Money Management starts at Home

Imparting the money management knowledge to children right from the early age will be rewarding in the long run. Since children spend most of the time at home, parents should make them realize the importance of money management.

Managing money, as we all know is crucial in every aspect of life. From raising a ‘kid’ to ’retirement’, money is needed. Income generation, investment and savings all requires effective money management on your part.

Here are some valuable money management tips which parents may use in realizing the essence of money management to their little ones:

1. As the kid start exploring new things, money comes into existence. For e.g. If your child demands $1 for buying a toy. At this time you should neither be so lenient nor too rigid. You should make them realize how the value of the cost related to the toy and what all it takes to built that toy.


2. Encourage your kid to play money management games such as game of life, payday, moneywise kids, easy money etc. All these interactive games will help your kid to learn the importance of money management more quickly.


3. Do not pamper your child by fulfilling all their financial demands. This way they might not respect money in the long run. Give them a small activity such as cleaning their bed sheet daily. Upon completing the task give them what they want. This will help the kids in implementing money management more effectively.


4. Try to involve kids into regular financial meetings and making them aware about the financial condition of the family. This will help them to learn money management in a more realistic manner.


5. Make sure that your kids do not waste things. For e.g. not properly eating the food, breaking the toys quite often, damaging the walls with pencil marks etc. All these things come with money and the parents should make their children realize this fact.



6. Make your child financially independent so that they can manage their money at their own. Just keep an eye on them what they are doing with the money and also assist them if they are unable to handle the finances properly. This will help your kid to take financial decisions on their own.


SOURCE:
http://www.a1articles.com/article_864836_19.html

Money Management Software For Share Trading

Protecting your Trading Capital!
More than 90% of people trading the share market lose money and the major reason is because the majority do not use correct Money & Risk Management principles.
Money Management, Position or Trade Sizing...
No matter what you call it, You Better Know It!
"Money Management is like sex: Everyone does it, one way or the other, but not many like to talk about it and some do it better than others. But there's a big difference: Sex sites on the Web proliferate, while sites devoted to the science of Money & Risk Management are somewhat difficult to find." Gibbons Burke

NEVER Risk any more than 2% of Trading Capital on any one trade. e.g. If you have $30,000 your maximum risk is $600 but what many forget is to also cater for brokerage. If it's say $25 each way your maximum risk is now $550 and a stop is set appropriately so if your share drops in value by $550 you exit.

Never Trade with more than 20% of Trading Capital on any trade.
e.g. Again, if you have $30K your trade size would be $6000 but I prefer to use 19% so if I have 5 open trades and will still have 5% of my trading capital out of the market to allow for things like slippage, education, data, etc.

Here is a simple mistake many make in relation to Trading Capital?e.g. My first trade, using the above example, is now worth $7000, up $1000 so I decide to open my second trade. The correct method is to first determine the share value if current trailing/profit stop is hit. You may be up $1000 but your trailing stop is set and if hit you make less, say $900 so the next calculation would be based on $30,000 + $900.

"The only things in life that are certain is Death and Taxes!" Benjamin Franklin So it should be noted that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance but you can control the risk.

It's the 21st Century and it's quite normal to manage one's own investments, yet very few implement disciplined, professional money risk management principles or understand them. During the stock market boom, limiting risk was always an afterthought, but given the recent volatility & market conditions, get serious!

Professional Money and Risk Management strategies, used correctly and in conjunction, will be your foundation to trading success. Essentially, Money Management tells you how many shares to trade at any given time and Stop placement is where you must accept you have made the wrong decision, close that trade and move on. It is a defensive concept that keeps you in the game to play another day. Don't confuse Money Management with Stop placement. Stop placement does not address the question, how much?

Risk Management is the difference between success and failure when trading shares. It refers to Stop placement and will minimize any losses and you will have them but also maximise any profits and this stop is called a Trailing, Maintenance or Profit Stop.

Money Management optimizes capital usage. Few have the ability to view their portfolios as a whole. Even fewer traders and investors make the move from a defensive or reactive view of risk, in which they measure risk to avoid losses, to an offensive or proactive posture in which risks are actively managed for a more efficient use of capital. JBL Risk Manager will help you do all of the above and more very easily. JBL Risk Manager is a simple but Professional Money Risk Management program that was specifically developed to combat the above problem BUT unfortunately the trial is currently only available to those that receive or have access to MetaStock format data via the internet. It will automatically calculate your Trade Size, Stop Loss price, Trailing Stop, Break-even price and so much more, based on the last close. It will, of course, also allow you to change your anticipated buy price to actual buy price (slippage) It will indicate when to look for another trade and also automatically report on your performance by showing you your portfolio %win-loss ratios, average $win-loss, trade expectancy and much more, accurately. I hope you give this program a trial. After more than a decade helping novice and seasoned individuals understand the importance of Money Risk Management I am pleased to say this simple program will do that. JBL Risk Manager Version 7 now also incorporates multiple portfolios, Van Tharp performance monitors and much more.

You also have available to you a facility to enter a Technical Stop as your trailing Stop, if you wish, but after many years of testing and research I have found that most use Technical Analysis for entry and correct Money Risk Management for their exit. Long term investors may use Fundamental Analysis to find financially healthy companies first then TA for entry and MR Management for exit.



SOURCE:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Money-Management-Software-For-Share-Trading&id=1514863

Answering Your Money Management Questions

If you ask many Americans, and indeed people from all over the globe, they would probably mention financial troubles as one of their biggest stressors. With jobs no longer giving out guaranteed raises, many people are finding themselves in a huge financial mess.

Creditors call constantly demanding their cash. Credit scores begin to plummet and your way of life begins to take a turn for the worse. There is hope though.

In this article we will discuss money management and how it can help improve your life. Managing your cash is not always easy but once you have the fundamentals down, you can get out of debt and save for retirement or college. It is going to take some work and some guidance but money management is not something that is out of your grasp.

How can I apply money management to my life?

The first step is to realize that you may have a problem with overspending. This is one of the number one reasons why people find themselves in over their heads. You can consult with a money management counselor to discover where your cash is going. He or she can take a look at your finances and determine if you are living above your means.


The harsh reality is that maybe you are living above your means and will have to change some fundamental aspects of your life. You may not be able to afford the mortgage that you have and you may not be able to drive the car that you want.

Once you make these realizations you can then take steps to change how you are living. It will not be easy at first but over time you will begin to get accustomed to these changes.

How can money management help my debt situation?

Having effective money management skills can help you begin putting cash towards paying your debts off. How can it help? The process works by analyzing where you are wasting cash. That cash is then funneled towards paying off your existing debts.

The key is to make sure that you are not steadily accumulating more debt. It is a bit difficult to pay off old debts when you are too busy racking up new ones. One of the best ways to manage your money while paying of debts is to put more towards the debt than just the minimum payment.

If you only pay the minimum payments, you are still getting hit with finance charges. The real key to money management occurs once you have paid off your debts. You have to learn to live within your means and pay off any credit card spending each month rather than carry a big balance.


What are the processes to money management?

There are several stages that you have to go through in order to get your finances together and start living within a budget. The first stage is getting informed. You can do this by hiring a money management consultant or talking to a financial representative. You can also check out books from your local library to learn more about creating a budget.

The next step is to write down every expense you have, even the tiniest ones, in a notebook or ledger. You need to do this for at least one month. This way you can analyze where your cash is going. The third process is to create a workable budget. It needs to be one that you can actually stick to. After that it is a matter of sticking to your budget and paying off any debts that you owe.

Will I always need money management?

Everyone needs money management skills. Even people who have large disposable incomes need to know how to spend their money wisely. It may be tempting to go back to your old ways once you have your finances caught up but you definitely need to resist this urge. It would be too easy to find yourself up to your ears in debt again.

