Crowdfunding Basics - Everything You Need to Know to Crowdfunding Your Next Project

Ever since the dawn of commerce, smart and savvy entrepreneurs have been finding ways to leverage other people's money (OPM) in order to build the kind of businesses that would otherwise exist only in their dreams.

However, we've never seen a crowdfunding environment and community quite like the one that has been cropping up all over the Internet in just the last few years. More and more regular folks are getting the itch to become creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs than ever before - understanding that with the right crowdfunding approach, they should be able to raise the funds necessary to bring their dreams to life, all without having to take on a tremendous amount of risk in the first place.

That being said, before you dive into finding all different kinds of crowdfunding website services and looking to build project funding for any of your dreams, you need to understand how best to approach crowdfunding to make sure that you can raise the amount of money that you need not only to complete this specific project, but to set you up moving forward.

Above all else, focus on the message to market match when looking for project funding

If you've heard a number of different stories about how crowdfunding websites never seem to work out, and that only a few lucky people are able to take advantage of this new form of entrepreneurship, then you have probably been speaking to people who didn't focus on their message to market match.

Just because you have a wild dream that you think would be fantastic to bring to fruition doesn't mean that there is a marketplace to support it, which is why so many different crowdfunding ideas are unable to raise the kind of project funding they need to get up off the ground. Not only do you need to make sure that your project is in and of itself exciting, but you also have to make sure that your message (your pitch, really) resonates with the marketplace as well. All of the greatest and very best fundraising ideas in the world will do nothing for a project that cannot speak directly to the people who will support it the most.

Outline expectations as well as stumbling blocks to create trust and affinity

One of the very best fundraising ideas you'll ever stumble upon is the concept of being as real as humanly possible while also working to hype up and get people excited for your project. Not only should you outline all of your wildest expectations in an effort to get people jacked up about investing in your project, but you also have to walk a fine line by outlining all of the stumbling blocks that you can foresee.

While it may seem counterintuitive to post up stumbling blocks, roadblocks, and mistakes of that could potentially happen along the way when trying to secure project funding on a crowdfunding website, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, people will appreciate your honesty and candor, and will be much more likely to contribute directly to your project at the same time.

All in all, crowdfunding is an exciting way to dive into a business that you don't have the funds all on your own - but you should heed the advice provided in this article before you decide to move forward.

5 Tips for Money Saving

Managing your money is a simple task. All you need to do is to make several changes in your current life. Below are 5 tips for money saving.

1. Personal Money Management

Simple acts such as opening an online saving account or avoiding ATM fees will save you a lot of money. Keep an eagle eye on your spending and investments. By thoroughly keeping track of your spending and your investments, it allows you to feel in control of your finances. A great way to keep track of your finances is to always keep records of any transaction that you partake. No matter how minor the transaction is, always keep up the records for it.

2. Save on the food

Food is a basic need, which could be expensive. Although, you cannot live without food, it does not mean that you should spend a fortune on it. Easy ways to save on food include buying the food when it is cheap. The good thing with food is that it always has a season when it is in plenty. Take advantage to buy enough for you.

Another great way to save on food is to avoid buying food from the restaurant. Other than the restaurant's food being unhealthy, it is also expensive. If you are going to school or work, cook a large meal in the evening and carry some of the food the next day for your lunch.

3. Save on loaned items

If you have anything that you constantly get on a loan, such as water, contact your creditors, and ask them to cut any interests that the product might be carrying. Explain to the creditors how you have never made any late payment and you will not make any late payment in the future. If possible, convince your creditors to bring the interest rates to zero.

4. Save on transportation

Since traveling is almost a daily occurrence, aiming at saving on it will save you plenty of money. If you own a car, ask your car insurance company to offer you a higher deductible amount. By saving more in the car insurance, it will shield you more from accidents. Also, instead of using your car in traveling to and from work, use public transportation to save on gas.

5. Take advantage of any discounts offered

Finally, take advantage of any discounts offered by any business. If your grocery store is offering a special offer, take advantage of it and buy your goods at low prices.

Above are 5 tips for money-saving. Incorporate them in your daily life and you will ultimately see your life taking a turn for the better.

Save Money On Your Necessities: Find Creative Ways To Do This

In this day and age, people are working their butts off every single day to earn money. As what other people may say, money makes the world go round. Physically and financially, this is somewhat true. You cannot live in this society when you do not have enough resources to fulfill your daily tasks. As what Abraham Maslow has shown in his diagram, the physiologic needs should be met first before one can proceed and meet all the needs to a fuller and higher life.

