The film "The Wolf of Wall Street" tells the story about Jordan Belfort, a fraudster that enriched himself quickly by selling fraudulent actions on Wall Street.

The pump & dump fraud worked like this: Jordan Belfort convinced his customers that he had very positive news from reliable sources about some companies that would increase benefits right away. Of course he owned shares from that stock and those news were lies but that inflated the price. Then he sold his stocks to make a profit.

At the time he had about 1,000 brokers employees they wore an unrestrained lifestyle of drug and alcohol parties.

In 1998 he was arrested for fraud and money laundering and while in prison he wrote his memoirs to become the best seller from which the film came from.

At least he performed a creative act and now earns enough money honestly. But many small businesses are yet recovering from losses caused by his scam.

Winning a lot of money when you have not worked for it

As is the case of those who won big lottery prizes, many of these winners spent it all and some even ended up in debt.

Others went to the opposite extreme, as if they were afraid of the money they had earned, and stayed to live in their modest apartments and doing their daily work.

There are also those who received inheritances without having worked to get them, or without getting any financial education.

I consider that a good financial education is mostly about having the right attitude towards money, the fact of learning to handle derives from this attitude.
I mean, we have to solve problems with money to be able to handle a situation of abundance or scarcity.

What would you do if you did not need to work to make a living

Certainly some some who made money suddenly became victims of hard drug addiction and some other stupid things. It is as if they had been waiting for the money to do this kind of thing.
I think a lot of these problems come from plain boredom of having nothing to do, or no motivations.
I think having an empty head is not good :)

I think I'm already doing the things I like,  so I will continue with my projects and create some more.
And without having to work for a living,  I'd like to enjoy much more free time and my loved ones.

Consider the possibility of getting lots of money right away

Photo http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Most of the people I know who are really successful and make money, are genuine positive thinkers who signed a contract with themselves and determined to never give up, to focus their minds in their objectives setting aside every weight.

It is like the saying in the millionaire mind book: if you want to get rich, think like rich people do.

Instead of complaining about this rotten world, do something to impact it. The battle starts right here (tapped my head).

What do you think?

Warren Buffet is the richest man of the entire world, let´s follow his counsels on value investing philosophy.

21. Crisis? Yes, but not for everyone.

Some companies do resist to crisis. Just watch them when economy is low because they can be wonderful opportunities to invest.

22. Manage your investments

Make a check-list before taking any decision just like plane pilots do, because the brain will get used to put aside the things which are not convenient. Using a check-list will bring you to reality and to the necessary discipline to take decisions.

23. Be humble

Humility should be part of human behaviour but it is essential to the investor because it will allow you to accept your errors in order to correct them.

24. Be calm to invest

No prevision can determine the time your investment will need to return profit. Do not use capital that you could need.

25. Diversification

"Exaggerated diversification is only justified when investors do not know what they are doing."

But diversification will dilute risk too.

26. Invest on a good brand

Investing on a well known brand means success in the long term.
Well known brand will deploy time and energy to impose themselves and success. Logically your portfolio will have a better long-term valuation.

27. Be objective in all your decisions

Learn to be critical towards your own decisions. Determine the reasons that compel you to buy or sell a stock.

28. A good record

A good record remains a good record even after a fall of 3%. The swings of the stock market in the short term can offer you beautiful buying opportunities at the best price.

29. Watch the leaders

Do not forsake the simple investment. Some values have grown steadily but sometimes they go unnoticed because often
investors do not like the simplicity and are more reassured by investing more complicated cases.

30. Work hard

Investing is about dedicating your time and working hard to attain objectives.

31. Free thinker

Stay free and independent for all your decisions. Being of the same opinion is not a guarantee of success.

32. Capital and growth

Study the companies that do not need regular investment for their development. These companies always have
sufficient reserves to ensure their financial stability.

33. Watch for overvalued stocks

Be aware as well of the market realities. An overvalued value may represent a good opportunity to sell

34. Look for small golden opportunities

Many small values which are neglected by institutional investors and the media are often very beautiful investment opportunities.

35. Accounting, you know?

Understand the business and its value will require a minimum of knowledge. Be sure to read some books so you are familiar with the language of business.

36. Be watching

Take advantage of the swings of the market to be always ready to catch opportunities that present themselves to you. Learn how to be a reactive investor!

37. Invest without precipitation

Investment takes time and careful study for each selected value. Override these rules will transform you in an speculator unable to ensure the sustainability of your investment.

38. Look for the keys of success

A company with a high growth potential has probably innovation, patents and know-how... which will ensure its success.
Try to find the keys of success of the company on which you want to invest

39. Keep a cool head

Your judgment must not be altered by the swings of the market, publications in the media and analyst opinions. Stay objective and be confident in your own judgment.

40. Do not compare

If your neighbor has made 18% profit last year, do not try to imitate him or her, but develop your own investment strategy and your own analyzes.

[Read Part I >>]

If you had invested 1000 dollars in Berkshire Hathaway Inc, the financial holding company of Warren Buffet, you will have 5 millions dollars today.

