How To Avoid Bankruptcy - The Best 3 Debt Relief Options To Consider

These days, every debtor has the same question in mind that how to avoid bankruptcy. It is because due to continuous wave of recession people have become financially crippled and they don't have any income source to start earning money to meet their expenses and income level. In these conditions, when they don't have income sources, their main concern becomes how to avoid bankruptcy. Their conditions are made worse because of the harassing phone calls which they receive from money recovering agents due to which most of the people who suffer from massive financial difficulties start to opt for bankruptcy. Although, bankruptcy releases a person from all types of fiscal tensions but still it has to be said that it has negative aspects as well which appear after sometime. The basic thing which is not useful of bankruptcy is that the credit rank of a person is totally destroyed due to it and for this reason people are not able to get any type of co-operation from banks and other financial institutions in the future. So let us look at some of the options through which they can avoid bankruptcy and regain their status of financial lives.

Financial experts tell people two ways about how to avoid bankruptcy. One of them is debt settlement and the other way is debt consolidation.

The process of debt settlement as we all know has become the most popular method for people for getting out of debt easily. It is because with the help of this method a person is able to get 50% reduction in the total outstanding amount of debts easily. Moreover, the credit rank of a person is also not affected by the working process of this method. The second best option in this regard is debt consolidation. We all know that interest rate is very harmful thing for total debt because if it is not controlled then we can say that the ultimate price of original debt amount almost becomes double and triple. So to conclude we can say that people should opt for these two options in their bid about how to avoid bankruptcy.

Rebuilding Credit After Bankruptcy

Get a Secured Credit Card

For consumers who have recently gone through bankruptcy, a good choice would be to obtain a secured credit card. Secured cards required the applicant to open a bank account with a balance that matches the credit limit of the secured credit card. Typically, the limit will amount to $500 maximum, but be prudent about the usage and limit your charges to no more than approximately 30% of your credit limit. Focus on light, regular use of the card to help rebuild your credit. It is important that your credit card gets reported to the credit bureaus, but try to prevent having it reported as a secured card. Also, don't just grab any secured card that is available. Take a close look at possible huge upfront charges and annual fees. In addition, ensure that your payment history is being reported to the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Trans Union, and Experian.

Open a CD

Using a certificate of deposit (CD) as a method to rebuild credit is another option. A small personal loan is used to open a CD for a minimum of one year, and the loan payments that are made on-time will show good credit history during the length of the certificate. This strategy is helpful to re-establish credit without having the temptation of a credit card.

Installment Loans

Student loans (not typically dischargeable in bankruptcy), can be used to rebuild your score with timely payments and possibly paying more than you owe if possible will help even more. Other types of installment loans include auto loans (expect a very high interest rate initially), and a high-rate mortgage, sometimes available in a little as six months after your bankruptcy case is closed. Just make sure you can really afford a home before buying it.

Additional Ideas

• Pay every bill on time
• Check your credit reports regularly
• Save as much money as possible
• Minimize the number of inquiries on your credit report

Improve Your Office Presentation

When it is time for you to make a presentation to your business colleagues, owners, or customers, it's important to do your very best. While this type of situation can make you nervous, there are things that you can do to make the presentation enjoyable and successful. Knowing what actions you can take can help you do a better job and give you the confidence to give a powerful and effective presentation.

1) Make it applicable for your audience. Let's say that you are speaking to a group of business owners to convince them to integrate a new mobile application development program into the company. They are going to be concerned about the usability of such a program, how it will affect the overall company and how much it will cost. If you are speaking to a group of office workers about the same idea, however, their interests will be very different. They will likely ask questions about how they will be involved in the process and how their jobs will be easier due to the changes. Your audience should always feel that you understand their needs and concerns and they should be addressed accordingly.

2) Be organized. It's important that you are organized and prepared whenever you are making a presentation. Come to the meeting early to get your thoughts and materials together. Unforeseen situations can occur at any time or place. The more prepared you are, the less likely you will get stressed. If you are organized, you will be more confident and able to give a better presentation.

3) Use visuals to hold attention. It's always a good idea to have visuals when you give a presentation. The most important reason for visuals is because it helps hold the attention of the audience. People will feel more involved in the presentation if they can follow along on an overhead screen or hold a handout. Also, after the meeting is over, a visual will help them remember what you talked about.

4) Speak clearly and confidently. It's a good idea to go over your presentation privately before you present it at a meeting. You can work through your materials and how you want to explain things to others. Be prepared and organized enough that you can speak with confidence. If you yourself doubt your ideas or products or haven't yet worked through things, you will flounder when speaking and it will be obvious to others. Speak confidently and even ask for questions to clear up any misunderstandings or confusion.

