10 Tips to Improve Your Speaking Voice

One of the most important components of public speaking is the sound of your voice. It influences the impact of your message, and might even make or break the success of your speech. Fortunately, for many people, good voice quality can be learned.

Instructions :

1. Breathe from your diaphragm - Practice long and controlled exhales. When you speak, use breath to punctuate your point. For example, take a breath at the end of each phrase whether you need to or not. Use that opportunity to pause and let the listeners absorb what you say.
2. Use pitch - Lower pitches generally are more soothing to hear. However, modulating your pitch for emphasis will keep your listeners engaged. Develop your pitch by practicing humming.
3.  Moderate your volume - Find out if you speak too loudly or too softly. When you begin speaking, ask your audience how your volume is (each situation is different). Try to stay at the appropriate volume throughout your speech.
4. Moderate your pace - This one is also closely related to breath. If you speak too quickly, people can’t keep up. If you speak too slowly, people will lose interest. Record your speech to determine if you need to change your pace. Get feedback from others.
5. Articulate - Try exaggerating your lip movement to reduce mumbling. Practice articulating tongue twisters and extending and exaggerating vowel sounds. Become an expert at articulating tongue twisters as quickly and crisply as possible. Focus on the ones you find difficult.
6. Practice your speech in advance and determine where you want to pause for a breath. For more emphasis, pause for more than one breath. Mark your breathing points in your notes.
7. Loosen up before you begin. Look side to side. Roll your head in half-circles and roll your shoulders back. Shift your rib cage from side to side. Yawn. Stretch. Touch your toes while completely relaxing your upper body, then slowly stand up, one vertebra at a time, raising your head last. Repeat as needed.
8. Posture - Stand up straight and tall to allow full lung capacity and airflow.
9. Record your voice repeatedly using different ways of speaking. Determine which one is most pleasing.
10. Practice breath control - Take a deep breath, and while you exhale, count to 10 (or recite the months or days of the week). Try gradually increasing your volume as you count, using your abdominal muscles—not your throat—for volume. Don’t let your larynx tense up.

 

How to Make Money Speaking

Imagine if you could make good money talking about something you love. Well, it is definitely possible! Almost any subject can be a good foundation for building a speaking business. And, you can do it even if you have little or no capital or experience.

The following tips should put you on the right path!

• Starting Small - You can start public speaking as a part time thing at the start and later as you gain recognition, lots of big offers and opportunities will crop up automatically!
• Choosing Subject - Choose a subject to speak about. Whatever area of expertise you have, it’s likely that there are people who would like to hear you speak. Make sure that, whatever subject you choose, you know enough to sustain an intelligent, useful presentation and to answer any questions your audience might have. You’ll also want to choose a subject you love – neither you nor your audience will enjoy your speech on photography if you hate snapping pictures.
• Create your Marketing Plan - There are many different options as far as earning money as a speaker is concerned. You can directly market yourself to organizations that might hire you. You could approach companies that have employees that could benefit from your knowledge. These days many companies are looking for motivational speakers on various topics like improving employee morals and even talks on improving their employees public speaking skills! There is always a great demand for good speakers.
• Hold your own seminars - While this can be done on a national basis, the easiest place to start is locally. You either rent use of a facility to hold the seminar or perhaps partner with an entity with a facility and then promote the event. You can use traditional advertising methods like newspapers and radio or if you have a target audience that is identifiable, you may want to use direct mail. Have you ever been to a seminar on something like wealth building that was promoted in the newspaper? These are always been packed with hundreds of people.
• Use a bureau -Additionally, there are speakers’ bureaus that work as an agency who can procure speaking engagements for you. While many of these bureaus specialize in celebrity speakers, there are others that book speakers for less prominent events where a speaker only needs to be well qualified to do the presentation. A search on a major Internet search engine with a key term like “speaker’s bureau” is a good place to start.

If you have an existing product/service that you would like to promote, then effective public speaking can also help you attract a lot more client -

• Showcases your Knowledge - Speaking is effective because it showcases your knowledge before groups of people who eagerly show up to hear it. Your prospects may tune out advertising, but they’ll pay attention to your talk because it presents your knowledge in polished form to people who think it will help them.
• Visibility - Speaking gives you tremendous visibility and credibility that increases over time. Whenever you are in the front of a room, you get noticed. People will remember who you are and what your business does. The more people see you speak and see your business name, the more successful people think you are.
• Marketing Reach - Speaking is a marketing strategy you can immediately embrace to get in front of potential customers. Speaking puts you within handshaking distance of your best prospects, many times helping you close sales before you leave the room. Speaking can help you reach dozens, and sometimes hundreds of your best prospects every time. Speakers report that speaking regularly continuously fills their prospect pipelines, ensuring a steady stream of new clients and customers.

 

How to Be Prepared for Impromptu Speaking

On occasion we find ourselves in situations where we must speak extemporaneously. It could be a business meeting, a gathering, or an issue of importance to us personally at the city council level. There are ways to be prepared for such moments.

Things You Will Need:

• Practiced Articulation
• Anger Control
• Knowledge of the Subject
• Self-confidence

Step 1:
Practice articulation daily - When speaking, enunciate so you can be understood. Avoid mumbling and using extra words or pauses like er and ah. If you have a fondness for four letter words, try to eliminate them from your daily speech. This builds your confidence in your ability to speak in a proper manner.

Step 2:
Practice speaking calmly and knowledgeably about a topic - In your daily life, practice keeping calm when people press your hot buttons. The more you practice at home and at work, the better you will become at anger control. When someone hits your hot button, take a deep breath or two before you respond. You may also need to give yourself a slow count of three before your respond. Deep breathing gives oxygen to your brain and is a quick release for rising anger.

Step 3:
Be Prepared and keep Learning - When you put yourself in a situation of a group at a gathering, at work or at a meeting, you should prepare so you will be able to address the subject at hand intelligently. This means putting a little study into your life. As long as we live we should be learning. This is an opportunity to learn whether or not you are called on to speak. When uncomfortable, you can always state that you do not have enough information on this subject to speak knowledgeably.

Step 4:
Exude self-confidence - Self-confidence comes from preparation and knowing you are able to meet the challenge of speaking on a particular subject.

