In two other articles I discussed the use of project management techniques in achieving personal success. In that case, we looked at “Project Success” and how we could plan for it. Why not apply more business techniques, this time to money, and develop a financial success system or plan?

In most respects, your personal finances are no different to a business’s finances. The underlying principles are the same. As a former professional management accountant, I can assure you that the way a company’s or organisation’s finances are, or should be, run is fundamentally similar to the way your own finances should be run.

Every company will have systems in place that are designed to further the success of the company, as well as protect its assets from misappropriation. In effect, they put in a financial success system that should enable them to run the business profitably and by so doing build assets.

The main elements of a company’s financial system can quite easily be recognised as good practice in your own personal financial system. The statutory requirements are quite different, but from a financial management point of view there are some helpful similarities an individual can learn from.

If you apply some of the following business finance fundamentals to your own approach to personal finance, then over time you will develop a finance success system that will grow your wealth for the rest of your life.

1. Budgeting

Setting and managing budgets is a routine part of any business; they are a key tool in financial control. A home budget is vitally important too. Get into the habit of setting and monitoring your personal budget of income and expenditure, and you will have the foundation of a financial success plan.

2. Investment Appraisal

Whenever a company decides to spend money on a large capital item or new product, for example, it may carry out an investment appraisal. You will not have such large spending decisions to make, but the important thing is to consciously assess the expenditure. Will it build your financial success or hinder it? For example, if you are buying a car, which will depreciate, there is a high risk it will diminish your personal assets significantly and set back your finance success plan. When it is time to indulge, be sure it is the right time.

3. Building Assets

A company builds assets by consistently being profitable, investing wisely, and developing the business at a sensible and sustainable pace. Being profitable is earning more revenue than you spend in expenditure. The same is true of you as an individual; always ensure you earn more each month than you spend. The balance (savings) goes into your spare assets, which can build over time, especially with sound investment.

4. Balance Sheet

Creating a balance sheet in a large business can be quite complex. A simplified version may help you keep an eye on your own asset status. Preparing a rough balance sheet once a year, showing your assets on one side and liabilities on the other, will give you an idea of your personal worth, in financial terms. By comparing year on year, you can ensure you are making progress.

If you use a home budget software program, it may have a balance sheet facility to help you.

5. Regular Financial Reporting

Companies have a legal obligation to produce accounts each financial year. Your legal requirements are for your personal tax purposes only.

However, a business does not rely just on annual accounts, and nor should you. It is likely they will have management accounts on at least a monthly basis, to allow management to keep track of the way business is progressing. You should also follow that example, and keep a close watch on your budget each month, and react accordingly.

6. Cash Flow Forecasting

Even a profitable company can have problems keeping going if it does not manage its cash flow properly. In fact, it is a common reason for companies to cease trading. As part of your budgeting, ensure you incorporate cash flow forecasting, that way you can allow for peaks and troughs in income and expenditure without hitting problems with paying bills on time.

Missing payments can prove expensive to your overall wealth, so is best avoided at all times.

7. Investment and Treasury

If all goes according to plan, you will have surplus cash. A company will have a treasurer for that, but in your case that treasurer is you. Take that role seriously, and over time you will be a financial success. If you have a partner, it makes sense to involve them in this, and other parts of your plan for financial security.

Investment is a fascinating subject, so if you can learn about it, you will be well placed to do better than an average investor. Investment is about balancing risk and return, and if you can master that without taking silly risks, you should do well financially.

On top of those purely financial aspects, there are other key areas to a business that will affect finances that you could learn from:

1. Marketing

Keep an eye on the market place for the type of success you are seeking and your areas of expertise. Try to anticipate how that market may develop and prepare yourself ahead of everyone else. You are worth more if you are ahead of the game, whatever field you may be. For example, when I was 20 I decided it was a good idea, long term, to learn as much about computing and finance as possible, as eventually they would be key in every organisation. That was before pc’s existed, and it proved a sensible decision, even though my main aim was to be a writer.

2. Education and Training of Key Personnel

As an individual, the more you educate yourself about many aspects of life, both personal and commercial, the better placed you are to become wealthy. Never become complacent about your own knowledge; over time it will decline in importance, so you need to refresh it constantly. Train yourself, educate yourself, continuous.

