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Auto manufacturers have had a rough couple of years as their business has been cut dramatically in the face of bad economic times. When people simply don’t have the money, they tend to stop or postponed large purchases. When the fear of losing your job takes hold, it is hard to part with thousands of dollars that you need to use for emergencies. So many people have limited finds and live almost paycheck to paycheck, that their car money is often also their savings as well as their emergency funds. Rather than deal with the thought of using a payday loan in an emergency, people would rather continue to drive their beater and not spend. This leads to fewer sales of many retail outlets, but cars and trucks have been hit particularly hard by this and are having a hard time bouncing back. Many of the larger car companies have had to restructure, while others have borrowed money from the government to stay afloat. These companies simply cannot afford more years with these abysmal sales as they barely have enough cash to get by and may need to turn to further business loan options for continuation in the near future. (more…)

The credit issues we are facing in the United States mirror the way people live every day. They use credit cards and overextend themselves all the time, resulting in payday loan use to get by, and never really understand the consequences of racking up all that debt. It is sometimes hard to understand why we do it, but there are times in our lives when emergencies dictate the use of credit cards, but if we were better budgeters, we wouldn’t have to turn to these credit cards or payday loans to get by, we would know when the money was coming in and how much was going out as well. New research says that 25% of the country has bad credit. This is usually due to non-payment of credit card bills and the lack of fiscal discipline is the main reason for this. What is even more eye-opening is that 22% of those polled have no idea how much they spend on things such as housing food and entertainment. They are perpetual spenders and have no real understanding of what is going on with their money. Once they are able to get a hold of the chaos, they may be able to save and cut down on wasted money. (more…)

With the high cost of everything, there is no surprise when people resort to payday loans to get by. With the cost of food slowly rising and the cost of living getting higher by the day, people are certainly not getting the raises they need to make these ends meet. While they find inventive ways to make things happen for them, it is still expensive to live, no matter where you are, whether here in the U.S. or abroad. The one thing that is constant and must be noted is that entertainment costs are also going up. Have you seen the price for a one-day Disney World pass?! It is well worth the money, but it is very expensive. You do get a lot of bang for your buck when you go to a theme park, but you can’t do that every weekend, it would ruin you financially and your would be very tired. When the weekend comes, many people opt to do something a bit more reasonably priced. Going to the mall is free, but it is not that entertaining unless you buy something, which can also be very expensive. (more…)

The ABI or American Bankruptcy Institute is a non–partisan and multi-disciplined company dedicated to research and education on issues related to insolvency.

Founded in 1982, the goal of ABI is to educate the public on issues of insolvency by giving unbiased analysis. The ABI also analyzes information accurately and presents them to the United States Congress for them to use in further projects.

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Say you are tired of your present job or you are actively seeking employment after graduating; do you know what strategies can help you land a job while keeping your job-hunting costs to a minimum? There are a number of costs associated with job-hunting and  you will want to make sure you have the tools you need to land a good job, but do so without any unnecessary expenses.

What You Need to Make a Good Impression

You can’t land a job looking like a slouch; making a good impression is key to your success. Some might think employers don’t mind that you aren’t looking your best while you are job searching, but that’s far from the truth. You want to look successful, even if you are unemployed or have been laid off. Success breeds success, and this is no less true when you are interviewing.

You should have a conservative but stylish business suit for interviewing. Black or deep blue business suits are great for projecting a professional image. The suit should be dry-cleaned and ready to wear on the big day. A pair of matching shoes that look new is also a great way to project a confident and successful image. A suit can be expensive, but it is necessary to project the right type of image. You will be competing for a job with many other people who will be paying close attention to the image they project too.

Reduce Unnecessary Expenses

While a job that is an hour away may be enticing, you have to consider the commute time when you interview. The rising cost of gas, time spent traveling and extra maintenance your car will require will all take a toll on your new wages. If you aren’t in a position to move closer to a job, you may want to limit your choices to positions that require only a short commute. This can reduce interview travel expenses as well as future expenses if you do land that job.

If you want to drastically reduce the expenses of traveling to multiple employers, check out a job fair. With job fairs you can get your suit ready once, drive your car there once, and find multiple employers all looking to hire. You may end up having to go to additional interviews later, but you will have saved some time and gas by checking them out first. Job fairs are also a great way to eliminate employers that are not a good match. By talking to someone from human resources at a job fair, you will be able to quickly ascertain whether you are a good fit for the company or not. If not, then move on to the next stall until you do find a company that excites you.

Plan to be out and about when you are interviewing. Get directions before you leave your home or look up your destination online or in a road map. If you don’t get lost on the way then you save gas and time. Pack your lunch instead of eating out and you can save a little more money. Have a few snacks in the car in case the interview process becomes lengthy and you leave late. If you are interviewing quite a bit, these small frugal habits can end up helping you meet your job-finding goal and still let you make your bills at the end of the month.

Your Image On Paper

Your resume will represent your skills and qualifications to a prospective employer. This is one expense you do not want to avoid. Get your resume professionally reviewed so that you have a better chance of getting an interview. Without an interview you have no chance of landing a job. Without a good resume, you have no chance of landing an interview. If you don’t have someone in the family who can review your resume and give professional advice, then find someone who can help you present the best possible synopsis of you and your career on paper. The cost of revising a resume may seem like an unnecessary expense, but the alternative is to have a poor resume and few interviews.

