In tribute following today’s tragic news…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxsM5jLNxM&feature=channel

Remember the Time?

RIP Michael

If you get into your accountant early next week, you’ll still have an opportunity to save on tax for the 2009 financial year.

Here are some very basic Tax Strategies that might get you thinking;

1) Retirement Contributions
2) Charitable Giving
3) Energy Efficient Home Purchases
4) Education Expenses
5) Hybrid Vehicle Purchase

If you have company bills to pay for the 2009, it might be tax efficient to clear those debts by June 30. Check with your accountant.

Happy End of Financial Year 2009!

The average age of the military man is 19 years.

He is a short haired, tight-muscled kid who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy.

Not yet dry behind the ears, old enough to buy a beer, and old enough to die for his country.
He never really cared much for work and he would rather polish his own car than wash his father’s, but he has never collected unemployment either.

He’s a recent High School student; he was probably an average student, pursued some form of sport activities, drives a ten year old car and has a steady girlfriend that either broke up with him when he left, or swears to be waiting when he returns from half a world away.

He listens to rock and roll or hip-hop or rap or jazz or swing and a 155mm howitzer.

He is 5 or 7 kilos lighter now than when he was at home because he is working or fighting from before dawn to well after dusk.

He has trouble spelling, thus letter writing is a pain for him, but he can field strip a rifle in 30 seconds and reassemble it in less time in the dark.

He can recite to you the nomenclature of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either one effectively if he must.

He digs foxholes and latrines and can apply first aid like a professional.

He can march until he is told to stop, or stop until he is told to march.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation, but he is not without spirit or individual dignity… He is self-sufficient.

He has two sets of uniforms: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his canteens full and his feet dry.

He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes, and fix his own hurts.

If you’re thirsty, he’ll share his water with you; if you are hungry, his food. He’ll even split his ammunition with you in the midst of battle when you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and weapons like they were his hands.

He can save your life - or take it, because that is his job.

He will often do twice the work of a civilian, draw half the pay, and still find ironic humor in it all.

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime.

He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and is unashamed.

He feels every note of the National Anthem vibrate through his body while at rigid attention, while tempering the burning desire to ’square-away ‘ those around him who haven’t bothered to stand, remove their hat, or even stop talking.

In an odd twist, day in and day out, far from home, he defends their right to be disrespectful.

Just as did his Father, Grandfather, and Great- grandfather, he is paying the price for our freedom. Beardless or not, he is not a boy.

He is the AUSTRALIAN Fighting Man that has kept this country free for over 120 years.

He has asked nothing in return, except our friendship and understanding.
Remember him, always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have women over there in danger, doing their part in this tradition of going to War when our nation calls us to do so.

As you go to bed tonight, remember this shot. .. .

A short lull, a little shade and a picture of loved ones in their helmets.

Prayer wheel for our military...

‘Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts
they perform for us in our time of need. Amen.’

Of all the gifts you could give an AUSTRALIAN Soldier, Sailor,
or Airman, prayer is the very best one.

After years of working ridiculous hours, and constant pain and regret for not spending the time we would like together, having fun… we have come to the decision to head off and do a trip round Oz.

It’s going to take us a few months to get our stuff sorted but plan to be setting off around June this year. I figure it’s easier to sell all our furniture and nick-naks and set ourselves up again when we return – so Ebay will make some great commissions from me over the coming weeks/months and no doubt some people, particularly in our local area will pick up some bargains…

Already our second fridge has gone for $32 It was a big old Kelvinator! What a buy! Anyway, we can’t justify storage charges, it will be nice to have a fresh start when we return. I wonder what it’s like only having enough “stuff” to fit in a Motorhome???

Chanelle’s mucus test results have come in yesterday as “Negative” for Whooping Cough. Thank God we are allowed out of the house again!

We are now all more aware of our (and our kids) immune system health and are eating better and exercising more than last week. Funny how quickly we can change with a scare…

What should you be changing TODAY about the way you live, before you’re forced to???

Today I need you to take one simple action for me.

“What do I need to do” you ask?

Well, quiet simply I need you to update your personal information.

The reason why you’d want to take the 30 seconds to do this is Santa needs to make a special delivery to you.

He needs to make sure that your present doesn’t get lost in the postal jungle or wind up in the stocking of an undeserving boy or girl.

If you don’t follow through, your are not going to be happy come Christmas time.

So go on. Do it now. You’ll be glad you did!

