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What We Retirees Fear the Most

2022-06-21T18:36:00.000-07:00

There are certain things we fear at most stages of our life. But we fear different things at different stages.

As teenagers, for example, we worry about our looks and being accepted as part of the gang. When we first start work we worry about being good enough to succeed in our careers.

However, as retirees, we fear a variety of things that never bother the young and middle-aged. Here they are in no particular order:

loss of independence

declining health

inadequate pension

losing the ability to copy with the activities of daily living (ADL)

fear of falling

losing the ability to drive

feeling isolated and lonely

having strangers caring for us

becoming unable to live at home

death of a member of your family

Like most fears, talking about them relieves the stress.

Loss of independence

Our first stab at independence was when we struggled to walk upright on two legs.

Growing up was a time of striving to become independent of our parents and take on the responsibility of caring for ourselves.

Our goal of an independent existence was finally achieved when we left home to begin college or start working.

This love of independence, of being able to take care of ourselves, has been with us all our lives. We all want to live life on our own terms.

As a retiree this is my number one fear. I cherish my independence and worry that it will all begin to slip away as my physical and mental health declines in the near future.

This loss of independence is unavoidable. There is nothing you can do.

You can only accept its inevitability and choose those who will be caring for you in the future wisely.

At the same time try to keep as much control over your life as possible.

Declining health

Once we've passed the age of 65 we notice that our health is beginning to decline. We're not as strong as we used to be. And our minds are getting slower and slower.

According to The Institute on Aging in America, 91% of seniors suffer from one or more chronic medical conditions, so we're not the only retirees with declining health.

Physical limitations increase as we get older. Our greatest fear is not being able to do all the things we are used to doing.

We find it very difficult to admit our fear of decline because it goes hand-in-hand with loss of independence.

We are reluctant to ask others to undertake a task we used to be able to do easily, such as getting up on a wobbly old stool to change a light bulb or filling out a tax return.

Our fear is that we'll reach a point where we'll need assistance every day to keep our homes clean or, even more dreadful, we'll need a personal carer to help us get out of bed, wash, get dressed and so on.

Pride and stubbornness prevents us from talking through this worry with our children, nieces and nephews or younger friends.

What we need to accept is that 65% of retirees who require long-term home help rely on family and friends. Another 30% use paid assistance from professional carers for the elderly.

The sensible solution to this inevitable result of aging is to sit down with family and close friends to determine what we need now and will probably need in the future, and plan accordingly.

Inadequate pension

How much income you need is a matter of opinion, once you have covered your basic living expenses such as cost of housing, food, utilities etc.

After we retire our incomes usually drop substantially, often by as much as 60 to 75%. If we are used to living the "high-life", frequenting restaurants and having several holidays a year abroad, this can pose a bit of a problem unless we have substantial savings and investments.

But even if we are well-heeled, many of use still fear we'll run out of funds. We worry about what we'll do if that happens and get angry when we think that we'll become a burden to our children or others.

Our best bet in this scenario is to look at the problem objectively.

This is best done by drawing up a detailed budget covering basic expenses such as housing, food, utilities and insurance costs, as well as extras like hobbies and holidays. You also need to make provision for emergency money for home repairs and car servicing.

If you live in one of the social democracies such as the countries of Western Europe, you don't need to worry about medical expenses as these are paid by the state. But if you live in the USA, you'll need to provide for the costs of emergency medical events.

There are two main solutions if you find that your income as a retiree is inadequate. These are:

get a part-time job

set up an online business

Recent changes in the labour market may mean that you have to upgrade your skills.

Doing so will have the additional advantage that it will stave off the mental decline that is all part of getting older.

Losing the ability to copy with the activities of daily living (ADL)

Activities of daily living are all the normal things we do every day. These include eating, showering, dressing, cooking, cleaning the home and so on.

ADLs are one of the things we take for granted until we can no longer do them.

Becoming unable to carry out one or more of these activities reinforces our acute fear of a coming loss of independence. It exacerbates our fear that we are losing control of our lives.

Requiring help in performing ADLs is an unwelcome reminder of the dependency that we are going to experience in the coming future.

There are several things you can do to put off the inevitable for as long as possible:

Continue to carry out as much as possible of your ADLs even if the time they take is getting longer and longer.

Look for physical and mental activities, such as yoga and other activities, that will help you keep up your strength.

Look for home care aides that visit specifically to help with ADLs, such as getting up in the morning, so that you maximise your remaining independence.

Fear of falling

We retirees are all very well aware that we are not as surefooted as we once were. We know that if we fall or otherwise injure ourselves it may reduce our ability to go about our ADLs on our own.

According to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA, one in three older people have a fall each year. Having a fall is the most likely of all our fears to come true.

The first thing you need to do is ask your doctor whether any of your medications have side effects such as dizziness. Seek his or her advice on whether these can be changed for meds that don't make you dizzy or drowsy.

In addition, it is vital that you either remodel your home to prevent falls or move to a retirement home.

You can reduce the risk of falls in your home in a variety of ways, such as by having:

grab bars installed in the shower, and next to the toilet

seating installed in the shower

your bathroom remodelled so you have a wet-floor and do not have to step over a threshold to enter the shower

handrails installed on all stairs and steps

anti-slip strips placed on all steps

increased lighting install in problem areas

all tripping hazards, such as loose rugs, removed

all clutter removed from areas that experience heavy traffic, such as the route from the dining table to the kitchen

There are many other simple preventative measures that can be undertaken.

Having strangers caring for us

As a general rule, we all prefer to have familiar faces around us.

Having a stranger provide care, especially for intimate needs, can be extremely embarrassing and make us feel exceptionally uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, a member of your family cannot always be your primary caregiver which would reduce the embarrassment.

If you are hiring help from outside the family, you should vet the person carefully or get a family member or a friend you can trust to do so on your behalf.

Make sure a family member or someone you trust is present when you interview a potential carer. Any concerns you have should be expressed clearly to whoever is helping you vet them.

Don't hire anyone until you feel fully comfortable being alone with them. If anything feels "off", don't ignore your instincts.

Make sure you check their references thoroughly or that someone you trust does so. Make sure you obtain a police report or have a background check done before you let them into your home.

Just because someone is qualified doesn't mean they're a good fit for you. Ask a family member to be present the first few times your carer comes in order to reduce the stress of being alone with a stranger.

Eventually you should become friends with your home carer. If not, don't hesitate to seek a change.

Losing the ability to drive

There are two reasons that can force you to stop driving:

You lose the ability to control a car because of growing feebleness.

You lose your driving licence (permit) because your doctor refuses to certify you as fit to drive. Such a fitness certificate is required in most jurisdictions once you reach a certain age, such as 70.

Having to give up the car is a severe blow to all retirees. It's one more nail in the coffin of our independence. We are no longer able to go to places on our own. We have to depend on others.

So what to do?

There are several things you can do to anticipate your coming inability to drive:

Strike deals with neighbours, friends and family who can drive by discussing the problem with them.

Check out local bus services.

Join a local day care centre for older persons. Most of these have a shuttle bus service to collect retirees from their homes and return them back later.

Others run shuttle services for older people who need to go to appointments, go shopping or enjoy various recreational activities.

Many of the larger supermarkets in Western countries have online shopping with free delivery. You select what you want online and pay by credit or debit card when your groceries etc are delivered.

Feeling isolated and lonely

If we are no longer able to drive then, as we grow older we'll being to be increasingly isolated. As a result we can become very lonely.

It's very difficult to establish new relationships during old age, and being alone increases the feeling that we are "unwanted". This can lead to depression, which is common among the oldest-old who live alone.

However you manage it, it is important that you get out and about. You must socialize regularly as it's the only way to beat depression. Look for help from family members or your close neighbours.

Check out your local day care centre or centre for seniors for activities they may be hosting that you could enjoy. Most of these centres offer trips now and then to local places and events, so you're sure to find something that suits you.

Walking into a whole new group of people will feel awkward at first, so ask a friend or relative to go with you for the first few times. After a few days or so you will feel comfortable enough to go alone.

And best of all, it is quite likely that, by then, you'll have struck up a friendship with one or more of the other retirees.

Becoming unable to live at home

For most of us, home is much more than the place where we live. It's familiar, feels safe, and is packed with memories so it is part of our identities.

The thought of having to leave our familiar homes is a looming threat for all of us.

Like most fears, talking about the subject will alleviate the stress. Talk with your family and close friends.

You'll need to discuss options such as having a live-in companion or moving into sheltered or assisted living housing with resident nurses available 24/7.

The more you talk about it, the more likely you are to find an agreeable solution.

Remember you are looking at options for the future, not planning a move at the present time.

Once you understand the various possibilities you have available, you'll no longer have to worry about what the future may bring.

Death of a member of your family

As we get older we are reminded more and more of our own mortality as our friends and members of our family begin to die in increasing numbers.

These deaths bring with them a genuine sense of loss of relationships and the knowledge that it is harder to build lasting relationships at an advanced age.

Most retirees worry more about losing a loved one than they do their own death. Indeed, fearing the loss of a close caregiver can be extremely stressful.

Discussing the possibility that these deaths will happen while you are still alive is the best thing to do as it allows you to look at this fear more objectively.

Bringing your own mortality into the conversation will also help assuage the dread.

Indeed, the best way to bring this up may be to talk about your own mortality. Make a "living will" to let everyone know your wishes if you become incapacitated can also help.

A living will is an advance healthcare directive, in which you specify in advance what actions should be taken for your health if you are no longer able to make decisions for yourself.

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Many of the myths of living as a retiree can be dispelled when they are vocalised. So it's important to discuss them in an informal conversation with someone you trust who will take your concerns seriously.

Our fears can grow bigger when we don't open up and let them out. Remember as a kid, when you couldn't sleep, asking someone to check for monsters under the bed or behind the closet door. It's a bit like that.

What Is Fetal Alcohol and What Does It Have To Do With Me?

2022-06-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, (FASD) is not a mental health diagnosis or a medical diagnosis but is an umbrella term used to describe a range of syndromes and disorders that can occur in a child whose mother consumed alcohol during pregnancy. The effects and symptoms vary in severity. Many children share the common effects which include emotional, physical and learning difficulties. The common physical characteristics that can be associated with FASD are facial deformities, growth deficits, heart, liver, kidney defects, vision and hearing problems as well as permanent brain damage. FASD is the only 100% preventable cause of mental retardation and birth defects in the United States and FASD is 100% untreatable. It is estimated that FASD affects 40,000 infants each year. This is more than Spinal Bifida, Down Syndrome and Muscular Dystrophy combined.

Alcohol damages the parts of the brain that gives us memory, self control, coordinator and judgment. Children with FASD often have difficulties with learning, attention, memory, central nervous system, and problem solving skills that may have lifelong implications. FASD is a permanent condition and affects every aspect of the child's life and the life of their family.

The emotional toll on families cannot be underestimated. For birth parents, acknowledging that their child's mental retardation, birth defects, and/or neurodevelopment disorders are a result of maternal prenatal alcohol consumption is very difficult to face. For adoptive or foster parents, discovering that their child suffers from FASD after years of trying to understand his cognitive and behavioral problems results in feelings of frustration and isolation.

As an adoptive mom I can tell you raising a child with FASD is the hardest but the most rewarding thing I have ever done. Andrew is now 13 years old and is in the seventh grade. He is sweet, generous, loving and very naive. He also has exhibited many of the symptoms associated with FASD since the day we brought him home at 1 week old. He cried all the time! Until he was 3 years old and on medication he never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time, day or night. To say life seemed impossible is actually an understatement. He required constant attention and if I let him out of my sight in another room for one minute he would destroy it. If I was not right beside him when he had a bowel movement in his diaper he would take it off and smear feces all over the walls, carpets and bed. We had to put a lock on our refrigerator because he would climb out of his crib in the middle of the night and dump everything out of the refrigerator smearing it in the carpet, walls, and beds. For years we knew that there were serious problems, but no one could help us. All of the professionals said that his behaviors were out of their expertise. We went from Doctor to Doctor, counselor to counselor and searched everywhere for answers for him and our family. By the age of three, he was thrown out of every daycare in our area, went through at least 30 babysitters, and could not stay in the nursery at Church. He was very violent toward everyone; however most of his rages were taken out on me. He would bite me, hit me and throw things at me. He would put holes in the wall, windows, threw rocks at us, as well as the cars and was basically never happy. When he started school a whole new nightmare started. The fourth day of school he had thrown toys, supplies and destroyed the classroom than ran out of the room causing the teacher to have to leave other students to chase my 4 year old. He was moved to an emotionally disabled class where they had experience with other children like him.

By the time he was 5 he had so many diagnoses I lost count, but none of them actually explained the severity of his behaviors. We had tried 21 different medications and tried at least 4 different kinds of therapy. We started researching the internet and found a few sites about FASD and found that there were several places in the USA that specialized in FASD. Andrew and I packed up, leaving my husband and other two children at home and went in search of a diagnosis. We went to Baltimore, MD and saw a FASD specialist that finally gave him an accurate diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. While we finally had a diagnosis nobody seemed able to help us get his behavior under control and his behavior was getting worse. At that time, he was on 7 medications however none were effective. We went back on the internet searching and learning about FASD and found a "severe" behavior clinic, The Marcus Institute, in Atlanta GA. They observed his behaviors and they immediately asked if we would be open to coming to Atlanta to live for a couple of months so he could attend the clinic. It was their observation that his behaviors were something that would not ever get better without extreme intervention. At this point we had no choice; he was getting bigger, stronger and more destructive everyday. After fighting insurance complications, Andrew and I went to Atlanta where he underwent treatment, testing and training for eight weeks.

After two months of hard work the severe behavior clinic was able to decrease his problem behaviors by 96.6% from when we first started the program. The skills we learned are skills we are still using to keep his behavior under control. While we still have bad days, we also now have good days. He is able to stay at school all day now, with the help of a shadow and he is able to play baseball and football with other kids his age and he is happy.

