Finance Archives - Useful Tips

So You Want to Build a Business – Here’s How To Get Started

If you ask most people what their ultimate dream is, they’re usually going to give you two different answers: they want to own their own home, and they want to run a business. Usually people start a business so that they have the money to buy their own home and then some. You can definitely increase your quality of life with a business, but a business can also become one of the hardest things that you’ve ever done in your life.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to start a business. The wrong way would be to just dive in without having any idea of what you actually want to do. Far too often people are in a financial crunch and they think that running a business would be better money as well as more freedom. You have to understand that once you quit your job, you’re the boss and that means that everything is essentially your responsibility. You get to scoop up a hundred percent of the praise, but you also get stuck with one hundred percent of the blame too. That’s a point that a lot of would-be business owners skip over.

Before you do anything else, you should make sure that you actually start a business plan. This might not be a formal business plan, but any planning that you can do before the big leap is definitely a good thing. Figure out what products and/or services you can offer to the audience of your choice. You might even need to look around at your competition to see what they’re offering and how you can get into the same field s them. Reaching out and building a network professionally is a good way to see what will be involved as you make the switch to entrepreneurial life.

Getting a great mentor can help you sidestep a lot of issues in your company, because you won’t have to go in blind so to speak. Your mentor should be someone that is already running a business, or retired after running a business. Someone that’s coming up alongside you can be good to bounce ideas off of, but they shouldn’t be your main teacher — in fact, they might be making the same mistakes as you!

The best thing that you can do for yourself is to give yourself enough time and enough savings to enter the business world on your terms rather than having to make moves out of desperation — that’s the best way to get started!

3 Simple Steps to Ensure the Workplace Is Safe for Your Employees

By admin

A healthy work environment means a healthy business. Here are the factors worth keeping in mind to ensure this is achieved.

In an unsafe environment, work can be hazardous to your health, or even lethal. Well over half a million people (611,000) across the UK were injured while on the job from 2014 to 2015, according to official figures, and 142 people unfortunately lost their lives.

While shocking, these numbers are around half of what they were just two decades ago. That’s thanks to new rules and regulations concerning workplace safety, and vastly improved working conditions. Employers are legally obliged to provide suitable places of work for the people in them. Let’s take a look at three essential steps to take to ensure your business is compliant with these laws.

1. Your Duty of Care

As an employer, the law says you have a “duty of care” towards those who work on your commercial premises. After all, the very last thing you want is for your valued employees to become injured. Not only will they be unable to work, but they may have grounds to make personal injury claims against the company, too.

At a fundamental level, ensuring the workplace is in an optimal condition and staff won’t be reaching for the nearest No Win No Fee solicitor because of an injury means maintaining the structural integrity of the building itself. All it takes is a loose brick or piece of ceiling plaster to cause harm to staff. Regular maintenance, including of the interior workspaces themselves, is therefore essential.

That also applies to the many types of equipment and machinery that businesses use — everything from photocopiers to forklifts. An electric shock or worse could be devastating to employees, and lead to any number of expensive personal injury claims. So with the premises and what’s inside it, the keyword for health and safety is: maintenance. Holding on to something that’s old in the hopes of getting a few more years out of it, or pushing back on maintenance schedules to cut costs, can often backfire and be exceptionally dangerous.

2. Illuminating Workplace Safety

In order to avoid workplace injury and personal injury claims from staff, it’s important — and also required under law — to provide proper lighting in all areas where people are working. What’s “proper” lighting, then? Not just any old light bulb, but lighting that’s as natural as possible and not so harsh that it causes glare and headaches. The lighting must also be provided in all areas where people move about, or may potentially do so, such as in emergency stairwells. Outside the building must also be adequately lit up for employees and pedestrians passing by.

You won’t be troubled by your employees hunting for a personal injury solicitor to handle a work-related injury if you look after their hygiene needs and general welfare during the hours they’re toiling away for you. Toilet facilities must be kept clean at all times, and have hot and cold running water along with such necessaries as hand-soap and towels.

Staff must also have suitable areas where they can rest and eat, and any catering facilities must adhere to government regulations. Additionally, you may wish to consider pregnant or nursing employees, and provide separate facilities for them.

3. Create a Great Place to Work

Making the place where your staff generate the business that keeps you in business as comfortable as possible will go a long way towards making them happiness and productivity. Attention needs to be paid to such things as temperature inside offices and other places of work — heating as well as cooling — and an adequate supply of ventilation.

Plus, if any of your employees work outdoors in any capacity, you’ll also need to provide adequate cover from high and low temperatures, as well as rain and severe weather.

With all of this, you’ll be well within the health and safety regulations and steer clear of personal injury claims. Even something as seemingly innocuous as an uneven floor or computer cables sticking out is all it takes for someone to fall over and become badly injured.

It all adds up to a win for you, and your valued workers.

