Sunday, March 29, 2009

Financial Arrogance at its Peak

Arrogance is simply ego plus ignorance. How many people do you know that hide what they don't know in a false sense of confidence? These are the people who are so self reliant you'll often hear them say, "I could do that better myself" or "I can't trust anyone else to do this". However, making money, investing, or starting a business all take a certain amount of team work. If you try to do everything yourself you are headed straight to failure or "burnout", whichever comes first. Hear are some tips to keep your financial arrogance in check.


· Know the Basics - It's a good thing to know the basics of accounting, finance and legal issues. It makes you a better client, employee or leader. However, there are reasons that people go to school to get degrees in these subjects. Even with a degree, staying on top of tax issues and legal changes can be daunting. There is no need to fill your mind with details that you can pay someone else to take care of.


· Learn to Delegate - This is by far one of the most desirable traits there is; major companies pay big money for people that can delegate effectively. If you can afford it, always delegate a task.

· Continue to Learn - So much of finance is momentum. Don't ever stop learning, there is always more to know. When you make your first billion then you can feel comfortable; until then keep reading.


Warning: There is a also a good side to arrogance. Your ego is the decision-maker in your financial life. Sometimes we weigh ourselves down with so much data, analysis and opinions that we become too scared to make a decision. When faced with this scenario, you need some arrogance. Always make a decision and be slow to change your mind.

This is a Guest Post from Rick Vaughn at The Truth of Credit. Rick's blog is dedicated to personal finance and educating the Least “Sophisticated” Consumer on credit issues.

Friday, March 27, 2009

India Shining with TATA Nano

I am sure all of us are already aware of this term "NANO", which is in news for the past couple of years. With four people sitting comfortably this 3 meters long car will be seen on the roads of India from April, 2009. The tag line for the same "the people's car" is the best suited as this car has been designed for the common man, said Chairman of Tata Group, Mr. Ratan Tata. The promise was made to the people on January, 10th that the world's smallest car will be unveiled at Rs. 1 Lakh ONLY same price of a DVD player in Lexus.

A brief History in the Making of Tata Nano

"It happened by chance" said Ratan Tata in an interview with Financial Times in Geneva. He was asked by one of the reporters that what is his future out comings. Then he replied that we are about to launch a small budget car very soon. The reporter questioned back, that would be the cost of that car? Ratan Tata smiled and answered, "Rs 1 Lakh". Next day in Financial Times it was the headline. It was just an assumption that Ratan Tata made and the media thought he was serious.

Ratan Tata thought that now since whole world knows about this, why not we give it a try. He came back to his office, called an urgent meeting, discussed the plan, and the goal was achieved. He also said to the media that



" Whenever we are entering into some new venture there is a risk, when we launched Tata Indica, there was a risk too but we conquered the market. Once again it is the time to conquer."


Expectations from Tata Nano

People in India are spending too much buying inexpensive bikes, so Tata Nano will definitely appeal to the low income group families since it is a very cheap car and has got four seats. The main aim is to provide full comfort to the rural India. The car is affordable to them and suits all weather transports.


Comprising of 33 bhp two cylinder petrol engine, weighs around half a tonne. The normal version of Tata Nano will be deprived of few features such as air bags, automatic locking, seat belts, power steering, radio and air conditions. Excellent leg space and head rooms makes this car more efficient.


A team of 500 people have worked on creating the NANO. With this it is very clear that India can actually compete on the world Auto Market as an innovative car makers. The car will be sold in India for 2 to 3 years and later will be launched the European as well as American Version.

Need a quick Auto Loan?? Apply here today!!!


Wednesday, March 25, 2009

How To Quickly Have More Money & Improve Your Lifestyle

If you try to ask people how they want to have more money in their pocket, I would expect most of the answer will be by increasing income: maybe you will hear "get better job", "get second job", "make my wife to work" or even "win a lottery". Why? Because inside their mind, people would think like this "If only I have more money or more income, my financial situation will be better off". Well, not necessarily.


