Night Tours

Our  recreational interests are often guided by TV, and the proliferation of  nature related programmes (everything from spectacular David Attenborough productions, through to more low key domestic shows like Autumn Watch) has boosted the nations interest in the natural world. Nature tourism is said to be growing by  10%+ annually, and people are always interested in something new.

With that in mind, Australian company, Vision Walks, is now offering night time guided tours through the bush, using  military style night vision goggles. Needless to say, there are a lot of things happening at night that it’s not usually possible to see, and flashlights and torches would simply send the wildlife heading for cover.

I don’t see why this should be restricted to Australia and although I’m no expert, imagine there’s a lot of interesting stuff to see in the British countryside after dark. Perhaps something to look into if you’re based in a rural area of the UK.

Voucher Codes Galore 

With Christmas fast approaching, we can all do with as many discount offers as we can get. The biggest voucher code sites to check are Myvouchercodes.co.uk, Vouchercodes.co.uk and Discountshoppinguk.co.uk. It's worth checking regularly as some of the best deals only last for 24 hours.
 
Whisper it quietly, but some of these sites are now a little ‘old hat’. The fact is that some of the bigger stores such as Sainsburys, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams have now embraced the social networking sites.
 
Sign up to their Facebook and Twitter accounts and you will often receive various offers of the day that are literally here today, gone tomorrow. You’ll get to know them about them only if you sign up. Go to www.facebook.com and www.twitter.com.         

New Annuity Service

A recent Age UK survey reveals that almost half of the over 55’s surveyed did not know what an annuity was; and 23 per cent thought it was an investment fund. With that level of know-how, an awful lot of people are going to end up with a poorer retirement fund than they should have.
 
An annuity is effectively your pension pot and your pension is then drawn from this. The problem is that most people don’t shop around and just take the annuity offered to them by their pension provider. Age UK reckon that, on average, by shopping around you can raise your retirement income by 40 per cent. Just think, instead of, say, £200  a week, you could get £280.
 
Age UK offer a service which can be accessed either through its online comparison site or by telephone. For more information, start by having a look at www.ageuk.org.uk/annuity.

Currency News alerts 

Lots of interest in currencies with questions about the euro's future dominating correspondence right now. It is, of course, a key concern for anyone with investments in Euroland, a second home, and so on. It also interests would-be spread betters as well, of course.
 
I see from the weekend press that Jim O'Neill at Goldman Sachs is saying that the euro has reached its black swan moment and that it should carry a risk premium and is currently overvalued by 10 per cent.
 
The smart money seems to be on the euro going downwards. Voltrex FM also offers free currency reports on a weekday or weekly basis and you can sign up for these at www.voltrexfm.com.