[Video] Money Management Solutions for U.S. Congress – 545 people – an article by Charley Reese presented in video format by Money Management Solutions, Inc. (more…)

When it comes to YOUR MONEY and your bank, there are 4 questions you should be asking…

1 – How safe is my bank?

Click here to find out how to check your neighborhood banks in our Free report

How Safe Is Your Bank?

2 – Is my bank on the “likely to fail” list?

There are over 2,200 banks rated D or worse as of June 1, 2010

3 – If my bank fails, what happens to MY money, And will the FDIC protection be there?

4 – What can I do right now to protect my money?

Money management expert, Sandra Simmons, gives you answers to these questions right now, and it doesn’t cost you a dime!

Click here to get her FREE Bank Ratings Report to find out how to check your neighborhood banks.

Don’t get caught not knowing what’s likely to happen to your money in your bank. Find out how safe your bank is and what you can do to protect yourself.

BONUS! – you’ll also learn how to check up on the insurance companies you count on to protect your life, health, property & casualty, and HMO medical plans! Get their ratings too!

Claim your FREE Bank Ratings Report Now!

And share this with your friends, family and business colleagues to keep them safe too! Leave a comment on how your bank stacks up.

The new credit card rules that affect your money management planning are supposed to protect you. But do they?

No doubt, the days of easy credit are long gone, along with very low introductory rates for extended periods, no annual fees, and high credit limits for just about anyone who wanted a credit card.

Let’s look at what is coming with the new credit card rules

Effective February 22, 2010 the Credit Card Act of 2009 (Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009) goes into effect. Quite a few of the changes protect the consumer, for example:

1 – Your card company has to notify you at least 45 days in advance of any modification they intend to make in your account, like raising the interest rate you pay, changing certain fees like late fees or annual fees. However, there are situation where they do NOT have to notify you in advance.

2 – They can only increase the interest rates on new charges, while the existing charges have to remain at the old interest rate.

3 – They have to get you your credit card bill a minimum of 21 days before the payment is due so you have time to make the payment without being late and getting dinged for a late fee or triggering other unpleasant events.

4 – The card company can only charge interest charges on balances in the current billing cycle; no more double-cycle billing.

5 - Protect consumers who are under the age of 21 by making them show that they are able to make payments, or require that they have a co-signer, in order to open a credit card account.

The New Laws Will Also Hurt Consumers …

While, the new legislation prohibits a variety of credit card billing practices, the banking industry stands to lose as much as $50 billion in lost revenue as a result of the new restrictions.

There is little doubt that they will take action to make up for these losses. In fact, the issuers of credit cards are taking action now to implement changes before the new law goes into effect that will cost the consumer more. They are:

1 - Raising annual interest rates on current balances,

2 - Lowering credit card limits,

3 - Changing from fixed interest rates to variable rates,

4 - Stopping the low promotional rates campaigns, and

5 – Starting to punish consumers who don’t get their statement on-line by charging a fee for mailing you a paper statement.

There is a lot more information you can learn from this website Federal Reserve’s consumer information site that explains the new credit card rules in-depth.

Have your credit card companies made any of these changes on your cards? Leave a comment…

Major changes are happening in the way businesses operate. Here are our predictions for 2010 and throughout the next decade.

Money Management Prediction 1 – Business Operations Will Be Streamlined For More Efficiency. With the technological advance of computers and the Internet, faster communications at lower costs will become even more important to increase efficiency and production with less chance of error. This will show up in more electronic faxes being sent and received by e-mail instead of using costly fax telephone lines.

(We recommend checking out eFax and MetroFax for these secure communications)

Money Management Prediction 2 – There Will Be More Complex Computer Data Security Issues. Enhanced computer security issues will become the most important to protect a person’s information as well as data files. Backing up data files in a remote location that double encrypts the information will give the computer owner more peace of mind than having only a tape backup or an external hard drive which can be damaged or vulnerable to attack.