Worst comes to Worst learn to gracefully decline. If you are not prepared, there is no shame in turning the floor over to someone else who is prepared. Of course, if you were asked in advance to speak, then this is not extemporaneous and you should meet your obligation.

 

How to Speak Well and Confidently

Are you very shy when it comes to new surroundings, such as starting a new class or moving to a new area? Sometimes, it is necessary to overcome your shyness and speak confidently. By doing this, it can help you not only to share your ideas properly to others, but also to learn communicating with others. Here are a few steps to consider when speaking with confidence.

Steps

1. Learn how to have conversations with people. Your ideas or opinions may not always be accepted by others, but this is nothing unusual. Open your mouth, express your beliefs! This will improve your courage.
2. Don’t be afraid and speak loudly. If you speak in a low voice, not only will others not be able to hear what you say, but you will also portray a submissive demeanor, which suggests the opposite of a confident one.
3. Make eye contact when you speak. For one thing, it is polite for others. Also, eye contact will help others to listen to your thinking carefully.
4. Praise yourself everyday! This will promote your own confidence, which is important when you speak. With more confidence, people will take your thinking more seriously.

Tips

• Don’t be nervous when you make mistakes. Human error is far from being a new concept — nobody is perfect! It is normal for everyone to make mistakes. Just calm down and keep speaking bravely.
• Try and try again! This may be difficult for a shy person at first, but you need to force yourself to speak, and not seclude your thoughts. If you have some ideas, then try to speak out! Don’t just keep them in your head.
• If you have self confidence issues, try to think that you are the only one who has sound knowledge about the topic. Then go ahead and impart your knowledge to the audience in an effective way.
• Remember that there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Don’t portray an exaggerated amount of confidence, or you will come off as arrogant, believing that your ideas are better than the ideas of everyone else.

 

How to Have a Great Conversation with Anyone

The art of conversation takes practice, and is not as hard as you might think. It will take some knowledge, practice, and patience, and you can learn to relax and enjoy a great conversation.

With these tips you will be well on your way to having a good, meaningful and entertaining conversation with anyone!

1. Make a good first impression. Smile, ask questions that require more than a yes/no answer, and really listen. Maintain eye contact and keep as friendly and polite as possible.
2. Listen. This is the most important part of any conversation. You might think a conversation is all about talking, but it will not go anywhere if the listener is too busy thinking of something to say next. Pay attention to what is being said. When you talk to the other person, injecting a thought or two, they will often not realize that it was they who did most of the talking, and you get the credit for being a good conversationalist - which of course, you are!
3. Find out what the other person is interested in. You can even do some research in advance when you know you will have an opportunity to talk with a specific person. Complimenting them is a great place to start. Everyone likes sincere compliments, and that can be a great ice-breaker.
4. Ask questions. What do they like to do? What sort of things have they done in their life? What is happening to them now? What did they do today or last weekend? Identify things about them that you might be interested in hearing about, and politely ask questions. Remember, there was a reason that you wanted to talk to them, so obviously there was something about them that you found interesting.
5. Forget yourself. Dale Carnegie once said, “It’s much easier to become interested in others than it is to convince them to be interested in you.” If you are too busy thinking about yourself, what you look like, or what the other person might be thinking, you will never be able to relax. Introduce yourself, shake hands, then forget yourself and focus on them instead.
6. Practice active listening skills. Part of listening is letting the other person know that you are listening. Make eye contact. Nod. Say “Yes,” “I see,” “That’s interesting,” or something similar to give them clues that you are paying attention and not thinking about something else - such as what you are going to say next.
7. Ask clarifying questions. If the topic seems to be one they are interested in, ask them to clarify what they think or feel about it. If they are talking about an occupation or activity you do not understand, take the opportunity to learn from them. Everyone loves having a chance to teach another willing and interested person about their hobby or subject of expertise.
8. Paraphrase back what you have heard, using your own words. This seems like an easy skill to learn, but takes some practice to master. Conversation happens in turns, each person taking a turn to listen and a turn to speak or to respond. It shows respect for the other person when you use your “speaking turn” to show you have been listening and not just to say something new. They then have a chance to correct your understanding, affirm it, or embellish on it.
9. Consider your response before disagreeing. If the point was not important, ignore it rather than risk appearing argumentative. If you consider it important then politely point out your difference of opinion. Do not disagree merely to set yourself apart, but remember these points:
• It is the differences in people–and their conversation–that make them interesting.
• Agreeing with everything can kill a conversation just as easily as disagreeing with everything.
• A person is interesting when they are different from you; a person is obnoxious when they can not agree with anything you say, or if they use the point to make themselves appear superior.
• Try to omit the word “but” from your conversation when disagreeing as this word often puts people on the defensive. Instead, try substituting the word “and”, it has less of an antagonistic effect.
10. Consider playing devil’s advocate - which requires care. If your conversation partner makes a point, you can keep the conversation going by bringing up the opposite point of view (introduce it with something like “I agree, and…”). If you overuse this technique, however, you could end up appearing disagreeable or even hostile.
11. Do not panic over lulls. This is a point where you could easily inject your thoughts into the discussion. If the topic seems to have run out, use the pause to think for a moment and identify another conversation topic or question to ask them. Did something they said remind you of something else you have heard, something that happened to you, or bring up a question or topic in your mind? Mention it and you’ll transition smoothly into further conversation!
12. Know when the conversation is over. Even the best conversations will eventually run out of steam or be ended by an interruption. Shake hands with the other person and be sure to tell them you enjoyed talking with them. Ending on a positive note will leave a good impression and likely bring them back later for more!

Warnings

• Choose carefully when asking personal questions. You do not want to venture into overly personal issues. Even if the other person might be willing to talk about it, you may end up learning things that you really do not want to know. You certainly do not want the other person to think afterward that you coerced them into revealing personal information.
• Be sincere! Compliments are great, but too much flattery is obvious and will reveal you as being insincere.
• Beware of topics that can be inflammatory - such as religion and politics - and don’t venture into them unless you know the person has roughly the same convictions as you, or the circumstances otherwise allow for pleasant discussion. Again, it’s fine to disagree and can be nice to talk about differences, but it can also be a quick step toward an argument.
• Try not to argue! You do not have to agree with everything someone says, but you do not have to tell them all about how you disagree. If you feel the need to explain an opposing viewpoint, express it simply and without putting the other person on the defensive. It is better to simply change the subject in a casual conversation than to get involved in an argument.
• Try not to nod or respond with “Yes” and “I see” so much. It might make the person think you are bored and sometimes it may seem like you are rushing them along. Never say anything hurtful or offensive to the other person, this may project a bad feeling between you.
• If it is a planned conversation, try listening to the news in case you run out of thing to say, it is always a good solution.
• Also try not to cut the person off mid-sentence. It seems disrespectful and it makes it seem like what you have to say is more important than what the other person has to say. Let the person finish their thoughts and then continue on with thoughts of your own.

