Hotel Bookings

The first industry to see an increased business during a big sporting event is the hotel industry. The players, celebrity guests and outstation spectators will all need places to food and lodge and they book hotels and guest houses for that. This is the time, the hotel industry sees increased business. The hosting country cleverly holds the events in tourist locations so that the visitors also would like to stay back for a longer time for sight seeing after watching the event. For example, Super Bowl XLIV is expected to be held in sunny Miami, Florida. Even a one day event can spin a lot of money towards the hosting cities and if it’s a series like the World Series, one can expect the profits to simply rock !

Hotels make a lot of money by hiking up the rental charges of their rooms. After all, visitors who’ve traveled long to watch an event will not hesitate to pay a bit more, if within reasonable limits.

Restaurants and bars are the next lot that are going to benefit a lot from sporting events. The bigger the sporting events, the greater the profits. People love to revel with food and drinks during an event and they literally depend on restaurant food and bars for their party requirements. The food industry professionals make the best of this and increase the prices of menu items and drinks. This is how they make profits during any big event like the world cup. Sports bars and pubs are also going to benefit well because people who cannot actually make it to the stadiums will want to watch the event on big television screens of sports bars and pubs.

Gentlemen’s Clubs

Gentlemen’s Clubs are the next place which make good profits from sporting events. Who doesn’t know that most men go crazy over soccer or any other sporting event? Super Bowl  draws huge crowds who visit the Gentlemen’s clubs which prepare themselves for entertaining the guests who come for attending the event.

Location of a sporting event is of utmost importance. The events pump millions of dollars into the local economy of the hosting town or city. now I understood why most places compete for hosting events. So if there is a big event to be considered a suitable venue for its hosting would you like it to be your city or town?

If you look at the current American spending habits, it seems that the country is on the path to frugality, if not recovery. However, if they become frugal, recovery is certain. So, how do I know America is being frugal? Simple. Look around you. You will notice the disappearance of extravagant habits and inhabitation of frugality.

Here is what I have been noticing since past many weeks:

1. Enormous usage of public transportation and carpooling:Gasoline isn’t cheap at all, especially during the days when we are jobless or adjusting at a lower paying job. The daily gasoline expense is snatching a huge lump of your monthly income. Consequently, a very practical approach is to use the public transport or carpool with colleagues. Thankfully, Americans have realized this, says figures, not me. There is 0.3 % growth over last year in the number of people carpooling, while people traveling through public transport grew by considerable 5%.
2. An upturn in Dollar store’s sales:Have you been to Dollar Tree, Dollar General, or Family Dollar recently? If you are one amongst us, an average US citizen that is, you probably might have. These dollar stores are constantly reporting higher sales and hiring more man power, where other retail biggies are collapsing one by one. This means people have started buying comparatively cheaper products. Isn’t it frugal?
3. Incurring Saving Habits:Once known as land of high spenders, America is now witnessing enormous saving among the general class. People didn’t save much five years ago. The rate of saving, then, was below 0%. However, there has been a sharp improvement in this figure since then. On May 2009, the rate reached 6.9%. That was when the interest rates were extremely low, lowest I guess.
4. Less borrowing:I have to admit this wasn’t intentional when it started. Availing credit was easier in 2007. However, after the sub prime crises and global recession, getting credit is sheer good luck. I know, exaggeration. However, it is now much difficult to get a loan than it was a couple of years ago. Thankfully, fewer people are being buried under debts.
5. Contentment with small things:No, they haven’t adopted Buddhism. It’s just a resultant of less income and inflationary trends. People are now happy with eating out once a month compared to twice a week, a year ago. DVD’s have replaced multiplexes. Many are seen terminating their cable connection; some have started bringing lunch to their workplace. But the smartest among all is my neighbor Mr. Hopkins. He takes advantage of the National Museum Day (free admission) instead of sending his soon to the science trip.

Some are saving $5, some $500, and some $5000. Each has found their way of spending less and saving more. I don’t really know how many years America might need to recover fully. But, one thing I am sure about is, America is definitely frugal now.

You would definitely not have a bit of confidence in the state’s economy when you see the crashing stock market, increasing food prices, number of employees laid off each day, or every penny rise in the gas prices. Oh, it’s so horrifying. Or you have to be so damn rich that these major changes just don’t seem to affect you. However, I am talking about the majority of population that’s facing the consequences.

