Information Country

It is shocking to know that parents still do not realise that babies get a £250 voucher from the the government to place in a Child Trust Fund. The child’s voucher may be invested in any one of three kinds of CTF account, Stakeholder - a shares-based account that switches into cash, a savings account or a shares account.

Scottish Friendly is an accredited provider of the Child Trust Fund. The State is eager for the public at large to have access to Stakeholder accounts and this is the sort of account that we are offering. This means that:

• Investments are saved into our Managed Growth Fund, which aims to provide strong growth potential.

• It invests in part in shares to take advantage of potentially higher returns over 18 years,compared to a cash deposit account (although the value of shares can fall as well as go up whereas capital would be protected in a deposit account).

• It is available with a low ‘Stakeholder’ funds charge of only 1.5% per year

• At age 18 the child the receive will receive a lump sum, free of Capital Gains and Income Tax under present law

• It is affordable - additional payments can be put in the account from just £10

Anyone - parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends - can contribute a maximum to the Child Trust Fund to increase the Fund to a maximum of £1,200 per year (once added, this money may not be withdrawn).

Basically our Stakeholder account provides a good balance between possible high returns and a lower level of risk. There is also the additional assurance that our account meets with the Government’s stakeholder criteria. Nevetheless this doesn’t mean that returns are assured or that Stakeholder accounts are appropriate for everyone. Remember that the value of shares in the Managed Growth Fund (where your Child Trust Fund money is invested) can rise as well as fall and is not guaranteed.

Only children who were born on or after 1st September 2002 are allowed to open a Child Trust Fund. If you have older kids who are not entitled you could contemplate investing for them with a Child Bond - it’s a tax-free savings plan aimed at long-term growth.

In theory the idea of generating additional (and passive) business revenue from books, CD programmes and eBooks couldn’t be simpler. Find a market. Create a product. Watch the money roll in while you play golf, pamper yourself, shop for shoes, go fishing or enjoy a little R&R.

The reality though is a little (I’m under-exaggerating here) different.

To make income from products genuinely passive there are steps in the process that you can’t afford to miss out. In fact the first phase of setting up your passive stream of cash requires hard work, persistence and intelligence. You’ll have spent a lot of time, effort and money before you can truly say the money coming in is truly coming in of its own accord.

So here’s the myth:

Passive Income Is Easy Income

This dangerous myth has been shamelessly propagated by (almost) all the people selling “Passive Revenue How To Products” out there. What’s worse is that they promote this myth in their own interests. You see, if they told you the truth. If they actually said that implementing their fool-proof programme means working your nuts off and taking a financial risk then they wouldn’t sell so many of their programmes.

The truth is - us humans love the word EASY. “Easy” sells. But nothing really worth having (as life often proves) comes without a price. So in this case, unless you’re extremely lucky, you’re going to have to push that passive income vehicle up, an often, very steep hill before you’re going to enjoy coasting along watching the money roll in.

It’s Not Really All That Passive Anyway…

In the diagram below you’ll see that there’s a lot of effort involved to get your product off the ground. During this time you (or your publisher) will be spending time and money. But even after you reach the top of the hill (the tipping point) you still need to be active to a certain degree in order to profit. When you’re coasting along at full speed you need to steer clear of obstacles. If you forget about looking after customers or collecting the cash then your income vehicle will crash. And you can forget about making any money!

The Active Steps

Gain Real Experience

Despite what people may say - if you’re planning on producing a “how to” information product you’d better know what you’re talking about. This does not mean attending courses or reading books (which means you’ll just be regurgitating) but actually knowing (from hard experience) what it is you’re talking about. If you’re ethical, authentic and genuine, then you wouldn’t even dare to claim you know something when you don’t. But plenty of people still do it!

How many people do you see selling “Get-Rich-Quick” programmes who are flat broke? How many tell you how to make a fortune on the Internet when they can’t even do it themselves? Too many!

If we can see through their lies then it goes without saying that if you bluff it you’ll get caught out eventually too.

So rule number one. If you don’t know about it (from real experience) then don’t write about it!

Identify An Opportunity

It amazes me, but some people even forget (or skip) this vital step and wonder why they never make any money. You’ve got to find a community or group of people who will share the problem your product can solve.