Those are just a few ideas of how you may use business finance practices to build your own financial success over the long term. Follow those, and you should not go far wrong, and prepare yourself for a rebound should anything ever go wrong, such as redundancy or divorce, which can scupper even the best of financial plans.

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A student loan interest deduction allows you to deduct up to $2,500. This amount applies to the interest paid against a student loan. Even if your loan is nullified, you can deduct this amount from your income. There are some loans that are excluded from this deduction and not everyone qualifies.

To qualify, your student loan must have been solely used to pay for higher education (as defined by the rules of the deduction). It can also be a loan you took for a dependent such as a son, daughter or spouse. The student loan must be used for college or vocational school tuition and expenses including fees, supplies, books, room and board, etc. You (or your dependent) must be at least a part time student and be enrolled in a degree, certificate or other qualified education program.

This tax deduction can not be claimed in some situations. If someone else claims that student as a dependent or if the loan was made by a relative then this deduction can not be claimed. It is also not available if you are married and filing a separate return for your spouse or you are not allowed legally to clear your student loan.

There are also other things that are taken into consideration. The costs you incur must be reduced by non-taxable distributions from a Coverdell savings account or another qualified tuition program. A reduction must also be made for interest from US savings bonds that are non-taxable and other non-taxable educational assistance.

As of 2002, deductions are permitted on voluntary interest payment rather than only on required interest payments. This student loan interest deduction is taken on your federal taxes on either Form 1040 or 1040A. Consult a tax advisor or an accountant if you need help in determining eligibility or applying for the discount.

With very little work, you can receive up to $2,500 in deductions for student loan interest. That is money that can be used towards other school necessities and expenses.

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Nonetheless, have you ever asked yourself why, even though you and your partner may be earning high salaries, it is near impossible to save money? You feel that the money quickly disappears just after seeing it arrive. you are really trying to save money but you find pretty much an impossibility.

Being able to save money isn’t as impossible as you may think. The first obstacle that people typically face when attempting to put money aside is organizing their finances. The reality is that you are spending more money than you think and it’s very likely that you are unaware of this.

An excellent way to start saving money is by keeping track of what you spend. You only need some paper and a writing utensil. This must accompany you everywhere and everything that you buy must be recorded down to the last penny. Even small purchases must be recorded in order to be as accurate as possible about your spending habits.

It is recommended that you do this exercise for about 2 weeks. This exercise can be tough to complete but just remember that it is one of the most effective ways to get rid of bad spending habits. Once you’ve completed this 2-week task, you will need to review all your expenditures. You will quickly start to see where all of your money is going.

People who do this task commonly get shocked by how much is spent on small items. For example, spending 1 dollar on a newspaper each and every day may seem small, but it amounts to 365 dollars over an entire year.

Once you find out how much money goes towards what seem like insignificant items, 2 things will take place. Firstly, you will not be too happy about your spending habits. It isn’t uncommon for people to spend thousands of dollars in a year on objects such as newspapers, coffees and small treats. As a result, people get angry with themselves about this. After getting angry with yourself, you will react by seeing how to reduce your spending. As a result, you will make a decision as to what items are necessary and what aren’t.

If you want to start putting money aside, a great money saving tip is to first start tracking your finances. Such an exercise shows you first hand your spending habits and what you can do to fix them and start saving money during an economic crisis.

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Start When They’re Still Young

When you think that your kids are ready you need to start telling them how it works. You will also have to make sure your kids understand that in order to have money we have to earn it. You also need to tell them that most things we need and use in daily life must be bought with money. If we have no money then we can’t get the stuff we need.

Another good topic to cover is the importance of saving money. Let them know that a child with a two or three dollars could buy candy that will only last about 10 seconds, or even a cheap toy that will likely break in about 10 minutes or be forgotten about the next day. However, if that child saves the money, they can buy a better item that will probably have more value and last longer.

Have A Savings Plan

One way to teach children about savings is setting a percentage they should save every time they earn money. Ten percent is an easy sum to learn; simply move the decimal point one space to the left. For every $1.00 earned, $0.10 will be saved ($23.48 earned, $2.34 saved).

