3 Ways to Boost Your Monthly Income
If you are preparing for a special event
or are planning to raise fund for an upcoming big expense, it might be a good solution to start seeking alternatives to boost your income. Some simple or out-of-the-box ways might be available to raise some additional money. These are listed below.
Start Freelance Work
Various sites online propose effective solutions for people to sell their skills by doing additional projects and raise funds. This is done either by bidding on projects or creating pages where buyers would be able to contact sellers for particular products and services. One would only need to be aware of which skills might be in demand and to tap on that.
Cover your car with advertisements
This is a new method of advertisements that allows individuals to earn up to 1000 dollars a month by just placing ads on their car. The persons selected for this would then just have to travel their normal route regularly. The selection depends on the area that the person lives in.
Become a Mystery Shopper or join a focus group
Being involved in market researches is quite lucrative. Several people can earn up to 300 dollar per focus group participation. In order to enrol, you might want to gather information from a local market research agency and they would ask you for information to assess whether you would be eligible. Mystery shopping is quite selective but people who get involved in it would need to provide their opinion on products and get paid for it.
3 factors to consider when choosing a retirement portfolio
Going on retirement is liberating. It is the moment when you would finally get to relax and forget about your work and intent with which you were focusing on your career. The following questions will help you decide how to allocate assets for your retirement distribution.
Determining your budget and expenses
Making a list of all your necessary expenditures will help you evaluate how much you would be needing from your retirement plan. Your expenses are the main influencing factor of your retirement and having a strong understanding of how they are broken down is key. If are able to determine how much you would be withdrawing for your retirement, you would be able to find out what you would be expecting from your investments.
Determining your expected rate of return
By determining the rate of return on your investment that you would be needing, you can decide what would be the amount of money to allocate in your pension plan. Factors such as risk and time would also have to be taken into consideration.
When would you be needing the money?
Determining when you would actually require the release of your funds would determine which mode of retirement investment to choose and adhere to. Adopting a long-term approach can be beneficial, especially if you are investing in relatively risk-free plans. Factors such as taxes, inflation and the market trends would also have to be considered when devising your long-term retirement investment plan.
Calculations for a Comfortable Retirement
Generally, owners of small businesses decide to finance their through the sale of their company. While this may be a good plan, business owners often do not consider the amount of money that they will receive during the sale.
Develop a retirement budget in today’s dollars
While developing your retirement budget, you could start by considering your current expenses and forecasting whether these would still exist when you would be retiring. For instance, if you have children, they would probably have grown into adulthood and become self-sufficient. Other financial aspects such as a mortgage would have been paid off. Your retirement income would also need to cater for activities that you might want to indulge in once you would be free from professional obligations.
Estimate any income you will have in retirement
In some cases, you would be eligible for a person scheme. Even though social security might be around, you might want to disregard this income in your calculations. Moreover, some people do not plan to go on full retirement. They would therefore still be receiving an income and this would reduce the amount needed from the retirement scheme.
Consider the effect of inflation
Supposing that you would be about to retire in 15 years. You might need to take into consideration the forecasted level of inflation for the forthcoming decades. Assuming that the inflation rate would be at 2.5% for the next 15 years, to gather a capital of $3.3, the retirement fund would need to be at $4.8.
How To Budget for an Event
Balancing the budget for an event is one of the challenges faced by planners. The cause of most money issues is generally related to initial discussion stages. The design and planning of an event should start with the financial resources at the disposal of the planner. The tips below might help you estimate the cost.
Outline Each Event Expenses
Expenses related to an event would come from various sources. Once you have all these sources listed down, you would be able to assign budgets to each one. For any event the most obvious expenses would be venue and catering. Overlooking one expense might cause a disbalance in the initial budget.
Discussion with the planner
The role of an event planner is to provide expert guidance on the coordination but also on how to balance your budget. The planner should be able to advise when your ideas are going too much over the top so that you are aware of budget restrictions. You might sometimes also have to adjust your expectations with this regards.
