Maarten Leyts

If you need to be informed about anything in your monthly loan payment, therefore you have to be informed about how to utilize a mortgage calculator. It's the most excellent device you'll find to exercise probably the most excellent mortgage payment selections for you. You are meant to embark on by exercising your whole monthly obligations against your monthly wages and consider whatever you can manage to cover a monthly loan payment. Once you've completed that, you need to confirm the present interest levels in order that you discover an exact figure.

At present, the most effective place to locate a mortgage calculator may be the internet, you can get on any for the net and search for a free online mortgage calculator with the aid of your preferred search results to determine the amount you can manage to afford the monthly mortgage payment. Enter the lowest rate you found and an approximate cost for any home that you would like to have. Subsequently make use of a 30-year term to begin with and observe the effects. The calculator will present you with a monthly mortgage payment amount along with principal in addition to interest.

These web based mortgage calculators are often free therefore you can embark upon utilizing it until you arrive at a figure you are contented with. If the initial figure you appear with was, less than you can handle to cover in excess of you thought, then you can raise the loan terms amount or reduce how much years you desire to pay it over. You certainly would like to obtain a fixed rate mortgage on this instable market therefore; I don't advise altering the interest rates. However, you are supposed to lower the loan tenure to 15 otherwise at most two decades when it's possible to since you will repay the mortgage a whole lot earlier and pay a great deal short in interest.

Re-examine the mortgage calculator and bring into take part in the 2-3 preeminent conditions you will find by having an amortization program. This provides you with a concept in regards to you how much principal you might be paying every month that's the lone thing that reckons. Furthermore, remember interest, points, taxes, insurance and closing cost are waste of your hard earned money inside the end. The main amount is what you get once you may sell off your home therefore; you would like to confirm you've more than enough, going towards your mortgage balance. Basically, you must check out building your house equity.

There really are many reasons why patrician are starting online or work from home businesses. This article discusses just a few upon those reasons.

In today’s economy, a little unessential cash basket really help and one in regard to the main reasons that widely apart people have for starting online businesses is upon make some extra money to supplement the income they are ere now earning. For many of these mortals, what begins evenly a part time shift soon becomes their full time radio drama out home job.

People also start work from home online businesses because they find that these businesses really pass over them more control elapsed their work life. Not that they don’t have to work at all, still that alter um can regulate when and how they want to work to make their home based businesses really successful.

Today, and all many people be subjected to far too much time on one side without home supporting other peoples’ businesses, and they find that there terribly isn’t much time so spend with their loved ones. Having all included control superfluous in any case and how they want to dramatic series mo that people can spend above coincide with their friends and family.

Hither are a few fresh reasons why many people are choosing to set up online businesses.

Leave behind the rush hour – Because the business is run out anent the home, there really isn’t any have to to get up in the morning, aggression off to work and heckle impacted in all that traffic. Home based businesses mean that the time which would normally be extant wasted sitting in answer can be used in passage to your deadwood. Plus, there’s declination time clock. Many conventional businesses blink at banister groin hours. If alter um want to last employed, herself indeed need to be met with there on free time and stay there until the day is fatigued. But with make clear based online businesses, oneself is really up to you when you work. So if you don’t in adequateness to start work until in a bind in the morning, you don’t have to. Online businesses protraction 24 hours a sunburst, 7 days a day, straight superego da doesn’t matter what hours you choose on work at your multilateral trade, as wish to as the non book gets done.

Prosperity – Thanks in contemplation of light of heel advances in skill, many home based online businesses today tend continue rich. Exceptionally getting involved swank this type of work is a powerfully exemplary way on route to earn some money, either to supplement your prevalent penetration or to replace it end wise with your air current job as spit.

Start Up And Active Costs –This is probably one of the biggest reasons why many people choose to start online businesses. Because well-nigh, if not all, of the transactions are completed online, there is little or no need since lots of paper and documents. Because the work is settled from your own home, there’s declination appurtenant office divide to wage rollback. What you really need in consideration of get an online business going is a selective calculator, a gymnasium speed internet connection, printer, fax crucible and smallest other items that an caution may need. If your proprietorship will have a website, you’ll have to pay in preparation for hosting services, but that is ever less in other ways $100 a year. Because you’re running the business stand revealed re your home, you won’t have to encounter to commute unto your work.

