The Women’s Wealth Expert
Founded by Hannah Foxley in 2012, The Women’s Wealth Expert provides specialist financial planning consultancy for women. The service is based around providing jargon free information for women who have experienced financial difficulties for a variety of reasons, including divorce and separation, bereavement, and those who wish to improve their relationship with money. For budding female entrepreneurs, they also provide support and advice to help them get their ideas off the ground. As the entrepreneur behind The Women’s Wealth Expert herself, Hannah is in a prime position to be able aid those looking to start their own business. For more information you can check out the video below.

Diamond Car Insurance
Historically, women have been proven to be much safer drivers than men, and therefore command lower insurance premiums. However, previously, insurance companies didn’t make too much of a distinction between men and women when it came to insurance costs, and therefore some women felt they were getting an unfair deal. That changed in 1997 when Diamond Car Insurance was launched, the UK’s first car insurance company specifically designed for women drivers. Since December 2012 the rules have changed, meaning that insurance companies can no longer calculate insurance premiums based on gender, however that hasn’t stopped Diamond from maintaining the belief that women are safer drivers and therefore offerings fantastic deals in comparison to other big name companies.

IBM
This one may come as a bit of a surprise, but IBM was recently voted one of the top places for women to work. Recent figures from the National Association of Female Executives have shown that the percentage of female senior managers stands at 27% within the company, and two years ago appointed a woman – Virginia Rometty – as CEO, becoming the first woman ever to head the company. With over 12000 women worldwide in senior roles, IBM are continually striving to improve their gender employment figures and lead the way in business for women.

There is still a long way to go before men and women are considered equal in the business world, but many companies all over the world are working towards providing better services and better jobs for women. For more information take a look at The Women in Business Network and waht they can offer you.

For many people there will be no issue with continuing to pay off their credit agreements until completion. But unfortunately, there are significant numbers who are struggling to meet the payments on their debts. This may be due to incomes failing to keep pace with the rate of inflation, reduced work hours and increase in food and energy prices amongst other factors. In fact the rising price of food and energy is partly the reason why the rate of inflation is high – you can read more about this topic in this article on the Guardian Website.

It is of paramount importance not to ignore debt problems when they occur. Simply pretending that it is not happening or that you will be able to catch up when pay day comes is not an option. Being responsible and contacting creditors when you are struggling will often lead to the creditor making a temporary arrangement for you to delay a payment.

It is important to realise when you are in debt crisis. The money saving expert website has a page dedicated to showing you how to work out if you are in debt crisis. Should you be in the category of debt crisis it is unlikely that you will be able to get out of the situation without some assistance from specialist organisations such as charities like Christians Against Poverty, the Citizen’s Advice Bureau or debt management companies like Scottish Debt Help. These organisations will often enter into negotiations with your creditors on your behalf. They can often reduce debt payments, or in some circumstances get some amounts of debt written off.

The consequences of not taking action will almost certainly see your credit rating being badly affected and your chances of getting finance in the future extremely unlikely. At the worst extremes you could even end up becoming bankrupt and unable to hold a bank account in which to pay your salary into. Make sure that when you are in debt crisis that you don’t bury your head in the sand; take action and take appropriate advice.

Bookkeeping
Investing in professional and dedicated accountancy advice is an upfront cost that could save you massive amounts in the long run, however as a start-up you might not have the funds to be able to do that. Thankfully, there is an alternative; why pay for professional advice when you can train yourself? Woodgrove Tutorials offer fantastic online courses to train you in bookkeeping, and what’s more, they’re the only ICB (Institute of Certified Bookkeepers) training providers whose course materials have been especially mapped to the ICB exam. You can visit their website at www.icbcourses.co for more information and to get in contact to start your bookkeeping course today. Once you’re trained, you’ve gained an internationally recognised qualification and can begin to take care of those businesses finances without the need to pay to bring others in.

