Think on it

Time to save

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 07:30:00 -0700

A year ago I told my friends and colleagues that, in a couple of years we will have more poor and below poverty people than we had in the 60's. Everyone thought that i am kidding. But now they realised that i was right. Well its not the time to prove who is right and who is wrong. Its time to realise that we are not doing the right thing. I dont want to talk about the statistics or government records. I am here to tell what an average person can do.

Most of the Americans either dont have a job or are earning less money than we should earn. There are a lot to do to improve and get our country to a better position. But to start, at first we need to stabilze individual citizens position. We cant earn more money but we can start spending less money. I always advice people on savings.

It is a known fact that Americans spent more money than others. But its time to change things. I have been to more than 30 countries and realised the difference between us and others. Many of you know that i am a 24 years old successful professional accountant making more than 80k a year. But only few of you know how i spend them. In the next part i will talk about how i live and save money. In the third part i will tell you about how an average American can live a better life and what are the waste spendings he/she can avoid.

Sit and talk

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 19:37:00 -0700

Some people say that silence solves the problem. But its not true in all the situations. Sometimes silence increases the problem. When people argue for small reasons, they fight over it and then stop talking to each other. This is not good especially in family arguements. The only aolution to solve it is to sit and talk.
Most people think that its the toughest thing to do. But its the easiest way to solve the dispute. It takes a minute or two to solve a problem but many of us dont do. There are few reasons for why people dont prefer this way. Some people are afraid to talk, some people dont talk due to their pride and some people has no idea of what to do.
Later they realise that they could have solved the problem but its too late but until then the problem evolves and that makes it more complicate to solve.
The very first thing to do is to think with a cool and neutral mind. The next step is to talk to him/her. Even he/she will have the same problem or may be waiting for you to start.
Talking and convincing others is an art. The way differs for different cases. I will talk about convincing different people in another post, including convincing parents, boyfriend/girlfriend, friends, colleagues, strangers and boss.

Amazing Woman - Jessica Cox

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:49:00 -0700

Relationship between a girl/woman and a boy/man

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 May 2012 02:04:00 -0700

People think that, a man and a woman (who are not relatives) can only be boyfriend/girlfriend or looking for some kind of encounter (Please ignore the gay-lesbian concept here). That’s because they are raised in such a way. We believe in what our parents says, what our society thinks and what we see on television. But that’s not true.

A boy and a girl can be best friends forever or they may treat each other like brother-sister. Having a brother or sister who is not related to us is awesome. I don’t know how to define that. Those are undefined feelings. We don’t think about that because we learn mostly from TV shows and movies. But movies and TV shows don’t show us anything related to that.

But my parents raised me well. They told me that, “Son, you should have only one girl in your life as your wife and all others are either your friends (friend not girlfriend) or sisters.” And I am happy to have such good parents. Now thanks to them I got a lot of sisters who are not my blood relatives. I am happy to have a lot of sisters especially younger. I have elder sister (my own sister and I love her), but I never got to care for her. She was the one who always took care of me. But having a younger sister means I am the one who take care and I love that responsibility.

I got a lot of friends as well. Those are undefined relationships. You got a responsibility as a friend to your opposite sex friend. You got to care for them and make sure they don’t go in the wrong path. You have to make your relationship strong with everyone whether he or she is your friend or relative. That’s what America and all other countries needs.

Teach this to everyone especially the younger generation and help our nation and the world to build a stronger relationship.

Why do we feel tired after a journey?

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:09:00 -0700

Many times we feel so tired after our journey and unable to walk or feel as if we were carrying the vehicle especially after bus, train and air journey. It’s because we don’t sit properly. Your journey depends on the way you sit. There are several ways to sit. Mostly it depends on the seat.

Never bend your leg backwards while sitting. It gives pressure on your legs and also creates problem in blood circulation in long journey. That’s why you feel so tired as if you walked throughout the journey. Stretch your legs forward as much as possible.

Secondly lean back and spread all your body weight throughout your back. If you don’t spread your weight throughout your back then the pressure will be on your thighs, which make you feel tired and pain in your legs after your journey.

This is a simple tip. Try it and share your experience. You may feel the difference.

Failure: A good teacher

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 01:44:00 -0700

It may be a game. But many of us have the same situation in real

You can’t live a perfect life. Trust me; you will hate your life if it’s perfect. A perfect life will be boring. If you win throughout your life, then a small failure can collapse you totally. But for people who failed don’t care about it. But the truth is everyone fail somewhere in their life. Failure teaches a lot of things.

