Financial Skills - How to Budget & Balance Accounts

Financial Skills - How to Budget & Balance Accounts

I was surprised when I asked parents to tell me the life skills that they wanted their kids knew, and there was a resounding request for a few topics:

• How to open a bank account
• How to budget & balance accounts
• How to write checks and pay bills
• And how to start saving for retirement

It seems some of the things we take for granted are, as a result, missing from what we teach kids.

In the last article, we focused on opening a bank account. This article is the second article in the four-part series and will look at how to teach kids to budget and balance their accounts.

Budgeting

It's not shock that budgeting can be boring and tedious. I've personally never been excited to sit down and create my budgets, but it's something that creates wealth and pays off down the road.

So how do you get kids excited about it? How can you add a little glamor to something so dull and boring? Easy - make it a game with payoffs.

Firstly, it's important to know how to create a budget, then to adhere to the budget.

Creating a Budget

You may have your own way to create a budget, and that's fine. In my experience, the easiest way to make a budget is as follows:

On a piece of paper, draw a line down the middle:

1. Spending Budget Calculate your average monthly gross income and put that at the top of the page, then multiply it by.80 (for example, if you earned $ 1,000, you would end up with $ 800)
2. Fixed Expenses Write down all of your FIXED expense categories (ie phone bill, insurance, mortgage etc ...) and put them in one column on the left side of the page
3. Variable Expenses Next write in the variable expense categories (ie food, gas, leisure, etc ...) and put them in another column on the right side of the page
4. Fill in all of your expenses
5. Net Budget after Fixed Expenses - Subtract fixed expenses from your spending budget, if it's a positive number, you do not need to change anything If it's zero or a negative number, you should look for expenses that you can cut or lower
6. Budget variable expenses - Using your Net budget after fixed expenses, determine what you can spend on variable expenses without overspending each month
7. Set a budget for each variable expense so you know what you can spend on each category in a given month

Making it Fun

OK, now that you have a budget outline, it's time to get the kids excited.

I know what you're thinking: "My kids will never be excited for this."

They will if you give them some prizes or payoffs. Here's how:

First, tell them what a budget is and show them the paper. Next, tell them that you're going to do a contest (if you have more than one kid, this works even better).

Contest 1: Anticipating Spending

The first contest is to see how close they can budget their money to reach a break-even or $ 0 over the course of a month. In other words, the goal is to predict your spending as close to the penny as possible.

If you have more than one kid person that gets the closest to break-even without going negative wins a prize. With just one kid, tell them that they get $ 5 or $ 10 if they reach break-even, and every penny they are off, you deduct 10¼

Contest 2 - Saving After Spending

The second contest is to see how well they can budget their money over the next 30 days. If they can save money, tell them you will give them whatever they save. That means if they save $ 5, you'll give them another $ 5 (just like companies matching a person's 401K contribution).

If you have more than one kid, tell them who ever is able to save the most will win and get a special prize. You will obviously choose the prize since you know your kids best.

Coming Soon

In the next article, we'll discuss how to write checks and pay bills. You will also learn how to combine check-writing with these contests to simulate the real world of budgeting for your kids.

Newspapers Vs Internet News

Newspapers Vs Internet News

Once, it was difficult to imagine morning without a newspaper. We wake up, drink a cup of coffee and read newspapers in order to find latest news in the country and around the world. Today the world has changed. Every hour there is news, every minute something happens. In order to get the latest news, just go to the internet. And if you prefer, you can even get updates (the results of football games, for example), directly to the mobile phone. And this, of course, without any mention of television news channels, which broadcast 24 hours a day. So who really needs the newspapers and there is still the future of this industry?

First of all, many people read newspapers from the habit. Indeed, why, to change anything? Why switch on a computer or TV, if tomorrow morning we will find a newspaper at the door. And if there has been something abnormal sooner, we will probably hear about it on TV. The feeling of reading the newspaper like reading books, and it is rooted in many people. You can read during meals, in bed before sleep, or even in the bathroom. You can certainly use the laptop in these places, but it is far less convenient.

Major newspapers around the world have already noticed this problem a long time. They understand that the news on the Internet is the future. It should also join this trend and this will help in particular to promote the newspaper. Who does not do so, will be left behind. Creating new and popular site with interesting material is not detrimental to the newspaper, but also expands the sources of funding. Many of those who advertise on the Internet are not always advertised in the newspapers. Thus, a circle, in which newspaper promotes the website and the website, brings new readers to the newspaper. Of course, the web site which belongs to well-known newspaper has an excellent starting point on the Internet.

