IT TAKES MONEY TO MAKE MONEY?

By: Robert Serina

The idea that it takes money to make money is a false one. This is a common knowledge idea (which are usually wrong).

When you are in the situation of living within a tight expense budget and you do not know anything about any "business model", it certainly does seem like it takes money to make money. It also seems like there is a lot of risk involved (and given the circumstances, I would agree).


This whole idea leads most people to believe that investing is risky. In reality, the more knowledge and experience you have, the less risk that is involved and the less money that is usually required.

This is true no matter what business model you choose to pursue. It is all the learning and preparation that take place before an investment that determine the profitability of the investment.

Your level of financial education not only determines how successful your business investments will be but, It is directly related to the quality of people you employee and the businesses you partner with.

Most people have not invested their time into learning about there finances so that is why most people feel it takes money to take money. This belief can lead many people to confuse investing with gambling. Much like gambling when you are relying on "luck" to determine the outcome there is a large amount of risk involved.

Investing is only risky when the person making the investment has no knowledge or experience handling that type of investment. Than the investment may require lots of money and risk.

The less knowledge and experience a person has, the less control they have over the possible outcomes. The less control they have over the outcome, the less certain they are of the outcome. Whenever you invest your money into a situation where you are not certain of the outcome, you are not really investing, you are gambling.

It is important you do not confuse gambling with investing.

HOW TO REALLY MAKE MONEY WITH PAID SURVEYS

By: Davion Wong

Internet paid surveys or rather making money from them can be elusive for the income opportunity seekers. You may have come across many commercial advertisements online or even websites through search engines like Yahoo, MSN, Google that talks about internet paid surveys. One question you probably may have is whether do such paid surveys exist and do they really pay that well. Truth is you must take what you see and read with a pinch of salt. It is definitely untrue that anyone have grown rich out of taking online surveys. No one has and no one will. But people are quietly stashing away good cash to supplement their main income with surveys. So let us study their moves and copy them to really make money with internet paid surveys.

Never re-invent the wheel. Since others have tread the path and paved the way. Follow them and it is safe. Same goes for making money with internet paid surveys. There are some positive thinking and good habits survey takers keep to ensure that they have a constant stream of online paid surveys to do and earn a decent monthly income. One of them is to be realistic and focused on your income goals. Knowing that taking surveys cannot make you rich, you need to set targets like making $500 a month or even making $2000. With proper goal setting, work backwards to calculate the number of internet surveys you need to do in order to achieve your goals. On average, you can earn $5 - $15 out of a simple 15 minute survey. So it should give you a gauge on how much time you should set aside and how many internet paid surveys to take weekly.

Once the goal is set, it is time to duplicate what others are doing to get the internet paid surveys coming consistently. Taking surveys is a numbers game. Top survey income earners are members of hundreds to thousands of survey sites. Not every survey site has a survey for you to do everyday so you need to be signed up with that many market survey companies in order to have a fresh influx of internet paid surveys every single day. Use a free email account to do so because it can be overwhelming when the surveys start flooding your inbox.

Professional survey takers watch their email inboxes like hawks. Your quick response to notification emails is very important. It determines if you are accepted into the survey taking since they only need that many survey takers for their internet paid surveys. So the moral of the story is be fast in responding. After a while, you would get a hang of it and become familiar with the different timings the notification emails are sent out so that you can be right on time. It is a good habit to cultivate.

There are many other tips to make real money out of internet paid surveys. Read up my survey blog for more useful tips and find out how people find good paying survey companies to increase their income.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY SHOPPING ONLINE

By: Everett Sizemore

Learn how to save BIG online by searching for multiple coupons, getting free shipping, comparing prices and researching the brands.

Many consumers think that online shopping is more expensive because they wouldn’t have to pay shipping at the brick-n-mortar store. They don’t know what you’re about to find out.

Did you know that there are thousands of websites that exist just to provide you with coupons for online stores? Did you know you can find sites that compare prices, and brand features, or that entire forums and networks are dedicated to allowing users to voice their own opinion about a product or service? Did you know many stores use their online portal and email newsletters as a quick way to unload overstocked products at below-cost prices? Did you know some stores allow you to combine free shipping deals with dollar off deals, with percent off deals, with buy-one-get-one deals…? Did you know there are companies that allow you to join their affiliate program and save hundreds of dollars by selling yourself their product? I know of one that lets me buy a hosting package for $95 including taxes, and then deposits $100 back into my affiliate account a few months later. They are actually paying ME to buy their product. It says nothing against doing this in the agreement I signed, and as far as I’m concerned it is a don’t ask; don’t tell situation.

Most of these sites did not exist five years ago, at least not with such economic success while providing such unprecedented value. We have the emergence of Affiliate Marketing to thank for this, as you will see below.

The Digital Coupon

I was shopping for a relative’s Christmas present last year and my mother saw me get onto a coupon site. It was http://www.thecouponmatrix.com , which has little coupon-like dashes around the logos, and she asked "Are you going to print that coupon out?" It dawned on me then that perhaps not 'everyone' knew what an affiliate program was, or that thousands of merchants pay bloggers and website owners in every conceivable industry to distribute online coupons via special codes that the buyer types into a field during the checkout process: "Save 25% on everything – today only! Enter Code: 12345 at Checkout." Others just apply the code automatically when you click on the link: "Get free shipping. Click Here." If you are going to buy the Blue Widget brand of widgets, for example, go to Google and type: 'blue widget coupons' or 'blue widget coupon codes'. You'll be surprised at how many there are!

Double Dipping

Most ecommerce systems these days are smart enough to allow stores to make coupons not applicable with any other offers. But the employee behind this million dollar ecommerce system doesn’t always have his coffee in the morning and you can often find online stores that allow multiple coupons to the point of practically getting something for free: Free shipping + 25% off + $10 off + Get one free = A heck of a deal! Do a Google search for "you can use multiple coupons" and see if you can find any of your favorite stores.

Compare Prices

There are plenty of websites out there that will check databases from thousands of online stores and return the result that has the cheapest price for the product you asked for. You might already know some of them, such as: amazon.com, pricegrabber.com, bizrate.com, and Nextag.com.

Compare Brands

Less common than the price comparison site, but equally as useful, is the brand comparison. Before you try to find where to buy, you need to know what to buy. That's where sites like http://www.comparethebrands.com come in. They take two brands (i.e. Treo VS Blackberry Smart-phones) and compare features, price, consumer opinion from other review websites, and come up with an unbiased suggestion as to which brand is the best buy, thus saving you money both short-term and in the long run with a higher quality product.

Join Newsletters and Feeds

Get a free Hotmail or Gmail account, and use it only to subscribe to your favorite stores’ newsletters. Before long you will have a library of emails from which to select coupon codes, limited time offers and deep, deep discounts on overstocked items. I often see the price being offered in the email to the newsletter group can be as much as half of that listed on the website for everyone else to see. Feeds are slowly taking over instead of newsletters, and have the added benefit of being more anonymous. You can sign up for Compare The Brand’s 10 Most Recent ever-flowing feed of product reviews just by copying and pasting the URL into bloglines or Google feed reader. You can even get a widget and put it on your desktop.

Sell Yourself and Double the Winnings

Affiliate programs gave birth to this type of service and utility in the ecommerce industry by allowing regular Joe's to place a link on their own website, or in an email, and get a percent of the sale every time someone went from their link to the merchants' site and purchased something. What those new to the affiliate marketing industry do not know is that most merchants have no clause in the affiliate agreement about using the discounts to buy for yourself. Just join all the programs you can, keep a page somewhere online that you can put all of the links on, and next time you want to buy something just go through your own link. Not only will you save by using the coupon code, but you get a percent of the sale. How much cash back does Visa give - 0.02%? Hop on over to Commission Junction, Shareasale or Linkshare to get up to 25% back every time!

Remember: Compare the brands, join the newsletters, compare prices and double dip those coupons while selling yourself on a Great Deal! You’ll be the best customer you've ever had. I promise.

E-COMMERCE - EASY MONEY OR HARD KNOCKS

By: Marc and Kemella Allyn

When my wife and I got into the WWW. E-commerce world, we had visions of easy money and an auto pilot type of business. You know the kind that runs itself and the money just rolls in. Oh yeah, low start-up cost, little time, and low commitment. Just read the commercials and Internet ads.