(We recommend Carbonite for protecting your computer data files)

Money Management Prediction 3 – Automated Email Follow-Up Selling Systems Will Become More Popular. With the advent of so much more information available on the internet to business owners and consumers, they are making buying decisions themselves without the aid of a salesperson or receiving something in the regular mail. Therefore, customer follow-up done on an automated basis using Email will more efficiently prompt the customer to buy products. Building an email list and using an automated response service (called a follow up email autoresponder) to keep in touch with prospects and customers will save businesses time and money.

(We recommend checking out Aweber , 1ShoppingCart and Infusionsoft autoresponder services)

Money Management Prediction 4 – The Availability of Business Credit Will Remain Very Tight. Despite the government’s insistence that the banking and credit industries loosen lending to businesses so that they can survive, expand, and create jobs, credit will remain very tight. Both the banking and finance industries are working to clean up past mistakes so that the world monetary systems can operate once again, but right now they are hoarding money and will remain reluctant to lend. As a result, both consumers and businesses will learn to operate using less credit and should be cutting expenses to operate on cash. Everyone seems very tired of having debt and will be working to become debt free.

Yes, we offer cash flow management software, training products and consulting for help to reduce debt and increase profits.

Money Management Prediction 5 – Businesses Will Diversify To Survive and Expand. With the current state of the economy, businesses will diversify more than ever by providing new product and service lines in order to survive and expand. Old business models will not be totally abandoned, but will be revamped to include new offerings, faster delivery and abundant vale for the price. Fickle shoppers will go elsewhere for a better perceived value for the dollars they spend. Emerging niches that cater to new technologies will expand the most quickly. One interesting example are the new electronic cigarettes Luci and Smoke Stik. Even Walmart home delivery service will become common.

Money Management Prediction 6 – This Will Be Known As The Decade of Video Internet Advertising. Internet video advertising will be the most popular marketing tool in the coming decade as people have less time to read lengthy pages of information when they can listen to and watch a short video to decide if they want more information. Traditional mail and print marketing will continue to be used for a secondary follow up mechanism to the prospect and/or customer, especially for those ‘brick and mortar’ retail businesses who rely on physical customer traffic for sales.

Money Management Prediction 7 – Paper Phone Books Will Become Obsolete. Consumers already favor getting information online by using their computers, mobile phones or other Internet-based applications for this purpose. Businesses will spend less on printed yellow page ads and more on increasing their internet presence.

Money Management Prediction 8 – Mobile Phones Will Be Used As Computers For People On-The-Go. There will be thousands of applications available for mobile phones to do banking, stock trades, pay bills, order groceries, make restaurant reservations, schedule vacation packages, run scenarios for every type of question for answers, etc. More video advertising will be available through phone applications. There will be less “brick and mortar” type business locations opened because of the expenses of running such businesses. Instead people will do more business over the Internet from their home computers and their mobile phones. Businesses will “farm out” more projects to outside resources to increase efficiency, cut costs, and expand their businesses.

Money Management Prediction 9 – Businesses Will Hire More Independent Contractors instead of traditional employees so that business owners can reduce their payroll tax and benefit costs and acquire more talented people in remote locations to work for them for quantified periods of time. Those more qualified and talented people will desire a flexible work schedule.

Money Management Prediction 10 – Business Owners Will Remain Uncertain About The Economy. They are worried about making payroll, about not being able to get a loan, about rising costs of doing business, about demand for their products weakening, and underneath all that is a fear of higher taxes to come. There will be less business travel because video and teleconferencing will be used instead to conduct meetings. This will have an effect on the airline, hotel, and rental car industries. More businesses will move toward commission based pay instead of the standard hourly wages for employees, and toward shorter work hours in the office to avoid overtime pay and more utilization of part-time staff. Better worker performance will be required, assisted with computer programs to track results and make corrections quickly and efficiently.

We recommend QuickBooks® as the simplest and easiest accounting software and a companion to the Money Management Solutions software program.

Business will be morphing into fast, streamlined operations that are ready to initiate changes quickly in order to remain competitive. It will be interesting to be a part of this evolution as we run our own business and help other business owners to win at their game.

Here’s to your business money management success in 2010!