Month: July 2021

Learning how to invest in the stock market can be confusing and daunting sometimes. It mainly depends on how well you have practised the skills. But if you are a beginner, you can’t invest your hard-earned dollars just to practice. The only way to learn how to invest is by investing, but it is not necessary to invest your real dollars when you do so.

By playing stock market simulators games, you get to invest money that is fake in a real market situation. It teaches you how to trade for quick profits, minimize your losses, place different trade orders, and build an investment strategy. 

Benefits of stock market games

To understand how the stock market games helps you become a successful trader, you should know its benefit:

• Knowledge about brokerage: The stock market simulator also gives you experience about the brokerages and commission charged by brokers for making a particular transaction. 
• Understanding of stock market: Practice always makes a man perfect. So if you are regularly practising trading in the game, you develop a better understanding of the market’s ways and trends. As a result, in the real market, you will be able to perform better.
• Serves as a practice ground: Before starting investing real money in the stock market, it is advisable to polish your skill first by trading on a virtual platform. You can analyze your skill, knowledge and strategy before making a mistake in the actual market.

Playing in the simulator feels like you are trading in the real stock market. It can be an excellent platform to test your strategies and how you think of deciding on a price and stock option. 

Best stock simulator

Here is a list of the best stock simulator that you can try:

Investopedia stock simulator

Investopedia is an excellent comprehensive stock simulator game that you can try. This game lets you create a profile in an advanced online suite consisting of stock analysis, advance portfolio, stock research, summaries and many more.

It offers its users the easiest platform to use yet realistic way to practice trading. Moreover, it keeps you updated of the real stock news and insights to make you feel you are in the official trading app. It also includes a gamified and competitive aspect for its users.

In the competition, you get connected to around 700,000 investors worldwide and compete with them. This competition helps beginners to learn a lot as they gain immense knowledge in the process. The contest runs every quarter, and the game ranks you according to your growth and how well you were able to invest. 

The ranking helps boost up personal validation even if you are in the 109th place. Plus, the fact that you can earn award and prices double the motivation. You can check the best online trading platforms.

Motley Fool CAPS stock simulator

The game focuses on the principle of crowd-sourced investment wisdom. At the same time, the CAPS service provides by the game make you see the reason why a player made a pick. Usually, the players write a short write-up about the given stock which serves as a perfect tool for sourcing ideas. 

You can join the big competition with around ten thousand players, and in the end, you get a ranking based on your performance. However, if you want to gain knowledge, you can see what the leaders are buying and its reason. 

CAPS service keep on recording your performance in comparison to other players and gives score accordingly. The score does not depend on how much you earn instead, your pick. Also, it depends on, by how much it beats the market overall. But the most favourite part about the game is you can learn a lot by watching the top performers in action and can even bring up queries.  

Market watch stock simulator

MarketWatch is another excellent browser-based stock exchange simulator. Similar to Investopedia simulator it runs on a hosted platform under an official financial website for monitoring market. 

The platform allows you to make your own game or you can join the one already created. You can choose any game among the ten thousand games available on the list of fun right now. However, if you are creating your own game, you can set many parameters as you like. For instance, how long the game will continue, whether the player will short-sell or trade on margin, and the starting virtual money every player will get.  

You can trade in real-time using your virtual portfolio. It allows the player to talk strategies with other players in the discussion room of your game. Moreover, other people can join the customized private or public game that you have designed.  

Wealthbase

It is the newest addition to stock market games, and it is very much fun to play. Just like the other, you can design your own game here and set its rule. After creating the game successfully, you can send them to your friend via email and ask them to join the virtual contest you will have in a few minutes. 

One of the essential benefits you get in wealthbase is it is not subjected to desktop only; you can also play it through a mobile app.

The game’s interface is super smooth; you don’t have to wait for hours to load it. Moreover, social elements make the competition more interesting. The game will allow you to see the live feed of the stocks your competitor are picking. At the end of the day, you will get updates of your progress; you can also view charts and news feeds to grow yourself more. 