Andrew, as well as most FASD children will never be what others feel is "normal" and that is okay with us because he is now a happy little boy. He is learning to read, and is slowly learning social skills. We had to adjust our expectations as well as learn to think "outside of the box" when we are dealing with him and his problems. We are living a fairly normal life, whatever that is. We are not healed in the traditional sense but we are functioning and making progress. He is now off of 5 of the 7 medications and has really grown physically and emotionally.

Most children with FASD have many issues to face their entire lives. FASD behaviors are treatable but not a curable condition that can be fixed with therapy or medication. There are some children who benefit from certain types of medication, but the medications only address some of the symptoms. Permanent brain damage cannot be fixed or medicated. Creative behavior management works well most of the time. Children with FASD have processing problems and cannot understand cause, effect, or consequences. One of the most important things I have learned from my son is to keep an open mind, a sense of humor, and my faith in God.

Being a HERO - Interview With Laurett Ellsworth Arenz

2022-06-21T16:34:00.000-07:00

Q: What does the HERO'S System stand for and how does it help actors?

A: HERO'S stands for Health, Education, Relationships, Opportunity, and Spirituality. My goal is to help individuals achieve balance in all those areas. Life is complex and tough to navigate without the right tools. We can choose to figure it out on our own and learn from our mistakes or we can find someone to teach us how to learn from the successes and failures of others. As a professional coach, I've helped people attain their goals, and these people include actors and models. Most importantly, you have to be happy about the journey you're taking while achieving your goals.

Q: What do you have to say about attaining goals?

A: Attaining a goal is about perseverance and going about it in a smart way. Are you making decisions based on reliable information? Have you done your research to make sure your goal is realistic for you? Are you working towards your goal every day? Are you connecting with the right people? Getting the right coaching? Finding people with integrity who will work with you until you achieve your dream is really important.

Q: What opportunities are available in this area for an actor to earn a living?

A: Many actors work also as models to support themselves. But it's important to be realistic when seeking work in the field of modeling. Physical attributes determine the kind of modeling someone can do. An eighty-year-old can be a print model, but not a fashion model. Companies also hire models to promote their products. There are tradeshows, car shows, technology fairs, and home shows every weekend in this area and these companies hire models to promote their products. It pays for companies to hire someone with a vivacious and friendly personality to stand on showroom floors and at tradeshows because that attracts people to their booth or product. And, as we know, happy people are attractive. But people can't just walk in and expect to be hired because of a pretty face. They have to be smart. They have to learn scripts, be go-getters, and talk to people intelligently about the products. The age range for promotional models is generally between 20 and 40, but a good looking fifty-year-old can make it. Promotional models don't get paid as much as fashion models do, but they may get more work because more work is available. The pay can be as low as $25 an hour and as high as $100 an hour.

Q: How do you recommend actors and models get noticed by an agency or casting director?

A: People who prepare themselves as the best package get representation. The field is too competitive to leave things to chance. If you're not doing everything you can to be the best you can be, you're wasting your time. Get the proper coaching. Go to acting classes and modeling courses. Learn to do your own makeup. Don't discount these skills by thinking -- "oh, if I'm pretty enough they'll really want me and pay for all my pictures." That's not the way it works. On the other hand, you can be the best actor in the world, but if you're not presented in a way that shows it, you won't get hired. Something as simple as dressing up a little, fixing your hair, and putting on a little makeup can make the difference between getting the job and not. Success doesn't come about by chance or luck. Success is a learnable skill.

Q: What do agencies look for in talent?

A: A model or actor has to exhibit an appealing personality. This is all about commercialism. A film actor has to sell the movie, just as a commercial actor, or print or promotional model has to sell the product. Someone who is untrained or unprepared won't be cast because that doesn't make the product look good. You have to prepare and present yourself to fit the bill to get hired.

Q: Do actors have the same physical restrictions as models?

A: Theatre actors have fewer physical parameters than camera actors. There is always room for another good character actor. The kinds of roles you get offered depend on your look, voice, and acting ability. People who look trim, fit, healthy, and happy will have more opportunities for camera work than those who don't. You also need the right connections. I'm not saying to go in covertly and become involved with the casting director or president of the company. You need to go through the proper channels to meet and get the word out to the right people that you're available for work. Then, persevere. You might go to ten auditions and not make one of them, but at the 11th audition they want you -- they love you, you're perfect for the role. Your success is based on the number of times you go out there and fail because, in this industry, as in any area of life, you're not going to win every time. The more often you try and fail, the closer you are to succeeding.

Q: In addition to coaching people for auditions, you also prepare them for their photographs. What is the process?

A: When I prepare someone for taking headshots, the first thing I ask is: "What kind of actor are you? Are you the prim and proper newscaster type seeking industrial and commercial work? Are you a character actor doing creative theatre work?" If you want to work as a model, you need a composite card. What the person wants to accomplish determines how they are coached. I also do their makeup and hair and help select outfits. Looking one's best is important to succeeding in any field, and especially so in the highly visible fields of acting and modeling where so much depends on appearance.

Q: Is hiring a makeup artist and stylist always necessary, and is it expensive?

A: Going cheap isn't always economical. When you're being photographed, you can't see what the camera sees. You can't step back and look at yourself through the lens. It's impossible. I look at my subject through the lens of the camera to see if she has enough blush on and that her hair and clothes are right. I'm not saying everybody always needs a good makeup artist, but it's an insurance policy that you'll get the best photographs the first time.

Q: Do men and women both need makeup artists?

A: I think it's a good idea. Men are usually charged less than women are charged because it's more basic with guys. It's more about applying highlighters and concealers in the right places and making sure the hair is right. We don't get into the eyeliners, shadows and lashes with men.

Q: Do you work with agencies?

A: In the actor and modeling arena, I do make-up artistry for potential talent referred from many different agencies. Sometimes they ask us -- "Was this person good? Was she easy to work with?" They want to know if the person they're going to hire has what it takes to do the job. Maybe they're choosing between two people. When someone is difficult for us to work with, I would be hesitant to recommend them. When the person is engaging, charismatic, pleasant, and enthusiastic, that's something I think an agency would want to know as well. This is especially true for promotional models hired to work with the public. Sometimes I've gotten together people's photographs and have gone with them to agencies to help them interview. These are agencies with whom we have established a mutual respect, and frankly, people we refer end up getting work because they've got that extra validation of being someone of character and good to work with.

Q: What advice do you have for actors to persevere through disappointment?

A: If you've got a dream, don't let anybody steal it from you. Maybe you go into an audition and the producer or director annihilates you -- "you're the worst, I can't imagine you want to be an actor." Well, you know what? That's only one opinion. You go to a different audition and it's going to be a different story. You've got to learn to become bulletproof and how to pick yourself up and go on. If you need to work on the strength of your dream, then work on it. You are responsible for developing your own self-esteem and confidence. Seek out the company of friends and family members who support you. If you are having difficulties getting the jobs you want, find people to help you realistically assess and maybe redefine your goals, and help you improve yourself as a total package. Get lots of referrals. Ask people in the industry who they think are the good teachers. Ask the photographer for recommendations on acting coaches. Ask agencies who they think can help you put together the best composite card. Ask lots of questions and don't assume one person has all the answers. Nobody is that knowledgeable.

Q: What's one of our biggest hurdles in attaining our goals?

A: Oftentimes it's fear. We all have fear of something. When I'm afraid of attempting something new, I think, how will I feel five years from now thinking back -- "I should have done that, I really missed an opportunity." We only have so much time and that's finite. We need to be clear about what we want and go for it. If you aren't succeeding as well as you'd hoped, find a knowledgeable coach or mentor, someone who cares about your success. It's easier to reach your dream with someone cheering you on.

Laurett Ellsworth has worked in television and model-actor development, and has worked and traveled throughout the world. She has won the titles of Mrs. Virginia and Mrs. America and does private and corporate coaching through her company, HERO'S Strategies. Within two years of setting her goal to win a national pageant, she was crowned Mrs. United States in 1997 and went on to win a second national Title, that of Mrs. America 2002.

Fundamentals and Basic Principles of Economics - Domestic and International Approach

2022-06-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

Wherever we go, economics is everywhere all over the world and it can be located in all major continents around the globe. This begins in domestic up to global approach. In my own opinion, economics is a social science. There are several branches of economics to deal with and these are: Sociology that studies the society and culture, Physics that studies the useful in the production of goods and services that produces machines and electricity,Political Science because it will study the economic policies of each leaders across the globe because it influence from the government of economic activities,History that studies the past, present, and future events of economic developments, Religion because it will based on the studies of religious traditions and beliefs that can encourage or discourage of economic development.

Readers and Viewers must discover and know the content of economics. This article will be tackling fundamental and basic principles of economics. Fundamentals of economics is focus on banks or banking, business, business cycle, depression, economic freedom, income, inflation, investment, labor force, manufacturing, marketing, money, monopoly and competition, consumer price index, cost of living, physiocrats, price, production, profit, property or dealing with real estate business, recession, rent, standard of living, supply and demand, trust, unemployment, value added tax in which I believed that this term will be understand by the viewers. The meaning of economics is very simple. According to Fajardo, the author of his book titled "Economics" third edition, The meaning of economics is the social science that deals with proper allocation and efficient use of available resources for the maximum satisfaction of human needs and wants.

Here in economics, there is also an economic system and theories to be learned by the readers and viewers. They must know the information of capitalism, communism, economic determinism, Facism, laissez faire theory, Theories of business cycle, Manioralism, Mercantilism, Socialism, and Syndicalism. They must take note that economic system is a set of an economic institutions that dominates a given economy. There is also a history in Economics from past to present times, even in the future. According to Fusfeld, who has a knowledge of John Meynard Keynes or known as "Baron Keynes of Tilton" that has a famous books which is very popular until now titled "Keynes General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" which was written in the year 1936 which ranks among the most important books on economics. Aside from this, among his other works are A Tract on Monetary Reform written in year 1923, The End of Laissez Faire Theory written in year 1926, and also A Treatise on Money written in year 1930. There are also future in economics and these are called "ethico-economics in which I will discover it on my next article and next is economic crisis that cannot predict when will it happen so it belongs to the future.

After mentioning the introductory part and historical background of Economics, this time I will proceed to domestic approach. The writer of this article will focus on the Philippine Financial System in order to share ideas, thoughts, and opinions from other nations. This article is a big help for those who will take Master's and Doctoral Degree in Economics. In Philippines, the most common financial institutions are based on banking, pawnshops, insurance companies,lending, financial or lending companies. The Banngko Sentral ng Pilipinas or known as BSP (former Central Bank of the Philippines) is the central monetary authority and their purpose is to maintain monetary stability, and to promote a balance and sustainable economic growth.

The last part content will be international approach because it deals with global economy. In our planet Earth, seven continents around the globe gather to participate in International Trade. To those who are interested in this part of my article, they can find or search it in tariff, trade, International Monetary Fund or known as IMF, Asian Development Bank or known as ADB, Exports and Import, Common Market, Exchange Rate, World Bank.

To understand the meaning of international trade, according to James B. Calderwood, "International trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries and it is sometimes called "world trade" or "foreign trade". to explain this meaning, it enables a nation to produce the goods it can make the most cheaply and exchange them for goods it finds more costly to produce from one country to another countries. That is how the international trade means to the economics. The good example that practice International Trade is Japan because they can compete with other countries.

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and Asian Development Bank are the major lenders to our country. Their development funds have been focus on economic development such as agriculture.

After mentioning my content of economics from domestic up to global approach, they must take note that we are in the concerns of social responsibility this is not referring to the rich or poor people.

The Need For An Entertainment Lawyer In Film Production

2022-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

Does the film producer really need a film lawyer or entertainment attorney as a matter of professional practice? An entertainment lawyer's own bias and my stacking of the question notwithstanding, which might naturally indicate a "yes" answer 100% of the time - the forthright answer is, "it depends". A number of producers these days are themselves film lawyers, entertainment attorneys, or other types of lawyers, and so, often can take care of themselves. But the film producers to worry about, are the ones who act as if they are entertainment lawyers - but without a license or entertainment attorney legal experience to back it up. Filmmaking and motion picture practice comprise an industry wherein these days, unfortunately, "bluff" and "bluster" sometimes serve as substitutes for actual knowledge and experience. But "bluffed" documents and inadequate production procedures will never escape the trained eye of entertainment attorneys working for the studios, the distributors, the banks, or the errors-and-omissions (E&O) insurance carriers. For this reason alone, I suppose, the job function of film production counsel and entertainment lawyer is still secure.

I also suppose that there will always be a few lucky filmmakers who, throughout the entire production process, fly under the proverbial radar without entertainment attorney accompaniment. They will seemingly avoid pitfalls and liabilities like flying bats are reputed to avoid people's hair. By way of analogy, one of my best friends hasn't had any health insurance for years, and he is still in good shape and economically afloat - this week, anyway. Taken in the aggregate, some people will always be luckier than others, and some people will always be more inclined than others to roll the dice.

But it is all too simplistic and pedestrian to tell oneself that "I'll avoid the need for film lawyers if I simply stay out of trouble and be careful". An entertainment lawyer, especially in the realm of film (or other) production, can be a real constructive asset to a motion picture producer, as well as the film producer's personally-selected inoculation against potential liabilities. If the producer's entertainment attorney has been through the process of film production previously, then that entertainment lawyer has already learned many of the harsh lessons regularly dished out by the commercial world and the film business.

The film and entertainment lawyer can therefore spare the producer many of those pitfalls. How? By clear thinking, careful planning, and - this is the absolute key - skilled, thoughtful and complete documentation of all film production and related activity. The film lawyer should not be thought of as simply the person seeking to establish compliance. Sure, the entertainment lawyer may sometimes be the one who says "no". But the entertainment attorney can be a positive force in the production as well.

