If you’re unfamiliar with terms like “financial planning” and “personal finance” and what they entail, then you probably need a financial planning book. Personal financial planning has been emphasized quite a bit lately through the various media channels, and terms such as those mentioned above have become buzzwords with how people seem to be going on about the importance of financial planning. Fact of the matter is, anyone who isn’t a financial adviser or a financial planner should have a financial planning book. To determine if you need a financial planning book, read the rest of this article. If most of the concepts presented seem alien to you, then you should get yourself a book today. For those who are not aware of what financial planning is all about, it is a process by which a person works out the necessary steps to meet his expected needs and come up with countermeasures for the unforeseen circumstances he might encounter financially. Factors such as inflation and changing lifestyle need to be taken into consideration when coming up with a personal financial plan. When planning for your future financial needs, you need to know the technical jargon and concepts of certain financial instruments and how money works. Without adequate knowledge of any of these, it would be hard pressed for you to come up with an effective financial plan for yourself or your family. Take debt for example. Are you aware that debt is one the major financial issues that people face today? Are you in debt yourself? Just how do you get out of debt? Most people who are in debt feel like they’re trapped in a vicious and endless cycle, especially those who borrow to pay off their debts. They feel like they have no way out; no way to be free from the shackles of debt that weigh them down financially. Getting out of debt requires careful planning, and adequate knowledge of how to make your money work for you. A book on personal money management can help you to come up with ways of how to manage your debts and eventually become debt-free. How about retirement? Do you know how much you need at the end of the day for your retirement fund? With increasing inflation and changing lifestyle needs, are you prepared for a costlier cost of living by the time you’re old enough to retire? Do you know what investments to consider when planning for your retirement? Should you bank on day trading or mutual funds? How about insurance? How will that help you financially at the end of the day? So in summary, a financial planning book can help you understand the concepts that you’re required to know when coming up with an effective financial plan. A comprehensive book can cover anything, from basics like personal money management and budgeting to something even more complex like money market investments and insurance. If you find yourself having more questions about financial planning by the end of this article, then rest assured you do need a financial planning book. So get one today.
Archive for June, 2010
Four Reasons to Join a Book Club
Introductory Offer Introductory offer is probably the most effective means of attracting new members that most book clubs employ. Typically, a prospective member is offered a number of books for a symbolic price – for example, 5 or 6 books for 99¢ is the most common type of IO, featured by the majority of book-of-the-month type of clubs, which account for a large percentage of the book club market. Sounds too good to be true, is most people’s initial reaction upon meeting with such an offer for the first time. But is it? Well, the answer is both yes and no. The offer is real, you do actually get half a dozen or so hard-bound bestsellers of your choice for practically nothing, but: what is not advertised in big bold letters is that you still have to pay for shipping and handling charges, which typically come to about $15, and which, when added, deflate the magnificence of the deal to an extent. That said, 5 or 6 new hard-bound books of your choice for $3 apiece (or less), total, is not an offer you will find elsewhere and is still an excellent reason to join a book club. Savings Taking advantage of the introductory offer described above will probably account for the majority of your savings as a book club member (depending on how long you decide to stay), but that is not to say that afterwards you are done with it. The savings, that is. On the contrary. All book clubs offer substantial discounts on publisher’s prices for their members: these can be anywhere from 30% to 80%, sometimes even more. But that’s not all. To give their members even more reason to stay, book clubs regularly feature additional discounts and special deals: offers such as “buy two books and get a third for $1.99″, or “make a purchase in January and get a free book in February” will come your way regularly. Omnibuses, encyclopedias, large print editions, these can also save you a lot of money, especially if you squeeze them into your introductory offer. Book clubs usually carry plenty of somewhat older (hard-bound) titles by many popular authors with prices like $7.99, or lower even: $4.99 is not such a rare a price tag, and even $2.99 can be seen on occasion. Another way of saving money that some people use is by canceling and rejoining – thus effectively taking advantage of the introductory offer over and over. Although book clubs would, of course, prefer it by far that