The Internet can be your friend or it can bite you like a scared dog. Try researching, starting an Internet business. You will find every easy money method in the world. Here is a list of things to consider and these things are just the surface. This is not meant to scare you but to inform you of the reality, before you fall into the money pit. Just remember you have to give before you receive and sometimes we learn from the pain.

Websites necessities or basics:

Host/Server – to store all your files and images. E-mail and other perks. $8 to $12 month

Purchase your domain – www.mysite.com $8 to $???

Merchant/Credit Card service –Credit Card processing. This is a low price. $25Month, $15 service charge, and 30 cents per transaction and 2.5% of sales. (OUCH!)

Paypal – You can use Paypal for your payment option. It’s free. I don’t use it. Nothing is free.

Rent a ready-made store - Now you can go with a company who will host your site and provide a storefront for you. They will even give you products to sell. These are usually database type and provide no SEO. In other words, the only people who purchase from your site are your friends and family. No one can find your site in the Internet desert. You're on page 200 (if lucky). They run from $40 to $200 month.

Find a wholesaler? No problem, everyone is a wholesaler. What do you want to sell? Leather, Home Décor, Knives and Swords, Collectibles or maybe Kitchen cookware?

Where are the real wholesalers? The ones they buy from. There are many scams and scam tools for sale out there. Now try ordering from them. Late? Back Ordered? Packing? Drop ship costs? Shipping & Handling Costs? Drop ship or Inventory? Taxes???

Build your site - There are many templates out there that look good but if you don’t know how to program HTML forget it. You will probably buy a book or software that shows us dummies that we can create HTML websites without having to know HTML. On the outside it looks good, but on the inside they stink. How are you going to find the time and keep up with the latest in this "part time business"? Search Engine robots don't like bad programming among other things.

Gather Information - Now that you have a wholesaler, download all the prices and images. Create your spreadsheets to upload all the product information (change them to CSV or some delimited format. Or you may have to do this one at a time… Ahhh!

Fix the images - Adjust the resolution, size, etc. to fit your WebPages. Get the right software to do this…It will save you days of work and cost. I hope you get this done before the prices change or the item is discontinued. Remember that if you have more than one wholesaler, you have more than one tax and drop ship charge. You also have different information and images. They could be in other formats.

My wife and I thought an Internet Shopping Mall would be so cool. We could have different stores, oh boy…That’s where the name MallAboutTown.com came from. Oh yeah. Now you have to have a logo and a theme and all the right colors and, and, and.

It's kinda like building a house.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - You should have been thinking about this from the start. Buy links, buy PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising, buy search engine submissions, buy content, submit articles and link to directories and other Websites, read, read, read and determine who is telling the truth.

After all the smoke clears, you will be in the hole a few bucks. When that first sale comes in you will feel like that golfer getting a hole in one. Then you're back at it, harder than ever. It’s an addiction. I guess it could be described as the spouse that won’t leave an abused relationship. Like any business, Internet business is not for the short-term commitment. There is so much I had to leave out because many things depend on what direction you take on this journey. Good Luck, remember if it’s too good to be true…..

Our advice is to personally talk to someone that is successfully operating E-commerce site, (not on E-bay) and get the facts. This is what made E-bay so popular. But even E-bay can be tough.

Good Luck,

Marc and Kemella Allyn

HOW TO STOP SPENDING YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY

By: Neil Parnham

Answer these questions:

a. Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much money?

b. Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?

c. Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear?

d. Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust on a retailer’s shelf?

e. Do you buy things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them on display in a store?

If you answered “yes” to any two of the above questions, you are an impulse spender and indulge yourself in retail therapy.

This is not a good thing. It will prevent you from saving for the important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement. You must set some financial goals and resist spending money on items that really don’t matter in the long run.

Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.

Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. The trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for.

When you go shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.

If you see something you think you really need, give yourself two weeks to decide if it is really something you need or something you can easily do without. By following this simple solution, you will mend your financial fences and your relationships.

TIPS ON HOW TO TEACH YOUR KIDS TO SAVE MONEY

By: Norleen Gray

A lot of teens nowadays do not understand the value of earning and spending money. They were not oriented that investing is necessary even if they are still students. As parents, you play a crucial role in this area.

You should be able to teach your kids on how to save money. They should be able to understand the concept of money and investment as early as childhood. This will prepare them to learn money management, as they grow old.

Here are some tips on how you can teach your children how to save money:

1. Your children should be educated of the meaning of money. Once your children have learned how to count, that is the perfect time for you teach them the real meaning of money. You should be consistent and explain to them in simple ways and do this frequently so that they may be able to remember what you taught them.

2. Always explain to them the value of saving money. Make them understand its importance and how it will impact their life. It is important that you entertain questions from them about money and you should be able to answer them right away.

3. When giving them their allowances. You need to give them their allowances in denominations. Then you can encourage them that they should keep a certain bill for the future. You can motivate them to do this by telling them that the money can be saved and they can buy new pair of shoes or the toys they want once they are able to save.

4. You can also teach them to work for money. You can start this at your own home. You can pay them fifty cents to one dollar every time they clean their rooms, do the dishes or feed their pets. This concept of earning little money will make them think that money is something they have worked for and should be spent wisely.

5. You can teach them to save money by giving them piggy banks where they can put coins and wait until they get full. You can also open bank accounts for them and let them deposit money from their allowance. You should always show them how much they have earned to keep them motivated.

Money and saving is not something that is learned by children in one sitting. You should be patient in teaching them and relating the value of money in all of their activities. Children will learn this easily if you are patient and consistent in guiding them and encouraging them in this endeavor.

THEMES SITES WITH eBAY LISTINGS SAVE TIME AND MONEY

By: Matthew Ryan

If you have searched for something to buy online, chances are you have come across a “niche site” streaming listings from eBay. These sites can help you find what you are looking for and all while removing the hassle of searching eBay and other sites yourself.

A few years back, eBay launched a program where webmasters could put eBay listings directly on their web site. This spawned a new generation of so-called “niche” web sites, where a webmaster would create a web site themed around a certain product. The product listings on eBay are streamed directly to the web site. Even categories and subcategories are transferred to the web site, making it easy to navigate and find what you are looking for. If the webmaster did a good job designing the web site, then finding what you are looking for is much easier than going directly to eBay doing a search for what you want.

For example, let us take a look at the web site www.transformersnation.com. The web site is themed around the “Transformers” niche. You can see in the left sidebar all the categories for the different Transformers products. Searching for products that can be found in multiple categories spread across eBay can be a pain. The niche site transformersnation.com relieves this pain as every category that Transformers products fall in are right there on the side of the page.

The competition on eBay tends to keep prices low compared to other web sites selling their product directly from their stock. This adds even more value for the customer when using a niche site with eBay listings as you will be saving time and money. This makes the experience of using one of these niche web sites second to none.

As you can see, niche sites with eBay listings can be very helpful to anyone performing a search looking to buy something online.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY FROM BLOGGING

By: Scott Brooks

Blogs are a great way to share facts, ideas and opinions directly between people, but also, they are a viable way to earn money. In fact, earning money with blogs is something just about anyone can do. Making money with blogs is completely dependent on your audience and you’re ability to attract people to click on the advertisements. Blogs are simple to set up, and relatively easy to update. As many as 75,000 blogs are created every day—almost one per second!

If you are looking to start making money on the internet and you have a budget that is very small or zero, blogging is a great way to get started. You can set-up a free blog and join advertisement programs for free. The only cost involved in setting up a blog is your time.

Although there are many factors involved in making money with your blog, there are a few vital keys to remember when setting up, maintaining and promoting your blog in order to achieve success.

1. Your blog needs to have the right layout in order for your adsense ads to be “clickable” by visitors. Choosing an advertisement’s location, size and color is very important and is something you will need to constantly test and tweak to determine which formats produce the most clicks. It’s amazing how one small change can produce monumental results. There are also many other ways to make money with your blog than with adsense alone. You could promote affiliate products and implement contextual advertising such as Kontera.

2. Your blog will need lots and lots of traffic. This is really a no-brainer, yet it’s the greatest challenge of any website owner. The encouraging reality is that there are more ways to generate traffic for your blog than ever before. This is due to the emergence of Web 2.0 sites like YouTube and social bookmarking sites. Many of these sites provide great sources for one-way links to your blog. Getting hundreds, even thousands of quality links is a must if you expect significant traffic to your blog. There are also many SEO tools on the market now such as directory and article submitters that will help you get thousands of backlinks to your blog quickly and save lots of valuable time.

