Resolved to be healthier & wealthier? 4 habits you need to succeed-Gerri Detweiler

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Depending on which study or urban myth you believe, the typical American gains two to 10 pounds during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's. And there is no question that December is the spendiest month of the year. Credit card issuers can document it, and retailers count on it.

And January? That's when we resolve to lose weight and save money. Can we attack them together? Or does it make more sense to do one, then the other? While many people will make an effort (good intentions but no specific plan) and others will look for the quickest fixes (deprivation), some of us will find that the changes hoped for in January feel like a normal part of life by June. If you need motivation for making financial changes, check out just how much your debt is costing you over the course of a lifetime. And know, too, that people who exercise and pay attention to what they eat tend to be healthier and feel better.
Ellie Kay, co-author of "Lean Body, Fat Wallet," said it might be easier to do both at the same time since the same four habits are required for each endeavor. So success in one area helps reinforce the habits you need for the other.
1. A Sense of Entitlement Can Be Your Friend
The first habit is to monitor your thoughts and redirect them. If you've been stopping for milkshakes on the way home from soccer because it's been a long, tiring day and you are entitled to a treat, change that. You are entitled to a life free of financial worry, and you are entitled to inhabit a body that is as healthy as you can make it. You deserve those things. You are worthy of them. And so taking a walk is what you do because you are entitled to it; you are worth taking care of. Got that? No? That is why it bears repeating. Over and over until you believe it.
Athletes visualize success because it's a tool that works. See yourself succeed (and watch those reruns). Because it will take some time to override those old thoughts of, "I always start well, but…" and "I just can't get control of my sweet tooth." Every year, some people succeed. Tell yourself that in 2015, you will be one of them.
2. Have a Plan for Temptations
The second habit is what the authors call the 3-D habit, and it's a way to keep bad habits from getting the better of you. The D's are for determine, distract and delay. Determine your goal (and remind yourself of it). In the face of temptation, find a way to distract yourself so that you can perhaps interest or immerse yourself in an activity that does not run counter to your goals. And finally, delay. Feel like you must have the carrot cake or the 75%-off Christmas decorations? Can you see if the need is just as urgent in an hour? Do you have a buddy you can call for support?
3. Keep Up With the Numbers
The third habit is knowing and keeping up with your numbers. It essentially means recognizing that the intake and outgo are, one way or another, going to balance out.
With weight, it means if you are taking in more calories (intake) than our body uses in a day (outgo), that unused energy will be banked in the form of fat. With money, it's making sure that every dollar that comes in has a destination and actually goes there (you want a fatter bank account). For both, the secret is tracking. You are essentially balancing a checkbook in real time.
It is only human to underestimate how long we exercised or how much we spent (overestimating the size of our bills or how many steps we took in a day is much less common). Knowing numbers also lets you measure progress. While you may be measuring steps walked or shrinking balances, your persistence may also be paying off in more global measures, like weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, net worth or credit scores. Monitoring your progress can help you keep track of how far you've come (you can see your credit scores for free on Credit.com, while you're at it).
4. Are You Counting the Minutes Until it's Over?
The last habit is sustainability, meaning you could live this way and still enjoy your life. A couple of months back, Credit.com staffers went on a "spending freeze," with varying degrees of success. While a freeze can — and did — help shine a spotlight on areas where we could most easily cut back, it also showed us where it was extremely difficult to do so. And if you feel deprived, your efforts are doomed. Make sure you are not being so restrictive that you just can't wait for this to be over.
These four habits are the ones that, practiced consistently, can give you what you want. Here's how it might look in practice. Kay says improving both physical and fiscal fitness requires some tracking, but the tracking isn't difficult. In fact, you can do most of it on your smartphone while waiting in line, while on hold on the phone, etc. If you received a fitness tracker as a gift, use it. There are plenty of financial and fitness-tracking apps that can help you get control.
And although she concedes a healthier lifestyle may have some initial startup costs (let's say you spend 10% more on groceries and avoid the pesticide-laden "dirty dozen" and replace some cheap, processed food with fresh fruits and vegetables), she says that over time, the cost of continuing to be unhealthy will outweigh any savings that come from eating cheaper, less nutritious food. So buy those athletic shoes with good support, but be sure you're getting a good price. Also check with your health insurance, Kay says. Sometimes you can get a discount for enrolling in a fitness program or sharing fitness data that verifies you are getting a certain amount of exercise.
Get the Family on Board
She also recommends enlisting your family's help — and making it fun. (Yes, fun.) There has to be room for fun. If you are able to eat a meal out, consider giving each child a spending allowance and allow them to keep what they do not spend. You won't have to deny them $3 soft drinks; most will decide they would rather have money and drink water, and that lesson is important.
Decide on a family reward for paying off a certain amount of debt. (A camping trip can be fun, Kay notes, and plan modest splurges.) While it's good to tell kids that you're saving money or trying to pay off debt, Kay cautions about telling children the amounts; that is not something they should worry about. You can share the small sacrifices you've decided to make to help save money, and ask what they can do. Talk to them about making money (that's the other way to help save more), and encourage budding entrepreneurs. Tell them the family is working toward financial peace and security. Tell them that you — and they — deserve it.
Recognize Enemies of Success
Among the threats to your success are rationalizing — and we all do it sometimes. Try hard to recognize it and get back on track. Also be careful about judging yourself too harshly. You won't be perfect, and you won't meet every single goal every single day. But if you are meeting weekly goals, you're on your way to succeeding. (That means if if it's 10 p.m. and you've walked only 5,000 steps and your goal was 10,000 that you need not lace up your shoes. Just walk more tomorrow.) Kay recommends being "diligent without being legalistic."
Give your goals a reality check, too. Goals that are too ambitious set you up for failure — as do goals that are too vague. It's reasonable to commit to doing aerobic exercise four times a week; it's not reasonable to go to your 25th high school reunion looking just like you did when you graduated. It's not reasonable to decide in January that by June you will have paid off $30,000 in debt if you have an average income. As motivating as it might be to dream that those things are going to happen, it is a recipe for failure.

Finally, don't let procrastination keep you from being successful. It won't be easier to start in February… or March. Trust us on this. Accept that you will screw up some days and fail to do what you hoped. And that you will succeed if you start again now instead of deciding that you blew it, and what's the use of trying? A small setback doesn't have to become a roadblock if you let that first habit — believing you are entitled to succeed — help you get back on track.