Make sure that they know that the account is not for the better short-term item, but for a “rainy day”, a car or even their college fund. With the remaining 90% they get the candy or “better item” that you previously told them about. This principle is a good way to teach the about child being discipline and saving for long-term savings; like when they want to buy a house or retirement when they’re grown.

Sure, a six-year-old won’t understand the “rainy day” concept, and driving in ten years may be discouraging. But after saving 10% over the years, it’ll add up. This teaching is especially helpful when they get their first job and are already in the habit of saving that 10% for long-term use.

You can also share with them about putting some money to the side to give to a charity they are interested in. Concepts like this teach them even more about managing their money.

As Your Child Grows

When your child is older,take him or her to the bank with you and open savings account for them. Decide to take them to the bank monthly so they can deposit their savings into the account. Allow them to view the bank statement so they can see how money is grows with the assistance of interest.

Interest is a large part of spending and saving money. You will either pay more than what the item is worth or you can earn more money. Teenagers need to learn the concept that if you don’t pay the debt owed within 30 days, they will pay more for the item they purchased.

One way to show how detrimental or great interest can be is by doing some role-play. Pick an item your teenager currently wants to purchase on a credit card. Make a chart showing how making only the minimum payment affects the total debt (you’ll also need to explain APR), how long it takes to pay off the debt with minimum payments, and how much interest is paid in total.

Then you can take that same amount of months it will take to pay it off and compare the interest they pay with the interest they could earn if they save money for the item. While the interest earned won’t be much, your goal is to show them that if they save money to purchase the item, they will only have to pay the cost of the item plus tax, but they won’t pay any interest.

The purpose of teaching your child about money is to get them to see the value in proper money management.

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Every day you read in the paper or see on the news the price of a barrel of crude oil, and these prices are anything but leveling off. So what does this mean to the investor? Oil exchange traded fund investors want to know what the prediction for the future prices of oil will be. But should they be concerned about reports on the worlds oil supply? Yes, they should be concerned and watching closely. Commodity ETF trading is all about supply versus demand and futures.

Is the oil ETF investor making money when oil prices rise, or are only the oil companies profiting? To some degree all of the oil investors are making a profit. It seems that the price of all commodities go up with the price of oil, including oil ETFs. The reason for this is because the price of gasoline goes up with the price of a barrel of crude oil. When everybody is paying more at the pump, the people responsible for transporting all of our goods have to pay more to get it to the store, and so they have to charge more to the farmers or manufacturers. The manufacturers and farmers then have to raise their prices in order to compensate. So it might be a good idea not only to invest in oil exchange traded funds, but to mix them up with other commodity ETFs like agricultural.

The average investor is not likely going to be able to invest enough into the oil companies to make a good profit from them. Oil exchange traded funds, however, give this investor the opportunity to dabble in oil trading without breaking the bank. According to some analysts, there is plenty to be made in oil ETFs. All you need to do is watch the predictions for the future price of gasoline, which is talked about quite a lot in the news. However, other analysts warn that oil exchange traded funds are ready to come down and that now is not a good time to invest.

Oil ETFs may or may not be a good investment for you, only you can make that choice. Do your research and keep up with the trends and make an informed choice about whether to invest in this commodity ETF.

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- Shop Around

By comparing prices from several insurance companies, you’ll probably be able to reduce your premiums by a substantial amount. This may seem obvious, but research has shown that a surprisingly large proportion of people either just renew their current policy, or get only one or two quotes. Many insurance web sites will automatically compare dozens of policies for you, making this one of the easiest ways to reduce your insurance bill.

- Buy online

If you buy your policy online you can often get a discount of up to 20% on normal prices, because there are less administration costs involved and the savings can be passed on to you.

- Combine your buildings and contents policies

Many insurers will give you a discount if you take out both types of home insurance with them, and this usually works out cheaper than getting the two kinds of policies from different companies.

- Pay upfront

Although most insurers let you pay your premium in monthly instalments, many will charge interest for this. If you can afford to pay a full year’s premium in advance, then this will work out cheaper in the long run.

- Don’t claim for small amounts

Making many small claims can increase your insurance costs, as your insurer may see you as a greater risk and increase your premiums. You will also lose any no claims discount your policy has. Of course, you’re entitled to claim for anything your policy covers, but ask yourself if making a small claim is really worth the hassle and possible future costs.

