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NEW YORK/TOKYO - Lehman Brothers was fleeced out of more than $355 million in a fraud the United States investment bank believes was perpetrated by two employees at Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp. , according to a person briefed on the matter.

Shirley Bullington

According to experts, the average American family currently owes more than $8,000 in credit card debt. This, coupled with all of the other bills and debt accrued through loans and mortgages, and the every day expenses of living, and it’s not very difficult to see how easy it is to quickly fall behind, especially if you’re relying on credit cards to help make ends meet.

If, like many people, you have several credit card bills to pay each and every month, you may think that paying off the one with the highest interest rate first is the best move toward avoiding spiraling out of control and into debt. In all actuality, paying off the one with the lowest total amount due first will make the most impact on your finances.

Once the lowest debt is completely paid off, take the money that you would normally be paying, and add it to the card with the next highest amount due. Of course if you have two credit cards with similar amounts due, then choose the one with the highest interest rate to pay off first. With this approach, paying off the smaller debts first will begin to make a real difference in terms of your overall financial picture soon than you may think.

Much like most things in life, people usually have to see real results before they’re motivated to continue on with whatever it is they’re trying to accomplish. Avoiding credit card debt is no different, as your attitude and the way you think about money in general has a great deal to do with whether or not you’ll be able to keep your spending under control, and live within your means.

Here Are Six Tips for Avoiding the Most Common Credit Card Mistakes:

1. Set a strict budget and adhere to it no matter what. Truly look at your spending habits and see what luxuries could easily be eliminated until your credit cards are either completely paid in full, or at least at a more manageable level.

2. It’s recommended to never spend more than 50% of your credit card’s limit. Doing so not only affects your credit score, but also increases the likelihood that you’ll go over the set limit and be charged extra fees.

3. Pay attention to the terms and conditions of your credit cards. Know what the annual fees are, if any, how long the grace period is, and read your statement carefully each month to make sure there are no errors.

4. Introductory offers expire before you know it, and the interest rate you were charged for the first three or six months, depending on the card, could now be considerably higher.

5. If you fall behind, don’t be embarrassed or unwilling to call the credit card company to explain the situation. Calling and possibly being able to work out a more manageable payment plan is a far better option than avoiding the problem while the interest rate and fees continue to increase. Most companies will be more than willing to work with you, but only if you’re also willing to address the issue and be responsible for your debts.

6. If you discover that you’re unable to manage your credit card debt on your own, there are many legitimate credit counseling services that offer viable solutions for helpful people regain control of their finances.

Shirley Bullington writes about debt issues. You will find articles as well as informative Reports and interviews with credit card debt specialists about credit card debt and unsecured debt and suggestions on resolutions at her site.

Daniel Millions

Forex, short for foreign exchange, is a type of investing that involves trading one nation’s currency for another nation’s currency. The strategy is to trade money into a currency that is expected to rise in value, which will in return provide a great return on investment.

But foreign exchange is one of the trickier forms of investment, of which can have some of the highest risks in the business. To help deflate risks and keep profits sailing high, investors are switching to forex software to do the guesswork via statistics and estimations. The result: thousands worldwide are making a full income from investing through forex software.

Practicing With Forex Software

The first kind of forex software that should be investigated is software designed to simulate the real stock market, only you play with fake money. This gives investors experience in the market, all while ensuring that no money is lost (or won, sadly).

Free software of this type is available across the Internet from several websites. Some work better than others, so be sure to download and try a few of them out before investing your time into a lengthy simulation.

Calculating Best Opportunity with Forex Software

Other types of forex software simply calculate the best opportunities that would be most likely to provide a return on investment. These types of software are harder to find for free, as they provide a means of getting easy money (although they aren’t fool proof- losing money is easier than making money!).

In the case of best opportunity, forex software looks at past and present market conditions and compares them to each other. If a certain forex strategy is proving to be steadily profitable and stable long term, it will likewise suggest to the user that the strategy would be worthwhile. (And of course, proper software will warn users from poor forex trading strategy much like a broker, but without the high fees!)

Trading with Forex Software

Lastly, you can actually trade in the forex market from your laptop or desktop at home. Special software from trading companies can give users direct access to trading options within the forex market.

Of course, there are fees associated with the process, but the level of ease is a definite plus. Instead of making a trip to the broker’s office or making a frustrating telephone call, you can cut the middleman out and trade instantly. As long as you have an Internet connection available, you can directly access the forex market!

