Farming: the future of the world

For those who have farm land, don't sell your farm land. It can help you in the future. No matter how much we humans develop, we still need food to live. All over the world people are migrating from villages to cities to develop themselves. In many countries more than 20% of the people are living in cities.

In our country, we are importing many goods which we can grow or make in our country itself. But we don't have people for it. If it continues, our country will be in big trouble in a decade. It’s not only for our country, but entire world will be in trouble.

 It’s the time when the remaining farmers will be rich. Soon all the multinational companies will be concentrating on agricultural business. Many of them have already started. So it’s good if people start concentrating in agricultural activities. The more we start importing, the more our dollar value fall and that may crash the stock market.

I spent all my life in the city but I always wanted to live a country life. I own some piece of land in my town which was owned by my grandpa. But he is no more and that land is mine right now. I rarely go there as it is in the other end of the country and I live in another end of the country. Many of my friends said to sell it as land are in demand for factories. But I don't wanna sale my grandpa's land. Another problem is that, factories will damage the land and soil and its surroundings. I am trying to hire farmers and do the agriculture in it. People around me says that, its a waste of time and money but I can see future of our country in the farming.

In a decade, agricultural business will be the top most sector for every country. Scientists are working on farming in the buildings in the cities because they know that in future we will have a big demand for agricultural land and products.

America need Americans

America is always known as the best country for the immigrants all over the world. Every year thousands of people immigrate to USA for job or studies. Some of them return back to their country and some stay here. But there is a problem with those who stays here. They don’t call themselves as Americans even after they get American citizenship. That’s a big problem in America. Many of us are still Chinese American, Indian American, German American, Italian American etc. We don’t want half Americans. We need complete Americans.

Just because you are born or your ansectors born in a place doesn’t make you half citizen of that country. If it is so, we all ( the entire human race) is origin from somewhere in Africa.Shall I call everyone half African or claim for African citizenship. The people of Africa will kick me out if I ever ask for African citizenship.

I see many people live in a group and call themselves and their group with other country name. we don’t want little countries in America. Its not good for our country.  If you are American then be American. We want a single nation and everyone in it to be together.

I want Americans to work together and develop each and every individual in our country. We don’t want immigrants any more. Yes, I know that America is always welcomes immgrants. Our forefathers were also immigrants. My great great great grandfather was an immigrant from Europe. I am an American and I am proud to say it.

I am not against immigration or immigrants. People who know me know how much I love world peace and many other countries. I love travelling around the world. I got a lot of friends all over the world. I have been to 32 countries and know 18 languages. But I am an American and I want my country to be at the top of the world forever.

New businesses can save America

Our country is facing many problems now like recession and unemployment. Starting new businesses can solve these problems. Any kind of legal business from small to large. But the important point to note is that you should hire our people. Don’t hire foreigners. I am not an anti-immigrant. But I want American companies to give preference to Americans. Many companies hire foreigners as they are ready to work with less salary. It can cost you less but its not good for our country.

We got thousands of unemployed people and that’s not good for our country. America is losing its status in the world. Its no more a super power nation as we think. The world don’t respect in the same way as they used to respect us decades ago.

 Its an advice for people who are looking for new jobs to start a new business instead of looking for job. I don’t know whether you get a job of your talent or not but you can create new job opportunities to other people. Use your creativity and come up with some new idea for a new business. Not everyone is a Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. But everyone has the same brain. The only difference is that they used it and we didn’t.

Think hard, who knows you may be talented enough to change the entire world. Don’t waste your important time. Think creatively, no matter which field you are in. We are the descendants of the same people who made America as the superpower of the world. We have the same power and talent. Prove yourself to be better than new immigrants.

It doesn’t mean to fight with or hurt the new immigrants. I mean prove the world (and especially to the new immigrants) that we are talented then them. There are plenty of things to achieve. A little thinking can change your life.