you stayed a member for a long time and buy many many books, and although they state that they “reserve the right to refuse memberships”, if you cancel your membership and then decide to rejoin at a later date, they will usually take you back without a question. In fact, some time after canceling you will likely receive an e-mail inviting you to rejoin, and along with it a special online code to enter at the club web site and be privy to an even better deal than the standard introductory offer (less commitment books, for example). Editorial Recommendations and Insider’s Scoops Book club members receive a free Club Magazine on a regular basis (usually once every 3 weeks or so). Each issue of the Magazine features one or two Selections – new books chosen by the club’s editors as the must-read of the moment – plus hundreds of other books to consider. The Magazine offers real value. The publishing industry spews out hundreds of books each month, so the editors have to cut through a lot of titles to present you the ones you should consider. Becoming a Featured Selection, therefore, is no small feat. Only the best, a crème de la crème, make it to that status. Moreover, the Selections these days are accommodated to your personal taste, based on your previous purchases and declared interests. In short, the Magazine provides a great way to keep current with the happenings in the literary world, find out about the latest titles from your favorite authors, or discover some fresh new talent. Many people actually keep memberships in different book clubs mainly for this reason: to receive recommendations on what’s hot. Selection of Reading Material At first glance, this seems like one area where large online book retailers with their almost infinite selection of books – new or used – hold a significant advantage over book clubs. However, that actually depends on what your reading preferences are. If you are into latest bestsellers – fiction or non-fiction – then it’s likely one of the bestseller book clubs will cater to your needs perfectly, and at a lower cost. If you have a special interest, such as cooking; personal growth and spiritual development; history; home decoration; or you might be into romance books or mysteries or science fiction, or any of dozens of special interests that have a book club dedicated to it, then joining a book club is not a bad idea also. As mentioned above, book clubs employ editors who are experts on their given subject and will separate the wheat from the chaff for you saving you both time and money. Another thing is, book clubs print their own editions and will often have some unique proposals for their members: hardbound books (sometimes long out of print) that were originally available only in soft cover; exclusive omnibuses containing several volumes in a single binding. Bestseller book clubs carry entire backlists by such popular authors as Stephen King, Danielle Steel, John Grisham etc. An added attraction is, most of these books aren’t available in book stores – not the hardcover versions, anyway – and, what’s more, they often go for bargain prices ($7.99 or so). Finally, it’s worth mentioning that most of the book-of-the-month type of clubs today are joined under a single roof by one company. The significance of this for you, a potential member, is this: by joining one of the book clubs you gain [...]
Students Say African American Achievement Equals Expectations
The numbers are sometimes dismal. The African American achievement gap that almost disappeared in the 1970s and 1980s has widened again between White students and people of color. Many theories have been attributed to the declining levels of African American achievement from apathetic parents, to violent communities, to negative images seen in the media. However, if you talk to many students they will say the low expectation levels that educators have toward economically-disadvantaged students is what has led to the wider achievement gap, according to a study by scholar Kati Haycock. Students in economically-disadvantaged schools say they are given teachers who are not knowledgeable about the material they are teaching, counselors who place them in lower-level classes because they underestimate their potential and principals who dismiss their concerns about the quality of the education they are receiving. Some say they drop out because they are bored out of school by the low-level work. In her study, Haycock stated that in urban middle schools she observed many coloring assignments, rather than writing or Math assignments. She also discovered many coloring assignments in urban high schools. Students who were assigned to read the book To Kill a Mockingbird were told to color a map based on the book, after they completed the reading. Haycock believes to increase African American achievement, and achievement in other minority groups, “Clear and public standards for what students should learn at benchmark grade levels are a crucial part of solving the problem. They are a guide-for teachers, administrators, parents and students themselves-to what knowledge and skills students must master.” The different expectations seem evident in Klein Independent School District in the Houston area where African American achievement in Math and Science between students at the more affluent schools versus those at less-affluent schools is evident. At the more affluent Klein