ISA Allowance
Presentation skills: how you present yourself
Learning how to present oneself to the world is an important lesson that should be learned at a young age and also taught. The fundamental lesson is that in order to present your best self, you have to be your best self because if you do not like yourself, who else will?
To be your best self you need to have an idea of what you want out of life, you need to know your worth and what you need to live up to, to achieve your full potential. Be passionate about life and its possibilities. Breath deep and play to your strengths. Being confident is all about how you feel and confident you seem to the world. So if you feel self-assured, poised and confident chances are you will look that way too.
Presentation skills training, are skills that show case your competency and proficiency. Here are a few tips and examples to help you be your best self for an interview or board review meeting or a presentation.
1.Know your stuff
Learn about the company, individual or individuals whom you are approaching. Take the time to do research and be prepared for any or some difficult questions. Show cases your talent.
2.Take note
Pay attention to body language and engage someone who is distracted. Listen carefully to what is being asked and answer the question do not beat around the bush.
3.Do not be arrogant
Do not confuse confidence with arrogance. Be modest, allow for mistakes in fact welcome your errors just be gracious about your imperfections, admit to them and ask if you do not understand a word or phrase, even use humor to deflect.
4.Use humor
Using a bit of humor to lighten an atmosphere taut with tension is a smart move, choosing that moment to become a full fledged comedian is not.
5.Look into their eyes
There is something oddly charismatic about someone who looks you in the eye, use that to your advantage and connect with them.
6.Smile and interact
No one is an island. So instead of being unapproachable, smile and open yourself up to a world of opportunity when you adhere to be sociable.
7.Dress the part
When you think about the impression you want to give then dress accordingly.
Go on…make a good and lasting impression…
Do I have to pay into my occupational pension scheme or can I decline?
My HR department has recently sent us all an email saying that they will be reviewing their occupational pension scheme soon and that everyone will have to start paying into a pension due to new Pension Legislation. I wondered whether they are able to do this as I personally do not want to tie my money up under pension rules, I’d rather have the cash to pay off my debts. It seems that they are going to match our payments into a pension, which is very generous of them, but what if I don’t want any payments to go in, can I decline?
If I don’t have to pay in myself, could I still get the money that my company were going to pay into a pension, added to my salary each month? Ideally I would like to pay off my credit card debts and then start paying into a pension in a few years time but it seems like the government is forcing me to start paying in now, I assume so they can pay us less state pension in future.
Does anyone have an opinion on this as I’m getting worried about these extra payments affecting my income.
Your Retirement Hopes: Filled With Holes?
If you’re like many Americans, you may expect to enjoy a comfortable retirement, but you probably haven’t taken the actions needed to turn those hopes into reality.
The latest survey showed many Americans’ retirement expectations are like a piece of Swiss cheese-full of holes. For example, many have accumulated only modest retirement savings, underestimating the share of their preretirement income they are likely to need in retirement, and have made no estimate of how much they will need to live comfortably once they retire.
The Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), begun in 1991, is the country’s most established and comprehensive study of the attitudes and behavior of American workers and retirees toward all aspects of saving, retirement planning and long-term financial security. The survey is sponsored by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Matthew Greenwald & Associates.
Here are some of the survey results:
• Saving: More than two-thirds (68 percent) of current workers say they and their spouses have accumulated less than $50,000 in retirement savings.
• Health care costs: Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) of current workers say they and their spouses do not expect to receive any health insurance from their employers when they retire. Recent EBRI research showed that individuals age 55 who live to age 90 would need to have accumulated $210,000 (by age 65) to pay for insurance to supplement Medicare and out-of-pocket medical expenses in retirement-far more than all but 10 percent of workers currently have saved for all retirement expenses.
• Longevity: Two-thirds (66 percent) of current workers think they have some chance that they will live until age 90-or spend 25 years in retirement, assuming they retire at age 65. These findings suggest many workers may not be planning and saving enough to finance the full amount of time they expect to spend in retirement, thereby increasing the odds that they will outlive their retirement savings.
• Income replacement: Fourteen percent of current workers said they thought they would need less then 50 percent of their preretirement income to live comfortably in retirement. Another 36 percent expected to need 50 to 70 percent. However, 62 percent of current retirees say their income is 70 percent or more of their preretirement income.
