July 2007 Archives

We all have our own way of dealing with issues in life. Some tend to keep to themselves while others prefer to seek help from their friends. There is no single solution on how to deal with various problems and we each handle it in our own fashion. But no matter how independent you may be with every other issue in your life, there are certain things that simply cannot be dealt with without accepting professional help.

Almost all cases of drug addictions begin with people thinking they have a “light” case which they can handle on their own. Unfortunately, a drug addiction is one of those things that can’t necessarily be overcome just because someone has a strong or independent personality. Once someone passes a certain line of drug usage it is virtually impossible to go back without proper help. The key is to accept the help being offered to you.

Thankfully there are many great drug rehab centers to turn to today. Centers like the Cliffside Malibu residential drug rehab center can help people gain their life back. Cliffside Malibu uses a range of techniques to fit each patient, including detox, individual therapy, group therapy, depression treatment, and alternative medicine.

Today's financial term of the day is Accelerated Payments. This refers to the additional payments made on a loan that is not part of a payment schedule. These payments could be made at either predetermined or random intervals. By making unscheduled payments, one can effectively reduce the principal balance of the loan. What this ultimately means is that one essentially pays more of the principal and less interest is paid off in subsequent payments to the loan. Using this tactic could mean the early pay off of the loan.

Don't forget to check back daily for more terms of the day...

The internet is considered a sophisticated economy since it allows customers easy access to information and merchants. With quick and easy price comparison, the internet makes consumers and their purchases much smarter. But Insurance.com have taken this even a step further by allowing insurers to compete for your business by having them review your details and sending you offers. As opposed to other car insurance websites, Insurance.com doesn’t just list insurers and offer sample prices. Rather, you fill out your information on a simple online form and this is instantly sent to hundreds of insurers across the country. You will then receive actual quotes which you can compare and choose the best one for you. I especially like their motto “may the best quote win” – a nice sum up for a great service.

Today's financial term of the day is Accretion.

This terms to the growth of a particular asset through expansion or addition. Accretion usually happens either through internal developments that happen in a company or through company mergers or acquisitions. The term accretion can also be used in reference to discount bonds. Used in this context, accretion would mean the growth in value that happens until it reaches maturity.

Have a Great 4th of July!

Keeping up to date with health issues is just as important (if not more important) that keeping up to date with financial issues. A great place to stay current with all the latest medical news in a wide range of fields is available at medical.presslib.com. The site updates often and articles are organized by categories including internal medicine, dental, hospitals, mental health and more.

Most of us would never make it through life without some sort of loans. For the vast majority of the population, purchasing a home or financing a car is virtually impossible without the help of a loan. But the important thing is not to develop a dependancy on loans. It is very tempting to take out many loans that can be unnecessary especially when banks make it so easy with the option of unsecured loans and many cheap loan offers. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you have reached a point where your current debt situation is more than you can handle, you shouldn't take out further loans in order to pay your original ones. The only type of loans to take in situaions like these are debt consolidation loans which can help reduce your debt burden rather than increase it.

I’ve heard a lot of critisizm and sarcasm about the Live Earth concert earlier this week. Critics claim that throwing a lavish show and putting up a big performace on stage does not actually help our world too much and the many million people around the world can contribute quit a bit to our little planet in many different ways but watching a concert is not one of them. Cynics went as far as to measure just how much the show itself added to our global warming in terms of energy used, waste and more. But I must say that while I do see where they are coming from, the idea behind the show should not be dismissed. Sure it is much about stars and celebrities getting on board the green trend but maybe that’s just it. Through these celebrities and through events like Live Earth the green trend is growing and awareness is spreading. I must say that I found myself in several occasions over the past few days suddenly catching myself doing something that is a bit wasteful and then changing my ways. I am talking about very minor things that probably don’t change much but then I think about all the other millions upon millions of people that may be don’t the same and understand what it’s all about. Want to come on board? Try doing something green today and see how it feels.