3. Your blog will need to be updated frequently. You cannot expect return visitors if your blog is not a source of fresh information. You can use RSS feeds to provide your blog with relative information, however you will need to add personal posts as well at least once or twice per week. This will increase your blog’s search engine rankings and also help brand you as an expert in your niche.

Blogging is a great way to share your thoughts and ideas online, but it’s also a powerful money-making tool. Making money with blogs is fairly simple if you know what to do and if you’re willing to invest the time and effort necessary to make it profitable.

SAVING MONEY ON YOUR MORTGAGE

By: Peter Spyr

Shopping around for mortgages is so popular these days that many people can be excused for thinking that switching lenders is the only way to save money on your home loan. But there is a much easier way that does not require phone calls, computers connected to the internet, or trips to your bank or building society.

Did you know, for instance, that making overpayments on your mortgage can slash thousands of pounds off your interest bill? Additionally, it will cut the length of time taken to repay your home loan so you get to own your home sooner.

Imagine, say, that you have a £100,000 repayment mortgage, with a 25-year term and an interest rate of 6%. Your monthly payments will be £644, and after 25 years you will have paid back a total of £193,290. In other words you will have paid back £1.93 for every pound borrowed.

If, however, you were to overpay your mortgage by just £50 each month, your total payment would be reduced to £177,279 -- a saving of over sixteen grand in interest. Furthermore, this overpayment shortens the length of the mortgage by 45 months, which means almost four extra years of bliss.

Its is worth being prudent though and ensuring that your will not be penalised by your lender for changing your standing order or making overpayment. In the main, most flexible mortgage lenders will allow you to make overpayments of up to 10% each year. But if your lender doesn't allow this, you have another trick up your sleeve!

Lessening the term of your mortgage from 25 years to 21 years would increase your payments in exactly the same way as overpaying by £50 each month. Mind you, this is a much harsher way to do it because payments are fixed. However, it doesn't prevent you from increasing your term again, should you need to, by simply writing to your provider.

At the end of the day, paying off your mortgage early is simply the best and least risky ways of saving money. By making overpayments to your mortgage of around 6%, your money would be working harder than if you had invested it into a savings account with 7% earnings.5% for a basic-rate taxpayer. For a higher-rate taxpayer, this risk-free and tax-free rate is equivalent to 10%, which is practically unbeatable!

Many people forget that even though we sign up for a 25-year mortgage term there is no earthly reason why we have to stick to this. If you have any extra cash each month, using it against your mortgage can make a huge difference and it can save you thousands of pounds in interest each year.

Good luck on removing that mortgage millstone from around your neck!

ULTIMATE MONEY MAKER OR ULTIMATE SCAM?

By: Daniel Gruda

So you’ve heard about Mark Warren’s Ultimate Wealth Package and you want to know if it can make you money.

Most likely, the reason why you’re here is to receive an opinion from someone who has used this product.

Before you get started, you should know that you will not make money overnight. Ultimate Wealth Package is not a get rich quick scheme and they don’t claim to be. Success with package will take time and effort. There is a learning curve to this system and your success will depend on how hard you work at it.

Lets start with the good points:

Ultimate Wealth Package offers in-depth insight into the world of affiliate marketing. It covers everything from creating ad campaigns and maintaining customer loyalty through opt-in lists. For those who are just entering the field, Ultimate Wealth Package is an information gold mine. The package shows you step by step how to build up your online business. They even include a free website with their package.

As an added bonus, Ultimate Wealth Package packs a ton of extra goodies, especially for those who opt for the VIP package. Among these bonuses are over 100 extra e-books (covering a wide variety of topics on how to make money online), software packages, and audio interviews with marketing experts. UWP even offers 24 hour, toll-free phone support, a feature that I have not seen with any other wealth package.

Unfortunately, UWP is far from perfect:

While Ultimate Wealth Package offers a free website, it’s only for beginners. The site is ill-suited for applying Mark Warren’s more advanced strategies and you drop it once you’re ready to go to the next level.

Probably the worst part of Ultimate Wealth Package is the expectations. Mark Warren has really shot himself in foot with this one folks. He pads his website with tons of stories of people making lots of money quick. This won’t happen for most people. Don’t be surprised if it takes a while for you to start earning an income. As I said earlier, success will take time and effort.

So what's the verdict?

Ultimate Wealth Package receives my full recommendation. The strategies it preaches can be used by both novices and experts. After using this product, you might realize that you don’t like internet marketing. If that’s the case, simply exercise UWP’s 60 day money-back guarantee.

Just to let you know, prepare to learn a lot. Ultimate Wealth Package gave me my start in affiliate marketing and 2 days after buying it, I felt like my brain was going to explode. There was just so much information!! My advice to novices: don’t get overwhelmed and discouraged. Just continue to practice Mark Warren’s techniques and eventually, you’ll get the hang of it.

FRUGAL LIVING TIP - GIVING YOURSELF A REASON TO SAVE MONEY

By: Jonni Good

In the US and much of the Western world, we equate money with happiness, even though our personal experience seldom gives us reason to believe that the old saying "you can't buy happiness" is anything less than true. We assure ourselves that if we only get a raise or get a better job or win the lottery, all of the stress of daily life will disappear and we'll have time for those things in life we really enjoy.

This would be true, at least partially, if making more money allowed us to have more money in the bank. However, each raise in pay also raises our desire to spend, so a promotion at work can actually put us farther into debt. How many people do we know who bring in over $100,000 a year who are still living paycheck to paycheck? How many lottery winners end up in bankruptcy court, wondering where all the money went and how they managed to make such a muddle of this windfall that should have set them up for a lifetime of financial security?

An option to spending as much or more than you make every month is to live frugally - and it's refreshing to see the increase in interest in the voluntary simplicity movement. Being intentionally frugal can actually bring you the financial security that a high-paying job cannot. In fact, if you go one step further to voluntary poverty, as I have, you may be able to quit that job and actually do something that could really make you feel fulfilled.

The one frugal living tip that makes the biggest difference is to simply keep track of everything you spend for at least a month. You probably won't keep it up for much longer than that, but it will give you an idea of where your money is going, and whether or not the money you spend on each item is really giving you the satisfaction you're paying for.

However, just keeping track won't help much unless you have a vision of another way of life that would really give you pleasure or contentment. Saving money for it's own sake feels like a sacrifice, but saving money so you can retire early and start that little farm you've always wanted would be a goal worth working for. Creating that goal may take some true soul searching and many deep conversations with your family.

When you come up with a goal you all agree on, decide how much time it will take to get there - this time frame is important, and you should be as realistic as you can. Do you want to own your own home without a mortgage? Will it take 5 years of frugal living? Or 10? Would you like to retire all your credit card debt? How long will it take?

Once you have that goal in mind, the best way to start putting money in the bank is to notice where you're spending your money now.

One thing most people discover is that the simple act of jotting down the $3 you spend on coffee every morning, plus every other small or large expenditure, will magically cause you to have money left over that you ever had before. Keeping track causes us to be mindful of our choices, and even without adding up any numbers or making any deep decisions, we save money by spending more consciously.

Once you have at least a few weeks' worth of figures, you're ready to get out the calculator. Divide the items on your list into any categories that seem reasonable - such as lunch at work, utilities, dog food... Then add up the columns to see how much you really spend.

Then, go one step further to give yourself a true shock - multiply the amount you spend on each unnecessary category, like your morning coffee at Starbucks, by the number of months you think it will take you to reach that long-term goal.

If you spend $3.50 each working day at the local coffee shop, it doesn't seem like a very big deal. Multiply that by the average of 20 working days a month, and you may be startled to realize that you spend $70 a month on coffee that you could make yourself in your own kitchen. But the real eye-opener comes when you multiply that $70 times the number of months you need to reach your goal of financial security.

If you are willing to spend 5 years in frugal living to pay down the mortgage on your house or pay off all your credit cards, multiply your monthly coffee money by 60 months, and you'll see $4200 on your calculator screen. That 's enough money for a down payment on a reasonably priced house, or to buy a good used car for your teenager. It's also enough to pay at least several month's mortgage payments, or to put in the bank for a medical emergency. $3.50 isn't an important amount of money, but to almost anyone I know, $4200 is a serious amount of cash.

