Jupiterimages It was an all-you-can-eat buffet, costing around $12.95, as Mim King recalls. About 10 years ago, King, a professional organizer and money manager in St. Paul, Minn., learned that one of her clients had gone to a restaurant, and he was determined to eat all he could. "He stayed beyond what most people would consider a reasonable time, simply in order to eat," King says. Before the day was over, his family took him to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. King never learned the cost of the hospital bill, but she is betting that it far exceeded her client's meal. Everyone makes money mistakes, but if there's a theme connecting many of them, it's that if we stopped and thought about it, we'd realize what we're doing isn't going to end well. While King's client didn't predict he'd wind up in a hospital, if he had thought through his plan beforehand, he might have left after, say, the third or certainly the fourth helping. In that spirit, here are a few common money management mistakes -- and why these decisions are likely to haunt you. Going to Graduate School Without Thinking It Through Why it will come back to haunt you: Graduate school isn't cheap. Price tags are all over the map, ranging from a relatively low $21,000 a year for business school at Brigham Young University's Marriott School of Management to $63,200 a year at Harvard Business School. The last thing you need is to graduate and realize you really aren't cut out for your new career. The consequences: That realization is not uncommon. Shane Fischer, a criminal defense attorney in Winter Park, Fla., says he sees it all the time. He knows many lawyers who hate what they do "but went to law school because they hadn't 'found themselves' at 22. They racked up $100,000 to $200,000 in debt before their 25th birthday. Unless they hit the lottery or get lucky with a big case, their student loan debt will be an albatross around their neck for the rest of their careers, as they will never make enough money to bounce back from the debt as well as the lost income from taking additional years off to go to school." Which may not be so bad if you love what you do. But if you hate it, the decision will plague you, quite possibly for the rest of your life. Taking Out an Expensive Loan You Can't Afford Why it will come back to haunt you: Maybe you'll be able to pay it back, but if you're honest with yourself, you probably won't. After all, the reason the high-interest loan you're considering is so expensive is that you had trouble paying back the previous loans you've taken out. How is this one going to be any different? The consequences: Desperate times, as they say, call for desperate measures. But some loans are so punishing that desperate consumers would be better off taking whatever lumps are coming to them. While some credit cards have exorbitant interest rates, and payday loans are well-known as an expensive way to borrow money, among the worst of the worst are car title loans. The Center for Responsible Lending reported earlier this year that approximately 7,730 lenders give out $1.6 billion in car title loans every year, and to get that money, consumers spend $3.5 billion a year in interest. It's a form of predatory lending that is illegal in about half the states, which says a lot. Here's how it works: A typical borrower receives cash equal to 26 percent of the car's value and pays 300 percent APR. If consumers don't pay back what they borrow, they lose the car. Because most people are determined not to let that happen, they renew the loan -- paying back only the monthly interest and renewing the loan for another 30 days. Consumers who borrow $950 typically take eight months before paying back the loan and spend more than $2,140 in interest. Failing to Save for Retirement Why it will come back to haunt you: The reasons are obvious: Nobody wants to find out what happens when you have to choose between buying food or medicine. The consequences: If you're making this mistake now, you're not alone. A new Wells Fargo (WFC) study, which surveyed 1,000 middle-class Americans from their 20s into their 70s, reports that 37 percent of people don't expect to ever retire, and they plan to work until they're too sick to do anything else -- or die -- whichever comes first. Two years ago, Ken Bodnar, then 55, was pretty sure his future was going to involve being "the most educated greeter that Walmart would ever have." Bodnar surely means no offense to minimum-wage earners, but from a salary standpoint, it would have been a step down. He had just lost his job as the chief technology officer at a prepaid debit card and money transfer company in Nassau, Bahamas, a position he had been offered two years earlier when he was toiling in a cubicle in Ottawa, Ontario. It was 2011, and Bodnar was an unemployed expat supporting his 24-year-old daughter. He had nothing saved for retirement. As it turned out, Bodnar was able to save himself from being a cautionary tale. For the next two years, he worked in a series of odd jobs, proving his worth to employers and bringing in what money he could. Bodnar eventually landed at SelectBidder.com, a wholesale inventory website for the auto industry, where he is currently the chief technology officer. And, yes, he is finally saving for retirement and has a healthy amount of money already stashed away. He also no longer has any debt, which he abhors and suggests everyone in their mid-50s and beyond start hammering away at if they haven't already. "Debt puts you further behind the eight ball than you really need to be," says Bodnar, who is able to put a lot toward retirement partly due to scaling back his expenses. "I live frugally, and it doesn't kill me."
Top 5 Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Ivrnet Inc (IVI.V)
Ivrnet Inc., an application service provider, provides eBusiness applications on an outsource basis through the Ivrnet eServices network. The company offers call monitoring and processing applications comprising Call Trak, Call Monitor, Virtual Attendants, and a collection of interactive voice response (IVR) applications; managed services consisting of IT services, email and Web hosting, application services, and spam filtering; and custom application development and hosting services. It also provides reporting and survey automation tools; booking and reservation systems; workflow and business process automation services; connectivity solutions that comprise phone trunks and IVR routing applications; and contact services/call center tools, including automated outbound calling services, digital dialers, customer outbound calling for clients, and voice activated password resets for help desks. In addition, the company offers business communications tools, such as fax to emai l, unified messaging, and email hosting; disaster recovery planning services; and tactical and short term communications systems, which consist of IP based short term solutions for temporary offices, political campaigns, and similar other needs. It develops applications to facilitate automated interaction that are accessible through voice, phone, fax, email, texting, and the Internet in North America. The company serves various industry and business categories, including airline, automotive, business center, call centers, campaigning, communications, community associations, distribution/logistics, energy and resources, financial, geomatic, golf, government, health and safety, industry associations, insurance and claim services, legal, maintenance, management consulting, marketing, medical, property development, real estate, retail, sales, sports and entertainment, staffing and human resources, telecommunications, trade unions, and utilities. Ivrnet Inc. is based in Calgary, Canada.
Top 5 Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Facebook Inc (FB.O)
Facebook, Inc. (Facebook), incorporated in July 2004, is engaged in building products to create utility for users, developers, and advertisers. People use Facebook to stay connected with their friends and family, to discover what is going on in the world around them, and to share and express what matters to them to the people they care about. Developers can use the Facebook Platform to build applications and Websites that integrate with Facebook to reach its global network of users and to build personalized and social products. Advertisers can engage with more than 900 million monthly active users (MAUs) on Facebook or subsets of its users based on information they have chosen to share with the Company, such as their age, location, gender, or interests. It offers advertisers a combination of reach, relevance, social context and engagement.
Products for Users
The Company�� products for users are free of charge and available on the Web, mobile Web, and mobile platforms, such as Android and iOS. It launched Timeline in September 2011, as an enhanced and updated version of the Facebook Profile. Timeline allows users to organize and display the events and activities that matter most to them, enabling them to curate their memories in a searchable personal narrative that is organized chronologically. Users choose what information to share on their Timeline, such as their interests, photos, education, work history, relationship status, and contact information, and users can control with whom each piece of content is shared on their Timeline. The Facebook News Feed is the core feature of a user�� homepage and is a regularly updating list of stories from friends, Pages, and other entities to which a user is connected on Facebook. It includes posts, photos, event updates, group memberships, app updates, and other activities. Each user�� News Feed is personalized based on his or her interests and the sharing activity o f the user�� friends.
Facebook is a photo up! l! oading service on the Web. Users can upload an unlimited number of high resolution photos, create photo albums, and share them with their friends or any audience they choose. Users can also upload and share videos. Users can set specific privacy settings for each of their photo albums and videos, making them visible to everyone, or only to certain friends. Users can arrange their photos, add captions, and tag people in a photo or video. Tagging allows users to identify a person in a photo or video as one of their friends. Its messaging products include email, chat, and text messaging. Groups are shared Facebook pages for groups of users to discuss common interests. Lists allow users to organize their friends in order to filter the stories shown in their News Feeds and reach or exclude specific people when they share on Facebook. Through Events, users can organize gatherings, manage invitations, and send event notifications and reminders to their friends. From the Events page , users can create a new event, check out upcoming events of interest to them and their friends, and view previous events.
Through Places, users can share their location and see where their friends are. They are able to see if any of their friends are nearby. Users can also check in to Places to tell their friends where they are, tag their friends in the Places they visit, or view Comments their friends have made about the Places they visit. Using Subscribe, users can sign up to receive public posts in their News Feeds from other Facebook users of interest, such as celebrities, thought leaders, and other public figures. Ticker is a live stream of the real-time activities of a user�� friends and the Pages and other entities to which the user is connected. On the top of each Facebook page, a highlighted icon is displayed to users when there is relevant and new information available to them, such as a new friend request, a new message from a friend, or an alert that the user has been tagged in a photo posted by a fri! end.!
A Facebook Page is a public profile that allows anyone, including artists, public figures, businesses, brands, organizations, and charities to create a presence on Facebook and engage with the Facebook community. A Page owner can connect with interested users in order to provide updates, answer questions, receive feedback, or otherwise stimulate interest in the owner�� messages, products, and services. When a Facebook user likes a Page, the Page owner has the opportunity to publish stories to the user�� News Feed on an ongoing basis. In addition, when a Facebook user Likes or Comments on a post by a Page owner, that user�� action may be shared with the user�� friends via News Feed to drive awareness to a wider circle of users, increasing the Page�� exposure, recognition, and engagement. The Company does not charge for Pages, nor does it charge for the resulting organic distribution. As of March 31, 2012, there were more than 42 million Pages with 10 or more Li kes, including Harvard, Lady Gaga, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Starbucks, and Boo (the World�� Cutest Dog), as well as millions of local businesses.
Products for Developers
The Facebook Platform is a set of tools and application programming interfaces (APIs) that developers can use to build social apps on Facebook or to integrate their Websites with Facebook. As of March 31, 2012, more than nine million applications and Websites were integrated with Facebook. Some of the elements of the Facebook Platform include open graph, social plugins, payments, applications on Facebook, desktop applications, mobile applications and platform-integrated Websites. The Open Graph is a set of APIs that developers can use to build applications and Websites that enable users to share their activities with friends on Facebook. Social plugins are social features that developers can easily integrate with their Websites by incorporating a single line of HyperText M arkup Language (HTML) code.
Facebook ! provides ! a! n online ! payments infrastructure that enables developers to receive payments from users through a secure system. The Company has designed its Payments infrastructure to streamline the buying process between its users and developers. Its Payments system enables users to purchase virtual or digital goods from developers and third-party Websites by using debit and credit cards, PayPal, mobile phone payments, gift cards or other methods. Applications on Facebook run within the Facebook Website. The Facebook Platform has also enabled new types of social applications on Facebook beyond games to facilitate social sharing and discovery of music, news, television programming, and everyday interests, such as cooking, fitness, and travel. Developers can also build desktop apps that run on the operating system of a personal computer and offer experiences that are integrated with the Facebook Platform. The Facebook Platform for mobile has enabled developers to create engaging mobile applications that integrate with Facebook�� social and personalization capabilities. Websites can integrate with Facebook using social plugins, such as the Like button or design more deeply integrated social experiences built around users and their friends.
Products for Advertisers and Marketers
Facebook offers products that enable advertisers and marketers to leverage its combination of reach, relevance, social context, and engagement. When creating a Facebook ad, advertisers can specify a title, content, image, and destination Web page or Facebook Page to which a user is directed if he or she clicks on the ad. Advertisers can further engage their intended audiences by incorporating social context with their marketing messages. Social context includes actions a user�� friends have taken, such as Liking the advertiser�� Facebook Page. Ads with social context are shown only to a user�� friends, and the user�� privacy settings apply to social ads. It of fers a range of ads with social context, from! an ad wi! th a s! ingle Lik! e button to its Premium Ad paired with social context, which allows advertisers to highlight the interactions of a user�� friends with a brand or product.
Sponsored stories enable marketers to promote the stories they publish from their Facebook Page to users who have connected with the Page or to amplify the distribution of stories users are already sharing that are relevant to their marketing efforts. When advertisers create an ad campaign with Facebook, they specify the types of users they would like to reach based on information that users chose to share about their age, location, gender, relationship status, educational history, workplace, and interests. Advertisers choose to pay for their ads based on either cost per thousand impressions (CPM) on a fixed or bidded basis or cost per click (CPC) on a bidded basis. Facebook ad analytics enable advertisers to gain insights into which ads were displayed and clicked on. These analytics help advertisers make mo difications to their ad campaigns. Advertisers with Facebook Pages can also view the number of users who Liked and Commented on their Page and a newly introduced metric, People Talking About This, which shows how many stories about their brand are being created and shared.
The Company competes with Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Cyworld, Mixi and vKontakte.
Top Warren Buffett Companies To Invest In 2014: COLT TELECOM GROUP S.A. ORD EUR1.25(COLT.L)
Colt Group S.A., together with its subsidiaries, provides business communications and information technology (IT) solutions and services in Europe. The company operates in three segments: Enterprise Services, Communication Services, and Data Centre Services. The Enterprise Services segment provides a range of technical solutions, including managed networking, managed IT services, and unified communication solutions through its information delivery platform to medium and large sized corporates in the financial, public, media, and professional services sectors. The Communication Services segment offers a range of voice, broadband, and data communications services, such as IT and network services for fixed and mobile network operators, Internet service providers, and telecoms and IT resellers through indirect sales channels. The Data Centre Services segment serves enterprises and corporates that require data centre space to support their compute infrastructure. This segment d esigns, builds, and operates data centers. The company offers its services through resellers, agents, and franchises. COLT Group S.A. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Luxembourg.
Top 5 Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: BroadSoft Inc.(BSFT)
BroadSoft, Inc. provides software and services that enable mobile, fixed-line, and cable service providers to deliver unified communications and other voice and multimedia services over Internet protocol (IP) based networks. The company?s communications platform consists of BroadWorks software, which enables its service provider customers to provide enterprises and consumers with a range of cloud-based or hosted IP multimedia communications, such as private branch exchanges, video calling, unified communications, collaboration, and converged mobile and fixed-line services; BroadCloud hosted or cloud service that enables its service provider customers to offer Web collaboration, video conferencing, instant messaging, presence, and short messaging to their end-users; and BroadTouch, a client application that enables carriers to offers unified communications services for smartphones, tablets, desktops, and laptops. It also provides a range of professional support services, i ncluding pre-sales support; installation, network integration, project management, and remote upgrade services, as well as consulting services; product life-cycle services; and training services. The company sells its products to telecommunication service providers directly, as well as indirectly through telecommunications equipment vendors, value-added resellers, and other distributors. It operates in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. BroadSoft, Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By SA Pro Top Ideas]
Stock Movers and Great Calls
On August 2, Josh Burwick argued that the market was underestimating BroadSoft's (BSFT) 2014 earnings potential, with 50% upside looming for shares. The stock is +10.6% in the three weeks since. Read article » On June 27, Alan Brochstein said Apogee Glass (APOG) offered compelling value as its architectural glass reverted to historic margins. The shares are +20.4% since. Read article »
Alpha-Rich long and short ideas regularly move stocks and identify stocks that are about to move. Some notable recent calls subscribers had early access to:To Come Today
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BroadSoft (Nasdaq: BSFT ) is expected to report Q1 earnings on May 6. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:
The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict BroadSoft's revenues will grow 0.7% and EPS will shrink -62.1%.
Top 5 Tech Stocks To Own Right Now: Dragonwave Inc (DWI.TO)
DragonWave Inc. provides wireless Ethernet equipment for Internet protocol networks worldwide. It designs, develops, markets, and sells carrier-grade microwave radio frequency networking equipment that wirelessly transmit broadband voice, video, and other data between two points. Its products have application in the backhaul function in a wireless communications network. The company also offers solutions, including leased line replacement, last mile fiber extension, and enterprise networks, as well as provides pseudowire technology. It serves service providers, government agencies, enterprises, and other organizations. The company was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada.
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