QROPS or Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Schemes appears to be a stiff pension jargon though in fact it is not. It is simply a pension scheme wherein a pensioner in UK upon being an expatriate or planning to go overseas can transfer existing pension into a QROPS.  It is well known that pensions in UK are buried under layers of restrictions and regulations to safeguard the tax earnings of the government. There is also a restraining provision that forbids pensioners from using up all their pension money in initial five to ten years of retirement.

QROPS came as a piece of good news in April 2006 when some of the UK pension restrictions were lifted and it was announced that with government approval UK expatriates could move their pension to a QROPS.  It was required that any QROPS be fully certified by HMRC or HM Revenue and Customs department of UK.

To qualify for a QROPS transfer, one must be a non-resident of UK for a minimum of five years.  A large number of QROPS are not open to US citizens, yet people of other nationality can freely apply. To keep the charges to the minimum, applicants must transfer a fund of 200,000 GBP to a QROPS. However, there are various floating schemes, too, allowing fund transfers starting from 50,000 GBP in case the applicant has cash deposits or some other investments.

Buying an annuity is not mandatory for someone transferring a pension into a QROPS. This clearly is a winner as it makes possible to invest in assets with better returns and pass on balance funds to loved ones upon death or other eventuality.

QROPS benefits can be availed between the ages of fifty and seventy-five, though it’s also possible to withdraw funds prior or after these thresholds. It is always wiser to look for schemes that offer withdrawals at lowest rates of tax. However, the tax liability in large part relies on the legislation of the country of residence. The benefits of QROPS far outweigh those of a UK pension scheme as it offers greater flexibility, investment freedom and a higher income potential.

QROPS allows for a smooth pension transfer to an overseas jurisdiction.  Normally this can be organised through a QROPS provider. The market may be flooded by providers who list out the benefits of a QROPS infinitely. However, no less important is the need to consider the pitfalls of an available QROPS. A next logical step is to contact an approved QROPS adviser to get a window on existing schemes and jurisdiction of QROPS.

                                                                                                                            Guest Blogger: Sanjay Joshi

Do you know suddenly year 2012 is everywhere in the news ? Agreed, you know, London would host the next Olympics. But there are even such outrageous reports that world or greater part of the Earth would meet its end in that year- natural disaster, calamities, asteroid attack, or water wars would alter the face of life totally.

I don’t know whether I would be alive or dead on that day… yet there are 5 things that I would like to do before 2012 -

1) take that painting class.

2) have those steely abs.

3) clean my room. [this of course, before pest attack!]

4) learn to forgive.

5) kick my math teacher from school [It's long overdue nowww!]

I am sure there are things that we all have always wanted to do, but have not come round to.

What are some things you wish you could do? Share your thoughts with me and make this post lively!

The rising curve of Snap Deal in the couponing space in India is no longer a closet secret. From a residential basement in India to developing a retail merchant network exceeding the count of 50,000, its Founder-CEO Kunal Bahl has really sown the seeds of a coupon revolution in the face of Groupon buzz making waves.

However, these days, maybe, Snap Deal itself or the ad agency hired by them seem to be manipulating online visitors into landing on  to their website by circulating clickable image ads of sensuous ladies with a ‘Play’ button designed on them. I confirmed the truth of this by trying out a click. Almost always the first time visitors are misled into believing that it would be some kind of a steamy video featuring a beautiful model. They receive a rude shock when all they see is a blatant advertising page holding out sundry details of Snap deals on various things! (See the model image on right sidebar that's doing the rounds for Snap Deal promotion currently). Readers are urge to share with us other instances of such advertising deceits involving Snap Deal or other online business entities.

Is it desperation on the part of Snap Deal startup to get more eyeballs or a rat race lap to climb on to the top of corporate revenue ladder at any cost! Such advertising techniques are unethical to say the least. Not only do serve to bring disrepute to any and every business but also alienate prospects from the business entity.

A lot of times it happens that the men on top are not aware of such gimmicks and the agency hired by them resorts to every available means to get visibility. I can recall one such instance myself when last year I was in the Railway Ministry office in New Delhi for a presentation. I was there to respond to a bid to make the Indian Railways website a revenue-making tool. Casually, during the question hour, I had made an allusion to some tiny banner ads hosted on the main railway website while showing its poor execution. The senior bureaucrats present there and everybody else were in for a shock as they clearly showed no knowledge of such a thing happening. There were no official approvals and I got thanked profusely for sharing this piece of information. An advisory was immediately issued and since then all such advertising on railway site was banned. I am sure the powers at Snap Deal are heeding this and putting a plug on such devious online ads.

