Elder Abuse-Seniors Abuse

Elder Abuse:

Types, Signs, Symptoms, Risk Factors, and Prevention

Every year, tens of thousands of elderly Americans are abused in their own homes, in relatives’ homes, and even in facilities responsible for their care. You may suspect that an elderly person you know is being harmed physically or emotionally by a neglectful or overwhelmed caregiver or being preyed upon financially. By learning the signs and symptoms of elder abuse and how to act on behalf of an elderly person who is being abused, you’ll not only be helping someone else but strengthening your own defenses against elder abuse in the future.

Stop Elder Abuse–more videos at www.NeuroSurgeryVideos.com

What is elder abuse

Your elderly neighbor

There’s an elderly neighbor you’ve chatted with at civic meetings and block parties for years. When you see her coming to get her mail as you walk up the street, you slow down and greet her at the mailbox. She says hello but seems wary, as if she doesn’t quite recognize you. You ask her about a nasty bruise on her forearm. Oh, just an accident, she explains; the car door closed on it. She says goodbye quickly and returns to the house. Something isn’t quite right about her. You think about the bruise, her skittish behavior. Well, she’s getting pretty old, you think; maybe her mind is getting fuzzy. But there’s something else — something isn’t right.

As elders become more physically frail, they’re less able to stand up to bullying and or fight back if attacked. They may not see or hear as well or think as clearly as they used to, leaving openings for unscrupulous people to take advantage of them. Mental or physical ailments may make them more trying companions for the people who live with them..

Tens of thousands of seniors across the United States are being abused: harmed in some substantial way often people who are directly responsible for their care
More than half a million reports of abuse against elderly Americans reach authorities every year, and millions more cases go unreported.

Where does elder abuse take place?

Elder abuse tends to take place where the senior lives: most often in the home where abusers are apt to be adult children; other family members such as grandchildren; or spouses/partners of elders. Institutional settings especially long-term care facilities can also be sources of elder abuse.

The different types of elder abuse

Abuse of elders takes many different forms, some involving intimidation or threats against the elderly, some involving neglect, and others involving financial chicanery. The most common are defined below.

Physical abuse

Physical elder abuse is non-accidental use of force against an elderly person that results in physical pain, injury, or impairment. Such abuse includes not only physical assaults such as hitting or shoving but the inappropriate use of drugs, restraints, or confinement.

Emotional abuse

In emotional or psychological senior abuse, people speak to or treat elderly persons in ways that cause emotional pain or distress.

Verbal forms of emotional elder abuse include

intimidation through yelling or threats
humiliation and ridicule
habitual blaming or scapegoating

Nonverbal psychological elder abuse can take the form of

ignoring the elderly person
isolating an elder from friends or activities
terrorizing or menacing the elderly person

Sexual abuse

Sexual elder abuse is contact with an elderly person without the elder’s consent. Such contact can involve physical sex acts, but activities such as showing an elderly person pornographic material, forcing the person to watch sex acts, or forcing the elder to undress are also considered sexual elder abuse.

Neglect or abandonment by caregivers

Elder neglect, failure to fulfill a caretaking obligation, constitutes more than half of all reported cases of elder abuse. It can be active (intentional) or passive (unintentional, based on factors such as ignorance or denial that an elderly charge needs as much care as he or she does).

Financial exploitation

This involves unauthorized use of an elderly person’s funds or property, either by a caregiver or an outside scam artist.

An unscrupulous caregiver might

misuse an elder’s personal checks, credit cards, or accounts
steal cash, income checks, or household goods
forge the elder’s signature
engage in identity theft

Typical rackets that target elders include

Announcements of a “prize” that the elderly person has won but must pay money to claim
Phony charities
Investment fraud

Healthcare fraud and abuse

Carried out by unethical doctors, nurses, hospital personnel, and other professional care providers, examples of healthcare fraud and abuse regarding elders include

Not providing healthcare, but charging for it
Overcharging or double-billing for medical care or services
Getting kickbacks for referrals to other providers or for prescribing certain drugs
Overmedicating or undermedicating
Recommending fraudulent remedies for illnesses or other medical conditions
Medicaid fraud

Signs and symptoms of elder abuse

At first, you might not recognize or take seriously signs of elder abuse. They may appear to be symptoms of dementia or signs of the elderly person’s frailty — or caregivers may explain them to you that way. In fact, many of the signs and symptoms of elder abuse do overlap with symptoms of mental deterioration, but that doesn’t mean you should dismiss them on the caregiver’s say-so.

General signs of abuse

The following are warning signs of some kind of elder abuse:

Frequent arguments or tension between the caregiver and the elderly person
Changes in personality or behavior in the elder

If you suspect elderly abuse, but aren’t sure, look for clusters of the following physical and behavioral signs.

Signs and symptoms of specific types of abuse

Physical abuse	Unexplained signs of injury such as bruises, welts, or scars, especially if they appear symmetrically on two side of the body Broken bones, sprains, or dislocations Report of drug overdose or apparent failure to take medication regularly (a prescription has more remaining than it should) Broken eyeglasses or frames Signs of being restrained, such as rope marks on wrists Caregiver’s refusal to allow you to see the elder alone
Emotional abuse	In addition to the general signs above, indications of emotional elder abuse include Threatening, belittling, or controlling caregiver behavior that you witness Behavior from the elder that mimics dementia, such as rocking, sucking, or mumbling to oneself
Sexual abuse	Bruises around breasts or genitals Unexplained venereal disease or genital infections Unexplained vaginal or anal bleeding Torn, stained, or bloody underclothing
Neglect by caregivers or self-neglect	Unusual weight loss, malnutrition, dehydration Untreated physical problems, such as bed sores Unsanitary living conditions: dirt, bugs, soiled bedding and clothes Being left dirty or unbathed Unsuitable clothing or covering for the weather Unsafe living conditions (no heat or running water; faulty electrical wiring, other fire hazards) Desertion of the elder at a public place
Financial exploitation	Significant withdrawals from the elder’s accounts Sudden changes in the elder’s financial condition Items or cash missing from the senior’s household Suspicious changes in wills, power of attorney, titles, and policies Addition of names to the senior’s signature card Unpaid bills or lack of medical care, although the elder has enough money to pay for them Financial activity the senior couldn’t have done, such as an ATM withdrawal when the account holder is bedridden Unnecessary services, goods, or subscriptions
Healthcare fraud and abuse	Duplicate billings for the same medical service or device Evidence of overmedication or undermedication Evidence of inadequate care when bills are paid in full Problems with the care facility: - Poorly trained, poorly paid, or insufficient staff - Crowding - Inadequate responses to questions about care

Risk factors for elder abuse

It’s difficult to take care of a senior when he or she has many different needs, and it’s difficult to be elderly when age brings with it infirmities and dependence. Both the demands of caregiving and the needs of the elder can create situations in which abuse is more likely to occur.

