New Years Resolutions

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New Years’ is just around the corner and it is time to give some thought regarding what yours will be! Everyone makes New Year’s resolutions usually associated with losing weight and finances that are healthy promises easily made and easily broken sometimes the next day. If you are the type that has done this in the past, then this year when you make New Year’s resolutions, write them down and post them somewhere you can see them every day. Remind yourself of these resolutions so you at least think about them every day. You still might not keep them all of the time, but even if you keep them every second day, you are ahead of the game! This is one of the most difficult things that most people face. How do they actually meet their New Years Resolutions? For more ideas, read on!

Motivation to Keep New Years Resolutions

That is of course if you really have the motivation to keep them. Many people just make them so they can say they are making New Year’s resolutions and then forget them the next day. This post is not going to help these people that are not serious at all so don’t waste your time. On the other hand, if you are serious about New Year’s resolutions, then maybe you have a chance of keeping them. Take a moment and read the rest of this post. Even if you pick out one nugget of information that helps you, you are ahead of the game! Pick something that is achievable, that will take some commitment. If you select something that is outside your ability to achieve, you may just get discouraged and quit. Everyone wants to be a winner!

New Years Resolutions – Surveys

According to a Sun Life Financial survey conducted by Ipsos Reid, with the new year quickly approaching, three-quarters of Canadians are resolving to improve something about themselves. Health-based resolutions are by far the most popular with over two-thirds of those making resolutions (74 percent) stating they resolve to either increase exercise or lose weight in 2011. Eating healthier (31 percent) rounded out the top three choices.

However, when it comes to making permanent changes, eight out of ten respondents admit they’ve failed to keep past resolutions with a lack of motivation and willpower (76 percent) identified as the main barrier to maintaining new year lifestyle changes. Thirty-eight percent also cited a lack of money followed by lack of time (35 percent).

So How do You Keep New Years Resolutions?

All resolutions are good ideas and often will improve your overall lifestyle and quality of life regardless of what they are. So we are all off to a good start, however, the easy part is making them and the hard part is to keep them. Talk is cheap!

Select relatively easy resolutions to keep and set stages or milestones that take you in the direction of completing your resolution. This way you will feel that you have achieved something each time you reach a new milestone. We all need positive feedback and to see progress. This is one way to ensure that you get both.

People who set resolutions that are fun to achieve such as travel or visiting with relatives are easier to keep than others that are more difficult such as losing weight. Chances are you will keep the good ones that are fun and not some of the others unless you make a real effort with a firm plan.

Smoking, Drinking, Saving, Reducing Debt

These are all very difficult resolutions to keep if you are trying to smoke less, drink less, save more and reduce your debt. Each one requires commitment and a specific plan with dates. Also, objectives if you are going to have any success at all in meeting your goals.

Some people can go cold turkey regarding smoking less or stopping. Most cannot and the relapse rate is pretty high. Other people will gradually cut back until they are hardly smoking at all. They may only smoke at parties or in stressful situations. This is like placing candy in front of a child and telling him not to eat it.

Whatever your plan, select wisely and select goals that you can reasonably achieve. If you would like to leave a comment that will benefit our readers please do so. Comments that help our readers or give ideas are well received and supported by this site.

Tax Saving Opportunities

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It’s that time of year again when you still have time to arrange your finances to reduce your income taxes before year-end. There are only a few weeks left before the end of the year for Tax Saving Opportunities. Once Jan 1st rolls around it will be time to begin focusing on the next tax year. Also managing your tax liability. Some tax planning activities apply all year long. While others are more specific to the end of the year in terms of tax management. Talk to your tax accountant to review what steps are needed to minimize your tax commitment for the year.

Tax Saving Opportunities

Consider tax reduction strategies that stem from offsetting capital gains with losses. Also writing off interest expense and other certain year-end activities that must be completed by December 31 in order to realize tax savings in 2010.

Here are five-year end tips that may help Canadian families and individuals in terms of tax planning. You should always discuss your personal situation with your investment or tax adviser before making any decisions. Individual situations can vary widely. The impact of various strategies can have a wide impact as well, both negative as well as positive.

If you are an American, you may also be able to take advantage of some of these considerations. However, you should review your opportunities with a US financial adviser.

Turn losing investments into potential savings

Tax-loss selling is the practice of selling securities that are in an accrued loss position at year-end. Investors do this in order to offset capital gains realized earlier in the year. When tax-loss selling, to guarantee that a trade of public securities is settled in 2019, the trade date must be December 24, 2019, or earlier. This ensures the settlement takes place in 2019. Also that any losses realized are available to the taxpayer this year. Any trade made after December 24, 2019, will not settle until 2020. As a result herefore those losses would not be available until next year.

