Different Investments for Different People

Different investments are suitable for people in difference situations. Choosing how to invest comes down to many factors, including the amount of available funds, the aim of the investment, the point in which the investor finds themselves in their life, and personal preference. Below are some of the investments that should be considered by people in different circumstances.

Those with Limited to Medium Funds

For those with less than £12,000 to invest a year an ISA might be worth considering. The current ISA limit is set at £11,280. All of this can be put towards a stocks and shares ISA but it can be split between a stocks and shares ISA and a cash ISA; up to half of it can be put towards the cash ISA. The advantage of an ISA is the tax benefit; no tax has to be paid on interest or capital gains, something that can make a significant difference over several years. ISA’s are ideal to those investing over a long period. Riskier, but potentially higher reward investments, might be more attractive to those investing a similar amount over a short period, although here it is advisable to split it across a number of investments to spread the risk.

Wealthy Investors

An ISA will not be sufficient for those wishing to invest particularly large amounts, although they will be able to invest up to £11,280 in one. Property investment is possibly the most appropriate as, despite the current market, house prices are still likely to rise in the future. With housing, though, it is important to choose homes in the right areas. If investing in real estate properties can be rented out and sold once the value has increased. It is likely that property will continue to be a way that people can make big investment gains in the future.

Investing on Behalf of Children

There are a number of children’s savings plans out there, with the relatively new Junior ISA the best known of these. The Junior ISA works in a similar way to a regular ISA with a set maximum allowance and no tax being payable on interest or capital gains. There are two important distinctions though; the limit is lower than a regular ISA - currently £3,600 - and it can’t be touched until the child turns eighteen. At this point they gain control of the ISA and can withdraw the accumulated funds if they like.

The Young and Middle Aged

There is a pension problem amongst young people and even those in their forties and fifties, with many yet to have started planning for their retirement. This is partly due to a lack of good employer pensions as well as the failure of individuals to start their own. Those who are able to should start to pay into a pension plan as soon as possible. The younger someone is when they start a pension the better, and a few years can make a big difference come retirement.

The Retired

Those already retired will hopefully already have an adequate pension, so what are good investments for them? The answer might lie in investing in companies through stocks and shares. Asian investment funds are one option due to the current growth of the Asian stock market, although there are many other options too.

Andrew Marshall ©

Review of the London Olympic Park

The London Olympic and Paralympic Games of 2012 are now over, with the Games generally considered very successful with plenty of home success. Now that it’s over, it’s time to review the Olympic Park. The park is located in the East London district of Stratford and played host to sports including Athletics, Swimming, Diving, track and BMX Cycling, Basketball, Hockey and Handball.

Transport

There was easy access to the London Olympic Park during the games via the London Underground, which is how the majority of spectators accessed the park. Stratford Underground Station is right on the door step. The only downside was that it could get particularly busy after the evening Athletics sessions, with eighty-thousand people leaving on mass. Many chose to take the thirty minute walk to West Ham Station instead, as the wait would often be longer than this at Stratford.

Reaching Stratford Station was easy from Central London and the main London Train Stations. It was reachable directly on the Central Line from Central London and directly on the Jubilee Line from Waterloo. Spectators coming from King’s Cross or Victoria had one stop on their journey to the Olympic Park; the Northern Line changing at Bank from King’s Cross and the Victoria Line changing at Oxford Circus from Victoria.

While the Underground links to the park were good, this was really the only option for spectators. With no parking it was not possible to drive making it problematic for some, but in some ways this made sense due to the large numbers of people and the congestion that would otherwise have occurred.

Entrance and Security

Entrance to the Olympic Park was quick and easy most of the time. There were generally no queues or very short queues due to the arrival of spectators being spread across the day and the large size of the entrance area. Security was perhaps a little over the top with all spectators having to go through airport-style security and even water being confiscated. There was, though, drinking water available from inside and it was possible to take empty bottles in.

To access the venues themselves there was no further security. All that was required was to show your ticket and have it scanned by one of the volunteers. This meant a speedy entrance.

