March 1st, 2010

how to budget personal finances

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

Indulge in One Financial Vice to Keep Your Overall Spending in Check

If you want to be financially successful, it's important to clamp down on your spending. On the other hand, allowing yourself to budget money for a single regular indulgence might be an effective way to keep your overall spending on track.

Photo by John Weise.

Finance blogger Adam Baker says even though he's typically a frugal guy, he allows himself to sink part of his hard-earned cash into martial arts training, a hobby he really loves. Although the classes run him more than $160 a month, the benefits—good mental and physical health—far outweigh the pain to his pocketbook.

Sure, he doesn't need the classes in the same way he needs to pay his electric and phone bills. Baker's point, though, is that while financial advisors might suggest cutting back on his expensive hobbies, doing so might make him liable to burn out on saving money altogether. All work and no play… well, you know the rest.

If you're trying to decide whether an expense falls under the “financial vice” category, Baker says to ask yourself a series of quick questions to help you figure it out. Chief among them:

Is it consistent with our other goals? This is tough because many of these expenses will work against our financial goals by nature. However, we try to consider any ancillary benefits that are generated from the financial vice. Martial arts helps my fitness goals, provides me with a fun community of people, and helps me to stay mentally calm while under intense pressure (trust me).

Check out the post for more questions to ask yourself, and some ideas on limiting the amount of financial vices you indulge. What about you? Do you find that giving in to a spendy craving or two helps you stay on budget, or do you fold like a house of cards once you buy something not in your budget? Talk about it in the comments.

The bad news is that most reform comes when the existing system collpases rather than when it becomes clear that the math predicts insolvency. The good news is that reforms can work well. They change the game more quickly than expected because a savings base is formed and a huge part of the population are active capitalists. Chile is center-left politically but pretty conservative with economic policy because everyone loses when politicians start attacking private sector players or draining resources.

The actuarial reality is not liberal or conservative. The whole basis for our particular system hinged on ever expanding demographic growth in the working age category (from births, from adding work force participants and/or by moving up the retirement age.) What saved SS in the 1980's wasn't tweaking some payments or adding to retirement age, it was massive inflow of women into the workforce. Massive inflows of immigrants in the 1990's have helped FICA. There are non FICA costs to school districts, healthcare, law enforcement, etc. but FICA has benefited.

Increasing the defined benefit has been magic wand stuff - you assume that wealth will grow and productivity will increase. Social Security has played the magic game a bit through COLA and turning a blind eye to rampant fraud allowing ineligible recipients and criminals to tap payments. State and local governments have completely abdicated fiduciary responsibility and made defined benefit promises that are untethered to the tax base or common sense.It's heads I win, tail you lose for public sector employees. Stock market falls, tough luck, raise taxes and give my dough. In the private sector, companies go bankrupt and defined benefits end.

Part of the Chile story involved allowing people to choose to opt in or opt out of a private system if you were above a certain age. I think it was around 50. If you opted in, you kept the promised payments and the payments had to budgeted into the government budget. If you opted out, you received a credit based on past contributions but went to defined contribution and private accounts. Many more people opted in than pure actuarial analysis would have predicted largely because people don't trust politicians and want their own accounts.People decide if they want to retire early or work more, they can be frugal and pass savings on to their estate.

There is a safety net payment for the destitute but that is welfare not "retirement" and must be funded in each budget. You have to deal with larger reported deficits when making the move to allowing people to have their own accounts and the government is no longer robbing the funds to pay current bills. It is not as bad as it sounds and the system starts with indiviudal accounts having to allocate a percentage of investment to government bonds - something that is prudent anyway in a diversified portfolio.

Over time, most restrictions on where the investments go have been lifted and riskier investments allowed.People have separate broker accounts and could always allocate other savings to whatever level of risk they wanted.

It is not perfect but it is better than what we have and young and old pull together.

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February 15th, 2010

Ways of Making Money

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

I had a boss, years ago, whose favorite saying was “Doing something is always better than doing nothing.” That was effective in some cases, especially in a manufacturing environment where a down line is always far worse than a crippled one. And while it might have been used successfully more often than not, it was not fool proof; making bad widgets and passing off production line blunders to the unsuspecting end-user was not a really good business model-one tends to shrink their customer base when they make a habit out of such wrecklessness.

Speaking of wrecklessness, it should be noted that our President (and the ideology that drives the party over which he presides) appears to be suffering from the same disease my old boss did. And while I am tempted to just poke a pointy stick at him and mock his colleagues, I think time would be better spent here taking a closer look at what he has in mind for us in dealing with the mess that Congress has been making for a very long time now; looking for ways to spend and worrying about how to fund them after the fact.

I understand the sensation Politicians must feel when they get elected, sworn in, and set loose in the halls of Congress to do “the People’s business” because it is the righteousness of their principles that inspires them to pursue public service in the first place. Of course, magazine covers, tv appearances, and newspaper headlines are the heady things that keep them motivated (and keep them looking for ever-new ways to justify their re-election bids) and who can blame them? The problem, however, presents itself when those they intended to serve become those upon whom they must prey in the name of their political survival.

We certainly have big problems, and they certainly need attention. And we send our elected officials to Washington to work together do just that. But, as a dear friend and colleague pointed out to me recently, “the problem is not that the political system is unable to deal with the issue(s). The problem is that enough politicians are not willing to deal with the issue(s).”

Fundamentally speaking, Liberals believe Government is the answer to our big problems and Conservatives believe Government (in super-large doses at least) is the cause of them. That no bridge can be built to span this ideological chasm is reflected by the partisan rancor we see every few years as one side takes the majority, squanders it, and hands it back to the other. Our President finds himself at risk of squandering his own majority these days and now frantically searches for ways to appease the growing unrest amongst the American People over real and perceived crises he may (or may NOT) be to blame for.

