Should the Non-Working Spouse Be Insured?
Many companies now offer income protection policies that pay a benefit if a non-working spouse is unable to fulfil their household duties. This recognises that although there is no monetary income on which to base benefits, this partner makes a contribution to the house which could only be replaced with money if they were injured. Homemaker income protection can help pay for cleaning, washing and cooking services, and more.

However, remember that this type of income protection may not be tax deductible, as a standard policy would be.

Should You Choose a Shorter Waiting Period?
Having a family usually means more bills that are more urgent. You don’t have the same flexibility in your expenses that you do as a childless family, and so you may want to think about choosing a shorter waiting period so that benefits can be paid sooner after you become disabled.

Is Your Cover Guaranteed?
If you’re in relatively good health and with a growing family, now is the time to check that your income protection cover is guaranteed. Your policy document should have a statement saying something like “We guarantee to provide cover for as long as you continue to pay your premiums as and when due, regardless of changes in your health or circumstance”.

Are Pregnancy Complications Covered?
Growing your family is usually a long term project! Even if this pregnancy is uncomplicated, you should check whether your income protection plan pays out for complications of pregnancy that would prevent you from working. This may be useful if you plan for your new bundle to have siblings in the future.

Are You Getting the Best Deal?
There are plenty of informative and neutral price comparison sites for income protection insurance, which take the legwork out of ensuring you
have the best income protection deal.

Utilise these comparison sites, and you may have a little extra cash to spend on nappies and toys!

Once you are firmly in place with your financing options, you will want to focus on a good marketing scheme, whether you hire someone to do it or do it on your own, is your own choice, but hiring a marketing agency could help you save with time, and believe it or not money in the long run. Marketing firms understand what it takes to make a business successful, I’m not saying you don’t, but if you put your money in the wrong place, you’re the one that ends up losing. Some things in life are better left to professionals. These professionals can take care of everything from logos, to business cards, to ad prints, to TV. commercials or radio ads. They usually also offer some pretty

innovative ideas to the overall picture of your success. If you were a business student, you are quite familiar (or should be at least) with the world marketing and advertising, even just as an entrepreneur, you should have the basic knowledge of the concept. But in case you don’t (I highly doubt) it is essentially the process of selling, promoting, and distributing your product or service. A good marketing and advertising strategy is the key to your ultimate success. It is the foundation upon which you will begin to build your business.

Your goal when starting up should be getting your business out there and known, eventually with a great product and service, word will spread (hopefully) and you will get the greatest free advertising there is, word of mouth. Just be diligent in making sure that it’s positive, and you can do
that by being on top of your employees and product to ensure they are delivering at their best. Well that is all the advice I have for today. Good luck in our adventures!

• Growth and expenditure of the consumers

Economists at Hoover Institution, Stanford University state that the consumers spend nearly 70% of the US gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is the calculation for total economic output. The consumers are forced to spend their non-refundable income to obtain more goods due to an approach towards the economic materialism. As the demand in the market is high so the firms have to supply more products to meet the demand of the consumers that renders into economic growth. Therefore, this boosts the spending which consequently increases the GDP.

• Conspicuous Consumption

Most of the consumers spend for the purpose of flaunting their wealth as this is the ultimate motive for conspicuous consumption. Materialism can be coined as conspicuous consumption. People who are in awe with materialism focus their attention to “keeping up with the Joneses,” a popular phrase for conspicuous consumption. In this situation you gauge your wealth by comparing it with your neighbor’s prosperity. In order to prove his power of wealth he will invest more money on a larger house, more expensive cars and other luxury goods.

• Savings Rate is low

Consumer’s approach towards materialism instigates them to spend more to acquire more goods. Presently, people are not interested in saving as they spend their full income to purchase goods and services. The economists in the government as well as in the private sectors have cautioned about the severe impact due to the diminishing savings rate of the Nation. Capital investment is decreasing with low savings rate amongst the Americans. Lack of investment capital fails to give scope for economic expansion. In a way, the U.S economy is controlled by the foreign investors.

