Five things your clients will call you about this week

It's our roundup of the stories your clients may have read in the national newspapers over the weekend...

Annuity alternatives

Anyone reading the Telegraph this weekend will have pretty much written off any chance of a decent income from conventional annuities, based on its coverage of the poor rates being offered presently. Instead, across two pieces, it looked at the merits of investment-backed and fixed-term annuities, while also assessing the risk and returns of gold, art, rare stamps and vintage cars. There was even a mention of an old favourite: premium bonds.

Women and pensions

"Changes to the new minimum state pension age will hit women disproportionately." So said the Guardian, which gave a useful run down of said changes and what women can do to try and squeeze out as much income for their retirement. There was an obvious tip - making up any shortfalls in National Insurance contributions - and also a nudge to seek more professional help with a suggestion the reader should "get advice about how to maximise your pension savings".

Investing in death

Can investors profit from the scarcity of burial plots? That was the question the Telegraph tried to answer, which reported on how the price of the plots is "rocketing" across the country. Inevitably, where there is hype and booming prices, an investment opportunity lies around the corner, with cemeteryinvest.com estimating 87% returns in three years for investors buying plots in a new cemetery it is building. Needless to say, it is very much unregulated and the paper warns readers to "tread very carefully".

Making money from debt

Invesco's recently-launched Global Financial Capital fund was put under the microscope in the Independent on Sunday, which assessed whether investing in the debt of European banks and other global financial institutions was an appealing prospect. Very much designed as an opportunity for the medium-to-long term, the view seemed to be that it was not for the faint-hearted. With further volatility expected in the eurozone, there was also a warning that the debt may become even cheaper over the next three to six months.

How to invest £100,000

You have £100,000 in savings and want to generate income in retirement. What do you do? An adviser would probably ask a few more questions but the Sunday Express had a stab at it in one article. The options it looked at included inflation-linked bonds, corporate bonds and equity income funds. Of course, the options with the potential for the highest returns also carried the highest risk, and readers will probably have been left with more questions than answers.