My blog

Just another WordPress site

Thomas

5 Smart Ways to Preserve Value of Your Company Van

By on

A company van is part of the assets of your company and should be treated as one. But as assets tend to depreciate over time, you need to be able to maintain the condition of your van in order to preserve its value. The following smart suggestions will help you maintain the value of your company van. Should you decide to sell in the future, you will get a good deal for your vehicle.

  1. Park right

Cosmetic damage can significantly reduce the value of your company van especially if untreated dents begin to rust. You don’t want to forced to spend money if you want to maintain its value. If you park your company van on the streets, careless drivers can cause scratches and dents on the bodywork. This will not help the value of your van, and will also affect the image of your business.

To avoid scratches and dents, make sure your company van is properly parked, preferably in a garage, or where it is not accessible to passing cars. Asides from helping you avoid damage, parking properly in a garage may help you secure better lease deals in the future.

  1. Stick to your maintenance schedule

Regularly maintaining your vehicle is another one to preserve its value in the long term. When you fail to stick to a recommended maintenance schedule, you run the risk of damaging your van and spending huge sums of money in future repairs.

Apart from preserving the value of your van, regular maintenance will help it to run better and last longer. If you plan to sell off your company van in the future, it is a good idea to keep a record of your van’s maintenance, as a full service history will help influence a buyer’s decision.

  1. Insure your company van

When you insure your company van, you are securing it against anything that can go wrong, such as vehicle theft, accidents, a roadside breakdown, and a host of other issues, but in addition to all of these, insuring your van protects your business.

Potential buyers usually consider some factors when buying used vehicles, such as your maintenance routine, vehicle mileage, driving history, and insurance. How all these factors rank up will play a huge role in how much you can sell your used company van.

  1. Fix mechanical issues immediately

Whether you use your company van regularly or once in a while, you will begin to notice signs of use after a while. Engine noises, undercarriage noises, and driving problems are clear signs that your van needs expert attention, and ignoring these signs is the fastest way to damage your van permanently.

Tell the driver to pay close attention to the sounds that come from the engine, undercarriage, and even interior of your company van. This way, you can preserve the value of your van, and make it last longer for company use.

  1. Hire a good driver

No matter how well you maintain your van, if you hire an inexperienced or careless driver, it may not do much for the its long-term value.

A well-trained driver knows how to maintain a vehicle properly, what common issues to look out for, and how to avoid things that can damage the van. So, before handing over your company van to a driver, be sure that the individual meets the accepted requirements for driving company vehicles.

Final thoughts

Hopefully, the five suggestions above will help you get started with preserving the value of your company van. Remember always to follow the suggestions and recommendations of your van manufacturer, as they know best how to preserve and improve the value of their product.

 

3 Simple Tips to Edit and Improve Photos for Blog Content

By on

Adding photos to your blogs posts can make a world of difference. Not only can they help you to show your readers what you’re writing about, but they can help to break up the text and make it look much more palatable.

If you want the photos that you publish in your blog content to really have a big impact however they need to look good. That is where a few simple tips to edit and improve your photos can really help:

  • Crop the photos using the rule of thirds

By cropping your photo you can remove any parts that may be unwanted or that could distract viewers. Instead, you can make sure the focus is squarely on the subject and the other important elements that are in it.

One of the most useful techniques to use when cropping your photos is the rule of thirds. It requires you position the subject and other elements by aligning them along the gridlines and at the intersection points of a 3×3 grid. In doing the composition of your photo will be more balanced.

Keep in mind the dimensions that you want to display the photo in when you crop it as well – and make sure you don’t crop too much that it affects its quality.

  • Straighten photos that are tilted

Unless for a specific reason, you should always straighten photos that are tilted. It will make them look more balanced and stable, whereas tilted photos will look a bit off.

The easiest way to straighten photos is to use the horizon or some other strong horizontal line as a visual guide – and rotate it accordingly. It is best to straighten the photo before you crop it, as you’ll need to crop it later to even out the edges anyway.

