Posts Tagged ‘About’
What is a thrift savings plan? A thrift savings plan or TSP is a retirement plan for civilians who are employed by the United States government and are members of the Uniformed Services of the United States.
The TSP falls under the category of what is known more broadly as a type of defined contribution plan, and is administrated and regulated by the Federal Thrift Investment Board.
TSP plans are similar to 401k plans, since the retirement funds in the account depends on how much has been contributed both by the employee and their employer during their working years, as well as the earnings of these contributions.
Which employees are eligible? If you are covered by FERS, CSRS, or CRS offset, you are eligible for a TSP plan.
All participants are eligible to receive tax deferral on contributions, in service withdrawals for financial hardship beginning on or after age 59, a choice of five investment funds, the ability to transfer monies from other eligible retirement savings account plans into a TSP account, a loan program and a choice of post separation withdrawal options.
For certain FERS civilian employees, with a TSP plan, the government also makes automatic matching contributions. Employees who are under the CSRS or civil service retirement system are eligible for a TSP plan, but are not eligible for matching contributions.
Typically, in this case, the matching contributions are one percent independent of employee contributions, and then .05 percent for each one percent contributed by an employee thereafter. Military members and those serving in the armed forces, generally, are not eligible for these matching contributions.
In the case of FERS employees, the TSP is one of three parts of total retirement coverage, and FERS employees have the option of receiving two different types of agency contributions to their TSP accounts, which together, can equal as much as fiver percent of basic pay.
These are known as agency automatic and agency matching contributions respectfully. With an agency automatic contribution, once an employee is eligible, their agency automatically makes deposits into their TSP account, regardless of employee contribution amount, as stated above, up to one percent of basic pay, up to the IRS allowed annual limit.
With an agency matching contribution, once an employee becomes eligble, the agency will match the first three percent of basic pay, with the next subsequent two percent of basic pay matched fifty cents on the dollar.
Summers almost over, that makes me want to cry! But there’s no need to worry about electric bills this winter. We have options and simple things we can do that will help us cut energy bills.
A few simple modifications around your home can help you save big this winter, and all year long. You don’t have to do major projects to save money, but if you want to save even more there are some big things you can do.
Here is a short list of some things you can do now to save on utility bills. I’ve included simple, cheap things as well as a little more elaborate and expensive things.
Do as many, or as few, as you want, either way you’ll save on your bills:
1. Add insulation to your attic all around your house. I didn’t know it, but they have insulations for around your water heater, to cover your pipes, for behind switch plates, and of course, around windows and doors.
2. Don’t make your furnace work any harder than necessary, make sure it’s in good condition. Change your filters monthly too.
3. Stop your nice warm air from going out the windows. Get some insulated curtains.
4. On a nice sunny winter day allow the sun to come in your home. It can really help heat things up. You can close your curtains at night to keep the cold air out.
5. Now that you’ve got some good ideas on how to save money on your electric bills, why not take it one step further and actually generate your own electricity?
It’s really easy to build and install your own wind turbine or solar panels and it can generate about 60% of the electricity your house will need.
Well, I hope that helps. The important thing to remember is that you do have options and there are products that can help you cut energy bills. Invest a little time and money now and when you utility comes in January, you won’t have to fear it.
Broadband, as broadband services are commonly called, is a short form for ‘broad bandwidth’. A broadband Internet connection provides reliable download speeds and high speed data transmission rates either over a phone line, digital cable or satellite connection. Internet over phone lines will become extinct in a few years and digital cable Internet connections will also dry out soon after. Thereafter satellite Internet connections will rule the digital world.
Broadband has changed the way in which people use the Internet for communication, shopping, gaming and general entertainment. To get broadband connection for your organization, it’s always better to go for an Internet service which has all the vital characteristics a good broadband service should have. Quality of service and reliability are the most essential characteristic properties of a good broadband connection.
The broadband industry is one of the fastest growing markets in the country today and there are quite a number of companies offering their broadband services to consumers. More and more people are accessing the Internet using broadband nowadays and businesses are able to increase their productivity considerably due to the innumerable benefits of business broadband.
Research has shown that the number of people and businesses shifting to broadband services are increasing every year. With advances in telephone technology as well, more and more customers are now able to make cheaper long-distance calls over the Internet. Therefore broadband services are offering new deals allowing cheaper calling rates combined with broadband Internet packages.