Importance of Saving money

I always suggests people to save money and have some fixed percent of income for savings. Some of them took my advice, some of them didn't but realized it lately and some of them ignored it and not realized it yet.Those who realized it later asks me for suggestions.

Many people in our country would have realized it in the recent recession. But for those, who still didn't realized it, no one can save them especially when we are in another recession before recovering from the previous recession. There are plenty ways to save money.

Prepare a budget every month. This will help you in analyzing your expenses and avoid unwanted expenses. Budget is an important tool to manage the money for every family. Write down all the upcoming expenses for a month in the budget and work accordingly. Also note down each and every penny you spend throughout the month and then compare it to your budget.

Contribute to your retirement and savings account as much as possible. Also invest some part of your money anywhere you like. Read other posts. You will get some ideas for savings and investments. If you want some tips then contact me in Ask Me section.

Master's Degree: Good or Bad

Many of those who graduated this year or are going to graduate next year will have a question: Whether to go for job or for higher studies? In most of the cases it depends on your interest. But sometimes you need to consider other factors also especially now, as we are be entering another recession.

The first thing you need to think on is that, can you afford it. If yes, then you don’t have any problem. But if you cant, you still for financing options. You can go for loans. But before applying for loan you have to think on many things like interest rates, time duration etc. You can read about student loans in other posts in this site.

Secondly, you have to think whether the degree is worth the money and time you put in it. Some people think that they can get a high salary job with an extra ( or master’s degree). On the other hand others think that they can get experience and promotions in 2 or 3 years in which others complete their degree. Check payscale site to get a clear idea about whether the degree is worth it or not. If you are still confused, ask me.

Each and every career is different. The decision also depends on the career you are in. Some careers require more experience and some require more knowledge. Some requires combination of both.

My suggestion is to go for distance education or online studies, which helps you in getting experience as well as degree. It is cheaper than regular degree.

Is America still on top of the world

America is known as the superpower of the world. But is it still on top. No, America is not the superpower today and if the same situation continues, in a decade we will be worst than another country on earth. We are going down in every way from economically to culturally. This situation is not because of the government, it’s because of each and every one of us. 

Everything we do effects are country. Our styles, habits, choices etc has an impact on our country. We won’t be the proud Americans as we were in the past.  Our government is not stating the exact details of the situation and the estimates. But it is clear that our future is in danger until we decide to change it.

Our literacy rates are lower than a developing country. Check out the literacy rate of any random city with any of our top cities like NY, LA, Chicago etc. Most of our colleges are filled with foreign students. Our students are dropping out in colleges. Many of our students don’t even pass high school. All the top professionals are foreigners who immigrated recently.

Another problem is the way we manage our money. Our savings rate is lower than any in the world. We don’t use our money effectively. We spent more than what we earn. Families should plan well to use their money effectively.

There are number of problems, which we need to solve to regain the position. And one cannot expect the government or any company to solve it. You might have seen that in some countries common people are getting together against the government for them and their country. We don’t have to get together to act against our government but we have to get together to change ourselves. Let’s change ourselves for us and our country.  

Top Reasons to Use Payroll Services for Pre-employment Services

Payroll service providers offer many different services to companies that can help them do many of the things that you see on the list below:

- Streamline business processes

- Satisfy customers

- Help employees do their jobs

- Maximize profit

In addition the above services there are many other things that business payroll services can do for most companies. One of the most notable things a payroll service provider can do, other than outsource payroll services and the following tasks is pre-employment services:

• Human resource outsourcing

• Payroll services

• Payroll tax and compliance assistance

• Benefits and workers’ compensation outsourcing

• Time and attendance monitoring

• Pre-employment services

• Retirement Services

Pre-employment services encompass many things, including increasing productivity, generating competitive advantage and ensuring a rapid return on investment capital. By reducing a company’s inefficiencies and streamlining processes a payroll service provider has the ability to help you attract quality employees, retaining top talent, successfully screening prospective employees and improving current employee performance.

