Finance Books

Finance for Non-Financial Managers: A Briefcase Book

With the world economy in a crisis situation at the moment let`s look at what can be done for individuals to help get by.

Creating a Budget

First, work out your average monthly income. (Most have found that the monthly basis is the easiest to work with.) To do this, you have to add up all the incomes of all wage earners in your family: salaries, interest, tax rebates and other sources of cash to you. Subtract any deductions made for income tax and other purposes. If any of the income is earned weekly, multiply by four and a third. That gives you an approximate monthly figure. Now add them up. That is what you can spend each month-no more!

Next, add up all your recurring bills: rent or mortgage payments, lighting and heating, telephone, and so forth. Since most of these bills come in each month, you can see why there is value in calculating your income on a monthly basis. Remember to include such items as food, beverages, newspapers and other things for which you probably pay cash each week. Now, have you added up everything? What about average expenditure for clothing? trips and vacations? entertainment? home repairs and upkeep? dry cleaning? These are items often overlooked.

There are some bills that come due once a year, such as taxes, automobile license plates and insurance. Divide these by 12 to get a monthly figure. At this point, what total expenses do you have for a month?

The Value to You

Now you are at the point where you can compare the figure for your monthly income with the one for your expenses. What do you see? If you have enough to cover your bills, that is fine. But do not abandon your budget at this point! For one thing, there would be wisdom not only in setting aside needed funds for monthly costs but also in saving for the unforeseen expenses that will come along during the year. Things will wear out or break down. Allow for these.

But take a look at other expenses. What are you spending on alcoholic beverages? Others watch their paychecks go up in smoke. One person, smoking two packs a day, can easily spend $1,000 or more a year on cigarettes. Some have adopted the practice of eating at a restaurant once a week, but that can cost some families a sizable chunk out of a week’s salary. That same meat or seafood delicacy could be purchased for much less and enjoyed at home-with additional savings on gasoline, tips and parking. Could you use another $3,000 or more a year? That is what might be saved in these areas alone. Obviously, there are other ways of cutting back on expenditures, so it`s important to be realistic about your outgoings.

It`s only by knowing your precise income and expenditure through use of a budget that you`ll be better able to balance your housekeeping books.

Once the decision to divorce has been finalized, most people pass through the stages of grief associated with the loss of a loved one. While no two people experience the same journey, we all experience the stages, with some people skipping a stage while others repeat some of the stages. Those stages are Denial, Anger and Resentment, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. You will likely experience most or all of these stages. Google the stages of grief. Understand them. Anticipate them. Make them yours, and then let them go.

Push through the pain to understand your financial condition. It’s important for you to understand what that condition is, so you can be a helpful part of your legal team in looking after your best interests. No one knows better than you what is best for you, and to be a emotional wreck curled up in a fetal position won’t help your future.

Like the coach on the sidelines, you are the one person responsible for guiding your team toward its goals. Your legal or accounting teams are your quarterbacks on the field, where they call plays and physically move the team. You call the shots, however. You send in the plays. You direct the Big Picture. Be involved and stay involved.

Make certain you don’t put yourself into a position where you accept an unfair divorce settlement knowingly. Most partners who just want to walk away and avoid a fight usually do so at their own future peril. As tough an enormous emotional challenge as this is, see it through.

Take a financial snapshot of yourself and your situation soon after separating from your spouse. Inventory everything you own. If possible, make a video of as many possessions as you can.

Avoid mistakes. Trying to undo mistakes after the fact, especially after considerable time has passed, can be very difficult. If you give short shrift to any of the following, you run the risk of getting less than you deserve.

Create an interim budget based on what expenses you personally will need to maintain. Call this your separation budget. This budget will serve you (and any attorney) well when you begin discussing transferring assets with child support, alimony or any transfer of possessions.

Determine the fixed expenses you’ll incur over the short term, which will contain housing, utilities, retirement, insurance payments or auto expenses. Make lists of expenses you’ll retain, expenses your ex will retain, and expenses that may need to be negotiated. Are there any assets that are at risk if the payments don’t get paid? If so, identify them along with how long the creditor will remain open to payment. You may wish to hire a Certified Divorce Financial Analysts who can thoroughly sort out your marital accumulations.

