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SAN FRANCISCO - A recovery in the economy later this year will keep United States vehicle sales from plunging as deeply as the most bearish forecasts suggest, according to an outlook released on Sunday by the group representing United States auto dealers.

LONDON, Feb 10 - - The extent of Europe’s infection from the United States subprime mortgage virus is becoming clearer, even as the European Central Bank faces down calls for it to follow United States and UK counterparts by cutting interest rates.

Daniel Kertcher

You have no doubt heard of the “Baby Boomers”, those individuals born between 1943 and 1963. Following World War II, Australia’s population grew at record levels. Australia was not alone in this phenomenon. The United States, New Zealand and Canada all experienced Baby Booms at a similar time.

The Baby Boomers are an important phenomenon to understand. They have had dramatic effects on society and will substantially impact the way the stock market performs over the next 20 years. For this reason, it is important to understand some of the background on this interesting group of people.

As mentioned, the Baby Boom was experienced in various countries around the world. Part of the reason for the “Boom” was that these countries were immigrant receivers and immigrants tend to be in their 20’s, the prime childbearing years. At its peak in 1957, the US boom hit 3.7 children per family. Canada hit its peak in 1959 with Canadian women averaging 4 offspring each; that was over 479,000 new births that year alone! Australia’s boom was not quite as big as the Canadian or US booms; however, we still have a disproportionate number of people who are today in their 40’s and 50’s. Following the Baby Boom, we had a Baby Bust. Far fewer children were born during the late sixties, leaving Australia with an asymmetrical population graph.

The Baby Bust group, born between 1964 and 1976 are a much smaller group than their predecessors and are commonly referred to as Generation X.

Baby Boomers are a very significant and important group. It is not that, individually, they are any different than any other group who preceded them, it’s just that there are so many of them. Due to their large numbers, Baby Boomers have had a significant impact on our society, making substantial changes as they grew. They have changed the economy, driven housing and other markets and transformed social attitudes and lifestyles.

In Australia and North America today, the fastest growing industries, apart from technology, are financial management, leisure activities and health care. It is very easy to see why. Boomers have been working all their adult lives, usually for someone else. They have raised their children and are now focusing on their retirement. They have had a magnificent time. They have not endured wars, or a depression like their parents and grandparents. They have enjoyed fantastic luxuries such as cars, world holidays and computers. They have been at the forefront of the age of discovery.

Unfortunately, the majority have not prepared themselves financially for their retirements, believing instead that like their parents, they would enjoy a comfortable pension from their employers and/or government. The stark realities are now coming to light. Everybody, especially the Boomers, must take responsibility for their financial futures. Our government will simply not be in a position to provide adequate pension incomes for a growing number of retirees. Today, for every person who is retired, there are four people working, providing income to the government. By 2025, there will be only 2 people working for every retiree. What’s more, the Boomers, as they start to retire, will live longer than any group before them, well into their 70’s and 80’s on average. As a result, it is up to each of us as individuals to take responsibility of our own personal financial planning.

The Australian government has made substantial improvements and preparations for the growing populations. They have introduced a compulsory superannuation scheme which all employers and employees must participate in and which is gradually rising in required contributions, but it will be too little, too late. The key to investment growth is time, a luxury many Boomers no longer possess.

Consider this fact, that at a return of 8% per annum, net of tax, an investment of $30,000 would require over 15 years to triple in value, not even considering the effects of inflation. Most investment strategies commonly promoted to the public boast returns of 4% to 10% per annum. We often see managed funds, superannuation schemes, bank term deposits and property investments offering such results. Many people consider these returns appropriate and even good! Unfortunately, many members of the public require a much greater return on their investments to adequately improve their financial positions before they retire (if they can ever afford to!).

In future issues we will explore ways of generating high returns and how to self manage your own super.

Daniel Kertcher is a licensed stock market educator. Daniel has trained many people from North America, Australia and Europe in various trading systems. Join his trading mail list http://www.platinumpursuits.com and read more about him at his personal website http://www.danielkertcher.com and http://www-cfds.com

LONDON - Royal Bank of Scotland , Barclays and Citigroup have offered to securitise half of the Bank of England’s emergency loan to Northern Rock , The Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing sources.

Dometri Quick

Frustrated with your mounting credit card debt? Thinking about filing for bankruptcy? Hold that thought!

Realize Your Problem Early

So, you have a problem, don’t you? Don’t be afraid. You’re not alone. Every year, millions of Americans and people all over the world realize they are suffering from an overwhelming amount of credit card debt.

They stress over it, worry about it and wonder how they can ever make it disappear. They struggle to make it through each passing month, thinking about whether they’ll be able to make the next payment. They may even consider bankruptcy. But, here’s the secret: If everyone is suffering from it, why do you feel like your situation is any different?

Don’t be scared of debt. It’s the thing that this country and so many others are built on. However, if you feel that you may have a real problem with debt, catch it early and do something about it. Start to make all your payments on time. Stop putting off that credit card bill until next month. Do whatever you can initially to stop the bleeding and to put any extravagant or wasteful spending to a halt. You’ll be glad you did.