It is The Difference That Matter

To improve your lifestyle, you will need more money that can be spent (called 'disposable income'). And where you can get this "disposable income"? It's from the difference between your income and your expenses. For example: if you earn $2000 per month, and say the total of all your expenses (bill, rent, groceries, transport, phone, electricity, gas, etc) is $1800, then you will have $200 of this "disposable income" which you can use to finance your lifestyle.

So, yes, increasing your income can certainly improve your lifestyle (at least temporarily), but the most important one is controlling your expenses. Do you still remember the last time you have a pay rise? After a while, where the money went? Also how many times we heard or read the story that people who win the lottery, after several years most of them actually just go back to where they were, or some even in the worse condition ? Or the other way around, do you have a friend , a neighbor or a family that you know exactly doesn't have that much income, but seems to be able to enjoy the good stuffs, maybe regular holidays, dine out more frequently, etc.


All of that is a proof that having a good amount of disposable income to put more money to your pocket, that can be used to improve your lifestyle, is not fully depended to high income.

Have More Money For Your Lifestyle

So, here is a quick and proven way to have more money from your current income (no need to wait for pay increase). You generally see the result on or after 2 months (Sorry, not as quick as you probably expect, but you will get significant improvement). Here are the steps:

  1. Step One: You MUST have a monthly budget. To control your expenses (hence create more disposable income) you need to know exactly where you spend the money. Making a budget does not require too much complexity. A pen, a piece of paper and 15 minutes: that's all you need. Click here for more detail instruction.


  1. Step Two: Set Your Disposable Income Goal. With budget in hand you now know the theoretical maximum of your disposable income. If this number does not satisfy you. Set additional money you want as a goal. Where you got the money? By slashing any expense on your list that can be reduced or slashed.

  2. Step Three: Execute your budget and analyze the result. Spend the money as what you write on your budget with one exception: (just for the first month) hold off any lifestyle spending. The reason is, at the end of the month (more importantly the first month), we want to know exactly with actual real money in hand whether you have the amount of disposable income you set in step 2 o not. If not, you need to know why. Maybe some expenses is not accurately calculated, or maybe something unexpected came up, etc. So, after the analysis, now not only you have real cash for your lifestyle spending next month, but also you know exactly why you fail or success following the budget.


  1. Step Four: Keep doing Step Three above : Obey your budget!. Remember, the lifestyle spending for this month (dine out, movie, special week end, cigarette, new TV, etc) comes from the money from the previous month. (That's why only for the first month you need to sacrifice your lifestyle spending). Update the budget every time you have pay increase or some significant change in your financial life.

If you did all 4 steps above, I can guarantee you, that generally after two months, not only you will have more money on your pocket for your lifestyle spending (maybe not that much, but you will see additional money), but more importantly you are now have powerful habit of saving and controlling your expenses with budget like never before. You will feel that you have more control in your life, especially on money matter, and when that income increase comes, you are fully prepare and ready to take your financial situation to the next level. Of course, the better one !
Have a good day !

p.s: don't forget to let me know what you think on comment area below. Or if you have some question, just shoot.


Denis Kristanda
The author is an engineer, investor and director of investment company in Sydney. He is also blogging about financial matter on http://financebyme.com.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Tips to Cut Costs in Refinancing

If you are thinking of refinancing your mortgage, you should get in touch with a good mortgage broker or find a local loan officer to get you a new deal for yourself. Go to this worldwide mortgage directory to find one in your area. Before you try and get a profitable deal, read the tips below to help you save money using these cost-cutting strategies:

1.) If you don’t already notice it, a big portion of your monthly mortgage payment goes towards the interest. People who refinance usually do so because they found offers with attractive low interest rate. But you should also know that you can save even more money if you shorten the payback term. However, shorter payback term usually means bigger monthly installments. To make sure you get the best deal, compare refinance rates from several mortgage lenders before making any decisions.