Conclusion

Stock games are isn’t just for beginners; it is also for the pro trader. Beginners get knowledge about the real trading situation and its outcome without losing real money. At the same time, pro traders receive an opportunity to test their trading skills and gets a reward in return. It is an enjoyable, entertaining and risk-free way to hone your skills. Among so many options available for stock games choose the one that suits you and meet all your requirement.

It has always been important to manage your personal finances but now more than ever. The world is a different place from the one we knew 18 months ago before the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic swept the planet. Many people have lost their jobs or had their hours cut by employers, resulting in slashed budgets and their purse strings tightened.

Creating a budget and analyzing your spending habits may seem tedious, but it is essential. It would be best if you lived within your means regardless of your household having a monthly income of $2,000 or $20,000; even those people earning large salaries can and do endure money problems.

Create a Detailed Budget

Your first step to managing your finances is to create a detailed budget, so you know exactly how much money you have left once your essential bills and living costs, which is known as your disposable income. Professional gamblers have done this for years; they call it bankroll management. Someone betting for a living on Vegasbetting.com will only ever bet with what they can afford to lose. You should only really spend what you can afford to. The principle is the same.

There is no need for fancy accounting software when creating your budget. A simple spreadsheet or writing it down on a piece of paper will suffice.

Start by listing all your guaranteed income, and do so down to the last cent. This figure is made up of your salary, benefits, etc. Do not include periodic payments to your income, such as overtime payments, because they are not guaranteed. You want to arrive at an overall figure that is the worst-case scenario.

If you do have occasional, semi-regular payments, such as dividends from investments, consider listing these. However, do so as an average over the year. For example, if you receive $120 per year from investments, list this as $10 per month if you list them at all.

Do Not Forget About Irregular Costs

It is time to make a list of all your outgoings or expenditures now you have arrived at your total monthly income figure. This section can be a little daunting because you are likely to have many more expenses than income.

Essential costs are the first items to put into your spreadsheet. These are fixed costs that you have to pay regardless of anything else, including rent or mortgage payments, powering your home, and any debts that need repaying.

Next up, jot down all your outgoings that can be variable and that you have some control over. Include your average grocery shopping bill, not forgetting to list the average cost of rarely purchased items such as cleaning products and the like.

Your last set of expenses are non-essentials or luxuries. Think along the lines of cable fees, the internet, magazine subscriptions, etc.

It is essential to list other irregular costs like car maintenance, buying clothes, and going to the hairdresser. If you splash out and have your hair cut twice a year at $100 per time, that is $200 a year and $16.66 per month you have to budget for.

It Pays to Shop Around

Subtract your total expenses from your total income to arrive at your disposable income, the money you have available to spend each month. It may be a figure you are happy with, or you may want to improve it. The only way to do the latter is to earn more money or reduce your outgoings.

The first option of earning more money is not as easy as it seems. Reducing your expenditure is simpler.

It pays to shop around when it comes to your service providers. Contact different power companies, cable and internet providers, anything where there is competition in the marketplace for your custom. You can play them off against one another — you can even threaten to leave if they don’t give you a better deal — and you will be surprised at how much money you can save just by signing up to a different tariff.

We are living in stressful times, do not let money worries stress you further. Get your finances on track with a simple household budget.

In these modern times, credit cards are a staple in every individual’s wallet. After all, this is the era of digital payments and cashless transactions taking place in nanoseconds. Whether you’re grabbing a coffee on the go, are out on a dinner date with your better half or simply enjoying a shopping spree alongside a lovely companion; credit cards are always there to the rescue and there’s a chance of getting cashback & rewards on your purchases too.

The most important thing is knowing how many of these plastic cards you require in your wallet. Some financial experts insist that carrying a single credit card is more than enough. In this post, we will walk you through the benefits and risks of owning multiple credit cards.

Tip: There’s no one-size-fits-all approach applicable to owning credit cards. At the end of the day, it all comes down to an individual’s ability to manage his/her credit bills responsibly while keeping up with the due dates. 

More Cards, More Benefits

Credit card issuers constantly keep on attracting consumers with fascinating perks and cashbacks. That’s what keeps the customers coming their way.  You might be tempted to opt for more than one credit card. You could keep one for personal spending and the other for business spending. It will help you keep the finances separate. 