Every famous person on earth has failed in something. The difference between them and rest of the people is that, they realized their failure, understood where they were wrong, consider it as an experience and continue their work. But others get disappointed and feel that they aren’t the best and they can’t do it.

There are people who failed several times in their life but never gave up and proved that they are the best. Everyone got the same stuff in their head, the only think matters is how you use it. Think differently, you can change your life.

Learn from your mistakes. Try again and again to achieve success in your life. Check out the history, all the great people you know learned from their mistakes. Read the biography of any person you like. You will realize no one on earth has succeeded in everything they tried in the very first time.

The first thing you need to do when you fail is to think where you have done a mistake and start it again. It’s impossible to live a life without failing. Many people, who pretend as if they never failed, are just creating an impression in the public that they never faced the failure. But the truth is they did.

If you want to win big, you must fail. And remember, never ever give up. Millions of people try achieving a task but all fails. Only few people try again and win. Now it’s up to you. Do you want to be one in a million or one among the million?

How to choose your life partner

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 22:09:00 -0700

I was getting a lot emails from people asking to write on this topic. It is an important topic but there are no universal points to describe this topic. It depends on individual. So as I said in my other blog, for better result contact me and tell me about you. But I didn’t expect hundreds of emails. It’s good that people really care about themselves. Everyone who wants to know can contact me. But for those who don’t like to ask personally, these are some steps to follow.

Selecting the right person to share the rest of your life is an important step for everyone. But most of us don’t do it in the right way and it results in fight and then separation. There can be many reasons for the fight and separation but if he/she would have selected the right person for his or her life then he or she wouldn’t faced that problem. Your fight not only affects you, but it also affects your kids and their future. That doesn’t help them in becoming a good person in the society. So, selecting the right person is not only good for you, but it is also good for the future generation and the society.

There is no universal set of characters or features to find a perfect person. It differs from person to person. So I am going to tell you about how to select your future spouse, not what you should look for.

Find similarities and differences. You should not select either a person who completely matches you or a person who is completely opposite to you. In some cases, he or she should be opposite to you and in some cases he or she should be like you. For example, in every family either the wife or the husband should be frugal and other one generous. Both of you should have common things like, if you like to travel a lot and enjoy your weekends to some adventures place but your spouse like to spend his or her time in home. There are dozens of features to look for.

Another important thing is to be honest to you. People select their life partner is like kids select a toy. Kids don’t look at the disadvantages of the product. Sometimes a single feature of the product covers all the disadvantages. We stick with the feature to fool ourselves and think of all other points as useless. Just like the smokers. The smokers know that smoking will kill them but still they can’t quit it.

Be honest to yourself and ask yourself about what do you like about him or her and what you don’t like about him or her. The main problem in love and relationship is that, you don’t see the negative things about him or her. You know about his or her negative feature but you try to cheat yourself and think that it’s not important. That’s why love is blind. It is not blind because the person in love can’t see but it is blind because they can’t think. It don’t cover your eye, it covers your mind.

Another way to know is by asking someone who cares about you. Ask your family and friends. I prefer to ask your parents. They are the people who know more about us than any other person. They will tell you about what kind of person can manage his or her life with you.

Another simple way to know whether you can live a happy life with him or her is by comparing him or her. You should compare each of his or her character with someone you know. No two people are similar so compare with different people. For example, if he or she is short tempered, lazy and car lover. Then look for any of your friends or family members who are short tempered and think on how to you behave when they are angry. Do this with his or her other characters and get a result by combining all of his or her characters.

Is communication development destroying relationships?

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 02:46:00 -0700

Communicating has never been so easy. One can contact anyone at anytime as everyone got a mobile phone. But do you really know that it is also responsible for many fights and break ups.

Until the 60’s, people had to travel for hours to talk even if the person is in the same city. But after the 60’s, people got the fixed telephones. But now we have a phone which we can carry anywhere. Today, if we heard that someone is talking or doing something against us, then we will call him or her and fight in the phone. But in those days people had to travel to speak to them and that time gap helps them a lot. Generally people should take some time before they argue with someone but thanks to the advanced technology we don’t like to waste our time in thinking. The time allow people to think a lot like whether what we heard can be right or wrong, Is he or she really did that or what he or she has done is right or wrong and about how to deal with it without hurting him or her. When you deal with any problem without thinking, then you will definitely screw it up and later will regret for it.