The film lawyer can, in the course of legal representation, assist the producer as an effective business consultant, too. If that entertainment lawyer has been involved with scores of film productions, then the motion picture producer who hires that film lawyer entertainment attorney benefits from that very cache of experience. Yes, it sometimes may be difficult to stretch the film budget to allow for counsel, but professional filmmakers tend to view the legal cost expenditure to be a fixed, predictable, and necessary one - akin to the fixed obligation of rent for the production office, or the cost of film for the cameras. While some film and entertainment lawyers may price themselves out of the price range of the average independent film producer, other entertainment attorneys do not.

Enough generalities. For what specific tasks must a producer typically retain a film lawyer and entertainment attorney?:

1. INCORPORATION, OR FORMATION OF AN "LLC": To paraphrase Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko character in the motion picture "Wall Street" when speaking to Bud Fox while on the morning beach on the oversized mobile phone, this entity-formation issue usually constitutes the entertainment attorney's "wake-up call" to the film producer, telling the film producer that it is time. If the producer doesn't properly create, file, and maintain a corporate or other appropriate entity through which to conduct business, and if the film producer doesn't thereafter make every effort to keep that entity shielded, says the entertainment lawyer, then the film producer is potentially hurting himself or herself. Without the shield against liability that an entity can provide, the entertainment attorney opines, the motion picture producer's personal assets (like house, car, bank account) are at risk and, in a worst-case scenario, could ultimately be seized to satisfy the debts and liabilities of the film producer's business. In other words:

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts my head when I do that".

Doctor: "So? Don't do that".

Like it or not, the film lawyer entertainment attorney continues, "Film is a speculative business, and the statistical majority of motion pictures can fail economically - even at the San Fernando Valley film studio level. It is irrational to run a film business or any other form of business out of one's own personal bank account". Besides, it looks unprofessional, a real concern if the producer wants to attract talent, bankers, and distributors at any point in the future.

The choices of where and how to file an entity are often prompted by entertainment lawyers but then driven by situation-specific variables, including tax concerns relating to the film or motion picture company sometimes. The film producer should let an entertainment attorney do it and do it correctly. Entity-creation is affordable. Good lawyers don't look at incorporating a client as a profit-center anyway, because of the obvious potential for new business that an entity-creation brings. While the film producer should be aware that under U.S. law a client can fire his/her lawyer at any time at all, many entertainment lawyers who do the entity-creation work get asked to do further work for that same client - especially if the entertainment attorney bills the first job reasonably.

I wouldn't recommend self-incorporation by a non-lawyer - any more than I would tell a film producer-client what actors to hire in a motion picture - or any more than I would tell a D.P.-client what lens to use on a specific film shot. As will be true on a film production set, everybody has their own job to do. And I believe that as soon as the producer lets a competent entertainment lawyer do his or her job, things will start to gel for the film production in ways that couldn't even be originally foreseen by the motion picture producer.

2. SOLICITING INVESTMENT: This issue also often constitutes a wake-up call of sorts. Let's say that the film producer wants to make a motion picture with other people's money. (No, not an unusual scenario). The film producer will likely start soliciting funds for the movie from so-called "passive" investors in any number of possible ways, and may actually start collecting some monies as a result. Sometimes this occurs prior to the entertainment lawyer hearing about it post facto from his or her client.

If the film producer is not a lawyer, then the producer should not even think of "trying this at home". Like it or not, the entertainment lawyer opines, the film producer will thereby be selling securities to people. If the producer promises investors some pie-in-the-sky results in the context of this inherently speculative business called film, and then collects money on the basis of that representation, believe me, the film producer will have even more grave problems than conscience to deal with. Securities compliance work is among the most difficult of matters faced by an entertainment attorney.

As both entertainment lawyers and securities lawyers will opine, botching a solicitation for film (or any other) investment can have severe and federally-mandated consequences. No matter how great the film script is, it's never worth monetary fines and jail time - not to mention the veritable unspooling of the unfinished motion picture if and when the producer gets nailed. All the while, it is shocking to see how many ersatz film producers in the real world try to float their own "investment prospectus", complete with boastful anticipated multipliers of the box office figures of the famed motion pictures "E.T." and "Jurassic Park" combined. They draft these monstrosities with their own sheer creativity and imagination, but usually with no entertainment or film lawyer or other legal counsel. I'm sure that some of these producers think of themselves as "visionaries" while writing the prospectus. Entertainment attorneys and the rest of the bar, and bench, may tend to think of them, instead, as prospective 'Defendants'.

Enough said.

3. DEALING WITH THE GUILDS: Let's assume that the film producer has decided, even without entertainment attorney guidance yet, that the production entity will need to be a signatory to collective bargaining agreements of unions such as Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the Directors Guild (DGA), and/or the Writers Guild (WGA). This is a subject matter area that some film producers can handle themselves, particularly producers with experience. But if the film producer can afford it, the producer should consult with a film lawyer or entertainment lawyer prior to making even any initial contact with the guilds. The producer should certainly consult with an entertainment attorney or film lawyer prior to issuing any writings to the guilds, or signing any of their documents. Failure to plan out these guild issues with film or entertainment attorney counsel ahead of time, could lead to problems and expenses that sometimes make it cost-prohibitive to thereafter continue with the picture's further production.

4. CONTRACTUAL AFFAIRS GENERALLY: A film production's agreements should all be in writing, and not saved until the last minute, as any entertainment attorney will observe. It will be more expensive to bring film counsel in, late in the day - sort of like booking an airline flight a few days before the planned travel. A film producer should remember that a plaintiff suing for breach of a bungled contract might not only seek money for damages, but could also seek the equitable relief of an injunction (translation: "Judge, stop this production... stop this motion picture... stop this film... Cut!").

A film producer does not want to suffer a back claim for talent compensation, or a disgruntled location-landlord, or state child labor authorities - threatening to enjoin or shut the motion picture production down for reasons that could have been easily avoided by careful planning, drafting, research, and communication with one's film lawyer or entertainment lawyer. The movie production's agreements should be drafted with care by the entertainment attorney, and should be customized to encompass the special characteristics of the production.

As an entertainment lawyer, I have seen non-lawyer film producers try to do their own legal drafting for their own pictures. As mentioned above, some few are lucky, and remain under the proverbial radar. But consider this: if the film producer sells or options the project, one of the first things that the film distributor or film buyer (or its own film and entertainment attorney counsel) will want to see, is the "chain of title" and development and production file, complete with all signed agreements. The production's insurance carrier may also want to see these same documents. So might the guilds, too. And their entertainment lawyers. The documents must be written so as to survive the audience.

Therefore, for a film producer to try to improvise law, is simply to put many problems off for another day, as well as create an air of non-attorney amateurism to the production file. It will be less expensive for the film producer to attack all of these issues earlier as opposed to later, through use of a film lawyer or entertainment attorney. And the likelihood is that any self-respecting film attorney and entertainment lawyer is going to have to re-draft substantial parts (if not all) of the producer's self-drafted production file, once he or she sees what the non-lawyer film producer has done to it on his or her own - and that translates into unfortunate and wasted expense. I would no sooner want my chiropractor to draft and negotiate his own filmed motion picture contracts, than I would put myself on his table and try to crunch through my own adjustments. Furthermore, I wouldn't do half of the chiropractic adjustment myself, and then call the chiropractor into the examining room to finish what I had started. (I use the chiropractic motif only to spare you the cliché of "performing surgery on oneself").

There are many other reasons for retaining a film lawyer and entertainment attorney for motion picture work, and space won't allow all of them. But the above-listed ones are the big ones.

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Non-Essential Reading for Living Off the Grid

2022-06-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

The back cover of Nick Rosen's Off the Grid says the book is "essential reading for anyone who's ever thought about going off the grid." It's not.

Instead, it's a hodgepodge of anecdotes loosely hung together around the theme of utility-less living. I doubt that anybody in Off the Grid would have read, or benefited from, this book before they unplugged. What fails to come across in this featherweight book is the seriousness of the times and of the people whose response to today's USA is, in part, to move off-grid.

This is supposed to be a layman's guide based on the author's conversations with various off-gridders met while he toured the US. Rosen seems a pleasant enough fellow, and the book reads like the collected scraps of a paid vacation, which it surely was. It skips around a lot, as the subjects - I'd hesitate to call them interviewees - are all over the place geographically, and they pop up seemingly at random. In the end, I wondered more how Rosen arranged, and afforded, all that travel, than I did about how or why folks live as they do.

Trouble is, people living off the grid, or contemplating it, already have the resources, and the support networks they need; they're only a Google away. In these golden days of the information era, the survivalists have survivalist sites; the homeschoolers and the religious have places to congregate; pot-growers don't Bogart their intel; enviros have Real Goods; and even the nomadic car dwellers have groups, such as the enormously busy Van Dwellers Yahoo Group, for advice and support. I'll give out a shout here to "Hobo Stripper," who successfully parlayed a web site written from her van while making her living as an itinerant sex worker, into an off-grid Alaskan retreat she now owns and calls home.

Off-gridders owe more to Stewart Brand, still living on his tugboat, and The Whole Earth Catalog, than they do to any other single source. Yet they don't rate a mention in Off the Grid. Now there was a book that deserved the paper it was [ecologically] printed on. The Catalog, "Access to Tools," sparked the off-grid, back to the land movement 40 years ago. Those myriad sparks of knowledge - including the Internet - still glow all around us, informing us and lighting our way.

Rosen does nothing to add to the conversation(s) the Catalog started, either by compiling source information or digging out obscure but useful sites. There are no notes, no bibliography, no index.

He clearly hasn't done his homework when it comes to the political side of off-grid living, either. Perhaps it's his British perspective, but on this side of the Atlantic, it's easy to understand how intelligent, well-read, conscientious individuals are - at best - deeply distrustful of their government. I'm certainly no expert in any of the many government lies, conspiracies, and cover-ups of the past 60 years - my lifetime - nor do I want or need to be. But I've seen enough to understand that our government is essentially malign in many important aspects.

For example, it's bizarre that Rosen only "vaguely remembered" a conversation with Larry Silverstein, owner of the World Trade Center, and recipient of something like $750 million in insurance money, about the rationale behind the pre-arranged, controlled demolition of Building 7 on 9/11 (p.268). And because this is not just some historical footnote to many people, including his subject of the moment, Allan Weisbecker, Rosen dismisses him - and them - as paranoid kooks in his chapter entitled "Fear."

As for Peak Oil, Rosen betrays a lack of understanding that disserves both his subjects and the reading public. He makes an error of fact by mis-defining Peak Oil as "the point in history at which the amount of oil consumed each year exceeds the amount of new oil found each year" (p.273). Consumption has outpaced discovery for many years. Peak Oil is when worldwide oil production reaches its highest possible point, ever and for all time. It's a basic, but critical distinction. According to the International Energy Agency, that point occurred in 2006, in line with what many others have predicted.

It's important for this book because Peak Oil means that the whole 150-year era of petro-industrial growth - of which the grid is a big part - is over. The grid is almost certainly on its way out, whether through irreparable infrastructure deterioration, terrorism, copper- and aluminum "mining" vandalism, fuel shortages, financial shenanigans, or some mix of the above.

Rosen addresses none of this and condescends toward those of his subjects who take politics and energy seriously. It's not just that there's bad scholarship here, though there's that, it's that there's no indication of any critical thinking or reading.

There's no help here for people who are already off-grid and want to get better at it. Nor is there enough intellectual meat to help concerned readers make informed decisions about their place on- or off-grid.

If you must read Off the Grid, at least take it out of the library, as I did. And spend your hard-earned cash elsewhere - like on your utility bill.

Smart Cities Expanded

2022-06-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

There is no doubt that Smart Cities hold a lot of promise to help make our communities safer, better places to live. But, as with every new technical development, there are risks. What are the components of a Smart City? What are the problems? More importantly, can governments keep up with technology?

People, when they hear the term "Smart City" for the first time, tend to think of energy, specifically, the arguments surrounding the move toward sustainable and ecologically-friendly energy. But energy generation is just one part of the Smart City concept. "I don't like talking only about energy when talking about Smart Cities," said Mr. Yasuhiro Kawai, a researcher over at Nikkei Business Publications, the organizer of SCW 2014. "Smart Cities are much more than that. A Smart City is, at its heart, a concept which introduces technology to create positive changes and make people's lives better."

There is no one template for making a city smart, and the first step each Smart City program has to take is a local approach to solve local problems. Those approaches can then be expanded to include a larger area, but it is important to start small. The opportunities to apply technology in a community are numerous.

One major example in Japan right now is how many commuter rail companies in the country have integrated their monthly train passes with an RFID chip, which provides consumers with an electronic wallet of sorts. Each major railway company had their own system about seven to ten years ago, and each system was fundamentally incompatible with others. The Suica network of JR East, for instance, could not work on the Icoca terminals operated by JR West. Pasmo, operated by Tokyu, worked only on Tokyu-operated lines. A casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that this attempt at deploying smart city technology wasn't very smart.

However, since 2009, most systems created reciprocal agreements and now riders can transfer across railway lines using only one card. Point-of-purchase has been integrated as well. Mr. Kawai raised this as a point of starting small. "It looked really disorganized at the beginning. You had all these systems and they didn't work well together. Now, as the technology and the operations supporting the technology improved, they are almost seamless," he said.

Connecting Towns and Lives

Further, Mr. Kawai points to the pilot program in the city of Katsuragi in Japan's Nara prefecture, east of Osaka, where a group of seniors have signed up for medical monitoring wristbands. As Mr. Kawai explained it, the population of the village has thinned out over recent decades, as most young people have fled for the larger cities of Osaka and Tokyo to make a living. That has left behind a sparse population of older folks who are not as connected to the community as in previous generations. The medical bracelets monitor a person's vital signs and will notify a nearby hospital over the Internet if a problem is detected. It is just a pilot program, but it is also a very real example of how even a small, rural town can gain from Smart City technology.

Perhaps the most inviting target for Smart City upgrades involves the infrastructure of a community and the cars which drive its roads. There have been several remarkable advances in infrastructure science recently, the most notable of which is perhaps the concept of a solar roadway.

