Smokend Info Blog

Don’t miss the fun! Win big with our virtual best online betting sports rooms!

Join both of man’s dominant pursuits and what you’ll get is a mania generally called a sportsbook gambling web location. Really, what could believably be more imaginative… If you think of a troop of sports fellows cheering on any given chosen team, and continuously wagers are certain to be placed complementing the uproar. Keen to catch some of the anticipation, spectators will frequently essay to estimate who is the likeliest to win the approaching meetup. In the end, this all comes to be a warmhearted, amicable meetup titled sportsbook gambling web location.

To place that bet, you will probably want to visit a sportsbook gambling web location, which is a place that takes in sportsbook gambling web location. In the USA, you’ll find four states where to do sportsbook wagering lawfully, but illegally you can attempt it anywhere as long as you can hunt out a bookie and you’re of legal age. The games you have a choice of betting on are pro and, moreover, college football + basketball, pro baseball and hockey, and, moreover, betting on both dog and horse racing. Customers can choose to bet on the general score of a contest or game, in what round a given party will be defeated, and even if a tossed coin in a contest or game will come down either heads or tails.

We’ll be able to choose between a lot of different styles of lays- straight, parlay antes, teaser lays, and so on, the straight being the dominating one in sportsbook wagering.

So do check it out, and enjoy the excitement at one go… Only safeguard you won’t get gripped and spend your entire retirement fund on a conceit… After all, you’ll be sure to end up grieving for it till the end of your life…

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Laptops seem to be the current popular thing this year. Taiwan, which is the prime manufacturing country of laptops is struggling with the demand at the moment. This is one market which I don’t think will be affected with all the economic peril that seems to be going on. Whatever you do you’re playing with technology that is evolving all the time so its hard to keep up to date.

Gaming laptops are one of the niche markets that have seen an increase. I think gaming laptops have never been cheaper. You can find some extremely good offers out there that will get you gaming. I play games on my laptop on a regular basis and must say I’m delighted how playable few of the intense games are. Even more suprising these days In my opinion is how sleek the designs are becoming especially when you think about much power is in them. Power of desktops should infinitely be a mile ahead of laptops but its still inspiring to see. It will be exciting to see what gaming laptops come out in the future and how small they can design them.

Now and then the usual mass market notebooks just aren’t adequate for what we need them for so custom laptops will always be here. With custom built laptops you usually get to know what make of components is going into the notebook. By being able to eliminate some add on’s from the specification you can truly save cash on components you will not use. The majority of laptop computers are designed for the normal user which means you may not find what you’re looking for. Custom built laptops exist for this reason. They give needs that others can’t. There are numerous small laptop builders out there that offer great customer care. Because of this consumers will forget about the large brand name.

Ample amounts of awesome notebooks are coming out soon. Apart from what has already been said Ultra mobile laptops are another large product witnessing expansion this year. I was not expecting vast amounts of consumers to like the idea. These days customers want thin notebooks but they additionally need big screens. Companies must be working on a solution to this already. The way things are developing I can tell gaming laptops will become slimmer. New laptops are commonly kept secret before launch so there is no knowing what new products we will encounter.

For the price these are the best laptop computers.

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One of the biggest problems people have in these modern times is Credit card debt, and worst is USA.
Simply because there have always been so many laws and regulations before you could have a
card in the rest of the world, you can’t for instance borrow someone elses card and go shopping because
you always have to show some ID before they accept cards in Europe.

Credit card debt is an ever growing problem in the U.S. Countless American’s are finding themselves in a financial bind because of their over spending habits. Credit cards are a dangerous convenience to those who tend to impulse buy.

Recent statistics in regard to credit card debt are staggering. According to The Motley Fool Credit Center (http://www.fool.com/ccc/secrets/secrets.htm) total U.S. consumer credit debt has reached 1.7 TRILLION dollars. Collectively, these card holders pay over 50 BILLION dollars in finance charges, every year.

It is said that, on any given day, approximately 78% of the nation’s population would qualify for some type of credit. More than 1.3 million of these card holders will file for bankruptcy, each calendar year.

Credit card companies are as lenient as they can afford to be when it comes to issuing new credit cards and spend MILLIONS of advertising dollars, each year, singing the praises of their specific offer.