If you’re hopeful that a losing investment will recover and you’re thinking of buying it back shortly after selling, be wary of the superficial loss rule. A superficial loss occurs when you or you sell an investment to realize the loss. Then buy it back within 30 days after the sale date. The CRA can deny a superficial loss. They can instead add it back to the adjusted cost base (tax cost) of the repurchased security. This means the benefit of the capital loss can only be obtained when the repurchased security is sold again and not repurchased within 30 days.

Turning 71 in 2010, it’s time to convert your RRSP

Canadians with Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) annuitants who turned 71 in 2019 must convert their RRSPs into either a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) or a registered annuity on or before December 31, 2019. And if you plan on making any final contributions to your RRSP, you will only have until December 31 to do so as you no longer have the extra sixty-day advantage of delaying until March 1, 2020. If, however, your spouse or partner is under 72, you can continue contributing to a spousal RRSP in his or her name. This assumes you still have contribution room.

Finally, if you’re 71 and don’t have a younger spouse or partner but still have earned income from 2019 that will create RRSP contribution room for 2020. Consider making a deliberate over-contribution in December 2019 before converting to an RRIF. While you will pay a penalty tax of 1% on the over-contribution for the month of December, when the new RRSP room opens up on January 1, 2020, the over-contribution problem disappears.. You can deduct the 2019 contribution in 2020 or a future year.

Contribute to an RESP to generate future savings

If you have a child or grandchild who has never participated as a beneficiary in a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) and who turned 15 sometime in 2019, December 31 is your last chance to contribute at least $2,000 to his or her RESP in order to collect the 20% Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) for 2019 and create eligibility for CESGs in 2020 and 2021. If you miss the deadline, the child or grandchild will not be eligible for any CESGs in the future.

Spread some goodwill by making donations

December 31 is the last day to make a donation and get a tax receipt for 2010. Keep in mind that gifting publicly-traded securities, mutual funds, or segregated funds with accrued capital gains to a registered charity not only entitles you to a tax receipt for the fair market value of the security or fund being donated but eliminates any capital gains tax as well.

Pay off investment expenses and interest

In order for you to deduct any investment-related expenses on your 2019 tax return, the amounts must actually be paid by year-end (December 31).

Such expenses include interest paid on money borrowed for investing. In addition to investment counseling fees for non-registered accounts. Also for professional accounting services for tracking rental or business income and safety deposit box rental fees.

As always, discuss all tax-planning strategies with a financial advisor or tax professional to properly determine your risk and eligibility. There may be other potential tax-savings opportunities depending on your personal situation.

Small Business Tax Savings

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Perhaps you are aÂ small business owner. Your corporate year end coincides with the end of the year. There are some things you can do before year end to save on tax before the new year. Small Business Tax Savings can be an important part of your revenue stream.

Many small business owners find themselves busy wrapping up their fiscal year end by maximizing sales. Making sure that all shipments are on their way before year end. They could be missing out on substantialÂ tax savings. If they fail to take advantage ofÂ opportunities their company’s income tax commitment could be high.

Small Business Tax Savings

Small business owners have some unique tax-saving strategies they can employ. These strategies should help boost their overall savings for the current tax year.Â For example, perhaps you’ve been mulling over the purchase of new business assets. Purchasing these assets prior to the end of your tax year could be the most advantageous time to take action from a tax perspective. Sales tax rebates, additional depreciation claims etc can be maximized if you purchase these things prior to your corporate year end.

Discuss These Issues with Your Accountants

Discuss year-end tax strategies with a financial adviser or tax professional. Many of these activities must be completed by December 31st if this is the end of your company’s tax year in order to realize tax savings.

There are a couple of areas that small business owners can focus on. However based on your specific business situation there may be additional areas that you can take advantage of. Talk to your tax accountant prior to the end of your year end

Now is the time to purchase business assets

If you’re self-employed or a small business owner, you may wish to consider accelerating the purchase of new business equipment. Or office furniture that you may have been planning to purchase in the following year. Under the tax rules, you are generally permitted to deduct, under the “half-year rule,” one half of a full year’s tax depreciation. Even if you bought it on the last day of the year. For 2012, you can then proceed to claim a full year’s depreciation. Check with your tax accountant on the depreciation rules in your country.

For computer equipment purchased before year end, you can write off 100 per cent of the cost in the year of acquisition. With no half-year rule in many cases. These rules will depend on where you live and the local tax rules that are applied.

