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Today, most of the growth of small businesses, middle-and upper rely on web-based software to run their entire company. A powerful integrated solution that consists of all the necessary tools and applications to run your entire business. This should include applications such as CRM, Mortgage CRM, CRM for Insurance, Financial Services, Healthcare, etc

As in business CRM applications include sales force automation, marketing campaign planning, order management and customer support channels. It must also include applications such as accounting and billing delivery planners, finance, inventory management, purchasing and payroll and planners. Last but not least, e-commerce should also be included. If you have a customer portal or web portal then you should be able to fully manage web-based software from your small business. [...]

Having worked in the financial services industry, there was one word we were forbidden to use. Now that I’m an investor coach, I’m still very conscious of the implications, consequences and effect this one word conveys in my conversations, blogs, articles, webinars and seminars. However, times change and I’m ready to put this one word back into my vocabulary. What is this one word? Guarantee.

To understand why this word is forbidden in the financial services industry and why I’m cautious as to how and when I use it, we must first look at the definition: Guarantee; Provide a formal assurance or promise that certain conditions shall be fulfilled relating to a product, service, or transaction.

‘Providing a formal promise that certain conditions shall be fulfilled’ leads some to interpret the word as legally binding. That thought of legally binding scares the financial services industry in a big way as it provides investors potential legal recourse and that is exactly what the industry does not want investors to have. Hence why the word guarantee is never to be used in the course of conversation with investors.

I’m cautious in using this word for a different reason. As an educator, it’s my responsibility to set a proper level of expectation for those person(s) learning to invest on their own based on my guidance. I know with 100% certainty that I can not guarantee future market directions, returns on investments and which stocks, mutual fund and/or fund managers will be winners/losers tomorrow.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s time I put the word ‘guarantee’ back into my vocabulary and start using it due to the following two reasons:

• The regulations that will have to be implemented due to Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act on the financial services industry.
• The annual deficits that will raise our national debt to approximately $25 Trillion by 2020.

Based on the above pending regulations and projected national debt, I’m confident in making the following two investment guarantees:

1. Investment Fees will increase; to cover additional expenses incurred by the financial service industry and financial firms due to the Dodd-Frank Act. These additional expenses will be passed directly on to investors in the form of more and higher investment fees at all levels.
2. Taxes will increase; to minimize our annual deficits, to pay down our national debt and to cover mandatory entitlement programs. These tax increases might be in the form of personal income, business, capital gains, estate, 401k withdraws, etc.

So what do these guarantees mean to investors?

• Because investment fees have a direct negative correlation to investor returns, investors will realize a lesser return percentage on their investments. Today on average, investors pay a total of approximately 2.5% – 4.0% of the value of their investments on an annual basis in fees. What’s truly sad about this fact is most investors are totally unaware of it as these fees are skimmed directly off the top of an investor’s earned returns before reported on an investor’s statement. The new regulations are estimated to push these fees to 3.5% – 5.0%. To get a better understanding of the impact of these fees, consider the following; On an investment of $10,000, fees will confiscate up to $500 per year regardless if the investments make or lose money!. On a $100,000 investment, those fees will confiscate up to $5,000 per year and if your fortunate enough to have saved $1,000,000 these fees will confiscate up to $ 50,000 per year! Multiply these annual costs by 10, 20 or 30 years and include losing the power of compounding over these years and it’s easy to understand why investors loss approximately 70% of their lifetime wealth potential due to investment fees…70%!

• Tax increases are painful as they too confiscate money from employees, employers, consumers, investors, savers and retirees. Investors investing with an advisor in short-term speculative investment strategies generate short-term capital gains that are taxed as personal income which will be subject to higher tax rates. In the case of retirees, withdraws from their 401k plans will be exposed to higher personal income tax rates thus reducing purchasing power and exposing retirees to the possibility of running out of money.

My intent is not to instill fear with investors but to help them recognize the very real possibility we’re facing and what ‘seeds of change’ can be planted today to protect investments from future fees and taxes.

