Sadly, unemployment is now at 2 million, reposessions are at the max and we are being told that we are facing the worst recession in a hundred years - so what to do.  There is an amusing advert on TalkSport where they suggest to bankers that they put money on the 7.55 at Kempton as it would be about as  well intentioned and intelligent as many of their investments over the past 10 years or so.

Well I have not yet considered such a violent action to recover my financial status but may well soon have to consider releasing money from a locked pension fund or even selling my property abroad.

The two options fill me with dread as my pension scheme was a nice happy place to take myself to - releasing this pension to play with may be a nice idea, but is not advisable I am sure. Selling my property abroad also scares the hell out of me. I bought an off plan property may years ago and I have seen it as a long term investment - but still, in these hard times what can one do but release funds from savings and investments to carry through the long discontented financial winter we are all suffering….

I was considering what would happen in a totally mad right wing scenario, I envisaged the ‘lower classes’ or those considered such being kind of harvested from their parents at birth and sent off to perform menial tasks for the state.

This was a chilling right wing scenario which, of course, has been flirted with in novels such as Huxley’s Brave New World and Burgess’ The Wanting Seed to name but a couple of examples.

Always one to enjoy irony I immediately realised that to an extent this is what the socialist dream consists of : vast state run industries where the ‘working classes’ are blinkered into building communities based around factories or mines or the suchlike; where the state creams off the profits into layer upon layer of beaurocracy .

Generally when you flip a coin you see the other side ain’t too much different than the first.

There is an ageing population who are facing climbing food bills, rising heating costs and a general increase in the cost of living. This older population generally has a large amount of equity tied up in their property. It would take a crash of collossal proportions to wipe out the rises in house prices over the past say 40 years.

Cashing in your pension is one choice people have been making, but now we are seeing many homwowners looking to the capital invested in their equity as potential spending money in these tough times.

It could be said that homeowners have been lied to for the past 40 years. As house prices have appeared to rise, the population has belived that it is becoming richer and richcer. However, at the end of the line they are bein forced to sell off this trapping of wealth to pay for theie later years - in other words to pay off the false economies of yesteryear.

For the lenders, it is an easy loan. There are no montly repayments to monitor, the lending company has a right to their loan sum when the property is sold.

This sympton of the credit crunch is particularly prevalent amongst private sector employees as they are generally not party to the generous terms of those in the public sector - to say the least.

So, in these rather troubled times, when some economists are suggesting that this is only the tip of the iceberg, many people are looking at unlocking money from privately owned equity as well as pension unlocking.

we chose Portugal for the fair weather and excellent surfing conditions. We were north of Lisbon in the pretty town of Peniche.

Suffice it to say that the stay was thoroughly enjoyable and the town left a lasting impression on all of our party.

Soon after we returned to England we all met up and talked about the area with nostalgia and intent.

It was not long before we were avidly discussing how we could go again, even how we could all chip in to buy a property over there. We all went our separate ways to look into options available to us.

One of our party found an apartment for sale in the region for €300000 and we quickly assessed the costs, with the current exchange rates not being exactly favourable for the UK consumer this worked out at over 40 thousand pounds each. We discussed this for a while - the thought of owning a property in Portugal being extremely exciting for all of us.

Luckily one of the crew of potential investors was rather more canny than the rest of us, he did indeed work in the property market and had learned of a process referred to as off plan investment. This is the process whereby you can invest in a property during the pre build or pre construction phase. Off plan allows the developer to gain capital during the build and, at the same time, allows the investor to purchase at a discounted rate.

We looked at off plan investment in Portugal and quickly established that for far less of an investment we would be able to purchase ( off plan of course ) a far superior property.

We did, the off plan investment was sound and, although we had to wait for construction to complete ( 18 months ) we soon were the owners of a lavishly appointed Portuguese property. The off plan purchase having been mutually beneficial for both us and the developer. The investment has also seen a very favourable capital growth for all of us.

So, now we visit our Portuguese palace and fly through the surf, quite regularly.

The first thing to assess is your immediate need : do you really need the money now?, it is human nature to want more than you have and the minute that you look at many thousands of pounds locked up in a pension scheme with a greedy eye many ideas come to mind. It is important at this stage to try to do some really impartial reckoning and decide whether your wish for pension release is really borne of necessity or of avarice.

If you do decide to proceed with cashing in a company or occupational pension scheme you will need to get financial advice on the potential losses of unlocking these funds. An adviser will be able to offer various options of taking money out of your pension plan. For example it is possible to take out up to 25% of your pension fund tax free (known as the Pension Commencement Lump Sum or PCLS), as the remaining amount must be used to provide an income.

Just how much this income may be after cashing in your pension is dependent upon several factors such as the type of scheme you are cashing in money from, is whether is a personal or an occupational pension. All this can be advised upon by your financial consultant.

Once you have all the information at your disposal you will need to follow the correct process of cashing in the pension money for your useage. This process is best handled by someone experienced and accredited in the field.