Culled from credit.com

Oil Prices Today Hit New Low, Remain Extremely Volatile- Kyle Anderson

Oil prices  dropped to new yearly lows after spending much of the morning on the rise. At 1:00 pm EST, WTI oil fell more than 3% to $52.90 per barrel for February delivery. Brent oil was down 2.8% to $57.79 in afternoon trading.

At today's lows, WTI and Brent oil are both down more than 47% from their June highs. If oil prices remain in this range, oil will experience its biggest one-year drop since 2008.
Today's plunge reversed the day's initial gains in crude oil prices. They rose Monday following a militant attack on Libya's largest oil port, Es Sider.
Last week, militants set six oil tanks ablaze at the port. This morning, officials reported the fire had been extinguished at three of the six damaged tanks. Es Sider has the capacity to hold roughly 6.2 million barrels of oil.
That news caused the price of Brent oil to climb as high as $60.43 per barrel. WTI oil traded up to $55.74.
However, the gains quickly reversed as traders realized the attacks will likely have little impact on the global oil supply glut.
OPEC nations, including Libya, pumped a combined 30.56 million barrels per day in November.   Through the attacks, just 850,000 barrels of crude oil were lost.
"Everyone's trying to put the issues in Libya into perspective," Frost and Sullivan's Director of Business Development Carl Larry told Reuters. "They have lost a lot of fuel, but what they're losing is a terminal, not real production on a pipeline."
.Another reason the oil prices initially climbed is light trading volume, which is typical of the holiday season. When trading is slow, it doesn't take much to move the price considerably.
"There's tension in Libya, but liquidity is very thin so not much is needed to move oil prices," ABN Amro's Senior Energy Economist Hans van Cleef told Reuters.
While 2014 will be a losing year for oil, next year is already shaping up to be better.
In fact, we just outlined the reasons to be bullish on oil in our 2015 Oil Price Forecast.
You see, while the price of oil has dropped precipitously since June, prices won't remain at these muted levels for long.
"Crude has the ability to quickly self-correct, which is why long-time oil veterans aren't worried about falling prices," Money Morning's Global Energy Strategist Dr. Kent Moors said.
Culled from Money Morning

Who is the richest man in the world? -Jeff Macke

Yahoo Finance is answering the Internet’s most-asked finance questions of 2014, according to Yahoo Search. The seventh most-searched question was, “Who is the richest man in the world?”

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James Stewart stars as George Bailey, center, in Frank Capra's classic It's A Wonderful Life. (AP Photo)

Considering we’re writing this during the holidays and are obviously lovers of film, we’re going to go with George Bailey, of Bedford Falls. OK, we’re sort of kidding. But there’s a problem calculating “richest.” What exactly are you judging buy? Spiritual wealth? Power? If we’re talking about power – Vladimir Putin is probably the richest man in the world. He controls Russia’s army, a vast supply of natural resources and has almost single handedly rattled the economy of Europe. If you want to talk straight up assets, though, which is what most of you probably do, you're really talking about three people. Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates – who is currently at the top of the list, along with the “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett who runs Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), and Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim.

Who's on top can change by the year or even the day depending on how their holdings are doing and how the list is calculated. (The way charitable giving is tallied can cause big variants in these types of lists.) But essentially, you can bet that the richest man in the world by assets at any given time is one of these three. Plus, when you're talking about net worth's topping $60 billion, which is where these guys are all hanging out, really, what's a rotating couple of billion mean?

So we’re sticking with our original answer of George Bailey.

Culled from Yahoo Finance

Here’s How Money Came to Rule Politics-Meghan Foley

Source: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Beginning: Citizens United
The 2010 Supreme Court case known simply as Citizens United decided that corporations, non-profits, and unions could spend an unlimited amount of money on campaigns, meaning the role outside funds play financing both presidential and congressional races is now huge.
A subsequent decision by the federal Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit  — 2012’s Speechnow.org v. FEC – further changed the system. It held that restrictions on the source and size of contributions could not be applied to organizations (both for profit and not-for-profit) that made only independent expenditures in support of or opposition to a candidate. The effect of these two cases was the birth of the Super PAC. Sure, political action committees, groups whose mission is to influence elections, are no new phenomenon; they exists as early as the late 1940s. But at that time donations had limits. Now, thanks to the removal of caps on donations to Super PACs and holes in U.S. disclosure law, understanding where all this election money comes from is not possible. And that is problematic. That reality has cast a shadow over U.S. politics because politicians depend on the support of these groups for campaign financing and donors have the power to curry favors in Washington.
In the wake of the Watergate scandal restrictions were placed on so-called “soft money,” or political contributions made indirectly to parties and committees. But four years ago, the court ruled those restrictions were a violation of the First Amendment’s right to free speech. “We now conclude that independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption,” wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy in the majority opinion for Citizens United. While the 2012 case, McCutcheon v. FEC limited the size of donations made to particular candidates and parties by a single individual, this decision in no way impacted the use of soft money, or specially dark money.

What is Dark Money?
Dark money — or funds whose donors are not disclosed — is funneled through nonprofit organizations, which then spend on elections, financing advertisements on issues without the input of the candidate. In fact, Super PACs are forbidden from coordinating with a campaign or a candidate. But still ties are close. Former aids of both President Barack Obama and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ran organizations dedicated to supporting their respective campaigns.
Much has been made of the so-called mandate voters gave Republicans in the past midterm elections. Arguments have been made that the party’s sweeping win earlier this month means the American public wants to see Republican lawmakers check President Barack Obama and advance a conservative-minded agenda. But in reality, with voter turnout at a record low and anti-incumbent sentiment overwhelming, the message of the elections should be that the public wants Washington’s political dysfunction to end. Of course, that message was not a loud one, and whether congressional lawmakers’ new commitment to a functioning government will last remains to be seen. But still, the disillusioned national mood warrants an investigation into the one of the reasons the American political system is so broken: campaign financing.