But is it right to blame the media just because they give you price updates? Is it ethical to hold the media responsible because we cannot talk about the blunders of George Bush or Bill Clinton?

How am I supposed to know the ethics? But I definitely blame the media for one irresponsible thing they repeatedly do. And that’s the manner in which they represent the credit card debts.

Look around and you will find every individual or a family buried to their nose in credit card debts. However, not anyone of us is trying to dig our way out of these debts or even act as if we are trying.

Why? Because Obama said so? No, because the media has paralyzed us.

How?

They have been informing us the startling trend of credit card liabilities with decorative graphs and colorful pie charts since many years. These graphs and charts tell us the average debt owed by each family in United States. What else? The average amount of debt per family, how many families failed to repay the amount on time, and blah, blah, blah.

And if you are a slipshod college guy (or that damn rich guy) and doesn’t know about these graphs, let me tell you the amount of debts is quite vast. However, instead of consumers being horror-struck or guilty, it seems to be having a reverse effect.

Such numbers and graphs are displayed every hour by a newsreader which people are observing since many months. And you know what? We feel better. We feel better because there are people like us all over the country laden with debts. We feel better because the average debt per family is more than our debt.

Sounds weird? Think again. This is how we all (as consumers) love to feel.

For instance, I am an overweight guy trying hard to lose some pounds every month. I go to gym every evening, jog every morning, and have cut down intake of calories considerably.

One day, I come across a magazine that has an article on the cover page saying an average citizen in America is 30 pounds overweight. According to the article, I am just 15 pounds overweight i.e. less than an average citizen. What a relief? I feel better and stop all the unnecessary efforts of dieting, work-out, etc. I buy the magazine which is a proof that I am not overweight (at least when compared to an average citizen). And after reading the article regularly for a month, I actually start believing that I am slim.

Whom should I blame? My foolishness or the magazine? Probably both. However, in the above case it would be more of my foolishness because I read the article everyday. But what’s with these media people? Why do they keep showing the trends every hour making that ‘average citizen’ feel better about himself?

Let me tell you this feeling better won’t last long, because the credit card providers are feeling much better. You watch the news, feel better, and spend the remaining balance of your credit card; the provider smiles and laughs.

However, we don’t feel so awful because we are not alone, isn’t it? We are not alone who is drowning, it’s the nation. We saw it on the news. The media reported something like this an hour ago.

And how can we blame some one who is helping us to feel better?

Last night you met an old friend of yours who just got laid off. You have already met seven such guys this week. Forget about the raise, you are feeling fortunate enough to have a stable job, which you don’t want to lose by asking for an appraisal. It’s just not the right time to ask for it. You work even harder because you are not sure whether it’s safe to waste a single minute in such an environment.

You think you are not good enough just because the recession hit our country? You very much deserve it and yes, during this period of declining economy.

Why Now?

Have you ever heard any individual getting fired just because he asked for a raise? I haven’t. It this happens it is sure to appear in the newspapers. I haven’t read such article either.

Ok. People don’t get fired just by asking for a raise. But you are aware that the company’s financial position is not that sound. Then why ask for a raise? Because it will save you from being fired. According to Garnfinkle, a career coach, your boss or your senior will definitely have greater respect for you, if you have the guts to ask for a raise. Remember, you are asking an appraisal when employees are being laid off. If you can ask for an appraisal at such a time, your boss will think, you definitely are working harder. Chances are quite low or nil that they will be handed over a pink slip. How’s the idea?

A way to begin

You cannot just directly jump on the topic of raising your salary as soon as you enter your senior’s cubicle. The market is worse than ever. Companies have been hit tremendously and your boss is an owner of one such company. So, it’s vital to remember that he is more pressurized than ever. The best way to ask is something like this, “Sir, I understand the situation that our organization is going through. The financial stability is quite unsteady. However, I have been achieving lots of things to boost the productivity and earnings of the firm. I would appreciate if you would agree to take another look at my cost to the company (CTC).”

