offshore trusts, offshore bank accounts and offshore investments.

Offshore Banking | Offshore Banking Myths

http://www.hfsoffshore.com

Related Banking Advice Articles

Justin Owens


Image by Alex Mickla
The quality on this one is poo the other picture is more clear but this picture is better. Plus there’s things i should have done like putting the 430ex in front to lose that shadow from the SB24 but oh well! It was my first time and i will learn from my mistakes.

Toms River, NJ

This was my first attempt with this kind of shooting and I did not have a lot of time with this since it was 1 out of 3 shots.
So tell me what you like or don’t like about it (:
Comments and criticism are definitely important so i can improve or advice would be awesome!

Strobist:

430ex to the right at 1/8
sb24 in hand at 1/2

triggered via cybersyncs

In a world in which everything is defined by competition, the banking area is more competitive than ever. Luckily for us, if we need to resort to banking services, we have at our disposal a wide range of options. All we need to do is figure out which of these services fits best our financial needs. If you would like to receive advice from someone who is acquainted with your personal situation and requirements, someone who can advise you regarding your financial situation whenever you want, you should definitely consider preferred banking.

Preferred banking is dedicated to individuals who have a specific good monthly household income or a savings capital. A preferred bank is designed in order to meet all the needs of its customers or more exactly, all the needs which are permitted by regulation. Furthermore, preferred banks are encouraged to take a more pro-active form of direct selling and instead of selling the financial services one at a time, the bank agent tries to understand the needs of the consumer and to offer him services which fulfill those needs.

The essential advantages of preferred banking services are: a personal service from your own consultant, tailor-made advice, created specifically in order to suit your situation and personal requirements, optimum access to our services and clear statements which give you a good overview regarding your financial situation. Furthermore, the preferred bank agent will let you decide how you wish to invest, allowing you to choose from an extensive range of investment possibilities.

Nowadays, preferred bankers represent the role models for young people who want to make a career in banking. Moreover, preferred bank agents are quite devoted to their customers and each banker deals with a single client. Thus, clients benefit from the best services and no matter what they need, bankers will satisfy their requirements in a short period of time. Due to the preferred banking norms, bankers are responsible for providing their clients excellent customer service.

Furthermore, preferred bank agents have the tasks of relationship managers, product specialists, investment assistants and service managers. However, they have one objective, that of satisfying their clients. The preferred banking services are not meant only to understand and respond to the financial needs of their customers but also to offer them personalized services. Thus, they will offer you professional insights on local and international financial problems and pieces of advice regarding bank transactions, future investments and others.

The preferred bank agents’ deal with a lot of things on a daily basis: they process the transactions of the clients, they prepare and balance bank deposits, they maintain bank records, they talk to clients and they ensure the best potential products to the clients. As you can see, preferred banking services deal with a lot of things and banking has gone into a new, more efficient and competitive level. To conclude, it’s needless to say that at a preferred bank, you will enjoy the exclusive privileges which can be found only at such a bank.

Related Banking Advice Articles

The Middle Class Beatdown: Decline of the American Dream


Image by Cory M. Grenier
Government, for the Rich only -
Republican obstructions in Congress placing tax cuts above jobless aid comes at a time when private US corporation profits reached a historical high of .659 trillion ( 1 ), the 7th consecutive quarter of corporate profit growth, breaking the previous 2006, .655 trillion corporate profit record. While US corporations and wealthiest Americans grow richer, everyday people are suffering from a 9.6% unemployment rate ( 3 ), a trillion national War debt (3, 4 ), and an annual US government deficit of .3 trillion ( 5 ). During this time on Dec 2, 2010, the Federal Reserve Bank in the largest government act of corporate socialism loaned trillion dollars to the largest banks – including trillion to Citigroup and .9 trillion to Morgan Stanly (5.5). Sen Bernie Sanders exclaimed, "The 0 billion Wall Street bailout turned out to be pocket change compared to trillions and trillions of dollars in near zero interest loans and other financial arrangements that the Federal Reserve doled out to every major financial institution" .

Rather than extend mere billions of dollars in emergency loans to American people in need, on Dec. 1st, 2010 Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced Republicans will block any new legislation that does not extend the Bush-era tax cuts ( 6 ). This blackmail tactic means critical legislation like the defense authorization bill, the nuclear START treaty with Russia, and jobless aid will be halted. In response, Congressman Dick Durbin stated, "I don’t know how we can sit down and talk about tax cuts for people who have jobs at the highest income categories and ignore the suffering and struggles of people who are unemployed through no fault of their own” ( 7 ). This month Congress is ignoring the suffering and cancelled jobless aid checks for any of the 15 million ( 8 ) American people who survive on unemployment checks of 0 for a week for longer than 99 weeks, or less than ,000 per year – well below the poverty line.

Republican congressional representatives have rejected President Obama’s proposal to raise taxes only for earnings over 0,000 for singles and 0,000 a year for married couples. Instead Republicans call for tax cuts to continue for the richest Americans, deceptively stating tax cuts for the rich will boost economic growth. Facts show the US poverty rate has reached 15% and economic growth has been sluggish despite 9 years of tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans during unprecedented high corporate profits, and the deficit has rapidly expanded. The unfunded expense of the Iraq war, originally estimated by the Bush Administration to cost only Billion has contributed to the bankrupting of the US government, to the social detriment of Americans suffering from the greater economic collapse. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics, recently wrote, “There is no question that the Iraq war added substantially to the federal debt. This was the first time in American history that the government cut taxes as it went to war. The result: a war completely funded by borrowing” ( 3 ).

Elected Republicans have not voiced an interest in following government data, economist’s advice or a desire to empathize with Americans most in need of financial relief. The Congressional Budget Office cites jobless aid as key to boosting the economy through greater consumer spending, and data shows job aid extensions reduced the nation’s poverty rate down 7 points to 14.3 from 15.4 percent last year (9). In addition, American workers are working longer and more efficiently, as employee output per hour rose 2.3 percent annually (9). Rather than listen to reason, Republican lawmakers have no qualms about funding trillions of dollars for bank bailouts and 10 year wars, yet block assistance for American workers citing deficit concerns, while hypocritically advocating deficit-increasing tax cuts during a time of war. Tax cuts that disproportionately enrich the wealthiest individuals and largest private corporations will not create more jobs or feed an impoverished American family, but will likely guarantee another record profitable quarter for private corporations.

(1)http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/business/economy/24econ.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
(2) www.economicpopulist.org/content/unemployment-96-august-2010
( 3, 4 ) www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/…, costofwar.com/
(5) www.businessweek.com/news/2010-12-01/revised-deficit-plan…
(5.5) money.cnn.com/2010/12/01/news/economy/fed_reserve_data_re…
(6) firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/01/5559969-gop-to-b…
(7) www.npr.org/2010/12/01/131713002/millions-to-lose-unemplo…
(8) www.presstv.ir/detail/153371.html
(9) www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-01/aid-to-u-s-unemployed-b…

Banking law in South Africa is effectively defined by the 1990 Banks Act and simply covers exactly what a bank is allowed or not allowed to do in the normal course of business.

Banking Legislation in South Africa is complex

There are a myriad of other complex bytes of legislation that pertain to South African banking law but these are often so multifaceted that expert advice is required from specialist banking law attorneys. Examples of added legislation that governs South Africa’s banking law are:

The Exchange Control Act

National Credit Legislation

The Financial Intelligence Centre Act

The Prevention of Organised Crime Act

Bills of Exchange Act

Leading Cape Town law firms offer a range of services pertaining to banking law, including advice on BEE specifications, advice on the acquisition of certain assets, leveraged and acquisitions finance, debt capital market and corporate bonds, structured finance, foreign representation, takeovers, insolvency and banking, and financial services regulation.