Moreover, you can also opt for a card that offers rewards on groceries, another that offers enticing cashback or reward on dining and another that lets you place orders on international websites without charging any hefty foreign transaction fees.

Having different credit cards allows you to earn rewards and cashbacks on every purchase made using a credit card. For instance, you can easily earn up to 5% cashback on groceries, hotels, fuel and dine-outs. Some cards offer FLAT 1% cashback on all purchases made using them.

The only downside is that if you have too many credit cards, you may end up forgetting a due date or even lose one of the cards. One wrong move and you’ll ruin any savings earned. 

Sometimes, having even two credit cards could be troublesome for those who can’t afford to pay off their bills or are weak at practising self-control. 

Risk: You might end up in a debt trap

Financial experts fear that credit card users might rack up huge bills and expenses. Well, we strongly believe that it’s nothing other than a myth. If you’re owning multiple credit cards, you’ll be way better at managing your expenses. You’ve to be disciplined enough to realise when you’re overspending or else you’ll end up in the debt trap. Don’t go overboard by creating debt that you can’t afford to pay. 

Benefit: Helps secure loans with minimal interest rates

If the credit cards are being used wisely, they’re known to strengthen your stance in the credit score range and later you can secure loans with nominal interest rates. On the other hand, if you fail to manage it responsibly the stakes are pretty high and may turn you ineligible for future lending. 

Benefit: Get rewarded on your spendings

Isn’t it tempting to get rewarded for doing your monthly groceries? It certainly is! Many credit cards offer cash backs, rewards, incentives and promotions at certain brands they’ve partnered with, which is a great thing for any shopaholic. 

Benefit: Buy now, pay later

The best thing about paying through a credit card is that you don’t get billed right away. There’s no need to worry if you’re roaming around cashless because these plastic cards have you covered.

It is quite convenient to use a credit card for your purchase, as it will let you get hold of the product/service instantly and not get billed for it until your payday rolls around. 

Risk: Losing the track of due dates

This is pretty common when you own multiple credit cards. Being diligent and responsible enough is the key to maintaining a good credit score. The best way to keep up with the due dates is by setting up reminders. 

No matter how many credit cards you own, it is suggested to carry not more than two at a time. You’ll still have a backup card in case your primary card is declined due to any XYZ reason. It also minimizes the risk of losing all your cards if your wallet goes missing. 

If you’re one of those impulsive individuals that easily draw themselves into a huge pile of debt, then you shouldn’t sign up for a credit card at all! Also, you should consider reading these five useful tips that will help you limit your overspending habit. 

Risk: Frauds & scams

Ever imagined having your credit card being suspected of potentially fraudulent activity? In such a scenario, your card will be frozen until you assure your credit card company on call that you are on a vacation in Egypt and the card is with you. This pretty much justifies the need to carry a backup credit card. 

Sometimes, your credit card details might be compromised if you’re a victim of phishing. Unfortunately, there’s no fool-proof way of avoiding such scam attempts. Because of such unavoidable circumstances, it’s always a good idea to own at least two or three credit cards. 

A credit card is undoubtedly a lifesaver when you are caught up in an emergency. To cope up with an unexpected emergency whether it is paying off a medical bill, losing your job or covering a car repair; credit cards can be quite useful in such testing times. Ideally, your credit card should have zero annual fees and a reasonable credit limit with the best & minimal interest rate. 

Having several credit cards comes up with the responsibility of managing credit card limits on each and paying their balances before due dates.

Starting a new business is potentially one of the scariest things you will ever do in your adult life, even when compared to having children. Babies, as scary as they can seem, generally all work in the same way and their behaviour becomes largely predictable. Having a business, on the other hand, can be incredible one day and insanely terrifying the next. You will fall eventually into a rhythm with both though, so don’t panic. The most important thing to remember when starting your own business is that it is nothing like what you have seen on TV. Businesses, especially start-ups, require money and sometimes a lot of it. You may think you’ve factored in all the costs but you probably haven’t – here are 5 less common costs that you need to know about before starting your own business:

1. Insurance

Business insurance is a requirement of the law in most states, especially when your business is open to the public. Trust me, if anything ever did happen and your business got sued for a slip and fall injury, you’ll be grateful that you had that insurance to help with legal experts. Insurance premiums will vary, depending on your coverage so consult with your broker to determine the recommended coverage option for your business.

