LET'S GET AHEAD! Make Money, Save Money, Live Better!

Destroying Your Debt! … by neil smith

3/23/09

It’s been a long time since I have been burdened with revolving debt except for my mortgage, but that’s an animal of a different nature as you can deal shrewdly to make your home purchase an equitable investment. There’s almost nothing you can buy with a credit card that will increase in value at all, let alone enough to warrant the interest you will pay over the life of the debt.

It is true that used properly, a credit card is a great tool offering a convenient way to purchase goods and services while offering some great consumer protections and even cash back rewards and frequent flyer miles among other incentives.

It’s when you don’t have the actual “cash dollars” onhand to pay the debt off when the bill comes that causes the problems and unfortunately there are so many people lacking the self control to live within their means and there have been so many predatory lenders out there who are more than willing to take an obscene advantage, that a true crisis has taken hold with reverberations that have moved through our stock markets, housing markets and have made qualification requirements much more stringent for responsible borrowers than it should be, which is a horrible shame.

So how does a person who has dug themself into a “ditch of debt” turn things around?

First thing’s first. You really have to change your habits and realize what your true financial limits are. Know what you make. Know exactly what your monthly bills are including housing, food, transportation, minimum monthly payments on your debt and any other expenses that cannot be avoided.

If your monthly bills are equal to or more than your income, you have some very serious decisions to make. You either have to downsize your style of living, start making more money or both. There is the option of bankruptcy, but this should only be used as a last resort when all other options are exhausted.

Now let’s go over some…
DEBT ELIMINATION METHODS

First Resort: (no damage to your credit rating)

* Sell items you don’t need
* Work an extra part-time job
* Brown bag your lunches and make meals at home
* Pay down your highest interest rate debts first

Second Resort: (could cause some minor damage to your credit rating)

* Call your creditors and try to negotiate lower interest rates, better terms and a payment plan.

* Consult a credit counselor

Third Resort: (will definitely affect your credit rating)

* Hire a debt negotiation company (click to see my article on Debt Negotiation here)

This requires signing a power of attorney so that a professional 3rd party can negotiate with creditors on your behalf. This requires that you stop sending payments to your creditors to force them into a position of negotiation. This absolutely wreaks havoc on your credit rating, but can be an effective way to avoid bankruptcy for many.

Last Resort: (scorched earth solution)

* Declare bankruptcy

Not everyone can declare bankruptcy. You can’t declare just because you don’t feel like paying your bills. You must prove that you are absolutely incapable of paying them and usually cannot be holding any recently acquired debt (so you can’t just go on a spending spree and then turn around and declare “whoopsie!”). Requirements for declaring bankruptcy have become more stringent in recent years. I will address the finer points of declaring bankruptcy in an upcoming article so please stay tuned!

Final Thoughts To Consider

Whatever your level of debt and how dire your circumstances, there are ways out but no magic bullets. The key is realizing that ignorance is not bliss when it comes to your finances and eventually, the piper will always be paid one way or another. It may be tough at first, but if you can get into a positive cash flow pattern, even if it’s just a small amount at first, and diligently drive down your debts, the momentum will build and you will be able to refocus your attention on methods to build wealth instead of spending all your energy trying to Destroy Your Debt!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

tags: debt elimination, destroy debt, destroying debt, debt reduction, neil smith, neal smith, let's get ahead, letsgetahead, finance, personal finance

excerpt: There’s almost nothing you can buy with a credit card that will increase in value at all, let alone enough to warrant the interest you will pay over the life of the debt.

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Franchise Are Smiling At You !… by neil smith

2/24/09

I'm finding more and more these days that in business, it’s rarely what you do (meaning what field you choose) which leads one to success, but rather how you do it.

Running a burger joint or a smoothie cart or driving a tool truck may not be your life’s dream, but there are many brilliant business people out there who have found ways to make franchising work for them, and then taken their success and multiplied it many times over to place themselves into a position of true wealth.

Is franchising for you? Noone can answer that for you except yourself, but hopefully the information presented here will help you on the path to a great business decision. Happy reading!

Getting started:

If you have been thinking about buying a franchise, but aren’t exactly sure where to start, a franchise expo may be a good jumping-off point.

A franchise expo is a flea market of sorts where companies set up booths designed to sell you a business. It is usually advisable to attend these things with the mindset of merely gathering ideas and information and taking good notes to conduct further research on your own, rather than being on a mission to purchase a major life investment in a day.

Be mindful that the people representing these opportunities are really nothing more than salespeople who are very motivated to get you to buy. You don’t want to be the victim of some carnival-barking used car salesman, so really, just use this as a research and discovery expedition.

Some important questions to ask of a franchise salesperson are:

* How many franchise locations currently exist and where are the locations?

* What type of support does the company offer?

* What requirements and policies does the company impose on its’ franchisers?

* How long has the company been in business?

* What are the costs and royalties associated with running this franchise?

Conducting A Background Check or… Looking Up Their Butts With A Microscope!

One thing you are going to want to get your hands on before considering any franchiser’s offer is the disclosure document or “Franchise Offering Circular.” This document tells you who the executives are and describes their backgrounds including the litigation background of the company as well as the executives’ personal criminal records.

The disclosure document will also answer most of the questions mentioned earlier in this article, financial history, and the Federal Trade Commission requires that the entity selling the franchise provide the prospective purchaser with this document at least 10 days prior to the sale.

Final Thoughts

As with any great life-impacting venture one may be considering, the best advice is always to proceed with caution, take your time, educate yourself and really do your research before making any major financial or personal commitments. If a franchise opportunity still appeals to you, be prepared for a lot of hard work, but also be prepared for some great rewards if you do your business right!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Give ‘Til It Doesn’t Hurt … by neil smith

1/28/09

This article is all about a few painless ways you can give and help your fellow human being without actually losing anything in the process. Hopefully it will get some of those "goodness gears" turning!

- Click And Give -

These days, advertisers will do most anything to get you to look at their marketing and many have turned to the act of giving to charity whenever one of their ads are viewed online at a web location called a charity click site. It is not always required that the ad actually be clicked in order for the advertiser to make the charitable contribution, just viewed, but clicking the ad usually helps in providing an incentive to the advertiser to continue with their charitable advertising endeavors.

I have found one great charity click site with a number of different clickable ads for many different causes at http://www.charityclickdonation.com/ . There are other sites out there, but I’m too lazy to look further and this one does the job just fine from what I can tell.

- Expired Coupons Help Military Families -

I have discovered a great way to help the families of our brave fighting forces get food and other necessities without spending a dime (except for a little postage). Did you know that military commissaries can accept manufacturer’s coupons up to 6 months after their expiration dates?! Just visit the Overseas Coupon Program website at http://www.ocpnet.org for instructions and a list of bases you can send to!

- Tax Writeoffs Just For De-Cluttering -

I took a look at the details of what sort of charitable giving is tax deductible and whom you can give to - and the legalese and bureaucratic gobbelty-gook made my head spin to the point where I thought I was going to lose my lunch! If you don’t believe me, take a look at this web page I found with all the information posted: http://www.lectlaw.com/files/tax13.htm . Ridiculous!

In the interest of saving you the hell of trying to understand all this stuff, my advice is to just do what I do and save yourself a lot of headaches by donating all your household junk to The Salvation Army. They will issue you a receipt which you will then hand to your preparer at tax time who will know what to do. If you have enough junk they will often come by your home and pick it up! Now wasn’t that easy!?

OTHER IDEAS:

- Give Blood -
- Give Time-
- Recycle Bottles and cans and donate the proceeds
- Donate Your Hair to wigmakers for cancer patients
- Get Creative and think up your own damned ideas, sheesh! What do I look like? The goody two shoes oracle or something!?

And most importantly, just give a hoot about your fellow human a bit in your daily conduct. You’d be amazed at what a difference just being cool to people can make (open a door, give directions, help an old lady across the street, etc.)

Please share your ideas on how to give without pain and let's get a great conversation going here! Also, please visit my blog at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

tags: giving, charity, charitable giving, donating, donate, donation, neil smith, neal smith, let's get ahead, letsgetahead, pay it forward, pay forward

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Chicken Soup For The Sole Proprietor … by neil smith

1/14/09

If you are like most people just starting down the path of going into business for yourself, you likely have some questions about how to structure things to legally conduct your business. Should you form a partnership, a corporation or a sole proprietorship? The answer to this question is not the same for everyone. It really depends upon your own unique situation and the business you intend to conduct. This article focuses on the ins and outs of a sole proprietorship.

It may surprise you to know that you are already a sole proprietor and don’t need to do anything special at all in order to conduct business under this status! It really is this simple. Just start conducting your business and you are your company’s “sole proprietor.”

Hiring others -

If you need to hire others in order to service your clients, if you expect to pay them individually less than $600 over the course of a calendar year, you can write your payments to them off your taxes without needing any special forms, just some written proof you paid them (a receipt or simply pay them with checks or money orders). If you pay them in excess of $600 a year, you simply have them fill out a w9 tax form (independent contractor) and then you must prepare a form 1099 for them each year including a total of everything you have paid them.

Getting paid -

Clients will usually need to make their payments payable directly to you and not your business name, unless you have filed for a fictitious business name with your local government and have opened a business bank account under your business name which typically carry additional fees and charges.

Taxes -

As far as tax preparation goes, I go to a professional CPA (Certified Public Accountant (NOT H&R BLOCK!!!! I have had MANY nightmare experiences with them!) and do a form 1040 along with a schedule C. I do enter all of my expenditures and income for the year into a spreadsheet and claim a great number of tax write-offs for equipment, travel, lodging, home office space (usually needs to be a dedicated room in your home), agent fees / commissions, automobile maintenance and mileage and the musicians I hire. When I hire musicians, as previously stated, I simply get them to fill out a w9 form which I keep in my files (contains their social security number and mailing address along with signature) and then prepare 1099 forms each January for them which contains the total they were paid in the preceding year.

The Down Sides -

Some of the down sides of having a sole proprietorship are that you are not able sell any interest in your business should you desire to do so for the purpose of raising capital. You are also personally responsible for your company’s debts and your personal credit rating can impact your ability to receive business financing. If your company should happen to be sued, it means that you are personally being sued and any asset you own that would not be covered under bankruptcy protection is fair game for lien claims including assets belonging to a spouse! These are some serious considerations and should be weighed carefully.

There is no blanket-answer to how you should structure your business as each individual’s situation is unique, but hopefully this article has helped you better understand what a sole proprietorship is and will help you be just a touch more armed for battle in the wild, wild business frontier! I would love to know your thoughts. Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Make Cash From Your Credit! ... by neil smith

12/18/08

You can turn your good credit into cold, hard cash using low-introductory credit card offers with a method called Balance Transfer Arbitrage! Sound simple? It is, and I'm going to explain how to do it!

Balance Transfer Arbitrage is a method where one can use 0% or very low introductory rate periods given by credit card companies and actually make money on the money they borrow by cashing in their credit line (in the form of a balance transfer check written to one’s self) and placing it into an INTEREST-GENERATING bank account for the term of the “teaser rate.”

In other words, you would sign up for a credit card offering, let’s say 0% for one year, but instead of writing the balance transfer check to another creditor, you instead write it to yourself and place it in the bank where it will earn interest. The discipline comes in pulling this money out of the interest-generating account in time to pay back the credit card company before the introductory rate expires (usually best to pay the money back about a month or two before the introductory rate expires so as to avoid any chance of there being any sort of holdup or snag in processing the funds which may result in your paying penalties.)

Usually the best interest rates for bank accounts are found online. I personally have been very happy with the ING Orange Savings Account which also offers CDs (certificates of deposit) of varying lengths which usually pay a percent or so better than their savings account. Placing a credit card's one-year introductory rate cash into a 9-month CD is what I suggest the most so that you have ample time to withdraw your money, transfer it back into a normal bank account and then pay off the credit card company.

Of course you need to still be making your minimum monthly payments to the credit card company during this time, but you're paying down pure principal so whatever you pay during this time goes back in your pocket when you cash in the CD.

As with any business venture, if you can compound a small success many times over, you can turn something like this into a very nice income for yourself. Start small and be organized and don’t worry, you’re not doing anything wrong at all! Banks take YOUR money and invest it elsewhere for a profit (that's their business!) so why shouldn’t you benefit from them in the same manner?

Thanks for reading! Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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The Art of Debt Collection ... by neil smith

12/1/08

If you have been in business for any amount of time at all, be it freelancing or running a larger operation, sooner or later you are bound to experience a deadbeat client and find the need to initiate the debt collection process.

Debt collection can be a tricky situation. If we send Louie with a baseball bat down to break their knuckles, in this litigious day and age, the deadbeat will just turn around and sue us for everything we have. Then again, we are not in business to just give away the store and on a personal level, cannot allow ourselves to be played for chumps.

Therefore, this article is dedicated to the art of the collection letter. May you never have to write one, but then if you never have to, it probably means you’re not doing much business in the first place, in which case you have bigger problems at hand.

The Art of the Collection Letter

OK, first off, this is a bit misleading because unfortunately when it comes to collecting from a deadbeat client, one collection letter does not usually do it, so this might be titled more appropriately - “The Art of the Debt Collection Letter Series.”

In this series of letters, each one will most always turn more serious in tone than the last while always maintaining an air of professionalism. (In other words, don’t let a deadbeat turn you into stress case! Keep it together!).

Please note: With each collection notice listed below, it is usually best to follow up with a phone call to make sure you are doing everything possible on your end to communicate with your client.

The First Notice:

The first notice you send to a client for collection of a past-due payment is usually an email and should always read more like a friendly, light communication simply reminding them that you are hoping to receive payment soon and to please make their account current. This notice should be sent usually no more than a couple of weeks after the payment is deemed late. The longer you allow a debt to go uncollected, the less chance there will be of collecting.

The Second Notice:

If after a week, you have not received a response from the first notice, send another and word it a bit more urgently while stating that you value their business and are concerned about not being able to contact them and hope everything is alright with them.

The Third Notice:

If still no response, in the third week, send a printed letter via the mail (yes, the postal service still exists in some places) outlining the terms of your original agreement with the client and that not having their payment is affecting your ability to run your own business and to please contact you right away to arrange a payment plan. Some people tend to take a letter on paper more seriously than an email.

Final Notice:

In this fourth and final attempt, you should state clearly that this is their final notice before you refer their outstanding balance to collections. Be sure to include the terms of your original agreement once again in this letter and ask them to contact you right away to prevent their account from going into collections.

Referring An Outstanding Balance To A Collection Agency:

There are collection agencies that specialize in servicing the needs of small business clients. These agencies actually purchase the outstanding debt from you, not at face value of course, but sometimes for as little as $20 below face value of the debt and then they own that debt (meaning legally that the client no longer owes you, they owe the collection agency who purchased your claim against the client). They make their money by going after your deadbeat clients and keeping whatever they collect.

Let the professional debt collectors do what they do best while you do what you do best, which is running your respective businesses in which you specialize. After all, that is why YOUR clients came to YOU in the first place isn’t it? NOW GET BACK TO WORK!

Please visit my main website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this and share your thoughts there!

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Hot Water Savings By the Bucket ! ... by neil smith

Did you know that heating water can consume as much as 25% of your home’s overall energy consumption level? It doesn't have to!

Boiling It All Down - Some easy, common sense things you can do to reduce your hot water costs !

* Insulate your hot water pipes and the tank of your water heater.

* Lower the temperature on your water heater.

* Install such energy saving devices as a drain-water heat recovery system and heat traps for your water heater.

* Use less hot water - duh!

You may also want to see if there exists perhaps a more efficient model of water heater out there which will increase efficiency enough to warrant the cost and time it will take to recoup and become a cost-saving device.

Solar Water Heaters (or washing on the sun!)

