Most credit cardholders know that the credit card industry made a decision to outsource call-in service centers to overseas locations where English is the second or third language. That decision was made to save operational costs on labor. Yet, what is the ongoing impact on North American credit cardholders?This article discusses the five most common communication problems that negatively impact North American credit card customers today as a result of the outsourcing of customer service centers.While these problems could have been predicted had credit card industry decision makers studied the literature on the complexities of language proficiency and culture, they didn’t. Now the industry is grappling with makeshift solutions to extreme customer dissatisfaction.The Customer’s Need – Quick Financial SolutionsIn each of the five examples below, a credit cardholder has called his credit card company, or is responding to a new credit offer, in hopes of finding a financial solution to a financial problem. He may need a new credit card so he can pay medical bills. He may need to get his car fixed so he can get to work. He may need a balance transfer in order to reduce his interest rate and avoid bankruptcy. Yet, whatever his need, it is likely that any problem or delay in getting that financial solution in place will cost him time, frustration and money.Yet, as ubiquitous as credit card transactions have become, their success in providing quick financial solutions for credit cardholders depends upon precise written and oral communication. This includes the accurate keying in of all relevant information and the conveying of accurate interest rates, financial terms and repayment obligations, all of which become part of a legally-binding contract between the credit card customer and the company with which he does business.The Agent’s Job – More Complex Than RealizedThe job of credit card agent is, sometimes, mocked because of the low pay it commands. However, to do the job well requires that an agent be an expert oral communicator with superior reading skills who can answer a customer’s questions while quickly sorting through what is, sometimes, confusing, duplicated or poorly organized on-line information.These complex language skills, however, have been misunderstood, underestimated and undervalued, as illustrated by five common problems that occur when an agent does not have them.The Five Most Common Problems1. Overlooking Account RestrictionsAn agent overlooks a “restriction” on a credit card account and the transaction fails.A restriction is something that prevents or limits the use of a credit card. The most common restriction results from the fact that a credit card has not yet been “activated.” The procedure for activating the card usually requires that the customer call a specific 800 number that is listed on the new card and confirm, through an automated system, that he has received the card.A customer can also place a restriction on a card, such as a dollar amount limit for individual transactions. Yet, sometimes, a customer will opt to put a restriction on his account and then forget that he has done so.It is up to the agent to scan the account for restrictions and make sure there is nothing to prevent the transaction from going through. Yet, noticing the presence of those restrictions requires fast, careful and accurate reading.Overseas agents, more than North American agents, tend to overlook restrictions, such as when a new account has not yet been activated.2. Spelling ErrorsAn agent makes a spelling error in the documentation for the “receiving” account in a balance transfer transaction and it fails to go through.Should the company name or address of the receiving account be misspelled, the transaction will fail. Misspellings most often occur because overseas agents are not familiar with American geography or place names. Common mistakes: “J C Penney” is spelled “J C Penny” or MA is used as the abbreviation for the state of Maine instead of ME.3. Sending Money To An Account That Cannot Receive ItAn inexperienced agent does not know a transaction is not possible.Some bank checking accounts allow direct deposits from credit card companies, others do not. An inexperienced overseas agent, unfamiliar with U.S. banks, often will not have access to this information. He will, subsequently, attempt to send money to a bank account that cannot accept it.4. Misreading An OfferA balance transfer offer is read incorrectly and a customer is either trapped in a high rate or assessed an unexpected feeBased upon his reading of on-screen offer #5, the agent believes that a customer will pay 0% interest on his balance transfer for 12 months if he opts for offer #5, and he tells the customer so. A more accurate reading of the documentation reveals that offer #5 has a provision which will require that customer to pay 18% interest on his balance transfer.While there was a balance transfer offer with an introductory interest rate of 0%, because the information can be poorly laid out, confusing and even duplicated, the agent misreads or misses the fine print and selects the offer with an 18% APR by mistake.Or, the agent chooses the offer that requires an upfront fee for a balance transfer.Or a 3% fee is part of an offer that the customer, inadvertently, chooses because the agent either a) did not read that part, b) read it but did not understand that the customer would be billed a fee, and/or c) did not convey to the customer