With a payroll service provider offering their service to a company that respective company will have the ability to save as much money as possible by utilizing the pre-employment capabilities of a payroll service provider. Good people are one of a company’s biggest assets, so it would make sense that pre-employment services are a hot commodity; payroll service providers have the ability to help you with recruiting, streamlining your hiring processes (if you simply use them in an adversarial role) and improving current employee performance. This will help you receive a solid return on investment on your capital.

In addition to the above services, payroll service providers do a lot of other things with regards to pre-employment services. The following list is a small example of the possible capabilities:

- Align your strategies for acquiring, managing, screening, deploying and retaining talent

- Streamline your entire hiring process and minimize process redundancies

- Reduce overall compliance risk

- Increase your return on investment (ROI) from tax credit and incentive programs

- Support company-wide hiring processes with defined business rules, personalized workflows and advanced security measures

- Meet changing needs using a hosted, on-demand platform

Aligning your strategies will help you save money and utilize your people more effectively. Streamlining your hiring process and minimizing redundancies will help you get the best people that you possibly can. Reducing your overall compliance risk will help you reduce or get rid of fines that you receive for not filing paperwork properly. Increasing your ROI from credits will help you increase your bottom line and provide your employees and company with more opportunities. Supporting company-wide processes will help you provide your company and employees with a more specific direction and will give people more motivation to work towards common goals. Lastly, by meeting changing needs using technology you will put yourself ahead of the competition from an employment perspective and your employee asset base will be high, which will give you a competitive advantage over competitors.

Save money on electric bill

Lowering the electric bill is easy when following the simple tips in this article. Habits of leaving all the lights on in the house can cause the electric bill to sky rocket. Reduce the electric bill starting now with these tips.

Turn off the lights when no one’s there

People are lazy to turn off the lights when leaving the room. But they don’t know that this could save their money.

Know the right time right time to turn on/off lights

No one thinks about the time at which they should on/off the lights in the morning and the evening. Even though it depends on the weather, still we should calculate the period we use the light and the time we on/off our lights. Open the windows when you have natural light.

Use water carefully

We use water everywhere from shower to toilet. Reducing the amount of water we use can save a lot. Reduce the number of times you flush. Turn off the water while brushing. I don’t know why people turn on the water while brushing. This wastes a lot of water.

Plant trees around your house

Enjoy air from nature instead of machine. It will help you during summer and will keep your home cool.

Use CFL bulbs

Using CFL instead of your normal bulbs can save a lot of money of yours. Try them, you will get the result.

Computer

Use it only when needed. Turn off your speakers when not in use. Try to reduce the number of hours you listen music.  

Other Appliances

Unplug the appliance not in use. Many times we don’t do that and results in wasting electricity. Especially check and unplug when you go out for a long time. Turn off your TV when you aren’t watching it.

There are a lot of ways to save money in electricity. Comment any important tips I missed.

Save money on groceries

Every month we pay higher amount than previous month on our grocery. The price of all the products is increasing and we need to cop up with the increasing cost of living. Here are some tips to manage money in grocery.
Cut down unnecessary items
Make a list before you go to grocery. Think about the entire product one by one and analyze whether a product is needed or not. Every month we purchase a lot of stuffs which we don’t need but we want it. There’s a difference between wants and needs.
Check the items available in home
Most of the times we buy an item and later we realize that we already have it in our home. It really annoys us. Make sure that you don’t buy an item which you already have. It happens because we don’t keep the items in the place where it should be.
Coupons
Coupons can save a lot of money. You just need a voucher and coupon to buy your food at low cost. But never buy anything which is you don’t need to use coupons.
Grow your own vegetables
It’s the best way to save money. Most of us worry about the use of chemicals in vegetables. But when we grow our own vegetables, we know what is good for us and what we have to do to keep us healthy.
Don’t go for the brand name
Most of us buy some costly products because of their brand names. Check the difference between a branded item and its similar item and then buy what you want. Sometimes they don’t have any difference except for the price.
Bulk shopping
Reduce the number of visits to stores. Buy things at bulk. Buy things once or twice a month.
Make a list
Stick a list in your kitchen or in a place where you go often. If an item is over then write it down in that paper. Whenever you go for shopping, check the list and buy things accordingly.
Prepare your own food
Don’t buy food items to save time. You can also make items like chocolates, cakes, chips etc in your home. It will save your money.
Drink water
The best way to save your money is to drink water. Drink water and avoid other beverages.

