I read somewhere over the weekend a letter to the editor of some newspaper (I can’t for the life of me remember where I read the comment) by a guy who was lamenting the fact that investors get screwed no matter who is president. His letter mentioned that some stocks do well when a Republican is in office and other stocks do well when a Democrat is in office—he just didn’t know which ones.

I have a suggestion:

Buy the index and don’t worry about it.

Yes, we can make more money IF we know which stocks are going to outperform the market. The problem is either WE DON’T KNOW or it’s hard to know. Therefore, buying the index is the prudent way to go because you don’t have to worry about picking stocks (unless that’s something you love doing).

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There is so much bad news floating around, so much to be worried or angry or upset about in the world. However there is a lot to be grateful for as well, so I thought I would take a moment and count a few blessings. This may be a bit late, considering Thanksgiving was a week ago, but I suppose it is never a bad time to be grateful.

A few quotes on the subject I have read recently:

“Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.” - Unknown (to me)

“To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us-and He has given us everything.”-Thomas Merton

Now you may not be religious, but that last quote really struck me when I read it. It reminds me to take the bad with the good, and to appreciate it. It might seem wrong or even stupid to try to appreciate what seems unfair, bad, or even evil, but it is possible - and important. We can learn and grow and change for the better as a result of every experience - be it sickness, recession, job loss, or even death.

I once overheard my mother say that having cancer was a huge blessing. I recoiled, but she explained that it brought our family closer together and made her realize her inner strength. Remembering that comment has always kept me in check when I find myself whining or self-pitying.

Things for which I am grateful:

• Having a job and a regular paycheck; not everyone does right now.
• Not having to worry about where I’ll get my next meal or bath.
• Having the means and time to give to others who need support.
• A large family which supports and uplifts me.
• The freedom and ability to learn and pursue whatever I choose.

Many in our country are struggling, some for the first time, as our economy sags and companies lay people off and wages stagnate. Of course we are all still much better off than many in the world, but is still natural and easy to worry, to complain, to be angry and even scared.

But struggles can bring us together, and they can encourage us remember what’s really important - what matters a lot more than the 401k balance or the big bonus check. I hope as this volatile year comes to an end that we can all find some things to be truly grateful for.

More from Meg at The World of Wealth

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Well we're a few weeks beyond Hurricane Ike, and our collective attention has turned from tropical storms to financial ones - a topic that I'll write about shortly. 

Most of Houston is back to normal.  Among the properties that I own we suffered a few downed fences and an uprooted tree or two, along with a tenant who appears to have disappeared and abandoned her lease (I'll write about that as well).  All and all I've been pretty lucky - and thanks to those of you who sent your best wishes. 

But take a look at the JPMorganChase tower in Downtown Houston.  Looks like they've cornered the local plywood market. 

We’ve got the recession in full swing in Silicon Valley and our region, along with many others, is experiencing job losses left and right. So how are we coping with things right now?

Over at the US News Alpha Consumer blog, Kim Palmer has begun a new series called “Recession 2.0, Do You Feel It?”, where she’s asked a few bloggers to share their latest thoughts on this financial slowdown. Well, I just turned in my article yesterday on how we’re dealing with the recession here in Silicon Valley, and it’s now been published.

Coping With The Recession: Income Check

In that article, I wrote with some detail about the adventures (and travails) of two self-employed people who have 2 dependents. My spouse launched his start-up around 2 years ago called BestInClass.com, and only recently did I go off to do my own projects (mostly to do with writing and internet related stuff). We’re doing fine, given the economic setting we have right now, but is what we’re doing enough to keep us afloat in Silicon Valley, where the cost of living is ridiculously stratospheric? That’s the million dollar question.

Well, we continue to trudge on, with just a wee bit of concern about our current income levels. If we continue to bleed green for an extended period of time, we’re going to make a few adjustments (like focus on snaring more service-oriented contracts), but it looks like we’re going to hold on to status quo for now.

Cutting Costs….Hard: There Go The School Funds

Some major change in attitude though, in our household. If you’re a parent (or maybe even if you’re not), you can empathize with this story: there’s a little kid, one of our sweet neighbors, who regularly comes by to sell stuff to raise funds for his school. I’m normally pretty generous and buy items from him every time he drops by. I do the same and order a load of items from my own kids’ schools to support our school district. Unfortunately these days, we’re now watching our money like hawks and account for everything that leaves our pockets. This means that $25 scented gift candles and various overpriced assorted bric-a-bracs, chocolates and what not are no longer part of our discretionary budget. So for the first time ever, I had to leave our little neighbor boy empty-handed. The sad part of the story is, the rest of the neighborhood had the same idea (I took a peek at his order list, and it was pretty much empty).

When times get tough, priorities rule even harder.