Using a credit card responsibly

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A credit card is a powerful tool. It can offer you convenience and ease. In our world these days, many things just aren’t possible without one – buying online or renting a car, for example. They are a great tool, but they can get you in a lot of trouble if you don’t use them responsibly. They can quickly get out of control and cause you problems. They have high interest rates which can add up and bury you in debt. In the majority of personal bankruptcies, credit cards have played a major role. Here are 7 tips you can use to avoid getting in trouble with your credit cards:

Don’t follow their payment rules. Credit cards companies have minimum payments. If you only pay the minimum payments, you will be paying forever. It would take you 44 years to pay off a $4,500 balance using just the minimum payment each month. The minimum payment allows the interest to build up very quickly, too. That same $4,500 balance on a typical card would build up $17,000 in interest by the time you pay it off. That isn’t good. Pay as much as you can afford everything month. Hopefully, that will mean much more than just the minimum payment.

Be careful of fees. Banks and credit card companies make millions of dollars every year by charging their customers fees for everything they do. Some of the fees are obvious – late payments, getting a new card, ordering another statement for your account. Those fees are obvious and you probably already avoid them whenever you can. More important, though, are the fees that you probably aren’t aware of. Some cards have a fee for balance transfers or even fees for talking to a real customer service agent instead of a computer. There might even be inactivity fees if you don’t use your card for a few months. Look over your agreement to understand what fees are associated with your card and do all that you can to avoid them.

Stop when you are in trouble. If you can’t afford to pay your minimum payment and your problems look like they are going to continue into the future, don’t keep using your card. Building up higher balances isn’t going to help anything. It is just going to cause troubles. Stop spending, look at your situation, devise a plan to get out of trouble and stick to it. Once you have everything sorted out and your finances are back under control you can start using your cards again. [Read more…]

Managing Your Finances During Covid-19: What You Need to Know

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The Covid-19 pandemic has had a serious economic impact, and it’s not easy to manage your finances in these uncertain times. With so much financial uncertainty and turmoil, how can you best protect yourself?

The sudden, drastic changes brought on by the Coronavirus outbreak have drastically altered our lives. Not only is everyday life highly disrupted and limited by social distancing measures, but economic activity has also come to a screeching halt with gambling360 casino businesses closing their doors or operating at reduced capacity.

Families and individuals alike have had to make difficult decisions about how to manage money during this time of crisis. It is important that when managing your finances during these challenging times you are making smart, informed decisions about what is best for your financial situation. In this article, we will look into the different ways that people can effectively manage their finances during the Covid-19 crisis.

Track Your Spending

The first step to managing your finances during the Covid-19 pandemic is to track your spending. Keeping a close eye on what you’re spending will help you avoid overspending and help you stay within your budget. Make sure to take note of any changes in spending habits due to the pandemic, such as switching from dining out to ordering groceries online, or cancelling subscriptions and memberships that are no longer necessary. [Read more…]

What To Expect from This Year’s Mobile Releases

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The end of the year is closing in and as the holiday season approaches, so do the releases of the different manufacturers’ new flagship phones – the rumour mill has already started to churn around what both Samsung and Apple may have in store this year with expected releases around December or early 2022. Devices have come a long way, and the uses have changed dramatically to from multimedia hubs to the heart of the day to day work for some too as this is a popular resource of those using their mobile device for work on the road particularly with the recent rise in the digital nomad lifestyle – it’s safe to say there’s always a lot of excitement for this time of year with the hope that these new devices can really push the boat out, but where are the biggest changes looking to come from?

(Image from engadget.com)

Smaller displays may be coming – It’s rumoured from some well-known sources that gone are the days of the oversized “phablet” styled phones as Samsung in particular may look to reduce the screen sizes of their biggest devices by a little – the largest of the flagship line may see a shrinkage of around 1” on total display, which may be welcomed to those who are getting frustrated with the huge devices that struggle to fit in the pocket. [Read more…]

Importance of Income Diversity

By admin

If this past year has taught us anything, it’s that relying on one stream of income may quickly become a thing of the past as the realisation that changes appearing out of the blue can have a huge impact – whilst things are largely on the way to getting back to normal, that’s certainly no time to get comfortable and diversifying your income to bolster your finances could certainly protect you in the future, but how are different options being explored to provide the biggest benefit?

(Image from talk-business.co.uk)

Betting and gambling – Although not the most reliable way and requiring capital upfront, betting and gambling have always been a way some choose to change their finances with investing and the stock market being the biggest bet of them all. The start of the year has shown this more than ever too with the GameStop and AMC stock information, as well as the growing crypto market that has attracted a wave of investors too. There is of course those that chase the big wins too as this casino calzone casino review is one of the many growing gaming services that have been a source of a win during this same period of time too – although betting and gambling as a method of securing financial diversity is certainly one many would recommend avoiding. [Read more…]

It’s One Year until the Deadline: Now is the Time to Claim PPI

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There is now just one year left to make your PPI claim. Are you sick of hearing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s robotic head yelling at you to ‘do it now?’ Thankfully, you don’t have to endure it for too much longer.