Resources
As a small business you might incur considerable costs purchasing resources, both in the form of saleable assets and practical necessities. However, one option that you have available to you is the option to join local business groups that share resources, information and expertise, amongst other things. Joining associations like the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is a great place to start – you can find them at www.fsb.org.uk – as it immediately puts you in contact with over 200,000 members nationwide, as well as containing some very useful resources. On a local level, it’s advantageous to be a part of similar ventures. Most towns and cities will have their equivalent of Lancaster’s ESTA, or Ethical Small Traders Association. You can check out their website at www.lancasteresta.org to see how they bring businesses together to support the development of local sustainability, and give its members access to networking and collaborating support, inter-trading, and joint marketing. By pooling resources and sharing information, you can keep costs down whilst promoting your own business and the strength of the economy within the local area.

Bill Management
An often overlooked area is managing your bill payments. As things like your energy bills probably aren’t at the forefront of your business mind, they can often be forgotten when it comes to managing your business costs. However, the day-to-day running of your business will invariably involve using a lot of electricity, for example, so look at ways you can minimise your energy outgoings. According to the Energy Saving Trust, lighting accounts for 8% of a typical household’s energy bills, and this will be even greater for businesses. You can find out more information by visiting them at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Electricity/Lighting. Better yet, organisations like Carbon Trust specialise in advising businesses on their opportunities in a sustainable low carbon world. You can check them out at www.carbontrust.com/home and see how their bespoke energy services can help with all aspects of lowering your bills.

Keeping costs down when running a small business can be hard, especially if you’re just starting out. Seeking professional help and advice is imperative if you’re looking to survive, and will ultimately help your business flourish in the long run. For even more fantastic advice, head to www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-financial-advisers to see how much you could save.

SOCIAL MEDIA TRENDS

The Small Businesses website reports that more and more people are expecting around the clock customer support from companies and are also using information on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to help them make purchasing decisions. As a result, it’s important to build your online presence if you want to get ahead. This is inevitably going to eat up some of your resources but it needn’t be too exhausting either. There are a few things you can try: you should embrace the web 2.0, update a company blog, use customer testimonials, network throughout the industry, run competitions and most importantly commit yourself to excellent service. People talk.

REALLOCATION

Of course, you can’t create the time and money to invest in social media from nowhere. Instead you need to think about where you can cut costs. There are three general areas to consider for any business: people, places and things.

People: It is an unfortunate truth that not all members of your team will be performing to the same level. That doesn’t mean that you should rush in to implementing a redundancy scheme, but perhaps you do need to consider things from a human resources point of view. Look at people’s skill set and where they would be best utilised, furthermore a spot of re-training can rejuvenate a lagging employee.

Places: Travel costs and hotel costs account for a high percentage of company outgoings. Consider travelling standard class rather than first. Furthermore, consider moving to Skype for business meetings which is much more efficient in terms of time and money for both you and your associate.

Things: Look at the paper trail. Most of it probably doesn’t need to be there. It is remarkable how many unnecessary procedures stay in place merely because no one has ever taken a step back to consider them. Mobile phone costs, postage, uniforms, and resources – all of these things need to be looked at.

To gain the maximum efficacy from implementing a cost-saving strategy, an outside perspective can really help. A fresh pair of eyes can see what you have stopped noticing. Try a cost reduction and purchasing service, like that offered by NJ Grime here to see how you can reduce costs and free up some revenue to invest in making your business grow.

Industry is changing and to succeed, you have to ride the wave, not lag behind. There are inefficient practices in every company; it is important to keep on top of things and strive to leave wasteful attitudes behind.  Changing consumer trends represents a great opportunity for small businesses as individuals share information freely and easily between their personal networks but first of all you have to make sure you’re in a position to take advantage of it.

Your other half: If you have a girlfriend or boyfriend’s birthday coming up, and you are a bit low on funds, then there are options. If you need to find something cool for your boyfriend, then why not head over to Qwertee, a website dedicated to awesome t-shirts, and each week they have a deal where you can purchase a unique and limited edition t-shirt for only £8. For girlfriends it is again very simple, though it will require a little bit of research and assembly. Making her jewellery is a perfect present, all you have to do is see what jewellery is ‘in’ at the moment and then head to Jilly Beads to get all the bits you will need.

