More Personal Injury Myths

Here is the follow up post to my article which is posted here, these article aim to clear up a few myths that people currently believe when making injury claims and accident claims.

accident claim

Myth Six - Compensation culture means people will claim for anything

There is a huge myth that there is a growing compensation culture in Britain and people will now try and claim for anything and everything even if it is morally dubious. But once again this is just hear say, according to the Which? Consumer group, levels of compensation costs hasn’t risen dramatically since 1989. These results show that legal professionals have stuck to accepting the same amount of cases to take up. This does not mean that people aren’t asking lawyers to represent them for ridiculous claims, but more that lawyers are rightfully turning them down.

Myth Seven - Making a claim against your boss will get you sacked

One thing that’s seems to stop some people making a personal injury claim against there employer is the fear of being sacked afterwards. If any employer did sack you after making a claim, then this would be cause for an unfair dismissal claim, so most wouldn’t be stupid enough to do this. The law protects employees who are in these situations although you do need to have been with the job for a year or more.

Myth Eight - You shouldn’t receive treatment during a claim

These days insurers look at the accident claim process in a proactive manner and might even help arrange treatment for the injured person. The most common situation would be arranging for physiotherapy for a whiplash victim once the liability was established.

Myth Nine - The law looks out for big companies, there’s no way I will win

The truth is actually the opposite of this myth, Laws in the UK are some of the best in the world for looking after individuals. People in the public are well looked after with laws governing road safety, vehicle usage, health and safety covering them. We also benefit from free legal advice on most issues that help us establish where we stand with the law.

The price of injury and illness for residents of the UK

One in eight British residents has apparently lost out on wages due to time off work from illness or injury, with an average loss of £5,320 per person being reported. From these statistics, we can reveal that 34% of people missed more than a week from work due to illness and injury, 58% had to have more than a month off and 17% ended up missing more than a year.

A large number of these employees who had to have time off will have lost out on a fair bit of money, but the research shows that only 8% had insurance that covered their losses. One person in nine that lost money through injury or illness, lost over £5,000 and one in twenty lost more than £40,000. This means that your solution is to take out an insurance policy or if you suffered an accident at work, you should look into making an accident compensation claim. Most people would probably think that the government would be able to help them out, but state help it likely to make up for anything. Incapacity benefit is set at £78.50 per week for people on long term sick leave.

Most people don’t think of the implications of what would happen if they had to take time off work due to long term sickness or an injury from work. Around 23% of people when asked, said they would borrow money from family or friends, 11% said they would borrow from the bank, 5% of the people asked said they would defer any big bills like mortgage payments and only 8% said they currently had insurance to cover them in such a situation.

Obviously your employers have no responsibility if you develop a serious illness and have to leave work, but they are very much responsible if you suffer an injury from an accident caused by negligence. There are plenty of no win no fee companies that can help you recover costs from an accident in the workplace.

Housing Market Has Many Rethinking Their Pension

The downward slide in the housing market has many people very concerned with the threat of foreclosure but they are not the only ones that are feeling a squeeze with the outlook of the market. Many people are wondering if their current plans for retirement are going to still be enough to cover what they will need in their retirement years and are actively seeking independent pension advice.

Years ago people actually planned to use the equity in their homes to cover their costs in their retirement years. People are now realizing that this is not a guaranteed pension and they might be better off downsizing their home now before home values dwindle even more. With home values on a steady decline now and no immediate relief in site, many are concerned that by the time they need their retirement it will no longer be nearly as much as they once thought it would be.

Financial Times Summary by MWA

UBS - US Congressional investigators will today accuse UBS and Lichentenstein’s LGT Group of using the “cloak of bank secrecy laws” to help American clients evade billions of dollars in taxes. UBS told committee investigators it held 19,000 accounts worth $18bn for US clients that it had not declared to the IRS. In 2001, when tax rules, under the so-called Qualified Intermediary Programme required foreign banks to disclose the names of clients holding US securities, UBS’s US clients in Switzerland sold $2bn in such assets to avoid disclosure the report claims.

