My Personal Finance Journey

Category Archives for Make Money

What Is The ROI Of Student Loans? – Is College Worth It?

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Click here to enter my free $60 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is November 30th, 2012.

The following is a guest post by Jon Haver of PayMyStudentLoans.com. Jon graduated with $22.5k in student loans and now that it has been paid off, wants to show others how student loan forgiveness and consolidation can help keep student debt from controlling your life.

If you are looking at the thousands of college graduates with an average of $26,000 in student loans and wondering if going to college or getting an MBA in Finance makes financial sense, this article hopes to provide some context. I will review my personal experience and whether or not the $22.5k in student loans I took on getting my degree was financially the right decision.

ROI for My Education / Student Loans

With so many variables, it is difficult to talk about the “average” student, so here is a personal example, mine.

Now, this calculation may not receive a passing grade in any finance class, but it is a simple calculation to determine if my college loans were a good investment…

Before I went to college, I “could” have received a full time job in a factory where I worked for $15/hr. Instead, I went to a university, spent everything I made on my $15k/year school, and graduated with $22.5k in student loans 5 years later. When I graduated, I was lucky and received an engineering job that made $30/hr.

In Summary:

  • Pre-Education Earnings = $15/hr
  • 5 years in school and graduated with 22.5k in student loans
  • Post Education Earnings = $30/hr
  • Average Raise = 4%
  • Rate of Inflation = 3%

Assuming regardless of whether I went to school or not, I would earn a 4% raise per year and the rate of inflation would be 3%, here are the results if I could go back in time to the age of 19…

  • Value of my Lifetime Earnings when I was 19 (without my college degree) = $1.5M
  • Value of Lifetime Earnings when I was 19 (with my college degree) = $2.2M

So, for a $22.5k investment in my education, I received a $700k benefit, a 31x return on my investment.

Now, like I said, this calculation is far from perfect, but if you want to play with it, you can watch a video and download it from here – Student Loan ROI Calculator. There’s also a screen shot shown below so you can get a feel for the layout of the calculator.

When Does College Not Make Financial Sense?

So, for me, I am confident that I made the right financial decision to get an education. But, the question then becomes who is the “marginal” student who would be better off financially not going to school.

Excluding the obvious cases, like spending money on tuition and then dropping out (although I am not sure if Bill Gates or any of the other 10 richest dropouts are missing their tuition money).

For a positive ROI on $26k in students loans and 4 years in college, you need to increase your $/hr earnings by $8 over what you would earn without a degree.

This assumes you have an alternative to either make $20/hr or go to college.

If you can make $20/hr now without relying on other sources, then you will need to make $28/hr when you graduate to make your $26k and 4 years in college a good financial investment.

Factors This Simple Calculation Didn’t Consider

Life Experiences

This article looked at this question from a purely financial standpoint. I will leave it to others to determine the non-financial benefits of going to college.

Ability to Handle Job Change

The calculation above assumed you would have 1 job whether you went to college or not, and therefore, may not be appropriate. So, we should add an adjustment factor in for which option would provide you with a better ability to cope with a job change.

Rate of Salary Increases

You will have to ask yourself which job is more likely to get bigger raises each year.

Keeping Up With the Joneses

This factor is interesting. Based on the studies documented in the book, The Millionaire Mind, if you graduate college with a high paying job, you will want to make up for lost time and spend more than your non-college educated self to attain your “picture-perfect-life.”

How Did You Do – Did You Get a Positive ROI on Your Student Loans?

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidg37/8019253411/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Keys to Financial Success

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post sponsored by Ubank. Enjoy! 

Keys to Financial Success


Achieving financial success is not easy. There is no magic formula. Success comes from hard work and good self-management. 

These tips will not make you successful overnight, but they can certainly make it easier in the long run.

Manage your time well.

Time is precious, and time is money; so don’t waste yours. Time management is one of the most important skills one can learn in the business world. Good time management is more than just meeting deadlines; it’s beating them with time left for other tasks.

Time management does not come easily to many of us; it is something that must be learned. Creating to-do lists with important tasks first will help you to tackle each duty one by one. If you have trouble managing your time, consider enrolling in a time management course.

Don’t be afraid to take a risk now and then.

Some of the most successful business people are the ones who take risks, or more specifically, managed risks. Taking managed risks is what can set apart an average person and a successful person.Take time to weigh up the pros and cons of any risky investment. Consider carefully if the rewards are enough to out-weigh the risks.

If the business venture has great risk, set a maximum amount of money you are prepared to lose to make it successful. There’s no point in throwing good money after inherently bad ventures.

Only take part in ventures you believe will be successful

There are many business opportunities out there – some will be successful, and some will not. Make sure to always do your research before investing your time, money, or both into a project.

