Listed below are some of the most common reasons why people don’t put funeral plans and insurance in place.

• They think it can wait

With people in the UK generally living longer than ever before, many people think funeral insurance can wait until they’re a bit older.

The problem with this approach is that funeral prices are rising year on year. If you take out a prepaid funeral plan this year, you can secure your funeral at current prices. However, if you wait for another five or ten years, the prices for most things associated with funerals may have risen significantly, and you’ll have to pay the prices at that time.

• They’d rather not think about it

Generally speaking, people don’t like thinking about things like writing wills and making funeral plans. Making arrangements for when they’re no longer here is something millions of people in the UK find so unpleasant, they just blank it out.

• They’re not aware of the options

Because so many people don’t like thinking about their own funeral, it’s logical that they also don’t choose to look at the available options for funeral plans and insurance.

For example, you may not be aware there are different types of funeral insurance policy available depending on your budget and age.

Death is an inevitable part of life. It’s worth taking one day to look at your options, put something in place, and then get on with living knowing your plans are all in place.

• They think they’ll be able to cover their funeral costs via other means

Some people assume that by the time they pass away, they will have the necessary financial means to pay for their own funeral service.

While this may turn out to be the case for many, nobody can predict when they will pass away, and your personal finances and rising funeral costs may result in your family or friends having to contribute to your funeral plans.

Life is extremely unpredictable, so it makes sense both financially and for your own peace of mind to treat funeral insurance like any other form of insurance and make sure you’re covered.

Author Bio: The Co-operative Funeralcare is a leading provider of funeral insurance policies in the UK. To find out more about the range of policies available, visit their website now – http://www.co-operativefuneralcare.co.uk

You needn’t fear though, because you can still go ahead with your marketing strategy and stick to a tight financial plan – just opt for these five low-cost promotional items!

Printed mugs
Handing out promotional merchandise is a really effective way of catching the attention of the public. Everyone loves to receive a freebie, after all, so by giving them something that is useful, you’ll be able to get your brand’s name into their hands, as well as their home or office.

One of the most popular products that people love to receive for free is a printed mug, and with 165 million cups of tea drunk by the UK every day, according to the UK Tea Council, this is no great shock.

The British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA) also revealed that giving out mugs won’t break the bank, with the average cost per marketing “impression” as little as £0.001 per mug.

Pens
While we all love a cup of tea or a steaming hot mug of coffee, there is perhaps nothing more useful than a pen. This is why we just love to receive them for free.

According to the BPMA, 39 per cent of people said they would most like to receive a pen compared with any other promotional product.

What’s more you can buy 100 pens printed with a single colour logo or marketing message for less than £150.

USB flash drives
Just slightly more popular than pens are its more contemporary counterpart – the USB stick. Allowing users to store electronic data, these portable devices mean you can transfer documents from one computer to another, making people’s lives – particularly office workers – that much easier.

BPMA research indicates that 45 per cent of members of the public would most like to receive a USB stick and 21 per cent of people said they were the most useful promotional gift they had been given.

Depending on the memory size and the prevailing wholesale prices in the Far East, USBs can be more expensive than other promotional giveaways. As a result, the BPMA calculates that the average cost per marketing impression for USBs is £0.005, which is more expensive than pens and mugs, but is much more cost effective than other forms of advertising such as TV or radio advertising.

Umbrellas
With the weather in the UK being so unpredictable, it is easy to see why umbrellas come in use so often! What’s more, umbrellas offer a great print area for your logo or marketing message. Printed umbrellas can effectively become a portable billboard for your company at outdoor events – and the fact that they’re seen by so many people results in a large number of marketing impressions for your brand or marketing message.

According to the BPMA, the average cost per impression for printed umbrellas is £0.003.

Calendars
Office or home stationery is another particularly useful area to focus your marketing budget, as we use pens, notepads and diaries every day of our lives. Something we need whether we are in the workplace or in our house is a calendar.