When my wife and I visited Greece (insert your childish snickers here…), we kept noticing these large panels on the roofs which appeared very similar to solar panels. On our last day’s stay at our hotel, I couldn’t resist any longer, so I actually climbed up to take a closer look, trying not to bust my ass since there had been recent rainfall and everything was wet and slick, and discovered these panels had piping running through them and were actually the method they used to heat water! I was absolutely amazed that these roof panels were able to provide enough hot water for an entire hotel and because they really weren’t anything too fancy, just some tubes running back and forth through panels with a reflective backing and a plexiglas covering, I can’t imagine them being very expensive at all.

It's A Tankless Job But...

I have also done a bit of research on tankless water heaters which heat water instantly on demand and do not require an open flame or constant electricity to keep a resource of water heated. Some systems can be expensive and complicated while others are more simplified. The systems range according to the needs of the household so weigh the installation costs and energy savings carefully against the the time it will
take to recoup your investment.

There are also methods of using your home’s space heating system to assist in heating water in order to take some of the load off the water heater.

If you are planning to sell your home within the next few years, you will want to consider how much resale value a specialized system might add to your home's worth in addition to how long the recouping of your investment might take.

These preceding two scenarios (tankless and space heat assistance) are ones which should be discussed with a home energy conservation expert. Seek someone neutral for advice without an agenda. People selling water heaters or environmental activists probably would not have your financial savings at the forefront of their concerns, but may still have some good information to enter into the equation. It is tough to find advice based solely on finance for such a politically-charged issue as energy saving has become, so seek a range of opinions and use your own best judgment.

All of the above are great options worth exploring further and the method best for you will depend upon your particular needs, the types of fuel available and local laws and building codes which may limit what you can do on the outside of your home aesthetically and what types of equipment are available legally.

Heating a Swimming Pool
(For those so rich, they don’t really need to save the money, but I’ll include it here anyway because it makes my article appear longer and more “in-depth”)

Probably the best ways to control heating costs for a swimming pool are to use a solar pool heater, use a pool cover after use and just plain ol’ not heating the pool at all!

What’s the matter? You a wuss? Dive in ya big chicken! Bok! Bok! Bok! Bok!

Some of the tips I have written about in this article have come from the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Energy, Efficiency and Renewable Energy” website which can be found at http://www.eere.energy.gov and most items can be delved into in much greater detail there.

Please read my main blog at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!
Thanks and best regards,

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Stay Warm This Winter For Less - Twelve Toasty Tips! … by neil smith

11/5/08

TWELVE TIPS TO KEEP YOU TOASTY!

1. Throw a party! The more people in a room, the warmer it is and since we’re trying to save money, make it a potluck!

2. Hang out upstairs! If your home has a second level, spend most of your time there. Remember - heat rises!

3. Buy a space heater that is portable and run it instead of your home’s central heating and use it as sparingly as possible.

4. Batten down the hatches! When you do need to run your home’s heating system, be sure to close the vents to the other rooms you are not in so the heater will only need to work a fraction as hard to get the space you are in warm. Also, close the door to the room you are heating to keep the warm air from escaping and seal up any drafts around doors and windows.

5. Don’t turn the heat off! (what!?) - If you are in such a cold geographical area that your home’s heat is needed whenever you are home, do not turn the heat all the way off when you leave. Instead, lower the thermostat by about 10 degrees. It takes more energy to re-heat a room from scratch than it does to bring it up from a reasonably maintained level.

6. Dress for the elements, even inside. An extra pair of socks works wonders for me and I’m often amazed at how many people overlook something as simple as this. Extra sweatshirts are also great and don’t forget, most of your body’s heat escapes through the head, so wear a hat too, even to bed.

7. Buy an electric blanket or heating pad. They’re not just for beds. You can drape them over couches and chairs and sit on them too!

8. Make some hot socks! Fill a pair of socks with dried rice or beans, tie off the tops and throw them in the microwave for a few minutes. Viola! Instant toasty pads to take under the blanket with you!

9. Caulk and weatherstrip windows and doors. If you have shutters and drapes on your windows, close them as well. It will help.

10. Add insulation to your home.

11. If you have a fireplace, use it and enjoy. ‘Tis the season!

12. Drink hot drinks and have hot meals. You’d be amazed at how quickly a hot cocoa or cup of tea can warm you right up.

13. Read my blog at http://www.letsgetahead.com ! It won’t keep you warm, but if I get enough traffic, I can sell ads and keep myself warm by running my home’s heat full blast while drinking frozen margaritas butt-naked!

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Data Mining - Diggin' For Dollars! … by neil smith

10/15/08

If you are just starting out in business or already have one off the ground, you either have a database containing customer and prospective customer information, or you soon will regardless of how far out of your mind that aspect of your business may be at the moment. Trust me, my first business database was comprised of three Microsoft Word documents (CLIENTS, ACTIVE PROSPECTS and DEAD PROSPECTS) with the contacts merely alphabetized. Ahh the good ol’ days! I have progressed from that out of necessity and eventually if you are running any sort of viable business, you will too.

Once you have amassed a certain amount of information over time just from your daily data input as you operate your business, certain patterns will form in your data that you may not be aware of that can reveal valuable information regarding the habits of certain demographics of the contacts in your database. This information can help you to better target your sales and marketing focus and may even help you cross-market new products and services. Extracting this data in ways which you can benefit from is called DATA MINING. Care to dig deeper?

Q: Don’t you need to be a large, faceless corporation with a super-Goliath computing platform to take advantage of something as daunting and advanced as data mining?

A: Heck no! - In regards to small business, the term data mining is merely in reference to the analysis of certain customer data you have collected in order to identify ways in which you can improve your services and boost your profits utilizing information you ALREADY HAVE such as name, address, phone numbers, email addresses, websites, how often they buy, when they buy, how they learned about you, income, age and geographical location.

If you are not gathering this information - start gathering it! This does not mean you should start calling everyone in your database and pummeling them with questions. Instead, you should just create fields for this information in your database and add information as acquired. “Slow and steady wins the race!” said the victorious turtle.

You can also mine information from outside sources utilizing data which can be obtained from educational and government sources such as census data to identify different demographics within a certain area which can help you focus your sales and marketing efforts more effectively. Also try going onto the websites of different cities’ chambers of commerce. There you can often find very useful information along with business and government listings often broken down into various categories ripe for your picking!

Ways to Collect Valuable Data -

As previously stated, you don’t want to bum-rush your clients and prospects and start pummeling them for information. Instead, gather information slowly through your normal routine follow up conversations and also try things like contests and surveys which you can email or mail to them or place on your website along with perhaps a coupon good for a nominal discount in exchange for entering information. Great information can also just be gathered in your normal routine conversations with your customers and prospects as well without the need for anything fancy. Just take good notes while you communicate.

Extracting the Gems from Your Data Mine!

Your database is your data mine! You’ve worked hard to shore up the walls, lay down the cart tracks and drill the dynamite holes, and now we’re going to blast and dig up all this dirty data, run it through the sifter and look for the diamonds!

We want to find out what your best clients have in common. Are they all of a certain age group? Do they all reside in a certain type of neighborhood? Do they share a common ethnic thread? Are they all golfers? How do they come to you (website, print advertising, word of mouth?). These are the types of things you want to look for so that you can focus more effectively on the most lucrative profit streams and identify new ones!

What I have laid out here is just the beginning as far as ways in which you can put data mining to work for you. Get creative, think outside the box and put your valuable mine to work for you and MAKE MONEY, SAVE MONEY and SEAL THE DEAL! (It doesn’t hurt to hire dwarves to do your digging for you either, but that’s another story for another time…)

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Outsourcing - Profit From the Dark Side of the Workforce! … by neil smith

10/1/08

These days it seems every time you call a company for customer service, you get a person with a heavy Indian accent named “Frank” and the miscommunication that can occur with even a small language barrier can mean endless frustration for us hapless consumers!

On the other hand, despite a few annoyances for a company’s clients, there can be some very compelling reasons in the areas of cost-cutting, time management and freeing up manpower to better focus resources, for a business to seriously consider outsourcing, and here’s the best kept secret in town - It’s not just for big business - THE LITTLE GUY CAN OUTSOURCE TOO!

Finance and accounting, Human Resources and Customer Service are just some of the areas that are most popular for outsourcing, but these really are just the tip of the iceberg!

Is Outsourcing Right For My Business?

Q: How does one find out if outside experts can be more cost-efficient and beneficial than performing certain tasks and services in house?

A: You usually want to keep the areas that are at the very core of your business in-house and outsource the less strategic tasks and services (i.e. if you are in the business of customer service, you would probably not want to outsource that operation to “Frank” in India, but if you make a physical product and the core of your business is providing it a lower cost than anyone else, customer service may be an area to consider outsourcing).

Don’t Just Dive Right In! Test the Waters First!

Before just signing a long term agreement with “Fly By Night Money Managers” right out of the gate, it is usually best to commit to your outsourcers in smaller increments in order to get a feel for things, ensure a smooth transition and also to make sure the company you are dealing with actually does the job correctly and competently and that you can trust them with the tasks you are giving them. Therefore a slow and cautious approach of outsourcing things little-by-little at first is generally advised.

What Can I Outsource?

There are as many areas of a business to outsource as your imagination can think of, but here are some areas that are proving to be great candidates for outsourcing:

Virtual Assistants to handle such tasks as scheduling, data entry, research and other areas of creative, administrative and technical support. A great resource for virtual assistance may be found at http://www.ivaa.org The International Virtual Assistants Association.

Public Relations to make sure the world knows about your services and products including print, web, email, radio and television marketing.

Graphic Design and Multimedia including writing services, sales and marketing materials, translation services and presentations.

Can I Outsource My Outsourcing? (Or… can a broker make me richer?)

As with most areas of business, there exist services to help you find services. “Outsourcing brokers” can be used to manage your outsourcers in the areas of interviewing, recruiting and all around maintenance of your relationship with your outsourcers.

What To Watch Out For With Outsourcing!

Hidden Costs - Be sure to take the oversight and training costs into the overall cost of the task you are considering outsourcing. These are not always clear and not always accurately reflected in the outsourcers rate quotes. Hidden costs can also form in your own company from the restructuring of internal tasks and also the telecommunications costs of staying in touch with your outsourcers.

Consider hiring a consultant at first to make sure you are asking the right questions and know how to track the performance of your outsourcing vendors.

Accountability - If your business is large enough to have employees, make sure there is a clear chain of accountability in your company for the tasks being outsourced. You may wish to consider appointing one of your staff as a liaison to your outsourcers.

Have clear targets you wish to achieve with your outsourcing. Know how you will define a successful relationship with an outsourcer.

Company Culture - Be sure the culture of the company you are outsourcing to will be compatible with the business you are in. For instance - certain religions do not allow the handling of pork, so it would obviously not be a good move to hire someone from such a culture to work a snout stand for you! Same principles apply here.

If you proceed with caution and really take the time to know what you are doing, outsourcing may just prove to be a great way to find the hidden profits in YOUR BUSINESS!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Vending the Machine - Pitfalls and Profit

9/25/08

You see them all the time - Biz Ops for vending machine routes. They all say easy money and quote big profit margins and low overhead and startup costs. If there’s one thing that can’t be stressed enough, it’s that THERE IS ALMOST NEVER A FORMULA FOR EASY MONEY! If making money were that easy, inflation would skyrocket out of control thus making the money you have worth far less, so it is somewhat self-regulating in that sense.

The vending machine business is one that is filled with the promise of profit and the horror stories of scams and hidden operating costs. The scams can include broken down machines and broken agreements for machine placement services leaving you stuck with machines and no place to vend! Don’t fall prey to the routes that cost thousands of dollars in an upfront investment. Start slow and minimize your risk by doing the initial legwork yourself. You can always crank up the pace later once you know what you are doing!

The profits come from getting your machines into the right places, servicing your business properly and choosing the right things to vend that minimize your commitment and maximize your profits.

Bolster Your Income With Bulk Candy!

Bulk candy is probably the best way to dip your toes into the waters of vending for the first time. Startup costs are relatively small and the return on investment (ROI) is pretty good, plus you get to sing that Sammy Davis Jr. song all day long!

What About Soda Machines and Other Types of Vending Machines?

I’m just laying out in this article the easiest way to gently wade into the waters of the vending business. Have you seen the live lobster vending machine game in Japan? You put around a dollar in this machine and work the claw to try and grab a live lobster out of the tank. I’m sure the animal rights groups are in a tizzy over this one!

Soda machines do make good money, but also need a lot of maintenance and restocking and thus require more attention all-around. If you have something making money for you at around a 200% ROI, why not just duplicate that over and over into a larger scale? If it gets so large that you don’t wish to deal with it, just hire someone to service your routes and take your profit off the top. At that point you are just kicking back and having money delivered to you! What could be better!?

How Much Money Can You Make?

With bulk candy and any other business, it is LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! There are some locations with bulk candy you may only make about $5 a month and others that will pay upwards of $150 per month per machine. On the low end, this really doesn’t sound worth it except that if a location is that slow, you can just go by less often to restock and pick up your money.

The profit margins on candy are generally around 70% whereas gumballs will generally cost about 2 cents each and you sell them at a quarter, so do the math! (note: Many locations do not want gumballs out of a fear of having to scrape gum off their business constantly, so be sure to offer more than just gum!)

A triple vend machine (one that offers 3 different products) can be purchased as Sam’s Club or online for around $150 or even less if you buy used or in bulk. Thus, they pay for themselves rather quickly.

Restocking and Maintenance

Machines can generally go for about 2 months before restocking. You of course have to buy candy, drive to the machines, count coins and do your accounting.

You want to be as unnoticed as possible when maintaining your machines. The location should ideally not even know you are there, yet always have a stocked machine. NEVER LET THE MACHINE RUN OUT! This makes the machine a nuisance and gives the location owner a reason to have it removed. If you have a little candy left over, don’t be stingy about giving a little to the employees. They will gobble it up in a day and be back to buying from the machine very quickly and it’s great PR to have the staff on your side!

You probably would be best to transport your candy in a cooler with a few ice packs so nothing bad happens to it in a hot car.

It would also be handy to have a few of the following items for cleaning, maintenance and other requirements of your route:

    * Clear Tape - you never know
    * Zippered Money Bags
    * Business Cards - always promote!
    * Keys to the Machines - duh!
    * Paper Towels
    * Cleaner
    * Screwdriver
    * Rubber Gloves
    * A Route Log - to track how much you are making from each location

Locations! Locations! Locations!

One of the best way to gain locations is to have a special charity to tout that you donate 10% of your profits to. This is a great selling point, a reason for people to want your machines in their location, a relatively small payout on your part and a wonderful thing to do in general (Don’t lie about the charity or a bolt of lightning will come down from the sky and fry the hell out of you and your machines!) It is probably best to choose a charity that is well-known, not riddled with scandals and is non-controversial. I suggest forming a relationship with a local charity, getting their blessing and making small promotional cards to insert into your machines touting this charity. The charity may even provide you with these cards if you ask.

Walk into a place of business with a pictures of your candy machines and speak with the decision maker and ask if they have an extra few square feet to spare for this candy service that will be free of charge to them and that 10% will go to such and such charity. You will do all the restocking and servicing and the machine will just be there as an added value to their staff and patrons and will require absolutely nothing on their part. Some will say no, but some will say yes. Nothing in life comes without the need for a bit of salesmanship and this is a great and low-cost way to gain these skills with little to lose.

You also want to have a few different types of candy for your locations to choose from. People are often more likely to purchase when presented with choices. Runts, Peanuts, M&M’s, Peanut M&M’s, Skittles, Reese’s Pieces and gumballs usually keep the longest. Hot tamales should only be offered if the place is well air-conditioned but they do go bad after a few months. It is usually best to have at least one sugary candy and one chocolatey candy offered in a machine. Be sure to set the machine properly in order to dispense enough not to have your customers feeling ripped off and not so much that you lose all your profits.

Candy is obviously something that appeals to a younger crowd, so seek out places that employ younger people so that you can place your machines into their break rooms which is an easier sell. If you can get front of house placement, that is even better as you will then be selling to both employees and customers, but this one can be the much tougher sell.