Understand the degree of liquidity of your assets, and how they relate to the current economic conditions in society. Some assets like real estate or automobile collections can be highly illiquid if market conditions are bad, or if you and your spouse disagree on a price for those assets.

Know the liquidity difference between retirement accounts versus brokerage accounts. Retirement accounts are somewhat illiquid, in that assets removed from them result in tax consequences, and if the withdrawal occurs before age 59 ½, an IRS early withdrawal penalty.

Get a complete picture on how much cash is on hand. Make sure you include any accounts used for specific purposes (vacation, Christmas, etc).

Personal collections, which can include autos, guns and the like, can be somewhat illiquid, with valuations speculative.

When fashioning a wish list of what assets you want from the marriage, don’t take on too much illiquid assets unless you’re certain you can manage without being forced to sell those illiquid assets. If you get the house and he gets the cash, you could be at a disadvantage if you need to raise some cash in the future.

Assemble the marital assets according to cash flow from each. Here again, you may not want to assume assets that don’t produce cash flow.

If a particular asset should be sold, is the market good or not so good? In light of depressed 2009 economic conditions, one asset may be preferable to sell over another.

Be certain to identify all assets- Leave no stone unturned. Spouses have been known to conceal assets prior to or right after a marital separation. You (or your team) will need to be sleuths to be certain all assets are included. Some are hesitant to disclose a piece of art or jewelry, but if you’re forced to admit it exists and you lied to your attorney, it makes for messy relations.

On occasion a forensic accountant is hired to locate missing or hidden assets, and the costs are borne by the overall aggregate in most cases.

Be certain you have copies of tax returns. They provide the basis to begin the discovery process (most people are afraid to lie to the IRS). You or your team will want to go back 5-7 on tax returns, looking for evidence of trusts, partnerships, private placements, real estate holdings, and the like.

For couple involved in a business, tax returns can expose a spouse trying to cook the books in his or her own best interest. A common ploy is to put a friend on the payroll and, for a fee, return the salary back to your spouse.

Get copies of checking and savings accounts, going back several years.. Reviewing statements can reveal the transfer of money or the payment for a now hidden asset. Income and/or capital gains will also appear on one’s past tax filings.

Brokerage accounts offer the same paper trail. Obtain copies of these statements going back at least 5 years.

Determine if there was ever an expense account connected with employment. Examine what was paid back and how it was categorized.

Companies often grant stock options to employees. These stock options are often listed with benefits statements from the employer. Make sure your side demands to know about any stock options and the potential value of them in the future.

Are there any children’s accounts? UGMA, UTMA, 529 plans (College Savings Accounts) or other accounts? Stock dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPS)? It’s wise to get copies of these account statements too, because assets can me moved around, or accounts can be liquidated and residual value returned to the parent. These accounts can be great places to park money until after the divorce.

If there were previous marriages between you two, and assets were owned before your marriage, they will likely be treated differently than marital assets. Your Financial Planner or Forensic Accountant can explain how each are treated.

Know your Insurance Policies.

Home and vehicle insurance should be reviewed, and consider contacting your agent to request notice of any changes.

Life insurance annuities or other insurance contracts, including business-related 2nd to Die insurance policies or Buy-Sell agreements, should be examined. If you and/or your spouse have owned a business, be sure to explore all insurance policies.

Debt and Credit Issues. Retrieve copies of your credit report from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies. Federal law allows us all to receive one free credit file per reporting agency per year. Determine your FICO score(s) and scan each file for any unrecognizable account listed on each.

If it makes sense to do, consider placing locks or holds on credit files to prevent further credit being applied for. Speaking with a divorce lawyer on this one would make sense.

Close all joint accounts. Doing so early on in the separation and divorce process can get tricky. Closing them in most cases can be done just by yourself. If you close a joint bank account and remove cash, consider giving your spouse half, or less than half if you intend to reserve some cash for joint bills. As long as you retain, and spend the money fairly, you likely won’t get into hot water with the court. Some might be tempted to leave more than half in the account, being considerate that your spouse will use some of it for your half of expenses. Don’t assume this will happen. Many spouses will take the money, consider it all theirs, and then demand “your half”.