Risk factors among caregivers

Many nonprofessional caregivers — spouses, adult children, other relatives and friends — find taking care of an elder to be satisfying and enriching. But the responsibilities and demands of elder caregiving, which escalate as the elder’s condition deteriorates, can also be extremely stressful. The stress of elder care can lead to mental and physical health problems that make caregivers burned out, impatient, and unable to keep from lashing out against elders in their care.

Among caregivers, significant risk factors for elder abuse are

inability to cope with stress (lack of resilience)
depression, which is common among caregivers
lack of support from other potential caregivers
the caregiver’s perception that taking care of the elder is burdensome and without psychological reward
substance abuse

Even caregivers in institutional settings can experience stress at levels that lead to elder abuse. Nursing home staff may be prone to elder abuse if they lack training, have too many responsibilities, are unsuited to caregiving, or work under poor conditions.

The elder’s condition and history

Several factors concerning elders themselves, while they don’t excuse abuse, influence whether they are at greater risk for abuse:

The intensity of an elderly person’s illness or dementia
Social isolation; i.e., the elder and caregiver are alone together almost all the time
The elder’s role, at an earlier time, as an abusive parent or spouse
A history of domestic violence in the home
The elder’s own tendency toward verbal or physical aggression

In many cases, elder abuse, though real, is unintentional. Caregivers pushed beyond their capabilities or psychological resources may not mean to yell at, strike, or ignore the needs of the elders in their care.

Reporting elder abuse

If you are an elder who is being abused, neglected, or exploited, tell at least one person. Tell your doctor, a friend, or a family member whom you trust. Other people care and can help you.

You can also call Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116.

The person who answers the phone will refer you to a local agency that can help. The Eldercare Locator answers the phone Monday through Friday, 9 am to 8 pm, Eastern Time.

How do I report suspected elder abuse?

The 500,000 to 1,000,000 reports of elder abuse recorded by authorities every year (the vast majority of which are proven to be true) are only the tip of the iceberg; according to data from different states, for every case of elder abuse reported, another 12 or 13 are not. Accordingly there’s a great need for people to report suspected abuse.

In every state, physical, sexual, and financial abuses targeting elders that violate laws against assault, rape, theft, and other offenses are punishable as crimes. With some variation among states, certain types of emotional elder abuse and elder neglect are subject to criminal prosecution, depending on the perpetrators’ conduct and intent and the consequences for the victim.

States differ on who is required to report suspected elder abuse (there’s no federal standard), though the categories of mandatory reporters are expanding. Typically, medical personnel, nursing home workers, peace officers, emergency personnel, public officials, social workers, counselors, and clergy are listed as mandatory reporters, and that responsibility is spreading to financial institutions and other entities that work with seniors.

While it’s important for elders to seek refuge from abuse, either by calling a local agency or telling a doctor or trusted friend, many seniors don’t report the abuse they face even if they’re able. Many fear retaliation from the abuser, while others believe that if they turn in their abusers, no one else will take care of them. When the caregivers are their children, they may be ashamed that their children are behaving abusively or blame themselves: “If I’d been a better parent when they were younger, this wouldn’t be happening.” Or they just may not want children they love to get into trouble with the law.

The first agency to respond to a report of elderly abuse, in most states, is Adult Protective Services (APS). Its role is to investigate abuse cases, intervene, and offer services and advice. Again, the power and scope of APS varies from state to state. However, every state has at least one toll-free elder abuse hotline or helpline for reporting elder abuse in the home, in the community, or in nursing homes and other longterm care facilities. In addition, information and referral are also available from the national Eldercare Locator: 1-800-677-1116

Preventing elder abuse and neglect

We can help reduce the incidence of elder abuse, but it’ll take more effort than we’re making now. Preventing elder abuse means doing three things:

Listening to seniors and their caregivers
Intervening when you suspect elder abuse
Educating others about how to recognize and report elder abuse

What you can do as a caregiver to prevent elder abuse

If you’re overwhelmed by the demands of caring for an elder, do the following:

Request help, from friends, relatives, or local respite care agencies, so you can take a break, if only for a couple of hours.
Find an adult day care program.
Stay healthy and get medical care for yourself when necessary.
Adopt stress reduction practices.
Seek counseling for depression, which can lead to elder abuse.
Find a support group for caregivers of the elderly.
If you’re having problems with drug or alcohol abuse, get help.

And remember, elder abuse helplines offer help for caregivers as well. Call a helpline if you think there’s a possibility you might cross the line into elder abuse.

What you can do as a concerned friend or family member

Watch for warning signs that might indicate elder abuse. If you suspect abuse, report it.
Take a look at the elder’s medications. Does the amount in the vial jive with the date of the prescription?
Watch for possible financial abuse. Ask the elder if you may scan bank accounts and credit card statements for unauthorized transactions.
Call and visit as often as you can. Help the elder consider you a trusted confidante.
Offer to stay with the elder so the caregiver can have a break — on a regular basis, if you can.

How you can protect yourself, as an elder, against elder abuse

Make sure your financial and legal affairs are in order. If they aren’t, enlist professional help to get them in order, with the assistance of a trusted friend or relative if necessary.
Keep in touch with family and friends and avoid becoming isolated, which increases your vulnerability to elder abuse.
If you are unhappy with the care you’re receiving, whether it’s in your own home or in a care facility, speak up. Tell someone you trust and ask that person to report the abuse, neglect, or substandard care to your state’s elder abuse helpline or long term care ombudsman, or make the call yourself.

