Money for Nothing ...

Money for Nothing - How to be popular on the web

It's a deceptive title -- but in part that's marketing. Seth Godin, master marketer, sums up the best way to drive traffic to your website (or store, or organization, etc.).

Three words: be useful, unique and updated.

Yep, that's about it. If you can be useful to others (offer value), be unique (by positioning and branding, and being memorable and distinctive), keep showing up, and be current, you've got it made.

It's also a good recipe for life.

This free PDF sermon is short, breezy and right on.

-- KK

Money for NothingBy Seth Godin2007, 13 pagesFreeAvailable via Squidoo
Sample excerpt:
No one cares if your lens is good. They care if it's great. Irresistible. The one and only best spot online. Not in your opinion of course, but in their opinion.

Source : http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/002546.php

Avoid Daily Investment Checking to Prevent Big Mistakes

Does watching cable or checking business news sites give you cold sweats as you ponder how your investments are doing? Are you logging into your financial site every day but still feel your money slipping away? Just ignore your money, J.D. at Get Rich Slowly says—stocks pay off in the long term, not day-to-day, and worrying about it is the easiest way to make a money-losing mistake:

' In Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, the authors note that it's dangerous to watch your investments every day. When you pay close attention, you tend to become emotionally invested in even small movements. You lose sight of the long-term and make decisions based on short-term events. Peek in every month or so, but don't constantly check your investments.'

Sound advice, and a good way to avoid letting money stress spill over into other areas of your life as well. For more reassurance that you can make money when the market sky looks grim, see what our readers recommend as recession-safe investments. How to Conquer Your Fear of Investing [Get Rich Slowly]

Money making from home through designs all over the world - Tip of the Day...

Tell me, do you know what is Zazzle, Printfection, Artsnow, Spreadshirt, and Cafepress? ..Don't know?? Well, these are web companies where you can go RIGHT NOW and open an AMAZING free store, then you can start uploading all your images, graphics, designs, photos, or illustrations, for what? So they can PAY YOU from $1 dollar to $100 dollars (you choose how much you want to earn) in royalties for EVERY SINGLE TIME they sell a product (t-shirt, mouse pad, mug, sweater, poster, key chain, USB item, PSP cover, etc.) with your graphics printed on it! ..Incredible, isn't it? And, you know what is the best part of all this? Well, the best part of all this is that you DO NOT have to invest any money at all, NOT A SINGLE DOLLAR EVER, that's what make these companies so special, and that's why they have millions of members from all over the U.S. and around the world. Right Now this is the fastest and easiest way to make money Online, and right from home! The only investment you have to put up front is your artwork, that's it! ..Don't have designs to offer? ..No problem, keep reading!

These companies call this system, set it and forget it, why? Because, "literally" you don't have to do anything, they handle all the process for you. From making sure that all your designs get exposed globally through Google, to taking orders and shipping the products world wide, all they ask you is to submit a nice design so YOU and THEM can make money from it, understand?

The process is really simple, you open a free store, you submit your designs, then you choose how much money you want to earn in royalties for the use of your graphics on their products, and that's basically it (from your part), they do the rest! Now, as soon as they make a sale with your design printed on it they will immediately send you an Email letting you know of this transaction, so then you can go to your account and withdraw the payment, that's how it works! ..Simple isn't it? Most of these companies pay once a month, some pay via check (by regular mail) while others pay Online through PayPal.

Now, let me be honest with you, if you set up a store with just 1 or 2 designs probably you won't make any money at all, UNLESS you have super incredible designs, a never seen before designs, understand? But now, if you set up a store with 15-20 designs, then you are talking business, you are about to make good money! Believe it or not but your potential visitors will consider you as a full time designer (seller), understand? Now, if you set up a store with 50 or more designs then let me tell you that your success on ANY of these companies is 100% ALREADY GUARANTEED!!! Now, if you don't own 15, 20, or 50 designs then I suggest you to visit the address (link) below. This veteran Cafepress member has multiple stores with hundreds of designs, he has like 17 different stores and today is selling one of them and for only $125, well in reality what he's selling are all the designs that are in his store, 89 in total. Now tell me, do you know how many products you can put out for sale using these 89 designs? ..Any idea? ..Believe it or not but with 89 designs you could have RIGHT NOW over 9,700 products, that's a SUPER ULTRA MEGA MALL, and that's only through Cafepress, understand? The good thing about his designs is that all of them are in 300dpi of resolution which is the highest resolution that it can be produced for these print on demand web companies. Also, these images are already with Alpha 32bit Transparency which means that they can be used on ANY background color tshirt or material. I personally believe that $125 is a total steal, that's not even $2 dollars for each design, and considering that most graphic designers charge $55 dollars per hour then you can image, this is a great bargain. Another good thing about these designs is that all of them are related to one theme which is very crucial, VERY IMPORTANT to look professional in what you are offering to the public.

So, if you consider to get in this business, then I definitely recommend you to get this collection, even if you are not ready yet, why? Because he will be offering it only to a limited number of people, I believe it's no more than 10. Also, another good reason why you should get these designs is "because" every single year Americans spend billions of dollars in products related the Red, White and Blue flag, and these designs are related to it but in a very CLEAN, CLASSIC, and UNIQUE WAY that everybody loves, if you like Jeans then you will love his work! ..Ooh! Did I mention that 78% of the people who buy from these web companies are located in the US?