1. Rule number one: do not loose money. Rule number two: do not forget rule number one.

• Whether it's socks or stocks, I like to buy the goods quality when is marked down. Stocks have ups and downs all the time. When stocks go up then prices are really high, when they go down prices are cheap.
  In real life when you want to buy yourself a good coat you wait for the mark down period, they why should you buy stock options when prices are so high?
  Wait patiently till the market will propose you a good price and to recognize a good price, learn to value a good company.
• It's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price. Don't hurry, be patient and invest in good quality companies when prices are cheaper. You'll take less risks and get better results, just watch to not buy too expensive.
• We're just trying to be to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. The ideal situation is to buy stocks that people are selling for reasons that do not concern the fundamentals of the company. To do so, you must learn to value a company and control your emotions.
• I try to buy stock in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.
  Invest into companies which are simple to understand and simple to manage. If the activity of a company is too complex, keep away from it. You won't be able to value it and if you are not able to value it you'll never know if it is a good opportunity or not.
• Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. Everybody thinks that risk comes from market volatility, that is what they learn at the commerce school. But it is a stupid thing because the real risk of investing comes from the probability to definitely loose your capital. And this probability becomes bigger when we don't know what we are doing.
  If you want to buy yourself a car you spend weeks to compare prices and look for the best offers. This is common sense.
  But it is strange that when we are dealing with stock options we act by impulse without thinking or reading the WHOLE financial report of a company and we just act because one line impresses us.
• You just need to learn one single lesson, that it is of vital importance: to know how to value a company. It's the only way to know if you're paying a fair price, otherwise it is not investing but casino playing.

2. Invest in companies you understand

An investment you understand is a sure success. Many people ignore this but it's so important. We can take the example of Warren Buffet which has almost never invested in technology (with the exception of IBM from which he owns 5% in shares).
But in general if you don't understand a company, do not invest.

3. Patience always pays

Look for quality companies but wait for good opportunity prices.  It is very important to not pay too much.

4. Committed managers

A company whose executives are shareholders will always be responsible in the decisions and directions it will take in the future towards its partners and investors.

5. Leaders of impeccable honesty and integrity

The integrity of the company's leaders is a sign of success and confidence in the business world. It's up to you to watch over the managers of the company you've chosen.

6. Buy cheap, sell expensive

This seems logical but it is easy to forget if you jump over an opportunity following an impulse that is often too expensive.

7. Patience

Patience pays and investors know about it. Nevertheless if you act on an impatient mood your decisions will be less objectives.
If you haven't seized an opportunity just be patience as the price will
become attractive sooner or later.
Think that the market is huge and that there are many others opportunities out there.

8. Knowledge

Knowledge is the key to success. So read, study, keep informed yourself and compare things all the time; it's the best way to be completely objective.

9. Passion

Investing with passion will allow you to put the time and energy in your job as investor.

10. Fear, the chance to get good opportunities

Ask yourself why values are overly sold on markets because they are often unfairly sold off, an this is an excellent opportunity for you to acquire them.

11. Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

Cheap stocks does not necessarily mean a good deal, for you may still be buying them at its highest price. You must observe its value in time to really see if it's the moment to buy.

12 Motivate your decisions

Do not invest without taking the time to note down your motivations, then you can compare your writings with the reality of markets and get conclusions.

13. Risk

Investing your money without controlling the risk is like being in the back seat of a car at whole speed without driver.
If you can't define the rules to handle risk, do not invest.

14. Markets influence

Do not be fooled by the markets and sell your values only if they have achieved what you set out in your trading plan.

15 Undervalued stock, yes, but for how long?

To buy undervalued stocks is a good opportunity, but ask yourself about the reasons for its devaluation.
An event such as a takeover bid or launching a patent could bring investors interest on this value

16 Stocks smoke screen

You may think that you know a value by its image, its marketing, its name, its products... but focus your attention more on its annual reports on its figures, projections ...
This approach will allow you to remain objective and have a length ahead of many investors.

17 Footnotes

You may find important revelations in the annual reports small printing footnotes.

18. Short term investing for long term investments

Enjoy the markets in the short term, the companies offering good prospects in the coming years.
The market often tends to amplify the good or bad short-term news which represents many opportunities for invest in promising values.

19. Macroeconomic forecasts: myth or reality?

Do not attempt to predict macro-economic figures to motivate your investment decisions. Do not expect an economical upturn  because it is often too late.

20. Compare, Analyze

To invest you need to compare and analyze markets, but as an investor you need to compare and analyze your failures as much as your success. Write down a plan.

[Read Part II >>]

Why do couples argue about money and how to better organize home budget.

Money and personal values can happily go together with your couple life.
Let numbers speak.
Putting money goals together should boost your finances, like a sort of synergy effect (1 + 1 = 3), and in many real situations money and couple problems can be solved with a basic organization and a simple budget.

But which are the basis for happy domestic economy?

Step one: define common expenses

Just sit down together and take pen and paper, or open up an Excel worksheet if you prefer it and type in detail all monthly expenses which may be:

• Rent
• Electricity
• Food

 ..and so on,.. please write down all the expenses in detail even if they are very small..

The goal is to quantify monthly expenses and to determine the exact amount to pay it all.

Step two: how to contribute to common expenses

Image courtesy of [sdmania] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To find the formula to contribute to expenses and to organize the bank accounts are the key to solve this money and couple problems.
I've found two methods that seem interesting to me:

1. By giving 50% each. 

This method is very interesting when the two salaries are similar. Each one pays half of everything because each one consumes just half of everything.
I will not advice you to split expenses by two like saying: I pay the rent and you pay food and the rest of invoices.

2. Contributing in proportion to each one salary

If there is a difference of more than $500 between the two salaries, each one should contribute in proportion to the amount he/she makes.
This seems right to me because even if salaries are not similar the individual participation is fair.