A couple of entrepreneurs in Sandpoint, Idaho (USA) have developed a 1.5 meter hexagonal solar panel encased in heavy-duty tempered glass which can withstand the elements and the constant pounding of cars and trucks on the road. Thousands of these panels, interlocked and connected by software, can provide a smart driving surface which can do everything from illuminate driving lanes at night to outline pedestrians crossing a street, all while providing electricity to the community and, of course, to the electric cars which will drive on those roads.

Cars, as well, are getting a makeover, and human drivers may soon be obsolete. Autonomous cars, as they are called, are cars with sophisticated navigation software onboard which can choose the most efficient or safest routes to take their passengers. Although Google has stolen most of the limelight in this area, Audi, Volvo and even MIT are researching self-driving cars. Many of the cars themselves have just made it out of the lab and are on limited street trials. However, it doesn't take much to put these two developments together to imagine a city where electric, self-driving cars are navigating on illuminated roads which generate power for the community.

Challenges and Opportunities

For all its advantages, though, Smart Cities do have several obstacles to overcome. Perhaps foremost among those is the acceptance of some people in the community. What could be the issue? The problem, it turns out, is two-fold. First, people usually want to see a tangible economic benefit from an investment in the community. "For instance," explained Mr. Kawai, "if you invest community resources to place sensors on a bridge to notify maintenance of needed repair ahead of time, that's great. It actually saves money. But, the people don't usually see the benefit. Sure, the bridge gets repaired before small problems become large problems, but it doesn't mean that people recognize that as a tangible improvement."

While getting people to see that matters like civic maintenance are taken care of before they become big problems is one roadblock to Smart City rollouts, another, larger concern is about what the technology represents. The ubiquitous placement of technology in everything someone does, from point-of-sale smart cards to mass transit to street cameras, in addition to the geolocation functionality present in today's smartphones, has raised fears of creating a "Big Brother" state where the notion of privacy becomes a forgotten relic of the past.

Implementing a Smart City program is a delicate operation. Mr. Toshiya Mochida, also of Nikkei BP, suggests starting small. "Start with a small area of your town, with a technology for a very specific purpose. Trial it for a while, then invite feedback. Most importantly, governments and organizations should be transparent about their goals. What information will they collecting, and why?" Information collection by governments and organizations is a prime concern, notes Mr. Kawai. "A vast majority of the information will just be archives, shut away somewhere, never to be seen or heard from again. But still, it's out there. Will it be managed? Will it be destroyed? These are things to consider, too," he said.

Governments, too, pose a potential problem to Smart City development. Laws often do not keep pace with change. Technology usually advances faster than governments can react, leaving many technological advances in a legal gray area. The greatest example cited is copyright law when faced with the rise of the Internet in the late 1990s. Copyright laws created in the mid 20th century did not foresee the complexities discovered when the record companies fought Napster and other download services, and legal frameworks are still being developed to insure artists are fairly compensated for work.

Self-driving cars look to be the next chapter where technology is advancing quicker than the government's ability to regulate it. A California Highway Patrol officer interviewed for this article said, "This opens up a whole new area of road rules. We need to review licensing, insurance, safety standards, all these areas. Until we get that worked out, I can't see this going mainstream." At present, even with a smart car, a qualified, licensed driver has to be in control of the vehicle.

The jackpot question, of course, is, "Where will Smart City technology be in 5 or 10 years?" Although tempting to do so, you can't really use technological achievements over the past decade as a roadmap for the future. If you were in 2004, then tried to map out what things would be like in 2014, could you really see how a simple cell phone, which had basic calling and, perhaps, mail/text functions back then, become the "computer in your pocket" that smartphones are now? Groundbreaking technologies now being researched - and those not even conceived of yet - will doubtless change the world and the way we live by 2024. Technological developments are at once iterative and explosive. Even a certain technology can branch out into multiple applications. Wearables, for example, look to be fading in the exercise and fitness circuit, but they are proving value among elderly and people who require constant monitoring.

One thing is for certain - technology and those who develop it will continue to change the way we live. The Smart Cities concept is being tested and it is an exciting and ongoing experiment.

How To Improve Your Credit Score - Dos And Don'ts

2022-06-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

What is Credit Score: It is a statistical number based on your credit history, repayment habits and other financial data collected from financial institution by the rating agencies. Your Credit Score is an indicator of your Credit Worthiness. This data is collected by the rating agency based on a key or unique identifier like Permanent Account Number (PAN - issued by the Income Tax Department in India) or SSN in USA. Each rating agency may assign different weight-age to different parameters used to determine it. Generally, it ranges between 300 to 850 points.

With the credit score check, the lender gets an idea about the probability of default by the borrower, in case a loan / credit facility is given to him/her. Higher the Credit Score better are the chances for getting a loan at cheaper rates. Hence it is important for you to check it before applying for a fresh loan or credit. A credit score below 600 is considered poor and generally the financial institutions avoid loans to such individuals. By maintaining financial discipline you can also improve your it easily. The very small things or ignorance can seriously damage your credit worthiness. By paying little attention to these small little things you can improve the credit score and avail cheaper credit facilities.

To improve your credit score, you should follow certain dos and don'ts.

Dos

1. Never delay the payment of installments due on existing loans.

2. Make credit card bills payment always in time. If possible, use the ECS or Auto debit facility on your card bills payment, so that there is no chance of forgetting the bill payment on due date.

3. If possible, try to prepay the existing loans. Making a little extra payment over and above the due EMI or installments not only helps you reduce the interest out-go but also helps improve your credit score.

4. Maintaining good and long banking relations with existing banker helps you increase the credit score. Frequently changing your banker, especially the business related credit facilities, can bring it down.

5. Also make payment of your utility bills like electricity, mobile, insurance premium, municipal taxes etc in time. Though these don't get reported directly for the credit score check, but these help you maintain financial disciplined life.

Don'ts

1. Do not take different loans from different banks. Try to use maximum credit facilities from one or two banks. For example you have two housing loans, two car loans and one personal loan each of this from a different bank. This kind of arrangement will pull down your credit score. Try to shift all these five loans to one or max two banks.

2. Do not rotate the credit card balance from one card to another card. Rotating balance from one card to another means, you don't have means to pay the credit card bills. This seriously damages your credit worthiness.

3. Do not fully utilize or over utilize the credit card limit. In case you reach above 90% limit regularly, ask the credit card issuer to increase your credit limit.

4. Do not discontinue your old credit cards without any reason or because you have taken a new card. Longer the credit history with regular bill payments, better the credit score.

5. Do not take too many credit cards from different banks. Maintain maximum 3-4 cards with same number of banks. If you use these cards regularly and make on-time payments of the card bills, your card company would be happy to increase your card limit.

6. Do not withdraw cash from CREDIT Cards via an ATM unless it is an extreme emergency. Frequent cash withdrawal from credit card account brings down your credit worthiness, instead use Debit Cards linked to your savings account for cash withdrawals.

Try to obtain your credit score sheet once a year, so that you know where you stand. In case you find any errors in the reported transactions on your sheet, immediately report the same to the concerned financial institution for correction and updating the same with rating agencies, especially when you are planning to take a fresh loan / credit facility.

Family Fun On The Water

2022-06-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Today's family is generally cut down to almost "no time." Parents are working longer hours, kids and teens attention is being consumed by social media, television and even texting entire conversations. The distractions are all around us. Heck, I remember when I was younger we actually had to get on our bikes and ride to visit friends and then we talked with them using our voice.

Times have changed, but not all of it has been for the better. Families need more alternatives to spending time together than just "friending" each other on the internet and "posting" about the days events. Without interaction together it is difficult to really know a person.

Luckily there is a great way to solve this issue. Spend time together without electronic distractions, get to know one another and get bodies in motion for exercise. It's called paddle sports. Quite commonly known as kayaking, canoeing, and the growing popular stand up paddleboards, or SUP's.

Throughout the world we are blessed with many rivers, lakes and other bodies of water that are there for the exploring. Not to mention the natural beauty Mother Nature is willing to share. The type of scenery is only found via watercraft.

Sure, boating is great too, but it has some major disadvantages. It cost money for gas, insurance, docking and so forth. It is also very difficult to get into those little nooks and crannies of nature. Using a kayak, or canoe doesn't require any extra money. Only a paddle and some human power.

This outdoor water sport is taking off like a rocket to the moon. Parents, kids, teens of all ages are falling in love with paddle sports the world over.

By using a lightweight vessel and an oar people can paddle and explore things that cannot be seen unless on the water. It doesn't require a big vehicle to tow, it can even be done with a small vehicle with the right trailer.

Kayak trailers specially built to be lightweight, yet carry several paddle sport boating vessels can be purchased to accommodate many kayaks and canoes and still be pulled behind a small car. Imagine this, the entire family, some friends all getting together and spending the whole day on the water, or at the park and just getting to know each other and spending time without texting, or emailing. This is all possible.

So come on people. Gather the troops, get your friends together, get the children out of the house and enjoy mother nature. You have a world to explore, it's time to get going!

Moving Costs - 6 Ways to Control Home Moving Expenses

2022-06-21T09:27:00.000-07:00

Many people are astonished at the costs of moving their home. To avoid a nasty shock to your financial system, use these six ways to take control of the costs involved. They may lead you to change what goods you take, the services you buy, and even the date you move.

Be realistic

Don't under-estimate the load size - consider all your possessions, including attic and basement contents and your car and boat.

Consider all the costs including house sale, new home redecoration and change of services, moving services, insurance, storage, your travel, and especially your own time and energy.

Control requires time. Start early, or be prepared to pay for help to manage the move.

Reduce the load

Load size is the biggest factor in the costs of packing, loading, transport, storage, insurance, and your own efforts, even if you do it yourself.

The amount of junk that people pay move often astonishes moving companies. Everyone has some. Use a critical eye to get rid of yours.

Why take stuff you don't use? If you haven't used it in the last two years, you probably don't need it. Leave such clutter behind, and simplify your life!

If your major appliances are old, new ones would save energy and money in operation. Why pay to take them with you?

You'll probably redecorate your new home. Don't take furniture that will be discarded anyway when it doesn't fit your new style.

Don't take your surfboard when you move from California to Saskatchewan. Don't take home workshop equipment when you move to an apartment. Leave behind any activity equipment or clothing that won't fit your new lifestyle.

A garage sale, or eBay, or donations to charity are all good ways to ensure that the goods you no longer need will find good uses.

Choose the best time

Movers and moving trucks have peak demand times: month-ends, summer school break, and winter holidays. At these peaks, the costs are higher, movers and trucks are harder to get, and the shortage of time can degrade the quality of work done.

Schedule your closing dates for moving flexibility and to minimize temporary storage. I once scheduled the closing of both sale and purchase on the same date; final legalities turned up a possible lien that took days to clear up and denied access to my new house, practically doubling my moving cost and effort.

Find out everything that needs to be done, and allow ample time.

The best time for this move may be never. When we considered real estate and redecoration costs, my wife and I decided not to downsize before retirement, because we expected to move at retirement anyway.

Consider doing it yourself

You can save real money on moving services by packing yourself with less expensive materials, loading and unloading the truck or container yourself, driving the load in a rented truck, or using self-storage.

BUT, be realistic. Doing it yourself takes a lot of time effort, and knowledge. There can be complications due to your inexperience, as well as unexpected costs. It takes physical labor, and you may not be as fit and strong as you think. Is the money saving really that great, and is it worth the other costs?

Shop wisely

If you hire moving services, screen companies using word of mouth and other information, get two or three written estimates in person, ensure they cover everything to be moved, and observe carefully to judge the quality of the company.

If you rent equipment, shop around for competitive prices and make sure you know the terms and flexibility of the contract. Can you extend the time if necessary?

If you buy or scrounge packing materials, don't skimp on protection. Get double-walled boxes with lids, in sizes appropriate for the contents. Use plenty of padding for fragile items and don't cram breakables too closely together.

Track and claim expenses

Some out-of-pocket moving expenses can probably be claimed against income for tax, if properly validated.

Find out what is deductible, and get receipts or other documentation for all such costs.

Using these six strategies, you are sure to get good value for your time and money. You will also be happier, with a well-managed move and no nasty surprises.

Accounting Software Minimises Workload And Cuts Business Expenses

2022-06-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

It isn't so very long ago that anyone dealing with the bookkeeping requirements of a small, or even quite large, business would have done so using paper ledgers. It wasn't called "bookkeeping "for nothing.

For many years I sold accounting systems for a living; at first they were paper-based and then, very slowly, they transitioned into a computer based system as the necessary software and hardware became more affordable for businesses.

Over time, the bookkeeping function has evolved into something much more comprehensive. This is due to the capability, inherent within most accounting software these days, to integrate the various bookkeeping functions in order to see the bigger picture immediately, without having to wait days for reports to be compiled by hand.

It's all very well for the sales manager to know that his team of high-performing salespeople have booked orders worth over a hundred thousand dollars this week but, unless he knows how much it has cost to run that sales team, how much the goods and services being provided have cost to produce and what other overheads are involved, his sales figure taken in isolation doesn't mean very much.

If, on the other hand he can get a real-time impression of the overall situation including a bottom line profit or loss calculation, he can make decisions and take action much more quickly than he could back in the paper-based bookkeeping days.

The information, of course, was always available, it just wasn't easily accessible.

If we accept that it takes roughly the same amount of time to enter the details of a suppliers invoice into the purchase ledger module of a computerised accounting system as it does to write it into a paper ledger then, line for line, both methods are more or less equal. So why invest the time, effort and money in installing a computerised accounting system?

The answer, of course, lies in what happens to that information once it is entered into the system. If you write the details of a purchase invoice into a book it stays there, in the book. No one else knows about it.

If, on the other hand, you take the same amount of time and enter those same details into an integrated computer-based accounting system, the information is distributed to all areas of the system where it is needed. Management can see the up-to-date expenditure figure at the click of a mouse or the push of a button. I think most people would agree that is more efficient than asking one of the bookkeeping team to prepare a report by hand.