Do the same calculation for everything on your list that isn't truly necessary, and you may discover that you can reduce the amount of time you need to reach your long-term goal by several years or more. If your credit card debts are weighing you down and causing daily stress, this simple frugal living tip could lead to a complete elimination of debt in just a year or less. In my mind, that's more important than a fancy cup of coffee.

TO MAKE MONEY ON THE INTERNET

By: Gordon Milton

There are lots of ways to make money on the internet, but let's get several things straightened out first. It is just as difficult to make money on the internet as it is to make money with a "bricks and mortar" business, but on the internet, it is possible to get started with very little money. The ways to make money on the internet are as infinite as your imagination and if you combine those two points there is one absolute. Don't part with any money until you are certain about what you are purchasing.

I have found that the real, honest to goodness organizations that you can "joint venture" with, or work for, present their offers to you in a truly transparent manner. The best of the best, will grant you full access to their methods of conducting business online without any prerequisite for you to part with your money.

In your search for ways to make money on the internet, very often you will be presented with offers to be a re-seller. This means you buy information to sell on to others. Frequently, this information is about how someone has made hundreds of thousands of dollars, possibly millions of dollars, by using techniques obtained through purchasing an e-book for seemingly very little money. The impression is that the "up-side" is so massive as to make the purchase price appear trivial.

Take care. Commonly, the person selling the information has made a fortune using methods that exploit a loop-hole in a service. However, the service-provider maybe closing the loop-hole. You could be too late to gain any advantage using the tactics yourself and word may have spread, making it very difficult to sell the information onwards.

Always ask yourself why the person is offering this information to the public at large. After all, if the biggest businesses go to incredible lengths to keep their money making methods secret, don't you think that anyone who has successfully discovered how to make money on the internet would do the same. However, there are always exceptions.

Sometimes you can be a re-seller for a service, such as web-hosting, or an auto-responder for example. Such services are based on an ongoing subscription and may be linked to an affiliate program. In such circumstances, it is understandable to be offered the opportunity to be a re-seller. The person offering you the service will continue making money on your subscription and you will continue to make money on the internet for the lifetime of your customer's subscriptions.

THE PRINCIPLE LAW OF ONLINE MONEYMAKING VENTURES

By: Stephen Thomas

The Principle Law Of Online Moneymaking Ventures

There are two ways to earn money in the real world. Either you will work for a boss, or be your own boss. Working for a boss entails employment of some nature, in an establishment that has some need for the services you could provide. Being your own boss entails having your own business and facilitating the production of some goods or the distribution of some services. Either way, you'll earn your keep (or at least, you should).

It's the basic law of making money, you have to give or render something to receive something in return. When it comes to making money online, it's the same principle at work. You have to give or render something to receive something in return. And yes, you could work for a boss, or you could be your own boss. The opportunities are there in the World Wide Web. The choice is yours. The first question in your mind, most probably, is this: could I really earn a living online?

The answer to that question is an emphatic "yes!" But let me explain, dear friend. I am not referring to some ordinary opportunities that would reward you with measly earnings that won't even be enough to purchase a happy meal. Oh, most definitely not. I am talking about REAL opportunities that would help you earn REAL money in the World Wide Web.

The things you will learn in this series of email lessons would make you realize that the virtual world is just as profitable, if not more lucrative, than offline ventures. Based on my experience, it is more profitable to have your own business on the internet. Case in point: I personally know 34 people who live comfortable lives by working for someone else via the communication channels that the internet has made possible, but I also personally know around 200 people who have made it big online without having to work as much as those who have decided to render their services for hire. By "big," I mean big time big! I'm talking about a yearly gross in the high six digits, if not over the magical 7 digit barrier! And I'm just talking about the people I "personally" know, people I have befriended and people I have mentored at some point. What more the people outside my circle, right?

But first, we must cover the basics. Tell me, what's the common thing that can be observed in any business? The answer, of course, is that you have to sell something. What you will be able to sell would be your bread and butter. It will be the source of your profits. You can't earn if you can't offer anything for a particular market. You may offer them some goods or some services, which they would need or want. This is related to the driving principle of the commercial world: the law of supply in demand. This principle is quite easy to understand. The lower the supply, the higher the demand. This is the lesson I want you to learn: you can't make money from the real world without delivering something, be it some goods or some services. And you can't make money from the internet without delivering something as well. It's the basic business model at work.

Using what we have discussed so far as basis, we could formulate an outline for your online business plan, one that would allow you to cover the basic concepts and advance to more complicated ones. Here are the things you have to learn, eventually:

1. How to find a profitable market.

2. The different types of products you could sell.

3. How to create your own information product.

4. How to create unconventional products that can be digitally delivered.

5. How to come up with products without having to go through the process of creation.

6. How to build your own digital store.

7. The basics of search engine optimization.

8. The basics of article marketing.

9. The basics of forum marketing.

10. How to make a blog work for your business.

11. How to price your product.

12. How to employ novel packaging techniques to make your product highly sellable.

13. Cross-selling and back-selling items for sustainable profit.

I am not exaggerating when I tell you that you'd be able to earn an amount that might rival and even surpass what you earn from your day job. The Internet, after all, has always been a secret breeding ground for millionaires. Master the basics we have enumerated above and you will be able to realize the extreme profitability an online moneymaking opportunity can truly offer.

MAKE MONEY ONLINE

By: Chris Peterson

If you want to make money online, than you will first have to defeat that negative voice in the back of your head that says it isn't really possible.

I can tell you firsthand it is possible and I am living proof that anyone with a little persistance and effort can crack the code and make money online. Now if you would have asked me that question several years ago, I probably would have had said "I am not sure".

But today I can definately say that is possible for you, but first you have to get your mind in the right place. In a positive place. Instead of being a doom and gloom type of person, you have to look at every step you take wether good or bad and learn from them.

I am not going to pull your chains and tell you that you are going to get rich overnite, because making money on the internet can take weeks or even months to set yourself up for success. But all of the investing and effort that you apply now will pay off later as long as you are'nt one of these many people that join a make money program and than give up when they don't see overnite wealth!

As a society we want everything to be done for us and in the blink of an eye. Answer me this question; "If you knew that in one year if followed certain steps you would be financially well off, would you pursue the steps or just say no thanks?

My guess is that financial independence would be a strong motivator for you. Guess what, it is the motivating factor for everyone that wants to make money online. The difference between you and the other guy is your desire and perseverance.

You may have to deal with family and friends along the way that tell you that you will never make money and your time is wastaed because all money making programs are scams or rippoff's! I am telling you that this is what I dealt with when I first came online, but now that I am cranking out money from my online business those people are the first ones to help me spend it! So don't get caught up in all of that negative crap!

Even when it feels like your online business moves two steps back if you keep at it, your business will jump forward and you will make money online.

LOOKING WITHIN TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE MONEY

By: Mario Churchill

Learning how to make money always starts with yourself; if you want to learn how to make money and become wealthy, you need to take a good look at your reflection first and honestly ask yourself what you can do to improve and enhance your strengths while reducing your weaknesses.

10 Tips for Learning How to Make Money by Looking Within

Know your interests. This will let you know what kind of your job you’ll be happiest of. Don’t think about its profit potential first. What you should really be concerned about is to search for any interest that will make you enjoy work and get paid for something you love and don’t mind to do!

Know your strengths and weaknesses in relation to your chosen field of profession. When you’ve identified your key interests, this will lead you to your chosen profession. And when that happens, it’s time to take a good look at your reflection and know what makes you strong and weak. Afterwards, we do things to improve our strengths and reduce or eliminate our weaknesses.

Invest effort in learning and gaining experience. Don’t stop learning new things. It doesn’t have to be directly connected with your chosen field all the time. Any educational opportunity is ultimately beneficial because it exercises your mind. And of course, you’ve heard about how experience is the best teacher, and it’s still true. That’s why you should do your best to gain as much experience in your preferred job.

Be ethical. Contrary to popular opinion, good guys don’t finish last often nowadays. In fact, it’s the big guys who are now leading the pack. You only have to look at Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to understand this.

Being ethical pays, but don’t do this just for the sake of higher returns. Do this because you know it’s right. Be fair to your clients, employees, employers, superiors, distributors, retailers, suppliers, and all other people who are working with you. Do unto them what you want them to do unto you in short.