While you are at it, you may want to also have a set of business cards. These cards are your ticket to networking your way into a new position. If you are unemployed, you can still make up a business card with your skills and your contact information. Take these with you to any business events and networking functions that might lead you to a new position. If possible, try to attend these functions on company time. If you see a conference or event that your company might like to be represented at, volunteer to go. It helps promote your career in your present job, while allowing you to network on company time. If you are lucky, they may even pay for your gas and meals too.

Learning how to network your way into a new job when you are already working is a great strategy to help you feel secure about your chances in the marketplace should you suddenly be laid off. In today’s market, there are no jobs that are not secure when times get tough. It’s up to you to make sure that you can hop nimbly from one position to another should the need arise.

Career and Life Choices for more Financial Security

If you notice that some people are being laid off in your company, you may wonder how secure your job really is. Most corporate environments seem to have cyclical purges of employees that can rattle anyone’s sense of stability. The moral of the story is that you can’t really count on your company to give you a sense of security anymore. You have to make some career choices that keep your skills sharp and your ability to earn money in good shape. You have to make your own decisions with financial security in mind.

Remain Current in your Field

If you got your degree many years ago, consider updating your knowledge base periodically with continuing education courses. Sometimes companies will even help to fund tuition for employees who are seeking to further their education in their chosen field. This is a smart way to use the company’s money to keep your skills current and become more valuable to the corporation too. If you don’t like your current field, consider taking courses on a backup career in case your current job should fall through. You may have to pay for the courses yourself, but it’s better to do that when you are employed rather than having to make that decision when you are collecting unemployment.

Always Network

If your current position doesn’t allow you to network, get out and join professional or business societies that allow people in your career path to network. You may not need to network too much if you have a great job already, but it is a good insurance policy in the event that you lose that job. Networking is one of the best ways to find another job. If your foot was in the door and working that angle before you even needed it, it will be far easier to know whom to approach once you do need someone else’s help. The choice to network isn’t really optional anymore. Even if you are a programmer, there are business societies for programmers who can get you out of your cube and in touch with people in your field in other companies. This is very important if your own company starts to fall upon hard times.

Maintain a Good Credit Profile

No matter how good an employee you’ve been and how much money you’ve saved the company, if your own credit is in the dump you will have trouble getting hired. Many companies are checking credit histories before they hire. The reasoning is that someone with a poor credit history may feel tempted to defraud the company at some point. While the reasoning is a bit lame, the practice is still becoming more prevalent.

Often the credit check is done after a person is offered the position, contingent on a credit check. You don’t want to go through all the trouble of interviewing and making it only to have the offer yanked back at the last minute.

When the price of gas goes up, the price of many other goods follows the same trend. Inflation can be a problem and when it occurs at a time when many struggle to make ends meet, it is a real issue that cannot be ignored or dismissed. Luckily, the prices of some items have gone down. (more…)

Technology keeps getting better and better as we approach the New Year. This year has been one of the most exciting years for technology as many companies are unveiling advances that just a few years ago would have been very difficult to accomplish. The iCloud was announced with much fanfare and allows you to link up to five devices to the cloud, where you would keep all of your files, from photos, to music and you can access it on the go, which is even more exciting. The cloud is now the obsession of many different companies as there is a lot you can do with it and the more you use it the more it becomes an important part of your computing experience. Microsoft is about to release some of its Office suite into the cloud for use, and is only charging a nominal fee, which is good considering the state of current salaries. You can access programs and files to work with them anywhere you want. This is a huge movement in the right direction as the cloud will make computing very convenient and allow you to be free of the constraints of individual devices that are not in sync, the cloud syncs them automatically. (more…)

This tiny plastic card finds a place in every individual’s wallet and is now a necessity rather than a luxury item. Though many credit card users are not quite aware of the sophisticated banking process that makes the payment process so easy and convenient, it remains an indispensable item of any household. In fact, nowadays carrying several credit cards has become quite common. (more…)

The Internet has changed the face of the world as you can now stream movies and watch television shows online and not ever even own a television. There are streaming services that are available for a small fee and also sites that stream movies for free online. This is great for those who have fast Internet and understand how to use streaming video. It is also convenient for those on the go to use with mobile devices as you can watch moves on your iPad or iPhone by subscribing to certain streaming services. This makes movie watching at home in front of the television just one of the ways to catch your favorite shows and increases the user base of these sites dramatically. The advances in technology keep coming, which is great for everyone, except those who have not fully embraced technology. They are still quite a bit behind and still use cable or DVD’s to watch certain programs. The extra cost of streaming is often worth it because the sheer amount of content available can be staggering to anyone and will not cause regular folks to seek cash advances just to go to the movies. (more…)

Google is the biggest name in the search engine business. They have been the leader for many years and have recently made some moves in other areas of technology that have been rather successful. In the era of Smartphones and tablets, one name does stand out above the rest and that is Apple. Apple is the leader in both categories, but there is one competitor that makes them very nervous and that is Google. Google created Android as an operating system for cell phones and tablets and its popularity has increased rapidly and is starting to catch up with the almighty iPad and iPhone. Google often finds ways to make their products very enticing and in this case, Android is free, which helps those who cannot find employment and can be used on many different types and brands of hardware. IOs, Apple’s operating system for mobile devices is only found on their hardware. At this point, Google doesn’t have much in the way of hardware, although you never know when that may change, as they are starting to also go into other areas that they have only dabbled in previously. When they put their mind to things, they do very well and employ the latest in technological advances to make their offering different and often, better for many. (more…)