Accounting software not only reduces the time taken to keep company-wide accounts data up-to-date, it also gives employees and management at all levels the information that they need in an instant.

The salesperson answering a stock enquiry from a customer can see whether a particular item is in stock without having to walk down to the warehouse, the company accountant can see how much cash should be received by the end of the month and how much of it will be available to pay suppliers.

Accounting software saves time and effort and puts people in control by giving them up-to-date information upon which to make important business decisions.

Inventory Management - Ten Ways to Use Accounting Software to Improve Efficiency

2022-06-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

1. Integrate Order Entry.

Do your processes include writing down your customers' orders, only to have somebody else enter the information again to create an invoice? If so, you are spending more money and time than necessary by paying two people to do virtually the same job. You can save time and increase the accuracy of your orders by implementing order entry into your system. Using order entry allows one person to enter and save an order, and that same order can then be turned into an invoice when ready. You will save money, and also reduce human error, increasing customer satisfaction.

2. Automate the selling of different units of measure.

Some customers want a case, others want a whole pallet, and still others only want one of that same item. Sound familiar? Do you have to 'trick' your software into handling this scenario, or end up doing inventory adjustments? You can solve this costly problem by setting up one inventory item with multiple units of measure. By setting up the selling units you need for each item, you can have your system calculate how many you have in stock by unit, and you can easily buy, sell and stock your items how you choose. This can save you significant time and will also give you a more accurate picture of how many items you really have in stock. Most importantly, you can quickly tell your customer how many you have available in the unit of measure they choose.

3. Set up and use assemblies to build or 'kit' items.

Do you put several items together and sell them as a kit? Or, do you manufacture something composed of many raw materials? Do you endure the painstaking process of entering each piece of the final item separately into your accounting system? If so, you can drastically cut down on time and increase accuracy by setting these items up as 'assemblies'. Setting up an assembly allows you to place a finished product on an order, and it will take all of its components out of stock for you behind the scenes. This cuts down on data entry and keeps your inventory counts and costs accurate.

4. Take physical inventory more often.

Having an accurate count of the items in your inventory can save your company money, and your customers will be happy to get a quick and accurate answer on whether an item is available. You can make your physical inventory process easier by using a system that allows you to keep selling products while you take counts. The sales staff is happy because they can keep selling, the warehouse manager is happy because the counts are accurate, and the customer is happy to receive accurate information in a timely manner.

5. Track inventory by location.

Is that item in the back warehouse? On the retail floor? Or is it out on one of the delivery trucks? If you store items in more than one location, you should quickly be able to see exactly where it is by location. You can accomplish this by setting up more than one inventory location in your software. If you have the ability to set up unlimited inventory locations, you can even set up (for example) a delivery truck as its own location. Setting up multiple warehouses saves you time searching, and can also reduce costly shrinkage.

6. Automate tracking of serial and lot-numbered items.

Still tracking your serial or lot-numbered items on paper or in a spreadsheet? Not only does this make the receiving of those items time-consuming, there is no trail associating your customers with the serial or lot numbers for the items they purchase. You can set up your system to capture and store the serial or lot numbers for your inventory upon receipt. Then when you enter your customers' orders, you can choose which serial/lot numbers they have purchased. Your company will save significant time by keeping track of those numbers in one system, and you'll keep your customer happy by being able to quickly access which serial or lot numbers for the items they have purchased. This also helps you keep easy track of warranty information.

7. Let your software system keep track of customer pricing.

Are you tired of flipping through files to find what your customer paid last time, only hoping that the page on top is the most up-to-date? You can eliminate this hassle by setting up your customer pricing in your software system. By setting up customer pricing in the software, you will ensure better accuracy, keeping your customers happy, and you'll also save yourself wasted time and hassle.

8. Track profitability of inventory items.

How easy is it for you to see which items are the most profitable? How do you know that the items you promote or sell the most are bringing in the most revenue? With the ability to run reports showing profitability (Gross Profit Margin) by each individual item, you can check often to be sure you are selling the right items. By easily accessing this information, you can focus your sales and marketing departments on selling and promoting the most profitable items, enabling you to improve your bottom line.

9. Enter purchase orders from order entry.

Have you ever run out of an item, and forgot to put it on order for your customer? You can have your system prompt you to enter a purchase order directly from the order entry screen. By doing this, you will be sure to get the items for your order, keeping your customer happy. You will also save time by taking care of both functions at once.

10. Know which items you have so you can keep just the right number in stock.

Are you surprised when you run out of an item? Or how about when you find a huge overstock? Set up your system to keep a minimum and maximum amount for each item. Then you can easily run a report at any time, showing what you are running low on so you can order more before you run out. You can be sure you don't waste valuable shelf space by overstocking any items. This will streamline the purchase order process too, saving your company hours of time.

Why Your Business Should Use Online Accounting Software

2022-06-21T09:12:00.004-07:00

Cloud software has revolutionised the world of modern business, allowing people to work together remotely in real time -wherever they are in the world. The Cloud allows multiple users to collaborate on pieces of work and have access to the same files and company documents from a PC, laptop or mobile phone.

If you're familiar with cloud sharing, you may have also heard of cloud accounting. In much the same way that The Cloud allows users to collaborate on pieces of work and access files remotely, it also enables business owners and their accountants to work together to balance the books whilst on the move.

If you're unfamiliar with cloud sharing, you may be daunted by the prospect of online accounting software. You may worry it will be difficult to implement and confusing to grasp; you might also be concerned about the security of your account information, particularly if you've not used cloud software before.

But online accounting was created with the aim of making life easier and more flexible for business owners. It will allow you to connect with your numbers, as well as financial advisers, at any time using any device. Not only that, but you should receive a full setup, implementation training and ongoing support from your provider.

Not only will you be able to access your accounts at any time, but using online accounting software will also provide you with a time saving payroll solution. You'll have access to a snapshot of your payroll and leave information and super payments at any time. Super payments and tax updates will be also become automated.

This means that you'll no longer need to spend hours in the back office manually entering your payroll information, or pay someone to do it for you: an intelligent computer system will take care of it whilst you get on with running your business.

You can even access your payroll on your mobile phone, so if you're on the road more often than you're sat at a desk, you'll have everything you need to manage your business from your pocket.

Invoices will also be easier to manage. You can send an invoice the minute a job has been completed, and you will know when your customer has opened it. They will then be able to pay you quickly and easily. Your support team should also be able to help you manage your old invoices and keep on top of your incoming payments.

Most accounting apps also include a handy receipt-scanning function, allowing you to track your expenditure as and when it happens. So no more trying to keep receipts organised and having to input figures manually.

When it comes to implementing your new online accounting software, it's important to find a well established, reputable IT network you can rely on. The company should have been in operation for a number of years, and have a portfolio of success stories from other companies who have benefited from their support.

The company's existing clients should be listed on their website, as well as any testimonials or positive reviews they may have received. It's useful to read these to gauge how reliable, professional and helpful the company is before you think about contacting them.

You should be able to find a number of different contact methods, including telephone numbers and e-mail support. It's best to contact an adviser directly and explain the requirements of your business from the outset. Many IT providers are able to provide completely bespoke solutions to suit their client's unique needs.

Make sure the company you contact offer support as well as implementation of your new software - you need to know that you will be able to call on an expert at any time.

Business Accounting Software

2022-06-21T09:12:00.003-07:00

Accounting is a system of collecting, summarizing, analyzing and reporting, in monetary terms, information about an organization. The end product of business accounting software is the financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position. These statements are, therefore, the source of information on the basis of which conclusions can be drawn regarding the operations of a firm. The analysis and interpretation of financial statements would depend upon the nature and type of information available.

When talking about business accounting software, the balance sheet is a significant financial statement of a firm. In fact, it is called a fundamental accounting report. Other terms to describe this financial statement are statement of financial position or position statement. As the name suggests, the balance sheet provides information about the financial standing/ position of a firm at a particular point of time. It can be visualized as a snapshot of the financial status of a company. The financial position of the company is valid for only one day- the reference day. On a preceding or following day, it is bound to be different.

The financial position of a firm as disclosed by the balance sheet refers to its resources and obligations and the interest of its owners in the business. In operational terms, the balance sheet contains information in respect of assets, liabilities and shareholders equity. It can be presented in either of two forms: account form or report form. It is usually presented in account form. In the report form a step-wise balance sheet is prepared, listings asset at the top followed by liabilities and owners equity. The contents of the balance sheet, in whatever form presented, consist of assets of the firm and the means, by which they have been financed, that is, liabilities and owners equity.

Why's Utilize QuickBooks Accounting Software Still Ruling The Financial World?

2022-06-21T09:12:00.002-07:00

QuickBooks accounting computer code has some dedicated to delivering accountancy services to the businesses. It's a computer code programming to help enterprise hosting for the purchasers. QuickBooks is directly offered for the QuickBooks desktop version and received on cloud webs too. The cloud-based server is that the new notion of technology that edges on the net. An organization will get cloud help which means the appliance has hosted on the remote PCs. All the hosting employees within the business direct regular facilitate for its shoppers.

The application is reliable, minimum uncertainties of breakdown however the assistant is often there simply a decision away. Even the installation demands simply some flashes, Associate in Nursingd an icon has placed on the laptop. Users will press the QuickBooks image and still find the appliance. Hosting on Cloud ensures the services is found from anywhere and at anytime. This skillfulness of the computer code is enough to the hosting of the accountancy services. the online could be a free area and anytime is login therefore because the computer code are accessible at any bit. With the Enterprise accommodation services the worth of the corporate is proscribed, and users don't ought to shift files and records to every alternative. All the documents and information ar abundant protected, and also the firms will trust the cloud hosting help. Another helpline support prices find it irresistible resources, VPN, pricey servers has passed once obtaining QuickBooks hosting. Cloud hosting is effective for organizing the help as a result of that decreases the additional burden of organization's product. All the accountancy administration has directed by the capable QuickBooks Enterprise hosting. The computer code itself appears any modernize and announcements of a brand new version of the modules or QuickBooks. This self-managing computer code effectively handles each the corporate and its program. All the add-ons and new characteristics ar prepared to be used once the upgrades have finished. This program is skilled of saving the information as reinforcement selected on fastened plans. The computer code backup, support, and treating the responsibility of QB to verify if the business is running accurately.

The Quality of QuickBooks Cloud based mostly Software:

We understood that there ar many open sources accountancy computer code and established closed authorization computer code that is extremely useful to keep up and customise accountancy works, QuickBooks additionally giving industry-specific multiple versions, with work flow strategies and statements planned for every of those trade and users standards in conjunction with technology related to the companies. it's not counseled solely desktop hosting however additionally combined with numerous web-based characteristics into computer code, containing remote access skills over cloud net that ar accessible at anytime anywhere conditions. Remote payroll support and outsourcing, electronic payment technique, on-line commercialism, and settlement, mapping highlights through combination and increased e-mail practicality. it's not too acquainted with solely restricted accountancy characteristic however additionally combining several add-ons United to form it additional convenient among a selected computer code service cowl. If you want to host your statement, you've got many selections, however you'll hold to stay in your thought that the worth of hosting and repair containing services with 24/7 conditions.

Smart thanks to the QuickBooks:

With treated QuickBooks, users will follow the appliance of any tools adore good phones, tablets. So, computer code is constantly offered with America, and that we have endlessly synced with our accountancy comes.

Efficient Multi-User Way:

QuickBooks hosting permits a comptroller, CPA, and customers to figure at the same time from totally different natural places. This provides a awfully effective accountancy operation

It's faster than desktop QuickBooks:

Cloud computing permits such a bespoken service for QuickBooks as a result of it runs the appliance with ease and quick speed.

Xero Accounting Software: Pricing, Features, Reviews & Comparison of Alternatives

2022-06-21T09:12:00.001-07:00

What Is Xero?
The award-winning accounting software, Xero, is one of the favourite financial collaboration apps available in the market. The software is heavily popular among leaders and top players in the accounting category.

The design of Xero is set to meet the require

ments of small businesses, irrespective of their industry. The popular app is often the handiest asset for an accountant to manage their financial activities. What makes Xero great is its friendliness and usability while assembling top-notch features that help close important gaps in accounting.

A great advantage that Xero boasts is even someone with zero accounting knowledge finds it easy to manage, as even the most standardized and complex financial concepts become enjoyable. For instance, one can trace back double bookkeeping to the origins of the business, but Xero breaks the stigma of it being uncomfortable by non-expert users. The logic and the terminology of the accounting practices stay intact, but operations become simple for even a commoner to understand and use as per their business needs.

The ease of use and makes Xero a noteworthy name among the top-ranking companies around the globe, outperforming the accounting job than most prominent players in this competitive industry. Even though one feels that they do not have ample knowledge in the best accounting practices, Xero's certified advisors' guidance assists you all the way along the journey.

Founded in New Zealand in 2006, Xero has been recording outstanding growth rates on the global markets, especially in Australia, America, UK and Europe. Today, over 475,000 business and sole accountants are using Xero. Partnered with various accounting systems and third-party apps, Xero extends its usefulness in making your accounting journey a smooth outing.

Pricing
Xero offers variable pricing plans that suit your unique business needs. Currently, Xero no longer includes payroll and has put limits to a few features likes expenses and multi-currency support to its most expensive plan. However, each plan offers unlimited users and live bank feeds, letting businesses download, categorize, and perform their transactions as usual.

The accounting software offers three different pricing plans, which are billed monthly. One can cancel the subscription plan at any time they need, but with a notice period of a month. Xero offers a free trial period of 30 days with a demo company set up for one to explore the software before buying it. A nonprofit organization or owners of multiple companies can avail discounts from the accounting software company.

Let us have a look at the pricing plans by Xero:

Starter
Xero's Early plan costs $20 per month and is ideal for freelancers, sole traders and new businesses. The plan includes:

Sending up to 20 invoices and quotes

Entering up to 5 bills

Reconciling bank transactions

Capturing bills and receipts with Hubdoc

The optional add-ons include claim expenses and track projects for $4 and $7 respectively.