They count on the fact that the majority of card holders will, indeed, possess an impulse buying gene. These companies also hope that card holders who apply for a line of credit, to be used only on an emergency basis, will give in when tempted with appealing merchandise.

If you suddenly find yourself struggling with credit card debt there are things you can do that will help to ease your stress and reduce your balances. These common sense steps will assist you in getting your credit card debt, under control.

1. Stop using the cards – this is the simplest way to start reducing your debt. Yes, you still owe for past charges, but cutting up your cards or putting them away in a secure place, will alleviate the urge to purchase things that you don’t really need.

2. Stop new credit card offers – It’s always tempting to take advantage of a new credit card offer, especially if it is pre-approved. You can easily obtain the forms needed to remove your name from credit bureau lists, by calling 1-888-5OPTOUT.

3. Always pay more than minimum – Credit card companies offer low monthly payments for a reason. The longer it takes to pay off a balance the higher their profit margin. In the long run, you’ll be surprised at what a savings this will make.

Credit is a wonderful thing if used wisely. Don’t become one of the millions of card holders who are struggling with debt. By setting limits and avoiding un-needed purchases you will stay on the road to healthy credit.

The obvious alternative is to use a prepaid card, that way you can never use more money than you have
loaded to your card.

© Gunnar Berglund>br?
Gunnar Berglund has been working on the Internet for about five years
and run http://www.global-prepaid-cards.com since September 2003.

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You will find the tips in this first section to be useful in saving money regardless of the specific returnable packaging you decide to use. Keep them in mind throughout your packaging purchases. These tips cover (but aren’t limited to) plastic corrugated, thermoformed plastic trays and pallets, and other reusable products

1. Consider using thinner plastic. The chances are good you will save money when you can reduce the thickness, regardless of which Returnable Packaging product you are using. Because of the advances in film structures, in many cases you’ll be able to increase the strength while reducing the thickness.

2. Plan Ahead. Purchasing or committing to take an additional month or two of product will assure that you have product when you need it.

3. Designate a freight carrier if you have an existing relationship with one. Your discounted rate with a carrier (Roadway, CCX, Old Dominion, etc) can have a drastic impact on your bottom line.

4. Ask your supplier to hold inventory for you. This reduces your cost, locks in your pricing (the plastic industry can be volatile), and frees up your storage space.

5. Implement an Automatic Replenishment Program with your supplier. It will make your life and your supplier’s life much easier.

6. Determine a Safety Stock amount for your supplier to keep on hand at all times in case of an emergency. You can identify the correct amount by reviewing your sales activities during the past quarter or year.

7. Rely on your Packaging Professional for help and guidance. They expect you to know your business and realize you may not be as familiar with theirs.

Returnable Plastic Packaging Conclusion:

Returnable plastic packaging includes so many different products. However, with plastic as its main component, these tips can and will help anyone reduce or even eliminate price increases.

David Marinac
http://abc-packaging.com

American Built Containment Systems (ABC Systems) is the only company that custom designs specialty packaging via the Internet without having to meet with a customer face-to-face. This allows them to respond faster than any other company at the total lowest cost.

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When you select a product, your choice should be based upon your
knowledge of how and to whom you’re going to sell. You may have
the greatest bargain in the world, but it will be of no value to
you if you don’t know who’s going to buy it, or how you are going
to get the word out about it.

The first rule of achievement of a fortune is to produce or buy
your product for pennies and sell for dollars. So after
preliminary market research to determine who’ll buy your product,
the next question to answer is: How munch will the majority of
this market be willing to pay for your product?

For the sake of our discussion, let’s say that you’ve written a
“How TO” manual on how to make $100,000 a year compiling and
selling mailing lists. You check with a number of printers and
get a production cost of $1.50 per book in lots of 1,000. You
figure that with sharp advertising, you can “sell a million” of
these books at $10 per copy, but that advertising will cost you
$1.50 per book. Thus far, the basic cost of your book is $3 per
copy.

Even though you will probably be the one selling most of your
books, you must realize that it will take you an awfully long
time to move out a million copies of this book. It will keep you
busy 25 hours a day, 8 days a week to do it all by yourself. So
the thing to do is recruit as many other people as you can to
help do the selling. This means setting up a dealer distributor
network.