Cougars are the hottest trend and I even read somewhere that John McCain was pretty sure of winning all the cougar votes! The Australians even got a taste of the new TV series, ‘Cougar Town’celebrating the exploits of 40-plus women, along footsteps of Sex and the City

Not to be left behind was Claudia Opdenkelder, the Canadian model who went on to set up Cougarlife (dot) com as a dating site for finding young prey for almost 300,000 Cougars-in-waiting! And as a I write this, I heard somebody read an ad on Cougar Cruises!

While the liberation brigade of the women in their 40s, 50s and 60s are out there making a call for young male things or thingies, yet another thrill has been added to this hunting game.

The ego of male libido has bounced back. We are now hearing of a new tribe of Cougar Hunters who are eagerly and passionately seeking horny Demi Moores to dick them.

To quick-check the facts- Vancouver in British Columbia popularized the term “Cougar” to describe mature and/or older women hitting bars and latching on to whoever was the last to leave the bar. The term has grown from then on to include a class of financially sound, intelligent, independent, divorced or otherwise women who aggressively seek younger tools for social flaunting and mating.

It’s amazing to find the new male brigade that pulverizes the cougar pelvis with a newfound confidence and guilt free mind. Beware cougars. We are cubs no more! If ever you flash out a claw, it leaves a scar in your own flesh first. Books like Cougar: A Guide for Older Women Dating Young Men by Valerie Gibson are already pass.

Hi All,

We all must have had uptight feelings, apprehensions, jitters, anxiety attacks and bouts of tension. There are endless reams of paper and online space devoted to tackling these normal reactions to events labeled as Stress and whatever.

Even so, I am going to tell you about a very simple, tested and totally FREE way to kill away all that stress. My personal experience has been to simply curl up in bed (not with a book however) and start pretending to sleep. In fact you must try hard to sleep forgetting every other sane/insane thing. A good and very healthy prop while trying to sleep is to just imagine stretches of blue light all around and somehow trying to get lost in it consciously.

I am sure you’d have difficulty in canceling out all other thoughts when pushing yourself to sleep. However, with practice, you would master this art of going to bed and catching some sleep visualizing blue light flooding you. Once you’d get used to it, you would not tire of thanking me for such an innocuous and medicine free way to induce a stress and anxiety free state. And just remember, problems are a part of the “great circle of Life.”

Happy Sleep, then!

Tattoo and Body Piercing have never been more hip than these days. We have even started hearing of such events like “Tattoo & Body Piercing Seminars” . UNICEF and Tattoo- does it rhyme at all?

No, by no long shot even. UNICEF for most of us is little more than a remote agency which is associated with doing good for the nameless and faceless children. Owing to its dull existence, common folks like us never remember it beyond this description.

However, I recall what Gucci did few year back for UNICEF in its own innovative way. This elite apparel brand Gucci released a new White Tattoo Heart Collection donating 25% of sales to UNICEF. And making it perpetually hip was Rihanna who modeled for this collection. Well, Tattoo! Oh Tattoo!

Now I have always felt kinda muddled with all those weird shapes used in tattooing. So I was just thinking of trying to make sense of them and got to know of this great resource- tribalshapesdotcom

At Tribal Shapes, there are hoards of links on celestial, evil, flowery, beastly, hearty and mythic tattoos complete with pictures and what they stand for.

Whether you like’em or not, you’d really find this site a tad good guide.

Go check it out!

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A Taliban stood in queue outside a US embassy to get his visa.

His conversation with the Consul began after 9 long hours of keeping in queue.

Consul- What’s your name?
Taliban- Gaffar Khan
Consul- Sex?
Taliban- Ten to twelve times a week
Consul- Well, I mean, male or female?

Taliban- Both female and male and at times even camels
Consul- Holy Cow!
Taliban- Yes, cows and dogs, too!
Consul- Man! Isn’t it hostile?
Taliban – Horse style, Doggy style, any style
Consul- Oh… dear!
Taliban- Deer! No deer, Sir, they run too fast!