 

Benefits of Public Speaking

The Personal and Practical benefits of using a few simple concepts to overcome your public speaking fears to easily deliver effective presentations include -

Personal Benefits -

• Increased Self Confidence
• The Ability to communicate and articulate your thoughts and ideas
• Effectively Persuade Others
• Words can hurt, heal, create, build, transform
• New Opportunities
• Ability to Lead
• Have a Rare and Valued Skill
• Have Fun
• Improve Your Quality of Life

Practical Benefits -

• Career Advancement
• Receive Recognition
• Get the Credit that You Deserve
• Entertain Your Audience
• Captivate Your Audience
• Learn to speak Concisely, Clearly and Confidently
• Speaking out in important situations, as Parent, Citizen, Customer

 

The financial impact of time management

Assume a company earns 10% of sales.  If they can save $25,000 in salaries, that’s equivalent to an increase of $250,000 in sales.  In the present economy, such an increase in sales would be difficult.  And yet there is so much wasted time among employees, a savings in time of $25,000 annually does not seem difficult at all.  By working more efficiently and effectively, the increase in employee productivity could offset any reduction in staff through attrition or could negate the necessity of hiring people as sales increase.

The same effect is accomplished through reduction in other areas as well.  Reduced paperwork or material costs to the tune of $25,000 would also be equivalent to a $250,000 increase in sales.  Through effective time management, employees could do their jobs in less time, devoting the free time to reducing costs in other areas.  For example, companies may want to launch a value analysis or cost reduction program or creativity and problem solving sessions – but just don’t have the time.  Personal time management can free the necessary time to devote to these profit generating activities.  They don’t have to reduce staff to save money.  They simply have to utilize staff more fully.

 

Advantages of the paper planner

Everyone is aware of the advantages of an electronic devise such as a Palm or BlackBerry. It is impossible to purchase a hard-copy planner that could hold even a fraction of the information provided by a PDA. The total information contained in a life's accumulation of planners could be housed in a tiny three-inch by four-and-a-half-inch PDA. And it can do everything from take calls, record messages, take photographs and beam addresses to other electronic devices.

But bells and whistles aside, as a planner it doesn’t rate as high. Here are five reasons some people still prefer a hard copy planner for scheduling their appointments and major tasks and activities.

1. It is more effective to use a hard copy planner where you can see your entire week, complete with scheduled tasks and descriptive things to do at a single glance. You don’t have to turn it on to access your information, nor be interrupted by it ringing. And it’s a lot easier to read.

2. It’s faster to retrieve the day to day information from a traditional planner, where a flip of a page brings you a whole new week of plans, appointments and projects.

3. A hard copy planner reflects your uniqueness. It takes on your personality, complete with handwriting, color coding, habits and style. PDAs are all alike, cold and impersonal.

4. There is no need to constantly upgrade to a later model, or recharge it. And it never crashes, freezes or loses its data.

5. The initial investment is not as high, nor the replacement cost. It doesn’t break when dropped and there’s little chance of having it stolen. And your paper planners become permanent journals that you can keep and consult in the years ahead.

In the summertime

In the summertime

 

SUMMER CAMPS NOWADAYS IMPART LIFESKILLS TO STUDENTS THAN MERELY ENGAGING THEM IN FUN-FILLED ACTIVITIES.

 

   It is summer once again and the holidays stretch out in front of you. So what do you do with the time? If the idea of 'summer-camps' doesn't appeal to you owing to factors like 'distance' or 'feasibility,' then think again. These camps are not confined to trekking or adventure sports, but increasingly focusing on imparting life-skills to students like table etiquette, public-speaking, personality development, firstaid lessons, and so on.
   So be it working on students' handwriting, grooming their personality, introducing them to the world of theatre, sports and adventure to even helping them with their holiday homework, summer camps are doing this and more. Parents don't mind paying for the activities, as they prefer their children spending the holidays doing something more constructive than just being glued to the television.

LEARNING THE SCIENCE

Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE), for instance, is organising 'Star Parties' for schools. This party is organised in the adventurous environs of Jim Corbett National Park and Aries observatory. It is a funfilled educational excursion wherein participants experience the nature and at the same time learn new concepts of science and astronomy.
   Informs Amit Verma, deputy CEO, Space Technology and Education Pvt. Ltd: "It's important that students understand the science around them and this is what we aim at" adding, "the main attractions of the camp include night sky observations, treasure hunt, solar walk, day trip to Aries (a Nainital observatory working on a 40 inch telescope), a jungle safari, group activities and team-building games among others."
   Similarly, 'Bagicha,' an adventure camp at Ramgarh, near Nainital, Uttrakhand, of four to six-day duration, is more than climbing, panoramic views and wilderness experience. During the camp, one is prepared for the totality of nature - from storms and soft breezes to biting insects as well as singing birds.
   Rajiv Khare, head (business development) and an avid trekker, Altitudes Adventure, points out: "Our education system is such that we teach students to compete whereas at our camps, we teach them on ways to succeed."
   He adds: "The essence of our course is that members of the team, work together either as a group from the outset or simply complement each other as individuals wherein they learn the process of team-building and leadership skills."
   Gurmeet Malhotra, on the other hand, runs hobby classes in west Delhi. She says: "Besides helping children with their homework, we also work on improving students' handwriting and grammar, for which they don't get time otherwise."

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

Likewise, 'Hunar,' a four-week camp, organised by Gurukul Pre-School, offers activities like instrumental music, fine arts, dance, skating, theatre, personality development, English conversation, judo, besides others.
   Elaborates, Priti Narayan, its founder-director: "The most popular course has been the personality development one which is a capsule of fine arts, English conversation, table manners, dance, etiquettes and confidence-building activities. In this programme, through personal attention, the children are allowed to overcome their inhibitions and given finer tips for holistic development."

