Speedy Gambling

Between 1995 and 2005, the average borrower’s outstanding debt trebled, but the 55-64 age range saw a sharper rise per individual than any other age range. So says ‘Debt and Older People’, a report by the Personal Finance Research Centre at Bristol University, commissioned by Help the Aged and Barclays.

As they prepare for retirement, people should be able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of their years of hard work, rather than struggling to manage their debts. It’s extremely worrying to see some people carrying debts with them into retirement – with some still paying off mortgages in their 80s, as the report reveals.

So many were disappointed by the scale of the government’s measures to help older people stay warm this winter. As the Help the Aged website reports, a poll carried out by ComRes reveals that:

• Eight out of ten MPs think increased investment is needed in the Government’s fuel poverty programmes, including Warm Front.
• Two in three MPs believe the winter fuel payment should be increased.
• Three in five MPs believe the extra tax revenue from rising energy prices should go to fuel poverty programmes.

It seems the recent increases in the cost of gas have simply pushed many older people’s budgets too far. Winter heating bills can take up a significant proportion of any monthly budget, but older people with fixed incomes – and no real potential of earning more – have been hit particularly hard.

It all underlines the importance of clearing debts before retirement. Once someone has retired, their income isn’t the only thing that shrinks. Their options for managing debt often shrink too, along with the amount of ’spare’ money they have once they’ve accounted for all their unavoidable expenses.

This doesn’t mean that debt solutions such as debt management and debt consolidation loans aren’t an option for older people, but – in general – the younger someone is, the easier it’ll be to manage their debts. After all, creditors are more likely to agree to a debt management plan involving reduced payments (rather than pushing for bankruptcy, for example) if they can see that the borrower can commit to making those reduced payments regularly until the debts are paid off.

But as long as the borrower acts in time, debt management can be a particularly effective way to pay off debts in time for retirement. A professional debt management organisation can help over-stretched borrowers do the maths – calculate how much they can really afford per month, and determine whether a debt management plan could help them clear their debts before they retire.

The Euromillions lottery was originally launched by the national lotteries of the UK, France and Spain and was revealed in February 2004. The first lottery draw was on Feb 13th-04 in Paris. The France, Spain and the UK were the only nations partaking in the beginning but lotteries from Belgium, the Republic of Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland and Austria likewise got engaged on Oct 2004.

The Euro millions lotto or the Euro lotto, as it is ordinarily best-known, pools the ticket revenues of the nine partaking Euro countries showing a giant Euro Lotto “jackpot”. With the sum of nations joining the EU on the increase, that will without a doubt lead to even more countries participating in the European lotto. An increase in the amount of individuals partaking in the Euro Lottery will lead to a continuing growth of the already tremendous Euro Millions “jackpots”.

Q. How Would You Play The Euro Lottery

Every player must pick out five primary numbers from 1 to 50 plus two Lucky Star numbers from 1 to 9. During the lotto draw, five main plus two “lucky-star” numbers are then picked out at random from two lottery draw machines containing numbered balls.

Euro Lottery Prizes

The probability of scooping up the euromillions jackpot is a remote 1 in seventy six million but the chances of acquiring a cash prize is a fairly decent 1 : 24. If the jack-pot is not won in a given week, it is carried over to the following lotto draw which results in an ever increasing jackpot prize. Recent regulations brought in on the 9/02/2007 restrict the amount of successive roll-overs to 11, with the “jackpot” rolled down to lower value levels in the 11th draw if the prize is not collected.

The recent regulations also initiated EuroMillions Super Draw which go on twice annually and offer jack-pots in the region of £100 million. The difference with Super-Draws is that the jack-pot must be collected during the week of the lottery draw; as a result, when there is no lottery ticket matching, all the drawn numbers then the top prize will be allotted to the lotto ticket holder(s) on the succeeding winning prize tier.