U.S. Retirement Crisis: Failure to Prepare Leads to $6.6 Trillion Shortage

Irvine, CA 15, 2010

David Ning discusses important retirement planning milestones for Americans concerned about having enough money to sustain them throughout their golden years in his latest “ON RETIREMENTpost of USNews.com at http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/On-Retirement.

In today’s economic climate, retirement is a hot issue as few citizens over the age of 65 have sufficient savings to enjoy a comfortable retirement. A recent study by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research highlights this dire condition.

According to the study, the recent economic downturn combined with a nationwide failure to adequately prepare for retirement has led to a fiscal crisis for millions of retirement-aged citizens. The study concludes that poor planning and insufficient savings have led to a $6.6 trillion shortfall nationwide.

David Ning is an author, advisor and founder of the personal finance blog MoneyNing.com. Ning launched his finance related site in 2007 in order to reach those struggling to manage their monetary resources. Over the past three years MoneyNing.com has evolved into a monthly readership of 300,000 and has developed a growing Facebook fan page. In addition, content from the increasingly popular blog has been featured on the NYTimes.com, Time.com and USNews.com.

As a regular contributor of the USNews.com “ON RETIREMENTsection, David Ning covers a variety of important issues related to retirement. In his latest post Ning outlines the important saving and planning milestones that are crucial for those eager to ensure that they have sufficient resources to support themselves throughout their golden years.

Ning also addresses other issues related to wealth-building and the creating of financial security in his regularly updated blog MoneyNing.com. The finance related site covers a number of topics including frugal living tips, ideas for getting out of debt and basic investing strategies. Subscribers of MoneyNing.com enjoy a free weekly newsletter and free access to both a frugal living eBook and mini course.

The 300,000 monthly visitors find the information available at MoneyNing.com to both timely and relevant as Americans face the reality of dramatically reduced earnings and staggeringly steep increases in the cost of living.

Visit http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/On-Retirement in order to read David Ning’s most recent USNews.com “ON RETIRMENT.

Or, go to http://moneyning.com/ to subscribe to MoneyNing.com and to learn more about the comprehensive financial content available on the personal finance website.

ProFunders, of St. Peters, Missouri, Has Launched A New Website To Assist With Every Aspect Of Commercial Financing Needs

St. Peters, MO 3, 2010 According to Patti Porter, founder of ProFunders, "There is a tremendous need in the marketplace for sound, informative assistance in regards to Commercial Finance...ProFunders hopes to fill that void."

Unlike residential lending which focuses on the borrower&39;s credit, commercial lenders concentrate primarily on the physical real estate specifically, the income produced by the real estate. Therefore, proper development and prudent analysis of the property&39;s operating statement and rent roll is paramount to understanding the likelihood of funding and preparing a professional loan package that demonstrates the financing issues of the property in order for a lender to provide a loan commitment. The key is the type of underwriting that is used.

Unlike our competitors, we underwrite and originate our loans in-house using the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association&39;s CMSA) Investor Reporting Package (IRB) and not the conventional conforming underwriting guidelines. This means that each commercial loan is approved based on the strength and the property&39;s ability to service the debt. Each property basically qualifies for it&39;s own financing rather than the individual having to qualify for the loans.

"With the fierce business environment existing today, you really need someone that can offer you personal attention to help with financing needs", says Porter. "There are just so many options available, that you need a professional to help sort through them all".

The Noble Cause Awards Honors The Pages of Hope Foundation

Fort Smith, Arkansas 24, 2011 The Pages of Hope Foundation is the first recipient of the Noble Cause Awards. The Noble Cause Awards honor those who are making tremendous efforts to improve their communities and country by helping others. The Pages of Hope foundation provides professional photography and personalized memory albums at no charge for families of the terminally ill.

“When families find out that a child or other family member may not be with them very long, they want to preserve the memories left through good photographysays Kat Hardin, the founder of Pages of Hope. Hardin points out that finances are often strained with hospital bills and related travel expenses, making quality photography a luxury that many can’t afford.

That’s where The Pages of Hope Foundation comes in. This charitable organization provides free professional photography for the families of their loved one. The photos are then bound into a special memory album with personalized touches, such as the child’s own poems or art work.

