GR 131 - Arona to La Esperanza

Last week I travelled to Tenerife with the intention of doing 3 stages of the GR131 and another walk in the West of the island. The plan was to do Arona - Vilaflor and Vilaflor - El Portillo on the GR131 and Santiago del Teide - Buenavista del Norte (via Masca).

It didn’t work out that way. I decided to start in Vilaflor on Tuesday and head for El Portillo. This route would take in 2 stages of the GR131 by bypassing the 3.7km walk to/from Parador after dropping down from Degollada de Guajara.

I was sitting on the steps outside the visitors centre in El Portillo at 12:05. The bus wasn’t due until 15:15 so I decided to continue on to La Caldera.

As I had taken a big chunk out of the middle section of the GR131 on Tuesday I decided at that stage that I would just finish it on the remaining two days for walking. So, on Thursday, I again started in Vilaflor and walked ‘down’ to Arona and on Saturday I travelled to La Caldera to walk ‘up’ to La Esperanza.

The entire route is very well marked but I did stray from the track on 3 occasions. On two occasions I was about 50m/100m away from a marker and on one occasion I got totally distracted and ended up on the TF24 (about 14km from La Esperanza) and had to drop back down to the path. I did have Paddy Dillon’s book with me and found it very useful for additional information/markers.

I absolutely loved this walk. On one occasion (between Parador and El Portillo) I had to put on my gloves but, other than that the weather was great.

Bus starts from Los Cristianos (base) were 5:50 X 2 (to Vilaflor) and 6:10 (to La Caldera). Three different buses were required to get from La Caldera to Los Cristianos (& vice versa) and from La Esperanza to Los Cristianos. Travel times on buses, for longer journeys, were 2 to 2.5 hours.

Tuesday - 40km in 8 hours 15 minutes

Thursday - 20km in 3 hours 45 minutes

Saturday - 30km in 6 hours

Pace - Very Brisk ;-)

Rationalisation in the Life & Pensions Industry in Ireland

Last week Zurich Life announced (quietly) that it plans to close the Cork and Galway branches and is looking for about 70 voluntary redundancies. The company cites the continuous decline in the health of the Life & Pensions industry, since it peaked in 2007.

What’s surprising, is that it has taken 5 years to come to this conclusion and that there have not been similar occurrences with some of the other players in the market.

You see, I’d consider Zurich Life to be one of the better players in terms i) the product range they have to offer to the end consumer ii) their service and iii) a unique ability to listen to what type of product I want and try to deliver it.

There are two existing players that have basically single (okay) product offerings and I don’t know if their parents are going to plough money into the small Irish market at this time. Why would they? It’s a mess.

There are two others that I would find it very difficult to place business with based on past experience with service and crappy products. Standard Life wouldn’t be one of these.

The biggest operator is owned by the State and has just swallowed up Quinn Life. There’s a few boutique players flogging deposit based tracker bonds to death. Bank Of Ireland are ‘trying’ to sell New Ireland.

The only speculative conclusion that I can come to is that: now that Zurich Life have made a move some of the others will follow by letting folk go to reduce costs in an attempt to enhance profitability. Life & Pension companies in Ireland don’t like to be ‘first’ with crappy news so I’d expect a few of the others to come forward any day now and tell us how terrible things actually are in the industry.

Interview - Jerry Moriarty

What is the best business/investment decision you ever made?

Moving to the UK when I was 23, it opened up a lot of opportunities. Backing Galileo at 20/1for the 2001 Derby was very sweet too. Someone who worked with me had a friend who visited Ballydoyle early in the year and they said he was their best horse for that year.

What kind of car do you drive?

Mercedes CLK 200.

What is the worst financial advice that you ever received?

Not to join my DB scheme when I started working in the UK. Eventually did after a couple of years in the DC scheme.

Do you own property abroad?

No.

Should basic finance be included on primary school curriculum?

Absolutely, we need to do a lot more to help people understand the basics.

Do you contribute to a pension plan?

Yes, we have a DC scheme at work and it's my main form of savings.

What's your favourite film of all time?

It's so hard to narrow down and I change my mind a lot. Today I would say Stand By Me.

Have you ever won money?

See No. 1. I am relatively lucky and have won my local GAA Club (Sneem, Co. Kerry) lotto.

Do you own your own home?

Not fully yet,but yes.

Do you invest directly in the stock market, through funds or both?

Not directly, but I do through my DC scheme.

What is your preferred method/system of saving (Deposits, Funds,Shares, Property)?

Short term savings through deposits. Long-term by paying off mortgage as quickly as possible and pension scheme.

What financial product/s do you consider to be bad value for money?

Anything that is sold as an add-on, insurance with electrical appliances. I wouldn't buy a washing machine from an insurance company so why the other way around,

Do you trust your bank?

To a point. I still need one though and always check transactions and statements.    


Jerry Moriarty is Director of Policy at Irish Association of Pension Funds