Finally, if you aren’t in a position to help an elder personally, you can volunteer or donate money to the cause of educating people about elder abuse, and you can lobby to strengthen state laws and policing so that elder abuse can be investigated and prosecuted more readily. The life you save down the line may be your own.

September 15th, 2008 | Tags: Elder Abuse-Seniors Abuse | Category: Elder Abuse-Seniors Abuse | Leave a comment

401k Retirement Plan

Begin Providing for Your Future

Anyone familiar with the time value of money knows that even small amounts, when compounded over long periods, can result in thousands, or even millions, of dollars in additional wealth. This simple truth is one of the reasons many financial planners recommend tax-advantaged accounts and investments such as traditional / Roth IRA’s and municipal bonds. In the past, these decisions were not as crucial because of the prevalence of defined-benefit pension plans. Today, those old-world pensions are going by the wayside at many U.S. firms; instead, most of today’s workforce is likely to find their retirement years funded by the proceeds of their 401k retirement plan.

What is a 401k retirement plan?

A 401k retirement plan is a special type of account funded through pre-tax payroll deductions. The funds in the account can be invested in a number of different stocks, bonds, mutual funds or other assets, and are not taxed on any capital gains, dividends, or interest until they are withdrawn. The retirement savings vehicle was created by Congress in 1981 and gets its name from the section of the Internal Revenue Code that describes it; you guess it - section 401k.

What are the benefits of a 401k retirement plan?

There are five key benefits that make investing through a 401k retirement plan particularly attractive. They are:

Tax advantage
Employer match programs
Investment customization and flexibility
Portability
Loan and hardship withdrawals

Tax advantage of 401k retirement plans

As touched on in the introduction, the primary benefit of a 401k retirement plan is the favorable tax treatment it receives from Uncle Sam. Dividend, interest, and capital gains are not taxed until they are disbursed; in the mean time, they can compound tax-deferred inside the account. In the case of a young worker with three or four decades ahead of them, this can mean can mean the difference between living at the Plaza Hotel or the Budget 8.

Employer match for 401k retirement plans

Many employers, in an effort to attract and retain talent, offer to match a certain percentage of the employee’s contribution. According to Starbucks’ “Total Pay Package” brochure, for example, the company will match a percentage of the first 4% of pay the employee contributes to their 401(k) retirement plan. Employees at the company for less than 36 months receive a 25% match; 36 to 60 months receive a 50% match; 60 to 120 months receive a 75% match; 120 or more months receive a 150% match.

In other words, an employee working at the coffee giant for over ten years earning $100,000 that contributed $4,000 to their 401(k) would receive a $6,000 deposit in the account directly from the company (150% match on $4,000 contribution.) Anything the employee deposited above the 4% threshold would not receive a match.

Even if you have high-interest credit card debt, it is preferable, in almost all cases, to contribute the maximum amount your company will match! The reason is simple math: If you are paying 20% on a credit card and your company is matching you dollar-for-dollar (a 100% return), you are going to end up poorer by paying off the debt. Factor in the tax-deferred gains generated by the 401(k) plan, and the disparity becomes even larger. For more information on this topic, I suggest you read the work of Suze Orman.

Although the topic will be discussed in further detail later in this article, be aware that employer matching contributions up to six-percent of an employee’s pre-tax salary are not included in the annual limit. For example, if you qualified, you could make a 401k contribution of $13,000 in 2004 and have your employer still match the first six-percent of your salary; that match would be deposited above and beyond the $13,000 you contributed directly.

Investment customization and flexibility

401k retirement plans give employees a range of choices as to how their assets are invested. An individual that knows he or she does not have a high tolerance for risk could opt for a higher asset allocation in low-risk investments such as short-term bonds; likewise, a young professional interested in building long-term wealth could place a heavier emphasis on equities. Many businesses allow employees to acquire company stock for their 401k retirement plan at a discount although many financial advisors recommend against holding a substantial portion of your 401k in the shares of your employer in light of the Enron and Worldcom scandals.

One of the benefits of a 401k retirement plan is that it can follow an employee throughout his or her career. When changing employers, the investor has four options:

1.) Leave his/her assets in the old employer’s 401k retirement plan
Many 401k plan administrators charge record keeping and other fees to manage your account, regardless of whether you are still with the company. These fees can take a significant bite out of your future net worth, especially if you have accounts maintained at several different employers.

2.) Complete a 401k rollover to the new employer’s 401k plan
Practically speaking, this option is only available if the employee has another job offer before leaving their current employer. In some cases, it may be the best option as it is simple. How do you know if it is the right choice? The decision should largely be made based on the investment options of the new 401k plan. If you are unsatisfied with the choices available to you, completing a 401k rollover to an IRA may be a better option.

3.) Complete a 401k rollover and move the assets to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
Completing a 401k rollover is almost always the best choice for those interested in providing for a comfortable retirement because it allows the investor’s capital to continue compounding tax-deferred while providing maximum control over asset allocation (i.e., you aren’t limited to the investments offered by the 401k plan provider.) Here’s how it works: A distribution of the current 401k plan assets is ordered (this is reported on the IRS Form 1099-R.) Once the assets are received by the employee, they must be contributed into the new retirement plan within sixty days; this deposit is reported on IRS Form 5498. The government limits 401k rollovers to once every twelve months.

4.) Cash out the proceeds, paying taxes and the 10% penalty fee
With the exception of failing to take advantage of an employer’s contribution match program, cashing out a 401k when leaving jobs is the single most stupid decision a working individual can make. According to a press release by the 401K Help Center, research indicates “as many as 66 percent of Generation X job changers take cash when leaving their jobs, and 78 percent of workers aged 20-29 take cash.” The tragedy is far greater than the taxes and penalty fee alone; indeed, the greater financial loss comes from the decades of tax-deferred compounding that capital could have earned had the account owner chosen to initiate a 401k rollover.

The purpose of your 401k retirement plan is to provide for your golden years. There are times, however, when you need cash and there are no viable options other than to tap your nest egg. For this reason, the government allows plan administrators to offer 401k loans to participants (be aware that the government doesn’t require this and therefore it is not always available.)