As this technological convergence continues, Internet service providers are extending their operations into other markets in order to cater to the needs of ever demanding businesses. The business broadband market is now very competitive with a multitude of providers offering Broadband access alongside a variety of extra services to delight the customer.
With new satellite Internet connections, you can do a variety of functions, all at enviable speeds. The number of extra services, a broadband service provider offers, at reasonable prices, is very satisfying. Whether you want extra mobile minutes with your Broadband connection, or the ability to transfer music files between your computer and mobile phone, technological convergence has made it all possible. You might want to take advantage of VoIP technology and make cheap calls over a broadband line or you just want fast, secure Internet access with no extra trimmings. Whatever the deal you can get broadband with different packages to suit your specific needs.
Broadband, in the past, was viewed as a luxury for the tech savvy or corporate employee but it is now becoming more of a necessity for the everyday citizen. Studies have shown that broadband adoption has increased six-fold in the last seven years. It’s the ample number of benefits connected with a broadband service that has brought about this enormous shift to high speed Internet.
If you can get broadband for your business, you can expand your domain to reach a global market place. It will give you more options to compare prices and shop for supplies or you can save time by purchasing supplies online. A broadband connection also has the advantage that it can push news, sales promotions and advertisements to a wider global audience. With all these benefits, more and more companies are adopting satellite Internet connections to take their businesses a level higher.
There is a great amount of worry at the moment with regards to Gas and electricity suppliers due to prices of energy going up by a large percentage in January. British Gas announced late last year that their energy prices were going to increase by a shocking 15%, it turns out that not only heat rises but so do heating prices across the board; other energy companies such as EDF Energy and nPower have also stated they are to increase rates.
Credit Union bosses have voiced their concerns too on the matter stating that the rises were bordering on opportunistic considering the timing just after one of the most expensive Christmas’ on record and the number of people in debt at an all time high. The trouble with this change is that heating and electricity are commodities that are essential to everyone and there’s no practical alternative currently available.
Obviously this means troubling times are ahead for the UK population but how has is this rise justifiable? Well British Gas cites the cost of wholesale Oil and Gas rising as the reason for their prices being altered. With the global supplies of the two resources scarce both in this country and on the continent it has resulted in companies compensating for the price of the raw materials by charging more on the consumer’s end.
This has been felt not only by the gas suppliers but also at the petrol pumps where petrol and diesel has tipped the scales at over 100 pence per litre. Although the suppliers are getting the most grief they are the first to recognize the problem and assure consumers that the changes wouldn’t affect the “hardest-up”. Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas said, “We can’t absorb the burden of these higher energy prices and the costs of delivering a cleaner environment.”
Other reasons give for price hikes have been linked to arranging a greener energy source and government pressure to reduce our carbon footprint among other schemes. The increase actually only affects 340,000 customers on their Essentials tariff, those who are subscribed to fixed-term tariffs will not see any change until time for renewal.
For now though it seems that gas and electricity suppliers hands are tied with rising costs for natural resources, if you are concerned about changes that are due for March 2008 then contact your supplier or check with other gas suppliers there are who may offer more attractive new customer deals.
Millions of Britons are under financial pressure, new research indicates.
In a study carried out by MoneyExpert, some 6.9 million bills have not been paid since June last year. Overall, council tax is the most likely household bill to have been missed during this period of time, with some 2.3 million, about one in 20 people, either meeting this demand for payment late or not at all. Meanwhile, 1.39 million Britons claim to have had problems in paying their gas or electricity bill. In addition, an estimated 926,000 telephone bills have gone unpaid since June 2007.
Pointing towards recent price hike announcements by npower, the price comparison website stated that more Britons may find that they will be making late payments on credit cards as they face “a difficult year financially”. The energy provider recently claimed that the cost of supplying energy is to go up by some 15 per cent. As a result, this may add some 150 pounds on to the average person’s typical annual utility bill.
However, the price comparison website suggested that people’s finances may come under even more strain as 2008 progresses, as more energy providers are due to increase their costs. It was also put forward that loans and other types of borrowing will be harder to access as a result of the continued impact of the credit crunch.