Save money on cell phone bill

Mobile

Cell phones are the major source for everyone to communicate. We all use cell phone for various reasons. Mobile phone has many features and some of its feature costs a lot to use. Everyone wants to save money where they can, so here are a few tips to help you reduce your mobile bills.

The best way to save your money in mobile phone is to use prepaid mobiles. In postpaid you cant control your calls or other services. Prepaid service helps you in fixing the amount you spend on your mobile.

Calculate your usage and get a plan accordingly. Try to minimze the number of minutes you use your cell phone.

Do you really need to insure your mobile phone? Ask this question to yourself. If you have an expensive phone, then you can think of insurance.

Many people buy the unlimited texts packages thinking that it will save the money. But later they text others only because they havent sent many texts. Calculate the number of useful texts you send in a month in your text plan and then calculate the cost of the same number of texts without your text plan. then decide whether you want that plan or not.

Use the toll free numbers. For information service  many people call the numbers which charge them. Try the free numbers for your informations. Try google toll free number or free411, which are free and they even text you the informations you need.

Combine all the phone plans of your home, if possible. You can get cheaper plans by combining all your plans. Many companies offer discount for forming family plans. These plans also allows you cheap or free calls within your family and friends.

Avoid other services like GPS, ringtone’s games, streaming videos etc. these services may look cheaper but they will costlier if you add many together. Switch off your GPS if you are not using it. It will save your data.

If you travel a lot then get a roaming plan to avoid roaming charges. Roaming charges can be costly if you don’t select a proper plan and use your mobile out of your home coverage.

Tips for investing in Mutual Funds

Image via Wikipedia

An investment made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities like stocks, bonds, money market instruments etc. A mutual fund's portfolio is structured and maintained to match the investment objectives stated in its prospectus.In simple, a mutual fund is a professionally managed type of collective investment that pools money from many investors to buy stocks, bonds, short-term money market instruments, and/or other securities.

Its not a simple task. Deciding the best mutual fund is an important task. The first thing to decide is about the  purpose of the mutual fund like retirement, education, or any other purpose, as the level of risk is based on the purpose.

If your purpose is for retirement fund or capital gain then you can go for equity funds. Equity funds are not advised for long term. For retirement you can also go for other low risk investments, if you don’t want to invest in equity. But the longer you stay invested, the better return you get. An important point to note is that mutual funds are not risk free. It is adviced to read all the documents carefully before investing.

Think twice before you decide the plan. after you select the type of mutual fund, collect as much information as possible. Get the list of the companies and also get the prospectus. Befor inverting in a fund, read the prosectuse to find out how long the fund has been operating. Newly created or small funds sometimes have excellent short-term performance as these funds may invest in only small number of stocks. But as these funds grow larger and increase the number of stocks they own, each stock has less impact on the fund’s performance. You can get a better picture of a fund’s performance by looking at how the fund has performed over longer periods.

Fund charges investor fees and expenses. Get a clear picture of fees and associated cost, taxes for all funds and how they affect your returns. Ask all the doubts, terms and condtions before you invest your money.

