For those who have made a decision to do some renovations to their house, they are making an intelligent financial commitment. Property makeovers, maintenance, and improvements will substantially raise your property’s market worth, in addition to optimising the attraction for potential purchasers when the time to sell comes. Although you may not dispose of the property in the near future, home improvement financing remains an excellent long-term choice to enhance the market value of your residence.Financing may be needed for a range of refurbishments and maintenance. This type of finance can be used for redesigning, building an additional room or space, or maybe adding a swimming pool. You may be even thinking of upgrading the home to make it more environmentally friendly and economize on energy use levels. The options are numerous.To get the money to pay for these changes one has the option of utilizing the collateral in one’s own home, accrued since they first bought it. Home improvement financing can be described as a kind of secured home equity loan enabling one to take advantage of the value one has in their property. Once financed this way, the homeowner then can make use of this capital to help pay for the planned renovation or changes. Since it is collateralized against the house, home equity loans may offer considerably reduced interest rates as well as significantly better terms compared to different kinds of finance or unsecured loans. Thus the equity you possess in your own home functions as security, that makes it possible for the financial institution to provide you a superior package for your home improvement financing.In summary, here are some generally accepted benefits of home improvement financing:- The homeowner has a choice of either variable or fixed interest rates, according to their desires and choices- Versatility to cover continuing costs- Rates of interest are more affordable as compared to alternative kinds of financial products- Flexibility to make use of the financial loan for any property renovations the homeowner decides on- Low or nil loan application chargesRe-modeling your home through home improvement financing can be an overwhelming exercise.Even so, if you have drawn up a plan of exactly what you want, formulated a clear budget that is relevant to financing and secured the right team to do the work you can approach your preferred home improvement financing lender with confidence and a clear plan of attack.By following these basic steps the whole project will get off to a good start and will not seem so difficult.
Financial and Investment Advisor Certifications That Are Widely Recognized
The following certifications are widely recognized within the financial services advisory industry:* Accredited Estate Planner (AEP)* Certified Financial Planner (CFP)* Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)* Chartered Investment Counselor (CIC)* Insurance Agents> Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)> Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)* Personal Financial Specialist (PFS)This short list of certifications was constructed using several sources. First, many other certifications require these certifications as a prerequisite. Second, when registering as an adviser with certain states, some of these certifications can substitute for passing various tests administered by the North American Securities Administrators Association, Inc. (NASAA) Third, Form ADV, which is used by the SEC and most states to register advisors, explicitly lists many of these particular designations. Finally, these designations are mentioned more frequently in the financial planning literature and on financial and investment websites.Accredited Estate Planner (AEP)The AEP is conferred by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils (NAEPC). To obtain the AEP an applicant must:* hold an attorney’s license, CPA, CLU, ChFC, CFP, or CTFA* be professionally engaged in “estate planning activities,”* have at least five years of directly relevant experience (or 15 years to exempt the educational requirements)* take certain required courses from the The American College or take two “challenge exams”> (See the ChFC and CLU listings below for more information on The American College.)* have membership in an NAEPC council,* submit references, and* commit to the NAEPC code of ethics.Certified Financial Planner (CFP)The CFP is conferred by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFPBS). To obtain the CFP designation, a candidate must have either five years of personal financial planning work experience or three years and a bachelors degree. He must pass a comprehensive examination. To take this examination, he must either complete a course of study offered by various educational organizations, or he must already hold a CPA, ChFC, CLU, or CFA designation or a Ph.D. in business or economics, Doctor of Business Administration, or an Attorney’s license. The CFPBS has an on-line consumer complaint and practitioner disciplinary process, and it supports on-line professional status checking and referrals.According to the CFPBS, it is “a nonprofit regulatory organization (that) fosters professional standards in personal financial planning so that the public values, has access to and benefits from competent and ethical financial planning. CFP Board owns the certification marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER(TM) and federally registered CFP (with flame logo), which it awards to individuals who successfully complete initial and ongoing certification requirements. CFP Board currently authorizes more than 43,000 individuals to use these marks in the United States.” The CFPBS also “establishes and enforces education, examination, experience and ethics requirements for CFP® certificants.” (Footnote 1)Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)”CFA Institute is composed of more than 70,000 individual voting members and 131 nonvoting