Blogs & News

"The UK economy is more unbalanced today than ever before" - Neil Woodford

All the talk of rebalancing the UK economy that we heard from policymakers in the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis unfortunately, has led to nothing.

The UK economy is more unbalanced today than ever before.

We had a recent meeting with Darren Winder of the Lazarus Partnership – Darren has been a very valuable input into our investment process for many years and his extensive knowledge and database on the UK economy is pretty much unsurpassed.

We covered a lot of ground during the meeting, but some charts really stood out. Here we provide a few of them, which we believe provide strong evidence of the continued imbalances within the UK economy and the unsustainable nature of recent economic growth.

Another successful ReDev profitable sale completion

TORONTO , April 5, 2016 - Richard Crenian , President of ReDev Properties Ltd., is pleased to announce the sale of 105 Street Government Building located at 10242 – 105 Street Edmonton, Alberta , Canada. 

Colliers was engaged as the Broker for the Vendor

Purchased in 2005, the 105 Street Government Building is a 94,901 square foot office building on .432 acres of land in the Edmonton Central Business District, minutes from the exciting Ice District of Edmonton (www.icedistrict.com).

The property is fully leased with ground floor retail.

This offering attracted significant interest when marketed, and was sold to a long established private development and construction firm, currently active in the Western market place.

Fewer than 1 in 10 have critical illness insurance despite the immense need

Scottish Widows said it was “astonishing” fewer than one in 10 of the UK population have critical illness insurance, as it announced bowel cancer accounted for 12 per cent of all cancer-related critical illness claims it dealt with in 2014.

The company paid out more than £6.5m in critical illness claims relating to bowel cancer, and said the average age of diagnosis among males in 2014 was 50. For females the average age was 52.

Coinciding with April’s Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, Scottish Widows published the figures to emphasise the value and importance of financial protection.

Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK, with around 110 cases diagnosed every day. One in 14 men and one in 19 women will be diagnosed with this type of cancer during their lifetime.

David Hollingworth, associate director at London & Country, said “It’s more expensive than term assurance but that’s because we’re sadly more likely to be more affected by these critical illnesses. It can be invaluable cover to help deal with difficult and stressful situations,” he said.

The days of free NHS service for returning expats is fast being dismantled

This report serves to support the argument that expats everywhere should seek to effect their own private medical insurance - reliance on the NHS for returning expatriates is and has become fraught with difficulty and complication.

Patients who do not visit their GP for five years could be barred from their doctor’s surgery under plans being developed in the east of England.

Under the move, patients who have not seen their GP for five years will be sent two letters asking them to respond. If they do not get in touch to say they still wish to be registered with their GP, they will be removed from the GP practice list.

GPs are paid for every patient on their list – in 2013/14, the average GP practice received funding worth £136 for each registered patient. The drive by the NHS England regional team – known as list cleansing - is intended to cut costs to the NHS. The idea is to find out whether patients no longer require services or have moved house, left the country or died.

This FREE booklet is available for viewing or download

An often overlooked issue is the impact a cancer or critical illness can have on our children.

“Talking To Kids About Cancer” is a well researched and insightful FREE Booklet published by The Cancer Council Of Victoria and covers key topics essential for all parents confronted with their or their childrens’ diagnosis.

The book contains invaluable information and is considered a 'must-read' for anyone affected or believes they could become affected by cancer.

Mother of 24 year old Natasha Hutchinson having to pay GBP 35,000 hospital after holiday crash

A British woman been left with a £35,000 hospital bill after she nearly lost her leg in a horror moped crash on holiday in Thailand.

Natasha Hutchinson, 24, was travelling on the back of a a rented moped in the popular beach resort Phuket, when they collided with a lorry and she fell off and crushed her leg.

Miss Hutchinson has now left her parents tens of thousands of pounds in debt because she had forgotten to get medical insurance.

Brain injuries at any age are dramatic but at age 24 whilst overseas without insurance they become very problematic

In January 2016 Owen Auskerry - a 24 year old - from Scotland tragically suffered a brain aneurysm (a burst blood vessel) whilst in Thailand.

At the time of the incident Owen was flown from Nakhon Si Thammarat , some 380km , to a private hospital in Bangkok after a series of seizures.

Owen underwent a 3 1/2 hour brain surgery whilst his parents made arrangements to fly to the Thai capital to be by his side.

The medical costs rose steeply very quickly and concerns over his long-term care forced his family to turn to crowdfunding website GoFundMe for help.

It was further reported at the time that "The cost of his medical treatment in Thailand and the financial implications of his parents going out there to help look after him, as well to bring him home have been and will continue to be considerable".

Colon cancer patients may experience low rates of job retention

After a colorectal cancer diagnosis, patients may experience low rates of job retention, according to a research letter published in JAMA.

Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System conducted telephone follow up calls with 567 employed stage III colorectal cancer patients to examine the link between access to paid sick leave and job retention and personal financial burden among this patient population.

The researchers reported that nearly 40% of US employees have no access to paid sick leave, although they believe it could reduce the need for unpaid sick time used during colorectal cancer treatment periods.