It’s Independence Day in the United States, and that means time with family and friends. I don’t have any financial tips from the Founding Fathers today. Instead, I have three fine performances of the U.S. national anthem.
First up, a traditional rendition from Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians. (This group is virtually forgotten today, though popular [...]

The dollar ended this week posting gains versus all 6 major currencies, as another wave of pessimism caused by grim reports in U.S. and U.K. spurred demand for the safety of the greenback.(…)Read the rest of Dollar Climbs as Safety Demand Rises on Markets (193 words)
Posted on Forex News.

This is a guest post from Karen who lives in Rhode Island with her husband and two daughters. Besides being a frugal stay at home mom ,she blogs at frugalrimama.com about weekly deals/sales/freebies and more. In her spare time she enjoys taking surveys and doing some mystery shopping. You can see a list of Karen’s survey earnings on her blog.

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Everyone seems to be looking for ways to make extra cash and the one place they seem to be looking to is the Internet. There are a lot of scams but there are also legitimate ways to earn some extra money. You won’t get rich but who couldn’t use gas money each month, or extra money to pick up those lattes that you love so much, but can’t quite fit into your budget. One way I’ve found to earn a little extra cash is by taking online surveys.

I started doing online surveys a few years back but it’s taken me a while to find companies that really do pay. There are so many out there they say they pay but they really don’t. They just want your email address so they can Spam you. If a company really wants your opinion then they are not going to Spam you.

I’ve had success with a few survey sites and I’ve made well over a $100 with some of them and I don’t even take every survey that is sent to me, I just don’t have that much extra time most days. But when I do it’s nice to earn a little extra cash and know that I’m helping companies make better products or services.

When you sign up for just about any survey company, they do want a lot of information, but this is how they will match you up with surveys. They will most likely want to know about every member in your household. Some companies will send you surveys for your family to take, even your children. I’ve done a few with my 4 year old. I just basically walk her through it asking her the questions.

They may ask for your social security number when you sign up. The reason why is if you make more than $600 in a year, they have to report it to the IRS. You may not have to give it to them when you first sign up, but you will need it to receive your first payment. This is very normal.

You will probably get a few screener surveys a week from most companies but that really depends on your demographics. If you don’t receive many emails from them, it just means they don’t anything that will fit you at that time. When you get the screener emails, it will tell you what your compensation will be for taking that survey and how long it should take if you qualify for it.

Each company has a different way of compensating you. Some of them do pay cash either by check or paypal. Other’s will let you choose gift cards or prizes. Some of them will enter you into monthly drawings. But before you begin any survey they will always tell you so then you can make the decision of taking that survey or not. It’s OK if you pass up on some of them but after a while you may become inactive so be careful about that.

Here are a few companies I have been working with for a while now and they do pay and they are REAL:

Before you sign up with any survey companies I suggest you get a separate email address just to use for your surveys so your inbox won’t be flooded with emails and your personal stuff gets buried. Some days you may get more emails than others.

If you take a few surveys a week you could probably fill up your gas tank for the month. With the price of gas going up again, that would be nice.

The following is a guest post by Kathryn Vercillo.

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A quick scan through the recent headlines for news about coupons will reveal that there have been a number of problems related to printable coupon fraud recently. In addition to these problems, there have been problems with excessive printing of downloaded coupons which have caused havoc at various stores (the KFC coupon situation being the most notable case). These issues have created financial losses for many businesses. Perhaps what we’re going to find is that printable coupons will soon be a thing of the past as they get replaced with more modern coupons that are less likely to inspire these problems. The manufacturing and use of both online promotional codes and mobile coupons are growing rapidly which may be a way to help combat Internet coupon fraud.

General Problems with Internet Coupon Fraud

There are many different types of Internet coupon fraud that exist. The most common types of coupon fraud that exist are:

• Coupon fraudster use computer technology to manipulate the barcodes on their coupons. They change the barcode so that they get more money back than they are supposed to get.
• Websites create fake coupons and post them. Innocent customers then download the coupons and try to use them at the stores that they belong to. Cashiers may be confused by the coupons and go ahead and redeem them even though they are not legitimate coupons.
• Photocopying of legal coupons. Downloadable coupons intended only for members of certain clubs or people who have purchased certain items may be printed out and then photocopied.