member societies that believe in setting a higher standard for the investment profession. Individual members either hold the CFA designation or are active in the investment business and agree to abide by the CFA Institute ethical requirements.”Formerly the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR), the CFA Institute confers the CFA designation. Successful candidates must pass three successive examinations requiring approximately 250 hours of preparation for each examination. A candidate must also have either four years of work experience or an undergraduate degree and three years of work experience.The CFA Institute manages a professional conduct process including an investor complaint process and investors can enquire about the status of an advisor’s CFA credentials.Chartered Investment Counselor (CIC)The CIC designation is conferred by the Investment Counsel Association of America, Inc. (ICAA). The ICAA “is a national not-for-profit association whose membership consists exclusively of federally registered investment adviser firms.” (Footnote 2) Candidates must have worked for an ICAA member firm and must hold the CFA designation.Insurance Agents+ Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC)+ Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU)The ChFC and CLU designations are conferred by The American College. To obtain either designation a candidate must complete eight courses and have three years of full-time personal finance or insurance experience. If a person has completed the CLU designation, then he could also obtain the ChFC designation by completing three additional courses. There is no complaint or disciplinary process for either designation.The American College states that “founded in 1927 as The American College of Life Underwriters, the College has in recent decades broadened its instructional offerings to reflect the growing convergence of insurance and other financial services professions. A variety of designation, certificate, graduate-degree, and continuing education programs now complement its long-respected CLU designation.” (Footnote 3)Personal Financial Specialist (PFS)The PFS designation is conferred by The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The AICPA established a PFS credential “for CPAs who specialize in personal financial planning.” To hold the PFS designation a person must:* be an AICPA member* hold a CPA that is issued by a state and is unrevoked* earn points based upon experience and examination* submit references and other proof of experience doing personal financial planning work.Footnotes:1) Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFPBS) website 2) Investment Counsel Association of America, Inc. (ICAA) website 3) The American College website
Posted in Education
Tagged Astronomy, Biology, College University, Education, Future Concepts, Home Schooling, Languages, Nature, Online Education, Psychology, Reference and Education, Schools, teaching
Comments Off
How to Find Cheap Flights to Las Vegas
Planning to go to the worlds largest theme park for some entertainment? Well, why not also consider finding the best possible airfare to Las Vegas? It’s not that difficult since Internet has made everything so easy and within reach of everybody. You will be able to see which airline would be the best for you, should you consider a direct flight or a multi-stop flight and should you buy a round trip ticket or one-way. These and other decisions will become easy once you have enough information about the latest trends and habits of airlines that schedule flights to Las Vegas from different cities. Let’s find out some more about it.You can look for discount airfares for Las Vegas on the Internet. What you will find is a list of user-friendly websites with a search field to help you narrow down your search by entering the location from where you will be taking off and your departure date. They will then find the cheapest flight possible for you. You can also perform a search by airports. For example, if you are flying from London you will be given a list of popular London airports like Heathrow, and Gatwick etc. Clicking on one of the airports will take you to a page where all flights are listed from that place to Las Vegas. You can also search for cheap flights for Christmas, New Year and Easter. Since these are peak holiday seasons many sites have special discount deals for these dates. You can even book way in advance, like four to six months before the flight to get cheaper airfare.The deals and packages offered by these websites include not only the plane ticket, but also your hotel accommodation expenses and the activities you will be taking part in while you are in Las Vegas. You can select from a number of shows and events listed on these websites to see which package suits you the best. Also try to locate a cheap package that includes car rental facility as well. This way you won’t have any difficulty in arriving to your destination anywhere in Las Vegas once you are there. These packages are usually very cheap as compared to individual charges of all these activities. You will also be given an opportunity to select the kind of food you would want to have in Las Vegas. Planning a trip to Las Vegas is nearly as eventful as actually arriving there and being a part of all that.You can save up to 75% on your overall expenses when you choose to buy one of these combo packages. PriceLine is a popular online consolidator website where you can go to search for a cheap flight to Las Vegas given your preferences. Expedia and Travelocity are equally popular for providing cheap airfare to travelers wishing to go to Las Vegas for a vacation. Going to Las Vegas will be a lifetime experience for you and your family, so don’t plan it haphazardly. Keep in mind all your needs and requirements and then choose a deal online that will not only provide you with all that you want, but will also save you a lot of money to spend on other activities.