When you talk in phone you cannot understand everything he or she wanted to say as you will not let him or her to talk.

Another important problem in dealing with any problem over phone is that, he or she cannot express everything. Communication not only includes language and talking, but it also body language, the expression we see directly. Sometimes we cannot explain everything in words. Humans are using non verbal, gestures and other kinds of communication from thousands of years and all the animals are using it from millions of years. It is really important to talk directly instead of talking over phone.

Education: going away from America

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Mon, 2 Apr 2012 02:13:00 -0700

Can you believe that the literacy rate of our nation's capital is less than the literacy rate of a developing country's average city? Take any city randomly and compare it with Washington DC. You will know our position in the world. One third of the population in Washington DC is illiterate.

We have the same problem in every state. Only one fourth of the population has a college degree. Most of them are students from foreign countries. Even most of our colleges prefer foreign students. They go around the world in search of students as if we don’t have people in our country. Why don’t they search within the US? We got more than 300 million people in our country. But we can’t blame the colleges and universities. The problem is not in them, the problem is in us. We don’t give importance to our studies. We allow foreigners to overtake us. They come here to get education. Some of them get back to their country and some of them get a job and work here as our boss. Education is important for any individual as well as the country.

We also lack in understanding mathematics and science compared to others around the world. This is a problem of our education system. We need a change in the education system. That can be done by government. We need to learn a lot from other countries as well. I have been to 32 countries and learned many things, in which we are lacking in.

The parents have the duty to educate their children. Don't blame the government for everything. And don't allow children's to decide everything on their own. They should be the decision maker for their life but you should help them in deciding the right thing for their life. Tell them the pro and cons of every step.

We are proud of many organizations in our country as we got organizations leading the world. From business organizations like Microsoft, IBM etc to other organizations like NASA. But do you know that most of the people in all those organizations are from foreign countries.

Another reason for these problems is that we give more importance for entertainment and don’t care about our future. But the last recession cleared its importance. Think about yourself and your future. Take some time to think. Thinking doesn't mean to think while watching TV or while working somewhere. It means be free and alone. You can do it in your room or go to any park, sit and start thinking in fresh air.

We Americans are losing many things in which others are becoming masters. I hope to build a better America.

What is Women's development

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Thu, 8 Mar 2012 19:03:00 -0800

Usually I don’t talk about this topic much because I give equal respect to everyone. But I have taken this topic because I don’t see anyone else talking about it.

I have been listening about equal rights to women all my life. Men are ready to treat women equally. But the problem is with women. I respect every men and women who has succeeded in their life (or work hard to achieve something) in any area like scientists, entrepreneurs, farmer, doctor, lawyer etc.

In this century everyone has equal opportunity of achieving anything. Women all over the world wanted to develop them, do all the jobs that men can do and get sane respect. But what are the jobs most women end up with, sales, modeling, acting, anchoring, waitress, etc where the company needs physical attraction to attract customers. Most of the teenage girls aim to become a model or actress. But as they reach their high school they change their ambition as they know that it’s very competitive area and there are millions of girls aiming for it. Is this the development women wanted from centuries? Are women really born for physical attraction? Are they really sex toy for men? (I am sorry to say this. I never wanted to use these sentences).

For centuries women’s didn’t received the respect they needed. But now when men are ready to respect them, they behave as if they don’t want it. I know many women who have achieved great things and many women who have dedicated their life for some purpose. I respect them all, but that list is not big enough. What an average girl or women care for is make up, attractive dress, and fancy stuffs so that boys or men will look at them. Why don’t they aim to invent something or starting a business or achieving a top level position in a multinational corporation?

Farming: the future of the world

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:53:00 -0800

For those who have farm land, don't sell your farm land. It can help you in the future. No matter how much we humans develop, we still need food to live. All over the world people are migrating from villages to cities to develop themselves. In many countries more than 20% of the people are living in cities.

In our country, we are importing many goods which we can grow or make in our country itself. But we don't have people for it. If it continues, our country will be in big trouble in a decade. It’s not only for our country, but entire world will be in trouble.

It’s the time when the remaining farmers will be rich. Soon all the multinational companies will be concentrating on agricultural business. Many of them have already started. So it’s good if people start concentrating in agricultural activities. The more we start importing, the more our dollar value fall and that may crash the stock market.