• Consumer Debt

The psychological impact of materialism on people drives them to buy things that exceed their budget. They usually incur insurmountable debts on credit cards with high interest or huge amount of mortgage for large houses. Mortgage is taking a serious shape in the U.S economy and around the globe. People are taking out loans to buy large and expensive houses but they default with the crash in the housing and credit market. Even post recession, many Americans have come across a dangerous situation as there is lack of financial security and no job security.

Learn about Fisher Investments, one of the top investing resources.

Facebook: an investor’s valuation

So lets begin with the view as an investor. An investor would estimate the earnings and the assets and would come to a value he could live with. If it´s an intelligent Investor he would pay less than the real worth of the assets, so that he can make profit. So let´s assume that Facebook’s sales are 2 billion USD . Facebook has more than 1,700 employees, and offices in 12 countries. If we assume that facebook pays an average salary of 60.000 to each of its employees that gives us salary expenses of 102000000 USD. Add to that the costs of the server landscape the EBITDA is probably no higher than 20 to 70 Million USD. If we are fair investors we will probably also pay a price for the Facebook brand. So let´s value the assets of facebook at 2 billion USD. So in the end an investor would probably not pay more than 400 - 500 Million USD for Facebook.

Facebook: a speculator’s valuation

But if we evaluate Facebook from a speculative point of view – and high tech companies are always a speculative investment when they begin to grow – the price of Facebook is probably closer 150 billion USD. The idea is that also google was not that profitable in the first years but google subsequently discovered a way of converting search queries into money. Perhaps you also could convert facebook users. But the question is how to convert facebook users into money? Facebook could have some very interesting answers for this question. Facebook could enter into the ecommerce sector, build little games, sell market research and could earn a lot of money with customized advertisements. But is this really currently worth a valuation of 50 billion USD? Probably not, but there are other ways to earn money. For example by steering facebook users into real brick & mortar shops with facebook places or by offering skype-based voice communication for the price of 50 USD a year. Anyway the basic idea is that if you have 580 million (or even better one billion) Facebook users, if you only make 40 USD from every user, you end up with sales of 23 to 40 billion USD. In 2009 google had sales of 23 billion and a margin of 27 % and today google is worth 197 billion USD.

My own valuation

To be honest I personally don’t really have a valuation for this company, as I really don´t know what I would pay for it. I belive that a possible IPO of Facebook could reach 50 billion USD and the value could also rise in the first few weeks after their flotation. But if the numbers facebook presents don’t impress, the value of facebook will be assessed through the eyes of an investor - and that means the market capitalization will fall to 500 or 1 billion USD. So in my eyes 50 billion is far too much at the beginning. If may perhaps be a fair value when the numbers are right but not yet. You have to remember in 2004 when google went to the stock market the estimates were around

2.7 billion USD and at that time google had 1900 and sales of nearly
1.5 Billion USD. But then again - google was already much more profitable by then.

Possibility of Double-Dip

The U.S. recovery was moving along quite nicely in early 2010, but the weight of the EuroZone Debt Crisis and domestic problems in the United States led to very disappointing U.S. economic data in June and July. Consumer demand dropped, employment began to fall as the U.S. Census season ended, retail sales figures disappointed, and several other key data combined to clearly communicate that the U.S. recovery was hitting a major wall of resistance.

In late July, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress and stated that his economic outlook for the U.S. economy and economic recovery is “unusually uncertain.” If the leading economic minds of our times are unsure of the economic outlook, it means we are most likely in for a bit of pain during Q3 and Q4. This very bleak outlook from the Federal Reserve has begun to weigh on equity markets, and on August 11th, the Dow tumbled over 200 points. There is just no bright spot in the economy right now.

The term “double-dip recession” has begun surfacing in news commentaries and editorials throughout the United States. The housing sector is showing strong signs of possible contraction, and if it does begin to contract significantly, that could push an already fragile U.S. recovery back into recession. The Federal Reserve has made it clear they will do all in their power to prevent this from happening, no matter how much money that have to print.