Carnival Roundup

Now for the latest from the carnivals! MoneyNing gives us the Smile Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. David Ning just quit his job to be a full-time problogger too, did you know? Congrats to him for making the huge step! Anyway from his list of financial articles, I picked a few neat ones to showcase here:

• Free From Broke: Never Mind A New Economic Stimulus Package - Save Yourself! Here are more thoughts on the second stimulus check.
• Cash Money Life: Year End Retirement Plan Moves
• The Wisdom Journal: Money Is 100 Percent Emotional

Next up, The Festival of Frugality was put together by The Financial Wellness Project. You’ll find these posts among other money saving articles in their awesome list:

• Passive Family Income: Turn Frugal Behaviors Into A Game
• Shark Investor: How YOUR Saving Advice Caused The Financial Crisis
  
• Money Beagle: Saving Money By Mulching The Leaves

Recent Carnivals

• Carnival of Money Stories
• Investing Carnival
• Carnival of Money Hawks
• Road To Financial Independence
• Carnival of Debt Reduction
• Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog Carnival
• Best of Me Symphony
• Kids and Money

This is a post from The Digerati Life.

Bookmark It

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance!  It’s officially Cyber Monday 2008, the online doppelgaenger to Black Friday.  This term was coined by the American Retail Federation three years ago after a majority of online retailers saw their sales go up the Monday after Thanksgiving.  Snopes found that the busiest online shopping day is not Cyber Monday but a couple of weeks after.  Regardless of whether online shoppers are only lukewarm about today, one thing’s for sure: there’s way less danger of getting injured by an online shopping cart.

So enjoy the Carnival, and head over to Amazon or eBay with full assurance that the Internet will completely protect you from e-bruising by other online shoppers!

Posts on Budgeting

• Mighty Bargain Hunter gives ways to save on food, clothing, and shelter.
• Canadian Dream: Free at 45 reveals his spending weakness.
• Studenomics asks if you’re cash-strapped this holiday season.
• M is for Money talks about zero-based budgeting.
• Green Panda Treehouse asks a hard question: “Do you pay your mortgage or your medical bills?”
• Penny Jobs asks a good question for tough times: “What can I cut back on?“

Posts on Career

• Economic Crunch runs through a checklist for taking advantage of benefits on a new job.  (These things can be a nice supplement to your salary.)
• Monagomoney offers parallel advice with five things to do if you get laid off.  (Hopefully you’re not needing both this advice and the previous advice in the same day.)
• Dog Ate My Finances (ha!) will take Common Sense for $200, Alex.  (Note:  Careful punctuation is crucial in this blog’s tagline.  Imagine, if you will, a misplaced colon: “Mid twenties.  Big salary.  Paying for some mistakes:  a wedding, and life.”  The name would then have to be changed to Alimony Ate My Finances.)
• Beating Broke asks: “What is freedom worth?“

Posts on Credit and Debt

• Free From Broke chats about medical treatment and how it can affect your credit.  (Especially if the costs are big.)
• Credit Toolbox discusses some aspects of refinancing consumer debt.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity has a list of 0% balance transfer offers.  (Fifty different offers.  You should be able to do a 0% transfer of the national debt with this volume of plastic.)
• Ask Mr. Credit Card: “Should teenagers have credit cards?”
• Discover Debt Freedom has some advice for someone trying to get out of debt for the first time.
• Single Guy Money has a credit score checkup.
• My Family’s Money talks about two states’ propositions on payday loans.
• Destroy Debt discusses debt settlement and some factors to consider before doing it.
• Think Your Way To Wealth gives a closer look at the Baby Steps plan.
• Debt Goal tells how to say “no” to your children this holiday season correctly.

Posts on The Economy

• Wide Open Wallet has some ideas as to what the government should be doing during the recession.  (I have my own thoughts but I like to keep this blog clean.)
• Everyday Finance – the Blog of a Thousand Tabs — has some choice words to say about repricing employee stock options.  (Ahh, stock options.  What a cool dream.)
• Amateur Asset Allocator postulates on what a privatized social security system would look like.
• Funny about Money observes that the Dow is up, in spite of it all.  (Yeah, I don’t buy it either.  The market’s always right, but remember, it’s still down over 5,000 points from its high.)
• Frugal in the Fruitlands reviews The Two-Income Trap.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary reports on the extent of the malaise in the banking industry.
• Earn What You Spend discusses some of the relevant financial news as the incoming administration gears up.
• No Credit Needed questions whether spending patterns are in line with the direction the economy is heading.
• Brip Blap gives a superb answer to the question: “Do you need a bailout?“

Posts on Finance

• The Strump wonders why we don’t like to talk about money.  (It’s dangerous, especially if you were wise enough to sell your stocks a while back.)
• InsureBlog discusses discounts and medical plans.
• Accumulating Money talks about Social Security insurance.
• Harvesting Dollars suggests making this year’s bonus season different.  (Assuming you get a bonus, of course.)

Posts on Frugality

• Just Thrive explains three rules for giving the perfect gift without necessarily spending a lot of money.  (Money is tight, so make the most out of your gift-giving.)
• Debt Free Saver has a very simple suggestion for holiday gift-giving.  (It gets back to the basic of gift-giving!)
• Money Ning asks whether we always think that saving money is worth it.
• Monroe on a Budget rattles off some practical Christmas gift ideas.
• The Smarter Wallet has some tips for the early-bird traveler.
• Online Saving Blog tells how to avoid the Black Friday hype.
• Uncommon Cents discusses personal opportunity cost.

