Archive for November, 2009
Management of Cash
Most businesses or people will hold certain amount of cash as part of the total assets held. The amount of cash held, however, may vary considerably between businesses and people. For a person, it is generally advisable for them to hold at least 10% of their income in cash in the bank. This is not [...]
Getting Married on a Credit Card and a Personal Loan
A friend told me he is planing to get married last week. My first question to him as a financial planner was, how much money have you saved for the wedding? Well I don’t have anything saved yet?, I said well, when do you plan to get married? he said, probably a years time. I [...]
Retail Sales Up
Retail sales are growing at their fastest rate for 17 months in further signs the recession is starting to ease, new figures showed today. High Street sales in October were 3.4 per cent up on the same month last year in the biggest year-on-year rise since May 2008. In another sign of recovery, mortgage lending [...]
AIB Raises Bad Debts Estimate to 5.3 Billion Euro
AIB has said it is expecting its bad debt charge for 2009 to be around €5.3 billion, an increase of €1 billion from previous forecasts. In an interim management statement, the bank said the increase is mainly due on the €24 billion loan portfolio that may transfer to NAMA. The bank said that it it [...]
Number of Cards Fallen
Now more than ever, it pays to read the fine print. That’s the advice advocates are giving credit card customers in the months leading up to February, when the government imposes tough new rules on banks. Politicians and citizen groups are hearing from customers who have noticed increased interest rates, changes in conditions and extra [...]
Only the Rich to have Credit Cards
A return to the days when credit cards were status symbols brandished by the well-off could be on the horizon, according to a report published today. Precious Plastic, an annual analysis of the credit card market by the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), predicts that annual fees will become common in the future, that interest rates [...]
Financial Ratios
Financial ratios provide a quick and relatively simple means of examining the financial condition of business. A ratio simply expresses the relation of one figure appearing in the financial statements to some other figure appearing there for instance net profit per emplyee, sales per square metre of counter space. Ratios can be very helpful when [...]
Bad Credit Card Debts Increase
Bad credit card debts may reach as much as 9% of all outstanding balances by the end of next year, an accountancy firm has said. “Bad debts in the sector have reached historic highs,” according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The figure stands at about 6% now. This comes despite a “cooling passion” for credit cards, with [...]
Credit Card Interest Rates to rise in the UK
Lenders’ current business models are ”unsustainable” due to increasing bad debts, funding constraints and the toughest economic conditions for a generation, PricewaterhouseCoopers said. It said large scale change within the sector was inevitable during the coming few years, with credit cards likely to be transformed from borrowing tools into payment ones. It added that the [...]
Risk and Investment Decisions
Risk arises where the future in unclear and where a range of possible future outcomes exists. As the future is uncertain, there is a chance or risk that estimates made concerning the future will not occur. Risk is particularly important in the context of investment decisions. This is because of the relatively long timescales involved, [...]
