Attitude • economics24.com

October 16, 2008

What career can I pursue with a major in Economics?

Filed under: Other - Careers & Employment — Tags: Accountant, Accounting Classes, Attitude, Average Salary, Careers, Different Types Of Accounting, Economics, Excel, Finance Career, Incoming Freshman, Investment Banking, Jobs, Leadership Skills, Salary Management, Stable Job, Types Of Accounting, Uc Davis — admin @ 4:26 pm

ASDF asked:

I am an incoming freshman planning to major in Economics at UC Davis. I would like to work at a bank, become an accountant, or do something related to finance for my career. I don’t know much about these careers, but I really want a job that pays well.
My opinion so far on some specific jobs:
Accounting- seems boring, but a stable job. Are there different types of accounting? What classes should I take? What’s the average salary?
Management- requires an outgoing and friendly person with a good attitude and outstanding leadership skills, able to handle situations on the spot. Not everyone can do it, but if you have these skills, you’ll excel in this area.
Investment banking- extremely competitive to get into, extremely competitive job in general, work 60+ hours per week, but extremely good pay. I especially want information for this. What classes should I take? What would help me get a job in this area?

Comments (2)

October 13, 2008

Keeping An Eye On Your Personal Finances

Filed under: Non Fiction — Tags: Accountants, Attitude, Bearing, Confusion, Credit Cards, Credit Score, Financial Statements, Habit, Identity Theft, Initiative, Mystical Number, Personal Finance, Personal Finances, Personal Information, Reputation, Retirement Fund, Safe Guard, Shocks, Success, Vehicle Loan — admin @ 12:34 pm

David Neehly asked:

The majority of us are sticklers for finances at work, but often disregard our personal finance at home. For those who are not accountants, the process of keeping financial records and ensuring all financial items are squared away can be quite boring and often confusing. Instead of ignoring your personal finance until a problem arises, take the initiative today!
The most important aspect of your personal finance is undoubtedly your credit. Your credit score, often a mystical number of much confusion, is critical to your success in the financial realm. Without a respectable credit score, you will be unable to borrow money or obtain a home or vehicle loan. This number can literally hold you back from completing your goals and can severely limit your future.
The credit in your name has a direct bearing on the credit number. Thus people who do not use their credit cards properly and have huge bills running in their names lend a bad streak to their credit. A point to be noted is that it is not the amount you charge but it is the amount that is kept on credit that poses the threat of being harmful. It is important to keep a check on the monthly statement and you should endeavor to pay it in full each month.
In today’s society, identity theft is often a problem. If someone steals your identity, they can wreck your finances, ruin your credit, and tarnish your good name and reputation. In order to prevent identity theft, carefully monitor all your financial statements and safe guard your personal information.
The attitude of most people towards money is spending today and saving later, thus relegating saving for a later part of their life. But this habit catches them unawares in the later part of their life where they get jolted with the rude shocks of a fast approaching retirement date and a non-existent retirement fund. So do not wait for tomorrow, start saving today by putting some portions of your income in the retirement fund account.
One of the best ways to handle the finances is a budget. This is the best way to keep a tab on the finances and keeping the spending in control. When you create a budget you need to make two columns, one meant for the incomes and the second for expenditures. You need to mention all the items of expenditure in the expenses column such as rent or mortgage payment, car payment, insurance, utilities, and food. Whatever is left after deducting all this from the income is the monthly excess that of course can be used in different ways.
It’s a good idea to consult an accountant if you are not sure about setting your personal finance records straight. This person will help you correct any potential problems and ensure nothing goes wrong in the future.
The world of finance is fascinating. There’s no need to be scared of it. Just keep your finances straight and you will be able to build, or rebuild, your credit score.

