Is Your Marriage Worth a Little Sacrifice? 3 Ideas That Can Make a Difference

Long term partners who have been together for a significant period of time, know each other all too well. Sometimes, this closeness can breed complacency when it comes to keeping the spark alive. Each partner looks to the other to keep them interested, but seldom look to themselves to take on this responsibility.

If you feel you are in this position and want to take on this role, there are a few ideas that can show your partner how much you care. Sometimes, it can take minority hints and messages, other times a bold and direct approach may be in order. In either case, persistence is the key, but it can be well worth the effort as you re-establish the connections on different levels.

Some of the things you can try are:

1. Take an interest in his work or hobby with sincerity and a genuine level of time in understanding why your partner is so involved. As you become more aware and knowledgeable on the subject, you can look for special moments and opportunities to relate and connect.

2. Plan and schedule unique things you know your partner would never do. Getting them out of his / her comfort zone can shake things up a bit. Even though some of these ideas may not always work out, it can add some new memories you can both look back on even if you never do it again.

3. Partner up on a charitable event like toys for pots or volunteering at a local shelter or hospital. This can be one of things you plan for in number 2, but finding a way to give back can bring you closer. Even if you take the initiative first and bring them along later, the idea that you are stepping into new areas will influence your partner into taking an active interest in your life.

These ideas are nothing new, but can spur creative thoughts that can help you get re-connected with your partner. Even though there are many things you can do, the fear that your partner will never go along can prevent many people from even trying. Remember, persistence is the key. It may take awhile to get your partner on board but in the long run it will be worth the effort.

This Time Is Different - Eight Centuries of Financial Folly

Book Review: This Time Is Different - Eight centuries of financial folly by Carmen M. Reinhart

The authors of the book Rogoff and Reinhart were perplexed by what they were perceiving years before this book was written so before they were the ones who saw the crisis coming. This book is about the financial crisis that has plagued the centuries of human history.

Unlike other books which gives the readers only instances about how bad the situation was, this book gives a more detailed look into the causes that brought along the crisis and what the future implications of it are. In some sense the book is soothing in that we have been here before. On the other hand, this particular crisis is one of only two that were truly global. He calls this one "The Second Great Contraction" (the first, of course, referring to the great depression.)

The authors of the book draw their data from rather unconventional and abstract sources. They are able to reveal to us that whatever the world is facing at the moment, it has actually already occurred in the past including all the bailouts, currency pressures, sovereign pressures, and contagion. They state that the usual causes of such crisis are common but the domestic ones where the people are conned by their own country men are rare and are also known as domestic defaults. They hint that the cost of such defaults will be disclosed in small parts as the bailouts and in large part in the lost revenues.

This book will serve as a great guide and a very useful source of data and information to the society. The readers may be disappointed by the lack of exaggeration and the large amount of data given in the text. The authors have found it of no use to spend words on who was the bigger "idiot" for the crisis but they rather stress their criticism on the conclusion.

The book will serve as a fine reference for those students who are interested in the current global monetary crisis.

This Time Is Different - Eight centuries of financial foolish exposures centuries of financial mistakes and our lack of power to stop them from recurring.

Business Credit Article # 4

Business Credit: Myths, Must-Do's and the Four C's.

If you are a business owner with poor personal credit, you may be thinking that corporate credit is simply unavailable to you. This is not true! In fact, the process of establishing good business credit may even help you improve your personal credit because you will have a better understanding of how credit lending works.

In the credit world, there is what's known as the "Four C's" of Credit-four things banks look at to determine your creditworthiness. These "Four C's" apply to individuals and to businesses, and they are:
o Character
o Capacity
o Capital
o Conditions

When a bank judges your business's character, it is looking at your size, location, years in business, number of employees, stock performance and several other defining characteristics. This is why it is very important that as a business you have a physical address, a business phone, answered professionally during business hours, and a business license (if your state requires one).

