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The Pension System In Singapore Accounting Essay
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Upon request of the Government of Mauritius to modernize the Mauritian Pension System, the World Bank issued a report to advise the Government about the various options which are offered to address the issue of sustainability of non-contributory pension schemes (identified as the '1st Tier' in the report). In the lines of the report, it has been found that despite the fact that BRP is an important costs element to alleviate poverty amongst elderly, the World Bank proposed three ways to reduce the 'fiscal risk'. It has been identified that raising pensionable age is 'compatible with employment patterns'. Based on the past events that occured in Mauritius, the second option-targetting- is more likely to fail again and the third option is the 'least effective with possible constrainsts'.
1.1 Background and context
The background of this study is to make a projection of the population for the years 2013 to 2031. Since population as at 2012 are not available from the CSO, estimating population as at 2012 is a pre-requisite. The methodology used to calculate the forecasted population is the Lee-Carter model which is basically used to forecast the mortality rate.
Thereafter, an estimation of BRP per individual has been made, denoted by scenarios A and B, to be able to assess the costs implication of raising pensionable of raising pensionable age to 65 and 70.
1.2 Scope and Objectives
The scope and objectives of this project is to show the costs implicaton of raising BRP pensionable age to 65 and 70 as from 2013. An extension to it is the use of the Implicit Pension Debt (IPD) to illustrate the overall impact on the GDP as at 2012 if the government had decided to raise the pensionable age to 65 and 70 (denoted by scenarios 2 and 3 respectively).
1.3 Achievements
In terms of costs implication, there could have been a significant decrease of 31.06 and 56.90 percent in extending the eligible age to 65 and 70 respectively for the year 2013. It has been found that the overall impact changing the pensionable age to 65 is more significant than increasing the pensionable to 70, from the scenarios performed with scenario A and B.
Furthermore, it has been analyzed that for the year 2012-2031, the overall impact, no matter if BRP per individual increases more than expected over the years, the overall costs impact can be reduced by increasing the eligible age.
Lastly, it has been found that out of the scenarios analysis, it has been found that the best scenario would be that the government will only 1.66% out of the GDP 2012. Otherwise, the worst scenario would amount to 6.51% out of GDP 2012.
1.4 Overview of Dissertation
After the introductory part, the following sections below will follow:
Section 2 is the literature review which is divided into 2 major sub-sections: the theoretical review and the empirical review of various authors and institutions.
The theoretical part describes mainly the following:
-What does the pension system consists of,
-What are the types of unfunded types of pension liabilities that exists,
- The importance of having a multi-pillar system,
-Means testing v/s Universal pension schemes,
-What is Lee-Carter model and its limitations,
-What is the IPD about.
The empirical part describes briefly the Singapore, France, US and Chile Pension Systems. Besides the description part, there is also some empirical evidence about Mauritius.
Section 3, the Mauritian context describes the Mauritian context as a whole,the challenges which the actual pension providers are/ will actually be facing and the evolution and history of the BRP since its introduction.
Section 4 shows that process through which the Lee-Carter model has been used to estimate the population structure, the assumptions to be able to use the linear regression line, the possible scenarios which are being assumed and the outcomes have been analysis including th costs implication of the BRP if the government leaves the BRP pension system unchange or if it had decided to increase the eligible BRP pensionable age to 65 and 70.
Finally, the last section is the conclusion. It describes what the project has achieved and what are the limitations about the scenarios which have been set up to make the analysis. What are the future work that can be done to improve the limitations and how the works can be improved for further analysis.
2.1Theoretical Review
According to Mark Dorfman and Robert Palacios "Pensions and social insurance programs aim to prevent a substantial loss in consumption resulting from old age, disability or death thereby forming an integral part of any social protection system"
The pension system has taken a new dimension at an international level. The World Bank (2008) identified five pillars in the pension system framework. [i]
Zero Pillar- In the form of non-contributory social assistance which is financed by the government out of its budget, usually raised out of general tax.
First Pillar- Mandatory contributions which is linked to earnings; the objective is to replace a portion of average life time pre-retirement income
Second Pillar- Mandatory defined contribution plan which is managed by an independent investment committee.
Third Pillar-This is a voluntary pillar which can take several forms ( DB, DC, Individual Savings)
Fourth Pillar-It is the most modern and non-financial pillar. It includes access to informal support, non financial assets.
The World Bank (2008) further added that for a pension reform to be successful, two criteria has to be fulfilled - the primary criteria and the secondary criteria.
Under the primary criteria, the reform should maintain adequacy, affordability, sustainability, and robustness. Adequacy is the ability to prevent the old-age absolute poverty; Affordability is one with the financial capability of the individual and society; Sustainability is the financial soundness over a foreseeable horizon; Equitability is the ability of the reform to redistribute income in a progressive way; Robustness is the ability to withstand in bad economic conditions.
Under secondary evaluation criteria, "The reform system should be able to contribute to growth and output to be able to provide the promised benefits. To achieve this, a reform should support labor and capital market efficiency, reinforce measures to improve savings mobilization and facilitate financial market development"
In one of the most famous reports, Averting the old Age Crisis: Policies to protect the Old and promote growth, it was identified that most of countries will be facing transition changes and the sustainability of several pension systems is questionable. Specific challenges these schemes/system face are mainly the increasing longevity and changing demographics which will occur over time. The authors of the report look the old age crisis not from the perspective of pension providers, rather from the pension schemes participants' perspective. This 'increasing longevity and changing demographics' has made many unfunded pension liabilities covered by government questionable in many countries.
Several sources of unfunded pension liabilities are identified in the Robert Holzmann et al. (2004) report.
1) Guarantees of privately managed DB schemes.
These guarantees can take different forms. Based on the examples given by the authors:
US guarantees involves a premium payment to an institution to cover liabilities for those who cannot do it.
In UK and Japan, individuals who opted to ' contract-out' of the public scheme, a provided guarantee against inflation risk (those DB plans which are under inflation rate) in their employer-sponsored DB plans.
2) Minimum Pension guarantees of publicly mandated, privately managed DC Schemes.
Besides the minimum guarantee mentioned in the empirical review, Chile Pension Framework also involves in guarantee a minimum accumulated balance in the individual account(managed by the AFPs) to meet a pre-specified minimum pension. [ii]
3) Unfunded liabilities of publicly managed DB plans.
Those liabilities arise due to 'Social insurance' schemes that currently dominate pension provision around the world. They are found in more than 150 countries; cover vast majority of the labor force and the elderly. They are general known as non-contributory DB plans. Examples target workers in these schemes are usually military forces and civil servants
4) Unfunded pensions, publicly managed DC plans.
The idea behind that plans is to ensure that the government promise can be monitored (like a government bond, but this is considered as a special non-tradable bonds with a prescribed interest.
5) Other pension liabilities.
Other pension liabilities such as universal pension schemes or even means testing schemes are included in this subsection.
"The multipillar pension system is defended by three main theoretical arguments that are supported by limited empirical evidence." Yan Wang et al. (2001)
1) The multipillar pension system will facilitate economic efficiency and growth, through removing labor market distortions and by providing better incentives, increased savings, and better allocation of resources (James 1999).
2) " It enhances the financial sustainability of the pension system and thereby provides better long-term protection for the elderly. " Yan Wang et al. (2001)
3) It has a redistributive impact and could improve intergenerational equity . James (1999)
In Larrymore Willmore's report [iii] on "Universal pensions in low income countries", the 'Zero pillar' can take three forms:
Universal flat pension - it is the simplest and usually has the absolute coverage amongst old age people.
Means-tested flat pension- Common in developed countries and developing countries, which target the poor
Minimum pension guarantee for earnings-related pensions- Common in developing countries, which is linked to contributory schemes of the pillars II and/or III
Means Testing v/s Universal Flat Pension
In Amartya Sen's well known essay on "The Political Economy of Targeting" (1995, pp.12-13), the major social costs of means test are identified:
Disutility and Stigma
-"Means-testing is often regarded as humiliating and divisive….it can reduce incentives to save and work" Frank Field (1999). Timothy Besley (1990) added further that this social cost usually occurs when the means testing is considered as too stringent.
Informational Distortion and Incentive distortion
- It is "a system that rewards cheating and penalizes honesty" (Sen, 1995, p.12). That is, under the means test regime, people quickly learned that disclosure of information penalizes people who tell the truth, rather than those who hide or distort the information.
Administrative and invasive costs
-Most of the means test systems involve huge administrative costs which involve screening of those who are qualified and those who are not.
In addition to these social costs identified above, Larry Willmore (April 2003), a major complaint about means test system, according to a government minister, is that it gives power to bureaucrats and corruption sometimes accompanies it. However, in the same report, L.Willmore (April 2003), "When an applicant has right to a pension by simply submitting proof of age, the official government has little power as compared to the case where an official is asked to certify the applicant's income"
'On the other hand, universal flat benefits system is considered as advantageous. This system is considered as simple with low administrative costs. However, there is are doubt about its sustainability that many, if not all, countries will experience an increasing growth rate of old age people' ((L.Willmore (April 2003); Timothy Besley (1990)). However, Larry Willmore (2003) further added that so long as GDP per capita continues to grow, there is no cause for alarming the universal pension's sustainability.
"The importance of longevity risk and exposure to it has recently been recognized by the international accounting standards board, which has begun to tackle the problem of how to disclosure longevity risk in financial statements (see Fujisawa and Li, 2010)." Martin Boyer et al.(2011). The authors added that due to the undiversifiable nature of the longevity risk of a society, it is important to forecast the number of death with a certain degree of accuracy.
Lee-Carter model is one of the "leading statistical model of mortality [forecasting] in the demographic literature" (Deaton and Paxson, 2004). Initially, "Lee and Carter developed their approach specifically for U.S. mortality data, 1933-1987." Federico and Gary (2007). The authors further added that in the last 10 years, "Scholars have "rallied" (White, 2002) to this and closely related approaches, and policy analysts forecasting all-cause and cause-specific mortality in countries around the world"
However , one of the limitations of lee and carter model is " that guarantee that forecasts (or backcasts) from it will not remain consistent with observed U.S. mortality data and it will deviate in a way that will likely also be inconsistent with many demographers' priors beliefs about the patterns of future mortality." Federico and Gary (2007). Further more, there has been a study made in the 1993-1987 to forecast mortality for 50 years in the future and it has concluded that there is considerable level of uncertainty in forecasting that much.
The World Bank (2004) identifies that several factors that need to be taken into consideration concerning Mauritius.
Mauritians' probability of living longer has increased.
Life expectancy at 60 was on average 13 years old, now it has increased by 5 years more.
Some Mauritians already work beyond their 60th year.
Those working in the urban areas and working in the service sectors tend to work till an older age than those in the rural areas in the manual sector which requires much physical effort.
The economy is already changing into a service and manufacturing economy.
Some elderly and poor need a higher basic pension
"The concept of implicit pension debt (IPD) recognizes that workers and pensioners have claims on the current or future governments" Cheikh Kane and Robert Palacios(1996). In simpler financial terms, it is the present value of all the future pension liabilities that are to be incurred today, if it is not in the future itself.
According to Cheikh Kane and Robert Palacios (1996) , the existing empirical work does not use consistent methodology, and there are also no work that have compared different countries has been done. The reason why assessing IPD of making international comparisons are difficult is because there is a "deep-rooted conflict between reliability and comparability of projections for pension schemes in different countries." Martin Werding (2006)
Cheikh Kane and Robert Palacios(1996), further added that "the value of IPD are useful in considering the implications of ending a pay-as-you go scheme" but it is also an important tool for policymakers to compare the results of different reform proposals or scenarios to assess the impact of such a change in the pension system.
"IPD provides a tool with which to evaluate pension reform that does not currently exist. Reductions to the IPD due to marginal changes such as increasing the effective retirement age or altering the benefit indexation rules could be readily measured" Robert Holzmann et al. (2004)
2.2 Empirical Review
Singapore Pension System
The pension system in Singapore, Mukul (1999), consists of:
"A non-contributory pension scheme for the government employees"
According to the report, in between 1973 and 1987 (conversion exercises period), the pensionable employees were given the choice to shift to the CPF scheme. In addition to that, World Bank (1999) identified that this transition process from a PAYG to a funded pension system has led to an increase in the national saving rates in Singapore and Malaysia.
" A mandatory, publicly managed, DC"
It consists mainly of the CPF (Central Provident Fund) which is a mandatory retirement savings. The CPF, being a provident fund, is based on individual account. The most fascinating about the CPF is that it has a great mobility which remains with the employee in job transitions process but, it also has expanded its scope to achieve social, political and other objectives. The CPF has been able to provide home ownership, pre-retirement investments, life, home and health insurance and others like loans for tertiary education in Singapore. In simpler terms, the CPF acts as a scheme for retirement and as a boost in the welfare for the individual holder.
The success of the CPF is largely attributed to the advantages given by the government. Mukul identified that CPF acts as a tax deductions for retirement withdrawals; and over time, CPF has becoming more transparent and has offer substantial liberalization in the investment decisions.
"The provident fund for certain categories of Armed forces personnel called the Savings and Employees Scheme"
- This scheme is much more generous than the CPF scheme.
France Pension Framework
According to the website, http://www.understandfrance.org/Paris/Life4.html, it is undeniable that the reforming the pension system will have be forceful manner either today or in the next few years to come:
"In France, the general rule is that you must retire at age 67 and you can retire from age 62, as long as you have worked 41 (now) then 42 years… However, in some professions, people can retire as early as 55 or even 50 and many early retirement public programs have been established. Women gain two years per child. After big strikes, it has been decided in 2003 that civil servants, who needed only 37,5 years work when private sector needed 40 would follow the general rule (but very progressively). In October 2010, in spite of huge strikes, the system was changed and the ages were modified from 60 to 62 (minimum age) and from 65 to 67 (normal age)."
France pension system is composed of:-
1) Basic Scheme
"The basic pensions of the general scheme are paid by the Pensions and Occupational Risks Fund (CARSAT), the National Old-Age Insurance Fund for Employees of Ile de France (in the case of the Paris region) and the General Social Security Fund (in the case of the Overseas Departments)."
-"Retraite par repartition… is based on the idea that the money collected among active people is not invested but immediately redistributed to retired people." This pension pillar is more preferred in France as compared to the case of US).