that the fee was part of the offer.5. Selection Of Wrong On-Screen OfferAn agent selects the wrong on-screen offer by mistake.After reading the terms for a couple of credit card offers to the customer, the agent means to go back and choose the offer that the customer indicated he wanted. However, since the onscreen offers look alike and there can be duplicate offers on-screen, the agent inadvertently chooses the wrong one.A Customer’s NightmareThose within the credit card industry who find themselves trying to help a distressed customer after one of these “deals” has been transacted, and the money moved from lender B to lender A, describe the process as “a nightmare” for the customer, and very difficult for any agent trying to assist him.In most cases there is no remedy for the customer, who can be on the hook to pay money he doesn’t have, yet the customer often spends hours on the phone waiting to speak with agents, explaining his problem, and being transferred from one department to another, day after day, until he gives up.At that point, should the customer be able to pay off or transfer his balances to a different credit card lender and extract himself from the one with which he is now furious, he will take his business elsewhere and never come back.Credit card companies, therefore, are learning a hard lesson in how language works and how important effective communication can be. For the credit cardholder who has been burned, they cannot learn it too fast.What Effective Verbal Communication RequiresEffective communication requires significant give and take between conversing parties. Agents must pick up subtle language cues when they are listening to customers, as customers are not always explicit.For the agent attempting to work in a “second language”, it may take years before he can communicate well enough to be able to recognize those cues. Since language and culture are inextricably bound, some cues may be very difficult to learn without a direct experience of North American culture. However, the subtleties that the agent misses can be vital details in completing financial transactions correctly.It should, therefore, be no surprise that credit card companies receive millions of complaints each year from customers who say they were not able to understand the overseas agents they spoke with and/or that those agents seemed unable to understand them.Companies Experimenting With SolutionsAs a result, those credit card companies that make the most extensive use of offshore outsourced customer service (and some very large credit card companies only use outsourced customer service) are acutely aware of the problem and are currently experimenting with what they hope will be solutions.These experiments include funneling calls into a type of “clearing house,” sorting them according to technical difficulty, and then transferring each customer to a call center that, from past experience, can provide the necessary assistance.However, these experiments will not involve abandoning the outsourced customer service model any time soon. The tens of millions of dollars that credit card companies save by buying offshore service at $4.00 an hour will not be abandoned lightly.Instead, look for more strategies that involve directing balance transfer inquiries away from agents who, potentially, may experience communication difficulties and shifting those inquires toward centers with balance transfer specialists who have “proven ability” in these transactions. These balance transfer specialist centers will, most likely, be in North America.SummaryCustomers are experiencing inconvenience and financial loss due to the overseas outsourcing of credit card service centers. Miscommunication with overseas credit card agents whose first language is not English is a significant problem and negatively impacts financial transactions.The credit card industry is aware of the situation and is searching for solutions that will decrease incidents of miscommunication and increase customer satisfaction. The attempts by different credit card companies to solve this problem are likely to be varied and may have uncertain results.If you are looking to transact a balance transfer, whether on a brand new credit card account or on an existing account, you must be aware of this problem and I suggest you follow the strategies outlined in my article Credit Card Balance Transfers – How To Avoid Disaster.Also, be aware that an ounce of kindness or humility will often be repaid many times over by an agent who will then go out of his way to be helpful. So remain polite and respectful when calling in for assistance. When a tense conversation can be toned down with humor, do so as long as the agent understands you are not making fun of him.My final recommendation is one I’ve made in other articles, however, it deserves repeating.Should you be concerned that you are not being properly understood by the overseas agent who is facilitating your legally-binding balance transfer or other credit card transaction, you can ask to be transferred to a North American agent.However, do not request to be transferred to an agent in the United States because that will exclude Canadian call centers. Yet, in this industry as a whole, the best customer service comes from Canada. Canadian agents have a strong and established reputation for knowledgeable, effective service in the credit card business, so if you can land one to work on your balance transfer, consider yourself lucky.