If you’re investing in stocks, make sure to check out the business and stock price history. If you’re investing in real estate, remember to check out the area, building conditions, as well as area growth. If investing in housing, remember to look for good deals on home loans. Australian readers can check out UBank’s home loan refinancing for more information in this area.

Seek out new business opportunities

No one ever became successful from sitting still, and that sure isn’t going to change any time soon. If you want to be successful, you should seek out new opportunities. There are business opportunities everywhere if you look hard enough. Be creative in your approach to how you handle any new business venture to be unique and effective.

Work hard, stay humble.

Remember to take a little time once in a while to relax. Go on vacations, celebrate your family and friends, and live life. It’s important to be both financially successful and emotionally successful too. Remember that a happy worker is a hard worker. Some of the most successful people of all time work hard but have also remembered to appreciate their family and friends.

How about you all? For you personally, what has been the key to achieving financial successes in your life? What have been the biggest obstacles?

 Share your experiences by commenting below!

    ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07/5856941321/sizes/l/in/photostream/

    Simple But Scary Truth: Money = Time

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    Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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    The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Kelly Gurnett. Kelly runs the blog Cordelia Calls It Quits, where she documents her attempts to rid her life of the things that don’t matter and focus more on the things that do. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

    We’ve all heard the phrase “Time is money.” We know what it means—our time is valuable.  (Usually it’s said by muckity-mucks whose time is truly worth mucho dinero—have you ever seen what a law firm partner’s hourly rate is?).


    But, there’s a flipside to that statement that most of us don’t consider. And, it’s one that can stop you in your spending tracks and make you look at frugality with a whole new appreciation. That flipside is: Money is time.


    Trading Your Time For Stuff


    Let’s say you make $15 an hour. (That’s just an arbitrary number picked after a quick look at some current wage figures on Payscale.com.) That would mean that for every $15 you spend, you will need to spend one hour at work (or more probably, once taxes are taken out) in order to pay for that item or service.


    So, those nice salon haircuts you’ve been getting for $50 a pop? Those cost you 3 1/3 hours of your life or more—time that could have been spent with your family, pursuing a hobby, or even starting your own business. (Maybe the latest salon training academy is starting to look a little more attractive?) If your hair is personally an important investment for you (mine’s so hard to manage that, for me, it justifies a slightly pricier cut to guarantee decent results), then that’s fine. But, if you’re just going to Salon La-Whatever because you’re embarrassed to be seen at Supercuts, maybe you should consider whether that minor shame is worth 3 1/3 hours of time spent at the office.


    Needless to say, when we start looking at bigger items like electronics, cars, and houses, the money-compared-to-time ratios can get downright scary. When you consider that the two-car garage, split-level home you’re longing after will add extra years (and years and years) to your current work sentence, suddenly the modest but cozy ranch looks like a much more attractive alternative.


    Even the smaller purchases we tend to glance right over look more weighty when considered in this light—especially the smaller purchases, actually. Because it’s easy enough to say, “Well, it’s just a few dollars here and there,” than it is to say, “Well, it’s just half an hour / a little overtime / working on the weekend.”


    Giving Up Your Future For Stuff


    It’s bad enough that we’re trading whole portions of our lives for the money to buy things we may not even need. But, when credit is thrown into the mix, suddenly that stuff we’re buying takes on even more significance. Because when something is charged, financed, or mortgaged, suddenly you’re paying not just the face value of the item, but all those months (or years, if you only pay minimum fees) of interest.


    We think of charging as our way of “buying ourselves time” to pay for the things we need (or think we need) but can’t afford at the moment. But, what we’re actually doing is spending even more of our own time.


    Now that flat-screen TV that would have cost 50-60 hours of work costs you 50-60 hours plus interest. Think of how long you’ve been paying down some of your credit card statements—I’m willing to bet that half of the things you’re still paying for you don’t even use anymore. Clothes that are no longer in fashion, electronics that have broken down, fancy dinners that were awesome at the time but over in a couple of hours……Were they really worth years of your life?


    How about you all? When you’re deciding whether or not to purchase something, do you ever consider how much time it will take you to earn that money back at your job? 

    Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/7214596024/sizes/l/in/photostream/

      How Conferencing Can Lower Expenses for Your Business

      The following is a guest post. Enjoy! 

      Businesses of all sizes are struggling to find effective ways to cut costs, even though many of them find that they have no choice but to reduce their spending. Communications are among the biggest overheads that most companies, especially smaller and start-up enterprises have, largely because of expensive phone bills. However, a growing number of businesses are turning to conference calling and seeing how it can save them money. Conference calling has many advantages over other forms of communication besides being cheaper.
       
      Conference calling allows meeting organizers to invite several people at once to a phone or video call and can be arranged in a matter of seconds. It also helps to save time and enable people to work from home rather than spend valuable time traveling to and from the office. Some companies have grown rapidly on the back of providing conference calling services.

