Do you have a pension? If you do it may not be any good!

Pensions are all over the news these days, about how, we will have to work longer to get a pension, that there is not enough money in the government pension pot to cover everybody! The picture of the paper is typical of the pension crisis that is gripping us today.

Apparently over 50% of 40 year olds (including me) don't have a pension, or have a plan (thankfully I do) for the future and are relying on the government for their retirement.

If you're 40 now and have no pension, you need to be saving £800p/m now to get a pension of £1000 p/m when you're 65. This is where I got my information from http://www.pensioncalculator.org/#SelectPension

Even if you do have a pension when you do come to draw on it it may not be any good anyway, if the pension fund is still around.

One thing is for sure, we're not going to be able to rely on a government pension when we do come to retire and we need to find a way to have an income we can rely on in the future.

What ever your plan is I hope it works out for.


To your success
Paul


This is my pension plan, and I plan to retire before 60 years old

PS I'm not a financial advisor so do not rely on my posts as financial advice.

Franchise for fortunes!

McDonalds, TheBestOf, Molly Maid, Chips Away, Tax Assist are just a few of the hundreds of franchises that are available for people to get involved in, Some are really famous and some you'd never of heard of! Franchising isn't for everyone. If you're an entrepreneur wanting to start your own business it may not be for you as you are restricted somewhat by the franchisors system of how to do things and you may not be able to just go out and do your own thing for marketing and sales!


The system is what makes a franchise opportunity look great, especially if the system is tried and tested and there are lots around the country, a franchise is essentially a business in a box with an operations manual that tells you exactly how to get your business started and then grow it, it is a proven system and pretty much so long as follow it you should be successful, however it still takes work to build a franchise business! you get the franchise's branding, logos and other marketing done for you so that's not something you need to think about when starting a business (Although for me coming up with logos, branding and what to do in the marketing is half the fun of building a business).


You'll have to buy the franchise and this could be a few hundred pounds to over a hundred thousand and then pay a monthly or yearly renewal fee, which covers the franchisor's cost of running the operation and for some they may do national advertising or sponsoring on behalf of the franchisees, which is something a new business or SME could never do. You'll also get full training on how to run your franchise business and support too. 
On top of the start up cost for a franchise you'll have to ensure that you have enough money set aside to cover the time it will take to get you franchise business up and running and the time that you'll not be working while on training. The McDonalds training lasts for 10 months and that's time you'll not be earning an income.


If franchising is a route you think you'd like to go down ensure that you do your research and read the contract terms and conditions there may be clauses such as if you don't make enough sales they could claim the franchise back for resale, make sure you also speak to as many current franchisees as possible, sometimes  the franchise may not meet it's obligations to you, and I've heard of stories where the franchisor didn't respond to constant calls or emails asking for support.


A franchise is a good way to get into the business world if you've never started a business and it certainly give you a higher start on the ladder than starting from scratch, also there are figures that say more franchise businesses succeed than a non franchised business. Buying a franchise is not a guaranteed route to wealth success and will take work and if you're willing to put the work in then you deserve the success.


To your success
Paul

Earning an income from affiliates

Earning an income from affiliate marketing is a great idea for not only the person who has affiliated themselves with a business but also the business itself, it's also a simple idea. 

Why would it be great for you?

Well first off you can earn an income without having a product or service (except that your service is marketing to the business or businesses you've affiliated with). You sell the products and/or services of the business and once the sale is made you then get paid commission on that sale. If you are using the internet to market the products and services, essentially you can earn an income while you sleep as the internet and your website never 'close'. Of course their are no fixed targets or time that you have to work either.

How it works:

You can sign up to any businesses affiliate scheme for free via their website, you'll then be given a unique URL or web address such as www.affiliate-company.co.uk/yournameorid you copy this ID or banner onto your website so that the business can track who the prospect customer has come from and who to pay the commission to. I affiliated to a few sites including Amazon which you can see in the books and audio section of this blog and in the useful links section too. 

Sounds easy right, well maybe but you do need to put in the work on a relevant website that people will want to go to and then spend time on, so you'll need a site that has value to people and that they'll keep coming back to, they then need to click through and buy the product or service, which means you essentially need to get thousands of visitors to your website first and on a regular basis.

This is all better for businesses that run an affiliate scheme because they've spent no money on marketing and it's cost them nothing until the sale is made, as opposed to traditional marketing or Pay Per Click (See last post). This allows a business to have a lower price for the product or service than a competitor as they now have a fixed cost for growing the business (assuming this is their only route to market) or to earn a bigger profit if they keep the price of the product or service the same. So if you are already running a conventional business it may be worth considering running an affiliate scheme alongside your other marketing activities.

To your Success

Paul