Teaching Kids the Basics of Selling

Understanding the importance of hard work is a crucial lesson to teach our children. Although the point of working for a living and understanding the value of a dollar may both seem obvious to us as adults, it’s only because we’ve probably forgotten what it’s like to be a carefree kid without a career to worry about, or a mortgage bill that needs to get paid.

One of the best ways to teach lessons on money, work, and business is to teach kids the basics of selling. They’ll learn valuable skills they can carry with them, and they’ll also learn about how finances work in the real world. These are great concepts to start absorbing early on, as teaching kids about selling and how businesses operate will provide a healthy respect for money and how it is earned: through hard work.

Consider these ideas for teaching kids the basics of selling:

The best way to learn is to learn by doing. Enable your kids to enter a sales situation. Allow them to price and pitch old toys at your next yard sale. Be old fashioned and supervise as they set up a neighborhood lemonade stand. Encourage them to set big goals for the next school fundraiser, and give them the steps to a successful sales trip around the block (have a pitch targeted at your demographic and show what your product has to offer).

If your kids fail, don’t berate them for it. Failure teaches us many important and vital lessons about our sales techniques and our products. Help them analyze why they failed and work with them to evaluate how they could improve next time.

And don’t forget that you can teach your children about entrepreneurship, too. If they have an independent, creative, and thoughtful side, don’t ignore that. Inspire them to brainstorm new ideas, consider how they can solve problems for other people (and then market that problem), and help them understand how to determine if there is a demand for a particular product or service.

Here are some ideas to encourage your children to learn about selling through an entrepreneurial lens:

· Encourage them to set goals (and then help them define a plan of action to reach those goals).

· Give them a chance to earn their own money via a “business” like mowing the neighbors’ lawns. You might also take this opportunity to “tax” them just like the government eventually will.

All of this begs the question: why? Why teach kids the basics of selling, business, and entrepreneurship? Well, having a grasp of the fundamentals will set them up for more complex learning down the road, and the earlier they understand how the grown-up world works – in other words, the importance of a career, an income, and understanding business and money – the earlier they can adapt to it and start creating good habits that will lead to success as they grow older.

The importance of a good work ethic in children cannot be overstated. When they understand that money is made through hard work and that they can have some control over their future incomes if they dedicate themselves to an idea, they are more likely to strive for excellence instead of relying on their parents to foot the bill throughout their life. When you instill proper work ethic, you avoid raising entitled children.

Additionally, giving kids a certain type ofsales training will come in handy in other aspects outside of a boardroom or a meeting where they need to seal the deal. In the real world, you have to sell everyone. No one will take your word for it that you’re good at something or you possess a certain skill. You have to convince others that you have what it takes. In other words, you have to be able to sell your own personal brand time and time again, in various situations, in order to be successful.

The Pros and Cons of Oversaving for Retirement

Saving is generally a good thing, especially if you’re someone who’s gunning for a comfortable retirement. With the way the economy is going, it seems more and more necessary to put aside a set amount as a huge nest egg is going to be something you’ll be needing come retirement time. So, you’ve been stopping yourself from using your credit card, denying yourself certain luxuries, and generally been living a frugal life with a set focus on the future.

However, there is such a thing as oversaving. It means exactly what it seems to mean; living an excessively thrifty life. Many people believe that the amount of money a person saves is just the right amount, so what exactly warrants the term “overspending”? What specific amount of money exceeds the typical amount of conventional or normal saving?

Oversaving is basically when you scrimp so much that your basic lifestyle becomes affected. It depends on how much money you actually make. If the majority of the money you take home (minus the daily expenses and payment of bills and credit card debts, if any) goes into your savings and none go into any leisurely purpose—that may be oversaving. Anything that’s done in excess is bad, even a good thing like saving, and oversaving has certain pros and cons.

Pro: You will have a sizeable retirement fund.

Whether you invest your money in retirement plans or just hide it under your mattress, oversaving makes sure that when you get old, you’ll be well-taken care of, at least financially. You can conceivably live a more comfortable life in your twilight years if you oversave.