Volunteers

The Olympic volunteers, who have been nicknamed the “games makers”, have been widely praised amongst London 2012 organisers and the media, and rightly so. They were all very friendly and upbeat and were happy to help whenever requested to by spectators.

Getting Around the Olympic Park

The Olympic Park was vast in size, with many surprised as to just how big it was. Walking from one end to the other took around thirty minutes even via the most direct route. It was, though, easy to get around. Wheelchairs were available free of charge to those who required them and there were golf-buggy like vehicles passing regularly that those finding it difficult to walk around could board. Despite there being many thousands of people around it wasn’t difficult to get around. The main walk-ways were very wide, everything was well sign posted and there were maps dotted all around the park.

Things To Do

Outside of live sport there was plenty else to do at the London Olympic Park. There was a large grass area in the middle of the park that included large screens with sports action and a stage with live music. There was also the Olympic Orbit, a tower with an observation deck at the top. From here there were views over the Olympic Park to one side and the River Thames and the Canary Warf area to the other. This may have been better situated had it been more central as it would have offered a better view of the park. The Orbit wasn’t the best looking structure within the park and divided opinion.

Facilities and Food

There were plenty of food outlets throughout the park with a large variety of food available. Although expensive, it was no more than most other sporting venues tend to be. The Olympic Park had the world’s largest McDonald restaurant, perhaps not the most appropriate message for an event that should be promoting sport and healthy living.

Although well stocked with Olympic merchandise, the official Olympic Shop had massive queues; sometimes you would have to queue for two hours just to get in the door. This could have been better managed, perhaps with more shops situated in different areas of the park.

Throughout the park there were plenty of toilets and, as a consequence, no big queues. They could get busier at times within the venues themselves just prior to and just after an event, especially the Ladies toilets. The standard of cleanliness was average.

Venue: Olympic Stadium

The Athletics stadium was the centre-piece of the Olympic Park (although not located in the centre). It was always full and there was always a good atmosphere. The stadium was well designed and even the cheapest seats offered an excellent view. During Athletics events there was commentary over the loud speaker making the action easy to follow, although it could have been a little better for the field events.

Venue: Aquatics Centre

Host to the Swimming and Diving events, the Aquatics Centre had a compact feel. The spectators were always enthusiastic and supported athletes from all nations. One weakness was that despite it being “sold out” there were sometimes empty seats. There were some complaints about the quality of the seating for the Diving events, with some claiming they couldn’t see the action properly.

Venue: Veledrome

Many described the track Cycling venue as being the loudest of all the venues, no doubt helped by the amount of success for Team GB. There were good views of the action from everywhere and it was the best looking building from the outside, which was party wooden.

Venue: Basketball Arena

The Basketball Arena had a bubble-like look on the outside, which wasn’t to the taste of everyone. Inside, though, there was a good atmosphere with an intimate feel.

Overall, London 2012 was a huge success, much helped by the spectacular Olympic Park and some world class venues. Some of the venues will now be removed and some altered, with others remaining as they are.

Andrew Marshall ©

Visit Solicitors London for legal advice in the London area.

A Brief History of Music Piracy

Music piracy has been in the news recently as the BBC has compiled a list of the most illegally downloaded musicians for difference areas of the UK as well as the UK as a whole, with Ed Sheeran named the most downloaded artist in the country. While this may be a bit of fun, it highlights a serious subject. Music piracy is illegal and illegally downloading music or selling pirated music can lead to criminal charges. When music is pirated artists are not making money from the product they have produced and it is breaking intellectual property law. Any creators, including creators of art such as music, have the legal right to do as they please with their creations, including the right to sell them or let others broadcast them. 

History of Music Piracy

The history of music piracy doesn’t just go back to being able to download music via the internet. It can be traced back to the 1920’s and radio stations playing music without the permission of writers or performers. 