2) Compulsory Supplementary Schemes.
They are "supplementary pension schemes for employees and are administered by supplementary pension institutions and by the federations heading these institutions. For private-sector employees, supplementary pensions are administered by ARRCO (Association for Employees' Supplementary Schemes), covering all categories of employees (managerial and non-managerial), and AGIRC (General Association of Retirement Institutions for Executives) covering only managerial and executive staff."
The amount of contributions paid is on the basis of a reference salary/income which is then converted into points.
-"Retraite par capitalization" is similar to Americans which involves, for instance, pension funds and corporate plans. However in France, this pension pillar constitutes a small proportion of retirement income. "For the French it is just unthinkable that the pension you get could depend on the failure of your employer or past employer (nobody could believe the Enron story)."
-"Retraite Complémentaire people over a certain income, and is also based on "repartition"principle and therefore totally independent of the future of the companies you worked for."
U.S Pension Framework
The Four Pillars of U.S Retirement, Prudential (2008), focused of the main changes in the U.S Retirement pillars that have been observed. In the report, the American pension framework is a multi-pillar model, more specifically a four pillar model.
Social Security of U.S system is the zero pillar, as per World Bank (2008), and the social insurance program is not only for retired persons. The program is extended to "dependents of retired workers and surviving dependents of deceased workers". The program is now referred as the Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance (which has broadened to disabled persons).
In addition to the social security, there is the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the Medicare and the Medicaid available to retirees (Brady et al. (2012)).
Employment-based plans, the 'mandatory' pillar, are considered as an important source of income for U.S workers. With the introduction of the 401(k) plan, growth of DC has begun. There is evidence than there is a shift from DB benefits to DC, that is, the income generated in the retired age will depend on the performance of their investment. The DC plans in the U.S offer individuals more flexibility and control. (Examples: The individuals have the ability to move in between jobs without losing the benefits in the plan; investment choices, asset allocation and pay out options).
"Employer-sponsored defined benefit plans pay the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) a premium, which serves to insure some portion of the acquired rights of covered workers if funding is insufficient to cover liabilities at termination." Robert Holzmann et al. (2004)
Personal Savings involve Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), annuities and other personal savings such as Bank deposits, mutual funds, fixed income, and Equities. There are two types of IRA, the traditional IRA and the Roth IRA. The evidence which was found is that U.S savings rate is inferior to that of other developed countries. These personal savings are voluntarily done and constitute the voluntary pillar as defined in the World Bank report.
Eventually, there is this new concept which the World Bank has defined as the non-financial support. In the report of U.S, the fourth pillar is defined as the 'retirement choices'. The retirement choices intend to capture the lifestyle choices and the financial choices- when to start retirement; whether to work in retirement; where to live; how to allocate assets; how to convert assets to income; how to protect assets. In addition to that a prudential study made showed that only 20% of pre-retirees are "well informed" on the "how to" of the retirement choices.
Chile's Pension Reform of 1980 (known as the "APF System"
Chile's pension reform has been a great success and has been taken as model by many Latin American countries (Peru, in 1992; Colombia and Argentina, in 1993; Uruguay, in 1995; Mexico, Bolivia and El Salvador in 1996; Nicaragua and Dominican Republic in 2000 and 2001 respectively) and other countries like Hungary, Poland and Latvia (Rodrigo R. et al. (2001)).
The most interesting about the Chilean Pension Reform is that it has not only been able to reduce the government intervention in the Pension System drastically but also been able to attract people to go for the APF system. The transition process has been mandatory for those working after 1st January 1983 and voluntary for those before. The APF system in itself is a multi pillar.
The Social Security/provided under pillar one are the welfare pension program and the pension programmes of the Armed Forces (Rodrigo R. et al. (2001)). Under the welfare pension program, a minimum pension is granted to people over 65 years-old or disabled persons who have income lower than 50% of the minimum pension(the program is incompatible with receipts of other pension).
The two main function of the state is to provide some guarantees and supervise and regulate the whole system. The government gives guarantees for life annuities paid by insurance companies. In case of bankruptcy of the insurance companies, the government minimizes the losses of the pre-retirees or the retirees. The changes made in the pension system are implemented with the view to encourage the pension market to be more competitive with high returns and low administrative costs; reduce government deficit in the pension budget.
The author, Arenas et al. (1999), estimated that the Total Social Security debt would continue to decrease gradually from 3.6% to 3.1 % in 2010. The long term effect of replacing the old pension system to the new one is positive in almost all projections (see Bennett and Schmidt-Hebbel, 2001 or Favre et al., 2006), as well as in the World Bank estimates of the evolution of the implicit pension. "In absence of the
structural reform, the pension implicit debt in 2010 would have been 1.5 times the Chilean GDP (vs. 25 per cent after reform)" Ángel Melguizo et al. (2009).
From Rodrigo R. et al. (2001)'s report, 'empirical studies showed insufficient evidence to resolve the impact of the reform on saving'. However, figures shows strong growth in Chilean's national savings; positive impact on private voluntary savings (though not a very important one).
Empirical evidence about Mauritius.
Based on a scenario established by L. Willmore (2003), it has been found that the numbers of workers per retiree in the year 2000 was 7.5 and will drop to 2.5 workers in less than 40 years. Increasing its retirement age to 65, under ceteris paribus, the author evaluated that instead of 2.5 workers per retired person, there will be 3.9 by the year 2040.
'Basic Retirement Pension which has come to be regarded as an 'entitlement' by most Mauritians and has a strong poverty reduction effect. It was introduced to provide a minimum income guarantee for the elderly when most o f the Mauritian population was poor' World Bank (2004). Simulations undertaken in the report suggest that the BRP 'reduces the share of poor single elder adults by 35 percent, of elderly couples by 61 percent and of elderly living with non-elderly by 30-50 percent.
Though the importance of BRP is highlighted and that some high income earners do not rely on the universal pension, many authors and institutions like IMF and World Bank questioned about the sustainability or affordability of a universal pension. The report that World Bank (2004) issued talk about three alternatives to improve the sustainability of the actual system (under the universal regime). The alternatives are: raising pensionable age, introducing means testing, and reducing the benefit level.
Introducing means testing, based on past experiences has brought several negative implications and reducing the benefit level has been discussed in L.Willmore (2006) that due to political constraints (refer to the History of BRP), reducing benefit level will be less likely to be done specially when the World Bank report (2004) said that " the share of its over-60 population is expected to more than triple in the next 50 years".
Based on IMF staff estimations on distribution Benefits table in 2006 (shown in percent by quintile), it is found that at that time, 38.7% of BRP benefits go to the richest 20% of the country.
Projections made by the World Bank (2004)
The report has undertaken an implicit pension debt (IPD) by discounting the future pension obligations by a rate of 8 percent. The results under current practice was an IPD 221 and an IPD of 111 with the introduction of a madatory retirement at 65.
The world Bank reported that it is highly advisable to reduce the basic pension liabilities (in which BRP takes a large share) to be sustainable in the future.
3.1 Brief Overview about Mauritius
Mauritius is one of the most diverse pension system around the world. In fact, it has all the pillars which are set up under the World Bank starting with the financial aspects to the non-financial aspects. However, the most distinguishing feature of the country is its ability to provide a non-contributory universal pension scheme.
The non-financial aspects can be the advantages and facilities offered by the formal and informal system which are given to the pensioners or future- pensioners in terms of services. The examples of non-financial aspects facilities given by the CPF is to provide home ownership, pre-retirement investments, life, home and health insurance and others like loans for tertiary education.
In this section, the Mauritian pension system has been divided into the World Bank Pension System Conceptual Framework. That is, the Mauritian pension system will be segmented into non-contributory, contributory, and voluntary schemes.
3.1.1 Actual Pension System of Mauritius
Non-contributory schemes available are presently Basic Pensions and the Public Service pension (known as Civil Service Pension Scheme) and the Statutory Bodies Pension Fund. The contributory schemes involve mainly the National Pension Fund (NPF), National Saving Fund (NSF). The voluntary schemes involve pension schemes set up by insurers or employers (Personal pension schemes), the Sugar Industry Pension Fund (which is managed by a Board, under Section 19 of Sugar Industry Pension Fund Act) and Individual savings.
Concerning the last pillar which is basically a non financial pillar, in Mauritius, there is the Health and Housing policy which are available to pensioners and members of a contributory fund.
3.2 Components of Pension System in Mauritius
3.2.1 Basic Pensions
Basic Pensions are generally financed from general taxes and are accounted in the government's statement of Expenditure of the Consolidated Fund [iv] . Examples of basic pensions are the Basic Retirement, Basic Widows, and Basic Invalid pensions.
3.2.2 National Pension Fund
The NPF is a compulsory defined benefit scheme, which has been created in 1978 and ruled under the National Pension Act 1976. The need to maximize return, need for security, need for liquidity, and need for national development are the four investment objectives that the Investment Committee is trying to balance.
The standard contribution rate is set up at 9% of earnings, employers- 6%, employees-3%. However, most employees in the sugar industry have their contribution rate valued at 13.5%, employer-10.5% and employee-3%. It is important to highlight that public servants and every low income earners are excluded from the mandatory contribution, which means that they do not receive contributory and injury pensions granted to members of NPF only. The pay-out benefits will depend on the points which have been accumulated through-out the years until retirement.
3.2.3 National Saving Fund
NSF, on the other hand is a defined contribution scheme (contributed by the employer) whereby at retirement, a lump sum is paid to the retired member of NSF. Previously known as the Employee Welfare Fund, it is set up under the National Saving Fund Act 1995. The contribution rate is actually amounted to 2.5% of the employee's income which is solely contributed by the employer. As compared to NPF, civil servants are included in this scheme.
One of the main criticisms related to NPF and NSF is that they investment made is not enough diversified. For example, for NPF/NSF 2011, investment in local government bonds has amounted to 63.2% and 80.7% out of the total portfolio which obviously is beyond reasonable [v] .
3.2.4 Statutory Bodies Pension Fund and Civil Service Pension Scheme
The pension schemes under Statutory Bodies Pension fund Act 1978 are required to be administered by SICOM (State Insurance Corporation of Mauritius). This scheme is on the transition process towards a contributory scheme. Based on Statutory Bodies Pension Fund Act, officers [vi] who are appointed on or after 1 July 2008 have to contribute to the scheme.
Civil Service Pension Scheme has been revealed to be "overly generous" by the World Bank. "The replacement rate of a private sector worker will have a replacement rate of 53, a civil servant will receive a replacement rate of 87( 20 from BRP)" World Bank (June 30, 2004). The expenditure on CSPS amounted at Rs 710 m in 1998, increased to Rs 788 m in 1999, Rs 889 m in 2000. In 2001, the expenditure increased by almost 37%; 2006/2007's CSPS expenditure grew by around 12 % amounted to around Rs 354 m; 2010/2011's costs increased by Rs 113 m.
3.2.5 Pension Schemes, set up by insurers, any other authorized companies or employers
They need the approval and supervision of one of these institutions: the Registrar of Association under the Employees Superannuation Fund Act 1954; the Mauritius Revenue Authority under Income Tax Regulations 1996; and the Financial Services Commission under the Financial Services Act and the Trusts Act. The private pension sector has actually of around 1500 schemes under MRA, about 50 under Registrar of Association and around 15 under the Trusts Act.
However, it is important to note that a Private Pension Act is currently under negotiation. According to Aon Hewitt, one of the important advisory firms in pension system in Mauritius, there will be several benefits to the new enactment to come. Amongst others, the regulatory objectives will be maintained in a fair, safe, and efficient way; promote confidence; and fair treatment to beneficiaries.
3.2.6 Sugar Industry Pension Fund
Accordingly to the Sugar Industry Pension Fund Act, which is basically a defined contributory scheme (contribution rate out of the employee salary), there are several conditions to be able to becomes members of this scheme. Amongst others, the conditions are:
-The need that the employer is being directly related with the process of sugar industry as per the act.
-The employee should not be listed in the enactment section 4 (3)
3.3 Challenges ahead in the MPS
From a seminar on 22nd August 2012, "Implications of the new private pension scheme legislation", undertaken by the Swan Group, it has been indentified 4 important challenges that the pension industry in Mauritius is actually facing:
1) Increasing Life Expectancy. In fact, life expectancy is increasing all over the world, not only in Mauritius. However, the core problems is the increasing gap between the retirement age and life expectancy of the individual, where-by the inability to forecast, with some degree of accuracy, the life expectancy of a specific individual
2) Lack of interest from younger people to invest for the future. That is they prefer to spend more for the current benefits.
3) There is a belief that the employer will provide the pension (which may not be the case)
4) Lack of willingness to understand the pension system; how it works and so on.
3.4 Basic Retirement Pension (BRP)
Since the research methodology that will be based on accessing BRP, it will be worthwhile to how an overview the BRP in Mauritius.
3.4.1 History of BRP
In 1950-1958, policymakers were looking to reducing their fiscal costs. They have introduced an individual income test excluding 20-25%, relative to the universal system. The means test at that time was going to be harsher whereby informal sector (like potential support from daughters and sons) were taken into account. Honest citizens, at that time, were shocked to see that they had their pensions reduced. They quickly learned to disclose information to avoid the cut-off on their pension. In 1958, the testing was abolished and the system returned back to universality.
In 1965-1976, for the second time, a mild income test was introduced. The process is about filing and paying tax disqualifies people to obtain their pension support from the government. The system was not as intrusive and there were not so much corruption as the previous one. However, the problem was that the incentives to disclose or distorting information had not been resolved.
For the third time, on August 2004, an income test on BRP was imposed. In this one, pensioners (< 90 Yrs old) with annual income greater than Rs 208,000 had their pensions reduced by 50%*1/12 of the excess amount which was above Rs 208,000. However, the party at that time lost the national elections of July 2005, and the new government eliminated the targeted approach again back to the universal system.
In 2008, the government has introduced a general gradual increase in retirement to 65 years old . However, for BRP the eligible retirement age has been affixed to 60 years.
3.4.2 Eligibility
The general eligibility requirements to have access to the BRP are:
Every Mauritian Citizen aged 60 or above;
The person should have resided in Mauritius for an aggregate of 12 years ( on or after its 18 years old)
The residence qualification does not apply to Mauritian citizen aged over 70 or over.
Non-citizens must have resided in Mauritius for at least 15 years on average(on or after its 40 years old)
Those who are eligible to BRP as at 2013, the amount as at 2012 has been adjusted to compensate for the increase in cost of living. According to the budget 2013, "As from January 2013, the monthly BRP will go up to 3, 494 rupees for pensioners aged 60 to 89 years, to 10,404 rupees for those aged 90 to 99 years and to 11,807 rupees for centenarians."
This represents on average an increase of 4.3%.
3.4.3 Payable Amount
Once eligible, the amount receivable would be as per the budget indicates.
For the budget 2013, the amount payable to those eligible is indicated below
 Rs.


