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Creativity.

This is one virtue a site must possess to lead the race in the ruthless competition in the Internet based business. With so many competition and rivalry going on, every method of marketing must be employed and utilized.

It doesn’t matter if you have a killer product or a fantastically designed website, if people don’t know that you exist, it doesn’t matter, and you are not going to make it big. Worse of all, you business could just get killed.

While there are so many methods and schemes used by so many e-commerce sites today, there are still some of those that can help you with an extra boost in the popularity ratings. One of these is the so called Viral Marketing.

While the term Viral easily depicts a virus, a word very much dreaded by all computer owners, it is not what it seems. You do not actually use a computer virus to spread your business; on the contrary it just might kill you. Everyone has had enough of all those pop up ads and spywares.

Viral Marketing Overview

Viral Marketing also known otherwise as Viral Advertising is a marketing technique used to build the public awareness of one’s product or company. They use many forms of media to reach out to the public without actually promoting the product by riding on in other forms of addictive means that could get a person hooked and be obliged or amused to actually pass it on, with the product or company advertisement along with it.

In a nutshell, companies ride on the idea that if people like the content of a media they will pass it on to their friends and family. They sponsor the certain media, such as a cool flash game, funny video, amusing story and such, which one may pass on to another with the company brand or logo or the products description or any other content to help promote the company or its product.

Viral marketing has become a popular means of advertising and marketing because they are relatively low cost. To avoid being tagged as spam mail, viral marketing counts on the eagerness of one person to pas on the product. If a person sees the name of the person they know as the sender, they won’t block it and open it as well.

Many companies offer incentives such as discounts and rebates when they help in spreading their viral marketing. They rely on the number of recipients a viral marketing gets from one person in determining the amount or number of incentive they can be attributed with.

Using Viral Marketing to your advantage

The main and foremost advantage of viral marketing is that you get a lot of publicity and public awareness about your site and your company. You get to generate a flow of traffic that are potential customers. With a little ingenuity and imagination, plus some incentives or prizes, you can reach out to a great number of people and announce your existence.

Most every site and companies are catching on to the effectivity of Viral Marketing and Advertising. Not using it could kill your business. Along with other schemes and methods in promoting your site, like Search Engine Optimization and such, viral marketing could easily push you ahead in the rating games.

Viral Marketing could be a sneaky way to get people to know about you and your company. You get them to pass your advertisement along. They are also very low cost that not investing in it could be downright a business suicide. All it takes is a great idea, a good addicting game, a funny story many ideas are still out there. Create a gossip or a buzz, many movies are promoted by using scandals and gossips to make them moiré popular. Remember the movie “The Blair Witch Project”?

Many big companies have tried viral marketing and have had many success stories with it. A classic example is Microsoft’s Hotmail. They were the first known big company to utilize the scheme and it has worked wonders for them.

Now it’s your turn to use viral marketing to work wonders for you. Act now and reap the benefits Viral Marketing will provide for you and your sales figures.

What does it take to become a successful Affiliate Marketer? What are the ingredients of an affiliate marketing success story? Is there a shortcut to Affiliate Marketing glory? All these questions play around in the minds of affiliate marketers who want to make it big in this business.
Although affiliate marketing is touted as one of the easiest and most effective ways to earn money online, it is not as easy as it sounds. The wise affiliate marketer plans every action and executes it the best way he can. He should also maximize the potential to earn by utilizing the right tools necessary for a successful Affiliate Marketing business. We have consulted some of the most successful affiliate marketers in the business and below are the top three necessary tools for a successful affiliate marketing business.

Important Tool #1: Your Own Website

The most important and indispensable tool in Affiliate Marketing is your own website. The first step in any successful affiliate marketing business is building a good, credible and professional looking website. Your website is the jump off point of all your marketing efforts. Thus, you must first build a user-friendly website, which will appeal to your prospects and encourage them to click on the links to the products and service you are promoting and make a purchase. Therefore, you must first concentrate your efforts in building a website that will cater to what your prospects need.

The most important thing you should consider is that almost all web users go online to look for information, not necessarily to go and buy something. Above all else, make your website full of original, relevant and useful content. People will love articles that are appealing and helpful. Keep in mind that, in the internet, content is still king and good quality content will not only build your credibility, it can also help you achieve a higher search engine ranking. By posting relevant and useful articles, you establish yourself as a credible expert in the field, making you a more trustworthy endorser of the product or service you promote. Establishing a good reputation is a good step in building up a loyal consumer base.

Important Tool #2: Incentives

Competition is extremely tight in the internet world. You must always be one-step ahead of your rivals to ensure that you capture a significant share of your target market. Therefore, you must use every possible means to encourage people not only to visit your site but also to click and proceed to the websites of the products and services you are promoting. Building an opt-in email list is one of the best ways to gather prospects. Offer a newsletter or an e-zine. Better yet, offer incentives to your prospects to encourage them to subscribe to your newsletters. You can present free softwares, access to exclusive services and other freebies that will be helpful to your prospects.

Important Tool #3: Link Popularity

The importance of driving highly targeted traffic to your website cannot be emphasized enough. The all-important web traffic is at the top of the list of the most important entities in the internet world. Attracting people to your site should be the first step you should carry out. Do everything to achieve a high search engine ranking. Link Popularity is one of the factors that search engines use to determine search engine rankings. Therefore, to enhance your link popularity, you must launch an aggressive reciprocal link campaign.

One of the best ways to do this – at no cost at all – is by submitting articles, with your website's link at the resource box, to e-zines and free article sites. You will not only gain exposure, you will also have the opportunity to advertise for free, just include a link back to your site. The more sites you submit your articles to, the better your link popularity is. Make your articles original, relevant and useful so that more websites will pick it up and post it.

These are but three of the many tools that an affiliate marketer can use to maximize earning potential. The possibilities are endless and are limited only by your imagination, creativity, resourcefulness and determination. You can always explore other ideas and adapt other strategies, which you think might help you become a high rolling affiliate marketer.

Myths concerning affiliate marketing are appealing and attractive. People who do not know the entire system the wrong way round are prone to believing that it is something capable of giving them great fortune overnight. Stories concerning affiliates who earn tremendous amounts of money swim in their heads, and while these stories are as true as they can be, there are those who believe that they are going to have the same fortune once they indulge in this particular business.

It is true enough that affiliate marketing is financially rewarding. People who have gone through everything to be able to succeed in this business are reaping the seeds that they untiringly sowed. Many of them enjoy the kind of existence that was not possible for them to have had under ordinary circumstances. Having gone through the A-Z of affiliate marketing, however, these people are the ones who know that while such business is lucrative, there is absolutely no easy money in it.

Ignorance of this fact is one of the main reasons why there are people who fail miserably in the internet business. There are those who believe in myths concerning the easy money involved in systems such as affiliate marketing. They do not know that there are those who have wasted time, effort and too many resources in trying to pursue the life of ease that they believe this business will give them. And so they go into affiliate marketing armed with nothing but myths and fantastical notions of wealth swimming in their consciousness, never realizing that they bound to make mistakes that would prove to be their downfall.

What may be the reason why in businesses such as affiliate marketing, many are called but few are chosen? Perhaps the answer lies on the fact that many affiliates make mistakes that result from their ignorance of facts concerning how the entire business runs. Affiliate marketing is not as simple as an affiliate promoting a merchant's wares through his website and getting paid for it. It is also about knowing the market and the customers at hand.

Discovering what the most common mistakes affiliates make can perhaps dispel the gloom about myths surrounding affiliate marketing by correcting some wrong notions about it. It might also be able to make those concerned understand that like any other business, there are dos and donts involved in this one if they want to make each of their steps count. The first common mistake affiliates make is their lack of knowledge concerning principles involved in their business. This refers to the affiliate's knowledge of search engines in particular.

Affiliate marketing involves advertising, and advertising through the internet could not have been better without the existence of search engines. What every affiliate has to do is to make these search engines his best friend through studying search engine optimization closely. This way, he is able to know what to do in connection with building a better website to ultimately use for his business.

The second is that affiliates make the mistake of stuffing their sites with banners that do not provide enough information about the product at hand. The best way to battle this mistake is to provide good content hand-in-hand with such banners. It is important for customers to know and understand the features of a product, and good content will be able to help them realize this goal.

