October 31st, 2009 | Mortgage |
Not shopping around for a competitive mortgage deal could be placing unnecessary financial strain on millions of homeowners, new research shows.
In a study by Abbey Mortgages, it was suggested that a failure to not get the most cost-effective deal available is setting Britons back by an average of 5 pounds every day or a nationwide collective of 25 million pounds. The financial services firm went on to claim that if homeowners placed this 5 pounds into making overpayments on their mortgage then they could reduce the amount of time they pay back their borrowing up to by six years, saving a total of38,432 pounds. It was indicated that an estimated five million Britons are aware that they are not on the best mortgage offer that they can find, as 8.3 million people (just under half of the entire homeowning population) claim that they do regularly check their deal.
In sticking with an uncompetitive mortgage deal, it is possible that consumers may develop problems with meeting the other regular demands that their spending comes under, for example personal loan payments, credit and store cards, utility bills and overdrafts.
Commenting on the figures, Nici Audhlam-Gardiner, head of mortgages for Abbey, said: “5 pounds a day or 140 pounds a month on average is not an insignificant amount of money and we know for a fact that 5 million people could benefit immediately by shopping around.”
Further research from the bank, which is the third largest lender in Britain, also showed that women are more likely to not bother checking their mortgage deal. About half (49 per cent) of females report that they fail to undertake a regular review of such a financial product, in comparison to 46 per cent of men. Meanwhile, 31 per cent of women claim that they know their deal is not the best, some five percentage points higher than the 26 per cent of men recorded who are aware of this.
Abbey also indicated that younger homeowners are most proactive when it comes to reviewing their mortgage deal. Just over a third (35 per cent) of those between the ages of 24 and 35 ‘bury their heads in the sand’ when analysing such a product, in comparison to 64 per cent of 55 to 64-year-olds. Older people are also more likely to have the most uncompetitive offers on the market. However, it was revealed that the loans they owe are smaller in average size in comparison to people from other age groups.
In having one of the more expensive mortgage deals around, it could be possible that homeowners find that they struggle to pay off loans, credit cards and other types of borrowing. However, for those who are concerned about their capacity to meet repayments, even after they switch to a better deal, applying for a cheap loan now could provide a means of helping to manage their money. Such a loan may be of assistance to an increasing number of people, as a recent Nationwide consumer confidence study indicated that the country’s financial outlook dropped to 85 in December – the lowest score recorded since February last year. It was suggested that petrol and food price increases are impacting upon Britons’ fiscal optimism. Those worried about meeting such demands could find that a quick loan provides effective help with finance.
October 26th, 2009 | Finance Planning |
In this day and age what does it truly take to run a successful home business? What qualifies someone to be able to make a comfortable living from home? What Should I be looking for in a Home Based Business Model?
As the home business industry continues to explode as a result of rising unemployment and an overall economic down turn. Why is it that so many people are able to successfully create an income from home?
The one thread tying all successful home based businesses together is the internet. Today it is easier than ever to successfully market a product and grow a business thanks to the this online world called the internet.
The internet allows us access to 1.5 BILLION English speaking people alone. Having said that, there are more then enough consumers for everyone. Markets continue to grow, and thanks to the baby boomer generation, the obvious target markets are sitting right in front of our faces.
Between 1946 – 1964 76 MILLION Babies were born in the United States alone. 1 BILLION Babies world wide. Its pretty safe to say that what ever this generation is involved in is going to be an expanding market.
Simply put, if you can predict what a BILLION people are going to buy, you can make a fortune.
What do a BILLION Babies need? One historical example would be Gerber Baby food. By 1955 thanks to the baby boomer generation Gerber sold more then 2 billion jars of baby food.
What do babies need next after baby food? How about shoes and toys. Well Buster Brown, Mattel, and Hasbro got rich providing shoes and toys to this enormous group of children throughout the 60′s.
Lets jump ahead a bit for my next example. What market would explode when this massive age group were in their early 20′s and mid 30′s. What would they have been looking for?
How about a home? During the Mid 70′s to early 80′s this generation caused the largest real estate BOOM in history. Why? Because a Billion people were looking for a home of their own. Real Estate was a great market to be in at this time, and created many individuals a fortune. Simply because it was what the baby boomer generation was in the market for.