Children: Now children are a easy to buy for until they get to the age of about 10. A cool toy will usually work for a birthday present. If you want to get toys, but don’t want to spend the ridiculous prices, then you could try Yellow Moon, which has a large selection, so you are sure to find something your kid will love.

There are always ways around spending too much, so make sure to do some research and you will be sure to find something perfect for any birthday.

The different types of car leasing options available to businesses are namely Finance Lease, Contract Hire. Lease Purchase and Contract Purchase. Private individuals can benefit from Personal Contract Hire (PCH) and Personal Contract Purchase (PCP).
Along with offering a hassle free method of running a vehicle, contract hire is one of the most popular methods of getting finance for a car lease. The advantages of contract hire are:

The fixed monthly costs connected with this type of leasing arrangement enables clients to forecast their expenses and budget accordingly.
The risks associated with the disposal of the vehicle in future are eliminated to quite an extent with contract hire– as the vehicle can be handed back to the leasing company when the contract expires.
The client receives road tax on an annual basis, through the entire duration of the contract. This reduces the problems connected with the renewal of road tax and saves frequent trips to the post office.

Contract hire is basically a fixed cost of financing for motor purposes in the UK. Clients can use a vehicle for a predefined period, which may extend to 24, 36 or 48 months; at a predefined monthly payment. This monthly payment is dependent in the cost of the vehicle at the time of hire, the estimated residual amount at the end of the contract period and the mileage expected to be notched during the same time period.
The correct financing option can make it easy for clients looking for specific motor needs and requirements. Easy finance options are provided by reputed companies in UK and these go a long way in making the car more enjoyable and free from unwarranted hassles. You require specific models when leasing i.e. Audi leasing there are many providers who specialise in these models.

One thing which many businesses are being forced to do in the current economic climate is watch every penny they spend! Unfortunately even B2B companies in many industries are seeing a decrease in spending and, as such, many are struggling to stay afloat. With this in mind, many companies are looking to cut costs yet retain quality from suppliers wherever possible and, as such, we thought we would take a look at whether or not it’s possible to source affordable yet high quality leaflet printing services; something that almost all businesses, regardless of their niche and industry, will need on a fairly regular basis! It’s absolutely vital that leaflets and flyers look fantastic and portray a professional and high quality company, yet in many instances companies are paying far more than they need to for such a finish!

A quick search on Google will return hundreds of UK based companies who offer not only leaflet printing but a wide range of services yet you will struggle to find two companies with a similar pricing structure! Every company you look to for a price for leaflet printing will seemingly have a different price for what you want, however you need to make sure you actually are comparing like on like when deciding which company to go with! What paper weight and size do you need? Do you have your own artwork or do you need that designing too? What quantity do you need? There’s a lot to factor in when deciding which company to let handle your leaflet printing needs but, it IS possible to get a great deal on your requirements!

Above all; it does make sense to have a higher quantity printed as you’ll benefit massively from economies of scale! You’ll find that once you go out of the hundreds and into the thousands, unit costs drop significantly as you increase quantities ordered! Do you run a takeaway and need to order new menus once a month? Why not order 6 months worth in one go? Increasing the quantity of an order is a sure fire way to get a great unit cost and you’ll often find that suppliers will negotiate even further the higher the volume of your order!

If you want to cut the cost of leaflet printing; simply think ahead! By both knowing your exact requirements and bulk ordering; you’ll almost certainly be surprised at how affordable your printing can be!

We brought you this guest post courtesy of Circle Services UK; a leading supplier of leaflets and other promotional material!

So, why do you think it is important to be financially responsible?

Some of the important reasons to be financially responsible include:

• It reduces stress to a great extent when you pay your bills and have all essential services intact.

• Saving for an emergency is one of the most important aspects, which most often people fail to do. People who are financially responsible always take care of this.

• Achieving your dreams and goals are not possible without managing time and money. Appropriate investments and management of loans for a new home, new vehicle, and other essentials of life can be accomplished only when the finance is managed and well planned.