      How about you all? With the cost of travel these days, are you using teleconferencing more in your career?

       Share your experiences by commenting below!

      Financials of a College Football Game

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      Click here to enter my free $79.07 giveaway for a chance to win 5% of My Personal Finance Journey blog income and give another 5% to a charity of your choosing! Deadline to enter is September 30th, 2012.

      Living in the town where the main campus of The University of Virginia is situated, about every two weeks each Fall, I get to see first-hand how the city morphs in preparation for a UVA Cavalier’s home football game. The hotels book up, the restaurants fill to the brim, there are more people walking around campus, and the main roads in and out of town become a little more cumbersome to transverse.

      Event though I personally do not attend the majority of the home football games, I actually do enjoy the atmosphere and the excitement that manifests in town for the games (provided that I don’t get stuck in too much of the traffic). It’s pretty fascinating to have so many different types of people interested in the common theme of the college football game for that one weekend. It feels like it’s really a way to bring people together more.

      During a recent home football game, I began to wonder how much money changes hands as a result of a big (Division I) college football game? However, in searching through my head for an answer for this, I really had no concrete idea. As such, the purpose of this post will be to try to find a numerical answer to this football-financials question!

       Before searching around the Internet for existing statistics, I figured I would do a few rough calculations and come up with a few college football game financial stats of my own. These are listed below:

      • Ticket Sales
        • Assume a 70,000 person stadium and an average ticket price of $30.
        • Total ticket sales revenue = $2.1 million per game.
      • Concession Sales
        • Assume each of the 70,000 people in the stadium purchases $3 of concessions.
        • Total concession sales revenue = $210,000 per game.
      • Parking Passes/Donations
        • At both of the colleges I have attended (University of Virginia and University of Arkansas), you had to donate $5,000 or above in order to have the privilege of spending the $500 to purchase a season-long parking pass to do your tailgating for the home college football games.
        • Assume that there are a total of 3,000 of these ‘preferred’ parking spaces on campus for each home game.
        • Total parking pass and donation revenue = 3,000 x ($5,000 + $500) = $16.5 million per year.
      • Hotel Revenue for Local Economy
        • Assume half of 70,000 people in stadium come from out of town to watch game = 35,000 people.
        • Of these 35,000 people, assume half decide to spend the night and get a hotel room either the night before of night after a game = 17,500 people in hotel rooms for game.
        • Assume 2 people per hotel room @ $100 cost per hotel room per night.
        • Total hotel revenue = $100 x 8,750 rooms = $875,000 per game.
      • Restaurant Revenue for Local Economy
        • Assume 35,000 people from out of town eat 3 meals in town for the game at an average of $10 per meal.
        • Total restaurant revenue = 35,000 people x 3 meals x $10 per meal = $1.05 million per game.

      Total Economic Impact Per College Football Home Game = $6.3 million per home game. (This assumes 8 home football games per year.)

      Literature Search – Financials of a College Football Game


       Having generated some rough statistics based on my personal experiences with college football games, I then ventured off to the Internet to find what numbers already existed on this same subject.

      Interestingly, when I did a Google search for “college football game financials,” there was quite a bit of information that popped up about the direct revenue/expenses that arise from college football games as well as the impact on the local economy.

      Listed below is a summary of the findings I uncovered:

      • A University of Arizona study estimated that a home football game brought in $8.3 million in economic impact to the local Tucson economy.  Another Utah study found that home games brought in an economic impact of $5.5 million.
        • Amazingly, this isn’t too far off from the quick calculation I did above! haha
      • ESPN.com maintains a very extensive listing of the total revenue and expenses for college football programs from the years 2008-2011.
        • According to the 2010 stats, Texas has the top ticket sales ($45 million), Michigan State is paid the most to play away games ($4 million), Alabama has the biggest yearly program budget at $123.7 million, and Texas spends the most on coaches pay at almost $18 million per year. (Source)
      • Home games against very small, no-name teams often bring in just as much revenue as playing home games with bigger opponents, but come with much lower expenses, boosting overall profits.
      • If the University of Texas football program were to be valued like a business, it would be worth almost $850 million.
      • SEC conference football games bring in by far the most money, bringing in an average profit of almost $30 million per year.
      • An academic study from Holy Cross University found no statistically significant relationship between a town hosting Division I college football games and a boost in the local economy. In other words, I read this to mean that compared to the normal business throughout the year, any boost that a hotel or restaurant gets during a home football game doesn’t add much in the long run.
      • CBS42 news reported that the state of Alabama experiences a yearly economic impact between $350-$500 million because of the games played by Auburn and the University of Alabama.
      • In 2009, Penn State football brought $90 million in business to the local State College economy.
      • The BCS college championship bowl game brings in about $190 million in business to the local economy.