The Pages of Hope foundation began after Hardin, a professional photographer, received several consecutive requests for photography sessions with terminally ill children. Hardin couldn’t bring herself to charge for the photos. Word spread and the requests continued. Hardin found herself struggling to balance her regular work load while not turning down the additional requests. She realized there was a need for a charitable foundation to provide the photos for all who wanted them. Donations could be used to offset costs and other photographers could get involved, and so The Pages of Hope Foundation was born.

The Noble Cause Awards were recently created by Gallagher Merry, a Fort Smith, Arkansas affiliate of the Arthur J. Gallagher company, risk management specialist. Gallagher Merry Area President, Philip H. Merry Jr., wanted to create an award that would honor people that make a difference in the lives of others. He created the Noble Cause awards so that the company could know about and help promote these amazing organizations and what they do.

The Noble Cause Awards will honor each recipient by providing a promotional budget for the organizations. The budget is used to create promotional materials and advertising for the charitable organizations. Merry says “Often these organizations go underfunded because they lack the funds to promote themselves. Our goal is to take on some of that burden for them and help spread the word.

For more information on The Pages of Hope Foundation and how you can donate or get involved visit pagesofhope.com

For more information on the Noble Cause Awards visit noblecauseawards.com

For more information on Gallagher Merry visit ajg.com

Life After Debt, And How to Get There

Newport Beach, CA 21, 2007 Queercents (http://www.queercents.com), a personal finance blog serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, today announced the launch of its weekly series called Almost Debt Free.

The series, written by John Montesdeoca, chronicles his personal success with debt reduction to motivate and prepare queers and their supporters for debt free life. Like many aspiring writers, Mr. Montesdeoca holds down a day job to finance more fulfilling interests. Young and cash-strapped workers will relate to the rocky path he has endured towards financial fitness.

Each Tuesday, Almost Debt Free discusses the following pertinent topics for getting to life after debt and staying there:

Good debt vs. bad debt.

Organizing finances with goals and simple, repeatable systems.

Net worth made simple.

The fundamentals of expense tracking and making it work.

Managing credit card and student loan debt.

Saving for the purchase of a home.

Retirement planning with after-tax dollars.

Building the emergency savings fund.

Investments for a small budget.

Leisure and entertainment with discretionary income, not credit.

Financial planning for child rearing and education.

Estate planning.

Staying out of consumer debt, permanently.

Queercents will also release its own Expense Tracker available to MS Excel users for download on its website. "The spreadsheet design is simple," says Mr. Montesdeoca, "but it has powerful applications for visualizing spending behavior. It has been like the Occam&39;s razor of financial tools for me, and it&39;s sure to help others get on the right financial track."

About Queercents:
Established by Nina Smith, Queercents originated the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender personal finance blog concept by aggregating financial tips from the distinct writings of several money bloggers. Readers love the straightforward advice and life-style oriented money tips posted daily, covering such topics as debt reduction, living frugally, wise investing, relationships & money, and retirement planning. The site recently surpassed 120,000 visitors since launching in April 2010.

Queercentswe&39;re here, we&39;re queer, and we&39;re not going shopping without coupons.

Be Healed By The God Who Cares, Newly Released Book, Says God Exists, Can Heal and Offers Proof

San Luis Obispo, CA 02, 2011 According to author Sherif Michael in his recently released book Be Healed By The God Who Cares, Jesus Christ healed and can heal today. These days he says it is in vogue not to believe in God, yet he asks how can there be a computer program without a programmer, a painting without a painter, or a house without an architect. Christ fulfilled over three hundred Old Testament prophecies made hundreds of years before, attesting to the existence of a Supreme Intelligence outside space and time. Information is not the product of "spontaneous generation" but needs an Author.

He summarizes his user friendly, short book as follows:

“The purpose of this book is to give hope to all those suffering from spiritual and/or physical illness. We are told in the gospel of Mark that when the disciples preached the Word of God, signs and wonders, including healing, accompanied their preaching. This booklet looks at what the Word teaches regarding healing, spiritual and physical.