High School and Klein Collins High School, 69 percent and 67 percent of African American students, respectively, passed the Math portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. However, at the less affluent Klein Forest High School only 53 percent passed. On the Science portion of the TAKS test, 75 percent of African Americans at Klein High School passed, while 72 percent of African Americans at Klein Collins High School passed. Nevertheless, at Klein Forest, only 62 percent passed. Despite the subpar numbers in Science and Math, African American achievement in English/Reading and Social Studies in Klein are extremely high, with 92 percent, 87 percent and 92 percent of African Americans passing the English/Language Arts/Reading portion at Klein, Klein Forest and Klein Collins respectively. The numbers in Social Studies was similar with 93 percent passage at Klein and 91 percent passage at Klein Forest and Klein Collins. To combat the declining levels of African American achievement, University of Illinois associate professor Alfred Tatum created the African American Adolescent Male Summer Literacy Institute in Chicago where he encourages his students to question what they learn in school and “fight against ignorance and shallow thinking.” The students focus on different authors, such as Claude McKay, Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks, and then they write expressing their thoughts through short stories, poems and letters to future program participants. Many participants of the program who thought that they would be bored like they are in school, have been captivated by the power of words and the knowledge they receive from Tatum, who has shown them that greatness can be achieved if we expect and demand it.
Posted in Historical Fiction Books 
Tags: Achievement, African, American, Equals, Expectations, Students 
Comments OffFocus is the Key to Online Business Success
The Internet is a vast sea of online business opportunities, and if you get lost on that expansive ocean, then you’re going to be adrift in the middle without direction and will eventually drown. In online business, as well as any other business, really, focus is your compass. If you know who and what you’re targeting, you’ll be able to head straight for it, without getting distracted by the other ‘ports’ that won’t buy what you’ve got onboard. Here are a few things that you should really focus on in your online business so you won’t be set adrift. FOCUS YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS ON A TARGET AUDIENCE Before you can start marketing your online business, you really need to know who is going to utilize your business. If you’re selling something, make sure you know who will want to buy it. If you’re operating a blog, make sure you know who is going to read it. Once you know your online business’s target audience, you can begin to market to them. When you’re marketing, make sure that you are marketing to your target audience. Everyone isn’t going to want your product. That’s an unfortunate truth that many business owners refuse to acknowledge, and they eventually sink. If you know who does want your product, then you won’t waste time or money marketing to the people who don’t. Focusing on a specific, targeted audience can be the difference between success and failure in an online business. FOCUS ON CONTENT COHESION IN YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS Make sure that your online business does not stray away from itself. For example, if you have a site that sells nature photography, don’t start selling heavy metal CDs at random. If you feel that heavy metal complements your nature photography well, great. By all means, sell them together. But you have to change both your online business and your marketing strategy so that the nature photography and heavy metal are cohesive and sell together naturally. You have to show, or make clear somehow, the link between the two so that your target audience understands. Likewise, if you’re running a more information based online business, like a blog, make sure that your content stays cohesive. If your blog is about fiction writing, then keep it about fiction writing; if it is about music, keep it about music. Again, you can introduce other topics to the blog that you feel complement fiction writing or music, but make sure that the links between subjects are clear. A confused consumer is a hesitant consumer, and hesitation is the first step towards not buying something. FOCUS ON SPECIFIC GOALS FOR YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS An online business is often the result of a big dream for the future. Without these big dreams, an online business is like a novel without any themes. It may be neat to read, but it has no meaning. Without dreams and big ideas, your online business will fail. But failure is also certain if you get so caught up in that dream that you forget about the day-to-day work that goes with any business. Make specific goals that you want to reach in your online business every day, every week, every month, and focus on meeting those, not on achieving your overall dream. Goals can be met. Focusing on goals gives your online business overall focus. The time to consider your dream is when you’re making goals. Absolutely make sure that each goal will lead to the fulfillment of your dream, but focus on the completion of your goals.