Once you find a budget that you can stick to, it becomes a way of life. You begin noticing where you spend your cash. The longer you can stick to a budget and set aside cash for emergencies or retirement, the better off you will be.


SOURCE:
http://www.a1articles.com/article_698853_19.html

A Primer In Money Management

Concerned about your lack of knowledge of basic financing and how to save and invest your money wisely? So is the Canadian government. The Feds have already pulled together expert teams to address our illiteracy when it comes to money management, and they're looking for ways to teach Canadians to be savvier about their finances.

School systems across the country are also on the move. They're looking to introduce classes in finance fundamentals to our children as young as grade four and possibly as early as 2011. What both these moves point out is the reality most of us live everyday-that nobody ever taught us how to manage our money, or how to invest it wisely or well.

Good money management does require a few changes in your thinking, almost certainly a few new habits, and some discipline. To develop good money management skills-like any new skill-you have to practice them until they become ingrained into your lifestyle, and monitor yourself to ensure that the old bad habits don't creep back in to your life, and send you back down the money hole.

What are your bad habits?

Before you can change anything, you need to know where your money pits are. Try this 30-day challenge. Monitor all your purchases-every one of them!-and keep the receipts. Carry a small book around with you-something you can easily slip into your pocket or handbag, and enter every single thing you buy and where. That includes the soda pop you might buy while strolling through the mall, or the quickie meal you pick up on Friday night on your way home from the grocery store. Track all of it. At the end of the month, see where and how (credit, debit, cash) you make unneeded purchases. Add those up. Are you surprised at the total?

How can you replace bad habits?

Now that you're aware of your bad habits, start changing them. If you use plastic too much, stop using your credit and debit cards. If cash burns a hole in your pocket, stop carrying it. If walking through the mall on Saturdays always means you spend money needlessly, try going somewhere else-like the park or the library. Only carry your cards or cash when you are making a specific purchase like groceries, or paying a bill. Learn to feel okay about not buying anything, and saying "no" to the kids.

What's next?

If you've stopped those bad habits, you may well feel richer-because you are. But don't let that newly found money go to waste. Take the money you were frittering, and put it towards paying your highest interest bill. Once that bill is paid off, move to the next highest interest bill, and so on, until your debts are paid.

Money basics start with knowing your own spending patterns, changing the ones that cause you to waste money needlessly, and having the discipline to do things differently.

SOURCE:
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Money-Management-Skills/1176152

Why Forex Money Management Is Important To Traders Survival

Whenever many novice forex traders comes across the term forex money management, they either did not choose to employ it in their trading plan or they didnt even know about it. They take it as an afterthought and that the problem of money management will take care of itself if they are able to nail the perfect trade. This should raise an alarm as the existing leverage provided by brokers serves as a double edge sword.

This thing called leverage enables you to have a little amount of money to control a huge position size where you can profit the market tremendously but also can strike you down with heavy losses due to your losses multiplied many fold when you are in the red. Learning money management in trading is like learning to manage your little soldiers in battle with the market to win the trade for you or in the worse case to allow you survive another day of battle.

Once i attended a course on basic forex trading with a so called guru paying a few thousand dollars for it. I learnt the basics of forex together with some simple strategies to apply and was excited about the whole trading thing and what fortune it could bring to me. After a few trades i was on a hot streak or so i thought when i hit a few losses along the way.

The losses was starting to be more heavy and its compounding the whole time while i maintain hope that i can win all that i have lost. Alas it wasnt working and i blew the account. I thought just by setting my stop loss fifty pips away will be fine and that is all i can lose.

But i didnt know that there is calculation on position sizing and amount risk from my equity to be done. I thought that there was only one kind of position size and that is one standard lot. The amount risk is will total to about $500 each trade and thats damaging to my account.

From that point onwards, ive explored and learnt about the importance of knowing money management. Knowing set up your stop loss level isnt enough, you need to know how much you want to risk per trade and how much you can afford to lose in a single month before you go bonkers.

The norm in forex trading is that many will choose to only risk 1-2% of their equity per trade and up to 6% of their equity per month before they stop trading to reassess their strategy. Anything more than what you think is safe will result in recovering your losses more arduous.

Having a basic money management plan in place will keep you out from blowing your account and ensure you receive a loss that you can tolerate and expect. With additional money management rules such as having more advanced stop loss strategy methods allows you to minimize your losses and in fact allows you to lock in those profits youve earned along the way if you know how to.

So one may have the best trading set-up out there that is highly profitable but without a forex money management in place, no matter how profitable one is, one will soon be in the red. Trust me it will be hard to make that come back unless you are that top 1% of the traders out there.

Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine as long as the following information about author/website is included.


SOURCE:
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Why-Forex-Money-Management-Is-Important-To-Traders-Survival/1267656

Money Management - The Key to Success in Online Investment

In this article I will explain why proper money management planning should be the most important part of your investment preparation. If you have never implemented money management in your investing/trading, read the 5 basic principles described in this article and learn how to use your capital properly in your financial activity.

What is money management?

Money management is 80 percent of the investment plan and the most important aspect in online investment, trading the forex market or investing in hyip - high yield investment programs (the remaining percentage are used for implementing a system/method).

Why is money management so important?

I can't emphasize enough the importance of using money management in any financial endeavor. When it comes to the bottom line, it is the only mathematically proven way for leveraging your money and achieving your goals in the quickest way.

For a proper money management you will need to include these 5 principles:

1. It controls the amount of money you will invest each time, based solely on the account equity curve (your profits/losses over time). You must not use money management to generate buy and sell signals.

2. It takes into account both risk and reward factors. Know your risk potential at any time; don't "close one eye". It's easy to think only about what would be your profits.

3. It takes into consideration the value of the entire account. Your capital is the most important thing (you can't invest with $0). Don't let few minor losses destroy your entire capital and force you to make hundreds percentage in profit just to retrieve your principal.

4. It discounts all factors that cannot be mathematically proven or formulate. Your thoughts and emotions can't be implemented in proper money management plan/formula.

5. It formula should give you one outcome for an each set of variables, without any guesswork.

Proper money management wouldn't work if you don't already have positive expectations from the system/method you apply in your investment. No matter what, even if you have the best money management plan, there isn't any money management formula that will mathematically turn a losing situation into a winning one.

You must understand that leveraging your money with money management can turn a relatively mediocre investments/trading situation into a dynamic moneymaker. If you have already started investing without money management formula, it is time to reorganize and re-plan your strategy from here on.

Proper money management can be used on any leveraged situation; it doesn't matter whether you invest in the stock market, hyip or any other market that generate profits from investment. So, if you haven't started your online investment activity, you may be tempted to "make it by yourself" or use "trading system" solely; Please don't, money management isn't an after the fact tool.

How you apply these principles to your online investments? It depends on several factors, such as, do you consider yourself conservative or aggressive, what are your financial goals as an investor, and the most important, your tolerance for risk.

Finally, money management is the most important tool used by the professional investors and millionaires. With this tool, combined with good system/method, you can control your risk and your profit potential.



SOURCE:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Money-Management---The-Key-to-Success-in-Online-Investment&id=169910

Mastering the art of Personal Money Management

The art of mastering efficient personal money management is an essential tool to financial freedom. Before exploring how to handle money, it seems worthwhile to make sure we know what money is in our society. To the average person, money is what he or she never has enough of.

Money- to the economist it’s a medium of exchange; to accountants it’s a unit of value; to children it’s a penny; to millionaires it’s a measure of success; to paupers it’s only a theory; to politicians it’s a campaign promise; to government planners it’s a tool of management; to bankers it’s the commodity they sell; to workers its what they sweat their life’s blood for; to husband and wife its something to argue about; to ministers of God it’s the “root of all evil.”