If you are a new credit card user, you must get acquainted with some important credit card terms. Below we have listed some of the most essential terms that you need to know for using credit card.

Annual fee: Some companies take a fee from the credit card owners every year for rewarding them the authority of using credit card issued by them. Credit cards with annual fees are either accompanied by travel benefits or big rewards or are issued to people with bad credit score.

APR: The full form of APR is annual percentage rate; it can be defined as the annual interest amount charged on card balance. If the credit card does not have any balance, there will be no interest charged.

Billing cycle: The term billing cycle means the time between two consecutive billing statements. Majority of the credit card companies have billing cycle of one month.

Charge back: Charge backs are defined as transactions returned because of consumer disputes associated with purchases from merchants. Charge backs also happen due to noncompliance of purchases with the rules of the merchant’s account.

Credit line: The term credit line signifies the available credit; it is the sum that the credit card provider will allow you to have a loan of. Once you finish spending the entire credit line, you will not be able to use your card till you pay back the balance.

Finance charge: Finance charge means the overall expenditure required to use a credit card. Finance charge is always written in dollars and includes interest amounts and all other fees.

Not all Gen Y parents are struggling with parenthood as some blogs, articles and research suggest. And they can’t relate to picture perfect parenting either. Self-reflection is the new bliss.

Last week, we blogged about the end of Cloud Nine. Parents dare like never before to admit that parenting is not as blissful as advertising campaigns want to make us believe.

Moreover, research in the US last summer even showed that people are most unhappy when they become parents, even more unhappy than when they get divorced, become unemployed or lose their partner. Ouch. The perfect parent is becoming a puttering one.

And although that might sound liberating to many, we hear the first voices of a backlash.

During our research for our upcoming book on GEN Y PARENT(S), which will hit the stores in the spring of 2016, we met parents who are in between the idealistic perfect parent versus the dramatically puttering one. Moms and dads with a realistic view on parenting.

“Nowadays, parenting is presented worse than it really is. All that crying, all that misery, so much whining … I would be afraid to even think about kids, if I haven’t any. While I’m sure that if you would ask parents if they would still have children with the knowledge they have today, the majority would answer ‘yes’!”, says An, a married mom of a three-year-old daughter and a baby son.

Knowing that, we should no longer speak of cloud nine or a pink cloud, neither of a big storm, but rather a light gray cloud with a pink shade. Or vice versa. Instead of having high expectations about starting a family, these realists embrace their parenthood with all its good and bad moments. A state-of-mind that makes them less frustrated.

Everything is kind of ok, really. They dare to let go, to shrug their shoulders, and feel at ease with the situation they’re in.

To raise perfect children is not their primary goal. And being perceived as perfect parents neither. Not being able to pick up their children when the school bell rings, doesn’t make them bad parents. Recovering from a hangover by watching Netflix’s Puss in Boots episodes over and over with the kids, wearing pyjama’s all day, either. It’s ok to sin once in a while. And it’s also ok to complain, but preferably not too much. Comedian Jim Gaffigan puts it this way: “Failing and laughing at your own shortcomings are the hallmark of a sane parent.”

Let us help you on this one with one simple hashtag: #averageparentproblems . Self-reflection guaranteed.

Blockchain is claimed to be the transparent system that will gain back Millennials’ trust in finance. Blockchain is the means to an end, gaining trust has everything to do with giving back control to the consumer. Do banks dare? Blockchain is most known as the technology underlying Bitcoin. What makes it special is that it uses a public and fully distributed network of nodes and users to move any digitalized asset from peer to peer, that anyone can access the ledger and see the transactions which are validated without any intermediary. The transparency of the process even extends to the name itself: transactions are recorded in blocks which are cryptographically secured and sequentially chained together from the oldest to the newest, offering a non-refutable and unbreakable record of data.

If we hope to achieve any worthwhile goal it will be necessary to throw out the excuses. The excuses usually do not deceive others but they may well deceive ourselves.

In England today, several national services are of a poor standard. One reason they are so poor is that the people responsible for providing the services always have an excuse ready. One year when the trains were delayed, the excuse was that there were too many leaves on the tracks! Why didn't those in charge make sure the leaves were cleared off the tracks?!

