Simply Junior

2011 is a 4 Universal Year. ( 2+0+1+1=4) We have to look to the energy of the number 4 in order to understand the trend of global events in 2011.

The 4 Year is strongly associated with hard work and little freedom to pursue frivolous activities. It is a time to be practical, down to earth, follow the rules and be organized and efficient. Success can only be achieved through endurance and discipline. It is a Year that is instrumental for building a foundation for the future because the number 4 demands that we stabilize all areas of our life by working on the foundation upon which we live. On that note, the number 4 is strongly associated with Mother Earth.

Financially, it can be a challenging year because you have to be careful with your money in a 4 Year, being frugal and spending it wisely. There is also a warning about stress and health with the number 4.

The mood of the world is about to take a somber note and I suspect our sense of humor will be on hiatus in 2011. It is time for the world to work on our problems in a no-nonsense way.

The following are potential trends for 2011 based upon its being a 4 Universal Year and also observations on events in October.

1. Governments around the world will have to reign in their spending and you will find cuts to programs that would be considered to be expendable. It is time for our governments to be frugal. Whether it is on a federal, state or local level, budgets must be balanced and some of these budget cuts will be severe.
2. Products that are more efficient or that save money, for example fuel-efficient cars, will be invented or marketed. This would be an area to invest your money. Look for start-up companies of this nature. Also if you have extra money to invest, given the excellent buyers market in real estate, if you can invest in a rental property or something of that nature, this would be the best place to put your money rather than the stock market. It is not a year to take a risk.
3. More laws will be proposed and passed that on some level create limitations in our lives, perhaps even limiting our freedom. It will all about “law and order” in 2011. Our travel could be restricted in some way.
4. There will be a clash in ideologies where there is no middle ground. People will have strong opinions. This may cause more demonstrations or protests. People will become stressed and angry. Some incidents could potentially become violent.
5. Governments will either choose to or be forced (perhaps because of a natural disaster) to work on the infrastructures of their countries. Due to the fact the sun is in a solar maximum period, we face real danger with an interruption to our electricity for extended periods. There are plans in place to cut power in the event of a serious solar flare. This is based upon scientific facts and I encourage you to do your own research on the effects of this particular solar maximum period on you and your families. Be prepared.
6. People will feel the increasing costs of gas, food and necessities and have to make adjustments with their own budgets. There also could be protests over high prices. We can also expect shortages of products. You may want to stock up on basics and you might even consider it an investment as prices will continue to rise so you will be saving money in the long run by purchasing at a lower price.
7. Fashions and trends will be less colorful but more practical and there will be less emphasis on exorbitant spending and even Hollywood will tone down the usual “over the top” spending, glitz and glamour.
8. Companies who have been unethical by lying or misrepresenting their products will be exposed and held accountable. This would also include public individuals.
9. The increased trend in Earthquakes will continue in 2011. Because there was a 6.9 Earthquake in the Gulf of California in October, I have concern about that area. I also expect more tsunamis.
10. Industries that depend on a good economy such as the vacation and travel industry, restaurants, and high-end commerce will continue to suffer even more in 2011. People will not be as willing to part with their hard-earned dollar even if they have extra money.
11. The stock market may “flat line” in the sense that people will not be as willing to take a risk.
12. Unfortunately, job losses and unemployment will add to the financial limitations of many people in 2011. Many job losses will come from budget cuts made by the government for government funded organizations.
13. 2011 may be a difficult year for epidemics or pandemics. There is already evidence of this with cholera in Haiti, whooping cough, hand and foot disease and now news of the bird flu in China. Learn how to keep your immunity system healthy. Start taking Vitamin D and C and do some research on other options.
14. North Korea will continue to be a concern for their aggressive behavior and there will be more news which will cause alarm.
15. Weather will continue to break the records. Flooding, wind storms, tornados and “freak storms” will be in the news for 2011. Expect a few Nor’easters this year but generally a milder winter for the East and a difficult winter for the Midwest. I do not expect an active hurricane season in the Atlantic again in 2011.
16. Expect more and more unexplained phenomenon with the earth’s atmosphere in 2011 including meteorites, undiscovered anomalies, and strange behavior of the sun and yes, even UFOs.
17. Without question, the focus on a more spiritual approach to living will continue to grow and you can expect to see continued growth of this trend in TV, radio and all forms of media.

Alison Baughman

http://www.VisibleByNumbers.com

Once a term only used by governments, cloud hosting is making its way to businesses both large and small. According to Wikipedia, cloud computing “is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the internet.” Image a multitude of servers that are connected through networks to create a cloud where companies are able to store data. Essentially, this cloud acts as an outsourcing agent for server and storage needs.

Just because cloud hosting is becoming a new buzzword, adoption may or may not be the best choice for your company. Read over these pros and cons to learn more about your options with cloud computing.

The Benefits

Hosting your information on an outsourced system (that is maintained by a third-party) can really free up space and cut costs. With cloud hosting, you can

o Access your data at all times – not just while in the office
o A physical storage center is no longer needed
o Most have a pay structure that only calls for payment only when used
o Relieves burden on IT Professionals and frees up their time in the office
o Easily scalable so companies can add or subtract storage based on their own needs

The Negatives

If you are going to move all of your information to data centers situated outside your company, then security should be of utmost importance.

o Lost control comes with handing over your data and information
o Depending on third-party to ensure the security and confidentiality of data and information
o If your cloud host disappears, where does your information go?

If you are a small business, or even a Fortune 500 company, cloud computing can take a large expense and make it work for your budget. Funding the servers, software, and information technology professionals can be a real burden and finding cost-efficient means through cloud hosting can be very beneficial.

