TIPS, TRIVIA & TRENDS YOUR DAILY DIET OF FUN AND FACTS

10 Worst Mistakes in HistoryHSBC Sorry for Website Porn LinkBanking giant HSBC apologised for a website blunder on its Hong Kong page which directed unwitting visitors to a pornographic site. In a statement published on Monday, the bank said it would like to apologise to the public for any inconvenience caused. “It’s a new HSBC business,” Hong Konger Terry To commented jokingly. The third-party website for an obsolete community award, which was originally connected with the HSBC site, had expired and was taken over by a porn site, South China Morning Post reported. The British bank added that it was not associated with the racy webpage “in any way”, adding that its website remains secure. AFP

Twelve publishing houses rejected Rowling’s Harry Potter manuscript before Bloomsbury finally took her on following the advice of the company chairman’s eight-year-old daughter Alice. The books have earned Rowling a reported $1 billion.

2. Throwing away that Bitcoin portfolioJames Howells bought 7,500 Bitcoins in 2009 when their value was next to nothing. By 2013, one Bitcoin was worth $911, giving the Welshman a portfolio worth $6.7 million. The only trouble? He’d thrown the hard drive away without a minute’s thought.

3. Not buying Google for $1 millionGoogle founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin approached Excite CEO George Bell in 1999, saying they were looking to sell the search engine for around $1 million. Bell rejected the offer. Today, Google is valued at around $365 billion. Oops!

1. Turning down JK Rowling

4. Not shooting HitlerIn 1914, British soldier Henry Tandey came across an injured and unarmed Lance Corporal Adolf Hitler in a ditch, but reportedly decided not to shoot him in cold blood (although there is some dispute over the accuracy of this story).

5. Selling 610,000 shares instead of oneIn 2005, a Japanese trader cost his company £190 million after a so-called “fat finger” trade in which he sold 610,000 shares for 1 yen (0.5p) instead of selling one share at 610,000 yen as he was supposed to.

8. Ordering trains that were too wideFrance spent $15 billion on a new fleet of trains this year. Unfortunately, they were too wide for 1,300 station platforms across the country; a problem that will cost an estimated €50 million to fix.

9. Signing Brian Poole and the TremeloesIn 1962, record label Decca auditioned two young bands at their studios in London, deciding to sign Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. The one they rejected? A four-piece outfit from Liverpool known as The Beatles.

10. Misspelling a company nameThe British govt was sued for £9 million after a clerical error inserting a rogue “s” saw the wrong company recorded as being in liquidation.

6. Angering Genghis KhanGenghis Khan, the ruler of the Mongol empire, had sought to open diplomatic and trade links with Ala ad-Din Muhammad, Shah of the neighbouring Khwarezmid empire (modern day Iraq/Iran) in the 13th century. However, after the offer was rejected and a Mongol diplomat beheaded, Khan reacted furiously, sending in an estimated 200,000 warriors and utterly destroying the empire.

7. Turning down Brian Acton & Jan Koum for a jobFacebook turned down programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum at job interviews in 2009. A few years later, Facebook paid $19 billion for WhatsApp, the company the pair had developed after being rejected.

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The speed of Japan’s maglev train, which set a new world record. In a test run near Mount Fuji on Tuesday, the seven-car maglev (short for magnetic levitation) train managed nearly 11 seconds over 600kph, Central Japan Railway said. The new record came less than a week after the company clocked 590kph, by breaking its own 2003 record of 581kph. AFP

600km/hr

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World View

America’s After-Work Plansant to improve your chance of having a com-fortable retirement? Just work longer to make up

for your financial shortfall, we read. And a lot of people buy it.

Problem is, health and employers don’t always cooperate.

A new report shows that while workers have steadily increased the age at which they expect to retire beyond 65—from 11% in 1991 to 36% when the survey was taken in January and February—the actual median retirement age has been stuck at 62 since 1991.

That’s one of the reality checks in the 25th annual Retirement Confidence Survey by the non-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). The report, which surveyed both workers and retirees, age 25 and up, isn’t all doom and gloom—the percentage of workers in retirement plans feeling “very confident” about retiring com-fortably doubled from 2013 to 2015, to 28%. But just 12% of workers without retirement plans are “very confident” about retiring comfortably.

First, the good news. Those very confident workers with retirement plans aren’t more optimistic without reason. The big jump in confidence shocked one of the co-authors of the report, EBRI’s director of research, Jack VanDerhei, so he dug a little. He looked at the change in account bal-ances in his database of 401(k) plans, which covers 27 million participants. In just the year ending January 1, 2015, gains ranged from a low of 19% to a high of 47.9%

But whether they’re in a retire-ment plan or not, many of those surveyed don’t seem to be making big increases to their retirement savings, VanDerhei said. On top of the market gains, workers in 401(k) retirement plans might benefit from having their contributions automatically increased each year. And while 69% of workers said they could save $25 more a week than they are now (46% said not eating out or getting takeout would do the trick), they then go on to contradict themselves, with 50% also saying that the pressure of daily costs means they can’t afford to save

that extra money. One of the most glaring areas

where expectations and reality diverge in the survey is in the per-centage of income that workers think they’ll need to replace in retire-ment: 56% think they should be able to live on no more than 70% of pre-retirement income.

