Well, I have been studying all week for the exam tomorrow.  It is that time of year that everyone loves: midterms.

Most of my classes should be really easy.  The only class I am really focusing on is my finance class.  My reasoning for this is I would like to be a financial planner someday.

I have been creating a cheat sheet of sorts, to help me study.  You can find the most common financial definitions on there, formulae, and other nifty things.  For example the section on loans covers unsecured loans, mortgages and others.

There is also some details about car loans and depreciation.  I have also prepared for the essay question on the exam - cheap loans: considerations and pitfalls.  Thankfully, we can bring the paper in, so it won’t use up the time we have to write the exam.

Alright, enough chit-chat, back to studying for me.  Wish me luck!

Recently one of my investment partners had been showing some interest in South Africa.  Not only is the temperature a little more pleasant than here at home (up in Canada), but it is truly a nice place.  You can find exotic and elegant homes there for reasonable prices, as well as good returns on investment properties.

I offered to help him find some good realtors in South Africa.  He was looking for a company to help him find the properties as well as a good property manager as he wouldn’t be moving there any time soon.

After making a few phone calls to people in our investment network we came up with two companies.  Both Pam Golding International and Seeff Properties were names we heard multiple times from multiple people.  Seems that the investors that we know that have properties in South Africa have had very good success with both companies - both in finding the properties as well as good customer service during and after the sale.

I created a small report for my investment partner and forwarded it on to him.  This has definitely sparked my interest and I am going to look into the South African market to increase my income properties.  Maybe you should too.

I am going on a trip in the next few months and I need an emergency fund.  Even though I have been saving money, I don’t feel too comfortable taking it with me.  So I have decided I am going to get a credit card.

Now, I don’t want to settle for second best, rather I want the best credit card.  This has meant that I have had to look at many credit card offers.  Unfortunately, my bank couldn’t do that for me - they could only show me the cards that they offered.

So, I turned to the Internet for the answers I needed.  I scanned through the cash back credit card offers to find one that would work for me.  Even though the 0% credit cards were tempting, they just didn’t give me what I needed.  I had no plans to carry a balance on the card anyway.

I found one that I liked, and filled out the application.  According to the site, my card will be here within five business days.  Once I get it, I can book my hotel room for my trip.  It is so close, I can almost taste it…

As some of you know, I have two children, that are two and four.  For their regular checkups, they go to our family doctor.  But, sometimes when they are really sick, it is good to get a specialists’ opinion.

For those of you that don’t know, a doctor that specializes in children is called a pediatrician.  There are a few noticeable differences between a regular doctor and a pediatrician:  they are more familiar with conditions affecting children and they (usually) are very good with children.

Now you might ask, how do you go about finding a good pediatrician?  Probably the easiest way is to ask your family doctor who they would recommend.  Another good way is to ask your friends that have children who they would recommend, or who they have experience dealing with.  We went about it another way:  we took our son William to Emergency at the hospital nearest to us and they admitted him to pediatrics.  We asked the doctor that was examining him if he accepted patients: and he did.

If none of the above methods work for you, you can always check in the yellow pages.  In fact, that is how my sister found a pediatrician in Ridgefield when she moved there.

Weird title eh?

Well, I just wanted to talk about two different words that came across my path today.

First lets talk about weird.

Well, what kind of weird news can I share with you?  Well, did you know that one of the weird news headlines that I read today was "Man gets screwed"?  Would it surprise you that it is now what you think?  In fact, I am sure it is not what came to mind when you read it.  Simply an employee was caught steeling screws from the factory he worked in over a two year period.  He walked out with some everyday for a period of two years.  It is sure going to be funny if he tells his fellow felons in jail what he stole… I am sure they will all have a good laugh

As for the second word of the day, web, it is regarding something I use everyday: web directories.  You see, I am constantly promoting this site and other websites I own on web directories in an attempt to increase my search engine rankings.  In fact, I submitted sites to about fifty directories today!  No one ever said I was lazy!

I’ll see what I can do tomorrow to find other words that start with the same letter.  Not only does it present me with a little challenge, but also gives me something to write about.  Be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I write about!

Have you tried using free web directories to promote your website?  You may have submitted to many of them to find that weeks later your site is still not indexed. 

Why?

Well, free directory owners get hundreds, if not thousands of submissions daily.  Trust me (I have owned a free directory or two in my time), there never seems to be enough time in one day to approve all the sites you need to.

That is where paid directories step in.

You see, a paid directory only has to approve sites that people pay to submit.  Typically, your site will be approved within 24 hours or so - not only is the directory owner not bogged down with free submissions, but they appreciate that you value their time by paying for a link.

Another benefit of purchasing a paid directory listing is that they have an advertising budget.  Free directories usually don’t have much for a budget when it comes to advertising their site.  On the other hand, for every submission they get, they have more money to promote their site.

So, next time you consider submitting your site to free directories: stop!  Chances are with a few paid directory submissions, you will see more value for your dollar.