Retirement village owner buys two rivals
Posted: May 7, 2012 at 2:13 am
Published: 10:47AM Monday May 07, 2012 Source: BusinessDesk
Source: Metlifecare
Metlifecare, which raised $45.5 million of new capital last year, has agreed to buy rivals Vision Senior Living (VSL) and Private Life Care Holdings (PLC) in a deal worth some $216 million in stock and cash.
The retirement village operator will buy VSL's five existing villages for $83 million in Metlifecare shares, and PLC's three villages for $123 million for scrip, the company said in a statement.
VSL's shareholders will also buy 4.2 million further shares for some $10 million in cash to pay down the retirement village operator's debt.
"The merger will strengthen Metlifecare's presence in the key Auckland retirement village market and ensure that the company continues to compete strongly in the New Zealand retirement village sector," managing director Alan Edwards said.
"The merger will be immediately cash flow accretive and will provide an enhanced platform for Metlifecare to drive growth and shareholder value."
In February, Metlifecare reported a 38% slump in first-half underlying profit as it had to pay rising insurance costs and had to contend with smaller operating revenue after selling its Merivale Village last year.
The merger will boost Metlifecare's portfolio to 24 villages, three of which are in development.
The number of units will increase to 3,902 from 2,460, while brownfield and greenfield capacity climbs to 1,011 units from 380 units.
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Retirement village owner buys two rivals
Deciding how quickly to draw down retirement funds
Posted: at 2:13 am
Dear Liz: After working all out for 28 years in a small business, I have put away $2.6 million in stocks, bonds and some cash. (I am a reasonably smart investor.) I'm 58 and want to be done at 60. I'm not tired of my business, just tired of working. How much do you think I could draw out and not get myself into trouble? I'm in great health, so I could last 30 more years. Our house is paid off, and my wife gets about $40,000 a year from a nice pension. Any ideas?
Answer: Financial planners typically recommend an initial withdrawal rate of 3% to 4% of your portfolio. With $2.6 million, your first year's withdrawal would be $78,000 to $104,000. The idea is that you could adjust the withdrawal upward by the inflation rate each year and still be reasonably confident you won't run out of money after 30 years.
Some studies indicate you can start with a higher withdrawal rate, as long as you're willing to cut back in bad markets.
There is still some risk of going broke, though, even with a 3% withdrawal rate. Particularly poor stock market returns at the beginning of your retirement, for example, could increase the chances your nest egg will give out before you do.
This is an issue you really should discuss with a fee-only financial planner who can review your investments and your spending to make personalized recommendations. (You can get referrals from the National Assn. of Personal Financial Advisors or the Garrett Planning Network.) If you've chosen especially risky stocks or have too much of your portfolio in bonds, for example, your retirement plan could fail even if you choose a conservative initial withdrawal rate.
You'll also want to talk about how you're going to get health insurance, and how much it's likely to cost. If you've been arranging coverage through your business, you might face some sticker shock when you have to buy a policy on your own. But it's essential to have this coverage, since you won't qualify for Medicare until you're 65.
If you're not tired of your business, you might consider phasing in retirement, if that's possible in your situation. That would mean starting to take some long breaks to travel or pursue the interests you plan to indulge in retirement. Delaying retirement even a few years can dramatically increase the chances your nest egg will last.
Shielding elderly parent from larceny
Dear Liz: I liked your answer to the elderly couple who were being badgered for money by their daughter and her husband. I agree that involving the other daughter can help.
I managed to combat the tendency of family and caregivers to pester my 90-something mom for money by convincing her to give me electronic access to her bank accounts. We did this so that I could pay her bills if she got sick unexpectedly. The other benefit is that I see the small larcenies as they begin to happen. Then I can quickly step in and stop them before they escalate. It is a lot easier having a conversation with someone who has sleazed $100 from her than to deal with the $5,000 theft that motivated me to set this in motion.
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Deciding how quickly to draw down retirement funds
Greyson Chance
Posted: at 2:12 am
THIS MONTH YOU SHOULD GET TO KNOW
Following the Justin Bieber phenomenon, showbiz has embraced a number of young teenagers whose fame started from their personal YouTube videos. Greyson Chance, a 14-year-old boy from Texas, was among those discovered stars and recently staged his debut performance for his fans in Bangkok.