To do this, you must make it worthwhile for other people to sell
your product. You offer a percentage of the sales price to each
book they sell for you. Generally, this is about 50% for each
single copy sold; 60% when purchased in quantity lots of 25 to 99
copies; and 75% when purchased in lots of 100 copies or more. The
important thing is to shave your profits to a minimum when you
have other people doing the work for you.

Let’s use, the, our example of a $10 book that costs you $1.50 to
produce in lots of 1,000. For people who buy from you in lots of
100 copies, you could cut your profit to $1 per book, sell it to
them for $2.50 per book, and let them do all the advertising, as
well as the selling. Don’t offer more than 50% on single copy
dropship sales, because you’ll have to furnish this type of
dealer with selling materials, and continue to do most of the
advertising yourself.

Setting up your distributor program will require advertising and
a sales kit for the sellers. Thus, you should make up a series of
“Dealers Wanted” ads and place them in as many different
publications as you can.

The national “opportunity” magazines are the best place to place
your advertising for dealers. Remember, the ad should be a call
for dealers, distributors and independent extra income seekers.
Do not try to sell your product in this ad. Use it only to enlist
or recruit people to sell for you. Remember too, the more you run
your dealers wanted ad, and the more different publications you
run it in, the more people you’ll get to sell your product for
you. The easiest way to go is with “Dealers Wanted”
advertisements in as many worldwide publications as possible.

You’ll lose your shirt attempting to recruit sales people via
direct mail, and you’ll never make any headway with just a
“Dealers Wanted insert” in each book you sell. If you want sales
people, you must advertise for them.

To actually get these interested opportunity seekers to sell your
product for you, you’ll need a dynamic sales letter and seller’s
kit to send out in response to the replies to your advertising.
This kind of sales letter is usually four pages in length,
printed on 11 by 17 inch paper, to sell the prospect on the idea
of selling for you, use the amount of space and paper that’s
necessary.

If you’ve written sales letter properly, that’s all there is to
it. Some people charge an “up-front” dealer’s registration fee.
We don’t recommend this, for a number of reasons–mainly because
it immediately eliminates a great many people who might want to
least try to sell the product for you, but are not willing to
“pay” to sell for you.

Some sellers charge $1 to $5 for details and complete dealership
set-up to offset the cost of the initial seller’s kit and
postage. This is what we recommend at the start. If you offer
your program for nothing, you’ll get as many responses from
curiosity seekers and opportunity collectors as from bona fide
prospects.

If you charge for the dealership set-up, you should include a
sample of your product. For the more elaborate sales kits and
expensive products, most people ask for deposit, which is
refunded after a certain number of sales are made by the dealer.
Any charges more than $5 should not be mentioned in your “Dealers
Wanted” advertisements, but held over and fully explained in your
sales.

This is how you set up a dealer/distributor network: Get other
people to sell your product for you! You can, and should be
prepared from the start, before you place your first dealers
wanted ad, and proceed only as you can afford the advertising
costs from the profits of sales of your product.

It’s simple, and it’s easy, and, it can make your rich! You had
to have real interest to have ordered this report. We hope that
it has motivated you with the entrepreneurial spirit, and that
you act on it!

Copyright 2004 by DeAnna Spencer

This article may be reproduced freely on the Internet as long as the resource box remains intact.

Are you content with your advertising budget?
Schedule a coaching session with Frugal Solutions Expert, DeAnna Spencer.
She will design an affordable online advertising plan for you.
Contact her by sending an email to deanna.spencer(at)gmail.com
Visit this small business resource for more information.

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Today’s Quote: “It is impossible to live a pleasant life without
living wisely and well and justly, and it is impossible to live
wisely and well and justly without living pleasantly.” Epicurus
(third century B.C.)

Some people have figured out how to thoroughly enjoy life.

It was evident last night when I was able to enjoy a concert by our local symphony orchestra. As my husband felt like he had just caught a touch of the flu, he told me at the eleventh hour that he needed to get to bed early and let me go it alone. My initial “ugh” at a Saturday date night sans my date (several last minute phone calls to friends offering our unused ticket led nowhere; our younger kids were too tired from playing in the snow all day to even think about it; Nick was neutropenic and was staying close to home) almost forced me to stay home, too. I had spent a couple hours earlier in the day disassembling Christmas decorations, but “life got in the way” and I was not able to complete that lovely little ritual (kids to be picked up; errands to be run; much-needed manicure to be enjoyed), so I had the perfect excuse to stay home and finish that project. What with garlands strewn all over my foyer floor, our artificial tree still standing, angels perched on windowsills, and folk art Santas standing watch on every available tabletop: there was certainly plenty of work to do in order to get my house whipped back into post-Holiday shape.