Posts on Investing

• Investing School explains the important aspects of bond funds.  (I love how he reminds us that even US Treasuries can default. I happen to agree, but rates will go way up before they do that.)
• Crash Market Stocks goes through the basics of buying and selling options contracts.
• The Financial Blogger wonders if the Dogs of the Dow have had their day.
• Intelligent Speculator questions whether corporate bonds are really safer investments.  (Than, say, Forever Stamps.)
• Dividends4Life discusses how to manage your dividend portfolio in a downturn.
• Four Pillars discusses whether we’ve reached the death of index investing.
• ABCs of Investing gives a quick tutorial on index funds.
• Dividend Growth Investor discusses why companies should pay dividends.
• Greener Pastures talks about the Standard & Poor’s Aristocrat Indexes.
• Monevator shows how to get rich by playing a video game.  (Nice spin on things.)
• Cash Money Life recommends making some year-end retirement account moves.
• The Dividend Guy sold some dividend cut stocks.
• The Dough Roller asks if you follow the 50-50 rule of mutual fund investing.  (Click to see what the fifties are.)
• No Debt Plan continues the “No Debt Plan” series with a post on investing for retirement.  (Very nice post.)

Posts on Money Management

• Crackerjack Greenback questions whether you can really trust your financial adviser.  (It makes good sense to follow the money.)
• Smart Money Daily takes a look at whether winning the lottery is all it’s cracked up to be.  (After reading the post, I’ll probably never buy a lottery ticket.)
• About.com Financial Software lists eight good iGoogle financial gadgets.
• Wisdom Journal lays out ten economic truths we cannot ignore.
• Christian Personal Finance advocates letting your finances see the light of day.
• Sound Money Matters asks: “To gift card, or not to gift card.“  (That is the question.)
• American Consumer News doesn’t buy the two months’ salary thing.  (I don’t either.  But if I were a high-powered CEO with a yearly salary of $1, well … “Here’s your Secret Decoder Ring.  Will you marry me?”)
• My Wealth Builder lists a few personal finance strategies that have helped during times of economic crisis.

Posts on Real Estate

• Living After Foreclosure has some suggestions if you’re facing foreclosure.
• Insurance Toolbox comes through with seven practical tips for reducing your homeowner’s insurance expense.  (Some of these tips have other good side-effects in addition to lowering your insurance bill.)
• Growing Money Blog posts a rental property update.

Posts on Saving and Taxes

• Stumble Forward gives five tips to creating a stellar emergency fund.  (Covers the basics well.)
• Blogging Banks posts the best CD rates around.
• Dollar Frugal is sounding the charge and telling people to continue hypermiling.  (Great advice.  Gas prices are low because of the recession.  They’re still going to go way up as supply crunches hit.)
• The Happy Rock pits Black Friday against Buy Nothing Day.
• Deposit Accounts talks about flexible spending accounts.
• Money Smart Life compares a couple of online bank accounts.
• Saving To Invest has some end-of-year tax tips, among other things.  (Gee, I can’t imagine anyone would have capital losses this year to deduct, as kind as the market’s been to people, but just in case you do …)
• Online Banking Blog shows how to choose the best bank account.

Other Posts

• Happiness is Better lists three keys to banana-free living.  (Sounds a-peeling.)
• Curious Cat discusses a financial Thanksgiving.
• Free Money Finance asks if you’re using your dollar coins.  (All the time, man!)
• Chief Family Officer has an emergency preparedness checklist for personal finance matters.
• Digerati Life wonders if there’s any good time to start a business.
• Budgets Are Sexy is uber-tempted by sales e-mails.
• Living Almost Large asks if one should feel guilty for success.  (Absolutely not!)
• Prime Time Money gives six ways to argue less about money.

Only borrow money to buy assets that appreciate. Why? If you only borrow money on items that appreciate, the interest you’ll pay can be off-set by the increased value of the item. Some examples are a house or your education. But when you put your vacation on a credit card and 6 months later you’re still paying it off at a 15% interest rate, you’re going to regret it. Instead, save your money (earn interest instead of paying interest) and when you have enough, then you can spend it.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com

Although many small businesses begin with only one or two members of staff - the founders - most growing businesses quickly recognise the need to create a larger team. Not only can this spread the workload but a well-selected team can bring in more energy, creativity, drive and knowledge than the founder alone might possess. A small, closely-knit, highly motivated team can be an unstoppable driving force.

The authors of The Beermat Entrepreneur call the members of this core team 'cornerstones'. They suggest that the ideal mix is one entrepreneur providing strong leadership, surrounded by four 'cornerstones' - one for sale, one for finance, one for product development and one for project delivery and customer service. In real terms, most small businesses cannot afford such a big team, and don't really need it to begin with. However, even bringing one other person in to the business can make a huge difference to its success during the first year or so.

