| Turning down my nose
A few weeks ago, a coworker floated the idea of an office fantasy baseball league. I think that as the sports editor, I looked at that moment to be one of his definites: I'd be in because I allegedly like sports, because I allegedly know a thing or two about baseball, and perhaps most importantly, because I'm with all certainty a geek and geeks allegedly fall in for fantasy baseball. That's a lot of alleging, so let's get down to it: I don't do fantasy baseball, so when asked, I turned my nose up, said sorry, I couldn't/wouldn't do it. I couldn't participate in a world overrun by the fantasy set, a business that generates billions and warps sporting enjoyment into the tracking of player stats as they correspond to league points. Trees are studied, the forest lost. That, and the whole process is remarkably unscientific, no matter what experts, like King Geek Eric Karabell of ESPN, tell you.
Return of voodoo banking
It's operation headquarters is concealed in the maze of high-rise buildings in the heart of the business district of central Lagos. From the facade it passes for one of those high-yield blue chip companies where careers are hewn.
But if you are dreaming to hit it big working in the company or looking for a micro credit company to translate a business proposal into reality, you may have come to the wrong place.
For inside here, it would seem, dreams crash, debts rise and life takes a hasty downward drift. But the man who calls the shots here insists that his organization is simply misunderstood. He says he is into a genuine, legal business. Welcome to Nomex Nigeria Limited, a micro finance outfit.
Although making its pitch at a time when government is re-emphasizing the return to small credit financing for the poor and small businesses, Nomex activities are a sad reminder of the nation's ugly past of voodoo and money-doubling banking – when misleading handbills and letters were deliberately circulated to give the impression that depositors could get double of their deposits or a handsome per cent, but swindled and plunged into huge debts – may well be making a return.
Barclays Launches Fantastic Catch Free ISA on the Market and New ...
(PRWEB) March 21, 2007 -- With less than a month left for consumers to make the most of their current tax-free ISA savings allowance, Barclays introduces a new cash ISA paying 6.50 per cent AER interest. Customers are able to save from as little as £1 and up to £3,000 in each tax year. Andrew Jones, Barclays (http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=pfs&task=channelFWgroup&value=7277&target=_self ) Product Director, said: "This is the best no catches cash ISA rate to hit the high street this year. Interest rates have been going up in recent months but until recently the best AER you could get on a cash ISA was below 6 per cent. "We believe that this ISA (http://www.barclays.co.uk/isa/ ) at 6.5 per cent offers the best ISA rate to the greatest number of people on the market - it's available from £1, where many ISAs at this rate require upwards of £500; it's not linked to the opening of another account like some of the recent "so-called" best rate ISAs and you're not tied to direct only servicing as it is available through all our branches as well." Savers who already have an ISA in the current tax year will still be able to take advantage of new the Tax Beater Cash ISA (http://www.barclays.co.uk/isa/ ).
Downsize to Survive
Whenever financial troubles threaten the survival of a company, one of the first steps it takes to reduce costs is to downsize, which everyone knows is a corporate euphemism for layoffs. But what if you're an individual in financial trouble? You can't lay yourself off. But you can downsize in other ways, in the process shedding expenses and, as they say in business school, enacting a strategy to move to the next level. Personal downsizing certainly isn't a new phenomenon. Retirees and empty-nesters have been using this strategy for years as a way to simplify their lives and reduce their overhead. The difference today is that there are millions of Americans, many of them baby-boomers, who haven't retired yet but who still need to reduce costs because their expenses far outweigh their income.
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