For those of you operating an internet business you know that the key to success online is maintaining low costs. And the online arena does allow this but it also makes it easy to get carried away and spend a lot of money that you don’t have to.

I came across a very low priced web hosting company today and after reviewing their hosting plans it really looks like their prices don’t come at the expense of service or features. Check out Host208 - Webhosting Services, they have all inclusive hosting solutions for as little as $4.50/month and their highest end package is only $12.50/month. Other comparable solutions can cost up to five times their price.

It looks like the colloidal silver trend is not only back but it’s here to stay. We featured a piece on the growing interest in colloidal silver here recently and discussed the various qualities available as well as its uses. But a real sign that the colloidal silver trend is booming is the fact that there is now a blog dedicated entirely to colloidal silver. Colloidal-silver-blog.com covers a number of topics all related to colloidal silver including it’s applications, the history of colloidal silver, the difference between colloidal silver and other colloids (see our previous post regarding colloidal silver for more information on this matter) and much more. The blog is updated almost daily. Another site worth taking note of is purestcolloids.com which makes it a point to sell only the purest and true colloidal silver products (as opposed to a lot of so called colloidal silver products available in the market) including the MesoSilver which is the unique in the fact that it is an application of colloidal silver for internal use.

Ask yourself this – how many times have you come home from work thinking “I hate my job” when actually you just went through a bad day. But let’s take it one step further, try to figure out what went wrong that day? In most cases, I bet you will find that the stupidest smallest (but most annoying) details that go wrong can completely ruin your day and make you hate your job.

The trick is working to avoid these annoying mishaps by planning ahead. It’s just bad business to allow small issues to take over and distract you from the important things. One of the most important things you can do to prevent a future crisis which is just waiting to happen is to maintain proper backups of your data. Because it is safe to say that sooner if not later, you will suffer from some sort of computer crash (yes, I have that much faith in computers…). A good solution which makes creating an online backup easy and simple is provided by ibackup.com. They support the most sophisticated requirements including SQL database backups while maintaining a simple interface which is easy to use.

Very few books in history have had the same immediate impact as Realm Of Wealth: The 9 Cycles Of Prosperity by James Tavian Alexander. The book was only published a couple of months ago and already there are numerous accounts across the web of people claiming the book has completely changed their lives. For those of you not familiar with the book or with the Cycles it discusses – the book is designed as a "how-to" guide to bringing massive Prosperity to your life.

The cycles in the book refer to methods passed down from generation to generation revealing the knowledge the ancients used to bring prosperity to their lives. These cycles have been uncovered by James Tavian Alexander in his book and have been given new life in adapting them to our modern world. According to Alexander the cycles have an even greater impact in today’s modern world (or after the SHIFT as he calls it). The book is available at the 9 Cycles Prosperity Site ($29.95) and entitles purchasers to a number of free gifts worth $411.

Dealing with an office crisis or trying to recover from a disaster such as a fire or break-in can be very challenging and often you just don’t know where to even begin. The most important thing to do is start setting up a staging area where you know you can work normally (in terms of conditions and equipment) so that the work on crisis management is separated and doesn’t interfere with ongoing tasks.

A quick and easy way to get back on your feet with very little delay is using a computer rental service. You can have an office fully equipped, up and running in as little as a day. A great place to turn to is ComputerRentals.com. They are the leading provider of short term computer and laptop rentals to businesses nationwide. The company offers a wide range of solutions with any type of computer configuration including MacBook Pro rental, Mac Pro rental as well as all types of windows based systems.

Anyone with the slightest experience in website development knows that there is no use going about building a website without a content management system. While it may seem easy to create your site with hard coded pages at first, as soon as you wish to make changes you realize that the only reasonable way to maintain a site is with a content management system.