Calendars are retained for at least 12 months, and as a result, the recipient will see your logo or marketing message repeatedly. The repetitive exposure of your logo means that the average cost per impression for printed calendars is £0.004.

The concept of the corporate activity evolved during 1990s when taking work teams to play paint ball games, to learn how to white water raft, to abseil down cliff faces or to play bowling games was considered to be the best way to get the team members to bond and to develop ways of working together more effectively. Often these activities would involve weekends away and might include courses on leadership and management.

This kind of team building is as popular today as it was then, and this would not be the case were there not real benefits to be had. However there are also some who believe that although during the weekend away participants do bond and work well together, the benefits are short lived and once the people return to the workplace, although they have good intentions, they revert to their old habits rather than modifying their behaviour according to their team building experiences. After just a month or so everything returns to how it had been before.

In order to overcome these problems some companies have taken corporate activities even further. Rather than just weekends away, teams have been taken to hotels for several weeks or even months during which time they were isolated from their families whilst they worked on a particular challenge or problem. This would involve a kind of corporate lock-in that included work and leisure activities and would last until the problem had been solved. This kind of lock-in has proven to be particularly successful.

It seems that far better and longer lasting results are obtained when teams are faced with real corporate objectives rather than just randomly going for days away and climbing mountains. Proper planning is needed and it is necessary to review and evaluate the results over a reasonably long period, say six months.

It is also important to have specific goals regarding what the corporate activity should achieve. Such goals might include the understanding the fundamental requirements of working together as a team; how to deal with any conflicts and problems that might occur in the team; delegation and the ability to accept delegated responsibilities; dealing with the negative emotions of other members of the team; and to learn how to give and take constructive criticism.

Team building activities such as away days and corporate lock-ins really do have benefits, but for them to be fully realised proper planning is necessary and real goals need to be established, otherwise there is a danger that they will just become corporate jollies.

But having an acceptable credit score is vital, as in these credit crunch times, banks and companies are being more conservative about who they provide services and products to. So as well as loans and mortgages, even a mobile phone contract or rental agreement can depend on a good credit rating. But apart from paying bills on time and ensuring you’re on the latest electoral role what else can be done? The answer for many is a prepaid card that offers a feature especially designed to build the customer’s credit rating.

This credit repair feature can really work wonders for those with bad credit, and it’s generally provided at no extra cost. In fact, one prepaid card company reports that a customer with a poor credit score may move up to a fair rating – as long as they use the feature correctly.

What’s more, a prepaid card can help improve a credit rating in other ways, such as enabling the customer to watch their spending online 24/7, which can help keep spending under control and help him or her to stick to a budget. However, that’s not always simple – especially when the cost of so many things (from food to power) has been steadily rising. And that can make it easy to end up with bouncing Direct Debits – which won’t do a credit rating any good at all.

One prepaid card has recognised this problem, and now provides a free Direct Debit service that has an invaluable feature: an instant loan than can be used to ensure that any Direct Debit that’s set up to be paid from the prepaid card’s account will get paid. And the same prepaid card can also provide a short term loan for any purpose.

So anyone who currently has bad credit and would like to improve their credit score, should look into the prepaid cards that offer a credit repair feature. And also be sure to manage any existing credit they have with great care!

A fixed rate mortgage is one where if you take a loan you have to pay fixed rate of interest for certain period of time. And fixed rate indicates that the amount payable on your mortgage is same each month. The time period to which a fixed rate mortgage lasts ranges from two to three years or even five or more than five years too.

But it’s not advisable for everyone to take out a fixed rate mortgage, as it isn’t right for everyone. Whether to go for it or not all depends on the situation of the person. And people mostly choose fixed rate mortgage for a stress free future, as they know whatever good or bad happens to the economy, the cost of their fixed mortgage can’t go up, and they are sure that nothing unexpected could ever happen. It can help financial planning having a fixed rate mortgage as you know how much money you will have to spend each month; it can be helpful for other outgoings, too, such as your home insurance quotes.