In many cases, the original team will be composed of the founder, or founders, and one or two relatives or friends who have been roped in along the way. This works well if everyone is committed to the success of the business and prepared to work hard. As we've seen the early days of a business are defined by long hours and a painfully demanding workload - there is no room for the half-hearted or unenthusiastic. Not only will they not pull their weight, but they will sap everyone else's enthusiasm too.

I've heard it said 'never work with friends or relatives' and it's true that in some cases this leads to disaster. However, a team who like each other - and have a friendship beyond the business - can also be extremely efficient and powerful.

Jude, Business adviser

Remember that just because you enjoy spending time with someone socially it doesn't mean you will like working with them. Ask yourself what they would be like to work with. Are they hardworking? Enthusiastic? What do they have to offer your business? Try to find people whose skills compliment yours, who can bring something to the business that fills 'gaps'. For instance, if you are fantastic on the finances but weak on marketing, you need to find someone who can bring something extra to the marketing side of the business.

A recent London Business School survey of CEOs found that they considered the major factor that had contributed to the success of their businesses was 'selecting the right people with good attitudes who are loyal to the company and who want to excel in their careers'.

Defining Roles

Whether you decide to go into business with others as equals or you employ them as part of your original team, it is very important to define roles carefully. Everyone needs to know what is expected of them and where the boundaries of their 'area' lie. In businesses with two or more equal partners a lack of clarity about roles can be a major source of conflict, taking up valuable time that might be better spent focused on other aspects of the business. If you have a management team, you need to give them space to fulfil their roles and feel that their contribution is valued. This doesn't mean handing over control, final decisions will still rest with you (or if they don't you need to be clear about exactly who is the boss - only one person should take this position or squabbling and infighting can result).

Consider the following key roles and divide them between your core team. You should all be clear on who is going to take each role.

Business leader - who takes the final decisions? In other words, the boss.

Sales person - who sells to your customers? Identifies customers and carries out your customer research?

Finance person - who manages the money and the associated administrative work?

Supply management - who locates suppliers, negotiates with them and maintains adequate supply levels.

Core business - who does the core tasks of your business, by which we mean the things that your business is actually about? This might mean making a product, providing a service or something else.

Marketing and PR person - who promotes your business to potential customers and raises the profile of your business?

Some of these roles overlap, so good communication is also of key importance to your business.

Importance of Role Clarification

People do either one of two things in a business - they either add value or they add cost. There are no grey areas.

One of the most important ways to ensure that your core team members are all adding value is to help them clarify their roles.

There are a number of different aspects to role clarification:

Prescribed role - This is what the business uses to set down the individual's overall goals and objectives. It is usually called a 'job description' or something similar and it sets out the person's responsibilities, authority, and key tasks, as well as their position in the business hierarchy.

While this is a useful starting point, it does not take account of personal differences and changes in circumstances such as growth of the business or the need to cover weak performances by others.

Personalised role - the prescribed role is only part of the picture. These are factors internal to the individual which will affect the way he or she performs in the role.

This includes their abilities, skills and strengths, as well as their expectations of the role, their assumptions (about the role, the business, the sector. etc.), their values and ambitions.

Perceived role - the perceptions and expectations of others in the business will have an impact on the individual. For example, they will have their own views on what the priorities of the role should be as well as the boundaries: 'I don't think Sales Managers should...'; 'I expect you to...' These can limit or restrict the way a person performs, but if expectations are high and positive they can raise the person's game, enabling them to perform to their full potential within their current role.

From the Business Team at Learning Curve; offering a range of unique development programmes for small businesses.

About the Author

Director of Studies at Learning Curve Home Study, one of the UK's leading distance learning providers. Learning Curve offers home study courses in a range of subjects, including Business development courses.

Finance Findings is Binary Dollar’s periodic link dump.

• Does Achieving Wealth Make You ?Upper Class?? Facts About Class [Digerati Life]
• All the Free Shavers [Sun’s Financial Diary]
• Car Hunt And Enterprise Rent-A-Headache [Tao]
• The 100,000 Wedding Gift? [Lazy Man and Money]
• Mutual Fund Distributions Explained [Generation X Finance]
• Money Mistakes To Avoid - Misunderstanding Risk [Money Smart Life]
• Identity Theft Tips from Frank Abagnale [Blueprint]
• Amazon Deal on the New Harry Potter Book [Five Cent Nickel]
• Mind Over Money — My House is Worth More if I Think It’s Worth More [Free Money Finance]
• IQ and richness [Mighty Bargain Hunter]
• 2007 State Sales Tax Holidays for Back-to-School Shopping [Raising 4 Boys]

Send your submissions for Finance Findings to henry@binarydollar.com.

Sponsor: Parlayer - Henry and Matt blog about sports and stuff.

