Top Five Tips for a Safe & Secure Online Business
By financen | February 27, 2013 - 3:46 pm - Posted in Business

As a fledgling retail business, starting up can be the most difficult part. No matter what you’re aiming to sell, if you’re planning to utilise a website, there’s plenty that needs to be considered, with website security being at the forefront of your mind. Once you have the nuts and bolts ready to go, there are some things that can help you to provide a secure and safe online business, to protect your customers and yourself. The Internet plays a massive part in day-to-day life nowadays, it makes sense to protect your corner of the market and there are various ways of doing so:

  • Buy SSL certificate – SSL encryption is one of the handiest features you could adopt for your website, particularly if you are going to be handling sensitive data, such as addresses, credit card numbers and login details, at any point. Whether you add a SSL certificate to your website to show your customers they can trust you, or you add one to the web-based HR system you are planning to use, it will help keep the hackers at bay and the details safe.
  • Encrypt Emails – Protect your emails to avoid them being read by unintended recipients with an encryption protocol such as S/MIME, a public key certificate similar to SSL that ensures sensitive data sent in email form is secure.
  • Antivirus Protection – This is essential on your personal workspace as well as if you have a small team of employees who could unintentionally upload a virus to your business network from their phone or tablet.
  • Protect your Intellectual Property – Ensure your intangible assets are protected (e.g. homemade crafts, designs and musical work) using copyrights, trademarks or patents.
  • Backup Files – Avoid the despair experienced if you lose your work, invoices, orders and accounts – back them up often.

If you have all this in order sooner rather than later, you can concentrate on the fun part – making your site inviting and watching the sales roll in.

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Job Fear – Career Management Tips for Graduates
By financen | February 21, 2013 - 4:31 pm - Posted in Career

Talking about picking yourself up and looking for a job at the time when you graduate is the dilemma of all the students. In the last semesters and years of their educational life, it is important that the students start to look for jobs and not wait until their graduation is done with. In this sense, many aspects can be seen into. Alumni from the same institute can be contacted who are working successfully in renowned companies and businesses, and also while doing study projects, networking done at that time with the officials of different businesses and companies can help now.

career

career

It is always a concerning issue that the fresh graduates look for good jobs as they all have to fight the survival of the fittest war to have a good financial life ahead. Still, every one, a high achiever or not, has the job fear and how one will fit into the practical world of the money making race. That is why the topic of career management is overlooked and without any guidelines, the students start to look for jobs they do not know they will fair in or not.

When somehow they get the jobs, it is predictable that they do not know how to keep the jobs and without career management tools, one cannot do so as well. Therefore, here are some career management tips for all the fresh grads and the people who are looking for good jobs to settle in and work hard:

1)      Falling asleep is Not the Option: While you settle in a job and know that the company will need you being the hard working employee, do not fall asleep. Companies cut done on employees starting from those who are much laid back and you will never see it coming until you are intentionally planning for it.

2)      Ask for Help: This is the concern these days. You do not know something and you would not ask for help from your team leads or senior mentors. This will only help you in learning. Independent working is a myth. It is sometimes good to rely on the other employees for help especially when they are willing to help and that when you can learn from them. There is a huge majority of takers as well but you can actually get help from the people who are trained and can give you time. Else, you will be limited by knowledge and information.

3)      Narrowing the Focus: You can be the jack of all but master of none. This is something to be concerned about. You can be blinded by so many things that you may lose your focus on the task at hand. This way, you will lose the commitment to work as well. Following the orders of supervisors and also working with your full capacity on the tasks that really need to be done is what you should work for.

4)      Know How to Manage Your Career: There are so many career management programs and the career oriented tools in your company. You can avail them and also make sure that you keep an eye on the jumps you can take in your career the hard way (through performing well and making sure that you are rewarded for your job).

Study hard and it will pay off as the routine in your study life will harness your energy into hard working in the working environment.

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Filing Taxes after bankruptcy
By financen | February 13, 2013 - 4:35 pm - Posted in Bankruptcy

BankruptcyHave you filed for bankruptcy recently? If you have recently filed for bankruptcy, then it is very important to file your taxes. There is no escape from it. You can always consult a professional tax attorney to review your information. Bankruptcy is considered as a red flag for the IRS and it will prominently increase your chances of getting audited.