And at such a point of time where the future is so gloomy, more and more people are opting for fixed rate to bring some stability in their financial situation.

There are too many benefits you’ll be getting by fixed rate mortgage like you’ll not get any bad surprises as the fixed arte means fixed monthly payments. Also, it offers simple financial planning is ideal for those with small and tight budget, and it offers plenty of protections against the problems existing in banking world.

But along with so many positives also comes a few negatives too; with fixed rate mortgages one can’t get the benefit from any base rate drops; they charge quite high agreement fees, also if you fail to repay your mortgage , you have pay an early repayment charge.

16^th March 2012 – Cineworld, the UK’s leading cinema chain*, is today delighted to announce the removal of all booking fees for Cineworld cinemagoers nationwide and is introducing a further 10% discount for tickets bought online. Customers simply need to sign up to mycineworld via the Cineworld website (cineworld.com) to be eligible for the online discount.

The decision was taken after customer research** conducted on behalf of Cineworld showed that over three quarters (77%) of all cinemagoers had said that the removal of booking fees would encourage them to book online, and that more than 4 in 5 customers (86%) stated that discounted tickets would encourage them to pre-book. The move follows the highly successful trial in Cineworld’s Scottish cinemas last year.

Justin Skinner, VP, Marketing at Cineworld said, “This is a game-changer for the leisure and entertainment industry. Cineworld is delighted to be taking the lead in our industry by removing booking fees and lowering prices online.”

Following the announcement today by Cineworld that they will be removing all booking fees for online bookings, Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, says:

“This is good news. Which? has long been campaigning for companies to put an end to hidden and disproportionate surcharges so we’re pleased that Cineworld is leading the way and hope that other companies follow their lead.

“The Government’s decision to ban excessive fees was a victory for consumers but this is just a drop in the ocean. 50,000 people supported our campaign to see these “rip-off” charges stamped out so Government must stick to its commitment and ensure the ban happens by December 2012.”

mycineworld is a free online service that currently allows customers to buy Cineworld’s cinema tickets 10% cheaper. It also gives customers the added convenience of faster ticket collection in the foyer and keeps them up-to-date with the latest film information and great offers. mycineworld is available on Cineworld’s iPhone and Android Apps, via mobile internet and on the cineworld.com website.

For more information and to sign up to mycineworld visit: www.cineworld.com

-Ends-

*EDI/Rentrak UK & Ireland Box Office 2011

** Research was conducted on behalf of Cineworld in October 2010 and 2011, sampling over two thousand cinemagoers.

About Cineworld Group

Cineworld Group was founded in 1995 by Steve Wiener, the current Chief Executive, and is now the leading cinema group in the UK & Ireland by box office and admissions. The Group operates 79 cinemas of which 73 are multiplex sites with five screens or more. In 2007 Cineworld successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange. In 2011 Cineworld cemented its position as the UK industry leader after it was confirmed as the UK and Ireland’s number one cinema chain by Box Office. In December 2011 Cineworld opened its first IMAX screen at Cineworld Edinburgh with cutting edge audio technology.

For press enquiries, please contact:

Joe Dawes

020 7413 3122

Joe.Dawes@hkstrategies.com

Recent research has revealed that in 2011 there was a significant increase in prices for car insurance, with the average now £971.40 per annum, up from £842.69 in the previous year – an increase of 15.3%.

This might seem an awfully large amount, but there is no need to worry because there are a number of things that can be done in order to bring down the cost of premiums.

Who has been worst affected?
Cover for young drivers under the age of 22 has seen an increase of 10.91% to an average of £2,497 per year. Interestingly, male drivers in that age bracket pay an average of £3,163 whereas female drivers under age 22 pay an average of £1,799. Some car insurers now refuse to insure drivers who are under 21 years of age.

The largest percentage increase was seen for males in the age range of 30 to 39. It rose by 19.19% to an average of £819 per annum.