The third is that there are affiliates who make the mistake of promoting only one product. Consequently, customers are not given enough options to choose from. There is also the risk of generating fewer sales as compared to having more options for customers ponder about. It is always better to give them a few better alternatives than to give them only one.

The fourth is that there are affiliates who make the mistake of promoting too many products. As a result, customers are confused and end up beyond making a choice. It is perhaps good to give them only the best choices. This is because it is ultimately up to them to judge which one is the best for them to patronize.

All in all, affiliates that are doomed to fail in this business are those who do not exert enough effort to understand everything involved in the industry that they are in. Knowing their path step by careful step will prove to be beneficial to them, as there is no other way to succeed than to go through any path slowly but surely.

In order to locate products that sell online, we need to understand what people already want to buy. Finding a good choice of idea or product is always accompanied by interfacing the demand for the product in the current market and the level of competition or market share that the product will be having in the long run.

"What should I sell? What products are hot selling? These are the questions most people are trying to find an answer in order for them to make the definite decision. And if we really wjavascript:void(0)
Publish Postant to know the answer to this question, our only choice is to do some research. There are all kinds of twists along the road that may lead you to think you have a high-demand idea. We must be able to understand and satisfy the need, wants and expectations of our customers on a certain product that they're trying to buy. This three are called the basic needs or minimum requirements in a purchase. Needs are the basic reasons or the minimum requirements consumers are looking for in a product or service. They are called the qualifying or "gatekeeper" dimensions in a purchase. Wants are the determining dimensions among many choices. Expectations, on the other hand, are values or intangibles associated with a product or service. Expectations are actually part of "wants" but they become extremely important when products or services are not differentiated.

For example, in reading a logic book, university students look for the following: Relevant logic concepts use of simple language, easy to understand and affordable prices. These similar ideas can be applied to Internet Sales as well. After all, the Internet is just another place to sell products. The basic concept of demand is the same there as it is anywhere else, and has been all the time.

Now, the second thing that must be considered in finding "hot" products to sell are the level of competition or the market shares do your product will have. Market share or level of competition means the ratio of your brand sales versus the total market sales. While companies would naturally define its target competitors, it is actually the consumers who ultimately decide the competitive frame, or the list related products or services that consumers consider when exercising their purchasing power. We must therefore choose the market segment where we can have a potential leadership or at least a strong challenger role. Because the overriding objective of getting into this business is not just to satisfy the needs and wants of our customers but to do so profitably better than his competition. Otherwise, our competition will end up satisfying the customers better than our own interest.

Third factor to be considered in finding hot selling products is finding out the general interest level about the product. General interest in a product helps us to gauge where our demand and competition numbers fall into the big picture. Simply saying, if there isn't much demand for the product, and there isn't much competition, it would seem that it might not be good a good put up for sale. But the research doesn't stop here; there is one last thing to be considered to exactly find the hot selling products that you've been looking for. We must also learn how others are advertising those products. If there are a good number of them doing so, it may mean that it's a good product to get into. Coming to the last phase of the process is analyzing and evaluating all the information that has been collected. We have to look at all of the data we have collected on demand, competition, and advertising, and make decision as how they all balance out.

And here are several factors or aspects that must be measured: (a) not enough demand means not enough people are going to buy (b) too much competition means not enough of a profit to go around (c) too much advertising drives up the price of pay per click ads, and competition as well (d) not enough general interest, combined with low demand, means there may not be a good market even if there is competition trying to make the sales.

Considered today as one of the best and easiest way to earn some money, affiliate marketing is now attracting many people to represent themselves in this type of business. But as competition is getting a bit bigger, you may need some ways to distinguish yourself from the rest of the affiliate marketers. For the major reason that many of your competitors including you are promoting the exact same program, in the exact same zone or on the exact same websites perhaps. Now here are some tips that you may consider in order for you to stay in this business and have the chance to outwit and outplay other competitors of yours.

The first thing is for you to have your own website. It is very essential for you to have your own website in considering affiliate marketing as your professional career. Secondly, potential customers primarily go to websites in order for them to search and sometimes purchase items they were looking for. For the same reason that it is much easier to remember than a certain URL that you may be using and you can just point to your visitors the affiliate page in your website.

Another thing to remember is to have your own ad. A lot of times affiliates marketers have published the same ad two or three times done by advertisers. In this case, you may email the owner of your affiliate program asking that you make your own ads. This way, people may not become immune to ads, because sometimes seeing the same ads over and over again, may just make your potential customers to just skip it all together. Besides, your primarily purpose is to attract or encourage people to click and read your ads and be curios enough to click through your website.

Step three, have some products of your won which are only available through your website. Once you have your website going, it is important to have some products or services that your customers can't find with other affiliate's site. You want your customers to keep coming to your site and the best way to do that is to have something on your site that they can't find on others. Being an affiliate marketer we must then choose a certain market segment where you can have a potential leadership or at least a strong challenger role.

The fourth step is to build a strong relationship with people who already buy your product. Now, in order for you as the marketer to fully answer the query of your potential customers, it is best to try and buy the product by yourself. With this particular notion, you can better sell the product that you are trying to market. You can share to your potential customers what a great experience you had with the product, and this can make them interested enough to buy the product. You may also be able to provide a support if necessary or you may provide a confident tutorial or steps on how to use the product that you are trying to market based on your personal experience. Entailing this idea is to be totally honest about the product that you are trying to market. If you find out that the program you were promoting is a scam, stop promoting it and inform your readers about it. This will help you build credibility with your lists.

We all make mistakes and admitting your mistake will boost your reader's confidence in you. Lastly, don't try to market everything you see. With services such as click bank, it is easy to become overwhelmed and try to market everything in the click bank marketplace. That is not a good idea. It's better to focus on one market and market products that they would want. This is called niche marketing.

Try also to promote a certain product, which conforms to the specifications measured through indications of customer-satisfaction, rather than indicators of self-gratification. It is the customer who decides what to buy and not the company or the affiliate marketer. The company simply produces products catering to the needs and wants of their chosen market segment.

Today, different types of business are emerging from all over the world in a multinational level to reign supreme on their specific market segment that they are trying to dominate, and affiliate marketing is one of them. Affiliate marketing is definitely here to stay and it can become a great way to earn extra or even part time income. However, it won't happen overnight. Like everything else in life, you're going to have to put a lot of hard work into it. Good luck to you in your new venture.

The humdrum existence of going to the office day after day doing the usual 9-5 shift is a trying task for those who have lived all their lives doing so. This is why the convenience of doing work at home under amazingly flexible working hours is a dazzling prospect to them. Doing work at home that is as fulfilling as having a career working for a computer on the 19th floor of a skyscraper is already a possibility in these modern times. This is because the jungle-like network that is the internet has given birth to a business that has given some people practically new lives doing nothing but so.

This particular business allows people to work at home under flexible working hours. There is no boss to scream around putting pressure on everyone about the deadline at hand. There is no clutter of messy paperwork that needs to be completed the soonest possible time. Conveniences such as these are experienced by those who are into affiliate marketing, the newest way to earn money without having to go through all sorts of routine found in regular employment.

Those who have been in the business long enough can attest to the fact that it is a lucrative business indeed, one that can actually give people things that they could not possibly possess or experience under ordinary circumstances.

The business called affiliate marketing involves an affiliate's promotion of a merchant's website. Here the website owned by the affiliate is made to advertise and market the website of the merchant through the affiliate program that they run. Whenever someone clicks on the merchant's website promoted by the one owned by the affiliate, the affiliate is given a commission. This is in recognition of his effort in helping the merchant make a sale.

The system involved in affiliate marketing seems easy, but it also takes a lot of diligence and perseverance for one to be able to penetrate it thoroughly. Those who want to get into this type of business should possess the necessary skills to be able tread through the industry with confidence and self-assurance. Still, other factors are needed by one to be able to really break in. Knowledge about the business at hand is very important as it dictates the actions that are to be done by people who are into it.

The leading figure in affiliate marketing is the super affiliate. He is basically an e-mail marketer who collects large databases of e-mail addresses through newsletters. Super affiliates are also those who know the business even better than affiliate managers as a result of their knowledge about the affiliate marketing industry inside out. Those who want to be super affiliates should know that becoming a super affiliate is not easy, because it takes a lot to be able to master the marketing craft.