One should be careful with forex trading software, however. Leaving a laptop unattended could be a very costly mistake if another person was to get into your forex account and wreak havoc. Forex trading software also is best suited for those with forex trading experience- as there is generally a lack of help and recommendations in strategy that brokers normally provide.

Final Thoughts on Forex Software

Computers and technology empower the world- so why shouldn’t they aid you in earning money? Using computer programs to calculate and analyze market conditions is the logical solution to trading in particularly risky markets.

Since it is indeed quite easy to lose money in investing in forex, it’s highly recommended a broker should be sought out for advice. This will give those starting out a helpful guiding hand in the right direction of making the next fortune on the forex market.

Forex - Foreign Exchange service and Online Forex Trading tips.

Stephen Furnari

It is hard to open a newspaper these days and avoid stories about the instability in today’s job market. Figures for the year ended December 31, 2007 the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics show that mass layoffs increased approximately a 6% from 2006. However, that figure only reflects those who claimed unemployment insurance from employers who cut 50 or more employees at a time. To make matters worse, employers don’t seem to be hiring; the unemployment rate now stands at 4.9%, up from 4.4% at the end of the first quarter. As companies adjust for what may be uncertain times that may lie ahead, lay-offs are obviously one measure that companies may take to cut costs. Unfortunately, letting staff go is one of the most unpleasant and, sometimes, unavoidable parts of being a business owner.

No one enjoys the termination process. Firing an employee can be a painful, difficult, and a potentially costly task. Not only do you lose your investment of time, money, training and experience, but you can put yourself at risk for being sued. The highly emotional nature of the process can turn any well-intentioned words or actions into fuel for wrongful discharge suits and personal resentment.

The best way to make sure that you’re not setting your company up for a lawsuit is to handle the entire termination process effectively and without ambiguity. In short, plan. The following are seven tips for implementing a mess-free termination:

Avoid Small Talk. Starting the meeting off with questions about the family or last night’s game delays the bad news only momentarily. It also sets an awkward tone for the not-so-small topic coming up next. Since this is a final decision and not a discussion, all you really need is 10-15 minutes. Come prepared with a speech or an index card with bullet points listing key points that you want to make clear. Friendly chatter only makes the news more painful - keep it short, keep it professional.

AVOID SURPRISES. Whether it’s staff reduction or poor performance, the employee should have been prepared by the time the final decision has been made. If it’s a performance issue, termination should be the final resort. For every meeting with or about an employee, there should be notes describing your efforts. It would be a good idea for these documents and any performance evaluations administered by the company to be signed by the employee. This provides proof that the employee was given recommendations and reviews, and in essence, guidelines for expected improvement. With proof of fair warning, it makes it difficult for a fired employee to argue unwarranted discharge. “Managers need to prepare well before they meet with the employee,” explains Susan Herman, author of Hiring Right: A Practical Guide. “They need to look at the employee’s overall job performance accurately and carefully, and make sure the company’s personnel policies are in good shape. A team of managers should be involved in the decision.” Another form of “documentation” is having another manager or supervisor there with you at the meeting. In the case of a lawsuit, you have a witness. You also demonstrate consensus in the decision. If not addressed quickly, one employee’s termination can alarm the rest. The grapevine can exaggerate news in a heartbeat, so be sure to communicate the reasons quickly and positively. You don’t want to cause any feelings of insecurity among your staff.

DON’T AVOID THE MATTER. Time is money, and while the employee is sitting at the desk being a lousy performer, your company is absorbing the costs of paying for his salary and benefits, as well as any related overhead costs. This would only be compounded with the severance pay, continued benefits, outplacement help, etc. that your company may offer when he actually does leave.

CONSIDER TIMING. Generally, it is not recommended that you fire someone first thing in the morning, or on a Friday when a weekend would give the employee time to become angry and resentful. A mid-morning meeting gives him the chance to vent over lunch with his co-workers, while a late-afternoon meeting would let him slip out without having to work amidst whispers of gossip in the office. Use your best judgment.

AVOID PATRONIZING SYMPATHY OR COLD PROFESSIONALISM. Offering comfort by saying, “I know how you feel” or “I feel awful” will most likely hurt your employee more than it will make you feel better about yourself. As stated before, cut out the fluff - it is only insulting in a situation like this. However, mistaking cold indifference for professionalism would not help either. The best thing you can do is to simply offer an explanation and sympathy in a manner that shows you still respect him. In the case of protest or argument, be patient, hear whatever he has to say, and firmly repeat your reasons, decision, and sympathy. Don’t concede or show hesitation.