Your marital status at year’s end will determine how you file next year’s taxes. Whether you file married filing jointly or married filing separately can be determined by you and your spouse, or your attorneys, but in no case should be left out of your final written agreement.

Have a contingency in the final decree that should there be any penalties, interest or further taxes owed by either, that it be spelled out who pay, when they pay, and how they pay.

Retirement Accounts- Know the rules of the road.

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is a court order mandating that certain assets in a retirement account be transferred from one spouse’s account to the other. You need to fully understand the many tax ramifications and penalties associated with not using a QDRO or distributing from a retirement account.

IRA Accounts. Regular IRAs, Roth, rollovers etc. Know how these accounts are treated tax-wise. Removing assets often involves taxes and often penalties before age 59 ½ and 70 ½. 401(k)s and 403(b)s are most often the accounts that receive QDROs.

Taxes. If there are significant assets, consider an accountant to determine what tax obligations would be incurred selling any of your assets.

Knowing one asset incurs a much larger capital gain tax if sold rather than another asset may cause a decision to choose one asset over the other. If either of you were married previously, and one of you moved into your spouses home, and that home is sold, a capital gain calculation will be different than if you two bought the home together. Speak with your team to determine which tax filing status is more advantageous to you, and negotiate toward that end. Insert language that spells out exactly how an asset is to be sold, how the taxes are claimed or distributed, and how any taxes must be paid.

If you sold a home prior to 1997 and rolled that capital gain over to an existing home, and then sold that home, the old rules apply to determine the cost basis for the current capital gain amount. This would increase your gain and possibly influence when and how much you might sell the property.

After the Divorce process is completed

Credit, Debt and the New You.

Begin by establishing your own credit file. Federal Law requires that each credit customer be allowed one free credit report from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies. You’ll want to request the file individually, but the reports will likely result in joint information. Requesting the report individually actually establishes an individual file.

If you have an inadequate amount of individual credit history, you’ll want to establish several accounts as soon as possible. Keep in mind that you only want credit cards that you’ll actually use, so don’t go crazy trying to accumulate credit cards.

Retrieve the budget you created during the early part of your divorce, and revise it based on your new circumstances. Make sure fixed costs appear there (housing, utilities, car payments, contractual payments, etc.) and include any new spending pertaining to your single needs.

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there

Be flexible. Your new life, especially if it includes raising children, will offer more surprises than expectations. Remember that while you personally endured the divorce, children suffered through an event too.

Attend to beneficiary concerns. You must name them as soon as possible, because if you don’t, and you die, your state will impose a will on your heirs (in testate) that can result in your wishes not going fulfilled. Wills, Trusts, retirement accounts, bank accounts and insurance contracts will need to be revised. Don’t put it off.

If you haven’t already, create a personal blueprint that lays out goals, wishes and aspirations you’ve developed over the years. Be sure to include the dreams and desires you may have developed in a marriage that didn’t allow them being fulfilled.

Once the decision to divorce has been finalized, most people pass through the stages of grief associated with the loss of a loved one. While no two people experience the same journey, we all experience the stages, with some people skipping a stage while others repeat some of the stages. Those stages are Denial, Anger and Resentment, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. You will likely experience most or all of these stages. Google the stages of grief. Understand them. Anticipate them. Make them yours, and then let them go.

Push through the pain to understand your financial condition. It’s important for you to understand what that condition is, so you can be a helpful part of your legal team in looking after your best interests. No one knows better than you what is best for you, and to be a emotional wreck curled up in a fetal position won’t help your future.

Like the coach on the sidelines, you are the one person responsible for guiding your team toward its goals. Your legal or accounting teams are your quarterbacks on the field, where they call plays and physically move the team. You call the shots, however. You send in the plays. You direct the Big Picture. Be involved and stay involved.

Make certain you don’t put yourself into a position where you accept an unfair divorce settlement knowingly. Most partners who just want to walk away and avoid a fight usually do so at their own future peril. As tough an enormous emotional challenge as this is, see it through.

Take a financial snapshot of yourself and your situation soon after separating from your spouse. Inventory everything you own. If possible, make a video of as many possessions as you can.