The primary benefit of 401k loans is that the proceeds are not subject to taxes or the ten-percent penalty fee except in the event of default. The government does not set guidelines or restrictions on the uses for 401k loans. Many employers, however, do; these can include minimum loan balances (usually $1,000) and the number of loans outstanding at any time in order to reduce administrative costs. Additionally, some employers require that married employees get the consent of their spouse before taking out a loan, the theory being that both are affected by the decision.

401k Loan Limits

In most cases, an employee can borrow up to fifty-percent of their vested account balance up to a maximum of $50,000. If the employee has taken out a 401k loan in the previous twelve months, they will only be able to borrow fifty-percent of their vested account balance up to $50,000, less the outstanding balance on the previous loan. The 401k loan must be paid back over the subsequent five years with the exception of home purchases, which are eligible for a longer time horizon.

401k Loan Interest Expense

Even though you’re borrowing from yourself, you still have to pay interest! Most plans set the standard interest rate at prime plus an additional one or two percent. The benefit is two-fold: 1.) unlike interest paid to a bank, you will eventually get this money back in the form of qualified disbursements at or near retirement, and 2.) the interest you pay back into your 401k plan is tax-sheltered.

The Drawbacks of 401k Loans

The biggest danger of taking out a 401k loan is that it will disrupt the dollar cost averaging process. This has the potential to significantly lower long-term results. Another consideration is employment stability; if an employee quits or is terminated, the 401k loan must be repaid in full, normally within sixty days. Should the plan participant fail to meet the deadline, a default would be declared and penalty-fees and taxes assessed.

401k Hardship Withdrawal

What if your employer doesn’t offer 401k loans or you are not eligible? It may still be possible for you to access cash if the following four conditions are met (note that the government does not require employers to provide 401k hardship withdrawals, so you must check with your plan administrator):

The withdrawal is necessary due to an immediate and severe financial need
The withdrawal is necessary to satisfy that need (i.e., you can’t get the money elsewhere)
The amount of the loan does not exceed the amount of the need
You have already obtained all distributable or non-taxable loans available under your 401k plan

If these conditions are met, the funds can be withdrawn and used for one of the following five purposes:

A primary home purchase
Higher education tuition, room and board and fees for the next twelve months for you, your spouse, your dependents or children (even if they are no longer dependent upon you)
To prevent eviction from your home or foreclosure on your primary residence
Severe financial hardship
Tax-deductible medical expenses that are not reimbursed for you, your spouse or your dependents

All 401k hardship withdrawals are subject to taxes and the ten-percent penalty. This means that a $10,000 withdrawal can result in not only significantly less cash in your pocket (possibly as little as $6,500 or $7,500), but causes you to forgo forever the tax-deferred growth that could have been generated by those assets. 401k hardship withdrawal proceeds cannot be returned to the account once the disbursement has been made.

Non-Financial Hardship 401k Withdrawal

Although the investor must still pay taxes on non-financial hardship withdrawals, the ten-percent penalty fee is waived. There are five ways to qualify:

You become totally and permanently disabled
Your medical debts exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income
A court of law has ordered you to give the funds to your divorced spouse, a child, or a dependent
You are permanently laid off, terminated, quit, or retire early in the same year you turn 55 or later
You are permanently laid off, terminated, quit, or retired and have established a payment schedule of regular withdrawals in equal amounts of the rest of your expected natural life. Once the first withdrawal has been made, the investor is required to continue taking them for five years or until he/she reaches the age of 59 1/2, whichever is longer.

A 401k hardship withdrawal should be a last resort. An IRA, for example, has a lifetime withdrawal exemption of $10,000 for a house with no strings attached.

What is the maximum contribution limit on your 401k account? The answer depends on your plan, your salary, and government guidelines. In short, your contribution limit is the lower of the maximum amount your employer permits as a percentage of salary (e.g., if your employer lets you contribute 4% of your salary and you earn pre-tax $20,000, your maximum contribution limit is $800), or the government guidelines as follows:

401k Maximum Contribution Limits
2004: $13,000
2005: $14,000
2006: $15,000

Once the year 2006 has been reached, the total maximum contribution limit will be increased based on changes in the cost of living.

Catch Up Contributions

If you are fifty years or older and your employer offers “catch-up” contribution for your 401k, you are eligible to contribute additional amounts up to the maximum contribution limits as follow:

401k Maximum Catch-Up Contribution Limits
2004: $3,000
2005: $4,000
2006: $5,000

Once the year 2006 has been reached, the total maximum contribution limit will be increased based on changes in the cost of living.

A Reminder on Employer Matching Contributions and 401k Contribution Limits

Once again, employer matching contributions up to six-percent of an employee’s pre-tax salary are not included in the contribution. For example, if you qualified, you could make a 401k contribution of $13,000 in 2004 and have your employer still match the first six-percent of your salary; that match would be deposited above and beyond the $13,000 you contributed directly.

September 15th, 2008 | Tags: 401k Retirement Plan | Category: 401k Retirement Plan | Leave a comment

The Secret To Making Money Online

There is a secret to making money online that millionaires all over the world are using, and that is this - having a database of targeted people who you have regular contact with through a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly email newsletter (e-zine). There is two reasons for the success of this method. The first reason is that you now have a (hopefully) large targeted audience of people who are all interested in the same thing (for me I have an audience of people interested in finances). The second reason is that you have a database of people who trust you.

Targeted Audience

People want to market their product to an audience who they know wants to buy their product. This is what you are creating. You are creating a targeted audience from your niche (area of interest) that you yourself can market with your products (or affiliate products…click here to read more on affiliates). This also allows you an avenue to market other people’s products. People will often spend between $0.10 - $0.25 per person to send out an advertising email to your targeted audience. If you have 10,000 people subscribing to your newsletter then you can easily make between $1,000 - $2,500 for each email you send (and you could send about one per week)

Trusting Audience

Studies have shown that people are more likely to buy from someone they trust than someone they don’t know at all. If you have an audience who you have contact with each week then they will come to know you and trust you. When they trust you they are more likely to take your advice and buy things from you…then you can make some money.