• Planning: Nearly six in 10 current workers (59 percent) said they hope to have a retirement standard of living equal to or higher than their working years. But when current workers were asked if they or their spouse have calculated how much money they will need to retire comfortably, nearly six in 10 (58 percent) said no.
“Recent research has found that when a ‘traditional’ pension is frozen, many workers in the pension are unlikely to get an equal benefit value contributed to their 401(k) plan,” said Jack VanDerhei, a Temple University professor, EBRI fellow, and co-author of the Retirement Confidence Survey. “Each case is different, but it’s clear that people currently working should factor into their retirement planning the long-term trend away from ‘traditional’ defined benefit pensions and toward 401(k)-type plans.”
He added: “We find there are a lot of people who need to be saving more than they are, if they hope to be able to afford a comfortable retirement.”
“Working ‘in retirement’ may be one partial solution,” said Michael Falcon, chief operating officer of the Retirement Group at Merrill Lynch-a sponsor of the EBRI study, as well as its own New Retirement Survey. “Seventy-seven percent of our respondents say that ideally, they would work either full-time, part-time, or cycle back and forth between work and leisure before they quit work completely,” Falcon said. “Working beyond normal retirement can obviously help financially, but Americans also say they are interested in working to stay socially and physically active.”
Working Out A Family Budget
When you and your family are considering a budget, you may be missing the values that are held within rebates and coupons. In general, because of the time it takes to actually clip these things out of your local newspaper or a magazine, people tend to over look these big money savers all too often. Coupons should be an important part of your family budget. The money you could save using coupons could easily add money to other areas of your budget, like family entertainment.
For decades, people have been clipping and using coupons of a variety of sorts. It is something that is done by grabbing your favorite pair of scissors and scanning through your magazines or newspapers, to find coupons that will help your entire family saved money on your favorite products. Many people commonly skip over coupons because the savings tend to look small and insignificant. However insignificant they may look, once these savings add up they could equal a good sum of money saved EACH time you go to the grocery store.
Using and clipping coupons or rebate forms have been known to be an art. People often plan their entire budgets around the coupons or rebates that they have and save a good deal of money in the process. It is impossible to account for coupons during the actual creation of the monthly budget, because you never really know how many coupons you will be able to use and just what the savings will be. Many people choose to stash away the money saved from coupons into a special place to use for a special treat for the entire family. You will be able to enjoy treating your family to a special night out or something of the like, without having to place an impact on the familys budget.
Stick close to a few rules when you decide to use coupons, this will allow you to get the greatest value from them. When you are using a coupon, try to find the item on sale. This will help you reduce the price in a dramatic way, for items that you would generally purchase at regular sale price. In addition, some stores have what is called Double Coupon Day; these actually double the amount of savings that is listed upon the coupon. Giving you DOUBLE the money to put away for that special treat and what could be better.
Where Did My Paycheck Go?
The typical scenario is that you get your paycheck. After you recover from the shock at how little is left after taxes, you proceed to divvy it up among all your outstanding bills, intending to put whatever is left over into your savings.
But there never seems to be anything left over and your savings dont grow.
A better plan would be to pay yourself first. Dont let the money get into your hands.
You might find that you actually begin to grow your savings much quicker this way.
If you work for an employer with a 401K plan, the first thing you should do is to fund it to the max. If you cant afford that, at least put enough in to get the full matching contribution form your employer.
This investment is made before taxes. Your investment is larger and with the employers contribution grows quickly.
Next have a brokerage or mutual fund company debit your banking account monthly. This money should first go into an IRA if you have five years or more to go to retirement, make it a Roth IRA.
Next have a few dollars more be debited to go into a no-load, low cost mutual fund. The younger you are, the more aggressive your choice of fund can be.
After that is done, then figure out how to pay your bills and living expenses. If money is tight, cut back on your living expenses and use the extra money to pay down your debt.
Start with the lowest balance first. Once that debt is paid, take the amount of money you were paying on that debt and add it to the payment on the next lowest balance debt. Continue doing this and you can be totally debt free within 5 to 7 years.
