Money Talk Daily

Archive for September, 2009

I’m sure you can remember the huge buzz that went around when Ebay first launched and people could easily sell almost anything that wanted. It meant that you didn’t have to have you own physical shop to make money buying and selling, and people could find items online that they may not have been able to find elsewhere. Ebay is still going strong but now with the rise in social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, the online trading markets are stronger than ever.

One website that was quick to see the potential in allowing their users to trade items online was Facebook. Their ‘marketplace’ quickly became an active community in itself and people even started setting up shops here, in the same way as you might do on Ebay. Being able to advertise online is nothing new however and sites like Gumtree and Craig’s List have done very well through allowing people to do this, but they find themselves struggling to compete against the newer socially-led networking sites. They encourage a more discerning buying process whereby you can do some background research on the seller, request more information, or even ask the opinion of some experts in the field. For example, before you make that commitment to buy one of those second hand bikes you can request more pics, query your friends about it, or ask those people who are hanging out in the cycling community section if you are making the right choice, and if not, what is the right one?

Another advancement has come about through sites such as Twitter, has been the ability for people to request the things they are looking for, rather than wait for someone else to advertise them. For example an extreme sports enthusiast might post on their twitter profile that they are looking for 7’6” surfboards, and because of the potential size and power of the networks here, they will likely find multiple people very quickly who have suitable surfboards for sale

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Choosing the right financial planning professional.

When choosing the right financial planning professional, you need to ask them some key questions. Here are five questions to help you make the right choice:

1)      What experience do they have? If you chose a rookie financial planning professional you will probably get a cheaper service, but a more experienced adviser is more likely to produce better results.

Don’t jump to conclusions though. The younger, less experienced adviser might be dynamic, more enthusiastic, and a great planner to have on board, where as the older more experienced planner might be set in their ways, or waiting for the right moment to retire. Look for an answer which matches your own ethos. There is no wrong or right answer.

2)      What are their qualifications? All financial planning professionals require basic financial qualifications, but to be honest they are not rocket science, and can be passed with a few weeks study. It is very easy to get involved in financial services with the minimum of knowledge.

Look for those who have advanced qualifications, or are members of professional organisations such as the Chartered Insurance Institute or the Institute for Financial Planning. This shows a commitment to gain important knowledge. Those who only have the basic qualifications may be looking for a quick income in an industry which is lucrative to salesmen as well as financial planning professionals. Be warned!

3) How does the financial planner get renumerated? You usually are given three options; the adviser will get paid by commission direct from the lender, by fee from yourself, or a combination of the two. Advisers who typically work on a commission basis will try and sell you something, otherwise they do not earn. Fee based advice tends to be more impartial, and represents better value for money in most instances. Find out exactly how much they expect to earn, and do a sense check as to whether they are asking too much for what they are doing.

Be wary of the planner who charges fees in excess of what they would earn from commission. You may feel you are getting a better service by paying a fee, but the fee needs to be proportionate to the work which is being done.

A typical fee might be between £150 and £250 per hour for the work that is done.

4)      Ask them to detail any conflicts of interest. Do they get an introducer fee for referring you to a third party, or do they have close working relationships with particular insurance companies. If so, find out why, and make a judgement call on whether this is ethical.

If the financial planner recommends any financial solutions, ask them why it is the best for your circumstances, and make sure you understand the answer. Ask them what else they considered, and why they rejected it. Ask them if any recommendation is flexible, and ask them what features it has which benefits you. Ask them to put it in writing too!

5)      What is their approach to financial planning. How long do they spend creating a plan and strategy, and how long do they spend promoting financial products? How do they establish how much risk you need to take,  and how do they forecast cash flow into the future.

So called financial planners who cannot answer these questions without bumbling will probably be sly salesmen in disguise. Most, if not all of these questions should be answered without you having to ask, but I reckon 99 out of 100 times they will not.

Sometimes it is difficult to chose between planners, but try hard to ensure that you do not end up with the smooth talking salesman, as it could ruin everything you are trying to achieve. You do not want someone who is target or commission biased helping you plan your future!!

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Sure, the internet has made starting the quest for a new job a bit easier. Still, there are many common mistakes that can hinder your job search. Below are five mistakes that many people make.

1. Wasting Everybody’s Time

If the position requires 10+ years experience and you are fresh out of college, then don’t bother applying. It wastes your time, and the time of the hiring manager who has to wade through the resumes of under qualified people in order to find the ones who meet the criteria included in the job listing. Instead, be sure to read the listing carefully and then only apply for jobs for which you qualify.