HBOS- Underwriters to the HBOS rights issue were last night preparing to pick up the tab for the UK mortgage bank’s £4bn cash call after a fresh slump in the stock made it highly likely that shareholders would shun the fundraising.

Barclays- Shareholders in Barclays are expected to avoid a £4.5bn capital increase. Investors have until 11am today to buy to buy new shares at 282p of face the prospect of investors led by the Qatar Investment Authority taking up the issue in full. Barclays’ shares closed at 266.75p, up 6.25p.

Icap- Shares in Icap closed higher after the interdealer broker continued to benefit from market volatility with a 15% rise in quarterly revenues, Icap confirmed that annual earnings were likely to be “broadly in line” with analysts’ consensus of £375m, compared with year-to-March earnings of £330m, sending its shares up to more than 8.5%.

Swiss Re- Shares in Swiss Re tumbled yesterday after the reinsurer said it has $9.6bn of exposure to corporate debt issued by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the beleaguered US mortgage finance companies.

Citigroup-Wells Fargo passed Citigroup to become the third-biggest bank by market value after its shares rose 33% on second-quarter results that were better than expected and an increase in it’s dividend.

Merrill Lynch - Merrill Lynch is to sell its 20% stake in Bloomberg for about $4.5bn in the latest sign of bank’s need for fresh sources of capital to shield them from the credit storm. But Merrill is set to retain its far more valuable 49% holding in BlackRock-and prolong its relationship with the asset management group-after weeks of talks between the groups failed to produce a deal. Merrill had hoped to get more than $4.5bn for the Bloomberg stake.

This summary was written by Martin Ward Anderson, for more News and Financial Services Jobs please click here

Injury Claim Estimator

If you are planning to make a compensation claim to try and recoup financial loss from a work injury that is stopping you from making money, then you should take a look at Claims for you’s Injury Claim Estimator. The calculator allows you to select an area of the body that the injury is in, what type of injury it is and the level of severity. The final step of the process is to enter in some details and the company will text you your accident compensation quote and how to make a claim. There seem to plenty of companies floating around on the internet offering services like these, so make sure you do some research before choosing one as it could make a big difference to your financial situation.

accident at work

Introducing the latest member of our group

We have now launched our online business blog that will be dealing with broader business topics than the finance topics found in this blog

The rest of the blog family

Online travel blog

Online property blog

Online health blog

Online finance blog

family

How I made Millions by Dragons Den Star

Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis gives some words of wisdom on how he made himself successful and how he has made his millions.

theo paphitis

Do what you enjoy

“There’s a test: if you can’t bore your mates in the pub about what your job is then you’re not doing it right. You have to be so passionate that you make them go, “will you shut the hell up about work?”"

Don’t fear the unknown

“A lot of people are just carrying on doing what they’ve been doing all their lives because they’re frightened of what’s out there. Don’t be scared of doing something new, otherwise you’ll end up doing the same thing forever, and then you’ll retire and you’ll never be happy. The simple truth is that other people are out there doing what you want to do, and the fact that they’re doing it means that it’s possible”.

Keep it Simple

“Or KISS as I like to say - keep it simple, stupid. People complicate things, and you’re always in danger of doing it yourself. Sometimes people come to see me and I haven’t understood a word they’re on about, and they’ve complicated something that is the simplest thing in the world”.

Delegate

“The trick is to aim to make yourself redundant, I promise you, you won’t actually be made redundant, because everybody looks for people who’ve got time on their hands. Make yourself redundant and you’ll get more work and, because of that, you’ll progress. People panic - they think that if they’re not being seen to be working hard, their boss will get rid of them”.

Works Smart

“This kind of goes back to my last point - don’t just think working hard until 9pm every night means you’re good at your job, it doesn’t. If you want to work hard, go and work in a coal mine - what you want to do is work smart, by not being a busy fool. Look at what you’re doing and make sure it has a practical, meaningful end”.