I spent all my life in the city but I always wanted to live a country life. I own some piece of land in my town which was owned by my grandpa. But he is no more and that land is mine right now. I rarely go there as it is in the other end of the country and I live in another end of the country. Many of my friends said to sell it as land are in demand for factories. But I don't wanna sale my grandpa's land. Another problem is that, factories will damage the land and soil and its surroundings. I am trying to hire farmers and do the agriculture in it. People around me says that, its a waste of time and money but I can see future of our country in the farming.

In a decade, agricultural business will be the top most sector for every country. Scientists are working on farming in the buildings in the cities because they know that in future we will have a big demand for agricultural land and products.

America need Americans

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:15:00 -0700

America is always known as the best country for the immigrants all over the world. Every year thousands of people immigrate to USA for job or studies. Some of them return back to their country and some stay here. But there is a problem with those who stays here. They don’t call themselves as Americans even after they get American citizenship. That’s a big problem in America. Many of us are still Chinese American, Indian American, German American, Italian American etc. We don’t want half Americans. We need complete Americans.

Just because you are born or your ansectors born in a place doesn’t make you half citizen of that country. If it is so, we all ( the entire human race) is origin from somewhere in Africa.Shall I call everyone half African or claim for African citizenship. The people of Africa will kick me out if I ever ask for African citizenship.

I see many people live in a group and call themselves and their group with other country name. we don’t want little countries in America. Its not good for our country. If you are American then be American. We want a single nation and everyone in it to be together.

I want Americans to work together and develop each and every individual in our country. We don’t want immigrants any more. Yes, I know that America is always welcomes immgrants. Our forefathers were also immigrants. My great great great grandfather was an immigrant from Europe. I am an American and I am proud to say it.

I am not against immigration or immigrants. People who know me know how much I love world peace and many other countries. I love travelling around the world. I got a lot of friends all over the world. I have been to 32 countries and know 18 languages. But I am an American and I want my country to be at the top of the world forever.

New businesses can save America

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 22:11:00 -0700

Our country is facing many problems now like recession and unemployment. Starting new businesses can solve these problems. Any kind of legal business from small to large. But the important point to note is that you should hire our people. Don’t hire foreigners. I am not an anti-immigrant. But I want American companies to give preference to Americans. Many companies hire foreigners as they are ready to work with less salary. It can cost you less but its not good for our country.

We got thousands of unemployed people and that’s not good for our country. America is losing its status in the world. Its no more a super power nation as we think. The world don’t respect in the same way as they used to respect us decades ago.

Its an advice for people who are looking for new jobs to start a new business instead of looking for job. I don’t know whether you get a job of your talent or not but you can create new job opportunities to other people. Use your creativity and come up with some new idea for a new business. Not everyone is a Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. But everyone has the same brain. The only difference is that they used it and we didn’t.

Think hard, who knows you may be talented enough to change the entire world. Don’t waste your important time. Think creatively, no matter which field you are in. We are the descendants of the same people who made America as the superpower of the world. We have the same power and talent. Prove yourself to be better than new immigrants.

It doesn’t mean to fight with or hurt the new immigrants. I mean prove the world (and especially to the new immigrants) that we are talented then them. There are plenty of things to achieve. A little thinking can change your life.

Importance of Saving money

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:57:00 -0700

I always suggests people to save money and have some fixed percent of income for savings. Some of them took my advice, some of them didn't but realized it lately and some of them ignored it and not realized it yet.Those who realized it later asks me for suggestions.

Many people in our country would have realized it in the recent recession. But for those, who still didn't realized it, no one can save them especially when we are in another recession before recovering from the previous recession. There are plenty ways to save money.

Prepare a budget every month. This will help you in analyzing your expenses and avoid unwanted expenses. Budget is an important tool to manage the money for every family. Write down all the upcoming expenses for a month in the budget and work accordingly. Also note down each and every penny you spend throughout the month and then compare it to your budget.

Contribute to your retirement and savings account as much as possible. Also invest some part of your money anywhere you like. Read other posts. You will get some ideas for savings and investments. If you want some tips then contact me in Ask Me section.

Master's Degree: Good or Bad

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:57:00 -0700

Many of those who graduated this year or are going to graduate next year will have a question: Whether to go for job or for higher studies? In most of the cases it depends on your interest. But sometimes you need to consider other factors also especially now, as we are be entering another recession.