Commenting on the figures, Sean Gardner, chief executive of MoneyExpert, said: “For some time we have been waiting to see how the financial squeeze would affect the average household. Nearly seven million unpaid household bills is a fairly conclusive sign that we are feeling the effects. Paying one bill late is not something to panic about. But if you find this is becoming something of a habit then you need to take action. Missing bills can have serious consequences, whether it’s losing a service altogether or even ending up in court.
“While interest rates have stopped climbing there are plenty of other factors that could make life even tougher for some people. With energy prices rising and credit becoming harder to come by, there could be plenty of normal people who will find paying even their basic household bills a daunting prospect in 2008.”
MoneyExpert went on to suggest that those who continue to miss bill payments are potentially putting their credit rating under risk of damage. This impairment may lead people to find that they are unable to access cheap loans and other types of competitively-priced borrowing in the future. The price comparison website advised that anyone concerned about their capacity to manage bills and other financial demands should “take action now”.
For people worried about their capacity to manage their money, applying for a consolidation loan could be advisable. In taking out this type of loan, borrowers may be able to meet numerous demands on their spending, for example utility bills, credit cards and council tax, at once. This may lead people to find that they have more disposable income at the end of each month. A study carried out last month by GfK NOP for Bradford & Bingley revealed that some 40 per cent of Britons are looking to get to grips with money management over the course of 2008. Meanwhile, 38 per cent are aiming to cut down their spending.
Broadband phone is the amazing technology to day that give many benefits for their users. Broadband phone actually uses voice over internet protocol (VoIP) to carry phone calls through the internet. This is an alternative way to transmit the call to the traditional telephony network.
How Does it Work?
Exactly, VOIP allows you to make phone calls through your internet connection, it works by converting a phone signal into ‘packets’ of information that are sent down an internet connection, and then converted back into an ordinary phone signal at the other end. A hardware broadband telephone uses an adapter. You connect this hardware to the router on your network or to your PC directly. Another option is software. The broadband software is a program that makes broadband calls.
For all VOIP, a broadband connection is essential. Most phones will take up around 64k for sending your voice, and 64k for receiving the other voice, so a 128k broadband is the absolute minimum requirement to ensure no gaps in call quality.
Advantages of Voip Broadband Phone Services :
1. Save money
Using VoIP Broadphone phone is a cheaper option if you make a lot of long distance and international calls. All calls between people using the same service provider are free regardless of location. Branch offices to head office communication be free cost, if we use this service. By using a VOIP system, you can save large amounts of money, its better choice than traditional phone.
2. Voip Features
Many features that support telecommunication user:
- call waiting
- caller ID
- three-way calling
- call forwarding
- last number redial
- speed dial
- voicemail
3. User Mobility
When traveling, you can take the VoIP adapter with you and instantly turn a phone anywhere in the world into your local phone. This will require a high speed internet connection. It’s flexible tool so your communication can moveable
4.Easier Call Directing
A major advantage of VOIP phones is that they allow a call to be directed to a phone, not a location. If for example, you travel between two broadband equipped offices (or even abroad), you could take the phone with you, and have all your calls go direct to you in either office, whilst an internal call from your VOIP system would still be free! This offers many of the benefits of mobile phones, but for far less cost.
How to choose a Broadband Phone ?
Essentially, there are two kinds of VoIP (Broadband Phone) applications to consider, either hardware or software based. If you choose the software solution, you’ll have to have your computer urned on in order to both make and receive telephone calls, but the only equipment you’ll need is a microphone and speakers connected to your computer.
If you choose the hardware solution instead, you’ll be using a converter box called an ATA that will be attached to your high-speed internet connection. Your telephone can then be plugged into the ATA. The converter box takes the analog signal from your phone and converts it to a digital signal to be sent over the internet in data packets, which are then reassembled on the other end of the telephone connection. By using a hardware VoIP (Broadband Phone) solution, you computer does not have to be on in order for you to make and receive telephone calls, although your Internet connection will have to be active. Many VoIP (Broadband Phone) service providers are including the ATA at very low cost or even for free in some cases.
Are there any disadvantages with a VoIP (Broadband Phone) solution?
