http://thetrawl.magnify.net/video/OECD-calls-for-urgent-action-to

This video from the OECD looks at the growth prospects for next year. Frankly it does not look good. Depression across Europe looks to be a done deal, and that is without taking into account any worse case scenarios involving the euro.

The OECD has stated that it believes that even a single country leaving the euro would have very serious consequences. These could include any number of bankruptcies. This would be “apocalyptic” according to the Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

Apocalyptic is clearly an exaggeration. For the man and woman in the street how much extra hardship they could be in for if there was a round of debt defaults is debatable. One thing is for certain though, that even the prospect of this happening is not helpful to the recovery of the economy.

Given that there is much riding on the success of the eurozone, the international commitment to the bailout funds has not been outstanding. One of the ongoing debates is whether European debt should be consolidated into one. This could then be sold as a product, a so-called ‘eurobond’.

The bond market looks set to see changes over the next few weeks. For the amateur investor it is a nightmare scenario. There are just to many variables, and on top of that a lot of the latest best assessments of what is happening are not available to ‘civilian’. The best bet is likely to be some form of ‘damage control’. Those with assets sufficient to consider private wealth management may find that expert advice can keep them from getting burnt, but 2012 is going to see a lot more winners than losers, and now is no time to go rushing into any kind of investment without knowing the full facts and having at least the bare bones of a backup plan.

Here are some helpful tips for retirees on how to maximize their savings and manage their money.

Retirement is supposed to be a time when you relax and enjoy the fruits of your labour, after having worked for many years. However, in recent years any pensioners who are trying to live on limited incomes are becoming uncertain about their future. When the financial crisis hit, anyone on a fixed income such as a pension has suffered from rising food and fuel prices.

However, with clever money management and planning ahead you can take control of your retirement finances and make sure that you will always have what you need. Here are some tips to help pensioners make sure that they manage their money well in their golden years:

• If you have some extra space in your home, consider renting out the room. You can earn thousands of pounds per year, and the first £4,250 you earn is tax free.
• Are you getting the best return on your savings? Check with your bank to find out if they offer better accounts designed for people over 50, which will offer you higher interest rates.
• Investigate whether it might be worth your while to switch bank account.
• If you are spending a lot of your money on energy bills, use a comparison website to see if you are getting the best deal. Use a site which is accredited by Energywatch to compare prices, and you could save hundreds of pounds per year.
• Some energy suppliers offer grants to their low-income customers for insulation and heating improvements which will increase the energy efficiency of your home.
• Downsize and move to a smaller home. Now that the kids have all grown up and have families of their own, you don’t need to be living in a large family home. By downsizing and moving to a smaller house or apartment, you will be able to free up a large sum of money for your retirement. You will also have a lot less property to clean and maintain!
• Be frugal! Look for sales at the supermarket, buy things in bulk to save, and buy used items instead of new. If you can reduce the amount of money you spend, you will be able to live comfortably on a lot less.
• Are you receiving all of the benefits that you are entitled to? Up to five billion pounds in benefits goes unclaimed every year by elderly people, and one in every three people eligible for pension credits fails to claim them. Find out what you are eligible for so that you can claim what you need.
• Take advantage of any senior citizen discounts, such as free prescription medicines, free bus passes, and discounted National Rail fares.

There are many ways that you can put yourself in a better financial position on a pension, so take control of your finances and enjoy your retirement!

The investment environment at the moment is tricky at best. Many of the investments that have proved successful in the past are no longer yielding returns. In this context pensions have to be seen as one of the better bets, however everything in the garden is far from rosy.

While there have undoubtedly been some scandals involving mismanagement and fraud in regards to pension funds, the biggest threat to most is more subtle and insidious. Hidden charges and over-inflated fees are chipping away at peoples retirement nest eggs.

Consumers in Britain are hit with very high fees for setting up and administrating pensions. Those in the USA and in fact most other European countries are typically charged much less for this. In addition to the level of fees being high, they are often structured in an overly complicated fashion. The National Association of Pension funds has gone as far as to slam these as being “eye wateringly complex”.

Incredibly some investors have found that anything up to three quarters of there retirement income has been syphoned off through fees and charges. It is those who joined schemes in the nineties that are most likely to be paying over the odds. The charges that are typically levied have fallen dramatically from their hight.

If you find that you are in a pension scheme with unacceptably high charges it may be possible to switch. There are a number of circumstances however where it is more advisable to stick with what you already have rather than changing things up. Some pensions that were sold in the past have the kind of guaranteed returns that are no longer common.

Knowing whether to ‘stick or twist’ with a pension is not an easy call. There are no one-size-fits all answers as there are many, many factors to take into consideration. Paying the premium for high quality financial planning could well be worth it. Not all the information that the best advisors are privilege to is widely available.