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Recently, I wrote a post about the product, Mona Vie, which is sold through a Multi-Level Marketing system.  In case you are not familiar with the product, it is a super juice of some sort with exotic ingredients, such as Acai Berries and Kyrptonite.  I questioned the ability for the juice to cure all the ailments that is claimed by the many distributors out there, and the viability of the business model to actually make money for those same distributors.

The number of comments on that post was pretty incredible.  Many of the comments, not surprisingly, defended the quality of the juice.  The juice was credited with healing, curing or aiding in the following areas:  multiple sclorosis, weight loss, joint pain, high blood pressure, mood swings, something about ORAC values in Leukemia cells, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, arthritis and gas reduction.  I'm serious.  It does all this.  Read the comments for yourself.  They don't lie.

Of course, there were comments that defended the business model, and in fact the MLM business model in general.  Frankly, being a money blog, this is what interested me.  I could give a damn about the juice.  If it tastes good, doesn't kill people, and can sell, maybe I'll sign up to make some money.  But do I really want to be one of those MLM people out there?

So, here were the arguments in favor of multi-level marketing.

1. The only way commissions are earned is through the sale of the product.  Building a "downline" can build commissions, but only if the downline sells juice.  The fact that commissions are only tied to the sale of product makes it not a pyramid.
2. The corporate structure of CEO>VP>Director>Manager>Peon is a pyramid scheme.
3. It's sales, just like being in sales for a big company.  You get paid commissions for making sales.
4. MLMs generated over 40 billion in revenue last year, so they can't be scams

I guess so.

So, not a scam?  Sure, why not?  Still something about it bothers me.  Let's say you walk in to your local used car lot, and see a cherry red Mustang.  A salesperson spots you and walks over.   "Sure is purty, ain't she?" he asks.  "Yea," you reply, "how much is it?"  Used car salesperson responds, "well, I'm not supposed to let her go for anything less than $35 grand, but I like your style.  For you?  Let's make it an even $34 grand."  "Wow, really?" you exclaim, "sounds great, let's start up the paperwork."

No scam happened in our little used car skit.  But something just ain't right, you know?

Same feeling I get with all these Mona Vie juice sellers.  If someone tells me that he has felt healthier since drinking a juice that he buys at Whole Foods, I may give it a try.  If that same guy tells me that he feels healthier, and he would be glad to sponsor me to be a distributor in his downline, the red flags go up.

This is the problem with the MLM.  Not that it's a scam.  But your consumers are your salespeople.  There is no greater way to sell a product than third party endorsement.  Third party endorsement happens when someone else compliments you or your product.  If you compliment yourself or your own product, it will always be met with skepticism.  With an MLM, your consumers are your salespeople.  Anytime someone says, "I tried it and it's great," the red flags will always go up.

The degree of online business success you experience will be directly determined by the amount of effort you put into your business. While many online businesses promote themselves as being the best and fastest way to achieving wealth online, not everyone will become rich operating an online internet business.

It makes no difference the type of online business you operate, there are still basic truths to turning it into a success. Compare your internet business to a small business on the side of a road that very few cars pass on a daily basis. You have a decent looking building, but it looks much the same as other buildings in the immediate area with nothing to distinguish it from dozens of others.

There is nothing on the outside of the building declaring what is inside and no indication that the products you sell, or service that you offer, is the best and least expensive. Add to that the fact you have no advertising in the paper, magazines or the internet. Basically, not a soul knows you exist. Undoubtedly you will be closing your business in a short period of time.

That could be your internet business on the side of the electronic super-highway, with the difference being instead of car slowly driving by, potential visitors are whizzing past your site at the speed of lighting, having no idea you are there. At least by the side of the slow road there is always the chance of someone stumbling into your parking lot. On the internet if your address is kept a secret, there is no chance anyone will find it.

This is where internet marketing and network marketing techniques can help put your site in front of the millions of daily internet visitors. Most people looking for a product or service on the internet start with a search for a specific word or phrase. Unless your website is set up to attract search engine spiders, you will be ignored. Think about when you are searching for something and how many times you went past the second or third page of search results before clicking on a link. You may seem satisfied that your site is showing up in the top 100 search engine results, but your potential customers still will not be able to find you.

How well you optimize your website to be found on search engines is up the knowledge and experience of the person building your website as well as the text content your site offers visitors to satisfy search engine requirements. Additionally, you may have the best optimized web site on the internet, showing up as number one or two on the first page of search results, but if your site does not reflect the quality of the product or service you are offering, your visitor numbers will fall, right along with your search engine ranking. Online Internet Business Success Depends On Your Dedication

The degree of online business success you experience will be directly determined by the amount of effort you put into your business. While many online businesses promote themselves as being the best and fastest way to achieving wealth online, not everyone will become rich operating an online internet business.

It makes no difference the type of online business you operate, there are still basic truths to turning it into a success. Compare your internet business to a small business on the side of a road that very few cars pass on a daily basis. You have a decent looking building, but it looks much the same as other buildings in the immediate area with nothing to distinguish it from dozens of others.