Adam’s love for apples is not hid from any one. Just a couple of months back, spark was added to this prehistoric love relationship when Notion Ink, an Indian startup managed by 3 young grads created the design of Adam Now this was a technological gadget and precisely a nouveau tablet computer meant to offset Apple’s latest tech tool ipad.

The new Adam PC was considered to be running on super energy-efficient parts with a unique display that can switch from color to black & white in the blink of an eye! Geeks all over the world were taken by surprise by the announcement of Adam by Notion Ink propelling India from IT services provider fame into a strong presence in consumer electronics field.

The new Adam tablet computer was going to be a significant money saver in contrast to ipad that starts at $499. Designed in India, Adam’s production was slated to commence from Taiwan and expected to retail at $325. The indigenous Adam avatar of tablet PC was in a way yards apart from its counterpart iPad: boasting of battery lie in “days” instead of hours and support for flash- something not present in iPads.

Clearly we all felt the new Adam is out to gulp Apple again with gusto- Hail Indian Creativity!!! However, the noise and hype seem to have ended up in a numb silence of sorts. Why does it end up this way in India?

                                                                                                                      By Guest Blogger: Sanjay Joshi

Well, a post dinner sip is still not a readily available item in most Indian homes. Parties though are not unusual, and these days, late night spreads, especially. Time is something that Indians have always had in a never-ending spiral. Ever since the wheel got invented, life of every Indian became a giant whirligig. Time was and continues to be a cyclical event, never flowing in some linear way. Something in stark contrast to prevailing Western notions of linear time!

Talking about abundance of time, Indians never overlook this free inheritance and always appear late on most scheduled events. Dinner invites or formal occasions, finding an Indian resting his posterior on a lonely furniture ahead of others has become almost proverbial stuff.

So your guests take a whale of a time to make it to your party venue. Once there, they gawk at you as if complaining why food was not fast forwarded instead of clammy bare hands. Being late they had already tormented their tummies enough not to get another obstacle. Food eaten, they hit a pause to dab their faces clean before barking that ‘bye’. A nightcap is thus reduced to a post meal ‘chai’ (Tea) for the worn out couple after a dull round of utensil-washing.

It does seem uncanny for a nation priding in traditions of family and bonding to shy away from a postprandial pour without any explanation. On the contrary, it could have added a sense of involvement among the family members reminiscing good moments together before drifting to sleep.

Anyway, for listeners, the qualified entries for nightcaps are, Armagnac, Cognac, Scotch followed by Vodka, Gin, Rum and some white spirits. The idea is not to shoot more of post food drinks but to savor the swig as it prepares us for slumber.

When Bob Marley “got the news from the whispering trees” he had only this to say-”I’m gonna talk that freedom talk, let me see you walk that freedom walk.” Songs about freedom were never less popular. The impact of songs of freedom and music in general is so transformative that one can only imagine how explosive it must get when it gets tied up with a big cause. Liberation and freedom and the role of struggle and striving and triumphs and trials form the fabric of such mighty causes.

Both Freedom and Music or loosely, songs, exercise a considerable influence on lives of each one of us. Who can forget legendary Bob Marley songs of freedom? When one scratches somewhat more, it emerges that the thread of music passes through not just everyday lives but religious areas, business, political systems, technology and so on…  Even if one looks back at the American Civil Rights movement, the role of songs and lyrics in shaping the struggle for liberty and rights is far greater.

An idea becomes more memorable and poignant when it carries a musical punch. The famous song of US Civil Rights, “We Shall Overcome” gradually touched the Irish borders but soon engulfed one and all in its unifying sweep. A feeling of togetherness is experienced when one chooses the medium of song and dance giving the reactionary sentiments an element of solidarity.

Even after Victor Jara was executed under the Pinochet regime in Chile, his music and songs of freedom similarly served a larger cause. It helped Latin Americans understand the value of human rights and social justice in daily existence. Likewise in other parts of the world, music and songs that represent freedom have always played the catalyst in uniting a body of people for any worthwhile cause. I am deliberately not including any mention of the Indian scene of independence.

Now a soft digression here. I just learnt that Amit Chaudhuri, a remarkable Indian writer, wrote a realist fiction titled ‘Freedom Song’ in 2000. It is praised as an elegant portrayal of modern Calcutta’s lyrical chaos and cosmos. Guess, we all became more tuned to the hidden music that resonates our logos and cosmos from times immemorial.