If you believe President Obama, our biggest issue is that we don’t have enough revenue coming in to the Fed coffers to solve all of these big problems Americans are facing these days. He sees this as a problem requiring new and ever-more creative ways to derive more money from us in order to pay for the things he and his majority have convinced themselves we cannot live without. No grocery list is needed here, but suffice it to say that should our Politicians have to manage their personal checkbooks the way this economy has forced the every-day American to manage his/her own, they would likely not align themselves with some of the loftier goals this Administration has in mind:

“Our real problem is not the spike in spending last year, or the lost, even the lost revenues last year, as significant as those are,” he said. “The real problem has to do with the fact that there is a just a mismatch between the amount of money coming in and the amount of money going out. And that is going to require some big, tough choices that, so far, the political system has been unable to deal with.”

The Obama administration’s budget already takes that route with its proposed $970 billion tax increase over the next decade on Americans earning more than $200,000 a year, largely by not extending former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy beyond 2010.

Even with those revenues — and a proposed three-year freeze on some discretionary spending by the government — the administration still projects a deficit of $752 billion in 2015, equivalent to 3.9 percent of gross domestic product.

Analysts say that middle-class taxes will need to be increased because the government can’t raise enough money from the wealthy alone to close the budget gap. “It’s just not possible to get the revenue you need only from this group,” said Joel Slemrod, director of the Office of Tax Policy Research at the University of Michigan.

This articulates Obama’s conundrum very succinctly, and it’s clear he doesn’t see the flip side of the argument. Rather than pursuing lofty goals and grand ambitions…and looking at how low in the wage-earner classes he can safely go (politically) to increase their tax burdens in order to fund them… Obama could be looking at ways to stop spending (like “we, the People” have been forced to do). It’s a tough choice to be sure, but not an unreasonably requested one.

He could be looking at which of his agenda line items might be eligible for the back burner until more of us are working and contributing the broader share of taxes we’d have to offer if we were collecting a standard paycheck (as opposed to the one from our local unemployment offices). He could be looking, along with his colleagues on the left, at cuts beyond discretionary spending. But he’s not.

And they are not. They promised too many freebies to too many constituents and for some reason believe delivering on them is more important to their political survival than working to improve the overall fiscal health of the general population.

Sometimes the simultaneously easiest and most difficult choice a person can make is to just STOP; just do nothing. Take a step back, assess, recalibrate and restart. We can wait on health care reform. We can wait on climate change. We can wait on a whole host of issues that, while noble and just, do not serve the immediate need of the people on whom our elected officials rely for their daily sustenance…and continued reign in office.

Many of us out here in the hinterland long for the bygone days of politicians who consider themselves having had a good day when they prevent legislative evil versus having voted to make it bearably evil. Choosing to do nothing at all (for a brief moment), in this case, might just be better than doing something.

Here's
David Kurtz at the liberal site Talking Points
Memo:

You may have heard that Larry Kudlow, the former Reagan
economic adviser, diehard supply-sider, and CNBC host, is
considering running against Chuck Schumer for U.S. Senate from New
York.

How can Kudlow hope to match the fund-raising prowess of the
incumbent Schumer? Thanks to the Supreme Court's decision on
corporate contributions in the Citizens United case, we
got it covered, a top Kudlow supporter and pal tells TPMDC.

“People who are worried about their taxes, particularly medium- and
large-size businesses, would be more interested in helping Larry
Kudlow than Chuck Schumer,” John Lakian says.

Kurtz doesn't explicitly say that a well-funded pro-Kudlow ad
campaign would be a bad thing. But last I checked, he
didn't like the way Citizens United came out, so –
unless I missed a subsequent post in which he reversed his stance
– I figure he considers this a reason to regret the ruling. But
why? If the effect of the Court's decision is to make a race
more competitive, so that even a powerful politician with
a potent fundraising machine has to watch his back, doesn't that
mean the system is now more rather than less democratic?

Set aside whether you like Kudlow better than Schumer. (In
another context, after all, the upstart candidate could emerge from
the incumbent's left rather than his right. The most famous example
came in 1968, when a few wealthy antiwar donors fueled Eugene
McCarthy's challenge to Lyndon Johnson.) Austin v. Michigan
Chamber of Commerce, the precedent that Citizens
United overturned, dates back to 1990. If anyone has made the
case that corporate influence in D.C. declined in the two decades
while Austin was the law of the land, please point me to
the argument, because I haven't seen it. What I have seen
is a system that favors those who already have pull in Washington
and who are better able to navigate a complex set of campaign
finance regulations. If Citizens United means elections
are now more open to outsiders, that's a reason to celebrate, not
to mourn.

Incidentally, there are ways to open up elections still further
that would reduce rather than raise the role of money in politics.
When local governments consolidate or when a city moves from
ward-based elections to a council whose members are elected
at-large, the increase in the size of the electorate means it's
harder to rely on door-to-door canvassing, making campaign ads
(and, thus, campaign war chests) more important. It therefore
stands to reason that you could make money less important
and encourage more grassroots organizing by reversing the process
and breaking up those jurisdictions, an idea that could be applied
to congressional elections by having more and smaller districts.
Yet that hardly ever comes up as a proposal when campaign reformers
make their pitches. Interesting, no?

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February 9th, 2010

personal finances help

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

I am a recovering spending offender. As recent as a year and half ago I was blindly filling both online and in-store shopping baskets with unnecessary, overpriced goods. I was like many American consumers who regard shopping as sport and tend to opt for brand names and pricey shopping venues all for the experience, I bought into advertising schemes, as much as I thought I wasn't at the time, and would often not even look at price tags.

Eventually, I relied on my credit cards for nearly every necessary purchase and was living well beyond my means and struggling with a mountain of debt that made the Matterhorn look like a foothill.

Inevitably my personal house of (credit) cards came crashing down and I was forced to face up to a major financial crisis in my life which resulted in bankruptcy. I came face to face with the fact that I was financially irresponsible. No one wants to admit that, but how many of us live beyond our means and turn a blind eye to our real worth and in turn get ourselves into financial hot water?

