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Turning Buy-to-Let into a SIPP

Changes in stamp duty and the pension crisis have led many homeowners to revise how they saw their domicile.

Increasingly, the home was regarded as a long-term nest egg, a pension in bricks and mortar.

For many, the possibility of holding residential property inside a SIPP is what really started to bring the wrapper into the public eye. Combining the tax advantages of a pension with the British love of property, it had the potential to be the ultimate pension in bricks and mortar.

Although the controversial proposal was eventually scaled back, the concept of SIPPs had been introduced to a much wider audience.

Despite the fall in house prices in recent years the British obsession with property is likely to endure. Indeed, Mintel’s consumer research has indicated continued interest in buy-to-let as an alternative to a pension.

On the other hand the closer one gets to retirement, the less attractive managing a buy-to-let property is likely to become – something that is alluded to by the drop-off in ownership by older individuals. As landlords exit the rental market and search for new a new home for their funds, this could potentially represent a huge opportunity to SIPP providers.

The holiday starts at work

A trend towards booking holidays at work raises the prospect of single corporate and leisure travel accounts.

Tapping into desk dreams

A survey from low-cost travel agent sunshine.co.uk shows that 64% of people organising trips online do so from their office. This proportion has grown by 11% in just 12 months.

Amongst those in management positions, who are most likely to use corporate travel accounts for work, the proportion of ‘office bookers’ fell to 22%, but this still suggests the potential for corporate agents to investigate the office as a route towards the leisure sector.

Boosting morale and corporate image

Managers may tolerate ‘holiday surfing’ because overall, it may be good for morale. If workers are booking holidays at work, then perhaps both managers and tour operators should embrace this trend. On Inspire this blurring of the boundaries between work and play is explored in Life - An Informal Affair.

Mintel’s Attitudes to Health revealed that the workplace as a cause of stress for one-in-five. Previously, in Selling to the Stress Society What’s Hot raised the prospect of employers encouraging – and helping – staff to take winter holidays through partnership schemes with their own corporate travel accounts.

This could present numerous advantages for tour operators or aggregators, but also for employers. They could be more strategic in managing the attendance of their workforce and by formalising holiday searches could prevent ‘time leakage’.

By offering staff corporate / leisure travel accounts with attendant discounts, they could also promote themselves as being desirable, aspirational and stress free places to work.

Insurance Claims by iPhone App

State Farm offers an iPhone app that lets customers submit claims over their cell phones.

Called State Farm Pocket Agent, the app also gives people easy access to hotel and roadside help information .

An app to the rescue

Is there anything more nerve-racking than filing an insurance claim?

Sure it's hyperbole but a lot of people may be overwhelmed by the process. In this instance, we see how touch-screen technology gives (younger?) consumers an outlet that they may be more comfortable with. And given the amount of time it takes to file a claim by mail, the app could improve claim accuracy since they can file closer to the event.

• But people have been reluctant to file claims as our Home Insurance November 2009 report shows:When Mintel asked people about their claims history, as many said that they’d incurred an insurable loss within the last two years but decided not to claim (3.4 million) as those who said that they did make the claim.

• More than half of all respondents have never filed an auto insurance claim. Approximately 54% of those surveyed answered negative to the question if they have ever filed an auto insurance claim, per the Auto Insurance December 2009 report.

State Farm, in this instance, is making its services easier and more accessible by creating such an app (which other insurers are sure to follow), but it's also acknowledging that more consumers are comfortable with conducting business on screens instead of paper - and we see that can hold a lot of people back from using its basic services.

Safe way for kids to make pancakes

New in Japan from  Nagatanien is  Watashi Ga Patissier Microwavable Crepe Kit claimed to be ideal for safely introducing children to baking as it can be made without the use of heat - the crepes are cooked in a microwave oven rather than fried in the conventional way. This cooking method not only enables very young children to be more involved in the whole pancake cooking process, but also enables older children to cook independently without having to use a hot oven or frying pan - reassuring parents that their children wont get burnt if they are unattended.

Microwaveable Baking Ingredients & Mixes products in the children's segment were non-existent in 2008, and this line in Japan is the only microwaveable one mentioned on the GNPD so far in 2009 - making it especially original.

Convenience is another key selling point here with the pack storing almost everything needed to create not only a pancake but a filled pancake to boot. It holds: a pancake mix which simply needs the addition of an egg; a plastic mould onto which the prepared batter is poured; a device to spread the batter; a board card onto which the mould is placed before microwaving; and a sachet of a whip cream mix to be mixed with milk to create a filling for the pancake. One potential downside is that it uses pink colouring indicating that it is mainly aimed at young girls, and thus potentially alienating boys.

Beauty Tea

Mintel GNPD Innovations Club Score

New from the Fauchon Beauté brand is a sugarless tea containing 120mg of polyphenols, which is equivalent to eating a whole apple. Black tea was blended with green tea and apple juice to offer a refreshing taste with the aroma of apples. The main target consumers are health/beauty conscious women. This product retails in a 500ml PET bottle. Launched on September 8th 2009 with an RRP of 147 yen.

Market Barometer

Turkey Wine Volume 75.4%	Italy Sun Care Value 1.8%	US Short-Term Car Rental Volume -2.6%
Hong Kong Beer Volume 32.4%	Norway Chocolate Confectionery Volume 1.4%	Poland Coal Volume -3.6%
Poland Restaurants Volume 15.1%	Mexico Vodka Volume 0.8%	Japan Vodka Volume -6.3%

» more information on Mintel Global Market Navigator