Quoting Be Healed By The God Who Cares, "Love, truth, justice, beauty, goodness, virtue, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, joy originate with God, taught St. Augustine, adapting Plato's doctrine of the Forms. They are Ideas in the mind of God and comprise His essence. Just like facets in a diamond they are aspects of God's personality.

"Jesus maintained he was the Truth and as such God incarnate .... ‘I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.He urged us to have faith and believe in Him.

"By faith all things are possible. The power rests not in the amount of faith we have, but in the object of our faith, a Person, the Second Person of the Triune Godhead. It is the power in Christ which throws mountains into the sea, heals leprosy, heart disease, diabetes, AIDS, and cancer. Faith is a gift from a loving God, given to us through grace and there is nothing we can do to earn it.

"To help us believe in the claims of Jesus Christ and have faith, interwoven in Be Healed By The God Who Cares are such topics as: the Moral Law as powerful evidence for the existence of a Moral Law Giver; prophecies made hundreds of years before which Christ fulfilled; claims made by Christ regarding his deity; the proofs for Christ's bodily resurrection; and the testimony of present day healings.

"If you are seeking a book that will give ample amounts of inspiration and hope combined with a dash of apologetics, Be Healed by the God Who Cares does just that, and more. Biblical wisdom is presented alongside classic philosophers and modern thinkers in a clear readable guide to finding spiritual solace and miraculous intervention." James Hirsen, J.D, New York Times Best Selling Author.

Sherif A. Michael lives in California. He holds a BA in political science and an MBA in international finance from UCLA. He also holds a Juris Doctor in Law from Western State University. Sherif has lectured in Christian apologetics and comparative religion at university campuses in nearly thirty countries for such organizations as Student Life, Campus Crusade, Agape France, and an array of main line and nondenominational Christian churches. After six years in the New Age in mantra and hatha yoga, Sherif committed his life to Christ and aside from lecturing, has been involved in banking, commercial brokerage, and real estate development. He is married to a Canadian-American wife with two young adult boys. Sherif authored the popular website http://www.earthharvest.org, which is translated in 12 languages, a website which has over 100,000 hits a month along with its sister website http://www.existedios.com

Paperback: 77 pages
Publisher: Mill City Press Inc.
ISBN 978-1-936780-40-2
Paperback list price: $9.80
E-book list price: $3.95

Book and e-books available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple Store and others.

Functional Marketing Offers Free eBook to Help Small Businesses Avoid Common Mistakes

Nashville, TN 29, 2011 Functional Marketing LLC, a strategic marketing company that works with US and international clients, is providing a free eBook titled "Why Most Small Businesses Fail: How to Avoid the Seven Deadly Mistakes Most Small Businesses Make." This 40 page eBook is loaded with valuable information for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The eBook explains that 25 percent of small businesses fail within their first year, and 50 percent fail within five years. It also explains the most common mistakes leading to business failure and how to avoid these mistakes. Beyond the seven deadly mistakes, it describes how to solve 19 specific problems in operations, finance and marketing.

Readers of the eBook will discover how to make the dramatic mind shift needed to be successful in their business. According to CEO Dave Smith, "Many people who start a business just don't understand the fundamentals. The biggest problems stem from wrong beliefs about starting and running a business. It's not enough to have a good product and work hard. You have to work hard on the right things."

The free eBook, "Why Most Small Businesses Fail", is available for immediate download by subscribing to Functional Marketing's free Marketing Mix Newsletter. This free email newsletter is filled with practical small business marketing ideas and concepts that will help sustain small businesses. The newsletter contains how-to articles about marketing and other business topics, new product announcements, subscriber discounts on products and contest announcements.

When asked why Functional Marketing is giving away this eBook, CEO Dave Smith responded, "Our economy is powered by the middle class and by small businesses. In today's economy, many people can't find a job. They start a home based business because they are running out of options. Most of those businesses will fail because they were started without the proper planning, focus, and resources in place for success. I'm trying to make a difference. If this book saves one family from financial ruin, I consider that a success."

Functional Marketing, which specializes in business strategy and marketing strategy consulting, has a unique approach to helping clients. Most consulting companies charge by the hour. Functional Marketing avoids hourly billing, preferring instead to be paid for the results it produces. This approach allows clients to work with Functional Marketing without risk. Smith explains, "We remove the barrier to working with us by eliminating the risk for our clients. The people who need our help can't afford to pay up front. We know that, so we use an agreement where we are paid after we produce results. It keeps us and our clients focused on results instead of watching the clock."