Your business's capacity assesses the ability of your business to pay its bills. A bank considers capacity by also examining past credit histories, cash flows and types of previous debt-secured or unsecured. Therefore it is vital that as a business owner you have been paying all your credit bills on time. A late payment on a credit bill is a mark against your business that is not easily removed.

Another important component of your business's capacity is an obvious one-make sure you are building a credit history on your lines of credit. If you have lines of trade credit, which you have been using for supplies, check to see if those vendors have been reporting your good payment history. You will need at least 5 trade references to obtain a business paydex score, which is similar to your personal FICO score. Better paydex scores bring your business better loan rates.

The capital of your business is considered to assess whether the business has the financial resources to repay creditors. This particular component of the "Four C's" is usually the most closely inspected by lenders when considering a loan request. It is also a convincing argument against using your personal credit to fund your business expenses. The basis of your capital is reflected in your debt-to-income ratio, and if the majority of your credit is personal, you are making it very difficult for your business to be judged on its own merits.

That last of the "Four C's" is "conditions." Conditions are the external factors surrounding the business in question. A bank may consider general market fluctuations, growth rate of the industry and currency rates when considering extending a line of credit to a business. Because these factors are outside the scope of your business, it gives good cause to start now on securing lines of cash credit because it may be even harder to get the money you need in the future. Furthermore, if times do get hard for your business due to market fluctuations, you will be very glad you already have some cash reserves in place to float through the tough times.

Proven And Profitable Money Making Ideas

With an entrepreneurial spirit, perhaps you might be thinking about money making ideas that have been proven and are profitable on the internet that you can use to make a living with. Online business is still an evolving tool to earn money. Everyone has predicted a major tech crash as a matter of fact it's already happening.

According to Hostingfacts.com in 2017, "there will be more internet traffic than all prior internet years combined. Wi-Fi and mobile-connected devices will generate 68% of all internet traffic in 2017."

More statistics show that "worldwide retail e-commerce sales will reach $1.915 Trillion in this alone according to Emarketer.com. There are a number of ways by which people can make money online.

Internet businesses provides relaxation and comfortability to people who run their own business while sitting in their homes or traveling the world. E- Commerce refers to the online functioning of businesses in which all of the transactions are accepted by means of the World Wide Web.

Online sales in the United States are anticipated to reach $523 billion in the next five years. This is up 56% from $335 billion in 2015, and mobile devices are expected to be a key leader in that growth, Forrester Research Inc. says.

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce announced "that the estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2016, was $101.3 billion, an increase of 4.0 percent from the second quarter of 2016. Total retail sales globally for the third quarter, was estimated at $1,212.5 billion, an increase of 0.9 percent from the second quarter of 2016."

With the collapse of the tech bust in full swing, should you even attempt entrepreneurship online, let alone a new business launch in 2017? My answer? Absolutely yes.

On the internet, there are unlimited things that can be done to earn money. It is all up to the individual how much they can profit from these online opportunities. The trend is constantly evolving with innovative business ideas.

The start of a new year means great interest in new and exciting things, as we look forward to the year in the making. The year 2017 is also likely to see some changes with a few money making ideas not being in demand and new ones harvesting up.

Learning how to make money on the internet with an e-business is one of the most proven and profitable money making ideas dominating the economy. Facebook now has 1.55 billion active users and 2.9 billion Google searches are made every day. With this data, there is endless opportunity for the ordinary person looking to create money online.

In this article, I've researched a few of the businesses that are going to be profitable for the next 5 years. While tech may be on the decline, the world continually has room for proven, profitable and innovative products as well as services.

Proven & Profitable Money Making Ideas

Blogging

If you have a particular subject that interests you and you are passionate about it, then you can start a blog around such topic. Blogging is one of the fastest growing business trends on the web and the sweetest thing is that it is an information based business.

Many people in the current world are getting money by having their own blogs and websites. Generally, on these blogs and websites, they are putting thought-provoking and valuable information that interests other people. The science is simple; the additional number of visitors the more money you can make via advertisement and other revenues.