Everybody knows what money is, or at least they should. But in reality very few people know everything about money. It’s a fact that, we can’t do much to change the world and its problems, but we really do understand them and have learnt to respond appropriately. People can do things to change their own financial attitudes once they understand what they are.

One thing all people can do-if they want-is mange efficiently. Efficient personal money management is at the heart of any financial plan. The value of money is not in what the money is made of, but in the fact that everyone accepts it. The paper in a $20 bill is worth less than a penny. But people can buy a lot more penny candy with a $20 bill than with a copper penny. Sometimes even valuable materials such as gold cant make the money worth much if people can’t exchange it for what they need.

The average person is concerned with day-to-day money matters, such as budgets, bills, and bank books; college, retirement, and financial security; and stocks, real estate, and savings accounts. That’s what money means to the average person, and that’s why money matters!

Setting financial goals is exciting; it serves as an opportunity to decide what we truly want to do with our money, and to achieve those goals without having to borrow for them. There are three basic goal types: short-term (achievable under a year), mid-term (achievable in two to five years), and long-term (achievable in five plus years).

If people have multiple goals, they may choose to work towards them all at once, or concentrate on one and then move to the next. It is very important to calculate the amount needed. For short and mid-term goals, the calculation for how much an individual will need to set aside each month is simple: the cost divided by the number of months he/she will need to save.


SOURCE:
http://personalbudgeting.suite101.com/article.cfm/mastering-the-art-of-personal-money-management

Family Money Management - Advice on Borrowing and Lending Within Families

Articles on family money management advice usually dispense information about spending, saving, and investing. But there is another part of money management in families that is important and that is lending and borrowing.

If you have ever loaned money to a family member and they failed to paid you back, you are undoubtedly familiar with the damage to personal relationships that can result from borrowing and lending of money between family members.

It is only natural that family members might want to help each other out by lending money if they are able. After all one of the functions of a family is to share resources. The complicating factor with money lending
is that there are emotional relationships involved that can be affected by the emotional tensions created by the loan.

Sometimes the tension over defaulted loans is so great that family relationships are permanently damaged.

A finance company or a bank has no hesitation in going after the collateral for their money when someone has defaulted on a loan, but then they really do not want to ever see that person again. The same cannot be said for your family. Are you really prepared to repossess your son's electric guitar if he defaults on your loan? what about repossessing your adult child's house if they default on the mortgage payment?


Here is some family money management advice to help you avoid emotional baggage that can result from lending money within the family structure.


1. never loan money
that you really need (or want) - in other words if you loan money to a family member you must be prepared to see that money disappear, forever, so that you can continue your relationship with that person. If you are not prepared to lose the money do not lend it. This has to be the prime directive for money management advice within families.

2. assess risk - it doesn't matter who the family member is who wants the loan, you must assess the risk. Why would you lend money to a person who has already been turned down by a bank? Does it make sense to loan money to a parent or an adult child who has no way to pay you back, or has a history of poor money management? Every borrower will promise to pay you back. They have to tell you that. If they said, "Oh and by the way, I do not intend to pay the money back." they know you will not come through with the loan.

3. never co-sign a loan - when you co-sign a loan you are taking on the financial risk but you do not have the financial asset of the collateral. In case of default on the loan the lending institution will come after you for that loan and you will be liable for the balance. That is what a co-signing responsibility is. It is extremely risky to have a financial liability with no collateral to show for having borrowed the money. When you cosign a loan so you child can be a car you have the liability for the loan but the child owns the car. You have nothing except the liability of the loan if your adult child defaults.

4. give your adult children money - give freely and regularly for birthdays and gift giving holidays. Give what you can afford but give freely and without conditions. This is a gift not a loan. If you have to say no to a loan request you cannot be accused of being cheap or tight with your money if you give freely. You have the right to say no when asked for a loan and you have no obligation, duty, or responsibility to lend money to your adult children or any family member.

5. formalize all loans with notarized statements - Let's say your spouse has convinced you to help out your brother-in-law. If you can afford it, and if you think he has the ability and the desire to pay you back and if you are prepared to never see that money again go for it, but formalize it with a notary public (at your brother- in-law's cost). The process of notarizing formalizes the arrangement, spells out the terms of the loan as well as the consequences of default. Remember however, that the ultimate consequence is still the same so please be prepared to never see that money again (See family management advice rule #1).



SOURCE:
http://www.a1articles.com/article_1101303_27.html

Money management tips

Money management is the way daily financial events are handled in step with financial goals. The reason money management is important is because if it is done properly, there are potential benefits or at least less monetary problems that may crop up. Money management is an essential ingredient to growing wealth, controlling costs, keeping cash flow under control and maintaining proper credit, debt to income ratios and so forth. A few key areas of money management are savings plans and budgets, personal money management, money management programs and money management software.

Creating a Savings Plan and Budget:

Savings plans are for money that shouldn't be used for anything other than saving. It is essentially a financial faux pas if not bad financial form to use money allocated for savings for anything other than transfer to a potentially better savings product. Savings plans could be a corporate pension, an Individual Retirement Account, a brokerage account, money market account, life insurance policy etc. In other words, there are many places to save. Choosing the right savings instrument depends on personal factors such as time-line, risk tolerance, rate of return, tax benefits and accessibility. Savings plans may also include weekly, monthly, biannual or annual contributions depending on the individual savings plan.

Budgets compliment savings plans in the sense that a good budget keeps costs under control and when adhered to, can allow one enough extra money each month to be able to save. This is often easier said than done as people often experience unexpected bills such as car repairs, medical co-pays, or higher than anticipated travel expenses. For this reason budgets should also include emergencies and unanticipated expenses. For example, 7% of one's monthly income is a reasonable amount to contribute to an emergency expense fund every month. What isn't used can be carried over to the next month.


SOURCE:
http://www.helium.com/items/819986-money-management-tips

Personal Money Management

Please allow me to start with few scenarios.

During the end of the month or early of next month, people are rushing to banks. They are busy with home loan payment, car loan installment, credit card repayment, etc. At the end of their busy monthly schedule of paying day, one most popular question pop up in their head: How much do I have left for the rest of the month? Does it sound familiar to you? Are you one of them who go in and out of several banks after you receive your salary, just to pay off your bills? If you do all that for a reason and you are happy with it, it is fine. But the problem is, that is NOT fine for most of us.

You walk into a shop. You see something eyes catching, something you have been wanted to own for so long. A sales person approaches you and started his/her sales take, not to forget those "If you purchase now and make a full payment now, you will get these free gifts plus ....." nice offers. You wanted to pull out your credit card and have it on credit. But wait! If you bought it, you might have to sacrifice your lunch, no more month end get away trip, no more golfing during your weekend, etc.

The scenarios can go on and on but it is not the purpose of this material to upset people. So, let us move on.

The Gap The poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer. What is the reason behind this scenario? The answer is simple. Rich people treat money differently from poor people. Rich people manage their money quite differently from how poor people manage it. Before we get into the detail of how to manage your money like rich people, we need to do a little self examination.

What is Your Financial Status? In businesses, we look at the financial status of a company by looking at their balance sheet. Balance sheet is a piece of paper that records incomes and expenses of a company during a particular period time of operation. The status of a company is displayed by a number at the end of the sheet. It is what a company have in balance by taking all incomes minus off all expenses.

Do you know that you have a balance sheet of your own? That is right, your bank statement. It records all transactions of money that go in and out of your account. Let us do a very simple exercise now. Take a look at your balance in your account. Does the number show at the end of your little booklet make you proud (Ok, you can check it online as well.)? Do you think that number is sufficient? How many days can you survive if your boss suddenly decides to lay you off? Your boss will give you decent reasons for that. But the truth is because you are expensive to them now. Your salary is a big number in their balance sheet, categorize under "Expenses".