Statistics around the world shows that the number of readers of newspapers is falling every year, and this is very reasonable. The younger generation does not have a natural attraction to the paper, newspapers and books and they are more drawn to the buttons and screens. Therefore, it is clear that slowly, most of the budget of papers will move on to the Internet. During this transition period, they must retain its best reporters, or their level falls, and they will lose many readers.

Personally, I and my family have long ceased to read newspapers, and it happened as soon as I realized that all the news that I read there, I already knew from websites or TV. If the newspaper does not give new information, so why buy it and spend precious time. Online news sites saves time, allows you to filter content, and make information retrieval comfortable and efficient. I like sites that collect the latest news from different sources. This way you can get convenient and most reliable objective information.

A Practical Guide to Help Choose a Mobile App Development Agency

A Practical Guide to Help Choose a Mobile App Development Agency

In the last couple of decades, we have seen how mobile devices have gone viral. With the technology to support high speed internet access, mobiles have made a global population that is constantly at a tap's reach to any information. Businesses too have seen the benefits of having a mobile workforce which can co-ordinate very easily between the office and the field work. However, each business is different and hence has its own particular needs of computing applications. For example, a business dealing with warehousing would require a totally different type of app in contrast to a business that services and repairs household electronics. To make the best use of everyone's time, a professional business has to see this fact and consider getting customized mobile apps developed. Android applications development has ascended very rapidly since its introduction due to the popularity and as such, you should not find it a task to find a good agency of developers who can build apps that suit your exact needs. The following article, discusses some of the things that should be of use to anyone looking to hire such an agency.

Check Their Experience in App Development

The mobile apps field is a rather new one which didn't quite exist at all a couple of decades ago. This however, doesn't mean that we are only left to deal with newbie developers. Look for agencies headed by people who have extensive experience in working with apps and their development. A HTML5 developer, for example, who has been in the coding and development industry for a while would have gathered all the skills and knowledge required to address any kind of requirement.

Ask to See Previous Work

This is quite an effective way to decide whether the said agency is the one that gets our project or not. A HTML5 developer without any applications to show might not be the best choice as we are talking about apps for our business. When checking out such sample work, make sure to note your own experience of using it. Although the content is of the utmost importance, the form or design of the app is also important. Agencies that have been building apps for the mobile platform and know what they're doing will never hesitate to show you their work as they understand that it makes it easier for both the parties.

Find Out About your Point of Contact

Proper communication during the development process is crucial to the success of any app. You need to stay in touch with the development team regarding your requirements of functionality as well as the design. If, for example, you would like to get an app built for android, it is always good if your point of contact is the project manager for the android applications development team. Make sure that you speak to the same person from the time of consideration and on throughout the whole process as this will make it easier to co-ordinate.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Alternative Medicine

Advantages and Disadvantages of Alternative Medicine

There are reasons why people chose alternative medicine and reasons why they avoid it, preferring conventional medicine. Alternative medicine is safer than standard health treatments and usually works. It's true that it can not be used in certain conditions like car accidents or other severe emergencies, but that as it may, there are enough situations in which alternative medicine is recommended. When it comes to emotional and spiritual needs, non-conventional medicine may come up with the solution. Furthermore, it's better for preventing illnesses than standard medicine. More and more doctors nowdays agree upon the benefits of alternative medicine and also even advise their clients to choose the best natural treatment for them.

One of the advantages of alternative medicine is that it encompasses a broad range of therapies, treatments and products, thus the search for obtaining positive results does not flow on a narrow path at all.
A pretty important disadvantage states the idea that, even though the expenses of using acupuncture or chiropractic are sometimes covered by health insurances, the major of alternative treatments are not reimbursed.

There are certain risks that come along with the usage of natural remedies. Despite the use of herbs through the years and even ancient times, not all of them have been studied regarding their safety and efficiency. There are issues relating to their purity and their possible interaction with other substances related to conventional therapies. The majority of information regarding herbs has been perpetuated through history and with the help of tradition. Many people assume that herbal medicines are better than synthetic drugs simply because, well, they are natural and not synthetic, therefore present no risk. But they are not risk free; they can do more harm than good if taken without having the details of their effects over the body.