I never said it would be completely effortless, but vending is a very viable business and one that’s easy to break into and grow with a profit margin that is nothing to sneeze at.

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Smell More Sales By Reducing Your "No's!" ... by neil smith

9/4/08

Everyone is a salesperson whether they are trying to seal a government deal or convince some lazy bum husband to take out the trash, sales is a part of everyone's everyday lives. Strong selling skills are an integral part of obtaining the things we want out of life.

A potential client has seemingly limitless choices for most every need under the sun and thus often conducts their end of the process by seeking the flaws which will disqualify something rather than the reason to say yes and purchase.

REMOVING OBSTACLES MAKES THE SALE!

You may get a hundred things right with your service or product, but just one or two key things wrong and you are sunk! It could be something as simple as having a pukey color painted on your product, or not having a neat personal appearance or not much self-confidence or even worse - being overly pushy and obnoxious when trying to make a sale. It could even be an incorrect choice of wording in your marketing campaign!

You may be an extremely gifted and talented person with a lot of wonderful things to offer this world, but if it has become obvious that you are in a rut and feel like you are just spinning your wheels in life and not gaining any traction, perhaps it is time to look a bit more inward to fix reasons people may be saying no. Being human, we could drive ourselves crazy trying to fix every last flaw and this is not the intent of this article, but try putting yourself in the position of the person you are trying to sell to. Look for reasons to say no and try to address and remove as many of those obstacles to the sale as possible.

* Pay attention to detail and be about your client and not about your own self-interests.

* Dress for success and be neat and presentable.

* Take care of your health and lose those extra pounds (yes! it affects sales!).

* Work on your presentations. Toastmasters is an excellent place to learn public speaking and interpersonal skills not to mention networking in general. In fact, there are many great networking groups such as LeTip http://www.letip.com which I personally belong to, where you can really sharpen a lot of your delivery skills in front of a captive audience.

* Try the fuzzy puppy sale (or try before you buy). The theory is that once a person has your great product, it will become a part of their lives to the point where they will gladly pay you in order to be able to keep it. This is a time-tested sales strategy that works.

* Listen to your prospective clients. If enough of them are telling you that something is amiss with your product or service, take it to heart and not personally. Use this real-world feedback to do better. This is valuable information that cannot be purchased.

* Be willing to go above and beyond the call of duty to please your clients. I sometimes find myself moving buffet tables and lumber on a music job. It doesn’t matter to me because I am there to make a wonderful experience for those who hire me. You’d be amazed at how many times I have found myself with a hundred dollar tip or a glowing review on my website from a client I have gone overboard for resulting in new client referrals and re-hires.

You already have plenty of reasons for people to say yes to you. Now spend a little time on reducing the reasons for people to say no and I can guarantee this is one NO’S REDUCTION surgery that will leave you stronger, more competitive and ready to kick ass out there!

NOW GO PUNCH 'EM IN THE "NO's!"

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Karma Sutra Cash ! - Use Many Positions and Make Your Cash Come! … by neil smith

8/20/08

The days are over for working 35 years for one company, getting your gold watch and a retiring with a median income! That went the way of 50 cent gas and nickel Pepsi. It’s a brave new world out here and now you’re on your own more than ever before. This may be frightening for many, but I think it’s getting back to what America is all about.

If you want someone to wipe your butt and provide for you your entire life, there’s plenty of communist countries that would love to have you. Go for a visit, tell me if you want to live in any of them once you're done.

Freedom is a dangerous thing and really no different than any other investment in life (that’s right - I called freedom an INVESTMENT). With the freedom to forge your own path, you also expose yourself to a great deal of risk along the way. But as we all know, the riskiest investments are also the ones that stand to provide the greatest returns and it is the hope of these great returns that founded this awesome environment we find ourselves in full of great rewards for those who put themselves out there and really go for it - and also complete devastation for those who don’t have the will to position themselves for greatness. Positioning yourself for greatness is what I am going to write about today.

The old way of thinking was that you choose one position in life, or learn a trade and that becomes mainly who you are and what you do. With globalization coming into our lives, it is getting tougher and tougher to become wealthy and secure with just one skill and once source of income and it is becoming even more apparent in this new age that one of the best ways to have financial security and achieve wealth is to position yourself in several ways in order to have MULTIPLE STREAMS OF REVENUE.

Think of it as placing a bucket in a rainstorm. There are millions of drops of rain coming down, but if you only place one bucket out there, how much are you really going to catch? (Do I really have to explain that the raindrops represent dollars and the one bucket represents your chosen trade?). If you only have one stream of revenue coming in, you are cheating yourself and missing A LOT!

Now I’m not saying that it’s bad to have a trade. I’m not even saying that it’s bad to have a normal dayjob. All I am saying is that you should figure out creative ways to generate income doing some of the other things in life that you enjoy, build upon them and as they grow, if you so choose, your regular dayjob or trade can take a less dominating role in your life or at least you can have the great feeling of knowing that if something should happen to that trade or dayjob, you already have other streams of revenue which you can turn a greater focus to and build upon.

I guess the best way I can illustrate this is to let you know what my wife and I do. She has a normal administrative office dayjob, but she also enjoys painting and sells her work on eBay. She doesn’t sell a lot, but she sells some and generates a bit of money doing it. She also records voice over work from home on our computer for phone systems, commercials, podcasts and anyone else that needs her style of recorded speaking. Once again, she does not make a great deal of money doing it, but she makes some and enjoys it. When combined together, all these different things make up a complete financial picture for her. She also loves cooking and country music and has started her own combined blog about it at http://www.countrymusickitchens.com where she will soon have ads placed (much as the ones you see on my website) which, in time, should also generate revenue.

As for me, I am a professional guitarist and vocalist. I perform all over the Southwest with different bands as well as performing solo. I also do session recording, voice over work, freelance promotion jobs dressed as a chicken Elvis (see http://www.elvispoultry.com ) and have recently expanded from performing to my interest in personal finance to start this blog which of course has advertising on it to generate revenue. I do a great deal of outward advertising for myself and throw my business cards all over the place for all the different things I do in order to take advantage of whatever may come my way. In other words, I have placed many buckets in the rain and as a result, I am able to gather enough to pay my bills, own a home (well, I have a mortgage which I pay extra down on every month), own my car and basically live an independent life where I am my own boss.

It would be very hard for me to get into real specifics here in this forum to advise you on exactly what YOU should do, because interests and personal situations vary wildly. I instead urge you to use your own creativity to find ways to make some money doing things you love to do. It doesn’t have to be a lot of money, just some. Then once that is established and producing for you, add something else you love to do and so on and so forth and before you know it, you too will be on the receiving end of multiple streams of revenue having mastered THE MANY POSITIONS OF KARMA SUTRA CASH!

Now stop teasing and go make your CASH COME!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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THE BEST INVESTMENT EVER! ... by neil smith

7/29/08

Once I reveal the best investment on the planet earth, which gives you complete control of the direction, assets, finances, board members, employees, background information (even the hidden stuff), I guarantee that you will want to invest your time, money, energy, heart and soul because YOU CONTROL THE OUTCOME OF YOUR INVESTMENT COMPLETELY!

Ready? The best investment on the planet Earth is…

YOURSELF!

That’s right - IT'S YOU! What other investment do you have a holding in where you know every bit of past history and have complete control over future actions?

Try looking at yourself as a company where you are the boss. What are the things that an effect business-owner would do? They would assess the things that are working and emphasize and expand upon those aspects of the business. They would also identify the liabilities or negatives in the “business” and address them head-on.

Some area to revue:

YOUR HEALTH
You can’t make much money or do the things you want to do in life if you are sick all the time. How is your diet? Are you getting enough exercise? Are you going for regular checkups? If you are not sure, consult a doctor, dietician, physical trainer. You’re never so healthy that you can’t make additional improvements. People are attracted to other people who exude an air of “having it together.” Would you have confidence in a person’s ability to manage in a business or personal relationship with you if it is apparent they cannot even manage their own well-being? Of course not! Then don’t expect people to do things you yourself would not. Just get healthy and be healthy and get help if you need it. You’d be amazed at how many other things will just fall into place once you look good and feel good.

REVENUES
Do you spend too much? Do you waste money on frivolous things? Where can you cut costs? Do you just not make enough to do the things you like to do? Why? Do you need a better education? Find and make time to educate yourself even if you only have a few hours a week. If you have some actions in your life that generate money, try to replicate those in new and creative ways. If you are spending time doing things that aren’t profitable and are distracting you from being able to provide for yourself and your family, make a firm decision to pay less attention to those things and more attention to getting yourself into a better situation.

STATE OF MIND
All the money in the world won’t mean a thing if you are not happy. Me personally, I like money. But it is not everything to me and I am not monetarily wealthy, but I do the things that I want to do and manage to make a living doing it. I personally feel as though I am much wealthier than a person with a six-figure salary who works themselves to death doing something they don’t enjoy because somewhere somebody told them that this was what life was all about and these things meant happiness.

With that said, I would love to be earning six figures, but I want to earn it doing things I like doing. Who wouldn’t? If you’re not doing the things in life you want to do, it’s time to make a decision and take steps towards changing your situation.

I was working corporate jobs that I hated working for miserable self-hating people who loved to spread their misery, but at night and in all my spare time, I worked tirelessly to build up a business where I could make money in a variety of enjoyable ways. Fortunately I had been learning the ropes and building this business slowly for a couple of years when I was laid off from my job and was able to focus strictly upon my business full-time while collecting unemployment and after 6 months of pure focus, I had things built up enough to where I was able to forego an extension of unemployment benefits and sustain myself as a business owner which absolutely makes me happy. It’s not easy and I sometimes work night and day to obtain enough business to make my bills, but it sure beats working in a situation that made me dread waking up in the morning. Now I have expanded to writing articles like this in hopes of helping others and learning from others and of course making some ad revenue at the same time.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Success in life does not necessarily mean money. You can’t take money and toys with you when you go. You need to be honest with yourself and really ask yourself “What would I like to accomplish with my time here on Earth?” For Mother Theresa it was feeding a million hungry people. For Donald Trump, it’s being insanely rich and powerful and crushing your competitors like tiny ants.

Your goals may be more humble, but that doesn’t make them less valid. Perhaps your life’s goal is to raise a family, send your kids to college, or even go somewhere where you can just live off the land and be a part of nature shrieking naked from atop a mountain. It’s all good! Just do a bit of soul-searching and determine what it is that you truly wish to do (as long as it isn’t mass-murder or de-skinning live cats or anything) and set about putting a series of small goals in place to advance yourself towards your ultimate success. Be diligent, keep learning, stay on course, roll with the punches (enough bad cliches yet?) and before you know it, you will be a successful entrepreneur holding a priceless controlling share of stock in the best investment of all - YOUR OWN LIFE!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Make Money In Your Underwear! ... by neil smith

7/23/08

Hate commuting? Suit and tie (or paper hat) starting to itch? Tired of your petty dictator of a boss?

It’s a brave new world out there full of risks and opportunities! With little or no upfront investment, people from all over are learning how to serve their fellow human via the internet!

I personally make a decent portion of my living exchanging my services online. The other part of my living comes from being a professional guitarist and vocalist (hey, I can’t be a total hermit. It’s just not healthy!). Thus I can personally testify that it is actually viable for nearly anyone to make money online and here are just a few ideas below:

1. FREELANCE - Believe it or not, there’s no end to the things people will pay another human being to do and they don’t all involve shaved rodents. Simple things from proofreading to writing content to help fill up online forums on various subjects, researching online, etc. And if you actually have a skill even better! Then it opens up to consulting, web design, singing on people’s demos (I just have people email me their tracks, I record my voice and email it back!), voice over work and the list just extends as far as people’s needs and imaginations can take them!

2. SELL INFORMATION - Have you ever made money doing something so ridiculously easy that you couldn’t believe you actually got paid to do it? Write it out and offer it for sale online - “How I made a thousand dollars in a day the easy way and how you can do it too!” (This is just an example of a book title and not an actual book.)

3. SECONDLIFE - SecondLife is an online game (and I use the term loosely) where people from around the world build their own communities, houses, businesses and interact in a marketplace using a currency called Linden Dollars which can be converted into REAL DOLLARS at online exchanges. You can build businesses, houses, etc. for others in this virtual world and actually get paid to do it!

4. BE AN ONLINE ASSISTANT - Many people need help running their businesses but can’t exactly go out and hire a secretary. As an online assistant, you can do jobs for many different people from the comfort of your own home such as making travel arrangements, paying bills, hiring a dog-walker, you name it! Depending upon your skill set, you could make around $20 an hour or so in this manner.

5. SELL STUFF ON EBAY - Sell your unwanted items or work the auctions to buy items at far less than their value and then turn around and re-sell them at a proper price, but you really have to know what you’re doing if you’re going to be a trader, so do a lot of research before wading into these waters.

6. CREATE A WEBSITE - and put ads on it! If you love what you are doing and keep it up, eventually you are likely to attract enough visitors to make some money with advertisements such as Google AdSense, Kontera ContentLink, Bidvertiser, etc.

7. CONNECT BUYERS AND SELLERS - and make a referral fee! There’s a website called InnerSell where vendors set the price they are willing to pay for someone to find them buyers for whatever they are selling and if you can provide a buyer, you make about 70% of the referral. I don’t know much about this website, but it’s definitely worth checking out!

8. HELP PEOPLE FIND JOBS - Many companies and individuals offer headhunter bounties for people who can find the appropriate candidate for the position they need filled and vice-versa. These bounties can range from as little as $50 to a few thousand dollars!

9. KEEP READING LETS GET AHEAD! at http://www.letsgetahead.com - And contribute too! C’mon, you knew this was coming!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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The 10 Laws of Highly Effective Business Websites … by neil smith

7/14/08

A website that is user-friendly and easy to figure out can help increase your bottom line!

I see so many websites every day - even large corporations with a horrible online presence. They are hard to navigate and filled with distracting junk that steers the viewer away from their intended purpose. There’s nothing I hate more than waiting for some stupid, glitzy flash page to load. For that matter, I hate flash sites in general. I don’t want to wait for all the little “wow” buttons to finish loading their animations which I don’t care about in the first place. I want to be able to copy and paste information that I need like phone numbers and addresses (without having to hunt for them) so that I can add them to my database and contact the company in the future with ease. I hate sites that are hard to navigate and don’t clearly indicate where to go for the things I need to find. Very frustrating!

But alas! Born of frustration come solutions! Or at least something I can write about. Thus below I give you my 10 LAWS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE WEBSITES! (I should probably burn a bush or something right about now...)

1. Relevants Never Forget! (Staying Relevant)
Unless you are a site about video games, I don’t need a link to online versions of Asteroids or Space Invaders or anything else that may be irrelevant to the reason I came to your site (whatever reason that may be.) Be mindful of why people come to your website and keep the focus on meeting their needs. A website that doesn’t waste my time is one I return to often!

2. Be Googalicious! (Search Engine Friendly)
Noone can use your website if noone can find it. Keeping your content in-focus and on-target will help search engines index it properly and help you come up in appropriate searches. It also does not hurt to submit your site to the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo!. Being linked to from other sites is also a huge help. Personally, I have started writing for other websites in exchange for links back to http://www.letsgetahead.com . Be sure to always include links to your website in any online advertising you do (Duh!) and be sure to use the full URL ( i.e. http://www.letsgetahead.com) as opposed to just the truncated version ( www.letsgetahead.com ) because when you add the http:// to the front of the web address, many browsers will automatically turn it into a link. Be sure to do this in emails as well because most email clients work the same way and people are more likely to click a link than copy and paste the URL into a browser.

3. Come Into My Sexy Web! (Visual Appeal)
Just because I hate waiting for a bunch of doo-dads to load doesn’t mean that I’m telling you to make crappy-looking websites. Conducting business has so much to do with how you make a person feel when they come into your “store” regardless of whether or not you have the best prices or the most acclaim. It doesn’t matter if you are selling shingles or donuts! If your website is warm and appealing to the senses, I guarantee it will do better than some drab gray and white page with nothing but endless text on it regardless of how relevant and wonderful the information might be.