This works much like television where the more viewership means more advertisements and at a higher rate. This is one of the most well-known and informal techniques of producing income online and it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. Don't worry about technicalities, programming, etc. You also won't need to invest a dime to get started as there are free platforms you can utilize like Blogger and WordPress being the most trusted blogging platform since 2004.

E-commerce Store

Another proven and profitable idea to start an internet business is to maintain an online store. You can provide products to your customers online. Yes, you can set up an e-commerce or retail store online and you can start this online business from home without even owning a single product. You can sell virtually anything ranging from books, clothes and electronics to household item through wholesale drop shipping or by setting up an affiliate store with Amazon or eBay.

You may even sell anything from customized cakes to used items to even new products you created on your own. With this kind of business idea, people primarily receive payment via credit card or PayPal accounts. It totally depends upon you as some people prefer to collect payment at the time of delivery of the products.

In the online store, you can provide a wide range of products in one place and keep the customers engaged with new products or services. On the other hand if you are creating products from scratch, you have to keep up good relationships with your suppliers so your business can be successful.

Affiliate Marketing

To become an affiliate marketer means that you will be promoting other people's products and services through a blog or store online. How it works is whenever there is a sale, you will get a commission. The most stimulating fact here is that you don't even need a dime of your own money to start it and you get to partner with some of the biggest enterprises in the world. The first venture I would recommend you to start online is your own affiliate marketing business.

Internet Marketing Services

Servicing people to help drive visitors to their websites can be an outstanding online business with a strong profit potential. Examples of services you can provide include pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising services, blog marketing services, article marketing services, guest blogging, link building service, etc.

Doing business on the web can be challenging because things often change quickly online. This idea allows you to help other online entrepreneurs such as yourself, keep up with the latest trends in internet marketing.

VLogging

This is comparable to a blog, but in video form. Basically turn your video camera on, feel free to use your tablet, and just talk! The best vloggers talk about a specific focus or niche. Vlogging about a topic that interest tweens or teens is most likely to get a big following fast.

Some popular topics include makeup, fashion, music, gaming and how to videos. The strategy to making money with these vlogs is gaining a large following and then receiving sponsorship on the platform that you publish the videos on, such as YouTube or Vimeo. You can also make money via advertisement.

E-Book Publishing

The information business allows you to identify people's problems and provide a solution in the form of an e-book. Any style writing on any topic can be used with this method. If you love writing and you possess some marketing skills, then you can venture into writing self-published eBooks.

Educational Products

People will always be willing to pay for education. A good example is university education. A public four-year college costs around $20,000, and a private college can make an income of $50,000 per year. In spite of the outrageously high prices, people are eager to give out the money. Why? Because a college education is worth it. Right? Well, most of the time it is.

However, some disagree, and with recent improvements in the education platform, the traditional college model is being dismantled or unequivocally disrupted. The cause of these interruptions are startups like Udemy and Teachable, these platforms allow people to share their knowledge and profit from it.

You don't need a platform to sell your knowledge. You can self-publish a book, create a video coaching session, or teach others how to make money. People will gladly pay to learn a new skill, shape their lifestyle, make new money, impress friends with their knowledge, and change their life in significant ways. If you have something to offer to others, then start teaching.

Graphic Design

There are lots of graphic designers on the web offer free and paid services. However, if you plan to thrive in this capacity online, aiding a specific niche target audience will be the most profitable for you. Suppose you're focused niche is in music and you have a good graphic design skill, you can launch an online graphic design business that focuses on graphic design for musicians or singing artist. You can also choose to focus on infographic designing, e-book cover design, album cover designs, etc.

Implementing your ideas as an online business is a great way to start your business if you are low of capital. It is necessary that you have a proven and profitable online business idea to start your business. Starting and operating an online business is the new normal these days and continues to rise in popularity.

If you have any ideas that can be transformed to fit the online business model then by all means do your research and get started the opportunities are endless!

If I've failed to mention any other profitable ideas be sure to leave them in the comments below.

