Cohen takes national stage on arts and cultural policy

State Sen. Richard Cohen has landed on the national stage where arts and cultural policy matters are concerned.

President Barack Obama today named Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, to the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities (PCAH). Cohen, along with other new committee members announced today, will be sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden.

Other new PCAH members include world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and Sarah Jessica Parker, the actress who starred in the television show Sex and the City.

Cohen has been an ardent arts supporter at the state Legislature during his seven terms in the Senate. He successfully pushed to have arts and cultural projects included in the dedicated sales tax increase amendment that was approved by Minnesota voters last November.

Cohen also supported Obama’s presidential candidacy early on when many Minnesota Democrats were supporting Hillary Clinton’s bid for the nomination.

The PCAH has been around since 1982. The group advances the White House’s arts and humanities objectives by working with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.


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Coping with a sudden endowment shortfall

The Financial Ombudsman Service is bracing itself for a rise in complaints about with-profits mortgage endowment policies over the next couple of years.

In 2012, it will be a quarter of a century since banks and building societies really started pushing endowment mortgages on the back of a (then) soaring housing market. As the typical mortgage lasts for 25 years, there will be possibly hundreds of thousands of endowments maturing.

Unless the fortunes of the stock market are totally transformed in the next year or two, the majority are likely to leave their holders disappointed, at best with a much smaller surplus over their mortgage than they were originally led to believe and at worst with the policy proceeds proving woefully inadequate to meet the mortgage debt.



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Corp Bond Sales,Fed Meeting Keep Investors Busy

A bevy of corporate bond sales, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s (BRKA, BRKB) takeover of railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI) and the start of the Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting kept credit markets busy Tuesday.

The Fed is due to release a statement Wednesday afternoon on the latest outlook on inflation and the economy. The focus is likely to be on any change in wording on the Fed's exit strategy to unwind the massive stimulus as the economy heals.

Many portfolio managers, worried about the impact of the Federal Reserve's removal of its market props, already are turning their ...



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What is an Endowment Sale?

An endowment sale is a transaction that takes place when an endowment policyholder decides to sell the policy. An endowment policy buyer is the entity who purchases the endowment, usually a company that specializes in making this type of purchase. An endowment policy is a regular savings or investment plan combined with life insurance in a single policy. If the owner dies before the policy reaches maturity, the endowment policy life insurance company pays out a specified amount of money.
There are a number of ways an endowment sale can take place. First, an endowment sale can be handled personally, with the policy owner contacting an endowment purchasing company. This type of endowment sale is fairly easy to complete, and most financial advisors will walk the policyholder through the process.
Another way to complete an endowment sale is at an endowment auction, or through what is referred to as a market maker. A market maker is a window through which endowment policy traders can make offers to purchase policies. It is akin to the stock market, but on a much smaller and calmer level. In this type of endowment sale, the policy trader can farm out the policy and get a better price by offering it in the open market.
There are two primary types of endowment policies: unit linked and with profits. A unit linked endowment policy involves monthly premiums that are invested into units. The value of this policy can fluctuate depending on the performance of the investment.
If there is strong economic growth, a unit linked endowment policy is the best option. If the market is down, however, so is the value of the endowment. The current value of the policy has an impact on the outcome of the endowment sale.
The more traditional endowment policy is the with profits variety. This type has a guaranteed value and will never go below a specific amount. This is the safer route for those not willing to take a risk with the unit linked policy.
Cashing in an endowment policy is a major decision. There are many alternatives to an endowment sale that are worth exploring before taking such a big step. Most individuals seek an endowment sale because of drastic changes in their circumstances, such as divorce or a change in mortgage arrangements. More recently, a low maturity projection by the endowment policy issuer has become another reason to carry out an endowment sale.

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Sell My Endowment

So you think you want to sell your endowment policy? Thats a big step - maybe you should consider your options before you dispose of a policy which you may have had for many, many years. After all most people who have endowments got them in the 1980's where they became particularly popular in the UK because of their tax treatment and, in particular, the high inflation of the time. So much has changed in the intervening decades. Read on too take a look at endowments and decide what are the best options for you, your mortgage and your your endowment policy.