The basic needs are clothing, air, food and all the necessities needed for your everyday life. Abraham Maslow said that these needs should be well met so that a person can fully grow physically, emotionally and socially. A number of people have read the work of Maslow and they have applied this in their daily lives. Another thing that is important apart from earning money is saving. Saving is another story. It can be pretty hard. With all the things that are going on with life, you should be able to have a keen sense of grip towards your hard earned money. There are several things that should be done when saving your expenses on food, clothing, housing and auto.

Going to the grocery store is a good spot to learn and save money. When you go shopping for groceries, it is preferable that you do this every month. Have a monthly budget on your necessities. Be sure that you allotted enough for the whole month so that you would not go to the store every now and then. This way, money, time and effort are saved.

When you need car repairs, choose a shop wherein you can have good quality but with lesser fees. But if you have the proper tools and skills, you can also do it yourself. Yet, you should also minimize the repairs by taking care of your car.

When you have any housing repairs, you choose a shop wherein they offer varied house repairs. This way, you can have repairs all at once with a single fee. Make sure that they also have quality repairs so that you would not be calling them for services every now and then.

You can also save on clothes. You can go to thrift and bargain stores. They sell clothes at a much cheaper rate. If you have a big family, recycle and reuse clothes. This way, you can divert the money you have for clothes to something more important.

As you can see, there are several ways that you can save money with these basic necessities. Preventing repairs is a good way to go. With this, you can save your money instead of spending it in these preventable repairs. If you follow these simple tips, you can have enough savings in no time.

Beware the Obama Stock Bubble

Presidential history can be pretty interesting... with odd coincidences and ominously repeated date, economic and other patterns. For example, Ronald Reagan's presidency is notable for breaking Tecumseh's Curse. The curse apparently started in 1840 when President William Henry Harrison came to office. He defeated a great Native American chief in battle... and, himself, subsequently died in office. Thereafter, all presidents who were elected (not sworn in) in a year ending in zero... died in office... until the curse was broken when Reagan survived assassination attempts and ended his two terms alive and kicking. George W. Bush became president in 2000 but is alive and well today... so Tecumseh's Curse is broken, thank heavens!

But, ironically, while Reagan broke Tecumseh's Curse, he may have set in motion another curse... this one economic in nature... where two-term presidents assume office during an economic downturn, preside over a strong economic recovery... and see that recovery grow to bubble proportions and end in a market crash.

When Reagan assumed office, the economy was in pretty bad shape with double-digit inflation - unheard of previously - and the highest rate of unemployment after World War II. Then Reagan went about fixing the economy and the Dow soared 150% from below 800 in mid-1982 to over 2,000 by early 1987... and then, just a year before the 1988 presidential election, the Dow suffered its largest one-day drop in history, falling 22.6% on Black Monday - October 19, 1987.

Bill Clinton's two term presidency, with Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, saw the Nasdaq rise seven-fold in only six years, to over 5,000 by March 2000... only to burst spectacularly with the dot-com bust... which took the Nasdaq back down to 1,000 by late 2002.

George W. Bush walked into the messy economic aftermath of the dot-com bust but soon had it much worse with the 9/11 terror attacks in 2011 - then Bush used massive tax cuts, easy monetary policy and massive government spending on defense and domestic security to pull the economy out of its slump. During the Bush years, as most of you will remember, housing boomed to fantastic bubble proportions and the Dow hit a record high in 2007, only to flameout with a spectacular housing bust and a Wall Street banking crisis of unforeseen proportions... which we still have not recovered completely from.

So now we come to Obama, our latest two term president... Obama inherited the housing bust and financial collapse... which he has fought with near-zero interest rates, government funded bailouts and massive quantitative easing... but instead of creating jobs, this money has fueled a rally in stocks to eye-popping valuations... which many predict will inevitably end in a severe bust. With the Fed now printing $85 billion every month, word on the street is that the Fed will continue easy monetary policy without worrying about a stock market bubble. What's different this time, though, is that interest rates are as low as they can go and... with our national debt at an all-time high... we have little fiscal ammo to combat future economic problems.

Basically, all this money that the Fed is printing is inflating the stock market... with very little trickling down to create new jobs and capital investment for long-term economic growth... and this is what worries market watchers.