MARKETABLE SKILLS

The Family India has been organising camps for underprivileged children in the NCR for the last six years that includes street children, children from broken homes and orphaned children who normally won't get to take part in such activities.
   At these five-day long camps, their volunteers teach children on ways to make beautiful decorative items such as paper carry bags, artificial bonsai trees, picture frames, jewellery boxes among others. The children are also taught theatre, music and sports activities.
   Says Rohit Kumar, its co-ordinator: "Through our various activities, we teach them to make things of marketable value, so in the process, we help them 'pick a skill' so that they can earn their livelihood, in future."

SOCIAL AWARENESS

Similarly 'Yuva-Ekta' is an opportunity for young people from different socio-economic backgrounds to interact with one another and ideate on a number of socially relevant issues ranging from the Right to Information to appreciating what one already has, to human rights issues and environmental concerns. Students from various schools, colleges and nonprofit organisations come together for a month to work together and learn from each other.
   Informs Shivani, programme co-ordinator: "The programme includes three days of self empowerment workshop and a city walk organised by Salaam Baalak Trust, an NGO that works with street and working children. Students will also spend time at a children's shelter home in Paharhganj and engage with them in fun learning, games, music, art and craft and so on."

 

Clinical nutritionist

Clinical nutritionist

 

The career opportunities in clinical nutrition

 

   Anutritionist is a health specialist who devotes professional activity to food and nutritional science, preventive nutrition, diseases related to nutrient deficiencies and the use of nutrient manipulation to enhance the clinical response to human diseases.
   Clinical nutritionists, in specific, are directed to health care of hospitalised patients and planning diets for people suffering from certain diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases, obesity and other lifestylerelated disorders. Depending on nutrition needs of patients, clinical nutritionists prepare their diet charts and monitor results of dietary therapy and maintain records.
   Opportunities in this field are growing. As regards a clinical nutritionist, a multi-specialty hospital provides moderate to complex nutrition case management of medically high risk individuals requiring physician-prescribed dietary and nutrition regimens and intensive counselling and conducts educational programmes for the community, based on needs assessment.

WORK PROFILE

The major tasks include providing nutrition services to clients with significant nutrition problems, such as planning individual diets for clients with multiple conditions and conflicting dietary restrictions according to programme standards and protocols, maintaining appropriate records of nutrition services rendered and ensuring that all nutrition services provided are properly documented, assessing training needs, developing training materials and conducting training sessions among others.
   A dietician in a large teaching hospital is also involved in food service management of the hospital kitchen catering to indoor hospital-diet patients, planning normal and therapeutic diets, administration of dietary services staff/personnel, teaching medical, nursing and dietetic short-term training programme students, dietary/nutritional counselling of outdoor and indoor hospitalised patients and conducts research activities.

SKILL-SET REQUIRED

Candidates aiming to seek admission to the Bachelor's course are required to have a pass in +2 in science subjects covering physics, chemistry and biology. The threeyear BSc in Home Science courses cover subjects including food and nutrition.
   At the postgraduation level, dietetics and nutrition courses can be either pursued as a two-year Master's programme or one-year postgraduate diploma in dietetics and public health nutrition (DDPHN). In a two-year MSc (Home Science) course, one can specialise in food and nutrition.

REMUNERATION

The starting salary can range between Rs 10,000 - 15,000 per month for students with MSc in Food and Nutrition and between Rs 7,000- 10,000 for students with one-year postgraduate DDPHN.
   After gaining more experience, their salary may range between Rs 20,000 to 50,000 with other benefits. Government-based nutrition programmes and mid-day meal programmes at national and statelevel are appointing MSc (Food and Nutrition) candidates beginning with Rs 12,000-15,000 per month.
   Dieticians in government hospitals begin with Rs 12,000-15,000 per month and in private practice, one can earn more depending on experience. International organisations like World Health Organisation, Food and Agricultural Organisation and Unicef etc. offer excellent career opportunities for MSc (Food and Nutrition) and PhD students.  

Scholarship Watch

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE TO FUND YOUR STUDIES ABROAD

 

Commercial Bar Studentships at Oxford
The Law Foundation has established two Commercial Bar Studentships at Oxford as a result of donations from a number of leading barristers. Consequently, Faculty of Law is now able to offer two one-year studentships of £7,500. They are available to EU and non-EU students. The Commercial Bar Studentships are one-year studentships. These studentships may not be held in conjunction with any other award if the effect would be to take the student's funding for the year above £12000. More details on
denning.law.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/commercialbar.html.


• Requirements:

Those embarking on one of our one-year research degrees: MPhil, MSt, or final year of DPhil.


• To apply:

Candidates should submit (i) two references; (new applicants must note that references will be taken from their graduate application. Current Law postgraduates will need to submit two references to support their funding application) (ii) a 2000 word statement of the proposed research and (iii) a full statement of the candidate's available funding, including any outstanding applications. Application form available at
denning.law.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarship_form.pdf or through the link given on denning.law.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/scholarships.sht ml. Applications should be made to Geraldine Malloy, Graduate Studies Officer, Law Faculty, St Cross Building, Oxford, OX1 3UL


• Submission:

June 27, 2008.
Fulbright-Vanderbilt Fellowship in Clinical Legal Education
USEFI and the Vanderbilt University Law School, Nashville, Tennessee, US, have jointly established the Fulbright-Vanderbilt Fellowship in clinical legal education. Under this programme, one fellowship will be awarded each year to an Indian law graduate with a demonstrated interest in legal aid to the poor and with an express ambition of becoming a clinical law teacher. The fellowship is for a period of one academic year for the LLM at Vanderbilt University Law School, law.vanderbilt.edu. The selected candidate would enrol in a special LLM programme at Vanderbilt. The grant will provide a monthly stipend, accident and sickness coverage per US Government guidelines, round-trip economy class air travel, modest settling-in and books and supplies allowances, and tuition fees. No allowances are provided for dependents.


