Fortune Watch

Our schools teach the fundamentals we all love; reading, writing, math, science and history. What concerns me is our school system lacks some of the ‘street smart’ skills that kids will need to be those successful leaders, healers and entrepreneurs.

As parents, we must take teach our children ‘money smarts’.

Can you imagine how empowered you would be if your parents taught you how to balance a checkbook, invest in the stock market, manage credit card debt, start a business, or the power of compounding interest?

If you were one of the lucky few whose parents did teach you money skills, consider yourself blessed. The present economic situation is a perfect time to teach our kids the importance of money management and the need to respect money for what it is, and isn’t.

So, where do we start? With the basics. Depending upon your child’s age, you can start with talking about money. Most of us don’t discuss the family’s financial situation at the dinner table. I propose you do. I think it’s important that children understand what is happening, good or bad, with the money being earned.

Don’t get me wrong here; I’m not suggesting you tell your kids your annual income or the balance of your investment portfolio. What I am suggesting is to bring the kids into conversations regarding ways to save, creative ways to earn additional money and what to spend that money on. Involve them with decisions on vacations, donating to a charity or cause, or how they plan to buy their first car.
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If you need to cut your debt costs, a quick and easy way is to transfer your credit card balances to an introductory rate credit cards. In other words, you can get credit cards with low interest (or better still no interest at all).

Such special offers are designed to encourage people to swap credit card companies in return for a honeymoon period in which they pay little or no interest. Of course, the purpose is to gain a lot of customers who do in fact end up paying interest.

You can get credit cards with low interest from a number of different credit card providers. Monthly credit card interest costs place such a burden on many families that they struggle to meet everyday needs as a result. You can transfer your balance again as your low or zero interest periods come to an end. By doing this, you can ensure you are always paying little or no interest on your credit card balance.

No annual fee credit cards imply no charge for annual servicing of your account. No annual fee credit products may also include a balance transfer fee card offers card.

Most people who get credit cards with low interest or no interest do not think to transfer their balance to other balance transfer credit cards to avoid interest rates. It is certainly not an advertised strategy. However, if you have a large balance which will not be paid off within the special rate period, it is in your best interest to continue to transfer your balance until you have paid off your credit card entirely.

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Offshore investment is the keeping of money in a jurisdiction other than one’s country of residence. Offshore jurisdictions are a commonly accepted solution to reducing excessive tax burdens levied in most countries to both large and small scale investors alike.

Selected offshore domiciles are superficially viewed by some as havens used by to conceal or protect illegally acquired money from law enforcement in the investor’s country. Although this may be the case, legitimate investors also take advantage of higher rates of return or lower rates of tax on that return offered by operating via such domiciles. The advantage to this is that such operations are both legal and less costly than the solutions offered in the investor’s country – or “onshore”

Another reason why ‘offshore’ investment is superior to ‘onshore’ investment is because it is less regulated, and the behavior of the offshore investment provider, whether he is a banker, fund manager, trustee or stock-broker, is freer than it could be in a more regulated environment.

Offshore investing refers to a wide range of investment strategies that capitalize on advantages offered outside of an investor’s home country.

The most important advantage in offshore investing is that you can make a lot of money without paying almost any taxes. If the investor lives in a place where he pays taxes like most countries then he will only pay taxes on his dividend or interest made.

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