Whether you are going to sell your endowment or not you should make a well-informed decision not a hasty one as this could have big implications for your financial future.
In this article I am going to look at what endowments are all about, what they issues with endowments are in today's markets, your selling options for endowments, and other options if you decide not to sell.

First off lets start at the basics what is an endowment policy? An endowment policy is basically a retirement investment and life insurance policy rolled into one. The general idea was that a home owner took out an interest-only mortgage on their property and this capital was invested in the stock market. The owner made lower repayments than with a regular mortgage because they weren't repaying capital. Instead the stock market returns on their investment was supposed to repay the mortgage at the end of a set number of years - usually 25.

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Should I Sell My Endowment Policy

Selling your endowment policy is a big step - something that you shouldn't rush into without a thorough financial analysis of the pros and cons of selling.  Once your policy is gone - its gone - your capital gains or losses are crystallized - you can't change your mind with this type of thing. In order to avoid living to regret the day you decided to sell your endowment policy - you should have written down exactly why you decided to sell and what assumptions you made that led you to that decision. You can't control the future and you certainly can't control what happens to the stock market, inflation, interest rates and other key financial indicators. All you can do is assume that everything will change and take the informed decision of the moment.

So lets look at the essential steps in the decision making process:

• why do you want to sell you endowment policy?
• what will selling cost you?
• what are your alternatives?
• which is the best decision.

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Bad Credit Remortgage

A common question many people have is “How can I refinance my mortgage if I have bad credit?” The answer is a resounding yes, however the process is more cumbersome and somewhat different than for people with good credit.

Bad credit is an obstacle for more and more Americans during the current economic crisis. The good news is that bad credit doesn’t have to prevent you from being able to remortgage  your home.

Before you embark on your search to find a lender, you should explore the reasons you want to remortgage. For people with bad credit, the answer to this question should not be to get a “cash-out” refinance. Lenders are less likely to work with you if you are attempting to get cash out of your home. If the answer to this question is to take advantage of historically low interest rates and save money over the life of your loan, then you are on the right track and have a good chance of getting a remortgage.

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Endowment Policy Sales

There seems to be a bit of buzz in the financial world at the moment with people looking to sell their endowment policies. Given that endowment policies are financial instruments which have intrinsic worth then its hardly surprising that a market for endowment policy sales exists between willing buyers and sellers. Good old capitalism hasn't died yet. The truth is that at the moment, particularly in the UK, there are probably more people looking to sell their endowment policy than those on the buying side of the equation. In this article I'd like to take a look at exactly what an endowment policy is and the reasons for people wanting to sell them before their terms is up, who the buyers of those policies are, and alternative for those wondering whether they should sell their endowment policy.

Endowment policies were the flavour of the year back in the 1980's particularly in Britian. In the UK they had certain tax advantages and in a high inflation period with limited other investment options they made a lot of sense for those who had 25 years or more to go before retirement and a home to mortgage. The idea was simple - well simplish. The idea was that the home owner bought an endowment policy. The policy was in effect an interest-only mortgage secured against their home. The policy owner paid the interest only repayments - which were of course significantly lower than a traditional, repayment style mortgage which included capital as well as interest repayments. Meanwhile the capital raises by the mortgage was invested in the share market. Some endowment policies, know as unit endowment policies, are directly linked to the share market with unit prices fluctuating widely in line with the share markets ups and downs. The more conservative "profit endowments" were more a managed investements with the finance company attempting to smooth the bumps in stock market performance and giveing a more consistent income stream from the endowment policy.

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What are endowment policies?

Endowment policies are modifications of whole life. Like whole life, part of the premium goes to build up a cash value fund. An endowment policy generally has a higher premium than a whole life policy for the same amount of insurance because more of the premium is devoted to building cash value. The endowment is designed to terminate and pay out the cash amount at a designated time, such as after a prescribed number of years (for example, 20 year endowment, 30 year endowment) or at a specific age (for example, endowment at 60, endowment at 65).

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