Philamlife lures Pinoys with new insurance-investment schemes ...

The Philippine American Life Insurance Co. (Philamlife) on Monday said it was mostly foreigners who took advantage of the growing Philippine economy by directly investing in industries, while Filipinos kept their money in low-yielding accounts.

?

Thus, the insurer is introducing new products to help Filipinos benefit from the economic growth of 7.1 percent as measured by the gross domestic product in the third quarter, the fastest growth in South East Asia.

?

The company is promising returns of at least 8 percent in an insurance and investment plan.?

?

Rex Mendoza, Philamlife president and chief executive officer, said most Filipinos placed their hard-earned money in savings or time deposits which earn 0.375 percent and 2.75 percent per year, and cannot even catch up with the benign inflation rate at 3.1 percent.

?

Deposits are good for short-term needs, and cannot really secure the depositor for life or earn enough for emergencies, Mendoza said in a press briefing in Makati City. There is no wrong timing and it is never too late to invest for the long-term even with the fluctuations in the market because the ?economic trend is upward, the Philamlife official noted.

?

While Hong Kong Stock Exchange prohibits the premature release of figures, Mendoza said Philamlife has breached the 26-percent average growth of the firms under parent company AIA Group ? listed on the Hong Kong bourse ? and that Philamlife posted ?more than double digit? growth.?

?

He said Philamlife sales were boosted by partnerships with Bank of the Philippine Islands under BPI-Philam Life Insurance Corp. and with M. Lhuillier to sell their products.?

?

Mendoza said they are forming regional hubs of sales and support service teams as part of the push toward the provinces, expecting increased turnover as economic progress spreads across the region.

?

One of the new products of Philamlife ? Money Tree ? is ?a one-payment life insurance and investment plan whose various funds have yielded returns of 8 percent to 15 percent per annum.?

?

Mendoza said Money Tree ?can adjust to your risk-profile? with the choice of ?less volatile fixed-income fund, the high-risk high-reward fund or a mix of both.? It also comes with guaranteed life insurance coverage of at least 125 percent of initial payment.

?

Another product, Family Secure, ?is a high-value insurance plan that can be converted into a retirement fund as the insured person gets older.? Both products enable the insured person to grow with the economy, he said.

?

Mendoza noted their investment program caters to all income brackets and includes one that requires an investment of only P700 to P800 and a mutual fund that needs only P5,000 in which the investor can choose whether or not to invest more and when. ? VS, GMA News

Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/284804/economy/business/philamlife-lures-pinoys-with-new-insurance-investment-schemes

texas a m insight bowl russell brand files for divorce bowl game schedule katy perry and russell brand katy perry divorce brock lesnar retires

U.S. concerned about Syria's intentions on weapons: White House

DEAR ABBY: I'm married to the girl of my dreams. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. We both work in the medical field. She's an emergency room nurse, and I'm a paramedic/firefighter.For several years my wife worked the day shift at a hospital more than an hour away from home. I tried to convince her to find a job closer, so we could see each other more. Finally, she told me she had been offered a night shift position at the hospital here in town. She promised to switch to a day shift if one opened up. I thought that was great. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-concerned-syrias-intentions-weapons-white-house-180406847--business.html

steven tyler tropic thunder carnie wilson missing reese witherspoon pregnant billy joel bent

NASA Voyager 1 encounters new region in deep space

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2012) ? NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system that scientists feel is the final area the spacecraft has to cross before reaching interstellar space.

Scientists refer to this new region as a magnetic highway for charged particles because our sun's magnetic field lines are connected to interstellar magnetic field lines. This connection allows lower-energy charged particles that originate from inside our heliosphere -- or the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself -- to zoom out and allows higher-energy particles from outside to stream in. Before entering this region, the charged particles bounced around in all directions, as if trapped on local roads inside the heliosphere.

The Voyager team infers this region is still inside our solar bubble because the direction of the magnetic field lines has not changed. The direction of these magnetic field lines is predicted to change when Voyager breaks through to interstellar space. The new results were described at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on Monday.

"Although Voyager 1 still is inside the sun's environment, we now can taste what it's like on the outside because the particles are zipping in and out on this magnetic highway," said Edward Stone, Voyager project scientist based at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. "We believe this is the last leg of our journey to interstellar space. Our best guess is it's likely just a few months to a couple years away. The new region isn't what we expected, but we've come to expect the unexpected from Voyager."