Build a Basic Event Budget
Once you have formed an idea of how the event will be and have an idea on the overall budget, you would have to break it down for each component. Another factor to consider is that your initial budget is only a working draft. Other expenses might come in. It is therefore important to keep a buffer, just in case. A 10% buffer is generally adequate. You will also have to include your event planner’s fees when considering your budget.
Tips To Avoid Student Loan Debt
Federal student loans has experienced considerable progress in the past years. Borrowers who were struggling with their debt have been offered several options in terms of loan repayment and even loan forgiveness programs have been put into place to help them out. However, borrowers having opted for private student loans often do not have so many facilities. The tips below might help you avoid private student loan debts.
Get To Know Your Loan Terms First
It is really important to keep track of the terms of your private student loan. Essential information such as the person dealing with your record, contact details, the repayment status and balance of your loan would need to be constantly checked. This might be hard to keep up with especially if you have contracted different private student loans through each school year. You might want to use your credit report to get all required information to contact your lenders and update them with your address to receive regular statements.
Negotiate With Your Bank and Focus On Earning Extra Income
If you find that you are in difficulty to repay your loans, you might consider contacting your bank to explain your situation and find a solution. Generally banks will propose a win-win solution. The solution might be in terms of lower repayment for a longer period. Another solution would be find alternative ways to generate extra income. It might be by working more shifts or engaging in a side activity that would make your earn some extra money.
Benefits of having a long-term home mortgage
Long-term mortgages are those that last for 40 years or more and tend to be more expensive due to the greater risk involved in lending for a considerably longer time compared to other loans. If you are reluctant at considering a mortgage, the following reasons could help you in your decision.
- Mortgages enable you to build equity
The value of your home will rise over the years and having a mortgage does not affect that value. Instead of spending all your money on buying the property, getting a long-term mortgage will have the effect of increasing your equity while at the same time the value of your home will increase. An increase in equity can help you fund major life events such as weddings, education or retirement.
- Mortgages carry low interest rate
Mortgages have low interest rates since you would be putting your house up as a guarantee of your payment. The bank’s risk with this loan is considerably lower as you are offering something huge as collateral, therefore they are willing to reduce their interest rate.
- Mortgage interest is tax-deductible and tax-favorable
The interest that you pays on your home loans up to a certain amount is tax-deductible in the U.S. This provides savings on federal and state income taxes.
- Mortgage payment gets easier with years
Mortgage payment, especially fixed-rate mortgages become comparatively cheaper over time as your income will undoubtedly increase. Mortgage payments might seem high during the first few years but as income increase, things would start to look easier.
How to protect yourself against credit card hacks
As per a Consumer Reports Survey carried out in 2012, 22.5% out of five thousand consumers who have received notice of a security breach have found out that they were victims of identity fraud. There are certain actions that you might take to protect yourself in case you find out that your account has been subject to a data breach.
Get a Replacement Card
If you have been informed that you are involved in a data breach, immediately demand that the company get you a new card or you would close down the account. The company should be able to meet your demand.
Daily Check Your Account Online
Finding suspicious activities and disputing them promptly is the best way to be able to solve any issue. Check your account everyday when your new card arrives for a least one month.
Freeze your credit
If you find out that you are the victim of a data breach, you can call the three main credit bureaus and request to freeze your credit report. This would ensure that nobody would have access to your report without your prior consent. In extreme cases of real breaches, you could also freeze your accounts.
Order your credit reports
As per the law, you are eligible to one free credit report each year. If you are a victim of fraud, you would probably to eligible for more regular free reports. Even if you have not been a victim yet, you might be cautious by getting reports every quarter year.
Investment tips for beginners
Investing can be an intimidating process for beginners. The following tips could be helpful to ease up the process.
- Choosing the right investment partner
The most crucial choice when it comes to investment revolves around which brokerage company to solicit. This is an important decision as it will impact on the amount paid in fees, the type of investments that you would be proposed and the expected returns on investment that you would get. A good long-term solution is to choose a discount broker. Choosing one that would not charge high fees and charge low commissions would be ideal. Brokers that offer mutual funds or ETFs (exchange-traded funds) without charging for a commission are perfect for beginners.