Step three: create a common accounting system

Even if it is a very simple thing it is always good to keep track of money flow, when things are clear on paper (or computer screen) things are also clear on each one mind.

A common bank account comes handy to pay monthly expenses, once a contribution method is established.

The principle of paying one self first it also works when you are in couple, and in order to work it out you can set up a simple automatic money transfer system that will feed the individual bank accounts with savings.

Each one should keep and watch his/her individual bank account and so you can offer your loved one a present and it always be a surprise without affecting home economics!

And of course these are not the only systems, if you make $2000 more than your loved one you will want to share it with her (or he) so she can get as much personal money as you.
We are talking about love, not a corporation accounts report, and with love balance and sharing are the keywords.

How to make all this work

Each one could have a personal bank account that receive the salary.
Each month an automatic money transfer will pass the accorded amount to the common bank account which will pay common expenses, feed common saving projects and investments.
Each month you would sit together to check bank movements and correct the necessary things to attain the ideal budget together.

There are many more solutions to money and couple problems, of course, it all depend on you, the way you both like it and agree, all that seems fair to you both.

And so, they lived happily forever and ever by letting numbers speak.

The stock market is all about companies and dividends and before investing your money in stocks options you need to understand how does the stock market works.

The birth of a company

At the beginning there are entrepreneurs with an idea and a vision. That is transformed gradually into project, but to materialize it they need capital or assets such as machines. These assets are brought by investors, sometimes the contractors themselves. In exchange for these contributions, each investor was awarded with shares of the newly created company.
Then investors become shareholders each with a percentage of the company determined by their contribution. It is important to remember that an action is nothing more than a share of the company. You therefore become owner of a part of the machines, the stock of cash and everything the company owns. The company is therefore launched and can start its activity.

How does the stock market work?

Image courtesy of [photokanok] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The search for new capital on the stock exchange.

After some time the company needs to invest to continue to grow.
There are two options: to borrow money or to issue shares.
When it borrows money from a bank or investors, it works int he same way as it would with you with  your banking institution with regular repayments.
The second option is to offer shares on the stock market. Investors buying these shares bring new capital to the company.
This means that if the total number of shares of the company increases, the share of the company for each share or action decreases.
It is better for the company to have an action from the available 100 which gives right to 1% of the company than 1 action out of 10000 which gives the right to 0.01%. Investors are therefore the new owners of the business.

As long as they keep their shares they receive a part of the distributed dividends and have the right to vote at the general meeting of the company.

In the mean time the stock trade evolves. One day a shareholder decides to sell his shares, he sells them to the market price and gets back more value if the course has mounted since its purchase or a less value otherwise.
As soon as the shares are sold, the rights to the company are obviously lost.

How to buy shares on the stock exchange

There are two markets for the purchase of shares:

The primary market.

When the company goes public and offers directly to investors the shares at a fixed price determined by the company itself.

The secondary market.

It is when investors exchange shares between themselves by buying and selling in the stock market without the intervention of the company.
The price is then determined by a confrontation between supply and demand. Note that companies may decide to buy back some shares which is a sign of good health and good news for shareholders. The stock exchange is a market regulated by the financial markets authority in your country. The companies listed should have the obligation to provide information regularly about:

• Their annual accounts once per year.
• A financial report, an activity report and report of the Auditors.

Many companies have habit to publish quarterly financial and activity reports to inform investors.

Why not all companies are in the stock market

Do you see how does the stock market work? Some times investors are making decisions on the company and certain managers don´t like that. Specially if they don´t own a mayor number of stocks, they´ll have no voice.
Being ruled by investors add pressure on performance and reports but especially this imposes additional pressure on leaders. If the stock price is too low, the company could be acquired by a competitor or by investors who would impose a different management policy.

The leaders of the largest companies have part of their remuneration which consists of actions, they have therefore every interest in the fact that the course rises to make a profit on the future resale. Another advantage of a high stock price is that it facilitates the supply of new capital.

Let´s say that the company needs $ 1000, and its course is € 10 then it will issue 100 shares. If its course is € 1 it will be obliged to issue 1,000 shares.
The more it issues shares and the more the value of each is one 'diluted' or low, which is not interesting for investors.

What is a stock market index

A stock market index is a set of values which reflects the global movement of the companies that make it up.

Some examples in America are:

• Dow Jones
• S&P 500
• NASDAQ

In Europe:

• FTSE 100
• CAC 40
• Swiss Market Index

In Asia:

• Nikkei 225
• Hong Kong Hang Seng Index

Usually the number after the name represents the number of companies that are included in the index. For example, the CAC 40 index is made of 40 companies.

There are many other products that are traded on financial markets besides the stocks, such as bonds, warrants or raw materials. I did not go in the details on this article on how does the stock market work because they are more complex and need to be explained more extensively.
And now, do you understand how does the stock market work?

Have you ever heard of investing on dairy cows? It sounds funny, but it is a real thing! Here is how it works:

The investor buys heads of cattle (dairy cows), then he addresses to a specialized manager who rents them out for him at a selected breeder or farmer. The breeder provides work, buildings, equipment and land. He raises the cows, feeds them and pays for the illness and accident insurance.

Each cow who dies is replaced by another of the same quality, the owner suffers no loss of profits as everything is covered by the insurance. The farmer keeps the milk, manure and males.
The female offspring are shared between the farmer and the owner, after a levy designed to keep a young flock (this levy ensures sustainability of the flock).
Therefore one does not become a breeder... It is all about investing money.

At what interest rate? 