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Entrepreneurship Workshop
The second workshop in the IsoSiM Entrepreneurship workshop series will
take place on Tuesday, March 28th, 2017, 9am - 12pm in the Auditorium. The
facilitator will be again Blair Simmonite, Director of the
Entrepreneurship program at UBC and lecturer in Entrepreneurship and
Innovation at the Sauder School of Business, UBC. Blair has more than 30
years of experience in the technology industry, spanning startups to
More details on the workshop will follow. For the moment, please mark your
calendars and spread the word around!


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The property at 29 King Street, Fitchburg, MA is a Residential Multi Family property with 8 bedroom(s) and 4 bathroom(s), built in 1950 and is 3637 square feet.Submit your backup bid today!
The following documents are available for 29 King Street Fitchburg, MA 01420:
If Seller has approved bid terms, contract processing has started. Otherwise new auction period will start shortly.
Learn about the specific closing process for this property.


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Obama can add one more 'unprecedented' accomplishment to his list: America's credit rating has been downgraded (Egan Jones cuts US rating, cites high debt load | Reuters) and for the most part this headline has been lost in the debt limit debate. What are the reasons cited for this action? "The agency said the action, which cut U.S. sovereign debt to the second-highest rating, was not based on fears over the country not raising its debt ceiling. Instead, the cut is due the U.S. debt load standing at more than 100 percent of its gross domestic product. This compares with Canada, for example, which has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 35 percent, Egan-Jones said in a report sent on Saturday." Since 2008 many agencies have threatened the credit downgrading of the US government, and every time—EVERY TIME—unsustainable spending and burdensome debt during a time of painstakingly slow economic growth was cited as the cause. Not one liberal has explained how raising the debt limit will advert the downgrading of America's credit rating, yet thread after moronic thread has been posted bemoaning this supposed fact. Where are the stories saying that $2 trillion dollars in additional debt to will ensure America's AAA credit rating? The fact of the matter is raising the debt limit by $2 trillion, what Obama desperately wants, is only going to hasten the imminent destruction of America's credit rating, and this is definitive evidence of that. This $2 trillion is the largest hike in the debt limit ever, and it is preceded by the largest hike in spending ever, all during a time when tax revenues are down and the economy has stalled. Liberal constantly preach that during a recession we must spend more. When are we going to see the results? The Democrats had complete control for the beginning of this administration and achieved the legislation they told us was going to secure economic success, and none of its stated objectives were met. "Shovel-ready wasn't as shovel-ready as we expected (audible laugh)" President Obama
Yeah. It's Obama's fault. Why is it that the Republican meme of "Blame Booosh" has traction, but they don't feel responsible when they Blame Obama??? You've personalized and vilified this man just as much if not more than liberals did Bush. I mean I know it's politics, but ffs...at least be intellectually honest.
well whats interesting to me is the stock that the left now puts in moodys, s&p, dun and bradstreet, fitch. one would think they would be vilified, most especially by the left, and rightly so as one of the un-indicted co-conspirators in the whole housing blow up. But hey, scummy wall st entities are to be trusted as virtuous canary in the coalmines as long as they suc the right ass.... gotta give them credit though, its a 2 fer. they''ll go down for anyone, they gave BJ's to the banks, walls t. and loan agencies, now the left, what a wonderfully democratic organization they are.....
And what's hilarious is Canada has universal healthcare, a better educational system, and a better debt to GDP ratio? Awesome. Nice to know that focusing on education and healthcare pays off.
Moody's threatens lower U.S. credit rating 9/11/12 Lee Cary Boehner and House Republicans should activate their "Do Nothing" blame shield - pronto. Today, Moody's threatened to lower the U.S. debt rating in this statement. --- The threat from the rating agency will provide Obama and Biden an opportunity to blame the Republicans and the "Do Nothing" Congress - which to them only means the House of Representatives - for the country's mounting debt-ratings crisis. We can expect Democrats to play the blame game, as Obama will claim that the widely predicted Fiscal Cliff coming in early 2013 is the further proof of Republican obstructionism throughout his time in office. He will, of course, make no reference to the Democrats' control of both houses of Congress during his first two years, or the failure of Harry Reid's Senate to propose a budget. The "Blame-the-Do-Nothing-Congress" is a spin-off of the well-established "Blame Bush" meme. It falls under the principle of: Never accept responsibility for anything bad, but instead make outrageous, unsubstantiated claims of success. Read more: Blog: Moody's threatens lower U.S. credit rating
HOw many do they have on food stamps and welfare? Do they have half the country paying taxes and the other half paying none? Just curious.


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« Return to Inventory List
Year: 2008
Make: Infiniti
Model: EX
Trim: EX35 4WD Journey
Mileage: 87,984
Trans: Automatic
Vin: JNKAJ09F78M359499
Stock #: 13935
Engine: 3.5L V6 DOHC 24V
Interior: Leather
Color: Gray
Drive Train: 4WD
Type: SUV
State: LA
I hereby consent to receive text messages from or on behalf of dealer at the mobile phone number I provided above. I understand that I am opting in to receive text messages from dealer or their employees. I include consent to receive phone calls at the mobile phone number I provided. I understand that message and data rates may apply.


