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Friday, October 27, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Home Prices Drop Sharply in September
Housing developers are drastically cutting prices to move a backlog of unsold homes off the market, new statistics from the Commerce Department suggest.
The median sale price of a new home in September 2006 was $217,000, 9.7 percent lower than in September 2005, the report said — the steepest year-to-year drop in more than three decades.
The lower prices evidently had the desired effect: the number of new homes sold jumped by 5.3 percent in September compared with August, and inventories fell by 2 percent.
Even so, the statistics depict a housing market that has slumped considerably from the lofty levels of a year ago. Though better than the month before, the sales volume figure for September was still 14.1 percent lower than in September 2005.
And the supply of unsold homes — 6.4 months’ worth at the current pace of sales — remains uncomfortably high for developers.
“It will take a long time for builders to clear their backlog,” wrote Dimitry Fleming, an economist with ING, in a report today. “Don’t rule out further price declines.”
Developers may start shelving new projects until the market improves. . “It is hard to see builders now rushing to start work on constructing more new homes, when prices are nose-diving,” said a report today from Capital Economics, an economic research firm in London.
Another closely watched economic barometer released this morning — the Census Bureau’s report on durable-goods orders — showed an unexpected 7.8 percent rise for September.
Durable goods, which include everything from turbines to dishwashers, are monitored by economists as a gauge of business investment.
The uptick was accounted for almost entirely by a surge in orders for aircraft. Boeing took orders for 175 planes last month, nearly doubling the non-defense aircraft component of the durable-goods figure in the report, compared with August.
Otherwise, the report showed very modest growth: When orders for transportation equipment are stripped out — as economists prefer to do because aircraft and vehicle orders are so volatile — the volume of “core” durable-goods orders rose by only 0.1 percent.
Today’s housing report followed a report on Wednesday that showed softness in the market for previously owned homes — which account for about 85 percent of all home sales.
Economists and housing experts said it is too soon to say just how severe the downturn in housing will prove to be. “Everybody here is just guessing,” said Dottie Herman, chief executive of Prudential Douglas Elliman, a real estate company in New York. “And it depends on whose guess you want to listen to.”
When will the tsunami of foreclosures hit?
With millions of adjustable-rate mortgages about to reset this fall, experts expect a wave of foreclosures by Americans in every income bracket. Here's why they could soar in late 2006 and beyond.
By Charles DuBow, BusinessWeekThose easy-mortgage chickens are coming home to roost.
This fall the adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) that millions of Americans took out during the recent housing boom will be reset, and many homeowners will see their monthly mortgage payments shoot up by as much as 20%.
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, of all mortgages financed in 2005, 36% were ARMs -- the highest ever.
This is a matter of concern because ARMs are typically initially made at a lower rate and then increase after a fixed period of time, usually one, three, five, seven or 10 years, after which the rate will more closely reflect current rates.
As interest rates increase, mortgage payments increase. Between $400 billion and $500 billion in ARMs are due to be reset by the end of 2006. The following year will be even more dramatic, when more than $1.5 trillion will be reset.
For many Americans, this is scary news, if hardly unexpected. Everyone who took out an ARM or another equally appealing low-rate mortgage over the past few years to buy a house, at times beyond their means, knew that someday their payments could balloon.
Those home buyers may have thought they would be able to flip their houses quickly and avoid the rise in their mortgage payments.
But now, many of them are finding themselves stuck in a house they may soon no longer be able to afford, and, as the real estate market peters out, there's little they can do about it.
Indianapolis' dubious honor
The result is that these homes, instead of being a springboard to greater wealth, suddenly become an anchor. Unable to pay their mortgage, and hit by the double whammy of higher gas prices and higher credit-card rates, many Americans in nearly every income bracket may be forced into foreclosure.
According to a new study by RealtyTrac, which publishes the nation's largest database of pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties, the situation is not all that bad -- yet.
In their survey of foreclosure rates in the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the U.S., the second quarter of 2006 actually saw fewer foreclosures than in the first quarter.
While Indianapolis, Atlanta and Dallas saw the nation's three highest metropolitan foreclosure rates, other areas, such as Chicago and Portland, Ore., saw a 60% and 188% decline, respectively, from the first quarter.
Indianapolis found itself at the head of the list. Even though its foreclosure rate wasn't as high in the second quarter as in the first, it still performed worse than any other metro area in the country, with nearly 0.987% of all its homes in foreclosure, or one foreclosure for every 101 households.
Worse predicted
The next worst performer was Atlanta, with 0.904% of all homes in foreclosure, or one home in every 111 households.
The reason that Indianapolis and Atlanta have such high rates is due more at this point in time to local market conditions than to ARMs. Indianapolis, for example, has a weak job market and a weak real estate market.
On average, homes there take twice as long to sell, and then often for a fraction of the market value.
Atlanta, on the other hand, has suffered because of both an exceptionally high number of bad mortgages that were being written as well as the fact that many of the industries there are retrenching, which leads to job loss or salary reductions.
"I think the findings of this report are a message that people should take a deep breath and stop hyperventilating," says Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac's vice president of marketing. "The feared tsunami of foreclosures isn't taking effect yet."
But Sharga also predicts that the third and fourth quarters are going to be much worse. "Year-to-date, we have seen a 39% increase in foreclosures over last year," he says. "I'd be very surprised to see the rate drop below that, especially with the 3/1 and 5/1 ARMs resetting in the fall."
Unprecedented situation
A 3/1 ARM has a fixed interest rate for the first three years, and thereafter adjusts each year. A 5/1 ARM is fixed for the first five years and then resets. A major concern is that the number of ARMs issued at subprime rates to borrowers with lower credit ratings is not known.
"We know that ARMs default at a higher rate than fixed, and subprimes default at higher rates than primes," says Sharga. "Never have so many ARMs reset at the same time. There is no precedent for it."
Many industry observers are concerned that the default rate could reach dangerous economic proportions. Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as lenders such as Countrywide Financial and Wells Fargo, are all looking at foreclosure-prevention strategies, according to Sharga.
"The GSEs and lenders are developing novel solutions on workout programs to prevent people from going into foreclosure," he says. "Because if the number of foreclosures is too great, it drives down the market and they find themselves stuck with a lot of depreciating property on their hands.
It is much more in their interest to educate homeowners on what their options are and come up with ways to help them keep their homes."
While many Americans will almost certainly find themselves in foreclosure, for others this could represent an opportunity that had been denied them in recent years, as prices climbed around the country.
It's important to note that foreclosure laws are not federal, and so each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is different. In New York, homeowners have 455 days between the time they're delinquent on their loans and the time a lender can foreclose.
In Texas, this pre-foreclosure period is 27 days, the shortest in the U.S.
Is Housing Out of the Woods?
A growing chorus of experts says the worst may be over for home sales. But the recovery may not be smooth—or quick
by Marc Hogan Depending on whom you ask, the winds may already be shifting for the housing market. All year, economists have warned of a bursting housing bubble and its potential impact on economic growth (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/21/06, "Why Housing Looks a Little Rickety").
However, a recent stream of encouraging data has some prominent prognosticators changing their tune.
One of the first in line was Alan Greenspan. As recently as May 18, the former Federal Reserve chairman put an exclamation point on the housing slowdown when he declared, "The boom is over." But now, the "worst may well be over," Greenspan was quoted as saying Oct. 7, after mortgage applications posted their biggest weekly gain since June, 2005.
A growing number of economists and analysts have come around to the ex-Fed chief's view. Some investors may see sunnier skies too, as homebuilding stocks such as Lennar (LEN), DR Horton (DHI), and Pulte Homes (PHM) have rebounded since touching 52-week lows in July.
Reports on existing home sales for September, scheduled for release Oct. 25, and new home sales Oct. 26 could shed more light on housing's status.
Leveling Out?
While the most bearish scenarios may be becoming increasingly unlikely, the housing market probably isn't out of the woods yet. Even the most upbeat forecasts call for new-home construction to keep declining nearly as much as it already has so far. Meanwhile, underlying economic figures may contradict their milder headlines.
Greenspan's assessment followed on the heels of Fed Vice-Chairman Donald Kohn's suggestion Oct. 4 that "[housing] starts may be closer to their trough than to their peak."
The data since then could give bulls even more reason for guarded optimism. On Oct. 17, the National Association of Home Builders' housing-market index rebounded to 31 from 30 in September, snapping a 12-month decline from 68 a year earlier.
A day later, a Commerce Dept. report showed housing starts rose 5.9% in September, to an unexpectedly strong pace of 1.772 million units.
"The point of maximum deterioration in housing activity has probably passed," says Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist at Goldman Sachs (GS), in an Oct. 20 report.
"The sharp downturn of the past year seems to have brought total housing starts—single-family starts, multi-family starts, and mobile-home shipments—close to the level justified by the underlying demographics."
Permit Plunge
Still, Hatzius comes up with plenty of caveats. Housing activity could drop by another 300,000 housing starts, he projects, as homebuilders work off unwanted inventory and buyers shift from single-family units to multifamily and mobile homes. That would come on top of a decline of 400,000 housing starts already, Hatzius says.
Others maintain that the housing downturn still has a long way to go. "Commentary suggesting housing demand is recovering, based on the latest homebuilder and mortgage applications readings, appears to be more wishful thinking than fact," says Keith Hembre, chief economist at First American Funds, in an Oct. 20 report.
To read the entire
Five Ways To Become Wealthy
from
Enhancing your Financial Success
There are basically five ways that you can become wealthy starting with nothing in America based on over 25 years of research into American millionaires. Number one, you can inherit it. Less than 10 percent of wealthy Americans inherited any of their money, and it's less and less every single year.
The Second Way
The second way that you can become wealthy is you can achieve it professionally. You can become a doctor or a lawyer or an architect or an accountant. You can become extremely good at what you do, be paid very well, and hold on to the money.
The Third Way
The third way you can achieve it is you can become a senior executive of a large corporation. You can be highly paid; you can have stock options and bonuses. And if you stay with the company long enough, for enough years, you can be paid enough to become wealthy.
The Fourth Way
You can win it. But only a tiny fraction of one percent of wealthy Americans got that way by winning their money some way or another. As a matter of fact, the odds against you winning the lottery are the equivalent of lightning striking twice in the same place. They're millions and millions to one.
The Best Way
The fifth way that you can become wealthy is you can start your own business and earn it all by yourself. Starting your own business has been and will always be the high road to becoming wealthy for most self-made millionaires.
Entrepreneurship is America offers more opportunities and opens more doors than all other possibilities put together. This is why it has been said that if you have the ability to start your own business and you don't do it, you are a fool.
I'll repeat that. If you have the ability to start your own business and you don't do it, you're a fool.
Where do you start? You start by getting your finances under control. The very first thing you do is you make a decision to get your finances under control. Some years ago, a man named George Classon wrote a book called The Richest Man In Babylon.
It's a classic on financial success and what Classon said in that book was that the key to becoming wealthy is to pay yourself first. Take ten percent off your income, off your gross income every month and put it aside. Learn to live on ninety percent or less of your gross income. So the very first thing that you do is you begin to save your money.
Action Exercises
Now, here are two things you can do immediately to put yourself onto the high road to personal wealth:
First, resolve today to begin saving your money a little bit at a time. Set a goal to save 10% of your income, to put it away and to never touch it. This will change your life.