Now that you know the benefits of building a database and sending out a weekly newsletter let me show you
How to Build a Weekly Newsletter:

Join a Database Service

Many hosting sites have database services built into them from which you can collect names and send emails however their options are limited and can often take a lot of time to manage. There are many services online which offer you easy management of your database and many options for sending emails.
I would recommend to steer clear of the free databases, because even though they are free, they are limited and also your database is owned by them (not you). YOU WANT TO OWN YOUR DATABASE! and on many of the free services you cannot transfer your database to another service. So sometimes it pays to pay.
I use a service called Constant Contact and I would recommend it to anyone.

Have a Signup Form On Your Website

Your website attracts people (known as traffic). Your goal is to somehow convert your traffic into subscribers of your newsletter. In order to do this you need to have a simple signup form on your website where people can sign up for your newsletter. Have a link of every page of your website to a ’sales page’ which pitches your newsletter and gives people a way to sign up. Your goal should be to get 10,000 names…with 10,000 names you can easily become a millionaire.

Give Away Something Free

This is one of the most effective tools to get people to sign up for your website. People love free things and will happily sign up to receive your newsletter to get whatever you are offering. I currently offer a free report on my website as a reward for signing up…hopefully soon I will offer something of more value for free (an e-book or an audio teaching cd)

Send a Weekly Newsletter

Now that you have people’s names you need to be in constant contact with them (I recommend once per week, some people send newsletters bi-weekly or monthly). Send them a newsletter relevant to the website they signed up from. Give away FREE information in these newsletters. I know…you might be thinking how can I make money by giving away things…but you will. Give your people great content that helps their lives, make your newsletter valuable to them so they look forward to reading it every week.

Not Too Bad, Not Too Good

Offer content that is valueable to the reader. The worst thing that you can have is an email where people delete it straight away because they know it is useless to them. So have good content
The next worse thing is for someone to ’save’ the email because the content is too long, or too good to read now. So offer them good content but content that is easy to read and not too valuable.

So now that you know how to get subscribers and how to send out a weekly email lets go through the thing you will really really want to know and that is

How to Make Money From a Weekly Newsletter:

Run Advertising

You can run advertising on your newsletter and charge people for the ads you put in their. You can put ads which are 2-5 lines long, or you could put simple classifieds in your newsletter. Depending on how many people you have as subscribers you can charge accordingly. I am not exactly sure on the amount you can charge for an advertisement as I have not done it myself yet. But ask around and see.

Tip: Try to charge at a higher rate first. It is easier to lower your rate as you bargain than to raise your rate

Sell Affiliates

Instead of getting other’s to advertise their products and make lots of money on sales, why not advertise people’s products for them and then take a commission for each sale? ClickBank offers up to 75% commissions for those who refer people a product and make a sale.

This can often make you more money when you start off. For example I made $80 from selling affiliate programs but only made under $1 in my first 2 months of my website.

Send Solo Ads

I spoke about this before when we talked about a target audience. People will pay you often between $0.10-$0.25 per person to send out advertising emails to the people on your database. If you have 10,000 people then you could quite easily make $1,000-$2,500 from one email…couldn’t you?

There are many websites out there that offer this service to you (renting your database out) and to those wishing to send the emails.

Sell Your Own Products

Selling your own products is a great way to both make money and to build your database. If you have an audience that know and trust you then you can fairly easily sell an e-book or an audio teaching series. Why not offer your subscribers a discount just for them (and for this week only) to increase your sales.

Helpful Tips:

Make sure you grab the name and contact details of every person who buys your product so you can send them your newsletter each week.
Give people a commission for selling your product, then you are not just limited to your database but you are unlimited.

So this is the secret to becoming a millionaire: Having a database of 10,000 and having regular contact with them to offer them FREE information and to advertise your products, affiliate products and other people’s products to make an income.

June 22nd, 2008 | Tags: Making Money Online | Category: Making Money Online | Leave a comment

What Is The Stock Market

What is the stock market? This is a great question. Being a budding stock investor myself I went on a search for an answer to the question “What is the stock market”. I believe that what I have found will help any beginner in understanding what the stock market it and how it works.

WHAT IS THE STOCK MARKET?

The word stock simply refers to a supple. You can have a stock of anything you want (from pencils in your pencil case, to clothes on your wardrobe). In the financial market stock refers to a supply of money that a company has raised. This supply comes from people who have given the company money in the hope that the company will make their money grow.

A market is a public place where things are bought and sold. The term “stock market” refers to the business of buying and selling stock. The stock market is not a specific place, though some people use the term “Wall Street”—the main street in New York City’s financial district—to refer to the U.S. stock market in general.

WHY DO COMPANIES SELL STOCK?

If a company wants to grow and expand then they need money to do that. They might need money to build factories, or shops or to hire more workers. In order to do that they need money, they could go to the bank and get a loan but then they would be in large amounts of debt. Instead, they can sell the business to get more money, but continue to control the business. How? They sell it to hundreds and even thousands of people in what is known as shares.

If you have a pie and you cut it into 100 pieces (it must be a pretty big pie), then each person would have a ”share” of the pie. It is the same with companies. Companies sell shares to people. Say a company sells 100 shares and you own 1 share then you would own 1% of the business. People who buy the stock (or the shares) are giving the company the money it needs to grow and expand.

WHY DO PEOPLE BUY SHARES?

The people who own the shares own a part of the company they have shares in. Therefore whenever the company makes money the shareholders (the people who own the stock/shares) get part of the profits that the company made. If the company makes money then the stockholders share in the profits and over time owning stock will earn people more money than leaving their money in the bank or making other

Stockholders in a company also usually have voting rights. They vote on such issues as who will be elected to the board of directors—the group of people who oversee company decisions—and whether to buy other companies. Stockholders typically have one vote for each share they own. Every vote counts, but a stockholder with 5,000 shares will have more influence on the company than someone with only one share.

WHAT ARE CAPITAL GAINS ON SHARES?

As a company makes money, the value of its stock goes up. It is similar to if you owned a restaurant. If your restaurant started off making $50,000/year then you might be able to sell it for $500,000. But say later on your restaurant was earning $100,000/year, then the resaurant might well be worth $1,000,000. It is the same with stocks, you own a percentage of that restaurant so as their profits increase your ’stock’ becomes more valuable as it is part of the business. This increase is value is called ‘capital gains’

Well I hope that helped explain some things about the stock market and I hope you now understand what the stock market is and how it works on the most basic level. Please leave any comments and questions below.