Set standards for your company. Having standards is a way of motivating the people in your company or business to aim higher and do better. It also lets you know whether you’re making money or not, and if you are – whether you’re making as much as you should or not. If you aren’t, it lets you know what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

Think of your work or business as a plant. You need to nourish it if you want it to grow, blossom, and bear fruit. It will not survive solely on financial investment. For anything to become truly profitable, you first need to involve your body and soul into it.

Rule by example. Your employees play a key part in turning your company around, and if you want them to perform well, you need to show them that you can and will always do what you’re asking them to do.

And most importantly of all – don’t be afraid to take risks. If you focus too much on what you could lose, you might lose track completely of what you could gain if you take the risk. Instead of being impulsive, weigh your options carefully to ascertain which risks are foolish…and which ones aren’t. Use your heart to know which risks have great potential, but use your head to decide which is right.

MAKE YOUR MONEY WORK FOR YOU

By: Alison Bolger

Do you want to know the real truth about how to get wealthy? The answer is very simple. All you need to do is make your money work for you, instead of you having to work for your money.

Talk to all the people who have become wealthy and I bet they’ll all tell you that they make their money work for them. They may not have started out with any money but they learned that if they were smart with what money they did earn they could make it work for them instead of the other way around. This rule does not discriminate. Every one has an equal chance to do this and it is never too late to start.

Why hasn’t someone explained this to you before you ask? Why didn’t you learn this at school? You are probably like the majority of people who went to school. You went to learn how to get a job and work for money for the rest of your life. Wouldn’t you rather have been taught how to make your money work for you? Did any of your teachers show you how to do this. Not likely. They probably didn’t know how to do it either.

You were probably told from a very early age to get a good education so that you could get a good job. This good job would assure you of a steady income for the rest of your life. If you were lucky, and got a really good job where you earned lots of money, then you might be able to save up enough money for the deposit on a house. Then you could spend the rest of your life paying off your mortgage and hopefully have a few dollars left to save for your retirement.

Did anyone tell you that by the time you get around to retiring, your savings probably wont go very far. Forget about a pension because there probably won’t be one by the time you retire. Well, if that’s the case then once you retire it won’t be too hard to have to start scrimping and economizing as you’ve done that all your life anyway so you are well qualified. Your only worry now is that you hope that your money won’t run out before you do.

Well before it’s too late, just how do you go about making your money work for you? Well there are dozens of ways you can do this. The first thing you need to do is find out from the experts how they do it. You need to be prepared to start educating yourself on the different options that are available out there.

Jamie McIntyre of the 21st Century Academy offers a free DVD and e-book that will give you some great ideas on how to get your financial intelligence off to the right start. Find out what hundreds of others are doing to transform their lives by learning how to make their money work for them. To check out Jamie’s free offer go to www.learnwealthysecrets.com and click on the 21st Century link.

MONEY MANAGEMENT AND PAYDAY LOANS

By: Max Hunter

There are a number of ways that people can use to manage money to stay out of debt and even establish savings over time.

Establish a Budget

The first, and maybe the most important step, is to set a budget for yourself and stick by it. Take a look at your household income and outgo. Set the budget up to accommodate your payday schedule. In other words, if you get paid once a month, then you have to budget accordingly so that you won’t run out of money before the end of the month. If you get paid every two weeks, or every week, figure out which of your bills have to be paid on each payday. It is absolutely essential to set some money aside for emergencies. Even if it is only $20 per payday, having some cushion will keep you from having to borrow money when something unforeseen occurs. There are all kinds of budget sheets available to help you figure things out and many of them are free on the Internet. However, it is not hard to make your own. Just make a list of your income and when it arrives, as well as a list of what has to be paid when. Check each item off and date it when it is paid. Don’t forget to budget adequate amounts for items like food, gas, entertainment, etc. If you have those items in your budget, it’s also a good way to track how much you are actually spending on them each month.

Get Organized

A good way to begin the budgeting process is to sort out all of your legal and financial papers and file them so you can find what you need when you need it. For example put bills that are due on the 10th of the month in one folder, and bills that are due on the 25th in another folder. Once you have paid a particular bill, shred it and dispose of it, in order to save confusion. Any other financial information, like savings accounts, mutual funds, etc. should also be stored in appropriately labeled folders. At the first of the year, when your tax documents start coming in, put them all in one folder with the tax forms. When April 15 rolls around, you won’t have to dig through piles of mail on your desk to come up with all of the appropriate documents and forms. Items like insurance policies should also be labeled and file so that you can readily find them if and when you need them.

Find Ways to Save Money

Do some brainstorming about your expenses and how you could possibly cut back on them. It is wise to write them down on paper because it is less easy to dismiss them that way. For example, can you cut down on the amount of gas you use by taking public transportation? If you eat out often, consider making more meals at home. Examine your buying habits. Do you go shopping when you are depressed? Do you go grocery shopping when you are hungry? Do you purchase items advertised on the shopping channel without every leaving your easy chair? These are all practices you can change. Find healthier activities for when you are feeling down – go for a long walk instead of going shopping. Make a grocery list and carefully plan what groceries you need for the coming week, then go to the store and buy them. Coupons can be advantageous if you buy name brand items, but store brands are often cheaper in the long run. Watch the weekly sales flyers in the local newspaper and buy items like meat when they are on sale. It’s handy to have something in the freezer to fix, and less costly in the long run than making a quick trip to the store after work and picking up only what you need for that night’s meal.

Find Ways to Make More Money

Get an extra part time job, or work overtime at your regular job, if possible. Clear out your attic or your garage and have a yard sale. You may be happily surprised at the amount of money you can bring in. These days, many people make money selling items through online auction sites like ebay, and don’t have to sort and tag and have people running all over your yard for a day. If there is a local farmer’s market, consider something you can sell there. If you have extra produce from your garden, or are a good baker, you will find that people are readily willing to buy things that you can grow or make. If you make extra money, don’t increase your expenses. Either use it to pay off bills, or put it away for savings.

Choose Credit Carefully

If you have to have a credit card, shop around for the best deal. Some credit cards have yearly fees that have to be paid whether you ever use the card or not. Interest rates vary widely. Make sure you know what the interest rate is and shop around for the lowest. If you charge something, pay it off before the end of the month, then it won’t cost you any interest on the card. Don’t use more than one credit card. It’s too easy to get into the cycle of living on the credit cards and never really paying more than the interest on them. This is a practice that will get you deeper into debt in the long run.

Payday Loans

If you have an emergency and need to get a payday loan, make sure you investigate and find the one that is the best deal for you. The amount of interest charged varies widely from company to company and so does the repayment period. Find the loan that gives you the most flexibility for the least fees. Try to never roll your payday loan over, but pay it off in full by the due date.

MAKING MONEY WITHOUT TRAFFIC?

By: SJP Babrevian

Through the ages men always looked for ways to make more money. Usually this entailed working very hard, or doing a lot of illegal things. The internet truly changed the face of money making opportunities forever. For probably the first time in the history of the world you are able to make money sitting at home the whole day. The Internet opened up brand new ways of increasing your own personal wealth.

Affiliate marketing is probably one of the easiest ways to increase your monthly income, as I am currently doing, and it is open for anybody with a computer and an internet connection. Even people without their own website are able to make extra money being an affiliate. In short affiliate marketing means that you advertise someone else's product and introduce new buyers to their products. For your trouble you are usually paid a percentage of the sale, sometimes up to 75 commission of a $40 sale means you pocket $20 for very little trouble on your side. The wonderful thing about affiliate marketing is that you can make money literally even while you are sleeping. But, there always is a but somewhere, what you seldom hear is that you only make money if you are able to get sellers to the product. In other words, without targeted traffic your changes of making money are extremely slim.

One of your primary concerns is getting good traffic to your site, either by making use of Pay Per Click Advertising like Google Adwords or building your own site and optimizing it for Search Engines. Just a word of warning: Google Adwords can be very expensive if you do not know what you are doing, but it is definitely the fastest way to get traffic. Take a look at my site for some resources available to help you with Google Adwords. On the other hand, building and optimizing your own website can be very cheap, but getting traffic can take some time.