Image courtesy of [digitalart] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The owner (the investor) collects about 4-5% of its population a year in nature. He then has the choice between reinvesting its earnings (heifers will be added up to his flock each year, with an average growth rate of 4.2%, then the flock will double in 19 years) or sell.
If he decides to sell, the heifers due to him are sold as soon as they are adults.
In short, this is another investment not often proposed by bankers, but it is a way to diversificate passive income.


Small farmers can benefit from cattle he didn't have to pay for and owners (investors) can colaborate to grow our planet resources and get money from a real "tangible" thing.

An example of investing on dairy cows

There are two options for the return of benefits:
The grow option (keeping new born heifers and no yearly cash income)
A yearly cash income (by selling a fixed number of animals every year)

These are the costs and benefits.
- cost per head 1 167 €
- average yearly yield (in number of heifers) 4,20 %,


The thing is to start buying heads and chose the growth option for a number of years (let's say you grow your cattle) and then get the return of investing on dairy cows.

Let's say we start buying ten heads and then we buy two extra heifers for a period of five years.

Start 1 167 x 10 = 11 670
Buy two extra by year 1 167 x 2 = 2 334
In five years you will have 20 heads, worthy 23 340 wich will yield 980.28 euros/year

It seems that this idea comes from the the middle age, the old times of Richard Lion Hearted, where herd was considered as the real richness.
All this figures and conditions are samples here in France, to read more:
http://www.afic-ass.com/anglais/cadre_ang.asp?savoir=0&choix=ex
Cows will always be a growing market, what do you think?

Do you know how much you are taxed on your savings?
If you are looking for financial freedom it's the time to watch new laws about taxes passing through.
Just look through all your investments and check for new possibilities, do not hesitate to surf on better waters, as Warren Buffet says: "if you ever find yourself on a sinking boat, the energy to change boats is more productive than the energy to fill the holes".
New laws are passing now here in Europe and taxes are booming everywhere, how can you adapt to all that?  This is the Robin Hood syndrome!

But the situation is delicate and it is difficult to predict what's going to happen and that makes this moment a very interesting and intense one!

Because:

• Debt has never been so big.
• The price of money is very low.
• Taxes are not effective anymore because of the Laffer effect, which explains why too much taxes will get no income tax at 100%, because there is no incentive to earn income.
• The assets level is artificially high.
• The developed countries are all going through a similar situation.
• The Euro unbalance does not allow countries to recover.
• Because of some foolish laws which are making that part of capital, ideas and entrepreneurs are going away and how many will get back?

So, if you are getting too much taxes on your savings, what to do?

• Get assets for essential values at a fair price.
• Develop your self, you are your biggest asset.
• Be prepared to buy assets at a good price when panic hits and prices fall.
• Keep open to opportunities, keep mobile.
• You may create a new activity in another country.

Keep calm

Yes, panic is the worst thing, really,  you need to stay cool and calm to handle this situation for the best, and it will be your very best indeed.

Real estate is, for me now, too expensive at least in some areas.

This does not mean not to invest (good profit is always a good profit) but prepare for a medium-term capital loss and be very selective about the choice of the property.

Prefer the security of international companies with a competitive advantage rather than companies depending on the state or the financial market.

Do not fall into panic by converting your entire patrimony to gold or silver, but rather study your actions and get financial wisdom to not get too much taxes on your savings and invest on the best products.

Europe looks towards the Uniteds States economy as to a mirror and so do almost all the other countries. American middle class families are a model of prosperity and well being to the whole world.
But I'd like to share with you this financial report to check how things are going on now.

Real Estate Sector

Image from: http://stawealth.com/images/stories/1dailyxchange/Home-TotalActivityIndex-072513.PNG

In the real estate sector, whose collapse is at the origin of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, home prices are certainly increasing ("12.2% year on year, according to the July S & P/Case Shiller index), and the resale market is also growing.
However, the real estate industry confirms a slowdown in demand this summer, faced with the recent rise in mortgage rates.
The total of the mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was 20 years ago. And the rate of delinquency these mortgages which was of the order of 2 per cent in 2000 is today to almost 10 percent.

The rate of home ownership in the United States is the lowest it has been in 18 years and it has become more expensive than ever to rent a home in America. In fact, the rent charged median rental vacancy comes to reach a new record ever observed.

Retail Sales Sector

Retail US is 'active' at first sight for a year, especially in the sector of the automobile ("0.9% in August). But the consumer confidence declined significantly in September, and the store sales slowed in August ("0.2% after a gain of 0.4% in July), which is a sign that American households is diminishing quickly.
Is that the indebtedness of consumers in the United States increased 1700% since 1971, and 46% of all Americans are to postpone a balance from month to month paying credit card.

Employement

As it confirmed from the most recent statistics (August), unemployment in the United States certainly continues to decline (7.3% or 0.1% less than in July). But the decline is slow. And if unemployment decreases, this is not for good reasons.
This is not so much the hiring which increase than the the growing number of Americans who give up looking for a job.
More than 90 million Americans of working age are considered "not or no longer on the labour market"... What is called the 'participation rate', or the share of the population that has a job or seeking one, fell to 63.2%, a low in 35 years!
In short, Americans abandon the market of labour by the thousands. -516,000 Americans "have left the labour force" only last month. What constitutes a record upward the largest ever observed!
"Employees who have given up work represent three-quarters of the decline in turnout since the start of the recession," in an economic note, deplored the Economic Policy Institute.
Even workers in the prime of life drop out: more than half of people (53.7%) have renounced work are aged 25 to 54.The number of private sector jobs fell by 278,000 last month. 77 percent of the jobs that were "created" so far this year have been part-time jobs.

