Guest Blogs
Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!
To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.
We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!
By Audrey Flynn, Forth Capital
Judith
Judith has been married to Steven for almost 15 years. She stopped working several years ago, to look after their two children, returning to work part-time at a lower level when the children started school. Five years ago, Steven had the opportunity to work in Asia for several years and Judith happily gave up her job to move there with him and the children. Then, without warning, Steven announced that he wanted a divorce which forced Judith to reassess her life and her financial situation for the future.
Like many women Judith hadn’t contributed to a pension scheme on a full-time basis for most of her adult life, as she had taken career breaks to look after her children and to support her husband in his career. She had always relied on Steven to manage the family finances with minimum discussion, and without contemplating her own pension.
The sudden break down of her marriage forced Judy to look more closely at her financial situation and realise that she had never sensibly planned for her own retirement, relying entirely on her husband for their retirement plans. She had no idea how much money she had, nor how much she would need to save to enjoy the lifestyle she hoped for when she retired - and she had no idea where to start…
Photo by Deborah Berlinck
By Claire Doole, Claire Doole Communications
I know very little about classical music, but I was privileged to have a front row seat to a master class given by Gabor Takacs-Nagy. As I watched Takacs-Nagy in action, I realised much of what he said applied to public speaking – a world I know more about.
Takacs-Nagy, a renowned Hungarian violinist and conductor, is Director of the Verbier festival chamber orchestra. The festival, in the heart of the Alps, runs from 21st July to the 6th August, and is a key event in the classical music calendar.
Photo by Deborah Berlinck
So what does playing in public and speaking in public have in common?
Since living in Switzerland, I have acquired a taste for mountains that I could never have foreseen. Snow-shoeing has become a true passion, if not an obsession, and a regular winter activity. But what I have really discovered and experienced is the energising power that these majestic peaks deliver, not only in winter but in the summer months too.
Yesterday, we took our final cable-car trip, as Swiss residents, to an altitude of 2,971m and spent a rejuvenating afternoon at Glacier 3000. I don't need to remind you all how stressful relocating to another country can be, therefore, taking some time out to re-energise was a must in our schedule.
The cable-car journey to Scex Rouge (Glacier 3000) is in two stages, starting at Col du Pillon, just on the edge of Les Diablerets, about a 1-hour drive from Lausanne. There is plenty of free parking available. The return ticket costs CHF 79 for adults and CHF 40 for children or adults with a half- price travel card. It includes the Peak Walk by Tissot, a Fun Park for children, the Ice Express chair lift to and from the Glacier and the Glacier Walk. The ascent takes about 15 minutes.
By Sunita Sehmi, Walk The Talk
Fleur Heyworth began her professional career as a Barrister and spent 5 years advocating in court, representing government and private clients in family law proceedings. She also worked with NGOs during UPR sessions and drafted recommendations. She organised a number of events hosted by Ministers and Ambassadors, including one on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Disasters and Emergencies, and another 'Gender Equality: what will you do?'.
Most recently, Fleur was Impact Director for Women@theTable and worked closely with the International Gender Champions. She engaged male and female leaders as role models for change and had a particular focus on Change Management: promoting a culture of inclusion and diversity and addressing perceptions, biases and structural barriers within organisations. Fleur has a Geography Degree from Cambridge University, and took her post-graduate studies in law at Nottingham Law School.
1. Tell us about yourself. I grew up near Manchester in the UK as the eldest sibling of 2 brothers. I have always been keen on sport and community activities, and met my husband on the hockey pitch. I began my professional career as a Barrister, specializing in family law, notably child protection and domestic violence. My husband and I have 2 children aged 5 and 6 and we relocated to Geneva three years ago. We love the outdoors lifestyle here and the fact that our children have become bilingual – although we are sad to say we cannot keep up with them!
by Gareth Jefferies, Alpine Property
I've been asked a number of times recently about the current state of the property market in the Alps.
In brief the current market feels like a good balance between buyers and sellers. The French are buoyant but new British enquiries are hesitant. Long term British searchers are making the most of the good supply of properties and thanks to this we are agreeing plenty of sales. Swiss buyers in the French border areas seem to be largely unaffected by most of the events mentioned!
Some history.....I've been in this business now since the year 2000. Since then I have seen a steady rise in interest in ski properties in the Northern Alps up until we hit the top of the market in 2006/7. It felt like a bit of a bubble back then and with the benefit of hindsight it was! The Banking Crisis hit at the end of 2008 which brought everything to a grinding halt for 6 months, a slow recovery followed until 2015 which turned into boom time again. Brexit hit in June 2016 and the market has been taking stock since. It's not been like 2009 by any means but the interest has certainly ebbed and flowed somewhat over the last year.
There is certainly plenty of events that are giving pause for thought, Brexit, the economy (falling value of wages in the UK), terrorism and the exchange rate to name the biggest ones.
