The Forbes Fortune 500 magazine has just published its latest ranking of the world’s largest corporations. At position 19 we find a company called Assiccurazioni Generali. This makes it bigger than HSBC, Coca Cola and Microsoft. They are the second largest insurance group in the world. The company is well regarded by the ratings agencies. Standard and Poor’s, for example, give them an ‘AA−‘ rating.

Generali International is based in Guernsey, British Channel Islands and serves the needs of International savers and investors around the globe. They are well structured and provide their customers with excellent service, client care, and innovative value-for-money products. Guernsey itself has an AAA rating from Standard and Poor’s and was awarded the much-coveted International Financial Centre of the Year Award in 2009. Guernsey is committed to policyholder protection and customers benefit from Guernsey’s investment protection laws. In summary, this means that Generali International’s liabilities, representing at least 90% of policyholder’s funds are safeguarded by a third party custodian (Citibank), and an independent trustee (Credit Suisse Trust Limited).

Their products are broken down into two groupings; regular savings plans and lump sum investment vehicles. Their regular savings plan is named ‘Vision’, and is widely used to save for retirement or school and university fees. Payments can be made monthly, quarterly or annually and start at only US$150, or currency equivalent, per month. Higher rates attract an enhancement of up to 6%. If customers save for ten years or more, there‘s a loyalty bonus of 5% of all premiums paid, for premiums of US$500 and above. A number of lump sum vehicles are available including ‘Choice’ and ‘Professional Portfolio’. ‘Choice’ is recommended for smaller amounts and ‘Professional Portfolio’ for larger sums. Both plans can be linked to QROPS. ‘Choice’ selects from Generali’s own internal fund range whereas the Portfolio Bond, can also include thousands of external assets. Because of its size, Generali can negotiate very competitive discounts with all the major fund houses, which are then passed on to their clients. For example, if you invested directly in an HSBC account you would pay an initial fee of 5.25% to access the fund. If you invested in the same fund via Generali you would only pay 0.5%.

A savings/investment plan can be tailored to meet your own personal needs, so if you require a personal illustration and very comprehensive analysis based on your own particular financial circumstances, see my contact details below.

If you’re concerned about stock market volatility then you may wish to consider funds that have no correlation whatsoever to the stock market. These funds have turned in stellar performances in times of stock market turmoil.

You may remember that in previous articles I talked about the New Earth Solutions Fund which aims to provide long-term capital growth, by investing directly and indirectly in the development and ownership of recycling and renewable energy facilities in the UK. Depending on the location and the waste stream itself, these industrial facilities handle both the recycling and treatment of waste, and the conversion of waste to energy. The fund has grown significantly over the first two years, achieving a return over that period of 23.50%. Since inception, the Fund has never posted a losing month and was completely unaffected by the recent credit crunch.

The New Earth Fund operates on a joint venture basis with the New Earth Group. The facilities are managed and promoted by an experienced and well-resourced management team from New Earth Group, who possess a strong mix of financial acumen and operational expertise.

The New Earth Fund has the security of freehold or long leasehold arrangements on its property and plant assets, and local authority waste supply and energy sale contracts underpin its operations.

The company has about 3,400,000 tonnes (including potential contract extensions) of secured and/or awarded Local Authority waste contracts to handle over the next 20 years. This translates into circa £200m of revenue at current prices. Moreover, EU regulators now have the authority to impose fines on member countries which fail to meet strict re-cycling targets.

Originally denominated in Sterling only, the fund is now also available in US$ and Euros and can be accessed direct or through a Portfolio Bond like the Generali ‘Professional Portfolio’ described above.