2. Not Paying Attention to Privacy Settings

Your current employer may be looking to hire a few more people. Suppose that while your boss is perusing the resumes on some job search sites, he comes across yours. It’s hard to imagine a situation in which this could be positive. Be sure to carefully check the privacy settings so that neither you – or your boss – encounter any unpleasant surprises.

3. Searching While at Work

While it may be tempting to spend half of your workday cruising around job search sites and shooting your resume off here and there, here is a word of advice: Don’t. First of all, it’s unethical. Your current employer is not paying you to look for another job. Spending your on-the-clock time that way is akin to stealing from the company. Aside from being unethical, you stand a pretty good chance of getting caught. More and more companies have installed software that allows them to track the internet usage and email activity of employees. Some are enabled with automatic keyword searches that bring any activity containing certain words to the attention of management. You don’t want to lose your current employment without having found your next job. Save your job searching for your off hours.

4. No Follow Up

As mentioned earlier, the internet has, in some ways, made searching for a job simpler. That does not mean, however, that you can just post your resume on a few sites and forget it. Conducting a successful job search takes a lot of work. You’ve to follow through, make phone calls, send letters, do research. Make finding a job your job. Very few people will land a job without diligently following through on leads.

5. Presenting an Unprofessional Presence

Websites such as VisualCV.com make it easier than ever to post professional looking resumes. You even have the option of including photos, videos, charts and graphs. While those tools can be positive, just be sure to keep in professional. This is a job search, not a creative video making contest. Too much extra stuff could possibly turn off the hiring manager. Keep it professional and increase your chances of getting an interview.

By working to avoid these five common mistakes, you can increase your chances of landing a job in a shorter amount of time. Happy hunting.

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Both checks and credit cards have already proven their worth as effective and efficient tools in handling payments. However, you may then find yourself asking as to which of the two is better than the other. In order to answer this question, we simply just have to determine all the advantages as well as the disadvantages of the two and weigh them in.

Since the day it was first used, credit cards still emerge to be a very favorable and preferred mode of payment. Credit cards exist to the very principle of banks and other financial institutions allowing the card holder borrow the needed amount quickly and efficiently by sending the fund electronically to the vendor. The card holder then pays back the money borrowed by using the credit card along with the interests drawn from the borrowed amount. With just a single swipe of the card, credit card holders enjoy the benefits of quick and easy payment transactions. Moreover, credit cards are thin and light which makes it to be easily kept in your wallet.

Checks on the other hand also come to be very flexible depending on the amount written on its surface by the one issuing it. It is a verifiable document as a proof of payment.  Most frequently, checks have become the world’s favorite mode of payment. In the case of America, it has been estimated to have over 40 billion checks that are written every year. In bank checks written, the person is required to make entries to the check register.

Checks have been known as effective tools in handling finances well. Just recently, researchers have revealed that credit cards are most likely to encourage its holders to spend as much as 30% more than what they usually do. This is basically because credit cards are just easy to pull out of your wallet and probably juts buy about anything. But when with a check, we tend to be more cautious as we keep a close watch on our balance through the check register. This just means that we get to have more control factor when handling payments with a check than with a credit card.

Since internet technology has set foot on the virtual world, credit cards have been noted as a favorite payment tool by most of online shoppers. Online shoppers get to easily purchase almost anything on the internet through their credit cards. But then again, this only exposes important credit card details to much greater risk and security breach. But then again, online checks e-checks are now made available to handle online payments. Within the process, less information is needed giving more security to the one issuing the order checks.

With the abovementioned details, one can easily determine as to which mode of payment is better. Using a credit card or a check?

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Now you need to manage your cashflow with your chosen top Business Savings Account. For what? Each and every trade whether huge or on a small scale face challenges each single day along with the current worldly financial crisis, its the survival of the fittest. A lot of policies are carried out in order to aids trades organize their funds more carefully, as no business on the face of the globe can live without money – Cash actually make the earth go round. If your trade has money that’s just depending on an usual and you are not going to withdraw it for your personal purpose, you could utilize the cash to the benefit of your business by simply put in these cash in the wonderful which is suitable for you.

Here are two ways you can start this account, the preference is infact yours:

* Normal (brick and mortar) Business Account

* Online Business Savings Account – You may even begin this account online and control your removal with high interest to be given.