Well known fund manager Bob Rodriguez has little confidence in the Federal Reserve's ability to anticipate and ward off bubbles... Rodriguez predicts severe economic turmoil in the 2014-2018 timeframe because of low government liquidity - with a large chunk of government funds going to pay-off interest on $21.3 trillion in federal, state and local debt. Rodriguez believes this is a good time to stay out of stocks because valuations are driven by unsustainable monetary and fiscal policy. His firm, First Pacific, is also a net seller of bonds because rising interest rates could kill bond prices.

... so while I am a strong proponent of long-term equity appreciation, I also think it makes sense to not get too carried away or too greedy... perhaps making this a good time to consider cashing in gains or seeking income through strategies such as covered calls, and holding off on buying stocks unless you think they are very attractive on fundamental valuation... and on the latter, I'd urge you to dig deeper on earnings growth to see if it is long-term sustainable. If earnings growth is driven by artificially low interest rates and low wages, current share prices may not be sustainable.

It's always hard to predict where the market's headed, especially when the Fed is artificially printing and pumping boatloads of cash every month, but by being diligent and doing your homework, maybe you can prevent the toil and trouble of this witches' brew!

How to Get a Tax Refund for PAYE Construction Workers

If you're a construction worker or a tradesman and you work under PAYE tax, you could be claiming back hundreds of pounds a year in tax refunds that you're entitled to! Whether you work on a temporary construction site or as a tradesman, you can claim a tax refund on accommodation, travel expenses, specialist clothing, tools and even the cost of buying a sandwich to eat on site. So make sure you make the most of your claims and get a tax refund!

Living Expenses

Construction workers and tradesmen working on temporary sites can make tax claims for the cost of accommodation and subsistence, even if the employer has provided an allowance for temporary site workers, including a food allowance. Any site that you are working on for 24 months or less is classed as a temporary site and you can claim back up to four years of tax provided you have kept receipts from where you stayed and records of where you worked and when you worked there.

Travel Expenses

If you've received a travel allowance from your employers or if you have had no allowance at all you can make a claim for travel expenses. You can get a tax refund for the cost of travelling to and from work in your own car or of using public transport. If you're travelling in your own vehicle you can claim a mileage allowance of 45p for every mile you travel, unless you travel more than 10,000 miles when the rate is reduced to 25p. You can get a tax refund on your public travel expenses using your travel tickets as evidence in lieu of a receipt.

Clothing and Tools

You can make a claim to clean, repair or replace specialist clothing and tools but not for initially purchasing them. You can still claim if your employer has provided and allowance and you can provide receipts for proof of purchase. If you're not sure what constitutes specialist clothing it's safe to assume that specialist boots, helmets, protective gloves, high vis jackets and anything that you are required to wear by health and safety law can be claimed on.

It's great to know that it's possible to get a tax refund for all of these things if you're a construction worker or a tradesman, but if you weren't aware you could claim then you probably didn't keep receipts. However, it is still worth pursuing a claim with the help of a tax claim specialist. You can enlist the help of a company that specialises in making claims for PAYE construction workers and tradesmen even if you don't have receipts or proof of purchase from the last four years. In most cases you can simply fill in a quick online form and the tax claim company will do the rest - and you won't have to pay if your claim is unsuccessful. So don't miss out on the tax refunds you're entitled to and make that claim!

What You Can Learn From a "Personal Finance for Engineers"

Just before the Twitter IPO, Adam Nash, the CEO of Wealthfront, gave a personal finance talk to Twitter's engineers. While the presentation was geared toward young, tech-savvy high-earners, much of the advice it contained can be applied to anyone's finances. Some of the best tips shared with Twitter's engineers:

Manage Emotions When Investing
Studies show that many people, especially those who work in STEM fields, consider themselves more rational than the average investor. People think that they can beat the averages. But, the truth is that very few people can beat the market. And, those who do are more often lucky than smart.

Instead of playing hunches, work from an investment strategy with an end goal in place. As Nash said in the presentation: smart investing is boring. But, where it lacks thrills and chills, it makes up for it all in financial security.

Have an Emergency Fund
The most basic building block for financial security is an emergency fund. You can't build for the future if you are constantly being set back by emergencies. The ideal emergency fund should contain three to six months worth of living expenses. If that number is too daunting, start smaller. First build an emergency fund that can carry you through one week's groceries; once you reach that number, aim for a month's utilities; then, climb toward even larger goals.

Save for Retirement
The sooner you start, the better. One thousand dollars put into an interest bearing account when you are 25 will grow to several times the size of the same amount put into the same account when you are 40.

