Archive for October, 2009

October 28th 2009

Term life insurance: Money-saving tips (they do exist)!

Save on life insurance


Term life insurance is the most affordable way to protect your family’s future. As inexpensive as term life insurance is, there are money-saving tips that will ensure you are paying only what you need. Get the most value for your dollar by checking out the following helpful tips that will save you money while still getting great protection.

Get coverage early – the sooner you buy life insurance the less your annual premiums: Some people are gamblers by nature and choose to take their chances by skipping out on life insurance. Although it is unlikely you’ll die during your working years, you’re not insuring for what’s likely to happen but instead, for the worst-case scenario. That’s why term life insurance costs less the younger you are. It is also why you should buy it sooner rather than later-because you’ll be providing financial security without spending a lot of money for it.

For example, if we look at the cost to purchase a $250,000 Term 10 life insurance policy you’ll see how delaying purchasing a policy by just a few years could cost you more in annual premiums.

For male non-smokers*: A 35 year-old may get quotes for as little as $195 per year for a 10-year total cost of $1,950. A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as $263 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,630. A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as $373 per year for a 10-year total cost of $3,730.

For female non-smokers*: A 35 year-old may get quotes for as little as $165 per year for a 10-year total cost of $1,650. A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as $210 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,100. A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as $270 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,700.

Lowest quote online from February 2006 for a Term 10 policy, one of the most popular life insurance products in Canada. Premiums shown are the rates if paid annually.

2. When your age isn’t really your age: Your next birthday may be 6 months away but in the eyes of most life insurers you’ve already hit that next magical number. When you get a life insurance quote, the rate you are given is based on the age you are closest to which, 50 per cent of the time is your age at your next birthday. It’s a term called “Age Nearest”, and that half-year price increase could really add up. See the difference yourself.

For male non-smokers*:

A 39 year-old may get quotes for as little as $248 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,480 A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as $263 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,630.

A savings of $150

A 44 year-old may get quotes for as little as $345 per year for a 10-year total cost of $3,450. A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as $373 per year for a 10-year total cost of $3,730.

A savings of $280

For a female non-smoker*:

A 39 year-old may get quotes for as little as $200 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,000 A 40 year-old may get quotes for as little as $210 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,100.

A savings of $100

A 44 year-old may get quotes for as little as $255 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,550. A 45 year-old may get quotes for as little as $270 per year for a 10-year total cost of $2,700.

A savings of $150

Lowest quote online in January 2006 for a Term 10 policy. Premiums shown are the rates if paid annually.

3. If you’re a smoker ask about incentive programs aimed at helping you quit: While not all life insurance companies offer incentive programs to help you quit, some do and could save you money if you are thinking about buying life insurance and quitting smoking. For example, one such company will refund you an amount equal to the difference between the premiums you already paid as a smoker and those you would have paid had you not smoked. What’s more, once you quit smoking, this same company will adjust your premiums to non-smoker rates based on the age you were when you purchased the policy, not the age you are at the time you quit!

Check out your payment/billing options: Many life insurance life insurance companies offer discounts to consumers who pay their annual premiums up front. If you have the money handy, you could save up to 10 per cent of your policy’s premium each year. For example:

• A 35 year-old male with $250,000 in coverage can pay $195 up front per year for life insurance coverage. If paid in monthly installments, however, the annual premium jumps to about $215. Paying up front can save this person $20 per year!

• A 40 year-old male with $250,000 in coverage can pay $263 up front per year for life insurance coverage. If paid in monthly installments, however, the annual premium jumps to about $288. Paying up front can save this person $25 per year!

• A 45 year-old male with $250,000 in coverage can pay $373 up front per year for life insurance coverage. If paid in monthly installments, however, the annual premium jumps to about $407. Paying up front can save this person $34 per year!

Life insurance made even more affordable: With these money-saving tips in hand, Term Life insurance is more affordable than ever. There is no better time than now to get the coverage you and your family need.



For more information on life insurance, or for quotes, http://www.kanetix.ca/term-life-insurance service provides instant online quotes from some of Canada’s most recognized and trusted life insurance companies.

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October 28th 2009

The Low Down on Managing Your Budget and Cashflow Exposed!