The benefits of begining a regular Australia business savings account are:

* Access your funds quickly – You can attain easy right t use your cash fast and withdraw money from the bank.

* Personal check – It is a usual way to earn returns on your capital as well as you can talk to your branch business manager about your business.

* Connect your bank accounts - Link your trade cheque account with other finest business savings accounts you have.

* Managing Risk - Your money is not revealed to Internet scam and you access your bank account from the area office with personal verification.

* Least Balance with No Admin charges – In some financial organisations, you do not require a lowest sum so as to set up an account, though you need a minimum balance in order shun monthly service fees.

The benefits of starting an Australia online are:

* Apply Easy - If you choose to open an online business trading savings account you will find that simple to apply. You only need to fill up an online application form with the financial organisation you choose to open the savings account with and provide your data. The entire procedure just takes not more than 24 hours and afterwards you can start using your online Businness Svers Account. But select only the finest that is available.

* Get higher rate of interest – Online Businness Svers Account are popular for providing greater rate of interest to their consumers. This is because they don’t have running expenses that normal final institutions are recognized to posses this is one of the finest Businness Svers Account. Your money keeps on gathering more interest than normal Business Account – now this must sound like pleasant to you.

* Prevent extra spending of your money – You may get revenue on your money without invetsing your cash in hand at risk. However majority of the high interest business savings accounts dont have several branches in Australia. It is harder for you to use the branch.

* Least / Lowest Admin Charges – Generally you don’t have to maintain a lowest deposit and you can only give a small fee when you withdraw money from your Businness Svers Account or you pay a lower than usual business savings account admin charges monthly.

Each and every business needs the finest Businness Svers Account and it is really important for your financial background of your organisation because they actually aid your organisation to flourish well and they’ll be there to instantly meet the monetary necessities of your organisation.  You will even have to use your best business savings account record to apply loan or to prove your trade to your payers.

Investing your money in a Business Account is less dangerous than letting it free in some savings account gaining too less or no interest by all means. A lot of financial institutions (especially online financial organisations) wont charge you for withdrawals or investing limits to the number of times you choose to access your deposit. If you let the cash in your Businness Savers Account without touching it for a period your money grows will a Interest bonus! Set apart your trade expenses and your private expenses than achieve the finest business savings account now.

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The various ways you choose to use money are what make up your personal finances. The methods you use for budgeting and spending and creating savings are all included in your personal finances, as are the various ways you acquire funds through loans and credit cards.

We should take a glance at the different ways we choose to borrow money.

When money is borrowed through a credit card cash advance, it is instantly yours, but it has to be repaid with interest. You must exercise a great deal of caution when using credit cards, in spite of the fact that they are very commonly accepted in today’s economic world.

Overspending when using credit cards is very easy to do and you will regret it when it comes time to make payments on the high interest balances.

Unlike credit cards, personal loans will reduce your spending, because you will be borrowing only as much as you need for the original purpose of your loan. Personal loans are available for many purposes, among them are such things as auto loans, debt consolidation loans or home loans and some can even be used for cosmetic surgery. Interest will be charged on a personal loan and it is essential to make repayment according to the terms of the loan. If your personal loan is secured by collateral, you have to proceed cautiously, because if you fail to repay you stand a chance of losing your assets.

The best results with these financial opportunities may be easy to get to and the journey has to begin with you. The characteristics of prudence, and having an economical mindset and the patience to use unlimited time to research the loan market are all helpful. You have to know your financial limitations and have the ability to pay off debt in a timely manner, in order to create a proper budget and maintain the habit of sticking to it. By recording your expenditures, you will be allowed to understand your spending habits and change what needs to be changed, and you will also be able to see how much credit card spending you do.

Before you finalize any loan deal, you have to be aware of all of the offers and trends in the loan market. Loan quotes are necessary to obtain because they can give the best idea of how much your loan may cost. After receiving the loan quote you will know if you can handle the loan costs comfortably, but you also should read the fine print carefully for any hidden fees or costs.

The way you live your life and take care of your financial obligations is determined by your personal finances. When it is handled right, your life will not be filled with constant worry over your finances, however, if you do not take proper care of personal finances you could end up with nothing but agony over your economic situation.

For more information on credit cards visit Credit Cards Web for great articles such as ‘What You Should Know About Store Credit Cards‘, visit today to read more and to also for credit card balance transfers.