Second, immediately register your own business or sole proprietorship. Open a bank account, get business cards and letterhead and create the corporate entity under which you can do business. Your business opportunities will appear far sooner than you think. If you build it, they will come.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Beverage controls elevate bar profits by cutting waste, theft
By James Scarpa
(Oct. 23) - Eager to reduce bar shrinkage and maximize drink profits, more operators are switching from free pouring their alcoholic beverages to dispensing them with beverage control technology.
Such systems, proponents indicate, can help stanch the financial bleeding that results from waste, overpouring and employee dishonesty at the bar.
(Oct. 23) - Eager to reduce bar shrinkage and maximize drink profits, more operators are switching from free pouring their alcoholic beverages to dispensing them with beverage control technology.
Such systems, proponents indicate, can help stanch the financial bleeding that results from waste, overpouring and employee dishonesty at the bar.
The newest tools for optimizing liquor profits are bottle spouts equipped with wireless RFID, or radio frequency identification, transmitters.
Such devices are adding to technological cost control arsenals that include restrictive pour systems, which use special bottle spouts, beer taps, liquor guns or cocktail towers to dispense preset amounts.
Other options are inventory management systems that let bartenders pour freely but measure the amounts, using such tools as beer-line flow sensors and digital scales that gauge bottle inventory.
All those devices can link to an operator’s point-of-sale system to compare pouring histories and sales, helping to pinpoint losses.
“Our best-performing store improved 15 percent [in sales] and our worst-performing store improved 28 percent” with beverage control technology, said Eric Krygier, director of operations for casual-dining operator Krygier Cos.
“We purchased the same amount of beverage, but we rang up that much more because it wasn’t going down the drain or going out free.” Krygier said his Schererville, Ind.-based company has slashed losses from waste and theft using DraftChecker and BottleChecker, both by FreePour Controls Inc., in three franchised Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar units and three franchised Red Robin Gourmet Burgers units.
Systems to control beverage operations are more widely used in Canada and Europe than in the United States because of the steeper alcohol taxes in those places. But even here, an increasing number of operators are turning to them.
“There’s a trend toward controlling costs and managing inventory better,” said David Commer, president of Commer Beverage Consulting in Carrollton, Texas. “The need is perhaps greater today because the cost of goods has increased, and so has the pressure to be profitable.”
Losses at the bar may be inadvertent, resulting from spills, broken containers, pouring mistakes or draft beer that’s too foamy. Or they may be deliberate, such as giving away drinks without authorization, pouring one brand and charging for another, pocketing cash rather than ringing up drinks, overpouring liquor to curry favor with guests or outright theft.
Proponents of beverage control technology say that bartenders are much less likely to steal or waste product when they switch from pouring at will to using a system that makes them accountable.
The systems used by Krygier Cos. are invisible to the customer. DraftChecker uses infrared flow sensors to gauge outflow through the beer lines. With BottleChecker, management uses a digital scale and software to weigh bottles and take physical inventory.
Each system interfaces with the POS systems of the stores — Hospitality Solutions International, or HSI, for Buffalo Wild Wings and Radiant Systems’ Aloha line for Red Robin — to reveal variances between depletions and sales.
“We believed we had really fair and decent employees,” Eric Krygier said. “Now we keep track of every ounce. If a bartender sold 1,000 ounces of Bud and actually poured 1,100, we want to know about the other 100.”
In contrast, restrictive pouring systems don’t give bartenders a chance to go wrong. Take the handheld liquor gun, for example. The press of a button causes compressed air to propel a preset shot of liquor from a pumping unit fed by liquor bottles in a secure back room through flexible tubing to the gun.
At Stockpot Broiler, a fine-dining restaurant in Beaverton, Ore., owner-manager Gary Nagmay reported saving $300 per month with an Easybar gun system that dispenses 16 liquors. Deducting his $150 per month payments on the system, which has a total lease-to-own price of $5,000, his net saving is $150 per month.
“It yields a better, more accurately mixed cocktail,” said Nagmay, who added that the system uses 1.75-liter bottles of liquor, which cost less than the 750-milliliter bottles often found behind bars.
Also delivering a measured shot, but from a bottle rather than a gun, is the controlled spout system. Liquor bottles are fitted with spouts that only pour when a collar wired to a control station at the bar is attached to them.
Cubby Bear North, a sports-theme restaurant in Lincolnshire, Ill., uses such a system, by Berg Co., to pour consistent 1.25-ounce shots at its three bars. Pour cost has gone down from the mid-20-percent range prior to installation, to about 15 percent, said general manager Robert Mullan. Pour costs are calculated by dividing the cost of depleted inventory by gross sales.
For the utmost in discreet, labor-saving beverage control, some operators hire an outside auditor. For example, the Four Corners Tavern Group in Chicago retains a franchisee of Bevinco Corp. to audit draft and bottle beer, liquor and wine at the Schoolyard Tavern & Grill, Brownstone Tavern & Grill, Gaslight Bar & Grille and Sidebar Grille. Bevinco is a franchised business service company.
“It’s very good for a guy like me, who is not involved in the business day-to-day,” said co-owner Matt Menna, whose main occupation is investments. “It’s one of the services I use that let me sleep well at night.”
Several weeks before the computer-aided auditing service was revealed to employees, Menna’s Bevinco representative undertook secret audits entailing the weighing and counting all beverage containers and comparing them to invoices.
“I would say I save, per venue, $50,000 per year,” said Menna, who pays $1,000 per month per venue for weekly audits, the results of which are e-mailed to him.
Also invisible is RFID-based liquor control, typified by the recently introduced BarVision system. A wireless transmitter inside a special pouring spout on liquor bottles sends radio frequency signals that track such details as brand, portion, time, cost, price category and location.
The data is stored in a receiver and relayed to a Palm personal digital assistant device, or PDA, where BarVision for Palm OS software compiles reports that bartenders and managers can view in real time.
The Country House restaurant in Clarendon Hills, Ill., is a new BarVision user. “We like keeping a free pouring system,” said general manager Lynn Banks. “Customers don’t like seeing the controls.”
With the system in operation just a few weeks, there is no performance data, but Banks said she believed it would save money. “If I see a bartender is pouring over, I can mention it immediately,” she said.
According to the manufacturers, the price of a Berg Co. liquor system ranges from $1,000 for a small operation to $300,000 for a casino, FreePour BottleChecker ranges from $6,000 to $9,500, FreePour DraftChecker runs $400 to $500 per draft line, and an average BarVision setup is $10,000.
Accubar and Scannabar are among other beverage control technology suppliers.
The Accubar system, used by such multiunit operations as B.R. Guest Restaurants of New York and Texas de Brazil of Dallas, streamlines physical inventory by combining personal digital assistant terminals, such as the Palm Pilot, with a bar-code scanner and database software. The software helps make more apparent trends in beverage cost, consumption and losses.
Scannabar combines the use of unique bottle identification stickers and “ribbon” labels for each bottle that feature liquid-level-indicator markings that are read during the inventory process by a wireless bar-code scanner in a handheld terminal.
The system uses terminals from the likes of Symbol Technologies and interfaces with several POS brands to generate reports comparing usage to sales, among other metrics. Scannabar users include some of the food and beverage outlets of the Ritz-Carlton chain.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Got a Minute? In the time it takes you to drink your morning coffee, you can start a business.
By Cornelia M. Flannery
To read the entireart icle, please click on:http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2006/september/166060.html
Online Exclusive: After you take care of your 10-minute action toward startup, what are you going to do for the other 23 hours and 50 minutes of the day? Take at least a few minutes to check out our Startups channel.
There's nothing as fragile as a great idea--especially a great business idea. With that in mind, how do you develop a new business idea so that it not only gains momentum, but actually takes on a life of its own? You have to make the commitment--stick with it and follow through.
Of course, that's easier said than done. Life happens, and everyday circumstances can stop you dead in your tracks. That's why it's essential to have a foolproof plan to keep you going despite your lack of time, knowledge or resources.To read the entire
Monday, October 23, 2006
6 Ways to Create Multiple Streams of Income
By Cheow Yu Yuan
To achieve financial freedom, one cannot only depend on the earned income from his/her day job. One needs to create multiple streams of income, by tapping into the different channels of opportunities.
Let me share with you 6 main types of income streams:
1. Write your own books; create your own audio cds, e-books, video etc. Then earn royalties and fees from licensing or selling your intellectual products.
2. Conduct seminars and workshops so as to magnify your value by reaching to more people at one time. In this way, the money that you will earn from each workshop or seminar will not be fixed; it will all depend on how many people you are willing to reach.
3. Start your own business. Earn dividends as an investor or directors of a business, earn salary as a CEO, and earn through royalties from the brand of a business.
4. Earn commissions from sales, or referrals. For e.g. through online affiliate programs, through downlines, Google Adsense, etc.
5. Earn through investment in real estates by collecting passive income from rental fees.
6. Earn through investment in paper assets such as stocks, mutual funds, bonds, etc.
Before you engage in any one of the way to generate your additional incomes, please do read up and understand the field of investment first.
Disclaimers: Neither we nor any third parties provide any warranty or guarantee as to the accuracy, timeliness, performance, completeness or suitability of the information and materials found or offered on this article for any particular purpose. You acknowledge that such information and materials may contain inaccuracies or errors and we expressly exclude liability for any such inaccuracies or errors to the fullest extent permitted by law.
| The author is one of the directors of HomeBizGears.com HomeBizGears.com strives to provide the resources and gears for you to start YOUR own Internet Business. At HomeBizGears.com, you can find lessons on Internet Business, useful links and articles. Do visit http://www.homebizgears.com for more information. Cheow Yu Yuan, Co-Founder HomeBizGears.com © Copyright 2006 HomeBizGears. All Rights Reserved. |
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Don't Lose Money!
from
Enhancing your Financial Success
It's so important, as a matter of fact, that W. Clement Stone once said, “if you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you.” If you cannot save money, then the seeds of greatness are not in you.
Saving is a Discipline
Why is it that saving money is so important? Because saving money is a discipline and any discipline affects all other disciplines in your life. If you do not have the discipline to refrain from spending all the money that you earn, then you are not qualified to become wealthy and if you do become wealthy, you'll not be capable of holding on to it.
The Law of Attraction
A principle with regard to saving your money is the law of attraction. The law of attraction is activated by saved money. Even one dollar saved will start to attract more money. Here's what I suggest that you do.
If you're really serious about your future, go down and open a savings account. Put as much money as you can into it, even if it's only ten dollars. And then begin to collect little bits of money, and every week go down and put something into that account.
Attract More Money Into Your Life
You will find that the more you put in that account, the more you will attract from sources that you cannot now predict. But if you do not begin the savings process, if you don't begin putting something away towards your financial independence, then nothing will happen to you. The law of attraction just simply won't work.
Invest Your Money Conservatively
Once you begin to accumulate money, here's another rule. Invest the money conservatively. Marvin Davis, self-made billionaire, was asked by Forbes Magazine, “How do you account for your financial success?” And he said, “Well, I have two rules for financial investing.” He said, “Rule number one is, don't lose money.”
He said, whenever I'm tempted, whenever I see an opportunity to invest where there's a possibility I could lose it all, I just simply refrain from putting the money in. Rule number two is, whenever I get tempted, I refer back to rule number one. Don't lose money.