Common international banking instruments and requirements

Although banking law varies from country to country, there are a number of instruments and requirements that are applicable across the board, including:

Capital Requirement – an outline of how all banks must handle their capital in relation to their assets.

Corporate Governance – a framework intended to keep banks well managed. Specific requirements may include the bank being a body corporate rather than individually owned or in a partnership or trust. If it is incorporated locally rather than on foreign shores, the number of directors are limited and it has a structural organisation that includes offices and officers.

Credit rating requirements – the vast majority of international banks are required to obtain and maintain a minimum credit rating from an approved credit rating agency and to willingly disclose this to investors and prospective investors.

Reserve requirement – the minimum reserves the banks must hold to demand deposits and bank notes. This requirement is no longer about client safety but more about liquidity.

Financial reporting and disclosure requirements – all banks are required by law to prepare annual financial statements acceptable to a financial reporting standard, to have them independently audited and to open them to public scrutiny.

The objectives of Banking Law

In this day and age when leading international banks are hitting the skids, the objectives of banking law are all the more important. There are five primary objectives:

1. To be prudent with a depositor’s money by reducing the risks bank creditors are exposed to

2. To avoid the misuse of banks by criminal elements

3. To protect the confidentiality of banking and banks

4. To direct credit to preferred sectors

5. To ensure systematic risk reduction

Old Fashioned British Sweets From Your Childhood


Image by brizzle born and bred
1953: Sweet rationing ends in Britain

Children all over Britain have been emptying out their piggy-banks and heading straight for the nearest sweet-shop as the first unrationed sweets went on sale today. Toffee apples were the biggest sellers, with sticks of nougat and liquorice strips also disappearing fast.

One firm in Clapham Common gave 800 children 150lbs of lollipops during their midday break from school; and a London factory opened its doors to hand out free sweets to all comers.

Adults joined in the sugar frenzy, with men in the City queuing up in their lunch breaks to buy boiled sweets and to enjoy the luxury of being able to buy 2lb boxes of chocolates to take home for the weekend.

Do you remember your favourite childhood sweets and the excitement of going to the local sweet shop and choosing from the vast array of jars on the shelves full of colourful mouth watering temptations?

They were weighed by the quarter on a big old fashioned metal scale pan and packaged into small white paper bags.

For many of us, the Saturday ritual of sweets-buying has lingered into adulthood, and it is heartening to find so many places selling from jars. Indeed, the Bonds sweets factory in Carlisle – a major supplier – is planning to redesign its plastic jars to be squatter and wider than usual: an echo of the prewar shape. Multicoloured jars lined up on shelves are very alluring, for many of us a potent reminder of a time when the local sweet shop represented a kind of El Dorado.

If you thought it was just kids who ate sugar confectionery you’d be wide of the mark. Many of the lines might have been developed for children but prove a hit with adults, too. Even the tough guys (and gals) in the British armed forces love their sweets according to NAAFI figures, servicemen and women in Afghanistan last year munched their way through 923,583 bags of Haribo.

Here in the UK, sweetie buying habits change as we hopefully head towards warmer weather, with more people opting for fruity sweets rather than chocolate bars.

THE SWEETS GRAVEYARD

Spangles

Dimpled, square boiled sweets in fruit-flavoured and Old English varieties. Spangles was a brand of boiled sweets, manufactured by Mars Ltd in the United Kingdom from 1950 to the early eighties. They were bought in a paper tube with individual sweets cellophane wrapped. They were distinguished by their shape which was a rounded square with a circular depression on each face.

The regular Spangles tube (labelled simply "Spangles") contained a variety of translucent, fruit flavoured sweets: strawberry, blackcurrant, orange, pineapple, lemon and lime.

Originally the sweets were not individually wrapped, but later a waxed paper, and eventually a cellophane wrapper was used. The tube was a bright orange-red colour, bearing the word "Spangles" in a large letters. In the seventies a distinctive, seventies-style font was used.

Over the production period many different, single flavour varieties were introduced including Acid Drop, Barley Sugar, Blackcurrant, Liquorice, Peppermint, Spearmint and Tangerine.

The Old English Spangles tube contained traditional English flavours such as liquorice, mint humbugs, cough candy, butterscotch and pear drops. One of the flavours was an opaque mustard yellow colour, and one was striped.

The sweets’ individual wrappers were striped, distinguishing them from regular Spangles. The tube was black, white and purple, and designed for a more mature and specific clientele than the regular variety.

Spangles were discontinued in the early eighties, and briefly reintroduced in 1994, including in Woolworths outlets in the UK. There are many nostalgic references to them from children who grew up with them. Spangles are associated with the 1970s and they, like Space Hoppers or the Raleigh Chopper, have become shorthand for lazy nostalgia for the time, as in the phrase "Do you remember Spangles?"

Today the Tunes brand is the only remaining relation of the Spangles brand, sharing the shape and wrapping of the original product. In the UK, Tunes no longer have the Spangles style packaging, and they are now lozenge-shaped.

Cabana bar

Very sweet coconut-centred chocolate bar with cherry twist made by Cadbury’s.

Pineapple Mars

This early tropical-flavoured prototype was not a lasting success

Fry’s Five Centres

Follow-up to famous Fry’s Five Boys. Fry’s Cream is a chocolate bar made by Cadbury’s, and formerly by J. S. Fry & Sons. It consists of a fondant centre enrobed in dark chocolate and is available in a plain version, and also peppermint or orange fondant. Fry’s Chocolate Cream was one of the first chocolate bars ever produced, launched in 1866.

There are currently three variants of Fry’s Cream:

Fry’s Chocolate Cream
Fry’s Orange Cream
Fry’s Peppermint Cream

Over the years, other variants existed:

Fry’s Five Centre (orange, raspberry, lime, strawberry, and pineapple), produced from 1934 to 1992.

Fry’s Strawberry Cream
Fry’s Pineapple Cream

Cadbury’s also produced a solid milk chocolate bar called Five Boys using the Fry’s trademark in the 1960s. Cadbury’s produced milk and plain chocolate sandwich bars under the Fry’s branding also.

Fry’s chocolate bar was promoted by model George Lazenby, later James Bond actor, in 1962.

The Fry’s Chocolate bar was first produced in Union Street, Bristol, England in 1866, where the family name had been associated with chocolate making since circa 1759. In 1923 Fry’s (now Cadbury) chocolate Factory moved to Keynsham, England, but due to the imminent closure of the factory the production of the bar will move, possibly to Poland.

Banjo bar

Banjo is a chocolate bar once available in the UK. Introduced with a substantial television advertising campaign in 1976, Banjo was a twin bar (similar in shape and size to Twix) and based upon a wafer with a chopped peanut layer and the whole covered in milk chocolate. It was packaged in distinctive navy blue – with the brand name prominently displayed in yellow block text – and was one of the first British snack bars to have a heat-sealed wrapper closure instead of the reverse-side fold common to most domestically-produced chocolate bars at that time. It was available into the 1980s. There was a coconut version also available in a red wrapper with yellow text.

Aztec bars

So many sweet lovers would love to be able to enjoy Aztec bars again. Sadly it isn’t possible to buy Aztec bars at the moment. It was like a Mars Bar but not as sickly because it had nougat instead of toffee. It had a purple wrapper it was made by Cadbury’s.

Opal Fruits

Mars, the manufacturers, is bringing back the sweets for a limited period in conjunction with the supermarket chain ASDA.

The fruit chews that were "made to make you mouth water" were replaced by Starburst in 1998, the name under which they had been exported to the US in the seventies.

But the iconic British brand is being revived in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the change.

They will be available for an initial period of 12 weeks from May 10, exclusively in ASDA stores.

A spokesperson for ASDA said: "The demise of the Opal Fruit was mourned across the nation, and we’re really excited to be staging the exclusive comeback of this great British favourite."