In 2010, Chance showed off his piano and vocal skills to Lady Gaga's Paparazzi during a performance for his fellow sixth-grade students at his high school. After his brother wrote to television star Ellen DeGeneres and suggested she watch Chance's video, Degeneres invited him onto her programme The Ellen DeGeneres Show where she signed Chance as the first artist on her new record label "eleveneleven".
His debut album, Hold On 'Til the Night, was released last August and his Paparazzi video has been viewed over 47 million times.
_ Yanapon Musiket
Live concert enthusiasts should be overjoyed with two showcases in one week.
First up is the band Asobi Seksu. Hailing from New York City, Asobi Seksu has been around for quite some time and their dreamy pop promises an inspiring concert. Japan-born Yuki Chikudate and James Hanna are the core of the band along with other session musicians. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2004, and the latest, Fluorescence, hit the shelves last year.
Asobi Seksu plays in Bangkok on May 9 at Sonic, Ekamai. Tickets bought in advance are 800 baht or 1,000 baht at the door.
Visit http://www.facebook.com/TheWorldMayNeverKnow.HomeVideo.
_ Onsiri Pravattiyagul
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Greyson Chance
Final Holly’s Heart fundraiser a great success
Posted: at 2:12 am
GUELPH When Holly Grace Cameron died four years ago, organizing a fundraiser to benefit the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto and the Guelph Wish Fund for Children helped her parents work through their grief and turn their personal tragedy into something that would give hope and inspire others.
But what will help them most now, say Hollys parents Rob and Paula Cameron, is to refocus their energy on their other three children and take a bit of a break from fundraising.
And so Saturdays Hollys Heart family fair at Harcourt United Church was the last. The family expected to raise $12,000 Saturday, bringing their four-year fundraising total to $40,000.
With the sun smiling down on the crowd that topped 250 people, the day went off without a hitch.
It was a big decision to make this the fourth and final, said Paula, during a pause in the festivities. Its very emotional for us. Holly would have been eight, next week. She had a light and energy about her and she beat so many odds. So this day represents her.
We have an army of volunteers, added Rob. So many people have helped make this happen.
The event was geared to families. There were a lot of throwing games one brave soul was the face kids flung wet sponges at and the parking lot was divided up for jump rope, road hockey and other games of chance. Zumba sessions with instructor Carlos Henriquez was a popular draw and the Funky Mamas were a big hit.
The Frog Fling used stuffed Kermit the Frog dolls and was much more humane than it sounds.
Its wonderful what they do, Belinda Redrup said of the Camerons. Its a wonderful way to remember their daughter. I didnt know Holly, but to make something positive from a tragedy is inspiring.
Sherrie Engelen and her kids came from Boston for the event. Shes known the family for a long time.
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Final Holly’s Heart fundraiser a great success
Girls on fast track to success
Posted: at 2:12 am
Gillian Morrison was a one-girl wrecking crew at the recent Broward County middle school girls' track and field championship meet at Coral Springs High School.
The eighth-grade student at Westglades Middle School won all three of her events and recorded a personal-best time in the high jump (5 feet, 4.5 inches) en route to helping her team to a third-place finish in the season-ending competition. She came through with 30 of her team's 35 points.
While Morrison excelled individually, it was William Dandy Middle School that stole the show from a team standpoint.
The Wildcat girls ran off with the school's second consecutive championship in that sport with 77 points. Parkway Middle took second place with 44 points, while Westglades (35 points) and Pompano Beach (30) were third and fourth.
Morrison, 14, also won the long jump and successfully defended her 100-meter hurdles title as she cruised to a nearly two-second victory.
"It was awesome," said Morrison, whose previous mark entering the high jump was 5 feet, 2 inches.
After winning the long-jump competition with the top score on her first attempt, Morrison prepared for the hurdles race.
She entered as the second seed despite winning the hurdles race last year. Her qualifying time of 16.26 was just behind Falcon Cove's Carla Daza's 15.80.