But I knew that the concert would be powerful. Not only was a guest pianist performing, but Beethoven’s Overture to Coriolanus (a favorite) and Mozart’s 40th Symphony were on tap. With freshly-done nails and an urge to not only escape the chaos of my half-disassembled holiday décor; I looked forward to the self-indulgent luxury of enjoying beauty, if just for one night. So I struck out on my own.

Once there, of course, I was thrilled that momentum overcame my initial impulse towards inertia. Settled into my seat, with good friends directly behind me and others scattered throughout the auditorium, I closed my eyes and prepared for the enjoyment which was to come full force. I embraced the infrequent freedom to “be there and be glad.” To allow classical music to soothe the emotional exhaustion which has burdened me quite heavily lately, to relish the solitude, and to be fully grateful for the evening’s aesthetic feast.

Beethoven did not disappoint. (He never does.) Indeed, his overture was conducted with unusually high energy. And then immediately after intermission, we enjoyed the ritual of “the golden baton.” At last spring’s fundraising gala, our symphony president, Sabina, entered the bid which would seal this honor: conducting seventy-plus of the finest musicians in New England for one piece. She had looked forward to the event for almost a year. And it showed. Dressed in a gorgeous black ensemble, she took to the stage with gusto! Tapping the beat of Wagner’s Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin with her right arm, she used her left arm to add nuance. Her own artistic expression. While conducting, she sang.

I wore a smile from the moment she took the stage until the moment she left it. Not only because I enjoyed watching her conduct. But because I knew how much she did. She was clearly enjoying herself. She had a “be there and be glad” attitude. She had a dance in her step and a song in her heart. She knew this was a moment to be treasured for the rest of her life; we knew it, too.

A party afterwards to honor the guest soloist, the event sponsors, and our “guest conductor” upheld my sentiment. Cheerful conversation around an overflowing food table, joyful celebration with uplifted champagne glasses, and intimate catching-up with old and new friends alike, all taking place in the restored barn that our local art guild calls “home,” placed high priority on enjoying life. On living pleasantly. No arguing over dichotomous and divisive politics. No cold shoulders. Only a common love of beautiful music, and of food and wine which nourish both body and soul.

Moments like these might seem superfluous to the outside observer. Casual and common, they could appear repetitive. Redundant. Stuffy. Snobby. But beauty cannot be denied. Our spirits crave it and our emotions run dry without it. We long to feast our eyes on beautiful objects and our ears on beautiful harmonies. We need to forge relationships and to cement friendships. And staying home every night just doesn’t offer that.

Motherhoodespecially in its early stagescan be extremely isolating. It is, indeed, difficultif not downright impossibleto get out when one is nursing a newborn babe or straddled with toddlers trapped in the “barnacle syndrome.” Resources of time, energy, and funds can prevent those of us with the deepest desires to “be there and be glad” from embracing and enjoying evenings like this.

Now more than ever, with the rush of the holidays clearly behind us, yet without the freshness of spring immediately before us, it is easy to get blind sighted by February’s dreariness. By winter’sand motherhood’sisolation and loneliness. Lack of sunshine and fresh air can make curmudgeons out of the most cheerful among us. No flowers to brighten our days or bright colors to brighten our wardrobes, nor warm weather to brighten our plans; February presents opportunities to “be there and be glad” but we’ll probably have to look harder for them. So invite a friend to coffee, meet the playgroup moms for lunch, dawdle over a new decorating magazine, enjoy a manicure…or simply turn on your favorite classical music station to imbue beauty into your own home.

Enjoying life, living wisely and well, and infusing it with pleasantness certainly means living with integrity. It means building character. Growing through pain and suffering. But it also means allowing the tiniest, simplest acts of everyday living to be enjoyed with clarity. With gladness. Curling up with a good book has held pleasure for mankind through the centuries. As has breaking bread with friends and family. Or sitting by the fire. Watching a movie with your kids. Walking the dog. Taking a hike. Simple pleasures. Breaks in the routineness of everyday life. Treats of solitude as well as of companionship. All are to be treasured. Embraced. With gladness.