Not to mention that the quality of jobs created is often unsatisfactory. The U.S. economy continues to exchange jobs paying against low paying jobs.
60 per cent of the jobs lost during the last recession are average wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been in low-wage jobs.
In 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs. According to the Brookings Institution, some 70% of hirings since the end of the recession were in areas with low labour costs, like fast food and retail.

What economists call "McJobs", a reference to low-paying jobs of the type fast-food restaurants.In this regard, the portrait is distressing: adjusted for inflation, wages at McDonald's have not progressed in 50 years, according to American studies.

Household Income

According to the Census Bureau, the median household income was in 2012 and US$ 51 017, almost at the same level in 2011.
It is still 8% at the level of 2007 and 9% below the historic Summit of 1999 (adjusted for inflation). It dropped 7.8 percent since the year 2000.

According to research, between 1969 and 2009, median salaries earned by American men ages 30 to 50 declined 27 per cent taking into account inflation.

French source: http://leblogalupus.com/2013/09/29/breves-de-trottoirs-du-dimanche-29-septembre-2013-la-longue-descente-au-enfer-de-la-classe-moyenne-americaine/

See how much money does your dreams cost and just create a financial plan to get them true.
Maybe you've talked to someone about your dreams and maybe you've heard that answer: "You're not realistic, you could never afford those things".

But why?

On the other hand when you're a child they allow you to have all kinds of dreams and you can become an astronaut, mountaineer, artist, pilot or whatever.

Then when you reach the adult age then you have to be a lawyer, a doctor or a consultant, then create a family and make sure you put your money in your favorite savings plan. In the best case you can pay you a few weeks of vacation if your home and auto credit allow it.

However I know some people who even earning less than 1500 dollars have made trips to Bali, New York, Thailand...and I was wondering which may be their secret.

How much money do your dreams cost?

Imagine that your dream is to go to visit Paris and you need about 4,000 dollars. But what if you'd about it on a monthly basis cost rather than the total amount?
It would be exactly 333 dollars/month for a year.
To go around the world with a budget of € 6,000 will you cost 500 dollars by month for a year.

How did you spend the last 333 dollars?

Maybe you can save 333 dollars every month by trimming here and there because now you realize that you could have done many things with those 4000 dollars that would have gotten in just a year.

If you're starting a new web site because you want to boost your business or build your personal brand or reputation, or for any other reason, stop doing SEO.

Wasting time on SEO forums, following the advice of those SEO 'gurus' and putting into practice the tricks of these experts, will make you make mistakes that are going to be very difficult to correct.

Two days ago I've got an email from someone who was desperate because after hiring some SEO services his site rankings and visits are going down, down. He wanted me to analyze his site and report him the problems. Those SEO services were doing some massive link building, artificial links and links schemes.
This is the case of many web masters who are loosing ranking and visits with the latest Google Penguin 2 update roll out.

SEO tricks are dangerous to the health of your web traffic

Especially all those tricks that go against the best practices published by Google and against common sense.

One of the strategies that has done more damage is the creation of satellite web sites, web pages that are created specifically to put links aiming directly or indirectly to other pages target.

Since link building is becoming more complicated, these schemes create artificially made links that have worked for a while, until I the latest Google algorithm update, the Penguin 2 that has brought down many pages.

The worst thing is that they had paid for SEO services and so lost money, and the worst of all, they lost traffic.

If you want a web site that works well and that will attract visitors, concentrate on building up  a good web site, and that was your intention, anyway? It's too risky to expose yourself to a penalty, simply because you are in a hurry to get results.

Natural SEO and authority

Now you cannot fool so easily the search engines as it was before, and before losing half of your business or visits, works positively on these things:

1. A good SEO on page.
2. Avoid duplicate content on your own web site.
3. Create good content: if what you offer is good it will go long way, if it helps someone, somewhere it will reward you back.

These three elements help give your page authority, because you have something good to offer, and time and perseverance will bring your visits.
Natural SEO is the only way to stay when many others will be gone.

With credit cards you spend what you haven’t got and you go into debt more than you should.

In this country is almost mandatory to have a credit card. If you pay the toll booth with a Master Card it does not work and in many toll booths the payment is automated so you can not pay in cash. The only thing that works is the credit card.

But unless you have to go down the highway every day, you don't need a credit card to live.

Leaving our credit cards at home

From now on we decided to organize our domestic finances differently: at the beginning of the month, just after getting our salaries, we’ll withdraw a certain amount of money to take in our pouch, let’s say $ 100, and leave our credit cards well keeped at home.

The problem with credit cards is that you do not control what you spend because you do not see money coming out.

The card payment gesture appears to have no impact on the domestic economy, when it is just the opposite: it is the easiest way to spend without counting, the beginning of the disaster of your finances.

Now we get our only credit card for certain major expenses, such as shopping the month or going on holiday, when it is safer to pay with a card.

And to go shopping we make a list and we set a limit amount to spend that we should not normally exceed.

Having the cash in your wallet helps you to control it better, to count how much you spend, to think twice before buying anything and cheer up when you see that you can buy something extra for you with bills you didn’t spend.

All this is part of a healthy economy.

How are we going to control money with a credit card if you don’t see it?