Any good web development firm today provide their customers with a content management system giving them direct control over their content while leaving the development side in the firm’s hands. But not all companies are capable of developing their own system and using an off the shelf product can sometimes look a bit unprofessional in front of their clients. That’s where speaklight.com comes in. They have developed their Light content management system which is a simple cutting edge content management system which can be private labeled with the firm’s name and brand. This gives web design firms an edge over competition and helps them maintain a stronger image among their clients. But it also makes their job easier since they don’t have to worry about every little change to the site and many things can be done directly by their customers.

Anyone who has exhibited at a trade show in the past knows that there is a lot involved in setting up a professional display. Getting your exhibit set up to properly represent your company and get your message across just the way you want is not only time consuming but can also be a quite expensive task. Obviously the amount you spend will be a direct result of the type of display you go with and the amount of space you have at the exhibit. There is an endless amount of configurations and settings you can go with and you can customize your exhibit by adding various displays.

But you don’t necessarily have to choose a low grade display in order to remain within a reasonable budget. You can find some very reasonably priced exhibits available online which can provide you with a professional appearance just the way you want while not burning a hole in your pocket (you are better off spending your money on some swag which is what gets most people to visit you booth anyway). You can find a wide range of trade show exhibits and various display options at very reasonable prices at affordable-trade-shows.com. It is simple to order your exhibit and set it up yourself and in most cases the resulting saving is well worth it.

While interest rates have been on the rise over the past year, rates are still quite comfortable in comparison to what they used to be only a few years ago. Not only is it a good time to purchase a home today, many are finding they can save a lot of money by refinancing their current mortgage loan and taking out a new one at a better rate. This not only helps lower their monthly mortgage payment but can also be a good way to raise some cash for other spending needs. The reason for this is that in most cases you can take out a new mortgage for a higher sum than what you need to pay off your old one. This is mainly due to the fact that you already paid off a portion of your original mortgage by now but can also be due to an increase in your property’s value.

Mortgage-mart.com provides users with a great online home loan quote system where you can find loan opportunities to fit your situation based on a number of factors such as the loan type you are looking for (mortgage refinancing, home loan, debt consolidating) and your credit situation. I must say, the site gives quite an optimistic outlook upon first visiting featuring a pretty nice house on their homepage. Who knows… that could be the future home of any one of us.

The first thing they teach you in business school is to focus on what you do best. As trivial as this may sound and no matter how much it makes sense, the fact is that almost nobody really implements this mantra. You can find this problem in any organization from the top blue chip giants down to the smallest businesses. It is no secret that most businesses spend 80% of their time on 20% of their customers. And if you keep digging you will just find more and more of these absurd 80-20 ratios. You may find that 80% of your advertising budget is only bringing in 20% of your sales or perhaps will discover that 20% of your customers contribute 80% of your sales (in which case you have an opposite problem of potentially spending too many resources on the lower profitable 80%).

But you will probably find that you yourself suffer from the fact that 80% of your time goes on things that just don’t justify your attention and position while spending only 20% of your time on what really matters – growing your business. In order to achieve this you have to clearly define what aspects of your business are growth generators and what are simply logistics. You will want to focus most of your attention on growth and can easily leave logistics to someone else.

Obviously we don’t mean abandoning the logistical issues of your company as these are very important, but if you can find qualified people or good outsource services that can do a good job, you will be able to focus your attention on things that simply can’t be outsourced or delegated.

One of the most common mistakes many online businesses make is that they try to develop everything from scratch wasting time and effort on things that can be done much easier by using existing products and services. A good example for this is with companies trying to create their own shopping cart and payment system. Especially since there are some great services available on the internet which can easily be implemented in any website. First Data Independent Sales goes one step further by providing a complete API programming kit and provides a secure payment gateway script to integrate into any website allowing customers to make online purchases. With professional merchant account services such as the one provided by First Data Independent Sales, you can save time and truly focus on what you do best.