June 22nd, 2008 | Tags: What Is The Stock Market | Category: What Is The Stock Market | Comments (1)

Investing In The Stock Market For The Long Run

My mum always told me “You need to invest in the stock market for the long run“. My mum loves the stock market. She has all her retirement money in the stock market and she makes a fair amount of money (around 25% per year over the last 3 years). She is always trying to give me advice about the stock market and I thought I would share her number one tip with you guys today. And that is this:

“When investing in the stock market be in it for the long run, a minimum of 5 years”

This is because the stock market is constantly fluctuating, going up and down. If you only invest in the stock market for 1 year then you could get a bad year an lose a lot of money. However, if you invest over 5 years or 10 years then the stock market always eventually goes up. It averages about 11% every year. However, this year it has gone backwards and lost people a lot of money.

The stock market is a great tool for a retirement plan, or for making some extra income on this side. Many people make money from the stock market as the full time income and you can do this too if you want, it just takes some training, some practice and a lot of determination. But the stock market is perfect for a long term investment such as retirement, or a college fund, or saving up for a house in the future.

Here are some tips about investing in the stock market for the long run.

Have a long term goal

Many people want to get rich quick. But few people ever do. Have a long term wealth goal that is achieveable. Have something you can diligently work towards and that you can achieve and be happy with. Don’t set something too high (like I often do), but set something achievable and attainable.

Be in it for the long run. Don’t just try to make $10,000 in your first month. Try and make $1,000,000 in 20 years. The longer you are in the stock market the more it works for you because you begin to earn interest on your interest. As you earn more interest you earn more money, when you stocks go up or you get some dividends then re-invest it back it. Watch your money grow and grow and grow until you are wealthy. But have a long term goal…not just a short term daydream.

Buy, buy, buy on a consistent basis

The stock market will go up and it will go down, but you need to invest on a consistent basis. If you invest money in the stock market every month, then even when the stock market drops it is not bad for you because you have an opportunity to buy at the low points and make money. If you just invest once, then maybe it might crash for a bit and you have to wait for it to go back up again. If you invest all the time then you get to experience the highs of when the stock market shoots up and you also get to take advantage of the lows and buy stock cheap and make more money.

Don’t have unrealistic expectations

I covered this a tiny bit in point #1, but don’t have unrealisitic expectations of the time it will take, the percentage you will get and the overall money you will make. Have a realisitic goal that you can diligently work towards, don’t just have a daydream about how you want to make $1,000,000 in 5 days from the stock market. Remember being in it for the long run is the key to success in the stock market.

Have realistic expectations so you won’t get disappointed and give up, if you have realistic expectations then you can celebrate your successes and be motivated to continue on your long term journey towards wealth.

So if you want to invest in the stock market, stop thinking just short term and invest in the stock market for a long period of time, at least 5 years.

June 22nd, 2008 | Tags: The Stock Market | Category: The Stock Market | Leave a comment

SEO ELITE IS A SCAM

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June 19th, 2008 | Tags: SEO ELITE IS A SCAM | Category: SEO ELITE IS A SCAM | Leave a comment

Search Engine Optimization

Today there will be millions of searches performed on the Internet, many of them looking for exactly what you are selling. The process of getting your website to the top of the search engines is known as search engine optimization (SEO). SEO has proven to be one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing available. SEO.com is recognized as a world leader in the art and science of search engine optimization by Fortune 500 companies, emerging Internet entities, small businesses, and professional firm

June 19th, 2008 | Tags: Search Engine Optimization | Category: Search Engine Optimization | Leave a comment

Video Search Engine Optimization:

Video search optimization is fascinating. Why? Because it allows search marketers to relive the early days of search engine optimization (SEO). And, because Video SEO presents a unique challenge for search engines, who must address the problem of indexing rich media content which resides on most Web sites today and is not very search engine spider-friendly.

With the rising popularity of video hosting and sharing sites (like YouTube), as well as the advent of Universal Search, which includes the placement of videos, photos, blog entries, news stories, and other search verticals on the main search engine results page (SERP), video has an increasing chance of being found and seen online – and optimization is an advertiser’s answer to HOW. With the large amount of video online, it is important for companies to understand the things they can do to help get their videos get noticed now – and in the future.
While online video has proven to be popular with many audiences, the heavy viewers come from a younger demographic, meaning we should expect this medium to increase in effectiveness as this demographic ages and more consumers shift from TV to online video. Recent findings released by Ipsos MediaCT from MOTION showed that the PC is slowly encroaching on other visual media, as screen time spent on a PC nearly doubled its overall share with digital video consumers since early 2007. This report also found that the percentage of video consumed on TV among online video viewers declined from 75% in February 2007 to 70% in February 2008.

There is no doubt that online video is all the rage now. The younger generations epitomize self-promotion. They publish their thoughts, private photos and videos, and even relationship statuses, online. Unlike baby boomers and older generations who are voracious content readers online, the younger generation tends to ‘scan’ text content and definitely prefer more easy-to-digest content formats – like podcasts and videos. As a result, we have seen video content proliferate. In fact, Internet users in the US watched 11.5 billion online videos in March 2008, up 13% over the previous month (February 2008) and 64% over the previous year (March 2007), according to comScore Video Metrix. That is an average of 83 videos watched per viewer during March. And, according to eMarketer, a total of 154 million people are expected to watch online videos this year, which is one in two Americans. By 2012, this audience is expected to grow to 190 million! And, as is customary in the online world, where there is content, there are interested searchers and where there are interested searchers, there are advertisers attempting to target them. And, where there is competition, there is a need to stand out, hence the need for optimization.

Currently, video search optimization is in the same stage as search engine optimization (SEO) was back in 1998: its infancy. Today standard search engines are indexing video and other digital media content using: file names, Meta tags (video title, description, and keyword tags) and surrounding page text content. In most cases today, the video tags can be unlimited and the content can be unrelated. Like early SEO, many online marketers have begun to overuse keyword tags and also are attempting to use unrelated, but high-traffic keyword terms to help their videos rank higher. For example, I noticed an online YouTube producer use a popular politician’s name as a tag on a humorous non-political, unrelated video to gain ranking – and it worked to help the video gain traffic quickly! This and keyword overuse are tricks of the trade that I have seen work to help videos become popular virally, tactics that, in standard search engine optimization, will get you penalized in the search engines and are considered to be Black Hat tactics.