Get Rich Slowly
George Classon says, in The Richest Man In Babylon, that the key is to accumulate your funds and then invest them very conservatively. One of the characteristics of self-made millionaires, one of the characteristics of old money in America is that it's very cautiously, conservatively and prudently invested.
Don't try to get rich quickly. Concentrate rather on getting rich slowly. If all you do is save ten percent of your income, put it away, and let it accumulate at compound interest, that alone will make you wealthy.
Action Steps
Here are two things you can do to apply these lessons to your financial life:
First, open a separate savings and investing account today. From this day forward, put every single dollar you can spare into this account and resolve to never touch it or spend it for any reason.
Second, whenever you consider any investment of your savings, remember the rule, “Don’t lose money!” It is better to keep the money working at a low rate of interest than to take the chance of losing it. Be careful. A fool and his money are soon parted.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Milk Money: White Russians and Variations are Purely Profitable
From popularity spurred by Jeff Bridges’ drinking habits in “The Big Lebowski” to Halle Berry’s request for one (hold the ice, the vodka and the Kahlúa) in “Catwoman,” the White Russian certainly has made its way onto the big screen over the years.
Along with the standard, now other recipes have recently emerged, playing off both halves of the name. While the original is a must-have on a bar menu, these variations — well marketed — also have the potential to add Soviet Union-sized sales to your menu.
The White Russian
1 1/2 ounces Absolut vodka
3/4 ounce Kahlúa
3/4 ounce light milk or cream
Combine vodka and Kahlua together over ice. Float cream on top.
The Colorado Bulldog #2
1 1/2 ounces DeKuyper
Buttershots liqueur
1 ounce Kahlúa
2 ounces Coca-Cola
4 ounces half & half
Pour all ingredients into a Collins glass almost filled with ice cubes. Stir well and serve.
1/2 ounce crème de cacao
2 ounces Stoli vodka
1/4 ounce lemon juice
Combine all with ice in shaker and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass and serve.
Nouveau Black Russian
1 1/2 ounces Skyy Vanilla vodka
or Skyy Berry vodka
1 ounce Kahlúa
1/2 ounce of cream
Combine Skyy vodka and Kahlua over rocks. Float cream on top.
Rebel Russian
1 1/2 ounces Southern
Comfort peach liqueur
1 1/2 ounces Kahlúa
3 ounces half & half
Mix all ingredients and serve over ice.
Kinky Russian
1 1/2 ounces Starbucks
coffee liqueur
1 1/2 ounces Cruzan Coconut rum
3 ounces half & half
Pour coffee liqueur and rum over ice in an old-fashioned glass. Fill with cream and stir and serve.
Friday, October 20, 2006
An Abundant Life: The Plan of Infinite Intelligence
By Anthony Butler
Many people have conflicting emotions about prosperity and wealth. They have the idea that “money is the root of all evil,” or that poverty is in it self some sort of noble cause and that to be rich a person must be greedy or take advantage of a people.
Or that in order for one person to grow rich and prosper another must lose. They think the world is a win-lose prospect.
The truth is, the universe is governed by an infinite intelligence whose plan is to increase life. Every living thing in the world is seeking to increase life; to perpetuate itself in greater abundance.
The natural state of your life is increasing wealth, improving health, greater happiness, and an ever expanding capacity for love. Money is very much like love. The more you love people the greater your capacity to love.
Parents who have one child do not expend all of their love on one child so that there is not enough for a second child. Instead, their capacity for love doubles and triples. From loving one they learn to love many and they learn to teach their children to love and see to increase the good in the world.
Money increases in much the same way as love. As you learn to increase your abundance the greater good you are able to do. As you save and invest money, the more money you are able to tithe to your favorite church, charities, and causes.
You increase the good in the world. Those that live a life of gratitude will enjoy abundant lives.
Wallace Wattles wrote more than 100 years ago, in his incredible work, The Science of Getting Rich, “there is nothing wrong in wanting to get rich. The desire to get rich is really the desire for a richer, fuller, and more abundant life; and that desire is praiseworthy.
The man who does not desire to live more abundantly is abnormal, and so the man who does not desire to have money enough to buy all he wants is abnormal.”
Mr. Wallace wrote that the universe is filled with living spirit and the living spirit is seeking to give us all that we need and desire as long as those needs and desires are in harmony with the good in the world.
I hope you enjoyed these thoughts on Infinite Intelligence and wealth. If you would like to learn more about creating an amazing life in this world visit our website http://envisioningheaven.com and our community bulletin board, The Truth.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Four Strategies to Find A New Business
from
Enhancing your Financial Success
Search Your Own Field
The first strategy is to find a new product or service in your own field or skills. You may have a million dollar idea in your own mind. Many people have had the experience of having an idea for a product or service nag at them over and over again, and you keep pushing it away or ignoring it.
They say the average person has four ideas each year driving to and from work, any one of which would make them a millionaire if they would just follow it up. So look into your own field or skills. Look into your own mind. Look into your own ideas.
Keep Your Eyes Open
The second strategy is to find a new product or service while you travel. Keep your eyes open for opportunities.
A very good friend of mine who is now a multi-millionaire, started his fortune by traveling east and seeing a unique type of orange drink called Orange Julius and then getting the exclusive rights to sell it in a large Western city.
From there, he expanded into other restaurants, into real estate, and into apartments. He developed a high positive cash flow from his Orange Julius business that made him a millionaire.
Sometimes just finding a new product or service that is doing well somewhere else that hasn't come to your market area can make you wealthy.
Get The Rights To Sell It
Remember your objective, when you find a new product or service, is to acquire the rights to sell the product or service exclusively in your market area. Sometimes these rights are available for the asking.
A gentleman I know named Peter Thomas got the rights for Century 21 to Canada simply by going to the offices and asking for them when Century 21 was a young company. From that, he turned Century 21 into one of the most successful real estate franchises in Canada. He is now worth millions of dollars, having taken the cash flow from Century 21 and channeled it into other real estate investments.
Be Sure It Is Already Successful
Sometimes just asking for the right to sell it in your market area is all you have to do. Here's the key, though. Before you bring a new product or service back to your market area, be absolutely sure that it sells well somewhere else.
Many people advertise products outside their market area because they are not selling inside their market area, so make very sure that the product is selling well already in other markets.
Look For Business Opportunities
Strategy number three is to keep your eyes and ears open and alert to new business opportunities occurring around you. Develop a money-making attitude. A friend of mine became very successful by building commercial property across the street from a new shopping center that was being developed.
The traffic from the shopping center made that commercial space extremely valuable. He opened two businesses in it, and started his fortune. So be alert to what is going on around you.
Be Sure You Believe In Your Product
And strategy number four is this. Remember you will only be successful marketing and selling something that you believe in, use yourself and would recommend to your best friend.
Many times, I see people who make the critical mistake of trying to sell a product or service that they themselves would neither use nor afford, nor would they recommend to someone else, but they think that other people will buy it even though they wouldn't.
So remember you must really, really believe it the product. You must be excited about the product. You must absolutely believe that this product can enhance the life or work of someone else and then be eager to tell them about it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put these business building strategies to work in your own life:
First, develop a new business mentality. Continually look around you for new products and services that people need, want and are willing to pay for.
Second, develop a money making attitude. Look around you for opportunities to sell products or services that are not currently being offered, at either higher prices or in greater quantities. The possibilities are everywhere.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
RECIPES FOR REVENUE
Central 111, a funky club concept in Virginia Beach, Va., continually increases sales through creative cocktails and sponsored promotions year after year. Here's one of their interesting libations:
Perfect Alibi
3/4 ounce Jack Daniel's
3/4 ounce Apple Pucker
3/4 ounce Malibu Rum
1 ounce sour mix
2 ounces cranberry juice
1 ounce 7-up
1 pack of sugar
Combine all ingredients in shaker and shake. Serve in a tall glass over ice and garnish with a lime wheel.
McGillin's Olde Ale House in Philadelphia, Pa., does this one well:
McGillin's Irish Mint Julep Martini
1 1/2 ounces Bailey's Irish Cream
1 1/2 ounces bourbon
1/2 ounce simple syrup
5 sprigs fresh mint
Muddle 2 fresh sprigs of mint in simple syrup in Martini glass. Shake Bailey's and bourbon with ice. Strain and pour over muddled mint. Garnish with remaining mint.
Cut the fog with a well-balanced cocktail
by
"Could you fix us a round of Fog Cutters, Professor?" A group of people who work at a law firm close to our cocktailian bartender's joint have just sidled up to the bar. Alice, an attorney, is ordering the drinks.
"Fog Cutters, huh? Trader Vic's recipe OK with you?" the Professor asks.
"Is that the one with sherry floating on top?"
"Sure is, Alice. How many are you, seven?"
"Seven it is, Professor, unless you'd like to join us, of course"
"Hmm, been a long time since I had a Fog Cutter. Thanks. Don't mind if I do." The Professor smiles and starts to make the drinks.
The Fog Cutter is discussed in detail in Ted Haigh's book, "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails" (Quarry Books, 2004), but the version detailed there uses cherry brandy as a float instead of sherry. He credits Tony Ramos, an old-time tiki bartender from Los Angeles, with the formula.
There are many variations of this drink, and one of them, the Beach Street Fog Cutter, is being served at Ana Mandara, the highly acclaimed Vietnamese restaurant on Ghirardelli Square.
Ana Mandara's Fog Cutter calls for Southern Comfort as an ingredient, and this is a liqueur that most people have heard about, but few understand. Some people refer to Southern Comfort as a whiskey, and even more people think of it as a whiskey-based liqueur, but according to sources at Brown-Forman, the company that owns the product, it's a "fruit, spice and whiskey flavored liqueur" with a neutral base.
Southern Comfort is a very viable product for cocktailian pursuits, as can be seen in the cocktail featured here. If you're traveling overseas, you might want to look out for Southern Comfort Reserve, a blend of Southern Comfort and 6-year-old bourbon that's available only in duty-free stores in Asia, the Pacific and the Americas.
Another ingredient in the Beach Street Fog Cutter is Midori, a melon-flavored liqueur with an almost luminous green hue. Midori, which was launched at New York's notorious Studio 54 in 1978, is cloyingly sweet, so it's important to marry it to tart, or sour, ingredients in order to achieve balance in a cocktail.
Bradley Plymale, the beverage manager at Ana Mandara obviously knew this when he created the restaurant's Fog Cutter, and not only did he call for both lemon and lime juice -- both are used in Ana Mandara's house-made sour mix and margarita mix -- in the recipe, he also topped the drink off with Bundaberg Ginger Beer, a brew from Australia that's made with all natural ingredients. The ginger beer brings everything together in this drink.
"Here you go, Alice. Seven Fog Cutters a la Trader Vic Bergeron, father of the mai tai, and native son of this fair city. You guys celebrating something?" the Professor asks.
"Sure are, Professor. Just got an acquittal for a client who accidentally scratched someone with his scuba knife. Barely broke skin, but his litigious diving buddy tried to take him to the cleaners," Alice tells him.
"Scuba knife? Isn't there a special name for those knives?"
"There are quite a few different styles, Professor, but the one my client had in his hand was a fog cutter, hence the special drinkies," Alice smiles.
"Oh, you attorneys. Such wags ..." says the Professor, smirking to himself as he ambles down the bar.
Ana Mandara's Beach Street Fog Cutter
Makes 1 drink
Adapted from a recipe by Bradley Plymale, beverage manager, Cham Bar, Ana Mandara, San Francisco.