Orville: A Dog Story
Product DescriptionA big, ugly dog is happy to meet a farmer and his wife who decide to give him a name and a home, but not so happy when they chain him to the barn. All Orville can do is bark to tell the world how unhappy he is, and the more he barks, the more he is left alone. But everything changes when Sally MacIntosh moves into the little house across the road and Orville falls in love. A beautifully crafted text that blends wry humor with the poignant twang of a country-and-we… More >> Orville: A Dog Story
Writing Fiction ? How to Make Your Characters Come to Life
When writing fiction, it is important to be able to have an interesting plot and several well developed characters that your readers (should you get published) will begin to care about. Characters after all, can make or break a story or novel because if you do not manage to make them become believable entities, why should anyone wish to continue to read? Writing fiction is about providing pure escapism and helping the reader to be able to submerge themselves into your story so that they can forget the trials and tribulations of their own existence. If you are a new writer and are considering writing fiction, you need to really think about where your story is going and how you yourself can start to believe in your characters as this is a required element. When writing fiction and developing characters, you can make life easier for yourself by paying attention to the following steps: - Know what type of story you are going to write. Make sure that you know exactly what is going to happen from start to finish. You may find that this changes the general direction you have originally envisaged, however as your characters grow within the story, when it happens, it means that the characters are starting to come to life. - Think about the type of characters who would be required to support the plot. Your characters also need to be multi-faceted. Let them have some faults or annoying habits, but also give them some positive traits-even the villain of the piece is unlikely to be all bad. Writing fiction is a little like playing god, you will know when you have really started to connect with them because you will have reservations about endangering them or writing them out of your story. - Provide a detailed history of their lives before you start writing your story. You do not need to list every aspect of this list to your readers but it does help you as the author to know your character inside out. This way, you can have some element within their past which affects how they react to specific situations. This makes them human….and believable. - Throw some conflicting situations at your characters. How they cope with these difficult situations will help them to develop and it will also help your readers to connect with them. When writing fiction, you will find new and improved ideas which will keep both your interest and those of your reader becoming stronger and more influential. Whether writing a short story or novel, some basic planning is essential as this not only helps the writer to continue the plot through to the end sentence but helps the writer to create believable characters that are alive and kicking and this is an important part when writing fiction.
Organize Your Ebook Collection
An ebook collection tends to reflect its owner. Some are scattered over the space of a hard drive with no rhyme or reason, and maybe a few are on a flash drive in the bottom of a purse somewhere or an a spare hard drive or CD-ROM. And some are meticulously organized with each book in it own folder, and the folders of ebooks in the same genre are in another folder, and all the folders of that general category are in yet another main folder. Some ebook collections might fall somewhere in between. One folder for all the ebooks, with only one or two folders inside that to separate fiction from non-fiction or self-help from history, so the digital books are loosely organized but at least all in one place. If your ebook collection is scattered, you can organize it much more quickly than you ever imagined. And if your ebooks are already micro-organized, you won’t have to mess with your system of organization. You won’t have to move your ebooks around at all, unless you want to. If you choose good book inventory software that also allows you to list ebooks, you can easily add ebooks to your catalog and never have to worry about reorganizing your hard drive. Sure the software will let you catalog your books, but that doesn’t really organize them, does it? It doesn’t let you literally organize them, but it lets you virtually organize them. You can add labels of your choice and organize your ebook collection however you choose. You can sort by fiction and non-fiction, if you’re a general category kind of person. You can hyper-sort by genres, level of violence, book length or ever by whether or not you like the cover graphic. How you organize your library is your decision. But how’s that going to help you find an ebook that’s on a flash drive somewhere? That’s probably the only thing that good book inventory software can’t do. But you could make a label, let’s call it Flash 1 for instance, and attach it to that ebook to indicate it’s on flash drive 1 (assuming you have more than one). Or you could leave a comment with that ebook saying the same. Then when you browse through your ebook collection, your note or label will be there telling you where the ebook is. You can do that with your printed books, too, by leaving yourself a note that the book “Get Organized Yesterday” is in the box of knick-knacks under the chair that’s covered with books. Your ebook collection may not take up as much space or look as impressive as your printed book collection, but it’s just as valuable to you .And ebooks are surprisingly easy to lose, as anyone who has ever accidentally deleted a folder or file will tell you. Ebook collection capable software, though, can help you keep better track of your digital books by letting you see the collection as a whole after you make a library.