Domestic economy the old way

I  remember the old days when the women in my family handled money at home. And although salaries were not very high, they always had money for everything. There always was a bill out there and they had provision for all expenses, then they went to the hairdresser, family outings or any other extras.

And as there were no credit cards, they could not spend beyond limits and have the bank account in red numbers.
The credit card has stolen us the pleasure to enjoy money because it is more convenient to have it, because it is safer if someone steals you, but mostly because it is easier to spend what you haven’t got.

I'm not saying we have to go back to those old times, but why not enjoy money as before?

Have you ever imagined how the world would be like without money? Recently I was talking to a great friend of mine who was explaining to me his ideas about money and this made me to think about it.

According to him, an ideal world would  perfectly run without money because everyone could contribute according to their ability and receive according to his need.
Money is needed only because of the exchange of the property on which our society is built, if there were any other way to organize society then money would not be needed.

This long conversation made me think about many questions:

• Why do we think that in a perfect world there would be no money?
• If we remove money, would this make a perfect world?
• And since we are talking about an economy of services, who would organize the equivalences?

In ancient times people used barter to get things: I give you a goat in exchange of four sacks of wheat, but who said that a goat was worth four sacks of wheat?

With barter one of the value scales is time: if it takes six months to raise a goat, for example, this is worth more than a crock pot that you can manufacture in one single day.

In our modern times we would need an enormous reorganization to determine a worth scale to sustain a balanced economy without money.

In my humble opinion money is not the cause of all the ills of the world, that would be a very easy way out for some who try to evade responsibility, but human condition should change to adapt to the new organization.

But if money is not the cause of all evil, why do without it?

Have you watched the film "In time" with Justin Timberlake? there's a good example of a world without money, a world in which time is the universal currency, when someone wants to get something he’d pay with a portion of his life time and work’s salary is time, more life to live.
The horrible thing is that when someone didn’t have anymore time left just died.

But going back to the main subject here's what I think of money:

•     It is a world heritage whose price has to be determined fairly.
•     It is a tool that we have to learn to use.
•     It's what we exchange for something that has value, but money itself has no value, it is only a tool.

What do you think?

When our finances are going well we tend to spend on things we had not expected to and we don’t take advantage of the good times to save.
And, as we see that we have a certain amount accumulated in our savings we immediately spend it, it's like an impulse there that sees that when there are more than 1000 euros saved in the account it invents up the need. (My car doesn't work so well, my TV screen is an old one, I need a last generation smartphone ... etc)

But if an unexpected event comes, as having to pay a lot of taxes we never expected, or a sudden need we had not anticipated, we find ourselves in financial danger.

If you've ever suffered financial turmoil these are those difficult situations that comes once in life to most people.

When this happens is when we pay attention to expenses and use the credit card very carefully, create spreadsheets to emulate an accounting program and follow up every cent and cut all  that is unnecessary, such as cable TV and the rates of mobile phones. And reduce cigarettes, the cinema, going out to restaurants and gambling.

But mostly we never ever want to go through there ... because we’ve been force to become frugal, even too frugal!

We can use this painful experience and learn the lessons necessary to not happen again, starting new habits and adopting new schemes that will change our attitude toward money.

Paying yourself first

One of the simplest techniques to adopt good habits is to pay yourself first, so you get used to save before spending, which is great. You can start an automatic savings plan that is scheduled at the beginning of the month before paying your bills.
It's best to put it in a separate account a different one from your regular income and expenses .. forget you have it there .. and let interests work for you.
You know what? When you save money the bank borrows money from you who will pay you back with interest (up to 3% - 4.5%), when you borrow money from the bank it is you who pays the interest (from 4%, 5%, 6%, 7% and on!).
It is better that the bank owes money to you!
What do you think? Have you ever been in a financial storm? What did you learn from it?

We know that a car loses its value very quickly, which is really a liability in our small domestic accounting, but sooner or later you would want to buy one for family, professional or just for pleasure reasons.

The idea is that if you have to sell the car quickly, with the amount you'll get back you can pay the credit you asked for completely.

Case 1: Car price: 10,000 $ buy by borrowing 100% of the amount

Photo: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

(I just thought of 10,000 because it's a simple number to deal with)

Suppose that you get a car loan at 5% interest rate over 5 years:

Monthly payment => 188 $

Total cost of credit => 11322 $

After one year the capital needed to pay your credit is => 9066 $

In this case there is a very small chance that you can resell the car for 9066 $

Case 2: Car price: 10,000 $ you ask for a loan of 6700 $, with a contribution of $ 3300 (about 30% of the whole price)

Suppose that it is a car loan to the 4% interest rate to pay in four years:

Monthly payment => 151 $

Total cost of credit=> 7261 $

After one year the capital needed to pay your car loan is => 5449 $

Now there! After a year, you can get the money back to pay it all and the opportunity to buy a new car if you wish to.

Purchase Plan

Having a purchase plan helps you to:

1. Force yourself to save at least a part of the whole price to buy the car and think about the project taking in consideration your income and your other personal projects. It would be ridiculous to buy a car for 20,000 $ and take a credit of 400 $ for 20 years to repay.  
2. When you save your money you are lending to the bank that will return to you an interest of at least 2% or 3%. However, when the bank lends you money you are paying a 5%,6%,7%... interest. So the less you ask to the bank, the more money you'll have in your pocket.

Case 3: Buy the car 100% cash

This means you had 10000 $ saved, well done! But what if you have empty off almost all of your savings, because let's say you've saved 12 0 15 000 $, and if you spend all this money at once, this will leave you unprotected against an important unexpected need, and you would have to sell the car again very quickly.