Well my friends, that was my tip of the day, I hope you like it and make good money with these companies! If you have a great info-tip please send it to me so I can publish it :-) Thanks for reading.

Bye.

Whatz Subprime crisis and Subprime pain: Who lost how much

The United States' subprime crisis has turned out to be bigger than previously thought and has the potential to drag the world's largest economy into a recession.

And although there are varying opinions on whether the US could slip into a recession or not, most economists do feel that despite the US Federal Reserve's rate cuts and the Bush administration's $161-billion economic aid plan, chances of a recession are high.

Be that as it may, one thing is for certain: the losses from the subprime that financial majors have incurred will take a long time to get over.

Given below, in the table, are the estimated losses that some of the world's largest banks have suffered on account of home loan defaults in the US. The total figure adds up to over $76 billion and does not take into account losses suffered by many other financial majors that had an exposure to the crisis.

Four Indian banks -- State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, and Bank of India too have big exposure to credit derivatives, with the spreads on these widening since international lenders turned risk-averse following the crisis in the US subprime (or high-risk home loan) market.

Credit derivatives are instruments for which the underlying asset is a loan or a bond. Marking to market means valuing a portfolio based on the prevailing market price.
Subprime losses till date

Bank - Losses -

Citigroup - $18.0 billion
UBS - $13.5 billion
Morgan Stanley - $9.4 billion
Merrill Lynch - $8.0 billion
HSBC - $3.4 billion
Bear Stearns - $3.2 billion
Deutsche Bank - $3.2 billion
Bank of America - $3.0 billion
Barclays - $2.6 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $2.6 billion

IKB - $2.6 billion
Societe Generale - $2.0 billion
Freddie Mac - $2.0 billion
Wachovia - $1.1 billion
Credit Suisse - $1.0 billion

ICICI Bank has the highest exposure of $1.5 billion. SBI has an estimated exposure of $1 billion, BoI of $300 million, and BoB of $150 million. About 5-10 per cent of this figure could be the losses that these banks could incur.

Understanding the subprime crisis

Just what is the subprime crisis? And why is it having such a decisive impact on the Indian stock market?

Let's understand it. Take, for example, an American who seeks a home loan, but does not have a very good credit rating. That essentially means that banks may not extend him a home loan. Enter, another American with stellar credit rating and the willingness to take on some risk. Given his good credit rating, banks are willing to give him a loan at a certain rate of interest.

This individual the divides the loan into small lots and gives them out as home loans to lots of Americans, who do not have very good credit rating and cannot get a home loan from any bank. He gives out the home loan at a rate of interest higher than it is paying to the bank it borrowed money from.

This higher rate is referred to as the subprime rate and this home loan market is referred to as the subprime home loan market.

By giving out a home loan to lots of individuals, the individual ensures that even if a few of them default, his overall position is not affected much. But the individual giving out loans in the subprime market does not stop here. He does not wait for the principal and the interest on the subprime home loans to be repaid, so that he can repay his loan to the bank, which has given him the loan.

He goes ahead and securitizes these loans. Securitization involves converting these home loans into financial securities, which promise to pay a certain rate of interest.

These financial securities are then sold to big institutional investors. The interest and the principal that is repaid by the subprime borrowers through equated monthly installments is passed onto these institutional investors.

The individual giving out the subprime loans, takes the money that he gets from selling the financial securities and passes it on to the bank, he had taken the loan from, thereby repaying the loan.

A neat plan. But then things went horribly wrong. The subprime home loans were given out as floating rate home loans. So as interest rates increased, the rates on floating home loans too went up, and so did the monthly installments needed to service these loans.

These high installments hit the subprime borrowers with the terrible force. Many, given their poor credit rating to begin with, defaulted. Once, more and more subprime borrowers started defaulting, payments to the institutional investors who had bought the financial securities stopped, leading to huge losses.

So how did that effect stock markets in India? Institutional investors who had invested in securitized paper from the subprime home loan market, saw their investments turning into losses. Most big investors have a certain fixed proportion of their total investments invested in various parts of the world.

Once investments in the US turned bad, more money had to be invested in the US, to maintain that fixed proportion. In order to invest more money in the US, money had to come in from somewhere. And this money came in from emerging markets like India, where their investments have been doing well.

These big institutional investors, to make good of their losses on the subprime market, have been selling their investments in India and other emerging markets. Since the amount of selling in the market far overweighs the amount of buying, Indian stock prices have been falling.
Additional inputs: Business Standard

India Inc to face difficulty in fund raising

MUMBAI: Turbulent markets, wary investors and sinking valuations could force some Indian companies to adjust their expectations when they go to raise money for their mega projects, analysts and consultants said on Tuesday.

Some companies will be forced to swallow a lower valuation in order to raise money, while a few may have to offer sweeteners, such as additional shares, in order to complete the transaction.