If you can relate to the consumer habits I mentioned and have mounting debt, maybe it's time to consider changing the way you approach shopping and so that you can save money, shape up your credit, and avoid financial hardships like severe debt or bankruptcy.

Honestly Assess Your True Wealth: Which Mr. Moneybags Are You?

Remember Mr. Moneybags from Monopoly? Two images come to mind when I think of him, the one where he is rolling in cash and twiddling along with a grin on his face, and the other is Mr. Moneybags standing with a frown, pulling out his empty pockets.

Ask yourself, which Moneybags do you see yourself as?

Sometimes I think we like to think of ourselves as the loaded Moneybags when in reality we are the broke one. It is an uncomfortable thing to do sometimes, but when is the last time you sat down to honestly assess your financial situation?

Americans as a rule do not like to talk too much about annual salaries or actual cash-flow and rather like to show off their “wealth” through purchasing things like expensive televisions, the latest gaming and mobile devices, and new cars. This is the Mr. Moneybags mentality rearing its ugly head. In reality, many of these seemingly well-to-do folks are knocking on the door of bankruptcy with a frown that looks like our friend, Mr. Broke-as-a-Joke Moneybags.

According to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling 2009 Financial Literacy Survey, 41 percent of U.S. adults, or more than 92 million people living in America, gave themselves a grade of C, D, or F on their knowledge of personal finance.

If you saw the results of my net worth versus my spending back when I had to address my situation, you would have given me an F minus. I certainly gave myself one.

So when you are ready, sit down, take a deep breath and crunch the numbers. It is all surprisingly basic and when you are done leveling it all out you will see a number which represents your net worth. When I sat down to finally get to know my financial status I didn't know where to start. I found that using an online worksheet such as the one found here incredibly helpful.

The number you end up with may be something you are comfortable with and something you can work with as you pursue your new budget, or it may be in the negative. Either way it will give you an idea of where you stand and is a big step in gaining control over your personal finances.

Dump Your Credit Cards

Relying on credit cards can blur the line between actual cash-flow and available credit funds so that throughout the years, the line virtually disappears and the consumer has likely developed a false sense of security about how much they can afford. This can easily lead to a debt that is out of control, especially if income is lost or some other economic hardship occurs.

Of course, having a credit card for emergencies or as an overdraft backup for your checking account can be a good idea, but if you have had spending problems in the past and are looking for modify your budget, why not consider getting rid of your credit cards altogether?

At first I thought living without credit cards would be a big challenge, but soon learned that not only is it easy, it is incredibly empowering. For me filing for bankruptcy was what it took to see the light, but many other Americans are starting to cut up their cards in favor of a cash-flow only lifestyle.

Of course, this does not mean that you'll have to walk around with a big wad of bills (like Mr. Moneybags) all the time in order to pay for things. Most people still have a debit card which can be used for online purchases like booking a plane ticket, and there is always the option of writing a good old fashioned check in stores and for certain payments.

Setting up an emergency fund is also a good idea, and if you can find an interest-yielding account to start one, even better. For once you will be gaining interest instead of paying it!

It might sound drastic, but once you get used to living without credit cards you'll find that life becomes more simple and once you pay what you owe off, you'll be free of the burden of interest and monthly payments.

Of course, if your credit debt is too great there are other options to help get rid of or reduce your debt to make being credit card free a reality.

Never Pay Full Price

Spending offenders waste money on seemingly innocent things, like buying toilet paper. The difference between grabbing the brand name that you are used to and/or perceive as being the best and taking the time to compare pricing and select the best value can be a savings of anywhere from $0.05 to $5.00.

now imagine that kind of savings on every item you purchase, and you can imagine how much money you'll be able to save. As they say, a penny saved is a penny earned, and this rings true when you regularly use coupons, bargain shop, and make visiting your local dollar store a new habit.

Clipping coupons can be a great source of saving and is in my opinion, still underestimated. Newspapers and mailers are consistent sources of great coupons, so if you have been recycling those penny savers, stop now, and take a look through to see which products you use and plan to purchase and clip that coupon out.

As you start clipping, you'll find that it is quite fun and you'll especially be smiling when you turn them all in upon checkout and see your savings. Many store will allow you to use a coupon plus their club card so that you get extra savings. A big tip from hardcore coupon clippers is to wait until the items are on sale at the store, then go an use the coupon plus your card for impressive savings. Of course, it depends on how into coupons you want to get. Besides clipping, there are many online sources for coupons, including ones for major stores like Safeway.

Another amazing way to save money is going to dollar stores like The Dollar Tree. There seems to be a stigma on these bargain-basement wonderlands, but you should be able to quickly get over that when you realize that you can buy a 6-pack of decent paper towels for a buck. Other dollar store musts are personal hygiene products like bar soap and shampoo, and cleaning products. It might take some trial and error to find products you like at these places, but they are entirely helpful when trying to save money and will help you to change how you look at shopping. Especially how you look at pricing, as when you see the same 2-pack of Irish Spring at Safeway for nearly triple the cost of the same 2-pack at The Dollar Tree, like I did, you will find it very hard to ever pay more than a dollar for soap again.

Small Steps Can Lead to Great Strides

Taking account of your personal finances may be a tall order, but take a few small steps and you can get that much closer to taking control of your life and becoming a better, smarter consumer. Finally, being proactive about where you are financially and how you spend is key to not only a better financial future, but to a wealth of personal growth.

(Source: National Foundation for Credit Counseling, 2009 Financial Literacy Survey, April 2009)

Dampier out against Denver; Martin not playing for Nuggets …

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AMERICAblog News: ABC's new poll on partisanship

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

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Dampier out against Denver; Martin not playing for Nuggets …

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AMERICAblog News: ABC's new poll on partisanship

News and opinion about US politics from a liberal perspective.

Gmail to Get Social News Feed: Report – GigaOM

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February 9th, 2010

managing your personal finances

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

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February 8th, 2010

personal finance

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

Now Available: Printed Edition of The Real-Time Web Report

At the request of the librarian community and people that just like paper, we have made The Real-Time Web and its Future report available in print.