Opal Fruits were initially introduced in Britain in the 1960s.

In 1998, the US brand Starburst was adopted in England in order to standardise the brand in the global marketplace.

Expectations are high that the move to bring back Opal Fruits will be popular with consumers.

As well as reverting to the original flavours of lemon, lime, orange and strawberry, the new Opal Fruits will be a strictly natural affair.

The limited edition will be produced using no artificial colouring or preservatives, a move that both ASDA and Mars hope will appeal to twenty-first century customers.

The return of Opal Fruits continues the recent trend of reviving classic brands.

Cadbury reintroduced the Wispa last year after an internet campaign which also involved protesters storming a stage at the Glastonbury festival.

Sherbert Fountain

Sherbet is sold in a plastic tube with twist-off lid, with a stick made from liquorice as a sherbet fountain. Many consumers regret the replacement of the former paper packaging, which allowed an extra dimension of enjoyment: the crushing of the caked lumps of sherbet as the paper cylinder was rolled between the hands. The top of the stick is supposed to be bitten off to form a straw and the sherbet sucked through it, where it fizzes and dissolves on the tongue, though many people prefer to either dip the liquorice in the sherbet and lick it off or to tip the sherbet into their mouths and eat the liquorice separately.

When paired with liquorice, sherbet is typically left unflavoured in a white form and with a higher reactive agent so that it causes a fizzy foam to develop in the mouth.

They are manufactured by Barratt, a subsidiary of Tangerine Confectionery.

Though some shops still sell the old-style only.

Sherbert Flying Saucers

These small pastel coloured rice paper sweets were shaped like a U.F.O. and contained delightfully fizzy sherbet.

Small dimpled discs made from edible coloured paper (rice paper), typically filled with white unflavoured sherbet (the same form as in Sherbet Fountains) These sweets had sherbert in the middle and a kind of melt-in-your-mouth outer shell.

Black Jacks Chews

Black Jack is a type of "aniseed flavour chew" according to its packaging. This means that it is a chewy (gelatin-based) confectionery. Black Jack is manufactured under the Barratt brand in Spain. Black Jack is very similar to Fruit Salad, which are also manufactured by Barratt.

Black Jacks are one of the most well-known classic British sweets. They`re aniseed-flavoured, chewy and black with a unique taste, and they make your tongue go black!

The original labels from the 1920′s pictured a grinning gollywog – unbelievably, back then images of black people were used to advertise Liquorice. This is seen as unacceptable today, of course, and by the late 80s manufacturers Trebor deleted the golly logo. It was replaced by a pirate with a black beard.

In the early 1990s the pirate logo was replaced by a rather boring black and white swirl design.

Cabana bars

Cabana bars died out in about 1984, and as they were made by Rowntree (sold to Nestle in 1989) they’re very unlikely to make a comeback.

Licorice Bootlaces

Long thin strips of licorice in the shape of boot laces.

Pineapple Chunks

Pineapple Flavour Hard Boiled Sweets.

Jamboree Bag

Bags of different sorts of sweets, with dodgy plastic toys and whistles etc, where are they now?

Rhubarb & Custard

Rhubarb and Custard flavoured boiled sweet, with it’s two colours.

Gobstoppers

Gobstoppers, known as jawbreakers in Canada and the United States, are a type of hard sweet or candy. They are usually round, usually range from about 1 cm across to 3 cm across (though much bigger gobstoppers can sometimes be found in Canadian/US candy stores, up to 8 cm in diameter) and are traditionally very hard.

The term gobstopper derives from ‘gob’, which is United Kingdom/Ireland slang for mouth.

Gobstoppers usually consist of several layers, each layer dissolving to reveal a different colored (and sometimes different flavoured) layer, before dissolving completely. Gobstoppers are sucked or licked, being too hard to bite without risking dental damage (hence the US title).

Gobstoppers have been sold in traditional sweet shops for at least a century, often sold by weight from jars. As gobstoppers dissolve very slowly, they last a very long time in the mouth, which is a major factor in their enduring popularity with children. Larger ones can take days or even weeks to fully dissolve, risking a different kind of dental damage.

In 2003, Taquandra Diggs, a nine year old girl in Starke, Florida, suffered severe burns, allegedly from biting down on a Wonka Everlasting Gobstopper that had been left out in the sun. Diggs and several other victims’ families filed lawsuits against Nestlé for medical bills resulting from plastic surgery as well as pain and suffering; the matters were later settled outside of court for an undisclosed amount.

A 2004 episode of the Discovery Channel television program "Myth Busters" episode subsection named Exploding Jawbreakers then demonstrated that heating a gobstopper in a microwave oven can cause the different layers inside to heat at different rates, yielding an explosive spray of very hot candy when compressed; Myth Busters crew members Adam Savage and Christine Chamberlain received light burns after a gobstopper exploded.

Acid Drops

Tongue-tinglingly sharp boiled sweets.

Barley Sugar

Barley sugar (or barley sugar candy) is a traditional variety of British boiled sweet, or hard candy, yellow or orange in colour with an extract of barley added as flavouring. It is similar to hard caramel candy in its texture and taste.

Barley sugars and other energy sweets are the only food allowed to be eaten in the New Zealand & Australian 40 Hour Famine, an annual event which draws attention to world hunger. A single barley sugar is allowed to be consumed once every 4 hours during the 40 Hour Famine. This applies to participants older than primary school age.

Bulls Eyes Humbug

Humbugs are a traditional hard boiled sweet available in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. They are usually flavoured with peppermint and striped in two different colours (often brown and tan). They have a hard outside and a soft toffee centre. Humbugs are typically cylinders with rounded ends wrapped in a twist of cellophane, or else pinched cylinders with a 90-degree turn between one end and the other (shaped like a pyramid with rounded edges), loose in a bag.

They are more often eaten in winter than summer, as they are considered "warming." The name of the candy is not related to the phrase "Bah, humbug" derived from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. That expression implies a general dissatisfaction with the Christmas season. However, offering humbugs around Christmas time is now seen by some as humorous or ironic, and was featured in an episode of Blackadder in this manner.

A similar sweet is "bulls-eye" which has black and white stripes like a humbug but is spherical like an aniseed ball. These are peppermint flavoured and are also known as bullets in the UK as they are similar in size to smoothbore musket balls.

Love Hearts

Love Hearts are a type of confectionery manufactured by Swizzels Matlow in the United Kingdom. They are hard, fizzy, tablet-shaped sweets in a variety of fruit flavours featuring a short, love-related message on one side of the sweet.

The sweets are small and circular, approximately 19 mm in diameter, and 5 mm in height (including the embossed decorations). Both sides are embossed with a decoration, the rear with a large outline of a heart and the front with the message within an outline of a heart. On the front of the sweet the embossing is highlighted with a red colouring.

The main body of the sweet is coloured in one of the 6 colours – white, yellow, orange, green, purple or red. Especially for the darker red and purple colourings this colouring is somewhat blotchy.

Fruit Salads

Fruit Salad is a type of "Raspberry & Pineapple flavour chew" according to its packaging. This means that it is a chewy (gelatin-based) confectionery. Fruit Salad is manufactured by Barratt in Spain. Fruit Salad is very similar to Black Jack, which are also manufactured by Barratt.

Sweet ‘Cigarette’ Sticks

(sticks wrapped in paper, in packs that looked just like real cigarettes)

Candy cigarettes is a candy introduced in the early 20th century made out of chalky sugar, bubblegum or chocolate, wrapped in paper as to resemble cigarettes. Their place on the market has long been controversial because many critics believe the candy desensitizes children, leading them to become smokers later in life. Because of this, the selling of candy cigarettes has been banned in several countries such as Finland, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

In the United States a ban was considered in 1970 and again in 1991, but was not passed into federal law. The U.S. state of North Dakota enacted a ban on candy cigarettes from 1953 until 1967. In Canada federal law prohibits candy cigarette branding that resembles real cigarette branding and the territory of Nunavut has banned all products that resemble cigarettes.

