If you find yourself in a debt, somewhere along the line you have probably given in to the pressures of buying something that you either don’t need or couldn’t afford. Much of this can be due to peer pressure; however with a strong and focused mind you can alter your behaviour and mentality to help clear debt.

The first thing to do is to start avoiding temptations. Realise that marketing and advertising employees and executives earn their salary from being good at making you feel like you just have to have something. Do you want to live your life being controlled by others, funding their lifestyles to the long-term detriment of your own? Take a step back and start to see commercials from the point of view of the advertiser. Put yourself in control of your emotions. Even better, cut down drastically on the amount of television that you watch. The more time you watch TV, the more exposure you get to clever marketing techniques designed to make you part with money you many not have.

Peer pressure is just as likely to come from the people we mix with. This is probably the biggest trigger for people spending money on credit. People like to boast about their possessions and this sub-consciously makes us feel inadequate. But remember, few people boast about their personal debt or the extra hours that they have to work to pay off the car that is larger and flashier than they need. So try and switch off or better still avoid these types of conversations. If you begin to feel jealous or inadequate, focus on the positives of not being in debt and not having the relationship and health stresses that can ensue. If you can, make your social circle consist of people who are just as prudent and financially sensible as you intend to be. This will reinforce your focus and determination.

Staying clear of debt is a battle of will and mind as much as anything. By avoiding those sources that encourage debt, the battle will be easier to win, and you can start purchasing investment property to fund your retirement.

Running your own business is a whole other matter from working for someone else. When you work for another party, you lose your freedom – but you don’t have to take the work home with you at night unless you want to. When the business is your “baby,” and all final decisions go through you, then things become a lot more complicated. When you run your own business it is much different than if you are working for someone else.

Step 1 why are you doing this?

Running a business is a big commitment in terms of time and energy; it is rarely easy. Thus, every day when you are on the shop floor, watching your employees from the office, or simply running to sales meetings, you have to keep in mind what it was that propelled you to do things in the first place. Was it the money? Was it a desire to prove something to yourself? Was it because you wanted the freedom? If you have a clear focus in terms of why you are running the company and why you are in the business you are in, you can also have a clearer focus about what your priorities are and what daily goings-on are just distractions.

Step 2 Never forget your company’s strategic goals

It’s hard work running a business and you better not waste energy on things that are not going to help you meet your final goals. With that in mind, you should always remind yourself – preferably at the start of each day – as to what it is you hope to accomplish. If a person, a project, or an activity is getting in the way of your short-term or long-term goals, then maybe some things need to change: maybe someone needs to be dismissed; maybe the project needs to be sub-contracted out; or maybe an activity needs to be cut out of the daily “to-do” list.

Step 3 Expect adversity

A lot of people, when they run a business, get caught up in the notion that bad things only happen to bad managers; since they do not consider themselves bad managers, they can expect relatively smooth sailing. However, adversity can strike anyone at any time: a talented employee can suddenly leave; a big client can take his or her (or it’s) business elsewhere; and the tax credit you thought you had could suddenly disappear and you might even find yourself the unwanted object of a governmental audit. The key in running a business is to always prepare for the worst so that the best can happen; if you have contingencies in place for emergencies, then adversity becomes a lot less difficult to take.

If you want to run your own business, you have to have a certain mindset: you have to have your priorities in order; you have to be clear-eyed about your goals; and you have to expect adversity. Follow those steps, and running a business becomes a lot easier.

Technorati Tags: business, company, run your own business, steps

Review

Not long ago, MagicDiligence reviewed Mary Buffett and David Clark’s Warren Buffett and the Interpretation of Financial Statem…… and concluded that, while possibly useful for beginners, experienced stock investors would dismiss the book as simplistic and adding nothing new. The review also mentioned that a good alternative for more experienced investors looking to add to their knowledge is Pat Dorsey’s The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing. Today we’ll take a look at that book. The author, Pat Dorsey, is currently the Director of Equity Research for Morningstar. Morningstar has historically been known for their 5-star scale of mutual fund ratings, but several years ago began applying the same scale to individual stocks. Since Morningstar’s focus is on durable competitive advantage, the firm’s investing philosophy correlates very well with that of the Magic Formula and of MagicDiligence. That makes the book particularly relevant and much of my s (more…)

The Ex-Dividend Date is the most important date when you are playing a stock for a dividend or forward split! There are so many dates involved during the dividend process that some traders don’t actually understand when they are eligible to receive dividends. It is important to understand how the dividend process works and what role the ex dividend date plays when compared to the record date and payment date.