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup freshly chopped cucumber
2 ounces Southern Comfort
1/2 ounce Triple Sec
1/2 ounce Midori melon liqueur
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
2 ounces spicy Ginger Beer
1 cucumber wheel, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS:
Put the cucumber into an empty mixing glass and grind it with a wooden muddler. Add ice and the remaining ingredients except for the ginger beer and shake for approximately 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled collins glass, top with ginger beer and add the garnish.
Gary Regan is the author of "The Joy of Mixology: The Consummate Guide to the Bartender's Craft" and other books. E-mail him at wine@sfchronicle.com.
Financial Planning for Building Long Term Wealth
By Natalie Aranda
Wealth means many different things to an array of people, regardless of how affluent they are. For some, it means putting every one of their children through college. To others, wealth simply means fancy cars, huge mansions, and the ability to relax all day.
Despite what you think wealth means, financial planning is the first necessary step for wealth building.
Building long term wealth is actually possible for everyone. It all begins with financial planning and having ideas. Without a solid focus and a list of goals, you will never be able to accomplish what you’d like. The first step to wealth building is to come up with five priorities.
While the sky is the limit, it is smart to be realistic. For instance, if you are struggling with your current living situation, your goal could be to put $10,000 down on a house in six years. These goals should also include a time frame, and when you’d like to be financially stable.
Staying organized and knowing exactly what road you want to take means that wealth building is in the big picture. It will not only motivate you to strive harder, but it will allow you to see what is down the road.
The next thing you need to do is create a budget. Wealth building certainly doesn’t do the work by itself, thus you have to sit down and keep track of your finances. By building a budget and sticking to it, you will easily be able to accomplish your goal.
For many financial planners, they recommend keeping a journal and a list of your finances. This way you can see what you are saving and why you are saving it. For instance, if you go to the grocery store twice a week, keep the receipts and do the math.
If you begin to have doubts, just think of the end result. Would you rather spend $100 a week on fast food or buy a house in 10 years? The opportunities are endless, as long as you stay strict.
Once you have created a budget, a timeline, and a goal, you must look into additional information. Every financial planner wants to be set for the rest of their lives. By taking wealth building seminars they can learn what to avoid and what to try out.
It is often difficult to start such a large project when you are stuck in debt or just don’t know where to start. For people who are beginning to pay a mortgage, looking into a real estate investing seminar would also do wonders.
While financial planning for long term wealth is a challenge, wealth building is not a remote dream for average people. As long as we stay positive, track with our budget, and keep goals realistic, changes and progress can be made.
| Natalie Aranda writes on persinal finance. Once you have created a budget, a timeline, and a goal, you must look into additional information. Every financial planner wants to be set for the rest of their lives. By taking wealth building seminars they can learn what to avoid and what to try out. It is often difficult to start such a large project when you are stuck in debt or just don’t know where to start. For people who are beginning to pay a mortgage, looking into a real estate investing seminar would also do wonders. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Natalie_Aranda |
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Evaluating A Business
from
Do Your Homework
The best time to do your market research is in advance. Here are some key ideas to help you make the right choice before you invest in a product, a service or a business.
Ask The Right Questions
The first thing to do is to research all competitors for the product or service and ask this: "Why would someone switch to buy from me?" If there's already a similar product or service in the market, why would someone leave a product or service that they're comfortable with for your product or service that they don't know anything about?
Is your product or service better, or is your idea cheaper or of higher quality? And can you convince enough customers of this to stay in business?
Look For The Fatal Flaw
Another way to do fast, cheap market research is to be suspicious. Be wary. Develop a cynical, pessimistic attitude and accept nothing on faith. Look for the fatal flaw. Whenever I've done consulting for a corporation, especially when they've asked me to research an investment, I always look for the fatal flaw.
I always look for the one thing that's wrong with this investment that could cost my client a lot of money. And do you know something? In 99 out of 100 cases, I find the fatal flaw. I find something in a contract or a mortgage agreement or something in the way the land is laid out or the way the distribution arrangements are designed.
Find Out Why It's For Sale
I often find something that is fatal, something that if it were not caught, would lead to the failure of the business. When you're thinking of getting into somebody else's business or if somebody else is trying to sell you an existing business, look for the reason why.
There's always a fatal flaw when someone is trying to sell you a successful money making opportunity. If you can't find the fatal flaw, only then should you go ahead with it.
Don't Lose Money
The second thing that you can do, when considering a business that is for sale is to find out why. Very few people will try to sell you a successful business. Usually people who are selling a business are selling it because they're losing money on it.
Many people say, well, the reason I'm selling this business is because I want to concentrate on something else. No. The reason they're selling the business is because they're losing money on it. And you must find out why a person would sell a successful business.
Think Long Term
Finally, number three, look at the business before you go into it as though you were going to be in it for twenty years. The long term perspective sharpens short term decision-making. If you look at any business venture, any product or service, as though you were going to be doing this twenty years from now, you'll find that you'll make much better decisions.
Action Exercises
First, look for the fatal flaw in any investment that someone tells you is a good idea. Look for a critical weakness that could cause the business to fail.
Second, think about being in this business, or selling this product or service, for the next 20 years. When you think long-term about business decisions, you make much better decisions in the short-term.
Monday, October 16, 2006
It's teatime at bars across America as mixologists experiment with high-impact flavors
by
In fact, tea is one of a number of new nonalcoholic ingredients that are being embraced by bartenders. It's now possible, for instance, to buy lavender-flavored simple syrup, and gingerbread syrup — a favorite of mine when I'm working with cognac behind the bar — also is available. And almost any nut you can think of is represented by a flavored syrup.
Again and again, mixologists and even liquor producers are calling on versatile tea to flavor their most creative concoctions.
There's green tea vodka and green tea liqueur on the market. There's a cream liqueur that tastes like chai — the spicy, milky tea from India. Also, there's an intense liqueur made in California that's based on lapsang souchong tea. It's one of, if not the, most interesting liqueurs I have ever tasted.
To take a look at who is using tea these days, we'll start out at the very trendy Hotel Gansevoort in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. There you can order a Tropical Peony Punch, made with tropical peony white tea and a tot of either rum or vodka. The drink is garnished with a peony, naturally.
Junior Merino, bar maestro at The Modern, also in Manhattan, created a pretty spectacular drink called Diversity using a base of manzanilla sherry, a little honey-flavored liqueur, and green-tea-flavored vodka for a recent cocktail competition. The drink made it into the finals.
In San Francisco, Kieran Walsh, bar manager at the Solstice Lounge, a funky joint with great food that I visited earlier this year, used the aforementioned lapsang souchong liqueur to create Mamere, a bourbon-based drink that also involves bitters, simple syrup and kumquats.
And at Stonehurst Manor in North Conway, N.H., bartender Jeff Grdinich uses chilled chai, without the customary milk, to make a drink he calls Goody 2-Shots. In various other cocktails, Grdinich uses freshly brewed and chilled lapsang souchong and jasmine green teas.
Back in San Francisco, Alison Harper, bar manager at Prana, an Indian-fusion restaurant, collaborated with chef Jamie Lauren — hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as a "Rising Star" — to create the Tea of the Gods cocktail. It's a mixture of black tea, lapsang souchong liqueur, tequila, fresh lime juice and agave syrup.
Finally, we return to New York to find a tea-infused drink called Cháfariz at Alfama, a highly acclaimed Portuguese restaurant in the West Village.
No longer just a warm, calming beverage, tea has found new life as a delightfully unexpected element in high-impact cocktails at some of the country's trendiest spots.
E-mail the author at: gary@ardentspirits.com
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Tax Deed Investing: What is an “Upset” Sale?
By Joanne Musa
In Pennsylvania, some counties have two different tax sales; the “upset” sale, and the “judicial” sale. If tax sale properties are not sold at either of these two sales, the property then goes on the “repository” list and can be sold by private bid.
The upset sale is held every year in the fall. It’s called an “upset” sale because the minimum bid for the properties in this sale is known as the “upset” price; which includes any unpaid taxes from the county as well as any municipal liens.
If a property is not sold in this sale, it is sold in the “judicial” tax sale in the spring. Not all Pennsylvania counties have judicial sales but they all have an upset sale.
What you may not know about the upset sale is that all properties are sold subject to any liens or judgments. That means that if you purchase a tax deed at this sale, you are responsible for any other unpaid liens or judgments on the property.
Most people assume that when they buy a property at a tax sale, that they don’t have to worry about other liens such as a mortgage. This is not true at the upset sale. If you plan on bidding at any of these sales this fall, you’d better do your homework!
So how do you find out about other liens or judgments on tax sale properties? There are two ways that you could do this; one is going to cost you some money and the other is going to take some of your time.
The first way is to hire a title search company to do a simple title search on all of the properties in the sale that you are interested in bidding on.
This could turn out to be a little costly, so it’s not my method of choice. Another reason why I don’t hire a title search company to do title searches for me before the sale is that many of the properties will come off the sale list the day before or the morning of the sale.
You may pay for a few title searches that you don’t even need because the properties that you wanted to bid on are not sold at the sale.
Today I went to the Monroe County Upset Sale. I didn’t even bid on any properties. I researched about 10 of the properties in the sale that were in an area that I was interested in. Through my research I narrowed this down to only two properties that I wanted to bid on.
I did all of my research the day before the sale and I had checked that morning to make sure that all of these properties were still in the sale. But by the next morning (the morning of the sale) the two properties that I was interested in had paid and were no longer included in the sale. I’m glad that I did my own research and did not pay a title company to do it!
That brings us to the second method for finding out about liens and judgments on tax lien properties, and that is to do it yourself. There is a little bit of education and some time involved, but it is well worth it. In most states, to do this type of research you would go to the County Hall of Records.
In Pennsylvania the office that has the records that you need to search is the office of the Prothonotary. The people in this office are usually very helpful and will help you to look up what you need to know.
You’ll have to look for liens and judgments by the name of the owner. If there are co-owners or joint owners, you will want to search under both names.
Keep in mind, however, that if new liens were not yet recorded they could slip through the cracks in the system and you won’t be able to find them. There is always some degree of risk when you buy a tax deed, even if you are careful and do your homework.
This is why it is always recommended that you do not buy tax deeds in your own name, but in the name of a separate entity. It could be a corporation or an LLC. If you need help forming a corporation or LLC for the purpose of buying tax deeds, I know of two excellent programs to help you.
They were both created by Darius Barazandeh, Texas attorney and tax deed expert. You can find out more about these programs, Incorporate for Wealth, and The Wealth Building LLC on the resources page of taxlienlady.com.
| Joanne Musa is a Tax Lien Investing Coach and Consultant who works with investors who want to learn how to buy profitable tax lien certificates and tax deeds. She is the president of Tax Lien Consulting LLC, a consulting firm for tax lien and tax deed investors and the creator of Tax Lien Investing Secrets II: The Complete Course to Investing In Tax Lien Certificates and Tax Deeds available at http://www.taxlieninvestingsecrets.com . For more information about Tax Lien Investing go to her web site at http://www.taxlienlady.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joanne_Musa |
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Sir John Templeton Reveals the Future of the Stock Market, Real Estate and Life
Recently, NewsMax and Financial Intelligence Report publisher Christopher Ruddy visited with Sir John Templeton http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Templeton in Lyford Cay in the
At 92 years of age, Sir John Templeton is one of the world's most successful investors, a legend in his own time. Money magazine calls him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century."