- Start with basic funds
Mutual funds and ETFs are great for beginners. The advantage of these funds is that they would split your investment across several stocks. This creates a buffer for risks associated with the downfall of any given individual stock. Mutual funds and ETFs are ideal if you want to learn about investment. Some target-date mutual funds offer the advantage of automatic computation of the risk level associated with your investment as you approach the goal you had set (such as your retirement, for instance).
- Opt for safer stocks
Safer stocks can come in the form of consumer staple products such as food, clothing and medical supplies. These stocks tend to be less volatile as even when the economy is tough, people would still be looking for buy those products. These stocks have a good long-term prospects but require patience to yield their return.
How to Solve Financial Shortfalls
If you notice a financial shortfall after calculating your expected expenses, you might have to find solutions in order to eliminate it. Several possibilities might be presented to you and you might have to adapt your solutions as per your situation. The guide below might help you come up with ideas to raise some extra funds.
Reconsider your expenditures
You might wish to go through your expenditure again and to try to eliminate anything that feels unnecessary. However, there are certain expenses that you must not drop. For instance, you might feel tempted to drop your insurance coverage, but dropping them now might be turn out to be problematic in the future. And this decision might turn out to be detrimental in the future.
Review bills and find out how to save
Take a moment to review each of your bills and think about ways to reduce your expenses. You may gather around with your family to decide how you may save on groceries, clothes and other items. You might have to change some of your consumer habits.
Consider your employment
To eliminate certain financial shortfalls, you might think about working extra hours or doing a part-time activity. If your children are teens, you might encourage them to find a job to be able to earn some extra pocket money.
Start Keeping a Log
The log would help you keep track of your expenditure and find out where the money goes. It might be some expensive lunch that you tend to forget about or a habit that has become part of your routine, such as smoking. It could be useful to note these down.
3 tips for choosing a mortgage
Choosing the right mortgage can be a tough decision. There are many factors that ought to be taken into consideration in order to avoid any contingencies in the years to come. The tips below might be helpful.
Know what you can afford
Most financial decisions would start with this step. Knowing what you can afford is about knowing where you stand financially. You might think about going through your monthly spending to determine what is within your budget in terms of the house, insurance, mortgage and property taxes. You might also think about including monthly maintenance and utility costs. Your credit report would also have to be checked to ensure that get the lowest interest rate possible on your mortgage.
Compare Loans
This shopping around takes time and energy, but it is unfortunately required in order to guarantee the best decision and more savings. You can consider a mortgage lender or mortgage broker. Brokers would sell you a loan from a lender. However, neither of these professionals would be finding the best loan for you. You would have to carry out the research yourself.
Understand loan prices and fees
Customers often make the mistake of accepting the first loan that they are being offered without thinking about looking around for a better deal. You might also keep in mind that lenders and brokers alike have a consideration for the profit that they would receive once you agree to the terms of a particular loan with higher interests or higher fees. Understanding and comparing prices yourself is the best way to strike a deal.
Working from Home Can Make You More Productive
There is a range of opinions about remote work, especially now that many companies have been forced to adopt it out of necessity due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Some companies are fairly cold toward the idea of working from home, because they believe that working from home comes with too many distractions, and unmonitored remote work may result in reduced productivity. However, studies are showing that the right mindset can even result in increased productivity when working from home.
Lucy Lyle, entrepreneur and Perch founder, observes, “While some employees may get more distracted and less productive while working from home, certain types of employees actually flourish under remote work conditions.” Lucy Lyle added, “Traits necessary for success during remote work include high self-motivation, an active lifestyle, and a good work environment that promotes productivity.”
In one study by ConnectSolutions, teleworkers or remote workers were generally more productive and less likely to take time off work, even for sickness. 77% of respondents who worked remotely said that they were more productive while working off-site. 30% of remote workers went further and said they were even able to accomplish more in less time.
Lucy Lyle suggested, “Increased productivity goes hand-in-hand with a comfortable, organized workspace with no distractions, and good time management. If you’re working from home, you should make sure there are no phone calls, TVs playing in the background, or chores to distract you during working hours. Also, make sure you get some exercise before starting your workday, even if it’s only for 30 minutes to an hour.”