Another version of this method is paying the highest interest rate debt first. The principal is the same, you just see more progress with the first method, although it could be more costly based on how your debt is distributed.
(If you dont believe me, get the premier version of Microsoft Money or Quicken and use the Debt Reduction module. You will be shocked at how much money you will save and how fast you can eliminate debt this way.)
The idea is to scrimp at the expense of your current lifestyle, while leaving your savings to grow and you debt to shrink.
I know many of the people reading this will scream that this is an impossible plan.
But it is quite doable with a little will power and the ability to delay gratification for a while.
The problem is that if you dont do this, your future might turn out to be very bleak.
What You Should Know Before Buying Annuities
Americans hear a lot about the shaky outlook for Social Security. In the future, the federal program likely will play a smaller overall role in Americans’ retirement plans.
One way to fill in the gaps of a savings portfolio is to put money in annuities. With an annuity, you pay a premium in exchange for guaranteed income payments at regular intervals. It is most often used for retirement purposes.
The basic types of annuities are equity indexed, fixed rate and variable. The major advantage of annuities is that they all guarantee benefits such as tax-free growth, the ability to pass money directly to heirs or charities and an income stream for life.
Over the past few years, equity-indexed annuities have gained a great deal of popularity. They offer interest or benefits that are linked to an external equity reference – a stock index like the S&P 500, for example. But you get a guaranteed minimum return in exchange for a limited maximum return; that is, you get less upside, but also less downside, to your stock-market investing. Your principal is never at risk.
Fixed-rate annuities, on the other hand, guarantee an interest rate and a declared minimum. They have traditionally been the most popular annuities.
Variable annuities provide more options. They enable you to invest in stock, bonds, mutual funds and money-market instruments.
Reputable financial companies, like TrueYield Financial, want to make sure investors are comfortable when purchasing annuities. Here are some tips for the potential investor.
* Be sure the firm you work with is not limited to offering just one company’s annuities. There are many options available, so work with an agent that can get the one that best fits your needs.
* Understand what you are buying. Talk to your financial adviser or agent about which annuity may be right for your retirement portfolio. Fully understand the annuity contract you are considering.
* Define your goals. Annuities can be used to accomplish a number of financial goals. For example, they can supplement your monthly income or provide emergency funds. Decide which purpose your annuity will serve.
* Ask your agent if you have a “free look” period to review your annuity contract and make sure you have made the right decision.
* Investigate whether or not a bonus annuity is right for you. Bonus annuities credit premium bonuses to allow a retirement saver to make up for stock market loss or to provide an immediate boost to the account value.
Ways To Pay For Your Next Holiday Away
Any time of year can be the right time to plan your next vacation-and how to pay for it. Here are some tips for saving or earning extra money to help make this year’s vacation special:
• Set up a vacation “piggy bank” and contribute regularly. Make coffee at home rather than buying it on your way to work, and bank the difference. When the kids break a house rule, deduct $1 from their allowances and set it aside for vacation.
• Arrange for a portion of your paycheck to be deposited automatically into a vacation savings account. An increasing number of employers offer direct deposits that can be split among different accounts.
• Book your vacation plans early. Most experts encourage families to make reservations for flights or hotels early, before seats and rooms start to fill up and prices rise. Also, look for special summer deals that many popular destinations offer on their Web sites.
• Look for additional sources of income. For example, you could become a direct selling representative. Direct selling involves the sale of products and services in the home or workplace (think Avon or Pampered Chef). A wide variety of products and services are sold this way, from cosmetics and clothing to pet supplies and cookware.
According to Amy Robinson at the Direct Selling Association (DSA), direct selling companies sell $30 billion worth of goods and services annually.
“Direct selling is a growing business and a flexible, family-friendly way to earn extra money for a family vacation,” Robinson said.
Utilizing Your Financial Safety Net
Where do you keep your money that you set aside for annual or semi-annual payments or for emergencies where you need extra cash quickly? You dont want to draw funds from any of your savings or investment accounts there may be a penalty for early withdrawal or it might be financially disadvantageous at that time.
Most people just keep what they have in their checking accounts where it earns nothing or next to nothing. Some dont keep funds for emergencies and just hope for the best or depend on luck.