Realizing that you have a problem with debt is the first key to protecting yourself from it and eventually eliminating it altogether.

Consolidation May Work for You

Ready? Good. But now that you’ve recognized your problem and decided to do something about it, the question still remains: How do you eliminate credit card debt? Well, debt consolidation, available through a variety of different debt consolidation firms and companies, may be the right option for you.

By consolidating your credit card debt, you will be taking all the debt you’ve amassed on one or more cards and putting it into a program that reduces the high interest rates that many cards come attached with. It allows you to pay off your credit card debt the way you want to. Want to pay it all off in two years? Debt consolidation can help you do that. Need ten years to get it all off your monthly statements? That’s not a problem either.

Credit card consolidation helps you reduce your credit card debt quickly and less painfully than usual. The key is knowing and understanding what you want to do with your debt consolidation plan.

Only Use Bankruptcy as a Last Resort

If you’ve even considered bankruptcy, listen up now. Bankruptcy is the least desirable option of all when it comes to eliminating your debt quickly. Do you really want to lose many of the items you currently own? Do you want to ruin your credit report and hurt your chances of getting a house or even a job in the future? Of course you don’t. But bankruptcy may do all of this to you.

Look into credit card consolidation or speak with a credit specialist or financial advisor before you think about declaring for bankruptcy. You’ll be glad that you did.

Dometri Quick is the development director at http://DebtConsolidationSupport.com. You can find more articles for helping you eliminate credit card debt at http://www.debtconsolidationsupport.com.

LONDON - HSBC is poised to put hundreds
of its French regional retail branches up for sale, a further
sign the bank is shifting its focus to emerging markets,
according to media reports on Sunday.

MUMBAI - United States car maker Chrysler LLC’s Indian unit has signed a 4 billion rupee ($101 million) contract with a New Delhi-based car seat maker to source seats for its Jeep Wrangler, an Indian newspaper reported on Sunday.

Trish Powell

Money can’t buy happiness is the old saying that we fall back on when times are tough and the bank account isn’t looking too good. This saying does give a measure of comfort, but it is only fleeting, because once the thought of happiness has come up, then we start asking ourselves, Are we really are happy?

It is true you can’t actually go out and buy happiness. There is not a ratio of happiness to money, the more money you have will not make you that much happier, but with little money there is worry and stress. There is a strong ratio between stress and health

Financial stress is probably the number one concern for most people. It is hard to enjoy life when you are always worried about the next cent. Major stress has a trickle down effect on your health.

If you are not sleeping well because you are worried about unpaid bills, this will gradually take its toll on your body. Adequate rest is essential for good health.

If you are juggling two jobs and not eating properly your body won’t be able to cope. When you need a paycheck, you need to be fit enough to earn it.

The amount of choices you are free to make is directly related to how much money you have. Wealth can help you to achieve lifestyle that improves your health, because you are under less stress, have the time and money to eat the right diet, and live in a healthy environment.

We all want lifestyle and not necessarily the million dollar kind. Some folks dreams are very ordinary. There is nothing ordinary though, about getting the extra money to achieve them.

Our dream was to be able to live aboard a sailing boat and we did manage it for a few short periods. No matter what we tried, we were never able to amass enough money to do it permanently.

We tried everything; sales jobs that were supposed to earn us fabulous commissions; being self employed that was to give us the ability to expand and the tax breaks that come with it; network marketing had all the potentials but none of the rewards. We even tried gambling systems and get rich quick schemes. At one time we were doing five jobs, as in physical jobs between us and still we were going nowhere.

The crunch came when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. During my recovery, I had a lot of time to think and I decided I wasn’t happy with our lifestyle, or rather our way of life, as there was no “style” to it! We had sold our last yacht and moved ashore to give our two children a chance at going to university. Now they had left home, (they were both traveling the world, not going to university) we decided to buy another boat and have another shot at the dream.

In the beginning the cash flow had to come from conventional jobs. But that was okay because at the end of the day, when we sat on the deck having our sundowner we were living part of the dream.

We decided what we needed was a “portable income”. That is an income that we could earn while we were on the move, an income that would allow us to stay on our yacht and cruise when we felt like it. We could have moved to the mountains or a beach. We didn’t have to consider commuting to work or being in a populated area to give us an income.

Technological advances have made it easier to do business on the move via wireless broadband. So it was a logical choice for us to look in this direction to create our portable income. In the past, to have a telephone and computer connections meant having a place of residence and staying put. Not any more. We can literally have our office on board a boat.

I always worried about money, and when we got into debt I couldn’t cope. My biggest dream was to be debt free. We don’t have a big yacht, but we do have a lifestyle. Not constantly worrying about money, takes years off your age.

A portable income is exciting for us because now we can begin to think about other things we’d like. Old dreams can be brought out again and dusted off, because suddenly it’s possible to think beyond a weekly paycheck.

Creating a portable income isn’t easy, but once we had developed a system that we could repeat over and over, we knew we were on our way. The dividends when this starts to take off are not only financial, but gone also is the stress. Now we have lifestyle, and we will be healthy enough to enjoy it.

For more on Life Coaching and Wellbeing in general, visit http://www.wellbeing-information.com