Becoming a super affiliate means having one's own website and autoresponder. These tools will help a lot in one's facilitation of the business. Building one's own list is another. Creating a loyal customer base and taking care of it is one secret that successful super affiliates have. Making good customer relations is also important if one wants to be a super affiliate to reckon with.

Continuing to market to the people on one's list is another must if one wants to succeed as a super affiliate. Sending out quality content in lieu of ads is an advantage as products are marketed better whenever enough information is given about them.

Building traffic to one's own site is also one of the most essential points in the affiliate marketing business. Making one's affiliate links his own business will allow him to build a strong relationship with his customers, enabling him to market to them over and over again.

The most important thing one should remember if he wants to become a super affiliate is to treat affiliate marketing as a business first and foremost. If he is capable of doing this, then he will never have to go back to the humdrum existence of working the 9-5 shift. A career as a super affiliate in the business which will change his life forever could possibly take that unexciting job's place.

LOS ANGELES, Fox's new reality effort "Secret Millionaire" performed much better than expected Wednesday, suggesting that the short-run altruistic series could have a future on the network.

The evening's two episodes of "Millionaire" averaged 7.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Although not a huge number, the premiere was only modestly promoted and aired in December -- when new programs typically have a tough time attracting audiences -- so Fox's expectations were low. The show is considered a softhearted departure from the network's usual reality brand of more competition-oriented and envelope-pushing fare.

There's four more episodes of "Millionaire" left to air in the coming weeks, and Fox likely will get its promotional machine rolling to see if it can turn a December effort into a returning show.

Also during the 9 p.m. hour, NBC's "Life" averaged 8.2 million viewers, followed by 7.8 million for ABC's "Private Practice," and 7 million for CBS' inaugural telecast of the Grammy nominations.

As a Football maniac I never miss one of my favorite games, but the problem is I can not always stand and see the game live, luckily now there is a provider for this matter to support.
I just heard that one of the largest beer company just launch their Carlsberg web-tv, still need more you may visit Partofthegame.tv and I also suggest to take a look at web tv.

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Affiliate marketing is all about getting paid for selling products you don’t own and not going to jail for it. Someone else goes through all of the trouble to develop software programs, service, or digital content products. They’ll do all the work then you collect the money!

Affiliate marketing is a revenue sharing arrangement between the product developer, known as the affiliate merchant, and the affiliate marketer who is anyone that’s willing to promote the sale of product by advertising the product using any type of legal means available.
The relationship will allow the affiliate merchant to grow their revenue by paying only for the advertising that results in a sale. The affiliate marketer will profit by making a percentage on a sale that he does not have to manage after the sale.

Getting paid

Getting paid all depends upon how the affiliate program is set up. Some merchants will run their own affiliate program. They’ll have special types of software that assigns each affiliate marketer a special link that’s used in promoting the product. The software will track sales of every marketer and the merchant will pay the commission on a periodic basis using either paypal ">PayPal or another method of payment.

Selecting products or services

Your income is directly tied to how well your selected product or service sells, and the size of the commission you earn, which makes it very important that you choose carefully when it comes to choosing the affiliate merchant you’ll be partnering with.

Choose programs that you aren’t embarrassed to promote and programs that you’ll feel comfortable recommending to your family and friends if they were to ask you about it.

You’ll do much better if you promote products that you fully understand and are already familiar with. This way, you’ll be able to write better ads without having to strain yourself coming up with the right things to say.

You should only promote products and services for companies who have gone through the trouble to provide you with training programs and sales aids such as banners and other marketing materials that you can either use directly or model the one you own after.

Be on the lookout for programs with commission rates no less than 50%. You should give preference to programs that pay commission on multiple levels, which means you’ll also have to earn commissions on sales made by people who buy the products through your link then go on and become affiliates themselves later on.

People use the Internet not only to gather information or as a communication medium, but also to market their products or services and thus, to make money. People try different ways to make money online, but they hardly get any success. By understanding the reason as to why they fail in their attempt to make money online and by looking at some proven ways of making money, we can effectively earn money online.

Lets first look at what we could do to make money online. We need to understand that the Internet is not a magical place or some sort of money- making machine. But it does provides the cheapest way to communicate with lot of people. It helps you in reaching out to millions of people who are using the Internet daily, and the number is growing.

In business, if you want to grow and make more money, you have to market your product or service quite well. In other words, you should try to make people aware of your business. This is where the Internet comes into play. As it provides cheapest way to communicate, it becomes an excellent medium to market your business. Considering this, if we want to make money, we can conclude that it would be a better option to have a business first and then use the Internet to market it make money online.

You can start a business to provide others with some kind of service, or to create and sell your product or to market other people’s product. Let’s look at how you can start with a service-oriented business. In service-oriented business, you have to sell your skills. For example, if you know how to develop software, then you can become a freelance software developer.

Another good example for making money is if you are good at writing articles, then you can become freelance writer and make money by writing and selling your articles. There are lots of freelancing websites on the net where people post different projects. You need to register as freelancer and then bid on the projects. In this way, you can start making money quickly. Some people use a different approach. Instead of bidding on projects posted by others, they either develop some software or write an e-book and later on, market it online and make money. In this way, initially you need to spend some time in creating your own product and then you need to focus entirely on marketing. The more you market, the more number of people will buy your product and more money you will make.

In the third approach for making money online, you don’t have to develop any product or sell your skills. You just need to help others in marketing their products and in return, they will give you some commission on every sale. This is known as affiliate marketing. The more products you market, the more you can make money. No matter which approach you would choose to start your business, you must understand that, if you want to make money online, you have to work hard. Think about which could be the best approach for you. You can also start with more than one type of business at a time. For example, while acting as a freelance writer, you can also write articles to market products created by others. So start working now to make money online now.

CATRIONA MCGOLDRICK didn't have a holiday this year. She might consider this the least of her worries 12 months after getting her breast cancer diagnosis - which came six months after her 82-year-old mother died with the same condition.

But after undergoing surgery, 16 weeks of chemotherapy sessions and seven weeks of Monday-Friday radiotherapy treatments, a holiday might be just what Catriona, her husband and their five-year-old daughter need.

The McGoldricks didn't get away due to the heavy financial price of being sick. Catriona (44) from Coolaney, Co Sligo qualified for a medical card "by the skin of my teeth" as a cancer patient but despite not having to pay for GP visits, drugs and transport to Galway for treatment, she was surprised at the constant drain of money.

"When you are having radiotherapy you have to get special creams and shampoos which are very expensive," she said. "I had to buy new clothes - you put on weight with the steroids. Of course you also have to buy new bras after surgery."

And while she jokes about how much she saved on hairdressing bills after losing her hair following chemotherapy, she said some people have to pay for a wig and she spent €70 on scarves and bandanas which are necessary to stay warm especially in bed.

But one of the main burdens on the family finances was the cost of childcare when she was having treatment. "My husband's employers were very good to him and he was there when I was having surgery and my first chemo sessions but you can't keep taking time off."

Just before her diagnosis, Catriona had been doing a childcare course but has had to postpone her plans so the family is still reliant on one income.

A leading member of the Save Sligo Cancer Services lobby group, Catriona is particularly scathing about the fact that some patients have to pay €12.50 to take the mini bus from Sligo to Galway for radiotherapy.

She was a passenger when the bus's air conditioning broke down during the now forgotten heat wave in May. "We were all burned from the radiotherapy and we were sick and it was 30 degrees on the bus," said Catriona. "Of course we were promised a more suitable bus but I just got a call last week saying funding had been allocated. No doubt the bus itself will roll around just in time for the election next year."

Many people assume they aren't rich because they don't earn enough money. If I only earned a little more, I could save and invest better, they say.

The problem with that theory is they were probably making exactly the same argument before their last several raises. Becoming a millionaire has less to do with how much you make, it's how you treat money in your daily life.

The list of reasons you may not be rich doesn't end at 10. Caring what your neighbors think, not being patient, having bad habits, not having goals, not being prepared, trying to make a quick buck, relying on others to handle your money, investing in things you don't understand, being financially afraid and ignoring your finances.

