Articles on Financial Matters:

Don't Get Ripped Off

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION

My colleague Wayne Van Dyck has a corporate attorney friend who sent the following out to the employees in his company.

It's worth reading and doing.

1. The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

2. Do not sign the back of your credit cards.Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED."

3. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check-processing channels will not have access to it.

4. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box, use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks, (DUH!). You can add it if it is necessary. However, if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

5. Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. Also carry a photocopy of your passport when traveling either here or abroad. We have all heard horror stories about fraud that is committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

6. When you check out of a hotel that uses cards for keys (and they all seem to do that now), do not turn the "keys" in. Take them with you and destroy them. Those little cards have on them all of the information you gave the hotel, including address and credit card numbers and expiration dates. Someone with a card reader, or employee of the hotel, can access all that information with no problem whatsoever.

Unfortunately, as an attorney, I have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month.Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer and received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online. Here is some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

1. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. The key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

2. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one). However, here is what is perhaps most important of all (I never even thought to do this.)

3. Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Best,
Huey Lee
U.S.A.
09 Feb 2007

http://www.MySecretMethod.com
http://www.EnterpriseWealth.com
http://www.MarketingOctane.com

Post An Article

If you would like to post something please click the link below

Post A Query

Testimony

Feedback

Copyright © 2006 - 2007 Tons Of Matters.com. All rights reserved.

<<  previous  1  2  3  4  5  next  >>

Tons of Matters.com

If you matter, then we matter!

All The Matters Adult Matters Adventure Matters Advertising Matters Ancient Matters Animal Matters Art Matters Astrology Matters Astronomy Matters Automobile Matters Baby Matters Beauty Matters Bible Matters Bike Matters Blog Matters Book Matters Brand Matters Business Matters Car Matters Career Matters CEO Matters Charity Matters Child Matters Christmas Matters Church Matters Coaching Matters Communication Matters Community Matters Computer Matters Consultancy Matters Creative Matters Cuisine Matters Cultural Matters Decor Matters Digital Matters Dining Matters D.I.Y. Matters ECommerce Matters Education Matters Electronic Matters E-Magazine Matters Entertainment Matters Entrepreneur Matters Environment Matters EPL Matters Events Matters Family Matters Fantasy Matters Fashion Matters Feng Shui Finance Matters Financial Matters Fishing Matters Fitness Matters Food Matters Funny Matters Gadget Matters Games Matters Gardening Matters Global Matters Golf Matters Google Matters Gracious Matters Happy Matters Health Matters History Matters Hobby Matters Hollywood Matters Holy Matters Home Matters Horoscope Matters HR Matters Hygiene Matters Image Matters Industrial Matters Inspiration Matters Insurance Matters Internet Matters Investment Matters Leadership Matters Legal Matters Lifestyle Matters Love Matters Luxury Matters Machine Matters Management Matters Manufacturing Matters Marine Matters Marketing Matters Marriage Matters Material Matters Media Matters Medical Matters Men Matters Money Matters Motivation Matters Movie Matters Music Matters New Matters! New Year Matters Occasion Matters Office Matters Organization Matters Outsource Matters Parenting Matters Passion Matters Personal Matters Pet Matters Photography Matters Popular Matters PR Matters Printing Matters Professional Matters Project Matters Psychology Matters Publishing Matters Real Estate Matters Recipe Matters Relationship Matters Religion Matters Research Matters Resource Matters Retail Matters Safety Matters Sales Matters Science Matters Seasonal Matters Service Matters Sexy Matters Shopping Matters Social Matters Speaking Matters Spiritual Matters Sports Matters Strategy Matters Success Matters Survival Matters Teaching Matters Teen Matters Technology Matters Tennis Matters Trading Matters Training Matters Transportation Matters Travel Matters Trend Matters Vacation Matters Video Matters Wealth Matters Weather Matters Web Matters Wedding Matters Wellness Matters Wine Matters Wildlife Women Matters WOW Matters Writing Matters Xtreme Matters Yahoo Matters

Saving & Investing Is About Delayed Pleasures!

In today's Materialistic Society, it is very common to have a whole list of "wants" when we go shopping, and see all the wonderful items on display "calling out" to us. The temptation to spend is even stronger, especially when year-end bonuses might be given out, and the lure of easy spending from credit cards makes it harder to resist that temptation. However, a key part to building your wealth, especially when you are starting out, is to save. You can't build wealth from nothing. So, every amount of savings that you can set aside for investment helps. It is important though, that we do not lapse into the mindset that saving and investing require us to make a huge sacrifice, or that we need to really scrimp and save, and live a hard life now, in order to enjoy a comfortable retirement.

It is far better to think positive and be goal-oriented about the future, rather than to bemoan any current sacrifices made in the name of saving and investing. Some people think, "I have to set aside some money, so I will not buy this branded bag, or this plasma TV!" In the end, they may get resentful about saving. Perhaps after a while, they give in to their whims and buy those items, and just give up on even saving, because they feel that it is impossible. This is worse than saving less, because they have totally given up on saving.

