| Equity lenders prepare to take on reverse mortgages
Shared equity lenders are preparing for a turf war with reverse mortgage lenders for the retiree equity release market. The first non-government shared equity loan, Rismark's equity finance mortgage, is being marketed at this stage to first home buyers and families that want to trade up, but it will not be long before the product is being offered to retirees. Rismark International managing director Christopher Joye said the package being offered by Adelaide Bank was not targeted at retirees but future product releases would be. "We think shared equity will compete very strongly with reverse mortgages," Joye said. "It is a more flexible product. There are no age-based limits. And we would argue the risk to the borrower is much lower. "A retiree could use either product to release equity from their home.
ABN Amro Shares Surge on Speculation About Takeover (Update5)
March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of ABN Amro Holding NV surged to a record after Barclays Plc approached the Dutch bank about a takeover, sparking what may become the biggest contest for a financial-services company. ABN Amro's stock rose 9.7 percent to 29.94 euros in Amsterdam today, valuing the company at 57 billion euros ($76 billion). Barclays, the U.K.'s No. 3 bank, said it will make a statement ``clarifying the position'' before business opens tomorrow after a person with knowledge of the situation who declined to be identified said the two companies are in talks. Chief Executive Officer Rijkman Groenink is fending off calls from investors, including TCI Fund Management, for ABN Amro to be broken up as he works to cut expenses on last year's purchase of Italy's Banca Antonveneta SpA and loan losses in the U.S., Latin America and Taiwan.
In finance, women worry more and act less than men
ShareBuilder released today its second annual Women & Investing survey, finding that while women worry a lot more than men about their finances and retirement, they interestingly take a lot less actions to address their concerns. Call me crazy, but to me it also seems to become a vicious cycle of sorts, where the lack of action causes more concern, but that in turn can create fear to take action and so on ... I think you understand what I'm getting at.In any event, the survey found some interesting (startling?) data pointing to a '"financial disconnect" in many women. Percentage-wise, 36% of women said they worry about retirement "all the time," compared to 29% of men. However, when it came to taking actions, such as having a financial game plan, 55% of men had one compared to 40% of women.I'm embarrassed to admit that I too have been known to behave in a similar manner.
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