There is nothing on the outside of the building declaring what is inside and no indication that the products you sell, or service that you offer, is the best and least expensive. Add to that the fact you have no advertising in the paper, magazines or the internet. Basically, not a soul knows you exist. Undoubtedly you will be closing your business in a short period of time.

That could be your internet business on the side of the electronic super-highway, with the difference being instead of car slowly driving by, potential visitors are whizzing past your site at the speed of lighting, having no idea you are there. At least by the side of the slow road there is always the chance of someone stumbling into your parking lot. On the internet if your address is kept a secret, there is no chance anyone will find it.

This is where internet marketing and network marketing techniques can help put your site in front of the millions of daily internet visitors. Most people looking for a product or service on the internet start with a search for a specific word or phrase. Unless your website is set up to attract search engine spiders, you will be ignored. Think about when you are searching for something and how many times you went past the second or third page of search results before clicking on a link. You may seem satisfied that your site is showing up in the top 100 search engine results, but your potential customers still will not be able to find you.

How well you optimize your website to be found on search engines is up the knowledge and experience of the person building your website as well as the text content your site offers visitors to satisfy search engine requirements. Additionally, you may have the best optimized web site on the internet, showing up as number one or two on the first page of search results, but if your site does not reflect the quality of the product or service you are offering, your visitor numbers will fall, right along with your search engine ranking.

About the Author

http://forever-aloevera.myflpbiz.com

http://tatiana.successuniversity.com

http://tatiana.buildreferrals.com

http://1105934.profitmatic.com

To get more information or download your own copy of the Resource Report for free visit: http://www.the-resource-report.com/?newest_version=28845

info@tatianaivanova.ws

Third World Poverty: The Real Solution

Aid to Africa

We all welcomed the campaign to address poverty in Africa and Tony Blair's commitment to it. When it was launched, the emphasis was on reducing debt and increasing aid from the rich Western nations. The priorities stated were to tackle disease, especially aids, and to generate economic activity.

At the time Blair retired, after 10 years as prime minister, progress in terms of contributions from the West had been extremely disappointing. The debt issue has been addressed in only 25% of the countries where relief is needed, and the aid contribution (separate from debt relief) from the rich Western nations to African countries has actually fallen.

Today, much more is being done by China, while India is becoming increasingly involved. A key factor is that, unlike Western finance, the aid from China comes without strings. Because the Chinese are happy enough with the trade which flows from their involvement, they make little effort to impose their culture on the recipient countries.

Self-Defeating Conditions

Apart from its inadequate volume, aid from the Europe and the USA has limited impact because of the conditions imposed with grants; notable by the USA and the UK. An obvious absurdity is the 'no abortion' condition imposed by the Bush administration on grants to tackle aids. (Fortunately, this condition is not applied to some of the grants from the USA non government sector - for example, the Gates Foundation.)

A second restriction, more generally applied - especially by the UK - is the insistence on privatisation. The failure, in terms of value for money for the public, of Thatcher, Major and Blair governments' private finance initiatives (PFIs) does not appear to have dampened the enthusiasm for applying them to other countries.

In some African countries this has resulted in people becoming worse off than before the aid was granted. An obvious example is an increase in the cost of water as a result of privatisation. As with most privatisation, what appeared to be a short-term benefit has been more than wiped out by longer-term disadvantage.

What Must Change?

So the first change must be to remove the privatisation requirement. It is recognised, of course, that private firms which have succeeded in developing countries have valuable expertise. However, this should be used in the context of public control; control on behalf of indigenous people by leaders democratically elected to represent them. Although it has to be accepted that private firms exist to act in their own interests, as their obligations to shareholders require, they must recognise that their interests are not the priority with grant-aided projects. The most they should expect is a reasonable, commercially calculated, return.

Second, steps must be taken to ensure that a much smaller proportion of aid is devoured by consultants in the donor countries. These consultants are often involved in negotiating the grants: some are paid more for a week's work than an African's annual income. And, too often, the focus is on the trade benefits to the donor nations, rather than on the needs of the recipients.

Unless radical, and urgent, changes are made, the West will continue to lose influence in Africa. Europe and the USA will not be able to compete with China and India, or other emerging powers such as Venezuela, if they persists with trading agreements and arrangements which favour the rich nations.

A New Strategy

In terms of strategy, the most urgent change is to shift the emphasis to job creation; integrated with education and training. For the longer-term, literacy and social and political education is as necessary as training in the skills required by the jobs directly related to the projects. Too often the requirement (in the conditions imposed with the grants) to complete projects in a specified period ignores the issue of permanent benefit.

The key to bringing about real improvement for the poor is to ensure that investment is used to release the resources that the countries already have. The most important resource is the expertise that people have acquired from their life experiences. Millions of Africans have to be entrepreneurs to make enough money merely to survive: many who fail in this respect are no longer of this world.

Those who are still with us have gained valuable knowledge about the obstacles to success in their environments - and have devised strategies to overcome them. It is the habit of the West to seek to impose its own structures, rather than support the recipient countries' own organisations. A typical example was when Blair set up his African Commission, instead of supporting an African initiative: the recently formed New Partnership for Africa's Development.