“I suspect most people are ignoring medical expenses,” VanDerhei says. “They magically think Medicare will take care of everything, and very few factor in long-term care expenses.” Once they do that, he says, that 70% estimate blows up, unless they’re lucky enough to have a good long-term care policy. If they’re luckier still and don’t need long-term care, VanDerhei figures people can prob-ably get away with 100% of pre-retirement income. Yet just 10% of workers estimated that they’d need more than 95% of pre-retirement income in retirement.

Then there are those expectations of working longer, and the 10% of workers who plan to never stop work-ing. Retiring before 60 was the goal for just 9% of workers surveyed, but was the reality for 36%, and not nec-essarily by choice. Twenty-six per-cent of workers said they would wait till 70 to retire; 6% of retirees actual-ly managed that. Over the years, the survey has found that about 40-50% of retirees stop work earlier than planned, and the percentage was 50% in 2015. In this year’s survey, 60% cited health problems or disability, 27% cited changes at their company and 22% said the need to care for a family member was a reason for retiring before they had planned to.

There was some good news in those numbers, too. Thirty-one percent of retirees said they left the workforce earlier because they could afford it, and 17% said a desire to do some-thing else played into retiring earlier than planned.

Still, it’s a risky proposition. “If you have a choice, take control of what you can control and don’t defer the pain until later, when you have zero control over whether you’ll continue to work or not,” VanDerhei said.

At the very least, think about giving up takeout and saving that extra $25 a week.

Bloomberg

STEPHEN HARPERPrime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-cent visit to Canada, the first official visit by an Indian PM in over 40 years, is a sure sign that relations between our two countries are reaching new heights.

The visit, which resulted in several new bilateral agreements and com-mercial deals worth over $1.6 billion, showed that our governments and our companies are deepening ties in a broad range of areas. These include energy, railway transportation, educa-tion and skills development, space co-operation, and maternal, newborn and child health.

One of the commercial agreements signed was for a Canadian company, Cameco, to supply over 3.175 million kg of uranium concentrate to India over the next five years for the genera-tion of electricity. During the trip, Prime Minister Modi also announced that Canadians visiting India could now receive visas on arrival, facilitat-

ing travel for our citizens.As Modi and I both noted, Canada

and India already share a strong foun-dation on which to build closer ties. We both cherish values such as democra-cy, justice and pluralism, and have a deep respect for peace, human rights and the rule of law.

We are also connected by an Indo-Canadian community that is about 1.2 million strong and who are at the fore-front of building bridges between our two great nations. Our two govern-ments also share similar views on how to stimulate economic growth at home, including through job-creation, infrastructure investment, and the de-velopment of a stable, predictable business environment, including low-er taxes for job creators.

For a long time now, our businesses have understood the untapped eco-nomic potential between our econo-mies. Not only do our businesses rec-ognise these opportunities but they are acting on them.

In fact, India is currently Canada’s largest trading partner in South Asia and merchandise trade between our two countries has more than doubled over the past 10 years, reaching record heights of almost $6.5 billion in 2014. This is in addition to bilateral services trade which stood at over $1.5 billion in 2013.

Through ongoing discussions as well as our work together as co-chairs of

the Framework Working Group of the G-20, I have come to appreciate Modi’s global economic acumen. He is a world leader who appreciates the impor-tance of trade liberalisation, competi-tive market access and a stable trade and investment environment, and un-derstands how these can benefit his citizens.

In keeping with this shared vision of the world, we are currently working hard on a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, and a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, both of which will create jobs and economic growth in both countries.

It is fitting that Prime Minister Modi visited in spring. In this season of re-birth and growth, both countries are sowing the seeds necessary to yield a bountiful economic harvest, one that will benefit our citizens for years to come.

The writer is Prime Minister of Canada

A Friendship Made in Canada

Maple Syrup: Harper & Modi

A new report reveals big gaps between post-retirement expectations and realityFormer Egyptian Prez Mursi Jailed for 20 Years

CAIRO: Muslim Brother-hood leader Mohamed Mursi was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole on Tuesday, nearly three years after he was declared Egypt’s first freely-elected president. Mursi stood in a cage in court as judge Ahmed Sabry Youssef read out the ruling against him and 12 other Brotherhood members, including sen-ior figures Mohamed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Eri-an. The sentencing was broadcast live on state television. The men were convicted on charges of violence, kidnapping and torture stemming from the killing of protesters during demonstrations in 2012. They were acquit-ted of murder charges, which carry the death sentence. Reuters

Murdoch Jr. mayGet Top Job at FoxWASHINGTON: Saudi Ara-bia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Ta-lal is in no doubt that James Murdoch is ready to take a much bigger role at Twenty-First Century Fox, by far the largest part of the media em-pire that James’ father Rupert built. “James is a gi-ant!” said Alwaleed, a Murdo-ch family ally and one of Fox’s top shareholders with a 6.6% voting stake, in an inter-view. In particular, Alwaleed points to what he says is James’ ability to grasp the digital world and understand how it is transforming the media landscape, adding: “I really love him!” The prince’s seal of approval may be lay-ing the ground for Fox to give James day-to-day con-trol of the company sooner rather than later. James, who is currently co-chief operat-ing officer with Chase Carey, could take over fully from Carey as early as the end of this year. Reuters

Suzanne Woolley

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Arun Jaitley had many objectives on his first US visit as India’s finance minister. He had to make an impression, address the World Bank and the IMF, answer ques-tions on the economy, allay fears about “tax terrorism” but most importantly, he had to generate confidence among policy and opinion makers that real changes are afoot.