Con: You deny yourself today.

By choosing not to spend the majority of the money you make, you basically deny yourself of certain emotional benefits that come with enjoying the fruits of your labor. Oversaving usually means you opt not to take vacations, or buy yourself nice clothes or keep yourself from spending on material things that you want simply because they are things you think you don’t need. However, these things are crucial to your emotional and mental health. Indulging a bit from time to time relieves people of stress, and in today’s world, that’s definitely a need.

Pro: Learning to live with less.

By if you’re used to the idea of not spending, you get to discipline yourself in terms of knowing which things are essential and which aren’t. This means you’re less susceptible to marketing ploys, less dependent on status symbols, and more content with what you have. Your self-definition may rest on more substantial things, which is good.

Con: Scrimping may lead to higher medical costs.

The basic act of denying yourself certain higher-end items could lead to your retirement fund being blown away on medical expenses anyways, preventing you from enjoying the savings you worked so hard to accumulate.

For example, if you choose to low quality mattress to sleep in every night, instead of upgrading to something that has more effective back support, then all those years of sleeping uncomfortably may lead to complications of the back. Or purchasing a cheaper automobile that has less safety features than a newer model might be something you’d end up regretting, for obvious reasons.

Oversaving has, like other things, pros—and it, too, has cons. Both sides of the argument seem equally compelling, but at the end of the day, it’s about you enjoying something you worked hard for. Either it’s going to town on your credit card or resting comfortably knowing your future is financially secure, it’s always better to do what makes you the happiest.

This article is contributed by Money Hero, Hong Kong’s leading financial comparison website. Users can compare financial products, like credit cards side by side. This lets them compare financial products which enables them to make better financial decisions.

Top 5 Overpaid Jobs in America

Whether you're looking to use your unique skills to earn as much money as possible, or you're just angry that some people earn outrageous salaries, you should know about some of the high-paying jobs in America.

#1: CEO

Pay: $14.1 million

CEOs who work for one of the country's top 350 firms can expect to earn about $14.1 million, including money from stock options.

It hasn't always been this way. CEOs have always earned high salaries, but recent trends have made them extraordinarily wealthy. Consider that between 1978 and 2012 CEO compensation increased by about 875 percent.

In 1965, CEOs earned 18.3 times more than the typical employee. Conversely, in 2012, that number jumped to 202.3.

No other job has seen that kind of growth.

#2: Meteorologist

Pay: $360,000 in top markets

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Atmospheric scientists, which includes meteorologists, get paid nearly $90,000 a year. That seems like a fair salary for scientists who've earned PhDs and do the kind of work that could help humanity avoid climate change.

But meteorologists don't do those things. They're more like TV personalities than scientists. Despite this, they get paid much more than those working in hard sciences. Chief meteorologists working in a top ten TV market earned about $360,000 in 2012. Even those in the 31 to 40 markets earned almost $200,000.

That's a pretty good salary for someone who only guesses the weather correctly about 73 percent of the time. Imagine what would happen to a doctor who messed up 27 percent of the time. She wouldn't keep her job for very long. But meteorologists have set the bar low enough that they get praised for telling people about the weather taking place right outside their windows.

#3: Petroleum Engineers

Pay: $138,900

Petroleum engineers can work in practically any area of the petroleum industry. Some of them extract oil; some design pipelines; some oversee safety standards.

For this work, they earn about $138,900. Now, that's a lot of money, but it's nothing compared to what a CEO can earn. Consider, though, that many petroleum engineers start their careers with only four years of experience. That means an engineer can start earning major money right out of undergraduate school. At least the CEO probably spent a couple of years in business school. 

#4: Patent Attorneys

Pay: $170,000

Patent attorneys are some of the best-compensated lawyers in the US. Making $170,000 might sound fairly reasonable considering that these lawyers protect the intellectual property rights of individuals and businesses. They could do a lot of good work that protects creative people from losing a lot of money to unscrupulous competitors.