• Requirements:

Should be a law graduate with two or three years' experience of working in an organisation which provides legal aid to the poor; have an ambition of becoming a clinical law teacher; enclose a 'writing sample' in English - a legal opinion, published article, or an essay on a legal topic of the applicant's choice - of no less than 300 words; and give an undertaking to return to India on the completion of the fellowship.


• To apply:

Please refer to www.fulbrightindia.org under the link for Fellowship for Indian nationals for access to application material and application procedures and guidelines.


• Submission:

July 15, 2008.

 

Top 25 Web 2.0 Apps for Money, Finance, and Investment

How do you manage your money? Investments? Do you remember what your roommate owes you, or what you owe someone else for lunch when they picked up the tab? Can't keep track of where you're spending all your money? Pulling your hair out after paying for your medical bills? Need to cut back, so that you can save and find a nice home? Or maybe you'd rather spend your lucre on a vacation for the best price.

The smart way to money management, personal finance, and investing is to use the right tools — tools that aren't so intimidating that you'll ignore them after a while. This guide to the top 25 web 2.0 applications should help you with the above will come in handy when it comes to managing all your money concerns. [If you're not familiar with "web 2.0", read: what is web 2.0, or the compact definition.] Many of these apps have a community nature to them, so if you need some friendly advice from members, or wish to give it, you can.

Applications are listed approximately in alphabetical order within each grouping (except when two apps are described jointly.) Most of the services covered here are either free or have a free component or trial.

Lending, Borrowing

This group of applications refers to those in which money actually changes hands electronically, either as part of a loan or as some form of payment (but not as part of an investment). Mobile applications have been left out, as the term web 2.0 hasn't yet been widely extended to smart phones and PDAs.

1. Prosper
   Prosper offers social networks for peer-to-peer community loans and financing. A group leader can create a new group and invite people to become members. An individual can register as a borrower and loan prospects can build a profile for themselves. Loans from a lender can be distributed to a single person or divided amongst several borrowers. A borrower's loan might come from a single lender or several, to reduce risk, and borrowers can choose from whom they select loans, based on the interest rates offered.
2. Zopa
   Zopa is a lot like Prosper. It serves as a potential alternative to expensive short-term loan rates, ideal for managing some of your consumer debt. Zopa does differ slightly from Prosper in some regards however. Zopa has nuances in the way loans are qualified and applied. Also note that Zopa is currently an UK-based system, however, they are "coming to the United States".

Personal Finance, Money Management, Expense Sharing

These applications deal specifically with tracking your personal finances and expenditures, paying bills, etc.

3. DimeWise
   DimeWise lets you define multiple accounts (savings, checking) and enter and track your transactions, including future expenses. Each expense can have a category tag as well as a note. Expenses can be exported or imported (OFX format, aka Microsoft Money 2002+, Quicken 2004+), set as recurring (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly), and even plotted as a chart to help you determine where your money is going. They have a 30-day free trial.
4. Foonance
   Foonance bills itself as a flexible way for individuals, couples and families to manage their personal finances. You can track your net worth over what they call "money stores", import your bank statements, "transfer" amounts between stores, "schedule" transactions and categorize them, and view pending transactions and money store balances. There don't appear to be any report capabilities, unlike DimeWise.
5. iOWEYOU
   iOWEYOU is described as an expenses sharing calculator that roommates or friends can used to keep track of who owes what. The service is free for groups of up to five people. While no money changes hands, it might be great for that insane roommate of yours who calculates rent to the fourth decimal, based on an actual square footage ratio of your room compared to the entire place... Uh, you know what I mean.
6. NetworthIQ
   NetworthIQ is the recipient of an SEOmoz.orgWeb 2.0 Awards Honorable Mention in "Business, Money, and eCommerce" and was declared #6 in the Top 10 Innovative Web 2.0 Applications of 2005. It's a free personal finance manager that allows you to monitor your net worth, debts, assets, etc. You can share your net worth publicly with other members, and view theirs as well. No private contact information is displayed, though a few PF (personal finance) bloggers do have a link to their website.
7. Wesabe
   Wesabe is a web-based personal finance tool where you can manage your finances. They've also added acommunity component where you can share your experiences with money, your saving tips, and your personal money goals. [While Wesabe isn't the only place to share goals, it seems that what was once taboo (publicly declaring your worth and your goals) is now encouraged.] Wesabe actually interacts with your bank accounts, so it's more than just a tracking tool. There are a few tiers of membership, including "free", as well as a free promo on Pro accounts through 2007. This appears to be amongst the most robust of the "personal finance management" tools being offered online at present, and there are many more features than what's covered here.

Stock Market, Investing, Tracking, Portfolio Management

These applications are specifically for tracking stocks and discussing with community members, managing a portfolio, and conducting actual trades.