To be hurry to sell something is not good, because you would be selling for need and you could lose money.

So, I would keep my savings and buy the car with a 30% contribution asking for a credit for the rest.

And if you sell the car, try to sell it to a particular to avoid the salesman commission.

What do you think?

Are you someone who has been continuously misusing your credit cards? If answered yes, you should immediately change your habit as you will land up in a mess in the long run if you keep on accumulating a huge amount of debts. Credit card debt is high interest debt and when you start accumulating a huge amount of debt; this will not only hurt your credit score but also take away your peace of mind. Credit score plays an important role in helping you grab good loans in the market at an affordable rate. Therefore, if you’re looking for ways to keep debts at bay so that you can seek financial freedom, you may read on the concerns of this article. Check out the financial tips to maintain a safe distance with your high interest debt.

• Follow a frugal budget : The foremost step that you need to take is to follow a frugal budget that will do away with all the unnecessary expenses. You should learn to distinguish between needs and wants and make sure that you spend your hard-earned dollars at the necessities and postpone your luxury expenses. Follow the budget throughout the month and make the necessary changes according to the changes in the monthly income and expenses.
• Stop digging further into debt : You should stop digging further into debt by using cash instead of credit. If you keep on using your credit cards, you will very soon drown in a sea of debt and therefore it is important for you to carry cash instead of credit so that you don’t keep digging further into debt. Eliminate the habit of taking resort to credit when you can’t afford things with cash as this is bad financial move that will lead to debt.
• Negotiate with your creditors : If you feel that it’s useless to speak to your creditors, you’re grossly mistaken. They’re actually the best people who can help you strike a better deal with them so as to make it possible to repay your debt obligations. They will assess your present financial situation and then test the possibilities and the chances of making repayments with the adjustments.
• Start making payments : Once you negotiate with your creditors, you have to start making the monthly payments as soon as possible so that your debt amount keeps decreasing with time. Don’t forget the due dates that the creditors offer you as this will trash your credit score in the long run. The sooner you make the monthly debt payments, the sooner you will get out of debt in the near future.

Therefore, when you’re wondering about the ways in which you can get out of debt and secure a debt free living, you can take the above mentioned points into consideration. Remember that it is not only important to get out of debt but also stay out of debt to avoid incurring debt in the long run.

The Euro brings with it a paradox.

The Euro as a single currency has provided monetary mobility for citizens of its member states.
Just remember how it was before: Spain had the peseta, France had the French franc, Germany the German mark, and so on. So every time you traveled from country to country you had to convert your money.

But now the euro has turned the page of restrictions on the movement of capital and other difficulties of convertibility for certain currencies.

Everything happened as if the single currency had been a temporary lucky strike, thanks to low interest rates and conditions of German debt, the specialization of our economies and the reduction of the state weight .

So, the Euro has everything to bring in stability and prosperity to all European members.

Now the European Community wants to straighten things out, but the role of politicians and banks are not clear to me.

The case of Cyprus, in this respect, is very instructive: local bank bankruptcies, driven by losses on obligations of another neighbor of the euro zone default (Greece) which led to the capture of deposits and reintroduction of control of capital flows.

But Cyprus has a singularity: 30% of its capital comes from Russia and the direct action of the ECB (European Central Bank) in Cyprus is still a mystery to me.
The communist party has the majority in Cyprus.
I was just wondering, why Russia did have so much capital in Cyprus, anyway?
What do you think?

Cyprus was, it is true, a financial fund fortress which hosted some oligarchs and especially Russian secret funds. But this is not the essential thing. Cyprus is the hub of many commercial capital which are entirely lawful and clear from Russia. Russia uses Cyprus commercial capital movements that can be estimated 300 to 400 billion per year.

It is obvious that the Russians need a place like that. It is a matter of sovereignty and national independence. The knock that was led to the financial Cypriot system during the weekend, restructuring the Cypriot banks under European control, goes against the interest and Russian sovereignty. The levy may be 30% on deposits of more than 100,000 euros but this is almost trivial compared to other problems that this inflicts to the Russians.

There is a shift in Russia's position with the hit of the ECB (European Central Bank). The ECB has in fact declared a currency war in Cyprus and then to Russia. This is the true meaning that can be given to the expression "Currency Wars." The real "currency wars", the first episode, which has a geopolitical connotation, was declared by the ECB. Note that this blockade was not imposed by the European political authorities, but by the ECB, which is incredible. The Russian change of tone  shows that one enters into matter of State interests rather than particular problems. The Russians are not stupid, they know how to take a declaration of war for what it is. A slap is not a caress.

So now we get into what I do not hesitate to call "currency war". Personal reflections of Medvedev and Putin are replacing diplomatic language. Provided, if you follow well, that diplomacy is "the continuation of war by other means".

The Russians are fantastic chess players, that is why they are calm, they think and meditate before moving pawns.

The German economist Daniel Stelte is doing a tour of Europe since January with the slogan: Ending the era of Ponzi finance

But who was Ponzi? Ponzi was this rotten Italian-American in the 20s who created a sophisticated benefits chain. And then the name Ponzi has lasted to posterity. The Ponzi scheme has become a "financial arrangement consisting in paying fraudulent benefits to clients mainly by funds contributed by new commers." Sooner or later, the deception comes to the surface and the castle collapses: the newcomers are those who pay the piper.

In 1920, Charles Ponzi was able to steal off thousands of people for the equivalent of $ 5 million of our days promising a 50% profit in 45 days.

