International Headlines and Stories

lefigaro.fr: Pay rates are eroding each year. Life insurance will she lose her place of savings product preferred French?

François Longin: This term is preferred savings often used but it is not really the case for at least two reasons. The first is financial. The product units accounts sitting on the CAC 40 have suffered from the crisis. As for funds in euro, eroding their earnings. 5%, it rose to 4.5% or 3.8% for some. But with returns that remain between 3% to 4%, life insurance remains more attractive than money market products whose performance flirts with 1%.The second reason is related to the reform of inheritance tax since 2007 has lost a little interest in life insurance.

Life insurance is it still a good product transmission?

The tax rules for the transmission of money invested in life insurance have not changed, but the reform of inheritance taken by the Government to facilitate such donations, has lost its interest in life insurance. Particularly as regards the succession between spouses. However, holders of life insurance can now pay up to 150,000 euros to each of their children, not inheritance. This allows for example a couple with two children to give each of them 300,000 euros for free.Beyond 150,000 euros, the transmission is taxed at 20%.

What issues should I consider before choosing a contract of life insurance?

Before choosing an insurance-life, we must address three key points. The profitability, risk and liquidity funds. Profitability, in other words, the compensation offered by the contract is important. It will depend on the type of support. Either you invest in a fund in euros, based on government bonds and the yield will be between 3.5% and 4.80%. Whether you choose the fund units of account, also called multichannel, whose performance is more important because you take more risks by investing in shares or funds to emerging markets. It's more risky, but the year after, people who have invested in French shares have gained 20%.

It must then linger on the liquidity of funds.The money is not actually blocked, but it is more or less detrimental to withdraw money before age 8.

Finally, we must be vigilant about fees: entry fees, which disappear on the Internet, and management fees that range between 0.6% and 1% under the contracts.

At what age is it interesting to take out life insurance?

The tax treatment of life changes during the life of the insured. Over the insured later withdrew the money invested is more interesting. Insurers therefore recommend to take a contract as soon as practicable, to date, and this even if the person is simply placing a small capital without making further payments in the first place.When young, you can also take more risk and choose unit-linked contracts account for more attractive returns.

Can we rely on contracts offered on internet?

They are good products in the sense that it has internet access to the same fund as the insurance contracts traded in the "real world", with more direct access to place orders. Other service not found with traditional life assurance: all orders have a written record, the process is to me more reliably than through an intermediary. The sites of online brokerage also offers advice and simulations. Opting for a contract on the internet, however, implies that one has some experience of financial investments.

Warren Buffet has spoken. The American billionaire was strongly opposed to the will of Kraft Foods to issue 370 million shares to acquire Cadbury. Holding 9.4% stake in Kraft Foods, he says leading shareholder of U.S. food group. In a statement, holding the "Oracle of Omaha 'believes that this offer is a" blank check "for Kraft, which could, if necessary, modify its bid, thus harming shareholders. "What we are sure is that the current price of Kraft shares to $ 27 is a" money "too expensive for an acquisition," said the statement.

Kraft has announced its final bid for Cadbury by 19 January. "If we conclude that the offer does not destroy value for Kraft shareholders, we will vote" yes ".For now, we believe that no shareholder should do (vote "yes"), so it is not clear why he voted "he concludes.

At the opening on Wall Street Tuesday, Kraft Foods was up 2.99% to 28.25 euros. The Dow Jones lost 0.31% to 10,551.61 points.

ALSO READ:

"Kraft Foods sells its pizzas to afford Nestlé Cadbury

Nothing very serious, but a real nervousness gripped the market on weekends. French values are clearly divided down for the fourth straight session and Wall Street began a real consolidation.

The publication of poor results by the computer manufacturer Dell, whose profits have halved in a year, has certainly cast a pall. Therefore, the decline was widespread in technology stocks in the whole document: Among the largest declines over the weekend, tech stocks, but also banks, real estate and many cyclical industries.

In fact, beyond these poor results, the market consolidates because investors are worried about the strength of the recovery, the deteriorating public finances and relapse indicators on housing states USA.Therefore, in the absence of fresh news can revive the dynamic market, investors have preferred to take profits. To top it off, President Obama held a relapse of the activity was not excluded if the recovery efforts were abandoned and the Japanese authorities have recognized that the country has fallen into recession, with falling prices for the seventh consecutive month.

After two years of crisis that we have known, investors have seen others, but should not the signs of depression are increasing, with an avalanche of bad economic data and disappointing results.The virtuous circle that has established a stock exchange, with expectations of gradual recovery in activity and improvement in profits needs to be supported, if the correction could increase.

For now, the indexes are still near the highest: more than 10,000 points for the Dow Jones, over 3,700 for the CAC 40. We must beware of making catastrophism, the scenario out of recession is good for equities, the key is to remember that the current consolidation is beneficial because it restores margin for operations to start rising.

While waiting to see clearer, gold opportunity to play its full role investment haven to more than $ 1,100 an ounce in London.

"BLOG – Learn to handle hedges