Waking Up From Financial Fairy Tales - Why Invest For Cash Flow?

Given rapid changes going on in today's world, many schools do not train their students well in financial literacy. As a result, most people easily get ripped off by flawed financial information and lose money. Due to the spinning of financial fairy tales today, many people play the game of capital gains and deem it as the best way to get rich. However, it is important to note that there is a more sustainable way to gain wealth and that is cashflow. Let us now find out why investing for cash flow is good.

In today's world, the real financial approach you should adhere to is cash flow because every single day, the top 10% in wealth collects money passively from the bottom 90% using it. Good education is no longer enough because schools train students to spend money for the rich. For example, buying cars.

Here, the harder the bottom 90% works and the more they earn, the more money flows out to the top 10%, making them ever richer. For example, when you work harder and earn more money, you buy more luxury items like branded watches (marketed as symbol of wealth and status) and these manufacturer will earn more money from premiums charged.

Given how powerful cashflow is to the rich, many have kept their secrets very well because they do not want others to be richer than them. However, being in today's Information Age, information gets disseminated rapidly and the same applies to this secret to wealth. As a result, with information so much more accessible than before, it is much easier for us to get rich and to create wealth, you must have cash flow.

The importance of investing in cash flow lies in sustainability, consistency and predictability. Cash flow investments are better than that for capital gains (for eg buying and selling of stocks) because they do not depend on the market. For example, regardless of what shape the market is in, rental real estate will still exist because people always need places to live in. Instead, sometimes when the economy gets worse, more people will be forced to rent houses and this can provide more cash flow to the investor.

In comparison, if the economy is in bad shape, there will be a bear in stock markets and this will make capital gain investments like stocks things you would not want to hold. Here, investing for capital gains is gambling because markets always change and if you do not change your strategy with it, you will lose. As cash flow are less dependent on market situations, they are instead evergreen investments and with less influence from the market, investors can get rich more consistently as cash flow builds up.

In conclusion, I believe investors now have a clear picture of why cash flow investments are better, given that they are especially immune to market conditions compared to other financial instruments. Now, being armed with better financial artillery, win your war and enjoy the fruits!

The Credit Crunch - How it Happened

The makings of the credit crunch can be traced back to the early 21st century. It was at this time that house prices in the United States began their steep rise. The banks who were awarding mortgages to customers were no longer awarding mortgages in the same ways that they used to. Banks began repackaging mortgages and loans as bonds. These bonds were then sold on to third parties who believed that these were very secure bonds. In fact on many occasions the bonds related to mortgages belonging to customers who were very likely to default. This meant that the banks felt there was no limit to the money they could make by selling on these mortgages and because someone else owned the bond they did lent money to.

This theory worked fine when house prices were continuing to rise, however, when house prices began to fall and customers defaulted on their mortgages these bonds and loans went sour. The banks then starting writing down a lot of their losses but not disclosing their full exposure to sub prime debt. This meant that banks stopped lending to each other because no one knew who was safe and who was not. IT is this inter bank lending which is the key to banks being able to operate and manage their day to day business. With this lending disappearing banks stopped being able to lend to customers and thenby perpetuating the fall in house prices.

In order to buy a house now lenders are looking for a deposit up front which is making it harder for first time buyers to get into the market. Governments are working hard to try and find means of getting banks to start lending again. This has included bail out measures to guarantee inter bank loans and boost bank's balance sheets through purchasing shares. This apparently does not seem to be working as private investors are not giving their money to banks any more as they are worried about the solvency of the banks despite the fact that many are heavily nationalized. If this continues then it's difficult to see and imminent end to the credit crunch.

DIY Homemade Solar Panels - Are You Simply Wasting Your Time?

Every time I turn on the TV there is a new DIY program being aired. The projects I watch differ vastly in size from rewiring to building a house. However none of these DIY programs tackled a subject that is of great interest to me, building DIY homemade solar panels.

I really wanted to start using renewable energy and more importantly the power of the sun. So I did some internet research and found a whole load of manuals and information on the subject of renewable energy. I have to admit the prospect of building my own DIY homemade solar panel was a bit daunting at first. However, you have to remember that the panels simply compose a bunch of solar cells in a wooden box!

Most of the equipment that you will require can be bought at your local DIY shop. I use Radioshack for example. I can now build my own panels and cells for under $ 200. But remember energy from the sun is free so you will recoup these costs over time. More importantly you will not be paying thousands of dollars to a professional when you can build your own for a fraction of the price! The cost of the components is far outweighed by what you will be saving long term in electricity and heating costs around your home.