Rethink year-end compensation

An incorporated business facing an approaching December 31 corporate year-end may wish to revisit theÂ salary-dividend mix for 2011. It may make more sense for small business owners to pay themselves exclusively through dividends rather than salary in 2012. This precludes them from making an RRSP contribution next year as dividends are not considered “earned income”. They may be better off saving money inside their corporations rather than inside an RRSP.

Talk to your adviser about the potential tax savings advantage dividends may offer over salary. Also about the tax deferral advantage of leaving funds inside the company as opposed to paying them out immediately.

Have your corporation reimburse rewards-paid travel

Some owners use personally-earned credit card rewards points, such as Aeroplan Miles, to travel for business. Have your corporation reimburse you for the value of the travel. Your corporation can deduct the expense and it may beÂ non-taxable to you personally.

Make sure tax-planning for your business stays a priority all year long. It’s important for small business owners to review these and other strategies with an adviser on a regular basis. Discussing your tax situation with a professional can help you ensure you’re taking advantage of all the available tax minimization strategies.

Early Retirement Secrets

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I read an article recently called early retirement secrets. Which gave the following shortlist of things to do if you wanted to make sure that you would be able to retire early. After reviewing this list, I thought that it was ok, but a little academic. I have gone through some of what they discussed and identified.

I have my own thoughts about this subject and what you need to do to retire early. Every person will have a different experience so it is important to evaluate your own situation and make the decisions that are pertinent to your lifestyle. First I would like to offer some comments about each of these points.

Visualize What Retirement will be like
Beat the Other Guy
Use Reminders and Checklists
Plan in Bite-Size Chunks
Consider Annuities
You’re Going to Have Some Losses
Protect Yourself – Do Not be Too Trusting

Visualize What Retirement will be like

It is impossible to visualize what retirement will be like unless you have some role models to follow and you are in the same circumstances as these role models. Still, you are a different person, so do your best at figuring out what you really want to do in retirement and be realistic about it as well. For example, you will probably want to travel, but you cannot travel all of the time. You have health issues to consider and grandchildren as well to think about. List all of the things that you might do in retirement, prioritize and also consider from a budget perspective.

Beat the Other Guy

Simply do not worry about what the other guy is doing, do what is going to provide you with a happy good quality lifestyle. Competing with the Jones (sorry, this is a really old expression) is just a losing situation. Focus on yourself and your family.

Use Reminders and Checklists – it is a good idea to follow up on your investments on a regular basis. You probably would do this as part of your job so why not do the same thing for your personal life.

Plan in Bite-Size Chunks – planning in stages is also a good thing, especially if you are the type that cannot focus on the big picture. Set milestones, achieve those milestones, and then set new ones which will take you to your final objective.

Consider Annuities – I am not a big fan of annuities. They are just a way for the insurance companies and banks to make more money off you.

You’re Going to Have Some Losses – This is very true. During the recession, many people lost huge amounts and then recovered these same amounts provided they well invested in good quality stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. None of this speculative stuff and well-diversified.

Protect Yourself

Do Not be Too Trusting – Always get several opinions and if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is. Most people should have at least 2 financial advisers and they should ask the same questions of both to see what kind of answers they give.

All of the above are excellent points, however as I mentioned earlier a bit academic for a lot of people. The reason I say this is many people do not even know how to get started planning for their retirement and end up retiring without a clue about what they are going to do with their time or if they even have enough money to live on! So what should someone do on a practical basis to prepare for retirement? Here are a few ideas which if followed, will get you ready for retirement. They worked for me.

Save 10% of your salary every year
Develop multipleÂ hobbies that will carry into retirement
Work at a job you enjoy
Try semi Retirement first
Always have a Rainy Day Fund
Always take A Vacation
Exercise

Save 10% of your salary every year – Save it and do not touch this money regardless of your needs. Get used to living on 90% and invest this money conservatively with some diversity so that you can manage the ups and downs of the markets.

Develop multiple hobbies that will carry into retirement – This is really to help you find a balance between work and personal life, as well as give you something to do when you finally do retire. A neighbor of mine told me the other day that he gets up in the morning and watches the grass grow. He has no hobbies and I feel sorry for him.
Work at a job you enjoy – This is a must because if you like the job, you will do a good job at it and excel. Less chance of being laid off and you will be much happier as well which leads to a healthy lifestyle.

Try semi Retirement FirstÂ

For some people, this is really too risky. However, for others working part-time or on full-time short-term contracts is the best of all worlds. A short-term contract gives you some extra money in addition to your retirement income. It keeps your hand in the business. It allows you to meet more people and challenges you as well which keeps the brain sharp. I like short-term contracts since this allows us to travel. We can do some of the things a short vacation would not allow.