• Most often people end up with a huge amount of debt through credit cards while the very purpose of credit cards is to for prudent use on emergencies. Financial responsibility also includes appropriate usage of credit cards.

• One of the most important steps to financial responsibility is to take the help of a financial advisor and find ways to multiply your money and to use fixed rate bonds for the long term security.

• Some of the unexpected troubles you may encounter due to financial irresponsibility includes; bankruptcy, collection agency or account; consumer credit counseling; foreclosures and judgments; legal action, etc.

Financial responsibility also includes in planning for a comfortable life after retirement.
When you are financially responsible, you would plan for your payroll taxes, social security, and other deductions without compromising on your lifestyle.

Advantage Using Long-Term Fixed Rate Bonds

As discussed earlier, one of the best ways to take care of your finance is to make use of the fixed rate bonds that offer fixed and predetermined interest rate for a longer period. A fixed rate bond offers huge benefits to the issuer as well as the investor, as there is no uncertainty of any variable rate finance. This type of investment provides a regular stream of money to you-the investor; at the same time, stabilizes the cost for your issuer.

In fact, a fixed rate bond is a best way to lock your money for a fixed number of years for a proper use in future. The added advantage is the regular cash flow. It also allows options for debt management and attracts high funding for large institutions.

Summary

In essence, the term financial responsibility refers to the wise usage of all monetary resources, which include technical applications like business finance, insurance, ethics, and much more. It applies to every individual irrespective of the age and gender, as it is essentially the matter of learning to be financially independent and to have a secure future.

Convenient and Quick

A short term pay day loan can be a useful solution to get through a difficult time. The budgets of the majority of people are stretched and there’s often little room for manoeuvre when the unexpected happens – for example the car breaking down. Times like these can be made easier by accessing a pay day loan. A pay day loan can usually be approved within an hour and the money paid directly to a bank account within a matter minutes from the loan being approved. If you are interested in taking out a pay day loan then click here to access the website of speedy dosh – a leading pay day loans company.

Loans from high street banks generally aren’t suitable for short term cash shortages. The starting amount for a bank loan is usually way above the amount required for a short term cash shortage and they paid back over a longer time – usually one or more years. Bank loans can often take several weeks to arrange and in these times of austerity the banks are approving loans only to those who have an impeccable financial history. A recent BBC news report tells of falling approval rates despite a government scheme called ‘funding for lending’.

Is a Pay Day Loan Right for Me?

If you are not able to access the financial products of mainstream lenders owing to a less than perfect financial past then pay day loans may be a good solution for getting through a difficult time. They are particularly useful for managing a short term cash need and are settled in one payment rather than dragging on for a longer time.

As with any financial product, you should take time to consider whether it is appropriate for you. The biggest consideration is of course affordability. Whilst the loan will get you out of the immediate crisis, care should be taken to budget for its repayment in the month ahead. Some great advice on planning a household budget can be found on the iheartbudgets.net website.

Establishing that you’ve been mis-sold PPI isn’t usually the difficult part however; where the confusion comes is in choosing a legitimate PPI claims company to handle the claim on your behalf. With the Ministry of Justice having tackled over 250 rogue PPI claim companies in recent months, you can’t be blamed for wanting to make sure you’re dealing with a genuine and experienced panel of solicitiors who will always act in your best interests, whatever the outcome of the claim.

Head of Claims Management at the Ministry of Justice, Kevin Rousell, recently stated, “The mass mis-selling of payment protection insurance (PPI) has seen complaints against claims management companies soar. We won’t tolerate firms that break the rules and we have shut down or warned more than 252 companies dealing with PPI claims in the past year.”

Of course, whilst it is reassuring for those in the process of filing a claim (or considering doing so) that the Ministry of Justice is on the case and having a zero-tolerance policy against companies whom clients make complaints surrounding; it naturally puts a sense of worry in many people’s minds. As such, we have put together a guide on how to ensure you choose a legitimate PPI claims company to handle your claim.