With a well-planned schedule, an organized home office, and no distractions around you, you can reap the unique benefits of remote work while becoming a better professional in the process.
Learning the Art of Meditation Helps You Remain Grounded and in the Now
Create Abundance by Zhang Xinyue is a wonderful book that inspires with wise teachings demonstrating how we can create abundance in our lives through mind-body-spirit cultivation.
Learning to meditate is an art and can provide you with a tool that is positive and powerful. Grounding is one type of meditation that will help you to remain in the present. It shows how to focus attention on something in the physical world. Many situations will require you to cope and these easy-to-implement exercises will help you.
When you enjoy being aware of your surroundings and relaxed in your environment then meditation will help you and can increase this relaxed state of attentiveness. When developing your meditation skills you will experience a sense of spiritual awakening.
In her book of wisdom, Zhang Xinyue suggests that “In actuality, what we feel short of
is nothing more than money, love, attention, and meaning. If you avoid facing them,
then get ready to fight for a few more lifetimes to come. Once you decide to face this issue, it will not be so difficult.” this is an excerpt from her book Create Abundance.
Meditation practices that help you remain grounded and focused also show you how to face your issues as a way of overcoming them and growing positively. Meditation ensures that you are always aware of the psychological issues that need your attention.
Zhang Xinyue author of Create Abundance wrote this book of wise inspirations in 2012. It has been translated from Chinese into several languages and has become an international bestseller. Create Abundance by Zhang Xinyue shares innovative and positive ways to navigate and manage the philosophical issues of life.
For more information visit Create Abundance
Why Jury Selection Research is Important for Winning Trials
All attorneys understand that proper preparation is necessary for getting a favorable verdict for their clients. This includes knowing the circumstances of the case, the laws that are relevant to it, and which jurors are best suited for selection. The law gives attorneys a right to voir dire, which allows them to examine potential jurors for any biases that might prevent their clients from getting a fair trial. With the help of a skilled jury selection research company, attorneys can ask the right questions and get the best possible set of jurors that can secure a favorable outcome.
Juror surveys can examine the most crucial traits that determine whether a potential juror is more likely to yield a guilty or innocent verdict. These include traits such as background characteristics, values, attitudes and opinions, previous courtroom experience, and reactions to current issues that are relevant to the trial at hand. According to scientific jury selection (SJS), attorneys familiar with the principles of social science can identify which jurors are more likely to render a favorable verdict based on their traits.
Jury selection research is important because of how it can level the playing field in the courtroom. While nothing is guaranteed, you must do everything in your power to ensure your client gets a fair trial. Furthermore, if the court has allowed you the opportunity to eliminate unfavorable jurors, it is in your best interest to take advantage of it.
The team at John Zogby Strategies has many years of experience conducting different types of surveys, from political surveys and employee surveys to surveys for jury selection research. Contact them today if you’d like to discuss their juror survey services.
Are Business Leaders Practicing Meditation?
Article by Zhang Xinuye of Create Abundance
Business leaders have found that regular meditation helps with relationships and improves productivity in the workplace. Introducing meditation to employees has changed many environments making them more positive and calmer.
Archana Patchirajan
Archana Patchirajan is the CEO of Sattva she is a serial entrepreneur and her success she puts down to being very passionate about meditation. She admits that meditation has helped her navigate the way she interacts with her team. She is calmer and has more patience to understand situations from their point of view.
Rick Goings
Rick Goings is famous for being the CEO and chairman of Tupperware Brands. Rick says that he started his 20 minutes of meditation per day when he was 30 and never misses a day. He says that he will get his 20 minutes in regardless of where that takes place in his bed, his car, at the office whatever it takes he will not miss a session. Rick says that he never feels burned out and he puts that down to meditation.
Chirag Patel
Chirag Patel who is the CEO of Amneal Pharmaceuticals and was voted as 2011 entrepreneur of the year by Ernst & Young says that meditation is the reason that he feels more connected to his clients. His philosophy is that treating clients, staff, and colleagues as if they are family cements the connection and builds strong lasting relationships.