Tapes and Bootlegs

The beginning of music piracy being carried out by regular consumers goes back to cassette tapes and the 1960’s. From the 1960’s it became common for people to record music using blank cassette tapes either from vinyl or other tapes. The quality wasn’t great – nowhere near that of purchasing a record – but it was a way of acquiring music without paying for it apart from the cost of the blank cassettes. Although most of this was fairly low-level, such as children recording a tape of their friend’s records, there were some who were making money from this by mass-recording and selling copies onto others. It was not easy to make large amounts, though, due to the lack of quality. 

Tapes made it possible to record live music, which led to an illegal bootleg industry. Some recorded live concerts, in some cases mass-producing copies of a performance and selling them to fans. Some of these became collector’s items as it was an opportunity to have a copy of your favourite artist performing live, something that often wasn’t available from shops. 

CD’s

Compact discs came along in the 1980’s and were better quality and longer lasting than vinyl. To begin with theses couldn’t be copied as they were read-only. However, computer technology improved and it became possible to copy CD’s to the same quality as the original record. This was an opportunity for some recording and selling on copied records to make large amounts of money. 

Digital

The more recent rise of digital music has led to much more piracy of music. A number of websites appeared offering user’s fee, or very cheap, recordings. This has been clamped down on with legal action taken against these sites with them being taken down as a consequence. There are websites where people can download music legally. This is often cheaper than buying the physical record, for example the CD. Illegal sites are still a problem though. It is possible to record multiple digital copies of music that can be passed on or sold to others. CD’s can also be imported into MP3 software many times over, so people can borrow other peoples CD’s and make their own digital copies. 

Music piracy is not new but it has become more of an issue since the invention of digital music. It is something that may never completely go away but it is being clamped down on by the authorities to limit the chances of guilty parties getting away with copyright theft. 

Andrew Marshall ©

Visit Intellectual Property Solicitors for more information about copyright infringement and intellectual property law.

How we are Becoming more Paperless

Paperless is a term that is used to describe a situation or a place, such as an office, that doesn’t use paper, usually due to the usage of computers. Although paper is still used extensively, due to technology it is not used as widely as it once was. There are many examples of how the world is becoming “more paperless”.

An Office Environment

Originally offices were full of paper. The only way of recording anything in physical form was by using a pencil and paper. The invention of the typewriter became a hugely important moment in the productivity of office work but it didn’t do anything to reduce the amount of paper that was used. Things have been much different over the last decade or two. Computers have taken over and you won’t find an office without them these days. While documents do sometimes need to be printed out, this is more often not the case. Email has become the most widely used form of communication within businesses and in dealing with customers and other companies. This saves on paper compared with sending a letter, which may previously have been required.

Newsletters

Many of us receive local newsletters through our front doors. Newsletter communication, however, is now often done via emails. Documents, including an entire newsletter, can be attached to an email and read on the computer screen. If an organisation is sending out three-thousand newsletters each with twelve pages, then that adds up to thirty-six thousand pages. If this is sent on a monthly basis then that is four-hundred-and-thirty-two-thousand pages a year. If this is sent via email instead then that is a lot of paper saved. And that is only one monthly newsletter from one organisation. Although some may print newsletters out, the majority won’t.

Magazines and Newspapers

Magazines and newspapers are still printed in large numbers in the traditional form and sold through outlets such as newsagents and supermarkets. Increasing numbers, though, are choosing to read up on news online – either through official newspaper or magazine websites or through other sites – so less paper is being used through these mediums.

Books

Although still in its infancy, reading books via kindles is becoming more popular. Benefits from a consumer’s point of view include only having to carry a small device, which is especially convenient if travelling with several books. In the long run this could have a significant impact on how many books are printed, while authors will still be making their money through sales in a different way.

There are numerous ways in which we are, as a whole, becoming less reliant on paper, with the above just some of the more obvious ones. The rise of email is a key reason for this with banks emailing statements to customers rather than printing and sending them via post, advertisers emailing potential customers instead of producing “junk mail”, and in some circumstances receipt being email. Other ways in which paper is being saved includes insurance documents and instruction manuals being available online. This is having a positive impact on the environment and means people aren’t left having to store endless numbers of important documents.

