Create Your Own Home Office

If you're one of the lucky people that telecommutes full or part-time from home, it's essential that you have an office space that allows you to perform your job efficiently. Many employers will only allow you to continue working from home if the work can be as equally productive or even better than doing it in the office. If you're planning a home-based business, you'll need to have it setup for efficiency. You'll need a desk with drawers, a filing system, somewhere to put your books and binders, a trash can and paper shredder.

Introduce the rest of the family to your rules during your work day. If your office is not in a separate room, you'll need a process for the rest of the family to follow when they arrive home. It's important that you are able to concentrate on your tasks and not be interrupted. Many professionals insist that personal items and bright colors are too distracting and should not be in your work environment. If you find this to be true, it's time for a change.

Here are some tips you can do to make the right working environment at home.

• You can make a suitable work area from a room that is not routinely used like the dining or living room. Even small alcoves like under the stairs or in a convenient corner of a room can be converted for your needs.

• Most people have a personal computer at home. If it is currently located in a space that will enable you to complete you work efficiently, maybe all you need to do is setup a procedures for the rest of the family. When you are at the computer, your procedures should clearly state your needs and how they can assist you with noise control and interruptions.

• If your office is in the study or an enclosed space, you can put the table or desk facing the door so you will easily see if someone is coming. This will provide you with an opportunity to greet family as they arrive home and transition to completing your work day.

• The work area is just for you and the work you will perform during your working hours. If there are other things in the area that could disrupt your work, it is best to remove them. Items like a television, radio and even another noisy area close by should be considered.

• All the papers and other essential things must be within reach. You can get a corkboard to display important dates and notes, a small drawer to hold the stapler, pens and other small items. If you need to make or receive calls, the phone should also be placed nearby so if it rings you can easily answer it. Some people prefer a whiteboard rather than a corkboard to jot down notes or reminders. You now also have the option of half white board and half corkboard, easily found at the large office supply stores.

• Some papers or files are used more often than others. Instead of a regular file cabinet, consider purchasing boxes to store these documents and make a system either alphabetically or by color. Having a system that you use for all documents helps you easily find them when they are needed.

• If you will be receiving documents via fax or email, you should record all the important details whenever they are received. This is part of making the working area systematic and enables you to track all the tasks not yet completed.

Creating a home office takes time to determine what is working for you and what needs to be changed. Continue to implement changes until you have found the setup that works best for your specific job or business.

Kill Your Day Job & Earn Your Living Online

Have you ever dreamed of quitting your day job and work flexible without the need to write a daily or weekly report to your boss? You are not the only one that hopes to be free from your day job because many people are like you who have the same dream in their mind. The question is how many have taken the action to make their dream come true?

In fact there are two groups of people who will never be able to quit their day job and be their own boss with an internet business. The two groups are:

1. Persons with thinking without an action.
2. Persons who tried to setup their online business but failed eventually. If you want to earn your living online and get rid of your day job, then you need to be in the group.
3. The group with people who take action to start their internet business by using the right techniques and they succeed.

Online business has nothing different with any other offline business. Don't hope to make money easily without any efforts and investment of your time and money. But comparatively, you won't need high capital to setup and running your online business. And if you do it right, your can start to generate possible ROI within a few months.

If you want to make your online business successful so that you are able to kill your day job but without affecting your income, you need to learn how to run a successful online business and copy from the success online entrepreneurs may be the best path to success. With the available of internet, you can easily find useful guides and information on how to setup and market your business at your fingertip. You may need to invest some money to get a good guide that can lead you to a success.

There a few type of online businesses which you can choose to setup your business with. Among the popular internet business is Affiliate Marketing which involve selling other people products in exchange for a commission whenever a purchase is done through your affiliate link. It is among the easiest way to setup and you can get into the business almost instantly. You may also choose to involve in Dropship business where you can use eBay as your front store. Or, you can come out with your own digital product and list it to an affiliate network, such as Clickbank and let others to sell it for you, you just need to pay these people, who are called affiliates, a percentage of selling price as their commission when they help to make a sale. Whatever online business you choose to setup with, you can only be successful if you do it right and invest your time and efforts to make it succeed.