It’s your job then to identify a genuine NEED and market for your product. What pain relief can you bring with your knowledge? What expert information can you share on a popular hobby or pastime? What challenges, problems or dreams do people have that you can genuinely help them with?

Create A Valuable Product

This is the point where you leverage your experience, expertise and knowledge by turning it into a system which can then be recorded and delivered without you needing to be there. You can convert this system into a book, eBook, audio programme, video etc.

A valuable product must be able to deliver on a promise. It must be well put together and it must be unique. What’s your unique spin on the subject? What results can people genuinely expect from applying your knowledge?

It’s also a false economy to create audio (thinking that it’s easier) for a “how to” product, with steps to follow, when a more appropriate media would be a book or eBook. Audio is great for motivation or self-help. But not so good for step-by-step stuff like DIY, Car Maintenance or How To Draw. So don’t think in terms of what’s the easiest thing for you - think in terms of what’s the most effective way to communicate what you know.

Also, forget the “Interview An Expert” model. It’s just a cheap (and blatantly easy) way to make a quick buck without coming up with a single unique thought yourself.

Promote It Like Mad

Even if you’ve been published by someone else - it’s still your responsibility to get the word out there. For instance, if you have a mailing list then tell them about it. Your publisher is unable to do that for you. If you’re communicating using blogs, chat rooms or forums (where your knowledge is being openly displayed) then mention your book. If you’re still trying to sell higher-value products and services then use this as your lower-cost way in. For lots of idea on promoting things like mad on a budget buy The Gorillas Want Bananas or Lean Marketing Toolbox.

Don’t sit on your bum when it comes to promotion whether you’re doing it yourself or being published. If you’re not making any money and you’re doing very little about it then you only have yourself to blame; your publisher can only do so much on your behalf and is likely supporting another 100 people just like you. What’s your excuse - you only have yourself to look after.

The So-Called Passive Steps…

Collect and Account for Money

It doesn’t matter how great the product is, how hot the market it or how much promotion you do. If you don’t have a system for collecting money then you’re not making any income (passive or not). Be sure to have systems in place from the outset and account for everything. You don’t want to lose all your profits to the tax man.

Deliver Excellent Customer Service

Again, your job is not over until you have a happy customer. What extras and bonuses can you give? Have you got the basics right? Is your delivery process as slick and efficient as it can be? Unhappy customers will want their money back and will tell their friends to steer clear so don’t crash, due to a sloppy business model, when it should be plain sailing.

It’s Never Passive Forever

Eventually, after all your hard work is done, sales will decline. So make it a habit to keep on promoting. It never stops. To mistake “passive income” with “passivity” is to see all your hard work come to nothing. Take responsibility and make it pay.

‘Dangerous’ Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com

(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com

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How personal money management works: In the markets it`s possible to be right, and to still lose money. In fact, it`s pretty common. Traders who win on a high percentage of their trades often end up with their capital eaten away, and nothing to show for their work. They lose their gains because they don`t know how to manage their money.

Being a good manager of your own money is one of the most difficult trading skills to learn. But if you don`t use good personal money management to lock in profits, take small losses on the picks you`re wrong about, and control your use of margin, eventually you`ll lose everything, no matter how good of a trader you are. You need to make protecting your capital your first priority if you want to be successful.

As a trader, your capital is the most valuable thing you have. Without it, you can`t trade at all. For this reason, bringing in no profits on a trade is better than losing any part of your capital. If your account is intact, you can always make a profit another day. If your capital has suffered a loss, you`ll be wasting effort playing catch-up. The more you`ve lost, the longer it will take to get back to where you started from, because you`ve got more to make up for, and because you`ll have a smaller chunk of capital to work with. A smaller capital base means smaller percentage returns on profits. Making 10% on a $10,000 account earns you $1,000, but if you`ve lost half of that account and have only $5,000 left, making 10% on your money will earn you only $500. You`d have to do that twice to make the same $1,000.

Sound personal money management has two main goals: to avoid losing money, and to avoid missing profit opportunities by tying up capital in problem trades for long periods of time. Failing to avoid either of these will cost you. The first goal is straightforward. You want to preserve your capital and whatever profits you`ve accumulated. But you don`t just want to keep your capital, you want to trade with it as well, to continue to grow it and make your returns larger and larger.

Working to avoid losing those profit making opportunities isn`t quite as obvious a goal. With the second goal in mind let`s compare the outcomes of two money-management decisions. Trader A buys a stock, expecting it to go up, and finds that it doesn`t. However, he`s certain it will go up eventually, and he`s incurred a small loss, so he decides to wait it out. He ends up holding the stock for three months before finally selling it. Trader B buys the same stock at the same time as Trader A, but once he sees that it isn`t going up, he sells it at a small loss. He buys another stock and makes a 15% profit on it. His next trade loses 1%, but after that he makes 8 %, 15%, and 30% on a series of trades. Because he is growing his account, he makes these percentages on a larger and larger base of capital each time. At the end of three months, his account has grown by 48%.

Whose personal money management decision turned out to be the best? While Trader B made a nice profit, Trader A not only lost time but also never made his money back. Even if he had made his money back on that stock, it`s hard to see how this was a good use of his capital over the course of three months.

Clearly the goal of not tying up your capital in problem trades has an important impact on your profits. Practising sound personal money management will keep your capital and your profits safe. Though it is a difficult skill to learn, once you know how to practise good personal money management, you can almost guarantee that you will be a success as a trader.

David Jenyns is recognized as the leading expert when it comes to designing profitable trading systems. His most recent course Trading Secrets Revealed is a step-by-step trading roadmap to having excellent money management.

Learn how *you* can become one of his students. Click Here ==> http://www.trading-secrets-revealed.com

Receive David’s free trading tips by signing up for his eZine
at: ==> http://www.trading-secrets-revealed.com/pop.html

Often companies wanting to grow, raise growth capital by offering investors part of their company through an equity acquisition or private equity offering. Since 77% of all the companies that are considered by Angel Investors for investment do NOT receive investment, it is more important than ever for companies to prepare, expose, and communicate effectively with investors.

Companies often arrange one on one investor meetings or participation in group settings which create unique opportunities for companies to “tell their story” to investors. The challenge entrepreneurs face is the time it takes to meet with the hundreds of investors they will need to market to in order to close the few on investing in their company. Often entrepreneurs must choose between building their business or raising money. That is why so many small emerging growth companies hire investor relations firms to manage the time consuming part of a capital raise, leaving the critical negotiations and discussions with them as the owner of the equity.

Companies are always seeking ways to improve the efficiency of the process. One of the ways companies are successfully getting their message across to a larger group of qualified investors in a “high tech, high touch” way is with video elevator pitches. Every entrepreneur knows they must have a good “elevator pitch”. The “elevator pitch” is an industry term for the time it takes the entrepreneur to ride the elevator and tell their story to a prospective investor before he/she gets off the elevator. A video elevator pitch is a little longer than a ride in an elevator, but has a similar goal. How long will an investor sit listening to a video on a computer….about 2 minutes?! A video elevator pitch is an effective way to briefly expose targeted investors to the company, provide necessary information, and lead the investor toward the next step, which is making contact to get the necessary investor centric documents.

There are three things every company must do as part of the process of attracting investors: Prepare, Expose, and Communicate.

Preparing to meet with investors and begin you campaign to attract capital means a few things:

• You are seeking the right amount capital for your stage of business and valuation
• You have an investor ready business plan that clearly explains your value in the marketplace and how you will produce a return on investment for your investors
• You can effectively communicate your investment opportunity in a few minutes
• Appropriate documents to facilitate the investment (PPM, Subscription Agreements, etc)

Exposing your company to the investor community is a numbers game and must include:

• A multi-faceted approach that includes group presentations, one on one, press releases and internet driven programs
• Exposure to hundreds of investors to find the few that will invest

• A system to manage the follow up and maintain records regarding investor status

Communicating with the target investor community through an investor relations program is important for many reasons:

• Similar to attracting a new customer, sometimes it takes 2 or 3 exposures to gain their business (investment)

• Investors may have an initial interest but want to see how the company progresses before they commit their investment

• During the months it takes to attract capital investors focus and liquidity changes, maintaining communication with them could move them from a no, not now to a yes

The video elevator pitch itself is usually a two minute video going over all of the important company business information that promotes the company as a solid option for those investors seeking private equity investments. The video should be edited to show only the most vital and important information that will attract an investor. The video should be imbedded in the web page and not require any download on the investor’s computer. Video elevator pitch programs should come with a password to protect important documents such as the company’s business plan and financials, and investor documents. Public, non-confidential information that provides a snapshot on the company should be included on the web page. A one page executive summary in PDF format should be provided as an optional download.

These powerful video messages are only as good as the audience they reach. The video elevator pitch should be used in conjunction with press releases, electronic marketing campaigns, and direct mail campaign to targeted accredited investors. Companies, who hire professional companies to promote their video elevator pitch and other vital information to strategic investors, increase their likelihood of stimulating investor’s interest, while also saving valuable time that can be used to continue building the company’s business.

by Karen Rands of the Launch Funding Network
www.LAUNCHfn.com

Launch Funding Network, Inc. ( LAUNCHfn ) bridges the gap for companies that know they need capital, but don’t know what they need to do to attract it. We facilitate private equity capital formation by maximizing the entrepreneur’s affinity group and our own private network of investors and lenders during the Capital Campaign stage. We deliver on the services necessary for entrepreneurs and management teams, investors and board members to execute their strategic business plans so that they can maximize the return on investment and build thriving, scalable businesses. Our Capital Campaign services are appropriate for early stage companies as well as established businesses that are seeking to grow to a new level to ready their company for optimum value for acquisition.
http://www.LAUNCHfn.com

One of the most popular Exchange Traded Funds, the NASDAQ 100 Trust, known as the cubes, may be soon having some strong competition. The cubes (QQQQ) have been the default Fund for the tech industry. This may be about to change.

A new exchange traded fund due to be introduced next year is being planned by Archipelago Holdings Inc. This ETF will cover the technology sector; however it is covering the technology sector with a twist. Current technology funds give technology companies weight in the index based on market capitalization. Companies with large market capitalizations such as Microsoft would have a larger influence on the index. For example many technology indexes give Microsoft a 10% or more weight in the index.

Archipeligos’ new index will be price weighted. Companies with the highest price will be given more weight in the index. By this method Microsoft may only have a 1% weight in this new ETF while Genentech would make up 3.3% of the index.

Another difference is this new fund will have a 25% investment in healthcare companies, which are outside the traditional tech sector. The highest priced issue in the index will be Genentech. Genentech will have the greatest weight in this index.

This new fund will be very similar to an existing index. This is the ArcaEx Tech 100 index. Over the past five years the ArchEx Tech 100 index has trounced the performance of the QQQQ. Over this period the QQQQ has shed about 10% a year, while during the same period of time the ArcaEx Tech 100 index has only shed about 2.4% a year. This is primarily due to the smaller cap stocks that make up the index and the fact it includes 25% investment in the healthcare industry. This performance alone is bound to attract a lot of attention and competition for the NASDAQ 100 Trust.

The QQQQ has about $1 Billion invested. If the new fund gets even only 5% of that it will be a billion dollar fund right out of the gate. This new fund is due to be introduced in early 2006, pending approval by the SEC.

News, articles, and performance of exchange traded funds are updated weekly at http://www.exchangetradedfundinvestments.com

When you place a market order, you are essentially telling a broker to buy or sell a stock at the current market price. A market order is the way your broker normally places an order unless you give him or her different instructions. The advantage of a market order is that you are almost always guaranteed that your order is executed as long as willing buyers and sellers are in the market place.

Generally speaking, buy orders are filled at the ask price and sell orders are filled at the bid price. If, however, you are working with a broker who has a smart order routing system, which looks for the best bid you sometimes can get a better price on the NASDAQ or AMEX exchanges. Whenever the order involves the NYSE, you need a good floor broker. In most brokerage houses, market orders are the cheapest to place with the lowest commission level.

If you want to avoid buying or selling stock at a price higher or lower than you intend, you must place a limit order instead of a market order. When placing a limit order, you specify the price at which you will buy or sell. You can place either a buy limit order or a sell limit order. Buy limit orders can be executed only when the price of the stock you are buying is at the limit price or lower. A sell limit order can be executed only when the selling price is at the limit price or higher. In other words, you set the parameters for the price that you will accept. You can’t do that with a market order. The risk you take when placing a limit order is that the order may never be filled. Most firms charge more for executing a limit order than they do for a market order. Be sure that you understand the fee and commission structures if you intend to use limit orders.