This fraud costs manufacturers and store owners millions of dollars each year. As a result of this, a number of stores have decided to no longer honor coupons printed from the Internet. Many other stores seem to be leaning in that direction.

Coupon Codes and Mobile Coupons Could be the Solution

One solution to the problem of coupon fraud could be to get away from the use of printable coupons. There are two core technologies that are making this possible today. The first, and currently the more popular of the two, is the use of online promotional codes for getting discounts when shopping online. The second, and perhaps the one likely to see more growth, is the developing use of mobile coupons. Both types of technologies may offer a way for consumers to get discounts on their purchases without putting companies at so much risk of coupon fraud.

The general problems of Internet coupon fraud simply don’t exist with coupon codes and mobile coupons. That’s because those problems are all related to the manipulation of a printed coupon. With promo codes and mobile coupons, there simply isn’t anything to print out. It is a lot more difficult to manipulate the barcode on a mobile coupon (which is a coupon scanned directly on your mobile phone) or to make any functional changes to the promo code of a website.

There is also considerably less room for human error when it comes to redeeming coupon codes and mobile coupons. With discount codes, either the code works when it’s entered into the computer or it doesn’t. With mobile coupons, the coupon is entered through the mobile phone so it isn’t redeemed directly by a cashier. This means that a lot of the coupon fraud that currently relies on benefiting from the confusion of cashiers is simply not going to exist when redeeming promo codes and mobile coupons.

Will This End Coupon Fraud?

Switching over from printable coupons to these new forms of non-printable coupons is likely to reduce or eliminate coupon fraud as we know it. However, there are always going to be criminals that find new ways of committing fraud so it’s unlikely that coupon fraud will be terminated completely even if we all make a total switch to using non-printable coupons. Despite this, there are some reasons why non-printable coupons are going to be safer in terms of fraud risk than are their printable counterparts:

• Initially it will be more difficult for coupon fraudsters to manipulate these types of non-printable coupons. It’s fairly easy to learn to photocopy and manipulate a printable coupon or to create a fake coupon but it’s going to be more difficult for criminals to figure out how to manipulate or create usable coupon codes.
• Moreover, it is likely that coupons based on modern technology will change more rapidly than general Internet coupons which will cause fraudsters to have to continually stay on top of their game in adapting their scams to the new types of coupons that are being created.
• It will be easier to catch people that are using fraudulent coupons. There is going to be a considerably stronger link to these people because of the fact that the coupons are used online or through phones which can both be tracked. Additionally, the purchased items will be paid for with a credit card, online banking system or mobile payment method which will be easy to track. This is not the case with a printed coupon that is taken to a store where the item purchased is paid for in cash.

This should all mean that there will be an overall reduction in losses due to coupon fraud even though some level of coupon fraud will continue to exist.

Kathryn is a writer for Promotionalcodes.org.uk which gives away free discount deals (like this Debenhams promotional code) and also publishes money saving tips.

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The US dollar ended the past week as the strongest of the majors, but it certainly wasn’t due to fundamental reasons.

The Mexican peso, a currency which is highly dependent on United States economic conditions, had the first decline in three weeks as American unemployment figures increased concerns regarding the nation’s recession depth.(…)Read the rest of Mexican Peso Ends Week Down on Poor Economic Data (109 words)
Posted on Forex News.

The Brazilian real, which started the week with a bearish movement due to rising concerns regarding the global slump depth, recovered its losses on favorable domestic economic reports.(…)Read the rest of Brazil’s Real Pared Weekly Losses on Exports Data (123 words)
Posted on Forex News.

• US Dollar, Japanese Yen Mixed on Low-Volume Trading • Swiss Franc Remains Range-Bound vs. Euro as Swiss CPI Signals Deflation • Australian Dollar, Canadian…

How do you feel about people who are very successful? What’s your attitude toward the movers and shakers in your field?
Do you admire and respect them? Do you speak highly of them?
Or are you suspicious of them? Do you criticize or attack them?
What’s the true role of these people in your life? What do they [...]