If you want to be successful in affiliate marketing, and thousands already are, you must learn to use the tools available. Do a search on some search engine for Adwords, Affiliate marketing and SEO (or search engine Optimization) and learn a bit about this highly competitive, but extremely lucrative and interesting opportunity. You can also visit my site and learn more about some very good opportunities. Just always remember that in this game numbers make the difference between success and failure. Without large numbers of targeted traffic you will find it difficult to make real money. It will pay you to invest some time in learning about getting targeted traffic first.

BUYING A CAR : 5 WAYS TO SAVE MONEY

By: Michael Lewis

Buying a car is an expensive thing. But, does it have to be? There are a number of things that you can do to get the car that you want for much less. Simple and a bit more complex, these tips will help you to save money in the long run. Buying a car can be affordable.

Here are five tips for saving money on your next car purchase.

1.Get your financing in order before you leave to look at cars. While many car dealerships are offering financing for vehicles, this can be one of the more costly options. Make sure you talk to online financing companies, your local bank and your credit union. You probably will save a good amount of money here.

2.Do the down payment. Even a bit of a down payment can help you to save considerably down the road. You can save a good deal of money if you invest wisely. But, adding a bit of a down payment to the purchase will help to lower the amount of principal that you actually owe on that vehicle purchase.

3.If your credit is bad, get a co signer. Having someone else that can help you to get your car is a great way to secure a vehicle for a more affordable price. This helps to lower the amount of risk that you present to the car financer. The lower the amount of risk you prove to be, the better your chances of paying less for that car.

4.Trade-ins are good too. If you have a car that you plan to trade in, you may be able to get a good price for it. To improve the amount you get, make sure that the car is as clean as possible, is running well and has been taken care of. In addition to this, make sure that you know the value of it by looking it up on the web. Know what its worth so you do not get taken. The value of the trade in will lower the amount you have to have financed on your vehicle.

5.Shop around and haggle. There is no shame in saving money. Dealers are selling cars to make a commission. How much will they make off of you? Do your homework out the type of car you are looking for and know its worth. Look at several dealerships to find the right car at the right price. Don't forget to haggle with the dealership salesmen. But, whatever you do, do not be insulting to them. That's the wrong way to get your price down.

Take these five ways to save on the next time you buy a car and you will walk way with the benefits that you deserve. You can save a good amount of financing and interest charges this way.

FIAT MONEY

Fiat money is any money whose value is determined by legal means, rather than the strict availability of goods and services which are named on the representative note. For differentiation examples, a "gold certificate" would be a kind of representative money, and a banknote from a well-trusted bank which is not a central or government-backed bank (such as the Bank of Scotland) would be a kind of credit money. Fiat money is created when a type of credit money (typically notes from a central bank, such as the Federal Reserve System in the U.S.) is declared by a government act (fiat) to be acceptable and officially-recognized payment for all debts, both public and private. Fiat money may thus be symbolic of a commodity or a government promise, though not a completely specified amount of either of these. Fiat money is thus not technically fungable or tradable directly for fixed quantities of anything, except more of the same government's fiat money. Fiat moneys trade against each other in value in an international market, as with other goods. Many fiat moneys accepted on the international market has having value (which not all fiat moneys are) thus trade indirectly against any internationally available goods and services. Thus the number of U.S. dollars or Japanese yen which are equivalent to each other, or to a gram of gold metal, are all market decisions which change from moment to moment on a daily basis.

Representative, credit, and fiat money all provide solutions to several limitations of commodity money. Depending on the laws, there may be little or no need to physically transport the money — an electronic exchange may be sufficient. Other types of moneys have as their sole use to be medium of exchange, so their supply is not limited by competing alternate uses. Credit and fiat monies can be created without limit in theory, so there is no limit on trade volumes.

Fiat money, if physically represented in the form of currency (paper or coins) can be easily damaged or destroyed. However, here fiat money has an advantage over representative or commodity money, in that the same laws that created the money can also define rules for its replacement in case of damage or destruction. For example, the U.S. government will replace mutilated federal reserve notes (U.S. fiat money) if at least half of the physical note can be reconstructed, or if it can be otherwise proven to have been destroyed. By contrast, commodity money which has been destroyed or lost, is gone.

Paper currency is especially vulnerable to everyday hazards: from fire, water, termites, and simple wear and tear. Currency in the form of minted coins is more durable but a significant portion is simply lost in everyday use. In order to reduce replacement costs, many countries are converting to plastic currency. For example, Mexico has changed its twenty and fifty peso notes, Singapore its $2, $5, $10 and $50 bills, Malaysia with RM5 bill, and Australia and New Zealand their $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 to plastic, both for the increased durability and because plastic may be easily specifically constructed for each denomination, thus making it impossible for counterfeiters to "lift" or raise the value of a bill by using the material of a bill of lesser value as a primary source to make a counterfeit note of higher value.

Some of the benefits of fiat money can be a double-edged sword. For example, if the amount of money in active circulation outstrips the available goods and services for sale, the effect can be inflationary. This can easily happen if governments print money without attention to the level of economic activity, or if successful counterfeiters flourish.

A criticism of credit and fiat moneys relates to the fact that their stabilities are highly dependent on the stability of the legal system backing the currency: should the legal system fail, so will the value of any type of money that depends on it. However, this situation is typical of the maintainance of the value of any promisory note system: if a guarantor creates money or wealth by means of any legal promise to provide goods or services in the future (as is the case with both credit and fiat type moneys), then any failure of a legal system which backs up the rights of the debt-holder to collect on the promise, will act to jeoparize the value of future promises.

CREDIT MONEY

Credit money is any claim against a physical or legal person that can be used for the purchase of goods and services. Credit money differs from commodity and fiat money in two ways: It is not payable on demand (although in the case of fiat money, "demand payment" is a purely symbolic act since all that can be demanded is other types of fiat currency) and there is some element of risk that the real value upon fulfillment of the claim will not be equal to real value expected at the time of purchase.

This risk comes about in two ways and affects both buyer and seller.

First it is a claim and the claimant may default (not pay). High levels of default have destructive supply side effects. If manufacturers and service providers do not receive payment for the goods they produce, they will not have the resources to buy the labor and materials needed to produce new goods and services. This reduces supply, increases prices and raises unemployment, possibly triggering a period of stagflation. In extreme cases, widespread defaults can cause a lack of confidence in lending institutions and lead to economic depression. For example, abuse of credit arrangements is considered one of the significant causes of the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The second source of risk is time. Credit money is a promise of future payment. If the interest rate on the claim fails to compensate for the combined impact of the inflation (or deflation) rate and the time value of money, the seller will receive less real value than anticipated. If the interest rate on the claim overcompensates, the buyer will pay more than expected.

Over the last two centuries, credit money has steadily risen as the main source of money creation, progressively replacing first commodity and then representative money. In many cases credit money has been converted to fiat money (see below), as governments have backed certain private credit instruments (first banknotes from central banks, then later certain types of deposits to banks), thus converting central banknotes to legal tender, and other types of notes (deposit certificates of less than a certain value) to a status not very different from fiat money, since they are backed by the power of the central government to redeem eventually with tax collection.

A particular problem with credit money is that its supply moves in line with credit/business cycles (colloquially: "booms" and "busts"). When lenders are optimistic (notably when the debt level is low), they increase their lending activity, thus creating new money. This may also trigger inflation and bull markets. When creditors are pessimistic (for instance, when debt level is perceived as too high, or unwise lending activity in the past has resulted in situations where defaults are expected to follow), then creditors reduce their lending activity and money becomes "tight" or "illiquid." Bankruptcies and market recessions (so-called bear markets) then follow.

REPRESENTATIVE MONEY

Representative money refers to money that consists of token coins, other physical tokens such as certificates, and even non-physical "digital certificates" (authenticated digital transactions) that can be reliably exchanged for a fixed quantity of a commodity such as gold, silver or potentially water, oil or food. Representative money thus stands in direct and fixed relation to the commodity which backs it. This is to be distinguished from commodity money which is actually composed of a real and intrically valuable physical commodity.

COMMODITY MONEY

Commodity money is any money that is both used as a general purpose medium of exchange and as a tradable commodity in its own right. An example is coins made of precious metal.