Although most VoIP (Broadband Phone) service providers have Emergency 911 there are still a few that do not. To be sure, the biggest disadvantage that skeptics will throw at you is what happens when your power goes out at home or you lose your Broadband Internet connection. You see VoIP (Broadband Phone) relies on having a broadband connection so if that goes down so does your Internet phone service. However, in the days when most of us have a cell phone of some sort, even if it is just “pay as you go”, is this really a big issue? Another option that many people go for is to have a cheap regular local phone service to use just on those rare occasions when you lose your power or broadband connection.
Finally the best choice for your telecommunication that we suggest is voip broadband phone.
In the past, European competition laws restricted BT’s stranglehold on telephone line access throughout the UK. There was a process known as LLU, or ‘local-loop unbundling’, which permitted companies to establish their own equipment in BT exchanges, paying BT part of the line rental they collected.
The outcome of this was cheaper broadband deals and lower costs all round.
Final link
Broadband providers pay to access the final link between the local exchange and your telephone, the property of BT.
These are the costs which Ofcom has mooted could increase and which will most likely be carried by the consumer.
Yes, the poor old consumer may well be hit just where it hurts most – yet again.
A few of the cheap broadband providers have been angered by this decision as they feel the second-rate service they get from BT’s wholesale division, Openreach, doesn’t justify the additional price increase.
TalkTalk, undoubtedly the UK’s cheapest broadband provider, has probably been the most vocal in this regard and claims that allowing Openreach to increase costs would be damaging to competition and a backward step.
If a provider such as TalkTalk is concerned about it, does this really mean that the end of cheap broadband is on the cards?
Who will be bitten by higher broadband costs?
On the positive side, there are possibly a few ways of avoiding these price increases.
Firstly, if your broadband access is via cable, from Virgin Media broadband for instance, you will definitely not be affected as cable broadband services run independently of BT’s telecoms network.
That’s an unusual bit of good news for Virgin Media customers then!
Secondly, if you live where there are no LLU services – such as in rural areas where TalkTalk, Tiscali and others haven’t seen the financial rewards in modifying your exchange yet – prices will remain the same.
Location, therefore, is all important.
It seems that price caps will only be removed in areas where competition is sufficiently robust, for instance, where there are a number of broadband providers in the same area all vying for customers.
Thirdly, you are not likely to be affected by any price increases if you are in the middle of a 12 or 18 month contract and the initial terms and conditions should continue to apply.
But, a warning – be on the look out for any amendments which your broadband provider may email to you.
There is history behind the name of one of cricket’s most famous test series, arising from the first time that England lost to Australia on home soil. This defeat took place on 29 August 1882 and the next day the Sporting Times newspaper published a mock obituary to English cricket which made reference to the ashes being taken to Australia.
The ashes concept was popular with cricket and sports fans and a few weeks later the English team set off to tour Australia, with the captain vowing to return with “the ashes”. The message prompted a group of Australian women to present the England captain with an urn the following winter. Depending on which sporting legend you believe, the urn is said to contain the ashes of an item of cricket equipment, a ball, a bail or a stump.
Since that 1882-1883 tour, tests between England and Australia have always been regarded as the Ashes series. The name had stuck and is still used to this day with most people being aware of the link between the term “the ashes” and the cricket world.
The urn has survived the years too and can now be found in the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) museum at Lord’s cricket grounds and is viewed by tens of thousands of visitors every year. In recent years a replica of the urn has been presented to the winning captain so the legacy can continue.
The Ashes test series is currently played biennially, alternately in the United Kingdom and Australia. A series of “the Ashes” comprises five Test matches.
Ownership of the Ashes is given to whichever side gains an outright victory and if a draw occurs then the country already holding the Ashes retains the title.
During the early years of the Ashes it was England who held the winning streak, conquering all but one of the twelve series played between 1883 and 1896.
The turn of the 20th century brought about change and throughout this period, which was interrupted by World War One, England lost several games to Australia.
The Ashes victory returned to England in 2005 after sixteen years in Australia’s possession though the jubilation was short lived as Australia scored a 5-0 triumph in the 2006-07 series so everything is at stake for the 2009 Ashes Test series.
The sense of sporting rivalry is as strong as ever for the next series. Cricket fans worldwide are getting ready to witness some more cricketing history unfold before their eyes during the 2009 npower Ashes Test series.
