August 1, 2010: Soul Investment

From Fraser Macnaughton

One of the most popular financial investments made by Europeans over the last few years has been that of timeshares, buying a part of a holiday property for two or three weeks each year. In these new times of financial stringency holidaymakers who have long been targeted on their annual vacations to splash out, are now being subjected to new tactics of persuasion to invest in their dream holiday property. Tourists have been told to take care if they are offered “factional ownership” of holiday resorts.

British consumers about to set off on their summer holidays are being warned to be on their guard against a potential new problem in the timeshare market: the hard-selling of "fractional ownership" of resorts.

It has been popular in the US and in Europe, where it has often been used to buy into ski chalets. Now it is being marketed to consumers as a way of buying into upmarket resorts.

Under a fractional ownership scheme, you buy a share in a property (often through a company), entitling you to spend several weeks there each year. Different companies sell stakes of various sizes, but most deal in one-quarter or one-fifth shares.

The UK European Consumer Centre (UK ECC), which advises consumers who have a dispute with a trader based in another European country, issued a warning and said it wants to hear from anyone caught up in this potential scam.

Jed Mayatt, the UK ECC's manager, says the hard sell of fractional ownership is an emerging issue for holidaymakers. "This is becoming a real difficulty in some resorts, with timeshare owners being told that if they buy more weeks, their investment can be converted to fractional ownership.

"The consumer is persuaded to buy more weeks, completes the paperwork, but gets nothing to show for it in terms of the deeds, etc. They have simply found themselves signed up to further weeks' timeshare ownership. With the overseas property market badly hit by the economic downturn, both developers and owners have increasingly been looking at fractional ownership. For consumers it makes sense because they no longer face all the costs of running a holiday home, at a time when prices are very uncertain.”

Explore… Luke 12:13–21

  • What do you think or feel about the “must have” culture that so is so pervasive?
  • How easy is it to talk about money and givings in your faith community?
  • Jesus talked more about money than almost anything else. Why do you think faith communities and churches seem so reluctant to engage with his teachings?
  • In what ways do you think being financially well off and ‘rich in God’ be complimentary?

Prayer links...
As we journey in God's way may we heed the wisdom of Jesus and seek soul investment as much as we seek monetary investment, and that through such thought and reflection we can grow deeper into God.

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