Earlier this month I started my series on Dynasty Trusts (here). Then my blogging was disrupted by Moldavian terrorists(!), meaning that it has taken me a while to get back to the topic. However, I did want to address those three points I raised at the end of Part 1:

1. Who should be the trustee? One of the main goals of a Dynasty Trust is to avoid inclusion of the trust’s assets in the taxable estate of a beneficiary. You might think that inclusion would be easy to avoid, since we are talking about a trust that allows for only discretionary distributions. However, the estate tax laws are tricky — they sometimes allow for property NOT owned by a person to be included in the person’s taxable estate if the person had certain powers over the property.

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Losing a job you wanted to keep is never a good thing. But for those who lost their jobs during the Great Recession, the long-term consequences will probably be very significant.

According to an economic analysis by the Hamilton Project, a research group in Washington, those laid off from long-term jobs between 2007 and 2009 are likely to lose a total of $774 billion in earnings over the next 25 years, even if they get new jobs.

The analysis of Census Bureau data, conducted by Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney, looks at how the seven million workers who lost jobs they had held for three years or more at the time of the layoff fared in the two years following the job loss.

The graph below shows all workers who lost their job for economic reasons during the worst seven months of the recession and how they have fared since the job loss.

Monthly earnings (excluding severance) of full-time workers who lost jobs between October 2008 and April 2009 for economic reasons and who had at least $500 in monthly earnings in August 2008. Read full article…

With mortgage rates as low as they are at the moment, you may be looking beyond fixed-rate options if you’re in the market to purchase a home or refinance your existing loan.

After all, while 30-year fixed mortgage rates are hovering around 4%, some 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgages are in the 2% range. This can certainly push your monthly mortgage payment lower.

And the interest rate on a 5/1 ARM is fixed for the first five years before becoming annually adjustable, so there’s relative safety there if you dont plan on sticking around for long.

Let’s look at a quick example to illustrate:

30-year fixed @ 4%: $1432.25 5/1 ARM @ 2.75%: $1224.72

On a $300,000 loan amount, the difference in monthly mortgage payment is roughly $200 a month. Over

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Robert Powell takes a look at how energy prices differ depending on where you live…

Where you live can say a lot about who you are. But apparently, it can say a lot about your energy bill as well.

That’s because new research has revealed that some consumers could be shelling out an extra £180 per year on fuel bills just because of where they live.

uSwitch.com compared the cheapest, most expensive and average online tariffs across 14 UK regions. It

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Energy companies will have to simplify their billing structures under plans announced by Ofgem, making it easier for consumers to compare prices and overhauling a system the regulator believes is stifling competition.

Profit margins for energy firms have increased more than eight times since June as a result of rate hikes by Britain’s six dominant energy companies, energy regulator Ofgem said.

It estimates companies are making 125 pounds per customer in profit, compared with 15 pounds in June, although margins should shrink to 65 pounds in November, it said.

Ofgem said on Friday it continued to believe radical change was needed to address poor supplier behaviour and a lack of transparency in a system where consumers are currently faced with more than 400 tariffs to choose from.

Electricity and gas firms will still be able to offer a mix of products but under the Ofgem plans it will set a fixed standing charge on top of which the companies will have to offer a variable price per unit, making bills clearer and price comparison easier.

The plans mean the only variable on any bill will be the price per unit of gas or electricity and extra layers of complexity such as discount structures will be removed altogether.

“So the lower the price the smaller the bill, with no exceptions,” Ofgem said in a strongly worded statement which chimed with recent speeches by senior members of the government who have called on it to get tough with suppliers.

Prices have risen sharply in recent months, putting pressure on the government to ease the pain for consumers grappling with rising unemployment and sub-inflation wage growth.

Ofgem said the plan was the “first of four waves of reform” which would include plans due in November to help business users and in December decisions on proposals “to break the stranglehold of the Big Six in the wholesale electricity market”.

Britain’s energy minister Chris Huhne last month pledged “to get tough with the big six energy companies”.

Britain’s six largest utilities are German groups E.ON (EONGn.DE) and RWE (RWEG.DE), British companies Centrica (CNA.L) and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE.L), French operator EDF (EDF.PA) and Spanish firm Iberdrola (IBE.MC).

Ofgem said its latest report on prices showed the average dual fuel bill in Britain now stands at 1,345 pounds a year.