The holidays are a wonderful time of year. The holidays are a time of giving, but sometimes the giving can get out of control and cause some headaches. Everyone wants to give their family and friends the best but it is at your expense. Sometimes this is fine but sometimes it can bring on some major debt for families. Here are some tips on how to get a hold of your holiday debt.

Budget

Prior to the holiday season, make sure to be aware of your current financial situation. Go through your finances and see what you can budget for and plan from there. If you know you can spend a certain amount in total, than divvy up where you can spend those funds. Some people know they can get out of control when it comes to gift giving. When you are one of those people, it is imperative that you budget before your spending becomes a problem.

Earn Extra

Parents want their kids to have the best christmas and will often go above and beyond to make it happen. The best way to do this is to earn as much extra cash as you can. Working extra hours or overtime is a good option. No matter what the sacrifice, if you are in a better financial situation during the holidays than it will relieve some stress.

Start Early

It is a fact that the holidays are financially burdensome. If you spread out the financial strain throughout the year than it will easier to handle. Now this takes a lot of planning and discipline to execute but it will be for the greater good. Maybe start buying in the summer or buy as see good deals throughout the year.

DIY

Make your own gifts! People tend to save money when they do it on their own, and it often is more well received from others because the thought and time was spent on them. Making things are cheaper because materials are typically cheaper and not marked up. For example, you would pay more to buy a painting than to paint one yourself.

Borrow Wisely

If all of this doesn’t seem to cut it and you need to borrow money, whether it be credit card debt, lines of credit or even a loan, be sure you are doing it in a smart way. Make sure to research online and compare credit cards to see which ones will work for your favor (rewards, rates, etc.). Some lenders report to the credit bureau and it allows you can actually improve your credit score while borrowing. Sometimes the rewards from credit cards can be used during the holiday season as well, so looking into this early on will work in this situation as well. If you look at your debt to income ratio that can tell you if you are making a wise decision. You don’t want that ratio to be too high.

With these tips you can hopefully avoid making the holiday season a stressful time because of finances. Get ahead of your debt while you can.

For many people working from is a dream. Being in control of your own time and environment, avoiding the dreaded commute, and being able to combine paid work with childcare or other responsibilities combine to make it a very attractive prospect.

How can you live this dream? It’s not easy but this guide can help you find the path to the solution that works for you!

Personality

Before you start, you need to take a good look at yourself: if you’re going to make working from home work for you long term, you’ll need the right personal qualities.

Are you a self-motivated, self-directed worker? If you’re not able to work efficiently with no one leaning over your shoulder but yourself, you need to work on developing this skill. If you can’t set and fulfil goals for yourself, working from home is going to be fatal to your productivity.

Also, if you’re a true extrovert you could find working from home more challenging than you expected. While someone who prefers not to chat while they work will be in heaven, if you rely on social interaction to grease your mental wheels you’ll find yourself isolated and suffering with a prolonged period of home working.

Talk to Your Employer

Different companies have different attitudes to home working. Most prefer their employees in the premises they’re spending a great deal of money on, unless there’s a good reason to have them away.

If you have a good reason however, that impacts your productivity, like wanting to continue work in some capacity whilst providing childcare, this is worth discussing. The key is to identify the ways working from home will help you contribute more to your employer.

Of course, if you’re planning to go freelance, you have total control over where and how you work, at the cost of some security and benefits.

Professional Help

There are plenty of professional services that can provide extra help when you’re working away from your office. Co-working spaces are springing up for the growing number of freelancers and professionals who want to dip into an office environment, at least sometimes. Some London storage facilities offer work desks and conference rooms to broaden their appeal to professionals who are running businesses rather than storing furniture.

All of these extra services can boost your productivity and help when isolation strikes and you crave the background hum of a busy office.

If you’re running a business, your main priority has to be running that business. In the early days you’ll be concerned with meeting day to day challenges and establishing a customer base, then potentially growing into new markets and new locations. If you’re involved in running a bigger, more established business, your most likely to spend your time making sure you can keep providing the service to customers as they expect, and ensure the employees relying on you get paid.

What this means is that while you become an expert on running your business, there are areas of knowledge you simply don’t have time to develop. It makes sense to hire permanent members of staff to fill some of these gaps: it will save you time and trouble to have a dedicated member of HR staff once you’re business reaches medium size, and depending on your needs it may be worthwhile having a full time IT specialist.

For other situations, it may be worth hiring a consultant or an Interim Manager.

These are specialists, who are adept at coming into businesses and working over the short term to achieve specific goals, and are able to leave afterwards with no costly, drawn out redundancy process.

These specialists come with a hefty price tag, and it’s important make sure you’re getting maximum value for money when you hire them.

Firstly, make sure you’re getting the right person for the job. An Interim Manager has very particular skills, and they’ll be very effective in situations of crisis and change, but less so if you’re trying to simply access a new market or reform your processes. Discuss your needs with an executive search company and they can guide you to the right professionals to help you.