What is the Ponzi scheme?

It's very simple really.

The manager will promise a very high performance return for your investment. Something really exaggerated, "the bigger the lie, the easier it passes through."
Greedy customers trust their money in and get their first profits. From there on, word of mouth is usually enough to convince other people to put their money in. In the end, the last coming in to invest are the ones paying the interests of the others.

The idea is to go away with the money generated when the sum is important.

The system is based on the accumulation and the snowball effect (something that can be used wisely to pay your debts).

For example, imagine that I promised you a 20% fund benefits on a financial product and ask you to invest 100,000 euros.

At first, I've got three customers who agree to invest 100,000 euros each because of my reputation and the fact that the amount requested is not very important (relatively speaking ...).

With 300,000 euros, the payment of 20% of promised return is 60,000 euros the first year and I'm still keeping 240,000 in my pocket. Customers are happy and believe they have found the goose that lays the golden eggs. The news spread quickly and the second year and I have 20 customers and 2 million to manage.

At the end of the year, I have to pay the promised 20% of this amount: 400,000 euros. And I've got 1,600,000 in my pocket. And so on ...

Note that in the meantime I can put the money into a safe investment that could return from 4% to 5% to enjoy while I'm waiting.

Then time goes by and after 5 years, I find myself with 8,000,000 million euros that I've got after paying interests to people: it is time to move to a tax haven :)
I'm just going away with all.

The first customers gained back some of their money, those which came at the moment of scam a small part and the newcomers lost a lot.

Therefore it is called the "chain of Ponzi" because latecomers pay the interest of those who came first.

So these are some things to remember when investing:

• If it sounds too good to be true, then it is probably not true.
• There is no way to have astronomical interest returns (over 7%) without risk.
• To become quickly rich is not possible and should not be your goal.
• If you do not understand how the investment works do not invest.

It is the first time you invest your money and you have no idea of what is an investment?

An investment is an asset that produces money back for you. Basically it  means that in return of your capital the assets produce more money. Depending on the asset and performance you get, you expose your capital to a level of risk and the theory is the higher the risk, the higher is the return you'll get back.

These are basic features that an investor you should consider for your first investment:

1. Control: Should I control my investments or should I go through intermediaries? How much this controls costs me?
2. Risk: How much money I can lose?
3. Volatility: The price of the asset has many variations? (Something very common in higher risk products)
4. Liquidity: how quickly could sell the asset?
5. Costs: The cost of buying, selling and managing the investment?

An investment can produce two types of income:

1. Capital: When the price of the investment goes up in value.
2. Income: When you receive dividends.

In any case I always recommend products that you can control with Internet through the online banking for three simple reasons:

1. You get more interest
2. They have less expenses
3. You can control it at all times

Create passive income

Making a living from passive income is to control assets and create a system that operates automatically without any intervention on your part. But passive income will not get started "passively", unless you get an inheritance, of course.

We must begin to acquire assets and passive income will be the result. Before you make your first investment you must get the most important asset of all: your financial training. This the foundation that will allow you to build your system.

More tips for your first investment

Image courtesy of [Sujin Jetkasettakorn] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

To decide which financial product purchase start by study its evolution and seek for historical information. Look at the products that have evolved better in downturns in the financial markets, if it worked well in hard times, those are the good ones!.

When buying do not lean in prices: a lower-priced product can be at their most expensive moment. Do not rush, if in doubt choose safe funds to ensure a minimum return and in any case you will be putting your money back to work for you.

Many recommend diversifying to many financial product to minimize risks, but I see this as a problem that will hinder you from managing effectively your assets.

And finally, even if it is your first investment, do not get into the hands of a bank manager: he or she is there to collect their fees and make their own money, so their recommendations will remain influenced by their own interests.

How much should I invest?

I could not tell you much you should invest, just say what you can save the rest of the money into an emergency fund, which is always an investment anyway, but it will allow you to have enough cash for a project or something you want to buy without asking for a credit to get it.

Are you ready for your first investment?

Well if you'd make 10% less than your usual salary, would you be able to live on it?
But if you really think you cannot afford to save 10% of your earnings then just start to save 5%.
The thing is to start a new habit of paying yourself first, and see how much you have got left to live.

This would be an ideal distribution of monthly income:

Salary:

Savings: up to 20%

Entertainment, leisure: 10%-30%

Current-expenses: 50%-80%

Look: First is the savings, pay yourself first and then you will see for the rest.

Where to invest money?

•      Savings books
•      Safe financial products

Image courtesy of [ddpavumba,] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. Savings books: they do not produce much interests, the advantage is that the interest is guaranteed and you can withdraw money at will. Is a good way to start or when you have not that much money.
2. Financial products without risks: they get interesting enough when you find a product that yields a 4, or 4.5% interest, the kind of product depends on the country you are. Here in France there are life insurances, with the start minimum fund of 1000 euros. Well, this must be studied carefully in each case ad watch the evolution of the interest, and is even more beneficial if tax deducted for

In any case, do not forget that:

I'm no expert on finances, this is only my advice.
The idea is to get out of credit slavery on the road to financial freedom.

How much money should I put in emergency savings?

The system is simple, just put the equivalent to 6 months of expenses, and then start saving  between 10% and 15% each month.
In round numbers: If your monthly expenses are up to $1000, start saving up to $6000.
This amount can keep you away from asking for a credit when you are in need or it can be a small project to buy you some important thing.