How Did the 2014 Elections Become the Most Expensive Midterms Ever?
The 2014 midterm elections were the most expensive non-presidential contest in United States history. The 2012 presidential race was the most expensive election ever. “Every election since 1998 has been more expensive than the one before it, and predictably the 2014 election will follow that path,” The Center for Responsive Politics calculated in its first analysis of the November election. “The total projected cost of $3.67 billion is only a slight uptick over the price tag of the 2010 midterm,” but “counting all forms of spending — by candidates, parties and outside groups — Team Red is projected to have spent $1.75 billion, while Team Blue’s spending is projected to ring in at $1.64 billion.”
Sure, the GOP had a slight edge over Democratic candidates in terms of overall campaign spending. However, “the real story of the election’s campaign finance chapter was not which side had more resources, but that such a large chunk of the cost was paid for by a small group of ultra-wealthy donors using outside groups to bury voters with an avalanche of spending,” explained the CRP report. And the results prove that money wins elections. The center’s analysis shows that the House candidates who spent the most won 94.2 percent of the time. Senate races saw a lower correlation, but still candidates who spent more than their opponent were triumphant 81.8 percent of the time. Even though Senate Democrats lost control of a number of key seats — who had the funding advantage as incumbents — 2014 congressional election spending figures are higher than 2012’s numbers. In the last election cycle, 93.8 percent of higher-spending candidates won seats in the House of Representatives, and just 75.8 percent won in the Senate.

What Role Do Super PACs Play?
There is one key difference between the two parties; Democrats channeled funds through groups that primarily reveal the donors, while Republicans relied much more heavily on secret sources of money funneled through political nonprofits.
That campaign spending has skyrocketed over the past five years is no surprise; nor is the increase in outside political spending. After all, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in the Citizens United case allowed special interest money to rush into American politics. Yet, the fact that the number individual donors — especially those giving less than $200 — is decreasing is a new trend, one that often gets lost in the shadow of these huge election price tags. Until this year’s midterms, the number of individual donors was on rise, with each election drawing more contributors than the one before. This change means that the number of overall donors are decreasing as more money comes from outside groups. It is true that the bulk of money raised by the campaigns of Senate and House candidates did still come primarily from individual donors, as opposed to Super PACs. But more important is how campaigning has changed; those campaigns run by the candidates pale in comparison to the promotion that outside groups organize.
While the overall cost of the 2014 election was record, candidates spent less. Victorious house candidates spent an average of $1.2 million on campaigns, down from $1.5 million in 2012, while their Senate counterparts spent an average of $8.6 million, down from $11.4 million. Of The cost of several 2014 Senate races did set records, but that is because outside groups did much of the heaving spending. This is a new phenomenon; increasingly organizations like the Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity and the liberal Senate Majority Super PAC are buying advertising slots, rallying voters, conducting opposition research, and participating in other campaign ads — functions that were once the responsibility of the candidate.
Of course, it is important to note that CRP’s analysis is based only on initial data; final tallies for many types of political spending are not yet available, meaning the final number will be much higher than $3.67 billion. Spending could rise as high as $5 billion.

Why Is This Spending Concerning?
It is not too early to say that more expensive elections do not produce a better political system. It does not make more people vote; 2014 saw the lowest turnout since 1942, when the Second World War disrupted the voting process. Nor does high spending foment higher-quality debate over the issues concerning the public; the 2014 elections have been described as the “election about nothing.” And it definitely does not push congressional lawmakers to govern better; just before the elections, the approval rate of Congress stood at only 8% — nearly an all-time low. Even Americans themselves worry about the role of money in politics. An April 2014 poll conducted by Reason-Rupe found that 75 percent of Americans think politicians are “corrupted by campaign donations and lobbyists.” An exclusive poll conducted for MSNBC in late 2013 found that 90% of respondents support stricter campaign finance laws. And there was little difference in the answers of respondents that identified with the GOP or the Democratic party, meaning there is a broad consensus that money should not buy votes. And that is just another way of saying that unlimited political spending should not be the same as free political speech.
Instead of reform, the only changes to campaign finance have been made by the Supreme Court when it removed aggregate limits on campaign contributions earlier this year.
It would be easy to argue that American voters could make political speech a voting issue if they so chose, and they have not. Yet it is also true that even though most Americans want to reduce money’s role in politics and a number of proposals exist, including the Government by the People in Act and the American Anti-Corruption Act, survey data suggests that most Americans do not believe the reform would be in their best interest. In July 2012, the Clarus Research Group asked “when Congress passes laws that affect the way political campaigns are financed, do you think these laws have been designed more to help current members of Congress get re-elected or do you think these laws have been designed more to improve the system?” Eighty percent of respondents said those reform laws would be self-serving. And with the current state of politics in Washington it seems unlikely that opinion will change.
But the pressure for reform is slowly gaining mass. Proposals to limit money in politics were on ballots across the country. In nearly three dozen cities across numerous states — in both conservative and liberal regions and rural and urban areas — approximately 2 million Americans voted for measures that would amend the constitution so that corporations are not entitled to use money as speech. The Internal Revenue Service is contemplating new rules that disclose the use of so-called “dark money” in politics, and President Barack Obama favors legislation that would force non-profits to report donations.

But Should Money Equal Speech?
The argument for the concept “money equals speech” contends that the federal government is not the preserve of the wealthy because “most of federal spending goes to the poor and the middle class,” as Robert Samuelson wrote in an opinion column for The Washington Post. He based that figure off the Office of Management and Budget, which calculated that 70 percent of 2014 spending by the federal government was directed to “payments for individuals,” including food stamps and other benefits. Samuelson did acknowledge that rich contributors can deliver elections, but he suggests that is tempered by the fact that both super liberals and super conservatives funnel money into campaigns and that money does not guarantee victory. His final conclusion is that “campaign finance ‘reform’ aims to fix a problem that doesn’t really exist.”

Culled from wallstreet

Russia scales up Trust Bank bailout as crisis bites

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities significantly scaled up rescue funds for mid-sized lender Trust Bank on Friday, saying they would provide up to $2.4 billion in loans to bail out the first commercial banking victim of the country's currency crisis.