Shelley Weitenberg
Empower Your Life Club

How good is this…

Teamwork

Cash Flow Woes…

By Ben Fewtrell

Recently I was presenting to a group of business owners about understanding business financials, after I had stated that you can go broke making a profit, an audience member challenged me and asked how it is possible. So I thought it would be a good idea to cover the topic in this issue.

Firstly, we need to understand the basic fundamentals of business. You need to sell a product or service, and make a profit. A business is a ‘commercial, profitable enterprise that works without you’. You have probably heard the saying ‘Profit is king’ and also that ‘Cash flow is king’, so which one is true?

Well both are, here is a simple formula for business failure – No Profit x No Cash flow = No Business. To succeed in business you need to make sure you are making a profit and you also maintain a healthy, positive cash flow.

Secondly, we need to understand what going ‘broke’ means. In business being ‘broke’ is known as being ‘insolvent’. There are several definitions for this, here are some definitions I found after I Googled the term; ‘Not having sufficient financial resources to meet financial obligations’, ‘When liabilities are greater than assets’, ‘When a company cannot pay its debts when they are due’. Basically, when you can no longer pay your debts, you are insolvent!

Finally, you need to understand that some things you pay for end up on your ‘profit and loss’ statement and others end up on your ‘balance sheet’. An expense like rent will be entered as an expense on your profit and loss statement, but when you buy equipment that will last you several years, it gets entered as an ‘asset’ on your balance sheet, then each year you will claim depreciation as an expense, and if you took a loan out to buy the equipment, the loan will be entered as a ‘liability’ on your balance sheet. I’ll kick off with a simple example to make sure understand the concept.

Let’s say you own a coffee shop, and your fixed costs (rent, wages, electricity etc.) are $2000 per week, and you have a 50% gross profit margin (this is calculated by deducting your cost of sales from the sales amount). In this example you need $4000 in sales to ‘break even’, that is, pay your fixed costs of $2000 and the $2000 cost of getting the sales, your profit is zero. What if you were also repaying a loan for buying the business, the only part of this that will show on your profit and loss is the interest on the loan, the rest of the payment is reducing your liability on the balance sheet. All of a sudden, you are in a negative cash flow situation.

So how do you make sure you do not follow the many that have already mistakenly gone broke, whilst making a profit? The simplest way is to make sure you manage your money well, it is one of the resources you must have control of, or you may end up in trouble.

Here are some ways to make sure you manage to keep your cash flow positive…

* You need to have a cash flow forecast for at least 3 months in advance, this way you can identify problems before they occur.
* If you have customers that have ‘accounts’ with you, make sure you collect your money by the due date, don’t let customers drag out their payments to 60, 90 or even 120 days. You can even make special offers to customers that pay quickly. Sometimes it may be worthwhile considering ‘factoring’ your debts if your clients have a valid reason for taking a long time to pay.
* If possible, get your clients to pay a deposit upfront.
* Reduce your stock turn, this way you can make sure you are selling your stock before you have to pay your suppliers for it.
* Negotiate longer payment terms with your suppliers.
* Keep your costs to a minimum; avoid wasting money on things that are not necessary.
* Set a budget, and stick to it!
* Never borrow money just to ‘get out of trouble’, in most cases I have seen, this just makes the situation worse!

I would suggest that if numbers is not your strong point; get your bookkeeper or accountant to help you. Finally, if you do end up in situation where you cannot pay your bill(s), talk to your creditor(s) and make an arrangement, most people will understand and will let you pay it off, and if this fails you might need to get some professional help.

Our gorgeous little girl ‘Chanelle Paula’ arrived at 3pm on Monday 1/9/08. The first day of Spring has never looked so beautiful! Geoff & I enjoyed a nice lunch at Greenmount surfclub just 2hrs before her arrival… I’ll let you see how huge I was…

Now for some slightly more glamorous shots…

Three weeks after the twins were born, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s $14 million baby photos have been released.

“the biggest exclusive of the year” appears today on the website of UK magazine Hello! Pitt and Jolie are shown fawning over tiny Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, who are wrapped up together on a bed.

Hello and US glossy People reportedly paid $US14 million for exclusive rights to the photos, making them the most expensive celebrity snaps ever taken.

The money was more than double the $6 million paid for Jennifer Lopez’s twins in March.

Jolie and Pitt will reportedly donate all royalties from the shoot to a charity that helps disadvantaged children around the world.

I say good on them! Why not?

I just got some gorgeous portraits done of my two little kiddies this week by the way. Would you believe I had to pay the photographer to do the work, and then I had to pay to have the photos printed!!! What a contrast!