Commodity-based currencies are often viewed as more stable, but this is not always the case. The value of a commodity-based currency as a medium of exchange depends on its supply relative to other goods and services available in the economy. Historically, gold, silver and other metals commonly used in commodity-based monetary systems have been subject to regular and sometimes extraordinary fluctuations in purchasing power. This not only damages its stability as a medium of exchange; it also reduces its effectiveness as a store of value. In the 1500s and 1600s huge quantities of gold and even larger amounts of silver were discovered in the New World and brought back to Europe for conversion into coin. As a result, the purchasing power of those coins fell by 60% to 80%, i.e. the prices of goods rose, because the supply of goods did not keep pace with the increased supply of money. In addition, the relative value of silver to gold shifted dramatically downward. Such discoveries of huge sources of gold or silver are a thing of the past, and lend to their supply stability. More recently, from 1980 to 2001, gold was a particularly poor store of value, as gold prices dropped from a high of $850/oz. ($27.30 /g) to a low of $255/oz. ($8.20 /g). It should be noted that gold was not a currency at this time, and was fluctuating due to its status as a final store of value — that is, the price never goes to zero as fiat currencies inevitably do. The advantage of gold and silver, however, lies in the fact that, unlike fiat paper currency, the supply cannot be increased arbitrarily by a central bank.

It is also possible for the trading value of a commodity money to be greater than its value as a medium of exchange when governments attempt to fix exchange rates between different commodity monies. When this happens people will often start melting down coins and reselling the metal used to make them. This has happened periodically in the United States, eventually causing it to move away from pure silver nickels and pure copper pennies.Shipping coins from one jurisdiction to another so that they could be reminted was sometimes a lucrative trade before the advent of trusted paper money.

Commodity money's ability to function as a store of value is also limited by its very nature. Copper and tin risk rust and corrosion. Gold and silver are soft metals that can lose weight through scratches and abrasions, but this is nothing by comparison to fiat currencies, where billions of dollars can be injected ("printed") into the market within moments.

Stability aside, commodity-based currencies may have a tendency to restrain growth in a very active economy. For example, in order to maintain the price level, the supply of money in an any economy must be equal or greater than the volume of goods and services produced. If commodities are used as money, then the total production can easily outstrip the supply of those commodities, which leads to price deflation. The lower prices of goods would signal to their producers to reduce the supply of goods, hence restoring the price level. As such, production within commodity-based economies tends to be limited by the supply of the commodity currency.

This problem is compounded by the fact that money also serves as a store of value. This encourages hoarding (in other circumstances known as "saving") and takes the commodity money out of circulation, reducing the supply. The supply of circulating commodity currency is further reduced by the fact that commodity moneys also have competing non-monetary uses. For example, gold and silver are used in jewellery, and nickel and copper have important industrial uses.

Commodity currencies may limit the geographic extent of the trading market. To make large purchases either a large volume or a high weight or both of the commodity must be transported to the seller. The cost of transportation of the currency raises the transaction cost and makes long distance sales less attractive.

GOOGLE ADSENSE -ADS THAT MAKE YOU MONEY!

By: Lewis Low

Imagine... being paid checks by the largest and most popular search engine, simply for displaying a few ads on your website for FREE?

Well, this is exactly what the Google Adsense program is all about! And when you think about it, it's a revolutionary way of earning yourself a useful online side income. But let's back up a bit...

In the past, many webmasters displayed ads from various companies, via pop-ups, banners, pop-ins and pop-unders. However, visitors to these sites soon got tired of these advertising methods - I mean, who'd like to go to a website where they'd have to close pop-up windows every other minute? This resulted in a dramatic loss of traffic, and in turn made many webmasters to lose profits.

That's when Google announced a novel program – Google Adsense. Instead of having to use banners and pop-ups to advertise companies and gain a commission, website publishers could now earn a decent profit by displaying unobtrusive text ads on the content pages of their website. Since the ads displayed were often directly related to what your visitors are looking for on your site, you had a way to both monetize and subtly enhance your web content.

One of the main reasons for its popularity, is the fact that the Google Adsense program is incredibly accurate. By stepping beyond the boundaries of simple keyword matching, it has quickly become one of the most prominent tools to display accurate advertisements. A list of keywords is still used as the basis of triggering ads, but complex algorithms now ensure that non-relevant ads no longer show up on your site.

Google Adsense also gives you the option to be selective about the type of ads you wish to display. This helps you direct your visitors towards certain type of products and avoid non-relevant or competitor ads. To make it possible for everyone to integrate Adsense into their sites, the program offers a wide variety of settings that allow you to alter the ads' size and appearance.

Google offers their Adsense program to just about all website owners. After signing up for the program, you'll receive an HTML/ XML code to paste on all of your web pages. Then, Google will dynamically generate ads that are relevant to your web content. Whenever a visitor clicks on one of the Adsense ads on your site, Google credits your account with a percentage of money that was paid by the advertiser for that ad.

To sign up for this terrific program, hop over to http://www.google.com/adsense It's super easy to set up - just a few clicks of your mouse and you're ready to go! Once you start displaying targeted Google Adsense ads on your website, you can expect to generate a sizable income depending on the traffic flow to your site and how many visitors actually click on the ads.

TOP 5 THINGS YOU NEED TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE

By: Alvin Phang

There are many resources you will need as you go along the way to try to make money online. However there are many things and problems you will encounter along the way. Here are the sure 5 things you will need to succeed to really make money online faster!

1. A Very Strong Mindset to Focus

It is really VERY IMPORTANT to always stay focus on your objectives to succeed online. Never try to do too many things but at the end of the day you are actually a master of nothing. The reason I was some what successful in my marketing was because I was really focus on only one thing and that was blogging.

There will be many times while going along the journey in trying to make money online, you will face lots of distractions that will make you not focus! The point is that if you really stay focus on only one objective you will surely see some results!

2. Willing to Outsource and Spend Cash

When I first started my online business, I was very afraid to spent money on Internet tools and outsourcing my stuff and the weird thing was I am willing to pay to learn but strangely I was not willing to pay people to do stuff for me. I also realized this in many others whom I have coach and train before, they too will not be willing to spend a single cent on web site creation but would rather spend it on learning.

The trick about this is that once I started my first outsourcing about a few months, I realized my production rate actually increases by almost 400%! However of course there will times you would loose money, but it’s normal because you will get it right always the first time. It takes risk and time to actually find the right people to outsource your stuff.

3. Willing to be Open Minded to Others

One strong point about how I marketing online is that I always have an open mind to Joint Venture with others. It really does not matter how popular you are but who you know and what you do that matters! As I have time and time again found many interesting Joint Ventures whom are no really popular or making lots of money online but do have really very good assets. And the assets are actually not attainable because the assets that I am talking are the connections they have to bigger players in the market that is truly priceless! If you are interested to send me a joint venture just visit my blog.

4. Always Think of Win-Win Solutions

Never ever try to make money online with a Win - Lose mindset, trust me you will never make any money. One thing I realized many do online is that they are pretty selfish when it comes to marketing and never really respect others. Everybody who ever worked with me before would know I always respect my partners and I will never do any joint venture if it’s a win - lose deal.

You maybe thinking what I say sounds very simple, but through various emails I got with Joint Ventures almost out of 10 emails I received about 7 of them are actually win - lose deals... They would always email me about how great they are and how much they can earn but strangely nothing was mention about what I get.

The best way to draft a good joint venture is always ask yourself what is it in it for him!

5. Think Big! Never Think Small

When I was doing my business for the passed 4 years, I had this major problem. I always cannot seem to think big and expand my business. After years of failing and trying different things I noticed in order for you to really make lots of money online and I really mean A LOT! Here’s secret tip I have for you, surround yourself with at least 10 people who are currently having the income you are actually trying to achieve.

For example let’s say my own goal is to be a millionaire by 30 years old, what I did was all my top 10 closest friends are either already millionaires or are already somewhere there in the marketplace where I would want to be. Studies and surveys have shown that person’s average income is always determined by the people that you surrounded with.

Here’s some proof that this theory really works, imagine yourself wanting to earn $10,000 per month but the friends you hang out with are only earning $2,000 or less per month. Because most likely your friends who are working in those range would most likely only discuss these topic pretty often:

- Pay my bills
- Plan to study and upgrade with a degree
- Buy small investments to increase savings
- Go out movies during free time
- Sit down at Starbucks or Coffee Bean for a chat
- Looking for better jobs

Almost 90% of people do this very often! Where as when you hang out with people who are making like $10,000 or more per month, this is what I found out that they always talk about:

- Discuss about the next big venture or projects.
- Talk about big investments to invest to get great returns fast
- Open business ventures
- Go to networking events to find new leads
- Getting ideas to solve business problems
- Setting up the business

See the difference? I hope you get the picture, because what I wrote is truly real experience and just because I only did a really simple thing which was I just changed the circle of friends I had. Within just 1 year, I realized my wealth and valued actually increases. So I hope you find this useful and do apply it for yourself to experience it. It did work for me really well!