Discover Affiliate Marketing Niches and Offers
When I began working online back in 2013, I discovered affiliate marketing (AM) as the surest way to start a business online. I plunged into it and after months of “hard work” wondered why I wasn’t going anywhere. What were the others doing that I wasn’t? Unknown to me, successful affiliate marketers (AMers) chose niches because internet marketing is too large a market for a newbie to succeed in.This post is going to help you do exactly that.# 1: What is actually a niche?A niche is actually a small segment of a market where folks interested in something are prepared to dish out the required amount of money to acquire it. So when hunting for a particular niche, make certain that there are actually search terms folks are actually using when searching for your particular niche info so that you may be included among the best 10 search engine results pages.# 2: What actually is the difference between a market and a niche market concept?If we take a main category like AM and check under the titles we can easily discover a market level idea like affiliate programs.To see if money is actually being made in this market, carry out a Google search to try to find advertisers. If you found ads, then Affiliate program (AP) is actually an interesting market.So, if you narrow it to the two specifics of where individuals are actually spending funds as well as where there are actually search phrases folks are actually utilizing when searching for AP info, after that make use of Google AdWords KeywordToolExternal and also place in affiliate programs to receive overall suggestions concerning possible niches. If you require additional programs make use of AdWords.Google tool which can easily provide you up to 800, instead of 100 keywords the previous one gives.Input (AP) into the search engine window on top left of the webpage and then click on search.Get your hands on a list of a minimum of 10-20 AP associated search terms which display a reasonable number of searches per month however certainly not a lot of competition.This can also easily offer you a number of profitable search phrases to utilize on your site as categories, in your content and also in your marketing campaigns.Discovering profitable keyword phrasesVolume: is the average number of searches per month over the past 12 months.Comp: is the higher this number, the more organic competition for the keyword.IAAT: A count of webpages on which the keyword appears in both the title tag and the text of a backlink.Keywords Volume Comp. IAATAP ¨ 8,857 24.21 4,366AM programs 3,592 11.96 170best AP 3,334 11.92 167high ticket AP 1,050 6.73 12best AM programs 912 8.02 27Travel AP 896 7.67 22saas AP 849 — 0top AP 816 7.75 23AP for bloggers 629 7.43 19best AP for beginners 606 5.98 7best AP to make money 556 7.6 21high paying AP 551 8.88 43pay per click AP 528 7.35 18top paying AP 466 6.32 9keto AP 347 — 0AM programs for beginners 342 6.32 9software AP 310 6.73 12makeup AP 302 5.3 4gaming AP 295 5.3 4pet AP 292 4.56 2AP site 261 — 0best AP 2018 261 — 0essential oil AP 261 — 0highest paying AP 207 6.73 12personal development AP 207 3.92 1AP amazon 130 3.92 1′top golf’ AP 85 — 0a list of the best AP 85 — 0AdWords AP 85 — 0affiliate credit card programs 85 — 0affiliate credit card programs to build credit 85 — 0AM AP 85 — 0AM network programs 85 — 0AM programs comparisons 85 — 0AM programs for education 85 — 0AM programs for local business 85 — 0AM programs people want 85 — 0AM programs plugin WordPress 85 — 0.AM programs plugin WordPress woocommerce 85 — 0.AM programs to make money online 85 — 0.affiliate network programs 85 — 0.AP easy to join 85 — 0.AP for brands 85 — 0.AP for dating bloggers 85 — 0.AP for domain flipping 85 — 0.AP for ecommerce 85 — 0.AP for food bloggers 85 — 0.AP for guns 85 — 0.affiliate blogging programs 82 — 0.AP for beginners 82 6.47 10.One other excellent keyword research tool you can easily make use of is actually Jaaxy obtained through Wealthy Affiliate.Avg: The average amount of searches that the keyword phrase gets each monthTraffic: Visits to your website if you make first page rankings in the search enginesQSR: Quoted Search Results: the amount of competing websites ranked in Google for this exact keywordKQI: Keyword Quality indicator: Green is terrific; yellowish is alright; reddish is inadequate.SEO: A score based on traffic and competition, the greater the score the more likely you will rank for this keyword on the first page (scale of 1-100, the higher the better)Keyword Avg Traffic QSR KQI SEObest affiliate marketing programs 178 31 219 Great 83best affiliate marketing program for beginners 80 14 89 Great 93are best affiliate marketing programs 48 9 5 Great 98the best affiliate marketing program for beginners 80 14 73 Great 92best affiliate marketing programs for beginners 56 10 175 Great 84best affiliate marketing programs beginners 56 10 52 Great 96the best affiliate marketing programs for beginners 56 10 111 Great 91top 10 affiliate marketing programs 75 13 114 Great 97top affiliate marketing programs 88 15 179 Great 89top rated affiliate marketing programs 40 7 96 Great 97what is the best affiliate marketing program 114 20 53 Great 91the best affiliate marketing program 114 20 156 Great 86best affiliate marketing program 114 20 176 Great 88affiliate marketing programs 3037 517 232 Normal74affiliate marketing companies 458 78 122 Great 91affiliate marketing training 199 34 219 Normal80start affiliate marketing 654 112 226 Normal77best online affiliate programs 104 18 96 Great 97best affiliate marketers 48 9 86 Great 96best paying affiliate programs 86 15 118 Great 97.