Templeton's pioneering concept was to take the old adage "buy low, sell high" and apply it to global investing.
Templeton sought out the best opportunities anywhere in the world he could find them. When he began investing globally in the 1930s, Templeton was truly a pioneer. Many Americans thought it unwise to invest outside the
When he sold his Templeton Funds in the early 1990s, they were worth an incredible $800 million. Templeton personally walked away with over $900 million.
Sir John's all-consuming goal was to never just make money for himself, but to earn for others. As he told Philanthropy magazine:
" At Yale I was investigating what talents God gave me, and where I thought I could be most beneficial to people was to help them make fewer stupid mistakes in selecting their investments."
"At age 27, I formed my own investment firm, working with just five wealthy people. Eventually, when I sold out, we were helping over a million people with some p
But all during that time, over 50 years, I felt that my benefit to people was not as great as if I were trying to help them get spiritual wealth."
Sir John now works full-time as a philanthropist. His John Templeton Foundation in
The foundation - run by his son Dr. John Templeton, a retired medical doctor - is one of the few dedicated to discovering how religion can influence the physical world. Though he spends most of his time on his philanthropy, Sir John remains dedicated to his first vocation: the study of investments.
He cannot even utter the "R" word…retirement. In fact, he has thought of writing a book called "Never Retire."
"I have observed in 92 years that the people who are most diligent in working do live many years longer than those who are lazy," Sir John says.
A few years back, he told me he was exercising by walking against the ocean current every day for almost an hour. Today he has cut back his exercise, he says, to just 25 minutes a day.
He is not only physically active, but his mental examinations of the market are sharp.
And his timing has been impeccable. He sold short the dot-com and NASDAQ tech stocks at the very height of the '90s boom, making another small fortune.
During the past few years, Sir John has been very concerned about the lack of quality investments available in the market, and he has repeatedly warned of the possibility of a major collapse in housing prices - and even a '30s-style run on the stock markets.
Here are some of Sir John Templeton's current insights:
Do the Opposite of the Crowd
My job was being paid by wealthy families to help them choose stocks and bonds. And my results were much better when I was working from here than from
But when I came here, I had better results. The secret, I think, is that in order to buy stocks at a bargain price, you have to do the opposite of the crowd. When you're going to the same meetings with the other people in
Finding a
About 12 years ago, I sold out. I had been helping a few thousand wealthy families and I did a lot of thinking that if I could tell you the rest of my life, I might help a few thousand wealthy families to become somewhat wealthier.
But by selling out to my strongest competitor [Franklin Resources], I can now devote 100% of my time to trying to help people grow in a spiritual way. And that's a wide-open field - very few people who have any substantial amount of money contribute to helping people grow spiritually.
The Study of Religion
We are tying to persuade people that no human has yet grasped 1% of what can be known about spiritual realities. So we are encouraging people to st
For example, to clarify, my grandfather was a medical doctor. But he had never heard of a germ. That was only 140 years ago. The medical doctors began to use that as a science, and now we know a thousand times as much about your body as my grandfather new as a medical doctor.
Or take the field of communications. As recently as when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated only 140 years ago, nobody in
Now we have this enormous communication system around us all the time. There's 1,000 times as much communication as there was 140 years ago.
Again, this is due to applying methods of science to discover new modes of communication. So what my foundation is focused on more than anything else is to encourage people to donate to scientific research to help discover aspects of spiritual reality.
Managing My Own Money
I've spent 45 years inviting wealthy families to pay me a fee to help them pick the right investments. We didn't have any salesmen, so it was a slow process to grow.
But we got up to the stage where we were helping with about $23 billion worth of other people's money. Twelve years ago, I sold that entire operation - including this building - to a strong competitor in
I don't have any connection with that forever. So my main activity now is just managing my own money. Because I think I'm going to do more good by using my wealth to encourage others to use scientific methods to find the answers to spiritual questions.
Finding Stock Bargains Never More Difficult
I do think it's interesting that in all my 92 years, I've never seen a time when it was so hard to find a bargain. I aided wealthy families by helping them find stocks that were selling at a small fraction of what the company was worth. But now, it's very difficult to find companies where you can buy the stock at a fraction of its value.
In all my experience, I don't remember a time when you had to search so diligently to find anything that was a bargain.
Bargain Stock Pick: KIA Is a Future GM
You always find some bargains, but just less than usual.
The last one I bought for myself is a company called Kia Motors. I bought one of their automobiles and it gives me better value than any other car I have ever owned.
They are now growing better than any other major automobile company, selling a great majority of cars outside South Korea in America and Europe and so forth, but they manufacture them in India, China and South Korea.
And yet I bought that stock recently at less than five times earnings. I think there's a chance - maybe not a probability, but a chance - that KIA Motors will be larger than General Motors 30 years from now.
Assess the Risks
In judging the value of the company, you have to consider: What is the risk that somebody might do something stupid? I think there's less risk in
Are Any American Stocks Undervalued?
I haven't bought any recently. I'd like to. I just buy where the bargains are.
Another Bargain in
I guess the second one I would suggest is something that I invested in a few months ago. It's called Value P
They specialize in finding ways to buy stocks that are not well known in
Problems with
It's difficult. The best Chinese companies don't have a public market and are not listed in
All that's true. But still, the rate of growth is so strong in
With four times the
The Dot-Com Crash and the Crash of '29
In 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial went down to 1/9 of where it had been. In this recent decline, it only went down 30%. The NASDAQ went down by 50%.
I am worried about exuberance. Like you just said - you'd like to have a house at Lyford Cay, but you have to pay four times what it costs to build. It's not the values - the prices are high.
Will There Be Another Crash?
Yes, but I've never been able to tell you when. If you find a way, let me know.
Well, I wouldn't use the word "crash." There will be cycles. I do think economics has developed a lot since 1932, so you shouldn't ever expect American prices to go down almost 90%, but I do believe there will be cycles where American prices go down 50%.
Factors Undermining the
American debt is the highest the nation's ever had. The federal deficit, the federal debt are the largest in history. But that's just the beginning.
Also, the unfavorable trade balance is the largest the nation's ever had.
And the national deficit - the shortage of taxes collected over what's spent - is the largest in the nation's history.
Americans were famous 30 years ago for being so thrifty. They were saving over 20 cents out of every dollar they earned. Last year, Americans saved less than 2 cents on every dollar.
All those things add up to the fact that there is almost sure to be a period of pessimism - a bear market. Not a crash, but a bear market.
The old rule of thumb for brokers was: The bear is about half as long as the bull. If I had to say when this bull market st
The immediate future is that there are more dangers than I've ever known before. It's just more dangerous.
More Factors: The Weakening Dollar and What Are Good Currencies?
Let's not use the word "good." Let's say "less risky" currency. The less risky currencies are probably
A couple of years ago, I bought Canadian strip bonds.
I haven't sold them yet, but I've stopped buying them, because they are up 25% from when I first got them.
And just within the last week, I made what is called a "straddle" - I sold short $25 million worth of Japanese money and bought long $25 million worth of South Korean money.
Why Currencies Are In Danger
The psychology all over the world is that people will not re-elect leaders who want them to be thrifty. The voters will elect the government that spends more money. And consequently, all money is risky. So I'm just taking the currency I think is especially risky and putting it into one that's less of a gamble.
In the
There is tremendous risk in
One emerging country is
The nation of
Bearish on Gold
Gold is too popular, and prices have already gone up. I remember when a British pound would buy an ounce of gold.
There's been a tremendous inflation in gold prices.
On Warren Buffett
I'm a great admirer of Warren Buffett. But he has been focused primarily on U.S investments. That is strange. To that extent, I think he's short-sighted - or small-sighted. Small-sighted, I think. If he had spent more time in foreign nations, he would be better off.
Housing Prices
Now the
When you invest in stocks, you get the same value all over. The same stock sells at the same value, no matter what nation you're in. But that's impossible in real estate. Real estate value depends on locality. If you're going to be a real estate investor, focus on location, location, location.
So when you're trying to invest in real estate, you have to do a lot of serious research on whether this location is likely to be popular in the long run.
That's why I wound up believing beachfront property is a good investment. I don't think there's ever going to be any more beachfront than there is now. Now people are getting bigger and the amount of money is getting bigger. So beachfront is pretty sure to go up in value.
Owning a home on the ocean is better than owning one that's not on the water.
But there are large tracts of oceanfront property still available in South and
A 50% drop off in prices is quite possible.
I've never, never ever had a mortgage on any house. I learned that long before you were born. When I was a child in
I don't rule out borrowing money. But I think it's risky.
Positive Mental Attitude
Positive mental attitude helps in every way. It helps you physically, mentally, financially - in every way. In fact, I think you ought to focus on that, write
As I said - when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, nobody in
If you're passing a newsstand and a stack of newspapers, one of which says 100,000 airplanes landed safely today and one that says one airplane crashed, you'll buy the newspaper that says the one airplane crashed.
Terrorism warps your thinking. It makes people think that there are a lot more troubles than there are. But there are less troubles than ever, and we don't realize, because we read about all the problems.
Pharmaceutical Stocks
I think they will continue to grow, but they're not cheap. They're one of the highest groups of stock.
Baby Boomers Retiring
This is enormous. But the adjustment is so easy. You just don't st
I think it's inevitable. I don't know when, but within the next 20 years, almost every nation will have to change the law to say you can't get your pension as soon as you retire.
The Coming Health Crisis
I don't have answers to everything. I have thought about your big question here. And I think the answer is to say that no health insurance should cover the total cost of insurance. Health insurance should cover maybe 2/3, but not all. That would give people an incentive not to use health insurance excessively.
Did the Bush Admin. Orchestrate Falling Oil Prices?
There are some conspiracy theorists out there saying that President Bush has orchestrated lower oil prices just in time for the fall elections.
The Washington Post takes a look at the theories.
The Post points out that most Americans don’t believe that there is a conspiracy. "This has been huge fodder for talk radio," says Tyson Slocum, director of energy programs at Public Citizen, who’s appeared on 15 radio shows to talk about it.
"I don’t think the influence is as explicit as some people out there are alleging. But all markets are susceptible to politics, and oil is no exception.” CNN anchor Miles O’Brien said of the talk, "Some bloggers are putting those two things together and, you know, this is the grassy knoll group."
And according to Chas W. Freeman, former
There’s a theory that the Saudi government is doing a favor for President Bush by bringing down prices before the election. They point to a long-standing relationship between the Bush family and the Saudi government.
The 2004 Bob Woodward book "Plan of Attack" alleged that then-Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar bin Sultan, promised to keep "oil production high enough to moderate fuel prices and bolster the U.S. economy during the presidential election year."
And OPEC oil ministers, led by
But those who disagree argue that
Some conspiracy theorists are also pointing the finger at Treasury Secretary Henry
"Goldman has been liquidating its gasoline position, and that’s put a lot of pressure on prices," Citigroup oil analyst Doug Leggate tells the Post. "It’s a very large p
"Goldman has issued three press releases about its sales," reports the Post. "In June, it said that because of
But then on Aug. 9, Goldman said it would reduce the gasoline portion of its index, sparking a steep one-day plunge in prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Goldman sources said yesterday that the proportion of gasoline in the index has been reduced by two-thirds."