2.) Mortgage lenders usually charge a higher interest to borrowers with bad credit report. So before you even try to apply for a refinancing, do everything you can to fix your credit. Closing your open credit cards is one option. If you choose to do so, make sure that your new credit report states that your accounts were closed because of your own request and not because of your credit history.

3.) Paying “points” can also lower the interest rate significantly. In the long run, doing this will save you thousands of dollars. But if you are planning to move only in a few years, do not opt for this kind of strategy.

4.) Another way to save money on refinancing is to stay clear from Private Mortgage Insurance. Insurance policies such as these will cost you hundreds of dollars every year. It saves more money by paying more initially in down payment and/ or borrowing less than 80% of your home’s value.

5) Analyze the fees that your mortgage lender is asking you to pay. Refer to the list of standard fees issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Thus, using a few simple tactics, you can ignite a lot of money for yourself over a long term. If you follow the above strategies sincerely, let me assure you that you will be able to save enough to free yourself from all debts and also have your own house in future.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bill Gates back as a World's Richest Man

With utmost regret we have to say that Warren Buffet is no longer the world's richest person. Different economic structures is affecting each and everyone, even to those who we considered to be a millionaire. A very interesting example is in front of us that is of Warren Buffet. As soon as Forbes released its list of world's richest billionaire, it was in fact shocking to see that Buffet's crown has been succeeded to the Microsoft Owner.

Bill Gates, World's Richest Business Tycoon


If we check the records of last year data from US Magazine Forbes, it showed that Bill Gates was at number 3 whereas Warren Buffet standing at number one position followed by Mexican Carlos Slim Helu. There is no doubt that all of them have lost huge lump sum of money, but Bill Gates was quite lucky to leave his rivals behind and take the number one position.

The legendary investor in one of his interview commented that,"this market structure is unpredictable, today Bill is at number one, maybe tomorrow I will again regain his position." Hats off to his confidence in this economic turmoil. Owner of US $40, Bill Gates, has got no hard feelings against his best friend Warren Buffet, and why would he have. In 2009 there are around 790 billionaires which was 1120 in the year 2008, that is, almost a downfall of 30%. All the billionaires had a total amount of US $ 4.4 trillion in their pockets, which is now fallen to US $ 2.4 trillion.

Warren Buffet, No Longer World's Richest Business Tycoon

It is for the first time in 8 years that the list of billionaires in the world has gone down. The total amount lost by the top 3 billionaires in this economic wasteland was US $ 64 billion.

My Concern, What I feel

In this frozen economy where it is difficult to find good jobs, it is hard to predict future but if these billionaires are losing such a huge amount of money which means they will invest less in business and that will result in lesser jobs in the market. Bottom line is that due to this turmoil they all would like to regain their position back in the market, which is only possible if they start looking for some good and new ventures.
If they will start looking for new ventures, definitely they would require good people to work with them which indeed will increase the employment opportunities once again.

Do not miss to watch this exciting video on
how Bill Gates wants to change the world?



Friday, March 13, 2009

Is GOOGLE ready for the Bad Economy?

No matter what ever is the economic condition, Google is always set to high in terms of its Revenue. There is no doubt about the fact that the stocks of Google is falling everyday, but despite all these Google is very well surviving in the economic turmoil. Google is famous for its safe game that it plays during bad recession. We all are very aware of its game that is "AdSense Text Market Program" which is attracting more and more customers everyday making Google more efficient day by day.

If we talk about the advertising budget of Google this program will be last thing that Google CEO, Eric Schmidt will talk about. I attended the launch of Google Chrome and during its launch one of the reporters asked Eric, "How is Google surviving in the times of Recession?" Eric, replied, "No Comments". Everyone is now aware of this secret. Google is earning lots of revenues especially overseas.