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The Bird CoaxWitch series are ultra- rugged manual rotatory antenna switches with outstanding isolation. Selling my 6 position Model 7181 for $399.95 which is WAY under half price. In excellent condition. Add $15 for USPS Priority Mail Insured to the Lower 48. Non-smoking shack. 73 Bill AA7XT ex-AA4XT, AA6TT, NT1Y 7181, 50-Ohm - 10 Position Coaxial Selector Switch Bird's RF Selector Switches employ a unique, rugged and reliable design which permits positive contact, low insertion VSWR and negligible cross talk between channels. The switching mechanism is 4 1/2" of RG-87/U Teflon cable which is pulled away from the mating Male N connectors and rotated to the desired switch position. The Selector Switches may be panel- mounted. All connectors are located on the rear of the housing and are parallel to the shaft of the switch. All connecting cables may be laced together without the use of right-angle adapters. The switches have a valuable advantage that they cannot be operated accidentally, but must be operated by intentional sequential movement. The knob must be grasped, pulled out, rotated and pushed in to make contact. Switches may be panel-mounted Cannot be operated accidentally Easy to Use Rugged and Reliable


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Presenting a 6FT Funny Christmas Reindeer Liberty statue. This Christmas Reindeer statue is part of our hand-crafted life size Santa and Christmas decor Seasonal collection. It is sure to attract crowd's attention and is a wonderful conversation piece. This wonderful reindeer statue is made from durable materials using cast resin mold mixed with fiberglass. It is hand painted to the highest detail by professional artisans whose skills have been passed down to them for generations.
Dimensions: L36" x H32" x W75"


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Obama has pitched his speech at Cairo University on Thursday as a key part of that process.
"His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words," said Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's No. 2, in a new audio message posted on militant Web sites.
Al-Zawahri said the Egyptian officials who will welcome Obama are U.S. "slaves" and have turned the country into an "international station of torture in America's war on Islam." He was likely referring to suspected Islamic militants who have been captured by the U.S. and sent to Egypt for interrogation, a process known as rendition.
Al-Zawahri urged Egyptians to reject Obama when he makes his speech, calling him "that criminal who came seeking, with deception, to obtain what he failed to achieve in the field after the mujahideen ruined the project of the crusader America in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia."
picture : A worker puts down new carpet at the
Sultan Hassan Mosque in the old Islamic area of Cairo June 2, 2009. …
He said Obama's decision to come to Cairo showed the U.S. had not given up its alliances with dictatorial and corrupt Mideast governments.
"It is a clear message that America does not stand with reform and change and other lying American propaganda, but it stands with the continuation of the existing tyrannical, rotten regimes," said al-Zawahri.
The authenticity of the almost 12-minute audio message titled "The Torturers of Egypt and the Agents of America Welcome Obama" could not be confirmed. But it was posted on militant Web sites that have been used by al-Qaida in the past and carried the logo of As-Sahab, the terrorist organization's media wing.
Al-Zawahri criticized Obama's trip to Israel before he was elected president and his visit to the Western Wall — Judaism's holiest site, also known as the Wailing Wall — where he wore a yarmulke.
"The White House said that Obama will send a message from Egypt to the Islamic world, but they forgot that his messages have already been received by the Islamic world when he visited the Wailing Wall, put on his head the Jew's cap and prayed their prayers, though he claims to be Christian," said al-Zawahri.
The audio message was accompanied by a picture of al-Zawahri wearing a white robe and white turban. It also included videos of Obama visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem and speaking at AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying organization in the United States.
Shortly after Obama was elected last November, al-Zawahri issued a Web message in which he slurred Obama with a demeaning racial term for a black American who does the bidding of whites, calling him and former secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice "house Negroes."
By MAAMOUN YOUSSEF, Associated Press Writer Maamoun Youssef, Associated Press Writer – Tue Jun 2, 9:17 pm ET


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You need only a few ingredients for this tangy roast that feeds a bunch. The gravy is tasty on mashed potatoes, too. —Jeanie Beasley, Tupelo, Mississippi
43 Ways to Make Classic Irish Food at Home
- 1 boneless beef chuck roast (3 to 4 pounds)
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes, cut up
- 1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
- 1 envelope Lipton beefy onion soup mix
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 cup cold water
- Cut roast in half. Transfer to a 5-qt. slow cooker. In a small bowl, combine the tomatoes, soup and soup mix; pour over meat. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is tender.
- Remove meat to a serving platter; keep warm. Skim fat from cooking juices; transfer to a large saucepan. Bring liquid to a boil. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with roast. Yield: 8 servings.
Originally published as Family-Favorite Beef Roast in Simple & Delicious
April/May 2011, p35
Reviews for Family-Favorite Beef Roast
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Reviewed Oct. 9, 2013
"I made this last night and it was fantastic! I tend to avoid recipes that call for meat and tomatoes unless it is a soup recipe. So glad I didn't pass this one up! Thanks for sharing this recipe. It will certainly be a family favorite in our house!"


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'No argument: James Lee Burke is among the finest of all contemporary American novelists' DAILY MAIL A routine assignment transporting two death-row prisoners to their executions goes fatally wrong, leaving Dave Robicheaux brutally wounded and his partner dead. Obsessed with revenge, Dave is persuaded by the DEA to go undercover into the torrid sleepy depths of New Orleans, a volatile world of Mafia drug-running and Cajun voodoo magic. He becomes irrevocably snarled in the nightmarish web surrounding Mafia don Tony Cardo and must put himself against his own worst fears in order to survive.Create a review
About Author
James Lee Burke is the author of many previous novels, many featuring Detective Dave Robicheaux. He won the EDGAR AWARD in 1998 for CIMARRON ROSE, while BLACK CHERRY BLUES won the EDGAR in 1990 and SUNSET LIMITED was awarded the CWA GOLD DAGGER in 1998. He lives with his wife, Pearl, in Missoula, Montana and New Iberia, Louisiana. www.jamesleeburke.comProduct Details
- publication date: 09/10/2014
- Format: Paperback
- Number Of Pages: 384
- weight: 234
Delivery Information
- Saver Delivery: Yes
- 1st Class Delivery: Yes
- Courier Delivery: Yes
- Store Delivery: Yes


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Following on from our Photoshop Elements 6 review, the other half of the two-disc bundle is Adobe Premiere Elements 4. As you would expect from a bundled package, the interface shares a look and colour scheme with the new Photoshop Elements and the two packages interact with each other in an easy unobtrusive fashion. How does the 'user friendly' version of Premiere measure up to its 800lb cousin?
» Read the rest of this entry «
Review – Adobe Premiere Elements 4
March 11th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
Review – Acrobat 8 Professional
March 11th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
For all of the universal presence of the PDF format it's a constant surprise just how many people are unaware of the existence of Acrobat Professional, the software used to create and manage those PDFs. But why would you want to make a PDF?
Well, at its simplest level, the PDF is about as close as you can get digitally to the printed page – a universal, freely distributed medium which, once editing is complete, can be published in a locked format and distributed without fear of it being changed.
» Read the rest of this entry «
Review – Photoshop Elements 6
March 11th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink
Photoshop Elements 6 is a re-engineered version of the most powerful tool in the business – like a production version of a championship rally car. At a fraction of the price of its industry darling sibling, it's affordable by just about everyone. So how does it measure up? Should you buy it? Read on and find out….
Review – Sony Vaio SZ61VN/X Ultra-Portable Laptop Notebook
January 11th, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink
With its dual-core processor, wide-screen format, full-size keyboard, wireless networking, bluetooth, built-in video camera and fingerprint security features, the Vaio SZ61VN/X Ultra-Portable Laptop Notebook (to give it its full name) sounds like a meaty competitor on paper, but can it live up to the hype in the flesh?


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Box of 6 Notecards
HMMC's new humpback "Whale Tale" note card tells the stories of nine distinct individuals that are recognized by their unique tail fluke markings. The cards are blank on the inside.
$ 20.00
Fluke Poster
56 different images of 53 different whales. Find the three matching whales!
Click here to get the answers $ 10.00


