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Rodeo: Lee Graves going for stem cell treatment Bruce Campbell/OWW

Black Diamond steer wrestler Lee Graves, here pulling down a steer to win the 2010 Calgary Stampede, plans to go to the Cayman Islands for stem cell surgery for an injured ankle.

A former Calgary Stampede champion from Black Diamond may be heading down to the Cayman Islands to invest in his future.

Black Diamond steer wrestler Lee Graves plans to have stem cells injected into his injured right ankle during a procedure in the Cayman Islands, rather than having surgery in order to get back on the rodeo circuit as quick as possible.

I hurt it at a rodeo last fall and they did a scope on it and there are some pretty good cysts on my ankle, Graves said. Im missing about 15 per cent of my ankle joint. Thats quite a bit missing from an ankle.

The process is called the Regenexx-SD procedure.

All your joints must be working when you are jumping off a horse at a near gallop and then braking while trying to wrestle a 400-pound steer to the ground.

I have blown my knee out twice, he said. Theres a lot of force on your lower limbs because youre going at a high-rate of speed and pushing on your feet trying to control 400-pounds.

Hes done well digging in his heels to pull down a steer. The 40-year-old Graves is a two-time world champion and has won the Canadian championship five times.

He is the first Canadian steer wrestler to earn more than $2-million in his career. He went over that mark when he won the 2010 Calgary Stampede.

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Bulldogger going to Caymans for joint investment

Grand Turk in the wondrous Caicos Islands is exciting, glamorous and fundelicious. With exotic cuisine savored to a Calypso beat in a remarkable beachside setting, Grand Turk will charm you into a genuine Caribbean mood. B. J. and I enjoyed our visit there almost to the maximum. We gathered seashells from the adorable beach only to discover that we could not bring them aboard our elegant ocean liner, the Westerdam. Disappointed, we deposited our pretty seashell collection on the dock before boarding our cruiser.

Sailing on the Westerdam was smooth. This was our fifth cruise to the Caribbean and the glossy sea had never been more agreeable. We joined other gleeful voyagers on the impressive promenade deck to delight in the awesome Caribbean panorama, the balmy breezes, music and the tantalizing aroma emanating from the poolside grills.

Nestled snugly in the in the calm, turquoise waters of the Western Caribbean south of Cuba, lies the peaceful British Overseas Territory known as the Cayman Islands. Consisting of three islands just 480 miles south of Miami, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman are pieces of paradise in the Caribbean.

The Cayman Islands offer something few destinations can matchexquisite natural beauty infused with commitment to making your visit a Caribbean dream come true. There is a barefoot elegance that promises to make your stay truly funtabulous. Grand Cayman, Little Grand Cayman, and Cayman Brac provide the activities and attractions to make ones Caribbean island experience larger than life.

Add to that, one of Holland Americas newer luxury liners, the Westerdam, to sail the ocean blue and you are whisked into a world of delightful fantasy.

Our stop is the largest of the three-island group the exquisite Grand Cayman--a garden in the Caribbean. The name Cayman is derived from a Carib word for crocodile, although the Caymans were first called Las Tortugas by Columbus when he observed in 1503, the hundreds of turtles living on these uninhabited islands.

The Cayman Islands, a British Crown Colony since 1670, were settled by a motley collection of British Army deserters, shipwrecked sailors, retired pirates and African slaves who gained freedom when ships carrying them foundered on Cayman reefs.

B. J. and I stood anxiously on deck as the captain skillfully maneuvered the Westerdam into position off Grand Cayman and our Port-of-Entry, George Town. We were aghast at the stunning scene spreading before us. We absorbed the amazing view for a few minutes before going below to board a tender bound for the island.

Visitors are ferried ashore in large tenders. Tenders are boats designed to carry passengers to shore through shallow waters where the big ocean liners cannot go. The tenders can pose a crisis to B. J. or anyone else inclined to seasickness. Rough water causes the tenders to bob like corks.

The water was tranquil that day though and the short trip from ship to shore was fun.

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The fabulous Cayman Islands

The Government has issued its latest figures on the number of people affected by the frozen pensions policy

The statistics were revealed by Lord Freud, the minister for welfare reform, after the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Jones of Cheltenham applied for a written answer identifying how many people living outside the United Kingdom received non-uprated United Kingdom state pensions in the most recent period for which data is available, broken down by country and territory".

They show that there are now well over half a million (555,650) British retirees abroad whose pensions are not inflation-proofed, as well as identifying which locations are home to the most people affected.