Confidence

A key skill that you need to carry along with you while you negotiate on the raise is confidence irrespective of the place, time and period. However, confidence comes with enormous preparation. If you have achieved something significant, get the number on the desk, jot down the list of your skills and the financial impact each had. You can include these points:

1. Targets Achieved
2. Successful Projects
3. Bottlenecks resolved tactfully
4. Contribution of innovative plans and its impact
5. Feedback by your coworkers
6. Performance of your team
7. Amount of Expertise acquired

These pointers along with actual figures are quite difficult for any employer to turn down. If these don’t work or to complement these with some more confidence, try these strategies:

Do you know how much you are worth? Ask the Human Resource Department. The costs involved in hiring and training a new employee is more than 1.5 times of your income. Also it doesn’t include the amount of hardship your immediate seniors would face after hiring a new employee on your behalf. The raise you are asking is much less than 1.5 times and the hassle.

Do the impossible. Think of an amount that you would never dare to ask as an appraisal. Now, get the statistical data that would complement your argument. And try your best to ask for that impossible amount.

While negotiating, don’t try to express your emotions. Concentrate on statistics. Do not say “My team actually listens to what I say.” Instead say, “I increased the sales of my team by 30% and the turnover is reduced by 40%.”

When can you ask for a raise?

An ideal period to ask for an appraisal is every 12 to 15 months. And if you feel that the amount you received to quite less, it’s completely fine to ask again in another 6 months. You are not asking for charity, it’s your hard work that you are pricing.

But how are you supposed to know that your income is not at par with others at your level? Simple. Log on to Salaryexpert.com or Jobnob.com. If you learn that your salary is lower than what you should get, ask for a bigger amount aggressively.

Also, it’s always wise to ask for an appraisal after you have accomplished something great. Of course, for the company. Or when you think your boss feels proud of you. It’s also important to consider the mood of your boss. Try to approach on a day of the week when she is less stressful.

Your expectations

You r preparation should be like you are definitely going to get a raise. However, when it comes to expectation, be ready to be rejected.

You are more likely to hear sentences like “I understand, but this is not the right time to grant you a raise” Or “You are doing well. You will definitely get it next year.”

“No” is a motivation

A rejection is a gateway to try other methods of asking for a raise. As soon as you listen to the cynical statements of your boss, try to reaffirm your arguments but with a softer tone and in a positive manner. As her if any perquisites are viable, if not a raise. If you are given no raise or any other benefits, ensure that you fix a reassessment meeting after half a year. You can ask you boss what he or she expects from you to get a raise. Jot it down and start working enthusiastically.

Alright. You have got enough of strategies to get a raise. However, it may seem quite intimidating to get started. Begin with simple things. Initiate the process by checking the income calculator. Always remember, your boss will never come to you and offer you a raise. Go and explain him why you are worthy to get it.

On all these factors, Britain seems to have scored good points even though its economical hardships were up from last year. Thanks to its foreign exchange and perfect insurance systems! The country has made it to the numero uno position majorly because of these factors. America on the other hand, has climbed down the ladder from the 1st to the 3rd position from last year. America is still the richest nation, but the economic instability and frail banking conditions have resulted in this present downfall. Australia, surprisingly made great progress as it leaped nine positions up from last year to occupy the 2nd position. Sound finances, minimum national debt and easily accessible consumer loan are perceivable reasons for this success.

Do you think the Britain supremacy in the financial sector is going to be a long lasting one? It doesn’t look it! Britain is still under recession and the US is showing signs of recovery in gross domestic product in the last quarter of this year. But Britain being strictly institutional is not being looked upon favorably by hedge investors and financial funding firms. The higher regulation and tax features of the country are encouraging them to move out of the country.

Most of the highly industrialized nations were seen to have suffered the most during this recession and have gone down the WEF ranking. In the meantime, other countries have taken their place. In this context, you won’t find France and Germany in the top 10 positions either. They’ve gone down to the 11th and 12th places. They are some of the badly hit countries of the recession. In the meantime nations like Brazil, Chile and Malaysia have filled the void created by the France and Germany in the top 10 rank list. If you can observe the trend of the downfall, you can see that those countries with a global economy suffered the most, while others which were not much in the global economic scenario were least affected by the downturn. This is the reason you see Germany and France being affected by the downfall, while the other countries, like Brazil, Chile and Malaysia climb up the economical ladder.

But the road is not smooth for the emerging economies either. If they really want to maintain their growth they need to have developed infrastructure, perfect legal and regulatory economic enforcements, and strong corporate governance.  Thus this economic prosperity of some countries makes me wonder if it is for real or an illusion owing to the downfall of other countries.

