Archive for November, 2008
College Financial Aid
Nov 30th
Congratulations you’ve made it you’re off to college and you’re looking at getting your degree and a bright future. Of course one of the main worried for you is the cost of college and how to find the money to pay for all your needs. The average cost for a student choosing a private college can be greater than $100,000. You are looking at providing money for the four years when you may not have much money coming in and a lot of paying out to do. Colleges have got people who can help and advice and there may be some grants available that you can apply for but get financial planning done early, you want to have all the arrangements made by the time your course starts.
Getting started early means working out what money you can expect to get from either parents or your job or from any other source of you may be able to rely on. One of the most important things to do is to find out about grants and scholarships that you may be able to apply for. These funding sources are the best and are awarded to you on one of two qualifying basis. Either on your abilities or alternately because you are assessed as needing support with your needs. Both types of scholarships are awarded on a non repayable basis; the money does not have to be given back. Need assessed scholarships are be calculated on family income and number of children in your family. Some parental payment towards your college expenses is assumed although it may be that you will not be getting any help from your parents.
Merit-based financial aid is based on your grades and your activities from high school. Private colleges are much more likely to give out large merit-based scholarships than public colleges since the private schools usually have more donors who set up scholarships in their names or contribute to a certain scholarship fund. These institutional scholarships can cover up to half of your tuition, or more, every year.
Also, don’t be afraid to look for college financial aid in the form of scholarships in odd places either. Look around your hometown for different community organizations who offer scholarships like the Knights of Columbus or the Humane Society. Though these sorts of community organizations may not be able to contribute thousands upon thousands of dollars in scholarships, every little bit helps, especially when it doesn’t have to be repaid.
The last resort for you if you come up short is a student loan. The Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA) will give you information about the sort of loans which you can apply for. There will be a financial aid office at your college and they will have a lot of experience with these issues and will be able to help you to go for the right loans. They will also give tell you about repayment schedules and timescales. Thinking of all the money involved in paying for college may be daunting but its money well spent and a real investment in your future.
Is This The End Of Seminar Events
Nov 21st
I know you are probably thinking to yourself right now what? The end of In Person Seminars and Events how can that be? First let me start by clearing the stage here and saying that In Person events such as seminars, bootcamps, trainings and workshops are the best when it comes to successful teaching, networking and selling for today’s Information Marketer who wants to speak at these events. It is also so for the attendee who wants to learn and have the opportunity to meet the experts In Person and network with other individuals, create possible joint ventures and of course get away from the spouse and kids.
All teasing aside though, in today’s economy it has becoming increasingly more difficult for promoters to plan, market and promote successful In Person events. Let’s face it, getting “cheeks in the seats” as I call it, is becoming harder and harder to do. As a promoter you can not rely upon your speakers to promote the Seminar for you and get the cheeks in the seats – it just isn’t going to happen. If you do not work to create a winning-winning-winning for your Seminar it may indeed be the end of In Person Seminars for you!
Let’s run through the winning-winning-winning of In Person events #1 – Must Be A winning For The Customer First and foremost is the customer, your attendee. If your attendee is happy then you have secured your first winning. To secure a winning for the attendee it must be the right Seminar, the right time, the right price, the right message and the right speakers.
If you fail at any of one these and you are not able to promote this Seminar successfully to get the cheeks in the seats then you will not have a winning here. Not just from lack of attendees but also for the few that did show up because you see for them it affects thier experience. The attendee will not be happy because they feel uncomfortable at events with few in the audience and they dont like to stand out. Also now they don’t have the benefit of In Person networking and joint venture opportunities and the dynamics of a postive successful Seminar change in the room dramatically typically causing a negative environment for all which in turns negatively impacts sales by the speakers.
#2 – Must Be A winning For The Internet Speaker A winning for the Internet Speaker is speaking at a In Person Seminar with a full audience at least 100 people to make it profitable and the audience is the perfect match for their presentation and product. As a Internet Speaker you need to ensure that these two criteria are met prior to signing a Internet Speaker agreement. When the turn out is low the Internet Speaker is not happy because they essentially loose money. You see when it coms to seminars, the Internet Speaker is in a business relationship with the promoter to make money.
The speaker pays their way to fly to the event, pays for car/ground travel, pays for hotel and meals. They take time away from thier family and their business to invest in the promoter and the expected audience, knowing that if they have a large, happy and TARGETED audience to speak to then they can teach and successfully sell their continuing education course. This is how the Speaker makes thier money they sell thier “System” their “Package”, and they split the cost 50/50 with the promoter.
#3 – Must Be A Win For The Promoter When the Win for the audience is met and the Win for the speaker is met, then the Promoter gets their Win in the end and the event is successful and profitable for all. However, if their is no win for audience and they don’t show up for the event or for those that do show up but don’t buy, that starts the ball rolling down the wrong hill. This affects the event dramatically and the Speaker is not happy then you don’t have a Win for them and your event goes down the drain.
Yes there key strategies that you can implement to mitigate Losses and turn them into Wins and I’ll share those strategies with you in my next post. Until then Break a Leg!
Budget to Retire
Nov 16th
Is there enough money accumulating in your 401k to actually retire? For many the answer is no and they will not discover the truth until the money runs out and they are back at work at seventy years old. Protect your retirement by saving money now. With help from a detailed budget you will be on your way to an easy retirement.
When do you plan on retiring? Most people want to retire by 65. That means that your retirement fund will need to last you 20 to 25 years. That is a long period of time to save for so it takes real work to calculate how much you will need and how to get that much money.
In order to save money efficiently for retirement you need to have a goal amount that you want to see in the bank. You can calculate how much it will cost you to live each year of your retirement. Figure up you mortgage or rent, monthly bills, food costs, car insurance, clothing budget, travel budget, ect. Once you have a figure for a year’s worth of living expenses multiply that by 20 or 25 to come up with a savings goal.
After creating a savings goal you might feel it is hopeless. You can never save that much money. Well, with a good budget now you will be surprised how much money you really have. You can do simple things like cutting out coffee shop visits and trips to the drive thru. The average person can save several thousand a year by eliminating those two things alone. You can also become a bargain shopper and clip coupons to save extra money. By creating a strict budget for yourself now you will be able to enjoy life after work.
If the amount you need to save and the amount you can afford to save don’t quite add up you can invest your savings to create a little extra income. Choose safe investments like CDs or high interest savings accounts. If you need help with this or other financial issues you can use an online financial calculator. There are many to choose from that are easy to use at www.personalfinanceissues.com.
We all want to enjoy our golden years. You may think it seems like you have plenty of time to save but it will serve you well to spread out your savings over 20 or 30 years. This way you will be sure to have the money to retire when the time comes.