- Voluntary excess

This is related to the last point. Insurance policies feature something known as ‘excess’, which basically means that the policy won’t pay out on claims below a certain value. On some policies, if you choose to raise your excess to a higher level, then your premiums will be lower.

- Increase your home security

Beefing up your home security with better door locks, window locks, outdoor lighting, and alarm systems can all result in lower premiums. Ask your insurer what you could do to get extra discounts.

- Reduce your cover

Many policies feature benefits that you might not need, such as cover for personal possessions while travelling, or ‘free’ legal advice. Look through your policy and see what parts of it you really need – by cutting your cover down to size you may be able to reduce your premium.

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After the one year long training program I took an exam with the State Board of Equalization and became a Certified Property Tax Appraiser. I was promoted from Trainee to Appraiser. Later, on my own I also became a licensed Residential Appraiser by the Office of Real Estate Appraisers which meant I could do private appraisals also, ones homeowners use for purchase and refinance. I bought my first home at the age of 23, my second at the age of 24, my third at the age of 25, so as I was working for the Assessor and learning appraisal I was also buying, selling and fixing up homes so I saw all facets of the process. Additionally, I was the administrator of a family estate at the age of 19 so I had already had a background in trusts and estates and my experience with the Assessor’s Office and in real estate opened my eyes to what I had done years earlier for my family.

Working for the Assessor is considered to be important as a result of the nature of the job. Establishing values, the public paid property taxes based on the amounts I saw fit. I have affected over 6,000 properties in Los Angeles County. The prestige comes from the nature of the position and the insight given through it. There is absolutely an artificial sense of power that goes along with the job; if taxpayers really saw the other side and fully understood the law and how it is, the prestige would be gone. The bottom line is always the numbers.

My job changed with the real estate industry: different types of work during different types of markets. I had a great reputation within the Assessors Office, was known for being fast, proficient and thorough. I was chosen by higher level management several times to work on different projects and help with other departments within the Office. When I left the Assessor to go to law school (which I dropped out of), months even up to a year after I left, homeowners would ask for me since I would assist them more than others who worked there. Even the clerks in the office would come to me with problems since they knew I would assist them. I had a bright future with the Assessor and would have risen through the ranks had I chosen to stay there.

NATIONALLY: In almost every state in this country property taxes are based on market value. Market value is the key. The biggest problem is that every Assessor in every county in every state is a MASS appraisal organization. They have hundreds of thousands of assessments to complete year after year and usually are understaffed. They exist to serve, to do their jobs to follow the law and to be as fair as possible. So often values aren’t where they should be because of the simple fact that they don’t have the time or the man power to be more thorough.

CALIFORNIA: California Property Tax law is unique and much different than most of the rest of the country. When the market started to really tank people start calling the office and coming in looking for help, looking for breaks. I was helping homeowners get the temporary tax break and I knew a better way. I know a way for homeowners in California to get a PERMANENT break in their property taxes. Completely legal, just sort of out of the box that wasnt kosher for me to share. Day after day, tax payer after tax payer…I knew a better way. Often they wouldn’t even qualify for the temporary break because of the way it is set up. Honestly, I felt compelled. I felt compelled to make the information known so that I could help homeowners in a substantial way. So, I left, created my program and am making it known.

If a homeowner can get your loan modified to permanently reduce how much you owe the bank for your house why shouldn’t the same apply to your property taxes? The law is ALWAYS on the homeowner’s side…you just don’t realize it!

While I worked for the Assessor I processed single family home values at 3 or 4 an HOUR… some were higher than they should have been since I didn’t have the time to make sure they were right and some were lower also. Only if the taxpayer complained was the assessed value researched. All homeowners need to learn some basic appraisal and assessment to ensure they are aren’t overpaying property taxes. Understanding is the key. Every homeowner can understand and handle this process to feel in control of what they are being taxed on their house.

Truthfully the Assessor is afraid of the people because the people, the tax payers, the homeowners are the ones who keep them in office. No one in assessments wants to deal with a disgruntled tax payer!

This is the bottom line: its not us against them or them against us. Its just understanding and dispelling fear in times like today. This is the GREAT news about this low real estate market! Its a time for homeowners to save and educate themselves so that they can be proud of their home ownership and know that they can save. Low real estate market means: modified loans, lower property taxes! Yes, the real estate market is down and this is how it can help you! This is one of the many reasons the retraction of the economy is good!