  • Make the colors pop and look more vivid

People tend to be drawn to vivid colors that seem to pop in photos. To make the colors in your photos more vivid you need only increase the saturation.

To be honest it is best to first fix any issues with the exposure, white balance, and color balance before adjusting the saturation. On top of that you should take care not to increase it too much, as that will not look appealing either.

It can take a bit of trial and error to get the colors just right, and you should periodically compare your edited photo against the original to see the changes more clearly.

Learning how to edit pictures can be tricky, but the methods listed above are easy enough. If you use them as a starting point, you should be able to improve the photos that you publish on your blog significantly.

After that you can look into other ways to edit and improve them further if you want to. Make no mistake there are lots of options that are open to you – if you’re willing to invest the time to try them out.

Jacques Poujade on: Understanding Debt. Which Debts Are Good and Which Are Bad?

By on

Jacques Poujade is the Managing Partner at LendPlus, one of the major alternative lenders in the mortgage industry specializing in helping customers who are looking to buy their dream homes. With three decades in finance, real estate, and marketing, Poujade uses his skills, experiences, and knowledge to craft focused and strategic financial solutions for his clients.

Poujade earned his Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Concordia University before moving on to complete his Masters at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. After graduation Poujade quickly rose up the ranks in the corporate world of finance and eventually landed into the role of Managing Partner at LendPlus. When Poujade is not working, he gives back to his community through Micah’s Way charity.

Recently, he sat down and shared with us information about good and bad debts and how debts can affect your chances for favorable mortgage rates.

What is Considered Good Debt?

Good debts are usually debts from expenses that are expected to bring in income or increase your net worth. These could be anything from loans for a college education, loans to finance your own business, or loans to buy a house or any other type of real estate as an investment. Student loans are a good example because unlike other types of debts, most student loan packages come with low-interest rates. Student loans are also taken out to pay for a college education which increases your opportunities for employment and promotion later in life.

What is Considered Bad Debt?


Bad debts are debts that are not expected to bring in any additional income anytime soon. These debts are often total liabilities such as spending on brand new cars, clothes, and other consumables. These items tend to depreciate quickly and often are worth lower than the borrowed amount by the time the debt is paid in full. Credit card debt is one of the worst examples of bad debts because this can come bundled with high interest rates.

Debt and Mortgage Consideration

Outstanding debts whether good or bad can affect your credit score and how high or low your mortgage rates are. This is the reason why you should be paying your debts off on time whether these are good or bad debts.

Lenders usually calculate your monthly debt to determine if you are qualified for a mortgage. This is done by reviewing your income and existing debts and comparing these to your house payments to see if you can pay on time. If you pay off your debts on a regular basis and you have a reliable, long-term regular source of income, you are more likely to have a favorable debt-to-income ratio–a figure that tells the lender how well you can manage debt and mortgage payments with the income you have.

If you can, pay off all your debts before taking on a new mortgage. Outstanding balances on your credit cards, for example, can leave you saddled with high interest rates that will get harder and harder to pay off once you take on a new mortgage. If not, make sure that payments are made on time. This is the only way to keep your debt payments manageable and ensure that your debt-to-income ratios are within range. These can help make you an ideal candidate for low rates when it’s time to apply for a new mortgage.

Connect with Jacques through social media at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacquesPoujade

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PoujadeJacques

Website: https://www.jacquespoujade.com

 

How to Take Care of Your Family After You’re Gone

By on

Losing a beloved family member is always tough, but when said person is the primary wage earner, it can be even tougher. What’s even worse is if the loss comes out of the blue—at an early age, due to an accident, or without any foretelling signs. This leaves the family not only grieving but also in a tight financial spot.

While unpleasant to think about it, you should put in place some mechanisms to ensure that your family won’t be left struggling financially in case you pass away.

Invest

Before the internet investing was a somewhat involved process. Now, you can get data on virtually every investment opportunity that exists. From art to properties, and from petrol to cryptocurrencies, there are investment options for every budget and skill level. There are also numerous platforms that can unify all your investment data under a single dashboard.

