Thousands of employees with occupational pension schemes may be able to “claim a bigger tax-free lump sum on retirement”, says Jessica Bown in The Sunday Times. Skandia, the pension provider, claims to have found a “hidden gem” in amongst “the technical papers issued by HMRC on the back of the budget changes”.

Since A-Day (6 April 2006), the level of tax-free cash available to members of such schemes has been set at a maximum of 25% of the value of their fund.

Pre A-Day members of occupational schemes, however, were allowed to protect the tax-free cash rights they held at A-Day that were greater than 25%. It is in these cases that the tax-free entitlement can increase further.

Perhaps the best news is that the protected entitlement is automatically increased by the 20% increase in the Lifetime Allowance up to 6 April 2012 (it went up from £1.5m to £1.8m), regardless of how well the fund has performed since. Secondly, it

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There are many occasions where the money transfer services are needed. So how to choose the best money transfer services sending money abroad? People are smart enough to handle any type of financial issue, but they can not stop the constant fluctuations in exchange rates. Thus, the need for a money transfer service is growing while Caxton foreign exchange can provide fast, safe, easy and secure transactions. Not only merchants who need money transfer services, but people whose family members or relatives are living abroad also need this service. An online option is the best way to transfer money abroad.

If you contact your bank and the company credit card provider for services of money transfer, they offer such services, but with terms and conditions you will not be glad to know about. There are high fees for money transfer services but lack by offering you the best exchange rates. Full Article…

Are leaders successful because of their charisma? Or do they develop charisma by being good leaders?

That is the chicken-and-egg question addressed by Prasad Balkundi, assistant professor of organization and human resources in the School of Management, in a recently published paper in The Journal of Applied Psychology.

Balkundi and his co-authors studied how leaders interact with subordinates when they work with small groups and how the leader’s interaction affects the group’s performance.

Several prior studies have shown that the higher the charisma of the leader, the more productive the team. But the nature and factors that predict charisma remain unclear.

“Charismatic leaders are typically depicted as extraordinary individuals capable of inspiring their subordinates,” Balkundi says. “Howeve

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After seeing success with last year’s “Match My Miles” promo, Capital One has brought back another potential 100,000 point sign up bonus for its Venture Card. Under this year’s promo, called the Venture Double Miles Challenge, your bonus will be limited to double the amount you spent on a single competitor’s consumer travel credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover) up to a maximum bonus of 100,000 miles per account.

That means in order to max your bonus, you must have spent $50,000 last year on a single travel credit card. Small bus

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This afternoon, George Osborne presented his third Budget since becoming chancellor in May 2010, in what was probably the most-leaked speech of modern times.

To jeers from critics and cheers from supporters, Osborne set out his efforts to square the circle that is Britain’s national finances. He promised a ‘Budget for work and business’, with tax cuts paid for by tax rises elsewhere.

1. The UK’s finances

The good news is that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that it expects our economy to grow by 0.8% this year, then 2% in 2013, with growth then rising to 2.7%, 3% and 3% to 2016.

The OBR expects the unemployment rate to peak at 8.7% before sliding to 6.3% by 2015. inflati

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The Bank of England has created £325bn out of fresh air – quantitative easing (QE), as economists like to call it – to try to bolster the British economy in the wake of the credit crunch.

Was it the right thing to do? That depends on who you talk to. Supporters say without it, the economy would have collapsed into a depression. Detractors point to the threat of inflation, and the negative impact on final salary pension funds.

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, thinks the detractors are wrong. On Tuesday, at a hearing of the House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee, he said: “I’m concerned about what has happened to the pensions industry and defined benefit pensions but I think they reflect a wider set of issues. The decline cannot be laid at the door of our [QE] programme. It might

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