Online Trading Company

I have been looking for a good online trading company. There are so many to choose from, some offer free trades, some give you bonuses when you switch over. I do not know which one to choose. I use to have an account with e-trade, but I closed it. I have been looking at that again because they give you a 100 free trades when you sign up. Trades online can run about $7-$10. I’m not going to day-trade, so the costs do not really bother me. I just want a company that is fast and reliable.

I am also considering Scottrade. They are offering $100 if you transfer your balances to them, but the problem is I have nothing to transfer over since I do not have an account anywhere else. So for now I will continue to look around for the best deal.

Job Market

The current job market has become competitive, not for people looking for jobs but for employers. There seems to be a scarcity in qualified people out there. This may not be in all fields but for accounting, finance and the business world it seems like it. Currently in our company’s accounting department there are more openings that there were ever before. To fill these we have starting getting bodies in from temp agencies. But as you know temp agencies cost a LOT of money, so they have been trying desparately to hire people.

As for the shortage… one of my friend’s got an offer from another company. They were will to give him a plus 20% along with a signing bonus. Who ever heard of a signing bonus for someone in the accounting/business field?

 So if you are an accountant and need a job in the Los Angeles/South Bay area, shoot me an email… sokalboy@yahoo.com

The rise of gas prices

I have noticed a steady rise of gas prices over the past couple of weeks. I noticed it more when I was filling up during our trip to San Francisco. The prices ranged from $3.17 a gallon at the station by my house to $3.44 a gallon at the station by my hotel.

This news is troubling for people that are constantly on the road for their work or have a long work commute. To fill up a car can easily run over $50. This is hard for people on a tight budget. Luckily the summer travel season has ended, but people are still on the road during the Christmas holiday season too.

The rise is gas is due to the weak dollar and the concern that Mexico has suspended a fifth of its oil production due to stormy weather. Prices surged to a near record $94 at the close of market today.

Investing in a Restaurant

Have you ever thought about investing or opening up a restaurant? If you think about it… you make good food, people will come, and you make a lot of money. While we were in Solvang last weekend, we ate at this tiny sandwich place. I think only 2 or 3 ppl worked there. One guy was behind the counter taking orders and there was a lady in the back making sandwiches. Simple as that… and they had a line out the door of customers. Two sandwiches, one drink and one bag of chips was around $20. Times that by the number of people in their lines, it was a nice profit.

But it is not as simple as that. Owning a restaurant is hard work. It usually requires you working long hours, even on weekends. Plus you have to have time to purchase your inventory too. Then you have to deal with rent and leasing a place and hiring employees. From a tiny sandwich place to a huge restaurant, there are many factors you have to consider when deciding to invest in one. It is true the money is good, but you will be working hard to earn it.

Traveling on a budget

For a lot of small business owners they have to travel on a budget. This means not being able to stay at any 4 or 5 star hotels. They have to shop around for the best deal. A good site to check out is priceline.com. What you can do there is give them a set price say for example $75 for a 3 star hotel, and they will find you a hotel in your range.

For our stay in San Francisco, we stayed at the Fairfield Inn in San Carlos. We found out that the closer we looked to San Francisco, the higher the price got. San Carlos is located about 20 minutes south of San Francisco, and the price was a lot cheaper. Also Fairfield Inn (which is a part of the Marriot family) is a no frills type hotel. There are no bell hops or fancy lobbies. But they do provide a free breakfast. It is perfect for the person traveling on a budget.

 Also look for AAA discounts. At Fairfield they do take AAA discounts. We got $5 off a night on the rooms.

Traveling on per diem

Some companies have mandatory travel. For example if you are in the audit accounting industry, you have to go out to different companies to audit their books.

If your company insists on you to travel it is not that bad of a thing. Especially if you are single, you can visit the cities and states you have never been too. If you have a family it is a little bit more difficult because you have responsibilities at home, and your kids will probably miss you too.

But if you are traveling, you can sightsee and taste local food. The best part of traveling is the per diem. The current rate is $59, and for our company, you do not even need receipts. That $59 is yours, you can spend it anyway you want. You can use just $10 of food for the day, and the remaining balance on entertainment. The possibilities are endless.

Going on a Blog break

I will be taking the family to San Francisco tomorrow. I can finally use the money I made from blogging for the family to enjoy and relax. We plan to drive up Friday morning. Will be heading to Harris Ranch for lunch and then to the Gilroy Outlets for some shopping, then will be meeting up with some relatives and friends for dinner.

 On Saturday, we have a birthday party to attend in the morning. Sight seeing in the afternoon. We plan to leave SF Sunday morning. Will be taking the coast back. We plan to stop in Napa and Solvang.

It is going to be a busy tiring weekend before heading back to work on Monday. At least next friday I am off too.

Site Stats

It is important to track your visitors coming into your site. You might want to know which posts you write are attracting a lot of visitors, so you can write similar ones. In paid blogging the more users come, the higher your rank, the more money opps you will get. Wording is important. You want to word it in a way people will type in a search engine.

If you are selling things online, you want the demographics of your customers. You can sort this by country, so you can better suit their needs and wants. Statcounter.com offers a free service to their users. They track where your users are coming from and which site they are coming in from. So you might want to consider adding this widget to your site.