      How about you all? Which of the stats above do you find most surprising and why? Do you think the level of money spent on college football programs is too much or appropriate? 

      If you live in a college city/town, do the college sports play a significant factor in the local economy?

       Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevendepolo/6224563889/sizes/o/in/photostream/

      Review of Gmail and Other Email Account Scheduling and Streamlining Tools

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      Back in June of 2012, I published an article comparing Google’s Gmail and Calendar features to Microsoft Outlook’s Calendar and email management capability.

      After posting the article, I received a great comment from Robert of The College Investor saying that he really enjoys using Gmail, but wishes that a “Send at a Specific Time/Date” or “Send Later” feature came built in to Gmail as a default when you sign up.

      Having remembered AOL having this feature back in the “stone-age” (a.k.a. the 90’s), I figured that SURELY some individual or company had thought of building an application or add-in to email applications that would provide this functionality.

      In doing some searching around the Interwebs, I did find quite a few different applications that provided added email functionality (complete with Send it Later/Email Scheduling capability) to Gmail and other email providers.

       Listed below is a summary of my findings of the different options available for people looking for email scheduling capability. 

      Gmail Email Scheduling Applications

      In today’s society, Gmail is arguably the most popular web email Internet provider. I know that myself and pretty much every other personal finance blogger around uses Gmail. Heck! Companies have even thrown in the towel in trying to create their own email applications and instead just have their email hosted with Google Apps. Not that I can blame them – Gmail is fast, simple, and free/very cheap!

      Because of Gmail’s prevalence, it’s not surprising to find out that add-ins have been created specifically for Gmail to provide email scheduling and other capability.

      Streak

      From what I could tell, Streak is the only Gmail scheduling add-in that is currently totally free (as of September 2012). Generally, what seems to have happened is that all of these add-ins start off free during Beta testing, but once they gather enough subscribers/users, they start charging a monthly fee. Since Streak is still totally free, it is the Gmail scheduling tool I chose to install on my computer.

      Streak offers a nice email scheduling tool that integrates right in to the “Compose an Email” window in Gmail (see screenshot below). To schedule an email, you simply click the “Send it Later” button and specify the date and time. The only critical remark I have of this scheduling program is that the time/date format is very specific, and you must follow their template suggestions to the letter.

      For example, tomorrow at 8am would work fine for scheduling an email, but if you typed tomorrow, 8am (with a comma), it might not work! Just be careful here with the formatting, and you’ll be fine!

      In addition to email scheduling, Streak also offers a very nice CRM folder system. Personally, I didn’t look in to this very much since I have a custom folder system that I use in Microsoft Outlook, but it might be worth exploring if you desire some more structure in your Gmail inbox.

      Boomerang

      In general, I would say that Boomerang is much more popular and well-established than Streak. However, this popularity also comes at the price of $5-$15 per month if you’d like to have unlimited email scheduling. But, Boomerang does have a free option which currently gives you only 10 message credits per month.

      Nevertheless, Boomerang boasts some very useful email reminder and follow up features in addition to “Send it Later” capability. For example, I email back and forth with many people whom generally require multiple follow up emails to elicit a response. To handle this, I have an automatic reminder set up in my Outlook calendar that pops up once a week to follow up on emails in my “Waiting For” folder.

      However, Boomerang does this automatically for you – directly from your Gmail Inbox. You simply click a button on the email window to specify the time and date that you’d like the email to be sent back to your Inbox so that you can follow up if you have or have not heard back yet.

      Right Inbox

      The next Gmail scheduling add-in that I came across in my search was Right Inbox. From what I could tell, not only is Right Inbox cheaper than Boomerang ($5 per month or $40 per year), but it also has all of the features that Boomerang boasts and then a few others!

      As with Boomerang, you can schedule emails to be sent at a specific time and date and also mark email to be returned to your email inbox for follow up later if someone or no one responds. In addition, you get email tracking functionality, which allows you to be notified if an email is opened and even shows you which links within an email are clicked! This is pretty cool if you ask me! 🙂

      Other Email Account Scheduling Tools

      Microsoft Outlook

      Interestingly enough, Microsoft Outlook features a fairly good email scheduling tool already built in to it! To access this option, simply open up a new email, click the “Options” menu, then “Delay Delivery,” and then select the time and date that you want Outlook to wait to send the message until. Please see the screenshot below for an example of how to do this. This link also gives a nice description of this process as well. 
      Side note: You can easily integrate your normal Gmail email account in to the Outlook program. I did this about 2 years ago, and it has VERY much streamlined and organized my life! 
      The only thing I don’t like about Outlook’s built-in email scheduling tool is that your computer has to be ON/working and Outlook placed in the “online” state in order for your messages to actually be sent at the time you specified. 
      In other words, unlike Gmail scheduling which runs all of the time on Google’s remote servers, your scheduled emails in Outlook are stored on your local computer only until the “send” is completed. This means that your email won’t be sent if your computer falls asleep, you shut down your computer for the night, or you simply work on Outlook in the “offline” state like I do all of the time in order to minimize distractions from incoming emails. 