The first thing you need to think on is that, can you afford it. If yes, then you don’t have any problem. But if you cant, you still for financing options. You can go for loans. But before applying for loan you have to think on many things like interest rates, time duration etc. You can read about student loans in other posts in this site.

Secondly, you have to think whether the degree is worth the money and time you put in it. Some people think that they can get a high salary job with an extra ( or master’s degree). On the other hand others think that they can get experience and promotions in 2 or 3 years in which others complete their degree. Check payscale site to get a clear idea about whether the degree is worth it or not. If you are still confused, ask me.

Each and every career is different. The decision also depends on the career you are in. Some careers require more experience and some require more knowledge. Some requires combination of both.

My suggestion is to go for distance education or online studies, which helps you in getting experience as well as degree. It is cheaper than regular degree.

Is America still on top of the world

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:40:00 -0700

America is known as the superpower of the world. But is it still on top. No, America is not the superpower today and if the same situation continues, in a decade we will be worst than another country on earth. We are going down in every way from economically to culturally. This situation is not because of the government, it’s because of each and every one of us.

Everything we do effects are country. Our styles, habits, choices etc has an impact on our country. We won’t be the proud Americans as we were in the past. Our government is not stating the exact details of the situation and the estimates. But it is clear that our future is in danger until we decide to change it.

Our literacy rates are lower than a developing country. Check out the literacy rate of any random city with any of our top cities like NY, LA, Chicago etc. Most of our colleges are filled with foreign students. Our students are dropping out in colleges. Many of our students don’t even pass high school. All the top professionals are foreigners who immigrated recently.

Another problem is the way we manage our money. Our savings rate is lower than any in the world. We don’t use our money effectively. We spent more than what we earn. Families should plan well to use their money effectively.

There are number of problems, which we need to solve to regain the position. And one cannot expect the government or any company to solve it. You might have seen that in some countries common people are getting together against the government for them and their country. We don’t have to get together to act against our government but we have to get together to change ourselves. Let’s change ourselves for us and our country.

Top Reasons to Use Payroll Services for Pre-employment Services

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Thu, 8 Sep 2011 20:00:00 -0700

Payroll service providers offer many different services to companies that can help them do many of the things that you see on the list below:

- Streamline business processes

- Satisfy customers

- Help employees do their jobs

- Maximize profit

In addition the above services there are many other things that business payroll services can do for most companies. One of the most notable things a payroll service provider can do, other than outsource payroll services and the following tasks is pre-employment services:

• Human resource outsourcing

• Payroll services

• Payroll tax and compliance assistance

• Benefits and workers’ compensation outsourcing

• Time and attendance monitoring

• Pre-employment services

• Retirement Services

Pre-employment services encompass many things, including increasing productivity, generating competitive advantage and ensuring a rapid return on investment capital. By reducing a company’s inefficiencies and streamlining processes a payroll service provider has the ability to help you attract quality employees, retaining top talent, successfully screening prospective employees and improving current employee performance.

With a payroll service provider offering their service to a company that respective company will have the ability to save as much money as possible by utilizing the pre-employment capabilities of a payroll service provider. Good people are one of a company’s biggest assets, so it would make sense that pre-employment services are a hot commodity; payroll service providers have the ability to help you with recruiting, streamlining your hiring processes (if you simply use them in an adversarial role) and improving current employee performance. This will help you receive a solid return on investment on your capital.

In addition to the above services, payroll service providers do a lot of other things with regards to pre-employment services. The following list is a small example of the possible capabilities:

- Align your strategies for acquiring, managing, screening, deploying and retaining talent

- Streamline your entire hiring process and minimize process redundancies

- Reduce overall compliance risk

- Increase your return on investment (ROI) from tax credit and incentive programs

- Support company-wide hiring processes with defined business rules, personalized workflows and advanced security measures

- Meet changing needs using a hosted, on-demand platform

Aligning your strategies will help you save money and utilize your people more effectively. Streamlining your hiring process and minimizing redundancies will help you get the best people that you possibly can. Reducing your overall compliance risk will help you reduce or get rid of fines that you receive for not filing paperwork properly. Increasing your ROI from credits will help you increase your bottom line and provide your employees and company with more opportunities. Supporting company-wide processes will help you provide your company and employees with a more specific direction and will give people more motivation to work towards common goals. Lastly, by meeting changing needs using technology you will put yourself ahead of the competition from an employment perspective and your employee asset base will be high, which will give you a competitive advantage over competitors.