It is an undisputed fact that market economies, in Capitalism, are moved by the supply and demand for goods and services. Whereas it is natural and obvious to explain and justify demand as a direct and proximate result of the need for goods and services, it is not quite equally so natural and obvious to explain and justify why such goods and services should be available for us to grab in the first place. Demand has to do with the way the intricate thread and connectivity of neurons in the human mind work – or don’t work. And since out of six billions or so humans there are six billions or so different minds, it follows that demand is a very subjective variable indeed. Supply, on the other hand, is in direct function and the proximate result of only one economic element: capital growth.

The basis for the real estate market is the demand by households, businesses, governments and institutions for space and shelter to conduct activities. Consequently, as demand changes in direct function of human activities and economic and demographic variables, conditions within the real estate market change. The demand for space, shelter and support for human activities is not for the land itself but, rather, for the use of the land – that is for the services provided by the land. Land that is useful has a value to the user. This value is the real motivating force for the operation of the real estate market.

More specifically, the value of land represents the amount a potential user is willing to pay in exchange for the right to use the land. From another perspective, it is the amount that the holder of the right to grant permission for the use of the land will receive in exchange for granting this right to another party. When there is no exchange, the holder receives value through his own use of the land. For example, a homeowner does not have to pay rent to live on the land. As the benefits from using land may be received long into the future, the value of an interest in land will be the dollar amount invested today that is justified by the anticipated benefits, given risk and current investment conditions. In general, any interest in land that has a value through use will also have a capital value. Value through use of land is possibly the only one precept – in the long and twisted line of thinking and rationalization of the human mind – that is common and shared by Marxism, Socialism, Fascism and Capitalism. The unreconcilable differences among these social doctrines, however, lie in the practical economic applications of the value through use of land as it relates to totalitarian regimes. On the other hand, value through use of land was absent during pre-industrial Mercantilism, as trade, tariffs and monopolies were given precedence over investment, free market and monetarism.

Housing supply is produced using land, labor, and various inputs such as electricity and building materials. The quantity of new supply is determined by the cost of these inputs, the price of the existing stock of houses, and the technology of production. In Economics, the price elasticity of supply measures the responsiveness of the quantity supplied of a good to its price. This responsiveness is measured as the percentage change in supply that occurs in response to a percentage change in price. As real estate is a fixed and durable commodity and the land underneath is practically indestructible, real estate markets are modeled as a stock-over-flow market. About 98 percent of supply consists of the stock of existing houses, while about 2 percent consists of the flow of new development. The stock of real estate supply in any period is determined by the existing stock in the previous period, the rate of deterioration of the existing stock, the rate of renovation of the existing stock, and the flow of new development in the current period.

Essentially, the production of real estate output depends on the accumulation of capital. This is so because the propensity to invest in production (construction of new inventories) depends a lot on expectations of future profitability and on the present perceptions of market risk. If production stops being perceived as profitable, or if the present perception of market risk increases sharply, capital will exit more and more from the sphere of real estate production. What drives the accumulation process, therefore, is the perpetual search for more surplus-value, that is the amount of the increase in the value of capital upon investment, i.e. the yield regardless of source or form. This requires a constant supply of a labor force which can conserve and add value to inputs and capital assets, and thus create a higher value. The rationale behind this is that labor adds value by satisfying demand through production, since when people acquire income they tend to invest it, and the more people that acquire income the more people that tend to invest it. Therefore, there is a correlation between capital and employment in real estate or, if you will, between income and labor. An increase in levels of consumption sets forth an increase in prices caused by a corresponding increase in demand, in itself generated by a commensurate increase in the income-employment factor. It follows, therefore, that growth is derived by the equilibrium of capital and investment with labor and employment. And since, furthermore, production is in direct function of consumers spending which increases as unemployment falls, it follows that capital accumulation inreases as employment rises and capital accumulation decreases as employment falls.

As capital accumulation in real estate is driven by surplus value as explained above, and because of the fact that it is not possible for employment to ever reach a ‘zero value’ in any economy (otherwise there is no economy), real estate capital growth will never stop accumulating and, therefore, demand for real estate outputs will always be there – even in the worst possible market. Real estate, therefore, is unique in this respect and quite unlike other markets that are not anchored on the relationship between capital and labor. These other markets are far more speculative in nature, in that future capital accumulation is fueled only by present capital consumption. As one thing undercuts the other, therefore, these speculative markets are more unstable, unsafe and prone to crash. What happened to the stock market on Black Monday – October 19, 1987 – when it lost twenty-two percent in value in eight hours is primary proof of it.

Luigi Frascati

A common task is how to plan your retirements? Considering the age factor, if you start investing in the retirement plans at age of 40 or 50, you won’t get the best benefits. Right time is at the age of 30. When your income is high and you have that strength to take extra efforts, one should invest in the retirement plans. It is not that you have to invest ample sum of amount. Investing just small amount for longer periods make it compounded and interests are doubled. Small amounts can make large impacts when it is invested for 30 or 40 years. You have to first calculate your needs after retirements along with the market statistics.

After that period as standard of living of people goes on increasing. Retirement planning depends upon the pension plans you choose. According to different policies of different governments, usually government officers get their fixed pension amounts after retirements. But for those in private sectors, have to think about pension plans, which once you are retired, ensure to pay a fixed pension amount every month. There are many such other plans such as saving sheltered plans, Social security plans etc. All these highly depend upon the occupation you choose. If you are an employee, you have a retirement age, but for those having own occupation as a business, there is no such age limit for retirement.

Assets play very important role after retirement. Having enough assets also prove to be beneficial. If you have your second home where you can have tenants, make a healthy amount at monthly basis. These were about investments; retirement planning also includes health insurance which is not just an investment but a way to save your money in the old age when your health is more prone to illness. Better way is to keep exercising and keeping yourself fit from your adulthood even after retirement.