|
Insurance Bond
An insurance bond (or investment bond) is a single premium life assurance policy for the purposes of investment. Due to tax laws they are a common form of investment in the United Kingdom, UK and some offshore financial centre, offshore centres. Traditionally insurance bonds were With-profits policy, with-profits policies and were often called ''with-profit(s) bonds''. Since the introduction of unitised insurance funds they have often been marketed as ''unit-linked bonds'' or ''investment bonds''. Why invest in an insurance bond? The decision of which 'wrapper' to place funds within (i.e. onshore bond, offshore bond or collective) can be complex and is based upon the tax position of the investor, the treatment of each tax wrapper, the likely growth and investment term. Insurance bonds can be useful vehicles for minimizing tax as they do not incur the 50% CGT reduction on assets held for 12 months or more. Useful features of Bonds for tax planning scenarios include the tax d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Assurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person (often the policyholder). Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness can also trigger payment. The policyholder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as one lump sum. The benefits may include other expenses, such as funeral expenses. Life policies are legal contracts and the terms of each contract describe the limitations of the insured events. Often, specific exclusions written into the contract limit the liability of the insurer; common examples include claims relating to suicide, fraud, war, riot, and civil commotion. Difficulties may arise where an event is not clearly defined, for example, the insured knowingly incurred a risk by consenting to an experimental me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Axa Sun Life
Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational corporation, multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Axa Group operates primarily in Western Europe, North America, the India Pacific region and the Middle East, with a presence also in Africa. Axa is a conglomerate (business), conglomerate of independently run businesses, operated according to the laws and regulations of many countries. It is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. History The company was founded in 1816 as Mutuelle de L'assurance contre L'incendie (the Ancienne Mutuelle). It acquired Compagnie Parisienne de Garantie in 1978 and became Mutuelles Unies. In 1982, it merged with the Drouot Group, owned by the Hottinguer family, becoming Mutuelles Unies/Drouot. The firm adopted the Axa name in 1985. Axa took over T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is to generate a return from the invested asset. The return may consist of a gain (profit) or a loss realized from the sale of a property or an investment, unrealized capital appreciation (or depreciation), or investment income such as dividends, interest, or rental income, or a combination of capital gain and income. The return may also include currency gains or losses due to changes in the foreign currency exchange rates. Investors generally expect higher returns from riskier investments. When a low-risk investment is made, the return is also generally low. Similarly, high risk comes with a chance of high losses. Investors, particularly novices, are often advised to diversify their portfolio. Diversification has the statistical effec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Assurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person (often the policyholder). Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness can also trigger payment. The policyholder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as one lump sum. The benefits may include other expenses, such as funeral expenses. Life policies are legal contracts and the terms of each contract describe the limitations of the insured events. Often, specific exclusions written into the contract limit the liability of the insurer; common examples include claims relating to suicide, fraud, war, riot, and civil commotion. Difficulties may arise where an event is not clearly defined, for example, the insured knowingly incurred a risk by consenting to an experimental me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collective Investment Scheme
An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages include an ability to: * hire professional investment managers, who may offer better returns and more adequate risk management; * benefit from economies of scale, i.e., lower transaction costs; * increase the asset diversification to reduce some unsystematic risk. It remains unclear whether professional active investment managers can reliably enhance risk adjusted returns by an amount that exceeds fees and expenses of investment management. Terminology varies with country but investment funds are often referred to as investment pools, collective investment vehicles, collective investment schemes, managed funds, or simply funds. The regulatory term is undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities, or short collective invest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unit Trust
A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on the trust, it may invest in securities such as shares, bonds, gilts, and also properties, mortgage and cash equivalents. Those investing in the trust own "units" whose price is called the "net asset value" (NAV). The number of these units is not fixed and when more is invested in a unit trust (by investors opening accounts or adding to their accounts), more units are created. In addition to the UK, trusts are found in Fiji, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, New Zealand, Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Zimbabwe. History The first unit trust was launched in the UK in 1931 by M&G under the inspiration of Ian Fairbairn. The rationale behind the launch was to emulate the comparative robu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Equities