8. BullPoo
   The name BullPoo itself is enough to warrant a look at this investment community where you can "share and collaborate on investment information." It has a rich interface, but possibly a bit intimidating, where you can organize your portfolio, store trade history, set an avatar, write or read blogs on whatever stock, make forecasts on a stock to see how you compare to other members, and loads more. For someone with the investment bug that wants to be part of a community, this site could be a positive "timewaster".
9. CAPS (Motley Fool)
   The Motley Fool's CAPS application is similar in nature, if not appearance, to BullPoo. At least from a superficial view. It's not so much about tracking your investments as participating in a community and predicting or viewing predictions of stock outcomes. There's a lot here to be absorbed, but it seems like quite a diversion from regular Motley Fool financial advice in that it seems almost frivolous.
10. DigStock
    DigStock is a Digg-like list of stock market + investing articles. Members submit a synopsis of an article from elsewhere (with the URL) and other members vote for the stories they like. Each story, instead of being tagged with a topic category, is tagged with the appropriate stock ticker symbols. The assumption is that because the article ranking is community-based, active members will help define what type of stories are desirable. And of course, there's the obligatory stock charts.
11. FeelingBullish
    FeelingBullish is very similar to CAPS in functionality, and also follows a community model of sharing and communicating with other investors.
12. GStock
    GStock is "a virtual supercomputer" for stock market analysis. It runs on a grid computing model and claims to test over one billion investment strategies per stock. Then it emails you BUY/ SELL (B/S) alerts for major US-traded stocks in your portfolio. They also claim that 70% of trades based on their BUY/SELL alerts make profits. Navigation, though, is extremely sparse. Enter a stock ticker symbol in the search field to get a chart with B/S indicators. Then apply common sense as to whether you should take the action offered, based on your price for that stock.
13. MoneyTwins
    MoneyTwins is not Forex (foreign exchange) trading per se, but rather, if you have foreign currency and want to exchange it with someone for other currency, you can do so with community members instead of a bank - thus reducing commission costs.
14. SaneBull
    SaneBull is customizable web interface with movable components that let you track specific stocks by symbol and market, as well as browse news feeds from several financial websites. It uses a number of web 2.0 technologies including AJAX.
15. StockTickr
    StockTickr is another social investing application. You can watch animated stock tickers change in real-time, or subscribe to the RSS web feed. Trades are categorized by popular, profit, long, short, open, closed, and alerts. Though what you are watching is based on the portfolios of members. That is, all watchlists are shared amongst the StockTickr community.
16. Wikinancial
    Wikinancial is a financial community where watchlists are shared, as are discussions in the forum — each stock has its own. In addition to the obligatory market and stock charts, there's also an archive of articles, presumably written by members. They have something called the "chat" box, though it's not an integrated IM (Instant Messaging) client, merely a form for starting a new discussion thread. Though provision for real-time chatting, text or voice, might add another dimension to the community, provided some controls such as group moderation were implemented.
17. Zecco
    Zecco combines two popular features — a financial community and free online investment trading. That's right, free, as in no commissions and no hidden fees. This bold move garnered them thousands of new accounts on launch day, an event that was covered by CNBC TV. To actually trade, you have to provide banking information, employment information, and a government ID, all of which have to be faxed after account confirmation.

Real Estate

These applications help you to find, sell or just manage your real estate properties.

18. Homethinking
    Homethinking is a real estate application with a difference. They take an Amazon/ eBay approach in that you can find agents and see "reviews" of that agent, as well a list and a map of what properties they are handling at present. Details of how many properties they have sold are also provided, including location, house details, and asking and final prices. A random query for Atlanta showed a list of agents for whom no reviews were present. However, Homethinking claims over 1.5 million listed agents and nearly 2.5 million transactions.
19. iiProperty
    Have real estate in your investment portfolio? iiProperty offers numerous features to help you manage your properties online: advertise properties for sale or rent (allows pictures), send notices to tenants or rent invoices, track rents and leases, view status indicators and alerts, manage income and expenses. iiProperty is a fairly comprehensive package with 5 price points, including Lite (free), which lets you advertise properties, post to Craigslist, and track online ads, leases, tenant records, rent due + received, and more.
20. Rentometer
    Need to get away from your insane roomate who calculates rent to mad decimal places? Use Rentometer, which is part of iiProperty. It lets landlords determine if they are not charging enough rent for their area, and tenants can find out if they are being charged too much. A random test for a $1000/m studio apartment in Sandy Springs (Atlanta), Georgia showed that, just down the street, there's an similar unit for only $525. Move, and you can put the savings into stocks, or loan it out on Prosper.
21. Trulia
    Trulia is a real estate search engine for the United States that gives you the option of specifying price range, property type, # of bedrooms and bathrooms, and square footage. You can specify region by city or zip code, and a search produces not only a list of properties and a link to the appropriate seller, but a Google map of the region with icons marking each. They also offer interactive heat maps which show price trends. So if you are interested in investing in one or more properties, Trulia gives you a birds eye view of what's available that fits your criteria.
22. Zillow
    Zillow has a database of millions of residential properties that buyers can browse, along with maps, estimates of a property compared against nearby properties, advice on loans, and a loan calculator. Sellers can get an estimate of their home and keep it private or make public. They can also compare profiles of nearby properties. Current homeowners who are neither buying nor selling can get an estimate of their home and compare it to other properties.

Miscellaneous

These are applications that have a web 2.0-ish aspect to them but do not fall into any of the above categories.

23. cFares
    cFares lets you specify desired trip details such as from/to locations, departing/returning dates, time of day (morning, noon, afternoon, etc.), and ticket class (economy, business, first class), and finds you the lowest airfare in their database. They'll also check nearby airports around your from/to locations, to provide alternates. For example, a trip from Boston to Atlanta on Dec 13, returning Dec 20, economy class returned Delta and American Airlines flights ranging from $149 to $199, plus taxes in some cases. While searching is free, these rates are only available to cFares members. Membership allows you to purchase a ticket online.
24. MedBill Manager
    MedBillManager, as the name suggests, lets you manage all your medical records (providers, bills, etc.) online, track payments owed to you, and track medical expenses for easy reporting to the government, insurers, and employers. You can compare your medical costs against that of other members. While MedBillManager is a fairly robust, complex application, they've done a nice job with the explanation page and the sample screens, so it's easy to see the scope of the application.
25. PayScale
    Want to know whether what you are earning for your job compares to others? Need to know if you are paying an employee fairly? PayScale has a database that spans numerous countries and breaks them down into regions (states, provinces). An interesting thing about PayScale is that it appears to build its database from members. Not exactly accurate if there's false data being entered, but over time, the information will probably become more accurate. They offer you a free salary report as an incentive to fill out your details. In addition, they also have resources (links, articles, etc.) for job seekers.

 

102 Personal Finance Tips Your Professor Never Taught You

If you're anything like me, you graduated from college and perhaps even took a finance class or accounting class here or there, but you didn't learn anything about managing your personal finances. In fact, there probably wasn't even an opportunity to take any such class in either high school or college. But if college is partly about training us for a job, shouldn't we learn what to do with the money we earn from a job? Especially in a country where 45% of college students are in credit card debt and 40% of all Americans say they live beyond their means, I think it's time to wise up to some of the challenges of money management. A few (say, 102) simple rules can help get your financial life (back) on the right track.

The Painfully Obvious But Rarely Followed Tips

1. Pay yourself first. Try to put away at least 10% of your pre-tax income into a savings account.
2. Spend less than you earn. While this seems obvious, Americans are notorious for doing just the opposite. Stop spending and start saving.
3. Pay your bills on time. Avoid needless late fees and know how much money you actually have.
4. Avoid debt to the extent possible. Student loans and mortgages can be "good debt", but even then, make paying them off a priority.
5. Set a budget. And live by it. Use a computer program or just a paper and pencil. Whatever works.
6. Set concrete goals. Know when you want to buy a new home, when you want to retire, and how much you are expecting each to cost you.
7. Have an emergency fund. Have at least three months' income (some say six) in a high-yield savings account that can be easily accessed.