Save money on electric bill

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:53:00 -0700

Lowering the electric bill is easy when following the simple tips in this article. Habits of leaving all the lights on in the house can cause the electric bill to sky rocket. Reduce the electric bill starting now with these tips.

Turn off the lights when no one’s there

People are lazy to turn off the lights when leaving the room. But they don’t know that this could save their money.

Know the right time right time to turn on/off lights

No one thinks about the time at which they should on/off the lights in the morning and the evening. Even though it depends on the weather, still we should calculate the period we use the light and the time we on/off our lights. Open the windows when you have natural light.

Use water carefully

We use water everywhere from shower to toilet. Reducing the amount of water we use can save a lot. Reduce the number of times you flush. Turn off the water while brushing. I don’t know why people turn on the water while brushing. This wastes a lot of water.

Plant trees around your house

Enjoy air from nature instead of machine. It will help you during summer and will keep your home cool.

Use CFL bulbs

Using CFL instead of your normal bulbs can save a lot of money of yours. Try them, you will get the result.

Computer

Use it only when needed. Turn off your speakers when not in use. Try to reduce the number of hours you listen music.

Other Appliances

Unplug the appliance not in use. Many times we don’t do that and results in wasting electricity. Especially check and unplug when you go out for a long time. Turn off your TV when you aren’t watching it.

There are a lot of ways to save money in electricity. Comment any important tips I missed.

Save money on groceries

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:34:00 -0700

Every month we pay higher amount than previous month on our grocery. The price of all the products is increasing and we need to cop up with the increasing cost of living. Here are some tips to manage money in grocery.
Cut down unnecessary items
Make a list before you go to grocery. Think about the entire product one by one and analyze whether a product is needed or not. Every month we purchase a lot of stuffs which we don’t need but we want it. There’s a difference between wants and needs.
Check the items available in home
Most of the times we buy an item and later we realize that we already have it in our home. It really annoys us. Make sure that you don’t buy an item which you already have. It happens because we don’t keep the items in the place where it should be.
Coupons
Coupons can save a lot of money. You just need a voucher and coupon to buy your food at low cost. But never buy anything which is you don’t need to use coupons.
Grow your own vegetables
It’s the best way to save money. Most of us worry about the use of chemicals in vegetables. But when we grow our own vegetables, we know what is good for us and what we have to do to keep us healthy.
Don’t go for the brand name
Most of us buy some costly products because of their brand names. Check the difference between a branded item and its similar item and then buy what you want. Sometimes they don’t have any difference except for the price.
Bulk shopping
Reduce the number of visits to stores. Buy things at bulk. Buy things once or twice a month.
Make a list
Stick a list in your kitchen or in a place where you go often. If an item is over then write it down in that paper. Whenever you go for shopping, check the list and buy things accordingly.
Prepare your own food
Don’t buy food items to save time. You can also make items like chocolates, cakes, chips etc in your home. It will save your money.
Drink water
The best way to save your money is to drink water. Drink water and avoid other beverages.

Save money on cell phone bill

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:47:00 -0700

Mobile

Cell phones are the major source for everyone to communicate. We all use cell phone for various reasons. Mobile phone has many features and some of its feature costs a lot to use. Everyone wants to save money where they can, so here are a few tips to help you reduce your mobile bills.

The best way to save your money in mobile phone is to use prepaid mobiles. In postpaid you cant control your calls or other services. Prepaid service helps you in fixing the amount you spend on your mobile.

Calculate your usage and get a plan accordingly. Try to minimze the number of minutes you use your cell phone.

Do you really need to insure your mobile phone? Ask this question to yourself. If you have an expensive phone, then you can think of insurance.

Many people buy the unlimited texts packages thinking that it will save the money. But later they text others only because they havent sent many texts. Calculate the number of useful texts you send in a month in your text plan and then calculate the cost of the same number of texts without your text plan. then decide whether you want that plan or not.

Use the toll free numbers. For information service many people call the numbers which charge them. Try the free numbers for your informations. Try google toll free number or free411, which are free and they even text you the informations you need.

Combine all the phone plans of your home, if possible. You can get cheaper plans by combining all your plans. Many companies offer discount for forming family plans. These plans also allows you cheap or free calls within your family and friends.

Avoid other services like GPS, ringtone’s games, streaming videos etc. these services may look cheaper but they will costlier if you add many together. Switch off your GPS if you are not using it. It will save your data.