How to Choose a Landscape Designer Or Landscaping Company and Save You Time & Money

Choosing the right landscape designer or landscaping company is not always easy.

Why? Because you may be bombarded with misleading claims, confusing advertising, or simply bad information.

You see, making the decision to hire a landscape designer can be a daunting task. There are so many designers and landscape companies hustling for your business. On the surface, they may all appear to be pretty much the same. But often times by simply digging a little bit deeper and knowing what to look for, you'll be much better prepared to make the right decision.

Whether you've hired a Landscape Company in the past, or if you're searching for the perfect designer for the very first time, this information will save you some time and money ... maybe even a headache or two.

Below are 5 Questions You Must Ask Before Hiring A Landscape Company:

1) Is the company properly licensed and insured?

This first seemingly obvious thing to consider when hiring any landscape company. Let's talk about licensing first. Sure, you want to hire a landscape company that's licensed, but what does that really mean?

Through countless conversations with prospects and clients over the years, I've discovered that most people are not even aware of the different licenses that landscape companies are required to have - much less when or not they have them.

Did you know there are different licenses that landscapers in Texas may be required to carry? a) General Liability Insurance, b) Texas Nursery / Floral Certificate from Department of Agriculture, c) Irrigation License from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Any company without the proper licenses could present a potential liability issue for you. You'll certainly want to hire a company that is insured. Always insist on certificates of liability; it's also a good idea to be asked as "additional insured."

2) Are quoted prices fixed or just cost estimates?

A low price can often be presented in the form of an "estimate" Always be cautious of these. Instead, insist on a firm proposal which details the service to be provided and sets forth fixed pricing for those services. Without a significant amount of excavation is involved, an experienced landscape company should not have a problem with this type of arrangement.

It's no secret - professional landscape companies base their pricing on three basic factors: labor, equipment, materials and profit. However, there are also overhead costs that you may not realize. Things like employee uniforms, the employee training programs, and many other expenses that go into bringing you a high level of service. If you expect a professional company with great quality and great customer service, it's unquestionably you'll be happy with a landscape company offering the lowest "rock-bottom" pricing.

Keep this in mind when comparing prices and proposals. Quite often what appears to be the low price can be deceiving. It is critical for you to clarify and understand exactly what's included and what's required to achieve your desired outcome.

Once you are comfortable with a proposal, you'll want to get a signed contract that will legally document the terms and scope of work agreed upon by both parties.

3) Will you be able to talk to other clients who have used the landscape company for similar projects?

Any landscape company can make comments regarding their company practices and quality of their work. Unfortunately, some of what they say may not be completely accurate.

Established companies will be able to offer you plenty of testimonials and references from current and past clients - if they can not, then it is probably a good idea to keep looking. It is also important to personally contact a few of those references, and if possible to get out and take a look at their properties. Also, check with the Better Business Bureau and get the customer's rating.

Be sure to ask for references from other customers whose properties are similar in size and and scope of work to that of your own. A landscape company who specializes in maintenance and has a great reputation in that regard may not be your best choice for a comprehensive landscape installation project.

When collecting feedback from other customers, make sure you ask about the level of communication offered by the landscaper, their reliability and overall quality of work and if their project was finished on time and within budget.

4) What will be your line of communication with the company while your project is underway?

As with any relationship, an open line of communication is critical to a successful relationship with your landscape contractor. The ability to effectively communicate with you, the client, AND the crew that is working is essential should unexpected circumstances arise.

The labor force within the landscape industry today is made up in large of Hispanics - often non English speaking individuals. This could pose a problem.

It is always a good idea to confirm with any landscape company that there will be someone on your project that understands and speaks fluent English - this way you can communicate with them.

Be sure to ask about communications and who your point of contact within the company will be. This way, you'll be in the best position to handle issues that may come up.

A professional company should report to you the progress of each days work and a plan for the next day. This could be done verbally or documented as a written report.

5) What type of guarantees will the company offer on your project?