Running a website can often be quite a juggling act. The problem is that you have to deal with a number of service providers, each doing their job and making sure they do it well but most not paying much attention to their counterparts’ requirements. Your web design services company may devote all their effort in making your site as elegant and appealing as possible but may not take search engine optimization issues into account, while your SEO firm can give you some good ranking advice but they don’t always have design concerns in mind.

That’s why I like Forescene so much. This New York web design firm offers customers a one stop solution taking care of both web design and SEO under one roof. This guarantees that all aspects of web designing are taken into consideration and your site will be optimized both for search and usability.

I just love to rant about everything, tv shows, movie reviews, just everything. And wouldn't you know it, other people love to rant as well. There is a site called www.criticsrant.com, and the whole site is filled with people ranting about the latest shows. There are also movie discussions, which is great because you can see the personalities behind the rants. And, if you're interested, there are nice pictures of all the tv personalities.

I'm not one to hold a remote control in one hand and a beer in the other. If I do, I'll spill my beer when I rant because I move my hands when I talk. Tell me, is it still called a rant if you actually like the show? Can you positive rant or just negative rant?

Most financial people associate personal loans with risk, so they tend towards secured loans. A loan can be secured by an asset, but it can also be secured by a saving account. Let's say you have $20,000 in your savings, and you want a $5,000 loan. $5000 would be frozen in your savings account ($15000 would be free) and as you pay back your loan, the frozen amount would decrease. This is great for the bank, because they are incurred almost no risk. The good thing about this is that the interest rate will be relatively low.

If you don't have a large enough savings account, your house or car can be used for secured loans. However, if you default on the loan, the bank has to repossess your asset, which can be messy and also embarrassing for you in front of your neighbours. As well, repo guys are usually not very nice and usually very strong. Probably there is not much room for discussion or negotiations.

If you must use personal loans or secured loans, pay them back -- it's the best way.

Today's financial term of the day is Abnormal Return.

Abnormal Return describes the returns that are made by a particular security or portfolio based on a given time period and which is different from the expected rate of return. Abnormal returns can be either positive or negative depending on what kind of difference is posted in relation to the expected rate of return. For example if the earnings from a particular portfolio is more than the expected rate of return then it is a positive abnormal return. If the return is less than the expected rate of return then it is a negative abnormal return.

Check back daily for more financial insights, terms, news and updates.

Some people don’t understand it if you don’t sell a physical product. It takes a real businessperson to understand that you don’t have to sell something tangible in order to make money or justify your operation. There is a huge market on the internet that is completely dedicated to information. But not just information, since this is real sale-potential information. People have created entire businesses based on passing on leads for other people to close the deal.

Because the fact is that when you think about it in a business point of view, leads are valuable commodities and are just as tangible for a business as their physical inventory.

We have featured AIMPromote on our blog in the past and have recommended it as a great CRM program with some of the most innovative features which allow a sales person to really focus on what matters. But we have discovered a new feature in the program which tales lead management five steps further.

The system actually allows you to sell your leads to other companies and you can even import leads from external sources right into your system. Using AIMPromote you can actually run your own lead aggregation company since the system lets you create an interface which your customers can logon to and gain access to the leads in your system. This definitely places the system as one of the most cutting edge lead management programs to date.

I just came across a really amazing website I wish to share with you. This is one of the most useful sites I know of since it really takes the power of the internet to the extreme by truly giving you the information you want, when you want it and where you want it. The service which is available at TxtVox.com allows anyone to subscribe to information feeds based on their preferences from categories like stock quotes, weather reviews, traffic reports and more and have selective information sent at pre-ordinated directly to their cellphones. You can choose to have the information sent to you at certain times of the day or even customized based on certain activity such as a movement in the price of a stock.

You want to invest in bonds… but what kind? First, look at your financial goals. If you want a regular source of income, the typical advice is to find short or medium term bonds.

However, if you are seeking capital gains—big amounts, rather than frequency or regularity of pay-offs—then you should look for long term bonds. Long term bonds tend to earn more because aside from the interest it earns for you, you can also get big profits each time the country’s interest rates drop.