2. Permits

Permits are the worst kind of hidden business expense but they are a necessary part of doing business within your community. Permits are, unfortunately, rarely a once-off fee and your business will likely have to continue paying these from time to time for the entire time your business is operational. Before you start or buy a business, consult your local government offices or chamber of commerce professional groups to get more details about your area.

3. Software Licensing

We all know that new businesses require office equipment like computers, scanners, and printers but most of us forget that those computers require software programs that need to be licenced. Licensing costs can sneak up on you, especially the ones that require annual fees so take note of when your next payment will be due and set a reminder for a few months in advance so that you can make sure you’ve set aside that money.

4. Employee Benefits

Employee benefits may seem like an unnecessary expense but they almost always pay off. If your employees are the right fit for your company then giving them added perks for working for you will make them feel appreciated, in return they will work harder for you.

5. Utilities

Everyone knows that office rental is a major expense for most businesses but few companies realize how much they will be paying for the utilities for that office space. Power bills, water bills, sanitation costs, as well as heating bills will need to all be factored into your business’s monthly budget. Do your research and shop around for providers that will offer your company competitive rates for your utilities. If possible, consider frequent energy audit programs because these can help improve your business’s overall energy efficiency.

Focus on sustainability comes with a lot of benefits and you should be at the forefront to reap them for your organization. However, there are some managers who still see it as an expense that they can forego. So, have you adopted sustainability reporting in your organization? Is the process getting you the expected benefits?

It is true that it comes with some costs, but you should anticipate a lot more from the process. This post highlights some tips that you can use to make ESG sustainability reporting profitable.

What is Sustainability Reporting?

To be able to optimize profitability from the sustainability reporting process, it is crucial to start by understanding and internalize it well. Sustainability reporting is the disclosure of a company’s information about its significant social, economic, and environmental impacts. It is a full process that assists corporates in setting goals and methods of achieving them. Therefore, it sets the agenda for progressive changes that include enhancing profitability.

To make ESG sustainability reporting straightforward, companies are turning to automation tools, especially those that allow selected stakeholders to add relevant data. With sustainability reporting management software, your business is able to focus on new challenges and edge closer to achieving its goals for success. Here are some useful tips for profitability.

Define the Company’s Case for Sustainability 

From the definition of ESG sustainability reporting, you can see that the primary aim is reporting your social, economic, and environmental sustainability. To make the entire process sustainable, you should look at the company’s goals and refine them to emphasize sustainability. Take the case of a company that sets one of the sustainability agenda to be cutting down emissions by 50% in three years. In such a case, the improved efficiency will come in handy in cutting down raw material-related losses, improving productivity, and growing profits.

Make Your Employees Sustainable Champions 

Your process of sustainability reporting cannot be complete without involving employees because they are responsible for implementing related policies. Therefore, make sure to make them part of the process from the beginning. For example, you should demonstrate the importance of automation to the employees in order to reduce resistance. Therefore, start by training them on the multiple benefits that sustainability will yield to both the company and society.

With staff committed to sustainability, you will find it easy to not only reach the targeted goals but also surpass them by a considerable margin. For example, committed staff will be there to turn off lights and power when not in use and use computers for communication as opposed to printed memos. All of these actions will translate to lowering costs of production and increasing profitability.

Create Transformative Change 

The starting point of the sustainability reporting process is crafting strategies to achieve your company’s goals for sustainability. However, the report you generate only serves as a platform and could help to propel your company to higher profitability. Here is how you can do it.

• Use sustainability report to demonstrate commitment to improving the society and environment. This will be a great way to build a stronger and better community around your brand.
• The sustainability report can help you to win a bigger market share, grow sales, and move the company to the next level.
• Make sustainability reporting a platform to inform new changes needed for higher profitability.

One of the best decisions that you can make in your company is to adopt ESG sustainability reporting because it breathes new life into every unit. While the efforts will no doubt attract some costs, such as buying new equipment and training staff, the value that comes with it can catapult you right ahead of the park. This is why you need to follow the right procedure for gathering data, focusing on accuracy and honesty. Consider automating the process by acquiring and using appropriate sustainability management software. 

