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A question I like to ask people is: do you like silver? I'd be surprised if anyone actually said no, since silver has a value, it is something that will continue to hold value since, unlike our paper money, you cannot simply print more of it. A convenient way of getting into the world of silver is through coins; since I got involved with Numis recently I've started on my journey, with a series of coins that will retain their value whatever the financial situation. I've provided illustrations of the sort of coins that Numis deal in, and the time to get involved is now – with the $10 Million Free Silver Giveaway currently running, you have the chance to win a FREE silver coin – no catch.
To enter, simply click the banner to follow the link below and enter your details, what could be simpler? Starting out on silver is a great way to protect and grow your wealth in these uncertain economic times, and with new winners every day there really is no reason not to get involved.
I wish you good luck and look forward to welcoming you into the exciting world of silver coins!
Many in the business of internet marketing will have heard of Rippln by now. It is presently in pre-launch with what appears to be a lot of 'push' behind it, and I myself have already heard from several 'names' in the industry inviting me to join. I'm not presently looking to go into any more new businesses simply because I wish to concentrate my energies on what I already do, and hopefully do that well. However, amongst all the excitement about Rippln I read a post on Facebook from respected internet marketer Chris Voss, who had some questions about Rippln, chiefly: what is it exactly?
On the face of it, watching their promo, it appears to be a smartphone app. To even get to view the promo, you have to have been sent an invite code in order to access the promo via their website. Rather than go through all the claims the video makes, I'd urge you to check out what Chris Voss has to say about it (he deconstructs a lot of the claims made). It's important to point out at this stage that Voss has made no accusations about Rippln, but has merely asked questions, and has had little in the way of answers at the time of this post. Some things that have emerged as a result of Voss's investigations make for interesting reading, however:
- The requirement to commit to a non-disclosure agreement.
- Once subscribed, there was no obvious easy way to unsubscribe should you wish*
- The apparent lack of any sort of privacy policy, with the implication that your email address could be sold to anybody.
- The address of the company (Voss looked this up using Google Maps, and found only a police station.)
- Is there an actual product, if so what is it?
Having to commit to an NDA just to find out more information was disquieting, but it took persistent questioning before Rippln provided a method to unsubscribe (you need to email them at support@rippln.com).
Leaving aside the lack of privacy policy and the address (covered in the video Voss has put up on YouTube), the thing which would discourage me is that the product appears to be nothing more than a way of offering coaching; there are already many out there who are providing coaching services to market your business online and there comes a point when you have to put what you have learned into practice, not sign up for more and more coaching courses. When looking for a business to join, in my view it is wise to look for the actual product you will be promoting. I don't care if it is a health drink, or in the case of the business I am working with currently, silver coins, but you have to have something that people can see – something they can relate to. From what I can gather from watching Chris Voss's presentation, this appears to be nothing more than another way to sign people up to coaching using the candy coating of a smartphone app.
The moral of this story is, whatever business you are looking at going into, do your due diligence. If nothing else, ask yourself whether your prospective new business has a product that people will actually be interested in. I am indebted to Chris Voss for peeling away the layers of hype behind Rippln, and although as I said at the top of this article, I'm not looking for any more businesses to get involved with at this point, I would urge those of you who are to look carefully behind the 'buzz'.
The two videos made by Chris Voss are below; for more information and further updates on this please visit his page: The Chris Voss Show Rippln Investigation
* The method to unsubscribe is by sending an email to support@rippln.com – that was only made clear as a result of Voss's investigations and he has now updated his page to reflect that.
A news report which caught my eye last week was of particular interest to me, since I was once employed by this organisation.
The report said that the Co-operative Bank, a smaller UK bank based in Manchester, had posted a staggering loss of £660million. As a consequence, the bank's ordinary workers are not going to receive their annual bonus. The report continues that their employees had come to regard that bonus as part of their salary, and one worker was quoted as saying that many depend on it just to live.
The reasons for the losses are partly attributed to the bank having to set aside a fund to pay out compensation for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) as have other, larger banks in the UK. However, the bank merged with another bank in 2009 (Britannia), and the value of sub-prime mortgages and commercial loans it inherited when the merger tookl place has fallen sharply.