Since December 2004, when Voyager 1 crossed a point in space called the termination shock, the spacecraft has been exploring the heliosphere's outer layer, called the heliosheath. In this region, the stream of charged particles from the sun, known as the solar wind, abruptly slowed down from supersonic speeds and became turbulent. Voyager 1's environment was consistent for about five and a half years. The spacecraft then detected that the outward speed of the solar wind slowed to zero.

The intensity of the magnetic field also began to increase at that time.

Voyager data from two onboard instruments that measure charged particles showed the spacecraft first entered this magnetic highway region on July 28, 2012. The region ebbed away and flowed toward Voyager 1 several times. The spacecraft entered the region again Aug. 25 and the environment has been stable since.

"If we were judging by the charged particle data alone, I would have thought we were outside the heliosphere," said Stamatios Krimigis, principal investigator of the low-energy charged particle instrument, based at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. "But we need to look at what all the instruments are telling us and only time will tell whether our interpretations about this frontier are correct."

Spacecraft data revealed the magnetic field became stronger each time Voyager entered the highway region; however, the direction of the magnetic field lines did not change.

"We are in a magnetic region unlike any we've been in before -- about 10 times more intense than before the termination shock -- but the magnetic field data show no indication we're in interstellar space," said Leonard Burlaga, a Voyager magnetometer team member based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The magnetic field data turned out to be the key to pinpointing when we crossed the termination shock. And we expect these data will tell us when we first reach interstellar space."

Voyager 1 and 2 were launched 16 days apart in 1977. At least one of the spacecraft has visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object, about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) away from the sun. The signal from Voyager 1 takes approximately 17 hours to travel to Earth. Voyager 2, the longest continuously operated spacecraft, is about 9 billion miles (15 billion kilometers) away from our sun. While Voyager 2 has seen changes similar to those seen by Voyager 1, the changes are much more gradual. Scientists do not think Voyager 2 has reached the magnetic highway.

The Voyager spacecraft were built and continue to be operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, Calif. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. The Voyager missions are a part of NASA's Heliophysics System Observatory, sponsored by the Heliophysics Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

For more information about the Voyager spacecraft, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/voyager and http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov .

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/jc4iLbS5Cmo/121203154500.htm

carnie wilson missing reese witherspoon pregnant billy joel bent new york jets etch a sketch romney

Video: Storms hammer West Coast

>>> we turn now out west where northern california and parts of oregon are bracing for impact tonight from a third round of heavy storms. many areas have been hard hit by flooding in recent days, and tonight one california county is preparing for what could be a disaster. nbc's miguel almaguer is in the mountain town of truckey, california along the rising river.

>> reporter: good evening. tonight this area is under a state of emergency . the truckey river runs for 121 miles between california and nevada and officials say it is not a question of if but when will this river flood? along the truckee river rising water and concern. tonight this family is hoping to save their home of 50 years. a rock and dirt beam may help keep the water away but today this family is moving out.

>> that's important.

>> reporter: carolyn has seen her home, this area flood before.

>> it's a helpless feeling. there is nothing else you can do. there is nothing. so you just do what you can.

>> reporter: with river water that could rise seven and a half feet with tomorrow's oncoming storm, the county has already declared a state of emergency . this mountain community, bracing for the worst.

>> we know we're going to have flooding in some areas. there is no getting around that.

>> reporter: for four days, the west has been hammered by rain, wind, and snow. in san francisco this week, flooding. in los angeles , trees and traffic have been the biggest problem. up and down the coast, surf advisories are in effect.

>> it is going to be nasty. very heavy rain . could lead to river flooding, flooding on the roads. it could just be dangerous to be out and about.

>> reporter: another punch from a series of storms still on the move and once again threatening homes. earlier today nevada's governor also toured this river for some perspective and they're not just worried about flooding here but up and down california there are flood watches in effect and the weather while it is supposed to get bad tomorrow already today at sfo delays topped two hours. lester?

>> miguel almaguer, northern california tonight. thank you.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50041625/

debra messing ayaan hirsi ali rachel uchitel strait of hormuz new years eve party ideas mars needs moms stephen curry

Lets Go Off the Cliff (And Football Too!) | Leeds on Finance

First, the fiscal cliff and then some football comments?

?

Here are four reasons why I think we should go off the cliff with respect to individual income taxes ? in other words, let everyone?s tax rates increase:

?

