A big surprise is despite a sophisticated education and lifestyle, they lack life skills and experience which will affect the ability of future leaders to make decisions and judge risk effectively.

That’s if any potential leaders actually make that far, say managers.

The research was undertaken by the UK’s Ashridge Business School, which asked 2,900 managers and graduates aged under 30 around the world for their thoughts about Gen Y.

The biggest concern for managers is employee retention because Gen Y brings higher expectations to their work, while looking for new challenges with fast promotion to more responsible managerial positions. They also want to make changes rather than develop their skills and adapt to an organisation.

Their unmet expectations then prompt the search for another role.

Hard to manage

Managers in Malaysia say they spend two-thirds of their time in managing the expectations of Gen Y employees.

The report, Culture Shock!, also highlights that graduates in Europe, the Middle East, India, China and Malaysia are very similar people.

However, their managers see work from very different perspective.

Gen Y tends to get on with their immediate line managers, but see those higher up as unwilling to make the changes they want.

However, while Gen Y employees are recognised as intelligent and driven, managers can see them as too self-focused, over confident, lacking respect and without team skills.

Managers also describe them as digitally integrated, socially aware, unconventional and confident.

Frequent job changes by many Gen Y employees has led to managers fearing the next generation will not provide experienced leaders because they have no real in-depth experience in the jobs they take.

Different priorities

The desire by Gen Y employees for fame and recognition was also disliked by many managers.

An Ashridge spokesman said: “We are talking about a generation that has lived with X Factor, Facebook and mobile phones.

“Against this background of rapidly changing technology, political and cultural standards means that Gen Y has different priorities from other generations.

“As a result, Gen Y is quickly changing employment practice around the world and this growing workforce is challenging the traditional models within companies.

“Those companies will have to find ways of adapting themselves and working better with Gen Y who have unique contributions and strengths to create a better workforce for the future.”

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Last October, there was a royal decree ordering Emirati citizens could no longer be jailed for bouncing cheques.

The use of post-dated cheques is widespread and often used by businesses and individuals as a guarantee for expensive transactions, like apartment rentals and business deals.

However, local news outlets reported Ali Khalfan Al Dhaheri, from the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, as saying that it would be ‘fair and equal’ that foreigners would no longer be imprisoned for issuing collateral cheques that later bounced.

All public prosecutions involving foreigners were believed to have halted and detainees had been released from custody.

1.6 million cheques bounced

It was also made clear that civil cases could still be brought against someone who dishonoured their cheque.

But now UAE’s Higher Committee of the Nationals Defaulted Debts Settlement Fund has clarified that the decree does indeed just relate to UAE nationals.

In a statement they confirm that they are only interested in handling the debts of Emirati citizens, according to payment terms set by courts and that they would no longer be jailed.

However, this decriminalisation of issuing bad security cheques would not be extended to expats.

The issuing of bad cheques is something of a serious issue in the UAE, with the Central Bank revealing that of the 28.5 million cheques written in 2011, 1.6 million bounced – worth around £9 billion.

In 2009, at the height of Dubai’s downturn, it was estimated that around 2,500 people were absconding every month leaving behind unpaid credit card bills.

International debt collectors

But since then many banks have used international debt collectors to help track down the ‘skippers’ and make them pay – often years after they left Dubai.

Standard Chartered says it uses debt collectors in 70 countries where it’s often easier to get repayment than it would be in the Gulf.

Some high profile cases are still due before the UAE courts. In one, British-born businessman Safi Qurashi is awaiting a new trial date after Dubai’s Attorney General found that after a review of the evidence which led to his conviction, the cheques which bounced should not have been cashed and should have been returned to him.

Mr Qurashi, who rose to fame after buying a £37million manmade island shaped like the UK on Nakheel’s ‘The World’, now says that he is disappointed that the British government has failed to support him in fighting the case.

The post Riddle Over Dud Cheques Deal For Expats In UAE appeared first on QROPS Pension Transfer.

Expats who are still UK taxpayers can invest some extra cash tax free in to a ‘relevant life plan’ by including the policy in their employment benefits package.

The policies are standard life or critical illness cover – but come with the tax free benefit.

Any IFA can set up a relevant life plan – but make sure the policy is written in trust to take advantage of the maximum tax benefits.

Most major life companies offer the policies as term life cover with a sum assured of around £10 million.

To find out more, read the answers to these frequently asked questions:

Relevant life plans explained

It’s a life policy which pays out a cash amount on death or diagnosis of a terminal while the policy is running. They are like any other life protection policy, but have the added bonus of cutting tax that makes the cover much cheaper than that offered by a standard policy.

What will be the tax reliefs?

