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IT'S time to come clean about our dirty credit card habits and how we can avoid them eroding our wealth. While we've all been slowly reducing our outstanding credit card balances, with $34 billion still owing, they remain the scourge of most families. It's fair to say credit cards are the most potent weapon of mass financial destruction since the loan shark. Their convenience and flexibility means it's so easy for them to get out of hand and lead to serious financial distress. We need to be vigilant in ensuring our credit cards work for us and don't destroy our finances. To avoid getting into trouble in the first place, or get back in control of an existing debt, here are our five golden rules for using credit cards.

A study last year by the department for business revealed that - finally - more women are taking the plunge and launching their own businesses. The number is still pretty low - just nineteen per cent of SMEs are female-led, according to the study, but, more encouragingly, a quarter of new businesses - two to three years old - were formed by women. I was fortunate enough to speak at an all-female business event held by the New Entrepreneurs Foundation last week to drive more women to apply for its new programme, which got me really thinking about how we can encourage more women to choose the enterprise path, like I did. Something Anne Marie Morris MP mentioned in her speech really brought it home - women-led businesses contribute £70 billion to the UK economy. That is surely too significant a figure to ignore?!

Consumers Can Avoid Financial Ruin, National Debt Relief Provide Tips On How To Do It National Debt Relief publishes an article on their website to reveal 8 tips that will help consumers avoid financial ruin. Philadelphia, PA ( PRWEB ) January 31, 2014 National Debt Relief is intent on helping consumers avoid financial ruin. On January 28, the leading debt relief company published an article titled "8 Ways You Can Remove Financial Ruin From Your Future." This article discussed various tips that will save consumers from another financial crisis.

Just before tax season comes the opportunity for college-bound students to apply for monetary assistance via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The program collects and sends financial data to colleges that use it to award need-based financial aid to students. Filing a FAFSA was once daunting, according to Pam Rambo, a former college financial aid and admissions professional who now works as a researcher for families and students looking to maximize their financial aid opportunities. For more useful reference: http://corlissonlinegroup.com/ http://corlissonlinefinancialmag.wordpress.com/ https://www.facebook.com/corlissonlinefinancialmag

"It will be very painful and even feel like cutting one's wrist." So predicted Li Keqiang, China's premier, as he discussed the task ahead of him during his first press conference last March. Not the most inviting prospect for investors looking to make a play on China. But they should certainly take heed of these words. Li is the man who, together with president Xi Jinping, must lead a reform programme regarded by analysts as the most fundamental in decades. It will affect almost every part of an economy worth $9.4tn (Britain's annual output, for comparison, is $2.4tn). So what are these reforms? And why does China's new leader think that their implementation will be so painful? There are three key areas which investors should note.

16 Australian Entrepreneurs Share Their Tips For Securing Investment Funding Funding is a crucial element to any startup with dreams to expand and grow, to get bigger and better. Attracting the interest of an investor and asking them put their trust - and money - into your creation is no easy task. With this in mind, Business Insider spoke to some of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs to find out their secrets and advice to securing funding.

I'm grumpy about flying these days. Part of it is just the hassle of the process, but now there's even more. Bud and I had a decades-long strategy of managing our US Airways frequent flier status to maximize free upgrades on domestic and European routes, as well as to secure virtually free first-class seats on flights to Oceania, Southeast Asia and Africa. Trust me, there's nothing like being pampered in first class on Singapore Air to take the sting out of flying! Sadly, airline rewards and loyalty benefits are going the way of free meals - or free anything - in the air.

If you're like most Americans, you probably didn't make a new year's resolution to get started with long-term financial planning. A staggering 84 percent of respondents to a New Year's Resolution Survey from Allianz Life Insurance said that financial planning was not among their 2014 resolutions at all-the highest percentage ever to reveal that in the survey's history. What held them back? Well, 30 percent said they don't believe they make enough money to "worry" about financial planning. That's bizarre. Shouldn't having less money increase your need to manage what you have effectively? Regardless of your situation, I hope you'll engage in the planning process this year-and the sooner you get started, the better.

Savvy Senior: How to pick a financial advisor Savvy Senior How to Pick a Financial Advisor Dear Savvy Senior, Can you give me some tips on how to choose a good financial planner or advisor? My wife and I are five or six years away from retiring and could use some professional help to get us on track. * Seeking Advice Dear Seeking, With all the different financial advisers and services available today, choosing a trusted professional that can meet your needs can be a bit confusing. Here are some suggestions that can help.

Outside the portfolios' 'Themes' and 'Commercial property' sectors, regular readers will know that the strategy guiding both portfolios since their inception five years ago has been to 'Go high, go deep and go east'. The emphasis has been on higher-yielding blue-chips and bonds, smaller companies and the Far East (including Japan from the end of 2012). This has served both portfolios well. However, the time has come to modestly refine the strategy for the Growth portfolio given market conditions and its freedom from an income constraint.

Flipping houses in the Temecula/Murrieta Valley and across the Inland Empire has been a lucrative venture for investors for many years. Many think it is a quick way to a fast buck. Many have tried and many have failed. Flipping houses is serious business and should not be taken lightly by the novice real estate investor. Before you begin down this path, prepare yourself. Here are five quick tips to help you understand what you're in for, before you actually start investing your money. For more related topic: http://corlissonlinegroup.com/ http://corlissonlinegroup.com/blog/ http://corlissonlinefinancialmag.tumblr.com/

With the unemployment rate slowly falling, many Americans are facing a healthier job market and trying to get their financial lives back on track. Based on findings of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation's National Financial Capability Study of more than 25,000 Americans, the FINRA Foundation has developed five tips to help you manage daily financial challenges and build a brighter financial future in 2014.