The Family Smoking and Prevention Control Act was misquoted as banning candy cigarettes. The Act bans any form of added flavoring in tobacco cigarettes other than menthol. It does not regulate the candy industry.

Candy cigarettes continue to be manufactured and consumed in many parts of the world. However, many manufacturers now describe their products as candy sticks, bubble gum, or candy.

Popeye Cigarettes marketed using the Popeye character were sold for a while and had red tips (to look like a lit cigarette) before being renamed candy sticks and being manufactured without the red tip.

Liquorice "Smoker’s Sets"

Sweet smokers sets with sweet cigarettes, tobacco and liquorice pipes. CONCERNS have been raised about the availability of candy-style imitation cigarettes. The sweets, which look remarkably like a hand-rolled cigarette and packaged in replica cigarette packets.

"Recently there has been a trend for buying so-called retro candy such as aniseed balls and spangles. It’s unfortunate that chocolate cigarettes have re surfaced but it’s not illegal to sell them and it’s really up to retailers to decide whether or not it’s a product with which they wish to be associated."

Aniseed Balls

Aniseed balls are a type of hard round sweet sold in the UK, New Zealand and Australia. They are shiny and dark brownish red, and hard like Gobstoppers.

Aniseed Balls are something you either love or hate! They are flavoured by aniseed oil (obviously!), and have a very strong aniseed flavour. They last for a long time in the mouth before dissolving and in the centre of the ball is a whole rapeseed that can be crushed.

Butterscotch

Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes.

The ingredients for butterscotch are similar to toffee, but for butterscotch the sugar is boiled to the soft crack stage, and not hard crack as with toffee. Butterscotch sauce is often made into a syrup, which is used as a topping for ice cream (particularly sundaes).

The term butterscotch is also often used for the flavour of brown sugar and butter together even where actual confection butterscotch is not involved, e.g. butterscotch pudding.

Food historians have several theories regarding the name and origin of this confectionery, but none are conclusive. One explanation is the meaning "to cut or score" for the word "scotch", as the confection must be cut into pieces, or "scotched", before hardening. It is also possible that the "scotch" part of its name was derived from the word "scorch".

However, the word was first recorded in Doncaster, in England, where Samuel Parkinson began making the confectionery in 1817. Parkinson’s Butterscotch had royal approval and was one of Doncaster’s attractions until it ceased production in 1977. The recipe was revived in 2003 when a Doncaster businessman and his wife rediscovered the recipe on an old folded piece of paper inside one of the famous St Leger tins in their cellar.

Butterscotch is an example of a genericized trademark, originally a trademark of Parkinson’s.

Jelly Babies

Jelly babies are a type of soft confectionery that look like little babies in a variety of colours. There are currently several companies that make jelly babies, most predominantly Trebor Bassett (part of the Cadbury Group of companies, and famous for their liquorice allsorts) and also Rowntree (Nestlé).

Jelly Babies were launched by Bassett’s in 1918 in Sheffield as "Peace Babies" to mark the end of World War I. Production was suspended during World War II due to wartime shortages and the fact that the name had largely become ironic. In 1953 the product was relaunched as "Jelly Babies". In March 1989 Bassett’s were taken over by Cadbury Schweppes who had earlier acquired the Trebor brand.

Jelly Babies manufactured in the United Kingdom tend to be dusted in starch which is left over from the manufacturing process where it is used to aid release from the mould. Jelly Babies of Australian manufacture generally lack this coating.

Like many gummy sweets, they contain gelatin and are thus not suitable for vegetarians.

A popular science class experiment is to put them in a strong oxidising agent and see the resulting spectacular reaction. The experiment is commonly referred to as "Screaming jelly babies".

Each Bassett’s Jelly Baby now has an individual name and shape, colour and flavour: Brilliant (red – strawberry), Bubbles (yellow – lemon), Baby Bonny (pink – raspberry), Boofuls (green – lime), Bigheart (purple – blackcurrant) and Bumper (orange). The introduction of different shapes and names was a new innovation, circa 1989, prior to which all colours of jelly baby were a uniform shape.

Jelly Babies are similar in appearance to Gummi bears, which are better known outside of the United Kingdom, though the texture is different, Jelly Babies having a harder outer "crust" and a softer, less rubbery, centre.

In 2007, Bassett’s Jelly Babies changed to include only natural colours and ingredients.

In the early 1960s, after Beatles guitarist George Harrison revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, audiences showered him and the rest of the band with the sweets at live concerts and fans sent boxes of them as gifts.[citation needed] Unfortunately American fans could not obtain this soft British confection, replacing them with harder jelly beans instead. To the group’s discomfort, they were frequently pelted with jelly beans during concerts while in America.

Jelly babies are popular with several of the Doctors in the television series Doctor Who. The Second Doctor was the first to have them in his pockets. The Fourth Doctor had them throughout his time on the show. They also appear briefly with the Tenth Doctor In the 2007 episode "The Sound of Drums", The Master is seen eating them.

Dolly mixture

This is a British confection, consisting of a variety of multi-coloured fondant shapes, such as cubes and cylinders, with subtle flavourings. The mixtures also include hard-coated fondants in "round edged cube" shapes and sugar coated jellies. They are sold together, in a mixture in a medium-sized packet. It is produced by various companies in different countries; the most popular brands are those produced by Trebor Bassett (now a part of the Cadbury’s consortium)

Bonbons

The name bonbon (or bon-bon) stems from the French word bon, literally meaning “good”. In modern usage, the term "bonbon" usually refers to any of several types of sweets and other table centerpieces across the world.

The first bonbons come from the 17th century when they were made at the royal court especially for children who were eating them and chanting bon, bon!, French for good, good!.

Bonbon is also a colloquial expression (as in, "She sat around all day eating bon-bons while her husband was at work."). This sweet inspired Johann Strauss II to compose a waltz named, "Wiener Bonbons".

Chewits

Chewits is the brand name of a chewy, cuboid-shaped, soft taffy candy manufactured by Leaf International.

Chewits was launched in the UK in 1965. The sweets were originally manufactured in Southport, but after the closing of the factory in 2006 manufacture was moved to Slovakia. The original flavours consisted of Strawberry, Blackcurrant, Orange and Banana. Over the years more exotic flavours such as Ice Cream, Cola, Rhubarb & Custard, and Blue Mint were introduced as limited edition flavours. New Chewits pack designs, formats and flavours were launched in 2009.

Currently Chewits core flavour range includes Strawberry, Blackcurrant, Fruit Salad, Ice Cream and Orange. Ice Cream Chewits, originally released in 1989, were re-introduced in 2009 following an online petition and demand expressed on Facebook and Bebo.

Chewits were first advertised on television in 1976. The original advertisements featured the ‘Monster Muncher’, a Godzilla-resembling mascot on the hunt for something chewy to eat. The first ad featuring the Muncher threatening New York was made by French Gold Abbott and created by John Clive and Ian Whapshot. The first ad was so successful the sequel was delayed. The ‘Monster Muncher’ chomps and tramples humorously local and well-known international landmarks such as Barrow-in-Furness Bus Depot, a London block of flats, London Bridge, the Taj Mahal, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the Empire State Building. The ‘Monster Muncher’ could only be quelled by a pack of Chewits.

A spin-off computer game, The Muncher, was released for the ZX Spectrum in 1988.

The original adverts used claymation special effects, similar in style to those made famous in the movies of Ray Harryhausen. They also included a voiceover style reminiscent of a 1950s radio serial.