Career and Education

8. Get educated. A college education always pays for itself and more. In 2004, bachelor's degree holders earned an average of $51,206 per year, while high school graduates earned only $27,915, according to Census data compiled by HighBeam Research.
9. Your career is your most valuable asset. Manage it with a higher priority than you would with any other investment. Remember that without this asset, you couldn't survive.
10. Save enough. You should try to save enough to cover at least one-third of your kids' total college costs.
11. Consider public schools. Especially for college, state schools can often times be just as prestigious, if not more, than private schools.
12. Consider community college or online college for your first year or two. You can then transfer these credits to a more expensive (and prestigious) school to finish your final two or three years.
13. Invest in a 529 college savings account. It's tax-free. What more needs to be said?
14. Ask for a raise. Use the Salary Wizard Calculator to see if you're making as much as you should. If not, consider asking for a raise, especially if you've been at the company for more than a year.
15. Get a professional certificate. Some professions offer a certificate that, if earned, will generally provide you with a higher salary.
16. Don't major in English. If you love studying English, there's nothing wrong with that. Just be aware that English majors generally don't earn very much. Six of the top ten list of majors with the highest salaries are engineering majors, with chemical engineering topping the list.

Credit and Loans

17. Get a rewards card. If you need a credit card, the best type to get is a no-fee rewards card that you pay in full every month.
18. Borrow no more than 30% of your available credit. Borrow any more, and your credit score won't look too good.
19. Pay off your credit card debt. Credit card debt is usually the debt with the most interest. So pay it off first. Better yet, don't accumulate it in the first place.
20. Don't use your credit card for cash advances. It will harm your credit score and the interest rates are outrageous.
21. Know your credit score. Order your credit score from Equifax, Experian, and/or TransUnion.
22. Protect yourself from identity theft. Obtain your free credit report at least once per year and follow these tips.
23. Pay all credit card balances in full each month. Leaving a balance on a credit card account will leave you susceptible to a very high APR. You may as well be throwing cash into the fireplace.
24. Consolidate your loans. Especially those student loans. With a student consolidation loan, you can lock in several loans at a fixed interest rate and have just one lender to pay each month.
25. Avoid payday loans. Bottom line: they're scammy and they charge high interest rates. If you do need an emergency cash loan, just be aware of the risk of high interest rates.
26. Beware of scams. There are a lot of scams that deal with credit. Debt suspension offers, paying fees in advance, buying credit protection, and rebuilding credit usually sound too good to be true. There's a reason for this: they are.
27. Be cautious with home equity loans. If you can't make a payment toward a home equity loan, you could lose your house.

Frugality

28. Buy a used car. The most expensive miles on a car are the first 10,000. Let someone else drive those for you. Buying used can save a lot of money considering how little value the car has actually lost.
29. Be patient. Don't buy that new gadget today. Wait a month or two and the price will certainly go down.
30. Buy airline tickets as far in advance as possible. The cheapest flights are the ones the are bought at least two months in advance. For holiday travel especially, buy as soon as you can.
31. Get the most bang for your airline miles. Be sure each airline mile you redeem is providing you with at least 1 cent toward the price of a ticket.
32. Never buy the extended warranty. Often times, your new product already comes with a 90-day or 1-year warranty (when most "faulty" things will break, anyway). There's a reason everyone wants to sell you an extended warranty: they're hugely profitable (for the business, not for you).
33. Make your own meals. Eating out gets to be expensive if you do it too often.
34. Make your home more energy efficient. Bankrate.com has a list of 17 ways to do so.
35. Get a better cell phone plan. If you've had the same cell phone plan for a couple of years, chances are there's something better out there. Look around or call your current provider and ask for a better deal.
36. Banking fees are for suckers. A lot of banks will charge you checking fees or minimum account balance fees. Find a bank that does not.
37. Keep track of your spending. At least for a month, keep a journal of everything you purchase. At the end of the month, review your spending priorities and make adjustments.
38. Ditch your car. Walk, bicycle, or take public transportation. You'll save on car payments, gasoline, parking, and speeding tickets.
39. Use your frequent flier miles often. They may expire before you know it. There's no sense in stockpiling them. If you have enough for a free flight, use them.
40. Buy through your favorite airline's partners merchant store. AA.com, for instance, has multiple retail partners from whom you can earn frequent flier miles with each purchase.
41. Negotiate fees. For example, ask a bank to waive late fees. Often enough, they will.
42. Get your free money. Money might be owed to you. Get it.

Homeowning

43. Upgrade your old bathrooms and kitchens. These are often selling points on a house. A modernized bathroom can provide over a 100% return, while a modernized kitchen can return about 90%.
44. Refinance your mortgage if you can cut at least one point. The costs of refinancing are considerable, so it should only be done if you can trim your interest rate by at least 1%.
45. Never spend more than 2 1/2 times your income on a home. Know what you can afford and what you cannot.
46. Put at least 20% down on a home. Making a down payment of less than 20% will usually result in a private mortgage insurance (PMI) fee being added. This is usually 0.5%, meaning it could cost you about $1,000 a year on a $200,000 principal.
47. Use a mortgage broker. The better your mortgage, the more you'll save. Shop around.
48. Investigate different types of mortgages. There are dozens of mortgage options out there. Find the one that suits you best.
49. Buy a house that needs repairs. Buy for cheap and then add to the value with repairs. You'll save money
50. Deal directly with the seller. Avoiding agents' fees is a good thing. If you do decide to hire an agent, do your homework and get one who will be on the same page as you. You should be the one calling the shots.
51. Find out about homeowner taxes. Know what the property tax is in your area and be prepared to have enough to pay it.
52. Find out about secondary costs. In addition to monthly payments, be prepared to incur some secondary costs, including repairs, notary, escrow fees, and title insurance.
53. Get the house inspected by a professional. Have the house thoroughly inspected before making an offer.
54. Negotiate the selling price. Home prices are almost always negotiable. Never offer the asking price, but rather a few percentage points below it.