4. Psst Buddy! How ‘Bout An Update!? (Content Freshness)
In order to get people to return to your website often, it helps greatly if you continually have new reasons to visit. Update your website (at least the homepage) often with new products, services, tips and tricks, news and information, and you get the idea…

5. Help A User Out! - (Usability)
Can the people visiting your website find what they are looking for quickly and easily? Can they accomplish what they came to do with a minimum of fuss and muss. Think about why people come to your site and put yourself in their shoes and design your site with them in mind. It also helps to ask someone unrelated to your website to navigate it while you watch. You’d be amazed what you can learn. Also, be sure to study your website’s statistics (usually available online through your web host or you can implement Google Analytics) and see what pages people are coming to, where they are coming from, how long they stay on your site, and more importantly, how quickly they leave. Make adjustments accordingly.

6. Links On The Blink! (Working Links)
Check all the links on your website to make sure they go where they are supposed to and fix them if they don’t. Nothing turns off an end-user faster than clicking a link to nowhere and getting a 404 error. If you link to places that are not hosted on your immediate website, check them often to make sure they are still working.

7. Spread ‘Em! (Setting Yourself Apart)
Have something unique to offer even if you are in a crowded and competitive field. Know what makes your offering different and special and highlight it for the world to see!

8. Gitcho “Cred” On! (Credible Presentation)
Help the people coming to your cyber-space of business feel comfortable doing business with you. Consider having a page where they can learn more about you and others in your organization. Have a client testimonial page where people who have used your products or services give their positive comments. If you have done business with any large-name clients, with their permission, tout them on a special page.

9. Ring! Ring! For Ka-Ching! (Publish Your Phone Number)
If you are doing business online, be sure to include a telephone number so that people may reach you and speak with you personally. A lot of folks still want to be able to speak with a live human being before considering parting with their hard-earned cash. If someone can’t call up and speak with you, they may get the feeling that you have something to hide. I personally loathe dealing with a company that can only be reached via email or an online form (LIKE AMAZON.COM !). So many things can be lost in translation via email and you just never know who you are dealing with that way. No matter how far we come with our technology, some things are just always best done the old-fashioned way. Learning how to use this new and wonderful thing called technology to enhance, rather than replace time-tested and “Mother-Approved” ways of doing business (and dealing with your fellow human in general) I really feel strongly is the key to unlocking the greatest success and happiness in your online business and life as a whole. Sometimes you just have to get it done person-to-person!

10. Link to http://www.letsgetahead.com . It works I swear!

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Go Ahead And Be A Cheap Bastard! … by Neil Smith

6/25/08

While it is possible to take frugality to an extreme of penny-wise pound-foolishness, it is a valuable trait that, once mastered will give you the skills to get through the tough times when those around are curling up in the fetal position and crying like little girls (insert evil laugh here).

Here are some Cheap Bastard tips that you can practice to save a good chunk o’ change in your daily life:

1. Exercise Patience - New products almost always see a significant price drop after the first few months of their release (look no further than the $200 drop in the price of the iPhone for proof of point). If you don’t need it right this second, wait a bit for a price drop or a sale and save big by striking at the most opportune moment!

2. Fee Negotiation and Avoidance - When buying an item or a service, you can often strongly state that you will be more likely to buy if the fee is waived. This works a great deal of the time. If you have any late fees on bills, you can often call up and have them waived especially if you have a good payment history. Also, there are many choices out there especially for banking and credit that do not charge fees. Find them and use them.

3. Never Buy An Extended Warranty - The manufacturer’s warranty that comes with most products is usually sufficient and by the time that warranty has run out, chances are that the thing you bought (especially if it is a technology product) will be obsolete to the point of there being more value in replacing it anyway. The only extended warranty I would recommend is an extended powertrain warranty when buying a used car (only if the used car is over $10,000) to protect against major transmission or engine failure in the first 10,000 miles. You can usually buy this for around $1000.

4. Purchase Airline Tickets As Far In Advance As Possible - This will usually land you the best deal. Also, if you have plenty of time on your side, it rarely hurts to spend a couple of months reviewing fares and waiting for a great deal to come along that you can pounce on. I personally have always found my best values at Orbitz.com, but many tell me they have better experiences at sites such as Priceline.com, Expedia.com and others.

5. Make Your Own Meals - Eating out is much more expensive and often less healthy than eating at home. Plus you get the added advantage of personal and private quality time with those closest to you.

6. Buy Your Car Used - The first 10,000 miles on a new car are the ones that devalue the car the very most. There’s a lot of life left in a car after the first 10,000 miles, so why not purchase at the point where you will reap the maximum value? I personally purchased an extremely clean 1994 Honda Accord EX Station Wagon in 2001 with 118,000 miles on it for around $13,000 and it has been the best car I have ever owned. I now have 255,000 miles on it and still going strong! Be sure to follow your maintenance schedule (in the manual - YES - READ THE MANUAL DUMMY!) religiously and choose a AAA approved mechanic (subject to routine stings and pop inspections) that you trust and that you can communicate with easily.

7. Walk Instead of Drive When Only Going A Short Distance - You’ll save gas, wear and tear expenses and you’ll get some great exercise.

8. Be Energy Efficient - Add insulation to your home, lower your water heater to 120 degrees, put on a sweater if you’re cold and open a window if you’re warm, fix leaky faucets, caulk and weather strip your doors and windows, use compact fluorescent light bulbs, landscape smartly and plant shrubs and trees that will block winds in the wintertime and shade your home in the summer.

9. Review Your Service Plans - Know when your contracts expire for such things as your cell phone, internet, cable tv, etc. and price shop and review options with other providers as well as your own. (Here’s a hint - The cancellation department of your current provider is a great place to get the best deals. They are often empowered to offer savings above and beyond the sales departments in order to keep you as a customer!)

10. Read and Contribute To LET’S GET AHEAD! at http://www.letsgetahead.com - This one is so obvious, it should have been #1!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Protect Your Health and Poise Yourself For Success! ... by neil smith

6/19/08

My writing is dedicated to making money, saving money and living better, and I have only written one article on personal health . I would like to at least partially correct this oversight and address the aspect of overall well-being.

Healthcare is a huge expense when taking into account doctors, dentists, opthalmologists, the insurances that go along with them in addition to over-the-counter remedies for when we don’t feel well and, god forbid, the cost of surgeries and medical treatments provided by spe******ts for when your health is at its worst.

Preventive healthcare is not just a health issue, but it is also a financial issue and one which affects those around us and their quality of life as well.

Below are a few low-cost preventive health tips that I hope you will consider, for after all… A POUND OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A BUTTLOAD OF CURE

1. Healthy Habits

We all want some magic bullet to take care of our weight loss, make our skin better and cure everything that ails us, but it just does not exist! Not everyone likes to hear the words “diet and exercise”, much less implement them, but if you want to feel better, look better, be healthier and have fewer visits to the doctor, there’s just no substitute for good old fashioned diet and exercise. Just walking a half hour a day can significantly lower the risks of dementia, colon cancer, osteoporosis, heart attack, high blood pressure and the list goes on and on.

This is something you can do which is absolutely free and the astounding thing is that if these benefits were able to be placed into a pill, people would pay astronomical amounts for it!

I personally started walking 30 minutes a day about a year ago and changed my diet to nothing but meat and vegetables until the last 7 days of the month when I give myself a week off to eat whatever I want while still doing the walk every day. I started out at 238 pounds and I now weigh barely over 190 pounds and trying to get into the 180s this month. My method may not be right for you, but try different things and when you find something you can live with that works, stick with it.

2. Brush and Floss Your Teeth Regularly

Neglecting the habits of daily brushing and flossing can greatly increase the risk of tooth decay, oral infections and gum disease which can in turn cause heart disease and has also been linked to diabetes, low-birth-weight infants and alien kidnappings (I made that last one up).

A roll of floss can be purchased for around a dollar and can last months. Toothpaste (I personally use Crest) is only a few dollars and a tube lasts about a month. Sure beats the expenses of the alternative I’d say!

**********

Ok, those two were the really obvious ones. The next ones on my list I am somewhat skeptical about, can be somewhat debatable and new studies seem to come out all the time both in favor and opposed. I encourage you to do some research on your own and proceed with care!

**********

3. Calcium
It is recommended that the average adult get at least 1,000 milligrams a day, or 1,200 a day for women over 50 of calcium to help prevent things like Osteoporosis. If this cannot be achieved through diet, there are various supplements which can be purchased over the counter somewhat cheaply. It is also believed in certain medical circles that calcium can help maintain lean muscle mass, and help lower blood pressure.

4. Aspirin

A study by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concludes that adults consuming 81 milligrams of aspirin on a daily basis can reduce their coronary heart disease risk by as much as 28%. Regular consumption of aspirin can also cause gastrointestinal bleeding, so it’s usually best to speak with a doctor before implementing this one into your daily routine.

5. Red Wine
There’s a bit of somewhat convincing evidence floating around out there that a glass or two of red wine is beneficial to the cardiovascular system and it has also been suggested that it can also have a positive effect in lower instances of cancer and strokes. Be warned though that the medical savings associated with this can be dramatically offset by the costs of all the things you will break trying to find your own bathroom in a drunken stupor should you implement this routine too over-enthusiastically!

6. Fish Oil
The Food and Drug Administration has recently qualified the claim that foods containing omega-3 fatty acids (like tuna and salmon) can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease as well as acting as an anti-inflammatory. I knew a guy with arthritis in his wrists that was prescribed tuna sandwiches by his doctor. This guy was a total jerk so be careful, tuna sandwiches may cause putz-itis!

I hope this article provided some good food for thought and will spark an interest to invest in your own health. Your health is your most important asset, as no financial holding in the world means a thing if you are not healthy enough to enjoy it and even the poorest person on the planet can smile and enjoy some of the best that life has to offer if they simply have their health.

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Telemarketing Aint No Four Letter Word! … by neil smith

Telemarketing Aint No Four Letter Word! … by neil smith

6/12/08

Even mimes and the French aren't hated nearly as much as telemarketers!

Despite the introduction of the National Do Not Call Registry, many of us still get telemarketing calls, although I have noticed it has lessened more than a bit thankfully, except at election time where political campaigns aren't subject to the same rules. I literally got 11 automated calls at dinner one night from John McCain! Ridiculous!

It is sad that when someone invokes the word “telemarketer”, it instantly conjres the image of some bottom-feeder trying to pull a scam.

However, if done correctly with the proper ethics, telemarketing can be a positive and highly effective tool of commerce for both buyer and seller. It should however, always be done BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS and not Business-to-Consumer unless the consumer has expressed an active interest in receiving the calls (and no, I don’t mean accidentally forgetting to uncheck a vaguely-worded box on some web entry form).

I am fortunate enough to have received telesales training by some of the best in the business during the 90’s tech boom when any slob off the street could get hired and trained up the ying yang as long as it somehow loosely related to tech, and REALLY fortunate that the people who trained me were awesome folks who instilled ethics and honesty into their techniques. I don’t really have the time nor space to lay out the months of training I received into this one article, but the point is that although that time of my life is long in the past, the telemarketing skills I honed are still used on a daily basis in the applications of my business and in personal parts of my life as well.

The following article at first glance, may appear as though it is only for salespeople, but I am starting to see more clearly every day that we are all sales people of one form or another in most everything we do from landing a new job, to getting a date, to negotiating a lower price on something. We are all salespeople and becoming more skilled in the “art of the sell” is as an important part of life as learning to walk and something that will pay off for life!

DIALING, DOLLARS AND DISCIPLINE!
Telemarketing is one of the lowest-cost methods of drumming up new business and new clients and also for turning your old clients into new clients once again! It does require some hard work and perseverance though.

Research:

Learn who your most likely clients are and where to find them. If you can largely eliminate calling the wrong people who have no use for what you are selling, then you make the most of your valuable selling time.

I make my living as a professional musician, so I search online at places such as Craigslist for opportunities that match what I do as well as taking advantage of the free ads I can place there. Whenever I physically visit a new geographical area, I pick up the local papers and circle the venues and restaurants that appear to be a fit for my style of entertaining and just call those as opposed to every place in the phone book which would not be a very efficient method.

Chamber of Commerce websites are also an invaluable resource for finding businesses in your target areas that may be a fit for what you sell. Most Chamber of Commerce websites will have directories of their member businesses along with contact information usually broken into categories of types of business. Also, don’t be afraid to think outside the box a bit and get creative.

If you can think of a type of business or person who may lead you to appropriate prospects, give it a shot. The worst that can happen is that it will be a bust. The best that can happen is that you’ll find new customers!

Keeping a good contact management database so you can keep good notes of all your communications and also a list of the prospects you have eliminated so that you don’t waste time calling them again is also a must-have. I doesn’t have to be anything expensive or fancy. I personally just use the address book that came free with my Apple OSX operating system.

Diligent Follow Up:

Keep good track of your callbacks and appointments even if your prospects don’t. If a prospect wants a callback at a certain date and time and you are able to agree to that, keep that appointment! Put it into your schedule and treat it as you would any other important business meeting. Even if it doesn’t result in an immediate sale, it will show the prospect you are serious and competent and value their time and business.

If you mail or leave marketing materials, be sure follow up and make sure they have received and had an opportunity to review the materials. If nothing else, it gives a great excuse to have further communication. Also, when ending a conversation with the prospect, if it hasn’t already been clarified, be sure to ask when it would be best to follow up. This gives you your next “in.”

Persistence:

Sales isn’t just a financial transaction. It is a human relationship. It is important that you actually care about the needs of your prospective clients and have an earnest desire to meet their needs instead of just looking at them as a cash pinata to beat dollars out of. People are smart enough to see right through that and will generally not do business with you until they actually feel comfortable with you as a person. Have you ever walked out of a store and gone elsewhere to purchase the same product at the same price or possibly a bit more just because you didn’t like the person you were dealing with at the first store? I rest my case.

If you love what you do and are in your business for the long haul, then be prepared to invest the time in your clients to build a relationship. I have people in my database who have been there for years that are just now getting to the point of seriously considering using services such as mine. I have others who hire me instantly after a 60 second conversation. Business comes in many forms and the lifecycle of a sale is as varied as the people you speak with. Believe in yourself and in your product and if you don’t believe in your product, stop selling that product and sell something you actually do believe in.

Opportunities are everywhere if you know how to spot them.

So go get creative, get on the ball and as my bike messenger friends used to say…

GET HOT!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Defending Your Money and Assets … by neil smith

6/4/08

With the current downtrends in the economy, it is very difficult to find that place in your financial zen garden where solace reigns supreme. While there aren't many certainties in life, there are some things you can do to keep what you have as risk-free as possible and find some financial positions that provide the most reasonable amount of security attainable.

A Very Good Bet Is A Safety Net!

You never know when things will turn bad in life. If you are not socking away some money on a regular basis into a liquid, instantly-accessible account for an emergency fund, you should be. Personal finance oracle Suze Orman (not in love with her or all of her often over-simplistic advice, just using her as an example) recommends a safety net equal to 6 month’s living expenses. As a self-employed individual with no worker's comp or unemployment insurance to fall on, I personally feel more comfortable with one year’s living expenses which is what my wife and I have in an ING Orange Savings Account which is FDIC insured. The interest we earn on the money (currently around 3%) we use to pay down principal on our mortgage so there’s an added benefit there as well. Many financial experts swear by money market securities as a very safe and liquid investment option, but investment options always carry some degree of risk which is sort of counter to what we are trying to achieve here isn’t it?

Do Some Long-Term Investing - Think I'm Jesting!?