Managing your budget


t the very title of this article is enough to make you run for cover! Along with paper piles, budget and Cashflow is another area that can drive solo business owners over the edge! In your corporate days you would have had a bookkeeping/accounting department that took care of all of this for you – they paid the invoices, they tracked the receivables, they tracked the income, and they told you the bottom line!

Now that you’re running your own business you are also the Chief Financial Officer, and it can be very overwhelming. However, it needn’t be… let me share with you three simple steps that you can put in place to manage your budget and Cashflow.

What is a Cashflow projection?

One important area of your Financial Management System is that of a Cashflow projection. Put simply, a Cashflow projection shows whether your anticipated income will be able to cover your expected (projected) expenses and this report is very beneficial to you in your business.

It is an annual report and, if set up correctly, will show you how cash will flow through your business throughout the current financial year. As a solo business owner myself, I’ve been utilizing the Cashflow report in my own business for many years and find it invaluable. Just recently the chance to participate in a high-profile teleclass series came up, and because I have my systems in place, I knew straightaway that it was something I could take part in!

Step 1 – Create Your Cashflow Report

This is very easy to do using a spreadsheet. Create a column that lists all of your expenses, i.e. office supplies, legal & professional fees, membership, advertising etc. and a column for each month of the year. You will need to create formulae that will tell you your total income, total expenses, and subtracts the expenses from the income, and also carries forward any amounts from month-to-month. This is so you can see how your finances are ‘flowing’ throughout the year.

Step 2 – Input Your Data

Taking your financial data from your bookkeeping system input your actual income and expenses, and list any projected expenses in the appropriate row/column. Your Cashflow report will now show you at-a-glance any time periods for which you will need to be especially aware of. For example you may have a lot of expenses in one particular month so you’ll know that the previous month you’ll need to make sure that you have the funds kept back in your bank account to take care of those upcoming expenses.

It will also show you if you can afford to make an investment in your business, whether that’s signing up for a new service or membership club, taking out an advertisement, or buying new equipment.

Your Cashflow projection can also be used as a budget planner. You can plan out when annual memberships are due and put those in ahead of time. Additionally, add an amount for when your taxes are due. This will provide you with a really good feel of how cash is flowing through your business, month after month, throughout the year, and you can also tell how much you can take off for owners draw, but still leave enough to cover the anticipated expenses.

Step 3 – Schedule In The Time

Now that you have your Cashflow report in place, it’s important that you update it regularly so that you can stay aware of how cash is flowing through your business, and take any actions necessary so that you have enough to cover all of your anticipated expenses.

I recommend scheduling in at least 30 minutes once a month to update this critical financial management report.

A Final Thought…

Having an annual Cashflow projection will provide you with all of the information you need so that you can keep on top of your business financially and know where you are.

Do you have a bookkeeper? Ask them to prepare your monthly Cashflow report for you.



Tracey Lawton is the office organization expert and teaches online service professionals how to operate an efficient, organized, and profitable business. Let her teach you how to create office organization success in your business, and receive The 7 Key Steps To An Efficient And Organized Office, report free at http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com

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October 28th 2009

A computer technician is required for different types of computer support



A computer technician is one who gives computer support to all computer users either individually or in his capacity as an employee of a computer service center. As there could be hardly any individual whose computer has never had any problem, there would be no one who had not required the help of a computer technician at one time or other.

A computer technician is needed to solve hardware or software problems that need immediate attention or will be needed to give computer support of a general nature that will help in the optimum performance of a computer. There are often problems of a general nature that will make the computer slow, or where programs will fail to use all its options. Users should seek the help of a computer technician not just to have those problems fixed but also to understand what those problems are, so that they can handle it themselves later.

One such problem of a general nature is registry repair. Registry problems often cause the computer to perform unsatisfactorily and a computer technician will be able to clean it manually. If the user has got the background and interest to do it, he can learn from the technician how to remove the unwanted files manually. If this does not appear feasible, guidance can be sought from a computer technician on how to do it using a registry cleaner.

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October 28th 2009

The Benefits of P90X Yoga Workout



The P90X home fitness training system is an intensive system of workouts that claim you can “get ripped” within 90 days by using this system, and with a 90 day money back guarantee there seems to be little harm and all benefit to trying it.