Comments (0)

August 19, 2008

Need a Career Change-apply These 7 Prinicples

Filed under: Careers — Tags: Aspiration, Attitude, Better Life, Career Change, Career Job, Choices, Conscience, Current Situation, Dreams, External Factors, Fellow Colleagues, Internal Factors, Key Reasons, Natural Talents, Passion, Poor Location, Salaries, Success Rate, Valid Reason, Working Relationships — admin @ 9:02 am

Keji Giwa asked:

2 years ago, we re-packaged our winning formula for helping people attain the career of their dreams and doubling their salaries. The results have been phenomenal with 100% success rate and thousands of people attaining the right career change and getting job of their dreams.

However, before we tell you what this winning formula is, let us establish the key reasons why people develop the need for a career change:

There are two deciding factors for this:

External Factors

A lot people develop the need for a career change due to a number of external factors and these can be related to their working relationships with fellow colleagues, an inability to grow within the company, poor location, an unpleasant environment or family related reasons.

When any of these factors become the need for a career change, there are questions you need to ask yourself before making that life changing decision to change your career.

“Am I sure the problem does not lie with me?”

1. How well do you relate with people? – Would you say your attitude welcomes or drives people from you? If the problem has got to do with your attitude, you’ll have the same problem elsewhere.

2. How competitive are you within your current role? – Employers value employees that help grow their business and will give anything to retain that person. Are you exercising your natural talents at work daily? Your natural energisers (PASSION)! Do you have any for your current job?

3. Location, environment and family related reasons are also external factors that puts us in a position to make life changing choices, but they must never be at the risk of loosing our identity. what makes us whole and fulfilled in life.

Internal Factors

These factors are probably the most valid reason when it comes to experiencing the need for a career change.

It’s battle between what your conscience is telling you, your dreams, hopes, aspiration and your current situation. The need for a better life, a more fulfilling career, the ability to exercise your natural talents and engage your passion.

A Combination of External & Internal Factors

On the other hand, it could be a combination of both external and internal factors, which can be very dangerous because it can lead to a life of frustration, despair. Inevitably leading to envy and jealousy for the progress of other people.

When this happens, you could find yourself wanting the success of others and dedicating your life to getting it.

This is a road that will always lead to a dead end.

Little progress is made when you try to be someone else. Most times, your weaknesses become more evident and people begin to see an incompetent employee rather than a competent one.

So Why Do You Need A Career Change

This is what it’s all about. Finding the answer to your ‘WHY’s in life.

As Stephen Covey once mentioned at one of his seminars, if you can find the answers to your ‘WHY’s in life, you can handle any ‘WHAT’, ‘WHERE’, ‘WHEN’, ‘HOW’ or ‘IF’.

Why do you need a career change?

If your answer to this question falls under the need to attain career fulfilment, enjoy going to work and getting paid a fortune for what you do so naturally, then our successfully tried and tested, easy to apply principles can help you make the right career change today.

Here is a quick summary of the 7 easy to understand and apply principles to changing your career and attaining the job of your dreams:

Step 1: The 12 Laws of Discovering Your Purpose

- Give a dog a bone and you’ve got it working, give a dog your month’s wage in cash and you’ll be working extra hours to make the money back.

“Where purpose is unknown, abuse is inevitable”- Myles Munroe

Step 2: Creating Your Unique Selling Point

People will only see you as you see yourself. When you pay to watch a play or a movie, you are not just there to see the actors but to enjoy the characters they portray – 100% of our candidates have potentially doubled their salaries and gotten the career of their dreams because our eWorkshop has taught them how to create their Unique Selling Point (USP).

Step 3: Knowing What The Employer Wants

A doctor never tries to treat a patient without trying to first diagnose the cause of illness. Diagnose the Employer – Joyce attained two great job offers because of this.

This eWorkshop will teach you how to do this in relation to your chosen career.

Step 4: Job Hunting Smarter Not Harder

70% of jobs are never advertised and 1 in 4 jobs are duplicated online at least 5 times out of the 30% of jobs actually advertised. You need to be looking for the 70% of jobs. How you do this requires thinking outside the box.