# 3: Choose your niche market.Statista determines that the amount of blog writers in the U.S. alone are going to go up to 31.7 million by 2020. If you’re beginning to build a blog anywhere on the planet today, it is clear that you’re dealing with a great deal more competition.The only means for you to stand the very best odds of success is actually to niche down.You need to concentrate on a specific category. “Food” is actually a huge category yet “grilling food” is rather sufficiently small to manage.Tight topics like these may aid you develop a more focused audience and also possibly assist you rank higher in search engines.Si Quan Ong did just that when he created his first website confining themself to only breakdancing rather than discussing “dance” or even “hip hop”. He declared he really did not understand just about anything regarding SEO at that time, however he was able to rank for a handful of key terms and produce ~ 3,000 organic visits each month.# 4: It is really imperative to choose the right niche.The information in # 2 above prove that there are actually numerous niche markets for you to pick from. Taking the one you are actually passionate about is actually the most effective niche market for you. Even if you work for months without getting any kind of results, it will definitely keep you going as a result of your strong excitement for it.# 5: There are definitely consequences for selecting the inappropriate niche market.It is actually most likely that you will certainly select the right niche if you follow the above actions. But in case you choose the incorrect one, you can do whatever is right for 12 months (which should be your long-range objective for success) and also still have nothing at all to show for it.# 6: Monetization setup.Having actually selected your specific niche, you have to now study its moneymaking capacity. Right here are actually a few of them:.Create your own product: Your own product might be an eBook, a video training series or paper book.AM: You might join free any affiliate networks or programs. For Digital product AM, you may sign up at ClickBank, the biggest AM network. As for Physical product AM, we recommend an AM program like Amazon Affiliates program, and so on. Concerning other affiliate programs, look for your “niche name” and sign up for those you like. You can easily likewise sign up with eBay.com, and so on. Know that Amazon.com as well as eBay.com possess everything any sort of niche market may supply.Printing adds: There are many out there. The most popular ones are actually GoogleAdsense as well as Mediavine.# 7: Abandon any niche you cannot monetize.If you look at the above and can’t fathom any way for you to actually monetize your chosen niche, then it’s not a good choice you have made. Well, if something isn’t good for you, you know what to do with it, don’t you? You turn your back on it. Then you look for another one.# 8: There is actually keen competition in AM yet enough place for all.One more ambivalence, you might state.Yes, competition in the AM industry is actually cut-throat, yet that should not in any way scare you from it.All the successful AM professionals you see around or hear about all have has that experience. If they had let it terrify them away years back, they definitely would not have been around as examples for us to learn from.The solution to the competition merely depends on finding a particular niche which necessarily belongs to a much larger market where there is actually money to be made with little to no competitors.# 9: Is AM a scam?No, AM as such is actually certainly not a scam. You will certainly get into one quicker than you may shake shit off your brand new, bright footwear if you’re devoting your hard-earned cash as well as valuable time looking for get-rich-quick schemes.# 10: Decide on the platform to utilize.AM could be carried out on any sort of platform where the promoter may send out information to a consumer. Also social media.The ideal area to develop a target market and also improve your sales is actually by means of a blog site or even a YouTube channel.ConclusionThere you have them, the 10 ways for newbie promoters to choose niches to become successful.