Andrew Marshall ©

For more information visit Paper Suppliers.

Mobile Device Security

Mobile devices have become increasingly popular over the last ten to fifteen years. The number of mobile phone users exploded in the late nineteen-nineties and the early two-thousands and these days the vast majority of people own a mobile phone. More recently tablets have become the craze, with the number of users increasing continuously. Both mobile phones and tablets are being used for a variety of tasks, both business related and for personal tasks. There are undoubtedly many benefits to using mobile devices, including being able to carry out tasks from anywhere. One thing they are used for is to gain internet access when on the move. While this has obvious advantages there is also one potential downside: security.

An increasing number of mobile devices now allow users to gain access to the internet. However, these don’t always have the security that computers and laptops do. Most people who use desktop and laptop computers install firewalls and anti-virus software to protect against potential dangers. This is not usually the case, though, with mobile devices. Users often obliviously use them without taking into consideration security issues. Many users access the internet over a mobile device in the same way as they would with any other device.

For a number of years it has been common for people to read up on news and access emails via a mobile phone. It has now reached a stage where smart phones and tablets are often being used to carry out business tasks. A particular danger is that people are carrying out internet banking over their mobile devices. Carrying out these tasks without the necessary security measures means there is the potential for security problems.

Using Wi-Fi hotspots is something that carries a particular danger. It is not the most secure of environments. As it is not a wired connection and anyone with an enabled device can access them, it makes Wi-Fi hotspots the wild west of internet access. While users are accessing the internet in this way it makes them particularly susceptible to being hacked, something that can be relatively easy for those with the required knowledge.

Hackers have targeted regular computers for years. With more internet enabled mobile devices than ever before it means it could only be a matter of time before criminals target these as well. And as things stands, they are possibly an easier target.

There are potential security issues with mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean it is time to panic and stop using them for accessing the internet. There are things that can be done to limit the chances of suffering from security problems. Using mobile devices sensibly is one of these. If security cannot be guaranteed then not carrying out tasks like internet banking and making payments over mobile devices is wise. Intercepting these are the things that could most likely lead to financial loss. Using a VPN is another option. A VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network, can be used to enhance security. They use encryption to make sure the transfer of data – in this case between a mobile device and the internet – is not interpreted by others. Many mobile devices have encryption options installed, although they are not always automatically switched on. Users should, therefore, ensure that these are enabled at all times.

While the main benefit of a mobile device is that it can be easily transported, taking it everywhere means they are commonly misplaced. It is important, therefore, to make sure anyone who finds a lost device does not have easy access to any data that they can use for sinister means.

Mobile devices have many benefits but security is a concern. However, if the right precautions are in place and users use them sensibly then they can be protected against.

Andrew Marshall ©

The Importance of Choosing Adequate Hosting for your Blog

Choosing the right web hosting for a blog can be just as important as for a regular website. You want your blog to be able to cope with the content in contains as well as the traffic it attracts.

With many blogging platforms there is free hosting available, with Wordpress and Blogger two popular examples. But is free blog hosting adequate? The answer to this is sometimes yes, but this often isn’t the case. If you plan on the occasional basic post and don’t expect a large amount of traffic then the free hosting that comes with many blogging platforms might be adequate. This is more likely to be the case for personal and general interest blogs than for business blogs.

The main reason why free blog hosting is not always appropriate is that you can’t usually have your own domain name; you normally have to use a sub-domain of the platform you are using. For example, if your blog is called Chocolate News rather than having a domain name of ‘chocolatenews.com’, it would have to be something along the lines of ‘chocolatenews.blogspot.com’ or ‘chocolatenews.wordpress.org’. A business really needs its own, completely unique, domain name but there are also other reasons why free blog hosting might not be sufficient. It can, for one, only cope with a limited amount of traffic. For many blogs this isn’t a concern but for those that aim to attract thousands of visitors every week it will likely prove problematic.

Some don’t have the same thought process when hosting a blog as they do when hosting a website. It can, though, be just as important to make the right decision. After all, there is little point in having a blog if your potential visitors cannot view it. There are a number of factors that need consideration.