If you travel a lot then get a roaming plan to avoid roaming charges. Roaming charges can be costly if you don’t select a proper plan and use your mobile out of your home coverage.

Tips for investing in Mutual Funds

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:42:00 -0700

Image via Wikipedia

An investment made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities like stocks, bonds, money market instruments etc. A mutual fund's portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus.In simple, a mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment that pools money from many investors to buy stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities.

Its not a simple task. Deciding the best mutual fund is an important task. The first thing to decide is about the purpose of the mutual fund like retirement, education, or any other purpose, as the level of risk is based on the purpose.

If your purpose is for retirement fund or capital gain then you can go for equity funds. Equity funds are not advised for long term. For retirement you can also go for other low risk investments, if you don’t want to invest in equity. But the longer you stay invested, the better return you get. An important point to note is that mutual funds are not risk free. It is adviced to read all the documents carefully before investing.

Think twice before you decide the plan. after you select the type of mutual fund, collect as much information as possible. Get the list of the companies and also get the prospectus. Befor inverting in a fund, read the prosectuse to find out how long the fund has been operating. Newly created or small funds sometimes have excellent short-term performance as these funds may invest in only small number of stocks. But as these funds grow larger and increase the number of stocks they own, each stock has less impact on the fund’s performance. You can get a better picture of a fund’s performance by looking at how the fund has performed over longer periods.

Fund charges investor fees and expenses. Get a clear picture of fees and associated cost, taxes for all funds and how they affect your returns. Ask all the doubts, terms and condtions before you invest your money.

Save money on gas

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 06:14:00 -0700

Everyone loves to go on road trip, but the increasing fuel cost can put a damper on your mood to drive long distances. Change in the way you drive can help you in saving your money. There are many things you can do, aside from going out and buying a more fuel efficient car, that will help you tremendously to cut down your gasoline expenses. Many require only minor adjustments to your driving style. You don't need to just sit back and watch your wallet grow thinner and thinner. You can take action and learn how to get more miles for your dollar than ever before.

Use Brakes in the proper way

Brakes are your enemy (only in case of fuel consumption). A car consumes more gas when you step on the brakes. Use them properly. Try to reduce the number of times you step on them. With a good plan you can reduce the amount of brakes that you need to use.

Minimum Weight

It’s a simple logic. Try to reduce the weight of your car. Take out all the unwanted stuffs out of your car. Your car should only have the things which are important. Carry only the basic emergency equipment and items you really need.

Avoid Air Conditioning

Many people don’t like this idea and it is cant be followed everywhere. But should be followed wherever possible. Also park your car in the shade, if possible. Air conditioning can lower your fuel economy by 10 percent to 20 percent.

Drive Slowly

Try to drive slowly. It's a proven fact that driving fast will increase the drag (turbulence) and thus increase your fuel consumption. But the speed depends on different place. Its up to you to decide the speed. But also consider the place and the law.

Avoid Traffic

Try to avoid traffic times. Avoid heavy traffic and lots of traffic lights. The shortest route is not always the most fuel efficient if you have to stop a lot.

Gold: The best investment

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:08:00 -0700

A couple of weeks ago I said about the importance of gold as an investment. You can read it here. Do you know that the gold price is increased by $200 per ounce, thats an increase by 12.5%.

This increase is due to the shaky stock market. Gold moves opposite to the market. Its the safest investment. Now its getting close to $1750. I think for now it will not increase as it did in previous two weeks. It will move slowly and its the best time for people to buy gold. It will take another month to increase at that speed. You can buy gold bar or gold coins. I am happy that I invested in gold instead of shares.

Gold is consider as the best investment. It helps you during any crisis. Unlike shares and other type of investments, you dont lose anything in case of loss(which is not possible). You will have a minimum guaranteed amount.

TAX SAVING TIPS

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:38:00 -0700

Tax

The best approach to tax planning is to start early in the year. Some strategies can help you lower your taxes, sometimes by thousands of dollars. Some help you save time and money when preparing your tax return. Other strategies help you avoid costly penalties and interest on both federal and state taxes.

Contribute to retirement fund (401k): I always suggest people to contribute more towards the retirement fund as it’s a savings which will help you after your retirement, when you don’t have any income. If you're eligible, you can still contribute to an individual retirement account. Making a deductible contribution will help you lower your tax bill this year. Plus, your contributions will compound tax-deferred. It’s hard to find a better deal.