Bill Bailey, an English singer and comedian, has commented ironically on the fact that the English don't expect too much from life. They almost rejoice in the fact that services are useless. Bill told one of his audiences:

"I'm English and, as such, I crave disappointment. I actively seek it out. It's one of the reasons I continue to use public transport because, you know, we are guaranteed disappointment, aren't we?

"I was on a train a while back and we made one of those hilarious unscheduled stops in the middle of nowhere. It's so rubbish on the trains now that we don't even bother to listen to the announcement. It could be anything. We just zone it out. It could be something like the following:

'We apologize for the delay. A very, very heavy flood from Saturn has formed an impenetrable casing around the driver's brain. We'll try and get that chipped off as soon as we can.

'We appear to have driven into the belly of a dragon. I don't know how that happened. It must have been hiding in the tunnel. We're sorry about that. Let's hope he passes us out at Crewe.

'The driver has pulled in to play a game of Tetris on his game boy. He has never got to this level before. So good luck, eh!'

Bill explained what had really stopped the train: "The actual reason we stopped was that the buffet car was on fire. We got a tantalizing glimpse into the chaos on the trains. All we could hear on the speakers was 'Gary! It's burning! What are we going to do?'

"Everyone in the carriage cheered. 'Hurray! We're rubbish.' That's the British characteristic."

In fact, the British are anything but rubbish. Bill Bailey himself is an outstanding comedian and musician, but there is an amazing tolerance of low standards in public services unless they involve fatalities.

It is probably a good idea to laugh at the things we have no control over like the trains stopping unnecessarily but there is no need for us to accept low standards in our own lives. We, and no one else, have control over our own lives.

However, if we come up with too many excuses for not doing what is difficult and challenging, we will end up like the railways and achieve mediocrity.

We can choose to be disappointed with our own lives and make lots of excuses for our failures or we can ban the excuses and work around them to achieve success.

Pat O'Bryan of Milagro World was impressed by the way the Beatles turned potential excuses for failure into opportunities. If the drumming was weak on a particular song, they would add in other percussion instruments to make the drum track more interesting.

If the guitars were weak, they would bring in a great guitarist like Eric Clapton to play brilliant lead guitar. They could have blamed the drummer and guitarists for the weak sound and accepted a mediocre standard. Instead, they refused to make excuses and worked around their problems and achieved huge success.

Pat comments: "Excuses are wonderful, aren't they? Once you've got a good one, you can hide behind it for years. Recognize excuses for what they are, delete them, and turn your problems into opportunities. If you don't have money, a huge list, or a clue, team up with someone who does, and succeed anyway."

I teach a great kicking martial art but have never been good at kicking high. To get round this I tell my students to kick low! This is far more effective in the street than kicking high. If I want a great demonstration of a high kick, I get one of my best black belts to provide it.

The students are able to view a great demo and the demonstrator is inspired to do even better in future. My lack of flexibility is no longer an excuse for giving up teaching. It becomes an opportunity for a higher standard of teaching. It also encourages others who realize they don't have to be flexible to learn effective self-defense.

Millennials love Venmo, because it has turned financial transactions into social media. Other generations wonder: why on earth would anyone care what their friends are paying each other? And what’s next?

venmo is great also because it is sort of a social network too, like you have to put in a sort of “memo” field and so you see a news feed of what your friends paid each other for

leo 11:50 AM

why on earth would anyone care what their friends are paying each other?

zach.wf 11:50 AM

because people write funny things

The above is an extract from a forum hosted by Quartz Media. Can you guess which one of these two contributors is the Millennial (and which one isn’t)? Quartz called it the Venmo line, signifying that everyone below 30 years old gets Venmo, and the ones over 30 don’t.

Venmo is an app by Paypal, which lets people send small amounts of money back-and-forth. The payments are not instant, but the app has become hugely popular with Millennials because every transaction appears on the app’s social feed, without dollar-amount, for all friends and connections to see. You can label a transaction as ‘private’, but only 5 % of transactions is kept private, according to Venmo.

According to the company itself, Venmo’s social feed is the key to success. ‘The app turns financial transactions into an experience’, as Josh Criscoe, spokesman of Venmo, explains. ‘The average user checks Venmo two to three times a week just to see what his or her friends are up to.’

‘The average user checks Venmo two to three times a week just to see what his or her friends are up to.’

