Financial Plan is Important So Why Many of us Don’t Have One

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We all love to dream about the future we want, but many of us do not like the idea of organizing our finances and preparing a financial plan. It seems that our dream of our future is the fun part, but planning sounds like tedious and boring work. This is evident by the fact that 65% of individuals do not have a financial plan.

A study found that the benefit of having a financial plan is very significant. On average, individuals who had a plan for retirement had two and half times more assets in their retirement than those who did not have a plan. Having a plan is only part of the success equation because working with an advisor and having a financial plan shows that there is a nine to ten times increase in assets than with those who do not work with an advisor and have a financial plan.

This may explain why one third of individuals consider winning the lottery as one of their financial strategies to achieving their financial goals. So why do most of us not have a plan? It cant be because of a lack of awareness since there are many financial institutions that are advertising the importance of planning. There is also a lot of information and material on the subject with millions of results on Google. So when it comes to Financial Planning why is it that we are not prepared? Well here is a list of the three myths that I have experienced people saying.

Myth of Time: In todays fast paced life we are all starved for time. We are so busy in our everyday activities that we feel that taking time for planning is not available. When it comes to planning there is an upfront commitment of time in identifying your life goals and putting together an action to achieve them, but once you complete these steps then it is just a matter of monitoring your progress as time goes on. The time commitment is minimal compared to the return you get by working with an advisor and having a plan done as noted above.

Myth of Knowledge: The financial world, especially today, may seem too complicated with all the information out there. We are exposed to a lot of information and financial lingo. If you start by telling yourself that it is not too complicated and too hard, then you have no excuse not to do it. You may consider participating in a seminar or a workshop. You can start reading books that talk about financial matters. Soon you will learn that the financial world is not complicated once you learn some of the basics.

The Myth of Wealth: I dont have enough savings to worry about a financial plan. If you have savings then you have enough. Having a plan will help you decide not only where you should put your money, it will also help to define the why. I have learned that the why is more important than the how and where. When it comes to planning you need to start somewhere. Dont think that just because you think you dont have enough you should not have a plan. A Financial Plan will help you define the goals and dreams you want to accomplish.

How To Measure Hotel Loyalty Programs Performance

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Very often hotel owners or managers start loyalty programs with the aim of attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. These programs offer discounts, free and additional services for customers. For example, if a guest books a suite for three nights he gets free dinners. This is just a simple example, and the best customer loyalty programs can offer great services. However, the time comes to evaluate efficiency of loyalty programs. Many hotel owners and top managers make a mistake of evaluation program results after the end of the program. Its something goes wrong from the very beginning the hotel managers will learn about that only in the end when it will be too late to do anything. Of course, ongoing financial results can tell much but not everything about efficiency of a particular loyalty program. This is where performance evaluation tools come into play. Being armed with knowledge on current performance of a hotel and efficiency of loyalty program, top managers can introduce amendment
s and changes to the program to achieve even better results. It is very difficult to make 100% correct forecasts. Markets change all the time and customers change their preferences. Thus, loyalty programs have to follow these changes.

An increasing number of hotel owners and hotel managers use Balanced Scorecard. This revolutionary performance evaluation and strategic management tool proved its efficiency in hotel business which is characterized by intense competition. Balanced Scorecard does not only evaluate financial indicators (results) but also nonfinancial measures that can tell much about what is going to happen in the near future. Balanced Scorecard consists of four categories: financial, customer, internal business processes, learning and growth. Each category contains key performance indicators which provide top managers with correct and timely information on performance on the loyalty program and its outcomes for business.

Imagine that hotel management has launched customer loyalty program by offering discounts for regular customers and free gifts and services for new ones. As some time passes by, Balanced Scorecard begins to display the first results which are not only financial results. For example, the number of hotel customers may increase and customer satisfaction improves. This means that in the long term the hotel will see and increasing revenue because customers who have participated in loyalty program will most likely come back again. If Balanced Scorecard shows warning signs the loyalty program needs to be changed. For instance it may turn out that providing new customers with free dinners is not profitable at all. Thus, the hotel managers have to look for another way to attract customers.

Loyalty programs have one goal to increase revenue by improving loyalty of existing customers and attracting new customers. At the same time loyalty programs have to be profitable in financial terms. Balanced Scorecard will help optimize costs and improve efficiency of loyalty programs.

Introduction of Balanced Scorecard to the hotel should be supported by the majority of personnel who should participate in discussion of key performance indicators and everyday use of BSC.