I hope you are able to break the dizzying pace of your week and do somethinganythingwhich allows you, too, to be there and be glad.

Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to “encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence.” Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com

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Some blokes have a complicated time keeping a tooled up pecker and some females have wonderfully long sex drives, meaning it takes the gal an exceedingly long time to come. Because of this contrast in sex drives, sex intercourse can often turn into a boring and unsatisfying love making session. That’s why vibrating dildos can often be helpful. If the gent comes early in the game, or even if the female just takes longer than her lover, he can continue to penetrate the chick with the dildo. That way all sexual fun does not have to end. It gives the bloke time to charge his batteries and also helps the gal horned up. Consequently when the man is set up to come back into the sexual session, the lady will still be aroused enough to accept the man. Go wild Sex Toys and Vibrators from Sex Bomb.

Your very most erogenous area is your thoughts. And as noticeably as legions of females won’t admit this, the penis is a traditional symbol of fertility, no matter how big or little, it is still associated with fertility. Penetrating your girl with a dildo might often make a fantasy of power activity reality.

Some women adore the sensation of feeling full in their vagina or anus. Whenever a sex aid such as a big dildo, penetrates the vagina or anus, the muscles contract around it. Loads of girls see the tightening of the above mentioned muscles to be wonderfully enjoyable.

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Perhaps the primary message of Rich Dad, Poor Dad is increasing basic financial literacy. Perhaps I should say financial literacy for the common man and woman. The reason I say this is because the principles taught in the book are very simple–the fundamental personal finance. Some people may even say the what Kiyosaki teaches is dangerously simplistic.

I think those people are missing the point. While it is true that if you want to build significant wealth, you will need to study finance and business in greater depth, what I think that “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and “Cash Flow Quadrant” teaches well is a high level view of how cash flows through your life. And one of the first things you must do in order to begin accumulating wealth is to understand and take charge of your cash flow.

Once you understand how you create cash and understand the flow, you can begin to make simple to complex changes to accumulate more and more cashflows. And just like water that flows into a glass begins to accumulate, your wealth will rise and eventually overflow with abundance.

Here are some of the key points about financial literacy in the “Rich Dad” book:

1) Your greatest “wealth” is not money. It is your state of mind, your thinking and understanding–proper (not necessarily conventional) education. Once you learn how to make a lot of money, even if someone takes it all away, you still have the knowledge to re-create it and more. Even more important, if you have profound financial knowledge, there is much less chance that you will ever lose it once you create it. The lesson: invest your time and your money studying how to create positive streams of passive cash flow.

2) It’s not only how much money you make, it’s how much you keep. As cash flow comes in, you have to be watchful not to spend it as fast or faster than you make it. Track and control your finances.

3) Understand the difference between assets and liabilities. This is one of the most controversial points in the book. According to Kiyosaki, an asset puts cash in your pocket, a liability takes out cash from your pocket. These are not academically correct definitions, but they are very helpful in getting control of your cash flow.

4) In order to be rich, accumulate assets. Most people get into financial trouble by accumulating liabilities (especially credit card debt). The most common reason this happens is due to a lack of understanding, lack of intelligence of what is happening to their cash flow pattern.

5) If you accumulate a lot of money, but do not have the intelligence to understand how to effectively manage your cash flow, an increase in money can actually accelerate the problem.
6) Here is one point that I’m still wrestling with: your home is not an asset. It may be an asset on your balance sheet, but because it is taking money out of your pocket, it is a liability. He’s not saying don’t buy a home. He’s saying don’t call it an asset when it is really a liability.

7) When you are in the process of building your wealth, exercise financial discipline to maximize what you spend on cash producing assets and minimize what you spend on cash draining liabilities. Saving is not enough if you are not buying cash producing assets.

One point that is emphasized more in his game Cash Flow (highest recommendation) is his definition of a “doodad.” I absolutely love this term, because it interrupts your buying pattern and helps you take control of your spending habits. Doodads are those material possessions that we spend our money on that are really liabilities. Like that luxury car that is really beyond your current means. Or that new television set that you just had to have. Or as simple as that new DVD. Buying dodads at the time you should be buying assets is the one of the primary causes of financial trouble.