Avoid mistakes at all costs. Trying to undo mistakes after the fact, especially after considerable time has passed, can be very difficult. If you give short shrift to any of the following, you run the risk of getting less than you deserve.

Create an interim budget based on what expenses you personally will need to maintain. Call this your separation budget. This budget will serve you (and any attorney) well when you begin discussing transferring assets with child support, alimony or any transfer of possessions.

Determine the fixed expenses you’ll incur over the short term, which will contain housing, utilities, retirement, insurance payments or auto expenses. Make lists of expenses you’ll retain, expenses your ex will retain, and expenses that may need to be negotiated. Are there any assets that are at risk if the payments don’t get paid? If so, identify them along with how long the creditor will remain open to payment. You may wish to hire a Certified Divorce Financial Analysts who can thoroughly sort out your marital accumulations.

Understand the degree of liquidity of your assets, and how they relate to the current economic conditions in society. Some assets like real estate or automobile collections can be highly illiquid if market conditions are bad, or if you and your spouse disagree on a price for those assets.

Know the liquidity difference between retirement accounts versus brokerage accounts. Retirement accounts are somewhat illiquid, in that assets removed from them result in tax consequences, and if the withdrawal occurs before age 59 ½, an I.R.S. early withdrawal penalty.

Get a complete picture on how much cash is on hand. Make sure you include any accounts used for specific purposes (vacation, Christmas, etc).

Personal collections, which can include autos, guns and the like, can be somewhat illiquid, with valuations speculative.

When fashioning a wish list of what assets you want from the marriage, don’t take on too much illiquid assets unless you’re certain you can manage without being forced to sell those illiquid assets. If you get the house and he gets the cash, you could be at a disadvantage if you need to raise some cash in the future.

Assemble the marital assets according to cash flow from each. Here again, you may not want to assume assets that don’t produce cash flow.

If a particular asset should be sold, is the market good or not so good? In light of depressed 2009 economic conditions, one asset may be preferable to sell over another.

Be certain to identify all assets- Leave no stone unturned. Spouses have been known to conceal assets prior to or right after a marital separation. You (or your team) will need to be sleuths to be certain all assets are included. Some are hesitant to disclose a piece of art or jewelry, but if you’re forced to admit it exists and you lied to your attorney, it makes for messy relations.

On occasion a forensic accountant is hired to locate missing or hidden assets, and the costs are borne by the overall aggregate in most cases.

Be certain you have copies of tax returns. They provide the basis to begin the discovery process (most people are afraid to lie to the I.R.S.). You or your team will want to go back 5-7 on tax returns, looking for evidence of trusts, partnerships, private placements, real estate holdings, and the like.

For couple involved in a business, tax returns can expose a spouse trying to cook the books in his or her own best interest. A common ploy is to put a friend on the payroll and, for a fee, return the salary back to your spouse.

Get copies of checking and savings accounts, going back several years.. Reviewing statements can reveal the transfer of money or the payment for a now hidden asset. Income and/or capital gains will also appear on one’s past tax filings.

Brokerage accounts offer the same paper trail. Obtain copies of these statements going back at least 5 years.

Determine if there was ever an expense account connected with employment. Examine what was paid back and how it was categorized.

Companies often grant stock options to employees. These stock options are often listed with benefits statements from the employer. Make sure your side demands to know about any stock options and the potential value of them in the future.

Are there any children’s accounts? UGMA, UTMA, 529 plans (College Savings Accounts) or other accounts? Stock dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPS)? It’s wise to get copies of these account statements too, because assets can me moved around, or accounts can be liquidated and residual value returned to the parent. These accounts can be great places to park money until after the divorce.

If there were previous marriages between you two, and assets were owned before your marriage, they will likely be treated differently than marital assets. Your Financial Planner or Forensic Accountant can explain how each are treated.

Know your Insurance Policies

Home and vehicle insurance should be reviewed, and consider contacting your agent to request notice of any changes.

Life insurance annuities or other insurance contracts, including business-related 2nd to Die insurance policies or Buy-Sell agreements, should be examined. If you and/or your spouse have owned a business, be sure to explore all insurance policies.

Debt and Credit Issues

Retrieve copies of your credit report from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies. Federal law allows us all to receive one free credit file per reporting agency per year. Determine your FICO score(s) and scan each file for any unrecognizable account listed on each.