Another valuable resource is, of course, the fund of knowledge accumulated by businesses which have figured out how to succeed in difficult trading circumstances. In being able to turn a profit, such enterprises have acquired valuable insights into the varying operation of markets in different countries.

Although private companies are entitled to a reasonable return for their contributions to projects, they must recognise that the projects are not run for their benefit. Thee needs of the recipients are paramount but, as the Chinese have recognised, benefits flow without the imposition of strict conditions.

In other words the focus must be on the longer-term benefits which can occur only with the involvement, on an equal basis, of the people themselves. Providing the approach is to integrate education and training with economic development, this can lead to the evolution of processes for democratic participation.

Ending Waste and Corruption

These changes would make a major contribution to ending waste and corruption. Although these are usually highlighted as problems in developing countries, they apply at least as much to agents operating on behalf of the donors. In how many cases have individuals and businesses from the donor countries become more prosperous as a result of their involvement, but have left the recipient countries poorer?

Paul Wolfowitz, the leader of the World Bank who is no longer with us, identified tackling corruption as his priority. His demise resulted from focusing on corruption in the developing world, while ignoring it closer, much closer, to home. From his words and actions, it could be concluded that he believed that the same standards should not be applied to the rich in the West as to the poor in developing countries.

The assumption in the West that the main, or in some circles entire, problem is with the developing countries is not sustainable. This is not to argue that they do not have problems of corruption, but to quote John Christenson (The Guardian 30/5/07): 'For each dollar of aid that goes into Africa, at least Five dollars flows out under the table.'

Keith Wymer

June 2007

About the Author

40 years experience in further education

manager of international projects in many countries, including USA, Russia,Denmark, South Africa.

campaigner for equality and democracy and against racism

This is not a political blog, but perhaps I am a bit cranky after losing electricity and water for 5 days, so I will let this one slip by.

So here goes:

Image source: http://codenameblogtastica.blogspot.com/

…. he killed a helicopter with a car, and then he walked bare-foot on broken glass, and then he fired a few people, and then he suspended whatever that was going on and proceeded to Capitol Hill to beat the crap out of bad dudes and to rescue the economy.

Oh wait… it’s McClane not McCain you idiot. Oops! it’s probably the uncanny similarity between the looks of Mr. Willis and Mr. McClane Mr. McCain that confused me.

I don’t mean any disrespect, but I had to get this out because I actually had a dream of John McCain hanging “suspended” upside down in New York’s Central Park right above a huge pile of money (that looked like it was about $700 billion). I woke up a little scared and then realized that it’s because I read about David Blaine’s stunt before going to sleep last night - while I was being constantly bombarded by television commentary on McCain’s suspension of his campaign (or whatever - didn’t look much of a campaign anyways) and the $700 billion bailout.

You can imagine the kind of maverick-ish impact Mr. McClane Mr. McCain is having on me.

Anyways, with that out of the way, there is something else I need to say. It has recently come to my attention that some people don’t really know how many zeroes are there in a billion! That calls for a little bit of elaboration on the numbers you might hear in the next few months.

$700 billion = $700,000,000,000

300 million = 300,000,000 (as per Google search, the actual number is close to 301,139,947 - go figure what this number is)

Now, $700,000,000,000/300,000,000 = $2333.33 per person

As per 2006 tax figures, there were 135,660,228 tax returns filed.

Now, $700,000,000,000/135,660,228 = $5159.95 per tax return

Some other numbers to put things into perspective.

For the year 2007, AIG CEO’s (Martin Sullivan) monetary compensation was $13.9 million ($13.9 million = $13,900,000)

Earlier this year, most people I know received economic stimulus payments that ranged between $600 and $1200

Okay I admit it? I used to be an active ?chatter? in a local chat room on Yahoo. It was a room where many people from the Dallas area met up to?Chat. Many of us had met outside of the cyber room at local restaurants, clubs and the like.

Yahoo had recently shut down a lot of the member created chat rooms in the wake of all the negativity and sponsor lawsuits. Lets face it?The public opinion of chat rooms was not good. I was a virtual unknown person to most chatters because I stayed away from the ?in person? socials but, that all changed one morning. Here is what happened:

A room regular was talking on ?voice? and venting about his house early one morning and I was listening a few steps away making my breakfast. This is what ?Monte? said, ?I got this letter from some attorney who says he is going to sell my house! How does he think he can do that? He doesn?t own MY house so, how can he sell MY house?? My head spun around so fast that I almost gave myself whiplash. I ran to the computer and grabbed the microphone to speak in the room and here is what was said?