Always have a Rainy Day Fund

Let’s face it in today’s world, you’re going to lose your job someday when you least expect it. You may have a boss who does not like you, your company may get into financial trouble or you just fed up and quit. A rainy day fund, separate from your retirement fund, will tide you over until you find something else and take the pressure off as well.

Always take A Vacation – This appears to be a small thing, but it is important to always take that vacation. If nothing else you will learn what you need to do to keep yourself occupied when you retire. I know guys who cannot wait to get back to work after their vacation because they are bored.Â This is the wrong approach. Use this time to train for retirement!

Exercise – both the body and the brain to stay fit and healthy.

Hopefully these tidbits will help someone. If you have comments, please leave them as long as they will help our readers.

Balance Finances, Health and Wealth

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As Canadians age, transition and live in retirement, taking control of their health and wealth is critical. Balance Finances and Control leads to ensuring success and quality of life in the later stages of life. Many of us are trying to figure out what we want to do in the next stage of our life. Some of us are about to retire or have retired. Still, others retired from their long-term careers. But are working on a part-time basis or on a contract basis at various jobs.

They call this semi-retirement. Since they have not stopped working yet they have retired from their career jobs. This transition, regardless of what you chose to do or how you plan it needs to be thought out carefully. Take into account your family needs as well as your personal needs. This includes financial health, but also your physical health as well.

Balance Finances – Also Your Health

“There are three major aspects of your physical health that deteriorate with age – your strength, endurance, and flexibility and let’s not forget your cognitive abilities as well. Declines in these areas can lead to loss of quality of life and disability that may increase with aging. Many people can significantly slow down the decline in each of these factors by taking control of their lifestyle. So you have to pay attention to your finances to make sure you have enough to live on, but you also must pay attention to your overall health as well.

Many Canadians are allowing their physical capabilities to decline at a higher rate than what is attributable to the result of aging. Staying active, strengthens the heart, the lungs, and the muscles and keeps strong blood flow to the brain. Even if you go for a brisk walk daily, this can make a huge difference in your cardio levels and extend your life by years.

Some age-associated changes are within one’s control and can be slowed by staying active and making small lifestyle changes. An increase in physical activity at any age is known to reduce age-dependent declines in fitness and can help prevent diseases that are normally associated with aging.Â Diet is also important as well. Eating well, without overeating and maintaining the weight for your body type is important. Overweight people tend to age more quickly so maintaining proper weight levels, exercising regularly as well will help you maintain your health.

Balance Finances – Your Wealth as Well

Paying attention to your finances is equally important. The many demands of life can make it difficult to take full advantage of the power of saving and investing money over the long-term. While consumers may be tempted to ignore the details and deal with retirement financial challenges as they arise, a successful retirement can be attained by taking a few simple steps to determine in advance if their financial capital is adequate. Do the same with your overall health as well and take steps to prolong your life.

The key to a successful retirement isn’t about setting a plan in motion; it’s about building a plan that is dynamic and holistic so as your life changes and your health changes, your financial plan evolves and preserves your money in a way that fits your lifestyle. Much like physical health, action must be taken to maintain strength, endurance, and flexibility in one’s financial health. It is the combination of control over one’s health and finances that leads to a balanced retirement.

Stay on Track

Stay on track and build a plan today. Follow these simple steps to a successful retirement.

Write down your plan. Writing down your physical and financial goals helps you clarify them and gives you something to work towards.
Assess your progress. On a quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis, step back and see whether you have achieved the goals that you set for yourself.
Make modifications, as needed. A plan is flexible and can evolve as your needs change.

You are the only one who can really take control of your health and your financial plan. Talk to experts to help you fine tune your plan for exercise as well as to save sufficient money for your retirement. However do not follow advice blindly, make your own decisions and remember:

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is
Never put all of your eggs in one basket, diversify

Please leave comments on your plans and how our readers can benefit from your ideas as well.

Working Past 70, You Cannot be Serious

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Working past 70! Let alone, 75 is becoming a reality for more people than we care to think about. Due to the recession over the past several years and many people losing their jobs, their homes, and their savings, it has become an unfortunate reality. Perhaps you have already noticed that there are more and more seniors working in the service industry. You see them at fast food outlets, stores, and even good old Walmart. They perform low-paying jobs to augment their income and possibly also obtain health care benefits.

The problem is a common one in the arena of personal finance. If you are approaching the age at which you’ve planned to retire, but find that you don’t have enough money saved, do you have a plan? Are you going to work longer? Can you work longer? This is another question for many people. They may not physically be able to work as long as they want to. If you find yourself in this situation and have some ideas, please leave a comment on our blog. We all need some advice, and sometimes the experts have it wrong. Good old common sense sometimes is the best medicine for us all. Working Past 70 is becoming a reality for many people.