A sharp slide in the rouble (RUB=) has prompted panic buying of foreign currency in Russia and a spike in deposit withdrawals, heaping pressure on a vulnerable domestic banking sector whose access to international capital markets had already been restricted by Western sanctions over Ukraine.
Trust Bank, which hired actor Bruce Willis as the face of a major advertising campaign, fell victim to the rouble's slide on Monday, when the central bank said Russia would provide up to 30 billion roubles (367 million pounds) to shore up its finances.
On Friday, the central bank said that loan would be replaced with another for up to 99 billion roubles over 10 years via the Deposit Insurance Agency, a state corporation, to cover the discrepancy between Trust Bank's assets and liabilities.
As much as 28 billion roubles will also be loaned over six years to Otkritie bank, which will oversee Trust Bank's rescue, making this the second-largest bank bailout in Russia's history.
Last Friday Russia's lower house of parliament hastily approved a draft law to give the banking sector a capital boost of up to 1 trillion roubles, which banks are expected to receive from early next year.
The funds earmarked just for Trust Bank - Russia's 32nd largest lender by assets according to Interfax data - are equivalent to almost 13 percent of that figure.
Analysts said the bailout showed the central bank wanted to shore up confidence in the banking sector and that Otkritie would benefit from overseeing the rescue by receiving a cheap liquidity boost.
The central bank has also launched a drive to clean up the banking sector and has revoked the licenses of over 100 banks since the beginning of last year, bringing the total number of licensed banks in Russia below 1,000.
With Russia's economy taking a nosedive, the pain for its banks seems certain to continue next year as consumer spending and earnings shrink.
The rouble rose on Friday to its strongest levels in more than three weeks after the government ordered exporters to sell some of their hard currency revenues. But the currency remains down 38 percent against the dollar this year.

Trust Bank's bailout is now Russia's largest behind the 2011 rescue of Bank of Moscow, which cost the government almost 400 billion roubles.

(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Vladimir Soldatkin; editing by John Stonestreet)

Culled from Reuters

Brent holds above $60, but heads for fifth weekly drop-By Henning Gloystein

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A worker cycles past a petro-industrial complex in Kawasaki near Tokyo December 18, 2014. REUTERS/Thomas …

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude futures held above $60 a barrel on Friday as strong U.S. economic data supported the market, but oil prices were track for their fifth straight weekly decline as a building supply glut capped gains.
On the supply side, data suggested an increasing glut as U.S. data showed crude inventories unexpectedly rose by 7.3 million barrels last week to their highest December level on record. Analysts had expected a seasonal draw. [EIA/S]
Yet on the demand side there was price supporting data as the U.S. Labor Department said weekly jobless claims fell for the fourth straight week and the Commerce Department's final estimate of U.S. third-quarter economic growth indicated the quickest pace in over a decade.
Front-month Brent crude prices were trading at $60.50 at 0319 GMT, up 26 cents, while U.S. WTI's front-month contract was up 32 cents at $56.16 a barrel in thin trading as many countries were still on Christmas holiday.
"Prices seem adamant on staying above support levels, and it seems they will hold for this festive season," Singapore-based Phillip Futures said on Friday in a note.
"Normally, positive stockpile data of this magnitude would surely have broken support levels. However, it seems there is not enough downward pressure to keep prices down," it said.
"We continue to attribute this to the short-covering at the end of the year as oil bears close out positions to celebrate the New Year," Phillip Futures added.

Uncertainty around whether Brent can hold above $60 or not and lower liquidity toward the end of the year meant that price volatility has risen to levels this month last seen in 2012.

Brent is down more than a percent for the week, while U.S. crude was heading for a smaller 0.7 percent drop.

(Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Culled from Reuters

Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year

 

Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year, may the joy of Christmas brings peace, good health, love and prosperity.

REGINALD ODUNZE.COM

Why oil prices could go even lower-Lawrence Lewitinn

Stronger-than-expected economic data may cause some investors to take a more positive stance on oil. But even though crude has recently experienced a few positive sessions, crude’s collapse isn’t necessarily over just yet.
The U.S. Commerce Department bumped up annualized third-quarter growth numbers to 5.0 percent from a previously reported 3.9 percent. That revision led traders to buy oil contracts soon after, on the expectation that a roaring economy will mean more demand for energy to keep engines humming. Though crude oil dropped soon after, the commodity finished Tuesday’s session with a 3 percent gain.
Still, while America’s economy may be ticking up, the same cannot be said for much of the world. And on the supply side of the equation, Saudi Arabia continues to pump out oil in an effort to maintain market share despite rising North American shale oil production.
“Globally, the expectation is that demand is falling, and that demand will continue to fall,” said Gina Sanchez of Chantico Global. “And we still see enormous amounts of supply continuing to come on. As long as you have that situation, it’s going to be really, really tough to sustain a balance in oil.”
Saudi Arabia will continue its policy for the foreseeable future, maintains Sanchez. And as a result, oil “is going to be weak for a while,” she predicted.

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The technicals are pointing to a “relief rally” in oil, according to Craig Johnson, senior technical research strategist at Piper Jaffray. However, he doesn’t see such a rally lasting long. Johnson’s chart of crude shows that after breaking below a four-year consolidation range, oil is now coming up to what he sees as an area of support between $55 and $58 per barrel.
“That’s a good spot where you can find a bit of a relief rally,” said Johnson, who is also the president of the Market Technicians Association. “After that, you’ve got support at about $45 to $55 as a big zone of support.”
If the massive U.S. dollar rally pauses, Johnson expects oil prices to get an extra bounce off its support levels. A stronger dollar tends to bring down the price of oil.
Yet Johnson anticipates that any such bounce will only be temporary. “If you look forward over the next year for oil, it’s going to be lower.”

Culled from CNBC in yahoo Finance

The Facebook for the home improvement community: Porch

That home renovation project just got a little bit easier thanks to Matt Ehrlichman, ceo, of Porch, the online network that matches homeowners with professionals to plan and execute home improvements without the pitfalls that so often sabotage a project. “Porch is really all about the data. We have built this massive home network,” explains Ehrlichman which includes 2.8 million professionals and 120 million finished projects. “We exposed that to homeowners so they can actually see the professionals their neighbors have used.”

While Porch is free for homeowners, the service is hoping to profit from its growing network of contractors which jumped over 86% in 2014. “We give professionals an option to have a free profile or they can upgrade to a premium placement where they not only get more exposure but they get really deep insights to all the data Porch has organized.”

Part of Porch’s success has come from strategic partners including Lowe’s (LOW). “We have rolled out access across all of their 17,000 stores, 250,000 associates in the stores really want to help the customers be able to make sure they get their projects done.”

Ehrlichman’s idea struck a chord with the team at USA Today who recently named him their inaugural Entrepreneur of the Year beating out 10 other finalists. 

Culled from yahoo Finance

Now Romania Sets Its Sights On Becoming Tech Startup Capital Of Europe-Allison Coleman

 

It has the highest number of technology workers per capita, close to 64,000 specialist IT workers, and counts Avangate and UberVu among its most recent exit successes.

These factors, combined with an enviable tax regime; as low as 0% for IT workers, have conspired to help create one of Europe’s hottest start-up scenes; Romania.