Here is the Basic Idea Most people never manage their money well because it seems difficult to manage or it just doesn't seem necessary to manage. The good news is, everyone can manage their money equally well as those who are good at it. You are not good at it at the moment simply because you do not know how. You might have your way of manage your money, but does it effective? You might have gone to a good university. You might have got yourself a good degree. The truth is, you never learn how to manage your money well in university or college. At most, the professors teach business student how to calculate the balance sheet and manage it for other people, for the rich people.

I'm not implying that you don't need to study. I strongly believe that knowledge is the source of power. With great power, you can do mighty things. Just that, maybe it is time for you to start manage your money like those who manage it well and get their way out of the undesired situations that I mentioned above? I believe for most of us, the money we have is always insufficient. If you feel that you already have enough money to live with, you may want to take it to a next level. If you are constantly short of money during the end of the month, or you think you have enough money and still need a little extra, this is the correct book for you.

Self Awareness - Knowing Who You Are and Why You Are Who You Are Remember that I ask about your financial status previously? That is because you need to know where you are before we begin. If you don't know whether the money you have is sufficient or not, then you will be like a boat lost in the ocean without a compass to point you a direction.

We are who we are and where we are for a reason. So you do not have enough money to live with. Blame it to your education level. Blame it to your boss who never gives you a good increment or promotion. Blame it to the economic condition. Blame it to fate. Please forgive me for a little detour here. I believe most of us went through exam during our school time. What was the most common reason for those who did not manage to get good grade on their score sheet? It usually went something like these:

If I had enough time, I could have solved more questions..... If I had enough time to study, I could have studied those few chapters that I did not manage to cover..... The weather was so hot last night that I could not concentrate..... It was the season finale for that drama.....

The list can go on and on but I think those few "reasons" are enough to show you the main reason why you failed your exam or did not get a good mark. You are right, those are all EXECUSES! If you did not have enough time to finish that last few questions, it is because you did not manage your time well. Why you did not study those few chapters that you think might be important the night before the exam? Couldn't you start study a few more days earlier? Why do you have to watch the finale just the day before exam? As a conclusion, it all comes down to how you manage the situation. So what do your education, your boss, economic condition and fate got to do with you for not having enough money? Before blame it on other reasons, take a look at your own good self and spend some time to do a little brainstorming why you behave like what you are behaving.

I was talking about managing a situation. We all manage a situation in a certain pattern, base on some assumptions that imprinted in our memory. Then we make a decision, thinking that is the best way to resolve the conflict, to get ourselves out of the trouble, to achieve a desired outcome. The reason that we make those assumptions, decisions, etc is because base on our knowledge, past experiences, that seems to be the only way. We experienced it before and we feel comfortable with it. Then, things happen exactly the way we want it to be.....subconsciously. Yes! Subconsciously.

Psychologically, we all governed by our subconscious mind. We act and behave the way we feel comfortable with. The technical term that describes this is comfort zone. It is our subconscious that makes us stay in our comfort zone. How many times, when you want to earn that extra money while doing some other investment, joint venture or even start up a business and you really earn that extra money that you wanted? How many times that you hear about someone else lost their life time saving in stocks or businesses? Do you ever wonder why? Is it because of fate? Is it about you go into a market at a wrong time? Basically, it is because they have not prepared themselves. Subconsciously they know they will fail somehow and in the end, their "wish" come true. It is because our brain is filled with all kind of failure experiences and we all want to stay in a comfortable state. As a conclusion, the result turn out to be bad because subconsciously, we want it to turn out bad, so we can stay comfortably and not to worry when the business will success and get into trouble one day.

Business Owner Beware! Owning a business producing physical products will soon only be the playground of major players in their field. The strong get stronger. The weak is diminishing one by one. Just take a look at automotive industries, microchip industries, telecommunication industries, etc. Strong players remain strong. There is hardly a room left for small or new players. Good products and services will not guarantee your market position with the changing of consumer behavior, everyday! If the trend continues, there will soon be only few choices for cars, computers, cell phones, etc to choose from. Does your business stand a chance to survive and get strong in the next few decades?

Employee Beware! Hard working at work do not necessary guarantees you job security today. The world is changing faster than you could imagine. What you have learned at university will soon be obsolete. You may be the lucky one if your company gives you training for continuous improvement. Even so, aren't you tired of trading your time with a fixed salary? You will soon face the pressure of being lay off as your salary increases. Companies are finding ways to reduce their expenses in any form to keep their products and services competitive, considering the rising cost of materials, energies, etc.

The Path to Wealth has Changed! New age has arrived. Today is the age of information. It is no longer about products and services. It is no longer about being hard work and pension fund. Today, good ideas sell. People trade with information today. If you have great ideas, you could be on the fortune list within a year or shorter. Conventional business takes years. It is almost impossible for people who work for others.

New Age Money Management Put your savings in a bank is not really a smart way of manage your money during information age. The inflation rate can easily bypass bank's interest rate. Working is for those who want to stay where they are forever. How many employees get an increment in percentage that is greater than inflation rate? Even if it is greater than inflation rate, by how much?

Therefore, it is no longer about saving money, study hard and get a job. If you want to know how to live a wealthy life, at least at your generation, you need to equip yourself with a proper money management technique. New age money management is not about cutting expenses, manage your debt or get a financial planner. It is more than that. It is not about letting others to manage your money. It is about you being the financial planner yourself. It is about how to minimize your expenses and maximize your incomes.

There is only so much you can save if your income is fixed. With the increasing inflation rate every year, saving is simply not good enough. You need to learn how to allocate some money for investment. No, I am not referring to buying unit trust, bonds, futures, etc. I am talking about something that can potentially earn you more than your monthly salary. Of course, you need to know how and do it right. The answer is definitely not to work harder. Just think, serious think about the following questions for a moment. How many people really get rich by working hard for others? What do the world famous rich people do? It is not that complicated so get rich. You just need to do what rich people do and learn how they do it well!



SOURCE:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Personal-Money-Management&id=1768762

Young people and managing money

Young people are often believed to have no money management skills at all due to the fact they're young. Being young doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't posses skills in managing money; it makes it vital that you have this capability. The younger a person is when they begin to manage money the easier their life will be.



Think about it when you can manage money you can control your life in more ways than one. Proper money management means the bills are paid, saving is acquired and you can enjoy yourself every once in a while. What else has such amazing benefits?



Children often begin with allowances as their only income since the law requires we reach a certain age to begin working. This is the perfect time to begin with the teaching of money management. Children's allowance shouldn't be more than you spend on them for items such as clothing or entertainment. Setting allowances by these figures will help to keep them within a budget.



When your children see something they want that is beyond the means of their allowance make them save for it. You can go ahead and buy it, just don't give it to them until they can pay you for it. This will reinforce the idea that you have to pay for what you get and be responsible with your money. Learning that you have to wait for things is a big lesson when it comes to managing money especially when you're young.



When young people are skilled at managing money they can begin their savings early and set realistic goals for themselves. Proper money management by young people can make their college years when they are often away from home for the first time easier. While some college students are supported by their parents during the college years some have to support themselves.



Either way the college student should be able to manage money. There are no guarantees about finances so properly managing money will help see these students through difficult times. Managing money properly can mean that students that received money back from grants will have the money to cover expenses for classes during terms when the grant wasn't enough to cover all expenses.



Young people should have experience managing money as soon as possible to help them learn responsibility. The younger they learn responsibility the sooner they can begin to plan for their futures and feel secure in the knowledge that they will be self sufficient people. Managing money gives the security of being able to save for emergencies and know that their retirement years can be spent comfortably.