Avoid All Those Home Business Scams

Now perhaps the reason you’re interested in setting up a home business is because you’ve seen an ad somewhere that really caught your attention. It was all about a great work-from-home money-making opportunity, and you got excited over the prospect of finally being able to can quit your job!

The fact that you are seeking out information on home business scams is a really sensible step to take. You see almost 95% of the offers out there for home based business opportunities are complete scams. You want to be able to recognize these scams and save yourself time and money.

Once you are able to do this effectively, you may want to consider actually forgetting any schemes and go it alone. Frightening as the idea may seem, it is nowhere as near difficult as you mat first think. I will talk about this a little later, but first let's take a look at the scams you have to watch out for.

Where is the offer advertised

Where did you spot the work from home opportunity? If it arrived by email, in the post, or in some shop window then forget it. It is highly likely to be a scam. There may just be the odd genuine offer available, but they are few and far between. Without years of experience you will never be able to fully tell whether it is a scam or not. The less likely it seems to be a scam, the more likely it actually is. Even if you read the offer in a reputable newspaper, or popular website you would still want to really check it out first. Think scam first and look for evidence that it is not. Unless you have fool proof information to the contrary then just leave it alone.

Stuffing those envelopes

This has to be one of the most established scams around. It has been running for decades. Basically they are all nothing more than illegal pyramid schemes. You pay the price to get in and all you have to do is send out lots of offers by mail and hope someone else joins. If they do you get paid. If they do not then you loose. The vast majority will always loose and just quickly forget the idea and move on to be duped by the next scam.

Supply and demand

There are thousands of companies out there ready to take a good fee of you to get a supply of goods that you can easily sell for huge profits. Very often you do not even receive any goods, you are simply paying to become a member and are expected to generate sales for commissions. The product prices are high, but you are convinced they are exceptional and there is a market for them. If the market was that good would the company be seeking inexperienced people to sells their products? No they would employ a first class sales team and have incredible success. Now even if the products are substandard you will still read stories of huge success many affiliates/agents have had and how you can do the same. Forget it these people are exceptional, if they exist at all. Out of many thousands of people selling you will read the stories of a few who have made their fortune. Most of them have done so by signing up fools who fall for the scam.

Craft Work

Watch out for these companies who will advertise to pay you for your work. It all sounds great when they send you all the supplies to make the products. This may be anything from hand painting ornaments to stuffing soft toys. Trouble is when you send in your work, you rarely ever get paid. They simply tell you that the work has not met their standards. They don't pay you for all your work, but still go on to sell the goods. They won't run out of people to do all the work for them for free. There is a fool around every corner just waiting to be scammed. Do not do craft work unless you are doing it for yourself and selling to your own customers. Do your research first of course and make sure there is a market for your products, or you will again be working for nothing.

Typing from home

There are a ton of companies around that will try to tell you how they have so much work that they are having to outsource for people to complete their typing tasks for them. This could be anything from typing up legal documents or entering information into a database from your PC. They all state that all you need is your own computer. Later they will go on to tell you of course that you will require special software to complete the tasks they require of you. They may not even supply this software but will recommend one or two places where you can purchase it. This is nothing more than a method of getting you to purchase the software. Sure it may not be coming from them, but they will be on a commission for each sale. Then no work will arrive after you have made the purchase of the software of course. You may go on their waiting list, but nothing will ever come your way.

Learn All About Forex Business

What Is Forex Business?

Forex business involves selling/buying of different currencies. People invest money in banks, stock market etc, forex business is just like that.Different currencies rate go up and down. We need to do some market analysis to determine which currency in best to invest money in. In forex business, we give one currency to buy another one.

What factors influence currency rates?

Political situation

Economic situation

Supply and demand

Rumors And etc.

There are many factors that can cause a change in a currency rates.

How to do forex business?

First of all, you will have to get an online forex account. Now, before you trade any currencies, remember that, many new comers in this business lose lot of money and they learn this business the hard way. You should not trade until you have done lot of research about the currency you want to buy.

One political statement can have a big impact on a particular currency. You have to be aware of political events: look at the economy and other things that can influence currency rates. You can either buy or sell a currency. If you buy a currency, then you will get profit if this currency rate increases and if you sell [go short] a currency, then you will gain profit if the rate goes down.