The better way might be to think that everything should be done in moderation, and that saving and investing are really about "delayed pleasures". Don't tell yourself you will neverget that plasma TV. Tell yourself that with the money you save and invest, in time to come, it would have grown enough for you to buy that plasma TV, and you would still have some savings left to continue growing your wealth.

An easy method to gauge how wealth might grow is to bear in mind that at a rate of return of 10% per annum, your net worth would double every seven years. Investing is really about biding your time and being patient, and not about taking shortcuts. Investors who think they can hasten the rate their wealth grows, by going into very high-risk investments, often end up losing money instead, owing to their impatience. Therefore, rather than tell yourself, "I have to scrimp and save for the next seven or ten years before I can spend this money", set out certain financial goals which are achievable in the short-term, and reward yourself when you achieve those goals.

Think of your wealth as a reservoir-you are adding diligently to your reservoir of wealth, but every now and then, it is alright to reward yourself with the fruits of your investing success, while continuing with the habit of saving. Some people save and invest throughout their entire life, simply because it has become a lifelong habit, and this is a good practice to adopt.

Let me sahre with you an example of how to adopt a more positive attitude towards saving and investing: Take on a regular saving plan (RSP) with a fund that you feel you can hold on to for the long term - most RSPs start from as low as $100 per month. Then decide on a minimum sum of cash that you feel should be set aside in your bank account as emergency cash reserves. At the end of the month, if you have surplus cash above that threshold amount that you had set, that excess amount of cash can be set aside for investments. In addition, when you receive your yearly bonus, before you even start to spend it, you can invest half of the amount (or more!), and spend the rest. At the end of the following year, if your investments have done well, reward yourself by spending some of the investment earnings on an object of your fancy.

In this way, you would not be dramatically toning down your current lifestyle just to save. Instead, see it as living a lifestyle in moderation, so that you are able to set aside some savings that would bear fruit in the future.

Here's an example how this might work in practice. Please note that this is an example and may not be appropriate for every investor out there.

Alicia already has $1,000 in investments. She also keeps a minimum sum of $3,000 in her bank account at all times. Here is how she saves her money and rewards herself with some of the investment returns each year.

This did not require her to make huge sacrifices on her current lifestyle. She simply had to spend $100 less every month, and spending only half of her year-end bonus. When she did have extra cash, she saved it. And slowly but surely, she was building up her wealth.

The important thing is not to take away too much money for self-rewards, especially at the start when you are beginning to build your wealth. Many years down the road, when your wealth is large enough to generate a large amount of returns purely on its own, you can then afford to give yourself bigger rewards.

The important thing is not to be penny wise and pound foolish. Very often, it is the purchasing of big-ticket items which results in the depletion of our wealth and reserves that we have built up painstakingly over the years. When I speak of "big-ticket items", I am referring to the buying of an apartment, lavish vacations, high-end electronic items, the cost of holding a wedding banquet, purchasing of a car, and so forth. When you feel the impulse to spend on an extravagent item, such as on a lavish vacation, simply remind yourself that "the money that I save from going to a country nearer to home for my vacation, means that I may eventually save enough money to go for a much more lavish vacation in the future!" The same goes for the purchasing of a car - "money saved from not buying the car means that I will be able to go on a vacation every year, and I will still be able to buy a car 7 to 10 years down the road."

Your nest egg should be something that is constantly growing (unless it is a very bad year for financial markets, resulting in losses in your investments). Even your rewards to yourself should not cause it to shrink by more than what it had gained in that year. Therefore, try not to dip freely into your reserves every time you need cash. That is the fastest way to end up with nothing again.

The whole point is to moderate your sepnding, or perhaps in some situations, even delay it. I know of some couples who had spent tens of thousands of dollars on their wedding banquest, which at the end of it all, is essentially just a one-day affair. Speaking from the point of view of one who has gone through the marriage experience, it is not worth over-spending on wedding banquets just to have a perfect "once in a lifetime" memory. Because after all the wine is drunk and the guests have gone home, that is when your marriage truly starts. How happy a marriage you will have depends on what you and your spouse do after the wedding day, not during. In fact, over-spending may lead to severe money problems down the road, instead of creating that "perfect memory".

In conclusion, get into the habit of saving. But do not treat it as a chore or as a big sacrifice. Instead of telling yourself "I have to spend less and scrimp", remind yourself that "by spending less now and saving it, I will be rewarded in the future." Investing can be a happy affair, especially when you see the fruits of your investments, and get to spend some of them. Think of it as planting the tree now so that you can eat the apples that will grow on the tree in the future. Investing is very much the same. It is all about delayed pleasures!

Wong Sui Jau
Fundsupermart.com
Singapore
20 Feb 2007

Wong Sui Jau is the General Manager of Funsupermart.com. www.fundsupermart.com