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insurance quote

For many people, car ins is like an option, and not actually a necessity. For a person who owns an auto, car is truly a must to be safe in regards to your vehicle. For many states, auto insurance is required and needed in order to even have an automobile and register it. Having auto ins protects the other drivers whenever there is a crash. Until you understand that you have been in an automobile accident and of a sudden are paying thousands of dollars, you don’t realize that having vehicle ins is actually a good thing.

Get Free Auto Ins quotes immediately, and choose from the vehicle insurance quotes that you prefer. Check how the affordable coverage you need is provided at more affordable rates than found practically anywhere in the USA. Discount car ins which offers protection regularly looks like a dream too good to be true.

Getting affordable car insurance used to be a real effort. You needed to call each ins provider and negotiate the long procedure of telling 100s details about yourself to someone doing work there. By the time you obtained a few quotes things will begin to get confusing and you may forget who gave you more inexpensive quote.

Get Affordable Auto Ins quotes right away, and select from the auto ins quotes that you choose. Verify how the cheap coverage you want is provided at lower rates than found virtually anywhere in the USA. Discount auto ins which offers basic protection often looks like an offer too good to be true.

Whenever you go looking around for a car insurance policy you are looking for 2 things: outstanding coverage policy and best deal. That doesn’t mean $ is all you will be interested in though! You need to be positive you’ve got a vehicle insurance company that is going to support you before you start handing over hundreds of of dollars every month in premiums. You have got questions, and you need to be sure where to go for solutions.

Internet has provided us a brand-new and fantastic fashion to discover just about anything we need to order discount car insurance. Purchasing auto ins policy on-line is helpful for you also as you are going to obtain car insurance rates from different agents, judge the rates and take the one that appeals you in the best manner. You need not go out of your home or office and you get the automobile cover in much less time less time.

You are going to get the best affordable free auto ins quotes now by visiting a minimum of three automobile ins quote sites. Requesting quotes from at least of about three quotes sites double the chances that you’d make more savings. This is since any aspect not covered by one site would be covered by the other.

There are really many secrets to save money on car ins without restructuring your current automobile ins policy at all. You have many common rules of the road that we normally ignore and by disregarding them we can increase our vehicle insurance rates. Here are some secrets to assist you lower your automobile ins rates.

You need to compare car ins if you first purchase insurance, but it is also crucial to analyze automobile ins regularly and if you think that any aspect relating to your driving habits has changed. Check out auto insurance charges is if you have lately paid your car off. When you don’t have a loan on your automobile you are going to drop your ins liability amount and pay lower amounts for your car ins and be fully covered.

Free Car ins quotes will reveal to you which are discount priced insurance options for yourself as a car owner. Today, you will find free quotes from some automobile auto ins companies without the need to spend a single cent.

Get Free Car Insurance quotes at once, and select from the auto insurance quotes that you like. Check how the inexpensive coverage you want is provided at cheaper rates than found practically anywhere else in the USA. Cheap car ins that offers quality protection often seems like a dream that is perfect.

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Personalized checks these days are fast becoming popular with its flexibility, convenience, and the consumer’s freedom to have the check personalized in accordance to his or her interests. Furthermore, personalized checks are now much easier to be purchased by any person through the aid of the internet technology. Through the help of your computer and a clear and steady internet connection, you are clearly within full reach with these amazing checks that are not just effective tools of handling your finances well but are also clear and expressive symbols of your personality.

In the internet today, a lot of sites are offering various pre-designed personal checks that will surely match every person’s interest. One of these designs is the floral designs from which Lena Liu is most popularly known. This highly acclaimed artist displays her fine artistry and creativity through her long array of flower check designs from fresh garden art to fully bloomed flowers. Through these floral check designs, every encountered person just can’t refrain from enjoying the lovely scent of your flowers. Henceforth, every check written sends out a floral fresh air.

With lots of choices to choose from, you are very much assured of at least one design that will perfectly suit your needs for order checks. One excellent example is Lena Liu’s “Floral Borders with Verse” that is most likely to send out a warming message of peace and tranquility upon every check written.

The design is one of a kind with fresh and fully bloomed flowers bordering the four sides of your check and is most likely to make you daydream and freshen up all your senses. You can also have the liberty to choose a verse that you like the most from its four choices: “Believe al things are possible with God,” “May the Lord bless you and keep you,” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and “Rejoice.