Hey! Didn’t I just write that investment options weren’t the greatest of ideas!? Yes and no. I wrote that putting your EMERGENCY FUND into investment options that were not federally insured and did not give a GUARANTEED RATE OF RETURN was a bad idea. Once you have that established and your emergency fund in place, you should start seeking some investments for the longer term in places that despite some short-term ebbs and flows, have historically performed well over decades. If you look at the stock market over the past 70 years, it has done nothing but go up at a steady rate. This is where you should consult a professional financial adviser. Typically it is assumed that the long term rate of return for stocks is about 12%, bonds 8% and cash comes in around 4%. Many employ a strategy of putting their money into more volatile positions such as stocks for the longer term and then towards the peak of an uptrend as their need for the money gets closer (within 10 years of retirement often), they will move into less risky, albeit lower-returning bond and cash positions. Diversification is key to limiting exposure. Be diligent about researching the areas in which you plan to invest and research and step carefully!

Assurance in Insurance!

Insurance is complicated and difficult to understand, and the type of insurance that is right for one person isn’t always right for another. There are five basic types of insurance which most people should have (in no particular order):

* Homeowner
* Health
* Disability
* Life
* Auto

How much insurance you should have in any of these areas really depends on your own individual situation, what you have to lose and how the loss would affect you and others. As with all things of importance, do your research and don’t over-insure just because some pushy agent sees you as a walking bag of money. Consult with different experts and utilize the internet for advice from independent sources and punch your numbers into some of those handy online insurance calculators. Knowledge is power!

Security Is Estate of Mind For Those You Leave Behind -

Ensure that what you leave behind goes where you intend with an Estate Plan. It’s never too early to get started preparing strategies to gift your assets to your intended recipients, documenting your wishes into a will, establish trusts and and a trustee to manage them, appoint an estate executor and child guardian and protect your holdings from those nasty creditors. Having your affairs in order is a great feeling of security and you will be glad you did so!

Don’t Do Debt!

Remember those ads in the 80’s stating DON’T DO DRUGS!? Well, debt is a drug in this day and age and I watch it ravage more unsuspecting lives every day for no good reason at all! Lenders intentionally mislead borrowers who don’t read all the fine print and chart themselves into waters of financial peril! It is very simple - If you don’t have debt, you are not beholden to anyone! Nobody can take you to court to pay them. Nobody can foreclose on your home (unless you don’t pay your property taxes). Nobody can take your car and nobody can ruin your credit rating which you actually don’t have any use for IF YOU DON’T BORROW MONEY FROM ANYONE! Got it!? Good!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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GITCHO MUNNY SUCKA! ...by neil smith

4/9/08

Did you know that as many as a quarter of the people living in the USA have unclaimed property or money waiting for them in the forms of:

* Unclaimed commissions and wages
* Forgotten credits
* Unclaimed refunds
* Layaway balances
* Gift certificates with value remaining
* Abandoned savings and checking accounts
* Un-cashed money orders, travelers checks and payroll checks.
* Bonds and stocks
* Inheritance
* Mortgage insurance refunds
* Benefits from the military
* Utility and security deposits
* Tax returns
* Uncollected insurance claims
* Pensions
* Safe deposits

These are items which are often overlooked when moving, changing your name and also upon the death of a family member.

An organization holding unclaimed assets after 5 years is required to forfeit the assets to the state of the owner’s last known place of residence. The state then holds the assets until claimed by the rightful owner. Some unclaimed assets currently being held by certain states date back more than 150 years!

I SAID “GITCHO MUNNY SUCKA!”

About half the states in America have online searchable databases where you can find out if money or property is currently being held in your name - for free. Most other states will at the very least, have information online that will instruct you how to find out if you have unclaimed assets. There are enough free routes to take in this discovery, so you should not find it necessary to pay any service for this type of search.

Here are a couple of links that can help you search for your unclaimed money and property:

Missing Money
http://www.missingmoney.com/main/index.cfm

National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA)
http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.unclaimed.org

ARE YOU DEF!? I DUN SED ” GITCHO MUNNY SUCKA!”

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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The Lease of 2 Evils - Car Buying vs. Leasing … by neil smith

4/4/07

If you have read any of my blatherings for any length of time, then you already know that I am big on actually owning stuff. Being beholden to another in any way, shape or form is a form of slavery and that has never sat well with me.

I have never leased a car, but then I also do my own oil changes, tire rotations and many of my own repairs while following my owners manual maintenance schedule RELIGIOUSLY. I probably take better care of my car's needs better than most, thus I probably get more out of owning my vehicle than the average car owner.

That stated, I can understand the point of view (partially) of leasing a vehicle. If you need to have a really nice car for your business, driving around upscale clients or just for the sake of your business’ outward appearance (showing up at a function in a dented rust-bucket doesn't exactly instill confidence in your potential clients that you are capable of producing top-dollar for them) , then leasing could make sense.

Leasing usually carries a very low down payment and you only pay the depreciation on the vehicle rather than its full value and you don’t have to deal with selling the car once you are finished with it, just drive back to the dealer and exchange it for a brand new car under a new agreement. Also, you can write off more depreciation from a lease as well as some of the financing on your taxes. You cannot write off financing if you purchase.

However, if you drive over your allowed mileage (usually 12,000 to 15,000 miles per year) you will usually be charged an additional 15 cents or so per mile! If you foresee yourself driving more than that, it is advisable to purchase extra mileage upfront which you can most always get at a reduced rate (usually around 10 cents per mile). Also, any damage beyond “normal wear and tear” is your responsibility and you will have to pay for it. Want out of the lease early? Count on a big penalty that makes cell phone companies look like saints!

What about insurance? - Should the car be stolen, your insurance will usually only reimburse you for the market value of the car which might not cover what is still owed on the lease. Gap coverage may be purchased to cover for this and some leasing agreements include it as well.

The big questions you need to ask yourself are -
How often do you need a new car and how much do you drive?

The bulk of a new car’s depreciation happens within the first 5,000 - 10,000 miles, so if you can buy a good used car with fairly low-mileage, you can save a lot of money right there. I personally drive about 50,000 miles per year so leasing would be very inadvisable for someone like me and I couldn’t care less how “new” my car is because I don’t need to impress anyone with my car.

As far as financing goes, although you are quoted a small percentage rate on your financing, it is calculated in a different way than let’s say a credit card rate. When I financed my car, it was about 6%, but they took mainly interest at first with very little of the monthly payment going towards principle. I immediately saw what a trap this was and transferred the balance of my loan over to a low-rate APR credit card and managed to get my car paid off in a little over a year by continually transferring the balance whenever offered new low teaser rates and 0% (usually for the first 6 months) credit cards. The trick is to keep track of when these rates run out and get those balances transferred to someone else’s teaser rate before that happens. Then, the bulk of your money goes towards principle rather than interest.

I guess to sum it all up - If you need to impress for business purposes and don’t drive over about 15,000 miles per year, you should look at leasing. If you drive a lot and don’t always need the latest and greatest, buying is the answer.

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Selling Your Home - Do A Little, Get A Lot! … by neil smith

3/19/07

In this depressed market, advantage has shifted to buyers in a lot of regards (those that can actually qualify for loans that is) and if you are placing a home on the market, small details are more important than ever to make it stand out and catch the eyes of buyers.

Start The Deal With Curb Appeal!

A clean, well maintained exterior and landscape sends a message that the property has been owned by people who care and that the rest of the home is likely to also be a positive experience.

    * Make sure the roof is in good repair and looks presentable

    * Repaint any cracking or peeling exterior surfaces. If your home is painted in a loud, bright color, repaint it to a more neutral tone that is more in line with the neighborhood and won’t shock buyers and turn them off. Consider beiges, browns and whites.

    * Clean up the yard and mow the lawn. If there are any bare spots in the lawn, borrow some grass from an inconspicuous part of the yard to replace it (will match better than store-bought sod). If you are planning to sell several months down the road, get your lawn on a fertilizer program.

Declutter! Decolorize! Deep Clean!

Make sure people can move freely about your home and aren’t so distracted by your belongings that they can’t envision their own life and how it will fit into your place.

    * Since you are going to be moving anyway, now is a great time to go through everything you own and get rid of the things you don’t want or need. Have a garage sale (See my article on Garage Sale Success) and donate whatever is left afterwards to charity (and get a tax writeoff in most cases!). If there are any other items in your home that stand to distract or impede flow that you wish to take with you into your next place of residence, rent a storage unit and move these items there until you are into your next place.

    * Be sure your walls and trim are painted in neutral colors. You want your home to be as appealing as possible to as large a cross-section of people as possible to improve your chances of a sale. Shades of white and light beige are usually the best paint options.

    * Clean your place top-to-bottom (and make sure it smells good too!). Wipe down the walls. Dust and shine all surfaces. Wax wooden floors and deep clean / shampoo all carpets. Clean draperies.

Bathrooms and Kitchens - The Rooms That Richen!

It’s a well-known fact: People buy kitchens and bathrooms and the rest of the home is just something that came with the place. Therefore, these rooms require extra-special attention!

    * Resurface any tubs or sinks that have scratches or mars on them.

    * Modern kitchen appliances are an investment that will pay off in what you are able to ask for your home. If you’re kitchen appliances are old and outdated, make every effort to replace them and bring this critical room up to date.

    * Be sure your countertops are in good shape. If you are able to install new countertops (think granite!) you will be in a much more desirable position.

    * Refinish wood cabinets. Clean them up, restain and shine if needed and install modern hardware.

Be Prepared to Make Repairs!

    * A professional home inspection before going on the market is a good idea. Find out what items are likely to come back on the prospective buyer’s caution list when they have the place inspected and get it fixed, especially plumbing and electrical items.

    * Home warranties that are transferrable to your buyers are also a great peace-of-mind incentive that will place your home in a more favorable light.

Doing these things will also help pave the path to a smooth closing and lessen some of the haggling / points of contention.

HAPPY SELLING!

I would love to know what some of your tips are for preparing a home for sale or just read your feedback in general. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Please visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

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Should You Bother To Own … ANYTHING!? Part 1… by neil smith

2/27/08

PAY OFF THAT MORTGAGE OR INVEST ELSEWHERE?

A friend and I were having a chat one night regarding home finance and he told me of a strategy he was investigating that really took me aback and and made me wonder if I had gotten things all wrong! Should I continue on in my horse-and-buggy strategy of paying down my mortgage towards my dream of owning my home outright, or should I get with the times and follow this new groovy path of enlightenment that states you should purchase your home with little money down, a low-rate interest-only plan and then just make the required monthly payments and invest the money you would have paid towards principle elsewhere and let it earn a higher rate of return.

His position was that mortgage interest is tax deductible, and the money you turn around and invest elsewhere is no less risky than the housing market. The idea is finding a long term investment which over time has a history of performing well, but in the short term may be prone to some instability, hence a high enough rate of return to warrant a strategy such as this.

Paying Off Your Home:

I have always thought of paying off my home as being one of the best things I could do. The stability of knowing a bank can never come after me foaming at the mouth with foreclosure threats and not having that huge monthly bill is a feeling of security I and many others have dreamt about our whole lives.

However, some advisers suggest that when you have a lower-interest home loan, the likelihood of earning better returns on the cash you would have paid towards principle by investing elsewhere instead, improve greatly.

One thing to consider is that you always have to factor in UNCLE SAM. Yep, the ol’ IRS! If you have an interest-only mortgage at 6%, you would need to earn a rate of return of around 8.5% just to come out even. But depending on your tax bracket, if you are able to itemize on your federal return and make the net amount fall a percent or two, this could actually make sense considering you can find an investment returning this much. That's a very big "IF!"

Gut Check Time:

My gut tells me that the percentage you stand to do better in the investment world rather than paying off the mortgage and freeing those funds for things like entrepreneurialism and self-improvement is just not worth the risk involved. Writers such as Rick Edelman apparently would have us believe otherwise, and while I have not personally read his book, I have seen and heard the ads and he just comes off to me as some guy trying to sell a book. My trusted and true method of trusting the hairs on the back of my neck have served me well through the years and I think I need a WHOLE BUNCH MORE CONVINCING before I go jumping on this bandwagon.

I would love to know your thoughts on this. Have you or anyone you know tried a strategy such as this? Please share your thoughts and also visit my website at http://www.letsgetahead.com for more great articles like this one!

Part 2 of this series will explore owning vs. leasing a car.

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COUPON COUPIN' ON! ... by neil smith

2/20/08

If you have ever read a Sunday paper or stood behind an old lady at the grocery store than you know what coupons are! You may clip them or be annoyed by them but, did you know that utilized the right way, they can add up to some serious savings and significantly reduce your overall cost of living!?

THE COUPON RUNDOWN!

There are many different types of coupons and it can be confusing, but experienced coupon kings and queens who take the time to know their stuff are able to make a significant dent in their shopping bills!

Competitor Coupons:
The name pretty much says it all. This is where a store honors coupons from a competing store.

Double Coupons:
In order for stores to entice you to do the vast majority of your shopping in their places, often they will give a discount which equals twice the face value of a particular coupon. There will often be a cap on the maximum dollar amount a store will double (usually no more than a dollar) as well as the number of coupons they will double.

Triple Coupons:
These are coupons which normally appear in an advertisement and need to be combined with other coupons to triple their value. These are often for very low-cost items which end up being free or nearly free after the discount and are used mainly to get shoppers into the stores to purchase other items which they can then make a profit on.

Stacking:
This is the practice of allowing a manufacturer’s coupon to be used along with a store’s coupon for a combined discount.

One-Step Rebates:
This is a check that is issued by the store as a rebate reward for qualified purchases normally tracked by the store’s loyalty card.

THE STRATEGY

Many stores offer “loss leaders” (items which once their advertised discount is redeemed actually COSTS the store money!) as an enticement to lure buyers with the obvious goal of getting them to purchase more profitable items once inside. People who keep their focus and just go for the big-discount items are the ones who realize the largest savings!

Be sure to match store and manufacturer coupons with rebates, sales and savings club discounts and combine as many as are allowed!

Be mindful that many coupons that appear to offer a certain price if you buy an item in bulk (i.e. 10 for $10) are usually just a ploy to trick you into buying extra when in reality, you are normally allowed to buy just one or two of an item at the same discounted price-per-unit.

Watch out for bait and switch tactics where a store will not carry the item exactly as advertised on the coupon and will instead have a slight variation on the product which does not meet the requirements of the coupon. They are counting on you to purchase the item regardless, even without the discount!

As you become a more and more coupon-savvy shopper, you will learn how to squeeze the most out of them by combining with promotions, rebates and sales. There is a bit of a learning curve, so give yourself some time to get accustomed to the ins and outs. The old pros are always going to see more savings than the newbies so remember, it does take a bit of time, patience and perseverance. If you stick with it and learn your strategies, THE SAVINGS WILL COME!

P.S. - Good Thing To Do With Expired Coupons:
Many military commissaries overseas will accept manufacturer’s cents-off coupons for up to 6 months past their expiration dates. This means that you can help out military families simply by sending them your expired coupons. Please visit the Overseas Coupon Program Website at http://www.ocpnet.org to learn how!

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Don't Be A Dud! Sell It With FUD! … by neil smith

2/6/08

You see it everywhere - health products seem to discover new ailments you never knew existed. The guy with the twisty ladder tells you all about the hazards of dust mites that will kill you if you don’t clean the hard-to-reach areas of your vaulted ceilings! The alarming rhetoric seems to be never-ending and you wonder how advertising got this way.

This annoying sales tactic unfortunately happens to be a highly effective sales strategy called SELLING WITH FUD! FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt and while the thought may provoke images of a used car salesman in a bad plaid suit and may be very unappealing to you as an entrepreneur who actually cares about your customers, presented and packaged correctly and used in an honest, straightforward and ethical manner, selling with FUD can be an invaluable tool in your sales arsenal!

An example to sample:

A colleague of mine whom I used to work with at a tech firm in the late 90’s (yes, right before the bust!) explained how within a few short months he became the top salesman in the entire corporation. Early on in his employment with this company, he was given the task of selling switches for network routers. Now just about everyone in the firm’s install base already had these switches as did most of the potential new clients he was expected to approach, yet selling these same switches, he still managed to become a top-grossing salesman!