It is also important to know that if you had your debts discharged or canceled as a part of your bankruptcy, it is treated as an income by the IRS. Talk to your bankruptcy attorney or your tax preparer and they will assist you in filing your tax forms.

If you are an independent contractor and receive 1099’s from companies that you have worked for, then you must check to see if a creditor canceled that debt and it is showing as an income on your form 1040.

If the reason of your filing for bankruptcy is because you have a lot of tax debts from the previous years, then you need to align your bankruptcy attorney or the tax preparer in the most accurately manner. They will require all the necessary facts and will have discussions with the IRS to see if your previous tax debts can be discharged or not. Most likely, you will still end up owing those back taxes even after bankruptcy because the IRS always wants to get their money back. It is important that you know all facts about taxes and bankruptcy. It can be a very complicated situation to deal with that’s why professional help is always recommended.

So how to file your past tax return? It is a very simple process much like filing the current return. Just make sure that you gather all the important documents like old W2’s, you old receipts, etc. You can also get the forms online from the IRS website and fill up everything, and then file it online. You will have to answer a few questions when you are doing it online, but there’s nothing to sweat. It might take a little longer, but as long as you have all the documents available, there shouldn’t be any problems. If you are a little hesitant in filing it on your own, then you can consult a reputable company who will assist and make sure that you don’t miss a single line or owed dollar.

Some important links:

http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0224-filing-bankruptcy-what-know

http://www.bis.gov.uk/insolvency/personal-insolvency/bankruptcy-what-is-bankruptcy

https://www.gov.uk/bankruptcy/overview

https://www.itsa.gov.au/debtors/bankruptcy/bankruptcy-overview

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Why It Is Important to Have Comprehensive and Collision Coverage
By financen | February 6, 2013 - 4:43 pm - Posted in Car Insurance, Insurance

Car insurance is mandatory in many states of America and optional in some others where a car insurance policy can be substituted by uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage that can also be added to a regular auto insurance policy as additional clauses. By adding this protection to a regular policy, the premiums to pay may increase dramatically.

In states where law does not enforce car insurance to drive a car, the uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is taking out alone to cut the cost of premiums, but many people have found a different workaround by removing comprehensive and collision coverage from their insurance policies to pay cheaper premiums.

What Is Comprehensive and Collision Coverage

Many people are scared to think of adding extra coverage to their car insurance when someone mention comprehensive and collision coverage, but this protection comes included with any standard car insurance policy. Comprehensive coverage refers to the protection that your car receive for damage that does not result from collision, natural disasters, or civil disturbance, besides minor issues such as broken windshield or resulting from hitting accidentally an animal on your way. On the other hand, collision coverage applies when your car hits any object on the road, or two vehicles collide.

Importance of Having Comprehensive and Collision Coverage

You have seen on TV those commercials that exaggerate suggesting that you could be parked and suddenly a gorilla will fall from the sky. Yes, if this event happens, or a kid playing soccer breaks your car’s window, comprehensive and collision coverage will benefit you. A gorilla may no come out from the sky, but there are many other events that may happen, particularly in cities with complex traffic, or rural areas with road hazards. So it is important to keep both of these options in your insurance policy, or request their addition if they are not included.

When Comprehensive and Collision Coverage Might Not Be Worth The Cost

When it comes to protection, nothing can be considered too much regardless the context you apply the protection. In car insurance, there are many considerations to take into account to get as much coverage as you can. However, when premiums are you main concern, comprehensive and collision coverage could be removed from your policy, but only if you are absolutely sure of what you are doing and you answer these questions:

Is your car too old to be worth the premiums you pay against the cost of the repair if collision happens?

Do you rarely drive your car away of the safe environment of your neighborhood? o Is your car parked in the garage most of the time throughout the year?

Because there are very few chances to answer affirmatively to at least one of the above questions, you can understand why having comprehensive and collision coverage is important. Moreover, even if you answer “yes” to one of these questions, nobody can guarantee you that a gorilla will land over your car sometime in the future, so do not push your luck.

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