If you are paid on an hourly basis, you’ll understand that every minute you put in work counts. My employers are very strict about their time schedules and they have a delivery quantity allotted for that period of time. For me, even one minute of paid time is going to affect my total output for the day and so I make it a point to not waste time. Many of us may not be paid on an hourly basis, but on a fixed monthly salary basis, but we are expected to deliver a certain quantity of work at the end of every day. Time management is most important, and hence here are i have discussed some time management tips. Working overtime is not going to please your boss always, as you might expect. It only speaks of your inefficiency. If you are allotted 8 hours a day for your work, try to complete it during [...]

Fall is the time when some really good books come your way, but coming to know the best of them takes time and effort from your end and a busy person like you might not have the time for that.  Smart Money writers have done the research for you and have come up with 7 best books that are a must read this year! Check them out: ADLAND - James P. Othmer Othmer’s ADLAND is an entertaining memoir about his experiences in the advertising world. As you and I might think, the advertising world is far from being glamorous. The job is a highly stress filled one. Othmer talks about the benefits of branding. He gives an entertaining account of how advertising cleverly manipulates us to get its profits. According to Kirkus Reviews - “Othmer uses his often hilarious experiences to discuss the stress-fueled [...]

Hey Mint users, you had requested Mint to come up with a good iPhone Application updates that you could use for your iPhones and they have really done a good job at that. They have come up with the most widely demanded features from its members, though they have rightly not incorporated each and every feature that was requested by you which would only overload their application. Just check these features when you visit their website. The new features include security enhancements, transactions editing and real time notification as the broad categories. Just check these features for yourself! Security Enhancement You wanted to have that special Mint.com four digit password to protect your device right? Now you can do that with the new application updates. Also you could also use your device [...]

Hey guys, wash away all those apprehensions you had about Intuit taking over Mint! In the past few days, Mint users were very concerned about their databases that contained vital information about their finances being shared with a third party. But now it looks as though, they can breathe easy. An assuring note from Scott Cook, Founder, Intuit, has just come in on Mint Blog. Cook is all impressed with Mint. If you can see, the reason for this merger was the better features, management and services of Mint over the Intuit product Quicken that bowled over Intuit and they thought of acquiring Mint. The latter, on the other hand, is more than pleased to get a wider platform for canvassing. So the symbiosis is going to be a huge success, as I can see! Cook felt that his Quicken was sort of outdated [...]

Managing finances is as simple as taking salary, making a list of items you want to buy every month, spending on the articles and saving the balance up in the bank. You might argue that for this you really don’t need the help of software. Well, I do agree with you that essentially it’s that. But do you know that these tools actually help you in refined management of your money. You not only save, but also find out different ways in which you can grow money. Here are some reasons why you’ll agree to use a money management tool if you’ve not been using any till now. Depending On Memory Is Bad I remember, before I came to know about financial tools, every month I got my salary, I’d just take out the money from the ATM machine and keep spending it without recording my expenditure. By [...]

Summers are really unbearable for many! I remember a friend of mine who unable to tolerate the heat, went on the hottest day to the markets to buy an air conditioner. He got a beautiful piece, but that costed him a fortune. Had he predicted this and made this purchase during the winter months, he’d surely have saved a lot of currency! Best purchases are more about the timing of purchase and surprisingly, you’ll see that you save a lot in the process. You might think that saving means restricting your expenditure. Saving money on groceries is not only about not buying things, but it’s about buying them at the right price…and when do you think you can buy something at the right price? Obviously, as you might have thought, not during any special sales or something, but at normal times [...]

Are you bankrupt at the moment? Have you suffered huge money losses? If I ask these questions in the present times, you’ll obviously point to the recession as the culprit. Agreed; recession did have a huge impact on bringing many of us out onto the streets ,but you should know that many a time we ourselves are responsible for the plight in which we are now. My friend Joe had a good job with a software company before recession. He sailed through every month smoothly as he spent his entire salary on living life without saving even a dollar. Recession came and he went jobless. He and his family are starving. Who’s to blame for this? You ask Joe and pat comes his reply “recession, its not me!” Tell me friends, do you agree with Joe? You’d better check some faulty perceptions so that you [...]

As a school kid when I’d talk about money frugality, my friends would tease me saying I was stingy. But now the recession has taught even the greatest spendthrifts amongst us to be very prudent with our money. No more is it fashionable to spend big bucks for a lavish lifestyle. In fact, these days, you’re looked upon as a fool if you do that! Everybody is talking about money saving ideas. That gives hopeless misers a chance to be proud of their ways! Isn’t it ? Here are some easy time-tested ways that have been around for quite some days now. They are simple, short and effective. If you were to go by Financial Literacy survey 2009 of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, about 45 % of people spend lesser than what they used to in the previous year. It seems when conditions will [...]

The holidays are coming and you might have planned to travel to your favorite travel destinations. Tesco Personal finance has advised people to watch out their travel expenditure when going on a holiday. According to their spokesperson you need to consider your dining expenditures. Most people consider travel costs. But you’ve got to be mindful about the costs that you might have to face when you are in the city. You’ll have to spend on your accommodation, food and shopping. According to Tesco officials, "If families really want to holiday on a shoestring then they need to do their research to really make their money go further". In the past three years, a third of the population had gone on a last minute holiday. These last minute holidays don’t let you plan well for the holiday. Your [...]

Hiring independent contractors seems to be a new trend in the recession recovery business era. Being an entrepreneur, if you want to cut down on human resources costs this seems to be one of the best available solutions for you because it comes with a lot of tax benefits and other overheads that you might have to bear on hiring regular employees. But personally I feel that your hiring decision should be based on your unique requirements, which is dependent on a dynamic interplay between different factors. You might save up on the payroll and tax expenditures on your independent contractor. You don’t even have to give them the health care coverage that you are obliged to for employees. The advantage is that you can adjust the size of your workforce according to your requirements but make sure [...]

My teenaged son is in college and now it seems he’ll be getting credit cards in college. Like most parents I’m apprehensive of how he’s going to use it. As you know many of the college students seem to be in huge credit debts and some are misusing them too. According to a student credit card debt survey done by Nellie Mae in 2007, graduate students averaged an incredible $ 8,216 on credit. Gail Cunningham, VP business relations, consumer Credit Counseling Service, Greater Dallas, "Graduate students are apparently doing what the rest of the nation is doing: using credit cards to sustain their lifestyle. “ This was the reason most college dropout incidents in that year took place because of credit card debts. Usually you might expect poor academics or anti-social orientation to make students [...]

Children need to be financially literate. This is what the government and educational institutions are trying to convince parents and children about. In recent times, many surveys have been conducted regarding the issue. The Jumpstart Coalition Survey for Personal Financial Literacy for children came up with a disappointing report that high school students answered only less than half questions correctly on bank accounts and credit cards! Not only school children but young adults also seem to be desperately lacking in money management skills and financial literacy. Earlier, money was quite an easily available resource. But not anymore! The recent recession has made it imperative for every American to spend his/her money wisely and it should start from the lowest levels of society – the children. [...]