Standard
The standard plan costs $30 per month and is ideal for growing small businesses. The plan includes:

Sending invoices and quotes

Entering bills

Reconciling bank transactions

Capturing bills and receipts with Hubdoc

The optional add-ons include claim expenses and track projects for $4 and $7 respectively.

Premium
The premium plan costs $40 per month and is ideal for established businesses of all sizes. The plan includes:

Sending invoices and quotes

Entering bills

Reconciling bank transactions

Capturing bills and receipts with Hubdoc

Using multiple currencies

The optional add-ons include claim expenses and track projects for $4 and $7 respectively.

Features

Bank Reconciliation
Xero imports all financial transactions into its database, before linking them to the corresponding accounting transactions. On confirming the match, the transaction will be reconciled in the system. The application can import feeds from more bank accounts, credit cards and PayPal accounts. The software also lets you perform more complex transactions by creating your custom rules. You can import and automatically reconcile pre-coded bank statements with the fast cash coding feature.

Dashboard
The Xero dashboard lets business owners get a complete picture of their key accounts, income and expense reports, upcoming bills and pending invoices, helping them understand all their company's financial activities. You can turn on notifications to monitor certain accounts if needed.

Xero's dashboard is easy to use and navigate and helpful for the user to understand every information they need. You can also perform tasks such as adding accounts, bills and issuing invoices in the dashboard.

Invoicing
The invoicing system is an important part of the accounting suite, helping you in generating and customizing business invoices. You can add your company's logo, perform foreign currency conversion, and save different templates for separate clients.

The system can issue invoices for payments from various sources like PayPal accounts, bank transfers or credit cards. Xero's invoicing tool provides alerts when your invoice has been opened by the recipient.

Xero can automatically convert the invoice into the currency used by the client, reducing the burden of manual conversion.

Security & Automatic Updates
Security is highly important for a cloud system that holds private information, making it safe from hackers and other malevolent attackers. The developers understand the threat, hence providing a dedicated security team to keep the data safe.

Xero team strive for constant improvements to their service, adding new features constantly. This ensures that the efficiency of the app and your user experience is always optimal.

Competitors

QuickBooks
QuickBooks is a cloud-based accounting solution, helping small businesses in managing their accounting and finances. A customer can view all accounts with auto-synchronization. The necessary accounting and client communication feature can also be done on their native iOS and Android apps.

Zoho Books
Zoho Books is another smart accounting solution, which is ideal for small businesses in helping them manage their business and cash flow. The app is user-friendly, has a clean design with vital features to generate actionable, data-based insights.

FreshBooks
FreshBooks is an award-winning robust cloud accounting app, ideal for small businesses to make easy billing. The software lets users manage key processes with ease while providing special modules to manage projects and taxes.

Ending Notes
With ample integrations and strong features, Xero is an ideal software for accounting purposed. With multiple automation, the application saves your business time in performing otherwise manual tasks. Hence, Xerox is the ideal accounting software for businesses.

What Is the Difference Between Quickbooks and Sage Accounting Software

2022-06-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

QuickBooks is a top of the line bookkeeping framework for little and medium size organizations. The product is keenly created to sort out deals by following costs; arranging time sheets, deals slips and solicitations; and keeping up impose data. You can pick the privilege QuickBooks variant relying on the necessity of your business. QuickBooks Desktop variant is inserted with solid highlights which mirror the idea of the business.

• Quickbooks is a business accounting software - helps business managers to avoid depending wholly on an accountant. The software helps businessmen in Income and expense tracking, enable one to synch with bank accounts. You can avail bookkeeping facility via QB software as well.

Sage is a project management tool that basically offers basic bookkeeping features such as expense tracking and invoice reporting. It is not able to handle all of the book-keeping services

• On one hand, Sage one offers amazing free trial wherein users have the facility to test the software for free without submitting credit card data. Quickbooks on the other hand offers a free trial but you are required to enter credit card data and cancel the account before 30 day period is over

• QB enables users to create unlimited invoices and estimates. On the other hand, Sage one enables users to add unlimited number of collaborators to a single project

• Quickbooks on one hand bases its pricing on features and the more you are willing to pay, the more features you receive. Sage on the other hand charges extra for adding administrators to your account. All plans have single administrator and $10 per month is charged in adding more admins.

• In case of QB, users are able to add bank accounts and credit card accounts to QB and account information. It will automatically sync across the software. Sage one on the other hand enables one to add bank accounts to the platform, though transaction details won't be able to sync automatically.

Scope of Services

Every variant of QuickBooks bookkeeping programming has its own arrangement of qualities and shortcomings. The entrepreneurs ought to precisely audit and check the distinctions keeping in mind the end goal to pick the best answer for their business.

If you have any query understanding difference between QB and Sage, kindly feel free to contact us on our Toll-Free Number 18007975219. We are a pool of technical professionals who strive to resolve your query as soon as and in the best possible manner.

• We are available 24X7 all 365 days

• 100% guaranteed solution

• Prompt response

• Resolving the query effectively and efficiently

Choosing The Best Accounting Software - Sage or Quickbooks

2022-06-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

QuickBooks versus Sage

QuickBooks and Sage One are two mainstream business administration administrations. Both offer marginally unique administrations. QuickBooks concentrates more on accounting and bookkeeping administrations while Sage One is a component rich undertaking administration benefit. The two administrations cover in a few classifications, at the end of the day, the two administrations enable your business to develop in various ways.

How They Help Your Business QuickBooks Online versus Sage One

QuickBooks offers effective bookkeeping and accounting devices while Sage helps keep representatives on-assignment when chipping away at cooperative tasks. Here are a couple of the manners by which both QuickBooks and Sage can help your business:

Advantages of QuickBooks

QuickBooks has been a well known private venture bookkeeping programming since the 1990s and conveys many years of experience to the table. Today, QuickBooks Online saddles new advances like distributed computing to streamline business administration. QuickBooks likewise has a 30 day free trial.

QuickBooks Online enables business administrators to abstain from depending entirely on a bookkeeper. Here are a couple of the advantages QuickBooks conveys to the table:

Wage and cost following: Easily screen how much cash your business is getting and how much it's investing over specific times of energy.

Adjust with ledgers: QuickBooks synchronizes straightforwardly with financial balances and Visa accounts, which implies all exchanges made in your records will consequently show up in QuickBooks.

Accounting apparatuses: This is the place QuickBooks truly separates itself from Sage - QuickBooks offers a full suite of accounting instruments to help deal with your business, including pay and cost following, finance administration (on more elevated amount accounts), and budgetary administration devices.

Adaptable designs: If you as of now utilize accounting programming or finance programming, at that point it might appear as though there's no point behind QuickBooks. Be that as it may, plans scale as indicated by your necessities, and you don't have to pay for the majority of the QuickBooks accounting instruments on the fundamental arrangement. Plans scale to address the issues of your business and the most minimal level arrangement begins at $12.95 every month with insignificant accounting highlights.

Advantages of Sage One

Sage is basically an undertaking administration apparatus that offers a couple of essential accounting highlights - including cost following and receipt announcing. It's as yet an amazing alternative for the present organizations, yet it won't have the capacity to deal with the greater part of the accounting administrations your business requires.

All things considered, Sage helps organizations in various ways, including:

Task administration on the cloud: Businesses are more gainful on the cloud. Cloud-based venture administration is one of the essential advantages of Sage One. Various representatives can at the same time deal with a solitary venture and work together in the cloud.

Solicitations and statements: Every Sage One record accompanies boundless solicitations and statements. You can send a boundless number of solicitations and statements to your clients. These solicitations have your business' logo stuck at the best and give an expert face to your business.

Include boundless colleagues: Sage offers two designs. On the more elevated amount design, Sage One Accounting Standard, there's no restriction to what number of colleagues you can have chipping away at a solitary task. That is a brilliant advantage for bigger organizations.

Versatile designs: The least Sage One arrangement, Sage One Invoicing, is generally utilized for following wage and costs and sending solicitations to organizations. The higher arrangement, Sage One Accounting Standard, is an element rich task administration benefit that likewise incorporates everything from the Invoicing plan.

QuickBooks Online versus Sage One Supported Services

Versatile applications: QuickBooks and Sage both offer a suite of portable applications for the iPhone and iPad and also Android gadgets. With the two administrations, you can perform basically all center capacities over the applications - including venture joint effort and cost following.

Online access: You can get to QuickBooks and Sage One from any web associated gadget and all information will match up crosswise over gadgets on the web. Regardless of whether your gadget isn't upheld by portable applications, you'll have the capacity to login and see account information from your versatile program.

Cloud bolster: Sage and QuickBooks both utilize cloud servers to synchronize data over all gadgets. Sage spends significant time in offering cloud-based venture administration administrations to its customers.

Similarity: Sage and QuickBooks can be utilized close by each other however they're not straightforwardly perfect with each other.

Ledgers: Users can include financial balances and Visa records to QuickBooks and record data will consequently adjust over the product. Sage One additionally gives you a chance to add ledgers to the stage, in spite of the fact that exchange data won't naturally match up.

Online installments: Sage gives clients a chance to acknowledge installments from customers by means of PayPal. Clients can likewise utilize the inherent online installment handling framework, Sage Payment Solutions, which acknowledges Mastercard installments in return for exchange expenses. QuickBooks does not offer installment handling of any kind.

Different Points of Comparison On QuickBooks Online versus Sage One

Free trial: Sage One offers an amazing free trial. Clients can test the product for nothing without submitting charge card information. Clients approach the full suite of Sage One administrations amid that trial. QuickBooks additionally offers a free trial, in spite of the fact that you have to enter Visa information and drop your record before that 30 day time span is finished. On the off chance that you don't drop your record in time, at that point your record will start to be charged as an ordinary membership.

Boundless utilize: Sage One gives clients a chance to add boundless quantities of partners to a solitary venture. Clients on all designs can likewise send boundless solicitations. QuickBooks additionally gives clients a chance to make boundless solicitations and evaluations.

Additional expenses: Sage One charges additional for adding managers to your record. As a matter of course, all designs have a solitary executive and including more administrators costs $10 every month. Something else, the value you agree to accept is the value you'll likely observe on your month to month charge. QuickBooks constructs its evaluating in light of highlights, and the more you're willing to pay, the more highlights you get. The most elevated amount designs match up your record with Intuit Online Payroll, where you'll have to pay $2 per representative every month to document finance charges.

Our Verdict On QuickBooks Online versus Sage One

Sage One and QuickBooks give two unique sorts of administrations. QuickBooks has practical experience in accounting administrations while Sage One has some expertise in customer invoicing and venture administration.

Nonetheless, the two administrations do cover in a few classifications. The two administrations let clients track salary and costs over characterized timeframes. In that class, the two administrations are for all intents and purposes meet, despite the fact that QuickBooks has a slight edge because of its capacity to naturally match up exchange data crosswise over financial balances.

When contrasting QuickBooks versus Sage, you ought to likewise consider the extra administrations offered by the two stages. On the off chance that your business every now and again expects workers to team up on ventures, at that point a task administration benefit like Sage One is a phenomenal method to spare time. In the event that, then again, you don't have a decent accounting administration, at that point QuickBooks can help.

Obviously, there's nothing preventing you from utilizing both Sage One and QuickBooks. A few organizations utilize Sage One simply as an invoicing and undertaking administration apparatus, while QuickBooks handles all other accounting usefulness. That is alright as well.

Basically, QuickBooks is an element rich accounting program that lets you consequently synchronize business data crosswise over financial balances, while Sage One is a cloud-based task administration benefit with broad invoicing highlights. The two administrations offer impressive incentive to your business without burning up all available resources.

Travel Nursing Series: Travel Nursing in Greece

2022-06-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

Why do people travel? Perhaps plain wanderlust urges people see new places and have new experiences or the need to get away from everyday stress or pressures at home or work. Some may want to make a religious pilgrimage to a sacred site or a new career may beckon. Whatever the reason, travel allows you to make a connection in another country, meet different people and experience different cultures.

One of the easiest careers to "take on the road" is that of the health care professional. Physicians and nurses are in demand in every country in the world and it is easy to find work overseas. Nursing skills are universal and those of nurses in the United States are among the most advanced. Getting certified to work overseas in a foreign country, although a bit tedious, is relatively easy. Usually a placement agency can help guide the US nurse through the process. Salary and benefits are in line with standard travel nursing guidelines. Subsidized housing, signing bonuses, paid vacations and health insurance are offered, depending on the particular job. You will need to pack your own nursing uniforms and nursing shoes as these items are not provided by the employer.

Nurses in Greece are in significant demand. To find and apply for a position as a nurse in Greece it is best to use a professional agency to help with the procedure. Travel nurse agencies help guide nurses to find the ideal job in Greece. International employment applications can be overwhelming with the amount of paperwork required but a good agency will help with the necessary visas and certifications. The agencies are the intermediary between employer and nurse, negotiating a contract that is beneficial to both parties. They will provide job particulars such as work hours, overtime regulations and nursing uniform requirements. Many international hospitals have adopted the US trend of wearing uniform scrubs instead of traditional nursing uniforms. Shopping for medical uniforms in Greece may be difficult, but online websites offering large selections of uniforms scrubs at discount prices are available for your uniform needs.

The Greek National Health system provides a basic medical service to Greek nationals and it has a reciprocal agreement with the British National Health Service. There are many public and private hospitals in Greece, all with varying standards. Some private hospitals have affiliations with U.S. facilities. These hospitals are an excellent resource for American nurses looking for positions abroad in Greece. The staff doctors at these private hospitals have been trained in U.S. or another international teaching institution. In public medical clinics, especially on Greek islands, often very little English is spoken. Many visitors to Greece, and Greek citizens, transfer from island care units to hospitals in Athens hospitals for more modern and professional care.