For those of you that prefer it digitally, you can still download it.

Don't forget about our Community Management Report. It too is coming in print soon, so watch out for it!

Web Trends

Facebook's Zuckerberg Says The Age of Privacy is Over

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told a live audience this week that if he were to create Facebook again today, user information would by default be public, not private as it was for years until the company changed dramatically in December.

In a six-minute interview, Zuckerberg spent 60 seconds talking about Facebook's privacy policies. His statements were of major importance for the world's largest social network - and his arguments in favor of an about-face on privacy deserve close scrutiny.

Why Facebook is Wrong: Privacy Is Still Important

Has society become less private or is it Facebook that's pushing people in that direction? Is privacy online just an illusion anyway? Below are some thoughts, based primarily on the pro-privacy reactions to Zuckerberg's statements from many of our readers this weekend. Though there is a lot to be said for analysis of public data (more on that later), I believe that Facebook is making a big mistake by moving away from its origins based on privacy for user data.

iPhone as RFID Tag & Reader: Coming Soon

We began a series called Mobile Web Meets Internet of Things this week, starting with a look at barcode scanning. We wrote that smartphones are increasingly being deployed as readers for barcodes - in particular via apps available on iPhone and Android. However, RFID tags are more functional and flexible than barcodes. While barcodes are cheaper and getting traction in the U.S. with the QR format, the potential for RFID tags is even greater. Apple knows this and if rumors are to believed, RFID will be integrated into the iPhone 4G later this year.

The Evolving Online Finance Ecosystem

Last week we analyzed how the Web is transforming personal finance. This week we took a broader look at the world of online finance, from personal to small business tools. To get an understanding of the online finance space, we spoke to the founder and CEO of one of the most promising startups in online finance, Rod Drury from Xero. Rod told us that he sees four types of markets in online finance: 1) Personal Finance (e.g. Mint, Wesabe, Yodlee); 2)
Small Business Accounting (e.g. Xero, Kashflow); 3)
Cloud ERP (e.g. Netsuite, Salesforce); and 4)
ERP (e.g. Microsoft, Oracle).

Editor's note: This story is part of ReadWriteWeb's Online Finance series, a weekly, three-month long look at how the Internet has transformed finance.

iPhone App Piracy Reaches $450 Million? Doubtful

According to an independent analysis performed by investment-watching blog 24/7 Wall St., Apple's iTunes App Store has lost $450 million due to iPhone app piracy since it opened for business back in July of 2008. Although that number sounds high, they note it is small in comparison to the overall size of the App Store marketplace. However, our sources say that the real number is closer to $15-$20 million instead.

SEE MORE WEB TRENDS COVERAGE IN OUR TRENDS CATEGORY

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Social Media Secrets and Resources Revealed

Presentation company Slideshare recently released its list of “5 Social Media Secrets for 2010″. While these secrets certainly sound like great suggestions, we thought we'd connect them to some concrete tactics and resources that you can use to improve your social media strategy.

Never Mind the Valley: Here's Boston

With tourists flocking to the Boston to walk the cobblestone streets of the Freedom Trail and visit various historical landmarks, Boston is often thought of for its ties to the American Revolution. But Boston is also the birthplace of a revolution of a different sort. In 1946, Georges Doriot, a professor at the Harvard Business School, founded the American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC) in Boston - one of the very first venture capital firms.

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Our channel ReadWriteEnterprise, devoted to 'enterprise 2.0' and using social software inside organizations.

VMWare, Microsoft and the Battle for the Business Market

VMware's acquisition of Zimbra from Yahoo this week points to a new form of partnership in the tech word. It's one that could define the big winners in the battle for a major piece of the enterprise market. By packaging Zimbra's popular, open-source collaboration software, VMware can provide a service that combines virtualization technology with email and calendar applications. It is similar to Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard's alliance announced today that will package Microsoft technology on HP servers.

Web Products

Google Offers Satellite Images of Haiti, Post-Earthquake

In the immediate aftermath of a 7.0 earthquake that caused an unbelievable amount of destruction to Haiti's capital, Google has been asked by relief organizations and users to show images of what's actually happening on the ground. In partnership with geospatial imagery company GeoEye, Google released a new layer for Google Earth showing post-earthquake devastation.

Nexus One and Android 2.1: Apple Better Watch Out

Less than a week ago, Google introduced its own Android phone, the Nexus One. Over the weekend, we got a chance to take the phone through its paces and while we aren't quite ready to give up our iPhone yet, the Nexus One is a formidable challenger. In terms of features, the Nexus One is already on par with the iPhone platform and beats it in many areas. When it comes to the overall user experience, the iPhone is still a step ahead of the Android platform - but that could easily change in the near future.

Going Mainstream: eMusic Signs Deal with Warner Music

EMusic, the popular subscription-based music service, this week announced that it has signed a deal with Warner Music - the world's third-largest music company. This is eMusic's second deal with a major record label. In its early days, eMusic mostly focused on featuring music from independent labels. Since the middle of 2009, however, eMusic has worked on expanding its reach by bringing more mainstream music to its catalog.

Facebook Blocked at Work? Use Your Email Instead

In our continuing obsession with all things Facebook, we looked at a new feature that was announced by the social networking behemoth that will further enmesh the site into our every waking breath: replying to comments through email. Before now, email notifications from Facebook contained a link that you had to follow, which logged you into Facebook where you could reply. You'll now notice that the email contains a line reading “New Feature: Reply to this email to comment on this link.”

SEE MORE WEB PRODUCTS COVERAGE IN OUR PRODUCTS CATEGORY

That's a wrap for another week! Enjoy your weekend everyone.

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You should also check out http://www.FiLife.com. FiLife is a personal finance question and answer platform that is now the #4 personal finance site on the web according to Comscore (December 2009). Users can come to the site and ask questions and get expert answers in a few hours.

Posted by: EK |
January 14, 2010 5:45 AM
I second that FiLife nomination. I've asked several questions there on a variety of topics and my questions usually get answered by somebody right away. Plus, tax season is coming up, and it's going to be good to have a place to ask those pesky tax questions!