There are many reasons quoted for pension release, the most prevalent of them are :

• paying off credit cards and other debts - we are a nation in debt it appears
• helping out children - it is harder and harder for the young to make their first venture into property
• paying off mortgage - this is always a satisfying action and many endownment policies have failed to meet expectations leaving pre retirement couples with existing and unexpected arrears
• holidays - cruises are becoming more and more popular amongst the pre retirement generation
• luxuries - like new car, extension, new kitchen

Contributing to a pension is the sensible way to proceed whilst you are earning money. Although our consumerist society urges spending and borrowing in order to keep up with the latest and greatest products and services we also need to think about tomorrow. It is your responsibility to put some money aside for yourself when you are no longer working, to either keep you going or to make luxuries a reality in your later years.

The increase of the average age in the UK has put an ever rising burden on the working population, meaning that there is no guarantee that the nation’s coffers can continue to provide for the retired population as it has done up until now.

Occupational schemes, also known as final salary schemes, pay people a generous pension based on length of service and salary. But the number of schemes is dwindling fast. Many companies are struggling to cope with the burden of final salary schemes because of crippling deficits, rising life expectancy and poor investment returns.

However there are many people of a pre retirement age who would like to access some of the funds from their Pensions sooner rather than later, enabling them to either provide a little money to their children or maybe pay off some debts ( an ever more likely reason ).

The process by which you release funds from your pension is often called pension unlocking as prior to this your pension funds were considered to be inaccessible and locked until retirement age. Government legislation has made it possible, now, to unlock funds from either occupational or personal pension schemes after the age of 50 ( though this figure is set to rise to 55 in 2010 ).

It may appear to be a rather hasty decision, and one which ironically has already beeen taken by those in charge: Gordon Brown has already been accused of having buoyed the UK economy by perpetrating a massive theft from the nation’s pension coffers whilst it is common knowledge that many large companies will be unable to meet their pension commitments in the near future.

So unlocking is certainly an option, it will mean, inevitably, that you will receive less income at retirement age than if you waited until the policy to mature. However, in this uncertain economic climate it may just as well to consider a bird in the hand to be worth just as much as two in the bush.

In order to unlock your pension it is advisable to speak to an FSA accredited adviser who will be able to explain to you the options available and at the same time mention the pro’s and con’s of unlocking your pension. It is necessary to be aware of all possible repurcussions when making an important financial decision.

In the face of the credit crunch and impending fiscal doom into which the earth in about to be plunged I would be swayed into the option of pension unlocking, had I contributed to a scheme; I have not. There are uncertain times ahead and I advise speaking to an advisor regarding pension unlocking and getting hold of as much money as you can as soon as you can.

As if it is not enough for many householders to live in fear of flooding the Association of British Insurers had threatened to withdraw flood damage protection from people in danger zones unless the government committed to increased spending on flood defences.

The government agreed, in principle, to a five year plan aimed at high flood risk areas with long term investment and also legislation to prevent future development on high risk areas. In turn the ABI will continue to offer protection to customers in high risk zones, whilst allowing new customers in zones of moderate risk to apply for new policies.

Justin Jacobs from the ABI said: “”What we’ve agreed with the government is that if they can make sure as many people as possible are protected, we’ll be able to make sure we can offer affordable insurance to all our customers who want it.”

“The pressure remains on the government because they must deliver those defences to people in order make sure we can offer affordable insurance.”

So, the estimated half a million homes in flood risk areas now have some good news. They can continue to protect their property whilst they can expect the government’s new long term strategy to improve protection and diminish the likelihood of future flood damage.

Sadly though news has leaked out that the grand - Gehry and Karis led - proposed development of the old King Alfred site on Hove seafront is in doubt due to the financial situaton.

The local paper the Argus wrote this last week :“Credit Crunch casts cloud over another major scheme”

How sad it is an indictment of the current climate when we start to lose the essence of creativeness, we lose Art and we lose pride and next we will lose the will to live……

Off Plan is the term used to refer to buying into a property during the state of pre-construction. The process benefits both the developer ( as they are able to finance the construction via this method ) and the investor ( as they benefit from developer’s incentivisation via discounts ). In many occasions the early purchase of such a property means that the investor buys at a stage where the property is already worth considerable more when complete due to the trends in world property prices.

The UK property market is no longer offering the prospects for returns to investors that it once was and many are now looking for Off Plan opportunities abroad.

An example of this is the massive increase in house prices currently occurring in a country such as Morocco where prices are rocketing - having increased by up to 30% in the last two years in many areas. The country is seeing a rapid rise in tourism, ( a deserved one as it has a superb climate, landscape, people and cuisine - a legacy of Berber and French influences).
Further to this there is a huge internal redevelopment scheme in progress where the infrastructure of the country is being brought up to scratch in many areas. Interest in Off Plan investments in Morocco have been further boosted by the large number of celebrities who have been purchasing property there. There is a high perceived rental income on properties also, guaranteeing increased returns for the investor.

Morocco is one of many places overseas offering tangible returns on investment via off plan property purchase. There are many other areas which merit consideration for off plan investment such as South America, the Middle East or former Soviet Block Countries such as Romania or Albania. Even traditional ‘houses abroad’ destinations are still offering viable opportunities for off plan purchases such as France and Italy.

All in all Off Plan Property Investment is an extremely attractive means by which to increase your property portfolio or to make that initial start in owning a property abroad.

An extremely useful resource for those considering overseas off plan investment can be found here : Off Plan Investments