      In addition to this existing Outlook scheduling capability, Boomerang also has come up with an Outlook integration version of their email reminder tool. The cost of this is a one time fee of $30, but there is a 30 day free trial available!

      AOL

      Good ole’ AOL uh?! It seems like it has been around forever – because of course, it has! Right under our noses, AOL has featured a “Send it Later” feature for MANY years!

      To access/use this feature (completely free mind you), simply create a free AOL.com account, and then download the latest free AOL desktop software. Once you sign in (remember the sound of the old dial-up modems when we signed in in the late 90’s?), click the “Write Mail” button and then find the “Send Later” button on the “Compose Message” screen that pops up (see screenshot below).

      After clicking the “Send Later” button, you then click the “Auto AOL” button in order to decide when things are sent and received.

      How about you all? What provider/program do you use for email? Are you pretty satisfied with the system that it offers? If there was one thing you would change about it, what would it be?

      Share your experiences by commenting below!

      The Job Insecurity Principle: Are You Less Likely to Take Sick Leave?

       

      The following is a guest post. Enjoy!
      The Job Insecurity Principle: Are You Less Likely to Take Sick Leave?
      According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the UK, fewer people in the are taking time off work due to sickness. Could the reason for this be that workers are now more concerned about losing their jobs than they were ten or twenty years ago?

      Statistics

      In 1993, the average worker in the UK missed 7.2 days from work every year as a result of injury or illness. In 2011, at a time of great economic uncertainty, the average British worker missed just 4.5 days. Assuming employees have not become more resilient to health problems in recent years, the most obvious explanation for the improvement or reduction is that people are more insecure about their jobs than they were during periods of relative prosperity.
      In total, employers in the UK lost 131 million work days last year, compared with around 137 million work days in 2010, which happened to be a World Cup year. As absences from work have fallen steadily in recent years, the value placed on employment has risen sharply. Nobody wants to become unemployed in a flagging economy, so people are doing everything they can to ensure that they keep their jobs. This is no truer than in London, where only 1.3 percent of total working hours are lost each year.

      Good or Bad?

      A distinction should be made between genuine sickness or injury and conditions that have been made up or exaggerated by workers, but clearly, providing accurate figures on such a comparison would be difficult if not impossible.
      If workers are genuinely sick or injured, they must decide whether their being at work is sensible or not. A nasty flu or cold virus could cause havoc in an office, so few employers are likely to be pleased with members of staff who turn up for work and proceed to sneeze, cough, and spit on work surfaces. It is also inadvisable for workers to attempt to operate dangerous machinery with, say, a broken arm. Sometimes, people need to stay at home.
      Employers are, however, often impressed by behaviour that may be described as committed or dedicated; knowing that workers are prepared to ‘go the extra mile’ or ‘give 110 percent’ can be enough to make many managers squeal with smug satisfaction. Missing an important meeting or failing to show up for work on Monday because of a ‘migraine’ might not go down too well with some employers, especially if there is an obvious reason why the employee might be absent (e.g., England happens to be playing Argentina in the World Cup Final).
      There are growing concerns that workers who fear redundancy do all they can to avoid missing work due to illness or injury. Ultimately, this cannot be good for the British economy. If people work through ill health, they are less likely to attain job satisfaction. They might also become more stressed – and possibly even more ill – by deciding to venture into work when really they ought to be at home. A workforce that is desperate to impress might also be desperately unhealthy and that is no good for anyone, least of all the economy.

      How about you all? In your experience, do you feel people are taking fewer days off of work now because they are uncertain of their job? 


      Or, do they simply feel that taking a day off sick will put them behind even more in this fast-moving working environment?


      Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/taylormariephotography/3513364333/lightbox/

      How to Grow a Business in Tough Times

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      The following is a guest post on behalf of Mitchell Charlesworth. Enjoy! 

      How to Grow a Business in Tough Times

       

      Times are difficult at the moment, and many businesses are feeling the pinch. But while some businesses flounder, others are flourishing, despite the tough economic conditions.

       

      What makes some companies so resilient, and what helps them grow during tough times? There are five factors successful businesses possess that allow them to escape the all-too-common effects of recession. Organizations that are experimental, useful, purposeful, boundary-free, and possess value-creative traits tend to soar even during difficult times.