This training system is hosted by Tony Horton, and the workout itself is broken down into 12 different units, one of which is a Yoga workout. The host of the show is very careful to point out the benefits of yoga, and how it is integral to the very core concept of this train-at-home system, which is called Muscle Confusion.

Muscle confusion is the process by which the muscles of the body are worked through a variety of movements and exercises which each take time to master. In this way, the muscle’s process of recovery and growth is accelerated in order to keep up with the new demands. The P90X system hopes to avoid the dreaded “plateau” by keeping the workouts fresh and different each day.

The yoga portion of this system is performed on day 4 of the workout program, and as such is an integral part of the P90X training schedule.  Tony Horton explains how yoga combines flexibility, coordination, balance, strength and breath control to not only enhance your physique but to also strengthen the body. The P90X yoga workout proves that there is power and difficulty in each of the moves designed with six benefits in mind: muscular endurance, mind-muscle connection, active recovery, flexibility, agility and mental focus.

Yoga is traditionally a total body workout, and this 90 minute P90X yoga session is no different. Several moves in this workout stress repetition which will aid in increasing your level of muscular endurance. The poses in this workout are designed to use as many muscle groups as possible at the same time, thereby increasing your mind to muscle coordination. The active recovery part of this yoga workout is meant to exercise a fatigued muscle in a way that allows it to recover from previous workouts and of course every yoga movement increases flexibility. Agility is as important as flexibility and the P90X yoga workout includes moving asanas which are done at a slow speed, which increases agility. The fluidity of the yoga workout allows much time for the development of mental focus and is guided by the Tony Horton as the moves are executed.

While the kind of body you see in magazines and on television may be a distant possibility, there is no doubt that the addition of the yoga workout to this home training system is integral to achieving the ‘ripped’ look the system claims is entirely attainable.

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October 27th 2009

Making Table Tents More Appetizing: Design Tips



Table tents are remarkable tools for the service industry. If used right, they can increase your sales to half or even double its normal rates. Of course, that success depends on your table tent design. It is important to create the best possible design in table printing. You should always aim to make the most of your investment in product promotions by doing so.

For table tents, there are a few major design pointers you need to adhere to, so that you can make the best possible layout that will attract your customers. Below are a few of these design pointers to help you out.

1. The first thing you should always remember in designing table tents are the images of your products in them. Make sure that you always use high quality full color images in your table tents. Also, the pictures must show your products in the best possible view to capitalize on the image quality. Keeping these two characteristics should always be a major goal for your table tent printing campaign. If you have the best picture printed in the best image quality that the online table tent printing company has to offer, your table tent should be able to entice your customers with ease.

To accomplish this, it is best to hire a professional photographer and a professional printer. The professional photographer should be able to make your products look their best using the best lighting and angles possible, making your products look good on the table tent. In terms of the paper and printing quality, most businesses employ table tent printing companies to assure the quality of their table tents.

2. Next, you also need to pay attention to the proper proportion of your table tents. This aspect all depends on the layout of your restaurant, bar or hotel room. A table tent’s size must be large enough to be noticed on tables, while still being small enough for people to use that table. So aim for a table tent size that is 1/8th or 1/16th of the overall table size if possible. This assures you that the table tent is doing its job properly, while still conserving space for people to use the table.

3. Another thing you should consider in the design of your table tents is its shape. Table tents can appear like a “tent” like the ones you see in tables, but they can also appear as fliers inside table tent “containers” as well. You can have your table tents printed in these common shapes, or you can have a custom table tent printing that has table tents with a different shape. A circle or star shaped table tent for example can garner a lot of looks.

If you want to have special table tents for your products and gain the best possible effect for them, then you should consider changing the shape to get that attention. However, this may come at a cost, since customized cutting can cost a significant amount. If you use the standard sizes and dimensions however, then you should save some money on printing. This act though may lead your table tents to be looking normal and mundane. Just decide which the best choice is for your purposes and stick with it.

4. Lastly, always remember to use simple but attractive fonts in your table tents. You need to have characters that are eye-catching and easy to understand so that people can admire your table tent while reading on how to order your product. Just search and download free fonts over the Internet and you should be alright in whatever table tent printing situation comes up.

Great! That should end our small guide in table tent printing. Take note of the crucial points that you have learned and you should have no trouble in printing table tents for the future. So go ahead and create your new table tents. Good Luck!

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