5) Make it simple for anyone to understand. It's important to keep things as simple as possible when preparing your presentation. In fact, the KISS theory is best - "Keep it simple, stupid" - because you don't need to use elaborate words and/or thoughts to make your point. Speak in simple words and use diagrams that people can easily follow.

6) Keep it interesting. Isn't it common to hear people complaining about how boring company meetings are? It's become a joke because meetings are inherently a task to be hated. Most of the reason is because meetings are boring to everyone except the person giving the presentation. You can change this by giving a presentation that is interesting. Keeping your audience in mind will help, along with watching throughout the presentation to see what they are doing. If they appeared bored, it may be time to move more quickly through the material or ask questions. If they are involved, they will be more eager to participate and stay alert.

7) Add appropriate humor. Don't be afraid to use some humor when giving your presentation. While you should never offend anyone or be rude, you can tell a story or quote that may help lighten the mood. People don't usually want to change and oftentimes, meetings and presentations represent change. Keep in mind that many of the people in your meeting would rather be doing something else, so make it as enjoyable and interesting as possible.

8) Be prepared for the unpredictable and respond appropriately. Many times, something will happen for which you were not prepared. Someone may get sick, you may lose a paper or mispronounce a word, or you may have to wait while your boss takes an important phone call. These things happen, so remember to keep your cool and make the best of things.

9) Be excited about your project and/or ideas. Be aware of your voice when you are speaking. Do you drone or speak too slowly? Do you talk too fast? A good pace will help your presentation move along at a comfortable speed and keep your audience's attention. Again, practice makes perfect.

10) Make your audience comfortable. What kind of seats are in the meeting room? People will not be listening to you if they are uncomfortable, but will just be wanting to leave. Ergonomic chairs will give your audience the ability to be comfortable enough to want to stay and listen to your presentation. If your presentation will be made around a table, then use conference tables that are large and comfortable. Make sure that everyone is comfortably seated, quiet and ready to listen before you begin your presentation.

While giving presentations may be stressful and nerve-wracking, you can relieve some of this stress by being prepared and relaxing. Most likely, your audience will enjoy hearing what you have to say if you speak in an interesting and entertaining manner. Remember to practice beforehand and have notes handy in case you lose your train of thought. By following these simple steps, you will give a presentation that is not only successful, but also enjoyable.

7 Tips for More Efficient Policy and Procedure Management

1 Define your objectives and goals

* What are your problems and risks?

* How are your P&P's managed today -- getting better, getting worse, or staying the same?

* If you don't know the problem, can you fix it?

* Are you measuring the correct output?

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2 Start simple, and keep it simple

* Start with the simplest documents and objectives and expand as familiarity grows

* Demand little or no impact on IT and minimize interference with existing operations

* Understand your options and alternatives

* Provide one solution to deliver

- P&P management

- Employee communication

- Measurement & monitoring

- Enforcement capabilities

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3 Focus on your employees and each employee

* Make it easy and intuitive so employees start using it and see results immediately

* Building confidence and easing concerns results in fast adoption and fast tract to compliance

* Provide the right information to the right people at the right time, every time

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4 Establish Metrics and Measure

* Determine what is important to the organization

* Produce a global view of compliance for a complete picture of your employee knowledge base and levels of compliance

* Require and extensive audit capability with thorough documentation and enforcement to reduce threat of litigation and other consequences

* Continuously review and refine your process

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5 Automate when you can

* Workflow for consistent and repeatable and measurable process

* Email & text message alerts and reminders for consistent enforcement

* Testing for better knowledge development, retention, and quality

* Integration to minimize errors, streamline process, and strengthen adoption

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6 Make it Flexible and Scalable

* Your organization grows, reorganizes, changes processes and has exceptions

* New policies and procedures, and revisions of existing P&P's, are never ending

* The faster and more efficiently these issues are addressed the better it is for the employee and the organization

* Leads to adoption, use, and continuing relevance

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7 Get started today

* If not, why not? What are the costs vs. the benefits?

* Challenges and Risk will only increase

* You learn more as you progress

* "A good plan executed today is better than the perfect plan tomorrow" -- General George S. Patton

