Technology Innovation » Generations

The Love of Money Can Be the Root to All Evils

admin — Fri, 07 May 2010 05:23:37 +0000

When you think of consumer credit in the UK, the thought of free money may pop into your head. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is consumer credit is anything but free and can be very costly if not used in a responsible way. It is key for us, as adults, to learn to use consumer credit responsibly so we can minimize the impact of our debt on our families and society as a whole. Also, we need to learn so we can effectively teach our children the proper way to view credit cards.

The world, post World War II, saw booms in population, technology, innovation and debt. Where our grandparents and parents were taught to be frugal and avoid accumulating consumer credit debt succeeding generations have wanted more comfort and more buying power at the cost of peace of mind. “Keeping up with the Jones’” is a saying surely most of you have heard, but what about “living within your means”.

Even non-Christian and even atheistic or agnostic people cannot argue that the “love” of money can lead to all sorts of problems. Money is a necessary to survive in our current society. We have to work and earn money so we can purchase our food, clothing and shelter. The problem lies in desiring what others have and seeking to have more and more to try and find happiness. Many turn to the irresponsible use of consumer credit to fill their wanton need to spend and have “things”. What ends up happening is you find yourself struggling to maintain a lifestyle you cannot afford. So instead of using your time and money wisely you squander it and end up losing everything thus “stabbing yourself all over with many pains”.

So what is the proper place for consumer credit UK? Consumer credit is necessary to build up a reputation and thus a credit score in the consumer credit world. This score when maintained well will help you purchase a car, a home and even get a job. It shows responsibility and maturity.

How can you use consumer credit to increase your credit score? If you have a credit card or two make sure you can pay off your purchases monthly and never extend yourself more than six months. One of the worst things you can use consumer credit to buy is groceries. If you don’t have enough money in your bank account to purchase your groceries from month to month there is a serious problem. Either you need to look into public assistance if it’s available or you need to look at your spending habits on other things. Groceries being consumable have no lasting value and the purchase will be accumulating ungodly amounts of interest. Why risk your family dwelling or vehicles and other goods being lost because you used your credit cards to amass debt because of groceries?

Always pay more than the minimum payment required by the credit card company. This will pay your account down much faster and keep your purchases from accumulating too much interest. Most credit cards are approaching interest rates of 30% which can rack up very quickly. If you have a credit card account that you’ve used for large purchases then opt into the credit card company’s insurance program that will pick up the tab for your account should you lose your job unexpectedly. Given the recent trend in job loss worldwide this will keep your consumer credit from becoming a nightmare. But use the provision wisely – don’t abuse it.

Try to think of credits cards as a protection and not a luxury. This will help put them in the proper place in your life. Should you require extra funds for an emergency expense consumer credit cards can be a much needed lifeline. Your car or house may need a major repair that would leave your family struggling and a credit card could be the saving option. Try not to use them for everyday expenses.

Department store consumer credit cards are a clever way to increase customer loyalty and spending. Use these carefully. It can be very easy with offered discounts and sales exclusive to card holders to allow you’re spending to get out of control. If there is something you and your family needs or can pay off before the end of the billing cycle then take advantage of the discount. Remember, if you don’t pay off the bill immediately the 15% discount can turn into an extra 15% cost because of the 30% interest charge to carry it on the account.

In conclusion, try to be content with the things you have. Relying on consumer credit to increase your quality of life could leave you worse off in the end. Using credit responsibly can increase your credit score and thus your ability to make large purchases like a house or car. Consumer credit should be viewed as an emergency only pipeline and taken advantage of only when we know we can pay off the debt immediately.

By: Shannon Michael

How Does One Measure Innovation?

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:31:50 +0000

It is easy to measure performance and quality and other metrics because these are all either discrete or continuous data. However, how will one measure innovation? If someone has the initiative to change things and improve processes, how does one ultimately measure if the innovation applied is successful or effective? For years and years, the business community has not really figured out a way of measuring how effective implemented changes are. But now, there is an accepted way of measuring innovation and this is done to standardize innovation policies across the business and commerce sectors.