So what are you waiting for? Go grab a guide today and start saving on your energy bills. Making your own renewable energy free could not be easier!

GTU 10 - Why Do I Need It?

If you need a navigator that can keep an eye on your beloved one or keep track of position of your pets or property, you may need GTU 10, an innovative new product from Garmin which is based on the web. After reading this article you can easily decide, if you really need this GPS tracking unit.

Who needs GTU 10?

You would need GTU 10, if you are one of them:

1. Parents who need to keep an eye on their children daily, for example: during they are on their way to school or anywhere. So you can make sure that your children are safe wherever they go.
2. Travelers who always can keep an eye on their luggage and things that left so that they will not lose them.
3. Pet lovers who can track the position of their pets and receive notification once their pets are outside of a geofence.
4. Runners who can notice their progress on race day or let their family track where they are so that their family can contact them, if it is needed.
5. Car owners who can keep an eye on their cars every day.

How GTU 10 Works?

It is very easy to use GTU 10 which provides a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery with a four-week battery life. You can just follow these following tips how to use GTU effectively:

1. After you buy a GTU 10, you should register and activate it in your Garmin account. You will get one year of standard tracking.
2. Then you are able to monitor the location of your GTU 10 on a map from your computer by using Garmin's tracking website or the free Garmin Tracker application for iPhone or Android devices.
3. The GTU 10 will enter or exit a geofence that you have already set up. You can also use a garmin nuLink! Device to make automatically route to GTU 10.
4. Once the device goes outside the area which you have already determined, you will get an email or text message.

What is in the Box

If you buy GTU 10, you will get these following stuffs:

1. Garmin GTU 10
2. USB Cable
3. Attachment Case
4. Adhesive Strip
5. Carabiner Clip
6. Owner's Manual

How to Form a Business

Deciding on the most appropriate legal structure for your start up business is a critical step, as it could impact the degree of financial risk you are exposed to, the control you maintain over your business and the level of expected daily administration activities.

Having made your decision to start a business, you must look into some legal requirements for the start up, such as the kind of ownership you are looking for, the name / title of the business organization and your relationship with your partners.

The Legal Form to Be Adopted

The following are the main choices you can consider for the legal form that can be adopted for your business.

• If you are the sole proprietor of your business, you are self-employed and have no legal structure to adhere to.


• In the case of a partnership, two or more business partners will work with you and will share the profits and losses equally.


• There is also a limited company type, in which the business is a separate legal entity. In this, the business is distinct from its directors, shareholders and employees. Unlike the other two, in this type the business can sue or be sued separately from its owners.


• A limited partnership liability could be said to be a mixture of a partnership and a limited company. In this type, the partners have a limited liability and the business can run even with the resignation or death of its partners.

These days, other forms of business such as Co-operative Societies and Company Interest Societies have also become quite widespread. However, once you have adapted a certain legal form, it is still possible to change it although it will require a lot of investment in terms of time and finance. If your business has re-registered with VAT, you must inform your local VAT office within a 30 day time period. The other legal requirement for the change can be checked with your legal and accounting departments.

Sole Proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is when the business is owned and managed by a single person. Many new start-ups prefer to have a sole proprietorship as it comes across as the best and most feasible option.

The advantages of a sole proprietorship are as follows:

• Setting up the business is very simple and can be quickly done by just registering your business with the VAT, tax and other concerned authorities.


• Your gross tax payments will be lower compared to other forms of business; this is, of course, if your earnings are not very high.


• Your National Insurance will be low.


• You can maintain simple, unaudited accounts.

Later on, you can also form a limited company and merge your business with it by paying some stamp duty.

The disadvantages of a sole proprietorship are:

• As a sole proprietor, your financial options are quite limited and you are entitled to fewer social security benefits.


• Your assets are at a high risk, as you are personally responsible for all your debts.


• Also, it will be difficult to sell or pass on your business to others.

Partnership

A partnership form of business shares the same advantages and disadvantages as a sole proprietorship. However there are a few other aspects as well:

While forming a partnership, you must first have an agreement drawn by a lawyer and agreed upon by all partners in order to avoid future disputes.

In a partnership, each member is liable for the losses or debts suffered, even if caused by other members.