       

      Value-Creativity

       

      Companies such as Amazon have encouraged value-creativity in their business models. Amazon was once simply an online bookseller, but today, the organization has used value-creativity to spread into a range of different market sectors, from toys and clothing to publishing services. The practice also prompted the online retail giant to acquire businesses such as IMDb and Adebooks. Then of course, there’s the Kindle, which sparked a whole new way to read. By diversifying and finding new ways to create value and revenue, Amazon has created a healthy, strong and growing enterprise.

       

      Experimental

       

      Businesses that sit on their laurels will never grow and will probably find it very difficult to survive the recession. This is especially true of those companies in the technology or online sectors as they move so quickly.

       

      By experimenting, businesses are able to find out what works for them, to explore new avenues for growth, and further their reach into different sectors. It enables businesses to grow with their competition and even stay ahead of the curve. An organization should never be afraid to experiment.

       

      Useful

       

      There is no point in experimenting unless what you are offering will be used by somebody. Another Internet business, eBay, remains strong despite the recession due to its usefulness. eBay is great for buyers, especially at a time when bargain hunting is on the increase. It is also an incredibly simple platform to sell on, which makes it the ideal solution for making a little extra cash without standing in the rain at a car boot or yard sale.

       

      Businesses can also further their usefulness using smart phone applications to make life easier for customers. If you’re looking in to making an app for your brand, make sure it is actually helpful in some way before parting with your cash.

       

      Boundary-Free

       

      A business without boundaries also has room to grow. Free yourself from physical boundaries on the Internet. Websites and social media pages can help you traverse the geographical boundaries and get seen by more people.

       

      Alternatively, if you’ve pigeon-holed yourself as a provider for commercial clients, think about who else might benefit from your service. This doesn’t just apply to big brands either; for example, you might be a local accountant in Liverpool who has come to know and trust. So, consider opening up your services to a wider area online. Extra business means extra revenue, which keeps your business growing.

       

      Purposeful

       

      Above all else, a business needs to be purposeful. Set your goals at the beginning of the year, quarter, or week and stick to them. This is how you can gauge the successful growth of your business.

       

      How about you all? What traits do you feel that businesses possess which succeed in hard economic times?


      Share your experiences by commenting below!

      ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/rmgimages/4882451468/sizes/m/in/photostream/

      Business Law 101 for New Start-ups

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      Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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      The following is a guest post by Jeremy. Enjoy! 

      Business Law 101 for New Start-ups

      Most new business owners are excited to launch their own start-ups. With so much information on the Internet for entrepreneurs, it can be hard to know what steps you should take when starting a new business.

      Legal Business Structure

      Keep in mind that understanding business law will be absolutely essential to your success. Depending on the type of business you are starting, you may wish to contact a lawyer to assist you with paperwork or state and federal filings. The United States Small Business Administration provides a wealth of resources for new business owners. Take time to familiarize yourself with the agency’s website.

      Many new business owners hire a lawyer or contract with an experienced entrepreneur to gain guidance. While this is a great option, you may be eager to do as much as you can on your own. A variety of easy-to-use legal documents are available for small business owners. One of the first things that you should consider when launching your enterprise is what type of business you will be. Will you run a sole proprietorship? Are you going to have a partner, or do you prefer to adopt a corporate structure? Whatever structure you end up choosing, you will need to file papers in your state so that your business can operate.

      Considerations for Partnerships

      If you are starting a partnership, you’ll want to be sure that you have a solid contract between partners. This should detail what will happen if there are any substantial changes in the business. Clarify how profits will be shared and what duties each partner is responsible for. While you probably have a great relationship with your business partner, it’s important to be prepared for the future. Be sure that you have a clear plan outlined for how profits will be divided should you decide to take your company public.

      Employment Laws

      Every new business owner should also take time to familiarize himself or herself with employment laws and regulations. If you plan on having employees, you will need to follow both state and federal laws. If you fail to comply with such laws, you can face heavy legal fines and may lose your business license. Attending an employment law seminar is a great way to familiarize yourself with the applicable laws in your state.

      Tax Laws

      You should also be sure to understand the tax laws that are applicable to your type of business. While you can find plenty of information on the Internal Revenue Service website, you may wish to speak with an experienced business accountant. Keeping your business records in good order is essential. Familiarize yourself with record keeping guidelines and laws. Remember that every business has different legal needs. Time spent investigating particular legal concerns in your industry will be time well-spent.

      How about you all? What type of business structure do you have in place for your business – sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, S-corp., or an LLC? Why did you chose the format that you did? Would you do it differently if you could go back in time and start all over?

      Do you hire a lawyer and/or accountant to help you with the tax and other legal issues surrounding your business, or do you handle everything yourself? Why?


      Share your experiences by commenting below!

        ***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkn/3314689121/sizes/l/in/photostream/

        Google Gmail and Calendar vs. Microsoft Outlook – Which Is Better For Productivity?