A subsequent advertisement, originally aired in 1995, plays on the over-the-top advertising style of the post-war era. To the tune of bright 50′s era orchestration, a salesy narrator exhorts viewers to try a variety of chewy consumer items in the essential guide to a chewier chew. The ad shows the ‘Monster Muncher’ sampling items such as Wellington boots, a rubber boat and a rubber plant in order to be ready for the chewiest of chews – Chewits.

In the late 1990s, Chewits experimented with ads showing multiple news casting dinosaur puppets. The catchphrase advice at the close of each ‘broadcast’ was to "do it before you chew it". This style of ads was relatively short-lived for Chewits.

With a change of advertising agencies, the puppets were replaced by colourful 2D animations. The ‘Monster Muncher’ was re-introduced as ‘Chewie’ in two popular adverts from this time. In the first, which aired in 2000, Chewie roller skates on two buses through a busy city scene. The second, which went out a year later in 2001, shows Chewie waterskiing at a popular seaside resort. The ads included a rendition of the 1994 hit song ‘I like to move it’ by Reel 2 Real, with the chorus, "I like to Chewit Chewit."

In 2003, after a further shift in advertising agencies, a new ad was aired showing a wide range of animals auditioning to be the new face of Chewits. The ad announced the return of the iconic dinosaur Chewie mascot, now dubbed ‘Chewie the Chewitsaurus’.

In 2009, Chewits introduced the new Chewie the Chewitsaurus look, showing a contemporary, computer-game-style slick design. Chewie the Chewitsaurus features on all Chewits packaging and sponsorship activity.

Fizzy Cola Bottles

Remember that fizzy, sour cola taste you used to get from these? I think these are another sweet you either love or hate. Real cola tasting Giant fizzy bottles.

Milk Bottles

These white milk bottle shaped chewy white sweets are also known as milk gums. They were pretty popular in the UK, and are still selling well today repackaged as retro sweets.

Pacers

These were a kind of Opal Fruits spin-off, but came in peppermint and spearmint flavours. They were discontinued sometime in the 80′s.

Sweet Bananas

These yummy sweet bananas, soft, juicy chews with a lovely mellow banana flavour.

Mackintosh’s Toffee

Mackintosh’s Toffee is a sweet created by John Mackintosh.

Mackintosh opened up his sweets shop in Halifax, Yorkshire, England in 1890, and the idea for Mackintosh’s Toffee, not too hard and not too soft, came soon after. In 1969, Mackintosh’s merged with rival Rowntree to form Rowntree Mackintosh, which merged with Nestle in 1988.

The product is often credited with being over 100 years old.

The toffee is sold in bags containing a random assortment of individual wrapped flavoured toffees. The flavours are (followed by wrapping colour): Malt (Blue), Harrogate (Yellow), Mint (Green), Egg & Cream (Orange), Coconut (Pink), Toffee (Red). The red wrapped toffees do not display a flavour on the wrapper. The product’s subtitle is "Toffee De Luxe" and its motto "a tradition worth sharing".

Space Dust

Space Dust the candy that pops when placed in your mouth.

Bazooka bubble gum

It was first marketed shortly after World War II in the U.S. by the Topps Company based in Brooklyn, New York. The gum was packaged in a patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme. Beginning in 1953, Topps changed the packaging to include small comic strips with the gum, featuring the character "Bazooka Joe". There are 50 different "Bazooka Joe" comic-strip wrappers to collect. The product has been virtually unchanged in over 50 years.

The Topps company expanded the flavors, making them Original, Strawberry Shake, Cherry Berry, Watermelon Whirl, and Grape Rage. The Strawberry flavor is packaged in a pink and white wrapper and the Grape in a purple and white wrapper. Bazooka gum can also be found in a sugar free variety with the standard bubble gum flavor and a "Flavor Blasts" variety, claimed to have longer lasting, more intense taste. Bazooka gum comes in 2 different sizes.

Bazooka bubblegum is sold in many countries, often with Bazooka Joe comic strips translated into the local language. Bazooka gum is sold in Canada with cartoons in both English and French, depending upon the city. In Israel, manufactured under license to Elite, the cartoons are written in Hebrew. The gum was also sold in Yugoslavia and later in Slovenia until the local licensee allowed their license to expire in 2006. The "Bazooka Joe" cartoons are about "Bazooka Joe" and his friends. There are also "Bazooka Joe" t-shirts in return for 15 Bazooka Joe comics and .99 while supplies last. But the offer has been discontinued.

In May 2009 it was announced that the Bazooka Joe comic was to be adapted into a Hollywood movie.

Traffic Light lollies

These were a red yellow and green lolly that was a childhood favourtite sweet for many.

Black Magic Chocolates

What a huge disappointment these chocolates are!! A few years ago Nestle made an almighty mistake by doing away with THE best brand of dark chocolates, favourites of many thousands of people, and replacing them with cardboard pretend chocolate squares which tasted cheap and nasty. Most boxes ended up in the bin. Last year I had a letter from Nestle saying they were bringing the classics back, fantastic, I was straight to the shop for some, so bad was my addiction, but horribly they are nothing like the originals.

The dont taste or smell the same, the centres are hard and taste of chemicals, like long gone off chocolates. The bottom line is this, why change them in the first place? and when you realised you had made a mistake why not bring back the originals instead of these tacky replacements. very sad, and I still havent found any chocs like Black Magic, I still have original boxes with ribbons from the 1950′s, now they were class.

Texan

Ultra-chewy, chocolate-covered nougat bar launched in the mid-70s; disappeared in the mid-80s.

Banjo

Boring two-fingered wafer bar, lasted for most of the 80s.

Callard & Bowser Creamline Toffees

A 2001 casualty; they were better than Toffos.

Amazin Raisin

1971-78 – the sweets equivalent of rum’n'raisin ice cream.

Freshen Up

Chewing gum with a liquid centre, an 80s innovation.

Bluebird Toffee

A classic, but a recent casualty of confectionery industry takeovers.

Jap Desserts

These old coconut sweets (coconut was often known as ‘Jap’) died a death in the early 2000s.

Counters (Galaxy)

Harmless chocolate beans cruelly cut off.

Pink Panther

Extraordinary strawberry-flavoured chocolate bars, thin like Milky Bars. An acquired taste.

Bandit

Wafer biscuit – a challenger to Penguins.

Club bars

From Jacobs. The full range has been withdrawn, but Orange is still available. Symbol guide: plain = jack of clubs; milk = golf ball; mint = green leaf. Bog-standard but likable for thick chocolate.

Nutty Pure

80s bar, with a smoky brown see-through wrapper. Peanuts encase a fudge-type caramel log centre.

Double Agent

Extremely artificial blackcurrant- or apple-flavoured boiled sweets, with a sherbet centre and spy questions on the wrapper. Classic cold war confectionery.

Mighty Imp’s

Mighty Imps were really old fashioned licquorice and menthol pellets that used to turn your tongue black… lovely!

They were sugar free and were marketed to help you keep a clear voice and protect against a sore throat (due to the menthol content I suspect).

Zoom

This ice lolly on a stick was shaped like a rocket and was made up of three sections, each with its own distinct flavour. In sequence this was lime, lemon and strawberry.

Refreshers

Fruit flavour fizzy sweets in a roll. Raspberry, lemon, lime and orange flavours. Refreshingly fizzly.

White Chocolate Mice

These white chocolate mice were cream flavoured and are silky smooth on your tongue. You certainly will not want the cat to get these sweet mice!!