Now the country’s tech hub is drawing serious international attention, and according to one Romanian entrepreneur, Florin Cornianu, CEO and co-founder of 123ContactForm, within two years it will be seen as a true rival to London as the hotbed of European talent.

“In Romania, people are used to starting with nothing and growing something from that. We’ve had no government initiatives to help us set up our businesses,” he says. “But now number of elements are coming together, including recently exited entrepreneurs becoming angel investors and VCs to help other founders grow their companies.”

What is emerging is a strong culture of programming, innovation and incubation. A number of highly rated universities in cities such as Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj, Iasi, and Constanta provide a regular source of talented people and drive tech innovation.

“We have also seen an influx of major corporations which inspire, partner with and buy from start-ups, and also offer a safety net for entrepreneurs with paid employment opportunities,” said Cornianu.

The Romanian start-up ecosystem now boasts numerous incubators, co-working spaces and dedicated events to help emerging entrepreneurs. The largest dedicated tech conference in Eastern Europe, HowToWeb5, is held in Bucharest.

However, Cornianu insists that the Romanian start-up scene has always had a global outlook. It had to, he says, in order to succeed.

“It makes business founders resilient, teaches entrepreneurs not to rely on handouts or support, and encourages greater achievement,” he says. “We are now seeing an increasing number of successful businesses growing out of this environment.”

123ContactForm, which enables people in any location to build any kind of web form with no programming knowledge, is a case in point. Bootstrapped in 2008, it has experienced 100% year-on-year growth since its formation and added close to 200,000 new customers in 2014 alone.

Half of its paying users come from the US, which represents around 40% of its overall users. The UK is home to 5% of its free users and 6.5% of its paying members.

“It is possible to be successful without large investment, but it does take hard work,” he says. “The most important thing is to build and scale the right team – and to keep an international outlook. At first, it might have been a disadvantage for us to be from Romania, but now it is an advantage as we expand our great team.”

Other Romanian tech trailblazers include ThePoleSociety.com which offers a mobile application for finding information and promoting special events, and this year launched in Brazil.

Twotap.com, launched earlier this year, is an automated checkout solution that allows consumers to buy any product from any retailer on any mobile app or website. In August it secured a $2.7 million seed round from some high profile investors, including Khosla Ventures and Green Visor Capital.

Renderstreet.com and Moqups.com are also making progress in overseas markets, while one to watch is VisionBot, a pick and place robotic machine designed by a maker for makers to place surface-mount devices (SMDs) onto printed circuit boards (PCBs), affordably.

It promises to solve one of the biggest challenges for electrical engineers, makers, hackers, and hobbyists; the huge costs of turning their electronic prototype into an industrial product. Visionbot creates a manufacturing line for turning prototypes into industrial products that are in medium-quantity.

London’s Silicon Roundabout may have had the lion’s share of attention as a tech capital, but as it becomes increasingly saturated, other European locations are vying to offer the start-up appeal that even Silicon Roundabout can’t match, the tech capital of Europe could soon be much further east than East London, says Cornianu.

“The future is definitely bright for the Romanian start-up scene,” he said. “The number of people involved in start-ups is growing every year, more and more kids are showing an interest, and of course we’re creating more successes. The more of those we have, the better our chances of taking on London, Berlin, and yes, even Silicon Valley.”

Culled from Forbes

Holiday Returns Scammers to Cost Retailers Billions -Phil Wahba

In a week from now, disappointed Christmas revelers across the United States will start heading back out to stores to return items like the hideous sweater Aunt Martha gave them for something they really want: cash or another item. It’s a timeless tradition that is part and parcel of the way Americans celebrate the holidays.
But countless scammers will insinuate themselves within the hordes, many of them working as part of organized crime rings, and commit fraud that will deprive U.S. retailers of $3.6 billion in sales at a time they are fighting hard for any penny of revenue they can get. That number is up sharply from $2.9 billion just two years ago. In fact, the National Retail Federation’s return fraud survey of executives at 60 leading retailers this fall found that about 5.5%, or almost one in twenty returns, is the work of a con artist.
“Return fraud has become an unfortunate trend in retail thanks to thieves taking advantage of retailers’ return policies to benefit from the cash or store credit they don’t deserve,” said NRF Vice President of Loss Prevention Bob Moraca.
The crooks resort to all sorts of methods, from counterfeit receipts, including electronic receipts, to recruiting store associates to do an inside job. In fact, 78.2% of the surveys respondents have experienced return fraud by organized crime groups, compared to 60.3% last year. And more of the fake returns now stem from fraudulent or stolen payment methods, the survey found.
Retailers in recent years have had to loosen return policies to ease one of the most frustrating parts of shopping and win customers from rivals, by making it easier to get a return without a receipt and easing conditions. But that left an entry point for crooks. But now more stores are asking customers to produce identification when returning merchandise, the survey found.
All told, $3.6 billion is not all that big a chunk of change considering that the NRF is forecasting retail sales will rise 4.1% this holiday season to $616.9 billion. (For the full year, returns fraud is expected to cost the industry $10.9 billion.) But the upward trend is worrisome, and with retailers from Wal-Mart Stores and Target to Macy’s and J.C. Penney forecasting tepid growth this quarter, the profit-sapping rise in fraud deprives them of much needed sales and profits.

Culled from Fortune magazine

Oil price fall not Opec's fault, Gulf ministers say

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said falling prices were not good for the country, but would help stimulate global economic growth

Oil-rich Gulf states have vowed not to cut crude production, blaming speculators and producers outside the Opec group for tumbling prices.

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said "the spread of misleading information and speculation" had contributed to the 40% price fall.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, he also dismissed claims of a Saudi plot to push prices down for political goals.
Ministers from Kuwait and the UAE also said there were no plans to cut output.
Mr Naimi said that if producer countries outside Opec wanted to restrict output, "they are welcome".
"We are not going to cut, certainly Saudi Arabia is not going to cut."
Kuwait's Oil Minister Ali al-Omair said Opec did not need to cut production and would not consider an emergency meeting.
"I don't think we need to cut. We gave a chance to others (and) they were not willing to do so," he said during the conference in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
In November, Opec decided to keep its target output of 30 million barrels per day unchanged, leaving the market to balance itself without the group taking action.
Price rise? In the past Saudi Arabia, the world's largest producer, has acted to rein in output to support prices.