---- Here are 10 more possible reasons you aren't rich: -----

You care what your car looks like: A car is a means of transportation to get from one place to another, but many people don't view it that way. Instead, they consider it a reflection of themselves and spend money every two years or so to impress others instead of driving the car for its entire useful life and investing the money saved.

You feel entitlement: If you believe you deserve to live a certain lifestyle, have certain things and spend a certain amount before you have earned to live that way, you will have to borrow money. That large chunk of debt will keep you from building wealth.

You lack diversification: There is a reason one of the oldest pieces of financial advice is to not keep all your eggs in a single basket. Having a diversified investment portfolio makes it much less likely that wealth will suddenly disappear.

You started too late: The magic of compound interest works best over long periods of time. If you find you're always saying there will be time to save and invest in a couple more years, you'll wake up one day to find retirement is just around the corner and there is still nothing in your retirement account.

You don't do what you enjoy: While your job doesn't necessarily need to be your dream job, you need to enjoy it. If you choose a job you don't like just for the money, you'll likely spend all that extra cash trying to relieve the stress of doing work you hate.

You don't like to learn: You may have assumed that once you graduated from college, there was no need to study or learn. That attitude might be enough to get you your first job or keep you employed, but it will never make you rich. A willingness to learn to improve your career and finances are essential if you want to eventually become wealthy.

You buy things you don't use: Take a look around your house, in the closets, basement, attic and garage and see if there are a lot of things you haven't used in the past year. If there are, chances are that all those things you purchased were wasted money that could have been used to increase your net worth.

You don't understand value: You buy things for any number of reasons besides the value that the purchase brings to you. This is not limited to those who feel the need to buy the most expensive items, but can also apply to those who always purchase the cheapest goods. Rarely are either the best value, and it's only when you learn to purchase good value that you have money left over to invest for your future.

Your house is too big: When you buy a house that is bigger than you can afford or need, you end up spending extra money on longer debt payments, increased taxes, higher upkeep and more things to fill it. Some people will try to argue that the increased value of the house makes it a good investment, but the truth is that unless you are willing to downgrade your living standards, which most people are not, it will never be a liquid asset or money that you can ever use and enjoy.

You fail to take advantage of opportunities: There has probably been more than one occasion where you heard about someone who has made it big and thought to yourself, ""I could have thought of that."" There are plenty of opportunities if you have the will and determination to keep your eyes open.

For a new appliances, applying a credit card is harder from it seems. This is the way things work in the world of consumer credit. Lenders are sometime too careful for opening account for appliances with no credit history. With no credit crd, rent a car, or shop online is not as easy as if we have a credit card.
Many major companies won’t accept your appliances form without a credit history, but worry not, some smaller ones will. No matter what card you will get, your main goal is to build a good credit history, not just a credit card. Use your card as you wish but make sure to make al payments on time. Some companies only look at your employment history, your address and housing; they may use this for fill in your minimum requirement. Or if you are a credit union member, or are eligible for membership, see on what their card terms are. Although they are no giving the cards easily, but they will have more relaxed conditions for registered member. It’s very worth to join and make sure you have one in your area.
If you are a student, then the best card for you is a student credit card. Student credit card is the best way to build up your credit history for future upon your graduation. The most important thing is to be wise using this opportunity. Because students tends to lose control when they have money in their palm. If you have a good history already, apply for a credit card that accepted across the world like AMEX Corporate Credit Cards or CITI credit cards will be easy for you.

Reduces your worries for better educational

Now days it’s easy to get a high quality school, with all their facility and good ambience and environment. Mostly it will surprising us when come out with budgeting.

For other country and well manage country this is not a really problem, several solution already provide by the government, for parent that has an education planning will not worried, many of well known school offering their program to support it needs such as student loans, scholarship, college loans etc.

Wise spending habits to reduce our money worries and we also can improve our lifestyle while at school. There is a great need by joint this program one of the favorite program is called Private Student Loans are specialized education loans based on your credit history and income and should only be considered after all federal loans, grants and scholarships have been exhausted. Lenders typically give better terms for better credit history. Many lenders also allow cosigners which may help you qualify for better rates. It would help to ensure that more students are getting the resources they need to go to college and pursue a future career.

One of the student that has already know the benefit of this program ever tell a story to us that nothing to lose to try this Private Student Loans as long as we have all the qualification. Although many student did not has an extensive credit story they may need a credit worthy consigner to increase the chances on getting the loans Well….no worries at all for us who need a better educational with limited budget.

Creditors use budgeting guidelines when reviewing and approving credit. If your debt exceeds the financial communities recommended guidelines, then you have a higher risk of credit applications being denied. Plus, you will pay more interest since you will be perceived as a higher risk.

Getting, and keeping, your debt in line with recommended guidelines, is an important step in debt relief and debt recovery. Use the following guidelines to review the items in your budget, and make special note of expenses that are out of line:

• Housing 35% - Mortgage or rent, taxes, repairs, improvements, insurance, and utilities
• Transportation 20% - Monthly payments, gas, oil, repairs, insurance, parking & public transportation
• Debt Budget 15% - Credit cards, personal loans, student loans & other debt payments
• All other expenses 20% - Food, insurance, prescriptions, doctor & dentist bills, clothing & personal
• Investments & Savings Budget 10% - Stocks, bonds, cash reserves, art, etc.

Did you know that the Consumer Reports Money Lab was freshly studying ways to cut recurrent outlay and they are reporting that it is possible for consumers to save up to $500 per month — even when gas and food prices are taken up?

Savings shown are Consumer Reports estimates based on what a choice of consumers especially exhaust and can perhaps save. Actual savings will depend on individual circumstances.

Optimize life indemnity — $110

Life-coverage premiums have dropped significantly since the 1990s. It would categorically pay to replace a statement bought years ago with a new one. Don’t scratch an remaining course of action until a new one is in housing.

Shop brisk for food — $200

Making similar choices at the grocery depository and when eating out can net regular savings from $130 to $255. The regular family of four can cut their grocery bill by $190 a month by shifting to a lower-cost mix of foods.

How to do it: Plan menus around sales of vigorous frightened, fish, meat, dairy and produce and be sure to use those orts. Stop ordering expensive ready meals. Eat more low-priced, high-sustenance foods such as beans and potatoes. Try out the repository brands and sign up for store deduction cards.

Stop paying bank fees — $25

Banks together something like $39 billion in account fees and penalties last year. That figures out to nigh on $28 per month per household. With planning, it’s possible to pay nothing.

How to do it: Bank at considerable institutions that high numbers of ATMs in close at hand locations. Shop for free checking and with judgment adheres to provisions for a bottom balance, direct accretion or another conditions to avoid period fees.

Call up phone savings — $35

It’s possible to net savings from $15 a month for expensive callers to $55 per month for arduous users.

How to do it: Look at few months’ phone bills to see how many minutes are typically used on landline and wireless calls. Comparison-shop among cellular examination providers, the local phone company and the link TV company. Don’t buy more assistance than you need.

Pay off standing cards — $65

Most consumers who carry a balance owe $2,200. This worth they pay 15.2 percent in every twelve months significance charges. Cut this and save $28 per month. About 15 % of consumers carry balances of $10,000 or more and they could save $125 per month if they paid off their debt.

How to do it: Stop using your cards and pay more than the maximum compulsory each month until it’s paid off. If you’re strapped for cash use your incentive check, service station sales or get a part time job.

Find cheaper auto cover — $65

Many people have stayed with the same auto broker for 15 years or more. Depending on your individual profile and where you live, you powerfulness be able to save hundreds a month by supermarket run around.

If you are looking some place beautiful and exotic to live with your family, or just planning to do a long-term investment, you really must consider choosing one of the most beautiful places in Indonesia, Bali. Many people will agree with me, if someone has visited Bali once, they will eventually return because Bali doesn’t easily drift away from people’s mind. It just tore our conscious and seduces us like ambrosia. The aura is calling upon us, the locals are inviting us and the Bali is waiting for us.

To Live on Bali is everyone’s dream. But never have thought that living on Bali will be hard to find a home. Because of its popularity many investor spending their money to build a real estate recently. There are varieties of home for you to choose as there are many homes for sale in Bali as well as Homes for sale in Louisville.

Investing on Bali is a prosperous decision. Because of this reason :

• If you have a home and live there, there are unlimited opportunities to entrepreneurship.
• If you have a home but don’t live there, you can rent it for annual income.
• If you have a home for rent and you still have another home, just wait for 2-3 years and the price will skyrocket.