9) He is not saying don’t buy doodads. The point is to buy assets before you buy doodads. And then let the extra income that is generated by the assets pay for your doodads. Put first things first.

10) The poor, middle class, and wealthy all spend money. Where they eventually end up depends on the the intelligence and wisdom they develop and what they choose to accumulate. What you focus your thoughts on expands. If you focus on increasing your knowledge and assets, they will accumulate. If you focus on doodads and indiscriminate spending (even unconsciously), you will accumulate liabilities.

So, what are some Power Affirmations to help condition your mind to automatically act on these ideas? One thing I hope you will notice about these affirmations: many of these are very specific. They go way beyond such platitudes as “I love myself.”

When I create and use affirmations, I’m interested in focusing on specific strategies and thought patterns I need to have in order to achieve my objective. When was the last time you saw an affirmation that included tax accountants and bankers? But the truth is you need these people on your team if you are going to build massive wealth. So you may as well condition your mind that they will be in your life, that you are comfortable in dealing with them, and that they work for you.

Here are the new affirmations:

1) My financial intelligence is now multiplying everyday.

2) I am the master of my money. I track and manage my cash flows.

3) I carefully accumulate cash producing assets.

4) I pay myself first. And I use the cash I save to buy more and more assets.

5) I now surround myself with expert financial advisors: tax accountants, real estate brokers, bankers, attorneys, and investors. Outstanding advisors now work for me.

6) I study and fully understand financial statements. When I study financial statements, I rapidly understand the cash flow patterns behind the numbers.

7) I now have an outstanding balance sheet rich with cash producing assets.

When I spend money, I minimize doodads and maximize assets.

9) I clearly understand the difference between assets and liabilities.

10) When I make a purchase, I ask myself “am I turning cash into trash, or into cash producing assets?” I choose assets.

11) My cash producing assets now exceed my personal expenses and buy more cash creating assets. I am now on the fast track of life.

One last point. As good as the “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” book is, Robert Kiyosaki’s game “Cashflow” really helped clarify the most important concepts. I use the computer version. Given my time constraints with my business, I find it easier to set aside time to play it periodically. Even though it is a simplistic view of how the world works, and is heavily biased towards real estate, I found it extremely educational. As a side note, I majored in business in college, but there is very little I learned from my courses that I feel increased my financial intelligence. That has come primarily from studying books like “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,” and “Think and Grow Rich.” Do not underestimate the power of self education!!!

Copyright (c) 2005 Bill Marshall – All rights reserved. Feel free to republish this article provided you include the copyright information and the weblinks where possible.

For practical self-improvement tips, visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com. Get my new free e-book, “Power Affirmations: Power Positive Conditioning for Your Subconscious Mind”

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Most of us open our first checking account by age 20. But just because we’ve had one for years, that doesn’t mean that we manage it properly. When is the last time you balanced your bank account? If it’s not part of your monthly routine, your inattention could carry a price. If you lose track of how much money is in your account you could get slapped with expensive insufficient funds fees.

But it’s not hard to get a handle on your account. These seven simple steps can help you keep your checking account under control:+

1.
Keep good records.

The more informed you are about your checking account, the better equipped you’ll be to read and analyze your bank statement. “You have to have something to compare it to in order to know whether it’s right or wrong,” says Michael Stahl, author of Early to Rise: A Young Person’s Guide to Investing.That means keeping track of account activity. And you do have choices. You can keep a handwritten record of transactions using the register that comes with your checks. Or use a software program, such as Intuit’s Quicken or an online version of your favorite financial program. The point is to have a record of every check, deposit and electronic fund transfer that’s involved with the account.

2. Open your mail.

When the bank statement arrives, open it and put your record keeping to good use. Do it right when you get the statement,” Stahl says. “Don’t wait.” It’s better to examine your bank statement sooner than later for two reasons. First, if there are any mistakes, reporting them to your bank quickly will ensure they get corrected. Banks usually will disavow errors if they are reported more than 60 days after you received the statement. Second, the fewer days that pass between when the bank issues a statement and when you read it, the more in synch your records will be with the bank’s numbers. “It’s less confusing and easier to balance your bank statement if you do it as soon as you get it, not three months later,” Stahl says.