SOURCE:
http://www.helium.com/items/1339384-managing-money-when-youre-young

Money Management 101!

If you've been trading a while or have been reading up on trading then the term money management will be familiar to you. But money management in Forex trading is very different from money management else where. Especially in currency trading money management takes the top spot for making or breaking an account! Just what exactly is money management you ask?

Well money management is a series of steps an experienced trader takes to protect the profits gained and to ensure that losses are minimized. To give an example money management is the safety net for a trader to make profits. For instance you are a day trader and you trade the 5 minute charts. So let’s say on the average you make 10 trades a day. Now your daily tally should be the average score of all 10 trades. Thus you will have a daily pip profit and not base your success on individual trades Money management is also concerned about position sizing. This is the way professional traders control their risks and returns for any given trade.

To learn and use position sizing is thankfully straight forward and simple. Take for instance you trade the Cable (Pound against US dollar). Each lot you trade is 100k how you can mitigate your risk is by breaking up the size of each lot you trade in. By diversifying your lots you give yourself the flexibility to hedge your position should a trade turn against you. In that way you can position your trades in uncorrelated economies thus increasing the probability of a day profit. Money management in this way will serve to protect your account. Over here it is appropriate to touch on the compounding effect and how it works with money management. As you are aware a trader makes money by steadily growing his or her account. Steady growth for day traders do not mean a profit in each and every trade. But you have to ensure a profit every day. The worse position is a break even. When compounded and coupled with position sizing the trader grows his or her account.

Words of caution here do not expect to make every trade a winning trade. If you trade 10 times a day you have to expect to have 50% of your trades as failed trades. If your edge is good and you have made a due study of the market, expect a failure rate of 35% and that's saying you're a very good trader already! In conclusion let up recap on what money management is and what it can do for you. First money management is a process of controlling risk. Second it is a method of increasing profits. Third it is a way to discipline a trader. Fourth it is not a way for quick bucks. Fifth it will enable a small account to compound at the best rate possible and earn consistently. Lastly coupled with position sizing it gives to the trader flexibility to hedge their trades thus ensuring a daily profit. So make some money for yourself.


SOURCE:
http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/money-management-101-594995.html

Risk And Money Management In Trading With The Kelly Ratio Read more: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Risk-And-Money-Management-In-Trading-With-T

You have a limited amount of money for trading whether it is $1,000 or $1,000,000, once it's gone, you are done with trading. The problem is that you can have a long string of losing trades before you hit a winner with your trading system.

The riskier you're trading strategy, the more thought you need to give to your money management style. Otherwise, you can find yourself out of the market with a margin call in no time. Let's say, you trade 100% of your account. You only need one losing trade to lose 100% of your account. Suppose, you divide your trading account into 10 equal parts. Now, you can have 10 losers before you are out of the market.

Now, if you divide your account into 100 equal parts, you need 100 losing trades to call it a day as a trader. This is idea behind the famous Kelly Criterion. You need to trade only a fraction of your trading account let's say not more than 2% on each trade. You got the idea, good money management can keep you in the game so that eventually you start hitting winners.

But there is always a trade off. Remember the most important rule in finance, "no risk, no return." In other words, the more return you want, the more risk you will have to take. But how much you should risk to get a decent reward? This is the most important thing for you. You don't want to risk everything of course. So you don't want to risk everthing on a single trade as long as there is some risk of losing your money. But at the same time you want a decent return to make in your trading otherwise there is no purpose of trading. So, how to go about it.

So what you need is a good money management system that tells you the position size for each trade that you should bet. Kelly Criterion emerged from the work done on signal noise issues in 1950s in the famous Bell Labs. Very soon, the mathematicians who had developed this formula saw its' application in gambling and trading and in no time this formula took off with the traders.

What you need to do is first select a trading system that you think you will use in your trading. Now make a number of trades with that trading system something like 30-40 trades. Use the data from these 30-40 trades to calculate the ratio of winning trades to the losing trades made by that trading system. Also calculate the average return on a winning trade plus the percentage of winning trades that the trading system makes. Now use this formula to calculate the Kelly Ratio: Kelly %age=W-{(1-W)/R}. This ratio will tell you the percentage of your trading account that you can risk on a single trade using that trading system.

W is the percentage of winning trades that the system makes over time. R is the average gain of the winning trade over the average loss of the losing trade. Many traders divide this percentage by 2 to be on a more safe side.

SOURCE:
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Risk-And-Money-Management-In-Trading-With-The-Kelly-Ratio/965486

Young people and managing money

Young people are often believed to have no money management skills at all due to the fact they're young. Being young doesn't mean that you can't or shouldn't posses skills in managing money; it makes it vital that you have this capability. The younger a person is when they begin to manage money the easier their life will be.



Think about it when you can manage money you can control your life in more ways than one. Proper money management means the bills are paid, saving is acquired and you can enjoy yourself every once in a while. What else has such amazing benefits?



Children often begin with allowances as their only income since the law requires we reach a certain age to begin working. This is the perfect time to begin with the teaching of money management. Children's allowance shouldn't be more than you spend on them for items such as clothing or entertainment. Setting allowances by these figures will help to keep them within a budget.



When your children see something they want that is beyond the means of their allowance make them save for it. You can go ahead and buy it, just don't give it to them until they can pay you for it. This will reinforce the idea that you have to pay for what you get and be responsible with your money. Learning that you have to wait for things is a big lesson when it comes to managing money especially when you're young.



When young people are skilled at managing money they can begin their savings early and set realistic goals for themselves. Proper money management by young people can make their college years when they are often away from home for the first time easier. While some college students are supported by their parents during the college years some have to support themselves.


SOURCE:
http://www.helium.com/items/1339384-managing-money-when-youre-young

How Money Management Leads to Wealth

At the declaration of recession people began to pay closer attention to their finances and the area of money management more than they have in the past. Money management is very important; managing your finances improperly will not only affect your life but also that of your families. To avoid that we need only learn and apply smart money management practices to better prepare ourselves for the future.

The declaration of recession and the downfall of our economy have made times hard for all of us, but those who may be affected more than others are the middle class and the poor. Proper money management is important regardless if you are very rich or very poor, the only real difference is how much you will be affected should you have bad money management habits.

Money management lies with the individual and fault cannot be placed upon someone else. Yes there are the politicians or those others sitting in a political office that people would like to blame, but in the area of one's own personal financial assets they cannot be held at fault. Whether you are a person finding times hard now or would just like to improve your own financial state learning proper money management here and now will benefit you for years to come.

The subject of money management can cover a broad spectrum since there are many various techniques that can be used to achieve the desired outcome. That outcome is allowing your money to work for you and not against you. More and more people are turning to the internet and using it as a variable means of managing money by using it to make money; these individuals are making hundreds of dollars daily with simple and easy online businesses.

There are many out there that would argue the fact that money management and online businesses do not go together. While I understand that point of view I also too understand what money management is in its truest form. Money management as it implies is managing your money to profit from it later, so how can owning a online business that makes you up to $3000 daily not be in a sense money management.

The popularity of work from home businesses or online businesses is that you are put in a position where you can make a large sum of money on a daily basis. Stocks, Savings, and IRA's require you to wait to receive money and sometimes you are even penalized for earlier withdrawals of the money you've earned. With an online business you are never penalized and you can use that money in any way you desire.

It is critical that we all learn to manage our money properly and use it to benefit us more on a long term basis rather than a short term basis. It's true that there are rich and wealthy people in the world who do not have these worries but it is also true that you can also achieve that same sense of security.

Search and I'm sure you will find the perfect way with which to manage your money and secure your financial future. Internet and online businesses are only one particular way that people are using to find success but that does not mean that it has to be your method as well. The possibilities are vast and the most important aspect to remember is to be wiser in the area of your finances, God bless and good luck.