We all know that political scenarios and economic situations can change very quickly. One bankruptcy announcement from a major company can have a big influence. You can never be sure that the trade you are doing will give you profits in the end.

Have I done any forex business myself?

Yes, I have done this business a little bit myself. But I did not traded currencies online: instead, I have done the trades at a foreign exchange companies.

What I traded?

I had few thousand Pounds which I traded with Pakistani Rupees when the rate was:

1 British Pound = 118 Pakistani Rupees

After few days, I saw the Pound rate down at about Rs.113. At this level, I thought maybe I should invest my money back in Pounds. There was no guarantee that the rate of pound will go up again. The rate could go further down or could go up again. So I decided to do this investment and was willing to take this risk. After few weeks, the rate of pound reached approximately Rs.118 again. That is when I again traded pound with Pak rupee.

I am currently monitoring the market and I think I will invest my money in the currency which will be weaker against US dollar. And when/if that currency gets stronger against US Dollar, I will trade that currency to get some profit. But it is very much possible that the currency I buy will get further weaker against US Dollar instead of getting stronger. And if I will need my money for some reason, then I will have to trade it and will lose money instead of gaining any profit.

If you want to make money with forex business, then it is possible if you are willing to properly understand all the factors involved in this business and also understand that this work is extremely risky. Do not invest money until you have done proper and thorough market analysis. I have seen some online companies that offer a free forex practice account. You can join such program in order to see if you really can do this business or not.

You will be able to trade in forex, 24 hours a day and 5 days a week.

How to Make Good Money from Your Blog

These days the Internet is bigger than it ever has been before. People are always finding new ways to make money online and blogging is becoming a household term. Blogging started as a fun way for friends to socialize with each other and share online diaries. In just a matter of a few years, blogs have now exploded into a market for stay-at-home moms to make an income and for huge corporations to make extra profit and promote their business. It is extremely easy to make money from blogging. How much money you want to make and how much time you’re willing to devote is up to you. If you’re serious about making from your blog, here are a few things that you will need.

A Host

One of the biggest debates in blogging is whether site owners should handle the technical side of the blog themselves or hire a host. For those who want to make money on their blog, and still keep their love for it, are generally better off hiring a host for the nitty-gritty. A good hosting company will take care of all of the details such as placing advertisements on the site, and sorting out your Categories when they look all wrong. As the site owner you just have to make sure that your blog looks great – without all of the frustration! Good hosting companies also come very cheap with services that usually cost approximately $8 – $10 per month.

Regular Posts

Bringing readers to the site means making them interested enough to come once and keep coming back. With the number of blogs that are on the Internet today, that’s tough. The key to getting traffic to the site is to continually blog. As a rule of thumb, one post every day is generally considered to be ‘regular blogging.’ Of course, you could blog slightly less than that and still be considered a blog that has regular content. As long as it’s regular enough that it keeps people coming back! And of course, quality content goes hand in hand with regular content. People aren’t going to continue to come back to the site if they’re simply uninterested. Quality content that’s refreshing and told from a new perspective is just as essential as regular posting.

Traffic

Any good blog has a regular readership. Or at least extremely good marketing tactics that bring lots of random people to their blog on a regular basis. However you get traffic to come to your site, it’s essential that you get it if you want to make money from your blog. People can only click on the ads on your blog, or tell others about what a great site it is if they’ve been there! So getting a lot of traffic coming to the site is essential. There are tons of ways to spread the word about your blog and get traffic coming to your site.

Start by telling the people closest to you. Your friends and family will be the most interested and they’ll be happy to hear about your blog and spread the word. Social networking sites are also a great way to promote your blog. Any website that has a member’s area, usually including a profile page, will most likely include a space for your URL address. This is the most obvious place to insert your blog’s web address but there are other spots just about everywhere that you might be missing!

Visit blogs that are similar to yours and deal with the same topic. Browse through them and find a post that interests you. Go to the comment section and leave some feedback. You might be surprised to find that there is often a space here also for your URL address. Not only have you just advertised your site, but you’ve targeted that advertising to an audience that is already interested in your topic! Once you start looking for places to promote your blog, you won’t be able to stop finding them!

