Pensions – today is THE day, 6th April, pension freedom. But what will people do??
Most I suspect will opt for pension drawdown – but if you take this route, you will be taking two big gambles.
First, how long do you think you will live? Second, how much income can you afford to take from your pot? Get either of those wrong, and you could easily run out of money before you die.
In answer to the first question, life expectancy once you've reached the age of 65 is currently 83 for men in England and Wales, and 86 for women. But the danger - in pension terms - is that they may well live very much longer. That is why deciding on the second issue - the rate at which you can afford to deplete your pension pot - is so important.
The chart below shows how quickly you can use up your money.
Very often our clients will change their minds as the options with properties become clearer to them. This is when our personal touch really sets us apart. We believe that our success is down to our ability to listen to our clients requirements and assess their needs.
Our motivation is the challenge of exceeding those expectations and ensuring the desired outcome for our buyers.
This video recently produced by VideoProFrance gives a better idea of how we work at Allez Francais.
If anti-fraud forms are not completed and returned within several months the Government will cut off ex-pats' pensions.
Since 2013 the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has been making expat pensioners fill in official forms to stop their friends and relatives fraudulently claiming their state pensions after they have died. If forms are not correctly filled out and returned within nine months, the DWP will assume pensioners are dead – and will stop their pension payments.
The forms are sent out on average every 2 years, however, officials send them out more frequently to expats living in countries defined as “high risk”. They have to be signed by the pensioner and witnessed by a neighbour. The requirement applies to the many countries, including France, that do not automatically share the relevant information with the UK.
Jim Mellon, Britain's answer to Warren Buffett, says the euro has hit the bottom and now is the time for Britons to buy property in Europe.
The combination of favourable exchange rates and comparatively low house prices makes purchasing on the continent the investment to make.
That being said, the currency markets are incredibly volatile at the moment; the cost of a 200,000 euro property was £6,000 more expensive last week than it was the week before so timing is key.
Entrepreneur and investor Jim Mellon has reportedly amassed a fortune of £850m by making the right calls and identifying various key trends or "money fountains".
He built his reputation after making spectacular amounts during Russia's transformation in the 1990s and more recently has seen his bold views on biotech pay off. Sometimes called Britain's answer to Warren Buffett, he co-authored Cracking the Code three years ago, which correctly predicted biotech investments would take-off.
In a new series of video interviews with Telegraph Money, he shares his views on the best investments today, how he built his fortune and his worst investment mistakes.
International Francophonie Day (French: Journée internationale de la Francophonie) is observed within the International Organization of La Francophonie's 77 member states every March 20 to celebrate the French language and Francophone culture. There are over 274 million French speakers on Earth.
The date celebrates the signing of the Niamey Convention in Niger on 20 March 1970. The convention established the Agence de Coopération Culturelle et Technique, the precursor to the International Organization of La Francophonie.
I recently worked with a professional video producer, Joanna Urwin, to create a short film about Allez Francais and how we work. Joanna runs a Dordogne based business "VideoProFrance".
I don’t want clients to think of us as "Estate Agents". Allez-Francais is in the business of selling houses, but we take a lot of time to get to know our clients, what matters to them and the kind of property that will suit them best. In the long run this saves everyone a good deal of wasted time and disappointment.
Our Team have a vast range of property knowledge, and experience of living and working in various areas of France. They can advise on mortgages, currency exchange, surveys, legal matters and insurance – a complete package so to speak!
I am delighted with the video Joanna produced. I hope it gives people an insight into the level of service that we offer and the process of buying a property in south west France.
Through working with Joanna, I also gained a better understanding of how versatile and effective using video can be.
Property sellers are increasingly using the power of video to get their property listing found in a web search. Joanna explained to me that including an optimised YouTube video on our property website will significantly increase the chance of a property being seen on page 1 of Google.
Video is also mobile friendly, which is good news bearing in mind that the number of people searching for a property on a tablet or smartphone is growing all the time.
Allez-Francais.com of course has a full web page dedicated to each and every property on our books.
If you are interested in having a short video made to promote your property for sale - I recommend you to contact Joanna. If we have a mandat to sell your property, we will add a copy of your YouTube video to the Allez Francais website, and if we sell your property too I guarantee to refund you the cost of having the video produced.
All Allez-Francais agents are registered with JeSuisAgentImmobilier, based in Bordeaux. Christian Perron, who also writes books and produces CDs for the estate agency industry, founded JeSuisAgentImmobilier in 2005.
Christian Perron
Christian writes:
"We at jesuisagentimmobilier.com are a French national estate agent network, and work with great success with Allez-Français for more than 6 years now. Peter Elias’ team sold 22 % last year of our total annual sales of properties.
Their exposure to the international market is very important because France is the most wanted country in the world!
And, of course, the Allez-Français team are located in the best parts of France!
Peter’s team allow principally English speaking people to have access to great choice of properties in delicious regions, with a premium standard service which includes every aspect of our work for both buyers and sellers : from financing though mortgages / banks and currency companies to maximise exchange rates, from market research to homestaging, HDR pictures of the highest quality to Comparative Market Analysis, etc.
The Allez-Français team also use a powerful Estate Agency software programme to manage their big portfolio of properties for administration, and to publish them on the most efficient estate websites & networks.
His team is dedicated to customer satisfaction and excellence. I highly recommend Peter as my “best professional” for over 10 years as an estate agent"