Step 5: How To Rebrand & Remarket Yourself To Win

80% of employers overlook key details on your Resume / CV and to every job advertised nationally, there are 1000 applicants to each job. If your Resume / CV does not stand out, you might as well stay out. Our sample Resume and CV templates got Joyce a job of a life time. Triple her previous salary.

Step 6: How To Network From The Top Down

If Bill Gates was your best friend, would you need to contact HR? The internet has made networking as easy as a piece of cake. James has been using this concept since he graduated. Today, he is an Investment Banker for one of the world’s Investment banking companies.

Step 7: Selling Without Selling At Interviews

No one likes to be sold to. We like to feel like we are buying for our own reasons. When you go fishing and you want to catch a fish, do you bait the hook with your favourite food or with the favourite food of the fish. Bait the hook according to the fish type. Maria applied this principle and she is earning double her previous salary.

www.careerinsights.tv

Comments (0)

August 18, 2008

The Career Makeover: 7 Steps to Achieving Your Goals

Filed under: Career Management — Tags: Achieving Your Goals, Additional Education, Attitude, Career Makeover, Chain Reaction, Counseling, Critical Importance, Education Job, Fresh Start, Golden Key, Internal Thoughts, Job Prospects, Level 1, Magazines, Managing Your Career, Managing Your Time, Necessary Steps, Recruiter, Resume, Television Shows — admin @ 5:48 pm

Krissy Jackson – Career Coach asked:

Makeovers on television shows and in magazines are enticing for women the world over. Of course the reason they are so popular, is because the idea of getting a fresh start in life is a golden key we have all dreamt about at one time or another. No matter what their lives are like, everyone has something they wish could be different – their home, their body, their friends, and even their career. Career makeovers are not a new concept and if you think about it, making over your career will automatically set a chain reaction in motion that will affect all aspects of your life, particularly those that are unsatisfactory. If you’ve ever changed jobs or industries, worked with a recruiter, drafted a new resume or pursued additional education to increase your job prospects or opportunities, you’ve already taken steps to improve or “make over” your career.Here are some ideas which can take your career makeover to a whole new level!1. Look inside yourself. How do you perceive yourself? Are you confident? Do you like yourself? Are you proud of your accomplishments? What is your attitude to life, on working, on the value that you bring to your job? How do you feel about your career? Do you feel in control of your future? Working on your “inner self” is of critical importance when it comes to creating a career makeover. If your internal thoughts are not consistent with the actions that you need to take, you’ll continually feel a sense of disconnect. Others will feel it too. All change starts on the inside. If you need support in this area, consider counseling or coaching, whichever is most appropriate for your situation. Until the inner issues are resolved or healed, it can be very challenging to take the necessary steps that lead to a fulfilling career. 2. Get balanced. A key component of effectively managing your career starts with managing your time efficiently. Do you keep your work life separate from your home life? Do you take work home in the evenings or weekends? Do you talk about work ALL THE TIME? Do you take time to recharge your batteries so that you feel refreshed? This is probably one of the most difficult areas when it comes to career makeovers. It takes a lot of courage to “draw the line” when it comes to balancing your life. Many women feel that if they don’t give everything to their job, then they won’t have a job, yet, the opposite is actually true. If you’re working for a company which does not allow you to set boundaries around your time, you WILL burn out. Before this happens it is probably best that you start looking for a new position. It’s a difficult choice to make, but ultimately it’s up to you to set boundaries around what types of treatment you will accept from others – including your employer. If you can’t achieve work/life balance in your current job, you will never be able to give it your best, simply because you will not be at your best which in turn will affect your future career prospects. 3. Get your relationships in check. They say birds of a feather flock together. Are your friends dragging you down? ( I was told my friends were holding me back by a naturopath when I was in my early 20’s I was VERY angry with him and protective of my friends – but a year later when I had taken a grip of my life and moved on, I realized he had been completely right!) Is your network of friends and associates supportive of you and your goals, or are they constantly telling you that your dreams are too lofty? Do they drag you into their gossip or do they inspire you with thoughtful conversation? In essence your ambition can be affected by the people around you and because of this your personal and professional relationships will have a tremendous influence on your career success. Therefore, to get your relationships in check, evaluate your friendships and acquaintances. It might be time to start gently letting go of some of the relationships that aren’t serving you, which will allow you to fill the empty spaces with new friends who will support you. Make sure you’re forging relationships with the people who see your value, and surround yourself with mentors who are helpful in assisting you to move forward.4. Begin with a vision. Having an idea of where you want to go is one of the most important steps in your career makeover. Until you know where you want to be or what you want to have, it’s impossible to decide on the correct steps to get you there. How do you envision your ideal life? What type of job would make you happy? What brings you the most joy? What type of position would you like to see yourself working in 5 years time? Give yourself permission to think about what you really want, dare to dream a little. Remember what seems impossible today is only so because you haven’t had the opportunity to break the journey from here to there down into manageable chunks – now you are ready to start working on your career makeover.5. Be the change. Once you have a vision of what you think you might want. It’s now time to assess where you are now. What are your strengths and your weaknesses? What skills do you have? Which ones will you need in order to achieve your career vision? You need to know where you are now versus where you want to be in the future. The rest is about managing the “gap” in between. Here is where the career makeover really takes place and this is the secret to making it possible…6. Start at the end and work backwards. Imagine you have your dream job and are living your dream life. What was the final step you had to take to make this all possible, now what was the step before that? Work this process through until you arrive back at where you are today. Now you are aware of these steps, you know what you have to do to achieve your goals in manageable chunks. Your next course of action is to develop a plan for achieving these goals thereby giving each part of the process a timeline.7. Now hone your skills. One of the most obvious ways to create a career makeover is to work on your skills. Whether you go back to school to earn an advanced degree or take training classes here and there, anything that you can do to improve yourself can benefit your career. Learn more about your industry; attend conferences where you can keep abreast of the latest trends. Network with possible mentors. Buy books written by leaders in your field. Read industry periodicals and other materials that deep your knowledge. Check with your human resources department to find out what types of internal training opportunities are available. Take advantage of your company’s tuition reimbursement programs. Continuing your education is essential no matter how you do it. Studying will not be a chore. If you are doing work you love you will be passionate about absorbing as much information about your field as you can!And finally plan for the future. No matter who you are or whom you know, you career will have its ups and downs. These days it’s unrealistic to think you’ll have a job for life. You might be transferred, demoted, or get a new boss that you don’t enjoy. You could even lose your job because of a downturn in your industry. These are realities of work life today. To lessen the possibility of your becoming an economic statistic it’s always a good idea to have options. This means you need to think about your exit plan. What would you do if you wanted to leave, or lost your job for whatever reason? Even the people who are happy in their jobs today should have an exit strategy, so take my advice and start working on it now. Don’t wait until it’s too late and you’re in panic mode. In conclusion, always remember, no matter what career or life choices you make, ALL women need a strategic career plan. Your career makeover is ultimately your responsibility. You are the master of your life and it’s up to you to make a plan. Once you have a clear plan, take the steps that lead you to fulfilling your ultimate vision. One powerful way of helping you stay on track is by working with a coach who can help you make the transition more quickly. A good coach gives you support you need, helps you to stay focused and on track. With proper guidance, you will quickly find yourself achieving your career goals.

Comments (0)

August 16, 2008

How to Choose your Career?

Filed under: Career Management — Tags: Academic Guide, Aptitude, Attitude, Career Choice, Choosing The Right Career, Commerce Science, Entertainment Industries, Fashion Designing, Hot Cake, How To Choose Your Career, India, Initial Stage, Initiative, Management Profession, Medicine, Parents, Progress Report, Proper Choice, Prospects, Science Arts — admin @ 8:47 pm

Prof.M.S.Rao asked:

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR CAREER ?