Advantages Of Certified Financial Planner Designation

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Certified financial planner designation is a sophisticated certification for professionals in the field of financial investment and financial planning education. The curriculum for cfp certified financial planner is usually comprised of three levels of exam that assess almost your every level of learning. It requires lot of moral values and hard work within you it needs self-study too. The cfp certified financial planner who is entering into the field need to maintain high level of time management and competency.
The certified courses offered by financial planning education institutes are globally accepted from a long ago and they provide quite rich advantage of certified financial planner designation. Certified financial planner designation is considered as the highest degree amongst professional designations in the field of financial planning education. The certified financial planner designation is advantageous for both the cfp certified financial planner and the institute as well. The financial planning education course provides advantage in several ways to the institute such as curriculum, the standards and recognition and the competencies.
A certified financial planner designation helps people to select the best financial program and guides them to select the best investment and planning tool for the best allocation of their possessions. A skilled professional can sell the financial products well and can help the business to catch the attention of the major amount of customers.
There are numerous advantages of being cfp certified financial planner; some of the advantages are discussed below:
Cfp certified financial planner has global and highly competitive edge for employment in financial planning education industry. The institutes would always want to hold on their cfp certified financial planner as in recession it becomes very hard to re hire highly competent and experienced certified financial planner designation. The cfp certified financial planner has high level of competency and skills because of the extensively practical curriculum. Because of the wide spread network of certified planning education, even a common individual now has access to state-of-the-art information regarding financial markets across the world.
The cfp certified financial planner has extreme level of financial planning education, experience and ethics. The professional standards make the reach of certified financial planner designation more advanced and conspicuous. A cfp certified financial planner is not only taught technical education but he has also been thoroughly taken through extensive ethical and leadership trainings, which is needed to take an organization towards the high edges.
As the cfp certified financial planner has been taken though high valued ethics and professional conduct, he/she would get along with your customer is quite good manner. Their behavior will attract more customers towards your business and hiring certified financial planner designation will act as advantageous tool for your marketing campaign.
Many of the big investment banks and financial service providers choose to employ certified financial planner designation in order to have highly skilled and educated professionals working for them and dealing with their customers. The cfp certified financial planner works at ground level with public and help you attract more amount of potential customers.
Hire the cfp certified financial planner for dealing with your customers and conducting the effective marketing campaign and enjoy the advantage of certified financial planner designation. You will get state of the art professional skills for your business if you will hire cfp certified financial planner for your business.
The certified financial planner designation is always motivated to serve the clients with high proficiency and provide the best financial advice and financial guidance. Many financial advisors sell the insurance and financial products, but a highly cfp certified financial planner adds extra value in selling of your securities. For more information visit http://www.financialplannerprogram.com

Bankruptcy Lawyer – An Asset You Need for Your Financial Freedom

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Handling your finances can be a tough ordeal, especially if you lose a job. Before you know it, you could be in over your head. If this is so, then a bankruptcy lawyer can help. Find out how one can benefit you.

Helps stop harassment Getting harassing phone calls is one of the worst things about being in debt. Your phone may ring early in the morning to late in the evening. This is because many creditors do everything they can to collect a debt. However, some practices can be illegal. If you’re being threatened in any manner or simply experience a call that you feel isn’t right, then you need to get a bankruptcy lawyer as soon as you can.

Knows the law You may think all you have to do is get the proper paper work, file with the courts and leave. Yet, if you don’t know the law, you may be doing more harm than good. That’s because there are different types of financial ruin and your bankruptcy lawyer knows the difference. He or she knows all the aspects of this type of law and can help be your guide so that you experience the best possible outcome.

Offer peace of mind One of the best reasons to contact a bankruptcy lawyer is simply peace of mind. Trying to wade through all that goes into filing for financial ruin can really be a tough situation. You’re already stressed out and can only take so much. If you’re constantly hounded by persistent creditors or are afraid to check your mail because of the letters that discuss legal matters such as suing you or garnishing wages, you need an attorney fast. In the end, you can leave the details to him or her so you can rest easy again.

Save you money The whole point of filing for financial ruin is to get out of all the monetary problems you’re having. However, there are some people that get caught up in a ton of other details that simply waste their money. You may get letters in the mail from companies that claim that they can help you get out of debt. The catch is that you need to pay them obscene amounts of money. Sadly, this can be scammers looking to take the little money you have left. A bankruptcy lawyer is a legal expert that knows just what to do to help you get through the process without causing you an extreme amount of money. Best of all, you’ll know you’re working with a pro that can assist you in all your monetary and legal troubles regarding debt collectors.

Save you time If you try to handle your financial difficulties on your own, you could simply waste a lot of time unnecessarily. That’s because you don’t understand all the details and red tape that can be involved in filing for financial ruin. There are multiple legal issues that only an experienced bankruptcy lawyer understands. The best thing to do is to make sure you have one of these legal professionals on your side if you want to speed up the process and be done with worrying about your debt and annoying calls from creditors.

How To Prepare For The Investment Banking Interview

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It seems that the investment banking industry has narrowly escaped Armaggedon and the survivors are waiving the bonus flags again. Intern classes are getting bigger and Business Week reported that Goldman Sachs has reclaimed the top spot as the most popular employer among elite MBA students again. If you are a career switcher and one among many MBA applicants dreaming of joining Goldman Sachs or another bulge bracket investment bank for the summer internship, this article is for you. Below we provide an overview of an investment banking interview and explain why its important to prepare in advance. This is especially true if you are a career switcher.

There are several types of questions which you are likely to be asked in your interview. They include career questions, educational questions, competency questions, fit questions, technical questions and industry questions.