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        Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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        It’s pretty amazing to me to think about how much the world’s usage of technology and telecommunication has changed in such a short time since the year 2000. When I graduated high school in 2004, almost nothing related to school was accessed online. The teachers didn’t communicate with students via email, BlackBoard, Collab,  or other online document/course management systems. In fact, I think the only reason I ever used a computer back then was either a) to chat with my friends using AOL Instant Messenger or b) type up reports whenever it was absolutely required! In fact, AOL seemed like it was one of the only popular Internet and email providers.

        Now, it’s hard to find people with an AOL email address (I still have one, but all that it receives is about 20 messages of SPAM per day). Furthermore, the AOL service is now free, instead of paying $30 per month like we used to.

        My my how times have changed. When I graduated from college in 2008 from the University of Arkansas, I had four email accounts – 1 from college, a Gmail account, a Yahoo account, and my old AOL account. The professors communicated everything via email and online course management systems – from class notes to exam grades and coordinating meetings. I even had started and run an eBay selling business! However, at this time, I still was only checking my email maybe once or twice a day. Why? Because I didn’t seem to receive that many emails.

        After college in 2008, I started my first job as an engineer with a large publicly traded pharmaceutical company. It was then that the use of email become very widespread for me, with me having the temptation to constantly check it during the day. In fact, I found myself at times purposely ONLY checking it 2 times during a day in order to maximize productivity (see Getting Things Done by David Allen and The Hamster Revolution for more details on this)

        During this time, my eyes were opened to (a new tool for me at least) the Microsoft Outlook email/calendar/task management software. At the company I worked for, nearly everything was managed through Outlook: there was a handy dandy directory in Outlook that told you everyone’s contact info as well as their physical work addresses and supervisors, it was used to reserve rooms for meetings, and was used to manage email.

        Since my exposure to Microsoft Outlook 4 years ago now, I have been able to compare Google’s Gmail and Calendar features to Microsoft Outlook head-to-head. As such, the purpose of today’s post is to share some of my thoughts about these two products so that you can determine whether Gmail or Outlook is better for you. 

        Comparison of Calendar Capability – Google vs. Outlook

        In my opinion, Google’s calendar and Outlook’s calendar are fairly similar – probably because Google modeled their calendar after the features that were tried and testing in Outlook. Below is a summary of the similarities and differences:

        Similarities

        • Both allow you to create and schedule events (either one time or recurring), invite attendees, and program reminders as pop-ups on your screen. 
        • Both allow you to share calendars with others. 
        • Both allow you to view your calendar in multiple formats – daily, weekly, etc. 
        Differences
        • Google calendar allows you to program email reminders. Also, you can program reminders beyond the maximum 2 weeks allowed in Outlook. 
        • Google calendar also features a “search” capability, making you able to search all of your events.
        • Outlooks allows you to work “offline” more easily than Google does, in my opinion. However, Google does have offline browser apps for Gmail and Calendar now. 
        • Outlook allows you to drag and drop EMAILS directly from your mail to your calendar. This is very handy for me since it is easy to see what the email chain contained when an event pops up on my calendar. 
        • Next, Outlook’s Calendar content is stored on your computer, not online like Google is. This can be either a plus or minus, depending on how you look at it. 


        Verdict – In my opinion, both Google and Outlook’s calendars are good, so I recommend using both. 
        However, because I really like the Outlook drag and drop feature, I choose to mainly operate, add, and manage events through Outlook. But, you can easily take advantage of the features of Google’s Calendar by simply using the handy Sync function developed by Google to automatically copy all events between the two programs. 

        Comparison of Email Capability – Google vs. Outlook

        Overall, I think most would agree that Gmail and Outlook have a very different ‘feel’ when it comes to how each program handles email. On one hand, Gmail is very rapid, and allows for you to shoot off many emails within a minute, while Outlook requires a few more clicks with multiple reply screens needing to pop up, and then you have to click the Send/Receive button to send the email right away. Listed below are some of the similarities and differences between the two programs:

        Similarities

        • Of course, both enable the user to send and receive emails, mark the emails as read or unread, and create folders in which to place emails. 
        • Both seem to have good SPAM/Phishing controls, which prevents the automatic downloading of external new content that could potentially harm your computer. 
        • Both allow email notifications on your desktop, if you desire. However, I personally don’t recommend this because it can distract you from the current task you are working on in favor of checking your email. 
        • Both allow you to have a signature below every email you write. However, there are some differences here. See the Outlook section below.
        • Both have Out of Office Notification capability. 
        • Both allow you to send mail using other email addresses that you own/control.
        • Both are ‘searchable,’ meaning that you can search folders for specific words or email addresses. However, as you can imagine, Google is a little better/quicker at this search feature than Outlook I think.  