Premiums for relevant life plans are an allowable business expense –so if the policy is added in to a benefits plan, the employee pays no income tax or national insurance on the premiums and the employer can set off the amount in the company accounts.

Will this affect an employee’s pension contributions?

No, a relevant life plan is insurance, not a pension, so any premiums are discounted as pension contributions.

Is the lump sum taxable?

No. Providing the relevant life plan is set up as a discretionary trust, the sum assured paid on death or diagnosis of terminal illness is not taxable as income or an inheritance.

Who can benefit?

A relevant life plan is sole life cover for a director or employee. Cover is usually a multiple an employment package –which includes salary, bonus, benefits and dividends paid by the employer.

Who cannot benefit from a relevant life plan?

There has to be an employer/employee relationship, so sole traders, equity partners or equity members of a limited liability partnership are not be eligible for the plan. It’s also not possible to offer joint policies for spouses or partners.

Relevant life plans offer a tax efficient way of providing an excellent level of life cover, but few employers know about them.

The post Stretching your tax free income with this life cover appeared first on QROPS Pension Transfer.

Rude and dirty were the biggest impressions London made on visitors from around the world who were asked for their opinions on 40 key tourist cities by leading travel website TripAdvisor.

There were 10 categories rated and 75,000 tourists responded – and London fared poorly in them all.

The city was ranked 26^th, while Tokyo was acclaimed as the world’s cleanest city for visitors.

And most of these responses came after London’s big clean-up for the 2012 Olympics and Jubilee celebrations.

And when it came to friendliness, Londoners ranked second to last – just above the frosty reception tourists received from the people of Moscow. The world’s friendliest destination is Cancun in Mexico.

Shopping bags London votes

London is also decidedly middle of the road when it comes to getting around. Visitors put the city in 17th place, with Dublin trailing in behind in 21st spot. The best place for travel is Zurich.

Also the capital’s public transport doesn’t fare much better – ranked 15th. Tokyo again claimed the top spot.

But London does fairly well for its taxis. Tourists voted them in at fifth place – and 12th place for the friendliest cabbies.

However, it’s not all bad news – when it comes to being a shopping destination, London is ranked as fourth behind New York in first place – and then Bangkok and Dubai.

London was rated above Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris as a shopping destination.

Lisbon was rated as the best value-for-money destination, while and London was in the bottom five – even with its plethora of free museums, parks and attractions.

Frosty reception in Moscow

More worryingly for London is that when asked about safety, visitors placed the city in 28th spot. Tokyo was considered to be considerably safer.

Moscow was the city considered to be the worst by visitors for friendly locals and cabbies, taxis and shopping.

A Tripadvisor spokesman said: “London still remains one of the world’s most popular places to visit and no doubt travellers will continue to rave about it. Indeed, in our Travellers’ Choice Awards, London was voted as being the best city in the world to visit so the recent study shows that perhaps even great cities can’t be perfect in every way.”

Indeed, in Trip Advisor’s previous survey, London picked up the title for best world, Europe and UK destination.

The post London Fails To Impress appeared first on QROPS Pension Transfer.

Colorado, Massachusetts and Washington are set for a confrontation with the Federal government since marijuana is still illegal under Federal law.

Advocates of the law say it will bring to an end the drug’s prohibition.

Marijuana is the most widely used illegal drug in America and the new law states that people can grow marijuana for their own medicinal use.  Essentially they will be allowed to grow enough for a 60 day supply in their own homes.

However, landlords say this situation will become a nightmare for them.

Landlords concerned

They believe they face the prospect of an increase in crime in the apartment buildings where tenants grow marijuana.

They also face the prospect of drug raids which means landlords could become embroiled in any subsequent legal action resulting in the confiscation of their property.

The new law takes effect from January 1, 2013, and already some landlords are looking to offset the effect of people growing medical marijuana by banning smoking in their buildings.

Skip Schloming, the executive director of the Massachusetts’ Small Property Owners Association, said: “There is the potential for a real disaster here.

“There could be as many as 24 plants which would be 6ft tall bringing all sorts of damage to the property from water damage to mould to wiring problems.”

Now landlords want the right to choose who lives in their properties but they are hampered by being unable to question someone about their disability.

Grass root support

And people growing marijuana will be doing so for medical reasons to comply with the law.

Skip added: “We want the right to choose who lives in our properties. We’re not trying to overthrow the law but we should be able to turn down a tenant for growing marijuana.

“Anti-discriminatory laws prevent landlords and property rental agencies from asking prospective tenants about any disabilities. The wording of the new law would mean anyone with a disability could grow the marijuana for their own use.”

As well as making their properties smoke-free, landlords are also looking at implementing clauses in their tenancy agreements which prevent people from specifically growing marijuana in their property.