The beauty of investing is that if you do it well it can let you live a comfortable life and still generate income for your family after your time. What’s more, these days investing can be as simple as installing an app or letting an AI do it for you. There is even an app that invests your spare change.

Build a Business

Building a family business has never been easier. You can take advantage of a ton of opportunities to raise a business from the ground up even if you don’t have the money.

Many online businesses, like freelancing or opening an online store, require very little initial investment. For something more demanding you can opt for a bank loan or turn to crowdfunding.

Once the business has picked up you can come up with an operations plan to ensure that your venture will be successful even after you are gone. Some family businesses have been successful for centuries thanks to strong family traditions. Did you know that Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan-a Japanese hotel has been run by the same family since 705 (no, it’s not a typo)?

Passive Income

If building a business, even a part-time one, sounds like too much of a hassle for you, there are still ways to run your own thing and make money, but with little oversight. What you need is something that generates passive income which is a prevalent topic in Robert Kiyosaki’s famed book “Rich Dad Poor Dad.”

If you are not familiar with the concept, passive income is something between a business and a long-term investment. It requires little of your time, like a long-term investment, but generates regular income like a business. Examples range from publishing books to renting out properties.

Get Insured

Getting life insurance is a popular way of ensuring that your family will have something to lean on after your passing especially if you are the primary breadwinner. Of course, how much they’ll get depends on many factors just like your premium is tied to how much of a risk the insurance company considers you to be.

If you are living a healthy life, have no chronic conditions and are young, your premiums are likely to be at a standard rate with nice coverage. Things get more complicated, however, if you indulge in unhealthy habits, have diabetes or a heart condition which are getting very common. Here you can find more about getting life insurance for people with heart disease.

Make Smart Decisions

Leaving your family something after your passing means making smart financial decisions while you are alive.

Making unnecessary expenses, not having a budget and not thinking about the future are not smart moves. On the other hand, living within your means, planning your expected income and expenses, and preparing for retirement and unforeseen circumstances are wise moves.

Being smart with your money doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy life. Here you can find plenty of tips on how to have fun and save at the same time.

Teach Your Family to Do the Same

Teaching your family how to make smart decisions with their money is a free but very powerful way to leave them a fortune that will last them a lifetime. It’s especially important to teach kids the value of money and time, and how to make the best use of both.

It won’t hurt to sign up for a course on financial planning and get your whole family on board. Financial literacy is something that should be taught in school, and while it’s becoming more common to do so, primary educational institutions still have some catching up to do.

Get Your Affairs in Order

Even if you are in your prime days, you never know what the future holds for you. The earlier you get your affairs in order the more safety you’ll bring to your family.

“Affairs” is a colloquialism for taking care of your will and other legal matters such as estate planning and appointing trustees in case you are incapable of making rational decisions (ex.: due to coma, Alzheimer’s, dementia, etc.).

Something to consider, however, is that you should regularly update these files as your material means change.

As you see, inheritance is not only for the rich. You can build assets to leave behind even without having much money upfront. Knowing that your family will be taken care of after you are gone brings a sense of relief and even pride in knowing that you’ve done everything in your power to be of use to them even after your journey ends. It’s also an opportunity to build something that will keep your name alive.

How to Effectively Convert Your Email Subscribers List

By on

Although the internet is full of methods on how to build a big subscribers list, the toughest part follows after you’ve managed to do that. Effective advertising through newsletters is tough to do, and most of the businesses selling products or services online don’t manage to do it on a constant basis.

Since email marketing conversion puts so many issues, in this article, we’ll try to help you with three effective ways to increase the conversion rate when promoting to your email subscribers list.

Use CTA

The majority of the people read the emails you send, but still, just a few go to your website or landing page? You should develop a Call-to-Action (CTA) strategy.

In order to make it work, your message must be clear as water and encourage the reader to make the next step: “Grab X Now,” “Activate your X-day free trial today!,” ”Start Your Journey Toward X,” are just three good examples on how you can persuade a higher number of people to check what you offer.