While its difficult to predict which questions exactly you will be asked, there are four questions which will appear in any investment banking interview:
– The WMTYR (Walk me through your resume)
– The 3 Why’s (Why investment banking? Why our bank? Why (should we hire) you?

The answer to the first and the second questions may be quite similar to those you provided in your MBA admission interviews. Answer to the third question is a little bit more complicated and will require specific preparation.

The usual reason for interest in any specific investment bank include: (a) a strong platform, which means strong coverage teams, diverse offering of advisory and financial products, many interesting deals and opportunities to learn (b) a strong presence in specific markets or industries (c) and the most important, tons of wonderful and smart people with whom you talked with during your recruiting process and whom you really made a connection with. Networking is a critical component for your interview preparation but we will discuss this area in one of our
future postings.

Why (should we hire) you? To answer this question you need to reiterate your main strengths, interest in a specific bank and a great fit you feel for the bank you are interviewing with.
You should prepare for this question especially well as a banks approach to this question will usually be that a person who cannot sell himself cannot sell the banks products and banking is definitely a sales job.

Good to know Other challenging fit questions examining your understanding of the
investment banking can be:
– What does an investment banker actually do?
– What is the role of an associate in the investment banking?
The answer to the first question will usually go in the following way:
An investment bank serves as intermediaries between their clients
who need capital in the form of debt and equity
It provides strategic advisory services by structuring transactions
that meet clients needs and objectives
Overall, Investment bank works with companies on the transactions
that will enhance their value. This may include accessing capital
markets to find growth or expand operations, as well as investing in another
company through merger or acquisition. Banks are not only the
matchmaker between parties involved in a transaction, but also the primary
architects of the deal.

A typical answer to the question about the role of an associate will
go like this :
Analyzing industry and company data related to the transaction
Building excel models to valuate companies
Joining strategic meetings
Performing due diligence meetings with the clients
Creating, editing client presentations
Monitoring, paying close attention to documentation associated with
the deal (prospectus, internal memos)
Managing relationship with an analyst
The most important attributes that an associate should have are:
quantitative skills, the ability to learn quickly, discipline, a strong work ethic, the ability to
work in teams, detail orientation and dependability.

While answering competency and behavioral questions you should be structured and succinct. Banks like well organized and structured thinking and will quickly dismiss candidates who ramble or cannot distinguish important points from the less important ones. We recommend creating 3 bullet points for each of your answers and putting them on the paper in advance. Practice your answers with friends and be sure that your story is consistent and flows well before the interview.

The technical part

The technical part of the interview will test your familiarity with the accounting and financial terms. This will definitely require thorough preparation even if you study at one of the top MBA programs . First of all you will need to be familiar with the financial statements and their analysis. The profit and loss statement, the balance sheet and cash flow statements are all fair game in the interview.
Secondly, you will need to have a basic understanding of the company’s valuation methods. You should be very familiar with terms such as cost of capital, cash flow discounting, multiples, accretion and dilution, LBO, CAPM, WACC and Beta.

You also may be asked how M&A and IPOs work and even be given a case study on a business situation. It is strongly recommended that you start b-school having at least a basic understanding of accounting and finance.

Here are some books that can help you.
VAULT Guide to Finance Interviews by D. Bhatawedekhar, Dan Jacobson,
and the Vault Staff
Vault Career Guide to Investment Banking by Tom Lott, Derek Loosvelt
and the Staff of Vault
Heard on the Street by Timothy Falcon Crack.
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies by Tom
Copeland, et al, John Wiley & Sons Inc
Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies
by McKinsey and Company
Financial Modeling, 3rd Edition (Hardcover), Simon Benninga

In the industry part of the interview the interviewers will test your understanding of the industry and your professional interests.
You will be asked about financial news and trends, current articles related to investment banking, discussions of the economic environment and economic trends, trends in M&A and definitely about specific deals.

To be prepared for this part of the interview its advisable to start reading financial and economic newspapers and journals. The Wall Street Journal, FT and Economist are good sources to gain relevant knowledge.

A couple of additional hints:
– Know recent interesting deals executed by banks with which you are interviewing.
– Talk about deals with passion the interviewers will test not only your level of knowledge but also your passion for IB
– And finally, always read the news in the morning before your interview

Some additional books to better understand investment banking before your interview include:
The Business of Investment Banking: A Comprehensive Overview , by K.
Thomas Liaw
Blue Blood and Mutiny: The Fight for the Soul of Morgan Stanley , by
Patricia Beard
The Last Tycoons: The Secret History of Lazard Frres & Co. , by
William Cohan
The Accidental Investment Banker: Inside the Decade that Transformed
Wall Street , By Jonathan Knee
More entertaining books include:
Barbarians at the Gate , By Bryan Burrough and John Helyar.
Bombardiers , By Po Bronson
Monkey Business: Swinging through the Wall Street Jungle, By John
Rolfe and Peter Troob.
Liars Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street , By Michael
Lewis, Norton Books.

Good luck with your interview!