3. Scan first.

If you’re pressed for time, you can get away with examining just the account summary, says Susan Zimmerman of the Zimmerman Financial Group in St. Paul, Minnesota. It’s usually listed at the top of the page and it recaps the state of your account: previous balance, deposits and credits, checks and debits, service charges, interest paid and current balance. “At a bare-bones minimum, look over the summary information and see if the figures are in the ball park,” Zimmerman says. For example, you can see if the balance is roughly what you think it should be or whether the amount of withdrawals is way too high. Look for any unusual or unexpected fees.

Keep in mind that bank statements cover a set time period, say from Jan. 18 to Feb. 17, so any checks you’ve written around or after the closing date won’t be on the statement. Ditto any deposits you’ve made in the meantime.

4. Spend quality time with your account.

Scanning’s a good first step, but don’t stop there. “Go over the deposits and the checks,” says Paula Wegner, vice president of the First Eagle National Bank in Chicago. “Check all checks from your bank statement against your check register. Check off all checks.” Wegner’s emphasis on scrutinizing your posted checks is intentional. You need to see whether your payment records match what the bank has. Most bank statements will give you several ways of doing this. For example, some allow you to see what checks have been posted by including a copy of the check. The advantage: it shows you who the check was written to. Even when canceled checks are part of your statement, your monthly accounting probably will also include a list by check number of your transactions. Here you’ll see the check number, amount and when it posted, but
not the payee. Similar information will be listed on incoming cash to your account. For checks paid and deposits credited, make sure your records jibe with the bank’s books.

5. Call your bank immediately if you find a problem.

You’ll be glad you closely followed your account’s paper trail if you find yourself in a situation similar to one encountered by financial planner Zimmerman.

She got a notice from her bank saying that her youngest son’s checking account was overdrawn by 56 cents. It wasn’t much, but it didn’t sound right. When Zimmerman called the bank, an officer there told her that the account wasn’t in arrears and the bank wasn’t sure how she had received the overdrawn notice.Zimmerman’s story had a happy ending (the bank acknowledged its mistake), in large part because she was paying attention and immediately acted on a discrepancy. If you report problems quickly, they’re likely to be fixed quickly and not escalate. It’s also easier to track things when they just happened vs. six months ago.

And by being prompt in your account reconciliation, you show the bank that you are trying to stay on top of your finances. That diligence could later pay off. For example, Zimmerman recommends that if you bounce a check, and it’s the first time, ask for forgiveness including waiver of any fees. “Lots of people don’t realize that the rules can been waived and often a bank will do that for good will,” Zimmerman says. Of course, don’t expect to get off easy if you are a repeat offender.

6. Check daily balance summaries.

First Eagle’s Wegner says that most people don’t need to analyze their daily balance summaries. However, there are exceptions: consumers with interest bearing accounts or those who must maintain a minimum average balance. People who fall into these categories may want to keep closer tabs on daily balances to make sure their accounts are in compliance or to make sure they are paid the appropriate amount of interest.

7. Keep tabs on your account between statements.

OK, maybe only truly obsessive people review their accounts daily via phone or the Internet.But periodic checking on your account between printed statements does sometimes make sense. That’s the case when you are expecting an out-of-the-ordinary transaction: Has that payment to the Internal Revenue Service been posted yet? Did that big freelance check clear? Most of these tips don’t take much time. And once they become a part of your financial routine, you’ll find it’s easy maintaining a healthy checking account.

You can react to this article on my Blog at http://clearadebtjeff.blogspot.com or you can go have a look at my website at http://www.clear-a-debt.com/index.html

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Many people have written an eBook and they have marketed this either on their professional consulting website or at Lulu.com or a similar service. If you have written an eBook it might make sense to break down the book into chapters and perhaps each chapter could be made into three to five articles.

Then you can put these articles all online at an article online submission web site free of charge and put your name and business in the byline at the bottom with a link to your web site. Let’s say you wrote the book of 70 pages and it has 14 chapters. If each one of the chapters could be made into five articles then that would be 70 articles that you could have online driving traffic to your web site; nice.

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I have written a few articles and put them online and noticed that the traffic on my web site has gone ballistic. Although personally I do not sell anything the traffic counts are quite high and if I was to sell something and convert even a percentage of those click thrus to sales there is no doubt that I could generate revenue in that way. Consider all this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

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