SECTOR FOCUS: FINANCE
Foundation grants £100k for local youngsters
By Kate Salter Marketing officer
The University of Birmingham has been awarded £30,000 to provide bursaries to students from the West Midlands’ most deprived areas over the next three years. The money is one of nine
awards, totalling £100,000, from The National Express Foundation to help disadvantaged young people across the region. The foundation’s funding will
assist 48 young students progress to higher education and hundreds of kids enjoy new activities, equipment and training at community groups across the West Midlands.
‘The funding will support many projects across the West Midlands’
Gail Rothnie, head of
outreach, said: “The University of Birmingham is delighted to be working with the National Express Foundation. The Access to Birmingham (A2B) scholarship gift will be of enormous benefit to the students who receive it. Most A2B students are the first person in their family to go to university and often come from disadvantaged backgrounds. “We are committed to
providing opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to study at Birmingham and to support them during their time with us.” Trustees of the foundation including Ladywood MP Shabana Mahmood agreed to make awards to six local community groups and three educational institutions. Anthony Vigor, chairman of
the foundation, said: “We are delighted to announce this support for local students and community groups. The funding will support projects across the West Midlands. I look forward to seeing these projects in action and hope the funding will make a real difference."
40 CHAMBERLINK OCTOBER 2012
SPONSORED BY: UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Assess your pension now!
A
Birmingham-based financial consultant has warned that millions of people are facing pension hell when they retire. John Harris, of PLS Money Ltd, said many people had no idea what their pension was worth, and the reality was that billions of pounds were locked away in frozen or dormant pensions in the UK which were unlikely to provide any worthwhile financial benefits to the recipient.
He said: “It is not unusual as people advance through their
working life to have several pensions that might only produce just a few pounds per month, for example, £10,000 in a pension is worth approximately £11.50 per week based on present annuity rates and even a £100,000 pension pot is only going to produce an income of less than £500 per month and to top it all, it’s taxable.” Mr Harris said that the answer for most people was to assess
what state their pension was in, and review the possibilities of what to do with it.
He added that one solution might be to take control of the
John Harris: don’t forget about your pension
funds available and put them into a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), in order to take advantage of the growing opportunities within the alternative investment markets, which can sometimes outperform some of the traditional managed funds many times over. “Our clients are frequently shocked when they find out exactly what has been happening with their nest eggs and even more surprised when they learn about the opportunities available to them,” he said. “Caution is key, though, as there is no protection from the financial services compensation scheme and only schemes that have been thoroughly researched should be considered and even then there are risks.”
“Our clients are frequently shocked when they find out exactly what has been happening with their nest eggs
Find a business account that pays
By RAV BAGRI, senior business savings manager, Nationwide Commercial
UK businesses are missing out on over £700 million by putting their cash in an account that pays little or no interest. Our research shows that around £60 billion is held in
business current accounts earning nominal interest or nothing at all. So, if you’re an owner of a small or medium-sized business, you could be missing out and you might want to reconsider where you hold your money. In the last few years, with
access business savings account, companies could be over £700 million better off. Clearly, businesses will need to keep some money in
economic conditions remaining uncertain, businesses have become increasingly prudent when investing their money. Those that can are starting to hold onto more cash to meet future challenges and opportunities. As a result, there has been a rise in the amount of money residing in business current accounts. If the £60 billion languishing in low or no interest accounts was instead placed into a Nationwide instant
‘Around £60 billion is held in business current accounts earning nominal interest or nothing at all.’
a current account for day-to-day expenditure but there are business savings accounts available offering better rates, which are being used. Yet, finding an account that pays a competitive rate and that suits the business need can often seem quite daunting. According to Business Moneyfacts, there are more than 350 accounts ranging from variable to notice to fixed-rate term accounts. The business savings market, at
present, is highly concentrated with the top five deposit-taking institutions accounting for more
than 90 per cent of the market which isn’t necessarily a healthy position for either the market or business savers. This is why Nationwide recently launched a range of
competitive instant access and notice business savings accounts for small and medium sized businesses.
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