Book Writing – How to Transform Your Brilliant Idea Into a Book
Your book’s content is vital to your book’s success. Readers don’t buy books because the front covers entice them. They buy books for knowledge or entertainment. They seek to gain a new experience or add value to their lives. Writers believe the hardest part of writing a book is writing from an initial idea. How should you conceptualize your idea? What’s your story’s angle and its focal point? You need to make many decisions to write a book that readers find worth reading! Here are some fast tips to write a book from an idea. Tip 1: Write a brief book. Build your confidence as a writer with a mini-masterpiece. Call it a trial and error method. Test your skills as a book author. Make your ideas poignant and your punch lines catchy. Tip 2: Focus on a single topic. To avoid confusion, concentrate on one topic. Organize your thoughts that support your book’s main idea. Tip 3. What is your book’s purpose? Why are you writing it? Who will benefit from it? You write a book so that others will read it. Think about your readers and what they want. Tip 4. Hire the services of a book coach or professional editor. Let friends and family critic your masterpiece; then incorporate their ideas into your book. This is one way of soliciting responses and reactions from first-hand readers before you publish your book. Tip 5. Appeal to your readers’ sentiments, emotions, and beliefs. Self-help and inspirational books are common. People who are too ashamed to consult professionals turn to self-help books to answer their problems. Writing a book from idea is never a daunting task if you know where to start and how to do it. Tip 6. Inspire yourself to write a book. Most writers agree that writing a book requires inspiration — and lots of it! Having the right insight and ideas can help you paint that perfect picture of words that will touch your readers. Many writers deal with writer’s block at some point during their writing. In fact, finding inspiration is an obstacle that most writers encounter. You can find inspiration everywhere around you. If you learn how to inspire yourself, you will find it easier to write your book and avoid writer’s block. TIP 7: Use your personal experience. One common trend among many famous authors, which can be useful to you, is how their personal lives influence their work. The human experience has been a classic source of fascination and inspiration. Writing about your own experiences gives you material that you truly know best. How do daily events affect you as a person? Maybe you learned something new, or met somebody new who influenced you. Maybe a life-altering event affected you in some way. If you experienced something unforgettable, then this experience may appeal to other people as well. Dig deep into your personal history. Think about significant childhood memories that have influenced you in your life. Recall instances where you have experienced extreme emotions like joy, sorrow or anger. These emotions can help you focus on writing about human emotions and help you formulate well-rounded characters in your writing. Tip 8: Use the viewpoint of others. Another common source of inspiration is through a second person point of view. Many times, the lives and conversations of other people can inspire you and your story. Pay attention to the people around you. Notice their behavior and listen to their conversations. Instilling something you have learned from someone else’s point of view can benefit your writing. You may never know when you will bump into an intellectual person who might influence your thinking with different opinions and philosophies. Keep a writing notebook or journal and jot down ideas you get from other people; then you can return to your journal for sources of inspiration and creativity. Noticing peoples’ quirky personalities can help influence your ideas and shape your characters. This can help you write a story with interesting characters, plots, and storylines that readers can relate to. Tip 9: Adapt stories that capture your interest. The news, different cultures, myths and even fairy tales are examples of stories that may trigger your imagination. These stories can be great sources of inspiration to build your work around. A popular trend among fiction writers is adapting myths and fairytales into a contemporary setting, so their stories become relatable to the modern world. If you are trying to write fiction, then adding a twist on the original story can make it original and interesting for your readers. You can inspire and influence your thinking by reading different things, and use it to help create your own masterpiece. This is called creating Art from Art. Many brilliant writers use this technique to develop their work. You may never know when you will stumble upon something in the newspaper or on the Internet that triggers your interest. You can tap into many different ways to inspire yourself. Ideas for inspiration are floating everywhere around you at this moment. Sometimes, even the simplest things like nature, an unusual life experience, an accidentally overheard conversation, or even a favorite childhood fairytale can inspire you. If you experience writer’s block, just remember to clear your mind. Take time to relax. Be open to anything that may create that special spark in your mind. You may never know when that next big idea might hit you.