Posted by: Barclay |
January 14, 2010 7:26 AM
Its still early days for these services yet, and whilst options like Xero might be good for professional type businesses, for anyone who carries / needs to account for stock they are not yet suitable. But as they build an eco-system of integrations around them then will become suitable for a wider range of businesses.

Core accounting doesn't really change, (tax rates etc change but the basics stay the same), so we've been able to use the same desktop accounting software, bought for around £300, for the past 5 years. Which make the SAAS providers very expensive by comparison. As they build more features and more data integrations then that cost may become justified.

Posted by: Robert |
January 14, 2010 9:24 AM
Small business accounting doesn't have to be complex…or scary. And that's what the web (internet DNA) can bring to small businesses…'De-scarey' accounting into simple, easy to understand workflows.

Surprised that with all the mentioned of Intuit, there isn't one of QuickBooks Online? For small businesses who want that anywhere/anytime access (and majority will in a short time!) QuickBooks Online is a big player.

We're bringing that Internet DNA (and the decades of trusted accounting knowledge) to how small businesses think about and run their books. Pretty exciting stuff there.

Kristen
QuickBooks Online Product Manager

Posted by: Kristen Berman |
January 14, 2010 9:45 AM
Doesn't First Round Capital have an interesting portfolio company that competes directly with Xero? Might be worth a mention… I forget the name.

Posted by: Andrew Parker |
January 14, 2010 9:59 AM
For personal finances, I use Mint.com - very useful feedback via emails in terms of where my money is going, and where I stand at the end of every month.

Posted by: Ceyda |
January 14, 2010 12:23 PM
I would love to try Mint but they weren't operating in the UK the last time I checked.

I've used Wesabe for a while, but the whole download/upload approach was too much for my low frustration tolerance. I blame being spoilt by API's for this

Posted by: Ray Scott |
January 14, 2010 12:25 PM
I use Quickbooks (for Windows) for business. While a solution like Xero would be an ideal, most SMB focused Accounting firms still recommend and rely on Quickbooks. I think I will be introducing my accountant to Xero.

On the personal side, Mint is great, but lacks certain features that are necessary for some people. I use Quicken (for Windows) in order to track checks and attach images. Once Mint/QOE introduces a feature set similar to the desktop version, the switch will be a no-brainer.

Posted by: Bryan Radtke |
January 14, 2010 12:36 PM
I use FreeAgent (http://www.freeagentcentral.com) for my small business. For UK based companies it's particularly fantastic as it “knows” about UK tax and VAT rules but for pretty much anyone it is beautifully designed and works a treat. First thing I signed up for when starting the business, don't regret it for a second.

Posted by: Ed Moore |
January 14, 2010 12:38 PM
Xero is missing Payroll functionality for the UK, although integration is available with two external providers at additional cost.

FreeAgent Central has it's own payroll functionality included within the Limited Company service plan (£25 per month plus VAT).

Neither FreeAgent or Xero can manage stock which is a major limitation currently.

Posted by: James |
January 14, 2010 6:19 PM
I'm not clear about why nobody's created a 3rd party service that can actually perform transactions. Mint.com, etc. make it easy to watch what's happening with your money and set budget goals, etc. but don't actually help you allocate your money. I've long wanted an online method to automatically manage balances across multiple accounts (e.g. different accounts intended for different spending categories, or just automating savings better). Banks have their own tools for doing recurring transactions but as far as I've seen they are all limited to a fixed-amount transaction and are restricted to single-future-date or fixed-interval-recurring scheduling. Why not allow a percentage of each paycheck to be transferred to savings whenever it clears? Or set up rules like pay down credit card balances before transferring to savings.

Is there some technical (doubtful) or legal reason why this type of account management isn't available?

Posted by: Brandon |
January 17, 2010 9:15 PM
Saasu.com is interesting too, it is richer than xero (e.g salary processing, inventory) so a hybrid online ERP and accounting.

Blippy.com is new and also unusual, used for sharing credit card transactions on twitter, only a matter of time before some accounting software integrates that feed from all employees with hash tags for expense categories

Cheers, Pete.

Posted by: Peter J Cooper |
January 18, 2010 2:44 PM
For SME accounting, there is also an interesting development for taking book-keeping and making the numbers useful through benchmarking. By capturing the data within book-keeping, animalizing it, analyzing and producing reports - benchmarking allows SMEs to see how their business ticks and how competitive they are in their market sector.

FreshBooks is offering it, and there are specialists such as MyCake.org which is a front end API linked to online software such as KashFlow.

Hannah
MyCake.org

Posted by: Hannah Knowles |
January 29, 2010 2:31 AM
Quickbooks is what I use but have been following Mint and realized that a lot of persons how it in high esteem.

Posted by: FinanciallySmart |
January 30, 2010 8:43 AM
One thing that's worth considering is that remote desktop and remote application technology is bringing traditional desktop applications to the web. This means that Sage and Quickbooks, the market leaders here in the UK can be accessed anywhere with the speed and familiarity of desktop software.
The costs are higher but the benefits are significant and it can be a difficult and often unsuccessful process moving from sage to a web based system, data migration, user training etc. In my experience a remote desktop solution is often the best route for an extablished business.
Having said this if I were starting a business up I'd certainly use a web-based app, QuickBooks online if or when it's available in the UK.

Posted by: Dan Hancock |
January 31, 2010 1:09 AM

MetsBlog.com – News: Fernando Martinez MVP of Carribbean Series

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February 5th, 2010

Help Making Money

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

http://www.webjam.com/gabrielle71 http://www.prlog.org/10248797-reitbuyercom-offers-opportunity-to-onlinereal-estate-stock-traders-in-albuquerque-new-mexico.html http://www.prlog.org/tag/online-stock-trading/ http://www.prlog.org/10219817-online-traders-discover-reits-and-real-estate-mutual-funds-to-be-good-investment.html http://www.prlog.org/10248797-reitbuyercom-offers-opportunity-to-onlinereal-estate-stock-traders-in-albuquerque-new-mexico.html http://www.webjam.com/gabrielle71

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February 5th, 2010

Make Making Money

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

One of the common critiques that I’ve seen about sites/books/information product/blogs/courses/e-book about making money online is that its only those teaching how to make money online who actually make money online.