He had never sold this product in his life, but he was a pretty smart guy so he took on this task by starting at square one. He sat down with the product literature and learned every last detail about the product, no matter how small. He then researched product feedback, especially the negatives and found one little problem with these switches that he turned into his top selling point.

Apparently these switches used some sort of liquid in their main internal connection (please forgive me for not personally knowing all the details of this particular product, but you’ll get the idea in a second I promise!) which over time, had a propensity to leak and cause the switch to fail. If you are a large company relying on the uptime of your computing systems, any downtime at all is absolutely not an option and if you already have a large investment in a certain equipment setup, often you are stuck with this setup until your corporate budgeting process approves upgrades.

This colleague of mine went in to IT directors of the entire install base and presented this finding and merely asked, "What is going to happen if your switches fail?" Then sat back and watched the eyebrows raise and the minds run wild with horrible scenarios of IT staffs pulling all-nighters to get the system back online instead of getting home at a decent hour and drinking themselves blind. He then presented a way to install additional switches as backups in case of a failure and quickly became his company's top-grossing salesperson.

This is just one example of solving a problem or just presenting a problem lying under the surface and then offering a solution. If you can figure out a true problem that people could be protecting themselves against and then present a solution in the right manner, you could have a winning sales strategy on your hands. If you already have a business and a client base, stop and think for a moment about problems they may potentially have in areas of their business that might be a common thread amongst them. You may get some great ideas for additional products of services to offer clients you already have. Your current client base is always an invaluable prospect field and often the most lucrative of all.

NOW GO SELL WITH FUD!

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SAVE, DON'T SLAVE FOR COLLEGE! … by neil smith

1/30/08

The methods for saving money for college are widely varied and it can get confusing. Different plans with different implications towards aid and taxes which impact one another in different ways and the best strategies for saving in the early years of a child’s life may not be the best strategies for saving as college time looms nearer.

My Savings Plan:

My Mother was absolutely brilliant! She pimped my sister and I out to television commercials and modeling at an early age. We each only did a small handful of them in our local hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, but she allowed us to keep 10% of what we earned for ourselves but took the other 90% and placed it into savings accounts for our respective college educations which earned compound interest over the next 12 years or so and made a significant difference towards our tuition and expenses. Of course my sister went on to college while I tapped the money once old enough and purchased guitar equipment and joined a touring rock band and for all intents and purposes, gloriously squandered my youth! I would not recommend the path I personally took, but I do make my living these days as a full-time musician and own my own entertainment business founded upon the things I did actually manage to learn during the mayhem of life on tour and making records, so I will leave the sensibility judgments up to you.

My personal feeling is that college is very important for a great deal of people and the life paths they wish to pursue, but it is not always the right call for everyone and just wasn’t the right call for me. That said, I do take the odd community college course these days every now and then when there is a skill or two I feel is important for me to pick up, but mostly I just look stuff up on the internet when there's something I wish to learn.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE:

The purpose of this article is to give you, the reader an overview of some things to expect along with a few strategies you may wish to consider doing further research on. The in-depth details of each individual strategy would be far too lengthy to reasonably post here and quite honestly, would not make for a very good read. I would recommend doing a web search for the strategies that interest you the most and reading up on them more thoroughly from a variety of different sources and be careful as some informational sources are geared towards selling you their financial plan and may not have your best interest at heart. It may also be a good idea to meet with a professional, independent counselor or two which specialize in preparing college savings strategies.

FOR THOSE WHO EXPECT TO BE SEEKING AID:

The I think the biggest driving point I continually ran into in my research for this article was that if you expect to rely heavily on aid to put a child through college, then it is best to have all of your savings in the parent’s names and nothing in the child’s name. Reason being that when the EFC (expected family contribution) is determined, federal aid formulas count only about five and a half percent of parental assets but a whopping thirty five percent of the child’s assets! Thus, the more money in your child’s name, the less aid they will likely receive. Retirement accounts such as 401(k) and IRA are not counted towards the EFC.

While it is true that federal aid formulas count only about five and a half percent of parental ASSETS when determining EFC, parental INCOME is counted at up to forty seven percent! Therefore, you will want to show as low of a number as possible for your income when applying for aid for the year preceding your child’s entry into college. Aid decisions are based upon financial information from the tax year prior to the year of your child starting college. It is also wise to be especially aware that capital gains are counted as both an asset as well as income, so you get double-whammied on this one!

The 529 Savings Plan -

529 Savings Plans can be a great way to save for college and they come with some good tax breaks as well, with contributions being tax-deductible in many states and withdrawals being completely free of federal tax. There are no age restrictions or income limitations with a 529 savings plan. You can start one regardless of how old your beneficiary (child) is. Most 529’s allow you to save anywhere from $100,000 to $270,000 per beneficiary.

A 529 is treated as the account holder’s asset (the person who opened the account), but the earnings portion of the withdrawals are counted as the child’s contribution and assessed as much as 50 percent when determining the EFC. Therefore, it is usually best to leave the account untapped until the last year or two of college to avoid as much negative impact on aid as possible.

529s OWNED BY GRANDPARENTS HAVE NO IMPACT ON FINANCIAL AID!
Do what you will with this evil piece of information and funnel your funds accordingly!

Hey, Let’s ALL Go To College! -

The more family members in college at the same time, the more aid is made available to each member. This includes parents, but schools will usually wish to see some documentation proving the parents are legitimately going for a degree and not just trying to obtain extra aid.

FOR THOSE WHO EXPECT TO BE PAYING THE ENTIRE COST THEMSELVES:

Coverdell Education Savings Account (ESA) -

Money from an ESA may be used for pre-college education expenses and qualified withdrawals are tax-free.

Custodial Account -

This is a method of transferring money to a minor and holds some tax advantages. Most or all of the earnings in a custodial account are taxed at the child’s rate and investments into one of these accounts can earn some money tax-free each year.

Tax Breaks -

There are 2 federal tax credits you may be able to take advantage of - The Lifetime Learning Credit and The Hope Credit in years in which you are paying tuition. You may also deduct the interest on student loans up to $2500 per year if your income is less than $130,000 (married filing jointly) or $65,000 (single).

Withdrawing Against A Variable Life Insurance Policy -

This one is rather complicated and varies with different underwriters. Do your research, speak with a few different professionals and compare plans.

Final Thought:

Don't be a schmuck! Go to college, dummy!

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Garage Sales - How to Bring the Ka-Ching! … by neil smith

1/24/08

In this age of crass consumerism, we often find ourselves swimming through our own clutter and wondering, “Do I really need all this stuff!?” This is about the time to start considering the finer points of a Garage Sale!

You may be wondering, who is going to buy this old “Welcome Back Kotter” lunchbox or you thimbles of the world collection… YOU’D BE SURPRISED! Organized correctly, a garage sale can potentially bring you in some pretty good bucks!

STEP #1 - TAKE INVENTORY - GATHER AND OBTAIN ITEMS AND KNOW THEIR VALUE!

Go through every room in your home and gather items you no longer want or need. Even if you don’t see value in the items, someone else very well might, so don’t throw things away! You need lots of items to attract buyers! Be sure to take a bit of time and research your items online to find out their values. Antique collectible pottery, comic books, toys, etc. are often mistakenly sold at garage sales for far below their true value only to become an experienced treasure hunter’s retirement fund or make a featured appearance on the Antiques Roadshow!

If after all your sifting and sorting you still don’t have much stuff to sell, consider visiting other yard and garage sales and scoop up their “desperation sales” and do a little treasure hunting of your own. Sometimes, you will find items for literally pennies which you can then re-sell at your garage sale at a decent markup. Books are a good example. Many people will sell old books for 5 or 10 cents. You can snatch these up and sell paperbacks at 50 cents and hardbacks for a dollar! And keep your eyes peeled for the incredible collector finds. A few months ago, I found a high-end, very decorated large sombrero in excellent shape for a dollar! These usually go for much, much more! High-end audio equipment and musical instruments are also items people tend to unload unusually cheap, normally out of just not knowing the value of what they have and a desire to get rid of that bulky, big black box (a vintage Marshall guitar amplifier) taking up space in the spare room. If you have some expertise in a certain area of merchandise, use it to your advantage to find super deals which you can turn into big dollars at your garage sale!

STEP #2 - ADVERTISING

Spend a few dollars and take out a decent classified ad in your local newspaper including a list of top-attraction, big-ticket items you have for sale along with the other types of items you have. You stand to get many more people interested with a long list than you do with just - “Garage Sale” and an address. Also be sure to make large, colorful, eye-catching, very readable signs to place around your neighborhood to help direct people to your sale! Also, if you have a particular skill or business of your own, even if it is completely unrelated to garage sales, make sure to have plenty of business cards onhand as you will be meeting and conversing with many different types of people from your community that you otherwise would not have an opportunity to communicate with. Garage sales can be yet another great networking opportunity! You never know what sort of side-business you may strike on sale day!

STEP #3 - SMART PRICING MAKES YOU MONEY!

It’s ok to price your items a bit higher than you think you may be able to sell them for as many shoppers peruse the sales and live for haggling. You can always come down in price as you deal verbally, but going higher than the price you have marked is almost never an option, so price high enough to leave yourself some dealing room. A good rule of thumb for a garage sale is that if an item is in good condition, price it about half of what it would sell for new. If it is a collectible, be sure to label and price it as such. Also, make sure to have each item clearly labeled (and don’t put sticky labels in sensitive places of a collectible item or its packaging!). If people have to ask you the price and size of every item you have, they will eventually stop bothering and find a more pleasant environment to shop in. Just think about how annoying it is to shop at a place with no prices posted. I have personally walked out of many stores for just this very reason.

AND LASTLY - GUARD THE CASHBOX AT ALL TIMES!

NEVER leave the cashbox unattended. Periodically throughout the day you may also wish to take some of the larger bills accumulated and stash them inside your home for safety’s sake - especially if you are operating the sale alone!

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Selling Yourself… Literally! … by neil smith

1/17/08

Ok, so Benny the Shark wants to cut off your ear because you fell behind on a payment. Or maybe you're just in a tough spot and strapped for cash. You can’t borrow and you have nothing to sell … or do you!?

One thing you always have is yourself. Have you ever wondered how much you would be worth if someone were to physically place a price tag on your body? Well never fear because I have actually done about 15 minutes of research on the matter and I think I can proclaim myself an expert at this point! Below, the results of my intensive look into this subject reveals what you can sell and what you can make! Enjoy!

SELL PLASMA - $35

Plasma is the clear-ish, discolored fluid part of your blood that delivers nutrients and water to all cells in the body. It is valuable for transfusions for trauma victims.

The donation process consists of a screening (Q & A and some paperwork mainly) and then a needle is inserted into your arm and your blood is pumped into a machine which separates the plasma from the blood and then the blood is pumped back in through your arm (and feels cold going back in!)

You can usually get about $35 for a donation of plasma. You cannot usually get paid for donating whole blood however because the collection centers feel strongly that volunteer (unpaid) donations are a better bet to keep the supplies clean.

SELL YOUR HAIR - $3 to $5 an ounce

Human hair wigs can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars and manufacturers have a hard time maintaining their supply. This is what makes YOUR hair so valuable - IF you have the right length, shine, health, texture and color!

Most of the hair buyers require that the hair is healthy (obviously!), usually at least 12 inches long and “properly prepared” per the buyer’s guidelines which are usually included on their website. Some buyers prefer untreated hair and some colors can be more lucrative than others. Do an internet search for “SELL MY HAIR” and you will find a few markets in the top results.

P.S. If you don’t have any luck selling your hair, please consider donating it to a cancer organization. A great one is LOCKS OF LOVE which makes wigs for children who have lost their hair through the process of chemotherapy.

BE A SPERM DONOR - $50 - $200 Per Specimen

You were wondering when this article was going to get good weren’t you?

That’s right, some guys actually get paid to shoot their swimmers into a cup and even get to look at some really great “reading material” provided by the clinics for “proper motivation!” Is this a great country or what!?

Unfortunately, about 95% of men who apply are turned away in the screening process by the hot looking nurse at the front desk who humiliates you as you shuffle completely emasculated back through the door from whence you came. … Actually the eliminations are usually due to background checks, education, health, family tree and many other factors. Do a search for “Sperm Donation” online and review the various clinics who collect.

BE AN EGG DONOR - $5000 and Up

You ladies didn’t think I was going to leave you out of the party did you?

The process of donating one’s eggs to an infertile woman / couple seeking to have a child varies from a personal ad seeking a donor to meet with and go to the clinic hand-in-hand, to centers that advertise for egg donations and the recipient and donor never meet one another.

The process and the screening are very long and involved and can go on for months. It includes lots of paperwork and regular self-injections of fertility drugs and an invasive procedure to retrieve the eggs via a needle passed through the vagina’s top wall and inserted into the ovary and repeated for every egg retrieved. Major “OUCH!” factor here. Don’t knock the ladies for getting top dollar on this one!

CLINICAL TRIALS - Pay Varies

Don’t mind being a human guinea pig in the name of science and a few bucks? There may be a future for you in the whacky world of Clinical Trials! This is where anyone from drug companies to cosmetics makers and many other types of health or beauty or other type of manufacturers pay some poor, hard-on-his-luck sap a few bucks to let them do to him what hasn’t yet been approved for them to do to the general population. Some trials are quick in-and-outs putting $50 in your hand, while others can last for months. I read one story about a guy who drank something at one of these things and it made him foam at the mouth. He was paid $150.

Or if none of the above grabs you, just recycle some bottles and cans for the deposit value! In my state of California, we get 5 cents for cans and bottles under 24 ounces and 10 cents for larger containers. It sure beats a needle in your ovary!

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Hybrid Cars - Can They Save You Money? … by neil smith

1/10/08

Hybrid cars have stirred up fascination, emotion and unfortunately confusion in the worlds of the environment, politics, transportation and of course - the 'ol pocketbook!

Many people have interest in hybrid cars for different reasons. Some want their countries to stop being so dependent upon foreign oil out of a concern for national security. Some believe our technology is causing a global warming trend with possible catastrophic expectations. Others believe a hybrid will save them money.

It is not this writer’s intention to take positions in this forum in the areas of politics or world weather forecasting. But it is my job to try and open dialogues on ways to make money, save money and live better. With this in mind, I will be focusing this article strictly upon one question… WILL A HYBRID CAR SAVE YOU MONEY?

The best way to determine this is to find out the TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP of a hybrid car and compare it with similar gas models over a projected period of five years.

TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP for a car consists of the following data:

      Depreciation
      Fuel Cost
      Financing
      Insurance
      Maintenance
      Fees, Taxes
      Repairs

I spent several hours researching various websites and I must admit that finding good data to compare with was a chore and quite honestly, I didn't find much I could really hang my hat on unfortunately. Many websites had data regarding this car or that car, but the data varied wildly from site-to-site, I felt it best to include mainly data from websites that had a variety of vehicles with their TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) posted.

In the interest of presenting the most clear and concise conclusions, I stuck with the 2007 models of 4 cars which I felt covered the bases pretty well. The Toyota Prius (hybrid), The Toyota Yaris (Gas), The Honda Civic (Hybrid) and the Honda Civic (Gas). I tried to include data on the Toyota Camry hybrid and gas models but it proved to be elusive.

So, without further adieu, here is the comparison breakdown of the TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP for the aforementioned cars:

Toyota Prius (hybrid)
Yahoo! $38, 642
Intellichoice $33,305
Auto Channel $37,409

Toyota Yaris (gas)
Yahoo! $32,640
Intellichoice $22,901
Auto Channel $20,696

Honda Civic (hybrid)
Yahoo! $36,281
Intellichoice $31,595
Auto Channel $36,281

Honda Civic (gas)
Yahoo! $32,856
Intellichoice $26,677
Auto Channel $32,929

Now the Toyota comparisons may not be completely fair since the Prius is a hot, trendy car in high demand fetching top-dollar and the Yaris is their rock-bottom, no frills economy car. I compared the two because the Prius seems to be the most popular and has arguably the best mileage rating and I wanted to see how it stacked up financially against a car designed strictly for economy since we are focusing on whether or not you will save money buying a hybrid.