Investing money on a home is a good choice. The price is increasing from time to time; it will be doubled before you know. But be picky person when planning to put your money in it. You want to make a profit from this investment not the other way, don’t you? So to keep the plan is going smoothly, first you must conduct a research about the city plan, predict the land prosperity and find the trustworthy real estate partner.

Investing not limited to distance, what I mean is investing across country is a good idea to. Indonesia, China or boulder Colorado real estate is a good choice. Instead of buying a small home on downtown, will be much better if you build your dream home on a suburban. Some local real estate agencies will help you picking the right one.

Investing on a home is totally different from buying a home. There is much more to consider, plan carefully, ask a help from the expert. Don’t be reckless as this is involving a risk, you won’t get rid the risk but you can predict to suppress it.

Legal problem is a confusing subject for most people. Even if it just a minor problem but when involving a legal matter, will be more complicating you will never imagined. You will spend some money for hiring a lawyer, but you will lose most of your time. It will take years for some cases. What a tiresome, even if you have a spare time to do this, you just tired and get sick of it eventually. Believe me; dealing with above matter is hard, especially if you are facing it alone. You just gathered stressful, uncomforted life.

Hiring Attorney is a good option to help you through solving the problem. You must choose the one that trustworthy and able to represented you most of time. Louisville attorney is one that you can trust. For USA citizen especially Kentucky residents, Bullock & Coffman’s are a good choice. No matter what upon you, they will help you with everything they got.
They have a wide area of practice, as they are formed by talented, well educated and friendly legal helper. This is a list of their practice:

• Business Law
• Civil Litigation
• Personal Injury
• Equine Law
• Criminal Law
• Family Law
• Employment Law
• Real Estate
• Immigration
• Information Technology
• Debt Collection
• And still many more…

If you have been thinking about purchasing a real estate property for personal use or as an investment, you’ll need to hire the services of a real estate investor. If you play to finance your home through a bank or other lender, you’ll more than likely need to get the property appraised first. Banks and most lenders want to know the value of the home for your protection, as well as make sure that the home they are financing is worth the total amount of money that you take on the loan.

In most cases, the appraisal indicates that the home does indeed meet or exceed the asking price. In some cases however, the appraisal will come back saying that the home is worth less than the selling price. If this is the case, the buyer normally has to either drop the deal or try to negotiate with the seller to get a price that meets the appraisal.

For those very reasons, a real estate appraiser is very important. When you are dealing with a home, one appraisal can make a deal or break it. Even though you may not be financing your purchase through a lender or the bank, you should still make an effort to get the home appraised and find out the true value. You should also make a point to find the best appraiser that you can afford. If you hire an appraiser who isn’t that experienced, you’ll pay for it later when you discover that the property isn’t worth what you paid for it.

If you have a real estate agent, he or she will more than likely be able to make a recommendation. Paradise Valley Real Estate is one that maybe you want to contact. Keep in mind that this doesn’t mean the recommendation is the best; it’s just someone who your agent works with. To ensure that you get the right appraisal on your home you’ll need to find yourself an appraiser who is capable of completing the job.

When you look for your real estate appraiser, you should look for someone who comes highly recommended. You can ask family and friends for their opinions, or search local papers, even the Internet. If you take your time and search for the best real estate appraiser that you can find – you’ll normally get an appraisal that is right on target.

Uniform is a cloth that used for express discipline, ranks, and equality. In military a private’s uniform is different from the general, so we clear to identify who has the highest rank. In school world, uniform is used for equality. So there wont be a social lag, a poor student is no different than the rich one, because they wear a same uniform.

In my country School Uniform is absolute. From kindergarten, elementary school, junior and high school. Even on private school, the student wearing a uniform. Only on private school, the uniform is slightly different; usually the uniform has a motives, stripes or square. For some state school uniform also become one of crucial point to level up, if student do not aware of this they will staying on class for another year. There is one shopping online store I found when I was surfing on the internet. They have a enormous collection of uniform, for adult and boys size, for work or school uniform, You can buy online as according to desire and budget your money.

Uniform also express one’s personality. Because if one wearing the uniform neatly so people who look at the student unconsciously think that he or she is a precedent student, by faultlessly dressed. In other hand people will think badly on boys or girls that wear uniform at rampart.

Will you conceptualise the money underground?

The secret is as old as measure itself, and no total of money can set its quality. The poor who undergo it cognize financial warrant; the wealthy who disdain it end life as paupers.

In this pragmatical and life-changing aggregation, Rob Parsons takes a examine at one of the most imperative redbrick crises - extant with uncontrollable debt. In a hard-hitting but verifying way, he gives aid, not just in ascension out, but also in module what it is that encourages group to smoldering on commendation.

You will riches this good nightlong after you tally finished the antepenultimate diplomat. If you are in debt it instrument help you out, if you are financially firm it will meliorate you be statesmanly with your money, and if you regain that nobody could believe the sheer sadness of financial somesthesia, then 'The Money Secret' give beautify your person.

Once upon a time there was a family. Father, mother and 2 little kids. One day, the older brother has gone sick and must be taken to the Hospital. She had a lung cancer and must be operated immediately. Times like these are the hardest moment for Parents, they will face extremely extra expense, but i'm sure they wont be mind spending for the children. The problem is, not all the parents can afford the medication for special treatment. The cost will be going skyrocket for special condition.

For that problem, now there is several Companies to help you through a to face an unforeseen expense. One of the most popular solution is Cash Advances. It is as easy as it said, if you are qualified with their requirement then you will accept the money immediately, and repayment amount will automatically deducted from your account on your next payday. Online Cash Advance is much more smpler, fill the form, then submit it, then you will receive a reply from the lender, no fax cash advance.

For stories above, the parents can come to nerby Service Office or visit the website just for i.e. perfectcashadvamce.com. Then read the requirement, do everything online. Thats it, it will solve the problem, the kids will pass through operation and family's financial still remain stable. You don't need to worry about mailing anything in, forgetting to repay, or even any other late fees because it is automatically. It is very convinience to follow service like cash advance.

With personal debt at an all-time high, a number of individuals have found that they have overextended themselves and have become immersed in debt. If you have a problem with the credit or still a problem until now, you better to take a credit repair to get back to right track.

Most of the credit repair purposes are to solve the credit problem from the past. A lot of credit repair services varieties are widespread in the country; provide us from credit counseling and debt negotiation to debt consolidation loans and even budgeting advice.

Common Types of Credit Repair
As mentioned above, to repair credit can take several different forms. Credit counseling services provide assistance with the budgeting (Money Management) and repayment of your debts, and offer advice on simple ways to improve your credit without additional loans especially money loan. They also often provide debt negotiation, which is the working out of a settlement with your creditors so that you only have to repay a portion of your original debt within a certain timeframe and to prevent you for having experience a bad credit repair.

Debt consolidation loans are also used for the purposes of credit repair, allowing you to take out a loan in order to pay off outstanding debts and leaving you with a single monthly loan payment instead of several different payments.
Budgeting assistance services are also available to help you how to control the way that you spend you money and your personal finances.

Knowing the truth and differences…
Stunning design, capabilities and Optimization…
The things above are very common on the Internet. It is very natural if you want to have a good website, but what good all of your effort if there nobody can reach it on the web?
A professional Seo Web Design’s first step to getting down the business is Find and Research the target market, keyword and competitors. But you must note that it was very easy to say than get it done, you will spend a lot of time just to do a research. Once we have the data we need, we can set our next objective, creating a presentable and trustworthy web.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Is the synonym for a process of increasing the visitors (unique visitor) to our web, by having a high rank on search engine. Higher a web ranks equal greater chance that the site can be found by unique visitor. A good manageable and planned website design will also helps a search engine to crawl into the site and improve the probability the site will be ranked on top ten search engine search.
For those who planned to build a commercial website for Money Based Purpose, the main ideas are to offer a product, service or concept how to targeting a visitors to our website. An effective advertising and marketing tool are a must for your website if we want to make money out of it. Getting to the bottom, you must build a search engine friendly web position as high as possible for the best result.