You can also get tax-exempted municipal bonds. They may have lower yields but they become more cost efficient if you are up in the upper 28% of the tax bracket. Once the government’s done with all the deductibles, you may find that the “high yield” bonds net a lot less than you expected.

If you are not working too hard, I hope you have been enjoying the recent nice weather. But while there's nothing like a day out in the sun, all this sun exposure can be harmful to our skin. Especially accompanied by dry weather. Be sure to give skinact.com a visit. They carry the finest skincare products from top names such as Yonka Paris, Guino and more. The site also has a nice perfume selection including Giorgio Armani Perfumes and other top names.

Good news. We have signed up with Thoof.com and you can now find some of our articles posted there. If you haven’t heard of Thoof.com yet, they are a new concept in personalized news. The idea behind their service is that people tend to get lost in major news sites and not always find items they are interested in even if they are there. There’s just too much clutter to filter through in order to find the articles on topics you are interested in.

While there are other approaches to personalized news available online, Thoof.com has created a unique approach in improving certain aspects that lack in other services. One of the main problems with these types of user based content sites are the fact that you can’t always trust the content that is there and it may contain mistakes (or even misinformation from people trying to promote their content). Thoof.com tackles this issue by allowing registered users to “improve” the article listings and suggest additions or changes.

Signing up was surprisingly simple. In fact, when I clicked the signup button at the top of the screen I was confused at first since no sign up form appeared. But then I realized that a text box on top of the page appeared with room for an email address. That’s it. That was the sign up. Within seconds I got a confirmation email and was asked to choose a password.

I uploaded my first article and was given a small snippet of code to include at the bottom of the post for their badge. The whole process is extremely simple and they have done a nice job on the site. Be sure to check them out.

It can be said that people of different social classes perceive issues and problems differently. It is a fact that the lower socioeconomic groups exhibit a characteristic of 'impulse following' that involves free spending; that is, buy now, pay later. On the other hand the higher socioeconomic groups are characterised by 'impulse renunciation'; that is, renouncing a variety of their satisfactions or gratifications, for example, they buy life insurance. This leads to the connotation of 'deferred gratification', which refers to the postponement of satisfactions when higher socioeconomic groups feel that they should save money and invest in insurance.

When considering insurance and other financial products, we can categorise the various social classes according to their perceptual attitudes towards their financial outlook. The 'sophisticated investor' segment - upper class, upper-middle class. The 'time consuming' segment - upper-middle class, middle class. The 'caution first' segment - lower-middle class, lower class. The 'rainy day' segment - lower-middle class, lower class.

In addition, it looks as though non-investment saving appeals more to lower status groups, who tend to go for something tangible such as savings accounts, which they can point at and display. They tend to take less risk and prefer something that can be readily changed into cash. On the other hand the higher the status a person has the more likely it is that his or her savings will take the form of investments. Such people tend to take more risks, involve themselves in longer-term commitments for their family and education.

It’s quite ironic (and even sad), but doctors who are probably the most educated professionals in today’s business world often lack the most basic skills required to operate a successful practice. Think about it, these are people who have dedicated a good portion of their life just in studying to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to perform their job properly. Thankfully our doctor’s educational process is top notch and they focus completely on medicine, but there are some drawbacks to this complete dedication in the form of doctors who lack not the professional healing skills but the basic business skills to run a successful practice and make a decent living.

The people at med3q.com have realized this exact problem and are now coming out with a series of educational podcasts to help doctors brush up on these necessary business skills. Over the next few weeks, med3q.com will be publishing interviews with business experts from various fields including banking, law and real estate as part of their BizRx doctors educational program. Each interview will be broken down into short 5-7 minute long segments for easy listening. This program is quite refreshing in the business scene in that it is completely free and there are no sales pitches involved or any strings attached. The information is simply there to help doctors learn and interact with others in their profession.