BY PROF. M.S.RAO, ACADEMIC GUIDE, ICFAI UNIVERSITY, INDIA

After completion of the tenth standard, the students in India are confronted with what kind of stream they should opt for in 10 plus 2 (Intermediate). Is it commerce, science, arts or computers etc.? At the age of approx. 15 years itself students start thinking, which stream to follow? At this stage, they may not be able to decide and hence they leave their career choice to their parents to decide. The parents look at the pulse of the market and the present potential and trend in the job scenario and they advise their children to opt for a particular stream. This is the way career choice is made indirectly in the initial stage in India. Is it justified to thrust upon their children? If not, then what should be done?

It is necessary to look at the aptitude, attitude, abilities and awareness of the child and then proper choice should be made. The parents should study the progress report and find out the areas where the child is weak and strong. After weighing thoroughly his past and present performance then the choice should be offered and the child should be counseled accordingly. If this happens then the child takes interest automatically and without any external initiative from parents he will study and pass the examinations.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT CAREER:

Usually the students go for conventional careers where the risk is minimal and nominal. The conventional careers means not swimming against the current but rather sailing with stream and trend. For instance, there is an excellent trend towards engineering, medicine and management profession these days. It is mostly because of availability of plenty of jobs. Both the students and parents want to play safe by opting for hot cake section. Where as in the unconventional careers the risk is higher and prospects are not clear like fashion designing and entertainment industries. These are the roads less traveled and there will be high risk and high returns. One has to swim against the current. According to American author, Dale Carnegie there are six types of fears human beings face such as fear of criticism, fear of old age, fear of poverty, fear of ill health, fear of death and fear of failure. It is basically the ‘fear of failure’, which is the root cause for not opting for unconventional careers.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

SWOT is the acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a powerful tool regularly used by corporate to find out the implications and effects of strategic decision making. And whenever the companies are going for mergers and acquisitions or take overs, then also it is conducted and evaluated by an independent body headed by a person who is known as corporate planner or a strategist. The same tool can be applied vis-a-vis career decision. What are the strengths and weaknesses of taking up a particular career? Whether the student possesses the personal qualities and competencies. If not possessed and the students wants to pursue, he can overcome the weakness by thorough practice and training. Any skill or competency can be acquired if there is will power to attain the same. The cherished career must have wider opportunities so as to minimize and eliminate the risks. The probable threats involved both from internal and external angles should be examined thoroughly. The internal threats arise out of the individual incompetence while the external threats arise which are beyond the reach and control of the individual. One should be able to anticipate and discount internal threats and, overall, one should be wary of threats related to the career.

FALL OUT DUE TO WRONG MOVE:

What happens if an individual makes a wrong move and opts for a wrong career? He will never enjoy his work and he will be in a continuous hell. He will have everything but no mental peace and develop stress levels. In some cases people fail in their careers and they keep doubting their confidence levels. Self-esteem decreases. At the work place they will be subjected to ridicule, laughter, insult and humiliation.

CAREER STRATEGY:

At the age of 15 years the student is not able to decide any specific stream of his choice. Therefore, there should be no stream specialization or deviation just after 10th class itself. Rather it should be postponed to after 10 plus 2 (Intermediate) level. By the age of 17 the students will be mature enough to select the stream of their choice which could be free from family or teacher or parental influence. One can give out his best when one enjoys what he is doing.

Presently people opt for medical and engineering after 10 plus 2(Intermediate) and the career options are limited, as these two are considered professional. If computer or commerce is also made like professional qualification by application of computer or management related subjects respectively, the students will take more interest in those areas also and they can be easily absorbed into jobs. By converting non professional qualifications as professional and the base for professional courses get widened.

ROLE OF CAREER CONSULTANTS:

When the students are caught between the devil and deep sea they can approach the career coach. Now a day there is professionalism around everywhere. Taking the help of career consultants will be of great use. Usually it is the parents who provide the career support. If not, then the teacher should provide such support. When students approach the career counselors, they view it from career perspective and can provide right tools and techniques towards right career decision.