When making the decision to start a business, whether from home or not. You must keep in mind which industries are expanding and which are about to expand. So that you may position yourself accordingly.
Many of the home business opportunities today have done just this. They have created product lines which cater to the needs of this massive generation. This generation is now between the ages of 46-64 and controls 65% of all the worlds wealth. To NOT target this demographic would be financial suicide from a financial perspective.
Having said that, what is it that individuals between the age of 46-64 are buying, or looking to buy that is going to cause a massive growth and expanding market or trend.
The Next BIG Trends:
Financial Security and Money
Retirement Issues
Wills & Estate Planning
Efficiencies – Making Life Easier.
Health
Whether you are a complete techno dunce or not. Understanding this movement and these trends is enough of an edge to benefit from this exploding market.
Choosing a product line that targets these markets, in combination with the leverage that the internet gives us in this day and age has created massive opportunities.
Elite business models and turn key solutions have been developed to simply plug into a market and be in business. This is the main reason why there are so many success stories that are read about online. Some may be hype, but MANY are true. And with the technology available today, is it really that hard to consider that someone would be able to sell $100 000 of product online in a single month?
Today marketing and business systems exist with such powerful leverage. That they operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 365 days a year. They have NO Employees, NO Insurance, NO accounts Receivable, NO Accounts Payable.
They can be run from a laptop and a cell phone. They operate off of global sales and are immune to recessions.
The Business Model I personally use that allows such leverage, is CarbonCopyPRO.
This is the most advanced duplicatable system ever created. And has a product line behind it that incorporates EVERY ONE of the exploding trends that I have outlined here today.
I highly recommend you do some home work before choosing a home based business. Seriously consider CarbonCopyPRO as the one and only option you require to create your financial freedom.
October 24th, 2009 | Investing |
Insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
Does sales training pay? Too many companies were fat and happy during good economic times, and concluded that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Sales people’s deficiencies were masked because they were simply order takers during prosperous economic times. As the economy turned downward, so have many company’s sales.
I recently spoke to a small business owner whose sales have dipped over 30% – unfortunately this is becoming normal!
Most companies will tell you their greatest asset is their employees. However, their actions don’t support their words. One of the last things companies spend money on is training, and it’s one of the first things companies cut.
I’m sure you’re reading this saying, “Well, you’re a training company, so of course your view is biased.” It certainly is. Well trained employees are more efficient and productive. Poorly trained employees not only get less done, but typically they cost you money and additional manpower to fix their mistakes.
Think about your own experiences in dealing with customer service departments. Over a year ago I discontinued using our Internet and cable provider in large part because of their customer support staff. That’s over $1200 in lost revenue for them in just one year from one client. That doesn’t include my mom who also switched based on my recommendation and lost revenue from subsequent years.
However, don’t take my word that training pays for itself. Bassi Investments, Inc. is a money management firm that invests in companies that invest in their people. They specifically develop recommended portfolios of firms that make significant investments in employee learning because those company’s stocks consistently outperform those that don’t put a priority on training.
The problem is too many companies view training as an expense, and don’t consider the long term benefits. Here are just a few tangible and intangible benefits of training:
1. Reduced Turnover – High turnover is devastating when you consider the expense incurred to hire someone and the amount of sales lost when someone leaves.
2. Improved Morale – When employees are happy they are more productive and efficient; not to mention less likely to bring a lawsuit against your company.
3. New Customers – Your salespeople are the first, and maybe only, impression prospects have regarding your company. Now, more than ever, your team needs to stand out from your competition.
4. Fewer Lost Sales – If each person brought in just 10% more sales, or retained 10% more of their current customers, how much would that improve your bottom line?
5. Higher Profits Margins – Top salespeople not only sell more, but they also sell at higher margins. Simple negotiating tactics can instantly result in thousands of dollars lost or gained in the blink of an eye.
These are just 5 benefits that can easily result in six digits swings for smaller companies and considerably more for larger companies.
Investing in your employees and yourself is considerably less volatile than other investments, and more often than not will produce your greatest return.