Incentivise

“This is a very special one because you have to give people incentives. However generous you may feel you are by giving them a job and having your lovely guidance, you still have to give them something to aim for. People work through fear and greed. Do not use fear, because after a while it doesn’t work, but greed is good; greed works. And what they really want is money”.

theo paphitis pondering

Break everything into bite-sized chunks

“Very important - whatever you’ve got to do, break it down into manageable pieces: no one ever got to the top of a mountain I none leap, you have to establish base camps”.

Problem solve

“The way to solve problems is to look at your bite-sized chunks and remember that in the vast majority of cases it’s never really one thing that’s causing the problem. It’s usually a combination of things, so don’t just look for the silver bullet that’s going to solve everything”.

Make decisions

“Never be scared of getting a decision wrong - the simple trick is to get more right than wrong. The person who’s never got a decision wrong is the person who’s never made a decision. Trust me, I’ve made many wrong decisions”.

It’s all about cash-flow

“This runs through the whole core of everything I do. Having no profit is like a cancer, you die very slowly. You can run businesses without a profit, but you’ll slowly perish, and having no cash-flow is like a heart attack. You’re dead, if you can’t pay staff at the end of the month, the business is bust, if you can’t pay your business rent, the business is bust”.

Remember why you work

“You should always remind yourself of the three reasons you go to work: One: to make money. Two: to have fun. And three: not to forget to make money”.

If you are looking for your start in business, contact Martin Ward Anderson for Jobs in Finance, Accountancy Jobs and Banking Jobs.

Why not invest in a franchise

If you are sitting on a lump of money and are wondering what to do with it, why not try out running your own business. Most companies that will offer a franchise opportunity, will also provide training and back up, meaning experience in the field is not always needed.  Accoring to Entrepreneur.com the top US franchises are

1.Subway

2.Dunkin Donuts

3.Jackson Hewitt Tax service

4.7-Eleven Inc

5.UPS Store

6.Domino’s Pizza

7.Jiffy Lube Int’l. Inc

9. Sonic Drive in Restaurants

8.McDonald’s

10.Papa John’s Int’l. Inc.

While not all of these franchise opportunities are available in the UK, there are still plenty of companies that offer franchises in various fields. Take a look around and maybe you could make your fortune.

franchise examples

How to protect your financial earnings if you have an accident?

If you suffer an injury at work due to an avoidable accident which is not your fault, then you may run into financial problems if you are unable to work. To help protect your financial future in terms of earning it would be worth making an accident compensation claim if your injury has stopped you from working.

All employers have a duty of taking care of their employees, and if injuries are caused by negligence then the injured parties should seek out legal advice and look into making an accident claim.

One of the main problems facing people in these situations is the daunting prospect of taking your employer to court, especially if you want to continue working for them after the claim has been made. But people need to realise there are laws to protect them in these situations. Even in the event of court proceedings, it illegal for employers to dismiss or discriminate against the employee. Any cases where the employer infringes these laws, will lead to prosecution meaning you should not fear any repercussions if you are making a legitimate claim for the loss of earnings.

When making a claim against an employer you shouldn’t feel bad as they will be covered by Employer’s Liability Insurance, which will cover any accident claims made against them. So no matter how small the company, the money wont be coming out of there pockets, so they will not be affected greatly apart from having to maybe review their health and safety techniques.

To fully protect your future earnings and income, you should contact a reputable no win no fee solicitor, there are many solicitors and specialist claim companies out there to help you deal with any personal injury claims you may need to make.

Why a Commercial Mortgage

Commercial Mortgages how can they help? In today economic environment where experts in the financial sectors, economists, politicians, banks and building societies they all seem to have a different deliberation on the future of the UK economic situation, in both the long and short term. For example, are we about to enter into a major downturn or are just a long road of slower growth, know body knows? So why keep faith with a Commercial Mortgage, when even though the interest rate is being reduced by the bank of England the end interest rate we are getting as business customers its increasing due to the credit crunch?

The main benefits of Commercial Mortgages are really still the same as they have always been in that you retain ownership of your business and your business premises. You can raise equivalent advances by using other typical investment channels and even in today market, companies I have found included general finance centre still can offer very competitive rates on commercial mortgages and business finance products.