Another theory says that Big Oil is lowering prices to help the Republicans. As evidence, theorists point to the fact that 81 percent of the $63 million donated to politicians since 2001 were awarded to Republicans. In addition, BP’s indictment for trying to corner the market for propane shows that companies can manipulate prices.
"Politicians will fulminate about things, but it’s the market that sets the price," argues John Felmy, chief economist of the American Petroleum Institute.
"Do I think Karl Rove or George Bush is whispering in the ears of oil companies? No. That’s silly," says Slocum. But some folks in the government sent strong signals to speculators. Was that related to the elections? I don’t know.
Mail Order Millions
from
You can start off very inexpensively in mail order. It's a business that you can run from your home with limited investment and low risk. One woman built a very successful mail order business by running a small ad called 101 Ways to Serve Hamburger.
She put together a small booklet, 100 pages, of different ways that you could prepare hamburger for families that were short of finances. And she sold thousands and thousands of those booklets through the mail.
Investigate Before You Invest
Study the business very carefully before getting into it, but remember that more and more Americans are buying things through mail order, either through articles and ads in magazines, newspapers, and publications, or through catalogs mailed directly to the home.
Mail order is something that you can get into, but again, study every detail of the business before you begin.
Start Where You Are
There are many different approaches to starting in the mail order business. There are also many companies that will sell you small products that you can offer and sell through mail order. You can place an ad, get responses from the ad and then order the products for fulfillment.
There are many magazines that have ads in the back of the magazine for mail order products. These products are usually small, inexpensive and useful around the home, shop or garden.
Be Sure You Personally Like The Product
When evaluating a mail order product for yourself, use yourself as your best guide or consumer report. Ask yourself, “Do I like and enjoy this product enough to want to buy it at the price I am asking for it and use it myself in my home or work?”
Mark It Up Properly
With regard to pricing, a mail order product should have a mark-up of five times or ten times over your cost. This seems like a lot but it is very easy to go broke on a mark-up of only 200% or 300%.
This is simply not enough to pay for all the time and investment necessary to buy the product, package it, send it out, get paid for it, and repeat the cycle.
With regard to payment, you should only sell mail order products upon receipt of the moneys in the form of credit cards, cash or checks. In the case of checks, you should always make sure that the checks cash and clear before you send the product.
Otherwise, it will be impossible for you to ever get your money or the product back again.
Experiment On A Small Scale
One final point. Be very cautious and careful in getting into any mail order business. Experiment on a small scale with a limited investment of time and a larger investment of personal energy. Be prepared to put in long, hard hours to get started. There is no such thing as something for nothing in starting your own business enterprise.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately if you are interested in exploring the opportunities offered by mail order marketing:
First, do your homework. Get the magazines that tell about mail order marketing and read the books that are available at the bookstores. The pay-off from educating yourself in advance can be enormous.
Second, once you get started, never stop testing and experimenting with different ads and different publications. The key to successful mail order is contained in three words, “Test, Test, Test.”
Friday, October 13, 2006
Spice up Scotch to create a 'gift from God'
by
For no apparent reason, The Professor, our cocktailian bartender, is in a particularly good mood today, and even he is having a hard time understanding what's making him so happy.
"Just woke up this way, Doc," he tells his most regular of regular customers at the bar. Doc is leafing through a book that lists Italian baby names.
"Well, that's all very nice for you, Professor, but I'm still trying to help my niece come up with a name for her baby, and the sweet girl's nearly 6 weeks old already. It's driving me crazy."
"So how do they get her attention now, Doc?"
"They call her 'baby girl.' Pretty creative, huh?"
"Hmm, guess they really need help, Doc. Making any progress?"
"Not really, but both she and her partner are of Italian descent, hence this book."
"Well you keep looking, Doc, while I fix you the new cocktail I just came up with."
The Professor walks down the bar to make his new drink, a simple affair comprised of Scotch, fresh lemon juice and Galliano, a liqueur best known as an ingredient in the Harvey Wallbanger, basically a Screwdriver with a "float" of Galliano that was very popular in the '70s.
Make a Harvey Wallbanger with Tequila instead of vodka, and you have a Freddie Fudpucker -- a far better drink.
Galliano is an herbal liqueur, flavored with various spices, including anise, licorice and vanilla, and it's the anise notes that make it a perfect ingredient to marry to Scotch since this herb tends to blend well with smoky, peaty flavors. It's important to be judicious when using Galliano, though -- it's a fairly sweet liqueur, so a little goes a long way.
The Professor doesn't call for a specific Scotch in his drink, though it's advisable to use a sturdy bottling such as Famous Grouse or Teacher's, rather than, say, J&B or Cutty Sark, which both lean toward the light side.
You might even want to treat yourself to something special by using a single-malt Scotch in this drink, and in that case bottlings such as Highland Park 12- or 15-year-old, delightful malts from Orkney with sturdy bodies, and a nice balance of peat and salt on the palate, or Bowmore 12-, 15- or 17-year-old, Islay malts with much character, and a rich peatiness that's not too overpowering, would all work very well.
The Professor places the cocktail in front of Doc, gently twists a piece of lemon peel over the top, and runs the twist around the rim of the glass to leave a tart lemon scent on the drink. Doc is talking on his cell phone.
He hangs up, and looks a question at the Professor.
"Here it is, Doc. My new drink. I'm feeling so good that I'm calling it Donata. That's Italian for 'gift from God,' you know.
"Yes, I know that, Professor. That was my niece on the phone. They've finally decided on a name for the tyke." He scowls at his friend on the other side of the mahogany.
"Oh no, Doc. They didn't call her . . . ?"
"Yep. My niece's daughter's gonna have the same name as your damned cocktail, Professor. Thanks a million."
Donata
INGREDIENTS:
2 ounces Scotch
3/4 ounce Galliano
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 lemon twist or slice, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS:
Fill a cocktail shaker two-thirds full of ice and add all of the ingredients.
Shake for approximately 15 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and add the garnish.
Makes 1 drink
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Trump Way to Building Wealth
By Michael Dawson
My wife and I attended the Donald Trump Wealth Building Seminar a couple of weeks ago. Actually it wasn’t a seminar, but a 2 1/2 hour promotion for his upcoming weekend seminar. I have attended sales pitches for seminars before, but I must admit that this was one of the better ones.
I did walk away with a few tidbits that I will be able to use on my Financial Freedom journey.
To the dismay of a few attendees the Donald wasn’t there. What do you expect for free? He did have a 10-15 minute video introduction to the seminar - where he changed his name into a verb. He must have mentioned the Trump Way a hundred times.
“I will teach you how to create wealth in the Trump Way. You will learn how to evaluate projects in the Trump Way. By the time you will finish my seminar - you will be combing your hair in the Trump Way.” I added the last one.
The presenter was excellent. Trump found a person who he believed represented the average American. He owned a moderately successful real estate agency and was making a living, but wasn’t really getting ahead. Trump’s people mentored him obviously in the Trump Way.
Now he has multiple streams of income and appeared to be in a much better financial position. Trump is definitely a smart man. He created a success story to help sell his seminar. I am not sure exactly how long Trump work with this person, but I imagine a few years.
During the presentation, it was stated a roadmap is essential to wealth building. You must have:
- A dream
- Must have a goal and be passionate about it
- Must obtain specific knowledge
- Create a Timeline
In addition to those you must learn how to use OPM (other people’s money), OPT (other people’s time) and OPE (other people’s experience). Trump’s time is too valuable to be running over the country pushing this seminar, thus he uses OPT and OPE.
There were many other interesting points. If you have a chance to attend the “freebie” seminar, I would recommend it. I chose not to sign up for the actual seminar, it appears to have a strong slant towards real estate although it was stated that would cover business development as well.
I may reconsider it down the road, but my focus currently is on the stock market. These seminars are being conducted all over the US. If anyone has attended the seminar or know of anyone that has attended - I would be interested in your feedback.
| About the Author Michael Dawson recently said goodbye to a 20 year career in Engineering, Marketing and Sales to focus on living his dream of financial independence. He has since founded The Time and Money Group as vehicle to encourage others to do the same. The company's mantra is "Why trade time for money ... when you can have both." Sign up for their free weekly newsletter, where he and others discuss the different paths to financial freedom and offer insights for your successful navigation. http://www.thetimeandmoneygroup.com Make sure to read one of Dawson's most popular articles: "Saying Good-Bye to the Time for Money Swap" Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Dawson |
The Law of Saving
from
Enhancing your Financial Success
One of the smartest things that you can ever do for yourself is to develop the habit of saving part of your salary, every single paycheck. Individuals, families and even societies are stable and prosperous to the degree to which they have high savings rates. Savings today are what guarantee the security and the possibilities of tomorrow.
Start With Yourself
The first corollary of the Law of Saving comes from the book The Richest Man in Babylon by George Classon. It is to “Pay yourself first.”
Begin today to save ten percent of your income, off the top, and never touch it. This is your fund for long-term financial accumulation and you never use it for any other reason except to assure your financial future.
Develop New Habits Regarding Money
The remarkable thing is that when you pay yourself first, and force yourself to live on the other ninety percent, you will soon become accustomed to it. You are a creature of habit. When you regularly put away ten percent of your income, you soon become comfortable living on the other ninety percent.
Many people start by saving ten percent of their income and then graduate to saving fifteen percent, twenty percent, and even more. And their financial lives change dramatically as a result. So will yours.
Take Every Advantage
The second corollary of the Law of Saving says, “Take advantage of tax deferred savings and investment plans.” Because of high and even multiple tax rates, money that is saved or invested without being taxed accumulates at a rate of 30% to 40% faster than money that is subject to taxation.
Self-made millionaires, according to Dr Thomas Stanley’s book The Millionaire Next Door, are almost obsessive about accumulating their funds in assets such as real estate, self owned businesses and equities that increase in value without triggering tax liabilities.
Invest in company pension and retirement plans, 401(k) plans, IRA’s, Keough Plans, Roth IRA’s, Education Investment Accounts, stock option programs and whatever else has been approved by the IRS for long term financial accumulation. Make every dollar count!
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to apply this law immediately:
First, begin today to put away ten percent of your income. Set up a special account for this purpose and treat your contributions to this account with the same respect that you do your rent or mortgage payments each month.
Second, become a lifelong student of money. Read the best books, take courses and subscribe to the most helpful magazines. Know what you are doing so you can always make intelligent decisions when you invest your funds.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Overlooked Pinot Blanc deserves attention for its ability to pair with all kinds of food
by Mary Ewing-Mulligan & Ed McCarthy
(Oct. 9) - Some of the best wines that we've had lately have been made from the Pinot Blanc grape.
(Oct. 9) - Some of the best wines that we've had lately have been made from the Pinot Blanc grape.
Surprised? Most people would be. That's because Pinot Blanc is largely ignored.
Not enough of it grows in California for its name to have become part of the wine drinker's vocabulary, or for it to have its own category on wine lists arranged by varietal. Even those in the wine trade rarely give it a thought. Yet it can make excellent wine.
Pinot Blanc is part of a family that includes the noble — and currently hot — red Pinot Noir, the popular white Pinot Gris, and the red Pinot Meunier grape, which is virtually unknown for still wine but is a major variety in Champagne production. Another sibling is the white Auxerrois, which grows in the Alsace region of France and often is labeled as Pinot Blanc.
Like Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc makes full-bodied, rather broad wines that are shy in aroma and flavor. But unlike most Chardonnay wines, Pinot Blancs are often unoaked or made using older oak so that the wine does not have a telltale toasty or butterscotch character.