About the author: Create Abundance by Zhang Xinyue is a book that has become an international bestseller. She is well known for being a spiritual therapist and body-mind-spirit teacher. Zhang Xinyue is a spiritual leader born and raised in China and for 15 years from 1999, she devoted her life and energy to Create Abundance and studying and practicing body-mind-spirit cultivation. For more information visit Zhang Xinyue’s website
Business tips to reduce your costs
Article by Wesley Virgin
No matter what you must sell, whether it is a product, service or information it is necessary to ensure that you operate your business by reducing costs. There are many ways to reduce costs in your business and save thousands of dollars a month.
Shop Around
Negotiate the best deals with vendors and wholesalers, when shopping around for the best and cheapest prices on quality items visit the large discount stores as their prices are usually cheaper as they buy in bulk and can afford to sell at cheaper prices.
Optimize Production
Ways to optimize production costs is to sell Justifyover packaging instead of recycling it. Use excess materials from production lines to create new products. If you are in a position where your business has unused space, consider renting it out.
Virtual Technology
Reduce your costs by using Google Drive and video conferencing and Skype and Zoom for meetings. These programs are all free to use and with Google Drive, you can use email, project management and even take online free courses.
Compare Insurance
It is a good idea to check your business insurance and policies, some may not be relevant, and you can cancel and save the monthly subscription. Update existing policies by checking other companies to see that you are getting the best deal.
Energy Efficient
Businesses are looking to save money and reduce costs everywhere and a good place to start is very obviously the lights and changing to LEDs which are energy efficient, cheaper and eco-friendly. These bulbs are long-lasting and do not need to be changed as often and are much cheaper to operate. A good investment to save energy, in the long run, is to install a sensor system that will control the electricity supply and reduce business costs.
About Wesley Virgin,
Wesley Virgin is a serial entrepreneur and author of several eBooks. As a former computer engineer and personal trainer. Wesley Virgin is a focused and innovative millionaire that is also the owner of WV Media and an army veteran
Millionaires Share Their Best Tips for Creating Abundance
Many of the things that happen to people on a daily basis are upsetting. It’s possible that you’ll lose your job. Your spouse could file for divorce. It’s possible that your children will run off. We get sick with life-threatening illnesses from time to time. Everyone wants to know why things happen the way they do. We worry about these issues.
Worry is harmful to one’s health. It can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, and a variety of other mental and physical health problems. Though there are pharmaceuticals that can help you cope with these issues, people appear to be looking for more natural ways to deal with them, and meditation is the ideal option.
Meditation is a simple and risk-free way to deal with stressful situations. It can be done in a bedroom or anywhere else peaceful and private. Close your eyes and start from there. Deeply inhale, then exhale. Repeat for a few minutes, or until your mind is clear.
One thing that millionaires have discovered is that worry and fear are counterproductive. You cannot create abundance in your life unless you let all that go. Zhang Xinyue has a great deal to say about this topic in her book. Many wealthy people begin the day by meditating. They take time for the things they love to do.
The following is a quote from Zhang Xinyue’s book Create Abundance:
“Go for wellbeing at any cost! You never have to show your wellbeing to anyone, or the cosmos. You know whether you have attained wellbeing or not.”
How to Improve the Company Culture
An amazing company culture helps so much with the overall success of your company. Happy employees can aid as much as anything else to build that solid reputation you’re searching for. Javier Loya, CEO of OTC Global Holdings reminds us that, “Your company culture is an important aspect of your overall effectiveness in the marketplace.”
OTC Global Holdings in Houston, Texas, is the largest independent OTC commodity brokerage in the world and has been quite successful over the years.
Below are a few great tips for creating an amazing place to work:
Survey current employees about what they like and don’t like about your company
Think outside the box concerning some unique perks to attract the best candidates
Make sure your internet recruitment process is working at optimal levels
Maintain a positive, upbeat company culture
Fine tune your employee referral program
Utilize your company blog as a resource to build your brand and attract recruits
Make sure your marketing efforts include branding strategies and recruitment info
Try giving your employees a choice of which projects they want to work on. This can ensure that the workers are fully involved in each job they are assigned to. Once they are excited about the project, it will be more successful. This is easy way to create a stronger company culture.