Any company should be full accounting for their performance on your property and plantations or other products they install. This seems fairly straightforward, right? However, not all landscape companies offer a guarantee - and if they do, they're not all created equal. You should look for guarantees for 100% satisfaction for their product.

Answering these questions give you a level of confidence when choosing a quality landscape company. You'll have peace of mind; save yourself time and money in the long run and know exactly what to expect.

Great landscape designers and landscape companies should be able to specify plants and trees that will work for your specific region. For example, landscaping in Austin TX can be tricky when choosing the right plants. The soil requirements as well as the abundant deer population make the plant selection not as easy as looking in a plant book under Zone 8. However, a knowledgeable and reputable landscaping company can make the right design selections and have your yard looking great with little or no hassle.

Chose wisely and be thorough when selecting a landscape company. You'll be glad you went through the extra effort. Good Luck!

The Best Free iPhone Apps Reviewed and Tested

The Light application





Do you find yourself fumbling in the dark for a flashlight? This app turns your iPhone into a





flashlight quickly and easily. This is ideal when you are looking for your keys or are trying to track something down in your car.

The EReader





Forget about a bulky and cumbersome Kindle, this app makes your iPhone into a eBook reader. You





can buy and download them at ereader, or Fictionwise as well as many other eBook outlets. The eReader is a fantastic little tool.

Evernote





If you are a post-it note writer, and are fed up with misplacing them, or simply forgetting





about them, then this app is a cool way to jot down all those things that are jotted down all





over your apartment, and carry them with you. It even syncs your iPhone to your PC or Mac. How fab is that?

Twittererrific





For those of you that simply can't live without updating your friends on a second by second





basis. With this app, you can Tweet your heart out.

TypePad





This app lets you upload content to a blog, or upload photos to your site, and even let's your twitter followers know when you have something new on your site, as it tweets them all automatically. Theres a small catch - you will have to use their web based service.

Remote App





In conjunction with your Wi-Fi Network, turn your phone into a remote control and enjoy tunes throughout the house. Why get off the couch when this app plays the music you want without you





having to move.

Save Benjis





My personal favorite, as I am continually hunting for the best deal. This iPhone app lets you track down the very best deal on the web by comparing an item with upto a thousand other stores. Over fifteen million products can be searched and compared. Plus you can purchase products and read reviews straight from your phone too!

Get To Know HSBC Online Banking Services

HSBC, known as the world's local bank, is a global leader in banking and financial services. According to Forbes magazine, it is the second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company in terms of composite measures as of 2011. It has approximately 7,500 offices in 87 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. HSBC is a universal bank that has four divisions or lines of services: private, commercial, investment and retail banking. It also offers a number of financial products such as credit/debit cards, loans, insurance and the like.

HSBC enables its clients to perform banking activities through its online banking. This service option allows the customer to do banking transaction online. These transactions include but not limited to bill payments, fund transfer, loan applications, viewing recent bank transactions and account administration. Online banking caters to clients with advanced technological preference and those that cannot make transactions during the regular banking hours. This gives them the opportunity to manage financial matters via the internet even during the wee hours of the morning right from their homes.

You simply have to have an account with HSBC to qualify for its internet banking. It is also recommended that you use an HSBC-supported browser for you to be able to use Personal Internet Banking and safeguard your account.

To register to this banking service, you may need to have your Social Security Number, your HSBC ATM, credit/debit card along with its PIN. If you don't have either of these, your other account information such as your savings/checking account, mortgage, home equity and/or loan account information will do but it will take 5 days for the registration to be completed. This will help verify your identity in a secure manner and will allow you immediate access to internet banking.

A confirmation mail will be sent containing your temporary username and password to notify you of access. You will then be able to do personal internet banking the first time you access it but you will be prompted to change it to your preferred username and password. Likewise, you will be provided with a security key the first time you log on to the service.

Internet Banking is guaranteed fast and secured by HSBC. It has modified banking style for different kinds of clients by introducing internet banking and a lot more that this has to offer. Surely, all it takes is effort to log on to the internet and banking is at its best.