Nearly half (45 per cent) are living in the popular expat destination of Australia, with Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and India making up the rest of the top five.

Reacting to the figures, Tony Bockman, chairman of the International Consortium of British Pensioners, said they underlined the shocking scale of the frozen pensions scandal".

"Over half a million people who have worked hard and contributed to the life and health of Britain are being discriminated against because of where they have chosen to retire," he said.

The injustice of frozen pensions grows every year as more people are affected and their pensions lose more value. Its time for the government to take real steps towards unfreezing pensions.

Under current Government rules, pensions are generally only subject to cost-of-living increases in countries which belong to the European Economic Area (EEA) or which have agreements with Britain which allow for such increases.

The policy means that in practice, the spending power of many British pensioners decreases every year, with some who moved abroad many decades ago struggling to survive.

A government e-petition calling for an end to the freezing has reached nearly 17,600 signatures, putting it among the most popular petitions in the country.

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Over half a million expats denied full pension

New rules in France mean that expats with trusts may have to take measures to avoid penalties

For those moving to live in France, the list of things to think about before emigrating is substantial. As well as the practical things to deal with, there are likely to be a few legal and financial items too. Unfortunately, that list has just become a bit longer, if we add on trusts and the impact of some new tax rules from 2011, which really start to bite come June 15 this year.

Expats resident in France may have to take action before then, to avoid trust penalties. The outline below will give you an idea of what to look out for, to see if you might be affected.

Why did things change?

The background to all of this was a desire in France to target situations where families have their wealth held in trusts. While trusts are not really part of French law, France has now created a special way to tax them and find out more about the wealth held in them. Disclosure plays an important role in these new rules.

What is a trust?

Trusts are bread and butter in the UK as a way of holding assets for the benefit of more than one generation. They are a useful way of protecting property held outside the estates of family members, yet the trustees can still give access to those assets. People can set them up when alive, or write them into their will. Life insurance (Other OTC: LINS.PK - news) policies can be held in trust, for example, as well as share portfolios and other assets.

To understand the impact of the new French rules, you need to know about the three key parties to a trust:

Settlor: this is the person(s) who set up the trust and gifted the assets to it.

Trustees: these are the people who administer the trust, and the trust property is generally held in their names.

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Take action to avoid French penalties on trusts

The return of Ernst & Young to the British Virgin Islands, combined with OECD approval of the territory's tax information agreements, could mean more job opportunities for expats in finance and law in the Caribbean paradise

Ernst & Young has re-established an office in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and a company spokesman says that they believe the territory will go from strength to strength in the financial sector in the coming year.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) announced at the end of last year that the BVI was a jurisdiction that demonstrated "sufficiently strong adherence" to new global regulatory and supervisory standards on international tax cooperation and information exchange. In addition, the BVI has been recognised by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for tax information exchange agreements at "an established standard".

One of the "Big Four" accoutancy firms in the City, Ernst & Young is seen as a global leader in offshore auditing, alongside PwC, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and KPMG.

The firm has 152,000 employees in 140 jurisdictions globally, with many packages and perks for expats. Dan Scott, managing partner for Ernst & Youngs Bermuda, Bahamas, BVI and Cayman Islands region, was attracted by the BVIs international reputation for financial services, particularly the strength of the financial services legislation, the regulatory regime and the Commercial Court: When I look at the BVI, it ticks all of those boxes very nicely, he said.

International offshore law firm Ogier also has a presence in the BVI. "During the week, working in the BVI is not dissimilar to working anywhere else in the world, in that it principally involves sitting in front of a computer screen and speaking to clients based all around the world," said partner Simon Schilder.

"The only real difference is the daily commute rather than forty minutes or more on a packed tube carriage, it is a 15-minute drive in the comfort of your own car, which you can then park outside the office in the office car park. As for weekends, it may sound like a bit of a clich, but every weekend is a bit like a Caribbean holiday."

Phillip Kite, a BVI-based partner and global head of litigation for Harney Westwood and Riegels, says that the option of working offshore was not explored while he was at school or university it was not until he was qualified and working full-time that he began to consider life overseas.

"I really liked litigation and insolvency and qualified during the early 1990s during the recession, so there was a lot of opportunities for insolvency lawyers," Mr Kite said.

"I was about five or six years qualified when I got the inside track on a job in the BVI. At the time there was little information you could get about working offshore.

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Expat opportunities growing in British Virgin Islands