But she produced in the clutch.
"It was nerve-racking (in the hurdles) because that was the one I was supposed to win because I won it last year," said Morrison, who won a bronze in the pentathlon in the Junior Olympics last year while competing for the FINESSE (Families Intent on Nurturing and Encouraging Scholastic and Sports Excellence) track club based at North Broward Preparatory School.
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Girls on fast track to success
Another new adventure: So you wanna be a leader?
Posted: at 2:11 am
Summary: Its time that teachers learned to stop selling themselves short. Announcing some very cool professional (and personal) development!
Its that time of year again. The weather is improving, flowers are blooming, the baby chicks have arrived at the local feed store (yes, I do live in the country, and yes, I did pick up some chicks yesterday, in addition to the ones Im incubating), the grill is getting cleaned off, ed tech startups are all the rage among investors (OK, thats just an interesting phenomenon, but still), and Im ready to shift my career again. It must be something about spring.
Regardless of the reason, I wanted to share my new effort, one that gets me back to teaching (which Ive sorely missed) and gives me a chance to expand my sphere of colleagues who inspire and motivate me. Most readers will be familiar with Richard Byrne of freetech4teachers fame and Angela Maiers, author of a number of books on educational transformation. Richard and I began working with Steve Hargadon late last year on the Classroom 2.0 Book Project and now were launching a joint project with Angela Maiers called So You Wanna Be a Leader? Lessons in Entrepreneurship for Teachers.
In my experience, teachers tend to sell themselves incredibly short. The teaching profession as a whole tends to be undervalued and its image has been damaged by union struggles, failing schools, and the too-widespread perception that people teach because its great to have summers off. While not every teacher enters the profession for completely noble reasons, most do the best they can with the resources they have. So You Wanna Be a Leader? is aimed squarely at teachers who want to step up and lead real change, whether within their school communities, at the policy level, through writing or speaking engagements, or as consultants, turning their expertise and experience into educational improvement as well as improved personal compensation.
I started writing for ZDNet just so I could afford to keep teaching. I was lucky to come across this opportunity and really ran with it, with speaking engagements, consulting contracts, book deals (did I mention I want to be writing more? My editor keeps threatening to break my kneecaps if I dont finish this book Im working on), full-time jobs, and some outstanding experiences and personal connections coming out of it. However, Im hardly the first educator to have ideas to share or who wanted to help advance a particular issue beyond the walls of my classroom.
This desire to lead change, though, is one of the reasons Im shifting from an executive role with WizIQ to one of user, educator, and evangelist (I also want to refocus on my writing and consulting, as well as returning to the classroom, even if its a virtual one). Angela, Richard, and I will be delivering this 4-module course via WizIQ beginning this Thursday, May 10th, practicing what we preach, so to speak, and exploring ways to use emerging educational platforms to create new business models and reach a broad audience face-to-face.
Any way it goes, Im really excited about collaborating with Richard and Angela; this is something new for all three of us and, if we do our jobs right, should be genuinely useful and empowering for the growing numbers of teachers who are looking to be as effective leading (in whatever capacity they choose) as they are at teaching. As Richard explained,
We cant promise that youll make oodles of money because you take So You Wanna Be a Leader? But we can promise that you will learn from what weve done right and what weve done wrong along the way from simple blogs to small businesses.
You can find out more on the course website, the WizIQ course page, on our Facebook page, or via Twitter.
Chris Dawson is a freelance writer and consultant with years of experience in educational technology and web-based systems. In 2011, he became the Vice President of Marketing for WizIQ, Inc., a virtual classroom and learning network SaaS provider.
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Another new adventure: So you wanna be a leader?
Funniest Excercise Ball Falls – Video
Posted: at 1:11 am
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Funniest Excercise Ball Falls - Video
My excercise! – Video
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My excercise! - Video
Excercise Shannon 5th May 2012 – Emergency Vehicle Convoy ( Part 1 ) – Video
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Excercise Shannon 5th May 2012 - Emergency Vehicle Convoy ( Part 1 ) - Video
Gymnastic
Posted: at 1:11 am
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Gymnastic