People may abuse of natural medicines the same way as they do it in the case of synthetic drugs. They have the misconception that if unconventional medicine consists of herbal products which are natural, then there is no harm done if they triple the dosage or more. This is totally wrong and can have serious consequences. Take vitamins for example. They are just vitamins, right? They can not possibly do any damage inside the body. But they do. Vitamin overdosing or vitamin toxicity can lead to unpleasant effects depending on the vitamin that has been taken one too many times. Vitamin A over dosage can cause liver problems, osteoporosis, hair loss and other dangerous effects and hypervitaminosis D leads to dehydration, vomiting, anorexia and even kidney stones.

An advantage of using herbal remedies concerns the effectiveness related with chronic health issues that do not respond well or even at all to traditional medicines. If long term medication is needed, then herbs are pretty much safer than conventional drugs. The alternative medicine industry takes advantage of this and keeps evolving and developing due to the constant need for natural remedies.

Another advantage is the low cost of herbal products compared to synthetic drugs which are highly priced for the simple reason that researching and testing the products is expensive. Furthermore, herbal products can be bought without a prescription and are easy to procure. The availability of natural remedies is outstanding; chamomile for example can be easily picked out from a nearby field.

The advantages of using herbal medicines are numerous, but so are the disadvantages. The best idea would be to consider modern medicine according to the severity of the illness, to consult a physician upon the proper medication and dosage and if you do choose the alternative medicine, try to gather enough information on both kinds of treatments, natural or synthetic , so you may reassure yourself that you took the right decision to balance your health situation.

The Google Nexus 9, The First Tablet With Android Lollipop 5.0

The Google Nexus 9, The First Tablet With Android Lollipop 5.0

The Google Nexus 9, the first tablet with Android Lollipop 5.0, is, without a shred of doubt, one of the best tablets of 2014/15. Its features such as the 8.9 inch screen, an HD display, a premium build and the latest version of android deservedly land it at the same level with top-class devices such as the Fire HDX 8.9 and Apple iPad Air2. Yes, it might not exactly be the winner if compared to these other adversaries, but, giving credit where it's due, Google Nexus 9 focuses on the nuts and bolts, and that makes it outstanding.

Most premium tablets of today come with 3D cameras, item recognition software and fingerprint sensors. Surprisingly, though, the new Nexus tablet does not settle on those features but instead concentrates on packing the best mobile processor you can find in the market and debuting the Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system.

Design

Like the 7-inch and 10-inch Nexus devices, this model is pleasantly comfortable and has a minority aesthetic. The device, manufactured by HTC, has a thin, streamlined body complete with quality construction. It is available in black, gold and white and is round-cornered. With the metal frame that wraps around its edges, there is a wide enough platform for fingers to rest on. The smooth vertices comfortably fit in your palms while holding and the glossy back surface offers a good feel for the fingertips.

Performance

The Google nexus 9's cutting edge Nvidia Tegra K1 Denver chip is superfast ready to perform any task its bought upon. It's CPU, with the first 64 bit chip strengthened by a 64 bit operating system, offers performance on par with the best chips out there. Using the OS is smooth and switching among apps is really quick such that you would hardly notice it happened. One most eye-catching thing about it is that the number of apps open does not affect its speed. Can you believe you can have twenty apps running and the device does not hang?

Internet

The device has a solid Wi-Fi connectivity, something that makes browsing the internet superfast. Web pages appear in micro-seconds, as soon as your finger leaves the screen. It downloads apps at a very fast rate and this makes it only second, if not equal, to iPad Air 2.

Who it's meant for

Judging from the features that have been widely concentrated on by HTC and Google, the Google Nexus 9 is best suited for researchers and surfers. Gamers are also considered here as the device can launch big games quickly and graphics are incomparably smooth and sharp.

The Nvidia Shield

The Nvidia Shield

More and more with the integration of different technologies, gamers are searching for one way to play all of their PC and Android games on one system without miles of cords and hours of frustration. Nvidia is looking to level the playing field with the Nvidia SHIELD, a three part system that supports portable gaming across a variety of platforms.