CONCLUSION:

Students should know that jobs don’t grow on trees and there is right seed for the right career. Choose a career that is a sure shot passport to your success. In few cases, it is observed that students scale the ladder of success and realize at the end that the ladder is on the wrong side of the wall. The onus lies with parents and teachers to see that the ladder is placed on the right wall. When one gets a job of his choice and spouse of his choice he is said to be the luckiest. Set your priorities rightly based on the life the way you want according to your tastes and temperaments such as your job satisfaction, work life balance, monetary aspects etc., Rank all your priorities in the scale of 1 to 5 from three dimensions, such as personal level, social level and professional level. And choose the career after weighing all the pros and cons. Once the right career decision is made work hard to achieve your goals for ensuring all round peace, progress and prosperity.

T H E E N D

Comments (0)

July 28, 2008

Your Personal Finance Resolutions for 2008

Filed under: Personal Finance — Tags: Attitude, Attitudes, Chartered Financial Planner, Credit Card Debt, Credit Cards, Debt Credit, Drag On, Financial Position, How Much Money, Interest Rates, Monthly Budget, Overdraft, Pay Day, Personal Finance Author, Personal Finances, Priority, Resolutions, Store Cards, Term Debt, Time Of Year — admin @ 5:43 am

Martin Bamford asked:

It’s that time of year again – the time when people up and down the country are making resolutions for the year ahead. With so many people likely to be thinking about sorting out their personal finances in 2008, here are some top personal finance resolutions for you to consider from personal finance author and Chartered Financial Planner Martin Bamford.

Work out your budget

It still amazes me how many people I meet with who simply don’t know how much money they spend each month (and what it goes on!). Working out (and sticking to) a monthly budget is all about spending less than you earn. If you achieve this, month on month, you will be in a better financial position at the end of 2008 than you were at the start.

If you reach every pay day with an overdraft or credit card debt to clear from the previous month you are starting the new month on the back foot. Make it your personal finance resolution for 2008 to never spend as much as you earn each month. If you really want to buy something shiny and new but find yourself reaching for that credit card or store card, stop, think – do you really need it now or would you feel much happier if you bought it in a few months time with cash rather than debt?

Get out of the red

If you have short term debt (credit cards, store cards, overdrafts, etc) you will know that debt is a drag. It’s a drag on your ability to save for future objectives. It’s also an emotional drag on your attitude towards money and personal finances. Make clearing your short-term debt a priority before embarking on strategies to save for short-, medium- and long-term plans.

I still meet people with some very funny attitudes towards debt. There are people who prefer to have savings running alongside debt even when they are often getting charged much higher interest rates on the debt than they will ever receive on the savings. Whilst there is a certain comfort factor in knowing you have some savings behind you, it is counterproductive if your short-term debt is holding you back.

Don’t forget that the interest you get on your savings is taxed (10%, 20% or 40% depending on your income tax rate). When you compare your debt and savings interest rates always look at the net (after tax) interest rate you get on your savings to make a fair comparison.

Make a plan.

This ties in closely with your monthly budgeting exercise. When you are working out what you are going to spend your money on each month ensure you prioritise debt over savings. Stop taking on more short-term debt. Mark a debt-freedom day on your calendar and stick to it. Celebrate your personal debt-freedom day; it’s something to be proud of.

Look to the future

Starting a pension is likely to be a big priority for many people in 2008. We recently saw the biggest shake-up of pension rules in many years but this brought a great deal of retirement planning opportunities with it. It is now generally possible to make much larger pension contributions than under the old pre-April 2006 rules. These large pension contributions will still be able to attract tax relief at your highest rate of income tax.

Once you have made contributions to a pension plan you can choose how the money will be invested. Seek professional advice to ensure that your retirement plans are invested in a way that is in line with your attitude towards investment risk, reward and volatility. You can choose from a wide range of investment options within modern personal pensions so there is no need to take unnecessary risk that you feel uncomfortable with.

Pay less Tax

No-one enjoys paying tax but many of us fail to take the simple steps that enable us to pay less tax. Each and every year we waste an average of L132 per taxpayer because we don’t take some simple planning steps and maximise our tax allowances.