DON’T OFFER TO HELP AT THE END. Again, be careful not to say things that will only provide you temporary relief from your guilt. Unless it is company policy to contribute to outplacement services yourself, or unless you really, truly desire to make a commitment to help, it will only be an empty offer that drags out what will soon be a non-existent employment relationship. Not only would you be insulting him, but this ambiguity could give him a basis for legal or other appeals.

DON’T END THE MEETING OPEN ENDED. Provide a clear time period for departure. Bring the final paycheck. Provide him with contact information of the person who handles these arrangements. For true finality, offer severance pay, commissions, or outplacement in return for a signed waiver of their legal rights. Check with your company to find out the time limit employees have to consider these offers.

To maintain perspective, picture yourself on the other side of the desk. Imagine how you’d want to be treated.

If you’re struggling with the process of downsizing, or are concerned you may be exposing your company to liability by terminating staff, contact my assistant Suzanne Greene at sgreene@furnarilevine.com to set up a free telephone consultation.

Stephen Furnari is a business lawyer with Furnari Levine LLP. To learn how to save thousands in your business by avoiding costly legal mistakes, subscribe to our FREE mini e-course 7 DEADLY MISTAKES THAT COST ENTREPRENEURS THOUSANDS go to http://www.furnarilevine.com/legal_mistakes.html.

John Washington

Everyone has a desire for financial freedom. If you are like me you have done all the things you have been told to try and create that financial independence. Here is the blueprint we’ve all been told to follow since high school:

* Go to school and work hard.

* Develop good habits.

* Get a job in the real world.

* Keep improving in your job and through your hard work, hopefully your boss will give you a raise.

* If you are talented and play the political games correctly you will keep moving up the corporate ladder and other people will determine your value to the company and decide what you are worth to the company.

* As you move up the corporate ladder you will be given more money and responsibility and you will have less and less time for the things that are truly important. i.e. Your family and your health.

* You will do this for your whole adult life, and through proper investing, you will hopefully retire at 65 and be able to live out your final 20+ years. Hopefully you have not missed too many little league games and dance recitals that you are kids had along the way.

Obviously the above plan works really well for corporate executives. From a financial perspective these folks do much better than most. However, most of those captains of industry trade off financial success for their health and family life. In addition, unless you are in a particular career where you have direct control of your earnings, you really have to rely that other people will recognize your value to the company and give you a raise. As you move up though, you are making trade offs with your time and family usually suffers.

So the question is how can we all achieve financial success and independence without the tradeoff of spending less time with our family? Is there a way to do this without having to rely on other people to recognize your value, without having to worry about whether your company will have a lay off, or if your corporate executives are perpetuating an accounting fraud and your retirement savings evaporates in the blink of an eye?

The answer is, yes. There is absolutely a way to create a home based business and be successful. Ways that I would say 99% of people are capable of achieving. But first you have to decide. You have to really decide and get determined that you are ready to take control of your life and your financial independence and build a home based business. You need to believe that the only thing preventing you from this is yourself and then commit yourself to success. Once you make the commitment that you and you alone CAN create financial independence for yourself with a home based business you will achieve it.

Isaac Newton’s first law of motion is an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This law of motion also applies to human behavior. Once you have become tired of having others dictate your worth, and made the commitment to do something about it (an object in motion) then you need to take action immediately. If you wait, you become an object at rest and you tend to stay at rest and nothing changes. Procrastination and fear will cripple you. Take action.

You are probably asking yourself how you should take action to determine what the right home based business is for you. There are a lot of things you can do. Here is my story and what I did to find the right home based business for me. I spent years and years hating the fact that I followed the corporate outline. Deep down I believed that I needed to build something for myself and be my own boss. I researched different programs. I first looked into real estate investing and although I believe it’s a great way to build wealth, ultimately fear got the best of me. I came to the conclusion that for me, those “no money down” programs really did not fit my personality. I was concerned that I would end up holding a mortgage on a property that I couldn’t rent or resell, and that the risk was too great. It turns out that may have been the right decision for me based upon the sub prime market implosion.

However, I did not give up. I made a list of my skills, amount of time and money I could invest part-time building a home based business while I maintained my corporate job. I had made the commitment to change and stayed as an object in motion. I continued to research and read. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that the fastest, least expensive, and least time consuming way to begin a home based business and build financial freedom for myself was through internet marketing.