This economic downturn could not have come at a worse time for the biofuel industry. Currently, the Renewable Fuels Standard is mandating a consistent increase in the amount of next generation ethanol that is produced in the U.S. By 2016, the RFS estimates that 16 billion gallons of it will be produced yearly. This goal is huge and in order for it to be reached, there must be a massive amount of expansion and growth in the industry; however, there is a correspondingly huge shortage of cash available in the industry right now. It is estimated that $500 million will be needed for each facility that will be built, and capital has been extremely hard to come by as many investors are still on the sidelines. Even the forex has not reached the daily volume of pre-Crisis levels.

The Effects of a Double-Dip

Due to a myriad of reasons, investors have been somewhat turned off to the idea of putting up large amounts of capital. This problem will only be exacerbated by a severe economic slow-down, or, even worse, a contraction. If capital is difficult to raise during the decent economic growth of early 2010, it will be nearly impossible during a slow-down. Venture capitalists, of course, do not like to take risk during times of economic uncertainty. All of the cash that investors have sitting on the sidelines may stay there for the foreseeable future.

Projecting further into the future with our economic analysis, if the United States does enter into another recession, it will be nothing less than devastating for the economy over the next decade, and it will increase deflationary fears, which will scare off investors even more. Another recession at this point in our fragile recovery would set the U.S. economy back years and would most likely result in an extended period of very slow economic growth for 5-10 years. This sort of economic climate will make it almost impossible for raising capital, and it could serve to deal a deafening blow to the industry.

So, maybe your wondering how financial business advisors could help? Well, everyone can do
with a helping hand at some point and independent financial business advisors want to get your
business not only through the recession, but also to formulate your business a strategy to ensure
you survive the cuts, and grow through them, too.

What Services Could Independent Financial Business Advisors Offer Me?

If you’ve never dealt with independent financial business advisors before, an important point to
be aware of is that they are independent-they have no affiliation with any lenders, meaning all
businesses will get totally impartial advice and the best strategy possible. If this is your first time
dealing with independent financial business advisors, you might be wondering, what exactly can
they do for me? Well, all services are aimed at maximising your profit, these can be accountancy
services, business cost reduction and invoice factoring.

At a time when money may be tough for your business, but you still want to grow, invoice
factoring could prove to be the perfect solution. Seen as the modern day equivalent of a bank
overdraft, businesses will receive immediate cash to continue their growth in exchange for a
portion of your accounts which you sell to a third party.

As well as lending you money, independent financial business advisors can also save you money
and time. Debt recovery services are becoming increasingly important as going through the
traditional way of using the courts is becoming both a lengthy and costly process. By outsourcing
debt collectors you can save yourself valuable money and time enabling you to concentrate on the
growth of your business.

If you’re a business owner and you are wondering what help you can get to help you through the
cuts, get in touch with independent financial advisors Target Business for impartial advice and a
wide range of services tailored to your business.

Debt consolidation in a non-profit way:

There are debt consolidation non profit firms that are certified by the IRS as charitable organizations that can help you in consolidating your debts. These companies have obtained 501(c)(3) charitable status from the IRS. Check the company’s ‘About us’ page to make sure that they are indeed a non profit organization.

How do they manage to work in non profit manner?

The word “non profit” may create an illusion in the mind of the customer. In this world where nothing comes for free, how can these companies survive as non profit? Well, the word non profit doesn’t necessarily mean that the service is free of cost rather it only means that there wouldn’t be any overall profit for the company at the end of the negotiation.

These debt consolidation non profit companies are normally funded by donation, and not a business cash advance, from the customers as well as creditors. Creditors would pay a percentage of the settled amount to the non profit organization for their services. Some companies may also charge nominal fees from the customer.

How would they help you?

The debt consolidation non profit companies don’t work very differently than the for-profit ones. You would be assigned to a case manager who would look into your debt situation and guide you accordingly.

You would then be presented with an agreement which would explain how your consolidation program would work and how much you would need to spend for it. Once you agree to the contract, the counselor would then negotiate with the creditors to lower your interest rates.

You are required to make monthly payments which then will be disbursed amongst your creditors to satisfy your debt obligation. The advantage of this program is that it will stop harassment from the creditors.

Anyway, even to do debt consolidation non profit way you must look at few companies before joining one since there can be many sham companies too. Hence, check out the past record as well the authenticity of the IRS certificate before joining their program.