Other than the abovementioned design, there are still many other designs to choose from like “Ribbon of Hope,” “Flower Power,” “Heartfelt Expressions,” “Lena Liu’s Enchanted Wings,” “Garden Graces,” and “Live, Laugh, Love, Learn.” Purchasing these checks online will also give you another advantage such as saving 50% off bank prices.

Generally, a flower makes a significant representation of nature. With this symbol in your designer checks, you are sure to make a statement about yourself for the whole world. And when it comes to all other flower fans, all they have is nothing but a pure envy to your floral designed checks.

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A lesson on goal setting and financial planning.

Successful financial planning is not about choosing the right pension, or selecting the right savings plan, it is about having the right mentality, and being able to follow a proven strategy from start to finish.

First you need to look at  goal setting. I would say that goal setting is about 25% of the financial planning process, and without doing this, the process will not work at all. Imagine a car with 25% of its engine missing. It probably won’t work, and this goes for financial planning too.

Goal setting is an important subject, and cannot be covered in full on this blog, but more details can be found on my financial planning website. There are also specialist books written on the subject of goal setting which are well worth a read.

 The basics to goal setting are as follows:

You should set a goal for your benefit only. Not for the benefit of others, although there is nothing wrong if your goal benefits others indirectly.

You should make your goal positive in nature.

Your goal should be specific. You need to be able to imagine every small detail. The vaguer you make it the less likely you are to achieve it.

You must be able to picture your goal.

An example of a good goal could be:

“I wish to retire on my 55^th birthday. I want to have enough money to live a fulfilled life which includes playing golf on a weekly basis at the manor executive club. I will play regularly so I can beat all of my golf buddies.  I want to afford to have meals out with rosemary (my wife) at nice restaurants. We would enjoy good quality meals such as roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, and steak in red wine sauce. I would also like to take 4 holidays per year. I would like to take three foreign holidays, and explore new and exotic places. I would like to be able to lie on the beach, seeing clear blue sea and white sands.  I want to enjoy a long and fruitful retirement, and the earlier I retire the more I can see and do.

An example of a bad goal could be:

I want to retire early with a good pension. This is because I don’t like working. But I cant stop working if I don’t have enough money because I will be poor and unable to live a good life. I don’t want to watch tv all day, and I dont want to retire too late in case I die young.

The first goal is specific, positive, for your benefit, and easy to visualise. The second goal is non specific, negative, and very difficult to visualise.

You should try and visualise your goals for 30 minutes per day. You should try and have between 10 and 20 specific goals at any one time. You should not restrict your goals to what you can easily achieve, but instead have goals which you dream of, and are out of reach because setting your sights too low guarantee you will under achevie.

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Making use of bank checks or checking account requires writing a check, using the check register, making a deposit, and reconciling the account.

How to write an online check. Using check is an alternative of using cash for paying bills. But checks have to be ordered. It can be ordered through the net or by calling a nearby bank. If you choose the latter, some banks like Chevy Chase Bank may provide you with checks which have security features such as padlock icon, micro printing, security screen, and warning boxes at the front and back of checks. These features are designed to make order checks difficult to copy or alter, and they usually become manifest only when fraud is detected.

Using the check register. A responsible financial management needs good record keeping. Online banking allows you to use the net and check your transaction history and find out your current account. Once you are in the habit of tracking expenses, it should be a cinch to keep the checkbook balanced. This way, you can keep good records and you are sure to be on top of account balance. Online banking upholds transparency by registering any transaction such as deposits, ATM withdrawals, checks written, and check card purchases. It also fills out the check register before you even write the check and records any automatic payment.

Making a deposit. When you deposit, you will need deposit slip which is readily available inside a branch bank and can be purchased together with ordered checks. You need to indorse personal checks which are included in the deposit.  You may deposit the prepared deposit at the nearby local bank branch or the bank’s ATM. Clients with jobs usually have their checks deposited directly by their employers.

Reconciling account. If you order checks in Chevy Chase bank, you will be given options on statement style and delivery method you want best. You can choose by clicking on e-Statements and Statement Select.  

e-Statements- gives you the ability to view statement online. Statement Select- Chevy Chase Bank lets you choose to customize your account statement. You can either see all transactions chronologically, transactions by category or a big picture of all deposits and withdrawals. 

Lastly Chevy Chase Bank has designer checks cards.  It looks like a credit card but is different in some ways. Check card purchases are automatically deducted from the checking account therefore it is not an extension of credit that you pay back later like a credit card. Check cards are also similar to credit card in a sense that they are used wherever and a good alternative to paying cash.

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