In contrast, I believe the data for the Honda Civic models are the most telling. 2 identical car models, one hybrid and one gas-only and all 3 websites gave the nod to the gasoline-only model with an average savings of $3899 over 5 years!

And if you compare the numbers for the Toyota Prius hybrid versus the Yaris gas-only vehicle, the Yaris wins handily (despite an unusually high TCO number from Yahoo!) with an average savings of $11, 040 over 5 years!

As fuel prices continue to rise, of course the hybrids do become more competitive and conceivably the better choice.

In conclusion:
It’s pretty obvious that if your goal is to save the planet, hug a tree and do your part for national security, doing so by driving a hybrid car can conceivably help towards this end! But if your goal is strictly to save money, the gas-only models still seem to be the most economical way to go currently if you shop wisely. As hybrid technology and other new technologies continue to proliferate, this will likely change and change very rapidly. While doing my research, I stumbled across a projection that within 5-10 years, almost all new vehicles will be hybrid or energized by some other “alternative power source.” This change can’t come soon enough, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that the cure won’t be worse than the disease (i.e. the MTBE fuel additive which poisoned countless ground water sources)!

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Benjamin Franklin was the Genius of Compound Interest … by neil smith

12/27/07

Ben Franklin was a lot of things - A founding father of America, Inventor, Entrepreneur and financial genius.

At the ripe old age of 77 Ben Franklin got a wild hair and added a couple of new heirs into his will and this action would continue to be a philanthropic source of good will for the next 200 years. He added a section to his will that gave $5000 each to the cities of Philadelphia and Boston with stipulations that the money be used to provide loans to the young and poor and that the borrowers had to pay the debt back within 10 years at an interest rate of 5%.

Ben allowed that the cities, after 100 years, would be able to use a half million dollars from their respective funds for public works while the remaining funds would continue on in the same fashion (loans to the young and poor at 5% interest) for another hundred years. At the end of the 200 year term, each fund was worth 20 million dollars thanks to the 9th wonder of the world, compound interest!

OK - WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO YOU!?

Need to save for retirement? Put a kid through college? Establish a safety net? With some time and the genius of compound interest, you could simply throw your pocket change in a dish nightly and then deposit it in a bank account at the end of each month. Maybe keep a bin at your home for recyclable bottles and cans and go collect the deposits on them on your way to the bank each month and add that money into that account as well. When you have enough saved, move that money somewhere where it can grow at a better interest rate, and in some cases, tax-free (401k, Roth IRA, certain college savings plans). You’ll be amazed at what a lil’ chump change can do! Maybe even put a kid through college!

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Great Invention? Great Idea? What The Hell Do You Do With It!? … by neil smith

12/18/07

I get about 15 new crazy ideas for products that I believe could make millions every day, but I could never figure out what to do from that point forward! Well, I finally did some research on this very subject I have pondered for many years, and below is the result of my research. Let’s get to it shall we?…

#1 - PROTECT THE IDEA - This means a patent. The good part about obtaining a patent is that you now own this idea and product in a legal sense and can prevent others from infringing upon it, or better yet, license it for big bucks. The bad part is that getting a patent is a long, drawn-out and very painful and discouraging process. Don’t believe me? Take a look around the US Patent and Trademark Office website http://www.uspto.gov and prepare to be dumbfounded with endless legal-eze, regulations and hoops to jump through. A full patent can run you around $1500 if you do it yourself. Add on about $4000 more if you hire a patent attorney to help you through the process. You may also opt to file for a “Provisional Patent Application” which will give you Patent Pending status for around a hundred dollars.

#2 - MAKE A PROTOTYPE - It could be a full-on version of your final idea or just something simple and clumsy that will help get your point across to someone actually skilled enough to develop it.

#3 - GET A SMALL BATCH OF YOUR INVENTION MADE - If you can’t make the final product yourself, research online and find places that will manufacture small runs of custom products. You may have to work the phones and do quite a bit of running around on this one so sharpen your communication skills!

#4 - BEAT THE STREETS - Yep, the old fashioned way! Research retailers where your product would likely be a fit and go see them. Since you are new and untested, be prepared for a lot of rejection, but if you are persistent and keep going, you are bound to eventually find that first person who will say yes and agree to carry your product if it is a good one. Then you can use them in your future sales pitches (i.e. “This product is currently being carried in Sam’s Custom Toothbrush!”) Most people like to see your product already having some level of acceptance elsewhere before considering it for themselves. Thus getting your first sale is the hardest, but after that it does get easier.

#5 - NETWORK! NETWORK! NETWORK! - And did I mention that you should NETWORK!? Go to trade shows, go to community meetings, join the Chamber of Commerce (in several cities!). Just get out there and meet people anywhere and everywhere. You may find people who can help get your product into new places, or who can give you great new ideas. You may find people who can manufacture your product cheaper and faster and do a better job of marketing. Networking is viral and compounds upon itself continually giving you an exponentially greater pool of resources to tap into as time goes by.

#8 - MARKET YOUR WARES - Do a lot of research to determine what is likely to be the best strategy for getting the word out about your product (print, tv, internet, billboards, etc.). If you do not have the money to market properly, you may be able to obtain financing from a lender if you can get your idea across well enough. Some people who could not obtain loans have done some very creative things to raise marketing funds (thrown parties, car washes, made deals with their local loan sharks using their appendages as collateral!)

#7 - DON’T BE AFRAID TO PITCH YOUR PRODUCT TO THE BIG BOYS! - Do some research and find out who does the buying for Wal-Mart or Target or whoever the behemoth in your market may happen to be and don’t be afraid to call them or march right up to them in person and tell them what you have. You have nothing to lose by going for the brass ring. Just be sure to be professional and coherent about your product and have a neat and clean appearance.

#8 - DON’T BE AFRAID TO PUT IN “SWEAT EQUITY” - Starting your business is almost never easy and there will be times that you will wonder what the heck you were thinking. Then you will think back to that time you were working like a slave to make someone else rich and that is where you will find your inspiration. That is where I find mine! I have been my own boss for 4 years now and although there are times when I literally work nonstop night and day and other times where I am scrambling to find new clients in a frightening panic, I have never regretted taking that big step and becoming my own boss and every day I promise myself that I AM NEVER GOING BACK!

#9 - TAKE SOME TIME OFF AND ENJOY THE FRUITS OF YOUR LABOR - What good is being successful if you don’t take some time off once in a while and enjoy it? Many times, you come back with a fresh perspective on things that enable you to reach even higher highs.

AND FINALLY…

Well, by now you must have figured out that I do not have any “magic bullets” to offer that will make you an instant success overnight. If they existed, everyone would be a millionaire. It’s a lot of hard work obtaining success in life, but the rewards are absolutely worth it. You don’t have to do everything at once. Just take that first step down the path and take on the challenges as they come and just keep moving forward towards your goals. When you finally get a moment to look back, I bet you will be amazed at how far you have come!

Below are some great resources for inventors I have found online. I think you will find them helpful and informative:

uspto.gov - United States Patent and Trademark Office

eHow.com - How To Market Your Invention

Dyson.com - The Patent Process

InventHelp.com - Inventor Help and Education Resources

InventorFraud.com - National Inventor Fraud Center

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Reverse Mortgages - Leaping Ahead or Stepping Backwards ? … by neil smith

12/12/07

This information about reverse mortgages was researched from the website of the Federal Trade Commission. http://www.ftc.gov

Seniors over the age 62 are taking out “Reverse Mortgages” in increasing numbers these days to pay for healthcare, home improvements or to supplement income without increasing monthly bills or having to sell their homes.

In a “Reverse Mortgage” you receive money from a lender in exchange for portions of your home’s equity. You are not required to pay this money back as long as you are living in your home. This money is usually only paid back to the lender when you either:

* Sell your home
* Cease living in the home as your principle place of residence
* Cease living.

The income from a Reverse Mortgage is tax-free and usually comes with no restrictions on your income. Usually, the more valuable your home, the less you owe on it, and the older you are, the more money you can get.

There Are Three Kinds of Reverse Mortgages:

* Single-Purpose Reverse Mortgage
Offered by some nonprofit organizations as well as some local and state governments. This type of reverse mortgage is usually only available to people with lower income levels and can only be used for a single, specified purpose (taxes, home repairs / improvements, etc.)

* Proprietary Reverse Mortgage
This is a loan that is privately held and backed solely by the companies that develop them. This type of reverse mortgage may yield the largest loan advances if you own a home with a high-appraised value.

* Home Equity Conversion Mortgage
This one is backed by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and is federally insured with no income requirements, but often comes with steep upfront costs and is usually a fairly expensive option in general, although not usually as costly as a Proprietary Reverse Mortgage. It can however, be used for any purpose. Read on for more information about this particular type of reverse mortgage…

The Home Equity Conversion Mortage (or HECM) requires a meeting with a counselor from a government-approved independent housing counseling agency who will explain alternatives to this type of reverse mortgage as well as the loan’s financial implications and costs.

A HECM provides different options on how you receive the payments. You can have a line of credit which allows you to draw from the loan’s proceeds in any amount you wish and at any time you wish. Alternatively, you may select to have fixed monthly payments made to you for as long as you live in your home. Or you can get a combination of the two aforementioned options.

The Pretty Side of A Reverse Mortgage

Most Reverse Mortgages include a “nonrecourse” clause which is a safeguard preventing your estate or you from owing more than the home’s value when the loan has been repaid.

The Ugly Side of A Reverse Mortgage

* A Reverse Mortgage’s interest is not tax-deductible until the loan is paid off in part or whole.

* A Reverse Mortgage will use up your home’s equity either partially or wholly, meaning there will be less to pass on to your heirs if there is anything at all.

* As with most home loans, a Reverse Mortgage will usually come with origination fees and closing costs. Some lenders even charge “servicing fees” during the term of the loan.

* Reverse Mortgages can have either variable rates tied to a financial index, or fixed rates. Variable rates may increase or decrease according to market conditions. Variable rates have caused much pain to the unsuspecting homeowner in our current housing market, so borrower beware on this one. A fixed rate is usually the safer bet.

* A Reverse Mortgage may become due and payable should you default on your homeowner’s insurance or fail to pay property taxes.

* The amount you owe on a Reverse Mortgage compounds and grows exponentially over time, meaning that as your debt increases, so does the amount which the interest is charged on. Benjamin Franklin once stated that Compound Interest was the 8th wonder of the world. In this case, the only thing you are likely to wonder is where all your assets have disappeared to!

Be “In the Know” Before You Dip In Your Toe!

* KNOW all terms and conditions that could cause the loan to promptly become due and payable. Learn as much as you can about Reverse Mortgages before speaking with a lender or counselor. You could get a better deal simply by asking more informed questions.

* KNOW the projected annual average cost of the Reverse Mortgage (including itemized costs) by asking your lender or counselor to explain the Total Annual Loan Cost (TALC) rates.

* KNOW if you qualify for any single-purpose, low-cost loan programs in your area if considering for the purposes of help with property taxes or home repairs. A good source for information on these types of programs are AAAs, or “Area Agencies on Aging.” To find an agency near you, call toll-free 1 (800) 677-1116 or visit www.eldercare.gov online and ask about property tax deferral, property tax postponement or loan programs for home repairs or improvements.

* KNOW that origination fees, closing costs and servicing fees can vary from lender-to-lender. Shop around for the best deal.

Just Say NO!

Sometimes a lender will try to sell you something you may not need, like an annuity, suggesting that a reverse mortgage may be an easy way to finance it. If you are not sure you need it or don’t fully understand what they are selling, it is usually best to be skeptical. If you think you may possibly need what the lender is trying to sell you, break away, do some research and if you feel you can use the item or service being offered, shop around for the best deal.

Great Resources For Researching Reverse Mortgages:

U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
451 7th Street, SW
Washington, DC 20410
1 (888) 466-3487
www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hecm/rmtopten.cfm

Federal Trade Commission
Consumer Response Center
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20580
ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/credit/ — Click on “Mortgages & Your Home” 1 (877) FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357)

AARP Foundation
601 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20049
1-800-209-8085
www.aarp.org/revmort/list

Reporting Fraud

If you suspect that anyone is violating the law, let the loan servicer, lender or counselor know.

You should then file a complaint with The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). toll-free, at 1 (877) FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or online at ftc.gov as well as your state banking regulatory agency or state Attorney General’s Office.

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Pitch a Bitch and Penny Pinch! … by neil smith

Or… Complain Your Way To BIG Savings!

12/5/07

I admit I am frugal and I do also consider myself a pretty ethical guy. I do take wrong and right into account with my daily actions, but when companies waste my time with bad service and products causing me losses in my productivity and thus my ability to earn, or even worse… try to outright swindle me, I don't think twice about extracting my “pound of flesh” by complaining and making legal threats until I have extracted as many concessions as I can.

Just such a situation occurred very recently while signing up for a package deal for television and internet services with DirecTV and Earthlink Internet. Read on…

I signed up over the phone for a package deal where I would get DirecTV in 2 rooms and Earthlink DSL for the low, low price of $45 a month with no additional charges. This was a deal being offered by DirecTV.

The person who took my order on the phone set up the free installation time and also supposedly signed me up for Earthlink DSL at the same time. I was to expect the installation software package to be in the mail. The package never came.

To make a long story shorter, DirecTV and Earthlink never communicated with one another and tried to bounce me back and forth between their 2 companies with each claiming it was the other's responsibility to solve any problems I was having. When I tired of this game, I merely called up DirecTV's cancellation department and told them I was ready to cancel and explained why and not only did this department fix the problem, but through my threat of leaving, I was able to extract additional price concessions from them saving me a couple of hundred additional dollars over the course of my one-year contract.

The cancellation department at my old cable provider also offered me very deep discounts to stay on with them far and above what their sales department was able to offer for the purpose of customer retention. So I guess the moral of this story is that if you want the best deal possible from your current service providers, go directly to the cancellation departments and tell them you wish to cancel your services. They may only break even or possibly even lose money keeping you, but they use their number of subscribers to tout their services, so they still see enough value in you for their overall marketing power to take a bit of a hit to keep you in hopes of attracting bigger spenders for their higher-end services. This is pretty much the same as a department store's "loss leaders" which are deeply discounted items designed to entice you into the store in hopes of selling more profitable wares to you. If you play these strategies to your own advantage, you can be the one coming out on top EVERY TIME!

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Mortgage Elimination Systems and Services - Do They Work? … by neil smith

11/27/07

I got a phone call the other day from a former colleague touting a plan to rid me of my mortgage burden in just a few years, and her new company would handle everything for the low, low price of only five thousand dollars!

Now I had barely known this person when I did work with her, and the website for this “company” was emblazoned with the oh-so-professional “Go-Daddy” logo, and I had discovered shortly before my departure from our mutual former company that our former company had been in kahootz with a known felon peddling a credit repair program which may or may not have been reputable.

I had heard about mortgage elimination schemes, but never knew how they worked, and because I did not trust this person nor the company she kept for obvious reasons, I did not get all the answers, but I did get a rough overview of “the pitch” via a 2-hour conversation where she pulled out all the stops to try and get me obnboard.

This whole scheme revolves around the checks you get from your mortgage lender to write against the equity in your home and also checks issued to you by your credit card lenders to access the available credit in those accounts.

With many credit cards, there is no interest charged if you pay the balance in full each month. Therefore, the scheme is to put as much of your mortgage debt onto your credit cards as possible (by paying with your credit card-issued checks) and then pay the credit cards off with the checks from your mortgage lender each month to avoid paying interest on the credit cards. During the time the debt is on your credit cards rather than your mortgage, you are not accruing any interest charges on those amounts and therefore, more of “your” money that would normally have gone to pay down mortgage interest can now go to pay down mortgage principle instead, thus paying down your mortgage debt faster and eliminating your mortgage in a much shorter period of time.