Photo: Ronnie Soo
Regardless of the reasons for this horrifying loss, it is a wake-up call to all employees who live from month-to-month, even if their company is apparently secure. When I left the Co-operative Bank it was still recording healthy profits; this serves to illustrate how quickly things can change and your stable employment and regular wage can suddenly become very insecure indeed. What this also serves to illustrate is the importance of saving carefully – we all know that the financial crisis has not ended, in fact a bigger one is already looming with the Cyprus affair just a foretaste. If you're in a regular 9-5, and have a company pension, how do you know if you are to be outsourced to another company, or simply made redundant altogether? I have been through both, and it does focus the mind about what the future may hold if your retirement plan is simply pulled from underneath you.
Whether you are in a 9-5, or looking for something else, it would be wise to consider investing in an asset which will hold its value, simply because a bank cannot print more of it and devalue what you already have. I am of course talking about precious metals, and a company I recently got involved with is helping people get started right now to build up a valuable silver coin collection, which will always retain its value. Presently, they are running a contest where you can win silver and get yourself off to a flying start. That's all there is to it, enter your name and contact details and you could become a winner.
If you're wondering what the next decade will bring, whether your job will still be there in five or ten years' time, do something now to help yourself prepare for the worst. Just follow the link and enter your details, and I wish you the best of luck and look forward to your success!
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Cyprus was a wake-up call to all of us. Even those who were not aware of the reasons behind the financial crisis and were perhaps not paying too much attention to the banking stories on the news, thinking it had nothing to do with them, must surely know better now: the banking crisis affects all of us.
People saving for their retirement, who thought their money was safe with their bank, are now thinking otherwise. It has happened in Cyprus, it could happen in any country in the EU. The banks are closed, for fear of a bank run as people are desperate to withdraw their money before it is taken from them. The operative word – THEIR money. It does not belong to the government of Cyprus to take when they find themselves short, but that's exactly what is happening.
For those considering precious metals such as gold and silver as a safe haven, there has never been a better time to get into silver. In fact, at this moment there is a draw where you can win FREE silver – the ideal way to start off your silver collection. A banner is provided at the bottom of this article, where you can click and enter the contest simply by providing your name and contact details.
The conspiracy against our money is now laid bare for all to see – what have you got to lose by entering the contest? Good luck!
In this day and age, it seems incredible that the ordinary saver can have his or her savings raided to pay for a bailout of a bank, but that is exactly what has happened over the weekend in Cyprus. Put simply, the banks are in big trouble, and have turned to the EU for help. However, in order for the bailout to be approved, the government have had to agree to impose a levy on savings held by ordinary people, many who have saved for their retirement. These people, who had nothing to do with the financial goings-on which have led to the banks hitting trouble,are understandably very angry that their money can simply be taken from them, and are rushing to withdraw their money – in other words a bank run.
Such a scenario has been predicted for several years now, and fears are that this is only the beginning. With confidence in banks in Cyprus now shattered, where would savers go next? Perhaps people will rush to withdraw from other countries who have had similar problems, and instead move to seemingly safer havens. IF that happens, bank runs would spread across more countries and further bailouts might be necessary.
The big issue is, how can it be that a regular, hard-working person be put in the position of having to pay for the mistakes made by bankers? In actual fact, whenever a bailout has happened, it is always the ordinary person who takes the hit, but until now it has never been quite so blatant as to actually take money from people's retirement nest eggs.
Confidence in the entire banking system is now lower than ever, and you may be wondering how can you protect yourself and your money? One way is through silver coins. Graded silver coins, with a known content of precious metal, are a convenient way for people like you and I to get involved in precious metal, with the knowledge that the coins you hold today will retain their value in five, ten, or twenty years' time. The time has now come to stop putting our trust in the financial institutions, they are at best incompetent and at worst, outright corrupt. Either way, the ordinary person is always the one left to carry the can and those who are fed up with that should consider another way to protect and grow their hard-earned money.
If you would like more information on silver coins (including how you can enter a free prize draw) please visit the link which is provided below.
See you on the inside?
This past week the Bank of England raised the possibility of negative interest rates, which would mean that rather than the central bank paying interest out to high street lenders for placing money with it, the reverse would be the case. If such a move went ahead, that would be a devastating blow to those people with savings accounts with those high street banks, since it would mean the interest paid out on their savings would be reduced. Those with savings may already be thinking that the interest paid is already so low, it is effectively negative interest anyway once you take inflation into account, and the idea that interest would be cut still further may make people wonder exactly why they would bother to save with a high street bank at all, or for that matter any financial institution.