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Brixen's hiking butterfly
Practical tips for the main circuit routes
All the routes outlined here can be tackled when the weather is good, without any difficulty, and without any major experience of being in the mountains. Please do however be aware that in the event of storms and treacherous weather dangers many present themselves in the high mountains. In the event of incident, good mobile telephone reception is available throughout the hiking area. Always carry a little hiking first-aid kit with you. Mountaineering shoes are recommended for all four main circuits, particularly for the downhill sections. Mountain and hiking poles can also be a great help, they take the strain off your knees especially on the descent. All the times quoted are for a comfortable hiking pace.
Route outlines
Brixner Gangl
Enjoy the wonderful view to the Schneckgasse, " Brixen's balcony"! Coming from the town centre you get a short, somewhat steeper trail, into the so-called 'Schneckgasse'. On this atmospheric section of the route, heading past ancient trees and meadows filled with flowers, it is not just the village which is in your line of sight. All of the upper part of Brixental, from Kirchberg to the Ice Age terraces in Westendorf, spread out in front of you. The information boards provide you with interesting information about the people and the state – where could be more lovely to get an initial impression of your holiday destination than right here, on 'Brixen's balcony'? Hazel, hawthorn and many other branches create bower-like passages, above the Lesestein walls on the mountain side, mountain pastures filled with flowers are at eye level. On the valley side mighty ash trees line the route, many of which have been hollowed out by the decaying of the heart wood. From Lauterbach the route proceeds at the bottom of the valley to the hamlet of Feuring, which has still retained a great deal of its original rural character. Extensive forests of spruce and fir trees accompany you on the shadiest section of the route. Away from the trail, you can also enjoy walking silently and softly on the cushiony moss underfoot and let the herbal aroma of mosses and ferns wash over you. Before you approach the village again, heading along Brixental's Ache, you pass the 'Werkstatt Natur'. As part of the by-pass and restoration of the village, a section of pastureland is being replenished to blend in with the natural surroundings. Alders and pastures create a green corridor above the stream, through which the sunlight shines now and then. In the warm seasons the swimming pool and the bathing lake tempt you take a refreshing dip. The centre of the village of Brixen is characterised by its double-towered church. It is one of the most beautiful classicist sacred buildings in Tirol. The relatively young age of the church is deceptive, since beneath it lie the foundations of no fewer than four previous churches, the deepest wall remains provide evidence of a (presumably Roman) secular building from the late antiquity! This remarkable fact was discovered from archaoelogical digs in 1978. You will also come across a small document in the rear section of the church. Of all the towns in Brixental, Brixen is the one which is mentioned in by far the oldest documents, in the Indiculus Arnonis of 788 (one of the oldest goods list in the world of its kind) – signed by Karl the Great. You also wouldn't have guessed that in such a small village, even a few years after the invention of the art of book printing, there are still printed books which are still in very good condition. The majestic vicarage, with the church and the courtyard, provide a characterful ensemble. This area is the starting point for the Antlaßritt, a procession on horses.
Easy hike predominantly on woodland and pasture trails. Not suitable for prams due to the short, steep sections in the Schneckgasse and Hofer Wald areas.
Starting point | Town centre |
Walking time | 2 - 3 hours |
Altitude difference | Low |
Difficulty level | Easy |
Stop-off options | Gasthof Brixnerwirt, Restaurant Reitlwirt, Winkelstüberl, Fischerstadl |
Wappenweg trail
Some 500 metres to the west of the town centre, the road branches off to the Sonnberg. Hike on a moderate incline, passing typical Brixental farmsteads, and the meadows on the Sonnberg which are filled with flowers. You get to the start section of the Brixner Gangl via a turn-off to the left, proceeding to Unterguggenhausen on Sonnbergstraße. Those of you who would like to save a bit of time and energy can tackle this first ascent on the gondola; while those of you who want to get your heart rate up can provide to Filzalmsee via a steeper route through Gugg-Graben. In this case, take a left turn around 500 metres after Sonnbergstraße and proceed to Untertreichl. Take another left here, away from the road, pass the Graben on a narrow trail and get to the other side on an old, steep trail heading for the Hohe Salve. There is another interesting detour from Untertreichl. Those who want to continue on this road will get to Hof Obertreichl in around 15 minutes, where you can gaze in wonder and study the extensive educational herb garden. (Guided tours available when there are five or more people. To register telephone 05334-8429). Whatever route you have opted for, you now arrive at Brixen's 'highest level recovery area', Filzalmsee. One of the biggest reservoirs in Austria has been set up here to provide artificial snow-cover for the ski pistes. Thanks to its wonderful rural location and make-up, it has become a visitor magnet for guests and locals alike.
In the surrounding terrain young and not-so-young visitors alike will come across all sorts of interesting and educational things here. Where a giant rises out of the water – a section of moor at eye level; a giant eye watching over the pasture and the lake and young and old legs wade through the knee-deep moor mud – you'll be inspired! A wooden building from the 16th century is home to state-of-the-art seminar technology and is a great place for exhibitions, alpine festivals and other events. Filzalmsee is a hub for several big circuit hikes. Continuing to Söll, the Wappenweg trail splits into two sections, the Großer and the Kleiner Riesenweg trails. In keeping with the theme and their names, visitors will come across several well-known things in giant format in the upper section of the route (Großer Riesenweg) – on a tree-lined terrace above the lake, a giant eye enables you to get right up close and see how this sensory organ works; at Frankalm a giant hand stretches out its fingers to us and in a little copse you get to play a giant xylophone. In the district of Söll you get to a giant trail and a section which branches off to Silleralm and a little giant path. At the trough is a giant cow with translucent innards, which provide the visitor with an insight into the interior workings of this beast. Another trail back to Filzalmsee provides plenty of variety and proceeds through mountian forest areas and woodland pastures, streams tempt little ones to play with water, sand and stones. The Kleiner and Großer Riesenweg (up to the branch-off section) is a circuit which can be comfortably completed in two hours. If you would like to continue on the Großer Riesenweg you can get to Hochsöll and the famous 'Hexenwasser'.
Those of you who want to tackle more than a thousand metres altitude on a circuit hike, can climb from Hochsöll on the suitably steep path to the summit; you could of course take a more leisurely option and head up on the gondola. When visibility is good you can enjoy an unforgettable view from the Hohe Salve, from Bavaria's Alpine foothills, across Salzburg's limestone alps, the Hohe Tauern and Zillertaler Alpen to the Karwendel. The mountain panorama drifts past from the revolving terrace at the summit restaurant, as you sample typical Tirol dishes. The highest located pilgrimage church in Austria, the Salvenkirchlein, can no longer cope with people coming to masses on the mountain, which means that church services, e.g. 'Annatag', are celebrated at an altar in front of the church. During the descent, the route passes a section where you can observe marmots and their activities. In the height of summer, orchid vanilla, a small, very rare orchid which has a vanilla scent, spreads out to the left and right of the trail (only in the uppermost area of the peak of the Salve!). It is of course protected by strict conservation protection orders. On reaching the flatter alpine pastures of the Kalbeisalve, you pass Jordan chapel, where there are images of the baptism of Jesus. According to old popular belief, the water from the spring at Jordan chapel is beneficial for your eyes. Filzalmsee will soon be behind you, where, after an extensive hike, you get to do something nice for your feet - in Watteich, you get to enjoy a 'leg massage' by doing a few circuits of the moormud tread pool, or you could use the vibrating plate. You can either bring your hike to a close by taking the gondola or hike down via the Salvenbergstraße. Cross Gugg-Graben first of all on a trail and you will then reach a mountain farm of the same name on Salvenbergstraße. From here you get to enjoy a really wonderful view to Brixen, across upper Brixental and to the Kitzbüheler mountains. Somewhat further down you will come across one of the most beautiful and also one of the oldest mountain farms. 'Washing down'(brushes with soap and ashes) not only makes the wood of these buildings resilient, it also gives it a silvery, grey-brown shade, the like of which you will never have seen. The route proceeds downhill in wide loops; at Hof Unterkaslach you have the option of taking a shorter route through the ditches to get to Sonnbergstraße. Stay on the road and you will get back to the town of Hof and then to Brixen.
Route outline
The Wappenweg trail takes a full day. For the Hohe Salve you should opt to go on a day when visibility is good; it's worth paying a visit to Filzalmsee even if the weather isn't great. Filzalmsee village square: 450 metres altitude/ 1.5 hours Filzalmsee – Hohe Salve: 550 metres altitude/1.5 hours
Starting point | Sonnberg |
Walking time | Day hike |
Altitude difference | Min. 100 metres altitude / max. 950 metres altitude |
Difficulty level | Moderately difficult |
Stop-off options | Berggasthof Nieding, SkiWelt Hütte, Filzalm, Frankalm, Silleralm, Hochsöll, Gipfelrestaurant Hohe Salve |
Silberweg trail
You can do the first section of the route Filzalmsee as outlined for the Wappenweg trail, there is however another option - via Schneckgasse and route No. 97 you get to Kaufmann and Rotschwendt farms on a moderately steep route. Continue via Sonnbergstraße to Berggasthof Nieding, where, on a sharp right bend, the road branches off to Filzalmsee. From here it takes around half an hour to get to the mountain station for the gondola. It is a five minute walk straight from here to Filzalmsee, the forest road branches off to Holzalm and Jochstubn. After around 20 minutes hiking on this road, you reach a little quarry, a few hundred metres after the branch off for Berggasthof Brantlalm. You don't have to look for long to discover the deep blue and green coloured stones. These are the copper ores azurite and malachite. Less noticeable are the disseminated pencil-grey pockets of fahlerz ores, which contain a great deal of silver. In earlier centuries, silver mining was enjoying its heyday here, the copper mine in Brixen might even date back to the pre-historic era. The route continues across flat and wide alpine pastures, which provide an ideal terrain for skiing in the winter. Thanks to the route being well-connected, there is a flourishing alpine landscape in Brixental, which not only helps keep the animals healthy but also ensures that the quality of the agricultural produce is good too. Having reached the altitude ridge of the Holzalm, the route splits – straight ahead it is a few hundred metres uphill to Holzalmjoch, to the right the alpine road branches off to Jochstubn and Jochstub'n-See, a wonderful excursion destination for all the family. You can continue from here to Brandstadl (and the big 'Kaiserwelt' play area) or to the Hartkaser ('Ellmi's Zauberwelt').