Medical facilities in Greece range from barely adequate to very good. Public hospitals are severely understaffed, especially during the night shift on non-emergency wards. Nursing jobs in these facilities is very demanding work. The standards of nursing and after care, particularly in the public health sector lag behind what is normally acceptable in the US. In order to insure adequate care, those patients who can afford it hire private nurses to tend to them during their hospital stay. For those with good insurance coverage, private hospitals are available with modern facilities and excellent care. Travel nurses generally procure jobs either in a private hospital or as a private nurse in the public hospital. Knowledge of Greek is, of course, helpful. Doctors and facilities are generally good on the mainland, but may be limited on the islands. It is possible to get by with English, but it will take time to translate patients. In public medical clinics, especially on Greek islands, often very little English is spoken.

Life in the Greek Islands is quite different from that in the United States. Greeks enjoy life today on entirely flexible schedules. The relaxed attitude of the Greeks to time is similar to that of Brazilians, rarely doing today what can be put off until tomorrow. It takes a little effort on the part of the travel nurse to reduce expectations based on time. The Greek word "filoxenia" means "love of strangers", thus the travel nurse will find themselves welcomed into Greek life with great exuberance. There are many religious festivals and family celebrations.

The day starts early in Greece, before the heat of the day sets in. Afternoon siestas last from 2pm to 5 pm. Many workers return to their jobs after the siesta to work until 8 pm. The dinner hour rarely starts before 10:00 pm and often lasts well beyond midnight. Travel nurses will need to adjust their internal meal clock in order to join the social scene in Greece.

Strikes and demonstrations occur regularly in Greece and be disruptive, especially if you are on your way to work. These occurrences are normally orderly, but if necessary tear gas will be used for riot control. Local news sources keep locals abreast of news of demonstrations. Purse snatchers and pick pockets operate at tourist locations and on crowded public transportation, as in any public area.

Time off from work should be spent visiting the many wonders of Greek civilization. Public ferries run between islands, making access to antiquity sites easy and affordable. There are numerous good Greek travel guides available to detail the numerous sites to visit.

Travel by car in Greece can be an adventure in itself. Temporary Greek residents must carry their valid driver's license from their country of origin as well as an international driver's permit (IDP). Drivers not carrying an IDP can be penalized for failure to have one in the event of an accident, and may further be open to a civil suit as well. Heavy traffic and poor highways pose hazards, especially at night or in inclement weather. Many roads are typically poorly maintained and frequently pothole-ridden.

Greece has a list of "must see" sites that is unparalleled. First and foremost is the Acropolis in Athens. Situated on rocky ground high above the city streets, the Acropolis represents classic Greek culture at its zenith. A visit to Olympia, the site of the original Olympic Games and the ruins at Epidaurus, where the ancient theater is still in use for festivals, are must see sites for tourists. A popular destination in Crete for tourists is the Minoan palace at Knossos and the opportunity to experience Macedonian culture and view the tomb of Phillip II of Macedon draws people to explore Vergina. The opportunities to explore ancient Greek culture are limitless and a stay in Greece as a travel nurse will yield ample time to get to know this wonderful country and its friendly people.

One of the first things you will notice as you take out on your travels of Greece is the wide array of litter strewn virtually everywhere. Hillsides are awash with discarded appliances, cans. bottles, boxes, rope and other litter, leaving the traveler to wonder why the breathtaking scenery is not more appreciated by the locals. Beaches and the sea are not exempt. Plastic bags, bottles and cans float by on a regular basis.

Half-finished buildings join Greek ruins, dotting the landscapes and streets. Concrete is the building material of choice and it is everywhere. Unfortunately, Greek concrete workmanship is not of good quality and often results in unsightly messes. Greek construction is often done on an intermittent schedule, dragging out for several years. Houses are often left half-finished for months, or even years at a time. Another familiar site in Greece is the chain link fence. It is thrown up around anything and everything. Much fencing falls into the broken, bent or rusted category making one wonder if the fences serve any purpose.

Despite the unsightly aspects of Greek litter and construction, most people will agree that Greece has more wonders than warts, and travel among the islands is the adventure of a lifetime. So grab your uniform scrubs, nursing shoes, stethoscope and travel gear and head off to the beauty of the Greek islands.

8 Canada Travel Tips That You Might Want To Keep In Mind

2022-06-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

If you are going to travel to Canada, make sure you keep a few things in mind. These tips will help you have a safe journey. For instance, it's important to make a list of areas that you might want to avoid and the emergency numbers. Besides, it's important to get ready to deal with different weather conditions. Let's check out 8 tips that may help you get started.

Be prepared for the Harsh Weather Conditions

In Canada, the climates and temperatures vary. Therefore, you might want to do your homework before you leave. For instance, the temperature in Vancouver is different from the temperature in Winnipeg in the same season. So, make sure you get weather essentials like a waterproof jacket, woolen accessories, and snow boots, to name a few.

Be Aware of Petty Crimes

Unfortunately, petty crimes are quite common in big cities in the world. The common targets of thieves are tourists. So, to be on the safe side, make sure you don't keep your passport with you before leaving the hotel. Instead, you can carry a copy of it with you. Also, don't leave any valuable item in your car whether it's locked or not.

Stay Tuned to Weather Conditions

In Canada, winter is quite intense. Therefore, you may want to stay tuned to Weather Network. Also, the winter is so cold in Canada that road closures are quite common because of snowstorms and avalanches. Ideally, your rental vehicle should have snow tires.

Apply for eTa

Some nationalities should have an eTa visa in order to get into Canada. This electronic travel authorization is not expensive and can be bought online before you arrive in Canada.

Consider Safety Tips for National Parks

It's interesting to note that Canada is the second-largest country in the world and has a lot of amazing national parks in it. However, the parks may not be free of threats based on wildlife. On the website of each national park, you can find safety tips you need to follow before you enter a park.

Get Travel Insurance

Regardless of your home country, make sure you get travel insurance. Most insurance providers provide extra coverage if you want to take part in skiing or snowboarding while in Canada.

Follow Bear Safety Tips

In Canadian parks, you may also come across Grizzly bears, especially in summer. They may pose a threat. Therefore, make sure you keep food products hidden from the bears. Plus, you might want to store food in airtight containers and get rid of the garbage as soon as possible.

Consider the Right Transport Options

You have different options when it comes to choosing public transport in Canada. In Vancouver, you may want to use SkyTrain as it's the longest driverless automated train in the world. On the other hand, In Toronto, you have other options like rental cars, bus, and subway. For rural areas, it's better to use a rental car.

So, if you are planning to travel to Canada, make sure you keep these points in mind. These tips will help you stay on the safe side.

Microvans In China Selling Like Hotcakes - Why Not in the USA?

2022-06-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

Have you seen those little smart cars driving around town? They are kind of cute, and they get really good fuel mileage. Of course most people need a little but more space, so what if they had a micro minivan? Did you know that in many other countries these little mini vans are driving around? They have them in Europe, Asia, India, and in many countries in South and Central America. Why not in the United States?

Is it because we have so many rules and regulations with regards to automobiles, or do people just want more power in their cars? Do people in the United States travel further distances with more stuff in them? Do we want everyone to have a large minivans so when they go to the store they buy more? It's hard to say why we are not using these fuel-efficient vehicles in our own country.

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on May 11, 2011 titled "GM Bets Large on Rural China Markets - Success of Microvans Prompts Push to Manufacture Other N0-Frills Vehicles for Emerging Consumers" by Norishiko Shirouzu. The article discusses how GM wants to sell 5 million of these microvan vehicles by 2015 in China, and do you think they can do it, well, I certainly do. Apparently, according to the article they sold 2.35 million in 2010.

You see, China's middle class continues to grow. By the way in China living in the middle class means making about $1500 per year, so it's a lot different than here in the US, but now something like 500 million people in China are now there. Interestingly enough, these microvan type concepts are not only hot items in China, but also in India where Tata Motors has recently announced the new Magic IRIS as a substitute to all those 3-wheeler type vehicles folks are now driving around to carry their goods.

In the city I live in, it is legal to drive your golf cart on the road, and we have extra big bike lanes that allow people do this. In fact it's kind of funny on the bike lane it has a picture of a bicycle stenciled in, along with a picture of a golf cart. It's quite hilarious actually but it works. People take their golf carts to the grocery store, to Starbucks, and even taken through fast food drive thrus, it works.

If people just have short distances to go, why do they need a full-size car, and why do they need to spend all that money on insurance and monthly payments? They don't. It makes no sense really. So, I dare to ask the question; why aren't we selling these micro minivans in the United States of America? US companies are making them, why aren't they selling them here too? If you have the answer to my question then shoot me an e-mail, in the meantime please consider all this and think on it.

The Car Rental Industry

2022-06-21T05:23:00.000-07:00

Market Overview

The car rental industry is a multi-billion dollar sector of the US economy. The US segment of the industry averages about $18.5 billion in revenue a year. Today, there are approximately 1.9 million rental vehicles that service the US segment of the market. In addition, there are many rental agencies besides the industry leaders that subdivide the total revenue, namely Dollar Thrifty, Budget and Vanguard. Unlike other mature service industries, the rental car industry is highly consolidated which naturally puts potential new comers at a cost-disadvantage since they face high input costs with reduced possibility of economies of scale. Moreover, most of the profit is generated by a few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis. For the fiscal year of 2004, Enterprise generated $7.4 billion in total revenue. Hertz came in second position with about $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.97 in revenue.

Level of Integration

The rental car industry faces a completely different environment than it did five years ago. According to Business Travel News, vehicles are being rented until they have accumulated 20,000 to 30,000 miles until they are relegated to the used car industry whereas the turn-around mileage was 12,000 to 15,000 miles five years ago. Because of slow industry growth and narrow profit margin, there is no imminent threat to backward integration within the industry. In fact, among the industry players only Hertz is vertically integrated through Ford.

Scope of Competition

There are many factors that shape the competitive landscape of the car rental industry. Competition comes from two main sources throughout the chain. On the vacation consumer’s end of the spectrum, competition is fierce not only because the market is saturated and well guarded by industry leader Enterprise, but competitors operate at a cost disadvantage along with smaller market shares since Enterprise has established a network of dealers over 90 percent the leisure segment. On the corporate segment, on the other hand, competition is very strong at the airports since that segment is under tight supervision by Hertz. Because the industry underwent a massive economic downfall in recent years, it has upgraded the scale of competition within most of the companies that survived. Competitively speaking, the rental car industry is a war-zone as most rental agencies including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the major players engage in a battle of the fittest.

Growth

Over the past five years, most firms have been working towards enhancing their fleet sizes and increasing the level of profitability. Enterprise currently the company with the largest fleet in the US has added 75,000 vehicles to its fleet since 2002 which help increase its number of facilities to 170 at the airports. Hertz, on the other hand, has added 25,000 vehicles and broadened its international presence in 150 counties as opposed to 140 in 2002. In addition, Avis has increased its fleet from 210,000 in 2002 to 220,000 despite recent economic adversities. Over the years following the economic downturn, although most companies throughout the industry were struggling, Enterprise among the industry leaders had been growing steadily. For example, annual sales reached $6.3 in 2001, $6.5 in 2002, $6.9 in 2003 and $7.4 billion in 2004 which translated into a growth rate of 7.2 percent a year for the past four years. Since 2002, the industry has started to regain its footing in the sector as overall sales grew from $17.9 billion to $18.2 billion in 2003. According to industry analysts, the better days of the rental car industry have yet to come. Over the course of the next several years, the industry is expected to experience accelerated growth valued at $20.89 billion each year following 2008 "which equates to a CAGR of 2.7 % [increase] in the 2003-2008 period.”

Distribution

Over the past few years the rental car industry has made a great deal of progress to facilitate it distribution processes. Today, there are approximately 19,000 rental locations yielding about 1.9 million rental cars in the US. Because of the increasingly abundant number of car rental locations in the US, strategic and tactical approaches are taken into account in order to insure proper distribution throughout the industry. Distribution takes place within two interrelated segments. On the corporate market, the cars are distributed to airports and hotel surroundings. On the leisure segment, on the other hand, cars are distributed to agency owned facilities that are conveniently located within most major roads and metropolitan areas.

In the past, managers of rental car companies used to rely on gut-feelings or intuitive guesses to make decisions about how many cars to have in a particular fleet or the utilization level and performance standards of keeping certain cars in one fleet. With that methodology, it was very difficult to maintain a level of balance that would satisfy consumer demand and the desired level of profitability. The distribution process is fairly simple throughout the industry. To begin with, managers must determine the number of cars that must be on inventory on a daily basis. Because a very noticeable problem arises when too many or not enough cars are available, most car rental companies including Hertz, Enterprise and Avis, use a "pool” which is a group of independent rental facilities that share a fleet of vehicles. Basically, with the pools in place, rental locations operate more efficiently since they reduce the risk of low inventory if not eliminate rental car shortages.

Market Segmentation

Most companies throughout the chain make a profit based of the type of cars that are rented. The rental cars are categorized into economy, compact, intermediate, premium and luxury. Among the five categories, the economy sector yields the most profit. For instance, the economy segment by itself is responsible for 37.7 percent of the total market revenue in 2004. In addition, the compact segment accounted for 32.3 percent of overall revenue. The rest of the other categories covers the remaining 30 percent for the US segment.

Historical Levels of Profitability

The overall profitability of the car rental industry has been shrinking in recent years. Over the past five years, the industry has been struggling just like the rest of the travel industry. In fact, between the years 2001 and 2003 the US market has experienced a moderate reduction in the level of profitability. Specifically, revenue fell from $19.4 billion in 2000 to $18.2 billion in 2001. Subsequently, the overall industry revenue eroded further to $17.9 billion in 2002; an amount that is minimally higher than $17.7 billion which is the overall revenue for the year 1999. In 2003, the industry experienced a barely noticeable increase which brought profit to $18.2 billion. As a result of the economic downturn in recent years, some of the smaller players that were highly dependent on the airline industry have done a great deal of strategy realignments as a way of preparing their companies to cope with eventual economic adversities that may surround the industry. For the year 2004, on the other hand, the economic situation of most firms have gradually improved throughout the industry since most rental agencies have returned far greater profits relative to the anterior years. For instance, Enterprise realized revenues of $7.4 billion; Hertz returned revenues of $5.2 billion and Avis with $2.9 billion in revenue for the fiscal year of 2004. According to industry analysts, the rental car industry is expected to experience steady growth of 2.6 percent in revenue over the next several years which translates into an increase in profit.