‘He only has a six figure income because he charges people to learn how to make a six figure income!’

This was one comment that someone made about another blogger recently. It sparked a chorus of other similar comments – people like to use that argument.

I understand this critique on some levels – there are quite a few bloggers out there who do only make money from make money online blogs and have not really had success in any other niche. While there’s nothing wrong with this – it obviously raises the eyebrows of some and makes them wonder if it’s possible to do it any other way.

There are also a lot of make money online bloggers making big claims and hyping up their own success – trying to get credibility in what is a competitive niche. This can distort the prominence and success of this type of blog and make it seem like it’s the only type of blog that can make money.

Can you only make money online by starting a make money online site and charging for the information?

I think it’s pretty evident that this isn’t true. While there are a few prominent examples of success stories in the make money online niche there are more many more people making a great living from blogs in other niches.

However many times these stories go untold because:

the blogger behind the site doesn’t have an avenue to talk about their success
they don’t want to talk about it – for fear of competition
they simply don’t want to be seen to be boasting or ‘tooting their own horns’

I hear from many bloggers in a wide variety of niches who are making a good living from their blogs who for one reason or another have not talked publicly about their stories.

Side note: On the flip side I also hear from a lot of ‘make money online’ bloggers who struggle to make any money from their blogs (it is nowhere near as easy as it might seem).

My Own Experience

I first started making money from blogging on a blog that had nothing to do with blogging or making money from blogs. In fact the first blog I experimented with making money on was a personal blog that talked about a multitude of topics. In time that blog did start to talk about blogging but it was far from solely a ‘make money online’ blog.

I then started a photography blog that aggregated camera reviews from around the web (no longer active) on that original personal blog’s domain. That blog became the biggest source of my full time income in the next year or two (it was around this time I hit the ’six figure income’ level).

Out of my experience with that blog (and others) I started ProBlogger.net to talk about what I was learning and share tips on how to make money blogging (in 2004). ProBlogger did end up growing to earn more than that original photography blog but it wasn’t for a year or so that it got established.

The original photography blog wasn’t a very satisfying blog to run and I ended up letting it die before starting my new Digital Photography School in 2006. DPS took a couple of years to really grow to a significant level – but today it is my main source of income. Traffic wise it does 5-6 times the traffic of ProBlogger on an average day and income wise it’s making significantly more than this site (I’d estimate that it’s 3-4 times as profitable as ProBlogger most months).

I share this story in an attempt to dispel the myth that to make money online you have to talk about making money online. Yes you can make money in this niche – but there are plenty of other niches where bloggers are making as much, if not more.

Do You Make a Secret Full Time Income from Your Blogs?

My story is not unique – there are many bloggers ‘out there’ who have built successful blogs that now sustain them full time financially. By no means are these bloggers in the majority (most bloggers make very little) but they are out there!

If you’re making a full time living from your blog I’d like to connect with you. In fact – I’d like to interview you.

I know for some full time bloggers the idea of sharing your story is something you’d rather not do (due to reasons I outlined above) – but if you are interested in sharing your story and have done so simply because you didn’t have an avenue to do it I’d really be interested to touch base with you to explore whether you’d be interested in being interviewed here on ProBlogger.

If you’re interested – please contact me through the ProBlogger contact form. Please include the word ‘interview’ in the first line of your email to help me make sure it gets my attention. It would also be helpful to have a link to your blog and a short description of it and your business model. I will keep these details private unless we mutually decide to do an interview.

I can’t guarantee to interview everyone who emails – but I hope to do as many as I can to highlight how blogs have become profitable in a variety of niches.

My Own Experience

Do You Make a Secret Full Time Income from Your Blogs?

If you’re making a full time living from your blog I’d like to connect with you. In fact – I’d like to interview you.

I can’t guarantee to interview everyone who emails – but I hope to do as many as I can to highlight how blogs have become profitable in a variety of niches.

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0 Comments

February 4th, 2010

Making Money Job

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

I would be surprised if today's spotlighted story does not inspire an episode of Law and Order. Screenwriting professors tell us all the time to find film ideas in the newspaper, but that long-running TV series tend to steal all the interesting true crime plots. Still, being inspired by news is different from lifting it as near-completely as Law and Order does. We can look at an article about a man arrested for murdering a woman and removing her lungs and heart and literally adapt it for a film — with proper rights acquired — or we can think about the general idea of a jobless man being so desperate that he kills the owner of an employment agency in order to make money off her organs. This latter idea, I call …

Making a Killing

If you read of the actual case, in which the alleged murderer had been stalking the victim for many years, it would seem to be a very precise situation. The guy goes to the woman's office to get a job, he makes advances on her, she doesn't give him work, he becomes obsessed with her, he's jailed 30 days for punching and choking her, she ends up with five orders of protection against him, he ultimately ends up killing her and taking out her organs. The details confine it from being a story about the overall problem of unemployment and the desperation it causes in people.

But loosen up the story and it could be more significant to the broader issue. I see it as a film somewhere between The Assassination of Richard Nixon, which took a true story and made it a reflection of the general disillusionment of the mid 1970s, and American Psycho, which is more of a satirical impression of 1980s narcissism. Each of those films involve somewhat exaggerated representations of their eras and feature protagonists who illustrate the extreme of human desperation. The script based on the recent actions of Huang Chen should be similar, while also involving the ever-popular idea of organ harvesting (a la Dirty Pretty Things).