In fact, on his TechCrunch.com blog, Dan Ackerman Greenberg, an employee of viral video marketing company The Comotion Group, writes about the secret strategies to create viral videos on the Web, a brutally honest posting that has now received a bit of negative attention on the Web. These ‘strategies’ include using “fake headlines.” The tip from Greenberg: “Titles can be changed a limitless number of times, so we sometimes have a catchy (and somewhat misleading) title for the first few days, then later switch to something more relevant to the brand. Recently, I’ve noticed a trend towards titling videos with the phrases ‘exclusive,’ ‘behind the scenes,’ and ‘leaked video.’” And, there was a rumor circulating that advertisers were purposefully manipulating YouTube thumbnails to include pictures of swimsuit-clad women, which Greenberg proves to be the case: “YouTube provides three choices for a video’s thumbnail, one of which is grabbed from the exact middle of the video. As we edit our videos, we make sure that the frame at the very middle is interesting. It’s no surprise that videos with thumbnails of half naked women get hundreds of thousands of views.”

The use of these questionable tactics pose the same issue for advertisers that many Search firms faced when struggling to address early SEO problems – how to beat the black hat spammers and ensure that relevant content to selected keywords is ranked as such. Also, like the early SEO days, the engines will catch on to these tactics and qualify them as black hat ones, and engines will then change their algorithms, leaving those marketers in the dust. Regardless of what tactics a business currently chooses to use to optimize their videos, if smart marketers are thinking about this, then they are thinking one step ahead of the engines. And, they can currently plan for what will be the second stage of video search optimization, which has already begun on a range of video search engines online.

The recent slew of video search engines and hosting sites, such as Blinkx, Truveo, Everyzing, and Pixsy are attempting to address how to provide relevant video content using new technology. Various forms of imagery recognition, text recognition, facial recognition, and auditory recognition software have been developed to allow engines to ‘read’ online videos. Engines will be able to actually crawl inside a piece of digital media and recognize faces, words, and visuals. The use of imagery recognition will help boost a video’s branded ranking by reading logos and the like, and it also means that companies with celebrity spokespersons in their videos will be recognized and ranked for it. One of the many things the video search engines will have the ability to do is physically recognize popular faces and then index the spokesperson in connection with the related company. And, we all know celebrities are searched quite often online. So, these high search counts and a recognizable celebrity video could certainly help to boost a company’s video ranking.

Today, most interactive marketers are still attempting to grasp the large amounts of data presented by SEO and SEM. Many are paying attention to the hot debate of video advertising formats – pre-roll vs. overlay, etc. Not many are paying attention to this very important topic, which will allow a company to leap ahead of the competition – getting online content – whatever form it may be – FOUND, especially when searching through the millions of online videos. What’s the use of spending time debating whether you should hire talent for your company’s instructional videos vs. using an employee? Or, why worry about the file format or key message? If your video is not found online, then you are out of luck and the rest of your production worries do not matter so much in the end. So, what can you do to make sure your video does not get lost in the netherworld of the Internet?

Well, you can start with the first generation video optimization tactics I discussed above. Optimize your video’s filename with your most important keyword and not an unknown numbering or naming convention only you understand. Add targeted and relevant title, description, and keyword tags to your video – on all sites you publish your video online. And, when a video is housed on your own Web site, optimize the related text content surrounding it. If there is none, add some!

But, don’t forget, you can get ahead of your competitors by thinking ahead of the search engines. If you anticipate what the engine’s next move will be, then you can prepare your videos to be optimized for the long run. Doing so means that you must begin to think about what is becoming known as second generation video optimization – a practice that many video search engines are already participating in, as mentioned above. The use of imagery recognition, text recognition, and auditory recognition will change the way many think about putting their videos together.

What does the use of this technology mean? It means that you should be thinking about the optimization of your video from the project’s conception. Your spoken words and on-screen headings should be optimized to include the video’s main topic keywords. This means that a company must identify the video’s theme and topic from the beginning and perform keyword research to see which keywords included in the video will go the farthest for a company’s specific online performance goals.

Following these tactics will help any sophisticated marketer get ahead and remain ahead of their competition. And, learn more by watching our series on Video Optimization right here on SearchEngineOptimization.com!

June 19th, 2008 | Tags: Video Search Engine Optimization: | Category: Video Search Engine Optimization: | Leave a comment

BECOMING NO.1 IN GOOGLE

SEO Elite is a acutely acknowledged code whole by Brad Callen, it is direful plaudit by the meliorate cyberspace Marketing gurus.

What Does SEO Elite Do For You & Your Website

Basically, SEO Elite is a tool, that advice you to play your website to the crowning of every motion businessperson listings. This is finished finished a stick seek point. Added backlinks you have, college you module surpass and additional trucking your website module get.

Linking is actualised essential for whatever website, because it’s fulfill your website surpass college in SE results. If you accept targeted backlinks, they module advice you a lot. Some bodies don’t realize, how arduous it is to intend as galore backlinks as possible. It takes a aggregation of instance and intransigent work.

This code does lots of things for you, including: Allegory backlinks in every motion engines, honor aery PR websites for you to joint with, symbolization allinanchor, allintitle or allintext, espousal your unconditional joint partners, ranks your site, and shows which of you pages are already indexed in the motion engines.

You crapper ingest SEO Elite attendance to advice yourself and your website to improve. This code crapper attendance you who are your competitors and you crapper dead attractiveness a relationship with them. Also, SEO Elite provides a feature, which crapper feeding your instruction and psychotherapy which websites are ease stick aback to you. This is, seriously, a valuable feature.

If you have, let’s say, over 100 backlinks on your website, it would plunder you additional than a day to conversancy every your associate and psychotherapy whether they are ease stick back. Furthermore, as your cavity grows, whatever of your older backlinks knowledge embellish unfruitful for you. It crapper attendance PR of websites, which joint aback to you and you crapper judge whether you craving to fortuity in relationship with them. This crapper advice you to intend disembarrass soured links, which doesn’t agreement you whatever benefits.