The proposed move would be intended to help encourage more lending, according to this article in the UK's Daily Telegraph, but that was the stated reason behind numerous rounds of Quantitative Easing, or creating money, and that has failed in its stated objective. Banks are not lending, and more people are trying to reduce their debts rather than take on more in these tough times.
Given that we have known for some time that our currency is worth less and less with each passing day, what can the ordinary person do? We all know of those investing in precious metals, but this has been something far removed from the man in the street, more geared towards the high-flyer, or so the perception goes.
Most people who are even slightly financially aware will know that unlike paper money, one cannot simply print up more gold and silver, which is why the price for both has skyrocketed since 2007 when the financial crisis first hit. How many are aware, however, that there is a simple way into the exciting world of silver and furthermore, that there is currently a worldwide promotion on for a $10 million silver giveaway? None of you? Read on!
Collecting silver, in the form of coins, is increasingly popular and you can get started just be entering your name into the draw for the Free Silver giveaway. There are new winners every day, and not only will you be entered into the draw, but you can promote it for yourself and be paid to do so!
Simply click the link or the banner provided below, and enter your details. I wish you the best of luck and look forward to welcoming you to the world of silver!
Free Silver Giveaway – enter your details here
Less than a year ago I wrote on this blog about the acquisition of blogging platform Posterous by Twitter. In that post I predicted that Posterous would be closed by the time 2012 was over; I was wrong, but only by a few months.
Posterous announced this month that the closure will take place on April 30th, 2013. It was always going to happen, the apparently upbeat and positive notification last year announcing the acquisition fooled nobody, and it was merely a matter of time before the platform closed. At least Posterous were true to their word, in that they would give their users "ample notice" in the event of a change to the service. They actually made it possible to back up and download all your Posterous content at the end of 2012, leading many to predict that the closure announcement would soon follow (which it has).
I left Posterous almost immediately following the acquisition announcement, and went with WordPress to post future content. However, some people are still using it and the clock is now ticking for them to save their content before the Posterous shutters come down for the last time. The question remains: where to go from here? I'll outline a few of the options here:
WordPress. There are two strands to WordPress; the self-hosted way where you are responsible for the maintenance of your site and thus any upgrades (available at WordPress.org), or the more conventional WordPress.com platform which is hosted for you, but does not have the flexibility of a self-hosted WordPress site. If you're relatively technically-orientated and have your own web space, the WordPress.org option is the best way to go. By hosting your own content, you can be sure it will not be taken from you if your chosen hosting company is acquired suddenly, like Posterous was.
Blogger. This long-established platform has been owned by Google for some time now, and is a popular choice for many bloggers. If you want something to get up and running quickly with little fuss, and with support for many themes, this is worth considering. Bear in mind that Google may change their service at any time, and with their newer Google+ platform starting to gain some traction, it could be that the Blogger platform may be upgraded to be integrated more closely with Google+, or even closed altogether with Blogger users being migrated across. I have no crystal ball, but you are subject to the decisions of Google HQ.
Tumblr. The Tumblr platform is probably the most similar to Posterous in the way that it operates, and there is now a facility which will allow existing Posterous users to migrate relatively painlessly to Tumblr. The caveats are that Tumblr, like Posterous, could be acquired at any time (although it has no plans to close at the time of writing) and if you do have a private Posterous post, it is not supported, nor are comments. Finally, there is a limit of 100 posts which can be migrated free, but this is likely to be enough for many users.
Posthaven. A new player, it is currently accepting registrations. Set up by two founders of the Posterous site who were disappointed to see that the platform they helped create is soon to be shut down, Posthaven is promising much of the functionality enjoyed by Posterous fans such as the ability to blog by email. They have made what is in my opinion a very ambitious pledge: that they will never be acquired and will last 'forever'. The service will come at a cost however; Posthaven will charge its users $5 per month for the service, although they have also pledged not to run advertisements and have stated that they are not seeking any investors.