Secondly, you need to have clear aims in mind. This is something else a Consultant or Interim specialist recruiter could help you to crystallize. Try to create a clear picture of how you want your business to look after you’ve worked with a consultant, and distill that down to a list of concrete goals like increasing turnover by a set percentage, or accessing a clearly defined new market. Asking how they would achieve these goals will help guide your initial conversations with consultants.

Finally, don’t be afraid to cut the relationship short: review progress regularly, and if the consultant isn’t delivering what they delivered, don’t feel shy about dispensing with their services. Remember, your business has to come first.

With Theresa May recently firming up a controversial deal with Northern Ireland’s DUP to ensure she has a working majority in parliament, all eyes were on the Queen’s Speech this week. Here, Theresa May had the chance to lay out her agenda for government and people are interested to see which election pledges will make it from the campaign trail to legislation.

While many of the more controversial ideas (like removing the ban on foxhunting, for example) aren’t currently a priority, some ideas for stimulating the economy in anticipation of problems following Britain’s leaving the European Union were announced.

One of these measures is a ‘Space Bill’, intended to make the UK an attractive base for space industries. The bill would grant the government new powers to license different activities, from vertical rocket launches to the development and testing of ‘space planes’.

Unfortunately, it seems the government’s plans to make the UK Europe’s Cape Canaveral might not get off the launchpad.

Much of the UK’s existing space industries rely heavily on cooperation with their opposite numbers across Europe, sharing expertise and manufacturing capability with multiple different agencies in the EU. With Brexit threatening the free movement of both experts and materials, the space industry in the UK could shrink, rather than growing to account for 10% of the world’s space-based business.

Recent successes in European space science have been founded on cooperation, with the project to place the Philae lander on a comet involving scientists and engineers from across all of Europe.

With the threat of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU freezing British space industries out of business contracts, Brexit could set our science and engineering back years. Richard Peckman, chair of UKSpace, the trade association said ““Staff mobility and supply chain are a massive issue for us…We’ll be asking, is Britain still the place to work in this industry?” Does it make sense to do business here?”. This is putting deals worth hundreds of millions at risk, as UK businesses are reluctant to bid for projects they may not be able to fulfil.

While the final form that Brexit will take is yet to be seen, the many UK businesses working on space travel and research have to be hoping it will allow scientists to work wherever they can make the best strides forward, and with access to the materials they need.

There is quite a range of auto insurance costs out there. Even when considering similar coverage options. It can be a bit confusing to go into without doing research on the topic. Here are some of the different factors that will determine the cost of your auto insurance premium.

Your Age

It’s a simple fact that younger drivers have to pay more than older ones. Younger drivers are less seasoned on the road. They have also had less time to prove themselves reliable and safe with great driving records. Senior drivers often have to pay higher rates for insurance as well. They’re more likely to be considered a higher risk driver than someone in middle age.

The Age of Your Car

The age of car plays in the insurance factor as well. New cars are often more expensive to repair than old cars. For this reason, the insurance tends to be higher on them as well. The condition of your car can also play into this for similar reasons. The style of your car plays a part as well. Sporty cars might be fun but they can be considered more dangerous. That’s a price you’ll pay for on the insurance side of things.

What Kind of Safety Features Your Car Has

Cars that have nifty safety features will be considered safer to drive. Many cars now have rear cameras and sensors that help to park and prevent bumping into things. Having this feature decreases the likelihood that you might rear end someone. Your insurance company will see this as a plus, and potentially offer you a lowered rate because of it.

How Often You Drive

How much you actually use your car will also affect the price of your auto insurance. If you don’t drive it every day or put on few miles there is less of a chance that you will need to use your insurance. The more you drive the more maintenance you need, and the more likely it is that you might have a fender bender.

Where You Live

Each country and state has different rules about auto insurance rates. The same car and the same person would get quoted different numbers just for being in different states. These are usually for reasons that you can’t control. Some areas are considered higher risk when it comes to damage, such as areas that are prone to tornadoes.

Whether or Not You Own the Car Outright

If you are leasing a car or are still making payments on it, you might have to pay higher auto insurance. The auto insurance company generally won’t allow you to get away with just paying general liability. They will most likely want you to pay for collision coverage and comprehensive coverage. Those options will indeed give you more coverage in the event of an accident. They will also increase your premium. Only when you own your car outright will you have the option to downgrade your auto insurance coverage should you choose to.

Shop Around

Always shop around to find the best car insurance rates. Cheap Auto Insurance Ottawa may have better rates than other companies. Shop Insurance Canada to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck.

Shop Insurance Canada
Toronto Location
1210 – 141 Adelaide St. W
Toronto, Ontario
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Canada
(905) 266-0533