If it makes sense to do, consider placing locks or holds on credit files to prevent further credit being applied for. Speaking with a divorce lawyer on this one would make sense.

Close all joint accounts. Doing so early on in the separation and divorce process can get tricky. Closing them in most cases can be done just by yourself. If you close a joint bank account and remove cash, consider giving your spouse half, or less than half if you intend to reserve some cash for joint bills. As long as you retain, and spend the money fairly, you likely won’t get into hot water with the court. Some might be tempted to leave more than half in the account, being considerate that your spouse will use some of it for your half of expenses. Don’t assume this will happen. Many spouses will take the money, consider it all theirs, and then demand “your half”.

Your marital status at year’s end will determine how you file next year’s taxes. Whether you file married filing jointly or married filing separately can be determined by you and your spouse, or your attorneys, but in no case should be left out of your final written agreement.

Have a contingency in the final decree that should there be any penalties, interest or further taxes owed by either, that it be spelled out who pay, when they pay, and how they pay.

Retirement Accounts- Know the rules of the road

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order is a court order mandating that certain assets in a retirement account be transferred from one spouse’s account to the other. You need to fully understand the many tax ramifications and penalties associated with not using a QDRO or distributing from a retirement account.

IRA Accounts.  Regular IRAs, Roth, rollovers etc. Know how these accounts are treated tax-wise. Removing assets often involves taxes and often penalties before age 59 ½ and 70 ½. 401(k)s and 403(b)s are most often the accounts that receive QDROs.

Taxes

If there are significant assets, consider an accountant to determine what tax obligations would be incurred selling any of your assets.

Knowing one asset incurs a much larger capital gain tax if sold rather than another asset may cause a decision to choose one asset over the other. If either of you were married previously, and one of you moved into your spouses home, and that home is sold, a capital gain calculation will be different than if you two bought the home together. Speak with your team to determine which tax filing status is more advantageous to you, and negotiate toward that end. Insert language that spells out exactly how an asset is to be sold, how the taxes are claimed or distributed, and how any taxes must be paid.

If you sold a home prior to 1997 and rolled that capital gain over to an existing home, and then sold that home, the old rules apply to determine the cost basis for the current capital gain amount. This would increase your gain and possibly influence when and how much you might sell the property.

After the Divorce process is completed

Credit, Debt and the New You

Begin by establishing your own credit file. Federal Law requires that each credit customer be allowed one free credit report from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies. You’ll want to request the file individually, but the reports will likely result in joint information. Requesting the report individually actually establishes an individual file.

If you have an inadequate amount of individual credit history, you’ll want to establish several accounts as soon as possible. Keep in mind that you only want credit cards that you’ll actually use, so don’t go crazy trying to accumulate credit cards.

Retrieve the budget you created during the early part of your divorce, and revise it based on your new circumstances. Make sure fixed costs appear there (housing, utilities, car payments, contractual payments, etc.) and include any new spending pertaining to your single needs.

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there

Be flexible. Your new life, especially if it includes raising children, will offer more surprises than expectations. Remember that while you personally endured the divorce, children suffered through an event too.

Attend to beneficiary concerns. You must name them as soon as possible, because if you don’t, and you die, your state will impose a will on your heirs (intestate) that can result in your wishes not going fulfilled. Wills, Trusts, retirement accounts, bank accounts and insurance contracts will need to be revised. Don’t put it off.

If you haven’t already, create a personal blueprint that lays out goals, wishes and aspirations you’ve developed over the years. Be sure to include the dreams and desires you may have developed in a marriage that didn’t allow them being fulfilled.

Remember, you’ll be happiest if you focus on the present moment and not allow yourself to keep one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Don’t straddle the present. Embrace it. Carpe Diem.

My job was really getting to me. The same hectic morning commute followed by the same boring job in my same boring cubicle. Not to mention the same annoying boss, the same measly paycheck and the same lack of being promoted after five years with the same company.

Don’t get me wrong, being with the same company for that long has its advantages. I had job security, health insurance, sick days, a paid vacation, etc. But a large part of me wanted to break out of the box. To stop making money for someone else, and to start making it for myself. To be able to do something where I can use my ideas, instead of just passing them on to some manager who will either ignore or forget about them.

