Archive for July, 2009

How can you get free credit/financial counseling?

My fiance and I are in debt but will be getting wedding money and I do not want to be foolish with it. We do not qualify for low-income housing or services such as United Way, but we do not have quite enough to live on our own comfortably, partially because of debt accrued (I had a high paying job and was suddenly laid off).

You are an intellegent person, you can make your own budget and pay off all the higher intrest rates first and then the lower ones. There are few that are free and even if they say they are there is usually a catch.

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Any good ideas for financial services experience?

I’m a recent college graduate with a solid professional/academic resume, but I am lacking in the relative work history department. I’ve been pursuing entry-level analyst jobs in corporate finance and financial services firms but haven’t had any success landing one. Its now time to get job to fill in my resume/have income until I can secure a job in the investment industry. Any suggestions that would be a "plus" in the eyes of a recruiter?

Thanks in advance!
(My ideas so far… bank teller, internships, temp agency…)

Primerica is an option, but it may not be for you. Although recruiting people is very important to building a business with Primerica, if all you want is money to live on, it is not required. However, the only way to make more money (ex: increase commissions) in the business, is to build a team.

If you join to solely to make money though, you will fail. If you wish to make a difference in peoples lives, and focus on that, you will succeed in time.

However, from what I have heard from other insurance agencies and investment firms, they will not touch someone from Primerica because of what we believe. It’s contradictory to high profits.

In short, if you are simply looking for another job, stay away from Primerica. If you are looking to build a business you can be proud of, give it some thought. Only you will know what is right for you.

Edit: Corrected grammer.

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Personal Debt Consolidation Loan – Explore Your Options

Consolidation loans can be a major resource for the debt programs. Consolidation becomes the only feasible solution, when you are in the risk of repaying multiple debts. This route will help you to solve multiple financial problems using the professional services available for a personal debt consolidation loan. Financial help is offered by different sources such as credit card companies, banks, and private lenders, lawyers and nearly all financial advisors.

Money problems are inevitable when it comes to meet all living requirements after job cuts or any mishap with financial planning. Apart from monthly living bills, people are now forced to get in different debts due to the uncontrolled use of credit cards. However the condition becomes critic, if you are inefficient in the proper debt management. The default in the payment of bills due to scarcity of money or carelessness, it will lead you to the rim of financial disaster such as bad credit. Also you will be at threat of multiple debt collectors, which may haunt the personal and social attributes of a person.

A consolidation loan is a loan facility provided to a person to get rid of his personal debts. It can attribute many benefits over the multiple debts. The trouble of paying for multiple debts can be avoided through this single repayment. Also one can devoid the threat of multiple bill collectors. According to the credit status of the person, in need, different loans and repayment options are available. Generally the debt consolidation will be comprehensive to include the different debts such as credit card bills, bank loans, and private lender loans. Usually the interest rate will also be lower than most other loans. However it differs with the type of personal debt consolidation loan.

Personal debt loans are mainly available in the type of secured loan as well as unsecured loan. The secured options will be based on the collateral security of any of your property. Since the secured loan has the assurance of the property, the lenders are willing to give loans in larger loan amount and lower interest rates. The unsecured loan options do not require any collateral security. In most cases, the unsecured loan interest rate will depend upon the credit report of the person. However, some lenders are ready to offer unsecured loan to bad credit persons, but at a higher interest rate.

Personal debt consolidation loan is also available in other modes such as personal installment loan and personal revolving credit line. In personal revolving credit line type of loans, you can enjoy flexibility in using the account where as personal installment loan is similar to conventional loan.

However, the selection of an ideal consolidation loan is the most important aspect of procuring a loan. If you are not careful in the selection, the expected results regarding the benefits may not be feasible. Always shop around. Talk to 2 or 3 different advisors before making the final decision.

Doug Pare
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/personal-debt-consolidation-loan-explore-your-options-68801.html

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The Perks Of Online Stock Investing

Getting into the stock market can be a fun and rewarding venture. For those who are unfamiliar with its ups and downs, the prospect can be a bit daunting though. Dealing with brokers can be a little frustrating. Some brokers are very easy to reach and will do a buyer’s bidding no matter what.

Others, armed with more knowledge than the investors, will sometimes be a little less responsive. Thanks to online stock investing, brokers can be virtually taken out of the mix for those who aren’t keen on dealing with a middleman directly.

Online stock investing is a fairly new concept that has opened a lot of doors for investors of all financial means. Everyone from retirees to schoolchildren have managed to get involved in online stock investing for a whole host of reasons.