Spotify UK drop into the red last year, since subscription revenue fell and the music streaming service invested more in growth here. When compared to 2011's profit of £21 million, accounts reveal Spotify's British arm made a loss of £10.1 million in 2012. Down from £96.5 million a year earlier in 2012 it fell to £92.6 million, the online music streaming platform saw this revenue fall. The decrease in revenue was partially down to its decline in subscription, which fell from £72.4 million to £64.7 million because of the alteration in the way subscriptions were booked. A minimal increase was seen by UK advertising on the platform, rising from £8.1 million to £9.1 million to the year ending December 31. Sources say that subscription numbers have been growing strongly in 2013 thanks in part to partnerships with the likes of Vodafone. Spotify UK declined to comment on its accounts but earlier in the year parent company Spotify Group said: "In 2012 the business focused on driving user growth, international expansion and product development, resulting in soaring user numbers and increased market penetration. "Our key priority throughout 2013 and beyond remains bringing our unrivalled music experience to even more people while continuing to build for long-term growth - both for our company and for the music industry as a whole." With its operations in the thirty two countries around the world, Spotify lets users stream 10 hours of music a month for free with advertising or pay a subscription fee for unlimited, advertising-free listening. Naming Sony, Universal and EMI, and to date has paid out $500 million in royalties to artists, the company has signed deals with major record labels with the said records. With 5 million paying subscribers Globally Spotify saw users leap from 11 million to 20 million in the year. UK numbers were not disclosed. From March this year figures demonstrate this has augmented to 24 million users and 6 million subscribe

How the Government Botched Its Effort to Hold Wall Street Accountable After the Crisis The Department of Justice (DOJ) fell down on many of its efforts to hold Wall Street accountable for mortgage fraud after the crisis, according to a new audit from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The DOJ promised the public that it would place a priority on going after mortgage fraud. But the report finds that "DOJ did not uniformly ensure that mortgage fraud was prioritized at a level commensurate with its public statements." One telling example is that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ranked mortgage fraud as the lowest threat in its lowest crime category. The OIG also visited FBI field offices in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, and New York and found that either it was a low priority or not even listed as a priority. Meanwhile, the FBI got $196 million in funding to investigate mortgage fraud between 2009 and 2011, yet the number of agents doing the investigation decreased in the same time, as did the pending investigations. More related issue from Corliss: http://corlissonlinegroup.com/ http://corlissonlinegroup.com/blog/ http://corlissonlinefinancialmag.blogspot.co.uk/ http://www.pinterest.com/geraldhussen/corliss-online-financial-mag/

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's government acknowledged for the first time on Monday that the economy was in crisis, undermining earlier attempts by officials to suggest albeit weakening growth it could weather sanctions over Ukraine. Moscow markets wait to see the full scale of western measures over the seizure of Ukraine's Crimea and support of its referendum to join Russia, after losing billions of dollars in recent weeks in state and corporate money. More from Corliss: http://corlissonlinegroup.com/ http://corlissonlinegroup.com/blog/ https://www.facebook.com/corlissonlinefinancialmag https://twitter.com/CorlissGroupMag

Amerikanska företag lagt 166,000 nya arbetstillfällen i September, enligt den jätte lön fast ADP, som varnade som jobb återhämtning "uppmjukning". Siffrorna kommit som Labor Department bekräftade det inte skulle släppa regeringens officiella månatliga jobb tally på fredagen på grund av regeringen stängningen. Enligt ADP: s senaste månatliga undersökning ledde servicesektorn återigen antalet jobb tillväxt, bidra 149.000 arbetstillfällen under månaden. Tillväxtområdena var handel och transport, som lagt till 54.000 inlägg, professionell och företagstjänster, som lagt till 27.000 arbetstillfällen, och konstruktion, som lagt till 16.000 inlägg. Ungefär 4 000 arbetstillfällen gick förlorade i finansiell verksamhet. Augustis ADP jobb tillväxt nummer reviderades till 159,000 från 176.000. Mark Zandi, chefsekonom på Moody's Analytics, ADP: s partner på betänkandet, sade: "arbetsmarknaden verkar har mjuknat under de senaste månaderna. Finanspolitiska åtstramningar har börjat ta en vägtull på skapande av arbetstillfällen. Upptakten av räntorna kan också göra några skador på jobb inom finansiella tjänster. Medan jobb har mattats, återstår det en allmän motståndskraft på marknaden. Sysselsättningen fortsätter att överensstämma med en långsamt sjunkande arbetslöshet." Avstängningen har lett Labor Department att skrinlägga sina jobb betänkande denna vecka. Ekonomer hade väntat USA för att lägga till 175.000 till 185.000 jobb till sina nonfarm löner figur i September. Förra månaden USA lagt 169,000 nya jobb och arbetslösheten doppade till 7,3%. ADP: s siffror har spårat den Labor Departments under de senaste månaderna men omfattar inte statliga jobb. Federala och lokala regeringar fortsätter att kasta arbetstagare. ADP sade att småföretag ledde återhämtning. Företag med 49 eller färre anställda lagt till 74.000 jobb i September, medan sysselsättningen bland små och medelstora företag med 50-499 a