YOU CAN SUCCEED MAKING MONEY ONLINE

By: Theresa Stauffer

There are many people who say that you can not make money online, they will tell you that it is all scams. Then there are those who tell you that they tried and failed or knew some one who lost money. The problem more likely was that they went about marketing on the internet wrong. When you market online the correct way it will have dramatic effects on your outcome

You need to start by creating an effective marketing plan. There are some simple things that you need to include in that plan. You need to know your product and market, know who and where your prospects are and know your competition.

Getting to know the product or service that you are selling is a must, so make sure you use it yourself. When you use the product then you get to know the strengths and weaknesses of it. You will also have the ability to answer questions that your prospects may have about it.

Once the strong points are known then you have identified who your target audience is. You can now set up a marketing campaign promoting the strengths of the product. This will be advertising to your target audience and not to everyone. This is half the battle in internet marketing, too many people advertise to everyone and not there target audience. Look at commercials do car companies run commercials during children's programming, no that is not there target audience and a waste of time and money. You need to do the same on the internet.

Now you know your target market, so you need to know where your prospects are. Find out where they are online and be there also. Do not openly market your products to them as this will only turn them off. Get to know your prospects, what they are looking for and what problems do they have. Since you know your product and the strengths ands weaknesses you can figure out how your product can provide a solution for them. This is something to incorporate into your marketing campaign.

You will also want to study your competition. Get to know the strengths and weaknesses of their product also. Once you know the weakness you can point that out in your marketing also. See who they are advertising to and how they are advertising. Are they doing something that you can incorporate into your advertising?

Once you have all the information of the the product, your target and your competition you can put together an effective marketing plan. Put it all together by appealing to your prospects, showing the strengths of your product over your competition and how your product help them solve there problems.

In order to succeed online there is one important thing that you must do and that is not quit. Success will not happen overnight. It will take time and research. If once approach does not work try something different. But the only way to fail is to quit.

AVOID MAKING ERRORS WHILE MAKING MONEY ONLINE

By: Bob


There are many websites and advertisements that announce that making money online is very easy to do. They are like preachers convincing the masses how easy it is to earn an extra income. You will come across several hot and attractive phrases like ‘avalanche of cash,’ ‘floods of traffic’ and ‘mountains of moolar’ that are alluring enough to pull people towards them making money from them instead of helping them to make money. Unfortunately there are hundreds of people out there who jumped into the sea to seek treasure without proper knowledge. It is like trying hands blindly.

Always remember that there are two sides of every story. Do not go blindly for anything instead train your mind to evaluate what is true and what is untrue, what is possible and what is impossible. Making money is not so easy as it seems or as it is said by so called gurus. These so called marketing guru verse themselves with powerful words that most of the people gets convinced quickly. Therefore it is advisable to take time to come up to certain decision with positive result. There is certainly no proven way to get rich quick, but your business opportunities on the Internet is virtually limitless!

Your chances for making money online depend on many factors and the key to starting business is to do some research, collect as much information as possible before joining or parting with your money. The Internet offers endless opportunities to everyone to do just whatever you wish, regardless whether you are doing it as an individual or you are looking to expand your existing business. Therefore it is important that to become successful one needs time, perseverance, determination and just a little luck. The average person surfing the net are impatience consumers looking for ways to make extra money.
Patience is required throughout the business and failing to hold patience may lead to business failure. It is not impossible to make huge amount but it is not so easy to get the same in a couple of days. Building a strong profitable online home business takes time and a great deal of work so does not fall for the hype. There are many unscrupulous so-called marketers online literally lying to convince the people to victimizing them and making money for themselves. Thankfully there are many marketers who educate consumers to understand what they will be getting into when they begin their businesses.

Internet marketing is an industry just like any other, and so it must be learnt before it is applied and you can practically market anything to build revenue. And where there is a market; there is an opportunity to make money.

AFFILIATE PROGRAMS : MAKING MONEY ONLINE THROUGH THESE TOOLS

By: Bob

Apart from regular jobs many people today prefer a way to extra income to combat the different financial issues like the increasing prices of basic commodities, the household expenses, medication, school expenses if you have a child and many more. There are many online businesses today that will help you to earn extra income to balance your expenses and savings. However it tends to create confusion on which online business is the best kind of business that you can get in to. Affiliate programs could be one good online home business that you can definitely earn money from easily.

Affiliate programs are now one of the things that you will constantly see and hear in the Internet and is preferred by maximum because the requirements are appealing. You do not actually need to sell anything and also do not require huge capital as you would require to start a home business. This kind of home business is a very good moneymaking investment that is recommended for everyone. Even high qualification like MBA, which is generally required to start a business, is also not needed to start this kind of business. Only thing you need to qualify to start a successful business is a purposeful website with a particular theme. For instance if you are a beauty expert then make use of your knowledge in your parlor as well as for an affiliate program business. Build an alluring website with useful informatics website that has all type of beauty concern topics.

Next to website creation, choosing an affiliate program that is also about the same niche is also important to make your website profitable. Affiliate program that is related to beauty products, beauty experts, and beauty supplements can be employed in your websites as a banner or advertise. With every click on these banners or advertise the visitor will be directed to your affiliate company's website where all the beauty products are displayed for them to buy and with every product purchase it will open the door to you to automatically earn a commission for the same. Create your website in such a way that it generate targeted traffic and for this you require to publish articles related to your website's niche in popular article publishing websites not forgetting to include your website's URL that instantly direct the potential target to your website with a click.

Lastly it can be concluded that you need to advertise your website well and spend a little money on programs, making articles and publishing them on article publishing websites with many other tools will improve your chances on generating targeted traffic.

FINANCIAL PLANNING AND INVESTING

By: Evangelos Haramis

What exactly is financial planing and why is it so important?

Financial planning is the process of determining how to manage money, investing, present and future financial goals, and the strategy that should be undertaken to obtain them.

Because our goals and desires change as we do, financial planning and investing is a task that is never finished.

How we are financially able to reach these goals, and the risk we are willing to take to get there, necessarily means that any financial plan must be specifically tailored for an individual or family.

Financial planning begins by taking into account each individual's assets and liabilities at that particular point in time.

The asset category includes life insurance and monetary investments of all kinds, along with physical assets such as a home, automobiles and other items.

Liabilities may range from personal loans, credit card debt, and loans taken to obtain hard assets, such as mortgages.

Next is where sources of ongoing income and increases in hard asset wealth enter into the equation. Income most usually is earned by employment, but other sources, such as possible inheritances, must also be considered.

Increases in hard asset wealth, such as rising home prices, will be affected by general economic conditions as well as owner enhancements.

From here, things get trickier, and this is where the true planning begins!

Our particular stage in life -- whether we are young, old, or somewhere in the middle -- will usually lead us to desire a particular set of goals.

Financial planners often break down our life cycles into distinct phases. Which phase we are in is often determined by age but will also be dictated by how much risk we are willing to assume.

Younger people are most often described as being in an accumulation phase. Their earnings have not yet hit their peak, but at the same time they are striving to obtain both hard and soft assets.

Examples here include saving for a new home or a child's education. Risk assumed here will be tempered by the time constraints of these goals as well as individual risk tolerance. In general, the longer the time frame, the more investments in the aggressive category may be considered.

The other phases extend to middle age and beyond to retirement. Our middle age years often find us at the peak of our earning power, with many of our former goals satisfied. This will mean greater savings are possible, and as time progresses towards retirement, our tolerance for risk will necessarily diminish.

Financial planning takes all of this into account and more. Other factors, including planning for health care and other insurance needs, preparation for emergency expenditures, tax and estate planning and the like will all be part of the strategy.

Unexpected windfalls may also enter into the picture. Saving for retirement becomes increasingly important as the time earned income will end draws nearer.

All of these variables add to the importance of financially planning across all stages of one's life. It is a concept that encompasses your total financial picture -- both in the present and for the future.