The grapes can express minerally flavor and scent, somewhat fruity character, or rather neutral flavor. In fact, "neutral" is one of the textbook descriptors for Pinot Blanc, which might explain why so few people take seriously the wines from this grape.
Increasingly, we are excited by Pinot Blanc wines. Although Alsace is perhaps the region most associated with this variety, our top examples come from the Friuli and the Alto Adige regions of Italy, where the wines carry the name "Pinot Bianco.
" Whereas Alsace Pinot Blancs are often only medium dry, the Italians seem to give the grape more respect, growing it in favored vineyard sites and making serious dry wines from it.
Winemakers in Austria also take Pinot Blanc seriously, particularly in the relatively warm Burgenland region. In Germany, as in Austria, Pinot Blanc wines are usually labeled "Weissburgunder."
California grows Pinot Blanc, but some of the vines originally thought to be Pinot Blanc there are actually Melon de Bourgogne, the grape of the Muscadet region in France's Loire Valley. Oregon has some successful Pinot Blanc vineyards, but the state's plantings of Pinot Gris outpace those of Pinot Blanc 10 to 1.
Because they are not pronounced in flavor, they can accommodate many foods, and they often have enough weight to stand up to the main course. Meaty fish, pork, poultry, risotto and pasta without tomato-based sauces all are terrific accompaniments for Pinot Blanc. And yet this wine is not too heavy for salads or sandwiches.
We know that it won't happen overnight, but we will be very pleased the day that Pinot Blanc earns its rightful respect.
Monday, October 09, 2006
How Do Millionaires Do It?
By William K. Hayes
According to Slate magazine, there are now 8.9 million American households with assets over $1 million, excluding their homes and retirement funds. Dr. Larry Samuel of the consulting group Culture Planning breaks them down into five basic groups:
• Thrillionaires. These millionaires live on the edge, consuming conspicuously. They’re more likely to be found rolling the dice in Las Vegas than taking a family vacation. While they’re not impulsive, they take calculated risks. Think: Donald Trump.
• Coolionaires. These millionaires live in the cultural centers and support fine art, architecture, and other expressions of creativity. They probably acquired their wealth through a combination of innate talent and an extraordinary amount of hard work. Think: Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer.
• Realionaires. These unassuming millionaires live ordinary lives. They do not like to spend money unnecessarily. However, they do spend money on their priorities, like education. These millionaires may be the “Millionaire Next Door” as described in the book by Drs. Stanley and Danko a few years back. They are hard working and down to earth. Think: Warren Buffet.
• Wellionaires. They value their spiritual, mental, and physical health. They are open to new ideas and methods, which may be how they acquired their wealth. Think: Mark Hughes, founder of Herbal Life.
• Willionaires. Their wealth is often inherited and they view it as a sacred trust. They view their wealth as a responsibility to better their environment. These are the philanthropists. Think: David Rockefeller.
While these millionaires vary considerably from one another, they all have one thing in common: planning. It has been said that those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Whether you are a millionaire or aspire to be one, planning is the way to achieve your financial and life goals.
As with most endeavors, planning is essential when it comes to deciding what should happen when you are gone and how to deal with that eventuality. Will the kids be taken care of? What if my spouse remarries? Will I pay too much in taxes or expenses? What if my family fights over my estate?
If you start now, you can make that eventual transition smoother and less traumatic emotionally and financially for you and your family.
A qualified estate planning attorney can help you set up a plan that will put your mind at ease. Taking care of matters now can avoid big messes down the road when you are incapacitated or after your death. You will know that things are taken care of and you can concentrate on more important things, like creating memories with your family.
William K. Hayes is a member of the prestigious American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys and has been engaged in the practice of law for the last 31 years. The Hayes Law Firm specializes in Trusts, Probate and Asset Protection Planning for professionals and small business owners.
For free information or to attend an upcoming seminar, you may contact attorney Hayes at 626-403-2292 or visit The Hayes Law Firm website at www.LosAngelesTrustLaw.com.
| Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=William_K._Hayes |
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Three Factors For Financial Success
from
Enhancing your Financial Success
Here are three examples of leverage that you can develop to achieve financial independence:
Become an Expert
First, become an expert in your chosen field. Read all the books, take all the courses, listen to all the audio programs. Second, specialize in those areas that are of greatest importance and greatest value to y our company or to your customers. And the third key is know your product or service inside out.
Aim to be recognized as the industry expert in your field. Remember the person who has the expertise has a far greater contribution to make than the person whose knowledge is just average.
Develop Your Skills
The second type of leverage is skill. The better you are at your job, the more you will be paid. The top 20 percent of salespeople earn as much as ten and fifteen times the average earnings of the bottom 80 percent. There are three keys to developing the leverage of skill. First, make a decision to be the best. Pay any price. Make any sacrifice.
Go any distance to become excellent at what you do. Second, engage in continuous improvement. Never allow yourself to become satisfied or complacent at your current level of skill. And third, always strive to exceed the expectations of your customers, your boss, of the people you serve. Always do more and better than you're paid for.
Save Your Money
The third type of leverage is money. Money is a powerful source of leverage and usually follows the development of knowledge and skill in your field. One of the reasons that it takes money to make money is that the accumulation of funds is an essential step in the development of the personal qualities and character that must precede the achievement of financial independence.
In other words, you become the person capable of becoming financially independent by accumulating the funds that are necessary for you to achieve it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas on personal leverage into action:
First, resolve today to become an expert in your chosen field. Set it as a goal, make a plan and work every day to become a little bit better in the most important things you do.
Second, develop the habit of saving money out of every single paycheck. It was once said that, "If you cannot save money, the seeds of greatness are not in you." The very act of regular saving changes your character and gets you ready to achieve financial independence.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Be Vigilant, Be Victorious
Continuing Coverage on Drug-Related Issues
By Robert Smith
Are drugs being used in your bar? No? Are you sure? Not in your bathroom by patrons? Not in your parking lot? Not in the kitchen by staff? What about your employees? Are they using drugs to keep going?
What about that great server who has been pulling a few doubles while going through college finals? Or that skinny bartender who never seems to eat and can drink all night with the big boys? Are you worried now? The answer to all of these questions: Yes, to some degree.
Policy Equals Protection
How do you really know if drugs are present at your place? I mean, how do you really know?
Well, take it easy, you don’t really need to know at all. What you need to know is how to present a policy that spells out exactly what you, as an owner or manager expects of your employees and the ever-so-important customer.
This policy does not have to be a novel, but instead, a few simple pages covering your stance.
Here is an example of a solid drug policy for you to use, if you want. Oh, and by the way, having a strong policy that can be adhered to can really help you if you are ever put under the microscope for issues found in the Federal Rave Act. Here we go, and remember, a longer and stronger policy is much better than a shorter, weaker one.
- Illegal drug possession or use while employed at Joe’s Bar will not be tolerated and may result in disciplinary action or termination.
- Illegal drug possession or use by any patron of Joe’s Bar will not be tolerated and may result in the immediate removal from the premise and possible permanent banning from Joe’s Bar.
- If any illegal drug possession or use by a patron is observed or suspected by any employee, that employee must report the possible drug use to management immediately.
- Management will have the total discretion as to whether the suspected patron is allowed to remain on the premise.
- It should be remembered that if management suspects drug use and/or sales and does not act, they open up their venue’s liquor license to possible scrutiny by law enforcement officials.
- Management will have the total discretion as to whether the suspected patron is allowed to remain on the premise.
- If any employee feels they may have an addiction problem, they
should approach management immediately for assistance towards treatment. Employees who approach management with a possible addiction problem will be screened on a case by case basis for future employment. - If an employee discovers or finds any drug on the premise or finds a material that they suspect is a narcotic, they will immediately take possession of the package and inform management. Management will have the following two options on how to handle this.
- Option One
- Once management is notified they will, along with the employee who found the substance, proceed to a restroom and flush the suspected material down the toilet. At no time will any employee or manager complete this action alone. This team of two helps alleviate any possibility of the substance being kept by a single employee and lessens the appearance of impropriety.
- At no time will the substance be placed in an employee’s pocket or in a safe to be disposed of at a later time. Even if the venue is busy, this procedure must be followed immediately.
- Option Two
- Management may call local authorities to come and take custody of the substance. Authorities call these calls “found narcotics calls,” and they are very common. If this option is selected, the two employees will place the substance in the venue safe until the authorities arrive to take custody of the substance or until closing, when –– again –– two employees will dispose of the substance in the toilet. Two people is key here.
Friday, October 06, 2006
Making Money with Stocks and Shares 101
By Kal Bishop
Making Money with Stocks and Shares is far easier than making money with products or services.
Advantages include:
a) Less working capital is needed. With products and services, a large amount of working capital is used to buy goods and then store and deliver etc.
b) You're not just paying for the product, you have to invest in the infrastructure to sell the product. We're talking offices, employees etc.
c) Less wastage. With products, your will have a range. When that range diminishes, the remainder has less value unless you invest to further expand that range.
d) Sustainability. If your product is, for example, fashion related, you will be in boom one year and bust the next.
e) Services are more attractive than products, but again, investment must be made in employees, office space, training etc.
I look at stocks and shares as a market stall. Only it's better. I can buy my product (the shares), wait for the price to rise and then sell. Immediately.
OK there is risk in deciding which stock to buy. But it is no more risky and much more controllable than deciding which products to put in my store.
Todays News
Bank unanimous on holding interest rates: A modest rise in interest rates appeared likely today after it emerged that the Bank of England had again raised fears over inflation. ...
Fed expected to hold line on interest rates: WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged today for a second straight month, and many analysts think there won't be any.
Learn more
Click to read daily comments and keep updated: http://www.wanttosaysomething.com/
You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.
| For 188+ stages of the Hero's Journey, successful story deconstructions and the Advanced Screenwriting Worksheets goto http://clickok.co.uk/ Learn more Click to read daily comments and keep updated: http://www.wanttosaysomething.com/ You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author's name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kal_Bishop |
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Who Are the Millionaires?
from
The Five Ways To Become A Millionaire
If you are really serious about becoming wealthy, you will want to know the five main ways that fortunes are made in this country. Number one, top of the list, top of the hit parade throughout the history of America, is self-owned businesses.
It is entrepreneurship of all kinds, including in real estate. 74% of self-made millionaires in America, not only in this generation and in this century, but in the last century as well, come from self-owned businesses.
How Wealthy People Start Out
The great majority of wealthy people started businesses and built them from the ground up. In the 19th century, fortunes were built by people like Andrew Carnegie, Jacob van Astor, Thomas Edison, Commodore Vanderbilt, J. P. Morgan and others. In the 20th century, especially in the last few years, businesses and fortunes alike have been built by people like Bill Gates, Steve Case, Larry Ellison, Ross Perot and Sam Walton.
Each of these people started with nothing and built a business from scratch.
Become A Millionaire Where You Are
The second major source of self-made millionaires in America is senior executives. Ten percent of the self-made millionaires in America are men and women who have joined large corporations and worked with those corporations for many years.
They rose to positions of seniority, were paid extremely well, given stock options, profit sharing and bonuses, and as a result of holding onto the money, they became millionaires.