The decision not to intervene this time prompted conspiracy theories, including that Opec wanted to undermine the US shale boom and that there was a political plot to reduce oil revenues earned by Russia and Iran.
Mr Naimi denied that politics played a role in the kingdom's oil policy. He said he was not happy about the falling oil price, but added: "Current prices do not encourage investment in any form of energy, but they stimulate global economic growth, leading ultimately to an increase in global demand and a slowdown in the growth of supplies."
Meanwhile, Opec's Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri told Reuters news agency on Sunday he hoped to see a recovery in the price of oil by the end of next year.
"We hope the price would rebound by the end of the second half of 2015," he said. "We can't see the market now, we have to wait until the end of the second half of 2015 to see how the market react to these low prices."
The world is expected to need less Opec oil next year as the US shale gas boom accelerates.

Culled from the BBC

North Korea's Sony hack: 'Effectively an act of war' says Blodget- Joanna Campione

Update: Sony Pictures "made a mistake" in pulling The Interview, President Obama said in his year-end press conference Friday. “We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Because if somebody’s going to intimidate them for releasing a satirical movie, imagine what’s going to happen when there’s a documentary they don’t like?"

Earlier: The Federal Bureau of Investigation has officially named the North Korean government responsible for the major security breach and cyber attack at Sony Pictures. The FBI was able to make the determination in part through technical analysis of the malware used in the attack.

In a statement released Friday afternoon, the FBI said, “We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there.” The release went on to say, “Cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States.”

The FBI statement echoed Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson who on Thursday called the hack on Sony Entertainment “very serious.” Johnson said the Obama administration is considering “a range of options” in response to the attack.

“Our government has been slow to respond given the magnitude of this,” says Yahoo Finance’s Henry Blodget. “If it was state-sponsored in any way, it was effectively an act of war on a U.S. asset. We have not defined that as an act of war but going forward we probably should.”

Now that North Korea has been identified as the responsible party, corporations can go back to wringing their hands over what the big picture is:  This may be the beginning of a new wave of attacks. Attacks that could take out a company or in more severe cases, cripple the entire financial system or the broader economy.

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Blodget says it’s “open season” now and what comes next could affect far more people and entities. “It’s not just they get some credit card numbers which we’ve been seeing forever. But they actually get into the money” at large corporations and banks. That sort of hack could be devastating.

It would make stealing credit card data and personal email addresses—like in the Target and Home Depot hacks-- seem like child’s play. The Sony breach exposed a new and deeper threat. It wasn’t about stealing credit cards to resell them on the web, it was about taking down a company. Sony cancelled the release of "The Interview." And that's a financial hit for sure. But the hack also left employees scared and exposed, stealing and exposing healthcare information, employee e-mail addresses and e-mails involving private information about clients.

Blodget says what was further unsettling about the Sony attack is that it wasn't a particularly sophisticated hack. “We’re only now beginning to understand how this was done,” he says. “And we don’t really know, but the early indications are it’s not that complicated. It takes focused, intelligent, talented work, but not mysticism or huge internal spies.”

Blodget believes attacks against corporations are going to be more and more common. “I think that Silicon Valley is waking up and saying maybe we should be putting everything in email,” he says.

He says it will also bring into question storing sensitive data in a cloud. “Corporate America for the last several years has been saying 'Ah the cloud is dangerous, we don’t control it.' And now we think about it—who do you want to controlling it?”

Culled from Yahoo Finance

Will retirement pay you a ‘happiness bonus’?-Anne Tergesen

The benefits of retiring can outweigh health and money worries

Retirement

Life gets better after retirement—despite the financial and physical challenges associated with that time of life. That’s the upbeat conclusion of a new poll from MassMutual Financial Group, which finds that although nearly half of Americans retire sooner than they planned, “retirees indicate high levels of emotional well-being, enjoyment and financial security.”

While these conclusions may run contrary to stereotypes of later life as a time of loneliness, depression and decline, they came as no surprise to me: As I chronicled in a Wall Street Journal article earlier this month, a growing body of scientific research that shows that, in many ways, life gets better as we get older.
Consistent with the research of Laura Carstensen, a psychology professor and director of Stanford University’s Center on Longevity, the MassMutual survey finds that positive emotions increase and negative emotions decrease over time among those in or near retirement. For example, while 72% of retirees say they are “extremely or quite happy,” only 61% of pre-retirees say the same. Moreover, almost 70% of retirees report being “extremely or quite relaxed,” versus 34% of pre-retirees. And fewer retirees than pre-retirees report feeling negative emotions, including stress, frustration and nervousness.
“Even though leading up to retirement, people have fear and anxiety, they seem to really enjoy their retirement years,” says Mass Mutual executive vice president Elaine Sarsynski. Moreover, she adds, people seem to get happier as time goes by.
Based on responses from 1,817 people within 15 years of retirement (before and after), the MassMutual survey was conducted in September. Respondents had to be at least 40 years old and have savings or investments of at least $50,000—a sum that’s consistent with the average 401(k) balance of baby boomers, according to Sarsynski.
Research by Carstensen, among others, indicates that emotional well-being improves until the 70s, when it levels off. Even centenarians “report overall high levels of well-being,” according to a 2014 study Carstensen co-wrote, which also cites extensive earlier research.
Overall, 60% of those responding to the MassMutual survey say they are very satisfied with their lifestyle in retirement—a finding most prevalent among those in their 70s, in good health, married or living with partner and with at least $500,000 in assets. Those with pensions are also happier.
According to the new poll, retirees say retirement has given them the opportunity to:

• Enjoy themselves (82%)

• Have more free time (80%)

• Have new experiences (69%)

• Enjoy friends (65%)

• Live a more relaxed lifestyle (66%)

• Feel fulfilled (64%)

• Reinvent themselves (25%)

Interestingly, the findings show that the pre-retirees’ worries about retirement tend to be overblown. For example, while 44% of pre-retirees worried about financial uncertainty, only 31% of retirees say that has been an issue. Among those still working, 31% say they worry about filling their time in retirement. But only 14% of retirees share that concern. Moreover, as retirement progresses, satisfaction rises. Among those who retired less than five years ago, 56% report being satisfied, versus 63% who retired more than five years ago.
Is all perfect in retirement? Not by any means. Aside from the 31% who report financial uncertainty, 13% say they are too busy and 10% have developed an illness or disability.

Sarsynski says the poll contains some lessons for pre-retirees. The first is to be prepared. Those who prepare financially and emotionally for retirement—by doing things like calculating the best time to collect Social Security, reconnecting with old friends and focusing on their relationship with their spouse—were happier, on average, than those who didn't take such steps, the poll found. Moreover, because 45% of respondents retired sooner than they had expected to, it’s important not to assume that you can retire on your own timetable.

