Udruga Crom Alternativna Razmjena
Viška 14, 52100 Pula, Hrvatska
association[at]cromalternativemoney.org

Priopćenje Za Medije I Javnost

Ponedjeljak, 16 Travnja 2012                                                        ZA IZRAVNU DISTRIBUCIJU

Associazione Crom Scambio Alternativo
Viska 14, 52100 Pola, Croazia
association[at]cromalternativemoney.org

Comunicato Stampa

Domenica, 14 Aprile 2012                                                PER LA DIVULGAZIONE IMMEDIATA

There's no shortage of tools and resources online that can help you manage your money better. One of the best is the online calculator, which is available at all hours of the day and night and accessible to just about anyone with an Internet connection. By using online calculators, you can make big financial plans and project hundreds of dollars in savings in situations where you'd otherwise be nervous doing so on your own. If you haven't ever used a free online calculator before, give the following six a chance and you'll see just how useful they are:

IRS Withholding Calculator: While big tax refunds in spring are nice, deducting too much from every pay period can result in your monthly budget being lowered by hundreds of dollars unnecessarily. With that said, nobody wants to short Uncle Sam and have their possessions seized and locked away in a Storage Mart of Chicago. Withhold the right amount every year by using the withholding calculator available on the IRS website.

Cost-of-Commute Calculator: By choosing a comfortable route to work and other daily destinations instead of the one that requires the least amount of driving, you could be spending hundreds of extra dollars on fuel every year. Use a cost-of-commute calculator in conjunction with Google Maps to find the most cost effective routes for you to use on a daily basis.

Credit Card Repayment Calculator: You could ultimately wind up paying thousands of dollars in interest alone by failing to make responsible monthly payments toward your credit card debt. Use the Federal Reserve's credit card repayment calculator to locate a monthly payment that you can afford that will result in the least amount of interest paid as possible.

Cost-of-Smoking Calculator: If you or someone you love smokes cigarettes, they're spending hundreds if not thousands every year on the habit. In addition to the health dangers, this is plenty of reason to quit once and for all. Use this cost-of-smoking calculator to see the savings potential for yourself or to drive the point home for someone else.

Home Energy Saver: Americans waste a shameful amount of energy every year because of inefficiencies and bad energy usage habits. The Home Energy Saver calculator available through the Department of Energy is an enormously useful tool in the battle to lower energy waste and improve sustainability. Using a plethora of information about your specific living situation, it's certain to provide you with an itemized way to cut the costs of wasted energy from your budget.

There are countless free online tools and resources for helping improve personal finances. But among such boundless options, calculators are perhaps the most effective at helping you actually save more money. They're always available to use, are free of charge, and don't hold anything back. Now, if only there was a financial adviser like that.

In late 2008 and early 2009, the default rate on subprime mortgages began rising fast enough to garner attention from the economists and analysts throughout the United States.  In the spring of 2008, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress and told a room full of senators and reporters that there were minor troubles facing the subprime mortgage industry, but he assured everyone that it was not a real cause for concern.  His exact words were, “the problems facing the subprime mortgage industry are contained and should have very little to no material effect on the economy at large.”  Then, in the fall of 2008, the world nearly ended.  Literally.

There was a span of a few days in October 2008, that the global economy was literally hours from a complete collapse.  Banks had stopped lending to one another, and banks rely on overnight loans in order to finance their day-to-day operations.  And, of course, those “minor troubles” facing the subprime mortgage industry have now caused a 4 year global recession.

Cash Is King

During the last four years, I have learned significant life lessons.  I have seen multiple entrepreneurs go bankrupt and lose everything because they were severely over-leveraged.  I have also seen extremely successful entrepreneurs shut down dozens and dozens of companies in order to liquidate everything.  What I have learned more than anything is that cash is king.  Folks who were flush with cash entering the recession were able to remain afloat during the worst of times.  Those who did not have cash took huge hits because small business loans were definitely difficult to secure.

Today, in early 2012, I am seeing something begin to happen that is very interesting.  Investors and entrepreneurs who were able to liquidate companies and other investment positions were able to sit on cash the last few years, and now they are able to begin building and investing again with significant cash positions.  Entrepreneurs and investors who were highly leveraged prior to the crisis and therefore wiped out, however, are starting from scratch with borrowed capital again—often in the form of small business loans.  It is extremely clear to me that cash is king.  Never over-leverage.  Those who handled finances intelligently before the crash are now starting out way ahead of the competition.

Better Than Cash

There is one asset that is even more valuable than cash during an economic downturn—mental capital.

Mental capital is difficult to define, but essentially it is emotional strength, power, the ability to learn, and all of our previously learned skill sets.

Mental capital is not only what empowers you to survive a difficult period in your business, but it is also what will empower you to get up, learn new skill sets, capture fresh vision, and press forward.  Physical capital in terms of real cash will ebb and flow.  That will never stop.  Mental capital is different, however.  It is possible to always be increasing your mental capital.

Read

I once read a success quote that said the average millionaire reads one book per week.  That may or may not be true, but it impacted me significantly.  There is power in reading and always feeding your mind with new and fresh information and inspiration.  Take your mental capital to the next level by visiting the local bookstore and picking up a new book.