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Billions of dollars are left unspent because people do not know to pick it up for their use. Additionally, these grants do not require collateral, security deposits, co-signers or even credit checks. If you have declared bankruptcy or have bad credit, it does not matter, as long as you are a citizen or resident of the US, you are eligible.

Grant money does not have to be repaid at any time. It is there to give away as stimulus to certain areas of our society.

Many people can benefit from grant money but especially those who are looking to start up a business, continue their education, repair their homes, pay off their debt, have personal expenses or are purchasing property can use grant money. There are many, many more categories, as well.

So, if you want to start claiming your grant money that you have been missing out on, take a look at the Grant Secrets Club which will get you started immediately and have you taking advantage of your grant money today!

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If your vehicle is in good shape but your budget is tight, basic roadside assistance may be the best option for you. You don’t have to pay a lot for the coverage and if your vehicle is fairly new, you’re probably not worried about having a breakdown. If that’s the case, that’s what makes this a great option for you. Make sure this type of coverage is all you really need, though. This type of coverage gives you roadside assistance within the UK all the time and often includes free towing services, too.

If your vehicle is good but your budget is less than stellar, basic roadside assistance is probably your best bet. You don’t have to pay a lot for the cover because your vehicle is in good shape and you’re not worried about it breaking down. You do have to make sure, though, that you don’t need more extensive coverage.

And they are other common breakdown call outs including, flat batteries, electrical problems or mechanical issues with your vehicle that you can’t figure out. That’s why you should consider breakdown cover from any of the Britain’s breakdown companies because they save you a lot of hassle for a small annual fee.

And if you have a lot of difficulty with locking your keys in your car, this service is for you, too. You never have to worry about accidentally locking the keys in the car again. For service on the road or at home, choose home and roadside assistance.

This is where roadside assistance cover can help. Even getting a tow to your house can be expensive without roadside assistance cover. With good cover, though, you can get a tow if you need it and have options available, so that you are not simply left stranded without a vehicle. Good roadside assistance is definitely a must.

Breakdown insurance is the cheapest form of UK insurance and it is a lifesaver especially when your in vulnerable situations. The best breakdown companies provide priority for people in vulnerable situations so they get to you as soon as they can and leave other jobs and consider you as an emergency.

Whether you have a problem with your battery, a flat tire, or other mechanical difficulties, you don’t need to sit on the side of the road and simply wait for someone to stop. It’s dangerous to the on the side of the road for long, but roadside assistance will provide help quickly so that you’re not left in what could be a dangerous situation.

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In this millennium there are modern equipments like online bill payment, electronic invoicing, and P-card are available that remove the paper based processing from the accounting department. But the fact is these technologies may reduce the paper documents but cannot remove it.

Several companies manufactures data capture solutions specifically developed to convert all the paper based documents into data to sent to the accounting or ERP systems. Large corporations have seen its utility which has increased efficiency of their accounting departments and achieved significant productivity gain in processing their accounts payable and accounts receivable data.

Small business cannot afford the cost of the software. Most of the small companies use software just to scan their paper based accounting documents and manually enter the accounting data into their accounting or ERP system.

Thus it becomes unbearable for small company to buy this software. Moreover your accounting or ERP system must have a compatible interface with the software otherwise it may not run. Sometimes the software couldn’t identify the scanned handmade documents for which sometimes you have to work manually.

Software vendors embraced OCR and ICR technologies into their product to capture the account data accurately from the scanned images; they’re still long way to go to remove the manual process. So still a long way to go to remove manual work.

Thus big companies using an account data capture solution can affordable it and they can justify the cost of managing it. But for small companies it is not an affordable solution and their in-house manual process is not cost-effective and efficient.

Outsourcing to different offshore vendors help a lot to get account processing documents converted to your account or ERP system. They can use their existing infrastructure to send the data to offshore location securely through Internet to be processed by the offshore vendor.

Only change is instead of small business personnel offshore vendor is responsible for converting all the account data from the scanned images to the accounting software or ERP system.

Once they receive the finished files from the offshore vendor, they can import it into their accounting or ERP systems for verification and further processing it.

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