Today's Feature Article

New Year Resolutions to a Better Financial Future
by Nowshade Kabir

There could not be a better time to mull over the changes needed in our life style than at the beginning of a New Year. This is also a good time to set yearly goals and make resolutions. Each year, according to statistics, almost a third of us make some kinds of New Year Resolutions. Interestingly, although financial future is our main cause of anxiety, our personal finance, according to surveys, gets only to the fifth place in the list of most common New Year resolutions.

For those of us who are still in the process of making New Year resolutions, my suggestion is to give high priority to financial aspects. Here are some resolution ideas that may change your financial future over the course of time.

Saving

Lets make one thing clear! What ever amount of money you make it’s probably never enough! The way our consumer psychology works is our demand increases along with our income. This makes saving really a problematic task! Some people do have inborn ability to save willingly, but most have to force themselves. If you are one of these people, who find saving a difficult thing, you should consider the methods described below.

You might argue that your income is not enough to make any kind of savings. Believe me, once you try putting away 10 percent of your earnings, you will see that this really does not have any serious impact on your budget. So your first resolution is to save ten percent of all your incomes month after month. There is hardly any point to save if you don’t put your money to work for yourself! So, once you resolved to save, you need to invest your money wisely. Credit cards and other consumer loans.

According to New York Times through out the last decade use of credit cards has increased dramatically. The number of the people having credit cards raised about 75 percent from 82 million in 1990 to 144 million in 2003. However, the debt burden that they carry had grown 350 percent from US$ 338 billion to an astounding US$1.5 trillion. In 2003, according to the same report, average household carried a debt of US$ 7,520 in comparison to US$2,550 in 1990.

This means that credit card loans are becoming serious problems for average Joe. That’s why the first step of your investment strategy should be to get rid of your consumer debts- especially your credit card loans. Most credit cards have horrendously expensive interest rates – normally, 18 percent and over. If you are one of those people, who pay only minimum payment amount each month to their credit cards’ debt, you are making a great mistake.

Check out the calculator at
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/calc/MinPayment.asp

to see how much you are loosing by not eliminating your credit card debt burden.

If you are looking for financially sound future, take a hard look at your credit cards and resolve to do the followings:

Same goes for your other consumer loans like student, car, etc.

Mortgage

The second step of your investment strategy should be to evaluate your mortgage payments. There are several very simple ways of reducing your payment time dramatically. Used scrupulously these methods can lower a 30-year mortgage to 10-15 years.

The mortgage calculator located at Mortgage/Loans Calculators will help you to see your progress.

Keep track of your expenses

If you don’t do it yet, resolve yourself to keep an expense ledger of all spending. Just the mere act of jotting down all your expenditure will reduce your expenses up to 20 percent. The reason is when you start keeping track of the money you spend, you become more careful and discerning in your buying decisions, which in turn help you cutting back and saving hard earned money.

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Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com. A Ph. D. in Information Technology, he has wide experience in Business Consulting, International Trade and Web Marketing. Rusbiz is a Global B2B Emarketplace with solutions to start and run online business. You can contact him at
nowshade@rusbiz.com
http://rusbiz.com/archivenews.html?nl_oid=42

Today's Motivational Reading

OVERCOME OVERWHELM:
10 Ways to Slow Down and Win
Laurie Weiss, Ph.D.

Especially when you are your own boss.

It's easy to break agreements. It is especially easy to blow off agreements when you feel overwhelmed and overworked.

After all:

You have way more work to do than time to do it in.

You keep putting off important tasks in order to put out fires.

You don't have the information you need to complete the task at hand.

You have a large stack of business cards you collected while networking.

You have no idea how to prioritize the multiple tasks you face every day.

One form of self-discipline to solve this common dilemma is to commit to ONLY MAKE AGREEMENTS THAT YOU ARE WILLING AND INTEND TO KEEP!

Just doing this can keep you out of lots of trouble.

When you think through your agreements BEFORE you make them, it becomes much easier to stay on target, follow through and achieve success.

********************************
Laurie Weiss, Ph.D., author of "Dare To Say It!," is an internationally known executive coach, psychotherapist, and author. For more simple secrets for turning difficult conversations into amazing opportunities for cooperation and success, visit
http://www.DareToSayIt.com or email: feedback@laurieweiss.com

Today's Subscriber Article

How to Find a Legal Eagle
Trevor Hartfield

Lawyer... just the word conjures up an image of someone in a stiff suit arguing a case before a judge and jury. Books and television have promoted various images of lawyers. Many of us don't trust them. It seems like they know too much or that they manipulate facts in order to win. But is that true? Really?

Most lawyers are just regular people working at their jobs, trying to help folks like you and me through various challenging legal situations. We pay them for their expertise at the fine points of law most of us don't have time or inclination to learn for ourselves, especially since it's often a one-time need.

We want to hire a lawyer who has already spent years studying and practicing in the area we need help with. What we need to know is how to find a good lawyer we can trust. The best source of information is friends and family who have used a lawyer. Referrals are often the best source of information because they come from people we already trust. They will have had experiences they can tell you about to help you decide. But we don't always know anyone who has had our specific need. What if you need someone to negotiate contracts for you in Germany?

Lawyer referral services are another option. You can do a web search and find quite a few of them. In a quick search, I found www.legalmatch.com and www.lawyer.com. When you do your own search, type in your state and a word or two about the type of legal issue you have so you'll find lawyers nearby who know the rules of your local city, county or state government that apply to your situation. This will give you more specific help and advice.

Lawyers usually have a specialty. You can find lawyers who specialize in business law and lawyers who specialize in personal law. Personal lawyers handle things like wills, personal injury, real estate purchases, traffic citations, bankruptcy, child custody and divorce. Usually a lawyer is required in most of these situations, especially if there are differences of opinions and needs between the parties involved.

Business law would include things like employment contracts, copyrights, mergers, incorporation and taxes. Yes, there is frequently some overlap in these specialties. Real estate includes purchases by both individuals and businesses. Both could declare bankruptcy. Spend a little time finding lawyers in your area who have the experience you need for your situation.

Take the time to choose a lawyer carefully, the way you would with any type of professional. It's best to have at least one introductory meeting in person to get to know him or her a little to see if this is a person you can work with or not. You might have to pay for this first visit, or maybe you can talk to the lawyer on the phone without charge for at least a few minutes. Face-to-face meetings will always give you more information. You'll get a better picture of the lawyer and how you interact.

As you know, personalities are a very big factor in how well you'll be able to work with someone. So, do your best and talk to at least three different lawyers. Make a comparison of their fees and how it felt to speak with them before you make your decision. No one can guarantee how two people will work together, but if you spend a little time getting referrals, speaking to the lawyers and asking questions about their experience with your type of case and their fees, you'll probably find a good lawyer you can trust.

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Trevor Hartfield is a law student and paraprofessional. You can read more articles on the subject of lawyers at http://www.fyilawyer.com

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