SOURCE:
http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Money-Management-Leads-to-Wealth&id=1776892

Importance Of Proper Money Management For Business

Today, I will share with you two general money management systems that will help you regardless of how intricate you wish to take your money management strategy even if you have none at all. Proper management of working capital is necessary to reach a trade-off between liquidity and profitability. It is widely thought that if you cannot manage your life, you can't begin to manage your money.

You must understand that leveraging your money with proper management can turn a relatively mediocre investments/trading situation into a dynamic moneymaker. Wise money management is essential for a balanced, happy life. Money management gives practical advice among others for gambling and for stock trading as well. Money management can mean gaining greater control over outgoings and incomings, both in personal and business perspective.

Proper management is 80 percent of the investment plan and the most important aspect in online investment, trading the stock market or investing in hyip - high yield investment programs (the remaining percentage are used for implementing a system/method). The predominant use of the phrase in financial markets is that of an investment professional making investment decisions for large pools of funds, such as mutual funds or pension plans. More precisely what percentage or what part of the decision maker's wealth should be put into risk in order to maximize the decision maker's utility function. If a big company wants a massive loan (which alot do, nothing bad, just getting the money quicker than raising it yourself can mean the difference between launching a product next year, or in 5 yrs), then the banks loan your money, and the only way they can do this is if everyone doesn't withdraw everything at the same time!


Proper money-management takes into consideration the value of the entire account. You need money right now, but never lose sight of the fact that you are most assuredly going to need some later, too. One of the focuses and main ideas behind money management is to safeguard and maintain a healthy capital so as to enable a person to live to trade another day. A financial management expert knows that credit cards must be used wisely - to build a solid credit file - and never be abused.

Financial stress resulting from poor money management skills can affect our capacity to make good decisions, harm our relationships, affect physical and mental health, and ultimately to function well in life. Indeed, deficient money management is one major cause of bankruptcy among unseasoned traders.

Financial asset management is an effective way of handling one's financial assets which can take its place in various forms. The services that financial asset management provide commonly include but is not limited on checking services, credit cards, debit cards, margin loans, automated transfers from one account to another, and even brokerage services.

SOURCE:
http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/importance-of-proper-money-management-for-business-374131.html

Money Management Classes for Casino Players: Strategy

"Well," says the class instructor who identifies himself only as Bill, "I can't really tell you how to win big. These are games of chance, and only the house always wins..... But," he promises the students in his weekly four-hour class at Las Vegas' Grandview Hotel, "I will give you tips to improve your chances and maybe keep you in the game longer."

Bill's parents were in the business, so he has grown up with cards and in his hands they flow and dance. He grew up with gambling too, and knows how to work the games so that he makes money. "I was thrown out of a few casinos when I was younger. They don't like it when you make too much off the house. But I soon learned to quit before it got that far. I like to be able to come back the next week."

He shrugs and grins. "You listen. I'll tell you how to get the dealer on your side. I'll tell you what you need to know."

Betting Money Management Basics

"The purpose of a good money management strategy is to increase your wins and decrease your losses," Bill begins.

"If you treat your time in a casino as entertainment, gambling money management will give you more fun because your stake will last longer."

For overall money management strategy, Bill offers his students a wide variety of tips.
Money Management Strategy#1: Learn Where to Sit

Pick your seat carefully – where a new player sits can affect the outcome, Bill claims.

* In blackjack, for example, Bill says that the dealer's right (table left) is the best spot for a good player, but the worst seat for a new player.
* Dealer left (table right) is the second worst spot for a new player.

The reason? These are decision seats. A new player's best spot is in the middle in most games.
Money Management Strategy #2: Know Where and When to Play

Bill suggests that new players skip "The Strip" in Las Vegas and instead go to the smaller, older casinos a few blocks away or in nearby towns. "You'll have just as much fun and your money will last a lot longer."

1. Frequent local casinos rather than the big names. "The locals are friendlier and have lower table rates, so they're the best place to go to learn."
2. Go mid-week in the afternoon. Play is slower, tables are emptier, dealers have more time. This is a good time to find a friendly dealer and explain that you want to learn how to play.
3. Take it easy on the alcohol. "If you're a player, if you're spending money, they'll give you free drinks. It's too easy to have too many and lose sight of your strategy" (and your money!)

Money Management Strategy #3: Use the Help Cards

Take your "cheat card" – Every casino will issue you a card with the odds and play of each game. They're legal and helpful. They're sometimes free, and usually inexpensive. Bill sells his own version for $5 per game (blackjack, craps, roulette, etc) and refers to them throughout his classes so that students learn what they're for, how they work, and when and how to use them.

"But you use them in practice and you get good with them. Other players may be pissed if you slow down the action on a hot table to fuss with your card."

Obviously, the best way not to lose money gambling is not to gamble, but most tourists are willing to take a fling; that's why they come to a casino. "If you're a recreational player," Bill concludes, "you're not here for high-stakes games. You're here to enjoy the lights, the excitement, and the emotional roller coaster of wins and losses.



SOURCE:
http://personalbudgeting.suite101.com/article.cfm/money-management-classes-for-casino-players--strategy

A Lakeway Treasure..lakeway Resort And Spa

If you have ever go driving on a Saturday or Sunday you need to pay a visit to a well known place that is taking Lakeway by storm. It has been updated completely with the state of the arts finish out on every room. Some would say it is the rebirth of a legend at the end of Lakeway drive. It is situated on the south east shores of Lake Travis in Lakeway, TX. It is 30 minutes from downtown Austin and 40 minutes from the Bergstrom Airport. If you are your own pilot, Lakeway has its own small engine airport which is about five minutes from the spa. So you could literally fly in on Friday stay two days and Fly out on a Sunday and never need a car. The Lakeway Resort and Spa has it all! I have had the privilege of working with the staff in putting together an event for 200 people and I got rave reviews that the place was fabulous. The Resort has a 180 degrees view of Lake Travis from their 5200 sq. ft. glass ballroom. The Resort also features newly remodeled guest rooms, spa, new concept restaurant, and new meeting rooms with dramatic views of the lake. The new Lakeway Resort and Spa is an ideal destination to come and experience life at the Lake. It has 168 newly remodeled guest rooms and 16 meeting rooms, not to mention the over abundance of amenities like fine dining, 3 level swimming pool with hot tube and a kiddy pool with water sports for the families, Come enjoy a day in the sun and rent a cabana next to the pool and watch the kids have tons of fun. A golf course, fitness room, tennis courts, business center, dry cleaners onsite, walking trails, spa and internet service are a few of the onsite amenities. A walk away is the Lakeway Marina where you can rent boats, wave runners, and dock space for the adventurous side. Romance is in the air once you enter the SanSaba Spa as a couple. It is designed for your relaxation and enjoyment. A typical package may include white chocolate souffl body wrap, a 50 minute message in a private couples room, and two complimentary glasses of wine and topped off with chocolate covered strawberries. Now this is my kind of spa. You could come to Lakeway Resort and Spa with your family and have a mini vacation right in your own cities backyard. I have visited several times and every time it gets better, so when I have clients that want something out of the ordinary stay from a hotel, I book them a room at the Lakeway Resort and Spa. What a great place to stay and enjoy Texas at its finest for anyone from another state. Every realtor needs a driving story while showing clients. Here is an outline brief history of the Lakeway Resort and Spa to fill in those awkward deadly silent spots while in your car going to the next home to view. 1963: The original Lakeway Inn was built by a group of investors and developers from Houston to provide a watering hole for residents of Lakeway, a new Hill Country retirement community. The Lakeway Yacht Club was chartered, and legendary General Manager Pierre Caselli turned the Lakeway Inn into the center of the new and growing Lakeway community. 1964: More guest rooms were added as word spread that Lakeway Inn was also a great place for weekend stays and golf outings. An idea meeting destination due to its equal distances from Houston and Dallas, Lakeway added meeting rooms to accommodate demand. 1971: Dallas developer and entrepreneur Bob Alpert bought the entire Lakeway project with a vision to expand and develop the community into Texas most prestigious resort community. His master-planned community called for additional tracts of land, more golf courses, expanded marina, shops and businesses, houses of worship, and more. 1972: Bob Alpert partnered with the Hunt family of Dallas and the World Championship Tennis organization to develop the World of Tennis Resort, a tennis complex with clubhouse, indoor and outdoor courts and 106 tennis townhouses. 1974: CBS Tennis Classic is held at the Lakeway World of Tennis 1985: Alpert sold Lakeway Inn to the partnership of Rothschild Property Investors, Inc. and Dolce International, with Dolce as management. A two-year renovation was launched. 1987: In a grand opening celebration, the newly renovated Lakeway Inn was showcased to residents, customers, VIPs and press. The Austin Room was introduced as a new meeting venue for the expanding conference business. 1996: Lend Lease, a real estate investment group from Chicago, bought Lakeway Inn from Rothschild and embarked on an extensive expansion program, adding the six-floor tower overlooking Lake Travis. 2000: The grand opening of the tower and renovated Inn was held for residents, customers, VIPs and press. 2002: Lend Lease sold the property. During the next two years, a series of caretakers managed the property until a permanent owner with a new vision for Lakeway was found. 2005: A metamorphosis gradually overtook the Lakeway community, as young couples and families began purchasing many of the homes. No longer considered a retirement community, Lakeway became a highly desirable area of Austin. Behringer Harvard Funds of Dallas purchased Lakeway Inn and brought Dolce International back as management. The inn was renamed Lakeway Resort & Spa and an extensive redevelopment program was announced to include a new spa, ballroom, meeting space, swimming pools, room renovation and the addition of luxury villas. 2007: The redevelopment of Lakeway Resort & Spa is completed. SanSaba Spa opens and the glass-enclosed ballroom becomes one of the hottest locations in Austin for weddings and parties. Luxury shoreline villas sell quickly and the resort shines with its original luster and vibrancy. Enjoy Lakeway as if the whole town where a resort.

