John McBush

Archive for January, 2010

Specifcally, what would a typical Registered Principal (FINRA Series 24) with 3-5 years of prior experience earn at the financial services firms in Des Moines?
Anyone know what websites could tell me?

Please visit
www.jobs.net/Iowa-DesMoines.htm – 26k

hotjobs.yahoo.com/jobs–Des_Moines-IA – 37k -

jobs.careerbuilder.com/al.ic/Iowa_DesMoines/ – 173k

I want to take some pics of clothes for auction but would like to use a light cube – one of those studio in a box kits. Do they work? what are some tips on using them? What’s the best size for photographing clothes? Can you shoot pics from the top as well as from the side?

I don’t know the type of light box you will be using, but some of them have a slot on each side for the lens to poke through and get your shot.

I built my own box and these are the results I have found. If you want even lighting, then have 2 light sources pointed at 45 degrees on either side of the box. The lights I use are 40watt daylight rated(which means they are the same color temp as sunlight, so set your white balance accordingly. If you are using tungsten(light bulbs), then use the tungsten WB setting).

The 40 watt bulbs are not overly bright, so I need to adjust my exposure compensation to +.7 to get the images bright enouhg for my taste(I shoot with a white background and mostly white objects, this leads the camera to underexpose a little, hence the need to adjust the exposure compensation.)

You will need to experiment a little with your setup. You might not need to adjust the exposure at all, or you might need to cut it a little if you are using more powerful light sources.

Baja Capital and Itrust charge fees for detailed financial planning. Please advice some portal to get the detailed analysis for free?

try icicidirect.com they have various calculators, you will find one for your requiremets

How does it affect us? My family only has savings accounts, no investments, a few token shares that we won’t grieve over if we lose. In that case how does it affect us? I’ve heard prices of food may rise and jobs may go, but is this true and if so what jobs?

No credit available…….if you employer needs credit to operate and can’t get it …………. no job…….I don’t care if it is a cheese burger stand or Dell computer…….no credit no operating capital…….no job………your out…….if you carry any type of credit card balance your interest will go up big time……..

I’m only a junior (11th grade) in high school.
I’m already signing up for scholarships, and I want more scholarships to prepare for my doctoral degree for nursing as well as majoring business too, and also financial aid.
What are good scholarships to get online? That are not scammers.

You can get info about such college scholarships and grants online here – education.mypressonline.com

I saw in some websites that you can pursue a career in Financial Services industry with a degree in Project Management. What exactly is the kind of project management work needed in Financial Services industry? How exactly will a degree in Project Management help me in my career in financial institutions such as commercial and investment banks?

If you are good in project management and can walk on water on this subject matter. you should be on top of the world. Sky is limit for what are you can do.

Once you are project manager, let me know I can send you to test your ability, how good can you be good!

He states in his song, "You can do it" the following words:

even if you take the "NlGGA ROUTE" What exactly does it mean to take the "NlGGA ROUTE?" Ice Cube is a black man, so what is he trying to say?

The fastest way to KFC????

are there any free websites where i could get help with financial planning..you know like budgeting money to pay bills ang buy needed things and so on please help

I would be very cautious about any free sites offering financial planning. In order to do true financial planning it would be necessary to enter a ton of private financial information. That is just the kind of stuff that people trying to steal your ID would love. I might recommend using some very inexpensive personal finance software such as Microsoft Money or Quicken. If all you need is basic stuff you can go with their basic program which only costs about $20. You then spend a couple of weeks keeping very detailed records of your purchases, expenses, and income. Once this data is all in their you are able to run monthly reports that tracks every penny that you spend. I’ve been using Microsoft Money for years now and there is rarely a day that goes by when I can’t tell you exactly how much money I have and where it is going. Good luck

I am about to purchase a condo from someone in my family. They are selling it to me for 78% of the appraised value so that I do not have to pay mortgage insurance. So, even if I sold it the day after I bought it, I could potentially make about 50,000. I am certain that my boyfriend and I will be able to make the mortgage payments on the house, but it will be tight. I have some money in investments, I was planning on not using any of the money until retirement, but should I use some of the investment money to go towards the home purchase so I don’t have to pay so much in the loan? Or should I just take out a certain amount, say $1,000 to have in a quick cushion account, in case I need to use 1 or $200 to help pay for mortgage? Over the past 12 years I have been getting a 12% return on my investments, which is GREAT. I’m not sure I will get anything close to this by putting the money into this house, except for the fact that I am getting the place for 78% of the apprised value. Thoughts?

take the quick cusion and put it in an online savings bank. good luck. 12% 12 years straight i’m impressed good job.

I want to make a fairly substantial financial investment, but want to do it in a "smart" way. I want to go with the best choice, for me , that I can possibly find and want to make sure that I make a "safe" choice. There are so many "financial counsellors" out there now that I’m a little scared. I want a "top rated" one in all aspects & need some advice on how to go about finding the right one and weighing all my odds before I make this big switch. I currently have it invested with a private counsellor, but am not happy with the situation I’m in right now.
I’m paying substantial fees for the work his company does, & I’m not very satisfied in general. There is no "binding" agreement with them & the way I understand it I’m free to choose another company at any time.

In case it makes any difference, I am a widow & don’t have a very knowledgable background in financial investing.

Hi mom, fancy seeing you here. I’m just joking of course, but you sound just like my mom except she still is not fed up enough with her current advisor to move on. I plead and plead – one more year of lousy returns and maybe she’ll take this step.

Anyhow, unfortunately I don’t know of any rating agency for financial advisors, and there are so many small ones it would be hard to create a comprehensive one, but I can give you some things to think about.

First off (just my personal opinion here – there are exceptions to this), for my money stay away from anyone associated with a bank or other financial institution, and for that matter stay away from anyone who invests your money themselves (unless you really don’t want to do this part yourself). A good financial advisor should sit down with you, talk in length about your financial situation, and then give all sorts of very specific advice, but its a clear conflict of interest for them to invest the money or even get a fee for investing the money (or be associated with a specific financial institution and therefore be under pressure to reccommend the products of that institution).

Also, I’d advise a smaller firm as your advisor (maybe a one-man operation) but there are some fly-by-night operations, and even a few outright thieves (another reason to handle your money yourself) so be careful.

So, get all the advice you can from them, but then go open an account yourself, and invest the money yourself (and depending on your situation, you may want to be real conservative, just conservative mutual funds and bonds – but the financial advisor should give you specific advice on this).

As to how to find a good one, here is an article on questions to ask (uk article but most of the stuff applies to the US):

http://www.learnmoney.co.uk/advice/advice-01.html

Also here is the link to the "Nat’l Association of Financial Planners". Within this website is a sample list of questions to ask, and a section where you can find advisors near you (you gotta enter your address info but you can check that you don’t want them notified about you). Unfortunately this only returns financial advisors who are members of this association (duh) and even lousy advisors who are members of the association will show up – but at the very least they are members of this association which is worth something.

http://www.napfa.com/

Anyhow, do web searches on stuff like "find a financial advisor" and you’ll get many other links. Only a few may have useful info, but think of it like a treasure hunt (maybe thats a very appropriate analogy).

Best of luck.