The position of Google is very stable in the market. It is not only dependent on one market conditions. Eric Schmidt said that "it is better to prepare in advance for the losses". And so does he. During recession the launch of Google Chrome itself marks the positioning of Google in the bad Economy. The stocks of Google are often undervalued, even then it is growing at a stable rate. Google's stock week high was $747 which went down straight away to $ 421 which was like a disastrous change.


It is also true that there is no particular accountability in the pay per click program of Google. Many times it has happened that even though using the paid ad system of Google, at the end of the day Google handovers the bill to the companies using that program. This is not at all expected from a company like Google. This itself proves that Google is passing by the bad times and as a result of this they are charging to the companies lump sum amount.

It has been seen that when any company is asking for the verification of their ads and the place where there ads are being clicked, Google has got no answers. Google is totally hampering its goodwill and faith in the market. If Google can provide the list of bills due, obviously they should provide with the verification code where the ads are being clicked and generated.


I am sure that Google is playing a very smart game with us. But this will not continue for long. There will be time when people will take their ad business somewhere else but not to Google anymore. Is Google ready for the bad economy? Yes it has always been the smartest player in the market and will always be for the next 100 years.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Testimonial for my blog by Sir Andrew Thomas


Last week I attended the "Economic Recession" seminar organized by US Stock Exchange Officials in Texas. It was one of the best seminars that I have attended till date. In the seminar there were many high dignitaries from all over the United States included Sir Andrew Thomas, ex chair person of American Stock Exchange. I managed to meet him personally via some internal sources and it was like a dream come true affair for me. He asked me what am I doing these days? I replied him with full confidence and I also mentioned that I am a finance adviser and I write articles for many sites and blogs.

This statement aroused an internal feeling in Mr. Thomas and he became very eager to read some of my articles written on Personal Finances as well as on Recession. After going through my blog, allfinancehelp, he was very impressed, which forced him to write a testimonial for my blog which i would like to share with all my colleagues and readers. It was like an appreciation letter for me.

Dear Betty

I am really impressed after reading your articles. You write really well and the way you have expressed your ideas is just outstanding. More than a blog it is a box full of information on personal finances as well as innovative ideas on how to manage your personal finances during the economic turndown. I would advise each and every person from Frisco to read betty's personal finance blog if you are facing any kind of issues regarding mortgage, real estate, insurance, debts etc. Betty, you are a true inspiration for anyone who wants to be a finance adviser. Not only this I would really like if you join American Stock Exchange as a Trainee financial adviser so that you can learn all the nitty-gritty of personal finances in a more detailed way. I wish you all the best for your future endeavors. May you achieve success at each and every level of your life.

Best Regards

Andrew Thomas

I was really happy after I received Mr. Thomas's mail in my inbox. I am looking forward to be a part of American Stock Exchange very soon. I really wanted to share this letter with all of you because all of you are my friends and I would be more happy when all of you appreciate this too.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Get a Sound Job Advise during Recession

I went to meet my old colleague last weekend. He was working with a Multinational Company, but I was so shocked to meet him when I came to know that he is searching for a new job. He was very depressed. This all is happening because of this recession. The worst economic time has taken place and it is very important for people to look for a good career counseling.

As per the recent surveys it has been proved that the unemployment rate in United States has gone up to 16% in 2009 which was 13% in 2008. But you shouldn't loose hope, you can still perform well in this lousy economy. What I think is that this is not at all a good time to switch your job. Just be patient and follow these economical steps.

1.) Do a quick research: just plan out for the time being what you are looking for? Chose only that profile in which you think you can give your BEST. Just check the job which you are currently doing, does it promise a sound future for you or not. Do not switch your job until and unless you are confident the new job that you have opt for is the best for you and your future.

2.) Talk with Potential People at work: always remember that people who have got good experience are the only people who can help you in the best efficient manner. Consider their advise as an asset. They can actually provide you better idea on the current market structure.


3.) Avoid taking help from Online Job Portals: Remember one thing that at this point of time the online job portals are totally crowded with the freshers. So, do not waste your time searching for jobs on job portals sites. Instead of this you can build your own network of potential employers.