Another concern is that their property will be targeted by criminals looking at stealing the marijuana plants or crop and in doing so creating expensive damage for them to repair.

The Massachusetts’ Small Property Owners Association is also among several other groups urging lawmakers to delay the law’s implementation so that the wording of the Bill can be made clearer and help protect them from Federal prosecution.

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Snoring is recognised as a common symptom of the night time disorder sleep apnoea – and if sufferers are diagnosed with the complaint, they can claim for an enhanced retirement annuity.

Enhanced annuities pay out more because a number of medical and lifestyle problems can lead to a shorter life.

According to annuity provider MGM Advantage, sleep apnoea is one complaint covered by an enhanced annuity and can lead to a pay out of an extra £12,000 in retirement income for a man aged 65 with £100,000 to invest with a life expectancy of another 21 years.

Enhanced retirement pay outs

This works out at £571.44 extra money each year above the current highest conventional annuity rate available.

Almost two-thirds of over 55s snore through the night because they have sleep apnoea, but few realise they can claim extra retirement cash because of the complaint. They also regularly suffer from other complaints like heart disorder and high cholesterol, which are also triggers for enhanced annuity pay outs.

Andrew Tully, pensions technical director at the firm said: “If you are a snorer, you’re highly unlikely to tell many people but, when thinking about your retirement and purchasing your annuity, it’s something to make very clear. Sharing that little bit of information could mean a difference of thousands of pounds of extra retirement income.

Retirement finances

“Enhanced annuities take into consideration a wide range of medical and lifestyle conditions. Unusual conditions with subtle symptoms like snoring are eligible, as are far more common conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

“It really does pay to make your adviser or pension provider aware of any medical or lifestyle condition you may have. The difference between the worst conventional annuity rate and best enhanced annuity rate can be as much as 48%, which could make a huge difference to your retirement finances.

“So, next time you’re kept awake by snoring, remember that heavy breathing could soon bring in the cash.”

Other conditions which are likely to attain a higher income through an enhanced annuity are diabetes, angina, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Smoking can also lead to a greater pension income.

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Many working for themselves seem unaware that the government will top up their pension contributions within lifetime allowance and annual limits.

This means every £80 of contributions paid by a retirement saver in to a pension is worth £100 as the government adds £20 as a reward for saving for basic rate taxpayers who pay income tax at 20%.

The benefit is worth even more to higher rate taxpayers who can reclaim 20% extra pension relief by submitting a tax return each year.

Take tax relief with you

The figures come from research by The Prudential, and are aimed at encouraging the self employed to start a pension by taking the reverse view – that nearly 46% do not have a pension.

Many small business owners who have built up pension savings over the years and intend to retire abroad after a lifetime of hard work, but do not realise they can take their tax-relieved contributions offshore when they move.

HM Revenue & Customs lets retirement savers switch their UK pension funds in to a special ‘qualifying recognised overseas pension’ or QROPS for short – but the state pension must remain outside of any offshore pension arrangements.

Around 2,000 QROPS schemes are available in nearly 50 countries – and all accept transfers from UK pensions and offer special tax and investment opportunities for retirement savers.

QROPS can also operate like a UK SiPP (self-invested pension plan) by holding commercial property within the scheme.

However, unlike UK pensions, QROPS are outside of the UK inheritance tax net and can protect uncrystallised benefits from the withering 55% tax charge imposed in Britain.

Tax-free pension payments

One of the main qualifying tests is the pension member must not be UK resident – but for those retiring to Spain, France or other popular destinations like Canada, Australia or New Zealand, this is not a problem.

“QROPS also generally pay a larger tax-free lump sum than UK pensions – up to 30% against 25% – but this does vary between providers” says Lisa Smith from iExpats.com

Another important benefit for many is QROPS pay out in most major currencies, so rather than timing currency transactions from the UK for the best deal in the country where you live, payments in the currency you prefer can go straight in to the bank.

The post QROPS for the self-employed and small business owners appeared first on QROPS Pension Transfer.

Unemployment numbers were up just 0.1% between April and May this year – but year-on-year the figures show an increase of 1.1%.

For the European Union as a whole, the figures show similar increases – from 10.2% in April to 10.3% in May, while the annual figure has risen 0.8% from 9.5% in May 2011.

Eurostat – the EU’s official statistics agency – reckons that 24.868 million men and women in the EU, of whom 17.561 million were live in the euro area, were unemployed in May 2012.

Compared with April 2012, the number of without a job increased by 151 000 in the EU and by 88 000 in the euro area. Compared with May 2011, unemployment rose by 1.952 million in the EU and by 1.820 million in the euro area.