Culled from Market watch

FUG Pension assets hit N30bn -Maduka Nweke

Determined to ensure international best practices and ser­vices for retirees that regis­tered with it, FUG Pension with N30 billion assets un­der management recently hosted its clients at its office at Sabo, Yaba, Lagos.
The PFA managing ac­counts of over 3,500 retirees, says its target is to provide a cutting-edge global standard service delivery that would draw every retiree to it.
According to the Managing Director of the Fund, Mr. Us­man Suleiman, the company had over the years acquired state-of-the-art technology that enhanced its service deliv­ery, with key structures like re­lationship management taking care of internal and external relations that further give its Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders and retirees management confidence.
Speaking on the company’s prospects, Mr. Adeyinka So­gunle, Acting Chairman, said these structures had not only bolstered patronage, but also positioned the PFA for market competition.
Sogunle noted that total payment made to retirees from inception till date was N3 bil­lion, while the RSA holder unit price had cumulatively grown from N1 to N1.82 kobo.
He added that investment return has grown by 82 per cent, noting that the board and management of the company had ensured safety and good investment returns for its con­tributors and retirees.

Culled from the sun

Abercrombie Rejected A 17-Year-Old Girl For A Job, And Now The Supreme Court Will Hear Her Case- Erin Fuchs

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Aslan Media/Flickr Samantha Elauf The US Supreme Court will hear a dispute this term over Abercrombie & Fitch's decision not to hire a 17-year-old Muslim girl who wore a headscarf and would have violated the store's notorious "Look Policy."
The justices agreed to hear the case of Samantha Elauf back in October, and in recent days "friend of the court" briefs supporting her have flooded in from the ACLU, several states, and the American Jewish Committee, as well as gay rights and religious liberty groups.
Elauf, who's now a fashion blogger in her 20s, applied for a job as an Abercrombie "model" in Tulsa, Oklahoma back when she was 17, according to a legal document filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which brought the case on her behalf.

At Abercrombie, "models" are sales associates who are expected to model the store's style in compliance with its "Look Policy."

An Abercrombie assistant manager considered Elauf a "good candidate" but wasn't sure if her headscarf violated  Abercrombie's "Look Policy," according to the EEOC brief. That assistant manager consulted a manager, explaining that she thought Elauf  wore the scarf for religious reasons. The manager said the headscarf wasn't permitted, even if Elauf did wear it because she was a Muslim, according to the EEOC. 

Elauf didn't get the job, and the EEOC brought its case against the preppy retail giant.

The main issue here is whether Abercrombie violated a federal law that says companies can't refuse to hire people simply because of how they practice their religion — unless employers can show they're simply not able to accommodate those practices.
Abercrombie says it didn't violate that law because it never got "direct, explicit notice" from Elauf that her religious practice conflicted with Abercrombie's "Look Policy."
"[A]n applicant or employee cannot remain silent before the em ployer regarding the religious nature of his or her conflicting practice and need for an accommodation and still hope to prevail in a religion-accommodation case," Abercrombie noted in a brief it filed in the case.
Since this EEOC case was filed, Abercrombie has changed its look policy to allow headscarves. But it is still very invested in how its models look.
"Abercrombie expends a great deal of effort to ensure that its target customers receive a holistically brand-based, sensory experience," Abercrombie's brief stated. " To Abercrombie, a Model who violates the Look Policy by wearing inconsistent clothing 'inaccurately represents the brand, causes consumer confusion, fails to perform an essential function of the position, and ultimately damages the brand.”

While the Supreme Court has agreed to take on the case, it has not yet set a date for oral argument.

Earlier this month, longtime Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries stepped down after a rocky tenure that included allegations of discrimination and exclusion

Culled from Business insider in Yahoo Finance

3 Reasons Not to Raid Your Retirement Accounts-Eric McWhinnie

Source: Thinkstock

Life’s little surprises tend to be painfully expensive. No matter how carefully you plan and save for a rainy day, sometimes your financial umbrella just isn’t big enough. When faced with a money emergency, some people may ask family for help, use a home equity line of credit, or even pick up a second job. Many Americans also turn to their retirement accounts, which might lead to larger problems down the road.
Retirement piggy banks attract an alarming amount of early withdrawals. According to a report from HelloWallet released last year, more than one out of four households in the country turn to their 401(k) plans before retirement. In some cases, the entire account is drained in an effort to stem financial bleeding somewhere else. Early withdrawals for non-retirement reasons total approximately $60 billion per year, while 401(k) and 403(b) loans account for an additional $10 billion each year.
If at all possible, given your personal financial situation, it’s typically recommended that you avoid raiding your retirement accounts. Let’s take a look at three dangers that come with early withdrawals or 401(k) loans.

Source: Thinkstock

1. Uncle Sam

If you are unable to avoid withdrawals until age 59 1/2, you will face a 10 percent penalty and ordinary income taxes on your traditional Individual Retirement Accounts and 401(k) plans in most cases. With a Roth IRA, you can avoid penalties and taxes on withdrawals of your contributions, but you still face a 10 percent penalty and taxes on withdrawals of profits unless an exception applies.
You may be able to avoid the 10 percent penalty on retirement accounts if the distribution is due to death, disability, qualified higher education expenses, or medical expenses. First-time homebuyers may also qualify for a penalty-free distribution. However, the numbers reveal that most Americans who make early withdrawals are not receiving exceptions.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, Americans paid nearly $6 billion in retirement penalties during 2011. In fact, between 2007 and 2011, workers routinely lost more than $5 billion each year due to pulling money from tax-deferred retirement accounts. A 40-year old who drains $10,000 from a retirement account could easily cost themselves $3,500 in taxes and penalties, and even more in future retirement benefits.

2. Missing Out

In addition to paying Uncle Sam, you also encounter an opportunity cost from not being invested in the market. Even a short absence from the market can significantly impact your long-term returns and retirement plans.
When it comes to investing in the stock market everyday counts. As the chart above shows, $10,000 invested between December 31, 1993 and December 31, 2013, and would have grown to $58,332 if it was constantly invested in the S&P 500. If you missed the 10 best days during that period, the investment would have grown to only $29,111, almost half of the amount if you simply left the money untouched. By missing the 20 best days, your total is reduced to just $18,140.