Save money on gas

Everyone loves to go on road trip, but the increasing fuel cost can put a damper on your mood to drive long distances. Change in the way you drive can help you in saving your money.  There are many things you can do, aside from going out and buying a more fuel efficient car, that will help you tremendously to cut down your gasoline expenses. Many require only minor adjustments to your driving style. You don't need to just sit back and watch your wallet grow thinner and thinner. You can take action and learn how to get more miles for your dollar than ever before.

Use Brakes in the proper way

Brakes are your enemy (only in case of fuel consumption). A car consumes more gas when you step on the brakes. Use them properly. Try to reduce the number of times you step on them. With a good plan you can reduce the amount of brakes that you need to use.

Minimum Weight

It’s a simple logic. Try to reduce the weight of your car. Take out all the unwanted stuffs out of your car.  Your car should only have the things which are important. Carry only the basic emergency equipment and items you really need.

Avoid Air Conditioning

Many people don’t like this idea and it is cant be followed everywhere. But should be followed wherever possible. Also park your car in the shade, if possible. Air conditioning can lower your fuel economy by 10 percent to 20 percent.

 Drive Slowly

Try to drive slowly. It's a proven fact that driving fast will increase the drag (turbulence) and thus increase your fuel consumption. But the speed depends on different place. Its up to you to decide the speed. But also consider the place and the law.

Avoid Traffic

Try to avoid traffic times. Avoid heavy traffic and lots of traffic lights. The shortest route is not always the most fuel efficient if you have to stop a lot.

Gold: The best investment

A couple of weeks ago I said about the importance of gold as an investment. You can read it here. Do you know that the gold price is increased by $200 per ounce, thats an increase by 12.5%.

This increase is due to the shaky stock market. Gold moves opposite to the market. Its the safest investment. Now its getting close to $1750. I think for now it will not increase as it did in previous two weeks. It will move slowly and its the best time for people to buy gold. It will take another month to increase at that speed. You can buy gold bar or gold coins. I am happy that I invested in gold instead of shares.

Gold is consider as the best investment. It helps you during any crisis. Unlike shares and other type of investments, you dont lose anything in case of loss(which is not possible). You will have a minimum guaranteed amount.

TAX SAVING TIPS

Tax

The best approach to tax planning is to start early in the year. Some strategies can help you lower your taxes, sometimes by thousands of dollars. Some help you save time and money when preparing your tax return. Other strategies help you avoid costly penalties and interest on both federal and state taxes.

Contribute to retirement fund (401k): I always suggest people to contribute more towards the retirement fund as it’s a savings which will help you after your retirement, when you don’t have any income. If you're eligible, you can still contribute to an individual retirement account. Making a deductible contribution will help you lower your tax bill this year. Plus, your contributions will compound tax-deferred. It’s hard to find a better deal.

Child and education: You are allowed to deduct up to $1000 for each child under age 17. Child tax credits and education credits have been more generous in recent years.  That means more tax-savings opportunities for parents of children; especially those with dependents attending a college or university.You can deduct up to $4,000 for higher education tuition and qualifying fees.  This deduction is phased out starting at $80,000 for single filers and $160,000 for joint filers. If you're a working parent, and paying for the care of a dependent under the age of 13, then you may be eligible for the dependent care tax credit for all qualifying expenses.  In 2010, the maximum credit you can take is between 20 to 35% of qualifying expenses, with a deduction cap of $3,000 for one child and $6,000 for two children.

Business expenses (or employee expenses): Even if you don’t own a business, you may be are still eligible to deduct business (or profession) related expenses if you incure some expense for your job and your employer didn’t reimbursed your expense. For example, travelling expenses related to your job.

Home mortgage loan: The interest you have paid during the year on a home mortgage or a second home mortgage may be tax-deductible. Since home-loan payments are often a large expense, this deduction can amount to hundreds or thousands of dollars in savings. Only one second home or vacation home can qualify for a mortgage interest deduction. Stat property and real estate taxes are also deductible from your federal tax.

 

Defer income: If you have any income from any investments or incurred any expense related to it, you can claim them as a deduction.