With any website, whether it is a blog or not, reliability is crucial. Web hosting is the most important factor in whether or not a blog is reliable. Unreliable hosting could result in a site regularly being offline meaning no-one can view it. Poor hosting can also lead to slower load times, thus meaning frustrated visitors resulting in them leaving the blog. This could include those who would return to the blog, therefore losing potential repeat visitors.

Prior to choosing your hosting provider you need to think about the amount of traffic you expect to attract. It is wise to discuss this with potential providers so you have the adequate bandwidth dedicated to the blog. The more bandwidth you have, the more traffic the blog can deal with while remaining online and without its performance being impacted.

While most blogs have relatively simple functionality – such as a series of text-based blog posts – if you have a more complex blog then the hosting will need to be chosen accordingly. An example of this is where audio and video files are included in posts.

So which type of hosting do you need for your blog? This comes down to many factors, with the main options being free blog hosting, shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

As mentioned above, free hosting isn’t always ideal but that doesn’t mean it never is. For a personal blog with basic content and a relatively low number of visitors this may be perfectly adequate. It is certainly not the best option, though, for a business blog, particularly due to the domain name restrictions.

Shared hosting is possibly the most common choice. You can have your own unique domain name and for most blogs is suitable. It can deal with the functionality of the majority of blogs and if traffic levels aren’t sky-high the bandwidth will be sufficient.

Dedicated hosting may be required for larger or more complex blogs. For those that drive thousands of visits a week, or even a day, then dedicated hosting should be the preferred choice.

Choosing the right web hosting for a blog is important. While free or cheap hosting might seem tempting, it may lead to problems with the blog. As well as the practical problem of people struggling to view the site, it can also harm the blogs reputation. That doesn’t mean that these cheaper options are never suitable though.

Andrew Marshall ©

Why the Right Website is Important for a Business

Having a website is important for all businesses these days. For one, customers expect it; if they search for a business online they expect to find it and if they can’t they are likely to go to a competitors website instead. Something that has become increasingly important is to catch the passive online market; those looking for certain products and services online who aren’t looking for any particular provider. If people can find your business when searching online for the products or services you offer then it can become a major income stream. To some the online shop window is their main source of generating business.

It is not just having a website that is important but having the right website. You need to provide what customers expect. A company that sells products and has a physical shop as well as a website might benefit from having an e-commerce site rather than just a flat brochure site. Some customers want to purchase products online and expect to be able to do so with certain items. People expect to be able to buy clothes, books and CD’s online so businesses that sell these may need an e-commerce site. On the other hand, they probably won’t expect to be able to buy products such as window shutters or flooring for their home. Important considerations for e-commerce sites should include giving clear information about products, such as what they are, what they do and the price. Navigation should be simple with easy and secure payment methods available. You can’t usually sell services through a website so websites of relevant companies are more likely to be brochure sites. These should supply information about the company and, importantly, information about their services. The contact details need to be clear, including the email address, telephone number and physical address.

Quality web design is important for any website, but especially a business site. It needs to look professional and needs to clearly display the relevant information and meet the requirements of customers. For some sites simplicity is the most important thing while for others impressive design is more important, for example design related businesses. Being able to show what you can do is also beneficial, visually or otherwise. Interior designers, artists and photographers, for example, should be able to show examples of what they can do. For those in industries where this is not possible it is good to give information about the work they have done or the customers they have worked with.  

The navigation and functionality of a website is important. Simple navigation is always preferable as you don’t want to leave visitors frustrated. They should be able to find what they are looking for easily and quickly. The required functionality depends on the type of website it is. Some will have very basic functionality while others might contain audio and video files or large databases.

With any website the content is crucial. There is little point in having a website if it doesn’t contain the right content. It needs to provide the information potential customers are looking for. Before having a website designed and built it is important to carry out market research. The most important thing for a business website is to provide what potential customers want, not what you think they want.

Andrew Marshall ©