I have a friend who was in the same situation as me a few years back. She was tired of the corporate world, so she opened up a flower shop in the middle of town, and has done well with it. I wanted to do something like that, but I was just worried about the risk. I also didn’t have any great ideas, or any concept of how to get started.

So I jumped online and ordered two audio books on business. One of them dealt with all of the aspects of getting a business started -how to write a business plan, how and

where to apply for financing. The other dealt with small business ideas, how to choose one based on personality and your individual strengths and weaknesses.

After following the advice and using the information I obtained with both audio books,

I recently opened a franchise sandwich shop. So far, things are going great! It feels good to be your own boss and to instruct your employees on what to do instead of the other way around. My next purchase will be another audio book, on how to manage a small business!

In this time when people are talking about credit crunch, it’s easy to figure out that commodities markets outperform traditional financial markets.
Compare to market statistics in 2000, S&P500 slips 11%, NASDAQ plummets even 53%, while Dow Jones only gains 12% (the figure may differ according different firms). However, commodities markets makes record-high growth, esp. gold and oil.
HUI gold index: 616%
XOI Oil-stock index: 189%
XNG Gas stock index: 257%

Hundreds of books on commodity trading has been pushed so far. Here are some suggested books that traders may care:

Hot Commodities – How Anyone Can Invest Profitably In The World’s Best Marke – Jim Rogers
Walter Bressert – The 12 Cardinal Mistakes of Commodity Trading
Technical Analysis Stocks & Commodities Using Fibonacci Ratios And Momentum
Cfe – Trading Commodity Spreads
Commodity Trading Advisors – Risk- Performance Analysis- And Selection
Stocks & Commodities – Secure Fractional Money Management
How I Made $1900336.82 Trading Commodities – Larry Levin
Stocks & Commodities Market Profile Basics
Stocks & Commodities – Neuroshell Trader
Intermarket Technical Analysis – Trading Strategies For The Global Stock- Bond- Commodities – Wiley Finance
Hbs – Case Study – Notes On Commodity Futures
Trading  Stocks & Commodities – Reverse Divergences And Momentum By Martin Pring
Commodities & Derivatives  The Four Biggest Mistakes In Futures Trading  J Kaeppel
Trading Ebook  Stocks & Commodities Pivot Points
The Way To Trade – Trading Futures- Stocks- E-Mini- Commodities- Options Or Forex
Commodities Trading Course For Beginners
Stocks & Commodities – Various Trend Trading Articles
Financial Market Trading Ebook George   Bayer
The Next Big Investment Boom: Learning the Secrets of Investing from a Master and How to Profit from Commodities – Kogan Page
Hot Commodities – Jim Rogers
Information Gathering For Commodities Futures – Peter Bain
Commodity Futures Trends Or Random Walks – Richard A Stevenson- Robert M Bear
Trading  Stocks & Commodities – Using Bollinger Bands By John Bollinger
Hamon – Eight New Commodity Technical Trading Methods

Books are all avaibale online on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

A health-conscious person who hardly got sick and regularly observed breast health care measures, Nina Hughes Anderson never suspected she would be diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), which is a very rare yet aggressive type of the disease.

In the self-published book “The Bumble Bee Miracle: a Story of Survival from Inflammatory Breast Cancer”, Anderson reveals through her experience why many women affected with inflammatory breast cancer do not survive this disease. She also narrates how this dreadful illness can be prevented.

Anyone can be a victim of breast cancer. Surprisingly, some types of breast cancer do not appear on a mammogram and it is possible that one can get breast cancer even without spotting a lump.

Anderson believes that no woman should go through the same horrible experience she had with inflammatory breast cancer. Through her miraculous survival and her self-published release, she hopes to educate and encourage women about the symptoms of IBC as well as ways to cope with the disease and keep IBC at bay.

In The Bumble Bee Miracle, Anderson also aims to give women with IBC the hope that they too, just like her, can survive.

