Written by Hugo Pethebridge on February 7, 2012.
Cold calling is still a popular way for securities sellers to attract investors despite advances in communications technology and the implementation of the Do Not Call Registry. That’s why the Securities and Exchange Commission advises investors to be wary of over-the-phone investment scams. Signs that an investment opportunity may be fraudulent include high-pressure sales tactics, a pitch involving “breakthrough technologies,” refusals to send written information and calls from unauthorized or unsupervised salespersons. For more on this continue reading the following article from JDSupra. While the National Do Not Call Registry has certainly reduced the number of sales calls investors receive, cold-calling is still a commonly used practice among securities firms. There Full Post…
Written by Hugo Pethebridge on January 20, 2012.
In August, Italian business and consumer confidence and EMU economic sentiment and industrial confidence will probably have deteriorated. EMU consumer confidence and the Purchasing Managers’ Indices for the manufacturing sector in Germany and in the eurozone are not likely to be revised significantly.
The same applies to Q2 German GDP. The detailed breakdown of the expenditure components will show that changes in inventories and investment in machinery and equipment contributed positively to overall GDP growth. Private consumption, construction investment and net exports will probably have declined, with imports having increased more than exports. German retail sales are likely to have suffered a setback in July, after having rebounded in June. M
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on January 11, 2012.
If you have a mortgage, loan, line of credit, or a credit card, it may be in your best interest to accept the creditor life and disability insurance that goes along with it. Although it will cost you extra money out of pocket, it may just be worth your while.
1. It can give you peace of mind. If something were to happen that drastically changed your ability to earn income, you want to know that you and your family would be protected. Without insurance, you would still be expected to make payments to your credit products. But, with insurance, you would know that it would be paid of in full in the event of your death and that your disability insurance would kick in if you were unable to work due to an accident or injury.
2. It is often very easy to be approved. Depending on your age and your current health condition, you may have difficulty getting insured with a regular insurance company.
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on January 6, 2012.
When I was applying for a summer job at a retailer, meant to put employees on the fast track to middle management, I attended an employment retreat. Not only did we take a test to gauge our honesty, but we also had to answer interview questions like:
I’m going to be frank. I don’t answer those types of questions very well. In fact, whenever I had to answer such questions during an interview, I was almost certain not to get the job. I tended to get jobs that focused more on my qualifications, and past performance (it’s how I ended up working for a newspaper as an ad specialist).
Answering such interview questions one of the reasons that I now work from home as a freelance writer. I don’t have to go through such interviews. I just
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on January 3, 2012.
A positive report from the U.S. Commerce Department and encouraging news from Europe help turn the tide in the stock market early in the week and the National Association of Home Builders expects the news will lift sentiment for a third consecutive month. Builders saw a marked increase in business in November, beginning construction on 9.3% more homes than in October and 24.3% more on the year. Building permits were also up, and stocks tied to the industry are performing well with good upside potential. Some companies enjoying the climb are homebuilders D.R. Horton, Lennar Corporation, Beazer Homes and Standard Pacific. For more on this continue reading the following article from TheStreet. Positive economic data for the U.S. housing sector and brighter signals from Europe offered markets a glimmer of hope this Tuesday. The U.S. Commerce Department released better-than-expected November housing data with builders breaking ground for nearly 685,000 homes, up 9.3% from October and 24.3% in November 2010, surpassing economists’ expectations. Full Post…
Written by Hugo Pethebridge on December 15, 2011.
Since its peak at 59.7 in February, the ISM nonmanufacturing index has been trending downwards. Although its business activity component improved sharply in July, the index declined to 52.7, which was the lowest level since February 2010. As the new orders component dropped to 51.7, we expect the ISM non-manufacturing index to have followed suit and declined to 51.5 in August. It would thus have remained above the expansion threshold, just like its manufacturing counterpart, which – contrary to expectations – fell only slightly from 50.9 to 50.6 in August.
The Fed’s Beige Book is likely to describe the pace of economic growth to have moderated further, especially since manufacturing activity is slowing in many regions, despite a possible pickup in car production. Consumer spending could have increased modestly, amid consumer confidence indicators having plummeted and the labour market conditions being weak. Price
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Written by Hugo Pethebridge on December 9, 2011.
During a recent experience to forget with WalMart.com and its customer (dis)service department, I happened upon something likely to be quite interesting to both American Express and anyone using an American Express small business credit card.
It all started when a WalMart representative informed me that my digital gift card order had not been completed as a result of a problem with my credit card. I, of course, reacted by immediately flipping the card over and calling the number listed on the back for Amex’s 24/7 small business customer service department…or so I thought.
However, instead of hearing the warm greeting, “Thank you for calling American Express Open,” I was met with the following:
The number you have dialed has new information. Please press “star” to receive information on the number you are calling.
Luckily for me, I was driving and could not press the button immediately. Believing t
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