Retirement can seem like a very abstract goal when you have so many other things demanding your more immediate attention. But, even a few hundred dollars a year put into an IRA will make things easier on you when you get older.

Maintain a Balanced Portfolio
Never keep all your money in one investment or in one type of investment. The best portfolios mix stocks, bonds, CDs and other instruments. This way, you have a balance of safer but less lucrative investments and higher risk ones that generally pay more over time. You should also change where you invest based on when you will need the cash. As you get closer to retirement or another large financial goal, start putting your money into safer investments.

Most of us will never be high-paid employees of a big-name start-up. But, we can all live better, more exciting lives by managing our finances in ways that maximize the benefits of the money we do have.

The Biblical Law of Scarcity

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it... '" (Genesis 1:26-28). After God spoke order and abundant life into the darkness and chaos that was earth, He beheld it and declared that it was very good. Adam and Eve, made in the very image of God, were to learn to be like God. They were to have dominion over the earth just as their Father, Creator has dominion over everything. They were in training to rule with God as children in the Royal household or family of God. Their task as overseers of earth was blessed.

Unfortunately, at some point, Adam chose to stand silently by as the serpent enticed his wife and then himself to rebel against God. You may never have given it much thought but one of the ways Adam and Eve violated God's Law was by theft. They stole fruit from God that He clearly told them was not theirs to have. God had given them everything and blessed them with abundance and yet they were convinced that it was not enough.

The law of scarcity is observed as man's attempt to fulfill his infinite wants with finite resources. Because of this theft, God was going to crank scarcity up a notch.

You can read in Exodus 22:1-4 that it is required of the thief to restore not only that which he has stolen but there must be a quantitative loss to the thief. If the thief is not able to make full restitution, then he must be sold into slavery to pay off the full amount. Now look at how Adam was indeed punished according to the restitution law concerning theft.

In Genesis 3:17-19, the Judge of the universe pronounces sentence on Adam. "Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you... In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground... "

Before Adam's theft, due to the sheer magnitude of abundance given to him as a blessing, Adam would make light work of maintaining himself, his family and the garden. This would have freed up much of his time to pursue other ventures to build and to grow and reach new heights. Adam would have grown spiritually and truly developed into a complete son of God, maturing into the very image of His maker.

So notice the punishment is a curse on the abundance. Now Adam would fritter away his whole life (as all men generally do now) just keeping food on his table, clothes on his back and a shelter over his head from the time he is able to work until the day of his death. Adam rebelled against God whom has dominion over man. Now God allowed creation itself to rebel against Adam so he could experience what it is like to deal and work with rebellion. The curse brought enmity and fear between man and animal. The crops no longer yielded abundantly and the soil rebelled, bringing forth weeds to reduce production. The creeping things of the earth (insects) rebelled against Adam, destroying his crops and spreading disease. Weather patterns changed, also wreaking havoc on production; both food and construction of homes, villages, and societies.

The law in Exodus also requires that the thief be sold into slavery until the debt is paid. Adam indeed has sold his offspring into the bondage of sin. Sadly, instead of repentance, Satan has convinced man that the solution to scarcity is more theft by continuing to seek, within himself, the fulfillment of his wants and spiritual needs that only the Creator can fulfill. Man is perpetually duped into eating more and more of the forbidden fruit, hoping the next bite will be the missing dimension needed to be whole. Man continues to eat from this tree because he stole from it, to begin with, under the premise that man is inherently good and capable of defining what is right and then doing the right.

No one in their right mind would believe that the solution to overcoming sin is to sin more yet that is exactly what man has shown by his actions for 6,000 years. Our solution to theft is more theft to the level of governments that enforce social justice and the redistribution of wealth. Our solution to debt is to spend ourselves into greater debt as we can see in our own nation today where we are the world's greatest debtor nation having surpassed all of Europe, including Britain, by 2.4 trillion dollars. Our solution to overcoming bondage is more bondage as we embrace the State as a solution instead of the Ten Commandments which James so rightly describes as "the law of liberty".

Thanks be to God, that He has provided a second Adam, Jesus Christ, to redeem us from this curse in due time. Understanding this curse and its purpose is key to alleviating and overcoming its effects in a Christian's walk. It is the answer to the question so many scoffers and would-be believers alike, who ask, "If there is a God, why does He allow so much suffering?" Count your blessings in this life, being content in a fallen world where nature itself is rebelling against us and seek God to fill the void we all have that can only be filled by our Father.

Eric Daniel Brown