SHIELD Tablet

Already well known for producing high quality graphics cards used worldwide by gamers, Nvidia now makes an 8" tablet with a Tegra K1 mobile processor and full HD 1080p screen. The speakers are front facings and it comes with a cover that doubles as a stand. This tablet is designed to be used with the Nvidia SHIELD wireless controller to play all of your PC games. You even have the ability to stream your games via Twitch. On top of what it does on its own, it is capable of plugging directly into the TV, negating the need for you to invest in a second 42" flat screen for your computer.

SHIELD Portable

Complete with state of the art rendering and precision control, Nvidia's SHIELD Portable is an all-in-one device for the travelling gamer. Built with a Tegra mobile 4 processor, a 5-inch 720p touch screen. It comes preloaded with optimized games but can run any popular emulator. With online capability, the Portable also serves as a high-quality entertainment device able to stream Hulu and Netflix as well as download any type of media from Google Play.

SHIELD Wireless Controller

Made to work with both tablet and portable, Nvidia's SHIELD Wireless Controller is the first-ever precision controller designed for both PC and Android streaming. Its wireless capability uses Wi-Fi Direct to reduce latency and increase performance in comparison to the Bluetooth controllers. Each controller also utilizes an integrated microphone to access voice commands and search functions. Other features include a headphone jack, touch-pad, dedicated buttons for Android navigation and volume controls.

Undoubtedly designed by gamers for gamers, the Nvidia SHIELD line up is the next step in game integration. By creating products that make accessing and playing your PC games easier combined with stellar quality of both picture and sound, full gaming systems will soon be on the way out. This ease of use and portability means that PC gaming is quickly going to become the dominant way to play video games. Accessibility and Convenience is was makes the Nvidia Shield a viable component in mobile gaming.

Top Addictive and Diverting Games for Android Devices

Top Addictive and Diverting Games for Android Devices

Mobile games are taking the world by storm. There is a long list of paid games, but the number of free games is as long, if not longer. Many different games are available to mobile users. An Android game takes many forms. Some are short enough to be completed during the morning commute. Others games offer players with hours on end of exciting game play. The mobile gaming industry is making the most of available technology to give the public more than enough reason to keep falling in love with Android games.

If you have just picked up a new device, then here are some highly recommended games for your Android mobile phone. They have been designed to provide mobile users a means to kill time in the most entertaining way possible.

"Dots"

The challenges that players of "Dots" need to overcome is to properly line up dots of similar colors as fast as they can. This very casual puzzle game requires players to draw lines between dots of different colors in order to link them together. It is also quite addictive because of the perfect combination of simple requirements and the "just right" amount of challenge. The player has to work fast given the limited amount of time. It is available in multiplayer mode, allowing groups of friends to see whether their pals fare better (or worse) than them. Bonuses are available to players that make the effort to trace closed loops. Power-ups (all consumable) are given to players with enough amounts of gathered dots. The difficulty level faced by players increases with more complicated dot combinations. "Dots" is quite attractive to mobile users who prefer games that are sharply designed and visually engaging.

"Super Monsters Ate My Condo!"

"Super Monsters Ate My Condo!" offers a bevy of neon colors and a high-speed game play that involved colorful apartment floors that drop off at a breakneck pace. The player can gain high scores by making the right matches and combinations. While players try to keep up with the main challenge, they must not forget the monsters standing by at the tower. They are hungry for apartment floors and ought to be fed only floors of a similar color. If the player makes a mistake in this regard, the monsters go on a rampage and destroy everything on their path.

"Sky Force"

There are plenty of games with contemporary themes and innovative game play. However, many mobile users are also on the lookout for Android games that just allows them to blast away at the enemy. "Sky Force" offer its players an old-school blaster experience with a 3D graphic environment.

"Dead Trigger 2"

A first-person mobile shooting game set in a zombie apocalypse is a sure hit amongst Android users. "Dead Trigger 2" is a good example of such a game. Aside from the outstanding weapons systems and auto-fire mechanism, the game features a hideout and crafting system. Currency can be used to speed up the time that assistants build additional firepower. The same currency system facilitates upgrading of weapons in this high quality shooter game for mobile platforms.

"Highway Chase"

This game is all about action and shooting. As a police sniper, the gamer must shoot the car thief while riding a helicopter. Hit your target at the designated time in order to pass the stage. It may seem easy but it is all about timing. Take up the challenge and hone your shooting skills.