Javier Loya grew up in El Paso, Texas and now lives in Houston, Texas with his wife and two daughters. He the founder and co-CEO of OTC Global Holdings, the largest independent OTC commodity brokerage in the world. He graduated from Columbia University in New York and is a minority owner of the Houston Texans football team.
Celebrities who are Creating Abundance in their Lives
If you come from a low-income background, you may be wondering how to get out of that and live a life of abundance. You may simply wish to live a simple, stress-free existence without having to think or worry about anything. Some people want good health. However, there is always the issue of wealth—you want to be affluent in your own right. Some of the teachings of Zhang Xinyue can help with this. She authored the book, Create Abundance by Zhang Xinyue.
Maybe you don’t have to be a multimillionaire to be happy and satisfied, but you do need to be comfortable where you are to be able to live the life you want to live. To do so, you must overcome several challenges, two of which are your attitude and belief system.
How do you feel about yourself and about wealth? Some people are taught that wealth is bad and that we should not aspire to be rich. But is this true? People can be poor and still not have sound morals.
As we consider all these issues, it’s important to think about celebrities who have become successful due to hard work and changing the way they believe about the world, money, and themselves. Quite a few celebrities will tell you that they meditate each day. They may have positive words they speak to themselves—words of encouragement. We all need to believe in ourselves.
There are other lessons that celebrities learn including:
Patience
Timing
Creativity
Learning from life lessons
Believing in yourself
Forgiveness
Zhang Xinyue is a teacher, mentor, and spiritualist. Her book called Create Abundance explores these concepts and helps us reach up and believe we can be as successful as the most popular celebrity.
Small Business SEO Tips
Every small business needs its own website. This is a great way to let the world know what your business is all about. With today’s technology, it is often even possible for your small business to draw in clients from all over the world. For instance, if your online store in Sweden sells children’s clothing, running shoes or even hardware, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to sell your goods and services to someone in Italy.
But how will potential customers find your website with so many out there? That’s the question many small business owners are asking themselves. One of the big answers is SEO, but there’s a lot more to SEO than just optimizing your text. Though many small businesses are currently having their website content rewritten to include valuable keywords for their site, that’s only the beginning.
Zhang Xinyue is an author, spiritual teacher and mentor who helps business leaders Create Abundance. She believes in helping those around you to succeed in order to create good Karma in your life. As we learn about life, family, business and the world, we can grow into a better version of ourselves.
This quote comes from Create Abundance by Zhang Xinyue:
“Abundance is an experience you undergo at the bottom of your heart, and a process in which you make a daily request to the cosmos and receive her compassion and influence. Originating from the wellspring of your soul, it is also the personal dignity every human life was born with.”
Responding to negative reviews online
Online reviews are an integral part of customer purchases as customers consider online reviews to be unbiased. Research suggests that most customers will conduct their research before making a purchase and are known to consider negative reviews. Although most businesses see negative reviews as bad publicity, they can also be an opportunity to showcase a business’s excellent customer service skills.
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are popular for customer reviews. Additionally, private review websites like Revdex.com, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are also known to help both customers and businesses communicate more effectively. Here are some simple tactics that can help when handling negative feedback.
Respond as soon as possible – Avoid a rushed response and aim to replay to a customer preferably within a few hours. A quick response will build confidence and show the customer that the business can be trusted.
Leave a personal message – Generic messages will not calm a dissatisfied customer. Instead, leave a personal message that informs the customer that you are looking into their complaint.
Apologize – The simplest way to calm a customer is to apologize and empathize with their situation. Offer a direct contact number to a customer service representative who is briefed and able to handle the complaint.
Compensation – If a customer is addressing a legitimate issue, the business must look at ways to compensate them. Offering a discount, a refund, or redoing a service can improve the customer’s relationship with the business.
Revdex is an online business directory. Revdex’s aim is to improve the connection between consumers and businesses. They provide the customers with an opportunity to browse and post negative complaints and reviews about businesses and they make it easier for their voice to be heard by the companies.
For example you can file complaint against mobile provider or file complaint about travel services.