US Finance World

The governments proposal for a massive pensions shake-up is good in many ways, but it wont help anyone over the age of 61.

Earlier this month, the government published proposals for a massive pensions shake-up. The heart of the plan is that most pensioners will receive a flat State Pension of £140 a week. This will replace the current basic State Pension which pays £102.15 a week. This is a good idea in many ways. The trouble is, not everyone will benefit.

Now I should stress that these are just proposals at the moment and the government is now asking for feedback. In fact, the government has asked for feedback on two different proposals. The first proposal – known as ‘Option 1′ – is a fairly limited tweak of the current system whereas the second proposal – ‘Option 2′ – is much more radical.

Option 2 is the one that boosts the state pension to £140 a week and is the most likely to be implemented. So in this

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Diesel vehicles have come a long way over the years.

For starters, mass-market diesel cars generally arent noisy like they once were.

They also put out less greenhouse gases and have higher fuel efficiency than their gasoline powered cousins. And diesel engines have always lasted more miles than gasoline so you can buy one and run it into the ground.

But, do they make sense to buy? Americans havent exactly been crazy about them.

Why is Diesel Vehicle Market Share in the U.S. so Low?

Diesel vehicles exceed 40% of the market share in Europe, however, is just 2.2%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Why?

Smog. Diesel vehicles put out more black sooty particulate matter (PM) and NOx (oxides of nitrogen) emissions, which lead to smog and adverse health effects. The , as a result, has put higher regulation standards on diesel vehicle emissions than the EPA.

As a result, very few vehicles meet both CARB and EPA clean diesel standards and only VW, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, and makers of a few heavy-duty trucks have entered the U.S.

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You’re officially on the social media bandwagon: everyone has told you that your brand “needs” to be on Twitter, Facebook, et cetera. So you’ve set up profiles on each. But now what? You have no clue what you need to do to successfully use social media to get more customers.

No worries.

With a few tips (provided here), you can effectively figure out why you’re on social media (not just because everyone else is) and how to use it.

1. Why Are You Here?
Many businesses set up social media accounts simply because they don’t want to be left behind, but then, with no direction, they soon abandon their accounts. It’s important to decide on a social media strategy before you dive in. Your strategy might be:

- To reach your target market where they hang out (Twitter or Facebook)
– To provide an additional channel or two to extend your reach to new customers
– To participate in ongoing conversations with consumers
– To build your brand
– To get feedback on your products and brand

Once you’ve decided what your aim is with social media, you can start building your empire.

2. Now Get a Plan<

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Fancy some extra cash but don’t have much spare time on your hands? Check out Waits top 10 tips on how to make money in your lunch break….

In times such as these we could all do with a few extra pennies in our bank accounts. So if you need to make some money but don’t reckon you have the time to do it, these quick and easy tips might provide you with some inspiration…

1) Online surveys

Many marketing firms will pay you to complete an online survey. These surveys can take between 10 minutes and half an hour and you’ll usually earn between 50p and £10 (if you’re really lucky) per survey. You can sign up at numerous sites such as YouGov, Panelbase and Toluna.

Make sure you sign up to a registration-free website and avoid signing up to American websites as you’ll probably need an American bank account. It’s also wo

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Among all the major advisors (financial people, lawyers, bankers), accountants get the easiest ride. The answer is pretty simple: they are the only advisors who consistently can give you cash which you are not borrowing in the form of a tax return. But are all accountants created equal? How do you differentiate between a good accountant and a bad accountant? When is it time to switch accountants?

To deal with the easy question, all accountants are not created equal. If they were, the corner store accountant would have the same skill-set and expertise to prepare the tax returns as the accountants preparing GE’s tax returns. Clearly, this is not the case.

The difference between good accountants and bad accountants is that, in some cases, bad accountants are not accountants at all but book-keepers who file tax returns or tax preparers who use the same software you and I could get. To be clear, this is not to disparage book-keepers; in many respects, valuable book-keepers are worth more than good accountants. M

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