The top 10 Best Sales – Through the ages

1966

1 Mars bar
2 Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
3 Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum
4 Milky Way
5 Polo
6 Kit Kat
7 Crunchie
8 Wrigley’s Arrowmint Gum
9 Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles
10 Maltesers

1978

1 Mars bar
2 Kit Kat
3 Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
4 Twix
5 Yorkie
6 Milky Way
7 Bounty
8 Maltesers
9 Aero
10 Smarties

1988

1 Mars bar
2 Kit Kat
3 Marathon
4 Wispa
5 Polo
6 Extra Strong Mints
7 Fruit Pastilles
8 Flake
9 Rolo
10 Double Decker

1997

1 Kit Kat
2 Mars bar
3 Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
4 Roses
5 Twix
6 Wrigley’s Extra
7 Quality Street
8 Snickers
9 Maltesers
10 Galaxy

2004

1 Cadbury’s Dairy Milk
2 Wrigleys Extra
3 Maltesers
4 Galaxy
5 Mars bar
6 Kit Kat
7 Celebrations
8 Quality Street
9 Haribo (total sales)
10 Roses

Can anyone add to the list?

There are many who are ready to retire to a tropical paradise or are interested in doing business outside of their country of origin. In either case individuals and corporations will want to know about living, working, and banking offshore. It will be important to know about tax advantaged offshore jurisdictions. It will also be important to know which jurisdictions are the best for which business purposes, and what legal structures can be used to protect individual privacy and protect assets.

 

It is possible to move offshore and it is entirely possible to remain in ones homeland but move business interests, money, and other assets offshore. As with most endeavors a bit of foresight, planning, and good advice will go a long way towards success in living, working, and banking offshore, and more.

 

It Is OK to Separate Home and Business

 

One does not necessarily need to live, bank, and do business all in the same offshore jurisdiction. Thus the choice of where to live, or perhaps have a second home, can often be made separate from other considerations. Depending upon the person’s degree of active involvement in business affairs it may be wise to make sure that transportation and internet access are up to date in the tropical paradise where they choose to relax and fish every day.

 

What Is Available Offshore and How to Go About Setting it Up

 

The first step is to get good advice. You do not need to reinvent the wheel. You can also shop around a bit. Many will take a much needed vacation to an offshore destination and use the opportunity to meet with someone expert in setting up offshore solutions. There are also quite a number of online sources of information from many different offshore jurisdictions. Having someone who speaks the same language is important. It will be important to think through what one wishes to do before starting out.

 

Offshore Options

 

Banking

 

Many open offshore bank accounts in tax advantaged jurisdictions. An individual or corporation can do this directly or can bank through a number of offshore entities such as corporations, foundations or trusts. All of these entities need not be in the same country. Deciding on what to do and why is important before setting up a bank account.

 

International Business Corporations

 

An international business corporation or IBC can be used to actively run an offshore business or as a vehicle for holding bank accounts and other assets. Using bearer shares or nominee shareholders in such an offshore entity can help provide a degree of privacy and financial security not seen in many “on shore” jurisdictions.

 

Foundations

 

A foundation such as a Panama private interest foundation has no owner. It can control a wide range of assets such as corporations, bank accounts, homes, planes, boats, and more. It has beneficiaries. The beneficiaries are typically not publically known. Such an offshore vehicle can be used to provide asset protection and personal privacy as well.

 

Trusts

 

An offshore trust functions much like trusts in many jurisdictions throughout the world. They are a legal means of passing inheritance to ones heirs with a minimum of tax consequence. In many instances the placing of assets in an offshore trust will provide a much less encumbered transfer of assets than a similar vehicle might in ones country of origin.

 

Competent Advice

 

It is important to seek competent advice when looking into how to bank, do business, and protect assets offshore. Many of the most important decisions are made when deciding which offshore solutions to use and how to configure them.

Ponte del Diavolo 1


Image by Janex & Alba
Added to the Cream of the Crop pool as my best of 2006.

C’era una volta, in un borgo sulle rive del Serchio, un bravo e stimato campomastro al quale gli abitanti del paese si erano rivolti per fare costruire un ponte che collegasse i due borghi divisi dal fiume. L’abile campomastro si mise subito all’opera, ma ben presto vide che il lavoro non procedeva con quella sveltezza che lui aveva promesso ai compaesani e, siccome era un uomo ligio al dovere e puntuale agli impegni, cadde nel più profondo sconforto e nella disperazione. Continuò a lavorare con lena giorno e notte, pur di finire il ponte per il giorno stabilito nel contratto, ma il lavoro lentamente e, al contrario i giorni passavano veloci. Una sera, mentre il capomastro sedeva da solo sulla sponda del Serchio a guardare il lavoro e a pensare alle vergogna e al disonore che avrebbe subito per non aver terminato il ponte in tempo utile, gli apparve il Diavolo sotto l’aspetto di un rispettabile uomo d’affari. Andò subito incontro al brav’uomo dicendoli che lui sarebbe stato capace di finire il ponte in una sola notte. L’uomo rimase incredulo alle parole del Diavolo, ma continuò ad ascoltarlo e alla fine accetto la proposta. Naturalmente l’avversario avrebbe avuto la sua parte: il campomastro si sarebbe dovuto impegnare a consegnargli l’anima della prima persona che avrebbe attraversato il ponte una volta finito. Il campomastro accettò e il giorno dopo il borgo ebbe il suo ponte snello ed elegante, come si può vedere ancora oggi a Bogo a Mozzano. La gente stupefatta e incredula andò a complimentarsi con il bravo artigiano il quale raccomandò di non oltrepassare il ponte prima che il sole fosse tramontato. Intanto il capomaestro montò sul suo cavallo e si diresse a Lucca, un po’ preoccupato a dire il vero, per consultarsi con il Vescovo che a quel tempo era San Frediano. Il santo gli disse di non preoccuparsi e di lasciare che il Diavolo prendesse l’anima del primo che avrebbe attraversato il ponte, ma sarebbe sto dovere suo far sì che per primo passasse un maiale. Così fu fatto, e il Diavolo, inferocito per essere stato sconfitto, si gettò nelle acque del Serchio e da quel giorno non fu più visto da quelle parti.
——————————————————————————————————————
The Legend of the Devil’s Bridge
Once upon a time a clever and respected master builder lived in a village on the banks of the Serchio River. The inhabitants of the village approached him, asking him to build a bridge to connect their village with the one across the river. He immediately set to work, but he soon saw that the work was not progressing as quickly as he’d promised his fellow citizens it would, and being a man of his word and one who always fulfilled his obligations, he became very unhappy and desperate. He continued to put great effort into the work day and night so as to finish the task within the time allowed for in the contract, but the work continued to proceed very slowly while the days flew by. One evening while the builder was sitting alone on the banks of the Serchio looking at the work and thinking of the shame and discredit he would suffer for not having completed it in time, the devil appeared to him in the form of a respectable businessman.

He went straight up to the builder telling him that he’d be able to finish the bridge in a single night. The man didn’t believe what the devil was saying, but listened anyway, and in the end accepted his proposal. Naturally the devil wanted something in return: the builder was to undertake to give him the soul of the first person that crossed the bridge when it was completed. The builder accepted and the following day the village had its beautiful bridge that can still be seen today in Borgo a Mozzano.

The people were stunned and unable to believe what had been accomplished, and went to congratulate this craftsman who ordered them not to cross the bridge before sunset. In the meantime, the builder got on his horse, a little worried if the truth be told, and set off for Lucca to ask the Bishop for advice. At that time the Bishop was Saint Frediano. This saintly man told him not to worry and to allow the devil to take the soul of the first person to cross the bridge, and told him to let a pig cross first. This was done and the devil, furious at having been tricked, threw himself into the waters of the Serchio, and has not been seen in the area since.

Merchant banks found its origin in the early periods in the country of Italy by the Italian merchants. The main function of the merchant banking services include providing financial advice and services to corporate as well as individuals. These banks act as a sort of intermediary between capital issuers and the buyers of the securities. These securities are issued by different companies in the stock markets to raise funds.