Competitive Rivalry Among Sellers

There are many factors that drive competition within the car rental industry. Over the past few years, broadening fleet sizes and increasing profitability has been the focus of most companies within the car rental industry. Enterprise, Hertz and Avis among the leaders have been growing both in sales and fleet sizes. In addition, competition intensifies as firms are constantly trying to improve their current conditions and offer more to consumers. Enterprise has nearly doubled its fleet size since 1993 to approximately 600,000 cars today. Because the industry operates on such narrow profit margins, price competition is not a factor; however, most companies are actively involved in creating values and providing a range of amenities from technological gadgets to even free rental to satisfy customers. Hertz, for example, integrates its Never-Lost GPS system within its cars. Enterprise, on the other hand, uses sophisticated yield management software to manage its fleets.

Finally, Avis uses its OnStar and Skynet system to better serve the consumer base and offers free weekend rental if a customer rents a car for five consecutive days Moreover, the consumer base of the rental car industry has relatively low to no switching cost. Conversely, rental agencies face high fixed operating costs including property rental, insurance and maintenance. Consequently, rental agencies are sensitively pricing there rental cars just to recover operating costs and adequately meet their customers demands. Furthermore, because the industry experienced slow growth in recent years due to economic stagnation that resulted in a massive decline in both corporate travel and the leisure sector, most companies including the industry leaders are aggressively trying to reposition their firms by gradually lessening the dependency level on the airline industry and regaining their footing in the leisure competitive arena.

The Potential Entry of new Competitors

Entering the car rental industry puts new comers at a serious disadvantage. Over the past few years following the economic downturn of 2001, most major rental companies have started increasing their market shares in the vacation sector of the industry as a way of insuring stability and lowering the level of dependency between the airline and the car rental industry. While this trend has engendered long term success for the existing firms, it has heightened the competitive landscape for new comers. Because of the severity of competition, existing firms such as Enterprise, Hertz and Avis carefully monitor their competitive radars to anticipate Sharpe retaliatory strikes against new entrants. Another barrier to entry is created because of the saturation level of the industry.

For example, Enterprise has taken the first mover advantage with its 6000 facilities by saturating the leisure segment thereby placing not only high restrictions on the most common distribution channels, but also high resource requirements for new firms. Today, Enterprise has a rental location within 15 miles of 90 percent of the US population. Because of the network of dealers Enterprise has established around the nation, it has become relatively stable, more recession proof and most importantly, less reliant on the airline industry compared to its competitors. Hertz, on the other hand, is utilizing the full spectrum of its 7200 stores to secure its position in the marketplace. Basically, the emergence of most of the industry leaders into the leisure market not only drives rivalry, but also it varies directly with the level of complexity of entering the car rental industry.

The Threat of Substitute

There are many substitutes available for the car rental industry. From a technological standpoint, renting a car to go the distance for a meeting is a less attractive alternative as opposed to video conferencing, virtual teams and collaboration software with which a company can immediately setup a meeting with its employees from anywhere around the world at a cheaper cost. In addition, there are other alternatives including taking a cab which is a satisfactory substitute relative to quality and switching cost, but it may not be as attractively priced as a rental car for the course of a day or more. While public transportation is the most cost efficient of the alternatives, it is more costly in terms of the process and time it takes to reach one’s destination. Finally, because flying offers convenience, speed and performance, it is a very enticing substitute; however, it is an unattractive alternative in terms of price relative to renting a car. On the business segment, car rental agencies have more protection against substitutes since many companies have implemented travel policies that establish the parameters of when renting a car or using a substitute is the best course of action.

According to Tracy Esch, an Advantage director of marketing operations, her company rents cars up to a 200-mile trip before considering an alternative. Basically, the threat of substitute is reasonably low in the car rental industry since the effects the substitute products have do not pose a significant threat of profit erosion throughout the industry.

The Bargaining Power of Suppliers

Supplier power is low in the car rental industry. Because of the availability of substitutes and the level of competition, suppliers do not have a great deal of influence in the terms and conditions of supplying the rental cars. Because the rental cars are usually purchased in bulk, rental car agents have significant influence over the terms of the sale since they possess the ability to play one supplier against another to lower the sales price. Another factor that reduces supplier power is the absence of switching cost. That is, buyers are not affected from purchasing from one supplier over another and most importantly, changing to different supplier’s products is barely noticeable and does not affect consumer’s rental choices.

The Bargaining Power of Buyers

While the leisure sector has little or no power, the business segment possesses a significant amount of influence in the car rental industry. An interesting trend that is currently underway throughout the industry is forcing car rental companies to adapt to the needs of corporate travelers. This trend significantly reduces supplier power or the rental firms’ power and increases corporate buyer power since the business segment is excruciatingly price sensitive, well informed about the industry’s price structure, purchase in larger quantities and they use the internet to force lower prices. Vacation buyers, on the other hand, have less influence over the rental terms. Because vacationers are usually less price sensitive, purchase in lesser amounts or purchase more infrequently, they have weak bargaining power.

Five Forces

Today the car rental industry is facing a completely different environment than it did five years ago. Competitively speaking, the revolution of the five forces around the car rental industry exerts some strong economic pressure that has significantly tarnished the competitive attractiveness of the industry. As a result of the economic downturn in recent years, many companies went under namely Budget and the Vanguard Group because their business infrastructure succumbed to the untenability of the competitive environment. Today, very few firms including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis return a slightly above-average revenue compared to the rest of the industry. Realistically speaking, the car rental sector is not a very attractive industry because of the level of competition, the barriers to entry and the competitive pressure from the substitute firms.

Strategic Group Mapping

As a moderately concentrated sector, there is a clear hierarchy in the car rental industry. From an economic standpoint, disparities exist from a number of dimensions including revenue, fleet size and the market size each firm holds in the market place. For instance, Enterprise dominates the industry with a fleet size of approximately 600,000 vehicles along with its market size and its level of profitability. Hertz comes in second position with its number of market shares and fleet volume. In addition, Avis ranks third on the map. Avis is among one of the companies that is having issues recovering its revenue margins from prior to the economic downturn. For instance, in 2000 Avis returned revenues of approximately $4.23 billion. Over the course of the next several years following 2000, the revenue of Avis has been significantly lower than that of 2000. As a way of reducing uncertainty most companies are gradually lessening the level of dependency on the airline industry and emerging the leisure market. This trend may not be in the best interest of Hertz since its business strategy is intricately linked to the airports.

Key Success Factors

There are many key success factors that drive profitability throughout the car rental industry. Capacity utilization is one of the factors that determines success in the industry. Because rental firms experience loss of revenue when there are either too few or too many cars sitting in their lots, it is of paramount importance to efficiently manage the fleets. This success factor represents a big strength for the industry since it lowers if not completely eliminates the possibly of running short on rental cars. Efficient distribution is another factor that keeps the industry profitable. Despite the positive relationship between fleet sizes and the level of profitability, firms are constantly growing their fleet sizes because of the competitive forces that surround the industry. In addition, convenience is one of the crucial attributes by which consumers select rental firms. That is, car rental consumers are more prone to renting cars from firms that have convenient rental and drop off locations. Another key success factor that is common among competing firms is the integration of technology in their business processes. Through technology, for instance, the car rental companies create ways to meet consumer demand by making renting a car a very agreeable ordeal by adding the convenience of online rental among other alternatives. Furthermore, firms have integrated navigation systems along with roadside assistance to offer customers the piece of mind when renting cars.

Industry Attractiveness

There are many factors that impact the attractiveness of the car rental industry. Because the industry is moderately concentrated, it puts new market entrants at a disadvantage. That is, its low concentration represents a natural barrier to entering the industry as it allows existing firm to anticipate sharp retaliations against new entrants. Because of the risks associated with entering the industry among other factors, it is not a very attractive sector of the marketplace. From a competitive standpoint, the leisure market is 90 percent saturated because of the active efforts of Enterprise to dominate this sector of the market. On the other hand, the airport terminals are heavily guarded by Hertz. Realistically speaking, entry in the industry offers low profitability relative to the costs and risks associated. For most consumers, the main determining factors of choosing one company over another are price and convenience. Because of this reason, rental firms are very circumspect about setting their rates and that generally force even the industry major players in the position of offering more to the consumers for less just to remain competitive. Hertz, for example, offers wireless internet to its customers just to add more convenience to their travel plans. Avis on the other hand, offers free weekend specials if a customer rents a car for five consecutive weekdays. Based on the impact of the five forces, the car rental sector is not a very attractive industry to potential new market entrants.

Conclusion

The rental car industry is in a state of recovery. Although it may seem like the industry is performing well financially, it is nonetheless gradually regaining its footing relative to its actual economic position within the last five years. As a way of insuring profitability, besides seeking market shares and stability, most companies throughout the chain have a common goal that deals with lowering the level of dependency on the airline industry and moving toward the leisure segment. This state of motion has engendered some fierce competition among industry competitors as they attempt to defend their market shares. From a futuristic perspective, the better days of the car rental industry have yet to come. As the level of profitability increases, I believe that most of the industry leaders including Enterprise, Hertz and Avis will be bounded by the economic and competitive barriers of mobility of their strategic groups and new comers will have a better chance of infiltrating and realizing success in the car rental industry.

Sources

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Rental car foes war on each other's turf.” The Associate Press. Fall 2004. The Enquirer. 08 March 2005. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/11/biz_rentalcars111.html.

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“Corporate travel plans moving to Web.” Crain's Chicago Business. Apr. 2001. ProQuest. 12 March 2005. http://www.proquest.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

"Tracy Esch." “Car rental market leaders make rebound .” Business Travel News. May 2002. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

“Avis Equips Rental Car with Satcomms 1999.” Newsbytes News Network. Oct. 1999. Gale. 12 March 2005. http://search.rdsinc.com.ucfproxy.fcla.edu.

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Car Insurance Estimator - What You Need

2022-06-21T04:22:00.000-07:00

Such calculator asks a number of questions; each answer will be used as variable to make quotes and determine the premium fee. The questions can be divided into two main categories including vehicle-related and personal information. Some of the most common questions you see in car insurance estimator are listed as follows:

1. What is your age or birth date?

Age plays a role in the overall estimation. The insurance company considers very young and senior citizens high-risk drivers. The former group probably lack of experience, and there is a high possibility that young drivers break some traffic laws, commit violations such as speeding, etc. The latter group probably has some limitations in terms of vision, hearing, and driving skills, meaning the chance of being involved in accident increases as well.

2. What is your profession?

Car insurance estimator uses drivers' professions to calculate accident rates. There is a statistic suggesting that certain professions such as doctors, real estate brokers, lawyers, business owners, and salespeople are considered stressful jobs; insurers believe that stressful jobs affect concentrations on driving. Cal insurance calculator may determine higher insurance fee based on this factor.

3. What kind of car you drive?

Car model affects insurance rates as well. Car insurance estimator may treat luxury cars like the more expensive assets to insure. In case of accidents, vandalism, or theft, luxury car is more likely to cost more to repair compared to its cheaper counterparts. Sports car with high top speed and quick acceleration rate is quite risky to insure as well, so insurance companies tend to charge more for such vehicles.

4. How many cars to insure?

The good thing is that the more cars listed in the same insurance policy, the more discounts you probably get. The discount is based on bundling option, so you can be eligible for other discounts if you insure your house, health, and life with the same company as well.

5. What is your address?

Car insurance estimator uses your address to determine if you live in certain area where crime rate is considered high. You have to pay more to protect the car if you live in risky towns.

6. How many violations on your driving record?

Driving record is evidence where DMV lists all previous accidents in which you were involved, traffic violations, and every traffic ticket. The insurance companies uses the data to determine whether you are low-risk or high-risk driver.

Really Cheap Car Insurance Tips - What Are Things You Can Do to Get Cheaper Quotes?

2022-06-21T03:21:00.000-07:00

Auto insurance can be an expensive bill for many people each month. Some people can barely even afford it, or worse - try and go without it, despite it being illegal to do so. Trying to obtain really cheap car insurance is something into which drivers put a lot of time and effort. While using a site that offers quotes and comparison tools can be helpful, not all of them are equal. Even if you do use such a site, you might not get the low quotes that you want.

In order to get cheaper quotes, here are a few tips and "hacks" for getting deals on auto insurance:

• Know the factors that affect the types of policies and rates you get. While many factors vary from one company to the next, there are a few that are always considered: your driving record and history, age, model and make of vehicle you drive, city and state, how often you use the vehicle you want insured, and credit score. Some factors, like where you live and how old you are, cannot be changed. For the ones that can, make improvements as best you can.

• Check for any and every discount possible. If you have close family in the military, for instance, you yourself might be able to get reduced auto insurance due to "affinity discounts". In some areas, you can get discounts by taking safety driving courses. Look for site-specific and company-specific coupons as well.

More Tips for Really Cheap Car Insurance

• Try adding a more experienced driver with a clean driving history to your policy. If you are under 25 or have a poor driving record, it might be in your best interest to ask a family member who has a sparkling clean driving record and more experience to join your policy. If they agree to this, DO NOT let them down and make any mistakes, as being on the same policy as you could actually hurt their own score.

• Know what to look for when using really cheap car insurance quote sites. The lowest quote you get might not be the best, depending on what it does cover and does not cover. You could end up paying more money in the long run if you choose the wrong kind of policy. Understand what kind(s) of coverage each quote includes and decide whether or not you really need it all, or if there is any you can do without. On the flip side, make sure it doesn't LACK anything you WILL need.

Whenever you think you are ready to start searching for really cheap car insurance, use a quality, reliable website. One site recommended by many people is Esurance. Discounts of all kinds are available, so check and see if you qualify for any of them.