| 2010 World Cup to sell southern Africa
Mrs Masire-Mwamba advised the business people, sport officials and other stakeholders not to forget that everything they do should be guided by the principles of FIFA and should be in the context of the world footballs governing body requirements. The Botswana Football Association (BFA) president, Mr Phillip Makgalemele said football and business officials from the two countries should come together and negotiate business deals. He said there is need to replicate what the Germans did when they hosted the 2006 World Cup in terms of partnerships between sports and business. The 2010 FIFA World Cup should be packaged as part of diversifying the economy and various national activities should from now on have this major event as part of their theme to give it the hype and profile, Mr Makgalemele said.
Wall Street wants to be Grandma's landlord
Not the memory-lapse kind. Rather, the kind where big investors go wild over senior housing, pumping billions into buying and expanding companies that house and care for aging Americans. Nobody's forgotten how the sector was swamped with bankruptcies after the last wave of Wall Street overinvestment, in the late 1990s. Or have they? "It was irresponsible growth because Wall Street was pushing them to grow," recalls Dan Madsen, president and CEO of Seattle-based and privately held Leisure Care, which runs 40 senior communities. "They were just popping (new projects) out like 7-Elevens." As before, Pacific Northwest companies are in the thick of the recent investment action. The granddaddy of deals was quietly unveiled right before Christmas when hard-charging hedge fund Fortress Investments agreed to pay an estimated $6 billion for one of the nation's largest operators of senior housing projects, Holiday Retirement of Salem, Ore.
Living On Less Than 10k A Year
Indeed, new research from Prudential UK highlights that the average pensioner income is currently just 12,151 a year, around 12,000 less than the average national income.
Prudential's half yearly Retirement Index report into pensioner income and lifestyles finds that a staggering 40% of pensioners, equivalent to more than 4.5 million people, live on less than 10,000 a year, with 55% living on less than 15,000 a year.
With 25% of UK pensioners stating that they are purely reliant on 4,381 a year (full basic state pension), it's hardly surprising to find that they say their income is insufficient to enable them to meet their financial commitments and lead a comfortable retirement.
The research highlights that pensioners on average would need an extra 4,206 a year to enjoy their retirement.
Activities for stay-at-home seniors
Encourage stay-at-home seniors to listen to tunes from their younger, more dashing years or from familiar religious or spiritual music. Maybe they would enjoy Don Campbell selections or world music. Help them add visual stimulation. Seniors limited to "four walls" can adorn those walls with images of timeless beauty or their treasured memories such as landscape scenes, inspirational characters or special people and places from their past and present. Ask them to share favorite photo albums, and then enlarge and frame a photo that lights up their eyes and makes them smile. Consider a gift subscription of a publication with images that will give them pleasure and expand their world. Introduce them to television programming that will take them to places they love or have dreamed of visiting.
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