4.) Ask yourself: before opting for any company always ask yourself few questions like is this company the best for me? Is this the company which have the best work environment? before going for an interview prepare yourself with all the questions regarding current market structure.

5.) Take a wise Investment decision: If you are planning to start your own business in this economic turn down then think twice before investing your savings into low profile business ventures. Try to be very innovative at this hour because an innovative mind can create miracles.

6.) Prove your efficiency: This is the best time when you can impress your boss. Do something which nobody in your company has ever done say for example any of your decision has worked out to bring double profit for the company. Maybe, your past experiences can prove assets for your current work profile.


7.) Think flexible: by flexible here I mean that at this point of time accept whatever position is coming to your way and try to prove yourself in that position. Like for example you maybe have worked as a manager in any company for two years and now other company is offering you a post of assistant manager, do not let it go. Try to be more efficient in that. Apply your managerial ideas in that post and I am sure you will achieve more than the previous one.

8.) Try to be a problem solver not just an employee: try to solve all the targets before the time assigned to you. This will be the best time when you can prove that you are an asset to the company. Make that company dependent on you, you don't need to depend on the company.

9.) count your performances: Keep a track of all the work you are performing at work everyday. work on your weak areas and try not to repeat the same mistake again and again. Do a complete market study of the present scenario and work according to that.

10.) Adopt Freelancing: Freelancing is the best option to do until the economy turns green again. This is the best way by which you can add flowing income to yourself. Always keep part time job above full time jobs.


Lastly, I will just say that don't just sit at home and keep thinking about the bad economy. Until and unless you try you will never be able to achieve it. So try and try until you succeed.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Make Your Boss Feel Comfortable During Recession

Dear Boss

We know that you are passing through a very bad phase right now, but this is the time when we all can prove our unity and dedication towards our work. You don't have to be upset at all. We all are with you. But trust me our condition is worse than yours. But we promise to stand by your side in each and every difficult situation that comes to your way. I have consulted few colleagues from our company and all of us has pointed out few things that we all should follow during Recession.


Never give an excuse of Recession to your employees

Please this is my humble request to you that never tell your employees that the company is not progressing because of economic turn down. This is the best excuse that anyone can give for the downfall of company's profit. It is better to find out the way of converting those profits into loss rather continuously talking about the losses. And as it is very clear that the reason of continuous losses is Recession. There is no need of keeping regular meetings and discussing on Recession. Infact it will be great if we discuss some innovative policies in those meetings which can actually make our condition better.

Appreciate your employee's effort rather blaming them for the losses

We have seen many times that everyday you call one or the other employee in your cabin and make him responsible for the losses of the company. This should be avoided. We are your assets not your liabilities. If because of us you are in losses then you should not forget that there was a time when you were awarded the best Managing Director because of us only. It was because of our dedication and hard work that we were at top for the past five years.


We are trying our best to cut the extra expenses

It is not that we are not at all concerned about the losses the company is facing, even we watch news regularly. We know what is the present situation right now. And trust me we are trying our best to cut down the extra expenses of our office. We are now switching on the AC's only for two hours in the whole day, we are working on laptops at home, we have started bringing food from home rather eating in the Office canteen. You should feel great that each and every staff member of your company is spending endless time at work.

Very important to plan out an official budget

It is high time that we prepare an official budget so that there is no extra wastage at the office premises. We should not spend money on irrelevant matters right now. Say for example last week you declared the vacation holiday for the best client of the quarter which was nothing but a complete wastage of money. With that money we could have hired few financial analyst to look after financial affairs of the company.


Have confidence in your staff member and share your decisions with us

If you are taking any official decision then it is very important for you to keep that plan in front of everyone, take everybody's views not only the higher authorities. You never know a peon of the company can come up with some great ideas.

Please note: This is just my personal advice, this post is not written to hurt anyone's feelings