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company is divided, or these shares considered together" "When a company issues shares or stocks ''especially AmE'', it makes them available for people to buy for the first time." (Especially in American English, the word "stocks" is also used to refer to shares.) A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares. This typically entitles the shareholder (stockholder) to that fraction of the company's earnings, proceeds from liquidation of assets (after discharge of all senior claims such as secured and unsecured debt), or voting power, often dividing these up in proportion to the amount of money each stockholder has invested. Not all stock is necessarily equal, as certain classe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corporate Bond
A corporate bond is a bond issued by a corporation in order to raise financing for a variety of reasons such as to ongoing operations, M&A, or to expand business. The term is usually applied to longer-term debt instruments, with maturity of at least one year. Corporate debt instruments with maturity shorter than one year are referred to as commercial paper. Definition The term "corporate bond" is not strictly defined. Sometimes, the term is used to include all bonds except those issued by governments in their own currencies. In this case governments issuing in other currencies (such as the country of Mexico issuing in US dollars) will be included. The term sometimes also encompasses bonds issued by supranational organizations (such as European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). Strictly speaking, however, it only applies to those issued by corporations. The bonds of local authorities ( municipal bonds) are not included. Trading Corporate bonds trade in decentrali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unit Trust
A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on the trust, it may invest in securities such as shares, bonds, gilts, and also properties, mortgage and cash equivalents. Those investing in the trust own "units" whose price is called the "net asset value" (NAV). The number of these units is not fixed and when more is invested in a unit trust (by investors opening accounts or adding to their accounts), more units are created. In addition to the UK, trusts are found in Fiji, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, New Zealand, Australia, Kenya, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa, Singapore, Malaysia and Zimbabwe. History The first unit trust was launched in the UK in 1931 by M&G under the inspiration of Ian Fairbairn. The rationale behind the launch was to emulate the comparative robu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Investment
Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing is to generate a return from the invested asset. The return may consist of a gain (profit) or a loss realized from the sale of a property or an investment, unrealized capital appreciation (or depreciation), or investment income such as dividends, interest, or rental income, or a combination of capital gain and income. The return may also include currency gains or losses due to changes in the foreign currency exchange rates. Investors generally expect higher returns from riskier investments. When a low-risk investment is made, the return is also generally low. Similarly, high risk comes with a chance of high losses. Investors, particularly novices, are often advised to diversify their portfolio. Diversification has the statistical effec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tax Wrapper
A wrap account (also known as wrap service or tax wrapper) is a means of consolidating and managing an investor's investment portfolio and financial plans. Wrap fee services are offered by many financial institutions. Often wrap services are offered for a fee or a series of charges. These charges cover all administrative and management costs. This type of service is also sometimes known as an investment platform or financial platform service. History By the mid-1990s, major American brokerage companies were offering Wrap accounts. By 1994, fees that formerly were at 3% were falling, as was the minimum investment amount. Wrap services were offered in Australia and New Zealand before coming to the UK (about 2000). , approximately £230 billion of assets are held on wrap services in the UK. Transact was the first Wrap service to be authorised in the UK. With the RDR - Retail Distribution Review - being undertaken by the FSA in the UK more investors are likely to move their inves ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unitised Insurance Fund
Unitised insurance funds or unit-linked insurance funds are a form of collective investment offered life assurance policies. An insurance company's contract may offer a choice of unit-linked funds to invest in. Insurers that offer these contracts are mainly found in the UK and British Isles offshore financial centres. All types of life assurance and insurers pension plans, both single premium and regular premium policies offer these funds. They facilitate access to wide range and types of assets for different types of investors. The range of fund choice for investment has grown significantly in recent years with the increased trend to provide unit-linked alternatives to popular unit trust and OEIC funds styled as ''externally managed funds'' as opposed to the life assurance companies ''internally managed funds''. Typically the externally managed fund links have higher charges; this is tolerated as the expectation is for better returns. Nature of funds The funds are open-ended inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