You can take a deduction fee on the courses you take up with the help of the Internal Revenue Code. No itemization is required for the deduction to be granted. Also the deductible fee can range from $4000 – $2000 depending upon your income. The page 1 deduction of the IRC is meant for degree courses, but you can always avail the deductible for professional courses that you may take up in regular colleges, universities or any qualified institution.

You cannot claim the IRC deduction along with the AOC or the LLC. So you’ve got to choose between the three. But if you have a credit for expenses for your partner or child you can avail that along with the IRC discount. If married, make sure that you apply for the Form 1040 which is a joint form. Otherwise you cannot take any deduction. A GED or high school certification is required for you to claim your deduction.

The expenses that your deduction is going to cover are your tuition fees, the enrollment fees and study material costs. But you get deduction on books and other resources only if you buy the material from the school stationers and no where else. These are your qualified expenses. For being eligible for the scholarships you should have taken upon a course from institutions with reliable accreditations. Mostly public and non-profit and profit organizations cater to this eligibility criteria. Fafsa gives you the list of institutions with Federal Codes that qualify as eligible institutions. Even in the present academic year from 2009-2010, you can approach for the deduction in your student fee.

The Maximum Deduction and Income Cut off rate (MAGI) is set to certain amounts based on certain conditions, such as your marital status etc. If you are unmarried you have to pay lower rates than when you were married. A MAGI ranging from $80,000 to $ 160,000 is not going to get you any deduction. The regular AGI deductions are generally not applicable to you. The American Opportunity Credit seems to be a very recommendable one in comparison to all the other schemes.

Search for detailed information about these deductibles using a web search engine and then see what the options that available for you are. Use the given deductions to your advantage and get tax benefits.

Making late payments will always invite service charges. Overdrafts and insufficient funds (such as NSF) also invite a lot of charges. Increasing interest rates also invite higher charges. If you observe America is getting new financial norms which are making banks and other financial aiding institutions to save up their monetary resources and for this, they’ll try to grab as much as they can from their customers. Federal laws, making them stop charging unnecessary fees will come into effect soon. As these funding bodies know that they’ve got to stop charging these fees, they are trying to make up for their decreased income in future by raising them at present.  According to Bankrate.com, unnecessary penalty fees will be stopped or lowered by the banks in the future in compliance with the Federal law. You can rejoice then, but at present, you’ve got to put up with unnecessary bank rates. So you’d better be watchful.

Avoiding all these unnecessary charges not only saves you a lot of money but also puts you into a disciplined way of managing your finances which will ultimately contribute to your financial prosperity. A check bounce is an instance of carelessness. Why do you want to issue checks for a date on which you are probably not going to have enough money for withdrawal in your account? This will not only make you pay a penalty but also show poor credibility. Before issuing a check see to it that you have sufficient balance in your account.

Don’t draw heavy amounts on your debit card when you have insufficient balance in your account. Also try to use ATM cards of the same bank from which you want to withdraw money. For making transactions using the ATM card of another bank, you’ll naturally have to pay up the additional service charges. Don’t ever do careless banking.  Unfortunately seems to have risen through the year according to a survey conducted by Bankrate.com in August.

Here are some tips from Laura Bruce of Bankrate.com that you can try for avoiding fees:

• Keep yourself updated on options by visiting the website of your bank frequently.
• Select check schemes that have only features that are useful for you
• As mentioned earlier keep sufficient balance in your account to avoid check bounce.
• Always try to withdraw cash from ATM’s of the same bank and not any other as you’ll be charged fees in that case.

A lot of people are finding freelancing lucrative. I prefer freelancing because I never liked office politics. Going to office involves a lot of expenditure. Transportation costs, cost of eating out, and money spent on clothes etc. is an overhead that I can prevent when working from home. Also, I don’t have strict timings of reporting in office and I can work even while on a holiday. Recently when I was called for an interview for a full time on-site employment I was surprised to see that they were offering me much less pay than what I was getting by freelancing.

Freelancing is not your only option for a part-time income. There are many other options too. If you like visiting offices, you can always take up employment with more than one employer. You don’t have to fear being shown the pink slip once again. Even if one employer wants to slash employment due to bad economic conditions, you can always bank upon another employer. Also by working at two or more places, you are recreating yourself with different types of work and different working conditions. You get to make friends with more people than you could have when regularly employed full time with one employer. Nowadays people are working with more than one employer to make their necessities meet.

