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ONE topic I constantly return to here is the need to think right now about the lifestyle we want when we retire, and to take advice to be sure we're on track to achieve it.We're not good at planning ahead on our own – just to recap a couple of recent facts: the Association of British Insurers says only 1 in 5 of us (22 per cent) know what we are paying into our pensions. How can we know how much we'll have to live on, later on? We could be sleepwalking our way into ‘pensioner poverty'.Perhaps due to this lack of knowledge, in Northern Ireland we are bottom of the table in the UK for pension saving – less than half of us (46 per cent) are making adequate provision for our later years.Well, everybody's goals for retirement are different, but those fine people at ‘Which? Money' have just done some impressive research with 6,000 retired or retiring people, to give us an idea of how much various lifestyles currently cost.As a starting point, they say a good target is … [Read more...] about Will your retirement be ‘luxury’, ‘comfortable’ or just ‘essential’?

ONCE, retirement was straight forward. You built up a reasonable fund of money and bought an income for life through an annuity. It was guaranteed and you had a few choices to think of - a rising or flat income; guaranteed length of time after death; and spouse's or children's benefits were the key items to consider. Those days of guarantees have gone with the plummet in annuity rates. Annuity rates are currently 29 per cent below 2008 levels alone.Pensioners moved to protect their income by deferring taking an annuity and allowing their capital to be invested and grow a little longer before potentially buying an annuity at a later date. This plan benefits the pensioner as annuity rates increase with age.Many pensioners moved their pot of money to a product called income drawdown which allowed them to leave the capital invested, but take a smaller ‘income' which came from their remaining pot.You can also take 25 per cent of the pot of money as a tax free cash lump sum if you are … [Read more...] about How much can I withdraw from my pension?

LIKE many an unpublished hopeful, Derry writer Claire Allan used to devour the novels of best-selling author Marian Keyes while dreaming of writing her own one day. That dream might never have been realised had Allan, now the author of nine books, not been inspired by her dear friend and mentor, journalist Siobhan McEleney, who died in 2005. The former highly respected deputy editor of the Derry Journal took Allan under her wing when she went to her local newspaper for work experience at age 16 and then as her editor and colleague when they worked together as journalists for 17 years. "Siobhan and I used to talk books all the time at work and always wanted me to write a book in a Marian Keyes style," Allan recalls. "Then early in 2005, Siobhan took ill around the time when I had my first child. We very quickly learnt it was a brain tumour and it was terminal. She was such a wonderful person and the mother of four daughters – it was just absolutely devastating. "Before she died, … [Read more...] about Writer Claire Allan: Going dark for my first thriller was really exhilarating

The mother of a severely epileptic Co Tyrone boy has called for a meeting with the Home Secretary to discuss legalising a medical cannabis treatment for children with similar conditions.Charlotte Caldwell, from Castlederg, said she wanted to meet both the British Home Secretary and Health Secretary, "urgently" so as "to get assurance that not only will Billy's meds never again be removed, but to call for an urgent review of the overall policy on medical cannabis as it affects everyone who could benefit."Ms Caldwell's 12-year-old son, Billy was prescribed medicinal cannabis on the NHS in 2017 however in May this year, his GP was told he could no longer prescribe it.The Co Tyrone mother said while her son was on the medication, he was seizure-free for more than 300 days.Last Monday officials at Heathrow airport confiscated Billy's supply which Ms Caldwell had tried to bring it in from Canada.In the aftermath, Billy's seizures "intensified" and he was hospitalised in London on Friday.On … [Read more...] about Co Tyrone mother of severely epileptic boy calls for meeting with Home Secretary to discuss legalising medical cannabis

A former catering manager was ordained into the priesthood in north Belfast yesterday.Tony McAleese, who is 34 and a native of the parish of St Vincent de Paul, was ordained in front of family and friends.A former pupil at St Gabriel's College, Fr McAleese later attended Belfast Metropolitan College.He worked in the field of catering management from 2000 until 2012 when he commenced his seminary formation in St Malachy's, Belfast and philosophical studies through Queen's University, which he completed in 2014.Fr McAleese then progressed on to theological studies at St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth in August 2014. Having completed an undergraduate degree in theological studies, he also engaged in hospital and parish ministry and worked in various parishes including St Agnes' Parish, Belfast; St Vincent de Paul, Ligoniel, and the parish of Downpatrick. He also completed a hospital chaplaincy course in Clinical Pastoral Education through ACPE Ireland.Bishop of Down and Connor, … [Read more...] about Former catering manager ordained into priesthood in north Belfast

SUFFERING with acne at any stage of your life is embarrassing but when you are an adult in your late 30s, it can feel as if you will never be free of it.According to the NHS, there is no 'cure', as such, for acne – sufferers need to learn how to control and help prevent new outbreaks. The term acne covers a range of troublesome skins conditions such as blackheads, whiteheads, pustules, nodules and the more serious cysts, which can lead to long-term scarring.However, north Belfast woman Andrea Morrow believes that she has developed a range of creams and serums which can either eradicate or greatly improve acne for users.Called Fresh To Face, the creams are all homemade and contain only fresh and natural ingredients such as jojoba oil, geranium and jasmine.Morrow claims that by using her creams on her own skin, she has enjoyed near-miraculous control of her acne. Now, as word spreads among friends, family and colleagues, her products are becoming one of Belfast's best-kept beauty … [Read more...] about Dynamic Andrea treats acne the natural way with homemade skin creams

“So when you get a Queen’s pardon, it's only natural that you would take the first opportunity to thank her son” said one of the wags on social media about Gerry Kelly’s na[...] This story is for Premium subscribers only Registered users get 5 regular articles and 1 free Premium article per week. … [Read more...] about Tom Kelly: Mary Lou McDonald clearly determined to re-image Sinn Féin

HE LOOKS like butter wouldn't melt but it seems that Gary Barlow is in fact environmentalists' worst nightmare. Gary has provoked their ire by firing plastic confetti from cannons at a concert in the Eden Project in Cornwall. Tiny bits of plastic raining down on the Eden Project. Lol. It's akin to chucking chunks of offal at vegetarians. He might as well have filled a PSNI water cannon with acid rain and turned it on one of the Eden Project biomes. Twitter user CornwallAgainstSUplastic (SU stands for single use) got straight on to Gary about it. "I was appalled to see plastic confetti littering the Eden project after your last gig there," he tweeted. "What on earth was a plastic confetti canon [sic] doing there? In a place such as the Eden who are working so hard at getting rid of SU plastics." Another angry person tweeted: "Wonder how long it will be before it's made its way to the sea and we're picking it up @GaryBarlow. Come on it's not really rocket science." Ironically the Eden … [Read more...] about Sleb Safari: Gary Barlow’s confetti cannons cause chaos