His face can be seen on TVs and billboards across the UK, encouraging consumers to make their claims before the cut-off date, set for 29th August 2019. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) reported that, so far, nearly £32 billion has been paid to consumers. The latter half of 2017 and early 2018 saw an increase in payments being made to customers, indicating that the advertising campaign caused people to take action.

But, with 64 million PPI policies sold, there is still potential for thousands more claims to be made before the deadline next year. If you haven’t yet made a claim or believe that PPI isn’t relevant to you, we explain why it’s worthwhile checking and how you can make a PPI claim.

Why Bother Checking for PPI?

So many people have made successful PPI claims, despite not knowing they had bought PPI in the first place. The scandal was so large because the extent of mis-selling was extreme. Often, PPI policies were automatically added onto financial products without the knowledge and consent of consumers. It was commonly sold alongside mortgages, credit cards and loans. [Read more…]

Checklist your way to healthy financial footing

By admin

If your bank balance is looking slightly worse for wear, it’s not always easy to see how to turn things around. Debt can take its toll on your physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing, so it’s important to take control of your finances and get on the right financial foot.

Fortunately, the prepaid Mastercard® providers over at icount can help you to do just that. They’ve created the simple guide below, complete with a ‘healthy financial footing’ checklist that can help you to transform your finances over time. Read on and get checking to get a head start on a bright financial future. [Read more…]

Personal loan based on income

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There have been some serious issues in American society and its financial health is under question. There is too much debt around but equally there are valid reasons why people want to take out personal loans. The question is their availability. Interest rates are fairly low for those who apply successfully. The financial sector has changed in recent years and for many that change is for the better because the basis of being successful is increasingly affordability rather than history.

Everyone carries their credit score with them, good or bad. It is like a badge that will tell those who are interested something about you. It is something that lenders refer to when you apply for money but so do many potential employers are part of their decision process on a job application. In many cases it has become a badge that people do not want to wear. The reason for that often has its roots in the recession. When the Collateralized Debt Obligation (CDO) crisis struck there was widespread misery. Unemployment doubled to over 10% and many received foreclosure notices before then losing their homes because they could not pay their mortgages. Every time they failed to pay a bill on time that failure was entered into their credit history resulting in a reduction of their credit score.

A Different Environment Prevailed

While few were entirely innocent because they had taken on credit and were unable to meet their obligations prior to the recession there was a very positive feeling about the economy and its growth. There was no reason not to have a mortgage that stretched them because property prices were rising quickly so their assets were going to grow. When the crash came and many who had thought they were in secure employment became unemployed the trouble started; and it continued until real estate prices fell. The surplus of property on the market with few buyers around ensured they were not going to start to rise particularly quickly. [Read more…]

Fraud Awareness – Phishing scams on the rise

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Phishing scams are on the rise and this is why companies like Wonga have put strategies in place to deal with their image being used as the mask of an online scam. These scams are not only targeted at individuals, but some scammers will also target companies. The way phishing scams work is that the scammer will send an email or SMS asking the recipient to send personal details or will let them know about some financial offer, such as loans. In these cases, they will often ask for bank account details or for the recipient to send a deposit in order to get access to the loan.

The importance of awareness

It is important to be aware of phishing scams so that you don’t end up duped. There are many reasons why these scammers exist. In some cases, it is to get money by asking for deposits, admin fees etc. In other cases, it is to retrieve personal information. The scammer may empty the bank account or go in and read emails. They may even use the information for identity theft, so it is imperative to be aware of these types of scams.

Raising awareness

Many businesses are raising awareness of phishing scams and it is important for individuals to have the same kind of awareness. There are some key ways to understand if your email or SMS is potentially part of a phishing scam:

Strange email address – even if the email has the logo of the company they are ‘apparently’ sending from, such as Wonga, PayPal etc., the email will probably not reflect that. It may look strange or have the wrong spelling.
Salutation – scammers will quite often not actually know your name, so the email is likely to just be directed to ‘Mr’ ‘Mrs’ etc. If it was from a legitimate company, they would have your name on file.
The sender – many businesses, such as banks and other financial organisations won’t actually send emails, as they need to be very strict with confidentiality, so if you get one through from them, it is probably a scam.
Nature of email – if the email says anything like ‘urgent notice’ or ‘please respond urgently’, it is probably also a scam.

This is what a typical phishing scam looks like and it will probably be all too familiar for most people.

Fig.1 above, a phishing email that used Wonga South Africa as the disguise to target South Africans. Note: No data leak or vulnerability occurred on Wonga’s website, data leak source is currently unknown.

Scammers will go to all sorts of lengths to get your information, so the best way to deal with emails like this is to call the company directly and check whether or not they sent it.

What to do about a phishing scam?

If you think you may have been the victim of a phishing scam, you should contact the company directly and send them a copy of your email or SMS. You should never respond to the scammer, as this response could be enough for them to get some additional information from you. You never know how these people may work. It is better to be safe than sorry, so just ignore it.