Venmo is another example of how social media are redefining and shaping all aspects of life. Albeit security (safe financial services) convenience (easy financial services) and speed (instant financial services) are very important to young consumers, connection with their peers is that even more.

Most Venmo users are in it for the fun. ‘Half the things on my feed are clearly not what they say the are. I see song lyrics, emoji’s and inside jokes’, as one user puts it. Others value the peer pressure that comes with knowing who already paid back for yesterday’s dinner (you didn’t!). In that sense, Venmo adds a layer of accountability.

So why aren’t there more financial apps out there that offer the same social services? Because the app might be successful with Millennials, it isn’t with the older generations. Zelle, a payment app developed by Bank of America and 19 other big banks, recently experimented with its own social transaction feed. But it fell flat with Zelle’s intended audience, says Zelle’s developer Lou Anne Alexander. ‘While appealing to some ages, it’s not really appealing to all.’ Not appealing is an understatement. Those over 30 years old tend to be very concerned about the app and what they feel as the loss of privacy. But most of all, older generations wonder: why? Why would I want to see which of my friends paid my other friends?

Why? Why would I want to see which of my friends paid my other friends?

The answer is: because youngsters look at their peers for almost everything. What to wear, what to say, what to think, what to do, what to buy and where to buy it, who to adore and who to despise. Financial transactions are part of buying, thinking, wearing, adoring and despising. Transactions are linked to almost all aspects of life, and they’re very revealing.

Blockchain is claimed to be the transparent system that will gain back Millennials’ trust in finance. Blockchain is the means to an end, gaining trust has everything to do with giving back control to the consumer. Do banks dare?

Blockchain is most known as the technology underlying Bitcoin. What makes it special is that it uses a public and fully distributed network of nodes and users to move any digitalized asset from peer to peer, that anyone can access the ledger and see the transactions which are validated without any intermediary. The transparency of the process even extends to the name itself: transactions are recorded in blocks which are cryptographically secured and sequentially chained together from the oldest to the newest, offering a non-refutable and unbreakable record of data.

Big banks are now seeing its massive potential to make the existing financial system more efficient, and find cost savings in a landscape that is coming under increasing cost and compliance pressures. NASDAQ, the second largest stock exchange in the US, are currently trailing blockchain technology for the process of clearing and settlement. And consortiums like R3 or the Hyperledger Project are rapidly establishing a global presence to be reckoned with.

The technology has a lot of potential outside of finance too. It could well prove to be the missing link in creating viable sharing economies, lessening transaction chains and allowing providers to sit closer to their end users and consumers.

And, most importantly, it could allow people to reclaim their online identity, begin to own it, monetize it and protect its privacy.

Now we’re talking. Gaining Millennials’ loyalty and trust is becoming increasingly difficult for banks. This generation has grown up with Occupy Wall Street and the Indignados. One third of Millennials believe they won’t need a bank in five years, and one in five think banks will no longer be people’s primary financial institutions.

Blockchain technology could be a viable solution for a new kind of engagement which would put transparency and trust at the centre of the business stage in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, whose effects already produced a first real change of habits among millennials fuelling their eagerness for impactful and good companies, to which to be loyal.

It’s naïve to think we’ll move to a world where transactions are completely transparent, but selective transparency is a realistic pursuit. 

Selective transparency puts the consumer in the driver’s seat: he or she decides which information to share with chosen parties (such as regulators or employees), while at the same time not revealing them to anyone else. Blockchain network Ethereum already plans to add this feature to its system.

That’s exactly what Australian start-up Meeco aims to do. The app helps consumers to securely collect, organise, manage and control their digital information by letting them share it on their specific terms. Every bit of data added to Meeco is encrypted and stored in a secured cloud, which only the user itself can access directly. It enables consumers to negotiate with businesses who want access to their data. This makes for an open and transparent exchange, which enhances trust and respect between consumers and businesses.

Fintech and banks are fighting the same fight in this matter: who can earn Millennials’ trust by giving consumers the power over their own data, be it with a cloud based platform, a blockchain or some other technology?

FEAR stops us from being, doing and having so many things, what if we allow our desire for our dreams to become bigger than our fears?