There are some very easy tax-saving strategies you can use in 2008 to pay less tax.

If you are a higher rate taxpayer and your spouse is a non-, lower- or basic-rate taxpayer then consider transferring savings into their name. If you have L20,000 in savings in a joint account where one of you is a higher rate taxpayer and the other is a non-taxpayer (assuming a 5% gross interest rate) you can save L200 a year in income tax by switching from a joint account to a savings account in your spouse’s name.

Make sure you use your Individual Savings Account (ISA) allowances for this tax year and the next tax year. You have until April to maximise contributions into an ISA for the 2007/08 tax year. Every adult in the UK can contribute up to L3,000 into a cash mini-ISA (L3,600 from 6th April 2008) and up to L4,000 into a stocks & shares mini ISA each tax-year, or up to L7,000 into a maxi ISA (L7,200 from 6th April 2008). The returns within your ISA are tax-free (with the exception of the 10% tax credit on UK dividend income which can no longer be reclaimed on UK equity income).

Review your mortgage

Now is a good time to consider reviewing your mortgage. If your mortgage is on your lender’s standard variable rate (SVR) you are likely to be able to make a reasonable monthly saving by switching to a more competitive interest rate or product. There are costs associated with re-mortgaging and it makes sense to seek impartial expert advice. This will also save you the time of trawling the high street to locate the best offers. Because mortgages are a dynamic market the rates available are subject to change on a regular basis and some deals will only be available through an independent adviser.

Sort out your financial affairs

If you don’t have a Will, get one. You can write your own Will but there are some major risks involved with this DIY approach. Getting something wrong when writing your own Will could lead to significant legal fees to sort things out after your death. Find a professional to write your Will from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (www.step.org). If you die without a Will, your estate will be distributed according to laws created in 1925. It is no surprise that these laws probably do not reflect modern thinking on inheritance! Don’t risk dying ‘Intestate’.

Whilst we are on this rather morbid subject you should also think about family protection. Run through a number of scenarios. What would happen to your family financially if you were to die? What would happen if you were to suffer a serious illness? What if you suffered an accident or illness and were unable to work for a long-term? Re-run these scenarios but apply them to your spouse as well. The impact of a house person dying or contracting a serious illness can often be as serious (or more so) than if this happens to the main bread-winner.

Check out your existing arrangements to ensure that they remain competitive. The cost of life assurance has generally fallen in the past five years. There are potential savings to be made here. Again, use an independent expert to review the entire market for you and ensure that the cover you are putting in place is suitable for your circumstances and objectives. At the same time make sure that your life assurance is written in trust. Writing these policies in trust can ensure that the proceeds are paid out quickly, to the right person or people and without liability to tax.

Meet with an Independent Financial Adviser

Make 2008 the year that you carry out a comprehensive review of your personal finances and financial objectives with an impartial professional who has access to the tools and knowledge needed to improve your current and future position. Most IFA’s offer a free initial consultation with no obligation they can identify areas that they can help you with and you can grill them about their qualifications, experiences and charges.

Ask lots of questions to ensure that you have found the right IFA for you. Make sure that they hold the appropriate qualifications to deal with your situation. The entry-level qualification for a financial adviser is the Certificate in Financial Planning (also referred to as the Financial Planning Certificate). This level of qualification is really only suitable if you are only seeking basic financial advice. If the advice you require is more complex then look for an adviser who is a Chartered Financial Planner or Certified Financial Planner certificant. These are more stringent tests of knowledge and competence to provide financial advice.

Also, check that the adviser is truly independent. In June 2005 there were a number of changes to the way that the financial services profession works. An adviser can now choose to be tied, multi-tied, whole of market or independent. A whole of market adviser can offer products from every provider but they do not offer the option to pay for their advice with a fee. An Independent Financial Adviser offers a fee charging option and this can sometimes offer greater impartiality that paying for services through commission. In any case, remember that you as the client are paying for financial advice – either through product charges and commissions or an explicit fee. Ensure that you are getting value for money.

Comments (0)