This is a guest article by author Robin Williams.

That´s right and of course it´s not acceptable to endow incompetence, but in my opinion letting Lehman fall was the biggest failure the treasury department ever made. It seems like some of these people need to go back for further education to get an accounting degree. I hold this opinion because of several reasons. The rescue of Lehman would have cost the taxpayer 20 to perhaps 40 billion USD. Till the end of 2009 the financial crisis the fall of Lehman triggered and caused the destruction of 10,5 trillion USD. Of course, also without the fall of Lehman this destruction of assets would have been high because Lehman wouldn´t have been the only institution the treasury department had to rescue and that also wouldn´t had stopped the economic downturn. But the whole process of the economic downturn would have been clearly more controlled and the government had won what would have been most of value: time. But instead of that the government had to wave through a 700 USD bailout plan immediately in order to save system from a total collapse.

Another point is that the fall of Lehman caused a shock which lead into a collateral situation in which the whole bank lending froze. This situation was extremely dangerous and threatened the international financial system in a massive way. Banks didn´t trust each other anymore and didn´t lend money to anyone anymore because they were afraid that they wouldn´t get their money back again. The danger that the credit flow dried up grew which also had lead into a total collapse of the financial system. So the FED had no choice but to lower the base rate historic value of 0 %. But even this was not enough to stabilize the financial system. Again the FED widened the central bank credit to a incredible extent and pumped 100 of billions of dollars into the financial system.

So in my opinion the way the treasury department saved the financial system was O.K. but it also  would have worked in a much much cheaper way for the taxpayers around the globe. But I also think that Henry Paulson knew this but he had no choice. In times of elections it´s not good to endow the incompetence of greedy bankers, also you can´t bring though a billion dollar bailout plan if the financial system doesn´t stand on the total brink. At least we also have to mention that the consultants of Paulson came from the Goldman Sachs faction and in my opinion they were happy with the decision of letting Lehman fall. Also Paulson came from this faction and he and Richard Fuld the former CEO of Lehman weren´t the best friends so this could also have lead to this tragical decision.

Well, to sum up the facts in the end the incompetence of the banking sector had been endowed yet again and in my opinion the world has learned nothing. Stock quotes of AIG, Fannie MAE, Freddie MAC are starting to rise again, when I wrote “Facing a world economic crisis” one year ago I thought the government had decided to choose the quick and painful way to solve the huge macroeconomic imbalances . However instead of choosing this way it seems that the governments decided to solve the macroeconomic imbalances not a bit.

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But is this really the beginning of the end of the worst economic crisis after 1929? I don’t think so, because a second recession seems to appear in the year 2010.

But let me explain. The cause of the current crash was the collapse of the global growth model, which was handled by the industrialized countries for years. The model was based on consumption which was financed by credit. Huge current account deficits, a dept bubble and finally the world financial crisis were the results of this model. But the model also had positive affects, for years the Anglo-Saxon consumers had been the locomotive of the world economy. Everybody had a benefit from this model. Developing countries could produce huge amounts of goods and established new jobs for their people and the people of the industrialized countries lived a life in decadence and wastage. Suddenly artists like 50 Cent earned more than 400 Million USD at the stock markets and a company of a 23 year old guy was valued by 15 Billion USD.

But in my opinion this is over now and it won’t come back for a long time. Now the world has to pay the price for the excesses of the past. The governments of the industrialized countries can’t afford to pump more money into the system, solely the USA have accumulated a gross debt of 12.000.000.000.000 USD. However exactly here is the problem: the world needs a draft horse which gives strong impulses when the economy starts to recover in the year 2010, but the governments of the industrialized countries have to darn their budgetary holes by stopping their expenditures and higher taxes. Also the Federal Reserve can’t pump money into the system endlessly and BRIC counties like China or India are just not strong enough to play the role of the draft horse for the world.

Well, to assume the facts I agree with economists like Nouriell Roubini, Robert Shiller or Barry Eichengreen who also don’t believe that this crisis will be over that fast. Even if it seems like the current crisis has reached the bottom, which perhaps might be true. To achieve the growth we are used to, we will probably have to wait many, many years.