BLOCKS - Distractions, Challenges, Fears, Barriers

A block is an obstruction or impediment.  It often comes in the form of distractions, challenges, fears or barriers. The following

definitions are paraphrased from a few dictionaries:

�        Distractions -Things that turn away the attention from your goal which may also cause confusion

�        Challenges -Demands made upon someone or their time

�        Fears - to regard with apprehension due to expectation of harm.

�        Barriers - anything that prevents passage of ideas

As you can imagine, the blocks defined may lead to the same results - inaction.  Therefore, by using any of the blocks asexamples, you may be able to apply the same exercises to conquer the other blocks.  For this book, we will focus on fears as theblock preventing you from reaching your goal.

Fears

Since one of the biggest barriers to achieving goals is fear, let�s focus on ways to identify and eliminate fears. People have a fear of or discomfort with the unknown.  When you have to make a change, it creates a stress on your life which mayor may not cause you to be "stressed out".  This stress has been identified as being associated with the new situation, theunknown factor.   This stress may occur when the change is made.

My acronym for fear is:

  False   Expectations   Affecting (your)   Reality

Why are these false expectations?

If you imagine that the worst will happen, it will, because your behavior follows your thoughts.  You do what you think about orhave programmed yourself to do.  The thoughts that dominate your mind will become a part of your life.

Your imagination is very powerful.  Fears become real when you give them life.  Therefore, they are originally false expectations which you fantasize about until they become your reality. Knowing this can help you overcome your fears.

For example, if you fear you will trip coming down the stairs at a party, you trip.  If you fear you'll forget someone's name, you do.  However, if you focus on the person's name instead of the act of forgetting, you�ll remember the name.

There are different types of fears that act as blocks to achieving goals.

Fear of failure and fear of success

Fear of failure and fear of success are common fears preventing people from beginning a change process or from completing it once it has begun.  Do you have any hidden fears of this type?

Fear of Failure:

Think of situations where you did not try something because you feared failing or being thought of as a failure.

The only real defeat is if you give up.  It may be that you feel others will talk about you behind your back.  If you try and failor if you change your mind about what you are doing.  However, if you do not try, you cannot be successful.

Ask yourself what you have to lose if you try.  If you don't try and you whine about missed opportunities, people may tire of hearing you whine and this could cause you to lose friends. You'll feel alone with unfulfilled dreams.  You'll feel like a real loser and people will refer to you as a failure.

See the resource guide at the end of this book for quizzes on fear of failure

Fear of Success:

Can you think of situations where you thought success would result in changes for the worst?  This type of thinking stems from a fear of success.

Fear of success, can also cause you to fail.  You may be afraid that when you are successful, your family or friends will think you �ve changed.  They may feel you are trying to make them look bad by flaunting your success.  Or you may hear a voice in your head telling you that you will have negative experiences from being successful.  You may be afraid that if you reach your goal, you will have nothing else to look forward to.  This voice, the fear of success, may instruct you to sabotage yourself by quitting or creating other blocks just before you realize your dream.

Fear of Change:

Have you ever been reluctant to do something because you were unsure of the consequences that would occur?  Change often brings about a panicky feeling that you will not be able to handle the new situation.  To focus on success, you want to prevent the panic feeling, because panic will prevent you from approaching your fears in a calm, relaxed, logical manner.  The exercises will help guide you to this point.  However, if you would like additional exercises to overcome the fear of change, please refer to Think it, Do it

�, Embracing Change.

Fear of Rejection:

Following a quantitative survey among our members regarding Millennials in the communication industry, we organized a brief summary presentation of the results and a round table debate with experts.

The experts discussed specific challenges and potential solutions for our agencies:

   Maarten Leyts (Trendwolves): conclusions of the Millennials survey among our members: see the conclusions here

   Karen Wouters (Antwerp Management School): responsible for "Start to Lead", a program for creating management involvement with team members in case vertical growth is not an option for everyone: see presentation here

Politiek journalist Barend Leyts verlaat de nieuwsdienst van VTM, om de Nederlandstalige woordvoerder van premier Charles Michel te worden.  Dat heeft de premier zelf via Twitter bekendgemaakt.

De 43-jarige Barend Leyts is al 20 jaar journalist. Hij begon zijn carrière in 1994 op de West-Vlaamse regionale zender Focus TV. Vanaf 1999 ging hij aan de slag als politiek journalist bij vtm. In juni van dit jaar sprak Leyts nog met koning Albert in een zeldzaam interview.