Why is there so much drug money moving on U.S. highways, and what happened to money-laundering through banks?
First, Mexican traffickers who've taken over distribution networks in the United States prefer to smuggle profits back in bulk cash. Second, it's gotten harder to move dirty money through the financial system since a government crackdown after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. According to veteran DEA agent Jack Riley: "The idea of money-laundering where a bunch of people in fancy suits are sitting around a table talking about moving their drug cash to a bank in the Bahamas and then over to Switzerland — we're not seeing that happen. What we're seeing is, the money's going back to Mexico the same way the drugs are — in the back of a car or in a concealed trap or in an 18-wheeler."

How much drug money is out there, and how much of it is law enforcement confiscating?
The Drug Enforcement Administration estimates $12 billion in drug profits is repatriated from the United States — the world's largest narcotics market — back to Latin America each year. Records with the Justice Department show that state law enforcement agencies seized $1.58 billion in 2007 alone, but that doesn't include the tens of millions of dollars that go through the state asset forfeiture programs — which are not tabulated in any central repository.

What is asset forfeiture?
Asset forfeiture is the confiscation of assets associated with the commission of a crime. It can be real estate, vehicles or currency. The federal law, passed in 1986, encourages police agencies to seize drug assets as a way to deny the narcotics cartels their profits and boost the crime-fighting budgets of the agencies.

The states all passed their own asset forfeiture laws, which in many ways mimic the federal statute.

What's the difference between criminal and civil forfeiture?
In criminal forfeiture, the taking of property is usually carried out after the owner is convicted of a crime. In civil forfeiture, the government seizes the property — in this case, the currency — without ever charging the person with a crime. The government must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the money is dirty; then it's up to the owner to prove that his cash is clean. To defend the money requires hiring a lawyer, who often charges more than the amount of the seized cash.

What are some of the rules of asset forfeiture?
Federal and state laws, in general, say that a law enforcement agency that seizes assets may not "supplant" its own budget with confiscated funds, nor should "the prospect of receiving forfeited funds … influence relative priorities of law enforcement agencies."

NPR has found examples, mainly in the South, in which both of these things have happened.

What can law enforcement agencies use seized assets for?
In general, they're supposed to be used for law enforcement purposes, such as equipment, training or first-year salaries. They are supposed to be a supplement to a police budget. Prosecutors can also use seized drug assets for the official purposes of their offices.

If you're 40 or younger, it's tough to predict how much money you might need when retirement is decades away. A few key calculations, however, can help you make sure your savings plan is on track.

Saving Depends on Life Stage
Rebecca Pace, a Cincinnati-based financial planner and CPA, recommends putting aside at least 10 percent of your income when you're in your 20s and 30s -- and even more if you're single. "I wouldn't expect they could continue to add a lot to it while they're raising a family, but if they've put something aside early, it should continue to work for them until they can save again," she says.

Another good reason to save aggressively now: The younger you are when you start, the longer your money will have time to grow. This means you'll need to set aside a lot less to reach the same goal than if you waited just a few more years to get started.

For example, if you're 25, you only need to invest about $3,600 per year to end up with $1 million by the time you're 65 if your investments return 8 percent per year. But if you wait until you're 30 to start, you'll need to set aside about $5,400 per year to end up with the same $1 million at age 65. And starting at 40 requires $12,700 a year to reach the same magic $1 million. Finally, you'll need a whopping $34,000 per year to reach the same goal if you procrastinate until you're 50.

A recent study by T. Rowe Price reveals most people need to set aside at least 15 percent of their pretax salary for their investments to replace 50 percent or more of their current salary in retirement. This may be enough if you're getting an extra 20 percent or more of your preretirement income in Social Security and pension payouts. But you'll need to fill more of the gap yourself if you don't expect to receive a pension, if you live in an expensive area, or will still have a mortgage or other housing payment after retirement.

How to Afford to Save
The reality is that it isn't always easy to set aside money for retirement when you're nowhere near your peak income and just trying to pay your regular bills. The good news: You have plenty of help. The IRS and most employers kick in some money, so you can set aside a substantial amount of money without taking much of a hit in your paycheck.

For example, if your employer matches 50 cents on the dollar for up to 6 percent of your salary and you earn $40,000, you'd get the maximum match if you contribute $2,400 in a 401k. In that case, you'd get $1,200 from your employer, bringing your total contribution up to $3,600.

And that $2,400 doesn't lower your paycheck dollar for dollar either, since you're investing the money pretax. If you're in the 25 percent bracket, investing $2,400 would reduce your take-home pay by only $1,800 for the year. So it actually would cost you just $150 per month to end up with a $3,600 contribution every year. Start at age 30, and you'd have about $670,000 by age 65.

If you can also afford to invest $200 per month in a Roth IRA, your total savings rate would rise to 15 percent of your $40,000 salary. Continue to invest that much for 35 years, and you could end up with more than $440,000 at age 65, totally tax-free under Roth rules. Add the two together, and you'd have more than $1.1 million for retirement.

Trick Yourself into Saving
Even with all these benefits, you may not initially be able to afford to save 15 percent of your salary. And you shouldn't be setting aside that much until you cover your other bases first -- keeping three to six months' worth of living expenses in an emergency fund so you don't have to raid your retirement account (and pay steep penalties) if unexpected expenses crop up. It's also essential to pay off high-interest credit card debt first so you don't waste money on monthly interest charges.

But once you've met these obligations, the best way to maximize your money is to get it into savings before you can spend it. With a 401k, the money is subtracted from your paycheck before you see it.

You can also make automatic investments into a Roth IRA. Even just $100 per month can add up to $1,200 a year. And if you're 30 now, keep saving at that pace for the next 35 years and your investments earn 8 percent annually, you'll have about $220,000 tax-free by the time you're 65.

While you'll still need to increase your savings rate when you can afford to, these examples demonstrate it's never too early to start. And it's easy to increase your savings rate whenever you get a raise, bonus, tax refund, gift or any other form of extra money. When you're used to living on less, it's easy to invest the extra cash before you can spend it.

Make Money Online is the quest that we have embarked in. Blogger Unleashed was created with the intent to provide a teachable and duplicable way to actually Make Money Online versus the huge crop of worthless “Make Money Online” blogs that are not based on actually teaching you to Make Money Online but for them to Make Money Online while selling you worthless subscriptions or ebooks.

In order to Make Money Online you must have a solid work plan and execute that work plan. The problem is most people are totally clueless what is that work plan and even worst how to executed. Most of the things that people have learned either by reading the worthless crap on “Make Money Online” blogs or by buying the ebooks these same worthless bloggers have sold them is wrong. The only intention of that information is to keep them coming back so they can push the next magic bullet ebook or subscription based program that will guarantee the opportunity to Make Money Online.

At Blogger Unleashed you will find a complete different take on how to actually Make Money Online you will not find here a magic bullet or the ebook you need to buy to get the information that will finally unveil the secret code to Make Money Online. Instead you will find that in order to Make Money Online you need some basic core principles combined with some really hard work, you can attain your goals of making a living from the net.

At Blogger Unleashed you will find some really strong language I ask you to look beyond that, to have the foresight of actually listening to what I am saying and I can guarantee you that with the combination of the information and the support of the members at Blogger Unleashed you will Make Money Online.

New Yorkers are consumed these days by their elected officials’ expense accounts.

We’ve learned that while former Gov. Eliot Spitzer spent a fortune hiring high-priced prostitutes, he frugally dispatched one woman from New York to an assignation at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on the cheaper regional train instead of splurging on the Acela. Gov. David Paterson just got around to reimbursing his campaign’s American Express platinum card account for two stays, five years or more ago, at a Days Inn on the Upper West Side — a hotel where he carried on an extramarital affair and was billed $253 for two nights (compared to the Mayflower, where the cheapest double starts at more than $400).

Full details of these transactions and others may yet yield a trove of additional insights into the character of the two governors. But, meanwhile, another public official has all but gotten a free pass over one aspect of his personal finances: Nobody outside Michael Bloomberg’s tight inner circle knows how much he spent not running for president.

We don’t know how much his non-campaign cost.

We don’t know who got paid — or for doing what.

Nor, under the law, are we entitled to.

Campaign financing experts say Bloomberg is under no legal obligation to disclose his expenses because, as a self-made billionaire, he never solicited contributions from anybody else. He never formally declared that he was even exploring, much less embarking on, a presidential campaign.