SOURCE:
http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/A-Lakeway-Treasure--lakeway-Resort-And-Spa/306728

Movie reviews: National Treasure, Book of Secrets

Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer have dived yet again into their secret book to pull out a map that leads to treasures of vast fortune. No, not a legendary city of gold, but the riches that come from storming the box office. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is everything a big budget adventure sequel should be. A bigger story and better action help make Book of Secrets a surprising end of the year crowd pleaser.

Setting out to clear his ancestor's name, Ben Gates is back in treasure-hunting action to unequivocally prove that his family had nothing to do with the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. With his usual cohorts Riley, Abigail and his father, Patrick Gates, the trio must race against the clock to stop a new enemy, Mitch Wilkinson, from uncovering an ancient treasure before they can, or forever risk the Gates name being associated with the death of one of America's greatest presidents.

A hit for Nicholas Cage has been long overdue. Spanning nearly two full years making dud after dud, Cage is back and in good form, even if a sequel to the massively successful National Treasure was a safe no-brainer. Book of Secrets is just as outlandishly fun as its predecessor, one-upping the original by having the principle characters break into Buckingham Palace and even kidnap the President of the United States!

Kudos have to be handed over to screenwriters Cormac and Marianne Wibberley for crafting such a big adventure, yet staying true to the themes that director John Turtletaub and company established with the first National Treasure. Even though their new adventure takes the entourage of talented character actor's across the globe, Book of Secrets manages to keep this treasure hunt a uniquely American tale. Just wait until you see where our government hid one of the most famed and sought after treasures of all time!

Upping the production value from the last film, Book of Secrets is crammed packed with puzzles, car chases and exciting action sequences to help keep the film filled with riveting adventure from opening to closing frame. John Turtletaub has again done a great job of keeping the manic pace of the film frantic and fun, even if there are a few solitary moments when the picture starts to feel the weight of its lengthy running time.

While the returning cast again does a stellar job continuing their characters, newcomers to the series Ed Harris and Hellen Mirren are welcomed additions to the story. While Harris is perfectly suited for the role, his character, Mitch Wilkinson, seems to be the only weak link to the story. Wilkinson seems like a very torn individual. One minute the dastardly villain is opening fire on our heroes, vowing to end their lives to get at the treasure, and the next he is helping them!

Luckily the picture's best moments don't hinge on confrontations between Cage and Harris. The real fun of National Treasure has always been watching as the characters solve some of history's most challenging puzzles. Book of Secrets is assuredly no different, keeping audiences on their toes and tantalizing them with conspiracy theories that will likely continue the franchise forward.

Between massive Pirate's plunder and uncovering buried National Treasure, 2007 aims to be a financially lucrative year for Disney's live action department. With surprises at every turn, Book of Secrets has established National Treasure as a viable and fun adventure franchise, making the film a must see holiday blockbuster that the whole family can enjoy.

SOURCE:
http://www.helium.com/items/758330-movie-reviews-national-treasure-book-of-secrets

Develop Irresistible Force Detectors to Locate Buried Treasure

Questions in this article are designed to take your thinking beyond what your company has ever considered doing before in regard to irresistible forces, to exceed the future best practices.

You'll achieve far better results from this process if you examine all three areas (locating, anticipating, and adapting). Otherwise you are unlikely to exceed the future best practice.

Being deficient in any of the three areas can reduce your overall effectiveness from high to average. Think about these multipliers.

Suppose you score a perfect 100 in all three areas. The result would be 100 x 100 x 100 = 1,000,000. If you had 100 in each of two areas and a 21 in the third, many people would average this result to get 73 and assume that this score placed them well above average.

However, the multiplied result would be 210,000 (100 x 100 x 21), or only 21 percent of the potential 1,000,000 score.

You multiply rather than average these areas because the effectiveness in one area has one hundred percent impact on the overall effectiveness in the other areas.

If you don't anticipate, you can't locate as well, and vice versa. And any delay in anticipation or location has a big impact on adapting. Conversely, if adapting is weak, it matters little what happens in locating and anticipating.

Let's see what we can find about detecting irresistible force trends shifts.

Everyone has seen people walking along with metal detectors, hoping to find valuables that are lost in the grass or buried underground. Usually these people find enough to pay themselves about double the minimum wage for their effort.

However, every once in a while they find something really valuable. You want irresistible force detectors to do the same for your organization. The locating process should always more than pay for itself in modest insights, and every once in a while it should unleash a bonanza, a breakthrough gain.

Otherwise, you won't be effective in the marketplace, and you won't be able to afford the right level of effort in this area.

How can you monitor stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, partners, distributors, shareholders and the communities in which you operate) in proprietary, inexpensive, simple ways that competitors will have great difficulty matching or exceeding?

This question may sound like an oxymoron (a contradiction in terms) to you, but that's one reason that the question is so valuable. Few people will think to ask it.

Here is an example that you may not have considered. You could begin by posing this very question to the relevant stakeholders and seeking their help.

Often there is something that stakeholders need from you that you don't currently provide them that would be inexpensive to offer (such converting your intranet-based, customer service computer system into an Internet database that customers could directly access to check on the status of their orders).