If you go cross-country for a bit from the flat section of the road, heading east, a beautiful alpine moor in a flat sink will be in front of you. When the weather is good, the little moor pond glistens like sapphires, which – and this characteristic of alpine moors – did not even become grown over in the course of the centuries, if the climate remains unchanged. Alpine moors are sensitive ecosystems and cannot tolerate much footfall, so a request and a tip at the same time – if you have an interest in natural history, and want to walk on the moor, please do so in bare feet! You will not damage the moor and you will also enjoy a very special kind of hiking experience. The descent from Längmoos proceed through tranquil mountain woodland which have lots of bilberry bushes and it may be the case on occasion that you will be startled suddenly by a large bird noisily taking flight right in front of you since this is the real of the timid capercaillie. As a nature-loving hiker you should therefore avoid making any excessive noise and other disturbances. Below this forest, you pass idyllic alpine lodges on a forest road and via Obing-Alm get back to the picturesque location of the mountain farms. In front of Hof Seiblschwendt a shorter route branches off sharply to the right through Ragging-Graben; the route via the road is somewhat longer, but its views are much more open and all-encompassing. Before you get to the town of Brixen again, to finish off there is a big circuit on an atmospheric section of the route, the Lindenweg trail. It proceeds between the mountain slope and an Ice Age terrace which has beautiful 'hanging' moors – in spring and early summer there are proper orchid gardens which have some rare species.
Route outline
Filzalmsee village square: 450 metres altitude/1.5 hours; Filzalmsee – Jochstub'n: 350 metres altitude/ 1.5 hours or the village square – Guggenhauser-Alm via Kaufmann: 650 metres altitude/ 2 hours, Guggenhauser-Alm – Jochstub'n: 200 metres altitude/ 1 hour; Descent: Jochstub'n – centre of the village via Obing: 800 metres altitude / 2.5 hours
Starting point | Town centre |
Walking time | 5 - 6 hours |
Altitude difference | 850 metres altitude |
Difficulty level | Moderately difficult |
Stop-off options | Berggasthof Nieding, SkiWelt Hütte, Brantlalm, Jochstub'n |
Urzeitweg trail
A road runs from the town of Lauterbach to Brixenbachtal. Before the bridge, via Brixenbach, the path, which proceeds on the west slope of the Gaisberg to Brixenbachalm branches off. There is another crossroads here, at whose recently restored stations so many pious pilgrims prayed on their way to Harlaßangerkirche. You get to experience even more natural idylls in Brixental across the Gaisberg; at this point we should mention their special significance for Brixen. Brixen's drinking water comes from its drainage area; the water has a high level of purity and quality – thanks to the special geological conditions which are present here. If you take established mineral water as a standard of comparison, (with the exception of the sulfation) you are drinking quality which no other water which is available to purchase has. In a purity which is seldom found. Above Brixenbachalm the path proceeds relatively steeply upwards; those of you who would prefer to take things a little easier can also take the forest road. The closer the Kalkgestein road comes to the Gaisberg, the more frequent are the mountain pines and the dwarf mountain pines. The cones and needles of this type of pine are very similar to their arboreal relatives, but their growth is very different. Instead of a straight main stem, there are lots of flexible branches and brushwood which is close to the ground, which neither avalanche nor falling rocks can affect. On this side of the mountain you always come across larches, which provide the mountain woodland with magical colours in the autumn.
The Wiegalm is not just an impressive area in terms of landscape, you also get to witness and follow in the tracks of a 'primeval drama'. The short section of the route from Wiegalm, heading south, runs exactly on a geological boundary line and its plant cover is particularly striking in early summer. On the left there are blossoms of gentian and globularia, hairy alpine rose and mountain-avens – while on the right of the path there is no trace of any of these; there is just the rusty-leaved alp rose, which has darker red leaves and a rust coloured under side. A local geological sensation lies behind this divergence in plant cover. The oldest rocks of the Gaisberg (200 million years old) are immediately next to the old rocks from the surrounding area, which are at least twice as old. As an inselberg, the Gaisberg has comparatively earlier rocks, in the midst of an ancient rock mass from the Paleozoic era. So what is the answer to this puzzle? In the course of the formation of the mountains some 40 million years ago, the stones of the limestone alps were pushed from south to north in wide sections – and the Gaisberg has remained here, as the remains of this huge displacement. So when you cross over a few metres from the left side, to the right, you are crossing a geological period of more than 200 million years!
Before the Wiegalm trail, there are several options. If you feel equipped to tackle the additional 250 metres altitude on the narrow trail, you get to enjoy a wonderful view on the summit of the Gaisberg. A trail proceeds from here, with the option of leaving the trail at Harlaßanger chapel and Kobinger Hütte. You could also settle for the ascent to the first plateau above the Wiegenalm. There is a large rock right in the middle of the alpine terrain here, which attracts the attention of even the untrained eye due to its uniqueness. In contrast to the limestone rocks of the surrounding area, it is filled with lichen. This lichen isn't actually from here, it 'travelled' to the Hohe Tauern in an Ice Age glacier stream, and was deposited here toward the end of the Ice Age by the melting ice. In spring and early summer, you get to hike from this glacial erratic across alpine pastures, through a splendid sea of mountain flowers down to Kobinger Hütte, where you meet the usual connecting trail to the Wiegalm again. Harlaßanger chapel is next to the little Salven church, the second 'chapel' in Brixen. Services are also held here. Irrespective of your religious beliefs, you are invited to stay a while in this modest, rural holy place to enjoy a few contemplative moments. In the church the many remembrance images on the walls will catch your attention. These were put here, according to an old tradition, to provide a sanctuary for the dear departed and so they would be remembered by visitors. The route continues on the eastern slope of the Gaisberg down to the mountain station for the Gaisberg lift. Beneath Bärstättalm you cross a ditch which has fossiliferous stone from a sea which was there over 190 million years ago. On this side of the Gaisberg the stones differ to those from the surrounding area; there is also a plentiful supply of beechwood. On the valley side your gaze is drawn back to Spertental, with the impressive summit of the Rettenstein, down below you can see where Brixental opens up into the Kitzbühel area. The Gaisberg lift can take you the final 450 metres altitude of descent but there is of course a lovely footpath to Kirchberg too. From there you can finish your tour at the base of the valley, away from the traffic on comfortable hiking routes, back to Brixen. On the way there you also pass Seestüberl. In days gone by there was a lake here, but it silted up long ago and only a few moor meadows give away its erstwhile location. Before you reach the centre of the village again, take in the hamlet of Feuring and its splendid farmhouses and the tall 'village lime trees'.
Route outline
The summit of the Gaisberg is really beautiful when you get a clear day; in contrast, fog can make it unpleasant and dangerous due to the difficulties you face trying to get your bearings. Centre of the village – Brixenbachalm: 300 metres altitude / 1.5 hours, Brixenbachalm – Wiegalm: 400 metres altitude/ 1.5 hours, Wiegalm – Gaisberg summit: 250 metres altitude/ 1 hour, or Wiegalm – Gaisberg lift via Harlaßanger: 250 metres altitude descent /1 hours, Gaisberg lift – Kirchberg: 450 metres altitude descent/ 1 hour, hiking trail in the valley from Kirchberg to Brixen / 1.5 hours;5 Stunden;
Starting point | Brixen im Thale train station |
Walking time | 6 - 7 hours |
Altitude difference | 950 metres altitude |
Difficulty level | Moderately difficult |
Stop-off options | Wiegalm, Kobinger Hütte, Bärstättalm, Brixenbachalm, Gaisbergstüberl |
Almrosenweg trail
Initially hike in the valley along the Brixentaler Ache and then take a left on the woodland road heading for Kandleralm. After some 300 metres you come to a branch-off (left) for Gruberwald; continue on this woodland road until you reach Rechentalalm. Above this wonderfully located alpine inn a newly constructed road branches off to the right, where you can then leave the woodland road and head for Brixen-bachalm. (To this point you may also hike via Brixenbachstraße, as for the Urzeitweg trail.) At the end of this route you come to a somewhat steep alpine trail which proceeds to Talkaseralm. Cross over a ditch and you will then quickly gain altitude on the steep mountain flanks. Close to Talkaseralm the route becomes flatter and the basin-shaped head of the valley opens up in front of you. From the Talkaseralm you can now climb on a direct route to the Einködlscharte, but our route describes a very worthwhile detour. Proceed initially along the bend in the route from Talkaseralm to the other side of the valley; you will come across a branch-off there to a diverse, narrow path heading for Wiegalm. Occasionally in the summer you can hear the call of marmots from the bottom of the alpine pasture, while you ascend on the north slope of the Gampen, under the larch trees and the spruces. Having reached the northerly edge, the route is then varied and proceeds through woodland and glades and finally across an interesting 'hanging' moor to the Wiegalm, meeting the 'Urzeitweg' trail. From the Wiegalm there are two variants for you to continue on. The most convenient being the alpine trail via Wildenfeldalm to Kreuzjöchlsee. Not long ago this lake was also used to provide snow-making facilities for the pistes; its location and composition definitely ranked it as a natural mountain lake. From here there is not much altitude difference to negotiate to the Einködlscharte and you can enjoy the view to the Windau and further into the Inntal.
Want to go higher? Another 500 metres altitude presents no problem for you? Then crossing the Gampenkogel is the route for you. From the initially outlined route to Kreuzjöchlsee, a steep path branches off to the Gampenkogelspitze (1957 metres). Without exaggerating, in early summer you walk through a sea of alpine roses, and in the areas of the eastern slope where the winter storms cover the vegetation with a thick, protective blanket of snow. From the summit you get to enjoy an impressive view down to Talkaseralm and also a panoramic view to the icy panorama of the Hohe Tauern. On the descent across the wind-exposed west side, you are walking at the site of the alpine rose espaliers which has particularly hardy dwarf shrubs and you continue to go down, coming across altitude-moor troughs – which are characteristic of the rainfall storage system on this side of the mountain. From the Einködlscharte the route proceeds on the eastern side of the Fleiding to the mountain station for the Alpenrosenbahn. Weary hikers have the opportunity to go down on the gondola to Westendorf and from there finish the circuit on the walkway, or take the bus.
The last section of the Almrosenweg trail isn't to be missed. The mountain station for the Alpenrosenbahn is also the starting point for the 'Alpinolino', where the young and not-so-young alike can put their natural-history knowledge and skills to the test. On a section of this new attraction you learn about the so-called 'chorus', on a route taking barely half an hour. From this point all of Brixental, from Wörgl to Kitzbühel, will be in your line of sight. For the descent you can opt for the steeper route across the Santenbach Hochalm and Niederalm, or take the route across the ridge of the mountain and across the forest road to Kandleralm. Due to its north-facing location, Santenbachalm is also an alpine rose paradise in early summer. Through extensive forests of fir and spruce you finally head back down the Brixentaler Ache and back to Brixen.
Route outline
Mountaineering shoes are recommended for the tour. Crossing the Gampenkogel requires good visibility and if there is a chance that there may be stormy weather, postponing the hike is preferable. Centre of the village – Kandleralm: 350 metres altitude/ 1 hour, Kandleralm – Rechental: hours, Rechental – Brixenbachstraße: 150 metres altitude descent / hours, Brixenbachstraße – Wiegalm via Talkaser: 450 metres altitude / 2 hours, Wiegalm – Kreuzjöchlsee: 200 metres altitude/ 1 hour, Kreuzjöchlsee – Chor via the Alpenrosenbahn mountain station: 200 metres altitude (slightly up and down) / 1.5 hours, Chor – Brixen via Kandleralm: 1000 metres altitude descent via the path / 2.5 hours;
Starting point | Town centre |
Walking time | 6 - 7 hours |
Altitude difference | 950 metres altitude |
Difficulty level | Moderately difficult |
Stop-off options | Wiegalm, Brechhornhaus, Restaurant Talkaser, Panoramarestaurant Choralpe, Berggasthaus Kandleralm |