Here are several ‘seeds of change’ investors should plant today to ensure an abundant harvest later in their life:

• Learn to become your own most-trusted financial advisor by enriching your knowledge so you’re in complete control of your investments and understand what you’re invested in
• Invest in a strategy based on simplicity and with clearly defined entry and exit triggers.
• Invest in low-cost funds and eliminate advisor fees immediately. Reducing fees have a direct positive correlation to investment returns. For every 1% of fees reduced, returns are directly increased by the same amount.
• Invest in passively managed funds to eliminate capital gain tax consequences,
• Leverage the power of compounding over the long-term to build wealth for yourself.
• Choose the Roth or Roth/401k option if you’re starting out in an employer-sponsored retirement plan,. These plans require taxes to be paid now while you’re in a lower tax bracket and provide distributions that are totally tax-free when you retire.

Investors that choose to plant the above ‘seeds of change’ today will have a distinct competitive advantage in building, protecting and preserving their wealth for their future.

Tim Butt is President and Co-Founder of The Self Empowered Investor and has extensive experience and expertise in financial education, mentoring and coaching.

He has previously worked for a Wall Street Broker/Dealer and also owned and operated a Registered Investment Advisory firm, Aegis Wealth Management, LLC.

There has been a huge boom in the payday loans industry in recent years. Now a days you see multiple lenders even in small towns compared to 10 years ago these lenders were scarce and easier to find online.

Now like I mentioned earlier these lenders are available all over town and even more so on the net. The great thing about finding the best cash advance providers online is it’s much more convent to get these types of loans on the net, since you can compare multiple offers from the comfort of your own home.

Who Qualifies of an Online Payday Loan?

Qualifying for payday loans isn’t hard. You need to be working for more than 6 months and have a checking account in most cases. This way the lender can be assured you have the means to pay back the loan and an easy way to send you the money. There probably won’t be any paper work necessary if you take the online loans route but you will need to give some personal information so they can verify your identity and some financial information so the can deposit your cash.

These loans are very high in interest and should only be taken if in an emergency. If you pay them back on time they are not that expensive between $15 – $35 per hundred borrowed. If you paid that back by it’s due date a $300 loan would cost you between $345 and $405 by the time it’s all said and done. If you let the debt linger it gets very costly as the interest and fees compound quickly so my advice is only take a payday loan if you absolutely need to and pay it back on time.

With all of the different companies to choose from it can be confusing. I advise to look for a decent review site that can help take the leg work out of shopping and help give you tips to help find the best online payday loans available to you. Also never borrow an amount over what you need to bail yourself out and nothing more. You don’t want to pay high fees on money that you don’t need.

Sometimes you can find loan providers that offer first time customers discount loans. These can be the best option for a lot of people to save some cash. Whatever you do remember to shop and compare to find the best deal for your situation. Good luck!

What is a promotional model? A promotional model is somebody whose role is to raise awareness of a brand or product through various strategies depending upon the assignment. These can consist of a brand ambassador at an exhibition, leafleting on a high street, or capturing data at roadshows to name just a few. It is a very diverse role meaning the models must be versatile and adaptable to different working environments, situations, personalities and job descriptions.

When businesses hire promotional models to represent their company, what service and results do they actually expect or deserve? In truth, many companies using this service for the first time do not really know what results to expect or realise how effective this service can be if a high quality promotional model is hired. A pretty, eye-catching model will be effective for attracting attention. However, attributes such as people skills, intelligence, an outgoing personality, and being proactive are required for leaving that lasting impression and enhancing a company’s profile. For example, if a company chose’s data capture as its method of promotion at an exhibition, the difference in results between having a model who is just attractive as opposed to a model who is attractive AND has all of the above attributes can be quite radical. In the latter scenario, the public will generally warm to the models and this will generate greater footfall around the company’s stand, thus leading to more data being gathered as intended.

Therefore, if a company wants to maximise its opportunities during a promotional campaign and also get the most value within its promotional budget, it is important that the company hire the right quality of staff and ensure the agency they use provides high calibre models.

When a promotional agency selects models for its books, it could adopt the characteristics of the Japanese “Geisha” as its standard to ensure its promotional models have a wide variety of attributes to benefit its customers. Unfortunately there are many misconceptions associated with the word Geisha, but in reality the word refers to women who are well-educated, beautiful, good conversationalists, and masters of hospitality. Moreover, Geishas have the ability to easily adapt to different situations and personalities, traits that serve both them and professional models well.