Now, nobody is claiming that Bloomberg spent his money improperly.

But if a byword of accountability is to follow the money, where does nondisclosure leave us in a year when we’ve parsed the campaign financing filings of the other candidates even to compare what they’ve spent on doughnuts?

If you are what you eat, or what you wear, aren’t you also what you spend?

With Bloomberg, we’re talking about a guy who invested $160 million on his two mayoral campaigns, more than either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama reported spending so far on running for president.

We’re talking about a guy who recently gave $500,000 to Albany Republicans — ostensibly to help them retain their tenuous grip on the State Senate, but, perhaps, also as an unspoken incentive to approve the mayor’s congestion pricing charge for motorists entering Manhattan.

What’s $500,000 to Bloomberg?

That’s how much extra he spent in a single afternoon — on Election Day 2001 — when last-minute polling suggested he needed to galvanize every one of his potential supporters.

To Bloomberg, spending $500,000 is comparable to a measly millionaire shelling out a mere $100. That much would buy you a dozen drives into Manhattan once congestion pricing is imposed, but not even a full night at a Days Inn.

The mayor has sort of revealed the recipients of his generous and influential philanthropy. But when I asked Stu Loeser, his spokesman, for an accounting of Bloomberg’s national political expenses, he replied: “No thanks. We decline to comment.”

Campaigning is expensive.

It was humanizing to hear that in 2001, when Bloomberg was still trailing his chief mayoral rival by double digits, he confided to his pollster: “I’m already in this race for $20 million. When do I start to move?”

Four years later, Bloomberg barely winced when his re-election campaign invested more than $10 million on developing a computerized database that included sophisticated psychological profiles of New York City voters.

After that election, a spokesman responded to criticism of Bloomberg’s record campaign budget by suggesting that the mayor had gone beyond the legal requirements in revealing what he spent.

“The Bloomberg campaign is disclosing the same financial information, in the same publicly accessible format, as all other campaigns,” the spokesman said, “even though we are not accepting taxpayer money.”

In 2005, though, unlike 2001, Bloomberg was required to make such disclosures to the city’s Campaign Finance Board.

If, as his spokesman seemed to suggest, he was voluntarily doing the public a favor back then, why not now?

How much money buys happiness? A wide body of research suggests the number is approximately forty thousand dollars a year. Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University, says once you have enough money to meet basic needs – food, shelter, but not necessarily cable —incremental increases have little effect on your happiness.

Aaron Karo, comedian and author of the forthcoming book, Ruminations on Twentysomething Life, responds to the number with, “If you want to draw a line in the sand, happiness is having enough money so you don’t have to move back in with your parents.”

To someone who just spent four years in college living off nine-thousand-dollar loan stipends, an increase to forty thousand means a lot – moving from poverty to middle class. But it’s a one-time rush. After you hit the forty-thousand-dollar-range money never gives you that surge in happiness again.

Twentysomethings who are looking for happiness from their careers will benefit from research about their parents’ choices. Richard Easterlin, professor of economics at University of Southern California says previous generations have proven that our desires adjust to our income. “At all levels of income, the typical response is that one needs 20% more to be happy.” Once you have basic needs met, the axiom is true: more money does not make more happiness.

So then one asks, what does matter? The big factors in determining happiness levels are satisfaction with your job and social relationships. And in case you found yourself slipping back to thoughts of salary, according to Easterlin, “How much pleasure people get from their job is independent of how much it pays.”

Unfortunately, people are not good at picking a job that will make them happy. Gilbert found that people are ill equipped to imagine what their life would be like in a given job, and the advice they get from other people is bad, (typified by some version of “You should do what I did.”)

Gilbert recommends going into a career where people are happy. But don’t ask them if their career makes them happy, because most people will say yes; they have a vested interest in convincing themselves they are happy. Instead, try out a few different professions before you settle on one. For college students, Gilbert envisions this happening with part-time jobs and internships at the cost of “giving up a few keggers and a trip to Florida over spring break.” But even if you wait until you enter the workforce, it makes sense to switch from one entry-level job to another; no seniority and scant experience means you have little to lose. So it’s an ideal time to figure out what will make you happy: Use a series of jobs to observe different professions at close range to see if YOU think they make people happy.

It’s simple, proven advice, but few people take it because they think they are unique and their experience in a career will be different. Get over that. You are not unique, you are basically just like everyone else. Gilbert can, in the course of five minutes, rattle off ten reasons why people think they are unique but they are not. For example: We spend our lives finding differences between people to choose teachers, band mates and spouses, so our perception of peoples’ differences is exaggerated… And then Gilbert gets to grapes: “If you spend seven years studying the differences between grapes, no two will look the same to you, but really a grape is a grape.”

So your first step is to stop thinking you’re a special case. Take Gilbert’s advice and choose a career based on your assessment of other people in that career. You next step is to focus on social relationships, because in terms of happiness, job satisfaction is very important but social relationships are most important.

And by social relations, most researchers mean sex – with one, consistent partner. So consider giving your career aspirations a little less weight than you give your aspirations for sex. For those of you who like a tangible goal, David Blanchflower, professor of economics at Dartmouth College says, “Going from sex once a month to sex once a week creates a big jump in happiness. And then the diminishing returns begin to set in.” He adds, to the joy of all who are underemployed, “It’s true that money impacts which person you marry, but money doesn’t impact the amount of sex you have.”

Maybe all this research simply justifies the twentysomething tendency to hold a series of entry-level jobs and put off having children. Says Karo: “All we really want is to get paid and get laid.”

The National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) was started by Bill Gates, Michael Dell and other technology titans concerned about the declining performance of American students in math and science. The public-private partnership funds efforts to increase the number of students taking advanced placement courses in those subjects. But thanks to the Washington Education Association, a teachers union, the initiative's recent efforts in Washington state have been torpedoed.

Earlier this month NMSI announced that a $13.2 million grant slated for Washington state was being scrapped. Why? The contract ran afoul of the union's collective bargaining agreement. NMSI wanted to compensate teachers directly and include extra pay based on how well students performed on AP exams. But under the teacher contracts, the union is the exclusive agent for negotiating teacher pay and union officials refused to compromise. They were willing to turn away free money for their teacher members rather than abide this kind of merit pay.

State Representative Bill Fromhold, who was helping to administer the grant, told the Seattle Times, "We worked hard to try to find middle ground." But in the end, he said, "we got caught in the middle of the grant requirements and collective bargaining laws in the state of Washington that have to be followed."

Other heavily unionized states, such as Massachusetts and Connecticut, were able to reach agreements and will receive the math and science money notwithstanding similar bargaining agreements. And while the Washington union is spurning millions of dollars in grant money, it's also suing the state for the alleged inadequate funding of public schools. Hmmm. Could it be that union chiefs care more about protecting their monopoly than what students are learning?

“WILL you be part of my life?”

I resoundingly replied, “Yes, I will spend the rest of my life with you.”

While it was a breeze to say “Yes” to a life-changing decision, looking for the engagement ring that I wanted was not.

Even if you’re not a big fan of jewelry like I am, you still need to do your homework. Here’s what you need to know when shopping for an engagement or wedding ring:

1. Set a budget. Your soon-to-be bride may not be too keen about wearing an expensive ring but as Robin said, from centuries back, a ring (usually a diamond ring) traditionally serves as a betrothal gift to the bride and that traditionally, the price tag is equated to the kind of love he has for his bride.

I ended turning down most prospective rings because they were too pricey even if discounted. There is a rule of thumb that says an ideal budget for a ring is worth two months’ salary. Eventually, though, the guy will eventually determine how much he is willing to shell out.

2. Know the 4 C’s. Know the basics if you’re planning to get a diamond ring: cut, color, clarity and carat. According to Tiffany and Co., the diamond’s cut will determine its defining characteristic – so check for angle and size and the shape; round remains classy, but for variety, you may opt for emerald, heart, oval, marquise, pear, or princess cut).

The most valuable color is white or colorless, and graded “D” by jewelers. To check the clarity, examine the ring through a jeweler’s loupe or magnifying glass, and when the stone is graded SI1 [Slightly Included 1] or better (best and most expensive is IF, or Internally Flawless; worst is I3 or Imperfect 3], then your pick is fine. Finding the right carat for your budget is important so ask for stones than the next carat [example: 0.9 instead of 1], since this almost indiscernible difference can lead to significant savings.