Female motorists aged between 60 and 69 pay the lowest premiums, at an average of £424 for a year’s cover.

Regionally, the cheapest car insurance premiums can be found in Scotland and the most expensive in London and the North West.

Shop around for a better deal
Don’t rely on your current provider to give you the best deal. The escalating cost of car insurance means that it is more important than ever to shop around before renewing your premium in order to make sure that you are getting with most competitive deal. A good place to start this process is the MoneySupermarket car insurance website.

However, make sure that you compare like for like, as there are so many different add-ons to standard policies for fully comprehensive, third-party or third-party, fire and theft cover. Breakdown cover, protected no-claims, hire car, legal cover and personal-accident cover may be included as additional features but this will not be the case in all policies.

How to get cheaper car insurance
There are a number of steps that can be taken in order to retrieve cheaper quotes on these comparison websites. The kinds of things which you should consider are:

• Excess- If you are prepared to pay a larger excess in the event of a claim, then this will usually reduce the cost of your policy. However, be careful not to offer to pay more than you know you will be able to afford.

• Payment options- Paying the annual premium upfront is cheaper than paying monthly as with the latter you are in effect borrowing the money and being charged interest for the privilege.

• Pay-as-you-go- Using new technology, such as a black box in the car to show how the car is being driven, will often result in reduced insurance costs; particularly for groups considered to be statistically the most risky by insurers such as young or convicted drivers.
• Security devices- You can also fit a tracking device, immobiliser or approved alarm, which means the car is less likely to attract the attention of car thieves. Most insurance companies will take this into account when they give you a quote.

• Specialist providers- Bear in mind that some insurance providers offer more advantageous terms to those over 50, women drivers or certain other categories.

• Mileage- Be accurate with your estimate of the number of miles you drive each year, because whether you do 5,000 miles or 25,000 miles could affect the premium significantly.

• Named drivers- Avoid adding an inexperienced young driver to the policy as this will increase the cost.

• Parking- Keeping your car in a garage overnight will usually result in cheaper insurance as there is less risk of it being stolen or damaged.

• Advanced driving qualifications- If you take and pass your advanced driver’s test, many insurance providers offer a significant discount.

• Drive carefully – if you don’t have any accidents and build up your no-claims discount over a few years you can save a lot of money when it comes to renewing your policy. Also try to avoid getting speeding fines or points on your license for other motoring offences.

Is the stigma of borrowing money off of friends and family helping to drive the payday loan freight train? If you think about it, when you are short of money, especially a week or 2 before payday options are pretty limited. The one time you need extra money, you can bet your bottom dollar that your bank will laugh you out of the office when you request that overdraft. Applying for a credit card takes too long, as does applying for a more traditional loan. You can ask a friend or family to borrow money, or you can get a short term loan.

Another common sight when I grew up was the Provident man. (Yes I didn’t grow up in a wealthy area.) This was the solution back in the day if you couldn’t borrow off of friends of family. This method was extremely popular where I lived, especially to fund things like Christmas or birthdays. The one down side to the Provident man was having him bang on your door once a week to collect his payment. This wasn’t something you were overly proud of, especially as they guy always had the knack of turning up

when you least wanted him to, like when the in-laws or nosey neighbours were visiting.

So in comparison to this the modern day equivalent, the payday loan is actually not quite so bad. The interest may be quite high but there is no hassle, no embarrassing money collector at your door and no need to ask your friends or family for that loan. Is it wise? Not always. Is it going away? Not any time soon. So is payday lending growing because of pride?

PAYE?

This is a system used for deducting Tax and National Insurance from your employees’ wages in order the pay HMRC; this goes that you must deduct tax for all employees that earn more than 7,475 a year per tax year – for example April 2010, to April 2011.

National Insurance must be deducted for all employees that are aged over 16, but under state pension age, but only if they are earning more than £110 a week in a tax year. PAYE must be applied to all wages, and payments, even if they are made in cash for expenses – including some benefits. To understand more consult the HMRC’s guide.