Jim: Monte, what is the name of the law firm that sent you that letter?
Monte: Uhmmm, it says ummm.. Barnett, Burke & Associates.
Jim: Would that be BARRETT Burke?
Monte: Yeah, that?s it.
Jim: Monte, email me your number. I need to talk to you NOW.
(That law firm processes nearly 40% of all foreclosures in the state of Texas)

Within a few minutes I was on the phone with him and I told him that I was a local foreclosure expert and taught classes at Foreclosure Listing Service in Addison. I told him I needed to meet with him and his wife right away because, the letter he got was his notice that his house was in foreclosure and he had less than three weeks left before it would go to the auction. He was shocked and claimed he had no idea (I didn?t know how he could be shocked after missing nine payments). Two hours later I was at his house and explained all about the foreclosure process to him and his wife and what options he may have to save his house.

I remember how bad I felt while explaining the situation because his wife just sat there, staring at me with her eyes wide open, not able to say a word. She had no idea the mortgage was past due at all. She had not seen any letters from the lender or taken any call from them. Monte never told her early on and the situation only got worse as the missed payments added up.

After going over all of the possible solutions, I decided that bankruptcy was likely the best option for them and they agreed. I made a call to Hariett Langston, a friend of mine who is a bankruptcy lawyer in Dallas. Monte and his wife were overwhelmed with the situation and asked if I would go with them when they met with the attorney and I told them I would.

We met with Hariett that same week and everything appeared to be set to stop the foreclosure. All Monte needed to do was pay the bankruptcy filing fee.

A week before the foreclosure sale I went to their house and was a bit surprised to learn that he had not paid the filing fee. I asked him when he was going to file and he just shook his head and said he didn?t know. I remember pausing for a few seconds and it dawned on me why he had not filed. I said, ?Monte? You don?t have the money to file, do you?? In a very humble manner, he looked down at the floor and shook his head. ($500 was the amount he needed to get the bankruptcy filed)

As I drove home I thought to myself that it would be simple if I just wrote a check for the $500 but, I thought that he really needed to pay something so important himself. I got an idea about that time and sent an email to one of the chat room regulars who organized the chat room socials. I recall stating in that email that online chat rooms have such a negative public image and went on to tell her about Monte, his situation and I asked her if she could set up a fund raising get together. It would be our way of proving that normal, everyday people go to chat rooms and this was a chance to show at least one chat room could do something good. I told her that he only needed $500 and all it would take is $5 here, $10 there and a $20 from a few? $500 could be raised.

She arranged to have a Dallas chat fundraiser social for that coming Saturday night. I called Monte and told him about the fundraiser. He asked me to not do it (his pride was the obstacle) but, I told him that we were going to do it anyway and it would be nice if he attended. He later told me he was so choked up that he couldn?t say anything but, he did finally say he would attend.

I expected a handful of people to show up for the fundraiser but, I was wrong. Much to my surprise? At least 50 to 60 regulars from that chat room showed up and contributed. At the end of the night, ordinary people from a Yahoo chat room donated more than $700 to help save someone from losing their house.

The next day I gave the proceeds to Monte & his wife and they quickly paid the attorney the fee to file their bankruptcy and their house?No?Their ?home? was saved.

The story got another interesting twist a few days later. I got a call from a reporter who wrote for a well known local media outlet. They had heard about the fundraiser and thought it was a great community effort story that should be told and asked if I wanted them to write about it.

It took only a few seconds for me to process my answer but, I remember thinking that such publicity would be great for business and my classes would see a boost in attendance. Then I thought about the possibility of other homeowners that would read the story and what would my answer be to them if they contacted me and asked me to do a fundraiser for them as well?

I told the reporter that as wild as the story was, I never expected things to unfold as they did. I told them that I had to pass on their offer because, I had done it to help someone and wouldn?t feel right about profiting off of someone else?s stressful and humbling foreclosure experience. They understood and that was the end of it.

I have to admit . . . Of all the positive experiences I have had in real estate, helping Monte might rank as number one. What stands out in my mind was the fact that so many people pitched in to help save a family from losing their home and they did it for someone most had never met or only knew of by screen name?That?s what made it so great.

This happened in 2005 and two days ago I got a phone call from Monte. He just wanted to give me an update and I was happy to hear they still have their home.

During the call I told him about the reporter. He was surprised I hadn?t told him and more surprised that I turned them down. At the end of the call, Monte told me that three years was long enough and he encouraged me to tell the story of how a bunch of chatters from a Yahoo chat room, came together and did something good.

Thanks Monte.

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This Post is from the BiggerPockets Real Estate Blog. Copyright © 2008 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Online Chat Room Helps Save Foreclosure Homeowner

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt

People wish a lot, but do they plan just as much? Set small financial goals, make them attainable and stick to them. Don’t set a goal like “This year I’ll get my act together.” Set a goal such as: “This year, I’m going to put $100 of every paycheck into my savings account.” That is a realistic goal. Setting short-term realistic goals is good because it gives you confidence every time you reach them. That confidence gives you the determination to do it again the next paycheck.

Let’s do some quick math..

$100 every 2 weeks in a month is:$200
$200 a month one in a year is: $2,400
Plus $100 in interest earned: $2,500

This means that if you save up just $100 from every check you can take you and your family on a vacation every single year. The only thing left is the hard part, sticking to your goal.

- Edwin, CashTheChecks.com