A recent survey on 1 million mint.com users, which is quite a valid representation of the American population shows that high-end grocery stores like Whole Foods and Bristol Farms are losing their customers to low-end grocery stores like Food4Less and Food Lion. It’s the effect of recession of course! It seems people are dumping organic for the general or less expensive organic stuff. Well, do you say it’s going to be a compromise on health? Let’s see what people are saying about these stores. Maybe then we can get an idea as to why they prefer to shop at cheaper grocery shops than these much-hyped grocery stores. Bristol Farms Bristol Farms is an impressive elitist chain of grocery stores for the gourmet appetite. Many customers agree on the superior quality of the products out there.  [...] 

Every time, on getting my paycheck, I eagerly make a list of my expenditure and try to cut up on areas that I think are ‘unessential’ for my living. These included going out for a movie and eating out every weekend; pizza treats from the nearby fast-food center, getting my laundry done at the laundry store nearby; and buying dresses and cosmetics every month. Now these are things that you might consider unessential too and might want to budget on all these at one go. That’s what I did, but the results were not too good. I stopped going out for a movie and eating out and stopped buying cosmetics and dresses. I also stopped the pizza delivery and washed my clothes myself. Spending time at home in the weekends was too boring and eating only homemade food was pretty uninteresting. My taste  [...] 

Customers are Gods. This is the fundamental rule that any business owner teaches his employees. After all, it’s the customer that you have to satisfy in order to make your business flourish. However good your product maybe, if you don’t have the support and goodwill of your customers, you’re bound to be a loser. But some companies after reaching a high level of success lose their focus on customer satisfaction. The reasons are plenty ranging from over-confidence, bad management, corrupt practices etc. That is when they start falling. Here are some situations that seem to be a common occurrence with many customers. “We packed the wrong commodity, that’s not our fault ma’m” At a leading shoe retail outlet, I finalize a pair of red stilettos from a leading footwear manufacturing  [...] 

Its rather shocking to know that a superpower, like America, which is the most developed nation of the world, has about half of its youth financially illiterate or very poorly financially literate! A nationwide survey conducted by the National Foundation of Credit Counseling reveals that young adults between the age group of 18-34 are hopelessly lacking in money management skills. The survey conducted on 1000 young adults including fresh professionals shows 47 % of them grading themselves Cs, Ds and Fs. They fared poorly in basic money management skills like budgeting and saving. What is more disappointingly surprising is that even well-educated tech-savvy youth also fall in the bracket of the financially uneducated. No wonder these young working professionals don’t have any idea of saving  [...] 

These days, I find the newspapers highly infested with classifieds on profitable business opportunities with consumer food products. Mushroom and fish trading are flourishing business opportunities, along with a lot of other items like soybean, palm oil, sugar 11, rubber etc. These days, when recession is the single most dominating phase of the current economy, you cannot probably thinking of making investments in the conventionally high investment options like diamonds, gold, silver, or crude oil. A wiser option would be to trade with products of everyday usage. Just weigh the advantages for yourself. They don’t require high investments and the demand for these products is very high, rather more than the supply. Products like soybean, cocoa, wood etc. which were not very popular a few years  [...] 

“It is the tendency of the social burdens to crush out the middle class, and to force society into an organization of only two classes, one at each social extreme.” –William Graham Sumner Taking the present socio-economic conditions in purview, I agree with the above wise words of William Graham Sumner. Come any adversity, the middle class is the most affected. In the present sluggish economy, the middle class seems to be an endangered species heading towards fast extinction, as many experts predict. A member of the American upper middle class, a good job, steady income flow, a good apartment, a budget holiday, and health insurance were my much achieved perks. I would sleep peacefully at night resting my head on the pillow of security. But now, I’m rudely awakened as the present phase  [...] 

A few days ago, I needed a pair of shoes badly and was contemplating a good buy. The posh store selling international brands next door flaunts of some really awesome footwear. I am tempted to buy my new pair from there but nowhere else. But then, the present day altruistic movement of encouraging local business for a number of community benefits is coaxing my ethical senses. Therefore I want to weigh the pros and cons of making local purchases. Here are some reasons that seem to surface when you compare a local purchase with a non-local purchase. Why I should make a local purchase: Coming to the quality of products, local markets have pulled up very much in their standards. If not better, you can expect local made products as not bad. Of course, in no way they come close to branded products  [...] 

Thinking of fixing up a discount broker for your business? Just wait a minute and go through factors that you should consider before you select one. First of all, the lower service charges might tempt you but there are some pros and cons that you should consider while preferring a discount broker over the full-service broker. Just think in these lines and then decide. What Are The Benefits Of Discount Brokerage? Lower Service Cost The first glaring benefit is the lower service costs in comparison to the full-time brokerage. No Product Pushing They are only concerned about the buy and sell transaction and as they are not advising you on what to buy you can expect them to be immune to biased opinion about stocks. They’ll never try to push any particular product on you. Discount brokers  [...] 

I love my 12 year-old son very much and simply cannot deny him allowances whenever he asks for them. But of late, I can see that he’s exhausting his allowances more frequently than he used to owing to more expenditure on friends, personal accessories, foodstuff etc. This is the time; I feel that I should catch him at the habit and make him financially literate. He should know how to use his mom’s hard earned money after all! This will not only help him in present but also in future to plan his expenditure and save up for a secure future. With the present economic downturn, making your child financially literate is imperative. Fiscal crimes are increasing by the day. Grooming the fiscal personality of your child will help him/her develop a sound fiscal health which will enable appropriate  [...] 

Though most of us are used to a 9-5 job, we differ in the actual hours we put in for working. It depends on the work culture of the organization, its targets and the situation in which it is. During emergency, I’d work for 10 -12 hours a day and stay back there even at night in my chamber, if necessary. Personally, I feel, working for the exact time allotted is a mark of your efficiency. If you work too fast, you might be compromising on the quality, and working too slow is a sign of inefficiency. Many of us relax throughout the week and hurry in the last couple of days to meet our targets. If we complete the portion of work allotted on a daily basis we don’t have to work overtime in the last few days. This is all about working efficiently while adhering to the time provided. On a personal  [...]