Payroll System?
There are many ways of setting up a payroll system, which will calculate the amount of tax and insurance needing to be deducted at the same time as calculating your employees’ wages. One way is using an accountant; which is one of the easiest options. Use a payroll agency, although you are responsible for any mistakes so it is always valuable to understand the system yourself.

However if you do it yourself, you need to ensure you have approved software from the HMRC; though when you become an employer, you will receive an Employer Starter Pack and this will come with a CD-ROM which will get you started with a database and calculators for creating and keeping track of your payroll records – including tax and insurance contributions. Or you could use a manual wages record, the P11 Deduction sheet, if you prefer to do things on paper – although this can be harder and more likely to contain errors.

Paying the HMRC?

You must pay the Tax and NIC you’ve deducted from the employees’ pay on a monthly basis, although if your payments are less than £1,500 a month you can pay quarterly. Though if you pay electronically you must make the payment by the 22nd of every month, and not electronically needs to be by the 19th of each month. If you have less than 250 employees you can pay a variety of ways; online, direct debit, bank giro, or in cash at the post office. Or use BACs, CHAPS or by cheque. Any owing payments at the end of the tax year must be received by the HMRC by April 19th.

Forms?

During the year you must use:

· Deductions working sheet P11; to show tax, NIC, student loan owing and any statutory pay such as sick pay, maternity pay etc.
· P32; detailed record of payments and deductions for each pay period eg monthly, weekly.
· Payslips; must give one to each employee, containing – gross wages, deductions and their net wage after deductions.

Come the end of the tax year you must complete the following;

· P35; an annual return showing all PAYE reductions, but it will only hold 10 employees, so you may need to continuation sheet too.
· P14; a summary for individual employees’ showing all deductions throughout the year – for part time and casual staff use a P38A
· P60; the copy of a P14 to give to employee.
· P11D; a records expenses form, and benefits in kind for employees however if you have a dispensation you don’t need to do this.
· New employees, you need to send in the relevant part of their P45 to HMRC.

All forms can be gained from the HMRC Orderline.

PAYE Deadlines

· April 19th, any payments outstanding to reach the HMRC.
· May 19th all completed forms P14, and 35 forms to reach the HMRC.
· May 31st, all employees’ should have their P60’s.
· July 6th, complete P9D, P11D, P11DX and P11D(b) forms to arrive at the HMRC – copies must also be given to employees’ by this point.

FAQ’s

Payroll records need to kept for the three previous tax years; so you will have the current year and the three previous years in your possession.
If your employee doesn’t know their tax code of NI number, call the HMRC and they will be able to help you discover them – but you need them as soon as you employ someone.

Any questions call the HMRC they will be able to help you with forms and any queries you may have.

Hit the sales
We usually associate the sales with the post-Christmas period, but this year many major retailers have kicked things off early to try and boost business. Some have got very good deals on, so it’s worth going for a rummage to see what you can pick up cheaper than normal.

Plan your pay-off
It’s a fact of life that many of us pay for Christmas on our credit cards and then get hit with the bills in January. There’s nothing wrong with this, but in order to limit the amount of interest you have to pay on your purchases, it’s worth thinking carefully about the benefits of credit cards to make sure you get the best possible deal (interest free or balance transfer cards can be useful for this).

Be strict with yourself
Christmas is normally a time of year for indulging ourselves and, let’s face it, probably overdoing it a bit. A little bit of self-discipline can make a big difference without you having to lose out. For instance, take a look at all the people you buy presents for. Chances are, some of them could be cut off your list, or organised into a Secret Santa so you only have to buy one present rather than lots.

Look for deals
Just as you would at any other time of the year, keep an eye out for good deals close to Christmas. For example, you can occasionally find deals such as £25 worth of vouchers for £20, or 3 for 2 offers that could take care of multiple presents – and also help to take care of your wallet.