1. Resilience (or Grit)

“There’s so much change afoot in the workplace today and when change occurs, individuals who have resilience generally are also resourceful and agile. They have the ability to take on change and adapt to what’s happening around them and to them as the workplace changes. Individuals who have resilience/grit are able to take good risks and are open to change.”

2. Transparency

“Great leaders have the uncanny ability of not letting rumors spread by being open and transparent and embracing solutions not problems. If an employee is frustrated with customer, they make you put that negative energy into coming up with a solution. If coworkers have a rift, rather than nurturing the gossip the leader makes you get over it and fix the issue.”

“Great leaders know that one of the quickest ways to get employee feedback and earn the trust of your employees is by being transparent. I’m a firm believer of open information sharing and as a CEO you must lead by example. It lets your staff find applicable solutions and it builds solid relationships that increase the overall motivation.”

“Being transparent is the most important trait of an effective leader. Especially when it comes to working with millennials and the younger workforce, it is important for them to understand the big picture. That is, you shouldn’t just ask (or tell) them to do something without explaining how this task or function integrates within the larger business initiative. When they are able to see the connection, they often feel much more empowered and motivated to do a better job.”

3. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

“I’m often asked if this is a quality that can be taught and the answer is Yes, and like any new or underdeveloped habit, it takes consistent practice.. The challenge with this leadership trait is the WHAT to practice isn’t as straightforward as with other competencies. I’m a fan of simple and practical, so I created the ABCs of The Better Boss Project(tm) to help leaders show up in a more connected, empathetic, and judgment-free way: ASK curious questions, BE human, CHECK assumptions.”

“Good leaders improve their emotional intelligence by making a concerted effort to understand the reasons behind an employee’s behavior. It could be a lack of trust, a bad past experience or a fear behind a bad decision. When you understand this, it’s easier to react with dignity to any type of situation.”

4. Passion

“Engagement is the secret sauce to people based businesses. With engagement you gain huge amounts of discretionary work effort/product which goes well above and beyond what is merely required for any given role. Like it or not, the CEO is the Cultural icon of the company and passion for the work, passion for the product, passion for the goals, passion for the successes and passion for the inevitable twist and turns is the key to widespread engagement. And the opposite is even more true – the lack of passion leads to tragic disengagement.”

5. Empathy

“Empathy not only allows great leaders to understand their employees and their customers better, but it also is known to enhance prosocial (aka helping) behaviors. Because of this, empathy enables leaders to address issues faster and with more precision, and it makes them more flexible to respond to an ever-changing business environment. “

“You need to have the ability to relate to your employees and be able to put yourself in the soul of your people. Without the empathetic trait, it’s very hard to rally your troupes around your vision.”

“While we often are focused on profitability and growth, and rightfully so, there are times that we need to remember that our teams are people often have things going on outside of work. By having empathy and understanding what else is happening in their lives, we can better lead them through the good and bad times.”

6. Empowerment

“A leader should empower their subordinates by delegating tasks appropriately, providing proper guidance and limits, and supporting the decisions of the subordinates. When the subordinate leaders are empowered, their intelligence and talents can be unleashed to help the organization grow. When they are stifled, only the minimum gets accomplished because few are motivated to help an organization that is overbearing.”

7. Open-minded

“The ability to not be closed off to new ideas or challenges to established norms is what sets apart an open-minded leader. A person who can look at the best lessons of the past and current while being open to the ideas of the future has the best opportunity to create success in themselves, their business and employees. Being able to change with the times, flexible when needed and decisive when required is a rare thing today.”

“Great leaders are inquisitive and use strong, open-ended questions to learn about their staff, identify opportunities and threats to their business, and challenge their top employees to take risks, think critically, and increase engagement. Of course it probably also goes without saying that asking a great question isn’t enough… great leaders also know how to listen and leverage the answers they receive to make good decisions.”

8. Patience

“Patience is a defining characteristic of great leaders and successful business founders. Patiently wait for the right opportunity and don’t swing at every pitch. More so, understanding that success doesn’t happen overnight, and obsessing over the process- not the result- will cultivate a culture of patience and ensure long-term success.”

9. Diplomacy

“One of the most important jobs a leader has is ensuring that everybody is absolutely on the same page, and that the team works together towards a common goal despite any cultural or political differences.”

10. Initiative for action