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

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!!

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.

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

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.

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.

All families must be a financial plan which includes personal insurance coverage in order to deal with long term disability, accidents, illness and death. When planning insurance coverage you will need to consider your dependents, age and economic situation. There are a bewildering selection of plans and finding the best insurance coverage for you will be dependent on numerous things. Life insurance for example is essential if you have a spouse or dependent children but may be not so crucial for anyone without dependents. All of us would be best to purchase disability insurance as we all need insurance cover if we are unable to go to work. The following are brief descriptions of a number of the different types of personal insurance coverage that are available.

Auto Insurance

• Needed by everyone who drives a car
• Minimum liability coverage essential

Liability insurance is necessary before a car can be registered and most states have a minimum medical coverage of at least $100,000, a minimum accident coverage of $300,000 and $50,000 for property damage. However these values may not be sufficient and we would advise you to purchase more than the minimum compulsory coverage. Other recommended cover includes collision, theft and fire coverage. The cost of the insurance may often be decreased by choosing a higher deductible.

Prices vary a good deal from company to company and you would be advised to get a range of quotes before choosing. There are often discounts obtainable which may depend on on your driving record, age, where you live etc.

Homeowner’s Insurance

• Essential for all house owners

Personal insurance coverage for your home must be enough  to allow rebuilding and cover buying new furniture and fixtures in the event of fire or other damage and to cover costs if an injury happens on your property. To decide how much insurance cover you will need for rebuilding, take away the cost of the foundations and land from the value of the house and ensure that you have at least coverage for 80% of the resulting cost. Household liability cover for the majority of household policies is typically around $400 ,000.

Life Insurance

• Needed by everyone with dependents

Life insurance is a kind of personal insurance coverage that pays out to dependents in the event of your death. The coverage amount necessary will, of course, depend on your particular circumstances and how much your dependents will need to keep the same lifestyle. You should take into account education costs and any debts that are outstanding when deciding on the amount of cover that you need.

Disability Income Insurance

• Considered necessary by everyone who supports themselves

Personal disability insurance coverage is indispensable for all of us for times when we cannot work. Many companies provide a broad insurance coverage for staff but this may only be low coverage or short term and possibly not adequate. Cover can be up to 70% of your salary and might be for a restricted length of time. If at all possible try to find cover that will last until retirement age. If you are covered by your employer take care that it is enough and that it will last for enough.

Health Insurance

Medical insurance is usually provided by companies as private medical insurance coverage is usually much more expensive. Check out the provisions of medical insurance provided for any constraints.

Find out more about personal insurance cover

This is historic. For the first time ever, gold has put in a weekly close in excess of $1,000.00 per ounce.

I recall my old finance professor at Washington University in St. Louis telling our group of eager business majors to watch the gold price because it is always telling your something. He also said that typically governments would prefer everyone ignore the price of gold. That was back in 1977. So what is gold telling us now?

Now there’s a question that stirs up all sorts of debate. At the risk of getting into the middle of it, I will offer as my opinion that the price of gold is telling us the following:

• Vital parts of the economy – especially the banking industry and various derivative instruments – are not fixed.

• Price inflation is a real possibility at some not too distant point.

• Foreign governments that are large holders of U. S. financial assets (as in China, among others) are displeased with the way the U. S. Government is managing its financial affairs and may be considering unilateral economic actions. (Note that China recently admonished its citizens to start stocking up on gold. Why do you think that is?)

• There is a general nervousness about the solvency of financial institutions.

• People are learning to read charts and have noticed the general direction of gold bullion prices over the past several years.

• There is a sense that geopolitics remain very unstable.
Now what you do with this information, if anything, is entirely your business. And, anyway, those are just my opinions and observations.

The only thing I might suggest is that you heed the words of my old finance prof, and just keep an eye on the royal metal and try to hear what it’s telling you.

Craig Bennett

Are you looking into ways of lowering your business heads? Do you feel that you need to make cutbacks in order to survive this current recession? Now I am not sure, of course, how you have answered these questions however due to the fact that we are in recession I would imagine that a great many of you would have answered both of them with a yes.

I wonder how many business owners, company directors or chairman actually ever take a serious look at their monthly business bank accounts. It is quite staggering to see the amount of costs that the average business has to incur. From the electricity bills to paying for the web promotion; there are many different types of costs to pay.

In this situation it is prudent to send in the specialists! There are a number of well respected and trusted cost reduction specialists who can help you. Their aim is to enable you to obtain lower business overheads and this is something that they do each and every day of their business lives. They are therefore able to call on a vast amount of experience and are without doubt the best people for the job.

So just how do these cost cutting specialists go about lowering a company’s business costs? Well in reality each particular company is different however they are likely to have many contacts within various organisations such as cleaning services, gardening services and communications.

This is what happens when you work within the same environment for sometime – you build up a type of network.

I am not trying to sell you anything here; I am by no means a cost cutting expert myself; I personally offer a stammering therapy course to help people who have a stammer to achieve fluency. I have however heard many good reports about how successful these cost reduction experts are – they are certainly essential in this current financial climate as it sure is getting quite tough out there.