The Necessity of Merchant Banking Services

The economy of the country is often afflicted with different unpredictable conditions like inflation, unemployment, stagnation and so forth. The need to sustain a steady growth is necessary for corporations and individuals which is possible only with a long term strategy and financial options. The merchant banking services provide solutions and financial options.

These banks provide advisor services to clients based on a particular fee. They also provide other financial services to mergers and clients. It is the only financial institute that invests its capital in the clients’ company. It acts as an intermediary between those who possess capital and those who need capital.

To help their clients with a number of financial options, the merchant banking services operate in a number of countries all over the world. In this manner the clients have the opportunity to survey the different financial options to ensure better growth.

Functions of the Merchant Banking Services

These banks have a number of functions and some of the most important among them include:

* Raise funds: one of the main functions of this banker includes helping the clients’ company to raise funds from the markets. The banks help to manage equity offerings and debt. This function further includes underwriting support, pricing and marketing of the issue, stock exchange listing, allotment and refund, offer document registration and so forth.

* Offer advisory services: these banks also offer advisory services to its clients for a proposed fee.

* Security distribution: the functions of these banking services also include distribution of different types of securities like fixed deposits, equity shares, mutual fund products, commercial paper and debt instruments.

* Aid in projects: these banks also provide aid in the projects undertaken by the clients by helping them to visualise the concept of the project. The feasibility of the project is also analysed by these banks. The clients are also given support to prepare project reports.

* Overall financial reconstruction: the merchant banking services provide better financial options and solutions to the clients. They help the clients to raise funds through cheaper resources. With the aid of other financial institutions, these banks also help to revive the sick units of the clients’ companies.

* Offer advice on management of risks: another important function performed by these banks includes providing timely advice on risk management. The merchant banker provides advice on different strategies adopted by the clients.

Today the merchant banking services provide a number of other services like loan syndication, credit acceptance, counselling of mergers and acquisitions, management of portfolio and so forth. They also assist companies with short term liquidity funds. In a nutshell, these banking services are indispensable as they support individuals and corporate to expand their business ventures.

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Neueste Beratungstechnologie / Newest advice technology


Image by Deutsche Bank AG

The meaning of investment banking is not the financial investment in the banking sector. But in fact, investment banking is a kind of banking function which is used to help clients in creating wealth and funds. The commercial banks use this type of banking in accord with sensible and practical use of the available resources. Not only this, investment banking and people engaged in this sector also provides advice on how to transact in business they are currently in.

Through investment banking, companies can create funds in two ways. They can either draw on public funds from capital market by releasing the stock i.e. corporate finance or they can go to venture capitalists or private equities to become share holders in their company. The field of investment banking is also engaged in giving advice and consultation on how to manage various takeovers and merging i.e. [M&A] merger and acquisitions. They also provide companies with ideas on how to declare public offerings and manage their talents. The handling of mergers and acquisitions come under the corporate finance function of the investment banking. The margin between investment banking and other forms of banking has been very unclear for a long time now and for the same time; the function of this banking sector has grown to covering every field of wealth management process of corporate as well as individual persons.

Corporate Finance: this is the sector where investment banking works and supports companies the most in getting extra money. Lets take an example that a company needs more money to finance the market research of a product to-be launched to stay forward in competition. Here, investment banking can help you by getting your company’s shares sold and raising funds for you. The other way, how an investment bank can get you money is by trading in stocks on behalf of their clients.

[M&A] Merger and Acquisitions: this point doesn’t have any explanation and it can be defined only through an example. Let’s take an example of a company who is going strong in business and market and wish to buy another company just to add more authority to their name and business. Professionals from investment banking sector makes them realize that on merging; both these companies can be a great group and can acquire major part of the market and also the business. They also tell them what are the other benefits of getting merged and also what is the right time according to market conditions for both the companies to get merged into each other.

Among other important functions that investment banking sector performs, sales is the most important one. Sales persons from investment banking sector performs the tasks of a professional sales person. These sales people convince investors and develop relationships with them to sell their stock. They are also ready to provide advice relating to stocks and trading. This advice makes buying and selling of stocks and other business transactions very easy. Research programmers are present to analyze the working and if some shortcoming is seen, they also help by suggesting them the right time to transact in stocks.

Visa First banking from www.moving2london.com about banking in the uk, our to get a uk bank account and advice of transferring money.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

北京銀行ATM客戶通知單


Image by Qiao-Da-Ye錫濛譙大爺
2006年12月1日發生的事，我永遠記得！

When starting a small business one of your primary concerns should be the banking services you employ. Those who are starting out often think that by mixing their personal and small business finances they will have greater efficiency and far less stress. Many part time business operators often use their personal account to carry out their business banking functions but on the whole, this kind of strategy should be avoided.

There are many reasons to have distinct personal and small business banking options for your company. A common misconception is that by combining finances it will be possible for your business to cut out extra banking charges that come as part of having a small business account. In effect however, while you may be avoiding the odd charge, you could be hurting your financial position.

The first reason not to mix your personal and small business banking is down to expenses. Government legislature makes it quite clear that it is only possible to write off expenses if the company has a business account. By keeping you finances in your personal account it will seem that your business is purely a hobby. The longer you do this, the harder it will be for the government to recognise the validity of your company and hence, harder to retrieve expenses and VAT charges.

The second reason is down to transparency during the tax calculation period. When you have to declare income and earnings you will have to spend a considerable amount of time separating all of your personal transactions from those of your small business. This can be a major banking headache and the time you spend combing your statements could be better spent devoting your energies to improving the profitability of your company. A separate business account will make the position far clearer and easier when it comes to the time of tax returns.

Thirdly, while there may be no law enforcing that a small business must have a specialist banking solution, it is not always advisable to ignore the benefits in terms of record keeping. You must have accurate records of your transactions throughout the year. These records must be complete and show the income and expenditure of your small business. Once again, a specialist account will mean that your records come in their own statement and hence are clear and transparent audit trail will be created.

Fourthly, your business could be harmed when mingling your finances by missing deductions that you may be entitled to. The statements of a combined account will be a mess of transactions and the chances of you missing a transaction that you may have given you a deduction is quite high. These can be detrimental to your profits and when you consider the time and energy either you or your accountant will have to spend raking the records, highly wasteful.

Fifth and finally, it may seem a minor point but by not having a separate account for your business, the professionalism of your services can be seriously affected. For instance, a customer writing a cheque to your business in your name may eventually see your company purely as a part time operation. Even if it is part time, do you really want your customers thinking that?

Taking the time to look into specialist banking services for your small business will be ultimately rewarding. Remember to research different account packages and find the one that most suits your type of company. The question you need to ask yourself is that while you may think that combining your finances is a good idea, can you really afford not to keep them separate?

Banking secrets! Learn how banks make money from loans and how banks work in this free video on insider banking and finance advice. Expert: Levi Culbertson Bio: Levi Culbertson is a 2000 appointee of the United States Air Force Academy. Following the appointment, he moved to Marshall, MN where he was employed in property management by Robert L. Carr. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan

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Bank shot


Image by Andi Sidwell
This was one which used flash and I was going for the kind of shot you might see in a bank’s advertising or advice booklets.

The appeal of starting your own business is certainly strong. Becoming your own boss, controlling your own hours and having staff working to earn you money are of course ideal. This is however a wholly unrealistic view of starting your own business, in reality it takes a long time to achieve success, a lot of effort in planning, such as banking and accounting solutions and in general a great deal of work.

A small business is certainly not an easy ride to profit and a simple life. The work you will have to put in, to your business plan, the banking options and the drive you must have to achieve success are all extremely time consuming. Instead of planning for an easy time on a Caribbean beach while your workers feverishly work should be forgotten. More realistic is that you will spend sleepless nights and hours filling out endless paperwork. That is not to say that owning your own business is not a joyous experience, owning and working towards building something of substance can be seen as one of the great pleasures in life.