Nel programma di Domà Nunch arriva la moneta del popolo:

Alternative forms of money are designed to compete directly against global financial power, and this is a good news. Indeed, on 28 January 2012 at the gates of the World Economic Forum held in Davos, it was presented to the media a new version of community global currency, i.e. the OCCupy-CUrrency or Occcu. The project has been developed in Austria by a team of students  led by Roland Alton Scheidl at Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences with the aim to offer a Basic-Income answer as the present double dip recession gives sign of shifting into the Greatest depression.

It may seem like Monopoly money to outsiders, but a growing number of communities across the U.S. are using homegrown local currencies to stimulate their economies and protect themselves from the nation's broader economic woes.

While there were only about 20 active community currencies in the United States in 2009, there has been a recent resurgence, with at least a dozen communities developing their own currencies in the past couple of years, estimates Loren Gatch, a professor of political science at the University of Central Oklahoma who researches these alternative currencies. In addition, currencies that have been around for years have seen a spike in interest, with membership doubling in some cases.

As a solution to the global and national financial crisis, people in Mexican city Espinal have organized alternative exchange system and created alternative local currency named Tumin.

People have the habit of making New Year's resolutions for anything and everything such as happiness, health, managing money matters proficiently and getting out of your old inclinations. The main objective to turn your resolution into reality is to make sure that your financial goals reflect what you actually want. You should make a New Year promise on personal finance that you know you will be able to succeed surely. Practice the habit of savings and keep your money in the bank account. Use it to satisfy your essential needs such as retirement, paying your bills and giving money to the grocery-shopkeeper.

Ideas to get back on the right track and manage personal finances efficiently

Have a look at the 4 ideas to get back on the right track and manage personal finances efficiently.

1. Set a specific goal - Thinking in your mind as to how you will manage your money is simply useless and, as such, you should set a specific goal so that you know what you want to achieve exactly and, in turn, achieve it. You may think in your mind that you want to increase your savings and you want to have $2,000 more in your bank account by the next month. While the former only gives you a hope that you will boost your savings, the latter gives you a target to accomplish it. Thus, setting up a specific goal is very important if you really wish to handle personal finances in the most efficient way.

2. Deal with your credit cards wisely - You should keep an eye on every credit card that you may have and deal with them wisely. Get hold of credit cards which charge you low interest rate and have cash back policies. There are situations when you spend hundreds of dollars just for the sake of repaying the outstanding credit card balance and, as such, much of your hard-earned money is being spent. Make a comparison between various credit cards and obtain one with low interest rate. If you have a credit card with high interest rate but no annual fees, do not throw it away as soon as you get a better card. Keep the old card with you but do not swap it as this will help you boost your credit score.

3. Design a well planned budget - You may design a well planned budget every year and think of following it. However, there are many people who hate the idea of budgeting since it acts as a restriction of your money flow. But, in the real sense, a well planned budget is a financial planner that helps you understand about your money flow. A budget enables you to spend money on the things that you need essentially and keeps you away from spending unreasonably. Budgeting also helps you make a plan for the extra expenses that do not occur every month.

4. Reduce your unnecessary expenses - If money is tight for your case, look through every possible option to reduce your unnecessary expenses. For example, a family of four dining outside can pay you an extra of $20 every time you go out and eat. Same is the case for coffee drinks or packed water bottles if you purchase them on your way to office. Try to carry them from your home so as to reduce as much expenses as possible and save your dollars in the long run. Cutting down the small expenses will give you a significant amount towards your family savings and manage money matters capably. Give yourself a suitable chance to buy a new appliance with your hard-earned saved bucks.

Apart from this, studies illustrate you spend less when you use cash instead of plastic money. Make it a habit of spending a fixed amount of cash every week and try to stick to it. Thus, it is considered to be an appropriate way to keep a grip on your personal finances and avoid using credit cards without any need.

An announcement has been made by the Federal Reserve that they are not going to raise the interest rate for the coming three years. Thus, the interest rates will remain at the rock bottom as it is now. This is good news especially for the credit card holders. This is another step taken forward by the Federal Reserve to bring in more transparency in making the policy decisions.  This may help the public understand in what way the fed actually is working and what its motives are. As the interest rates are still low, it may help you to avoid incurring huge debts and if you are a careful shopper, you may not be required to even opt for debt consolidation to pay down your credit card debts.

Interest rates going to remain the same

The interest rates of the credit card are going to remain the same till 2014. This is going to be extremely helpful for the people using credit cards. This will mean that you won't be required to pay more in interest against the credit card debts incurred through credit card usage.

So, why do you think is the Federal Reserve still going to keep the interest rates low till 2014? The main reason due to which the rates have been kept low is the slow paced economy. It is the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee or FOMC which sets the monetary policy. As they have done from the time of the recession -  keeping the federal funds rate low - the FOMC has again decided to keep the rates at as low as 0 to 0.25 percent. They have said that until they are going to see any positive change in the economy, they are not going to increase the rates of the federal funds.

The economists are of the view that if the Federal Reserve keeps the interest rates low, it may be quite encouraging for the businesses. They may feel more interested to invest in the growth now and they may not simply wait for that more stable economy. This may result to a situation where the consumers will start to spend more, especially on the big ticket items like the cars and also the new homes.

Thus, it can be said that if you can manage to pay the bills on time, you may not have to see any unpredictable rise in the interest rates of your credit cards. But, another very important that should be considered too is that if economic forces like inflation occurs, or if there is a rapid economic recovery, it can result in increased rate by the Federal Reserve.

The global monetary system is failing to fulfill its role in our modern society. Local currency is an alternative way of being sustainable, the official money system is not the only possibility. Let the experiments proceed!