Guide To Articles To Guide You


Category Archives: Economy

A Cookbook Fundraiser

When you and your church group are next looking for fundraising ideas for churches, why not look at the option of holding a cookbook fundraiser?

Although an aged and very often used fundraiser, it has been proven to be one of the most successful fundraising ideas ever. The nice thing about a cookbook fundraiser is that it is more than a recipe book – it is a book filled with knowledge from years gone by. The recipes do not come off the internet but are lovingly put together by all the retired ladies from the communities with recipes that they in turn got from their grannies and mothers. So you can see why it is rather seen as a passing on of knowledge than just a book.

Before you organize a cookbook fundraiser though, you will have to do perfect planning regarding getting the recipes, making sure they have not been used before, putting them in the correct order, as well as marketing the day so that enough people purchase the cookbook to make for a very successful day indeed.

The first step you will have to do is to approach all the ladies in the congregation to each donate one recipe of theirs that has stood the test of time. You will have to make sure that the recipes you collect are not all the same – make sure you have a few for each category. One fun idea is to add a category named “party cakes and eats”, This will draw the interest of mommies al over as they often run out of ideas for their children’s birthday party cakes.

Then, when you have all the recipes, get a short bit of history on the family that the recipe came from. When was the recipe thought of, through how many generations has it been passed down ect. This will give each and every recipe a more personal feel and the person baking the cake will do so with more love and respect than a recipe from the internet.

When you have all the details together, approach a printing company in your area, explain what the fundraiser is for and ask them if they can donate their time and skills to design and print everything into a neat book of recipes.

With the fundraiser, you could add an antique frame with a photo of each of the ladies that contributed towards the cookbook. You could do the whole theme in another era like that of the “voortrekkers” that could only compliment the theme of the cookbook.

In this way each person will take home a piece of history and not just a book.

Hot tips on your retirement savings

At the start, safety features were not needed in car design. Neither was it needed in a 401(k) account, but that is no longer true.

Here are some suggestions and things to watch out for:

1. Save automatically

Twenty five percent of eligible workers do not or decline to sign up for a 401(k) plan. Workers who do not sign up are risking their future. Plus, approximately $30 billion are left out in the form of company contributions.

If only a few rank-and-file workers participate, the higher-paid workers contributions are limited as stated in the IRS rules. An increasing number of companies have made 401(k) enrollment automatic. Employees can still choose to opt out.

Twenty five percent of large companies have employees automatically enrolled in the 401(k). Although, this would mean that many of the new employees are in a very conservative investment that may not be enough to beat inflation.

If you’re one of those higher-paid employees, you may want to move your money into a stock fund to take advantage of long term growth. You may also want too boost your contributions each year until you max out.

2. Simplify your investment

During the late 90s when the stock market was rising, providing workers with more investment choices was the rage. A few companies introduced new options and some offered ‘brokerage windows’ letting employees invest their 401(k) savings in an array of funds and stocks.

True-blue investors loved the choices and unfortunately drove up costs with the increased amount of trading. Majority of the workers didn’t make any choice at all.

If you don’t want to mess up your 401(k), simply tell your company to add a life-cycle or a target-maturity fund. You can also invest your savings in a balanced-fund option. A 60% stock to 40% fixed-income ratio is still a good choice.

3. Seek a low-cost alternative

Anomalies on mutual funds and awareness of high, hidden fees are making a few employers explore other forms of savings beside mutual funds. A commingled fund is an option that is available wherein the service provider combines small employer contributions to reduce costs.

The problem with commingled funds is that it isn’t publicly traded and investors usually have less information about how the money is invested. When your plan is offering mutual fund alternatives, make sure to compare costing for long and short term plans.

And finally make sure to claim your retirement savings contribution credit when you file your tax return.

The success of heirloom seeds

Looking around to buy heirloom seeds? Really important that an individual understands all of the prerequisites it takes to pick the correct type of seed for your garden. First thing you should do is making sure that your garden is substantial for the support of large capacity of various kinds of vegetables such as carrots, cucumber and tomatoes. Read some type of growers guide to obtain insight into the type of soil needed. You can now buy the needed seeds you like. Moreover, if you are in the Bay Area, then you can find seeds even less expensive, since as we all know bay area fashion and seeds go with each other like peanut butter and jelly. We observed that the largest majority of consumers are captivated in buying seeds are also most likely to fashion. There is certainly this unique strong bond with two different kinds of attraction groups that it works in proportion to each other.

Your Message Here