Child and education: You are allowed to deduct up to $1000 for each child under age 17. Child tax credits and education credits have been more generous in recent years. That means more tax-savings opportunities for parents of children; especially those with dependents attending a college or university.You can deduct up to $4,000 for higher education tuition and qualifying fees. This deduction is phased out starting at $80,000 for single filers and $160,000 for joint filers. If you're a working parent, and paying for the care of a dependent under the age of 13, then you may be eligible for the dependent care tax credit for all qualifying expenses. In 2010, the maximum credit you can take is between 20 to 35% of qualifying expenses, with a deduction cap of $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for two children.

Business expenses (or employee expenses): Even if you don’t own a business, you may be are still eligible to deduct business (or profession) related expenses if you incure some expense for your job and your employer didn’t reimbursed your expense. For example, travelling expenses related to your job.

Home mortgage loan: The interest you have paid during the year on a home mortgage or a second home mortgage may be tax-deductible. Since home-loan payments are often a large expense, this deduction can amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars in savings. Only one second home or vacation home can qualify for a mortgage interest deduction. Stat property and real estate taxes are also deductible from your federal tax.

Defer income: If you have any income from any investments or incurred any expense related to it, you can claim them as a deduction.

TIPS FOR PRVIATE STUDENTS LOAN DEBT

vrtualmoran@gmail.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:18:00 -0700

Student Loan Debt

Student loan debt can be difficult to manage regardless if its federal student loan debt or private student loan debt, however private student loan debt often proves the most challenging because of the lack of repayment options and/or programs.Private student loans are much riskier. Private student loan debt is a problem for many college grads today.They’re just like credit cards. Even if they start at what seem like low rates, those rates can shoot up at any time, and the interest costs can quickly surpass whatever you borrowed to begin with. Also, they don’t have the borrower protections that come with federal loans. Here are some for private students loan.

Consolidate all your private loans (if possible)

Private student loan consolidation is very limited now. In fact most lenders are not doing private consolidation loans at all anymore. But if you can find a lender willing to consolidate your private student loans it may be a good deal. The consolidation will reset the term of the loan and this may reduce the monthly payment, which can be beneficial if you are having problems making your monthly payments (keep in mind however, this will increase the total interest paid over the lifetime of the loan). As the interest rates on private student loans are based on your credit score, you may be able to get a lower interest rate via a private consolidation loan if your credit score has improved since when you first obtained the loan.

Know Your Grace Period

Different loans have different grace periods. A grace period is how long you can wait after leaving school before you have to make your first payment. The grace periods for private student loans vary, so consult your paperwork or contact your lender to find out. Don't miss your first payment.

Pick the Right Repayment Option

You need to analyze all your expenses and then select the payment option accordingly. Extending your repayment period beyond 10 years can lower your monthly payments, but you'll end up paying more interest over the life of the loan. One important option is the Income-Based Repayment program. It can cap your monthly payments at a reasonable percentage of your income each year, and forgive any debt remaining after 25 years of affordable payments.

Budget

To start, figure out your monthly income after taxes and any other deductions such as health insurance or retirement. This number is usually referred to as your “take-home” or net pay. Next, make a list of all expenses that you are required to pay, such as electricity, rent, your student loan payments, water, insurance, your car payment and gas, minimum credit card payments, and food. Make a second list of items that are not necessities, such as cell phone, cable, internet, additional loan payments,

and all entertainment expenses. On a second sheet of paper, subtract your first list of necessary expenses from your net income. Ideally, you should have some money left over. Budgeting plays a key role in paying off high interest debt. Cutting frivolous spending, and making tackling private student loan debt a serious priority can go a long way in student loan debt reduction. Many don’t like to budget but it’s the only way you can cut down your expenses and pay your debts. Consider making as many prepayments as you can to reduce the balance of your private student loans. Making the minimum monthly payments is great, but making more that just the minimum is even better.

Know your tax options

If you meet income requirements, you can deduct up to $2,500 per year in interest on any loans used for higher education. Most private student loan lenders should present you with the applicable tax documents by January 31st of any given year. If you have paid interest on your private student loans and have not received any tax documents from your lender, contact them.

Make your private student loan payments on time

It’s a must do thing. Failing to treat your private student loan payments with the same amount of attention as you would treat your credit card debt, could hurt your credit rating in the future. If you are having trouble making your student loan payments, you need to open the lines of communication with your lender. Some private student loan lenders may be willing to work with you.