Luck always seems to be against the man who depends on it.
-Unknown
Heres another question. Do you set anything aside in case you need to pay the deductible on an insurance claim?
A good place to put funds for infrequent payments or for possible emergencies is in a money market account where interest rates are most often higher than savings accounts and are more accessible. Some banks offer even higher rates on Internet money market accounts. You really need to check your banks rates on various types of accounts to see which would be best. Its good to compare banks. There can be a big difference. Money market accounts require a higher balance, but the amount you will need to keep in it will more than meet that.
The good thing about money market accounts is that even though there is a limited number of checks you can write on it in a given time period, it is usually more than enough for most people.
When you plan your budget, you will need to make payments to this account until the balance is sufficient to cover your home and auto annual or bi-annual payments and cover all your deductibles for your home, auto, medical and dental policies. Once this account is fully funded, the interest earned will be able to reduce your monthly budget payments that go to replace that which was used for insurance payments or for emergencies.
With this account in place, you will be able to take the highest deductible allowed thereby reducing your monthly insurance payment. If you pay your auto insurance quarterly or twice a year, you now will be able to make an annual payment, saving on the service charges.
Money market accounts may not earn the kind of return as a mutual fund or other types of investments but it is definitely better than most savings and checking account interest rates. Money market accounts have the advantage of easy access for your infrequent financial needs.
With a little self-discipline, you can give yourself some efficient financial security by enabling your money to work for you in several ways.
US Banks Are In Trouble! Don’t let their mistakes
US Banks Are In Trouble! Don’t let their mistakes affect your financial situation!
Banks serve a tremendous purpose in this world.
They take in individuals deposits and pool them together to lend them to businesses or individuals who need the capital for a business opportunity they have. This business opportunity could be a company that wants to expand or an individual who wants to buy a home.
The more that people save, the more money that is in the banking system and this increased money leads to more loans and more economic growth. This growth is natural and healthy because people’s savings represent capital they could use in the future for more purchases. Thus, when a business borrows more money and invests that capital to be able to manufacture more goods it is a smart decision because people already have more money saved to spend on these goods.
This becomes a healthy circular formula that is summarized as such: “higher savings” leads to “more loans to businesses” which leads to “more business investment” which leads to “great consumer choices” and of course more jobs are created along the way which further fuels the economy forward.
Well, most of us are aware that the rate of US savings was actually negative last year, meaning we spent more than we made. This is down from saving 7.5% of our salaries only 30 years ago. So we see that this current economic boom has not been built upon by people’s savings.
On the other hand, economies also grow when interest rates are set artificially low as they were set in the US. These low rates spurred the real estate bubble to new, incredible prices never before seen in the US and the world. And the amazing thing is that there is no economic justification for these high home prices outside of the herd mentality thinking that prices will keep going up.
Well, we have passed that point and are now seeing decreasing prices and increasing inventories of homes available for sale.
The problem with banks is that they get caught up in the herd mentality as well, increasing the amount of money they lend for people to buy homes. And not only that, they are doing so in a riskier and riskier fashion using adjustable rate mortgages.
Currently, US commercial banks face incredible risks because over 60% of their total earning assets are mortgage-related!!! Let me repeat that, over 60% of US commercial bank’s assets are mortgage related – a postwar record high.
As a result of the above risks faced by banks any problems happening in the real estate market would have strong negative ramifications for the US banking system. As an example, the Japanese banking system was crippled after the boom of the 1980’s when they concentrated much of their capital in real estate. Japan spent the following 14 years in an economic doldrum and is now just beginning to see the light of day.
Now that interest rates are going up, and will continue going up, people who used adjustable mortgages are feeling the pinch of increasing monthly mortgage payments. As a result, foreclosure rates are up 38% over last year and bank’s bottom lines are feeling this pinch.
Billionaire Warren Buffet recently said that he has been studying recent bank balance sheets and is very concerned about the growing number of defaults on their books.
The point is that even though banks aren’t prepared and well diversified it means that you should be even more so! How to prepare yourself is discussed in detail in the recently issued eReport entitled “Recession – How To Survive and Thrive”.