A lot of patent attorneys, however, aren't doing this kind of productive work. Many of them are overpaid because they're actually making it harder for companies to develop and profit from new ideas. A company named Personal Audio has even hired patent attorneys to sue some of the world's most popular podcasters, claiming that podcast technology steals from an earlier patented idea.

That idea: cassette tape recordings of magazine articles. If you have a hard time seeing the connection between cassette tapes and podcasts, then you've just realized why so many people think that patent attorneys are overpaid.

#5: Data Scientists

Pay: $133,000

Data scientists usually have advanced degrees in mathematics and computer science. Given how much education they need, $133,000 might not seem like too much money.

Consider what most data scientists actually do and how it affects your life before you decide that they get justly compensated.

Data scientists often work with huge amounts of information that they take from websites, apps, and other types of technology. Some scientists use their skills to predict earthquakes and improve technology. Those professionals deserve high salaries.

Unfortunately, a lot of people in this field just mine data so they can target you for advertisements or sell your "private" information to companies that want to know more about your habits.

The ability to invade privacy, organize information, and sell it to companies that make life (and the Internet) worse shouldn't mean that these people earn more than $100,000 a year. If the world got to vote, data scientists would probably earn some of the world's lowest salaries.

What other overpaid jobs can you think of? Do you plan to pursue a career in one of these areas?

5 Ways to Earn More Interest on Your Savings

Interest Rates (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)

If you are someone who is committed to having a solid savings account, then there's a pretty good chance that you've taken the financial advice of top experts like Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey and Warren Buffett and put some money aside each month for your savings account. And if that's the case, we think that is simply awesome. But have you ever wondered what you can do in order to earn more interest on the hundreds (or thousands) of dollars that you have inside of it?

If you've been looking for ways to earn more interest on your savings, we have provided you with five of them below:

Look for the best interest rate. There are a lot of people who never consider changing banks simply because they have been with the same financial institution for many years. But if you really want to get more interest on your savings, we recommend you shopping around until you find one that has the highest rating. Although some of the larger banks do not have the best rates, many community banks and credit unions do. Just make sure that whatever institution you choose is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. or the National Credit Union Administration.

See what incentives that you have to offer. Once you find a financial institution that you are interested in, the next thing that you should do is look for the kinds of incentives that they have to offer. For instance, there are banks that offer a modest monetary amount for opening up a new account and there are plenty of credit unions and internet banks that give bonuses for opening a new checking account with them as well.

Inquire about low-penalty certificates of deposit. Although low-penalty certificates of deposit are basically like "liquid money", one of the reasons why they appeal to many individuals is because they pay higher rates. With them, not only are you able to take money out at any time without a penalty, but you can earn a higher interest rate than a savings account. Plus, it comes with FDIC insurance.

Don't overlook your savings bonds. Something that you might want to speak with a company like DepositAccounts.com about is purchasing a few savings bonds. Although most of us can recall getting them from our grandparents while growing up as children, aside of it being a nostalgic gift, you might be surprise by the interest rating that comes along with them. In fact, a Series I savings bond can currently earn you as much as 1.76 percent. That's a pretty impressive amount.

Open up a money market account. If you're really serious about growing your savings account, something that you can do is open up a money market account. It's basically the same thing as having a savings account. The only difference is that in most cases, you have to have a minimum balance (sometimes as much as $2,500) and you're only allowed to make a withdrawal 3-6 times per month. But the benefit is that you are usually offered a much higher interest rate. For more information on money market accounts, visit your local bank institution.

Your Essential Guide to the G60 and Pensions

If you’re trying to find an Independent Financial Adviser to help you with your pension, but you’re not sure who to choose, this quick article is the most important thing you’ll read today. Why? Because it’s going to talk about the most important word in pension: G60.

What Is The G60?

The G60 is a qualification issued by the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), the organization that regulates the elite group of 300 Chartered Financial Firms in the UK. And the description of the G60 on the official CII syllabus is that it is a qualification designed to:

Develop in the candidate, who has already reached the standard of the FPC, a knowledge of pensions and pension transfers and an ability to advise individual clients on all aspects of pension provision. This paper is available on a stand-alone basis for candidates wishing to demonstrate specialist knowledge and skills in pensions and pensions transfers.