5 Reasons Why Audio Books Spell the End of Paper Books
Audio books have gone crazy in popularity in the last couple of years. The technology involved, number of titles published added to the realization of the benefits that audio books can offer have combined to bring them very much into the mainstream as a genuine alternatives to paper back or hard back books. Indeed in many situations they offer much more than a traditional book could – You couldn’t learn a language from a paper book while walking the dog could you? Of course not, but with an audio book you can! So it will come as no surprise that so many people are going nuts for audiobooks. Here are just a few of the advantages that audio books have over normal hardcover or paperback books: 1) You can make incredibly constructive use of dead time. Time that would be otherwise utterly impossible to fill with a paper book. For example, listen to a section of a hyper motivational audiobook while on the way to work. You’ll not only learn but also save the time spent reading such a book. More than that though, a book is a passive device that you have to draw information out of. An audio book in comparison pushes it to you. In the example of motivational audiobooks that’s a huge advantage as you can get the worlds best motivational trainers giving you a pre-work zip up talk every morning. That will, I absolutely guarantee you, energize you for the day ahead. 2) Audio books are much more cost efficient and environment kind than hard back and paper backs. Very simply they don’t need trees to be cut down and greenhouse gases released to produce them. 3) With mp3 player functions such as mid track resume, bookmarking or simple visual chapter selection you can flip through them easily and quickly. Pick up where you left off or find a place quickly again just like that. 4) You can listen to an audiobook when it’s dark (example – walking the dog at night when you have no lights). So, with an audio book you can still ‘read’ no matter what the time or situation. I find them great when out fishing at night when you don’t want to use a light but do want to have a book going. 5) Get the children to sleep faster – With an audiobook, unlike a traditional book you can simply play it for them until they fall asleep. Plus with audio books specifically for children the narrator(s) are expert actor/speakers trained to read children’s books so they make them loads of fun and then there are extras like the sound effects that really bring it to life better than you can (sorry to say but it’s true!) So why not go and check out some audiobooks today and find out for yourself how useful and how fun they are. There are loads of free audio books as well so you can test the water for free as well.
All About Online Textbooks Search
Are you one of the thousands of students conducting a frantic textbooks search for the cheapest buys in all the stores around you? Move the search indoors. Turn on the computer, log on to the Internet and get busy. Textbooks can be bought much cheaper online. And that holds true for both the new and used variety. Copies from a few months to a few years old can easily be found with a simple textbooks search. The available selection is huge and diverse. Even books out of circulation can be found online and often for a very good price. Why Are Online Textbooks Cheaper? Sellers on the web buy in bulk from publishers at discounted prices. They are therefore able to offer such low prices. And they have little choice really. An online buyer has such a wide variety of choices available that he should be given a compelling price to buy from you. The competition amongst booksellers online is far tougher than for regular booksellers and not just because of the options available to the buyer. It is also due to the many websites giving comparative costs of particular books on various online stores in a matter of a few clicks. Such a books search can reveal the best options to buyers at once. Where To Look? When doing a textbooks search first checkout CompareTextbook.com. Type in the name of the book you need and the website instantly shows all the online stores selling it and the prices offered. If you have the patience, eBay auctions can fetch you very good prices. If not, try half.com which sells directly at low prices. Amazon also offers some great prices on absolutely new books so before you squander the money at a regular bookstore do a textbooks search online. For quick results search by the book’s ISBN.