Internet marketing allows me to get in at low investment entry point, provides multiple business lines in which you can actually make money so you are not reliant on just one product or service, did not require that I buy any inventory or have my own product, and providing so many different methods of marketing that in my estimation the only thing that would prevent success is lack of commitment, patience and perseverance.

So, like the title of this article I believe everyone has the skill set to be your own boss and I believe that internet marketing is the vehicle to do just that. However, internet marketing is not for everyone. Internet marketing is only for people who are tired of not being in control of your earnings, wealth and financial independence and have made the commitment to change. It is only for people who will be patient. Internet marketing is for people patient enough to take the time to work at this business. People willing to study and to build a long term business by being smart and tactical in their approach will be successful. You may not be an overnight success with a home based business but I submit there is no such thing in ANY line of business or ANYTHING of any value in life. Internet marketing is only for people with perseverance. It’s for people who have made up their mind to be successful, who understand that failure is not an option and that in the end, they will succeed.

When I made this commitment to build a home based business I looked at many different internet marketing programs and concluded that Plug In Profit was by far the most comprehensive internet marketing program available today. It provides step by step instruction on how to get started with a minimal upfront investment. In addition to the step by step instructions, their support is phenomenal. You get multiple business streams, multiple ways to market to get people to your site and make money, and a 30 day, step by step instruction guide on what you should be doing. You won’t ever feel that you are out on your own with no support. You will get plenty from the program, as well as links to informative websites, free material and newsletters, etc.

By spending the time to read this article deep down I’m sure you have already made the commitment to change and take control. Now all you need to do is follow Newton’s law of motion and stay in motion. Since you have already taken the first step, I urge you to take the second and do your research on Plug in For Profits. I wish you success and financial independence.

John Washington has evaluated numerous home based businesses and is an entrepreneur who uses the Plug-In Profit Site to earn multiple streams of income from home on the Internet. Please http://www.fortifiedwealth.com/ where you try Plug In Profit Site risk free.

Tom Tessin

If you own a business in today’s world, I’m sure you’re like every other business owner out there; you love to save money and lots of it. Being a business owner is tough and when someone comes up to you or you hear of an opportunity to save money, you’re usually all ears. If your business currently maintains and insures a fleet of vehicles, you may want to listen up because I have a legit way you can save on gas.

Gas prices have continued to rise over the past few years and there are no signs on when it’s going to slow down. Fortunately, there are a few ways you can save on gas with your business and it’s the way of the business gas credit card. If you’re unfamiliar with a rewards card, it’s a very simple concept to understand. Like most credit cards, it works the same exact way but instead you’re able to get rewards on your gasoline purchases.

Operating a business can be a very stressful task but you can be assured that having a gas credit card can ease up on the budget a little bit. Let’s take an example and I can show you exactly how much you can save. Let’s say your business is currently spending one thousand dollars a month on gas and you’re not saving anything at all. Let’s say you apply for a card that gives you five percent off. Keep in mind that when you do apply for a card, the credit card companies will generally give you a bonus savings rate for the first few months. Now, let’s get back to the example. Let’s apply that five percent to our one thousand dollars.

This is a fifty dollar savings! Just imagine how quick this can add up.

Now you’re probably reading this and it sounds too good to be true. If you do decide to apply for a card like this, you’ll have to keep in mind that you’ll have to pay the card off in full each month in order to take advantage of the benefits. The reason this is, is because if you keep an unpaid balance on your monthly bill, you’ll be charged interest. This interest will then take away from the rewards and rebates you were going to get. Yes, you’ll still get the rewards but in the long run, you won’t be saving any money because the money you were saving will go to the credit card companies because of interest.

Now, I hope by now that a gas card for your company sounds like a good plan. A lot of companies are going this route because of the high gas prices and there’s no reason you shouldn’t do the same. Everyone likes saving money and all it takes is a little research to find out exactly what card will fit your companies needs. Once you get that card, use it responsibly and remember to pay it off on time in full so that you can take advantage of the rewards.

Save on gas with business gas credit cards where you can also find more of Tom’s work.

LONDON - The global credit crisis dented the salary and bonus packages of United States traders more severely than those of their London peers this year, according to a survey released on Sunday.

LONDON - The global credit crisis dented the salary and bonus packages of United States traders more severely than those of their London peers this year, according to a survey released on Sunday.