About the Author

Nina Hughes Anderson is a breast cancer survivor for the last five years now. She is married and has two daughters, one of whom she lost in a tragic car accident. She retired in 2006 after spending most of her career in the accounting and finance industry. She has also been a servant-leader in her church as well. Her book, The Bumble Bee Miracle is a testament to her amazing story of survival, her faith and God’s infinite love.

About Xlibris

Xlibris was founded in 1997 and, as the leading publishing services provider for authors, has helped to publish more than 20,000 titles. Xlibris is based in Philadelphia, PA and provides authors with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound, and full-color formats.

For more information, please visit www.xlibris.com/requestkit/index.asp?src=apr&key=gc, e-mail pressrelease@xlibris.com or call at 1-888-795-4247, to receive a free publishing guide.

If your business is selling information there are somethings that you need to consider when you make the move to online business development and product delivery. This article tries to shine a light on the facets of online information sales that may be overlooked at first. Selling information online has a number of benefits  there is no physical packaging and handling to worry about and no issues of having a product in stock. For the customer there is no waiting for a delivery or a delay in receiving their goods after the sale is completed.

So, you have decided to sell information online and want to present it in eBook format, what does this entail. Plain text could be used but it leaves a lot to be desired or go on Customers paying for information have an expectation that the information will be presented in a format that reflects the thought that has gone into it. A plain text document has the look of something that was rushed out the door.

EBooks also provide features such as bookmarking, highlighting, searching, etc. Do you want to provide your customers a format that is mainly aimed at producing hardcopy (Adobe PDF) or crossplatform display? PDF files are an option when you are willing to let the purchaser print out the material and is a very professional looking solution.

The problem with PDF files is that they have hard copy as the intended primary destination and they are not well suited to viewing on small size screens. This is where certain eBook formats really shine.

Ideally a eBook format will automatically reformat the document to be viewable on different size and resolution devices while keeping inline formatting intact. There are many different eBook formats to choose from but not all are equally viable for commercial redistribution of content. Along with the ability to view on different size small screens, it is also desirable to be able to view the document on a fullsize PC display and make use of the extra screen realestate.

Do you want to handle the sales and delivery of your eBook yourself or would you like a outside company to take care of those issues for you and just leave you with the job of marketing your eBook. Handling the sales on your own gives you a lot more flexibility but takes up considerable effort and finances (to handle credit cards, PayPal, etc.) to get going.

There is one company & eBook format that can handle these issues out of the box  Mob Pocket. Broad platform support including most smart phones, PDAs, and PCs  the same eBook file will display properly formatted on all these devices
Books are based on the Open eBook standard and are a subset of the HTML markup language Ability to import from various formats including HTML and MS Word Many free books are available in Mob Pocket format which you can then bundle in as sales closers

Retail eBook sales through a large number of affiliate online stores requires no work on your part. Free eBook reader application. Purchased books are encrypted and may only be read by the eBook purchaser. Minimum retail price is $2  Funds can be in US$ or Euros. Once you have gotten a Publisher account (free) and the eBook publisher software you can upload your books to the Mob Pocket server and all the financial & distribution tasks will be taken care of for you. Just take care of the marketing and pointing potential customers at the detail page for your eBook. Make the description text for your eBook catchy  you may get sales from people who are just browsing and never thought to search for your eBook.

The sales of your eBook will pay you the wholesale price that you have set and which is 50% of the retail price. This means that you have to take into account how much you want to make on each sale vs. how much you want to charge people for your eBook. If you want to make $10 per sale then you must price your eBook at $20  which might cost too much and drive away potential sales. Its up to you

If your business is selling information there are something’s that you need to consider when you make the move to online business development and product delivery. This article tries to shine a light on the facets of online information sales that may be overlooked at first.

Selling information online has a number of benefits there is no physical packaging and handling to worry about and no issues of having a product in stock. For the customer there is no waiting for a delivery or a delay in receiving their goods after the sale is completed.

So, you have decided to sell information online and want to present it in eBook format, for more help visit to: www.eazy-ebook-money.com.what does this entail. Plain text could be used but it leaves a lot to be desired or go on Customers paying for information have an expectation that the information will be presented in a format that reflects the thought that has gone into it. A plain text document has the look of something that was rushed out the door.

Do you want to provide your customers a format that is mainly aimed at producing hardcopy (Adobe PDF) or cross platform display? PDF files are an option when you are willing to let the purchaser print out the material and is a very professional looking solution.