A trader who lacks the understanding of the dividend process can lose out on profit. Trading is a difficult occupation as it is, no being able to capitalize on trades for maximum profit is unacceptable. Failure to understand the dividend process can lead the trader into selling his stock to early which may mean taking an unneeded loss. Selling early will also mean the trader is ineligible for the dividend payout. Holding the stock to long after the dividend is paid out can bring other problems. Many traders may sell a stock after the dividend is paid out causing a dip in price. This dip will decrease the traders chance of maximizing profit.

The EX-Dividend Date is the first day a stock trades without the dividend attached. If you buy a stock on the Ex-Dividend Date you are not qualified for the dividend. Therefore, if you’re very interested in receiving a companies dividends, you must own prior to the Ex-dividend date.This also means you can sell a stock on the Ex-Dividend date and still receive the dividends even though they have not been placed in your account yet. Some of the other names sound more formal, such as record date and payment date but the one you need to focus on is the Ex-Dividend Date.
The Record Date is when the company begins to work on dividend payments to the shareholders, or the shareholders on record.

The Payment Date is when the company expects the payout to shareholders to be completed. It must be noted that this can all happen rather quickly but that there can be a long period of time between the ex-dividend date and the payout date and that is very important in case you feel the need to exit ownership of a stock but would like to receive the dividend first.

For those long term buy and hold traders these problems will never arise unless your planning on buying a stock for the dividend or selling one after you receive your dividend. Most long term traders will hold a stock through the price cycles.

EX-Dividend Date and Penny Stocks

Dividends with penny stocks follow the same rules as every other company. With penny stocks problems have arisen during forward splits because a company may not understand how the process works and begin to sell shares they do not own yet. Not only is this a bad sale on the part of company ownership but now those shares are eligible for the forward split. These mistakes have been known to increase the share amount beyond the authorized share limit with the SEC having to step in and halt trading.

The main issue with penny stocks and dividends is the ability to pump and dump the dividend excitement. Pumpers create scams that drive the price of a penny stock up so that others may sell for higher profit and leave those traders waiting for dividends at a loss. There are a few ways these scams are perpetrated, anyone who has traded penny stocks for a while will notice these scams immediately. Hopefully they weren’t victims of these scams themselves. It can be a tough lesson to learn.

A reason companies often exploit penny stocks in this manner is their ability to manipulate penny stock traders who are often novices to trading and can easily be duped. One way a penny stock company will exploit the dividend process is to announce a dividend in advance of actually filing it. The press release will say something to the effect of: Company XYZ trading at.015 has just announced they are issuing a.02 per share dividend to each share holder pending shareholder approval. This causes excitement in the penny stock world, a 100+% dividend! That’s a big dividend for a penny stock company and then the pumping begins. After purchasing company XYZ they begin to place the dividend announcement on ever penny stock forum and penny stock chat room they can find. This causes the volume in the stock to rise which in turn causes the price of the stock to rise. While the price rises, those who own the company and own the majority of shares begin to sell into the excitement. This allows them to sell at a better price without worrying that the amount of shares they are dumping will drop the price per share. The may even continue to issue press releases that remind traders of the promise of the company and the fact that they are issuing such a large dividend. At a time in the future they will announce that there will be no dividend as a majority of shareholders voted no. Being that the same people who write the press releases also own 51% of the company this is obviously a fixed outcome and a very simple penny stock scam.

Visit us to learn more about the Ex-Dividend Date.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_E_Guyette