The $5000 fee this company was charging, was for their team of “experts” to time the sending of checks between the mortgage lender and credit card companies for maximum impact. Their pitch was that the timing was different for different lenders and they had a “custom-written software package” that calculated just the right times to write and send the checks so as to avoid exceeding credit limits and to obtain the maximum benefit possible.

I personally do not have the nerve to try this one out on my own and was not about to trust the aforementioned group of persons performing this “service” so I really don’t know if this works in practice or not. But I will say that the theory does seem plausible if you really can time these transfers right.

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried something like this and what their results were. Have you had success? Were you taken by a shifty, fly-by-night company? Enquiring minds want to know!

As always, please share your thoughts and help grow this blog into a community where we help each other not only avoid pitfalls and scams, but share ways to make money and live better in general.

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Funny Munny! … by neil smith

11/21/07

Here some fun activities you can do with YOUR MONEY!

The Greed States

Here’s something you can do with a dollar bill that really speaks for itself!

   1. Take a One Dollar Bill and turn it over so that you are looking at the back.
   2. Next, make a vertical fold through the center of the circular design on the right (the one with the eagle and the shield).
   3. Now bring that fold over to the left until the right half of the right circle covers exactly half of the left circle (the one with the pyramid on it) making one perfect circle.
   4. Now read the words directly below the circle and you will be quite amazed.
   5. It simply says “The Greed States.”

Pennies Will Grow - Literally!

    * Did you know that you can increase the pH levels for hydrangeas by inserting a penny into potting soil?

    * Placing pennies around your garden seedlings will repel slugs!

One Million Dollars Is Still A Ton Of Money!

Fact: One million one dollar bills together weigh just over 2000 lbs.! 2040.8 to be exact!

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How I Lost 50 Pounds of Fat Without Chopping Off My Head! … by neil smith

11/14/07

I was short for my weight standing 5′11″ and weighing in at 238 pounds just two years ago at my heaviest and I feared that going over the 240 mark could mean elastic waistbands into my distant future and I was not about to let that happen! So I decided to harness my own compulsions and use them to work for me instead of against me.

I changed my diet to eating nothing but meat and vegetables until the last 7 days of the month when I could eat anything I wanted. Believe it or not, this worked very well for about the first 15 pounds over the course of about 5 months and then I plateaud for a couple of months. That is when I threw a bit of exercise into my routine. Something I did NOT want to do!

Nonetheless, I was determined to see the underside of 200 pounds within the coming year so I reluctanly began walking about a mile every morning before I began my day. Within a few more months I found myself at 210 pounds and plataued once again for a few months. That’s when I knew I had to stop eating Kentucky Fried Chicken.

So I managed to lose another 5 pounds over the next month and plataued yet again. That’s when I cut myself down to just one item at Panda Express. 2 months later, I weighed in at 196 pounds and celebrated breaking the 200 mark by taking my wife to dinner at Louise’s Trattoria on Melrose in Hollywood and eating pasta until I couldn’t walk.

I am now hovering around 190 pounds and my target weight is 180 pounds. It has been a long journey thus far, but I am not about to stop until I have reached that 180 magic number. At that point, I am thinking that I will keep my diet, but perhaps make it one week on / one week off sort of thing, just to maintain. I haven't decided.

If you have compulsions in your life, they can be the most destructive elements imaginable, or if you learn how to focus them and make them work for you rather than against you, I firmly believe they can lead you to great success! I hope to become living proof of this very, very soon! You don't get fat overnight, so don't get discouraged when you try a couple of things and don't see much in the way of results. You have to get in for the long haul and there are ways to do it and still get to enjoy the foods and activities (or lack thereof) that you enjoy.

P.S. The low carb Six Dollar Burger / lettuce wrap at Carl’s Junior totally rocks! I get it without the cheese and mayo though. (you can also order it with an extra patty!). If you find a combination Carls Jr. / Green Burrito you have hit the jackpot! You can add tons of awesome salsas to your low carb burger and really rock it out!

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Repair Your Credit and Take On the Big Three … by neil smith

TransUnion, Experian and Equifax. The three reporting agencies for credit and a pain in the butt for nearly anyone who has ever had to rely on their reports for things like buying a car, owning a home and even getting a job!

Some companies claim to be able to repair your credit. Can a company actually repair your credit? Technically no, but you can hire a company that can guide you through challenging errors on your report that may have contributed to lowering your score.

Credit repair companies uaually charge an upfront fee that will secure their services for one year. They start by reviewing your credit reports from the big 3 reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, and going over them in detail to see if there were any noticeable errors.

They would then guide you through writing letters to the 3 agencies disputing certain items, including proof of things corrected, and asking for verification of certain procedures that supposedly were, by law, required to be followed in order to place the bad marks on the credit report. The agencies would eventually respond via the mail. Sometimes things would be corrected and the score would be improved, and other times, there would be no change.

Then the letters would be re-generated and re-sent over the course of the next year continually attempting to have bad marks removed, challenging procedures and attempting to have mistakes corrected. A bad mark appearing in more than one agency’s report, once removed, could then be used as proof the mark should not be included on the others.

Supposedly there are 16 different procedures required under the Fair Credit Reporting Act that an agency must adhere to before putting a negative mark on a person’s credit report according to the sales literature I had read. I have not personally read through the FAIR CREDIT REPORTING ACT, (nor do I intend to, because quite frankly, it’s time consuming and mind-numbing.) but the strategy is pretty much to continually bombard the agencies with letters in hopes of reversing bad marks mostly on technicalities.

The overall idea sounds as though it could be plausible and have merit, but obviously from the experience I personally had in this area, my advice would be - be very careful about who you deal with out there and check the backgrounds of people and companies before handing over your hard-earned dollars for a service you may or may not receive.

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Negotiating Debt Negotiation - … by neil smith

11/1/07

What is debt negotiation?

This is when you have a 3rd party negotiate with your lenders on your behalf seeking better terms and payback plans.

I worked at a debt negotiation company a few years back and it was a learning experience to say the least. This company did seem a bit fly-by-night, but they did seem to be a bit more ethical and careful than what I presume a lot of other companies in this business may have been.

I was able to witness people going into this program, in the midst of this program and coming out and for certain people in certain circumstances, the feeling I came away with was that this could actually work very well. It is however, the last gasp of hope for many people over their heads in credit card debt and trying to avoid bankruptcy.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

First, the person wishing to consider the program must meet a certain set of criteria:

   1. Their debt-to-income ratio needs to be bad enough to where their income-level cannot pay back the debt in any reasonable amount of years, but not so bad that bankruptcy is their only option.
   2. The state they live in must have a certain amount of leniency towards borrowers built in to their laws (varies state-to-state).
   3. The person needs to be willing to sign a power-of-attorney giving the debt-elimination company the right to negotiate with their creditors on their behalf.

Then the person needs to stop paying their creditors altogether for several months, but not so many months that the creditor sells the debt note to a collection agency. The amount of time can be different for each credit card company, so the debt-negotiators need to know their stuff in this department. Once the creditor has gone a few months with no payments, you have their attention and the negotiator calls and trys to work out a deal to lower or eliminate interest rates altogether and sometimes negotiate down part of the debt principle itself. The negotiator is (hoefully) very experienced and knows just how far they can bend various credit companies. The creditor has an incentive to negotiate because they are no longer receiving payment from the debtor, and selling the note off to collections will only reap them a portion of the amount owed. Thus, the creditor’s incentive is to negotiate and still try to come out ahead of where they would be if they sold the note to collectors.

Sometimes it took years for people to get through this program, but many did come out the other end having paid their re-negotiated debt off and avoiding bankruptcy.

Ok, I already know where your head is going at this point… THEY TOTALLY RUINED THEIR CREDIT SCORE! And the answer is yes, absolutely they did significant damage to their credit score, but they already had a terrible credit score to begin with because of their debt-to-income ratio, so they had nothing to lose.

I know the other place your head is going too… DIDN’T THESE DEADBEAT BORROWERS BRING THE SITUATION UPON THEMSELVES? DIDN’T THEY KNOW THE TERMS AND THE INTEREST RATES INVOLVED? SHOULDN’T THEY HAVE PAID BACK THE LOANS ON THE TERMS THEY SIGNED WITH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES? The answer is absolutely yes! These are mostly people who over-extended themselves and exercised an absolute lack of self control, or just did not bother to read and understand what they were getting themselves into, BUT the lenders also assume a risk when lending and set their interest rates accordingly covering themselves enough to still make a very healthy profit despite the projected amount of deadbeats. And anyone who has ever owned a credit card knows firsthand how the companies will hide the most negative terms in the tiny type and confusing legal-eze in an obvious attempt to distract and dupe, so I for one am not about to shed any tears for them.

The moral and ethical ramifications of this one are certainly grist for the mill.

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Does Debt Negotiation Work? … by neil smith

10/23/07

What is debt negotiation?

This is when you give power of attorney to a 3rd party to negotiate with your lenders usually seeking better terms and an easier payback plan.

I worked at such a company awhile back. It did seem a bit fly-by-night, but they seemed to be at least a bit more ethical, caring and careful than what I presume a lot of other companies trying this business out may have been.

I was able to see the progress of people going through every phase of this program and for certain people in certain circumstances, my feeling is that this was a program that could actually work very well in certain situations. It is basically the last hope for many trying to avoid bankruptcy.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

First, the person wishing to consider the program must meet a certain set of criteria:

   1. Their debt-to-income ratio needs to be bad enough to where their income-level cannot pay back the debt in any reasonable amount of years, but not so bad that bankruptcy is their only option.
   2. The state they live in must have a certain amount of leniency towards borrowers built in to their laws (varies state-to-state).
   3. The person needs to be willing to sign a power-of-attorney giving the debt-elimination company the right to negotiate with their creditors on their behalf.

Then the person needs to stop paying their creditors altogether for several months, but not so many months that the creditor sells the debt note to a collection agency. The amount of time can be different for each credit card company, so the debt-negotiators need to know their stuff in this department. Once the creditor has gone a few months with no payments, you have their attention and the negotiator calls and trys to work out a deal to lower or eliminate interest rates altogether and sometimes negotiate down part of the debt principle itself. The negotiator is (hoefully) very experienced and knows just how far they can bend various credit companies. The creditor has an incentive to negotiate because they are no longer receiving payment from the debtor, and selling the note off to collections will only reap them a portion of the amount owed. Thus, the creditor’s incentive is to negotiate and still try to come out ahead of where they would be if they sold the note to collectors.

Sometimes it took years for people to get through this program, but many did come out the other end having paid their re-negotiated debt off and avoiding bankruptcy.

Ok, I already know where your head is going at this point… THEY TOTALLY RUINED THEIR CREDIT SCORE! And the answer is yes, absolutely they did significant damage to their credit score, but they already had a terrible credit score to begin with because of their debt-to-income ratio, so they had nothing to lose.

I know the other place your head is going too… DIDN’T THESE DEADBEAT BORROWERS BRING THE SITUATION UPON THEMSELVES? DIDN’T THEY KNOW THE TERMS AND THE INTEREST RATES INVOLVED? SHOULDN’T THEY HAVE PAID BACK THE LOANS ON THE TERMS THEY SIGNED WITH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANIES? The answer is absolutely yes! These are mostly people who over-extended themselves and exercised an absolute lack of self control, or just did not bother to read and understand what they were getting themselves into, BUT the lenders also assume a risk when lending and set their interest rates accordingly covering themselves enough to still make a very healthy profit despite the projected amount of deadbeats. And anyone who has ever owned a credit card knows firsthand how the companies will hide the most negative terms in the tiny type and confusing legal-eze in an obvious attempt to distract and dupe, so I for one am not about to shed any tears for them.

The moral and ethical ramifications of this one are certainly grist for the mill.

If you liked this article, or even if you thought it totally sucked, you should still visit my flagship website at LET'S GET AHEAD! Make Money, Save Money, Live Better! to read more and get exposed to my google ads.

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The Best Savings Account ! … by neil smith

10/16/07

I like keeping my dollars liquid and no, I'm not a shill for any banks, but I did find a really great savings account that earns only about 1% less interest than a CD, so I figured I would share!

It is with an online bank called ING Direct . You make around 4.35% interest with no fees and it's FDIC insured.

You sign up online at ingdirect.com and transfer money from your regular bank account and start earning the interest. When you need to access that money, you transfer it back (can take around 3 days or so for the transfer to happen, but at 4.5%, it’s well worth a small annoyance such as this).

You can also set up sub-accounts if you wish to earmark certain amounts for different things and tranfer your money around instantly. Personally, I use the main account for my safety net (a must for the self-employed) and a sub account to for property taxes (why have them withheld by your mortgage company when they do not pay you interest!?).

I also use sub-accounts to hold deposits placed by my music business clients when they schedule me for events far in the future. Because they reserve the right to cancel up to one month in advance and receive a portion of their deposit back, I need to have these funds set aside until it is less than one month before, so I may as well earn interest on it in the meantime.

There are also other offerings, none of which have interested me in the slightest such as CD (certificates of deposit) which start around 5.5% for a 6-month CD and only go up in small increments for longer terms. Now, if I am already earning 4.5%, why in the hell would I want to tie my money up for 6 months only to earn a lousy extra one percent!? They also do home loans and lots of other things I really have not had a calling to explore any further, but if you care to check it out, I encourage you to do so.

By the way, if you think I am a shill for ING, I am definitely not. It is just a cool savings plan that has served me very well for years and I am just passing the info along. If you have any thoughts on this, or better yet, know of something better, please visit my official website at http://www.letsgetahead.com and leave a posting in the comments. I would love to read your thoughts!

Neil Smith is the owner of LET'S GET AHEAD! Make Money, Save Money, Live Better!
Please visit and contribute at the official website http://www.letsgetahead.com

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Eliminate Your Debts By Playing A Game! ... by neil smith

YOU MAY READ AN EXTENDED VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE ALONG WITH MANY OTHERS AT MY OFFICIAL WEBSITE LET'S GET AHEAD! Make Money, Save Money, Live Better!

A few years back, my wife and I each were facing about $20,000 in credit card debts consisting of such things as a car purchase, living expenses from recuperation of a leg injury and so forth. We eliminated this debt in less than two years by playing a game!

It works like this:

My wife and I made charts on the wall - one with my total amount of debt and the other with my significant other’s total amount of debt (if you are single, just make a chart for yourself and reward yourself when you reach goals). Every time one of us reached a paydown goal of paying down $1000 of our total debt, the other would have to take them out to a sushi dinner. Every goal of $5000 paid down, the other would have to take them to sushi and a concert of their choosing. Once all the debt was eliminated, we would both get out of town and go spend a week vacationing in Vegas (which is actually a safe, entertaining and economical getaway for us because neither of us care for gambling.).

The results of this game were absolutely amazing! Believe it or not, we became debt free in a year and a half (we REALLY like sushi!) shuffling our debts in the aforementioned manner and paying down our highest balances each month and then continued the game in reverse once debt-free so that we could save for a downpayment on a home (each time the other saves $1000 they get sushi and then sushi and a concert at $5000 saved). Of course we were working like fiends, putting in overtime at our jobs every opportunity we got and doing every odd job we could find on the side staying completely tunnel-vision on reaching our goals, but the reward was definitely worth it!

We now own a townhome in Van Nuys, California (still can’t afford a real house, but we’re working on that with our realtor at this very moment), manage to pay down about an extra $2ooo on our mortgage each month and have a year’s mortgage’s set aside as a safety measure. My wife is making me take her to see Toby Keith, I am eyeing tickets to Stevie Wonder and we practically live at Tomo Sushi in Burbank. Go in and enjoy a great meal and tell Tom, the head sushi chef that I sent you! TWO SPICY TUNA HANDROLLS PLEASE!

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