You could also make a lot of testing, by designing several options for CTA and then see which one of them works best for you.

Segment your list

Sending the same newsletters for your entire audience might not produce satisfying results since different people must be treated differently. It is up to you to make sure that you collect more data about each person right when he decides to subscribe to your email list.

Segmentation plays a major key since it allows you to interact with different types of people (based on gender, age, location, etc.) and thus you can create personalized offers for each one of them or each group of subscribers. Not all your subscribers will buy all of your products, so the trick here is to figure out what are the best products or services for each particular segment and then design personalized newsletters, with highly effective Call-to-Action phrases.

Sell to people who had already bought from you

Pause for a second and think about this for a moment. What’s the most likely scenario?

  • Selling to someone who had already bought from you in the past;
  • Or selling to someone who hadn’t yet.

As you can already guess, the first scenario seems to be the most likely one. Since you’ve managed to convince someone to buy from you in the past, that means what you are doing relates to him/her in a meaningful way. As part of the segmentation process we’ve mentioned above, you should also create a separate list with the customers you had in the past, and promote products relevant to them which they haven’t bought previously. This kind of an advertising process is very meticulous, and companies like ClickBank.com or Clicksdealer.com have managed to succeed because they’ve understood that from an early phase, and made the right adjustments.

Designing email advertising campaigns with products or services that complement the ones you’ve already sold is another effective strategy to increase your sales via email.

3 Digital Credits That Are Taking India By Storm

By on

Getting a credit card can be hard for some, depending on their circumstances. What’s more, in India, credit cards have not gained as much traction as was expected due to the obstacles of long applications and credit score-related issues. To help circumvent this, there’s been a rise in “buy now, pay later” methods that are allowing people to get their loans while bypassing the usual hassles that come with applying for credit cards or loans.

The rise of the “buy now, pay later” digital loan companies have been assisted by their smart use of technology. With hundreds of millions of mobile and online users in India, by making their businesses internet and mobile-friendly, it’s easy for companies to reach people and for the people to get their loans. Let’s take a look at three Digital Credit companies that are on the rise in India!

ePayLater

Lauded as India’s 1st Digital Credit Card, you can Shop Now, Pay Later with ePayLater instead of needing to worry about applying and qualifying for a physical credit card. By utilizing UPI as a payment method, you can basically buy from your favourite merchants and pay with it. And what’s more, like a credit card, you can even get cash back and reward points on purchases you make with ePayLater. Why need a credit card when you can have a mobile-friendly payment method that works just like one?

Quiklo

Quiklo is a unique one in that it focused on students. Before, getting student loans was not only tortuously inconvenient, but it was also hard to actually get the loans. What’s more, those that got the loans struggled with paying them back. So Quiklo thought up of a new way to ensure that their loans were going to the right students: They look at your school marks. If you’re a good student and you can prove that you are excellent at your studies, Quiklo will use it as a way to help determine if you qualify for a gadget loan.

ZestMoney

Utilizing EMI as their payment method, ZestMoney is another powerful way of paying for your things through your favourite online merchants. ZestMoney is known for its very high approval rates and zero pre-closure charges. And it is easy to apply. The least that they require is two of these three basic documents of identification: Your PAN card, Driving License, passport photo ID, 3-months of bank statements, or your Aadhaar card.

Conclusion

Getting credit or loans doesn’t have to be difficult any longer. Now, it is possible to get credit digitally, and it’s not that hard to get it either. With the rise of these digital “buy now, pay later” forms of payment, it’s likely that more will arise, and it will become even more widespread.

Remember that these are still credit loans and that they must be paid off. So long as you remain watchful of your usage and your payments, you can enjoy these digital credit methods just as much as you would a physical credit card or a traditional loan. The march of technology will continue to make things more convenient, such as with these, so be prepared!

To read more on topics like this, check out the business category.

Facebook

Be a Money Blogger

Let’s Connect