1. Our tax code is already progressive.? Here?s a chart (from the CBO) that shows that the top 20% of earners received approximately 50.8% of the income and they paid approximately 67.9% of the taxes.

?

Of course, the idea of raising taxes on couples making more than $250K (or individuals making more than $200K) really involves the top 2% ? 4%.? So, lets look at the tax progressivity of the top 1% of earners.? If you look at the amount of income that was earned by the top 1% and the taxes that they paid from 2007 ? 2009, you?ll find:

?

2007 ? earned 18.7% of income and paid 26.7% of taxes

2008 ? earned 16% of income and paid 25% of taxes

2009 ? earned 13.4% of income and paid 22.3% of taxes

?

Two things to think about with this: (1) The decreasing percentages are natural in a recession.? Income inequality declines due to smaller bonuses, fewer capital gains and fewer profits.? (2) Most Americans favor progressivity.? We can argue about wanting more or less, but we certainly have some progressivity at the top.?? In sum, I would say that we really don?t have any compelling evidence that the taxpayers in the top 1% are not paying their fair share.

?

2. Raising taxes on couples making more than $250K will not make a dent in our problem.? In a separate CBO report (than the one mentioned above), they examined how much we need to cut from the budget in order to stop our debt-to-GDP ratio from continuing to rise.? They looked at a single year (2020) and estimated that we would need an additional $750 billion in taxes to reach this goal (or we could cut spending by that amount).

?

If we raise taxes solely on the high-income earners and we extend all other tax benefits that came during the past twelve years (Presidents Bush and Obama), we would raise an additional $110 billion in 2020.? We?d still be $640 billion short.? In other words, we?ll accomplish nothing.

?

If we let all of the tax cuts expire (so everyone who pays taxes would pay more), the estate tax and gift tax provisions enacted in 2010 would expire as planned and we don?t index the AMT for inflation, we?ll raise an additional $550 billion.? In other words, we?d be approximately 70% of our way to where we need to be.? (The CBO did not break out how much came from the AMT, the estate and gift taxes or the increase in the tax rate of everyone below the highest earners.)? See exhibit below.

?

?

?

3. If we all feel the pain, maybe we?ll finally address the real issue.? If everyone is paying more taxes, we can have a real discussion.? Do we want to pay more taxes or do we want to cut some parts of the entitlement programs?? No one is going to be totally happy with the solution, but we?ll all have a vested interest.? We?ll either be paying for what we hope to receive or we?ll decide that we don?t want to pay for it and we?ll cut the programs.? But, it?s ludicrous to continue the promises without paying for them.? How do you make a reasonable decision when you?re receiving benefits (or you?re being promised benefits) and you?re not paying full price for them?? Of course, no one wants to cut entitlements under those circumstances.

?

4. If we eventually need to raise taxes again (and if we just raise taxes on the top income earners, I promise that we will have to raise taxes again), what will we do then?? Will we again go back to the highest income earners?? In other words, we?re just setting ourselves up for future problems.

?

In my opinion, this is not the time to discuss the issue of income inequality.? (I?m very uncertain that taxes are the solution to that problem.? Instead, we are dealing with the problem of an unfunded liability.)? We need to decide as a nation whether we want to fund these programs or we want to cut them.? But, we?ll have the best discussion if we?re all feeling the pain ? so we can decide whether the pain is worth it or not.

?

Some Football Comments

Quick comments:

1. Wow!? What a game.? I can?t believe that Alabama just won their third national championship in four years.? (Just kidding all you Notre Dame fans.)

?

2. Before the game, I said to several Alabama fans that if we lose, there?s no coach that I?d rather lose to than Mark Richt.? Everyone agreed.

?

3. There is a TREMENDOUS amount of luck involved with winning a national championship.? Obviously, Georgia can talk about the final play of the game (as well as other events).? If we lost, Alabama fans would have talked about whether the pass was tipped (negating an interference call and the next play resulted in a blocked field goal and touchdown for Georgia).? Notre Dame detractors will talk about Pitt missing the field goal in overtime.? Oregon had one simple missed block against Stanford that might have changed the game.? I could go on and on with little things that happened to Florida, Texas A&M and plenty of other schools.

?

4. Since some Notre Dame fans think that I?ve been derogatory toward their team, I thought that this would be a good time to say some nice things about them.? Unfortunately, I couldn?t think of anything nice to say.

?

5. Just kidding.? How about this: regardless of what other people may say, I think that if Notre Dame played in the SEC, they would still be bowl-eligible.? Did that help soothe your feelings?