There is more scope in a partnership to raise money as all the other partners could contribute financially as well.

Limited Company

The advantages of a limited company have a propensity to increase as your business develops. The following are the advantages:

• In the case of a limited company, the liability of the members is restricted to the amount they have invested in the company by buying the shares. Personal liabilities may arise in rare circumstances of company fraud or security on company borrowing etc.


• In terms of financial stability, it is easier to raise money or to sell the business when need arises since a limited company enjoys more credibility.


• High earners can enjoy tax advantages by keeping their money in the business or pension payments.

The few disadvantages are:

• Annual accounts are usually more complicated. Also a high turnover requires for regular audits. If your turnover climbs above £ 5.6 million, an independent audit is compulsory, costing you at least £ 2,000.


• There are greater costs and obligations involved. Ceasing the business is a lengthy and expensive procedure.


• The National Insurance payments are higher as you have to pay the directors', employers' and employees' National Insurance contribution on salaries.

A limited company must be registered at Companies House and so setting up a limited company involves some red tape. Here you can adapt one of these methods:

You can ask your solicitor or accountant to buy you an off-the-shelf company and to provide advice on all the details (costs will be from £ 200 upwards).

You could use a reputable company registration agent (cost will be around £ 60 - £ 200).

You can also undertake the registration process yourself after seeking professional advice and guidance.

Like the partnership agreement, in a limited company, a shareholders agreement helps all the people involved in a business considering their credibility and share in the business. The agreement covers the key issues concerning the business and possible 'what if' scenarios, such as:

How much money the members will contribute in the initial investment and for what amount of reward in return?

If need be, how will you raise money for the capital in the future?

If in the future a member needs to take out extra money, how will that situation be deal with?

How will the dividends and salaries be distributed to the directors and shareholders?

Who will take all these crucial decisions?

How fast will the business expand and who is responsible for each business area?

If the company disbands, will the members buy each other out or will the company be sold?

Having a sound shareholders agreement before starting a limited company is essential as it minimizes the risks and gives the members a clear idea of ​​what rewards to expect in terms of financial investment.

Limited Liability Partnerships

Despite the name, a limited liability partnership is not a partnership per se. It has the following features:

It is a corporate body with its own legal identity and faculty; different from partnership in its organizational flexibility.

Tax is charged for all profits, distributed or undistributed.

Members can limit their liability in case of losses.

Annual accounts must be prepared and filed in strict compliance with filing requirements and time limits.

There must be a confidential members' agreement which should be accepted by all.

A limited liability partnership must be registered at a Companies House. Your accountant or solicitor can help you with the registration details.

If the limited liability partnership is declared insolvent within two years, then the withdrawals may be clawed back.

Tips

• Keep your company name short and simple if you're a consumer-facing company.


• Your company name should give you the freedom to expand into other activities.


• Aim to secure the domain name for your trading name early on, irrespective if you are planning to sell over the internet or not. Your customers would rather be reassured to see a professional presence online, particularly if they are checking out your business.


• Take professional advice on the best way to set up your business - do not assume that you need to form a company.


• Before going into any partnership, reflect on the likely business relationship and how it is going to work in practice


• As circumstances change, consider if your business structure is still the right one for you. You do not have to stick with the structure you chose when you started up.

The full version of the "How to form a business" ebook, available from most book stores, helps you learn how to:

• Choose the right business legal form


• Maintain working relationships


• Select a name for your business

Enterprise Development With Flex

Adobe Flex has become one of the best platforms to develop Rich Internet Applications for different enterprises. This is what keeps developers around the world busy adding the much-needed graphical excellence to your websites. Flex development, which many call a rebirth of illustrious Adobe Flash (formerly owned by Macromedia), pushes the websites to next level where they are not mere representation of a business' online presence but serve as a potent marketing tool.

What makes flex a preferred choice of many enterprises is the presence of many hundreds of offshore development centers around the world where you can easily outsource your custom development projects. These firms employ developers who have expertise over the platform and can easily deliver customized solution to serve all your business needs. Here you not only get your Rich Internet Applications developed, but also get suggestions to make your website more pleasant and interactive for your visitor to turn them into your customers.

Developers can easily integrate efficient in-context interactivity due to the video, audio, streaming and messaging components onto your website. This helps businesses add to their brand value and increase revenue earned from online sale of products and services. These developers have mastered several frameworks and tools available for RIA development. They can easily create elements such as photo galleries, transitions without page reload, reports and interactive graphs among others.

Tips To Hire Flex Developers for Enterprise Development

• Flex is relatively new platform compared to many others, which are being used to develop Rich Internet Applications. This is where expertise of the developers comes to the picture. For your custom development projects, you should try to hire the best in the industry.
• Know your business needs and hire the developers accordingly. There are many offshore development centers, which give you the flexibility of hiring developers on hourly, daily and monthly basis. See which kind of hiring gives you maximum value for money and opt for it.
• If you are planning to integrate components like CRM and ERP systems, ecommerce solutions, video and audio messaging solutions into your website you should discuss the scope with the projects with developer beforehand, as these things need specialization.
• The heart and soul of Flex lies in Adobe ActionScript and is a must for developers. This language helps in adding interactivity to the applications developed. If the developers are not competent in using Adobe ActionScript there is very little that the developer can achieve.
• The developers must also know how to build component libraries in Adobe Flex. This is a must for ecommerce solutions and multi-media websites.

These tips will help you find the best Flex developers for your enterprise development projects like at http://www.evontech.com/flex-developers.html . Remember this is a very powerful platform and sky is your only limit when it comes to success.

How to Play All Video Files by The Pioneer AVH P4200DVD

When buying a Pioneer AVH P4200DVD, you suppose you can watch all format video in this DVD player. But after installed onto your vehicle, you know if you can play a DivX format video only. So, what can you do?

Do not waste your time by whining and complaint. The firstly you must do is dig deaf information about all video formats out there. Rathermore focusing your effort on how to make them run into the DVD player. Lets go.

DivX
DivX is a video codec released by DivX in 2001 and extracted since 1998 by French hacker Jerome Rota at Montpellier. The DivX is distinct from DIVX or Digital Video Express. The last stable version is 7 and released in 2009. Then in September 2010, the DivX Plus Web Player (beta version) were introduced. In HTML5 video format, this version support for embedding video codec format others like DivX, AVI, MKV, MP4 and MOV video. Additional file format container also support for H264 video in MP4 or MOV.

AVI
AVI or audio video interleaved is a multimedia container format produced by Microsoft as part of its video for Windows technology in November 1992. Recently the original AVI specification could not anticipating the fastest growing of new computer video techniques. This format has several problems within like can not contain certain specific types of VBR data reliably, does not provide a standardized way to encode aspect ratio information, and is not intended to contain variable frame rate material.

Matroska
Matroska or The Matroska Multimedia Container (filename extension is MKV for video, MKA for audio, and MKS for subtitle) is an open standard free container format that early created in December 2002. Google in 2010 sponsored to development WebM, a multimedia container format that would be based on a profile of the Matroska by VP8 format in video and Vorbis in audio. This means a Matroska will be bigger and important than today.

QuickTime
QuickTime File Format (filename extension is MOV) is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework produced by Apple Inc. MOV capable to handle several formats of sound, picture, digital video, panoramic images and interactivity. QuickTime is integrated with MacOS X and downloadable for Windows as a standard installation.

The four is a famous video format and else many others available out there. But the problem about DVD player in AVH P4200 is it is only suitable with a DivX file. So, what can you do if you own a MKV or MOV file?

You have three options. First, do not buy a AVH P4200 and find out car video others which supported your files. Second, do not watch your movies which can not be played by this Pioneer. Third, convert your files to DivX format. This is a best choice.

So, how to convert a MKV or AVI file to DivX format? Find out a video converter software. Do not worry, many free version software downloadable out there, one of them is DivX Plus Converter. Pick up one movie file to convert as sample and play onto your AVH P4200. If you are satisfied with the convert result, you can convert more files. But free version of the DivX Plus Converter and DivX Plus Codec Pack is available only for 15 days. After that you can purchase a Pro version and get a 30-day money-back guarantee.

By DivX Pro version, you can create a DivX file by unlock the pro features. You can easily convert MKV, WMV, AVI, MOV and MP4 files to DivX. You can create DivX file in your favorite video application like VirtualDub or Sony Vegas. You can also use pre-set profiles to make high-quality DivX videos for DivX HD, DivX home theater, or DivX wireless devices.

You can keep the new files into a USB flash drive or burn into a blank DVD. After that connected the file in the media to the AVH P4200 DVD player. And voila, you can watch the action of Megan Fox or enjoy the performance of Justin Bieber.