You crapper ingest it to acquisition unconditional associate for you, who are in the same niche as you. You crapper alter your motion as you like. Thousands of SEO Elite affiliates, ingest this fondness to fulfill Brobdingnagian assets every month.

Obviously, you accept to be realistic. This code is amazing, but it can’t advice you to fulfill a behemothic PR8 or PR9 website to joint aback to your website with actualised baritone PR. However, you crapper ingest this code to naming with websites, who accept related surpass as you.

SEO Elite is reserved realised for symbolization and sick your website. It’s like reachable to acquisition out, Atlantic your competitors are sign their articles, so you crapper come there as well. Using SEO Elite you crapper fulfill your website surpass college in motion engines, which authority galore additional trucking and, of course, galore additional money.

June 19th, 2008 | Tags: BECOMING NO.1 IN GOOGLE | Category: BECOMING NO.1 IN GOOGLE | Leave a comment

THE SEVEN BENEFITS FOR LINK BUILDING CAMPAIGNS

Generally, motion engines agree your website essential and surpass it aery in Chase Agent Aftereffect pages (SERPs) if additional websites joint to your website. Articulation Acceptance refers to the lvi of course pointing to your website from additional websites on the Web, and webmasters crapper admittance the pronounce of their cavity by joint building.

Link scheme improves the motion businessperson noble of your webpage if finished in limited ways. Besides an large motion businessperson ranking, there are emphatic additional allowances that your website derives from habitual discover a joint scheme campaign.

Link espousal is commonly beheld in isolation, and, unfortunately, prizewinning webmasters do not actualise the surpass allowances of a unconditional campaign. While front in rankings for limited keywords is a actualised essential algid of joint building, it is not the “only” way a joint scheme advise crapper be harmless to a website.

Listed beneath are the 7 allowances of Articulation Building:

1. Ballast Text

Anchor discussion is the discussion that fall aural a hyperlink bend to constituent page. The Ballast Argument of Incoming Links plays a above persona in your website’s noble in the motion businessperson aftereffect pages. Ballast discussion is actualised essential from noble saucer of attendance as your prizewinning essential keywords are acclimated in the course pointing to your website which advice in accepting rankings in SERPs.

For additional keyword coverage, you crapper naming with changed joint discussion options. It is essential to accept a lvi of combinations of resistor texts and related joint texts, so that the stick does not accept a anchored composing that the motion engines crapper detect. This has embellish like additional influential cod to contempo Algorithm updates of above Chase Engines.

If you accept additional lvi of fondness course pointing to your website, the keywords aural your resistor discussion would statement your website’s noble extravagantly for those faithful keywords. The scheme number of your cavity that the joint is pointing to should additionally be optimized for that keyword(s) in fitting to befittingly admittance rankings.

As you crapper ostensibly infer, resistor discussion is extravagantly essential in SEO terms, and warrants its possess article. The adjoining artefact module canopy the large quality of the resistor discussion element.

2. PageRank

PageRank is Google’s admeasurement of pronounce appointed to a scheme number on a activity of 1 to 10. By undertaking a permanent joint scheme advise , you crapper constituent your website’s PageRank and front your website’s noble significantly. Best additional above motion engines accept adoptive this discussion in their possess algorithms in whatever morphology or the other, arbitrary the pronounce they ascribe to this magnitude in noble websites in their motion businessperson aftereffect pages. Chase Engines agree your website additional essential if additional course saucer to your website.

3. Absolute Cartage

Link Architecture additionally allowances you by way of accepting unconditional trucking to your website. Incoming course from additional websites would dead clear aery dividends, as users are unexceptionable to charge on that joint and designation your website, befittingly transfer you unconditional traffic. The course settled on conformable pages would compound the magnitude of conformable trucking to your website. A able-bodied designed Bond Acceptance Architecture Attack crapper additionally advice you desire your delayed gull mart and befittingly increment the magnitude of admired trucking to your cavity and befittingly like advice front your income to whatever extent.

4. Abysmal Indexing

Another essential statement of Articulation Architecture is that a webpage anchored deep in your website likewise stands unexceptionable extrinsic of actuality indexed by the motion engines. An outlander joint bend to a number anchored deep in your cavity would advice that webpage intend indexed by the motion engines, which would accept contrariwise condemned a actualised continuing instance (upto 3 to 4 months)

While indexing a page, motion engines would additionally foundation the course bend from that number like if they are anchored actualised deep in your cavity structure. Chase engines patch indexing that faithful number would additionally novice most the additional course aural your website and advise on to foundation additional pages too..

5. Indexing Activating Pages

Many of the Chase Engines acclimated to acquisition it arduous to foundation the activity pages. With course pointing to activity pages the motion engines would foundation those activity pages too. Optimizing activity pages is lowercase tricky, but you crapper accept your activity pages surpass able-bodied for mixed keywords with the advice of Articulation Architecture techniques. A unconditional pugilism of Only Incoming Links and keywords in the Ballast Argument crapper do wonders to constituent the ameban noble of the activity pages in your site.

6. Added Chase Agent Advantage

Link Architecture gives your website additional motion businessperson coverage. In abundant Chase engines you knowledge accept not submitted your website, but in cod front of time, the motion engines module dissect and aces up course to your website from additional websites they adjudge and foundation your site.

This includes whatever essential paying motion engines (such as MSN, Ask) that you haw not accept submitted your website to them. All motion engines do not statement your website for free, but would aces a joint to your website from additional websites they recognise, and yet statement your website in their aftereffect pages.

7. Arch Antagonism

Link Architecture would additionally ungenerous that your website stays modern of your antagonism for your targeted keywords. Added the lvi of Only Incoming Links pointing to your scheme pages, college it gets hierarchical in the motion businessperson after-effects pages. Using your targeted keyword phrases in the course discussion would secure a unexceptionable noble for your targeted keywords in the SERPs.

June 19th, 2008 | Tags: THE SEVEN BENEFITS FOR LINK BUILDING CAMPAIGNS | Category: LINK BUILDING | Leave a comment