High Technology and Human Development
Some basic premises – often fashioned by leaders and supported by the led – exercise the collective conscience of the led in so far as they stimulate a willed development. The development is usually superior but not necessarily civilized. The premises in question are of this form: “Our level of technological advancement is second to none. Upon reaching this level, we also have to prepare our society for peace, and to guarantee the peace, technology must be revised to foster the policy of war.” Technological advancement that is pushed in this direction sets a dangerous precedent for other societies that fear a threat to their respective sovereignties. They are pushed to also foster a war technology.In the domain of civilization, this mode of development is not praiseworthy, nor is it morally justifiable. Since it is not morally justifiable, it is socially irresponsible. An inspection of the premises will reveal that it is the last one that poses a problem. The last premise is the conclusion of two preceding premises but is not in any way logically deduced. What it shows is a passionately deduced conclusion, and being so, it fails to be reckoned as a conclusion from a rationally prepared mind, at least at the time at which it was deduced.A society that advances according to the above presuppositions – and especially according to the illogical conclusion – has transmitted the psyche of non-negotiable superiority to its people. All along, the power of passion dictates the pace of human conduct. Whether in constructive engagements or willed partnerships, the principle of equality fails to work precisely because of the superiority syndrome that grips the leader and the led. And a different society that refuses to share in the collective sensibilities or passion of such society has, by the expected logic, become a potential or actual enemy and faces confrontation on all possible fronts.Most of what we learn about the present world, of course, via the media, is dominated by state-of-the-art technology. Societies that have the most of such technology are also, time and again, claimed to be the most advanced. It is not only their advancement that lifts them to the pinnacle of power, superiority, and fame. They can also use technology to simplify and move forward an understanding of life and nature in a different direction, a direction that tends to eliminate, as much as possible, a prior connection between life and nature that was, in many respects, mystical and unsafe. This last point does not necessarily mean that technological advancement is a mark of a superior civilization.What we need to know is that civilization and technology are not conjugal terms. Civilized people may have an advanced technology or they may not have it. Civilization is not just a matter of science and technology or technical infrastructure, or, again, the marvel of buildings; it also has to do with the moral and mental reflexes of people as well as their level of social connectedness within their own society and beyond. It is from the general behaviour makeup of people that all forms of physical structures could be created, so too the question of science and technology. Thus, the kind of bridges, roads, buildings, heavy machinery, among others, that we can see in a society could tell, in a general way, the behavioural pattern of the people. Behavioural pattern could also tell a lot about the extent to which the natural environment has been utilized for infrastructural activities, science and technology. Above all, behavioural pattern could tell a lot about the perceptions and understanding of the people about other people.I do believe – and, I think, most people do believe – that upon accelerating the rate of infrastructural activities and technology, the environment has to recede in its naturalness. Once advancing technology (and its attendant structures or ideas) competes with the green environment for space, this environment that houses trees, grass, flowers, all kinds of animals and fish has to shrink in size. Yet the growth of population, the relentless human craving for quality life, the need to control life without depending on the unpredictable condition of the natural environment prompt the use of technology. Technology need not pose unwarranted danger to the natural environment. It is the misuse of technology that is in question. While a society may justly utilize technology to improve quality of life, its people also have to ask: “how much technology do we need to safeguard the natural environment?” Suppose society Y blends the moderate use of technology with the natural environment in order to offset the reckless destruction of the latter, then this kind of positioning prompts the point that society Y is a lover of the principle of balance. From this principle, one can boldly conclude that society Y favours stability more than chaos, and has, therefore, the sense of moral and social responsibility. Any state-of-the-art technology points to the sophistication of the human mind, and it indicates that the natural environment has been cavalierly tamed.If humans do not want to live at the mercy of the natural environment – which, of course, is an uncertain way of life – but according to their own predicted pace, then the use of technology is a matter of course. It would seem that the principle of balance that society Y has chosen could only be for a short while or that this is more of a make-believe position than a real one. For when the power of the human mind gratifies itself following a momentous achievement in technology, retreat, or, at best, a slow-down is quite unusual. It is as if the human mind is telling itself: “technological advancement has to accelerate without any obstruction. A retreat or a gradual process is an insult to the inquiring mind.” This kind of thought process only points out the enigma of the mind, its dark side, not its finest area. And in seeking to interrogate the present mode of a certain technology according to the instructions of the mind, the role of ethics is indispensable.Is it morally right to use this kind of technology for this kind of product? And is it morally right to use this kind of product? Both questions hint that the product or products in question are either harmful or not, environmentally friendly or not, or that they do not only cause harm directly to humans but directly