        Differences – Email Features Provided by Gmail

        • Has the Gchat feature, which is good for people wanting to communicate quickly with other people online. Webcam conferencing is also possible with Gmail, as well as calling people on the phone. 
        • Has the “Conversation View” feature, which appends conversations of the same topic within the same window. 
          • Personally, I hate this feature. I am never able to find WHERE in the window the newest email letter is, unless I search for it for about 3 minutes. 
          • The other option to this is to turn off the Conversation View, which is not any better because it doesn’t place old emails in the same chain within the same window, making you unable to view the progression. 
        • Gmail has an auto-forwarding feature, which allows you to automatically have any new messages sent to your account to another account. This is great for enabling you to maintain multiple email accounts, but only having to actually log in to one every day. 
        • With Gmail, all emails are backed up online, away from your local computer. This is a good thing for safety. You also have 10 GB of free storage space, in addition to your Google Document/Drive folder. 

        Differences – Email Features Provided by Outlook

        • Unlike Gmail, when you click “reply” on Outlook, it simply copies the text from your current email chain below the new message you are writing. There are no tricks to finding out what order the emails were sent. 
        • Signatures. 
          • Simply put – I love the signatures feature in Outlook. Not only do I have my contact information in my signature, but I also have about 15 common email responses pre-typed in these email signatures that save me loads of time/pain each week. 
          • Gmail does have a somewhat new “Canned Responses” feature that is similar to this in Outlook. However, when I tried it, the canned responses had to be entire previous emails, not just a specific copy/pasted text like in Outlook. I think that Google will eventually improve this, but for now, I found Outlook to be better for this purpose. 
        • Folders.
          • The folder capability in Outlook is extremely flexible and truly maximizes my organization abilities. 
          • First, you can create as many folders as you want, and unlike Gmail (where they are “hidden” and you have to click ‘view more’ through in indiscernably organized list), the folders are very easy to view on the sidebar of the screen. You can view an example of the folders I have set up in the picture below:
           
          • In addition, in each Outlook folder, you can either specify that you’d like to display the total number of items or the total number of unread items. This ‘total number of items’ display feature is especially useful for actionable folders (like the ones with the @ sign shown above) because even though I have already read all of these emails, they still need a response/follow up, so I don’t want to lose sight of them. 
          • Lastly, with Outlook folders, you can drag and drop emails from your inbox in to the proper folders. With Gmail, you have to click a drop down menu and select the destination folder from a somewhat long list. This takes up more time than is necessary in my opinion. 
        • Outlook can connect and download email from web-based email services, such as Gmail and Yahoo, using POP and/or IMAP protocols. 
        • Control How Often You Send/receive Email and Go Offline.
          • Another thing I like about Outlook is that you can specify how often (if ever) that your emails are automatically downloaded. This can be as much as every 30 seconds to every 30 minutes, or never, if you set Outlook as offline. 
          • For me, I only like to read my email several times throughout the day so that I don’t get distracted from being strategic about the order that I tackle things to do. 
          • So, what I do is set Outlook to stay “offline” and just manually send/receive my email when I am ready by pressing the F9 button.  
        • Change Arrangement of Screen Elements.
          • With Outlook, it is very easy to change the orientation of the email reading pane and folders. 
          • For example, I like to have my reading pane on the right side of the screen. However, you can also have it on the left or on the top. 
        • Mark Comments in An Email.
          • Another cool feature of Outlook is that it allows you to (if you desire) automatically mark comments in a previous email in a different color text. This is particularly useful if you are reviewing someone’s proposal or responding to a list of questions posed in a previous email.  

        Verdict – In my opinion, for maximizing productivity for folks that receive 50-200 emails per day (not uncommon in today’s working world), Microsoft Outlook is head and shoulders above Gmail because of the customization options available. In particular, the capability that Outlook provides with folders, signatures, and logically appending past email text is much better for people that are short on time.


        On the other hand, Google’s Gmail is slightly ‘quicker’ at sending individual emails, and as such, is well suited for people that receive only a couple emails every day and do not need all of the hierarchy of organization with folders, etc. 


        In fact, in order to have the benefits of both Gmail and Outlook (email and calendar), I would actually recommend doing what I do and have a Gmail email account/address, but operating all of your email and calendar activities on a day-to-day basis through Outlook. This is very easy to set up using the POP/IMAP downloading and Calendar Sync features discussed in the previous sections. By doing this, you can have the Gchat, auto-forwarding, and online backup of all emails (even ones sent through Outlook) while keeping the organization of Outlook.

        How about you all? Do you use Gmail (or another online email provider) or Outlook to manage your email and calendar on a day-to-day basis? Which do you think is better and why? 


        Share your experiences by commenting below!

          ***Photo courtesy of http://www.public-domain-image.com/cache/objects-public-domain-images-pictures/electronics-devices-public-domain-images-pictures/computer-components-pictures/black-computer-keyboard_w725_h483.jpg

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