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Total Reviews
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Most Recent|2008 Chevrolet HHR Panel LS 4dr Wagon (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
Just a handy cute little car. it's comfort seating sit high like a truck good visibility. rides good very fuel economical have done 6.9l/100km in ideal conditions. winter driving affects it i do closer to 8.9/100km. over all very satisfied. except a few front end noises, has to do with suspension, but i had no problem getting them replaced (stabalizer bars)and they could be removed for someone that does not want to be bothered with replacing them.
like the look, and the space for the size of car the seating room
A little more horse power(it is a bit sluggish)and would be great if it would have integral traction for the winter
2008 Chevrolet HHR LS 4dr Wagon (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
I bought my HHR in 2008. It really does get 30-32 MPG highway. It is very versatile and easy to drive. You get a lot of nice features for your money. I drive 400-500 miles per week so I spend a lot of time in mine.
I like the tinted windows, on-star, great leg room (front and back seating). We are tall people with long legs. I can whip a u-turn in a tight spot with ease, and it is a nice little wagon for small loads, trips to the garden store or such.
Get rid of the shifter for the automatic! Very poorly located cup holders! It the useless shifter was on the column the cup holders could be located forward. The arm rests are dismal, cheesy, at the wrong height and uncomfortable at best, and they armrests make it awkward to latch the safety belts.
2008 Chevrolet HHR LT 4dr Wagon (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
Purchased at the height of the Gas problem in 08-It is a spunky little car and fun to drive but mileage is average 26 or so. So far have had front brakes, steering motor and column replaced. Now having issue with front suspension noise. Have the 17 inch Alloy wheels look good but ride rough on this little car. Too many mechanical issues for me am concerned about reliability longer term.
Looks, fun to drive and holds the road.
Better build quality
2008 Chevrolet HHR LT 4dr Wagon (2.2L 4cyl 5M)
I needed something reliable, got good gas mileage, and could carry a bunch of stuff. My 2008 HHR does all that! I average ~26 to ~27 MPG and have been amazed at all the stuff I can carry in the back with the seats folded down. Extra storage UNDER the floor is nice also when you want to keep handtools hidden. I could use a little more leg room for my left leg when driving though [the wheel well kinda sticks up there] and the center window controls take some getting used to. Heat/A/C work wonderfully and sound system is nice also. Lots of headroom is nice and yeah, that cargo capacity =)
Cargo Capacity & Gas Mileage! You can comfortably fit four... five if you must. XM radio has also become a "necessity" for long trips.
Needs a better center console for cup holders, map storage, etc. Need a better spot to put your left foot while driving. If you have long legs, it can seem a little cramped.
2008 Chevrolet HHR SS 4dr Wagon (2.0L 4cyl Turbo 5M)
Bought new. Very FUN car. At about 12k developed a major electrical problem that took months to resolve. Car would DIE at random, at speed! Almost got me killed twice on I-95. I'm angry at the horrible customer service I received at count em 3 different dealers before the problem got fixed...more so than the problem itself. Now that problem is resolved, and I've got confidence in it again, I'm very happy with it.
performance, looks, mileage, practicality Did I mention that this car is FUN to drive!
Power Seat adjustments moved to FRONT of the seat. Interior is cheesy cheap.