Working Past 70 – Other Solutions to Stretch those Dollars

If you are younger than 40, then you have lots of time to make up your losses and also save for retirement. If you are 55, 60, or even 65 and lost a bundle during the recession, work and severe belt-tightening are probably in order. Also, you may have to make some compromises as well, such as moving in with the kids or even a good friend to share expenses. Financial planners do not usually talk about these solutions since there is no business for them, and they cannot generate any income from you. However, sharing expenses like we did when we were teenagers and young adults may be the way of the future for many older adults on a tight budget.

One has to be very careful if you are going to enter into this type of arrangement. There are many desperate people who would not hesitate to take advantage of someone. In addition, compatibility is an increasingly important element as you get older. We all spend more time at home as we age, which means you spend more time with the person you share your home with. Being compatible is extremely important to ensure a harmonious lifestyle.

Working Past 70 – Sometimes Working Beyond 55 is not Realistic!

If you have your health and can continue to work in the same environment that you are used to, then working for a longer period is probably ok. But what if you cannot work the same job? What do you do?

For example if you have a physically demanding job, you may not be able to continue with this type of work into your 60’s. We all get bad knees, bad hips, backs and as a general rule have less energy. Doing a construction job may mean that you just cannot do it until the age that you planned on.

It could also mean that you need to retrain yourself and switch to another profession as a result. Teaching yourself and taking courses takes time and money, but thousands of people do this every year. You can train for that new job and, in some cases, continue in your new profession well into your 70s. Financial advisers, insurance agents, and many other similar types of jobs are well-positioned in this way.

Stay on top of Trends.

Whatever profession you have, it is important to stay current. Additional training and self-teaching are an absolute must. You should think about learning something new each and every day to avoid becoming out of date with your job and with younger competitors. If you are a computer programmer, learn new programs, stay current with technology, and all of the latest buzzwords. If you are in fashion design, every year brings something new, so you have to stay on top of your game.

On the other hand if you just need a little bit to survive and to top up your retirement income, you may want to consider a low stress job that gets you out and mingling with people. This brings us to our last major topic. How does one prepare for retirement?

What’s the best way to prepare for retirement?

Plan, plan and then plan some more. Every 6 months you should be evaluating your retirement plans and have emergency plans set up so that if something does not work out just the way you thought, you will be able to adjust and utilize one of your backup plans.

This is so important. There is no one set plan or recommendation since we are different, have different needs and objectives. However if you spend some time evaluating yourself and your needs, and then take action to achieve your plans, you might be ok. Whatever you do, don’t depend on anyone else but yourself to prepare for retirement. Not the government , your friends or your family and certainly not your company. They may or may not be around when it comes time for you to retire.

Take control of your life and begin to make your retirement plan today. Set some objectives and goals and work towards them.

Are you changing your own retirement planning to deal with the new realities? Please share by posting to comments. Spam comments will be auto deleted.

Older Workers Planning Not to Retire

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Remember the slogan ” Freedom 55″, you do not see that being advertised very much these days. Many people suffered greatly during the period through 2008 and 2009. If you did not lose your job, you lost a lot in the stock market and that usually means that Freedom 55 went out the window. The value of your home declined a great deal as well so now you are probably underwater in terms of the value of your home vs. your mortgage. So Older Workers Planning Not to Retire now, but maybe it is not that bad.

It turns out that there are many older workers that are not planning to stop working even if they have the money. Many people enjoy the challenge, they enjoy the camaraderie of working with people and they enjoy some of the fringe benefits that working offers. They have somewhere to go every day and something to look forward to. It turns out that before the recession really kicked in, many people were already planning to work beyond their normal retirement and it was not for the money. True many have to work now whether they want to or not, but with the benefits that come with the job, it may not be so bad.

Older Workers Planning Not to Retire – Challenge of Not Retiring

Consider getting up in the morning and not knowing what you are going to do the rest of the day vs. going into work and meeting the challenges of your job. Some people would say you are nuts, you need to get a life and set your priorities. Believe it or not many people enjoy going to work, they enjoy the challenge of solving problems and dealing with issues that they can resolve. If your job involves a lot of stress, you may want to deal with this particular challenge and manage it so that the stress becomes manageable and enjoyable. We all need some stress in our lives.

Lots of people want to retire from their current job and move to something else. The changing environment is often a challenge, an enjoyable one and many people rekindle the spark that they might have lost in their current job.