to the environment too. And if, as I have stated, the purpose of technology is to improve the quality of life, then to use technology to produce products that harm both humans and the natural environment contradicts the purpose of technology, and it also falsifies an assertion that humans are rational. Furthermore, it suggests that the sophisticated level that the human mind has reached is unable to grasp the essence or rationale of quality life. In this regard, a peaceful coexistence with the natural environment would have been deserted for the sake of an unrestrained, inquiring human mind. The human mind would, as it were, become corrupted with beliefs or ideas that are untenable in any number of ways.The advocacy that is done by environmentalists relate to the question of environmental degradation and its negative consequences on humans. They insist that there is no justification for producing high-tech products that harm both humans and the natural environment. This contention sounds persuasive. High technology may demonstrate the height of human accomplishment, but it may not point to moral and social responsibility. And to this point, the question may be asked: “In what ways can humans close the chasm between unrestrained high technology and environmental degradation?”Too often, most modern humans tend to think that a sophisticated lifestyle is preferable to a simple one. The former is supported by the weight of high technology, the latter is mostly not. The former eases the burden of depending too much on the dictates of the natural environment, the latter does not. The latter tends to seek a symbiotic relationship with the natural environment, the former does not. Whether human comfort should come largely from an advanced technology or the natural environment is not a matter that could be easily answered. If the natural environment is shrinking due to population growth and other unavoidable causes, then advanced technology is required to alleviate the pressures to human comfort that arise. It is the irresponsible proliferation of, say, war technology, high-tech products, among others, that are in need of criticism and have to stop.
Why Not Hire a Children’s Entertainer for Your Kid’s Party?
EntertainersThere are many children’s entertainers in Leeds and the surrounding areas, you just need to do a quick Google search for “Children’s Entertainers Leeds” and you’ll have more than enough to choose from. There are clowns, magicians, fairies and pirate themed event organisers that specialise in entertaining for kids parties.Just a couple of the best in the North West (and East):JingJangJooJong – The crazy couple who create a magical alien world to entertain with.Make a Wish Entertainment – Specialising in fairy-tales for childrenSo if you’re struggling to think of something to do, just hire an entertainer, most of them are members of Equity so they are quality performers. Make sure they have public liability insurance however so that any little injuries from the activities are fully covered and you have nothing to worry about. You may also wish to check for CRB clearance which many of them advertise having.EquipmentIs it a dance, a do, a ball, a shower? Whether a birthday party, surprise party, or a calm British tea party, there’s some equipment you should make sure you have!The things below aren’t always needed, but they usually are, and are always good to have in-case that 1 guest requests them:
Plastic cups (because if it goes outside, it’s best not to have glass)
Plastic cutlery (for the same reason as above, but also because you can throw them away and don’t have to wash them up!)
Paper towels (because someone will spill something… somewhere.)
Plasters (even plastic cutlery can cut!)
Bottles of water (for exhausted kids, and intoxicated adults!)
They are the basics, and obviously if you’re catering for a certain type of party you’ll need your niche products, kids parties normally always have balloons, don’t forget the helium, or even easier just buy pre-filled balloons, that way you don’t have to blow them up, it can take a lot out of you. For themed parties the entertainers sometimes provide costumers for the kids or something to help them feel more involved, however it will be worth checking with them before-hand and if not maybe rent outfits or just one token piece (pirate hat/eye-patch) to give to the kids it really enhances the atmosphere. You can usually haggle with outfit stores as they don’t really have set prices, so go in hard and say that you’ve got a party for 20 kids and need 20 outfits can you have them for £10 each! You may just get lucky.Things to look out for!Equity, Public Liability, CRB CheckThere are some things that set some entertainers apart from the others. They don’t necessarily mean they’ll be better, but they do mean that the person has taken the extra steps of professionalism in entertainment, insurance, and safety.Logos to look for on websites:1. Equity membership logo: Being a member of Equity, the professional performers and creative practitioner’s institute, usually guarantees that the entertainer has been classically trained, or at least displayed a high level of performance ability and professionalism. Again this doesn’t absolutely mean that they’ll be better than someone whom isn’t a member, however it’s always a nice reassurance, as there’s nothing worse than having an entertainer turn up who’s not… entertaining, especially when there’s a tough crowd, amateurism really shines through and can make the situation very awkward.2. Public liability insurance: This is probably the most important if you have more than a few children being entertained. There are so many little things that could go wrong, from a tip over a speaker cable, swallowing a popped balloon, damaging the entertainers or the clients equipment. But if someone has liability insurance at least you know that any injuries to your loved ones are fully covered, and it stops the “who’s fault was it” debate and saves people a lot of money.3. CRB Checked: This is the least important of the three, but it does show that they have gone another extra step to prove that they’re suitable to work with children and in sensitive situations. It doesn’t really reflect the entertainment value, and there’s generally no risk to children at parties when the adults are still there supervising, however it is another nice reassurance if they do have it.