Source: Thinkstock

3. Unintended consequences 

Borrowing from your 401(k) plan can be one of the best options if you have a short-term liquidity crunch. A 401(k) loan is typically quick, straight-forward, and probably comes with an interest rate more attractive than traditional consumer loans or credit cards. Furthermore, you don’t have to rely on a bank lender or pass a credit check. However, borrowing from your plan without considering the downside can harm your financial health.
According to a recent study by TIAA-CREF, 29 percent of Americans who participate in retirement plans say they have taken out a loan from their savings in the plans. Yet 44 percent regret the decision. Among those who took out a loan in the study, 43 percent have taken out two or more loans. Since these loans usually provide easy access to money, 401(k) borrowers run the risk of becoming dependent on them; 401(k) loans should not be used to supplement your overspending habits.
Borrowers should also be aware that while most 401(k) loans are paid back over several years, the typical loan is due in full within two or three months if you part ways from your employer for any reason. If you are unable to pay back the loan during this time period, your loan enters default and you are subject to taxes and possibly a 10 percent penalty if you are under retirement age.

Culled from wallstreetcheatsheet

Congress approves plan to allow pension cuts

In upcoming days, the Senate will vote on a spending bill that contains a proposal to allow multiemployer pension plans to cut pension benefits.

More than a million retired and current truck drivers, construction workers and other union workers could see their pension benefits cut now that Congress passed a proposal aimed at shoring up some of the nation's biggest pensions.

Tacked on as an amendment to the government's $1.1 trillion spending bill, the proposal was approved by the Senate late Saturday night.

While those sponsoring the pension proposal say it is "the only available option" to save failing multiemployer pension plans, other groups -- like the AARP and the Pension Rights Center -- are crying foul.
Multiemployer pension plans cover more than 10 million workers and retirees in the trucking, manufacturing and other industries. But many of these plans have struggled in the last decade as they grapple with an aging workforce and major investment losses from the recession. Plus, many larger employers have pulled out of the plans.
That has put a major strain on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the government agency that insures pension plans, which last month said its reserves are dangerously low.
The Congressional proposal would allow plans that are projected to run out of money in the next 10 to 20 years to cut the benefits they pay to both current and future retirees. Benefits would not be cut for disabled pensioners or those 80 years and older, while cuts would be lessened for those between 75 and 80.


The PBGC projects that more than 10% of the roughly 1,400 multiemployer pension plans, which cover more than 1 million workers and retirees, currently meet this criteria.

 

10,000 works of art fund pension

Under current law, cutting the benefits of those who are already retired is off-limits. Instead, troubled multiemployer plans can take other actions, like reducing the benefits employees earn going forward and raising employee and employer contributions to the plan.
If the Congressional plan passes, cuts would require participant and government approval first, although the largest troubled plans could slash benefits even if retirees vote against it.
Retired truck driver Glenn Nicodemus, 64, receives his pension checks from the Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund, which is struggling to cover more than 300,000 retirees, widows and others.
Under the Congressional proposal, Nicodemus could see his annual benefits plummet from around $40,000 a year to as little as $15,000.


"I am disappointed in the fact that such an important matter is being done is such an underhanded way with little or no discussion of the consequences to millions who will be effected," he said.
Groups like the AARP, the Pension Rights Center and some worker unions say that retirees like Nicodemus are counting on their pension benefits, which they paid for through decades of contributions, and that other measures should be taken to save plans like Central States.
But supporters of the legislation counter that allowing for benefit cuts -- along with other changes included in the legislation, like allowing troubled plans to merge with healthier plans and doubling the insurance premiums employers pay the PBGC -- will help preserve the plans for both retirees and current workers.


One Cleveland plan, for example, has said it would only need to cut current benefits by 10% in order to prevent insolvency, said Randy DeFrehn, executive director of a coalition of employers and labor unions that crafted the proposal the legislation is based on.
Without any cuts now, he said that plan expects to run out of money by 2028, at which point all participants would see their benefits cut by 50% or more.
That's because if a multiemployer plan goes insolvent, a retiree is guaranteed less than $13,000 a year. In contrast, a retiree in a single employer plan that goes bust is insured for up to $60,000.
To make matters worse, the PBGC's multiemployer insurance program is itself projected to run out of money in the next decade unless changes are made -- meaning that workers and retirees in failing plans could be left with no benefits at all.

Culled from CNN money

COMBATING THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRIME AND CORRUPTION-Odunze Reginald

                  Images credited to Forbes

When Isaac Newton, the powerful scientist who enunciated the Newton’s Laws of motion lost his fortune in the South Sea Bubble Company of 1720 due to corruption. He said  and I quote  “I  can calculate the motions of heavenly bodies but not the madness of men”. Today in my people there is madness, everyone is thinking of getting rich quick. ( Kiyosaki 1990:70)

And according to Ojo (2009:11) in an article captioned, “Reps set to pass cyber crime bill, he stated that corruption has grown so wide to include advance fee fraud, password sniffing, hacking, web cramming, credit card fraud, identity theft , data kidnapping, software piracy, cyber squatting, unlawful interceptions etc”

The preamble to the 2003 United Nations against corruption (UNCAC), which Nigeria has ratified states that corruption “is no longer a local matter but a transnational phenomenon that affects all societies and economies. The African convention on preventing and combating corruption which Nigeria has ratified acknowledged the need for international co-operation to combat corruption and note the corrosive effect on individual and society” Falana 2008:120.

The world is a global village ,what affects economy in our society will definitely affect other economies and countries.

Continuing Falana stated that the ground corruption exacerbates scarcity of fund in Nigeria, frustrating any interest in enriching quality and life, Nigerian leaders must accept responsibility for the continued poverty in the country, he noted that ground and blatant corruption degrades life, he went further to say that in 2006 the Commonwealth working group on assets repatriation specifically refers to corruption being defined as  an international crime  and suggest that jurisdiction of the international court be extended beyond the prosecution of crimes against  humanity as defined in Article 7 of the Roman Statutes. Falana further  stated that the early draft of the statute did in fact include  reference to crimes other than crime against humanity such as Terrorism and Drug Trafficking.

Corruption has reached an alarming rate globally, and do we continue to fold our hands and watch corruption kill our great economy, the answer is an emphatic No.  It could be observed that most people who involved in corruption often end in poverty so also for a country. And as Prof Pat Utomi 2008 in “The Limit of lets share Economy, he stated that like people who won lottery, they often return to poverty.

Odunze Reginald