Although this sounds like a great deal ($5 a month is less than you would typically pay to self-host), I'd advise caution before committing to this one. Posterous themselves denied that they would be acquired – right up to the day that Twitter bought them out! In my experience an online pledge is not worth the paper it is printed on! What if, for example, one or both founders leave the company? (It happens.) What if, after a while, they decide to 'upgrade' the service and take away features users have become accustomed to? (That also happens, a lot.) Just how long is 'forever' – nobody can predict the future and I've seen too many websites which were hot one minute, then deader than Geocities the next.
Whichever way you choose to go, remember time is now running out to save your content before Posterous goes dark for good, so weigh up your options carefully and go with whichever platform you feel suits your needs best. Good luck!
Not for the first time, my intended blog has been overtaken by events. I had intended to write about the demise of photo retailer Jessops, as I am a keen amateur photographer myself and have therefore visited their branches on numerous occasions. However I am also a keen music fan, who has bought many records and other merchandise from places such as HMV throughout the years, and its downfall, announced this evening (14th January 2013) is disappointing, but like the collapse of Jessops, is no surprise.
Photo: Ronnie Soo
It was late last week when the photographic equipment chain Jessops announced that they had gone into administration, after a difficult few years that saw them only stave off a previous administration by doing a debt for equity deal with bankers HSBC. As with many other businesses, the chain faced tough competition from online retailers and with the firm having many branches across the UK (a result of expansion during the 1990s, before the digital camera revolution), they had a lot of rent to find to keep those stores viable. The photography scene has changed beyond recognition since the 1990s, as film has been almost completely replaced by digital photography, meaning people no longer visit the stores in order to buy film and get it developed, then come back to buy camera equipment another time. Added to that the fact that the likes of Amazon can consistently undercut the prices on the high street, and the prospects appeared bleak. Another camera retail chain, Jacobs (coincidentally also based in Leicester, the UK town that is the home of Jessops) went bust in 2012 citing similar problems.
The Jessops demise is another pointer to the increasing move away from High Street shopping in favour of online retail. Ironically their former chairman, David Adams, left the business to join HMV in the hope of turning around the music retailer, but that has also proved too difficult. HMV has also seen its business change beyond recognition, as people deserted the stores in favour of either buying their CDs online from Amazon or simply downloading them. The previous reliance on the office worker customer who would pop in during lunchtime and buy two or three CDs, the so-called 'Fifty Quid Bloke', melted away as thirty-something customers, those with that sort of disposable income, changed to shopping for their music online at a time more suited to them.
Online retail has many advantages for the busy person: there is no need to travel into town, pay for parking and queue up. The online store never closes, it is available of a night and will deliver to your door and all for a price more competitive than can be found in your local record store. That's as true for a camera retailer as it is for a music store, and there are only going to be more traditional businesses looking over their shoulders as the High Street changes for ever.
Is there a future for traditional stores in the Internet age? For the chain stores such as Jessops, HMV and before that Comet (who collapsed in Autumn 2012) the prospects are not good. Perhaps the only hope is smaller stores, offering something different that the big boys do not, but as more shops become boarded up, or turn into pound stores and charity shops, it is clear we are seeing an irreversible trend in the way we do our shopping.
As a photography fan, and also a music lover I am sad to see both chains fall, however despite the fact I have spent a lot of money in both down the years, that hasn't been the case in more recent times as they both only reluctantly got into online retailing. It is clear that many other customers have changed their shopping habits, and as neither chain geared up sufficiently to embrace that change, that is why both have bitten the dust.
This week Instagram unveiled updated terms & conditions which were to come into effect from January. The first I knew about it was from a Facebook post from a friend who had seen the new terms, did not like them and promptly deleted the account. The post appreciated the irony of complaining on Facebook, which acquired Instagram earlier this year in a deal worth a rumoured $1billion, and has itself come under fire for its own terms and conditions of usage. Nonetheless, within a day the backlash had started in earnest, with users deleting their accounts in droves. The most high-profile protest has come from National Geographic, who have posted a stark notice stating that future image posts are suspended because of concern about the revised terms and conditions. This has ensured people have sat up and taken notice, and Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom has been forced into issuing a statement aimed at clarifying the situation.
In the statement, Systrom attempted to assure users that Instagram is not asserting ownership of users' photos, nor are they intending to use them in advertisements. The terms as originally stated certainly suggested this, the part which raised concern read:
"You agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness or photos (along with any associated metadata) and/ or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you."