Source :http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Bateman

Your Starter Guide to the Foreign Exchange Market

Forex trading is an exciting world that is slowly becoming popular with people who thrive on the excitement as well as the incentive of making fast money. However, making money in forex trading is not all that easy and it requires a basic understanding of the foreign exchange market.
The foreign exchange market can be loosely termed as the place where foreign currencies are exchanged to make a profit. An interesting fact to note is that in the early days, there was free floating exchange of major currencies, which occurred through banks and important financial institutions, where the rate of exchange was largely determined through the existing demand and supply of currencies. However, there have been instances where banks and institutions have interfered to either increase or decrease these rates, but these have been few and far between. In the earlier days, only banks and such institutions were allowed to speculate but in recent times, this has been extended to private parties too.
The foreign exchange market is an OTC or over the counter market, which means that there is no central exchange system like the stock markets. Rather, the market consists of a multi tier system, of which the first tier or the top tier consists of banks, the largest banks in the world to be precise. These banks have created an interbank market, where they agree to buy and sell currencies at rates set by them in mutual agreement. They have an electronic broking system in place, which allows all banks to be aware of the exchange rates simultaneously.
The second tier of the forex market comprises of the branches or parts of multinational companies, like branches of various banks or financial institutions so that people at the local level wanting to exchange currency can do so easily.
The third tier of the foreign exchange market is that of the retail brokers who form the most liquid and volatile part of the market. It is interesting to note that the currency trading market is not only the biggest market in the world but is also the most liquid one, which in turn is maintained with the help of private traders and retail brokers. With the ease in which forex trading can now be conducted in the comfort of your home, with only a computer and broadband connection, the number of retail traders are increasing at an exponential rate every day. Dare you miss out on this opportunity?

Foreign Exchange Market - A Guide to the World's Best Home Business

Are you considering trading the Foreign Exchange Market? Many others have and are now earning a great living from home. You too can do this with the right trading system. Before you begin, you should know some of the basics.
The Foreign Exchange has a few names. You'll hear it referred to as the Forex, currency market, FX, and spot market. It's a world-wide financial market where all of currencies are traded. Yes, you can buy and sell a country's currency just like a stock on the stock exchange.
A currency's prices is always relative to another countries currency. You will see that currencies are always priced in pairs. The value a one country's currency will change as its buying power fluctuates. Price is influenced by the economy, government policy, natural disasters, political speeches, etc. News announcements can have an immediate impact to price.
The creation of this market was for the purpose of aiding global investment. Corporations can use it to control the cost of importing and exporting. Banks use it to support their clients. Short term traders access it to buy and sell in order to make a quick profit.
As a short term currency trader, you can earn a fantastic living. You can run this business anywhere you have access to the internet. Like any business, you need to have the right trading tools. In the past few years, software companies have created very powerful yet easy to use trading systems that are incredibly accurate.
I spent a few months testing out a number of currency trading systems. I did this by using a demo account from an online discount broker. I kept the two that performed the best. It's made trading the Foreign Exchange Market very easy.
With the system I use, you can download it, deposit a couple of hundred dollars in a trading account, and you're in business. After downloading the software you can start trading almost immediately. How many other businesses do you know of that can make you far more money than most jobs, the start up cost is only a few hundred dollars, and you can be making money on you first day! And, you don't need any specific background, education, or experience with the Foreign Exchange.
In conclusion, the Foreign Exchange Market is used by different people and groups for their own reasons. You should consider treating it like a home based business. Start out by testing trading software like I did. What's stopping you from doing it right now?

Are Debit Cards Good For Your Teen?

Like most teens, James is far less financially capable than your average adult. This is because he is young, financially dependent on his parents and just doesn't have enough experience in handling money. However, sooner or later, he will have to depart from his parents' care. He has to go to college or go live his own life. It is inevitable, he will soon be on his own.
When he embarks on this journey, he must become independent from his family and make a life for himself. This includes choosing the right career path, saving and budgeting efficiently and establishing himself within society. In short, his success or failure in the future will solely depend on his abilities. He then needs to be a good decision-maker and take care of his finances.
But for now, while he is under his parents' care, they take great part in shaping his future. It is up to them to ready him for certain life challenges, one of these challenges being finance management. In the future, James must know when to splurge and when to save. His parents' training will greatly influence him on this. There are many ways in which they can shape him into becoming a a good saver. One of these is by letting him handle a job. Just like other kids in their teens, James can undertake a job in the evenings, or over the summer holidays.
Through this he will learn the value of hard work ethic, obeying company rules and managing ones finances. When it comes to money, James should handle his work finances himself. This includes paying his mobile bill and even owning his own debit card. Sooner or later he will learn to put aside savings, pay bills on time and only spend money on necessities.
Other parents tend to assist their teenagers far too much in this crucial point of their progression into adulthood. They lend their kids their credit cards. But as they have surely learned by now, credit cards cause debt. It also shrouds the mind of a supposed-power to purchase. However, it only fools people in to such thinking. Credit cards are nothing but debt with interest rates that needs to be repaid on time.
A debit card, however, is far different. It uses the funds on a person's account therefore there is no lying. Whatever a person spends, it is his own hard-earned money. Mentally, debit cards benefit through the lesson of "living within your means". When one exposes their teenager to such an idea, he will carry it with him for life. He will always have the notion to spend his own money and buy only what he can afford. So by exposing kids to the benefits of debit cards, parents are preparing their loved ones for a financially wise future.