The G60 is a level 5 qualification which helps Financial Advisers to meet the requirements of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for higher competence standards for pension planning. The FSA takes the handling of your pension so seriously that all pension transfer specialists have to have passed this exam before being allowed to practice in this role.

How Does The G60 Help With Managing Your Pension?

Here are just a few of the numerous G60 modules that are used to train financial advisers in the highly specialised area of pensions:

· Pensions planning and compliance

· How to estimate a client’s financial needs in retirement

· The relationship between Retail Prices Index, investment yields and trends, in particular gift vs equity returns

· The legislation covering pension arrangements including the duties and responsibilities of trustees, the Pensions Act 1995, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and European Union Law

· Interaction of State benefits with occupational pension scheme benefits

· The role and scope of OPRA

· The principles of ‘earmarking’, ‘offsetting’ and ‘pension sharing’ on divorce

· How early retirement pensions are calculated and how the benefits are paid in the event of ill health

· How and when property can be purchased by a SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension)

· How phased retirement works

The G60 has many other areas of rigorous study that members of our own team have successfully battled through in order to provide excellent advice to our clients regarding their pensions.

Thankfully, you don’t have to go through the same process just to get excellent advice. But what you must do is make sure that when it comes to choosing a financial adviser to handle your pension, the most important word you remember is: G60.

Author: When planning for the future, the assistance of independent financial advisers in pension planning can play a crucial part in achieving your goals. Bartholomew Hawkins has an intricate understanding of a wide variety of investment methods which can be tailored to suit the specifics of an individual’s situation. For more information call 01291 40 80 80 today.

A Reliable E-Currency Exchanger For Your Online Business

Investing Online? Look For The Best E-currency Exchanger

Finding a reputed and established e-currency exchanger that can offer the best services is very important, especially if you are involved with online investing. To put it simply, it’s one of the most crucial aspects to consider when you are involved with a business where you send/receive money online.

When you have an online business that helps you make a pretty good amount of profit and also growing at a rapid pace, you have to look for an e-currency exchanger so that you can receive the funds/amount in your country’s currency. However, it’s not really an easy task to find a reputed e-currency exchanger who can help you get the amount within a short span of time.

Understanding The Concept Of E-Currency

To put it simply, depositing and withdrawing amount/business online is definitely a daunting task. Although there are many e-currency exchanging companies out there in the market, you cannot trust everyone. Therefore, you need to be a little careful while choosing the e-currency exchange
company for your online business.

E-currency is one of the best ways to get the funds in your personal account. Though some of the people decide to choose the bank wire, but it can be an expensive option. Moreover, banks take a lot of time to deposit the funds.

Now, you simply don’t need to worry because it’s the e-currency service providers who can easily transfer the funds to your personal account easily. They make use of a payment processor to transfer the funds in your currency. You have to choose the currency depending on the present location where you are living or kind of client you are dealing with.

Submit Your Identity Proof/Address

Just like any other bank or financial institution, e-currency exchangers ask the consumers to submit some form of verification before carrying out any kind of investment. Therefore, you have to submit the identity proof along with a utility bill which will prove the residential address.

Some of the e-currency providers may also ask you to provide some other details. Normally, most of the providers ask you to submit the scanned documents so that the process can be completed more quickly and easily. Once you have set up the account, it becomes easy for you to deposit and withdraw the amount easily.

Of course, nothing is free in this world. Depending on the amount of transaction, there is a specific amount which will be charged. It’s advisable to do some online research when you are looking for e-currency providers so that you can find the best one which will meet all your needs.

Conclusion
If you want to know about e-currency exchange provider, there are many good websites which can give you some excellent tips to find the best provider. You should read Daily Released reviews or client-testimonials of the different e-currency websites before making any choice. No matter the kind of online business you are involved; keep all these tips in mind to find a reliable e-currency exchange provider. For more information you can click this link www.paymentbase.com.