According to Careerbuilder.com report, more than 10 percent of the population today has taken up work with more than one employer in 2008 and this year twice the number have decided to follow suit. Employers are hiring people as consultants and contractors for their projects at lower pays. Employees on the other hand, are gladly accepting these jobs without much hesistation. They are taking up more jobs to meet their expenditures, if the pay given by a single employer is not enough. This will not only give them the much-needed extra buck, but also provide them job security too. If one job goes, the other is always there to bank upon.

Freelancing being a lucrative option now, the competition for freelancing has increased rapidly. Employers started hiring for short term projects and that too at lesser pays. Employees don’t have much choice but to take up these temporary and less paying assignments.

This is the time you can seriously contemplate a career change. If you are already unemployed you’ve got nothing to lose in case you don’t click because you don’t have a good career in hand which you can fear losing. Also, working in two different profiles will give you exposure to different jobs which you can then choose from as a permanent career in the future when the economy improves.

According to an Associated Press report, the value of the dollar has been steadily decreasing in the foreign exchange markets for quite some months now. The value of the dollar has been steadily falling against the value of the yen for about eight months now. The depreciation of the dollar value seems to be retarding economic development and it looks as though it might bring recovery to a complete standstill altogether. But the last week saw the value of the dollar up by 0.2 percent. The euro remained steady at $ 1.46 whereas the yen remained steady at 89.75.

The plunging dollar value has an adverse impact on importing from other countries because these countries will find it difficult to export goods to the US when the dollar value is really down. The price in oil is expected to rise as it is valued in the US currency denomination. The depreciation of the dollar is an issue of concern for not only USA or the West but also for the rest of the world.

According to Simon Derricks, Bank of Melon currency strategist, “It seems entirely logical that the G-7 may break with tradition at the end of their meeting this weekend and choose not to release a statement on the global economy and currencies. However, it is also clear from recent comments that tensions within G-7 over currency matters remain as high as ever.”

Jeane Claude Trichet, President European Central Bank, opines that excessive volatility would lead to financial and economical instability. Currency analysts feel that a large part of the tension caused due to the dollar is because of China maintaining an artificially low value of its yuan against the dollar to boost exports to the US due to which it has now got excess trade with the USA. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank feel that the uneven financial proportions between the US and China have made the presence of China important in the G 7 issue.

Though it might appear that the  economic shift is towards the Asian countries, it might be a long time before that happens. There is still hope for the US because, marketing analysts feel that the Asian market is not as open for new entrepreneurs as the western market which is sufficient reason for the economic control remaining with the US.

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 that you mention that clearly in your contract. When you have a lot of work coming, you can always hire more of them and during the lull you can always deactivate them, provided that is mentioned in their contracts. But an employee cannot be hired or fired owing to the work pressure. Another advantage that I see in hiring independent contractors is that since the contracts are usually short term, you can always try out new talents to work for you. Employees are hired for years and you can’t expect to try out new talents unless vacancies arise.

But on the flip side of the coin, there are some problems with hiring people on independent contracts. First, their rate is determined by the market rate. As you aren’t the only person they’re working for, you might have to negotiate a good amount for pleasing their inflated demands. What’s worse is that their prices might soar up from project to project depending on the quality of their deliveries. And if the independent contractor senses that you are relying heavily on him, you’ve had it! Your good old  employee on the other hand, delivers the same quality output, works full time for you and also you ramie his pay only once a year. So aren’t you saving up on costs that way? Also you can use your employee for different roles in your organization as and when required. An independent contractor will never do things beyond his very specific job description. Even if he does, he’ll charge you for each and every work separately. This is where you are saving a lot of money by hiring a regular employee.

As the senior manager of a company, I really know what it felt like getting work done from an independent contractor. First, though my hired contractor gave me what I wanted, I felt more comfortable with my official subordinate because I had more control over him. Secondly, my contractor worked for three more firms and I could see that the amount of commitment that I could expect from an employee is not possible with an independent contractor. Also a company does not only work with mere executives. There should be managers to supervise the workforce and make it work efficiently. That is more important. Can independent contractors become managers? Never! So before you get carried away by the hullabaloo that is being created for treating new hires as independent contractors just weigh your pros and cons and then decide!