As of this time, authorities do not know what became of the woman's lungs and heart, but regardless of what the truth is, assuming that Chen sold (i.e. 'made a killing' on) the organs on the black market fits more with the story of a man driven to the edge by hopelessness in the job market. We may also ignore the fact that Chen's initial encounter with his eventual victim took place years before the unemployment rate became a crisis. Maybe in the film he's a serial killer who has murdered multiple employment office workers as retaliation for his status. Again, it's all about being inspired by the true crime and altering it to your narrative and thematic needs.

Oh, and if anyone decides to turn this pitch into a film, be aware that characters based on Chen and his victim will need a change in ethnicity, because unfortunately Hollywood tends not to make movies with Asians as lead characters.

“The 401(k) system has to be fixed, and I don't know anybody who can fix it but the federal government.”
- John Bogle

Late last week the federal government began floating proposals for reforming America's broken retirement system. The proposed reform centers around the idea of getting people to invest more conservatively and withdraw the money more slowly so that they don't outlive their savings.

The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are leading the effort.

Secretary Iwry developed this idea when he was working at the Brooking Institute in 2008 in conjunction with the Heritage Foundation. The concept involves rolling people's 401(k) savings into directed distribution plans unless they specifically elect not to participate.

This probably sounds like a reasonable idea until you dig beneath the surface.

“The 401(k) system today in the United States has been an acknowledged failure.”
- Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College's Carroll School of Management

To put this into perspective, consider that Congress reformed the 401(k) system three years ago. The idea back then was the exact opposite of the current proposal.

Late Thursday night, Congress passed a pension-reform bill that will transform significant aspects of how these plans can operate. Named for the section of the tax law that created them, 401(k) plans let workers sock away part of their paycheck tax-free until retirement. The problem is, too many people are making bad decisions, such as leaving their money parked in low-yielding investments instead of more suitable choices.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department, which regulates the plans, is on track to let employers automatically put their employees' money into riskier, but higher-yielding, stock and bond funds rather than low-yielding money-market funds that have long been the default option.

The fact that the concept of reforming the 401(k) system has shifted 180 degrees in just three years, from moving people into high-yield, riskier investments to moving people into low-yield, relatively safer investments, should be all the reason you need to become suspicious. The terminology of “inertia” keeping people from actively managing their retirements, and people needing to be saved from making “poor choices” are exactly the same in both reforms, yet they come to opposite conclusions.

The reason for this shift in ideas has to do largely with market timing.

“We are the prey”

When the 401(k) system was being reformed in the spring of 2007 the stock market had been on a four year bull market. Stocks were getting very expensive and overpriced. Wall Street insiders, which were holding these stocks needed someone to sell them to before the stock market began declining just six months later.

In this environment, Congress “magically” decided that 401(k) holders needed to buy more stocks, and Wall Street obliged. The 401(k) holders would have been much better off if they had instead been in money market funds, like they wanted to be, but that's not what the reformers in Congress decided. What happened instead was Wall Street insiders unloaded much of their overpriced stocks on 401(k) sheeple before the market crashed.

Today's market is very different. Interest rates are at historic lows, thus bond prices are at historic highs. The government is flooding the market with record treasury issuance and mortgage-backed security yields are only being kept down by massive intervention by the Federal Reserve. Interest rates have nowhere to go but up, which means that bond prices have nowhere to go but down.

Now Congress wants to reform the 401(k) system again, this time getting people to invest in fixed-income financial products, and Wall Street is sure to oblige again. Even Secretary Iwry's proposal admits that these lifetime income products are “inflexible and expensive” with annuity fees averaging around 6% annually, as opposed to the 3% annual fees from a 401(k).

“Our rulers deliver favors to their clients…For in a predatory regime, nothing is done for public reasons. Indeed, the men in charge do not recognize that “public purposes” exist. They have friends, and enemies, and as for the rest–we're the prey.”
- James K. Galbraith

If you don't believe in coincidences, you might be incline to think that financial reforms are merely efforts to help Wall Street fleece the American public further.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has been battling the banks the last few weeks in an effort to get 60 votes lined up for bankruptcy reform. He's losing.

“And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Lessons from Argentina

A giveaway to Wall Street isn't the only reason why the federal government wants to move us into overpriced fixed income assets. The massive federal deficits of the next two years will become increasingly difficult to fund.

Our credit card with China has been cut off.

The government needs another pool of money to tap in order to continue to run these massive deficits, and that means your retirement savings. Once locked into these annuities, your money will be largely directed to treasuries and agency bonds (now with unlimited federal backing).

This game plan has been done before. If you want a roadmap of how this can turn out, just look to the Southern Hemisphere of 2008.

Here is a warning to us all. The Argentine state is taking control of the country's privately-managed pension funds in a drastic move to raise cash.

…

My fear is that governments in the US, Britain, and Europe will display similar reflexes. Indeed, they have already done so. The forced-feeding of banks with fresh capital — whether they want it or not — and the seizure of the Fannie/Freddie mortgage giants before they were in fact in trouble (in order to prevent a Chinese buying strike of US bonds and prevent a spike in US mortgage rates), shows that private property can be co-opted - or eliminated - with little due process if that is required to serve the collective welfare. This is a slippery slope.

The thing you have got to understand is that Argentina was also once considered a rich nation just like us. It was brought low over the course of many decades from ruthless and corrupt politicians and financial elite.

Like America, Argentina sold off its public enterprises for pennies on the dollar in privatization schemes. Like America, Argentina had an artificially inflated currency which crushed its industrial base and led to an over-sized trade deficit. Like America, Argentina tried to disguise these problems by borrowing from foreign creditors.

In the end, the Argentine government seized the retirements savings of their own citizens in order to continue to function after foreign creditors abandoned them. They shoved that savings into treasury-like bonds and then massively devalued their currency. In so doing, 70% of the retirement savings of the Argentinian people was wiped out overnight.

Check out this excellent video about the collapse.

What does this have to do with America? Check out this picture from an Argentina protest at the time.

It's the same damn banks! The people who screwed the Argentinian people back then are the ones screwing us right now! They bought off the corrupt politicians of Buenos Aires to get what they wanted, just like they've purchased the corrupt politicians of Washington today. They won't hesitate for a single minute to treat you exactly the same.