Insurance

55. Insure yourself against financial ruin. There should be no higher financial priority in your life than health insurance. Without it, if your health takes a turn for the worst, hospital bills could easily bankrupt you and your family.
56. High deductible is your friend. Keep those monthly premiums as low as you can.
57. Don't use insurance as an investment vehicle. Liquidity and certainty are not on your side.
58. Have enough. Have enough life insurance to replace at least five years of your salary, ten years if you have kids or significant debts.
59. Don't have too much. You need health insurance. If you're single and have no dependents, you don't need life insurance.
60. Think about insurance before you buy a car. Typically, the more expensive your car, the higher your insurance cost will be. Take this into account when buying a car.
61. Choose the right car insurance. Don't assume you should get the cheapest auto insurance or the one with the most protection. Find out exactly how much coverage you need.
62. Consider dropping collision coverage. Especially if you have an older car, there's not much sense in protecting it against getting wrecked if it's already a wreck.
63. Buy homeowner and auto coverage from the same insurer. You'll usually get a better deal than you would if you bought the two separately.
64. Write a will. If you have any dependents, you need a will. Write one and protect your loved ones.

Investing

65. Be wary of mutual funds. Few mutual fund managers can beat both the market and the expense fee that they charge.
66. Don't try to pick stocks. Picking stocks can be a very dangerous game, unless you know what you're doing.
67. Avoid fees. With long term investing, fees are a primary factor in total return. Avoid brokers who take high commissions and avoid funds with high management costs.
68. Stocks are high risk, high reward. Over the long term, stocks have historically outperformed all other investments. But over the short term, they can be risky if they lose a lot of value in a short period of time. So, do invest with stocks, but only with funds you won't need to withdraw over the short term.
69. Stocks first, bonds later. Invest in stocks when you're young, and then move into bonds are you grow older. Stocks are a good long-term investment strategy. If you're still young when the market turns south, you'll have plenty of years left ahead of you to make it up. As you get older, invest in bonds. They're less risky.
70. Past performance is not a guarantee of future success. Just because a stock has been up for the last six months does not mean it will continue to go up tomorrow.
71. Diversify your portfolio. Never invest more than 10% of your portfolio in any one company. Even if it's a "sure thing".
72. Build a nest egg that is 25 times the annual investment income you need. Don't think you can rely solely on social security.
73. If you don't understand how an investment works, don't buy it. Research an investment vehicle thoroughly before you get into it.
74. Don't borrow from your 401(k). Think of it as robbing yourself. You'll get hit with high fees and taxes, too.
75. Invest for the long term. There is no such thing as a guaranteed get rich quick scheme. And in investing, there is no high reward without a high risk. Use caution and diversify your portfolio for the long run.
76. Seek professional help. Don't feel the need to turn yourself into a day trader. Hire a personal financial advisor if you can afford to.
77. "Fee-only" is your friend. Go with a fee-only financial advisor, not a fee-based or a commission-based. Only fee-only advisors are legally obligated to act in your best interests.
78. Index funds are your friend. Index funds are passively managed and are generally cheaper and more tax-efficient than actively managed funds.

Retirement

79. Optimize your 401(k). If your employer offers employer match, you must set your 401(k) contribution to at least that amount.
80. Play the IRA game smart. Max out your 401(k) first, your Roth IRA second, then your traditional IRA.
81. Increase your 401(k) contribution. Especially when you get a raise. Some employers even give you the option of having your contribution automatically taken out of your paycheck.
82. Don't buy stock in the company you work for. This is the opposite of diversification. What happens if the stock tanks, and you lose your job and pension because of downsizing?
83. Don't be afraid of stocks. More than two-thirds of 401(k) money is in low-yielding bonds. Especially if you're still young, invest in stocks. Over the long-run, they perform the best.
84. Sign up for Medicare. Don't forget to sign up for Medicare before you turn 65, even if you haven't retired yet.
85. Plan. Use the Social Security Retirement Planner to ensure that your retirement goes smoothly.

Saving

86. Save now. It doesn't matter if you're six or 60. You should be saving a little bit every month, aside from retirement savings. The sooner you start, the better.
87. Pay off high interest debts before you start saving. Earning 5% in your savings account isn't going to do much good if you're accruing 17% interest on your credit card debt.
88. Save at least 10% of your annual salary for retirement. This should help to provide a nice retirement fund when you need it.
89. Keep at least three months' worth of living expenses in a savings account or high-yield money market account.
90. Open an online savings account. Online savings accounts, such as Emigrant Direct or HSBC Direct, offer yields of greater than 5%.
91. Set up an automatic savings plan. You should be able to set up your checking account so that a certain amount is automatically transferred to a savings account each month. It's a good way to force yourself to save.

Taxes

92. Know when to file your taxes. If you expect a refund, file your taxes as early as you can. If you owe money, file as close to the due date (usually April 15) as possible.
93. Consider itemizing your deductions. If all of those tax breaks receipts you keep add up to more than your standard deduction, it is definitely worth filling out all of the extra paperwork to itemize.
94. Be aware of other tax deductions. Contributions to a traditional IRA, student loan interest payments, alimony payments.
95. Save money on tax credits. Some tax credits to look out for include the Hope Scholarship Credit, Lifetime Learning Credit, Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit, and Child Care Credit.
96. Bunch your deductions into one year. If you're taking the standard deduction this year, consider making charitable contributions and office-related purchases after January 1, so you can possibly itemize your deductions next year.
97. Recheck your withholding every year. If you get married, have kids, or become the head of a household, you'll want to add these allowances on your W-4 so you can have fewer taxes withheld.
98. Keep your receipts (especially on big ticket items). You'll want them if you plan to itemize, or in case you get audited.
99. Concentrate on tax-free investments. Tax-free investments, like bonds, allow you to earn interest without being taxed.
100. Buy a hybrid vehicle. Hybrids tend to be more expensive than their traditional counterparts, but you can save money on gasoline and possibly receive a tax credit of up to $3,400.

Lastly

101. Take a deep breath. Even if you're only able to follow the first seven tips, which are the real basics, you will have already succeeded in making a huge positive difference in your financial life.
102. Money isn't everything. Health, family, and happiness are important, too. And remember, money can't buy you love.