?

6. Finally, let me say to all you Notre Dame fans, you need to realize that this is all fun and games.? Don?t take any of it seriously.? It?s important that you really enjoy this experience.? It only happens once every 25 years for you.

?

Roll Tide!

?

Have a great week!

If you enjoy this blog, please forward it to others who may be interested.

If you want to receive these emails, here?s how:

?

1. click on this?link? (or type www.leedsonfinance.com into your browser)
2. toward the top right corner is a place to click on for email service ? click and enter your email address
3. you will receive an email which will require you to click on a link to confirm that you want to be on the list

IMPORTANT: if you don?t receive the email in step 3 or you don?t click on the link, you won?t be on the list.? Sometimes, people who use corporate emails get blocked (it?s probably 50% of the time).? So if you don?t get the email, you know you need to use a personal email.

?

?

Source: http://leedsonfinance.com/2012/12/02/lets-go-off-the-cliff-and-football-too/

frank gore frank gore nfl games jesus montero hiroki kuroda kuroda gene hackman

Police: NFL player kills girlfriend, then himself

Around 8 a.m. Saturday, police say Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend and then drove to the stadium where he shot himself in front of staff there. NBC's Thanh Truong reports.

By NBC News staff and wire services

Updated at 8:15 p.m. ET: KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs linebacker?Jovan Belcher shot his girlfriend several times after an argument and then drove to Arrowhead Stadium, where he committed suicide, authorities said.

Standing in the parking lot of the team's practice facility, Belcher held a gun to his head and spoke to his coach and general manager, thanking them for all they had done for him. Then he pulled the trigger. ?

NBC Sports: Agent remembers Jovan Belcher as 'a happy, proud father'?

Authorities did not release a possible motive for the murder-suicide, although police said that Belcher, 25, and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins, had been arguing recently.

The two are parents to 3-month-old Zoey. Belcher's mother, who reported the shooting at the Kansas City home, had moved in with the couple to help care for the infant.?

---

The team said it would play its home game against the Carolina Panthers as scheduled on Sunday at noon local time "after discussions between the league office, Head Coach Romeo Crennel and Chiefs team captains."

A spokesman for the team told The Associated Press that Crennel plans to coach on Sunday.

NBC Sports:?Chiefs to play Panthers at regularly scheduled time

Belcher was a native of West Babylon, N.Y., on Long Island, where he had played football but wasn't recruited to play college ball,?according to the Boston Globe. Rather, he was a star wrestler who kept trim -- 6-foot-2 and under 200 pounds.?

In 2008, Belcher told the Globe: "I do like being the underdog because you can come up and surprise people."

At the University of Maine, Belcher became the team captain and was named national defensive player of the year.

"When he got to campus, he was a phenomenally impressive young man, in how he conducted himself in and around the young men in our program," Maine coach Jack Cosgrove told the Globe at the time. "We were fortunate nobody else recruited him."?

Cosgrove described Belcher's "infectious smile" and said he was a great role model who worked well with children -- the football player had been a child development and family relations major. ?

"His move to the NFL was in keeping with his dreams," Cosgrove said Saturday.

Belcher wasn't picked up as a possible draftee by the NFL. So?he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent, made the team and stayed with it for four years, moving into the starting lineup. He'd played in all 11 games this season.

He also stayed connected with his college passion. The Kansas City Star newspaper has video of the linebacker reading with a third-grade boy.?

"I love doing stuff like this because I went to school to work with young adolescents," Belcher told the Star. "I feel like I can connect with kids real well."?

Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt issued a statement Saturday, saying,?"The entire Chiefs family is deeply saddened by today's events, and our collective hearts are heavy with sympathy, thoughts and prayers for the families and friends affected by this unthinkable tragedy."?

A member of the Kansas City Chiefs has reportedly died after shooting himself at the team facility early Saturday.

NBC Sports: Chiefs' owner Clark Hunt 'deeply saddened' ?

The NFL also released a statement expressing sympathy: "We have connected the Chiefs with our national team of professional counselors to support both the team and the families of those affected. We will continue to provide assistance in any way that we can."

Saturday breakdown
Authorities reported receiving a call Saturday morning from Belcher's mother, who said it was her daughter who had been shot multiple times at a residence about five miles from the Arrowhead complex, an identification that initally led to confusion.

"She treated Kasandra like a daughter," said Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp. Perkins was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police then received a phone call from the Chiefs' training facility.