The lowest unemployment rates are in Austria (4.1%), the Netherlands (5.1%), Luxembourg (5.4%) and Germany (5.6%), while the highest is in Spain (24.6%) and Greece (21.9% in March 2012).

Compared with a year ago, the unemployment rate fell in eight EU countries, increased in 18, and was stable in Hungary.

The largest falls were in Estonia (13.6% to 10.9% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012), Lithuania (15.7% to 13.7%) and Latvia (17.1% to 15.3% between the first quarters of 2011 and 2012). The highest increases were in Greece (15.7% to 21.9% between March 2011 and March 2012), Spain (20.9% to 24.6%) and Cyprus (7.5% to 10.8%).

Between May 2011 and May 2012, the unemployment rate for men increased from 9.8% to 10.9% in the euro area and from 9.5% to 10.3% in the EU. The female unemployment rate rose from 10.3% to 11.3% in the euro area and from 9.6% to 10.4% in the EU.

In May 2012, 5.517 million under 25s were unemployed in the EU, of whom 3.412 million were in the euro area.

Compared with May 2011, youth unemployment rose by 282 000 in the EU and by 254 000 in the euro area.

In May 2012, the youth unemployment rate was 22.7% in the EU and 22.6% in the euro area. In May 2011, the rate was 21.0% and 20.5% respectively.

The lowest rates were in Germany (7.9%), Austria (8.3%) and the Netherlands (9.2%), and the highest in Greece (52.1% in March 2012) and Spain (52.1%).

In May 2012, the unemployment rate was 8.2% in the USA and 4.4% in Japan.

The post Euro jobless total climbs 10% in a year appeared first on QROPS Pension Transfer.

The system will then be rolled out across the board to smaller employers, until eventually every employer will have to pay into their employees’ pensions (subject to some narrow exceptions).

It will be possible for employees to “opt out” of these schemes, but the process relies on the employee taking the initiative to do so – the default position is that you are in a scheme unless you opt out of it within one month of enrolment.

Employees will then have to review whether or not they want to remain with a scheme every three years.

Employers have bemoaned the system because it will increase the costs of employing people, and the general public has reacted (or rather, not reacted) with the apathy it typically feels for pensions.

However, if you are already have significant retirement savings and are close to the maximum lifetime allowance, you may need to act quickly to avoid the auto enrolment process tipping you over the lifetime allowance limit.

HMRC offers generous tax allowances on pension savings, as an incentive to make people save for their retirement.

However, there is a cap on how much of your savings can benefit from this favourable treatment. That lifetime allowance is reviewed with each budget. It was recently reduced from £1.8 million to £1.5 million, although HMRC did offer protection to those who would be affected by that difference.

If you are close to that limit and risk being catapulted over it by contributions made under an auto-enrolled scheme, you need to be vigilant about opting out as soon as possible. The consequences of exceeding the limit could include a tax charge of up to 55% on the whole pension pot, not just the amount by which the limit is exceeded.

The post Auto-enrolment may cause problems for higher earners appeared first on QROPS Pension Transfer.

Assess your current situation and consider your aspirations

Firstly, the QROPS adviser will ask how long you intend to remain outside of the United Kingdom. This is relevant because the QROPS UK tax exemption only applies if you are reside outside of the country for at least 5 years from the transfer.

Decide whether you are a candidate

For most people, there is a solution to any of the difficulties that may present themselves to a potential QROPS transfer. The only exception to this is for US citizens and some US residents. Rather than this being discrimination on the part of the QROPS providers, who would probably love Americans’ custom, the Inland Revenue Service is the one that puts up the barriers by considering a QROPS transfer as attempted avoidance.

The good news is that due to the latest development, individuals from the USA who reside elsewhere and expats living in the USA now have options. It is possible that these individuals can take advantage of a QROPS however careful planning and taking regulated advice is a must. Contact us to find out more.

The next potential inhibitor is the rulebook of your own UK pension scheme. Some schemes will not permit a transfer if the investor has drawn down some benefits already. If you are unsure about whether or not this applies to you, consult an adviser.

Then there is the question of whether it is worth your while to transfer, and whether a better deal can be found. Almost always the answer to this question is yes. However, if you are lucky enough to have a gold plated defined benefits scheme (where you are guaranteed a certain annuity ad infinitum), then you may have to take very careful advice about whether or not any other provider is able to offer a similar guarantee.

Likewise, if your pension pot is substantial enough to be hovering around the HMRC’s lifetime contribution limit of £1.5m, then you may incur a charge so this scenario requires careful advice.

Once your QROPS adviser has answered these questions, it is time to start shopping around for the best, most tax efficient foreign pension for you!

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