As well as sourcing the correct calibre of promotional models, it is important for a business to make their booking with the agency as early possible as the highest quality models will be booked well in advance in most cases. Also, for the booking to be as successful as possible, it is imperative that the company gives the agency not only a detailed brief of its requirements but also its desired outcome as a result of its participation in the event. This would then be passed onto the model(s) in advance, thus ensuring that they have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities and can therefore prepare accordingly.

The Management Team at Tidy Models consists of former promotional and hospitality models who have worked with numerous clients but more importantly, numerous other promotional staff. This has given our team great experience in being able to select high quality promotional models to represent businesses.

Regardless of what experience you have organizing your personal finances, it’s important to have a straightforward system to help. Take a look at these great tips to organize your bills and personal finances.

1. Take paper out of the equation.

Today, almost every bill you have can be paid online which means everything can be handled digitally. It may seem like a bit of a challenge at first, but it makes managing your personal finances a lot easier to do down the line.

The concept of going paperless may be a bit confusing. All it really means is instead of getting your bills through the mail you’ll go to the websites of your service providers and set up online accounts. Once you do, you will be given the option of going completely paper free, which means your service providers will stop sending you paper statements, bills and promotional offers that you’re used to seeing in your mailbox. You’ll receive email alerts when your bill is due and can pay your bill on their website instead of writing a check and mailing it in. When it comes to your household and financial accounts, you’ll never have to lick a stamp or seal an envelope again.

The two major reasons to pay your bills online and go paperless are:

A. You’ll help protect the environment by reducing your use of paper.
B. You can reduce the clutter of paper in your house and help save your sanity.

Not only does getting rid of the stacks of paper they send each month going to relieve a lot of stress but it helps to save the environment as well.

2. Pick an organizational system that fits your needs.

When it comes to organizing your personal finances, one size does not fit all. Even though many believe that paying your bills online is the only way to go, that’s only the first part of this four-step process. Even though you have all of your accounts set up electronically, you’ll still have to find a way to make sure they’re all in one place. Otherwise, you will have to go from site to site, and with that many usernames and passwords, you are bound to forget a few.

There are two different ways to go about doing this. First, you can purchase bill-organizing software, such as Moneydance and Family Finance Planner. These packages give you the ability to manage bills and organize your personal finances from one program. You can pay your bills, view important account documents, and receive alerts when important due dates are approaching. Many packages available will also give you the ability to create a budget and will help you to stay within it by letting you know if you’re exceeding it or if you’ve got funds left.

If purchasing financial software doesn’t appeal to you, you can do what many do and create a financial spreadsheet using Microsoft Excel. It’s a bit more complicated, as it requires more manual labor, but like with most tasks that’s been mentioned here, it will pay off in the long run. There is no law that says financial spreadsheets have to be the same, so create one that represents your financial life. Note which bills you have to pay, how much they are for and when they are due. Subtract your monthly finances from your monthly income so you know how much money you have to spend each month. Once the bill is paid, mark it paid in the spreadsheet so you’ll have the peace of mind that it’s been taken care of until next month.

3. Think about the future.

Planning for your financial future plays a big part in organizing your personal finances now. Unfortunately, life isn’t predictable and putting together a financial plan for the future so you can handle anything that can happen which means it’s important to set financial goals for your future.

Setting up a savings account for emergencies is a great start. Putting back six to nine months of living expenses gives you money to use should something happen. This money should be used for emergencies only, hence the name “emergency savings account,” such as paying for rent and utilities after losing your job.

Setting up a retirement savings account is another great way to plan for your future. Your employer may offer access to a 401(k) which is a good example of a retirement account. Every time you get a paycheck, you can contribute a portion of it to this fund. These accounts are designed for your employer to match your whole contribution or at least a part of it.

Retirement funds like these can give you the future you want, whether it’s sailing a way to Bora-Bora or simply being able to do the basic things we enjoy like going to the movies and taking yearly vacations after you retire.

4. Don’t stress.

The old quote “There ain’t no stress like money stress, but you can only worry so much.”, basically means, don’t go crazy worrying about your finances. Worry enough, and then let it go. Using these steps, create a budget and implementing the financial bill organizer that works for you. Then, just enjoy your life!