"We kind of knew what we were dealing with," Snapp said. The player was "holding a gun to his head" as he stood in front of the front doors of the practice facility.

"And there were (General Manager Scott) Pioli and Crennel and another coach or employee was standing outside and appeared to be talking to him. It appeared they were talking to the suspect," Snapp said. "The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life."

The coaches told police they never felt in any danger, Snapp said.

"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."

At Belcher's mother's home on Long Island, relatives declined to talk to reporters. A purple SUV in the home's driveway was flying a small Kansas City Chiefs flag.

Perkins' Facebook page shows the couple smiling and holding the baby.?Jennifer Ashley, a friend of Perkins, told the Star that Perkins was a student at Blue River Community College in nearby Independence and that she wanted to be a teacher.

Ashley told the Star that Perkins was introduced to Belcher by the girlfriend of another Chiefs? player.?

The young mother updated her Instagram account regularly with photos of baby Zoey and Belcher.?On Friday, she posted photos of Belcher smiling and kissing their daughter.?

Football tragedies
Belcher is the latest among several players and NFL retirees to die from self-inflicted gunshot wounds in the past couple of years.?The death of the beloved star Junior Seau, who shot himself in the chest in at his California home last May, sent shock waves around the league.

Seau's family, like those of other suicide victims, has donated his brain tissue to determine if head injuries he sustained playing football might be linked to his death.

Belcher did not have an extensive injury history, though the linebacker showed up on the official injury report on Nov. 11, 2009, as being limited in practice with a head injury. Belcher played four days later against the Oakland Raiders.

Earlier this year, the NFL provided a grant to help establish an independently operated phone service that connects players, coaches, team officials and other staff with counselors trained to work through personal and emotional crises. The NFL Life Line is available 24 hours a day.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James said that he spoke to Pioli after the shooting.

"It's unfathomable ... Think about your worst nightmare and multiply it by five," James said.

The season has been a massive disappointment for the Chiefs, who were expected to contend for the AFC West title. They're just 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak marked by injuries, poor play and fan upheaval, with constant calls the past several weeks for Pioli and Crennel to be fired.

Chiefs quarterback Brady Quinn told The Kansas City Star that when the team met later Saturday morning, Crennel broke the news to them.

"It was obviously tough for coach to have to tell us that," Quinn said. "He really wasn't able to finish talking to us. We got together and prayed and then we moved on."

But Quinn said the team was so stunned, it was hard to digest what had happened.

"It's hard mostly because I keep thinking about what I could have done to stop this," he said.

This article includes reporting from NBC News staff and The Associated Press.?

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/01/15602403-kansas-city-chiefs-linebacker-kills-girlfriend-then-himself-police-say?lite

the line us soccer bobby brown arrested the happening black panthers mauritania mark sanchez

Redray 4K Cinema Player is ready to pre-order, $1,450 for high-res, high framerate home viewing

We got a peek at Red's Redray 4K Cinema Player and Projector back in April at NAB, but now you can bring the player portion of it to your own home very soon. You'll need to bring your own 4K Ultra HD display (LG and Sony would be more than happy to provide one if you have $17k+ to spare), but for $1,450 you can pre-order a unit capable of native 4,096 × 2,160 or 3,840 x 2,160 video playback (in .RED file format) and upscaling. It connects to 4K displays via one HDMI 1.4 port or 4 HDMI 1.3 ports, with an additional HDMI jack needed to push 7.1 audio. It's even ready for the new high framerate 3D video that we'll see debut at theaters next week with The Hobbit.

To get content home Red is also launching its nationwide fiber-based Odemax.com over-the-top distribution network. Red co-owner Jarred Land calls it the "only comprehensive distribution solution for 4K," with built-in DRM, sales and analytics tools. He goes on to say that the Redray player will begin shipping at the end of December, with volume shipping promised in Q1 2013. A new RRencoder plugin for the Redcine-X viewer will launch in mid-December for converting external footage to the .RED format, and finally Odemax is scheduled to come online in January in time for the Sundance film festival.

Developing...

Continue reading Redray 4K Cinema Player is ready to pre-order, $1,450 for high-res, high framerate home viewing

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

Comments

Source: Red Store, Red, Odemax.com

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/30/redray-4k-cinema-player-1-450-pre-order/

powerball numbers freddie mercury Horshack Beady Eye david bowie Eric Idle rory mcilroy