Advertising

Of course, this is where all the money is made from blogs. Content is wonderful, and good graphics are nice too. But when it’s all said and done, if there’s no advertising on the site, it doesn’t matter how much you love it or how many people are coming to it. It will not make money. You need advertising and this is where your host will come in especially handy.

Google AdSense is the most common and most popular way to advertise on blogs. By simply going to the Google AdSense website and creating an account, your host can place advertisements wherever you would like them on the site. Google AdSense works by placing relevant ads on your website and paying you depending on how many times a visitor clicks on them. This is by far the easiest way to advertise on your blog.

Google PageRank

Google PageRank is the application that decides where your blog will fall in the list of Google results after someone has done a keyword search. Everyone’s familiar with entering a term into the Google search bar and coming up with pages and pages and pages of websites related to that keyword. When websites have a high Google PageRank, it will appear high in the list of results. This means that people are more likely to go to that website rather than a website found on the twentieth page.

Google PageRank uses a numerical system from 0-10. To get the PageRank of your blog up, you simply need to get other webmasters to link to your site. This will simply take a lot of cold calling in the form of email. Visit sites that are similar to yours and deal with the same topics. Email the webmaster and ask if they would like to exchange links with you to add to both of your respective Blogrolls. You’ll get PageRank, and they will too!

Online Money Making Opportunities For Women Stay at Home

With today's high oil price and high inflation rate, money is never enough. Many stay at home moms are looking for opportunities to earn extra money so that they can help to cover their family expenses. One concern of those moms is they need to stay at home to take care of their children, so go out to work will not be their option. Then, earn money online from internet could be their best option because it allows them to stay focus on their family while making extra income.

The online money making opportunities available for women at home. There are a few online money making opportunities that moms can do from home and make money from there:

1. EBay Business With Dropshipping

Ebay provides a great opportunity for anyone to make money online and dropshipping enable you to start your eBay online business with little risk and no upfront capital on keeping the product stocks. You can start an Ebay storefront to find buyers, and when there are orders received, you will then divert the orders to dropshippers who will then process the order and deliver them to your customers. You make the profit from your selling price minus the dropshipper offer price of the product.

2. Affiliate Marketing On Digital Products

Downloadable digital products are great products to be promoted online and make some good money from them. There are many affiliate networks that you can join for free and once you become their affiliate, you will be given a unique affiliate link. You can promote your selected affiliate products with this affiliate link through various marketing channels, such as pay-per-click advertising. If a person purchases the product through your affiliate link, you earn a commission.

3. Create Your Own Information Product & Sell It Online

If you can write a book on a topic, you could then convert it to an ebook format and upload it to an affiliate network such as Clickbank, and let other people to sell it for you. You just need to pay out a certain percentage as commission to those affiliates who are successfully selling the ebook for you. Although you can write any topic you like, it is important you make some surveys of the market demand about the topic you are going to write to ensure there are buyers who will purchase your ebook.

4. Join The Online Paid Surveys

Many companies need to market data on their products or services. They will pay you to answer their questionnaires. Join online surveys can be a good option for moms to earn money online by just filling the forms. You can easily get $5 to $75 per survey form filled. You can also choose to join the online focus group to provide your opinions on certain products or services and get paid $50 to $175 per hours.

Six Ways of Making Money Online

1. Working At Freelance Sites

Nowadays, one of the best ways to make a really good living on the internet is to start doing online jobs at freelance sites. Many people all around the world are doing this work and they are making some good money at freelance sites. There are many jobs that we can do at freelance sites: for example: we can get simple typing jobs, formatting of documents, image editing, translation and many other simple jobs.

On the other hand, we can also get jobs that require some skill like: copywriting work require the skill of writing Good content, Mostly in English. This content needs to be spelling errors free and needs to have no/less grammatical mistakes.

Some other jobs that require some skill includes: coding, creating programs in different languages according to the buyer’s request, designing logos, designing websites and other jobs where one need to know different languages like: PHP, ASP, Java etc. This opportunity gives you the most stable income that one can get on the internet.

2. Making Blogs/Websites

Another way to make a living online is to build blogs/websites. Nowadays, making a blog is a piece of cake. You can easily get blogs on the internet without paying any money. There are many sites where you can get subdomains: they are like normal sites: they are [kind of] a part of a main website. You can call subdomains as baby sites of a main site: which you can call as the mother site.