In our case, Robin was on the lookout for a simple yet classy ring. He was first considering a round cut diamond. When I later became pro-active in our search, I leaned more toward a princess cut.

3. Pick the band. According to Suarez Wedding Rings Web site (www.suarezweddingrings.com), white gold is trendier than the traditional yellow gold and not as rare looking as rose gold. It is more affordable than platinum, an extremely white metal that is harder and more expensive than gold or any other metal at that.

White gold is recommended for stone settings other than yellow. You may opt for 24-karat gold, but you can save more by opting for gold of lesser karat. Since gold by nature is soft and malleable, generally losing its shape over time, cleaning and maintaining your engagement and wedding ring might eventually become a real expense. While we had different ideas regarding the stone, Robin and I settled for an 18K white gold band.

4.Shop around. Don’t settle for just the popular jewelry stores. You have to search both mom-and-pop jewelry stores and jewelry chains. The latter, of course, command higher prices because of their name and years in the industry. We found our ring at a less popular store, which has the accreditations required and follows global guidelines (the Philippines follows the International Gemological Institute guide on diamond clarity). Most stores we checked also offered discounts, but the smaller—and more eager—stores will give in to the customer’s (reasonable) demands.

When we got the discounted amount, I asked if they could just waive the excess P2,500 since it’s the only ring of its kind left and we truly came back for it after checking out all the other stores. So they waived it and my fiancé gave me an approving smile for sealing the sale at a more reasonable amount.

5. Don’t buy alone. For men, bring a companion when buying jewelry – someone who knows your ladylove’s preferences. If you decide to go with your fiancée, you may lose the surprise element and the romanticism, but it can be worth it. Looking for a ring together is an exercise in mutual decision-making, involving money at that. Buying the engagement ring gave us an idea how we are going to work together as a couple in the near future.

AN ANGLICAN PRIEST is warning that the love and worship of money and the desire to get rich can be tempting and lead many people down the wrong path.

Reverend Canon Wayne Issacs told his congregation that included members of the Royal Barbados Police Force at St Paul's Anglican Church Sunday that a person could not serve God and Mammon (wealth regarded as an evil influence) together.

"The two cannot live in peaceful coexistence," he said at a service to mark the start of Police Week celebrations and which was also attended by Prime Minister David Thompson, Attorney-General Freundel Stuart, Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin and the heads of other organisations.

The priest, who noted that money could be a good servant or a bad master, said that without it the Government could not carry out its programmes and people could not take care of their needs.

However, money became an evil when it was not used to serve the interest of God.

"There are three evils about materialism – greed, the desire to get rich and the worship of money have been the downfall of many persons. These three lead to corruption and dishonesty in both the public and private life and cause many to fall in disgrace. These three evils . . . cause us to compromise our principles. . . .

"Our national security is endangered when people with whom we place our confidence allow greed to make them slaves of materialism . . .," he continued.

Issacs added that the desire to get rich was responsible for some of the social problems facing Barbadian society today such as people involved in selling drugs.

"The desire to get rich is a factor that causes some persons to overcharge for services," the canon added.

He warned that people spent so much time trying to make money that at the end of the day, salvation was lost to them and they were sometimes miserable and discontented.

The other thing sometimes called money laundering is when you have some big lump of cash that you'd rather not have people find out about. Sometimes it's an effort to keep the money from the tax man (literally the opposite of classic money laundering), other times the goal is to keep it from coming to the attention of someone else who might feel like they have some claim to the money--an ex-spouse, a creditor, the guy who owns the land where you found the bag of gold coins in the culvert.

In this kind of money laundering, the point is to make the money disappear. This is the sort of money laundering where you might make use of foreign banks, shell companies, and so on.

There are two parts to these strategies. First, you need to make the money disappear. Second, you need to make it reappear in some gradual fashion that doesn't bring it to the attention of whoever you're trying to hide it from.
Disappearing the money

The easiest way to disappear the money, especially if it's already cash (as opposed to, let's say, silver bullion or a winning lottery ticket) is to just stash it in a safety deposit box. You miss out on any investment income, but it's safe and you know where to find it.

If you really want to be able to invest the money, get it overseas. If it's an amount that you can just carry with you, buy a vacation package to the Cayman Islands or visit your family roots in Europe and take a little side trip to Switzerland or Austria or Liechtenstein.

There are plenty of fancy, complex ways to get the money overseas, that mostly require an accomplice. The most basic is an invoice scam. Establish a business that imports or exports something. Meet with your customer or supplier and arrange with him to either over-pay or under-bill, and then to have your counterpart deposit (most of) the excess into your foreign bank account. An ongoing scheme is good, because the guy knows that the lucrative cash flow will stop if you find out the money isn't getting deposited as it should, but you can also work this as a one-shot deal if your counterpart can be trusted.

Banks used to help their good customers get money discretely overseas, but nowadays there are a bunch of laws against such things, and bankers are particularly averse to going to jail for their customers. Expect them to refused to get involved and to rat you out.
Reappearing the money

Now we're basically back into classic money laundering territory.

If you stashed a duffel bag full of cash it in a safety deposit box (or under your bed), all you need to do is pull out a few bills now and then when you're heading out for a night on the town. You can raise your standard of living modestly. Alternatively, you could increase the amount that's going into your 401(k) and then use the cash to keep your standard of living about the same--gradually turning the hidden money into above-board money.

If you've got the money overseas somewhere, bring it back in some way that makes it legit. The easiest would be to create an overseas company that then hires you to do something. You do whatever it is and send an invoice whenever you want some cash. You can also reverse the invoice scam that let you get the money overseas in the first place--now you under-pay (or over-bill), while making up the difference out of your foreign bank account. A third option is a fake loan where you "borrow" the money and then simply fail to pay the money back.
Instant disappear-reappear cycles

If you can't wait to reappear the money gradually, and the amount involved isn't too big, you can always use a simple casino scam. Go to a casino and buy some chips. Do a little low-risk gambling. (For example, bet each chip, one at a time, on red. Do that 20 or 30 times and you'll have about the same amount you started with.) Get a few more chips and repeat. Play a few different games (blackjack, craps, slots). Ideally, go to several different casinos and repeat the whole process there. Eventually, cash in all your chips and go home with a story about how you won a bunch of money at roulette. Pay taxes on your winnings.

Financial Shock is a kind of anxiety that results from being unfamiliar with the currency, exchange rates, prices, and standard of living of a foreign country. It manifests itself in a variety of ways. Undoubtedly, the most common aspect of financial shock is one's utter unfamiliarity with the money. It looks and feels different and has a seemingly nebulous value. Thus, it can feel like you are trading your dollars in on Monopoly money when you go to the bank. At the same time, there is another related aspect of financial shock that can overtake you; namely, the feelings that "the prices here are exorbitant!" and "everything is cheaper back in the (good old) US of A!" And though these feelings may not be totally groundless, until you have become comfortable with a new currency and have developed a strong "feel" for it, you will have to dismiss them as symptoms of financial shock.

Moreover, there is the matter of perceiving standards of living; for even though you may soon feel comfortable dealing with a foreign currency, it will not be until you can put the standard of living from which you came and the standard of living where you are or will be, into its proper perspective, that you will be able to understand the true value of the "foreign" currency with which you are dealing.

For instance, in a country where the standard of living is considerably lower than it is in the US, equivalent amounts of money (dollars to pounds, francs, cedis or pesos) at the bank are not necessarily equivalent in terms of their "real" value. In fact, because a foreign national may earn only half as much (on the average) as an American does, the equivalent value of the currency is worth far more to him in "real" terms than it is to you. Therefore, no matter how you find prices to be abroad, they may be easier for you to afford than for the local populace. This has developed the "Ugly American" image, the traveler who has too much money and throws it around. Finally, there is a last symptom of financial shock that you need to be cautioned against. It doesn't happen to everyone; nor can it be predicted. And though its causes are many: "funny money," exchange rates, floating dollar values, etc. In any case, the end result is fairly basic. It is known as "abandoning reason to the wind and spending money like crazy," and those individuals who succumb to this temptation are going to encounter the most awful financial shock of all -- going broke in a foreign country!