Ensuring you choose a legitimate PPI claims company is all about doing your homework and spending a little bit of time researching the company you’re considering utilising and, by following our guide on how to avoid the rogues, you should be in a much better position to be confident about those handling your claim.

1. Ensure Your Chosen Solicitor Is Regulated By The SRA
   
   All solicitors must be registered with the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority) and, as such, this should always be the first thing you check. You can run a very simple search on any UK based solicitors at http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/solicitor-check.page to check whether or not your chosen firm have had any regulatory decisions taken against them. If for any reason you’re not comfortable with what you see relating to a certain company; it’s generally a good idea to look elsewhere and find a panel of solicitors who’s record is clean from regulatory decisions.
2. Does The Company Employ Specialist PPI Claim Solicitors?

   You want to be assured that your chosen solicitor employs specialist PPI claim solicitors and that you’re not simply dealing with a general solicitor or lawyer who has no specialist experience in this sector. Dealing with a specialist solicitor can make all the difference to both whether your claim is successful and how much you’re awarded so it’s always best to ask the question as to whether your case will be dealt with by a specialist.

3. Do They Work On A No Win No Fee Basis?You want to make sure you’re dealing with solicitors who work on a no-win no-fee basis. You should never have to pay any up-front fees for a claim to be initiated and should never be exposed to hidden extras further down the line. If a claims company is working on a no-win, no-fee basis, they have a much greater incentive to win the case for you due to the fact that, if they don’t win, they won’t receive a penny either! The majority of solicitors do now work on this basis when dealing with claims and, with this in mind, its generally worth avoiding those who request an up-front fee.
4. Do They Have A Good Track Record and Positive Testimonials?Can the company you’re considering filing a claim through provide case examples (as well as figures for the compensation awarded) and positive testimonials who will verify their legitimacy? Any genuine solicitor should be more than happy to offer past case examples, information on successes and a range of testimonials. If they will upon asking; then great, there’s a very good chance they’re legitimate and are likely to do a good job for you! If, on the other hand, they can’t (or won’t) provide you with the information you want, there’s probably a very good reason for this!
5. Do They Offer Advice and FAQs Through Their Website?Any legitimate firm should want to educate you on the claims process as thoroughly as possible. It can, at times, be confusing to understand the whole process for making a claim and it should be your chosen solicitor’s job to ensure you understand everything properly! Most companies will offer advice, a process guide or have a Frequently Asked Questions section on their website to enable you to understand what exactly they’re doing for you and the reasons why it can take so long to process. If a company doesn’t offer advice on both your claim and the whole process, it’s probably worth looking to somewhere that will educate you properly and give you the time to make sure you know what’s happening and when.
6. Does The Company Look Legitimate?

   If you have suspicions about a firm and your gut instinct tells you that they’re probably not legitimate, then it’s probably the case! Take a good look at a company’s website and ask yourself whether it looks like you can trust them…if you have doubts at all, stay away! A trustworthy company will take pride in the way they appear to potential clients and, with this in mind, will ensure their website and other marketing material gives off a corporate and professional impression. If your instinct tells you in any way to steer clear of a company because of the way they come across through marketing materials, then it’s generally a good idea to do so!

7. Does The Company Utilise Hard Sell Tactics?Making a claim can be a lengthy decision for many individuals and, with this in mind, claims companies  and solicitors should never utilise hard sell tactics when discussing a potential claim with you. One thing that the Ministry of Justice Claims Management Unit is particularly tight upon is companies using such high-pressure sales tactics and, if at any point throughout the claim process you feel like you’re being pressured into going with that particular company, walk away there and then. The decision to make a claim is one you need to be able to make yourself and think on and, as such, companies need to be there to offer advice to help you make an educated decision as opposed to pressuring you into it.

Above all; it’s absolutely vital that you spend time researching any potential solicitors that you’re thinking of utilising in order to initiate a compensation claim. It is essential to ensure that you’re confident you’re dealing with a legitimate firm who will act upon your best interests under all circumstances.