For example:
This is a main site:
site.com

Where this can be a subdomain:
minisite.site.com

Anyway, you can get a blog/site for free or you can get your own domain and hosting. This off course will not be free. If you do not want to spend any money from your pocket, then I suggest you go with free subdomains.

Just remember: you cannot make money with just any website/blog. In order to generate income from a site/blog, you need to add excellent, useful, informative, fresh, unique, meaningful, helpful, accurate and perfectly written content. Once your blog/site starts to get targeted traffic, you will then have different options to generate income from your blog/site.

3. Affiliate Business

One of the ways to make a living online is to enter affiliate work/business. To earn money from this opportunity, you will have to refer targeted people to some websites. If these targeted users do the desire thing on that website, then you will earn a commission.

For example:

Let’s assume that a website is selling socks and they have an affiliate program which you have joined. Now, you will have to bring people to this website who wants to buy socks. If anyone you referred buys some socks, then you will get a percentage of the money that is generated from that purchase.

This work may sound easy, but when it’s done practically, it’s one of the most difficult jobs that you can find on the internet. Finding targeted people is not an easy job. The first thing that you will need for this business is a well established website. Then you need to do research about the products that you want to promote. Your site needs to have great information about these products: only then your site will get good targeted traffic.

4. Forex Business

First of all, you should know that Forex Business is a very risk work. You can easily lose your money in this business. Some people think that forex business is very easy way to earn lot of money online, but the truth is that: this work is one of the riskiest businesses that you can find on the internet.

The main thing that matters in this business is the amount of experience that you have in Forex Trading. If you have some experience and if you are capable of doing some good market analysis: then you may/can make a good living from this business. Unfortunately, this business requires you to invest some money. This business is not free to start.

5. Stock Market Trading

There are many ways via which you can make a good living online. One solid opportunity to earn some good money using the internet is to start stock market trading. Please Note: Stock Market trading is also a risky business, just like Forex Business. You can gain profits or you might lose lot of money in this business. In order to be successful in stock market business, one needs to have some good amount of experience in the stock markets.

For beginners with zero past experience: this business is too risky. There are many companies that offer online trading software that we can use to trade on daily bases from our home.

6. Doing Copywriting/Content Writing Jobs At Different Sites

Usually I tell people to only join freelance sites: if they want to do copywriting jobs. That is because freelance sites are the best place to find legit online jobs without paying any fee and no one can scam you there because of the escrow and arbitration system.

Structure of the Forex Market

The forex is unique among financial markets in a number of ways. One of these is that it was not traditionally used as an investment vehicle. It had, and still maintains to some extent, a somewhat more utilitarian purpose. In today’s globalized economy, most businesses have some international exposure, creating the need to exchange one currency for another in order to complete transactions. For example, Honda builds its cars in Japan and exports them to the United States, where an eager American buyer exchanges his dollars for a brand new Honda. Some of this money has to make its way back to Japan to pay the factory workers that built the car, but first those dollars have to be exchanged for Japanese yen, since that is the currency the Japanese factory workers are paid in. Transactions such as this are facilitated by international banks and are done through a mechanism known as the foreign exchange market, or forex. Since banks are used to facilitate these cross-border transactions, they naturally want to be paid for their services. This payment comes in the form of a bid/ask spread – offering to buy the desired currency at a slightly lower price than they are willing to sell it at, and pocketing the difference. Considering the fact that more than $3bn moves through the forex market daily, these seemingly small fees can add up to a significant sum.

Since the 1970’s most of the world’s major currencies have been on a (mostly) free-floating exchange mechanism, allowing for exchange rates to be determined by market forces, that is, supply and demand. I say “mostly” because there have been times when major central banks have intervened in the market to manipulate exchange rates by either buying or selling large amounts of their currency, but normally this only takes place in extreme situations. There are also other central banks that choose to manage their currencies much more strictly, but these are a minority in the developed world. So in most cases, this free-floating exchange rate mechanism allowed currencies to fluctuate against one another much more, and this in turn opened the door to speculation on the future movement of exchange rates. The banks’ intimate knowledge of the forex market, and their high level of capitalization allowed them to be the first to speculate in the forex market, and to significantly increase their profits by doing so. An unfortunate consequence of this speculation however was that liquidity at certain times became scarce, and some necessary transactions could not be completed. In order to solve this problem, banks turned to expanding the number of participants in the market to include non-banks, thereby generating sufficient order flow (liquidity distribution) to complete clients’ transactions, and also to profit from these newer and less knowledgeable market participants. These less experienced forex market participants first included large funds (such as the legendary Quantum Fund), but nowadays also include your local retail forex dealer.

Another unique feature of the forex market is that it is an over-the-counter (OTC) market, meaning that there is no central exchange (like a stock exchange) where transactions take place. Instead, top-tier transactions are made in the “interbank market”, which is a collection of the world’s largest money center banks, all free to trade currencies amongst each other at whatever rate they can agree on. Of course, it may be difficult to find your way around such a maze, so the brilliant minds at the leading banks developed the Electronic Broking System (EBS) to enable participants to easily see at what rates all the other participants are willing to deal at. A competing system was also developed by Reuters (D2). Today, one is preferred over the other mostly on the basis of which currency pair you want to trade, with EBS used mostly for EUR/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, USD/CHF and EUR/CHF, and Reuters D2 used for all other currency pairs. In 2006, EBS was acquired by ICAP. It should be noted that while these services provide a centralized structure for pricing information, they DO NOT constitute a centralized exchange. The forex is still very much an OTC market.

The 2nd tier of the market is made up of smaller bits of larger multinational institutions. This is when, for example, a bank branch in the US deals with another branch of the same bank in, say, Japan. So when you walk into your local branch and want to exchange currency, they will give you a quote which is not exactly representative of the interbank exchange rate. You are free to shop around for a better quote, and you would often be wise to do so, as rates can vary significantly from one bank to another.

Most retail forex brokers are a part of the 3rd tier, as they often deal with only a single 2nd tier liquidity provider. This is not always the case, as some retail brokers offer direct access to multiple liquidity providers, and are therefore themselves a part of the 2nd tier. This is particularly true of Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs), who normally route retail traders’ orders directly to the interbank market.

Money Making Ideas

Finding effective money making ideas can be a challenge for many families who struggle to meet the financial demands of everyday life. As the cost of living continues to climb, coming up with a regular source of supplemental income becomes more and more important. When trying to balance financial needs and family life, creating extra revenue is not easy. Many families look for solutions that will fit into an active lifestyle that involves children, school, and sports activities. This will take a certain amount of creativity and persistence. In some cases, bringing in cash through odd jobs and neighborhood services can work well. Babysitting, mowing lawns, or shoveling snow are not jobs that are intended only for juveniles. An at home day care service or a snow removal or landscaping business can bring in enough extra income to help make ends meet. Single individuals can struggle with the cost of living as well. The same kind of ingenuity can provide sufficient funds to meet monthly bills. Of course, some individuals might prefer to seek out money making ideas that can be turned into a kitchen table small business venture. If a would-be entrepreneur has an idea for a product that they would like to produce and sell, there are three things that they should consider. Is there a demand for this item? Will the product stand out when compared with other similar products? Who is the intended customer and how can they be marketed to? Taking all of these things into consideration can generate extra income for hard working families and individuals.

For hopeful entrepreneurs, money making ideas can be found in surprising ways. Entering the marketplace with a new idea can be tricky. For every successful marketer or inventor, there are many more that have tried and failed. But that should not deter someone who believes that they have something to offer the marketplace. Even a small amount of profit can make a difference when supplemental cash is needed. In some cases, an entrepreneur may have discovered a product that is not well known. If there is a legitimate way to fruitfully market this item, this product could be the beginning of a successful home grown business. Many inventors have built fortunes large and small through their own creative ingenuity and hard work. If a product already exists, but there is a way to substantially improve it, there can be a market for this product as well. But finding solid money making ideas is only the first step. There are many other things that will need to be considered before a profitable business can be built. How will financing for this venture be attained? How will the product be produced? What will be the cost of production? What kinds of materials will be needed and how will these materials be procured? Once completed, how will the item be marketed and sold? How much should the new company charge for the product? Is that price reasonable?

Other helpful money making ideas could involve finding ways to save cash each month. For many growing families, a monthly budget can be a difficult thing to stick to. When this is the case, a family member might choose to take on a part time job in order to make ends meet. But in some cases, finding ways to meet that monthly budget by cutting back on costs can be just as effective as taking on extra employment. In fact, saving cash can be one of the best money making ideas of all. Buying in bulk is one way to make the family dollar go farther. This can be especially helpful when purchasing non perishable items. Unless a family has a large freezer, buying products like meat in bulk will not result in a cost savings. Paper goods, cleaners, cereal, pastas, canned goods and other items can effectively be purchased in bulk. Coupons, if used carefully can be another way to reign in spending. However, it is usually not a good idea to succumb to the temptation of purchasing items that are not really needed simply because the shopper has a coupon. Comparing prices and shopping at stores that offer the best deals can obviously save cash as well. Signing up for retail discount cards will also cut down on monthly bills.

The burden of bringing in enough money to keep a family afloat will most certainly lie with the adults of that family. However, there are times when children seek money making ideas of their own. The benefits of encouraging this behavior are many. A child can learn financial responsibility as well as how to wisely handle the extra cash that they earn. Some income earning opportunities that might work well for children could include walking pets, mowing lawns, babysitting, tutoring younger children or any number of other appropriate tasks. Whatever options families might choose, there are many creative ways to bring in extra monthly income.

Forex Broker Guide

Introduction

The following is a list of questions you may like to consider before opening an account. You can use this checklist to narrow down your selection of companies that fit your requirements. You may also wish to refer to the forex broker ratings page on this site to read about traders unique experiences with particular brokers.

Important Note to Traders: GoForex recommends you do not open an account with a U.S. based forex broker regulated by the CFTC and NFA, due to excessive and over-bearing regulation imposed on retail forex brokers including reduced leverage levels, the "no-hedging" rule and the FIFO (first-in, first-out) rule which affects the way you trade.

The following links will also give you some background information on U.S. FCM's (Futures Commission Merchants).

    * Selected Financial Data for FCM's
    * NFA Background Affiliation Status

1. Word of Mouth

    * What do other traders say about the broker? See Forex Broker Ratings & Forex Broker Reviews
    * What is their customer service like?

2. Customer Protection

    * Is the broker regulated?
    * What regulatory organisation are they registered with and what protections does it afford the client?
    * Are client funds protected against fraud?
    * Are client funds protected against bankruptcy?

3. Execution

    * What business model do they operate? i.e. Are they a Market Maker[?], ECN[?] or no-dealing desk broker[?]?
    * How fast is their order execution?
    * Are orders manually or automatically executed? [?]
    * What is the maximum trade size before you have to request a quote?
    * Are all clients trades offset?

4. Spread [?]

    * How small is the spread?
    * Is it fixed or variable?

5. Slippage [?]

    * How much slippage can be expected in normal and fast moving markets?

6. Margin [?]

    * What is the margin requirement? e.g. 0.25% margin = max 400:1 leverage [?]), 0.5% margin = max 200:1 leverage, 1% margin = max 100:1 leverage, 2% margin = max 50:1 leverage, etc.
    * Does the margin requirement change for different currency pairs or days of the week?
    * At what point does the broker issue a margin call?
    * Is required margin the same for standard and mini accounts? [?]

7. Commissions

    * Does the broker charge commissions? (Most market makers commissions are built into the spread)

8. Rollover Policy [?]

    * Is there a minimum margin requirement in order to earn rollover interest?
    * What are the swap rates like for going long or short in a particular currency pair?
    * Are there any other conditions for earning rollover interest?

9. Trading Platform

    * How intuitive and functional is it to use?
    * Are there many disconnections during trading hours?
    * How reliable is it during fast moving markets and news announcements?
    * How many different currency pairs are available to trade?
    * Does the broker offer an Application Programming Interface (API) to allow clients to automate their trading systems?
    * Does the broker offer any other special features? (e.g. One click dealing, trading from the chart, trailing stops, mobile trading etc.)

10. Trading Account

    * What is the minimum balance required to open an account?
    * What is the minimum trade size?
    * Can clients adjust the standard lot size traded? [?]
    * Can clients earn interest on the unused margin in their account?