Camaraderie of Working

If you enjoy people and being around people, then you will miss your job unless you replace it with something else. Many people view their jobs as part of their social life ( they actually do work as well) because they have fun at their job and with the people they work with. Some will retire and then go back on contract to the same job and the same company. A lot of government workers seem to be able to do this quite easily at high rates of pay.Â While some do this simply for the money, others do this because they love to work and they just do not see themselves spending time at home, golfing, or traveling all of the time.

Fringe Benefits

There are also fringe benefits that go with work. Many people just go to work and do not have any real fringe benefits. However, if you are a middle manager or senior executive you’re going to miss the power, the support you get from staff, and the travel benefits. Quitting or retiring is tough for some who miss these fringe benefits. Even having somebody arrange your travel schedule for you can be a big issue for many executives.

If you are used to having somebody do all of this for you, then it can be time-consuming and confusing as well. Computer support is a big issue. Now you have to do your own, there is no one to set up and configure your computer or support you when you have a problem with your computer. The best advice is to learn how to do all of this stuff before you retire and be able to do most of it yourself!

Looking Forward to Going to Work

If you look forward to going to work, then you are enjoying work and all that it offers. Everyone is different. For some, work may offer the challenge they are looking for, for others it is just plain interesting. For many people, they really like the social time at work where they interact with other people. This can be really important for many people if they do not have a lot of outside activities they participate in.

We know some people who have no hobbies and do not belong to any clubs. They do not go out much and as a result, work is the social outlet for them and the opportunity to interact with people. So if you really like going to work, then consider carefully what you will do after you retire and if you really need the outlet that work offers.

Older Workers Planning Not to Retire and Self Worth

Self-worth is also very important. Many people identify with their jobs. They measure themselves and others by the type of job they do and the amount of money they earn. Once you retire this all goes away. You can only identify with your past achievements. Unless you get involved in other activities such as volunteering and supporting organizations that help people. Unfortunately, not everyone can or wants to volunteer. If you are the type of person who really identifies with work and measures your self-worth against the job, then you may not want to retire just yet.

Retirement is a very personal decision. Make your decision carefully. Work is good for all of us under the right conditions. If it is not fun it is time to change.

Feel free to leave your comments and suggestions that will help those who are getting ready for retirement. Spam comments will be deleted!

How to become a Popular Website

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Every small business owner loves the exposure and sales that having a website that’s a daily destination for consumers can generate. But getting people who are your potential customers to visit on a regular basis can be a challenge. Especially if updates are infrequent. Or all you have to offer is the occasional monotone press release or product announcement. How do you have a Popular Website?

Thankfully, building a website that’s â€œstickyâ€ enough to keep customers engaged and coming back doesn’t have to require investing thousands. Or reinventing yourself as the next online media empire. All it takes is a little elbow grease and personal touch. Plan regular updates that entice your readers and customers to return.Each strategy is designed to keep your customers coming back. Also make sure you establish goals and objectives for the activity. Then measure the results to ensure you obtaining the results you are aiming for. Follow established SEO (Search engine optimized) design criteria while building your web site.

Connect and communicate to Become a Popular Website

Make no bones about it.Â Blogging should be an essential part of any modern website. After all, a few clicks is literally all it takes to post updates in real-time around the clock. Creating a steady stream of new products and sales that promises something new and exciting with every visit. Better still, professionals at all experience levels have the capability of readily doing it. The practice also helps put a personal face on your organization, shining the spotlight on the individuals behind it.

However, to really captivate an audience enough to keep them returning, take note. You’ll also need to provide content that’s dynamic, unique and offers measurable informational or entertainment value, plus speak in a language that all can understand. In short, the occasional pre-approved sound bite from the HR guy or gal won’t cut it. Rather, you need to address audiences like you’re having a normal conversation. Provide content with meaningful substance to the reader.

Making-of articles, features detailing how to get more from your products, partner profiles, project diaries, step-by-step how-to guides, interviews with notable personalities or internal stakeholders. All present compelling ways to connect with audiences while also keeping them interested and informed. Provide ample incentive to keep coming back.

Bottom line, the content needs to be frequently updated and aimed at your customer or clientele.

Emphasize community building

As social media insiders well know, creating a sense of community around your website is one of the most powerful tools for engaging and ultimately enthralling prospective fans. But doing so doesn’t simply mean throwing up a sponsored message board then leaving it to stagnate. Or e-mailing customers sporadic newsletter updates that regurgitate existing material easily found elsewhere.

Rather, you have to encourage discussion and actively take part in conversations by dedicating internal time and resources. But also make customers feel as if they truly have a voice in the discussion by listening to their concerns. Respond and source feedback at every opportunity. Implementing programs that recognize and reward valued contributors is also vital. Create fan-based initiatives that allow community members to contribute and share ideas, concepts and creations of their own.