A mini India-vaganza was already underway in Washington with day-long conferences at two thinktanks discussing the A to Z of bilateral relations. The message: strategic convergence between India and the US is fine and dandy but the real meat of bilateral relations will come from dramatically expanded trade.

Or, as Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment warned, “The glue of strategic convergence won’t set.”

It was also the week when Barack Obama profiled Narendra Modi as India’s “reformer-in-chief” for Time magazine but handed over nearly $1 billion in sophisticated arms to Pakistan. This was about the time Jaitley flew in.

American interest in India has revived noticeably since Modi’s September visit but translating that interest into investments is proving harder. US companies remain hesitant as they wait and watch the behaviour of Indian companies. Until Indian compa-nies give a vote of confidence by expanding operations, Americans may not move.

For every success story, there is a depressing tale of delays and deni-als. As Rustom Desai, managing director of Corning India, gamely told the audience last week: doing business in India continues to be an “adventure.”

Two years after Corning’s state-of-the-art plant was inaugurated in 2013 near Pune, there is still no road leading to its perimeter even though the company built the optical fibre facility in a record 373 days.

India’s lack of quality infrastruc-ture is all too obvious and public spending on roads, ports and railways will take some time to be visible. In the meantime, all New Delhi can do is keep hope alive.

Jaitley tried and pitched India as “the” growth story with a mix-ture of honesty and candour. He also stitched together the reform measures into a comprehensible narrative. At the Peterson Institute for International Economics he tackled that three-letter word “tax” which for all practical purposes has become a four-letter word for foreign companies after the

Vodafone case.But like army generals, he was

fighting the last war (retrospective taxation) and not the looming one (minimum alternate tax, or MAT). Foreign investors are spooked by new “tax terrorism” of MAT after more than a hundred foreign port-folio investors (FPIs) got notices in April asking them to pay MAT amounting to nearly $8 billion.

Of the 8,000 FPIs, nearly 6,000 may eventually face the new tax demand. This is significant because Indian equities and debt attracted $40 billion in 2014 from large institutional investors and tax notices can mean real trouble.

Although Jaitley said in his recent budget speech that FPIs would not face MAT starting April 1, 2015 but will this apply to transactions made before? Going forward, would foreign companies also be exempt from MAT along with FPIs and FIIs?

Since there is confusion, the only path is a legal battle and it won’t be pretty. FPIs have already lost an appeal against the 20% MAT on capital gains made in the past. Reconciling the needs of a govern-ment to raise revenue through taxes and still be attractive enough for foreign investors remains the heart of the problem and no bypass surgery is easy.

Jaitley’s categorical declaration that “we would not use the instru-ment of retrospective taxation” did nothing to dispel fears about MAT. Interestingly, it was the same Peterson Institute where Pranab Mukherjee, as finance minister for the UPA government, had vigorously defended retro-spective taxation as a legitimate instrument. Mukherjee had famously said that India was not a “tax haven,” a sentiment echoed recently by Jaitley.

Short of surrendering a govern-ment’s sovereign right to make laws it deems fit, Jaitley admit-ted the 2012 amendments to the Income-tax Act had “very adverse” effects. But he added: “I can’t bring a law that says Indian Parliament loses its right to ever enact a law retrospectively.” However, no gov-ernment was likely to go on such a “misadventure” again because the costs would be “heavy.”

So why is he using MAT in essen-tially the same manner? A back-lash is already building among foreign investors who watch every move the government makes. Information travels faster than the ability of message controllers to manage it.

Jaitley may face turbulence on his next visit in September to spe-cifically address US executives.

Letter from WashingtonSeema Sirohi

Jaitley FacesTaxing Questions

Mursi: Prison without parole

In the hot seat

The Confidence Gap between Retirement Plan Haves & Have-NotsIn two years, the percentage of respondents with retirement plans who feel “very confident” they can retire comfortably has doubled, to 28%. Those without retirement plans feel far less secure.

Many Workers Figure 70% of their Income will do in RetirementThat percentage may be way too low when total medical and long-term costs are added in

Percentage of respondents, those with retirement plans (black) and without (red)

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35

30

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02013 2014 2015

Almost 30% of workers with retirement plans are “very confident”...

Pre-retirement income

<50% 50-70% 70-85% 85-95% 95-105%

Percentage of respondents...but just 12% of workers without such plans feel the same way

Crossword 6157

Dilbert by S Adams

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