One of your first decisions when you have decided on what your small business is going to do is to find a suitable banking solution that will enable your finances to be looked after solidly and yet are free enough for further investments. Generally the advice from financial experts is to split your personal and business banking services. This is mainly due to the fact that it is advisable not to give one bank control over all aspects of your financial situation. Added to this, by finding a separate banking solution it is more likely you will find better offers.

Selecting a banking solution for your small business requires a look at how your company operates and then selecting services that will suit these operations. For instance, if you are likely to be performing many cash transactions it is worth finding a banking solution that will charge you for these transactions monthly rather than on a pro rata basis. In the same way, if your small business requires credit card transactions on a regular basis, your banking system should meet this requirement.

As you start your small business you may want to take out a loan rather than utilise a banking overdraft. While this will be advisable for most and overdrafts have taken a bit of a battering in the press over the last few years, their value should not be discounted. This safety net can be extremely useful for your business, tiding you over while payments are awaited and even allowing you to pay rent and amenities before the funding has come through. This kind of banking solution has proved worthwhile for many small business owners as they struggle through the initial stages of the business. As long as you can repay it regularly and are not constantly in the red, they are a brilliant solution to the cash flow problems we all encounter.

Whatever you plan for your business an effective banking solution is a prerequisite. Starting a small business, as stated before is not an easy task; it can in no way be described as simple and laid back. If you feel that you have a chance of success a bank will be able to help you, whether this is through loans, an overdraft or effective account services all should be considered to give you that extra helping hand.

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Bjarke Østergaard


Image by Nordea Bank
Bjarke Østergaard, Head of Equity Research and Advice, Nordea Bank AB

You may be a small time entrepreneur just starting or a business or an executive with years of trading experience, either way you need to recognise the importance of efficient business banking. Your choice of account is a fundamental element in your business banking strategy and something that could seriously affect the progress of your business, be it large or small. Here are few advisory tips to help the small business owner to make the right banking choices and give your business the best chance of success.

If you are starting out as a limited company you will need to open a business account. While this may seem a chore, it is surprising how having a specialist business banking strategy can aid the clarity of your finances. On the other hand if you are operating as a sole trader you small business will not have to have its own account, you will be able to combine your personal and business finances. Finding a banking solution that accommodates both the needs of your small business and your personal life can be difficult, often, even as a sole trader it can be beneficial to have a dual banking strategy.

Another element of your business banking strategy should be the inclusion of a small business team in your account package. The advice that can be offered by these professionals can be invaluable and can help your business achieve success. While this type of banking solution may cost a little extra if you are not up to date with the latest financial developments, the effects can be catastrophic.

Of major importance for your small business is the banking charges that may be applicable to your account. Some of these fees will be fixed on a monthly basis while others may be based upon a pro rata system for each individual transaction that may be carried out. If your business is likely to perform many transactions it is advisable to take a monthly fixed charge option as it will probably work out cheaper.

Finding out about which banking extras come with your banking agreement is also important. These extras may include credit cards, free statements or internet and phone banking, which can be a beneficial. Some of these extras will be free for an initial period, so be financially wise and take advantage of this period and take all your can, after all when starting in business, the more help you can get while your business is small will pay dividends in the long run.

After making a detailed comparison of the different banking solutions offered by banks it will be time to open an account. Depending upon what type of company you will be running there are various pieces of information and documentation you will need for the process. Some banks may even ask for a business plan before they allow you to open account, this is an insurance on their part to assess whether your business model and idea is viable.

If starting a limited company you will need a Certificate of Incorporation before your banking can begin. You will also need several forms of identification, for yourself, but also for any other signatories that may have access to the account. This list of signatories will also need to be produced so the bank knows exactly who will have access to the funds.

It is worth remembering that you are not tied to any bank or account for life, it is possible to change. If you do sufficient research however you should not have to change and your business should benefit from having an effective banking system behind it. By following this brief advice you should be able to find an account that fulfils your business’ needs and adds to the chances of success.

Now is the perfect time to purchase real estate in Costa Rica as long as you have the help of a real estate law firm in Costa Rica. Real estate laws are much different from one part of the world as they are from another part of the world which is why you need a firm that will be able to understand the laws in Costa Rica. These people will also be able to help you with off shore banking. 

 

Those who are interested in going to Costa Rica should go now since now is the perfect time to go. You should consider whether or not you want to partake in business or purchase property in this country. When entering a formal contract that is legally binding, you should have an attorney that knows the law to help you out. Those who are going to be buying real estate property in Costa Rica will want the help of a real estate law firm in Costa Rica. 

 

There are many advantages that come with off shore banking. You should consider getting off shore banking advice from a Costa Rican attorney. This individual will be able to explain the tax laws to you and explain to you how much you’ll be able to save by opening up an account. United States citizens can open up an off shore banking account in Costa Rica. Those who are unaware about opening an account should get into contract with attorney who understands the tax laws on Costa Rica. 

 

A real estate law firm in Costa Rica will be able to help you close on a property in Costa Rica. It is possible to purchase business property in Costa Rica such as a bed and breakfast which you can develop into luxury condos. It is also possible to purchase property for your own personal use. You will quickly find that there are tons of excellent deals available in Costa Rica. Remember that you should seek out help from a real estate law firm in Costa Rica before purchasing property in the country. 

 

A real estate law firm in Costa Rica will be able to help you with purchasing real estate. These people will be able to help you out regardless if you’re purchasing beachfront property or a commercial complex. Costa Rica is a very beautiful country that has mountains and seaside views. Those seeking the ultimate in luxury will be able to find beautiful beach front estates. The real estate law firm in Costa Rica will be able to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. They will also be able to help you set up an off shore banking account. Those who are looking for undeveloped land will be able to find that with the help of a law firm.

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Newark Bears pitching coach Willie Banks (36) offers advice to James "Bubba" O’Donnell to help him get through the first inning.

Simply put, an investment bank is a financial institution that helps people and organisations make sound decisions for their money. It offers custom portfolios and advisory solutions for governments, corporate institutions, family based businesses, retail investors, etc.

Investment banks are different from retail or commercial banks. They do not accept funds as deposits. Their sole purpose is to offer investment services to those who either don’t have the time and skill to research investment ideas and even for some who simply don’t want to bother managing their funds on a regular basis.

Investing is also a much disciplined art and one cannot go about it without having enough knowledge of it. Also, it is sometimes difficult for an uninformed investor to make profits without taking adequate risks. That is why, there are several banks offering varying investment services which deal in capital markets, debt funds, derivatives, etc. Investment banks help investors make informed decisions on managing their wealth based upon their earnings and goals.

Investment banks have dedicated portfolio managers, who invest funds in a diversified manner so that it is balanced with equal weightage given to each instrument. This ensures that the customer’s portfolio is balanced and the dip in one sector or instrument does not affect the earnings made on that portfolio.

Investment banking is not limited to investment banks. Commercial and retail banks too have recently started offering investment services but it is the investment banks that are still holding their own. Investment services are based primarily upon the need and risk appetite of the individual investor. There are services which are asset based, structure based, based on capital market & derivatives, and advisory services. A few of these services are for institutions and larger funds while the retail investor mostly looks at capital market based or advisory services.

For the retail investor, the relationship manager of the bank is their one point of contact for all their investment decisions and banking advice. A relationship manager often advises based on the customer’s exact needs and the risk appetite. The kind of portfolios that a relationship manager will advise will also depend upon other important factors such as the time horizon of the investment, the type of instrument they are interested in investing in, etc.  Investing, however, is an art. So, go about it only in an informed manner. And if you desire better and consistent results, professionals are always there to guide you, who research extensively to come up with a suitable plan or investment ideas that suit your needs aptly.

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