Even simply giving enthusiasts the chance to submit designs for your next fundraiser’s logo or arranging times where they can chat with top execs to provide input on upcoming ventures won’t just engender goodwill. They’ll also excite and empower a legion of amateur brand ambassadors. This can be an essential source of free ongoing updates and constructive conversations. Which will both attract users to and keep them enamored with your site.

Design for mass distribution

Sharing is good–even more so if you’ve got a message worth spreading and it winds up in front of millions of eyeballs. As such, you should be not only updating your website with unique pieces of content (surveys, research reports, custom editorial clips, guides to solving common problems, unique looks behind-the-scenes, etc.) designed to grab viewers’ attention, but also making everything from blog posts to pictures, photos, PDF documents and videos shareable, embeddable and ready to be commented upon or re-tweeted via social media platforms.

When it comes to corporate assets, the tendency–especially among hyper-competitive start-ups–is always to tightly hold and control. But often, the more powerful strategy is to design pieces of content with the specific idea in mind of seeding them throughout the user community, as it’s a great way to build brand awareness. Beyond heightened exposure and additional media mentions, using your website to disseminate unique, specially branded pieces of content can also lead to improved search engine optimization results through a larger number of incoming links. And, more important still, generate heightened word of mouth surrounding your homepage, letting countless potential readers know exciting things are happening there on a regular basis.

Focus on value

Exclusive specials, contests, promotions and timed discounts can all be powerful drivers of website traffic, especially in these cost-conscious times. By offering direct bargains and rebate programs on both an ongoing and sporadic basis through your online headquarters, you can keep customers’ interest piqued, and generate additional sales. These marketing programs become even more valuable when coupled with Facebook, Twitter and other social marketing tools, which have the potential to help news spread like wildfire online.

Just make sure that the only place such bargains can be found is on your homepage, and be consistent in terms of the pages to which you drive this traffic, to establish in shoppers’ minds the importance of regularly checking a certain destination. Similarly, establishing relationships with key bloggers and members of the media can also help reinforce the message, as can a regular series of e-mail or newsletter updates designed to inform current and prospective buyers. Customers get to save on purchases while you benefit from enhanced publicity and heightened sales, creating a win-win situation for all.

Use targeted demonstrations

Special membership options, premium subscription packages and frequent buyer programs can all prove great incentives. Services that you freely give away are often just as important as those that you reserve for more exclusive clients. Whether you’re looking at offering complimentary computer virus scans by having users visit your homepage. Or roviding a suite of free continuing education resources. Perhaps simply hosting an archive of complementary, corporate-branded webinars on software engineering can be part of your plan.

Providing helpful services or information at no charge that solve pressing, evergreen problems. Or answer important questions can all serve to generate a steady source of online traffic. They may provide a ready supply of leads to up sell on premium services. Sometimes you have to give in order to get. It may seem counter intuitive, but ultimately, the practice makes a ready way to demonstrate your organization’s capabilities to a potentially lucrative client base. While also giving them a taste of the benefits to be had by partnering on more advanced or long-term services.

Financial Needs of Baby Boomers

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What are the financial needs of baby boomers? How does one go about figuring out if they have sufficient funds saved up for retirement? Perhaps if you have a pension that will last until you die, you will be ok financially. Add government pensions and many people with pensions will be found. They may not be able to do everything they want, but they will be able to live comfortably. Baby boomers have become accustomed to having whatever they want and they have the money to make purchases that their parents never could.

Retiring in Large Numbers

Now they are going to retire on mass and many of them do not have company pensions to fall back on. They have to rely on their own savings, odd jobs, and government pensions which do not pay a lot compared to the cost of living these days. With so many people retiring at the same time, all of the financial companies are developing products that are designed to help the baby boomers. But are they really helping them?

All of these companies are in the business to make money and they have high overhead and that means they need to make a lot of money off of you and me to be profitable. If you are planning to retire soon and have some money to invest, be very careful how you invest and who you invest with. These funds need to last sometime. So let’s break the problem down for people in general terms so that you can help yourself figure out what you need to do. You may have to go over your plan several times to make everything work for you, however, that’s ok, you should do this at least once per year and any time there is a major change in your finances.

Financial Needs of Baby Boomers – When to Retire

Sometimes you just have had enough, sometimes it is health, and other times people are forced into retirement. Pick an age that you are comfortable with for your plan. If your actual retirement age changes, then re-evaluate the plan. You might choose 50 or you may work until you are 70 years of age or even longer. It does not matter as long as you can and you are enjoying the job. Start with the age that you think is most realistic for your situation.