Despite Systrom's assurances, what the terms effectively mean is that the user grants a licence to Instagram to use their content in any way that Instagram sees fit. This is actually quite similar to the terms Facebook has always had, and other social networking apps too, but the difference is that users have always known where they stand, if they have read the terms. Retrospectively changing the terms on Instagram once users have signed up was never going to go down well, and although Systrom is at pains to say that users still own their pictures, the damage has been done to their brand and in the fickle Internet world, today's hot platform is tomorrow's MySpace.
Already Twitter has been ablaze with suggestions for alternatives to Instagram, and there are plenty to choose from. Having deleted my own Instagram account, I've gone with Pixlr-o-Matic. It will offer a whole host of filters to give your digital masterpiece that retro look, and is straightforward enough to use. If you're considering changing your app in the light of this debacle, please follow this link for an overview of five alternatives to Instagram.
I have enjoyed using the Instagram app since it became available to me earlier this year, but if this illustrates anything it shows how easy it is in this day and age for an apparently dominant company to fall from grace.
Will you be deleting your account if you have one, or are you OK with the revised terms of service as long as you can continue to enjoy Instagram's social media aspect?
A post by a friend of mine on her Facebook wall got me thinking; she had complained that for the second time in a year her microwave oven had broken down and that she was likely to need a new one. She further explained that other domestic appliances such as her freezer had to be replaced this year, also. Asking why things aren't made to last these days, the reply I gave was that the system needs us to keep buying these things, over and over again.
Photo: Ronnie Soo
The post actually made me think of an interview with David Icke which I read back in 1989, regarding the god that is 'economic growth'. Icke is somebody who polarises opinion (to say the least!) yet, if you can get past the powder blue suit image and the 'son of god' stuff (a stick the media often like to beat him with), a lot of what he says does make people think. I'm quoting Icke from distant memory here, but he said that people have been conditioned into thinking that economic growth is all-important. He further went on to say that because the system requires that people continue to buy things, they're just not made to last. It was that which made me think of my friend's microwave; if she's had to replace two in a year, who else has? What about the freezers, the cookers, the washing machines and other appliances? Broadening it out, what else have you bought over the past few years, and how long has it lasted? Are you always buying the latest gadget, the newest model of television? How are you paying for it – cash, or credit? As Icke said, this constant buying is what the system – 'the god of economic growth' needs, for without constant growth the debt which we're all in can never even be serviced, let alone paid. Of course the debts are only growing, therefore 'economic growth' must happen too in order to service them. We're seeing now what is happening when growth stalls, the debts do not, and the ordinary person is then faced with 'austerity measures' imposed by the politicians.
What Icke said all those years ago stuck with me and you do start to wonder why it is we continue to think the way we do, when he points out that we cannot continue to strip resources at the present rate in order to keep making things that don't last, in order to dispose of them and then replace it every year or so. Is buying the latest thing so important? Watch every time Apple launch a new product, see the massive crowds outside Apple stores in any city and see how the media always make a news story out of it, when that person who was queuing for four days is first with his iPad. That's a great example of how minds are conditioned into thinking this is what we should all aspire to.
But back to the microwave: we're dependent on our kitchen gadgets nowadays, but the question is, if a company made one to last for several years, would they go out of business in favour of another company who makes the same thing, but which will not last so long (possibly, just enough to last beyond their warranty?) yet is able to sell them over and over again every couple of years?
The question is possibly moot, since most manufacturing of such items is now in the hands of a small cabal of global companies, sourcing parts from the same places. So whichever model you buy, you're probably not getting anything different. Perhaps the answer is to concentrate only on the things we actually do need, and less on the things we don't. What that does for the god of economic growth, is a matter for those who care about it – it shouldn't be something we all worship.
David Icke has spoken more recently about economic growth; a video of his speech can be seen here.
For information on how you can take back your life and help yourself on the way to financial freedom, please follow this link.
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+Ronnie Soo
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Former IT technician turned internet marketer and blogger, with an interest in the ever-changing world of search engine optimisation and the use of Social Media for business.
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Former IT technician turned internet marketer and blogger, with an interest in the ever-changing world of search engine optimisation and the use of Social Media for business.
Copyright © 2011 Ronnie Soo. All Rights Reserved.