There are some negatives to going this route to make investments, but there are a whole lot of perks that go with it, too. The cons for online investing involve the loss of a personal broker that can offer sound advice. When it comes to getting the best advice on what to buy, when to buy and when to sell, it’s hard to replace the expert.

Beyond that, however, online stock investing does have a lot of perks that make it accessible to virtually anyone. Plus, many reputable online trading sites provide access to trained brokers and investment counselors when their help is needed.

The overall perks of online stock investing include:

Ease: Most online trading sites offer very simple interfaces that enable users to quickly and easily buy and sell stocks. All that’s generally necessary is setting up a free account, sharing some information and inputting what’s required to pay for stock purchases. Most sites offer a lot of help for decision making and even navigating through purchases and sales, too.

Cost: The costs associated with trading stocks online will vary from site to site, but in general they are much more affordable than using direct brokerage services. Rather than charge huge per trade fees, these sites enable very small purchases and sales for pennies. This is what makes online trading so attractive to small investors looking to turn their milk money into extra cash.

Control: Online stock investing tends to put a lot more control into the hands of the investor. With direct access to buy and sell commands, these services help ensure that what investors want done is truly carried out. This can present both pros and cons, however. With the ease for selling and buying, overzealous traders can sell prematurely or buy at bad times.

Freedom: Online stock investors tend to have a lot of freedom to make their own decisions. This falls under control, somewhat, but the fact is this is one of the best options for someone who wants the freedom to make all of their own decisions regarding their money and investments.

Online stock investing can be a great way for anyone to get involved in the market. Coming with fees that are more affordable to the masses, this trend is one that’s more than likely to continue.

J. Lloyd
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/the-perks-of-online-stock-investing-137660.html

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Dedicated Hosting Services and Virtual Private Servers (vps Hosting)

Let’s recap the different types of hosting services that are available:

1. Free web hosting – these are normally sponsored through advertising. A no-no if you are serious about hosting your website for business purposes.

2. Shared hosting – shared hosting is the most common type of hosting available today. This is most commonly used if you are running a small website or are just starting out.

3. VPS hosting (Virtual Private Servers) – this is the poor man’s dedicated server. With VPS hosting the hosting provider partitions one server into multiple private spaces. You are therefore still sharing a server with other clients, but you get your own private ‘slice’ of this server. This means that your website performance will not be affected by the other clients sharing the same server since each client has his own virtual private space in which they run. Clients that host on VPS servers therefore has access to the same type of services normally only afforded by dedicated hosting technology

4. Dedicated hosting services are needed by clients with large websites that generate high volumes of traffic. There are also some companies which need huge storage space, and are not willing to share space with smaller companies but with the price of hardware and hard disks coming down in recent years, the more common reason to require a dedicated server these days are more to do with bandwidth usage and performance.

In both these cases, dedicated hosting providers the solution. Instead of sharing space on a shared server or even with a Virtual Private Server, you will lease an entire dedicated machine that is pre-configured for your requirements. Hosting companies that offer dedicated hosting are often larger and more established than companies that only offer shared hosting. Small web hosts often do not have the financial or technical muscle to provide dedicated hosting.

Web hosting companies that make provision for dedicated servers need to make a considerable investment in hardware and software, and because the client has full control over what type of software should be run on these machines, the hosting company also requires more investment in training and skills development of their staff. The hosting company also needs to make provision to stay up to date with the latest developments in hardware and software. The web host therefore needs to upgrade technology regularly to be able to provide state-of-the-art equipment.

Remember that the advantages of dedicated hosting is that the client does not control the hardware and basic software that is required to run the server, nor does the client have to employ any technical resources to maintain the hardware and software – this is completely the responsibility of the dedicated hosting provider.

This is why dedicated hosting costs considerably more than shared hosting or even VPS hosting. The cost can range between $99 to $2500 per month depending on which hosting company you deal with and depending on the client requirements. The cost will also be determined by the type of service contract that will be put in place between the client and the hosting company. Such a contract is commonly called a Service Level Agreement and it spells out the requirements of the client to a low level of detail. These requirements normally cover issues such as bandwidth usage, the required up-time of the server, scheduled maintenance slots and so on. The higher the required level of support from the hosing provider, the more expensive the monthly rental contract will be.

In some cases the client would do some of the management of the server himself (this is called un-managed hosting). In this case the hosting provider will only provide the physical server and infrastructure (e.g. network connectivity, storage space etc). In this case the actual management and monitoring of the servers are the responsibility of the client and this type of dedicated hosting should be on the cheaper side of dedicated hosting costs. It must be remembered then though that the client must make provision for employing technical staff to maintain the servers.

Christine Anderssen
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/dedicated-hosting-services-and-virtual-private-servers-vps-hosting-110348.html

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