The truth is, we cannot quantify innovation. What we can measure is the process and if the people working on a certain company or organization will embrace these processes, the company is bound to achieve its goals. The people who run the company should also be willing to take risks in spending for innovation. One type of change or improvement may not really bring about satisfactory results. However, it is very likely that the next one will.

It is a given fact that innovation can be measured by the amount of profit it brings. However, this is only taken from the organization’s perspective. From a customer’s point of view, innovation always has something to do with amazing service. If this has something to do with a product, what people will be looking for is the features. People will only say that improvement exists if what used to be non-existent before exists now.

Just take television sets, for example. We now have LCD monitors that are a lot clearer, vivid, and thinner than the first generations of television sets. To a customer, this is the ultimate measure of innovation. They get more features than what they could have gotten, had the new television not been improved. The same principle applies in technology. Now, open sources are gaining popularity, as opposed to software programs that one has to buy. Today, companies develop software programs which all their customers can use for free but cannot buy. Innovation can also be measured based on its impact on people’s lives. If you take a closer look at the evolution of cellular phones, you would see how they have changed the pacing of how mankind goes round and about their daily tasks and jobs. The cellular phone has also changed the way people communicate.

There is really an issue on how people can see how innovation is effective. It has been contested that the ultimate metric is the return on investment. Many people say that any process that does not bring about more revenue is futile. The concept applied here is that we need to improve processes and products to get more customers to buy them. However, if there re no changes, then there will be no sense to implementing these at all.

However, people also say that profit is not the only way innovation should be measured. This is precisely because there are products that have never changed for many years. Accordingly, innovation is also measured at how fast these products and services get to the customers. Ultimately, it is customer satisfaction that will dictate and measure innovation.

By: Sam Miller

Progressive, Regressive, Or Building Upon Prior Philosophical Thoughts

admin — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:22:30 +0000

Have you ever noticed that each subsequent generation builds on the knowledge, and research of the past? Every bit of advancing technology we have today is bathed in the discoveries and inventions of yesteryear. In other words, progress is incremental, and the power of knowledge moves us forward. Luckily, we have the written language, the spoken language, and now we have the computer language.

Thus, we are able to retain the information of our ancestors, and pass that torch forward, and we are also able to pass forward the technology, innovations, ideas, concepts, and inventions of the present period and a higher rate of speed. Therefore, we can not only build upon the information of the past, but also the information of the present faster than at any time in history.

Is it this ability that allows the human species to move forward, while other species are unable to build upon the prior information that has been learned? Some could say that other species like humans save information in the DNA of the evolutionary process, and the body remembers how to reproduce in such a way to provide the best use of the genes and adaptations. Okay, true enough, but I am talking about the knowledge we pass down too, so is this what makes humans different? It very well might be a significant factor. Let me explain.

Not long ago, I was discussing this with a fellow think tanker, and acquaintance. Zlati states; “The power of human knowledge, it seems, comes from our ability to pass ideas through the generations, to build upon the foundations of others, to learn and not merely to discover.”

It appears that way, but how can you say for certain that “we” as a species has not forgotten more than we will ever know? And sometimes what may be deemed or thought of as progressive is actually regressive and merely allowing minds and collectives of minds to be doomed to repeat the ills of past periods?

Additionally, much of the history that we have written down is actually false, and we may be collecting information from the past that is not the actual reality. Therefore, we are deceiving ourselves by looking at the past records, and actually preventing ourselves from moving forward to a better future.

So, whereas we are able to do this as a species and pass forward stories and information, are we passing on the right information? And if we are passing on the wrong information are we really doing ourselves that much more of a benefit, then a species which doesn’t pass on information in the same way? Remember there is no specific exact answer, this is a philosophical debate.

In observation, it appears that enough of the correct information has been put forth forward to help us progress faster than other species, but a lot of that is also due to our ability to build tools to help us because of our dexterity that was garnered through the evolutionary process. Although this may seem like a complex debate, it’s really not, and therefore it like you to please consider it.

By: Lance Winslow