SOURCE:
http://www.articlerich.com/Article/Develop-Irresistible-Force-Detectors-to-Locate-Buried-Treasure/339927

Arabia Steamboat Museum In Kansas City

An estimated 300 steamboats sank on the Missouri River between St. Louis and Pierre, South Dakota in the mid-1800s, and most remain lost treasures. The Steamboat Arabia, also known as the Great White Arabia, sank after its hull was pierced by a submerged tree near Parkville. It sank quickly, but gently in the mud along the riverbank.
Treasure Hunters of the Missouri River

Greg and David Hawley grew up on the Missouri River, fishing and hiking from its muddy banks and always delighting in the stories of sunken treasures. As adults, armed with maps and metal detectors, their hikes along the riverbanks turned serious. In 1988, they located the Steamboat Arabia, buried under 45 feet of mud. Changes in the Missouri River's channel over the years resulted in the boat being found in a cornfield about a half mile from the current river.
Sunken Treasures of Steamboat Arabia

Rubbert boots were among the first lost treasures discovered in November 1988, but a few days later, crates filled with 200 pieces of fine china were discovered, all but a few pieces completely intact.

Other treasures include tons of hardware for building frontier homes, such as door knobs and hinges, nails, glass windows, carpenters tools and more. Items for fill frontier stores included 50 bolts of fabric, 10,000 brass straight pins, French buttons and beads. The food items, still edible according to the Hawleys who tasted a jar of pickles, included cherry pie filling, oysters and sardines.

There were 300 hats, 958 pairs of shoes, rolling pins, guns, scissors, axes and razors, and on and on and on – all perfectly preserved as the Arabia sunk gently into the cold, dark Missouri River.
Preserving Lost Treasures of Arabia Steamboat

As the items were lifted from the muddy cornfield, they were transported to the limestone caves of the Kansas City where the dark, coolness kept them preserved until the treasure hunters could figure out what to do with their find.

Steamboat Arabia Museum employees clean items on a daily basis, often where visitors to the museum can watch and ask questions. Some things, like dishes and buttons, are pretty easy. Others are not so easy. For example, each pair of shoes takes about 16 weeks of work. Children are allowed to clang away on a rusted clump of nails in an effort to become involved.

SOURCE:
http://missouri-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/arabia-steamboat-museum-in-kansas-city

Treasure Hunting in Groups

Hobbies are supposed to be fun! And treasure hunting is no exception. There are plenty of fun games and activities you can use to make treasure hunting a fun outing for the whole family.


If you decide to take others treasure hunting with you, whether it is your children or older relatives, it won’t be much fun for them if they’re just watching you all day. Let’s face it, sitting around and watching someone run a metal detector over the ground is hardly a thrilling experience. The key is to get everyone involved. Not only does this make it more fun for them, but you will have extra hands working away at finding the treasure you are after!


Some companies even organize treasure hunts as corporate activities. It’s a really great way to get coworkers working together on a common goal: finding the treasure! People learn to be innovative, creative and persistent during treasure hunts.


Some treasure hunting companies even offer corporate discounts. Each person on the hunt should have a job or task to do. Put one person in charge of navigating or leading the group to the treasure. Another could be
responsible for protecting found treasures from damage. Giving people a sense of purpose will help them to become involved and they will enjoy the treasure hunt that much more.


When planning a group treasure hunting outing, consider using a treasure hunting company as your guide. These people are experienced; they know which equipment you need; where you are likely to find your treasure; and all of the rules surrounding treasure hunting in the area.


Some treasure hunting companies will provide all of the equipment necessary for the hunt. So while it may cost money to book the hunt, you will be saving money by not having to buy equipment for several people. One example of this would be an underwater hunt. If you are taking a group of friends to the beach for a ring and jewelry hunt, it could be quite costly to provide snorkeling equipment for everyone.


A treasure hunting company would supply them for a rental fee. You wouldn’t be stuck with a dozen snorkel masks to store after the trip!

When taking children treasure hunting, it is important that each child has their own tools and equipment. To stay organized, use the grid method that we discussed earlier. Map out your treasure hunting area, and assign each child a square. Assigning a separate area to each child should limit the amount of bickering that goes on. Congratulate each child on their finds, even if it’s a worthless pop can. You could even plant treasures the day before, to ensure that each child uncovers something different.

If you are planning a treasure hunt for children, always consider their safety first.

They will need to be closely supervised during the hunt. One adult per three children is a good ratio. Try to limit treasure hunting with children to areas where you are sure there will be very few threats or dangers. In could be disastrous for a child to dig up a sharp, rusted object, or to stumble across a weapon or drug paraphernalia. Children typically have a short attention span, so keep the treasure hunt brief or have other activities throughout the day. Prizes and a meal at the end of the hunt would make for a perfect day.


Anytime you get a group of people together for a treasure hunt, remember to act as host and to provide a few necessities. If you are treasure hunting in the sun or in a hot climate, you will need to have plenty of drinks on hand to keep everyone hydrated throughout the day.

SOURCE:
http://www.articlesbase.com/hobbies-articles/treasure-hunting-in-groups-712666.html

Treasure Hunts for Corporate Harmony

Communication between departments in a business is crucial. If a customer orders 23 widgets, they expect 23 widgets, not 23 gizmos. If communication within your business breaks down, that is what the customer may end up with. Not good for business. There are many reasons why lines of communication break down in even small businesses, many of these are personal. If your staff don't socialise, they do not develop relationships, they don't help one another out in times of crisis and the business falters. There are many ways that you can encourage this socialisation but perhaps one of the best is a corporate treasure hunt. Why should this be? A corporate treasure hunt will develop planning skills, communication skills and lateral thinking skills as well as building a team atmosphere between different departments.

First, the team building aspect. Many departmental teams will function well together however if they have not been encouraged to develop a team ethos with other departments, this is where problems can arise. Traditional team building events are often despised by the participants, with the usual corny icebreakers, contact games, barrel and plank tasks etc. There are plenty of opportunities for the participants to avoid being just that. They let others do the work, do not contribute and a resentment can build against being sent on another team building day. At least they don't have to work! In a corporate treasure hunt, the teams are generally quite small and work at their own speed through a number of tasks. The team will fail if they do not all pull together. Set up the teams carefully, make sure that each team has people from different departments for maximum advantage.

Second, the planning aspect. When choosing a provider for your corporate treasure hunt, make sure that the hunt they provide has more questions than can be answered in the time available. That way, each team must plan and agree what they perceive as the most efficient route to answer more questions. A straightforward hunt with say 30 clues, everyone following the same route at 5 minute intervals does not have this essential planning skills element and should be avoided.

Third, the communication aspect. Communication is about listening, thinking and responding. For a team to be successful in a corporate treasure hunt, all 3 aspects need to be there. Someone reads out the clue, the others listen contribute, feed off each other's ideas and eventually will arrive at a conclusion. Sounds familiar? Of course it does, that is how businesses move forward too. Again, mixing the departments in the teams can improve the communication on a day to day basis in your company. That's good!

Finally, the lateral thinking aspect. A corporate treasure hunt should be arranged with a variety of clues to make sure that everyone is included. Easy clues and hard clues should be mixed up in there. Naturally, it is the hardest clues that will develop the lateral thinking skills of your employees best. Lateral thinking can be an individual effort but would it not be better if your entire company became problem solvers? OK, it won't happen but a treasure hunt could help some employees become more creative thinkers. Lateral thinking can be an individual thing but it works fastest in most situations if it is a group effort. Someone says something that will trigger off another thought and so on. If that is happening in your business, think of the benefits.

A corporate treasure hunt is also great fun, team building without the pain! Your staff will be buzzing for days afterwards, debating clues and continuing the processes started during the event. A single event is probably not enough, it can kick start your team building strategy. Skills need to be practiced so maybe make a treasure hunt a regular part of your staff development programme.



SOURCE:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Treasure-Hunts-for-Corporate-Harmony&id=280049