Is Online Education the Right Choice for You?
Online education has gained a lot of popularity in the world in recent years and has been known to provide enhancements to face-to-face learning systems.Online learning programmes can help you find multiple advantages that you cannot get even through on campus learning. A web based education course is sometimes less expensive and much more flexible than an on campus course. It can enable students to get a degree right from their home with the same quality of education you get from traditional on campus colleges.Take a look at a few things to see whether an online education is right for you or not.· A student’s job opportunity increases as they go for higher education. This means better salaries, more job offers from big companies and more opportunities for organizational growth. A student will have to research to see what kind of degree he would like to pursue and whether it is available through online course or not before deciding on online learning programmes.· The quality of a traditional brick and mortar classroom and a virtual classroom is the same. You follow the same course subjects and finish it in the same time length, so don’t believe people who think online learning is a waste of time.· Most students prefer online education because they do not have to travel miles to reach the academic venue; rather you can access the virtual classroom through your computer. The time not spent in travelling can be utilized in learning.· Before selecting an online college from a myriad of virtual platforms on the internet, check the credibility and experience of your online institute. Enroll in those online education programmes that are accredited and can increase your resume’s value.· Before making the decision to join a college, make sure that the university meets all of your requirements, be it the budget, location, courses and subjects, and even accreditation. Make sure that the university you sign up in provides the best option for you and can help you get training to advance in your chosen line of career.· Before starting your online classes, take out the time to familiarize yourselves with your university’s learning management system (LMS) and exactly how it works. Also brush up on your basic computer skills like spreadsheets and presentation slide creation. Since you will be spending most of the time on the internet when taking your class, ensure that you have a fast and reliable internet connection.
S&P 500 Rallies As U.S. Dollar Pulls Back Towards Weekly Lows
Key Insights
The strong pullback in the U.S. dollar provided significant support to stocks.
Treasury yields have pulled back after touching new highs, which served as an additional positive catalyst for S&P 500.
A move above 3730 will push S&P 500 towards the resistance level at 3760.
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Pfizer Rallies After Announcing A Huge Price Hike For Its COVID-19 Vaccines
S&P 500 is currently trying to settle above 3730 as traders’ appetite for risk is growing. The U.S. dollar has recently gained strong downside momentum as the BoJ intervened to stop the rally in USD/JPY. Weaker U.S. dollar is bullish for stocks as it increases profits of multinational companies and makes U.S. equities cheaper for foreign investors.
The leading oil services company Schlumberger is up by 9% after beating analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Schlumberger’s peers Baker Hughes and Halliburton have also enjoyed strong support today.
Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna gained strong upside momentum after Pfizer announced that it will raise the price of its coronavirus vaccine to $110 – $130 per shot.
Biggest losers today include Verizon and Twitter. Verizon is down by 5% despite beating analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue. Subscriber numbers missed estimates, and traders pushed the stock to multi-year lows.
Twitter stock moved towards the $50 level as the U.S. may conduct a security review of Musk’s purchase of the company.
From a big picture point of view, today’s rebound is broad, and most market segments are moving higher. Treasury yields have started to move lower after testing new highs, providing additional support to S&P 500. It looks that some traders are ready to bet that Fed will be less hawkish than previously expected.
S&P 500 Tests Resistance At 3730
S&P 500 has recently managed to get above the 20 EMA and is trying to settle above the resistance at 3730. RSI is in the moderate territory, and there is plenty of room to gain additional upside momentum in case the right catalysts emerge.
If S&P 500 manages to settle above 3730, it will head towards the next resistance level at 3760. A successful test of this level will push S&P 500 towards the next resistance at October highs at 3805. The 50 EMA is located in the nearby, so S&P 500 will likely face strong resistance above the 3800 level.