Success Pays Big Rewards
Michael Eisner of Disney Corporation received a $126 million dollar bonus in a single year. Lee Iacoca of Chrysler Corporation was paid $26.7 million dollars as a bonus in a single year. It's not hard to become a self-made millionaire when you are making that kind of money.
The Professional Road To Wealth
The third source of self-made millionaires in America is doctors, lawyers and other professionals. Men and women who become very, very good at what they do and rise to the top of their professions are eventually paid, very, very well. The top five percent in every field earn 10 and 20 times as much as the average person in that field.
Sell Your Way To The Top
The fourth major source of self-made millionaires in America are salespeople and sales consultants. Fully five percent of self-made millionaires are men and women who are the top salespeople in their fields. They never started their own businesses.
They never went to college or university to get professional degrees. They just became very good salespeople for their products or services and were paid very good money. The secret was that they then invested the money conservatively and held on to it.
99% of self-made millionaires come from these four categories: self-owned businesses — 74%; senior executive positions — 10%: doctors, lawyers and other professionals — 10%; and salespeople and sales consultants — 5%.
Other Ways To Get Rich
The final one percent of self-made millionaires is made up of all the people in all other areas. This one percent consists of people who have made their money by inventions, in show business, in sports, through authorship of books and songs, lottery winners and inheritances. But these people make up only one percent of the total.
The bottomline is that there are so many ways for you to become a self-made millionaire that it is almost impossible for you not to achieve this goal if you are really serious about it.
Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do to put this information into action as soon as possible:
First, decide what it is that you really enjoy doing and then throw your whole heart into doing it extremely well. There is a direct relationship between excellent performance and the kind of high income that leads to financial independence.
Second, be perfectly honest with yourself on an ongoing basis. Is what you are doing right now going to lead you to financial independence, or do you have to begin making some serious changes in your work and in your life? Whatever your answer, take action on it immediately.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Peruvian pisco brandy may soon take spotlight as a sipping spirit in the United States
by
(Oct. 2) - The Pisco Sour — a mixture of pisco brandy, egg white, lemon juice and simple syrup — has long been one of my favorite cocktails. It comes with an aromatic garnish of Angostura bitters dashed on top of the drink, resting on the silky foam created by the egg white.
The complex flavors of the brandy meet the aromas of the garnish as the drink is at once sipped and inhaled. It's a heavenly experience.
Until recently, though, my knowledge on the subject of Peruvian pisco brandy amounted to the fact that the spirit is essentially unaged.
It does spend a certain amount of time in clay pitchers, also known as piscos, before being bottled, but that won't change it a great deal since wooden barrels are needed for significant alteration during aging.
I also was very aware that pisco tasted like no other spirit that I had ever sipped.
"I have a theory it is compounded of cherubs' wings, the glory of a tropical dawn, the red clouds of sunset and the fragments of lost epics of dead masters," Rudyard Kipling commented in 1899 after tasting a pisco-based punch. He had a way with words.
I also confess to thinking of pisco as a good cocktail ingredient, but I never had considered it an option in the sipping-spirit category.
A trip to Peru in August put me straight on pisco, and I'm beginning to think that the hand-crafted elixir is about to burst onto the scene in the United States, much like single-malt scotches did in the late 1980s.
Pisco is also made in Chile, but the Peruvian laws that govern its production in that country set it apart from any other pisco.
Like single-malt scotch, all Peruvian pisco is made in pot stills, but the Peruvians take distillation one step further by mandating that the wine run through the still only once.
That spirit leaves the still at, or just slightly above, bottling proof, so Peruvian pisco is never diluted after distillation. Like cognac, Peruvian pisco must be made from specific grapes.
Acholado pisco from Peru is a blended product, but it's a blend of straight piscos made from specific varietals, unlike blended whiskey, which is a mixture of straight whiskey and neutral grain whiskey, a product with very little flavor.
Another style of pisco, Mosto Verde, isn't yet available in the United States, but I'm dreaming of the day when it appears in liquor stores here. It's made from grape juice that's allowed to ferment only until around 2 percent to 3 percent alcohol is present, and it's a very intense spirit indeed.
In his 1933 book The Barbary Coast, Herbert Ausbury quotes an 1872 document that states, "[Pisco] is perfectly colorless, quite fragrant, very seductive, terribly strong, and has a flavor somewhat resembling that of a scotch whiskey, but much more delicate, with a marked fruity taste."
Yes, the flavor of pisco can be hard to describe, but it's beautiful to experience. I think we'll be seeing many more pisco-based cocktails in the near future, and we might see some pisco in snifters soon, too.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
3 Good Reasons Why You Should use an Attorney for Your Real Estate Investing
By Robb Beltran
Skimping on attorney fees could cost you more than you bargained for when investing in real estate. New real estate investors often save money on their rehabs by cutting corners, doing work themselves and trying not to spend any money to make money.
When it comes to having a good real estate attorney though be prepared to spend away. You have to ask yourselves what you are willing to pay for a piece of mind especially if you deal with tenants. A few good contracts written up by your attorney will easily be worth it after your first eviction or foreclosure.
You can find hundreds of template contracts and real estate forms on the Internet, but just how legal are they? Ask yourselves why they almost always recommend you have your own attorney look them over anyway.
There are hundreds of reasons to use a real estate attorney in your wealth building, but here are my three favorites:
Title opinions. In some states you are required to buy title insurance to guarantee the marketability of your property. In others it is recommended to get a title opinion.
A title opinion is the opinion of an Attorney regarding the merchantability of title based upon the title examination and commonly is written to a lending institution who will rely on this title opinion for the validity and ranking of its mortgage.
This process could get pretty complex especially when dealing with vacant, bank owned and estate property.
Tenant Forms. If you have rental units it is imperative that you have a real estate attorney look over your documents to make sure that the language is specific to your situation and state. Tenant law in Iowa may not be the same as tenant law in Nevada.
Trust me, if any wording is wrong in your 3-day notice or eviction paper work the magistrate or judge will spout out some state statute, your tenant will get to stay and you will have to start all over.
Leads. Attorneys can be a great source for leads. Motivated sellers often come from extenuating circumstances like divorces, bankruptcies and estates. If you have a good relationship with a real estate attorney perhaps you can help his clients out when they find themselves in situations like any of the above.
If you are new to real estate investing a real estate attorney should be on your team anyway, if you don’t have one yet be sure to find one fast. Your realtor or banker should be able to recommend a good one for you.
| Robb Beltran is an active real estate investor and publisher of the Real Estate Info Network. The Real Estate Info Network promotes real estate education through real estate seminars, e-books and real estate investing courses. www.realestateinfonetwork.com www.belstarproperties.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robb_Beltran |
Monday, October 02, 2006
Two Keys to Making Your Money Grow
By Andrew Marx
Have you ever wondered what happens to your money when you make a deposit into your retirement plan? Here are two key principles that govern how your money grows when you invest.
Compound interest
Compounding occurs in your retirement account, your savings account, and in any other account that accumulates interest. Compounding adds the interest you make on your investment to the principal balance over and over as time goes by.
Here is one example of how it works. You invest $1,000 as your principal. After the first month, you earn $10 in interest. That $10 is added to the $1,000 and next month you will earn interest on the new total amount of $1,010.
$10 in interest might not seem like much, but that is only after one month. At that same interest rate, your balance after one year will be $1,127. Leave your money there for 30 years, and you will have $35,949 just from the benefit of compounding!
That is a lot of growth, and you never made another deposit! Without compounding, the value of your account would only have been $4,600 after 30 years. See the difference?
Now, instead of leaving the $1,000 alone in the account, we are going to add $100 every month. That is where dollar-cost averaging comes in.
Dollar-cost averaging
Dollar-cost averaging is a great keyword that very few people know, but they rely on this principle all the time. If you invest in your 401(k) through work, you automatically reap the benefits of dollar-cost averaging. Your money is invested every month regardless of the current market price of the investment.
Because you invest the same amount every month, sometimes the value of one share of the investment is higher, and therefore you are buying fewer shares. But when the price of a share is very low, you get more shares that month.
So what does your $100 a month buy you? In our example, your mutual fund one month costs $25 per share, so you get 4 shares. Next month, the price dips to $10 per share, so your $100 now buys you 10 shares. You were able to take advantage of the price when it was lower. In effect, you bought the shares on sale!
So why does it matter? The market, which is the buying and selling of stocks and commodities including our mutual fund in the example, goes up and down depending on many factors. Dollar-cost averaging works for the average investor because you do not have to watch the nuances of the market as you invest over time.
When the market is down, and the price of one share of your investment is lower, you automatically take advantage of the sale price.
Making It Work for You
Let’s put the two concepts together now using our example. With both dollar-cost averaging investing and compound interest, after 30 years, the value of your account would be $388,941! That is based on investing only $36,000 of your own money.
The best part of these two keys to making your money grow is that you can take advantage of them without doing anything but signing up for a retirement plan through your employer. Even if you decide to invest on your own, you can still use these two principles. And that is something you can take to the bank!
| --- Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Marx |
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Multi Level Marketing Millions
from
Enhancing your Financial Success
If you're looking at a multi-level marketing opportunity, here are eight key considerations. Look for a multi-level business that has, number one, quality products with a good reputation. Never waste your time trying to sell anything that is not of excellent quality.
Quality products are the starting point of your success in business. No successful business can ever be built on an average or mediocre product.
Look For Competitive Prices
Number two, look for a company that has prices that compare favorable with the competition. Remember, nobody's going to pay more for your product or service if they can get the same or equivalent somewhere else at a lower price. So check the price comparisons.
Demand a Money Back Guarantee
The third thing you look for is a 100 percent unconditional money-back guarantee. In other words, the product must be so good and the company must stand behind it so strongly that they're willing to give a 100 percent refund guarantee on anything that they sell. That's a very good rule for starting and building any business.
Carry a Small Inventory
The fourth key in finding a multi-level marketing opportunity is that there should be a small or zero inventory requirement. You should be able to get into a multi-level marketing business with very little money. Not more than a hundred dollars.
Keep Good Records
The fifth requirement is that the company provides prompt delivery and efficient internal bookkeeping. A multi-level marketing business that's well organized will be able to deliver your products within 24 or 48 hours for you to sell, or deliver to your customers. They'll also take very good care of the books and give you accurate financial statements each month.
Seek a Strong Support Organization
A sixth thing to look for is a strong support organization. This is perhaps as important, if not more important, than anything else. Look for a support organization that will offer you training, that will give you seminars on product knowledge, that will give you motivation, and give you opportunities for personal and business development.
Many people who have started with multi-level marketing companies have gone on to be very successful in their own businesses because of the training they got from the multi-level company. If the company doesn't have a training system, try to find a company that does.
Honesty is the Best Policy
The seventh factor that you require is honesty and integrity. Make sure that the parent company has an impeccable reputation in the marketplace. Remember it has to be a company that you can be proud of. You should never have to make excuses for the company you're working for.
Product Should be Consumable
Products should be consumable, leading to reorders and repeat business. You should try to sell a product that people use up on a regular basis, so that if they're happy with it, they'll continue to reorder and reorder and reorder. And once you get a customer, sometimes you can have a customer for years.
Action Exercises
First, look for a product that you really like, use and enjoy yourself personally. You can only sell something to someone else if your heart is in it. And if your heart is in it you will enjoy using the product yourself.
Second, look for a product that has something new or special that makes it different and better than any other similar product in the market today. The number one reason that any product fails is because it is not superior to and different from the competition.
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