The problem with PDF files is that they have hard copy as the intended primary destination and they are not well suited to viewing on small size screens. This is where certain eBook formats really shine.

Ideally an eBook format will automatically reformat the document to be viewable on different size and resolution devices while keeping inline formatting intact. There are many different eBook formats to choose from but not all are equally viable for commercial redistribution of content. For more detail go to: www.allfreereports.com.Along with the ability to view on different size small screens, it is also desirable to be able to view the document on a full-size PC display and make use of the extra screen real-estate.

Do you want to handle the sales and delivery of your eBook yourself or would you like a outside company to take care of those issues for you and just leave you with the job of marketing your eBook. Handling the sales on your own gives you a lot more flexibility but takes up considerable effort and finances (to handle credit cards, Papal, etc.) to get going.

There is one company & eBook format that can handle these issues out of the box Mob Pocket. Broad platform support including most smart phones, Pads, and PCs the same eBook file will display properly formatted on all these devices
Books are based on the Open eBook standard and are a subset of the HTML markup language Ability to import from various formats including HTML and MS Word Many free books are available in Mob Pocket format which you can then bundle in as sales closers

Once you have gotten a Publisher account (free) and the eBook publisher software you can upload your books to the Mob Pocket server and all the financial & distribution tasks will be taken care of for you. Just take care of the marketing and pointing potential customers at the detail page for your eBook. Make the description text for your eBook catchy you may get sales from people who are just browsing and never thought to search for your eBook.

The sales of your eBook will pay you the wholesale price that you have set and which is 50% of the retail price. This means that you have to take into account how much you want to make on each sale vs. how much you want to charge people for your eBook. If you want to make $10 per sale then you must price your eBook at $20 which might cost too much and drive away potential sales. Its up to you

Bruised by the recent economic crisis, real estate companies are using the Web to expand their services and provide fresh insights to clients. This trend signals a new era in how real estate professionals convey information; it offers their clients greater access to current information and allows realtors, investors and other interested parties to easily update listings, news and services.

The struggling economy and an increased number of Web savvy business people inspired this movement. The recession has debilitated many businesses, forcing professionals to think creatively and develop new, affordable strategies that can increase revenue. The result is more and more companies that are willing to share their services and products as a means of growing their client base. And as businesses of every kind shift towards the Web, companies are more likely to find other companies that are complementary to their services.

The real estate market has always been a volatile business. It relies on the public’s financial welfare and optimism. If the public is not optimistic about their finances, the real estate market stiffens, causing concern among banks, economists, and real estate professionals. The current crisis has stalled the market completely. The public is reluctant to spend and the banks will not grant adequate loans. But the public remains interested — extremely interested — in how the market is behaving. This is telling. It shows that even though the public might not be ready to buy or sell their home, they are still attracted to the idea of doing so. In a way, the real estate market is a barometer, forecasting what the public would like to do.

Proactive real estate companies are watching this trend carefully. They are providing potential clients with more information. Up to the minute listings, maps and community forums give users a chance to contemplate their options and exchange their concerns. Real Estate Web sites are very popular. The public is reading them to find out how to do more with less, how to spot a good deal and avoid a risky investment.

“As tough as things are in real estate these days, I’m actually quite happy about the new direction some companies are taking,” said Margaret Mitchell, an Atlanta-based realtor. “Their services and information on the Web are constantly informative and easy to use.”

The Real Estate Book, long an established and trusted source for nationwide property listings, now offers a new service for their online colleagues. The Real Estate Book has a massive number of home listings and property information. And it has an effective, comprehensive Web site. It has combined these two strengths and developed a way to assist other real estate professionals working online. By downloading a Web site tool, otherwise known as a Widget, realtors can use the Real Estate Book’s vast resources on their own Web site. The Widget can be designed and fitted to individual Web sites. It is simple and non-intrusive. It allows users to browse listings in hundreds of communities across the United States.

By offering this service, the Real Estate Book provides smaller businesses a chance to grow. It provides the public with easy access to thousands of property listings. It works online with other real estate companies, using the Web’s diversity to succeed, and helps people do more with less.