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I've had a mole on my top lip since I was about 8 and I'm now 15. It was fairly small and light when I was 8 but now it's fairly big and black. I was wondering if it'll be expensive to remove it and will it leave any scarrings? I'm a bit worried whether it'd be right for me to get it removed or not.
How much does it cost to remove a non-raised mole on the lip and will removing it leave a permanent scarring?
Doctor Answers 1
These answers are for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for medical advice you may receive from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911. These answers do not constitute or initiate a patient/doctor relationship.


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This page requires a MaxPreps membership account. Don't stress... It's free and easy to setup.
The Grace Brethren Lancers girls soccer team lost Thursday's home conference game against Malibu by a score of 4-0.
The Grace Brethren Lancers soccer team (Simi Valley, CA), 4-0 in Thursday's league game with the visiting Malibu Sharks (Malibu, CA)
With the victory, Malibu advances its record to 13-5 on the campaign. The Sharks host Santa Paula (Santa Paula, CA) to face the Cardinals in a Frontier game on Tuesday, February 10. The Cardinals enter the game with a record of 6-2.
In their next game, the Lancers face the Bishop Diego Cardinals (Santa Barbara, CA) in a Frontier game, on Tuesday, February 10. Grace Brethren will attempt to advance on its 10-7 season record.
The Grace Brethren Lancers girls soccer team lost Friday's away conference game against Malibu by a score of 3-1.
The Malibu Sharks girls soccer team won Thursday's away conference game against Grace Brethren by a score of 4-0.


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The comeback of a classic: espadrij l'originale brings the original espadrilles back to life.
Posts Tagged 'natural material'
Bread & Butter Berlin 2014 Summer – ESPADRIJ
August 7th, 2014Eroded Stools by I M Lab
January 27th, 2013Biasa shop by PT Green Design, Sanur – Indonesia
October 13th, 2012The Biasa shop is designed with an interesting ceiling panel combined with a natural material. The local material used becomes mixed with a modern language. Moreover bright yellow is smattered throughout this high-class store. The designer also used amazing light fixtures in order to accentuate the shop and its products.
Leo Pizzo jewelry boutique by Diego Bortolato Architetto, Milan
May 9th, 2012This is the first mono-brand shop that my client, Mr. Leo Pizzo, has opened on the fashion town, Milan. Natural material, the same of the historical Villa Necchi: natural piedmont walnut (one single old tree for the whole furnitures) back painted glass and bronze. The space is develop as a museum, quite clean, and with respect with the original structures.
HAIRDRESSER! Kaizen hairdresser by Manousos Leontarakis & Associates, Heraclion – Greece
April 16th, 2012Lean tables by Coordination
February 28th, 2012The Designers from Coordination got inspired by traditional craftsmanship and created the Lean Tables as a result. By using a wedge, legs and a hexagonal boards from local oak form structural entities. At least three units join to become a table. For structural reasons the legs are slanted and as a result the single pieces seem to lean against each other.


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Use the arrow keys to move your tankAdvoid and blow up the rocks for points!Every 5000 points grants an extra life!
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