Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art

Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art

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Online Marketing

There is tons of information out there about online marketing. Although all this being available the average business does not know how to use and tap into its unlimited potential. I have been thinking to use my vast and years of experience to help Mumineen businesses grow and thrive.

Today everything that shows up on either google, yahoo or the newest face bing is what bags the most customers. All you need to know is the right way. Thats what people who have walked the road are.

The road not taken is bitter and bites to the last extent therefore if you do not have the dare to walk that road follow those  who have taken the initiative to pave the road for you.

 Those who are really interested in getting valuable inputs can pay the price of getting such valuable information that comes with several falls and stand-ups.

Keys to Financial Success

Although making resolutions to improve your financial situation is a good thing to do at any time of year, many people find it easier at the beginning of a new year. Regardless of when you begin, the basics remain the same. Here are my top ten keys to getting ahead financially.

1. Get Paid What You're Worth and Spend Less Than You Earn

It sounds simplistic, but many people struggle with this first basic rule. Make sure you know what your job is worth in the marketplace, by conducting an evaluation of your skills, productivity, job tasks, contribution to the company, and the going rate, both inside and outside the company, for what you do. Being underpaid even a thousand dollars a year can have a significant cumulative effect over the course of your working life.

No matter how much or how little you're paid, you'll never get ahead if you spend more than you earn. Often it's easier to spend less than it is to earn more, and a little cost-cutting effort in a number of areas can result in big savings. It doesn't always have to involve making big sacrifices.

2. Stick to a Budget

One of my favorite subjects: budgeting. It's not a four-letter word. How can you know where your money is going if you don't budget? How can you set spending and saving goals if you don't know where your money is going? You need a budget whether you make thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

3. Pay Off Credit Card Debt

Credit card debt is the number one obstacle to getting ahead financially. Those little pieces of plastic are so easy to use, and it's so easy to forget that it's real money we're dealing with when we whip them out to pay for a purchase, large or small. Despite our good resolves to pay the balance off quickly, the reality is that we often don't, and end up paying far more for things than we would have paid if we had used cash.

4. Contribute to a Retirement Plan

If your employer has a 401(k) plan and you don't contribute to it, you're walking away from one of the best deals out there. Ask your employer if they have a 401(k) plan (or similar plan), and sign up today. If you're already contributing, try to increase your contribution. If your employer doesn't offer a retirement plan, consider an IRA. 

5. Have a Savings Plan

You've heard it before: Pay yourself first! If you wait until you've met all your other financial obligations before seeing what's left over for saving, chances are you'll never have a healthy savings account or investments. Resolve to set aside a minimum of 5% to 10% of your salary for savings BEFORE you start paying your bills. Better yet, have money automatically deducted from your paycheck and deposited into a separate account. 

6. Invest!

If you're contributing to a retirement plan and a savings account and you can still manage to put some money into other investments, all the better.

7. Maximize Your Employment Benefits

Employment benefits like a 401(k) plan, flexible spending accounts, medical and dental insurance, etc., are worth big bucks. Make sure you're maximizing yours and taking advantage of the ones that can save you money by reducing taxes or out-of-pocket expenses. 

8. Review Your Insurance Coverages

Too many people are talked into paying too much for life and disability insurance, whether it's by adding these coverages to car loans, buying whole-life insurance policies when term-life makes more sense, or buying life insurance when you have no dependents. On the other hand, it's important that you have enough insurance to protect your dependents and your income in the case of death or disability. 

9. Update Your Will

70% of Americans don't have a will. If you have dependents, no matter how little or how much you own, you need a will. If your situation isn't too complicated you can even do your own with software like WillMaker from Nolo Press. Protect your loved ones. Write a will. 

10. Keep Good Records

If you don't keep good records, you're probably not claiming all your allowable income tax deductions and credits. Set up a system now and use it all year. It's much easier than scrambling to find everything at tax time, only to miss items that might have saved you money. 

Reality Check

How are you doing on the top ten list? If you're not doing at least six of the ten, resolve to make improvements. Choose one area at a time and set a goal for incorporating all ten into your lifestyle.

Festival of Generators? - Khaleej Times

After its successful launch last year, the ‘Sharjah generator festival’ is back. The industry is booming, thanks to SEWA.

Jokes apart, as a resident of the UAE since the past 15 years, I have never heard of electricity cuts here. But it has happened and there seems to be no respite.

Electricity cuts have become the norm in the emirate. The disruption goes on for hours together, day and night, without warning.

The UAE is considered a developed country and is often compared to countries like UK, USA and France. The country helps other countries in need. Top sports clubs and buildings the world over are being bought by people from the UAE.

Can somebody be generous enough to sponsor/buy SEWA? -      Mohamad, Sharjah

Financial Goals

It is perhaps more important to ignore the stock market experts of today than what Aristotle did several thousand years ago refuting the 'world is flat' experts.

I don't think it matters whether the earth is flat or round but what matters individually for most of us is the ability to go to work every morning, meet deadlines, educate our kids, grow in our careers and contribute our bit to the society. 

And somewhere in our busy schedule and life is the task of making smart and informed choices about one's money. 

And it does seem tough to make informed choices with a plethora of options, products, tax laws, market volatility and no time to study or understand the personal finance space. 

And on top of that there is the information overload from product companies, newspapers, magazines and the internet. 

The information overload can be extremely overwhelming at times. It can take away your focus from the critical but important decisions about your financial goals.

That's why it's important to focus a little on key principles of financial planning. 

The success of any activity including investment strategy depends on how you focus on the right things and ignore things that do not matter.

The fact of the matter is no one has seen the future and analysts and experts can at best give you educated opinion or pure guesses. The media presenting these answers like facts further compounds the confusion of investors.

Why don't these technical analysts or market gurus don't eat their own pudding? 

When they give their mandatory disclosures at the end of the show they say, "Well, I have no exposure in the stock". 

(Any analyst expressing her/his views on any stock/s on television or writing for newspapers has to inform the viewers/readers if s/he or her/his company owns the stock or has advised their clients to buy or sell the stock/s discussed; this is called as a disclosure and has been made mandatory by the market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI).

If the stocks were so lucrative, why are people busy giving stock tips rather than buying it. If you knew for sure that the share of company A is going to double in the next few months, what would you do? 

I am sure majority would beg, borrow or steal to get a piece of it. But what does the person in question do here "goes on television and tells everyone how to do it but himself stays out of it". 

What should one then focus on? One should focus on trying to find answers to the questions mentioned below. It is only these answers that will help you achieve your financial goals.

Here are the 8 Key Questions you must ask yourself

*How much should I save to achieve my financial goals? 

*What returns do I need to earn on my investments? 

*How much should I allocate to equity, debt, real estate, cash, gold and art? 

*How often should I change my allocation to stocks, bonds and cash?

*How much insurance should I have?

*What are the risks that my family and me are exposed to?

*How should I maximise my post tax returns rather than investing for the sake of minimizing taxes?

*How would my wealth be transferred to my wife, children, parents or any of my nominee should something happen to me? 

Getting the answers to the above is the key solution to your financial needs. I am sure each one of you will have a different answer to the questions posed above.

The decision of identifying the vehicles (stocks, insurance, mutual fund, real estate, gold etc) comes next. 

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said "Genius is the ability to put into effect what is in your mind" and this principle is as true today as it was ages ago.

Success

A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met.

Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.

When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water. The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue.

The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath. Socrates asked 'What you wanted the most when you were there?' The man replied 'Air'.

Socrates said 'that's the secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret.