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1. Never procrastinate with a performance problem. If you don’t address the issue when it arises, staff will question whether you are doing anything at all.

2. When talking to an employee about a problem, phrase your comments in terms of preventing the problem from recurring. Use the inappropriate performance as a jumping off point, indicate why it is problematic, and then quickly move on to preventing reoccurrence. This moves the focus from blame to improvement.

3. Whenever possible, elicit the employee’s suggestions about how to prevent the problem from recurring. Put the responsibility for suggesting solutions with the employee. When possible, help the employee implement their solution.

4. Make it clear that your comments pertain to behavior or performance, and not the person. Restrict your comments to particular instances of inappropriate performance and avoid inferring cause (lazy, uncaring, incompetent).

5. Remember that to improve problem performance it is often necessary to “drive out fear”. Some think that putting the fear of God into employees will spur them on to better performance. Fear is more likely to reduce performance, loyalty and effort.

6. If you never recognize effective performance, and do not praise those who perform well, you will not be effective in dealing with problem performance.

7. Above all, remember that even the best of employees will find a discussion about inappropriate performance to be unpleasant. Some will take it personally, some will not. Be prepared for some defensiveness, and do not rise to the bait. Stay in control of yourself, and the situation.

Do you ever feel undervalued at work? If so, you’re not alone – here are 7 nifty salary negotiation tips to help navigate the tricky path of pay raises, and ensure you get what you’re worth.

1. Personal Worth Does Not Equal Job Worth

You may have qualifications and experience oozing out of your pores, but if your job doesn’t need those skills, don’t expect a salary to match. Keep a firm grasp on the difference between personal worth and job worth. If you are at the maximum salary for your job, consider switching careers or roles to utilise all your skills and get the salary to match.

2. Career Development v Chasing Dollars

When the golden handcuffs start to chafe, it’s time to figure out what you want from your career. Once you’ve achieved a basic level of security, most people find there is more to life than money. Instead of asking for a pay raise, maybe negotiate for alternative working practices such as condensed hours, working from home, job share, sabbaticals, secondments, part time study etc. Your manager is highly likely to say yes if the new regime is low cost to them and high value to you.

3. The Grass Is Greener…

Before you go rushing off to a competitor, remember to consider all your current benefits, such as pension, health care, bonuses and other perks such as gym membership. Many companies have a policy to pay roughly at or above market value for a particular job, with a salary range to allow for differences in skills and experiences. Do some research and find out what your company pay policy is, and where your current salary falls within the range. You might find you’re getting paid more than you’re worth!

4. Know The Company Policy

Your manager may desperately want to give you a pay raise, but simply can’t because it’s out of policy. Salaries and benefits usually make up a large proportion of company overheads, so most companies have strict controls on salary changes. Find out company policy for awarding pay raises, such as time in the role, required performance levels, expected qualifications etc and plan your salary negotiation accordingly.

5. It’s All In The…………..Timing

Successful comedians know it’s all about timing. Although company inertia often makes decision making a painfully slow process, time your salary negotiations carefully to mesh with appraisal timeframes, or when your manager has the budget and flexibility to make changes.

6. Keep Some Perspective

Would you give you a salary raise just because you wanted one? Probably not, so do some pre-work to sell and secure the deal. List the benefits to your manager of giving you a salary raise – you’ll stay longer in the role, take additional responsibility, or develop other staff – and be specific about what you will deliver.

Include your skills and experience that make you unique and valuable within the role e.g. you are the only person that really understands that complicated accounts system and you’ll train others on it. Keep it objective and factual, and above all, avoid emotional blackmail.

7. Resign

Sometimes the only way to find out your worth is to have a job offer from another company and show it to your boss. Threatening to resign is a high risk strategy, so only use it if you are prepared to follow through.

Follow these salary negotiation tips and get the pay raise you deserve. You know you’re worth it!

General

Forex Easy Cash – The name itself suggests that this could be one of the programs that could allow you to make money off Forex Markets rather easily! Lot of techniques explained in this program, can be very helpful for beginners. Trust me, as a newbie to the world of Forex trading, you would be at a loss of ideas on how to step ahead. It is here that Chris Williams has decided to help out. With his experience in Forex Trading, he has designed a program that would benefit newcomers for them to make money off the Forex Markets. More than anything, a good amount of knowledge and experience in Forex Markets is guaranteed.

The Forex Easy Cash has been voted “Decent” by a lot of people who have used this product. While they vote customer service as one of the major area of opportunity, they say that using Forex Easy Cash is relatively risk-free. All instructions are well explained and the program works amazingly well.

A lot of people though have not had an impressive run with this software. On the other hand, some have appreciated the simple nature on which the program works. Mostly these are beginners who are looking out for some information and knowledge to help them trade in Forex Markets. This product has a 90-day money back guarantee. The best you could do is – Buy this product, and if you are not satisfied return it (Within 90 days of purchase of course).

Content

This course starts with an education given to the readers on the risks and the prospects of Forex Trading in detail. As a beginner to Forex Trading, you may not all these details completely as yet. Chris Williams transitions you then into the various terminologies normally used in Forex Trading. This is where you gain a lot of information, something that could be useful for you when you start using the program. Trust this program to be used pretty regularly by a person who buys it, and to use it knowledge of the terminologies is important.

Do you have any experience in the Forex Markets at all? If you do not have the experience, no problem as Chris’ book takes you through information in detail that will more than help you in understanding the dynamics of Forex Markets. Pictorial representation of the content enables easier understanding of the content. With such a feature, you would never complain of not understanding content, even if you were a beginner.

The expert advisor software is a great tool that automates the process of determining and evaluating market conditions. Please note doing these is important for a successful Forex Trade. Additionally, the software itself provides a lot of content that can only help you in your Forex Trading efforts. Installing this software is rather easy! All you have to do is download the software on to your personal computer or laptop just the one time when you have purchased the product. Easy instructions and easy-to-understand content provided in this program will never get you seeing the other way with this system in front of you.

Effectiveness

Some aspects like the usage of the program and the user interface still need to be worked on. While these remain as areas of opportunities for the product, one cannot challenge the results using this product gives to its users. With that being said, some people have had some issues getting familiar with the user interface, something that must be looked into rather soon.

With the Forex Easy Cash software, one thing is taken – You can get results if and only if, you are willing to spend some time. You should be able to devote at least 1-2 hours at the start to ensure grasp all what’s been told to you. Importantly, you should want to learn the tips of the Forex Markets. Remember, if you are new to Forex markets, there is still some way for you to go before you get 100% knowledge on the market dynamics. And while you learn, the expert advisor software makes it easy for you in taking decisions by cutting down a lot of risks that are associated with Forex trading. A combination of how much you are willing to learn and the easy execution done by the expert advisor software will be good enough for you to get earning money off the Forex markets.

It surely is not one of the most sophisticated software to use in the market. One thing is for sure though – It is highly effective when it comes to Forex Trading! With that being said, please note you may have some initial difficulty getting used to the software. Spend some time with the software, and I am sure you would get used to the software.

Rating: 8/10

Is Forex Easy Cash the best Forex manual out there? Go NOW to our review of some of the most popular forex trading strategies out there. Do they offer real value or are they just a waste of time and money?

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.

Tax reduction and tax deferral are the primary benefits of obtaining a cost segregation study. Income taxes are a substantial burden for most real estate investors. Tax deductions help with this burden. While some level of taxation is necessary, it is both inappropriate and imprudent to pay more than your fair share.

Income tax is based on net profit or taxable income. The basic formula for calculating taxable income is revenue less expenses (tax deductions). Expenses can include both direct payments to third parties (labor, rent, supplies, etc.) and non-cash deduction. The primary non-cash deductions are depreciation and amortization. Tax reduction (tax cuts) are a direct result of increasing tax deductions.

The tax deduction benefit real estate owners gain from cost segregation is a higher level of depreciation. This non-cash tax deduction reduces taxable income and income taxes. For example, if the amount of depreciation increased by $100,000 (as result of a cost segregation study), taxable income would decrease by $100,000, and the owner experiences a $35,000 reduction in taxes (based on 35% tax rate).

Most real estate owners depreciate real estate based upon splitting the cost basis between land and improvements. The property owner or tax preparer typically estimates the portion for the land and attributes the balance to long-life improvements. Long-life improvements depreciate over 27.5 years for rental residential property and 39 years for commercial property

While this simplistic method is lawful, it cheats the real estate owner of tax deductions. A cost segregation study identifies up to 130 short-life components. (Cost segregation is different than component depreciation, which was available until the early 1908s. However, the result of both is to increase depreciation and tax deductions during the early years of ownership.) These short-life components typically comprise 20-50% of the improvement cost basis and are depreciated over 5 years (20.0% per year), 7 years (14.29% per year) and 15 years (6.67% per year).

Depreciation effectively changes the character of income from ordinary income to capital gains income. While the maximum income tax rate for ordinary income is 35%, the maximum rate for capital gains is 15% (less than half the ordinary income tax). This affects substantial income tax reduction.

Increasing depreciation also affects deferral of payment of income taxes. Instead of paying taxes (at the ordinary income tax rate) in the year income is earned, taxes are paid (at the capital gain rate) in the year the property is sold. Cost segregation effectively generates an interest free loan (until the property is sold) and reduces the tax rate (from 35% to 15%).

Cost segregation produces tax deductions and reduces federal income taxes across the country and in every size market. Below are just a few examples of where cost segregation generates meaningful tax deductions.

City:

• Miami, FL
• Bridgeport, CT
• Washington, DC
• San Francisco, CA
• Atlanta, GA
• Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
• New Orleans, LA
• New York, NY
• Baltimore, MD
• Hartford, CT
• Indianapolis, IN
• Wichita, KS
• Detroit, MI
• Charleston, SC
• Providence, RI
• Grand Rapids, MI
• Jacksonville, TN
• Boise, ID
• Santa Rosa, CA
• Columbia, SC
• Columbus, OH
• Oxnard, CA
• Greensboro, NC
• Allentown, PA
• Harrisburg, PA
• Louisville, KY
• Fresno, CA
• Akron, OH
• Chicago, IL
• Portland, OR

Cost segregation produces tax deductions for virtually all property types.

Property Type:

• Manufacturing/processing
• Tennis club
• Retirement home
• Auto service garage
• Mini-warehouse
• Single-tenant retail
• Medical facility
• Hotel
• Retail
• Vacant land

Almost every industry, including the following, can generate cost-efficient tax deductions by using cost segregation.

Industry:

• Wood product manufacturing
• Warehousing and storage
• Truck transportation
• Transportation equipment manufacturing
• Textile product mills
• Textile mills
• Real estate lesser
• Publishers
• Printing activities
• Plastic and rubber products manufacturing

O’Connor & Associates is a national provider of investment property consulting services including cost segregation studies, due diligence, insurance valuations, tax reduction, property tax, market research,expert witness,private bond activity,taxes,residential property appraisals,Tarrant Central Appraisal District,Tips and Tricks for Appealing Your Property Taxes in Dallas,Dallas county appraisal and Federal tax reduction. Our appraisers are competent to appraise virtually all types of property including land, neighborhood shopping centers, warehouses, bowling alleys, motels, mobile home parks, self-storage units, retirement homes, multifamily housing, movie theatres, veterinary clinics, single-tenant retail centers, funeral homes, bars, amusement parks, hospitals, schools, night clubs, apartments and medical facilities.

Each investor gets in the stock market with the same main goal- to add to their own wealth. For generations, the stock market has shown to be a winning strategy to establish personal riches for investors around the globe. Although a lot of investors are fortunate in their quests, there are as well numerous others who lose money attributable to several basic investment errors. The five most common investment errors are the lack of portfolio diversification, ineffective market timing, lack of reinvestment, emotional investing and overpaying for investments and investment advice.

1. Lack of Diversification

Diversification is among the fundaments to a flourishing investment portfolio, yet so many investors neglect to properly address this step. Whenever an investor decides to invest into a particular industry sector or into a particular company without diversifying across other investments, they’re essentially putting all of their eggs into one basket. This move can significantly add to the investor’s portfolio risk and the possibility for loss of capital. A properly diversified portfolio will adhere to all components of an asset allocation, considering risk tolerance, investment capital available, investment time frame and the current portfolio’s investment class weightings.

2. Market Timing

Some investors get wind of success stories from investors and traders who win big time by timing the markets. Although market timing can turn out to be successful for a lot of investors, many investors make the mistake of investing into a stock while its price is climbing instead of at the ground level. Another market timing error is selling an investment when the investor thinks that the stock is about to come down, potentially causing the investor to lose capital growth opportunities if the stock does not in fact drop-off as anticipated. Though market timing is a winning strategy for many investors, it can be a risky investment strategy and is not suggested for most investors.

3. Lack of Reinvestment

Whenever an investor is to sell off their investments, a big mistake that can be made is to not reinvest the money into a different investment, therefore holding the proceeds in cash. In many cases, it is advisable to reinvest the proceeds into another stock that meets the investor’s own objectives. Another reinvestment error occurs when investors fail to take advantage of the opportunity that a lot of investments offer the ability to reinvest dividends. This is an good strategy for wealth building and should be considered by nearly all investors.

4. Emotional Decisions

Most investors make their trading decisions on an emotional basis rather than on a logical basis. For instance, emotional investors will sell off an investment as it is dropping in price, therefore taking a loss instead of waiting for the market to re-correct. Although the overall investment goal is to buy when low and sell when high, a lot of investors execute the exact opposite strategy based on their emotional reactions.

5. Overpaying for Investment Fees

The price that is paid for investments can have a huge impact on an investor’s total investment return. Consider investment trading fees, investment transaction fees and up front prices for investment advice in order to ensure that your net investment returns are as healthy as possible.

Larry Haywood is a stock market enthusiast, focusing on innovative and unique techniques for building up wealth via the stock market. For a limited time, you can claim the “Insider’s Guide To Forex Trading” e-book absolutely free at: http://www.mystockmarkettips.com/ebook-offer.htm

Press releases let you use the media to draw attention to your business, which makes it more credible in the eyes of the public. Consider five easy tips on how to make your press release great.

Proper Format: All of your press releases should be written in the proper format. Your goal should be to give you and your business a professional air. You will need to review your press release, checking spelling, grammar, and punctuation before sending it to any media source.

Writing Clearly and Pointedly: Since most media outlets receive a steady stream of press releases, they do not have time to read long ones. No press release should be more than two pages in length. In order to keep your press release at this size, your writing needs to be clear and pointed, answering the most important questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how.

Emphasize Benefits to the Reader: Your press release should encourage readers to do something. Depending on the situation, you might tell them to check out your website, visit the grand opening of your new store, or attend your special event. Your writing should emphasize the benefits that your reader will receive by taking part in whatever it is that your press release is promoting. Instead of just writing a straightforward advertisement, make potential customers see what’s in it for them.

For example, a press release about a new food processor needs to tell readers more than the simple facts that the new product is more compact than older models. Make customers see the benefits they will derive from purchasing it by wording it differently. You could say, “The compact size of our new food processor will let customers maximize counter space while chopping up foods with just as much power as previous models.” This tells your reader why they need to buy your product.

Keep the Mood Interesting: You need to write in a style that will make readers excited about your product. Dress up the facts in an effort to keep things interesting for your readers. With the above food processor example, you can tell customers that “the new compact, counter-saving model will be in stores this spring, just when you’ll need it to chop up fresh veggies to make the perfect summer salad” instead of simply stating “the new food processor will be available in the spring.”

Keep Your Target Customer in Mind: Always remember who your target customers are while you write and submit your press releases. This will also help you to determine what information should be in your press release and which media sources you should submit it to.

You wouldn’t, for example, submit a press release about a children’s health event to a newspaper’s travel editor, since this will not help you get your information to your target audience.

Are you searching for a way to make money on eBay? Find out how to start a thriving eBay business on the Online Auction Advisor website. Visit http://www.online-auction-advisor.com for a copy of my ebook “101 eBay Tips” – a $47 value absolutely free!

Although honesty is generally taught as the best policy, I would propose that it is the only policy to follow in 99% of cases. The other 1% could be called “white lies.” How are you to know the difference, that is, when someone is telling the whole truth as opposed to a white lie? Here are some tips that will help you spot a liar.

There was an old Hollywood movie starring Charles Bronson as a buffalo hunter and Will Sampson as an Indian Chief. They are in a cave together, hunting the same killer white buffalo, when they engage in a conversation about truth. Bronson, known to the Indians as “the shooter” because he is a skilled hunter, has his version of the truth and the Chief has his. The Chief asks – “Tell me Shooter, what is the true truth?” I ask you the same question. For me, the true truth is the whole truth, no shading. What is it for you?

As we go about our interaction with each other, the white lie is employed more than any other form of communication with those closest to us. We are more apt to shade the truth in order to avoid hurt feelings or, when we know a person really well, we tell a white lie because we know they really don’t want the true truth. They have their version of the true truth and that’s the version they want to hear.

When we deal with strangers, telling a lie is easy because we likely will never see them again but what about that stranger we may see again? You need to decide if what you are lying about is worth what you will gain as opposed to the potential consequences if your lie is discovered. It is a personal decision. You need to be realistic with yourself. It is easy to become a compulsive liar and ruin your life. Under what circumstances are you willing to risk damaging relationships, reputation, and future opportunities. Ask yourself. Do the benefits of telling the lie outweigh the risks?

For example: A teen boy tells his parents he’s going to the movies with a friend but he’s really going to a concert with his girlfriend. Logically, the parents are going to ask what the movie was about and if he enjoyed it. Now, beforehand, the teen could Google a summary of what was in the movie; along with the climax so he can be ready for the questions. Such a young man may not consider the consequences if he is caught in the lie. He does not realize that his parents will be emotionally hurt by his lie and will take a long time before ever trusting him again. His lie has destroyed the parent-child relationship for a long time to come.

Telemarketing has taught us that it’s relatively easy to lie to someone over the phone because the sense of personal connection is very small. You can’t see them; they can’t see you. As a result, you are less likely to feel guilty and, therefore, give visual clues that you may be deviating from your normal behavior. If you were closer to the person physically, you would have a greater personal connection. Consequently, you would be more likely to reveal, in some way, that you are engaging in deceptive behavior.

The same reasoning applies to being close to a person psychologically. If you try to lie to your girlfriend or boyfriend, there are numerous psychological pressures. For example, you’ll think about what happens if you get caught, feel guilty about lying to someone you care about and it will be more difficult to focus on mimicking your normal behavior. This phenomenon is often called “liars’ remorse,” and it’s usually what people are talking about when they say a liar “wants to get caught.” Those closest to us know when we are lying and when we are shading the truth a bit.

Most strangers will not have a clue if you are an accomplished liar. It takes years, by the way, to develop a liar’s mentality. An amateur liar will not look you right in the eye when lying. They may touch their head with their hand, or hold their palms up as they spin the lie. These are both giveaways. An accomplished liar does the opposite. They look you in the eye, their hands at their side. An amateur liar will use the strongest adjectives and a voice level that are above normal pitch and speed. A friend of mine says – “I can tell when someone’s lying. They talk faster than I can listen.”

Most professionals employ specific tactics to catch liars. The cops will make small talk with you to establish what your “normal” behaviors are. When they get down to the serious subject matter, they look for cracks in that normal behavior. Polygraph machines work the same way. There are mental and physical drives that can be detected by skilled interviewers, as well as machines.

There are many more subliminal messages people send when lying. Do some research and learn what they are and how to avoid them.

Jim DeSantis

Jim DeSantis is a retired investigative journalist who is now a full time blogger. Grab Jim’s Free Report “How To Spot A Liar” (click here). No email is required. Visit Jim’s blog about the Workplace (click here) for more free information.

In order to increase the avenues for investment abroad, Indian mutual funds were allowed to invest in rated securities in countries with fully convertible currencies, within the existing limits. Earlier such investment was only permitted in ADRs/GDRs issued by Indian companies in overseas markets.

A road map for developing Separate Trading for Registered Interest and Principal of Securities (STRIPS) has been prepared. The Reserve Bank is actively pursuing the creation and development of the STRIPS market which, in addition to providing more flexibility in managing interest rate risk, would help in addressing the asset-liability mismatch problem of banks/institutions.

Banks with typically short maturity funding can hold short duration STRIPS (i.e., coupon STRIPS) while the longer duration STRIPS can be held by insurance companies and pension funds, etc. To facilitate the market for STRIPS (which are essentially zero coupon bonds (ZCBs), the tax anomaly that existed in respect of ZCBs has been removed by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in a notification issued in February 2002. Accordingly, ZCBs are now to be taxed on a total return basis by treating the marked-to-market gains to the holder during the assessment year as taxable.

Issues of Foreign Currency Convertible Bond were allowed under the automatic route up to US $ 50 million. The Indian companies were permitted to raise the 24 per cent limit on Foreign Institutional Investors investment to the sectoral cap/statutory ceiling as applicable. As announced by the Finance Minister in his Budget speech for 2002- 03, FIIs’ portfolio investments will hence forth not be subject to sectoral limits for foreign direct investment except in specified sectors.

After accumulation or distribution takes place, a stock moves into new territory, either high or low, showing that the stock has been absorbed or distributed and that a new move is starting. The big profits are made in the runs between accumulation and distribution. Therefore, you make more money by waiting until a stock plainly declares its trend than by getting in before it starts. It is just like a race. It often takes fifteen or twenty minutes to get the horses away from the post, but once “they’re off” the race is over in two minutes. It is the getting ready that takes the time, the run is soon made, once the firing line is crossed. What difference does it make whether you buy a stock 10, 20 or 30 points above the bottom so long as you make profits? The same with selling short. It makes no difference how much the price is down from the top. Wen it breaks out of the distributing zone, it is a safe short sale and you will make quick profits. Get the idea of prices out of your head. Forget about the bottoms and tops; trade to make profits, not to try and catch the bottom or top eighth. The insiders do not do it, and you can not hope to do better than the man who makes the market.

Get the best stock market recommendation, free tips, e-books, and start making money from online trading. Trading easy through http://www.5minutetrader.com/

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.