What income will I Have After Retirement?

The next step is to figure out what your income will be when you retire. You will have a combination of company retirement plans, government pension plans, and your savings. Look up these amounts or contact your HR people to find out what to expect. If you have savings, assume that you will receive 4% income from your savings. Don’t forget to project what your savings will be at retirement.Â 4% is a conservative number so anything higher than that is a bonus. Add up all of these income amounts and this will be your total income before taxes.

What do I make now?

Next, calculate all of your income. Your last tax statement will be a good place to look. This will be the total income that you are currently making and is a good measure of what you need to make assuming you are living within your means. You will actually need a little bit less since it is assumed that you are not saving for retirement now since you have actually retired.

Compare your Retirement Income with Your Current Salary

As a baby boomer, this is where you may be in for a surprise. Most people will be shocked when they find out that they are receiving less than they thought for their retirement. Now is the time to take stock of your situation. Possibly you will want to adjust your retirement age so that you can build up a bit more savings and also earn income longer. If you have to retire then there are plans that need to be made to ensure that you can live comfortably.

How Long will I live?

This is another big question since it really puts a limit on how much money I will need to have to live comfortably. If baby boomers are an average 55 today, they can comfortably assume that they will live another 30 years. That is a long time to live on savings alone if there is no pension. For those folks with a pension, they are better off, however, inflation can catch up with them and make things difficult financially.

You can talk to an accountant to have someone do the calculation for you. However, in simple terms, assume you have $300,000 saved up and you are going to live another 30 years. Then that is only $10,000 a year plus interest that you can take out of your savings. If you want your money to last well into your 80’s. This can be very scary for a lot of baby boomers and it is time for a wake-up call to take a look at what savings they need to have.

Hopefully, if you are reading this post you will have gotten something out of it. If you do or would just like to leave a comment for our readers please feel free to do so. We would be glad to have them. Note that spam comments will be deleted.

Setting up Your Writing Business

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Recently, we saw an article about setting up a home business doing writing for a living. This was really a catch-all title, and the article had some good ideas. Since we have some personal experience with running a home business, we thought it would be a good idea to add our two cents’ worth about setting up Your Writing Business.Â. We also added a couple of suggestions, which people may find interesting and useful. Our own home business is a combination of writing, SEO work, and creating websites for our customers. We have been in this business for the past 5 years and have gained a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure out of working for customers around the globe.

Issues You Should Consider About Setting up Your Writing Business

Find a place were you can concentrate and will not be interrupted by the rest of the family.Â Make this your “Home Office” orÂ “writing” place and designate it as your office. It could be a den or one of the bedrooms. Living rooms and family rooms are really not good locations, too many distractions.
Make that your official “home office,” then read up on what the tax people will allow you as a tax deduction. Check with your accountant as well.
Get an accountant to do your books. While this might be expensive for some, it is well worth the expense. The tax people will be less inclined to audit you if they know a professional accountant has completed your tax statements.

Work Time, Schedules, and Work Organization

Establish your work hours. Working at home gives you lots of flexibility, however most of us need a schedule to be effective. Some people work better during the morning while others are better later in the day.
Protect a time each day when you can do some actual productive work and not just checking email, answering letters, meeting people for coffee, etc.
Create a filing system. This applies to your computers disk drive as well as paper files you may have. Be organized , it will save you lots of time.
Set up your address book. Keep emails and phone numbers handy…and if you want to move into the bold new world of 2010, invest in a smartphone or something that will keep those handy and allow you to respond on the fly if needed by a customer.
Create a calendar for personal as well as your business. Not just for your day, but for the big projects you’ve got. It’ll help you figure out what you’re doing and when.
Group similar activities. Do all your mail at one time. Group your phone calls back to back so you get through them all. Ditto email, if that were possible.
At the same time flexibility is key in a competitive world. You may have to drop everything to deal with an important clients requirements.

Finances and Accounting

Set up a bank account that is just for your business so you can easily keep track of your business income and expenses. Sign up for PayPal.
Keep detailed summaries of all expenses. I do this every Saturday morning, so I am always up to date.
Be very organized about your income and expenses. This will only help to make it easier to complete your taxes at the end of the year.
Pay yourself a salary to establish a regular income. This will help you budget in your personal life and meet cash flow requirements. Of course, you need to have the income to support your salary.
If you are concerned about liability, you may also want to consider tracking and incorporating all of your income and expenses through your incorporated company.

Good luck with setting you your business. These are relatively simple and straight forward guidelines that will help anyone in setting up a small business.

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