Words are useful in creating meaning; Pictures amplify the meaning created and videos give it credibility. This explains why most businesses make use of videos to pass messages to the target audience and consumers.

Videos are effective tools of communication that beats language, cultural and racial barriers to convey meaning. If you stay in Vancouver or any part of the world, you will find that videos are gaining prominence in the communication world.

Getting good visuals for your business requires that you hire a reputable video production company. With this, you are sure to get original and unique content that will convey your brand’s message in the most suitable manner. A good media company converts the concept of a brand to a captivating video that will prompt the desired response from the target audience.

If you are looking to hire a video production company, you will find that it is a bit daunting especially if you don’t know the qualities to look out for. However, with the right guide, you can easily find a good company to handle your project. We will also simplify the search process for you in this article by outlining some tips to guide you. 

Video Production

Video production is the process of creating a video. It takes different forms such as product overviews, demo, video blogs, social media videos, or customer testimonials. Video production is essential in the creation of brand awareness and the generation of fresh business leads.

Videos have a record of evoking the desired response from members of the public and businesses are constantly using them to achieve set business goals and objectives.

Reasons to Use a Video Production Company

Here are some reasons why you should hire a video company:

Originality

Video production companies are regularly contacted by clients that run different kinds of businesses and this makes them engage in research to give them unique content. Understanding the visual industry requires proper research and this has led to the investment of huge human and financial resources in research by media companies. 

Research allows these companies to stay updated with trends within the social space to know what consumers need and come up with measures to satisfy a client’s creative need. With this, clients are served content that is exclusive to their brand in a way that carves out a niche as well as an identity for them in the market. 

If you need other tips on how to stay updated with market trends, you can watch this video.

Professional Output

There is a huge difference between work done by a trained professional and a novice in the industry. While creating visuals for a project may be considered a DIY project, allowing professionals to handle it gives a top-quality output that will achieve the set goals and objectives of the business. 

Furthermore, using an individual’s concept isn’t always enough especially when compared with a team of professionals handling a project. Contracting a team to handle a creative visual project makes room for a variety of concepts that will be used to convey the business message to the target audience. 

A team is usually made of people handling different stages of the creative process like video creators, freelancers that research market trends, and editors that check the suitability for the brand identity. All these personnel work towards the production of top-quality videos.

If you feel you want to handle your video production projects and you need tips to guide you, you can check here: https://www.skillshare.com/blog/learn/videography-for-beginners

Saves Cost

Your budget goes a long way in determining the kind of production you request. With a professional company, you get to save a lot of money that would have been used to try numerous productions while trying to get the desired result. A good company gives you an output that can be used to run different marketing campaigns even after some time.

One notable thing about working with a professional is their ability to work with your budget. With this, they can create a suitable video for your business even with a limited budget. 

Similarly, there are enterprises that buy production equipment and train their staff on how to create visuals with them. While this is considered to be economical, it is not always ideal as there are upgrades and modifications that happen daily with equipment.

Additionally, most staff may not have good knowledge of video production and this may lead to poor output. If you are looking to handle your production and you need help, you can read articles explaining how to produce videos for assistance. 

Finding a Good Media Company 

The following are some tips to find a good company:

Use Local Companies

You can check out multimedia companies around you. Some of these companies also render good quality services to their clients and using them will be a good idea.

Check Online

There are several multimedia outfits that have websites where prospective clients can check out their services. You can use your favorite search engine to search for video companies around you. While doing this, always take out time to research a company before working with them. The essence of doing this is to avoid falling victim to fake or fraudulent companies.

One way to avoid fake companies is to read reviews published on the website. These reviews are effective in helping you to know the quality of service they render to clients. However, you may need to read between the lines to spot fake reviews. If you need help with spotting fake reviews, you can check here.

Conclusion

There is no better way to convey meaning other than with the use of videos. Videos are beautiful and are effective in giving credibility to a message. The production of a good video isn’t always a stroll in the park hence you need a good company to handle the project. We have discussed some tips to help you with finding a good company as well as the benefits of using a professional for your visual projects.