The results can be huge. More customers, more margin per customer, and reduced marketing and operational costs all lead to more sales and big profits. Functional Marketing's clients achieve greater business success and personal success because of the methods used to achieve results. They start with the potential locked in the client's "personal assets". These assets include time, energy, knowledge and personal strengths. Then they move on to the potential trapped in business assets, which include customers, products, and suppliers.

About Functional Marketing LLC:
Functional Marketing was started in late 2010 by Dave Smith. The company helps small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed using excellent business and marketing strategies, action-focused marketing plans and business joint ventures. The Functional Marketing website offers a wealth of free information. Functional Marketing provides a 100 % satisfaction guarantee for its customers.

For more information about Functional Marketing LLC visit http://www.functional-marketing.com
To download the free eBook visit http://www.functional-marketing.com/get-the-book

MediaCorps Credit Card Site Acquisition Achieves Synergies, Boosts Vertical Search Strategy

London January 22, 2007

Media Corporation plc, the fast growing online advertising group, has acquired the UK&39;s leading credit card portal, http://www.creditcardexpert.co.uk.

Creditcardexpert is a comprehensive guide highlighting the best deals available and giving general credit card tips to consumers. It provides information on most major credit cards including Barclaycard, American Express and MBNA.

MediaCorp CEO Justin Drummond said: "The acquisition broadens and strengthens our portfolio of sites on the Internet and is key to our strategy.

"The deal also offers good synergies for us. Creditcardexpert previously used a competitor of our own Search Focus division for its paid search advertising.

"In addition, eyeconomy, our online media agency business, provides creative input and unique technological solutions for vertical search and it has its main advertising client base in the personal finance market."

Eyeconomy has two well-tested on-line ad solutions that engage Internet users through a network of over client 750 host sites, offering access to a total reach of 30 million unique users every month.

It has an exit traffic solution called SubSites (including options in the rapidly growing video space) that is used by Yahoo! Search Marketing among others, and its own unique rich-media floating toolbar called SubLines.

MediaCorp acquired creditcardexpert.co.uk through the buy out of its parent company Result Online for an initial payment of &163;1.57 million and earn outs of 25% of adjusted pre-tax profits to end September 2009 based on the business achieving pre-tax profit targets, capped at &163;1.5 million.

The London Stock Exchange listed Media Corp&39;s after-tax profit soared by 660% to &163;2.5m in the year to end September this year compared to 2005 and its cash balance almost doubled to &163;5.3 million, providing the resources for both organic growth and further acquisitions.

"The characteristics of the personal finance market are almost identical to the gaming industry, where our strong vertical search portal gaming.com has done so well, in that customer acquisition costs and customer churn are both very high. This makes these markets particularly attractive for Media Corp&39;s search advertising business," Mr Drummond said.

"This deal will be the first of many in the fast growing personal finance and travel markets as we execute our strategy of building a major internet media and marketing business."

Creditcardexpert.co.uk generates income through affiliate deals where credit card operators pay for credit card applications and related cost per click search advertising.

Enquiries:

Media Corporation plc

Justin Drummond, Chief Executive Officer

+44 (0)20 7618 9000

Note to editors:

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Media Corp, is a leading internet media and advertising company focused on search, publishing and media sales. The company has two other principal divisions:

Publishing - Media Corp has a diverse publishing division ranging from online to printed media. Our impressive stable of websites includes a number of market leading sites including http://www.onthebox.com, http://www.casino.co.uk. Search - The vertical search specialists - building sector specific search engines for advertisers to communicate in a highly targeted environment with their particular audience. All of our Search and Media products are powered by its own high performance proprietary technology. It can therefore partner with online businesses to offer "White Label" services across a number of key vertical markets. Eyeconomy was formed in 1996, and is a separate operating division of Media Corp plc. It specialises in the various sectors of online marketing and advertising, such as online media planning and buying, as well as managing online media campaigns for clients including AOL, Dell and American Express.