On the support side, the previous resistance at 3700 will likely serve as the first support level for S&P 500. In case S&P 500 declines below this level, it will move towards the next support level at 3675. A move below 3675 will push S&P 500 towards the support at 3640.
SPDN: An Inexpensive Way To Profit When The S&P 500 Falls
Summary
SPDN is not the largest or oldest way to short the S&P 500, but it’s a solid choice.
This ETF uses a variety of financial instruments to target a return opposite that of the S&P 500 Index.
SPDN’s 0.49% Expense Ratio is nearly half that of the larger, longer-tenured -1x Inverse S&P 500 ETF.
Details aside, the potential continuation of the equity bear market makes single-inverse ETFs an investment segment investor should be familiar with.
We rate SPDN a Strong Buy because we believe the risks of a continued bear market greatly outweigh the possibility of a quick return to a bull market.
Put a gear stick into R position, (Reverse).
Birdlkportfolio
By Rob Isbitts
Summary
The S&P 500 is in a bear market, and we don’t see a quick-fix. Many investors assume the only way to navigate a potentially long-term bear market is to hide in cash, day-trade or “just hang in there” while the bear takes their retirement nest egg.
The Direxion Daily S&P 500® Bear 1X ETF (NYSEARCA:SPDN) is one of a class of single-inverse ETFs that allow investors to profit from down moves in the stock market.
SPDN is an unleveraged, liquid, low-cost way to either try to hedge an equity portfolio, profit from a decline in the S&P 500, or both. We rate it a Strong Buy, given our concern about the intermediate-term outlook for the global equity market.
Strategy
SPDN keeps it simple. If the S&P 500 goes up by X%, it should go down by X%. The opposite is also expected.
Proprietary ETF Grades
Offense/Defense: Defense
Segment: Inverse Equity
Sub-Segment: Inverse S&P 500
Correlation (vs. S&P 500): Very High (inverse)
Expected Volatility (vs. S&P 500): Similar (but opposite)
Holding Analysis
SPDN does not rely on shorting individual stocks in the S&P 500. Instead, the managers typically use a combination of futures, swaps and other derivative instruments to create a portfolio that consistently aims to deliver the opposite of what the S&P 500 does.
Strengths
SPDN is a fairly “no-frills” way to do what many investors probably wished they could do during the first 9 months of 2022 and in past bear markets: find something that goes up when the “market” goes down. After all, bonds are not the answer they used to be, commodities like gold have, shall we say, lost their luster. And moving to cash creates the issue of making two correct timing decisions, when to get in and when to get out. SPDN and its single-inverse ETF brethren offer a liquid tool to use in a variety of ways, depending on what a particular investor wants to achieve.
Weaknesses
The weakness of any inverse ETF is that it does the opposite of what the market does, when the market goes up. So, even in bear markets when the broader market trend is down, sharp bear market rallies (or any rallies for that matter) in the S&P 500 will cause SPDN to drop as much as the market goes up.
Opportunities
While inverse ETFs have a reputation in some circles as nothing more than day-trading vehicles, our own experience with them is, pardon the pun, exactly the opposite! We encourage investors to try to better-understand single inverse ETFs like SPDN. While traders tend to gravitate to leveraged inverse ETFs (which actually are day-trading tools), we believe that in an extended bear market, SPDN and its ilk could be a game-saver for many portfolios.
Threats
SPDN and most other single inverse ETFs are vulnerable to a sustained rise in the price of the index it aims to deliver the inverse of. But that threat of loss in a rising market means that when an investor considers SPDN, they should also have a game plan for how and when they will deploy this unique portfolio weapon.
Proprietary Technical Ratings
Short-Term Rating (next 3 months): Strong Buy
Long-Term Rating (next 12 months): Buy
Conclusions
ETF Quality Opinion
SPDN does what it aims to do, and has done so for over 6 years now. For a while, it was largely-ignored, given the existence of a similar ETF that has been around much longer. But the more tenured SPDN has become, the more attractive it looks as an alternative.
ETF Investment Opinion
SPDN is rated Strong Buy because the S&P 500 continues to look as vulnerable to further decline. And, while the market bottomed in mid-June, rallied, then waffled since that time, our proprietary macro market indicators all point to much greater risk of a major decline from this level than a fast return to bull market glory. Thus, SPDN is at best a way to exploit and attack the bear, and at worst a hedge on an otherwise equity-laden portfolio.