India Inc is likely to raise over $12 billion through a mix of equity, rights, debt issues over the next five months. Most of the money will be used to build power plants, refineries and retail networks and bank branches. Last week, this kind of fund raising would have hardly raised eyebrows among investment banks and corporate finance executives. But today, it makes them break into cold sweat.

“They have to offer more equity to raise required capital. Even if they do so, one is not sure if they can raise the funds because there is a serious dearth of funds in the equity as well as the debt markets across the global,” Ambit Corporate Finance partner and CEO Ashok Wadhwa said.

Tata group plans to raise funds for acquisitions and capital expansion in steel, tea, chemicals, auto, IT and hospitality segments while the Essar group will be raising funds for refinery expansion, vessel acquisitions and power plants construction. The Aditya Birla Group firms, Hindalco Industries and Aditya Birla Nuvo, have also announced similar plans.

In the case of some companies, the fund raising is spread out over a few years, so they can afford a slight delay. Some others can turn to private equity instead of markets, though here again, valuations could play spoilsport. Private equity fund managers are likely to demand a fair and reasonable valuation.

Industry observers said the on-going carnage is expected to delay some of the plans. This could result in an increase in the number of PE deals in the domestic market.

"If the market continues to be choppy, the companies have to revisit their expectation on valuations. The investors, especially, in the QIP and FCCB sectors, may not agree with the projections of corporates. Even long-term investors like private equity firms may force corporates to revise the valuations," a senior official with Ernst & Young said.

However, companies disagree that their fund raising plans will be hit. Essar Power MD Arun K Srivastava, for instance, said power companies will not be hit.

" Power companies, which have got fuel tie-up, clearances from the government and marketing agreements, could raise the required funds. But the companies, which have not firmed up their projects, will be affected when they raise money from the market." JSW Group director finance Sheshagiri Rao also said steel companies would not be impacted.

FW: Superb quote

met money one day. I said, "You are just a piece of paper."

Money smiled and said, "Of course I'm a piece of paper, but I haven't
seen a dustbin yet, in my life".

Flying Economy : Q1 9.3% Growth

Indian economy grows surprise 9.3 percent in Q1

NEW DELHI — India's economy accelerated by a surprise 9.3 percent in the first quarter as industry and services grew strongly but a slowdown loomed, analysts warned Friday.

The quicker pace of growth in the April to June period in South Asia's largest economy exceeded analysts' expectations of around 8.9 percent and outpaced the 9.1 percent expansion in the previous quarter, data showed.

"The GDP figures have come in strong," said Manika Premsingh at Edelweiss Capital, but she warned of slower expansion in coming quarters as a result of a steady tightening of monetary policy to curb inflation.

India's economy grew by 9.4 percent in the financial year to March 2007, buoyed by an increasingly affluent middle class, and is the second-fastest growing after China.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram said he was "confident GDP growth will remain close to nine per cent this year" even though first-quarter growth was "a shade below" the 9.6 percent expansion logged in the year-ago period.

Other data Friday showed inflation slipped just below four percent for the first time in over 15 months for the week ended August 18, down from 4.10 percent the previous week and well under central bank targets.

But economists said the fall in the wholesale price index, India's closest watched inflation measure, was mainly due to a high year-ago base effect when inflation was 5.12 percent.

"For now, it does not seem likely the central bank will loosen rates in a hurry... (as) the economy continues to grow at an above trend pace," said Premsingh.

The latest growth figures reflected a robust performance by manufacturing, which grew by 11.9 percent year-on-year. Services accelerated by 10.6 percent.

Agriculture, which the government is hoping to stimulate to boost overall growth, expanded by 3.8 percent.
"Construction has surprised on the upside and agriculture has turned out a bit stronger than expected," said Soumitra Choudhury, economic advisor at credit rating agency ICRA.

The growth data helped to lift India's benchmark Sensex index by 1.30 percent or 196.86 points to 15,318.60, for its sixth straight day of gains.

"The GDP numbers were strong in absolute terms, it was a good indicator for the market," said Naresh Garg, chief investment officer at Sahara Mutual fund.

The better growth data prompted some economists to boost full-year forecasts.

But the economy would still expand more slowly this year than last, when growth was the fastest in nearly two decades, according to their predictions.

Monetary tightening may already be cooling the economy. Sales of cars, motorbikes and trucks have dropped as interest rates have surged to five-year highs. Consumer durables spending has also fallen.

JP Morgan said it would likely hike its full-year growth forecast to around 8.6 percent from 8.0 percent earlier. India's central bank has forecast 8.5 percent growth.

"Growth in the remainder of the year will moderate slightly owing to the combined impact of monetary tightening and recent rupee appreciation," said JP Morgan economist Rajeev Malik, who forecast a "pronounced" slowdown in consumer spending.

The rupee is trading at around eight-year highs against the dollar after hitting close to decade peaks earlier this year.

Many analysts said India was relatively protected from the US subprime crisis, noting the direct exposure of domestic banks to the credit woes is limited.

But some analysts warned the subprime turmoil could cause a "significant" slowdown if it persists for more than a few months, for instance if it staunches foreign investment flows into India.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the economy needs to grow by at least 10 percent annually to address widespread, crushing poverty.