Too late the people of Argentina stood up for themselves, and even then the results were mixed at best. Their government simply didn't listen or care until people took to the streets. That's when their government collapsed and stopped robbing from them.

We can learn from this lesson and take to the streets right now, or we can ignore this lesson, arrogantly assume that because we are Americans “they wouldn't dare,” and tempt our fates.

If we don't act, then one day we might find our neighborhood ATM is empty.

Making a Killing

“The 401(k) system has to be fixed, and I don't know anybody who can fix it but the federal government.”
- John Bogle

The U.S. Treasury and Labor Departments will ask for public comment as soon as next week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are leading the effort.

This probably sounds like a reasonable idea until you dig beneath the surface.

To put this into perspective, consider that Congress reformed the 401(k) system three years ago. The idea back then was the exact opposite of the current proposal.

Late Thursday night, Congress passed a pension-reform bill that will transform significant aspects of how these plans can operate. Named for the section of the tax law that created them, 401(k) plans let workers sock away part of their paycheck tax-free until retirement. The problem is, too many people are making bad decisions, such as leaving their money parked in low-yielding investments instead of more suitable choices.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department, which regulates the plans, is on track to let employers automatically put their employees' money into riskier, but higher-yielding, stock and bond funds rather than low-yielding money-market funds that have long been the default option.

The reason for this shift in ideas has to do largely with market timing.

“We are the prey”

If you don't believe in coincidences, you might be incline to think that financial reforms are merely efforts to help Wall Street fleece the American public further.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has been battling the banks the last few weeks in an effort to get 60 votes lined up for bankruptcy reform. He's losing.

“And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Lessons from Argentina

Our credit card with China has been cut off.

This game plan has been done before. If you want a roadmap of how this can turn out, just look to the Southern Hemisphere of 2008.

Here is a warning to us all. The Argentine state is taking control of the country's privately-managed pension funds in a drastic move to raise cash.

…

My fear is that governments in the US, Britain, and Europe will display similar reflexes. Indeed, they have already done so. The forced-feeding of banks with fresh capital — whether they want it or not — and the seizure of the Fannie/Freddie mortgage giants before they were in fact in trouble (in order to prevent a Chinese buying strike of US bonds and prevent a spike in US mortgage rates), shows that private property can be co-opted - or eliminated - with little due process if that is required to serve the collective welfare. This is a slippery slope.

Check out this excellent video about the collapse.

What does this have to do with America? Check out this picture from an Argentina protest at the time.

We can learn from this lesson and take to the streets right now, or we can ignore this lesson, arrogantly assume that because we are Americans “they wouldn't dare,” and tempt our fates.

If we don't act, then one day we might find our neighborhood ATM is empty.

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0 Comments

February 3rd, 2010

web internet marketing

Posted by andychase1964 in Uncategorized

Why Can't Girl Scouts Be Digital Cookie Pushers?

As Girl Scout Cookie season approaches, the age old conversation around parental involvement in cookie sales is rearing its head. However, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution outlines a new twist - are kids allowed to push Samoas on the internet?

While marketing cookies using email is okay, the leadership of the Scouts has put the kibosh on other online initiatives, hoping to encourage a return to knocking on wood.

In an effort to boost door-to-door sales, the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta is offering new incentives including a specific “Walkabout” patch (featuring a girl taking strides), according to Sarnethia Wilkinson, product sales marketing representative for Girl Scouts Greater Atlanta cookie program. The patch will be given to girls who participate in chaperoned door-to-door sales in early March (or troops can select a different date to do a Walkabout).

It used to be against the rules to send e-mail cookie pitches, but the Girl Scouts reconsidered because technology and e-mail are such a part of the girls' lives, according to Wilkinson. Meanwhile, Internet sales, such as setting up a payment account or creating a Web site to sell the cookies, is strictly prohibited.

Why can't the girls set up their own e-commerce sites? I can completely understand the drive to have girls out and interacting with their communities, instead of passively sitting behind a computer screen and fulfilling orders. However, since the cookie program is about teaching girls life skills, wouldn't website management, maintenance, order fulfillment, and digital marketing all be a vital part of today's skill set? There are lots of ways to make it work - maybe there's a master troop website, or a maximum web allotment (where each girl receives a portion of the web sales, and has to do the rest through more direct sales methods.)

Perhaps the Girl Scouts organization is reluctant to allow online sales because they already beat the kids to the punch:

In ye olden days, a Girl Scout used to come knocking on every door in the neighborhood offering up Thin Mints and Trefoils. Then came the world of two working parents, pedophiles hiding behind doors and a crappy economy. Kids just don't go door-to-door anymore. But that doesn't mean we don't crave minty chocolatey goodness.

So the Girl Scouts have set up a site for you to indulge your inner blue monster - Find Cookies Now connects you with your local Girl Scout Council via zip code.

But providing a cookie connection does not preclude other online sales techniques or strategies. While there is a Cookie Biz badge to reward girls who are willing to do things like create infomercials for Thin Mints, most of the badges related to internet savvy are way too basic, particularly when dealing with older Scouts. It's considered normal for teenage boys to launch web companies in their basements or in their first few years of college, but the GS leaders seem to think teen girls only use the computer for email - even as casual gaming (which girls disproportionately participate in) is becoming a larger industry, and social networking can provide thousands of innovative ways to sell and draw awareness to the cookie drive. If 32% of teen girls have enough web-savvy to build their own sites, clearly, there's a hell of a lot of untapped potential around leveraging technology to benefit the Scouts beyond email based instruction.

Pushing Girl Scouts to push doorbells [Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Online Tool Guarantees Girl Scout Cookies Without the Girl
Cookie Biz Badge [Girl Scouts]

Computers in Everyday Life [Girl Scouts]
Girls rule the internet [Napa Valley Register]

Send an email to Latoya, the author of this post, at latoya@racialicious.com.

If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable’s Job Lists section gathers together all our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.

But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially-savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space, and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards: