Personal Pension Review - A Time to Act

A quick insight into older style UK (Insurance Company based) Personal Pensions.

Personal Pensions have been around since 1988 and in this time the industry in the UK has gone through great change. Now as we are well into the new millennium the issues with Pensions and Pension Planning are little changed.

As an investor in one of these Early Personal Pension Plans or any other form of Personal Pension you need to be aware of a few things.

Not all Pension Plans are the same, for example of you have a plan with one of the now closed Insurance Company's or with one of the UK High Street Banks there is a good chance you are paying far more in overall charges than you need to be .

Post Credit Crunch we are sure you are not only paying more in charges than you need to, but the range of available Investment Funds could be limited in many ways and this means that you will probably benefit from a review of your planning and a possible move to another more modern provider.

What about a Self Insted Personal Pension?

Have you got one of these and do not understand it? There is help available. We can help, there is a good chance you will be paying way over the top for the privilege of something you never knew you had and that you are illegally to use.

The cynic in me could argue that it suited the person that sold it to you was more interested in the High Charging features than you.

Now many individuals that have the benefit of Company Pensions should have been getting all the reviews and advice required, however it is often the case that these reviews are all put on the back burner and not done, and guess what? You will be surprised when you are 5 years from retirement and you realize that your Pension will not be anywhere near the amount you expected.

A little action now will save a lot of pain later.

In summary, if you have any form of UK Personal Pension Plans in place and these have not been reviewed for sometime, you had better 'get your skates on' as time is moving forward at a rapid pace.

There has probably never been a better opportunity to review, check and make some decisions. Importantly if you have a current Financial Adviser you should contact them as soon as possible.

3 Ways to Make Money Online With No Expenses Or Upfront Fees

Making money on the internet is easy to do. There are a lot of people who have managed to get started earning money online without any expenses.

I will guide you through 4 easy ways you can use to make money online without paying upfront fees so that you too can be successful with an internet home business that will bring you financial freedom.

(a) Free get paid to programs- This is not going to make you rich but you are going to make some extra money online. Free get paid to programs require no upfront fees so you can get started immediately. There are more of these programs on the internet than you might actually be aware of. Do a search on Google.com for the keyword term 'get paid to programs' and see what comes up. Evaluate the results that come up and join as many programs as you can for maximum results. Another place to get started is cashcrate. You can also refer other people to these programs and when they perform a specific action, you earn extra money.

(b)Become a writer- This is a business that anybody can do regardless of their race, sex or location. There is tremendous demand for fresh quality content by many blog and website owners so you can earn money by writing content for these webmasters. You will definitely make money on the internet if you write articles that are interesting, unique and informative. There is also a great demand for traffic to websites and blogs so that potential customers can know about the products and services. You can write articles specifically for marketing purposes. Go over to elance and create an account as a writer and start applying for jobs. Elance is free to join and very easy to set up an account.

(c) Join an affiliate marketing program- This is one of the most popular ways people get started making money on the internet without spending any upfront fees. You get paid a commission by joining a merchant's affiliate program and selling their products online. You will not be responsible for things like shipping, technical support or after sales support. Your role will be to drive prospective customers to the merchant;s products and when they purchase a product, you instantly make a commission. The best part about affiliate programs is that the merchant will provide all the promotional materials and training to get you started making money on the internet. The top secret of success with affiliate marketing is find a product that is on demand and profitable whilst generating as much traffic to that product as possibly can. Go to ClickBank.com and go through the marketplace where you will find the products to promote. You can also join cost per action programs and get paid when a person performs a specific action.

Theses are just three ways to make money online with zero upfront fees and no expenses. You can get started by picking the one that is most comfortable to you, research the possible opportunities and get started making money on the internet.

Configure Exchange E-Mail Server Reverse DNS and MX Records Correctly

If DNS is setup incorrectly, over time your mail server IP will be added to blacklists. Nowadays most E-Mail servers have some kind of spam protection service which in turn means that all your inbound mail will be blocked if you do happen to be listed on a spam blacklist.

In this article I will describe how to correctly configure your MX and reverse DNS records for your mail server. This article is based on an Exchange 2003/2007 server but every other messaging server will follow the same principle.

Assigning an IP address

Starting from the bottom up the first thing you need to do is assign a static external IP address to the internal private address of your mail server. You will need to apply these rules on your firewall to port forward SMTP (port 25) and NAT an external IP address to the internal address of the server.

Something that a lot of administrators forget to do or check is to set the outgoing NAT rule to use the same external IP address created for the inbound rule to the mail server. If this isn't set, Reverse DNS will not match and in turn your mail server will be listed on blacklists. If your firewall rules are setup correctly the IP address listed on this page should be the same IP address you mapped to the internal private IP address of the mail server.

Create the MX records for your mail server

For the purpose of this example, listed below are all the details of my mail server to help you understand what you need to do.

External IP: 87.22.1.22

E-Mail Domain: domain.com

You will need to be an administrative contact for your External DNS provider for your domain to make these changes. In most cases this can be done through an online control panel through your DNS provider. Failing that on the phone or via E-Mail.

1. The first thing we need to do is create an A record to point to the external IP address mapped on your firewall to the mail server. The host A record can be called any thing but is commonly called "mail". In our example we will create "mail.domain.com" to point to IP address "87.22.1.22"

2. Next we will create an MX record to point to the newly created A record of our mail server.

Within your DNS control panel select "add MX record". Make sure that the host address is the root domain name in our case "domain.com"

Set the FQDN as the A record we just created which in our case is "mail.domain.com".

The lowest property is the most preferred but in our example we will set the priority as 10.

Use NSlookup to check DNS and MX records are applied

It can take up to 48 hours for DNS to propagate but in most cases 12-24 hours. To check our DNS entries are applied and correct we can use nslookup.

1. Open a CMD prompt and type nslookup

2. Type set type=mx

3. Type the domain name which in our case is domain.com.

In our example the output should read as follows if correctly setup:

> domain.com

Non-authoritative answer:

domain.com MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail.domain.com

mail.domain.com internet address = 87.22.1.22

Configure Reverse DNS

Reverse DNS is used to verify that the mail server is who it says it is. The recipients mail server will do a reverse lookup to make sure that the IP address of the mail A or host record in DNS is the same as the IP address it is communicating with. Only 1 RDNS entry can be present per IP address.

To do this you will need to contact your ISP to make this entry. You will not be able to do this in your DNS control panel unless your ISP also host your DNS and give you the functionality to add your own RDNS records.

In our case we would contact our ISP and advise that we would like to create an RDNS entry for our IP address 87.22.1.22 which would resolve too mail.domain.com.

Verify Reverse DNS

Again it can take up to 48 hours for DNS to propagate but in most cases 12-24 hours. To verify that the RDNS entries have been added and are correct do the following:

1. Open a CMD prompt.

2. Type Ping -a 87.22.1.22 (This is the external IP address for your mail server. In our case we use our external IP address stated above)

If RDNS is configured correctly the following output will be shown:

C:UsersUser>ping -a 87.22.1.22

Pinging mail.domain.com [87.22.1.22] with 32 bytes of data:

SMTP Banner

Every time a mail server establishes a connection with your mail server it shows its SMTP banner. This banner must be resolvable on the internet and best practice is to have it as your mail host/A record.

Configure SMTP banner Exchange 2003

1. Open Exchange system manager.

2. Expand your administrative group ("First administrative group" by default).

3. Expand Servers.

4. Expand YourServerName.

5. Expand Protocals container.

6. Select SMTP container.

7. On the right window, right click the Default SMTP virtual Server (Or the name you set your SMTP Server) and

select Properties.

8. Select the Delivery Tab.

9. Click the Advanced button.

10. Under the Fully-qualified domain name type mail.domain.com (The A/Host record you created in DNS for your mail server)

11. Click OK and OK again to accept the changes

Configure SMTP banner Exchange 2007/2010

1. Open the Exchange management console.

2. Select the Organisation Configuration container.

3. Select Hub Transport container.

4. On the right select the Send Connectors tab.

5. Right click your send connector and select properties.

6. On the General tab under the Set the FQDN this connector will... type the A record domain name you created. Which in our case is mail.domain.com. Click OK.

7. Under the Server Configuration container click the Hub Transport container.

8. In the Right window Select the properties of the Receive Connector under Receive Connectors tab.

9. On the General tab under the Set the FQDN this connector will... type the A record domain name you created. Which in our case is mail.domain.com. Click OK

To verify these changes we can use telnet to view the output upon establishing a connection on port 25 to our mail server. Use the following steps to do this:

1. Open a CMD prompt

2. Type Telnet mail.domain.com 25.

The output you see should look something like this and contain your A record of your mail server:

220 mail.domain.com Microsoft ESMTP MAIL Service ready at Sun, 28 Feb 2

010 17:51:20 +0000

If you use an edge server or a SPAM filter appliance like a Barracuda the SMTP banner will have to be set on this device/server.

Check to see if your mail server is on spam lists and/or an open relay

A great website to use to check your MX records, RDNS, check if your mail server is an open relay and check to see if you are listed on spam lists is www.mxtoolbox.com. This is a great site and one to keep in your favourites.

Following these guide lines will successfully and correctly configure mail routing to and from your mail server. The next step is too secure and ensure your mail server is not an open relay. I will be writing a separate article dedicated to this in the near future.

Top Computer Software

Have a look at Amazon's list of the top computer software, deals of the week, reviews, the latest software, gift certificates and customer discussions on the products. You will also find links to international sites.

You will find products like Windows Vista, Movie Converter, Mr Site, Adobe Photoshop and Norton's internet security. You will also find a list of the latest software products, and you can get personalized recommendations.

Search for the top operating system, home, lifestyle, design, multi media, business, utility, education, communications and programming software. Or search by brand or price range on Epinions' web site. You'll also find unbiased reviews by real people.

On Computer Software South Africa, you will find the top accounting, anti virus, internet security, graphics, office suites, video editing, web development, web master software in South Africa. You will also find a list of the latest software products.

Why not have a look at CNet's top 100 software products? You will find products from leading vendors such as Microsoft, Adobe, Intuit, Norton, McAfee and Apple Mac Tiger OS. You will also find reviews and news on best buy computer software.

Microsoft has blended its popular Office suite with its enterprise system to create what it now calls the Microsoft Office System. But while the name is different and Outlook has gotten a face-lift, Microsoft has not done much to the other apps in the suite. So the burning question remains: Should you upgrade?

A straightforward and effective all-in-one firewall / privacy / antivirus / antispam / antispyware product, ZoneAlarm Internet Security from Zone Labs is worthy of consideration in any home or SOHO situation. It offers the best software firewall, antivirus, and privacy protection available to PC users today.

It's clean and simple tab-based interface is blissfully intuitive to navigate, making ZoneAlarm far less imposing than Norton Internet Security 2005 and easier to operate than McAfee Internet Security Suite 2005.

Activity Diagrams - Advantages, Disadvantages and Applications of Use

Activity diagrams describe the actual work flow behavior of a system in Information Technology. These diagrams are very similar to state Diagrams because activities are the actual state of doing something. These diagrams describe the actual state of activities of a system by showing all the sequence of activities performed. Also, these diagrams can show activities that are conditional or parallel.

When to Use: Activity Diagrams

Activity diagrams should be used in alignment with other modeling techniques like interaction diagrams and State diagrams. The main reason behind using these diagrams is to model the work flow behind the system being designed. these Diagrams are also useful for analyzing a use case by describing what actions need to take place and when they should occur, describing a complicated sequential algorithm and modeling applications with parallel processes.

Activity diagrams' advantages:

• UML modeling language included that these diagrams are normally easily comprehensible for both analysts and stakeholders.






• In UML for the IT Business Analyst, "The activity diagram is the one most useful to the IT BA for depicting work flow [because] it is simple to understand-both for BAs and end-users."






• Since they are among the most user-friendly diagrams available, they are generally regarded as an essential tool in an analyst's repertoire.






• Additionally, as stated above, activity diagrams allow an analyst to display multiple conditions and actors within a work flow through the use of swimlanes. Swimlanes, however, are optional as a single condition or actor is normally displayed without them.

Activity diagrams' disadvantages:

UML modeling language include that these diagrams have the potential to become overly complex because their user-friendly nature may lend itself to an all-inclusive description. In other words, since it is so simple to display the information related to the project, why not include all of it? When an analyst has a large project, creating a single, overly complex diagram can be a temptation.

However, as one author notes, "if you are using activity diagrams to define the structure of a work flow, you should not attempt to explore several levels of activity graphs down to their most 'atomic' level". Instead, an analyst should try to present a new diagram for each work flow, or if more applicable, to use swimlanes to present different actors within the same work flow.

Another aspect of these diagrams is that they may not be used in lieu of a state diagram or sequence diagram because "activity diagrams do not give detail about how objects behave or how objects collaborate." This is not a disadvantage per se, but it is important for an analyst to keep in mind when applying diagrams to their work.

In conclusion, activity diagrams are fairly easy to get the hang of, and will be useful for most projects because they plainly and moderately clearly demonstrate how things work." Unlike many diagramming techniques, these diagrams also enable the depiction of multiple choices and actors within a work flow, and they are easy for even non-technical users to follow

Applications of activity diagram:

This diagram has been extended to specify flows among steps that transmit physical matter (e.g., gasoline) or energy (e.g., torque, pressure).

• Additional changes allow the diagram to better support continuous behaviors and continuous data flows.






• The UML 2 specification significantly prolonged the features and scale of activity diagrams beyond their earlier classification as a special case of state diagrams.






• Today, activity diagrams can be thought of as flow charts for the 21st century, and UML modelers use activity diagrams to describe it.






• Also, these diagrams are useful in following methods:






• Business Rules






• Functions that occur in parallel






• Complex chain of multiple use cases






• Software flows and logic control configurations






• Procedures with judgment points and alternate flows






• Single use cases

101 Survival Tips for Your Business

There is no disputing the fact that a lot of businesses are collapsing in Nigeria and indeed the world over today because of lack of knowledge of what it takes to salvage the situation. This has even led to serious health conditions as many entrepreneurs have become hypertensive and their health state has defied medical solutions. This is because as long as the survival of their businesses is threatened, their own survival too will continue to be under threat. This is why I am reviewing this book this week as a textual solution. I wish you pleasurable reading.

This text entitled 101 Survival Tips for Your Business, with the subtitle Practical Tips to Help Your Business Survive and Prosper is written by Andrew Griffiths, a professional marketing consultant, as well as director of an Australian company called The Marketing Professionals. Griffiths is an accomplished trainer and a reputable public speaker. He specializes in trouble-shooting for companies that are in dire need of professional advice on marketing and customer-related issues.

In the course of his career, Griffiths has owned and operated a number of businesses, including a commercial diving operation, a travel company, an outdoor advertising business and a tourism publication. He equally worked as a dive instructor and commercial diver, door-to-door encyclopedia salesman, gold prospector, international sales manager and gardener.

According to this author, running a business is difficult and demanding even at the best of times. Griffiths says the trick to surviving is to avoid the common hazards that all business operators face along the way. He assures that the 101 practical survival tips offered in this text will guide you to successfully navigate your way through these hazards, and help your business to reach its full potential. This expert says each of these survival tips is based on his many years of experience and sound advice from successful businesses around the world.

Griffiths advises you to choose and apply a new tip each week or use this book as a source of inspiration and guidance when you are setting up a new business. In this book, there are tips to help you build better relationships with your suppliers, your staff and your customers, as well as financial, legal, marketing and personal survival tips. All these tips are designed to highlight common problems and give you a clear course of action that will increase your chances of business survival. As regards structure, this text is segmented into 12 basic sections of 101 tips, in addition to a bonus section containing 20 tips. Section one is christened The future of small business.

In the words of Griffiths here, "Small businesses form the backbone of many economies. As populations grow worldwide, so do the number of small businesses starting up. larger organizations. As a result, there is an incredible knowledge and skill base tied up in running these small businesses. "

He adds that there is an intense amount of expertise and specialist knowledge that thrives in this economic sector, the value of which is often underestimated. Griffiths says experience has shown that small businesses generally offer far better levels of service than do their larger counterparts, due, in most cases, to the key personnel being involved at the front of business. However, Griffiths says the problem facing most small businesses is the ever-increasing competition from other small businesses, adding that this dilemma is here to stay and even increase.

In section two christened Getting advice survival tips, which contains the first four tips, this completed public speaker discusses the type of help available, tells you to know when to look for help, requests you to embrace technology and save money, and says you might be eligible for a grant. According to this author, "Many governments around the world offer incentives for people to run small businesses. These governments realize that small businesses play a major role in their economy ... by distributing products and services to the general public." He says these governments are equally aware that small businesses provide jobs for millions of people, and this development keeps the economy going well.

Section three of this text is generally labeled Financial survival tips, and contains tips five to 19. Here, Griffiths stresses the need for you to have enough money to start your business. As far as budgeting is concerned, he advises you to plan for the worst not the best, adding that you should keep your personal and business records separate. Griffiths reiterates the need for you to use a good accountant, keep a good record from the start, and beware of the third-year boom and fourth-year bust.

In section four that contains tips 20 to 27 and associated Business relationship survival tips, this expert reflects to you how to avoid partnership pitfalls; how to build a relationship with your suppliers; how to build a relationship with your professional advisers, etc. Section five of this text is based on staff survival tips and contains tips 28 to 37. In this section, Griffiths stresses the need for you to put the staff job description in writing and always check references. He emphasizes the need for you to train yourself and your staff properly; lead by example so that your team will follow; communicate effectively with your staff; conduct performance reviews; be conscious of security issues and protect your business, etc. In section six based on tips 38 to 46 and tagged Customer service survival tips, this author says you need to build a good relationship with your customers and learn how to say No. Griffiths stresses further that you need to use simple market research to keep on track, adding that you should continuously ask your customers if they are happy. He advises that you should deliver whatever you promise, and be honest and upright in all your dealings.

Section seven is based on advertising and marketing survival tips, with tips 47 to 57 examined. Here, the author says you need to develop your own marketing philosophy; do a course or read a marketing book; take small steps to market your business; develop a strong corporate image; market your business to a simple plan; never stop marketing just because business is booming, etc.

Sections eight to eleven are specifically entitled Internet survival tips; Insurance survival tips; Legal survival tips; and Personal survival tips. These four sections contain tips 58 to 93. In these sections, Griffiths stresses the need for you to be realistic about the Internet and make sure that you market your website. He says you should budget for the Internet to be an overgoing expense and beware of spam. Griffiths advises on the type of insurance you should have, adding that you should make sure that you meet your policy requirements. Griffiths offers you guide on when to use a lawyer and how to choose one. He also offers you tips on how you could keep the legal costs down. According to this author as regards personal survival tips, you need to start your business feeling refreshed and healthy.

Griffiths advises you never to give up your hobbies when you start your own business; requests you to maintain your enthusiasm; and learn how to handle stress. Section 12, the last basic section is tagged Planning for the future survival tips and contains tips 94 to 101. In this section, this author says you need to know exactly where you are going and know exactly how you are going to get there. Griffiths reflects that you need to always have a plan for when things go wrong and set your business up so that someone will want to buy it.

As already said, apart from these 12 basic sections, there is a bonus section containing additional 20 survival tips. Here, Griffiths says among other things that you should not be afraid to charge what you are worth; learn to delegate; try to win an award for your business; constantly strive to improve your business; make your business environmentally friendly; and compile your own operations manual.

Stylistically, this text gets a pass mark. For instance, the text is written in short blocks reinforced with very simple, jargon-free language. Griffiths adds Survival Tips Action List at the end of each section to arouse readers' active participation and practical application. However, the (partially) repetitive areas of the multiplicity of tips contained in the text can still be harmonized to avoid possible conceptual redundancy. Typically, this text is a masterpiece. Do you want to achieve enduring success in your business, especially during this period of global economic downturn? If "Yes", then, you need to get a copy of this book.

Life Insurance For Financial Stability of Loved Ones

If you have never thought about getting insurance for your life, you need to start. A lot of people do not think that this is something they need to have either because of their age, or the point in time during their life. They also may not think they need it because they do not really have a beneficiary. Whatever the reason is that you do not have life insurance, you should take another look at why you do not and why you should. Here are some of the reasons people get insurance for their life.

Most people do not want to leave their financial obligations or expenses to their family or loved ones. Funeral costs can be quite expensive, and if you do not have any type of insurance or finances set aside for your loved ones to use once you pass, then they have to foot the bill. Majority of the time, the money that is received from insurance only covers the funeral. Most of the expenses that are associated with a funeral are unavoidable, expenses like buying a plot in a cemetery, buying a casket, paying for the costs of cremation, even the costs of the funeral services itself.

For people who have a family, the money they receive can help pay any of their living expenses until they can get back on their feet. If you are the sole bread winner in your family, male or female, and you pass away but do not have any type of insurance, then your family may have a rough time. With today's economy, finding jobs is extremely difficult. On average, it can take 6 months for someone to find a job. So, if your spouse or partner either has not had a job, or does not have an education, they may have a hard time finding a job or at least one that can pay for bills and other expenses. Having something set up helps ensure that your family will have some money to help them get by until someone can find a job that can cover their expenses.

Maybe you have a child; you can put the money towards your children's tuition. When a family loses a person's annual income, it can become difficult to save money, at least for a while. Putting this money towards a child's tuition means that the family does not have to worry so much about saving for the future. Instead, they can worry about any current financial issues that they may have after you pass.

You can also use it to pay off any loans, or debt you may have. Making sure your family is taking care of financially after you are gone is very important. Perhaps you and your spouse cosigned a loan together, in the event of either you or your spouse's death; the financial responsibility goes to the person still living. If you have any debt, it could pass on to your loved ones depending on your state's laws. In most cases, your debts will be taking care of during the settlement of your estate. The money from your estate will go towards paying off your debt. However, if you do not have enough, money then it is possible that some of your heirlooms or possessions will be used for their monetary value to pay off your debts.