Dave's Tips On Goal Setting

It?s the start of the new year, which means it?s time to set goals.

?Wait,? you may be saying. ?The start of the new year? It?s almost September, for crying out loud!?

Exactly. Dave refers to this time on the calendar as the ?second new year.? The kids are back in school, and it?s a great time for a fresh start. Here?s what Dave had to say recently about the importance of goals on The Dave Ramsey Show.

Goals are empty with no dream behind them. They need fuel. Saying you want to save $1,000 is nice, but there?s no emotion behind it. Nothing is flaring up inside you and motivating you to attack. That changes when you combine your goal with your dream. Saving a thousand bucks so you can go on a big fancy vacation next spring puts that fire in your gut and gets you moving.

There?s a reason that the label on fireworks says ?light and get away.? Because when that wick starts burning, it?s about to blow! Combining your goal and your dream is like placing a match to a wick. Once it happens ? watch out.

Get excited about setting goals and take the first steps toward your dreams. The audio clip of Dave?s talk is a good place to start.

Click to hear Dave talk about goals.

 

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Source: http://www.daveramsey.com/article/daves-tips-on-goal-setting/lifeandmoney_goalsetting

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Nokia Bets It All on Mango

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Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) plans to stop selling feature phones and Symbian-based smartphones in North America to focus on selling handsets running Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT  ) Windows Phone. It's a risky move, but a narrowed focus might just be what Nokia needs.

Dumbphones: why bother?
Dumping feature phones -- the basic phone that makes calls, sends text messages, and takes the occasional photo -- makes a lot of sense. They don't have much of a future in the United States. The market for feature phones does still exist -- I'm still rocking one -- but it's shrinking. As of May, the number of mobile costumers using smartphones grew to 38%. And 55% of costumers purchasing new phones opted for smartphones, up from 34% a year earlier.

But even if feature phones weren't on the decline, their thin margins would make it hard to justify an investment in them. Ask any feature-phone owner why he or she chose that phone, and you'll probably be told that "it was the free one." I fall on the big-spender end of feature-phone ownership: For my current phone, I paid $65.

I'd think that with such a low top-end price on feature phones, and with no chance that the customer will tack on a pricey data plan, wireless carriers would place a limit on how much they're willing to pay manufacturers for giveaway handsets. Throw in the fact Nokia has never gained traction here -- its stateside feature-phone market share is dismal, and the category requires massive scale to achieve profitability -- and you can see why a feature-phone exit makes sense.

Why not join the Borg Collective?
Much like dumping feature phones, dropping Symbian is also a smart move. At last count, the OS is battling Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ  ) WebOs for fifth place in the market, with an underwhelming 2% of all smartphones sold. With so little ownership, and no other manufacturers using the OS, few developers would feel compelled to develop the apps that have become so important in attracting new users.

Google's Android has captured 40% of the market, so why wouldn't Nokia go that route? The short answer is that Android is too popular. To escape irrelevance, Nokia needs to do something to stand out. That's just not possible when it's going up against manufactures like Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI  ) and HTC. Even if Nokia made the best Android phone to date, it would still just blend in.

Although Windows Phone's current 5.8% market share doesn't inspire much confidence, I see a lot of potential. Mango, the system update expected to arrive this fall, has received glowing early reviews. Its integration with Office 365 and Xbox Live should form the foundations of an ecosystem similar to Apple's iOS.

A handful of manufacturers already make Windows phones, but they're almost throwaway devices --  cheap phones released to test the waters for the OS. Nothing stands out as a flagship device. By putting all of its resources in North America toward selling Windows Phones, Nokia could fill that gap. It could act like HTC, which helped establish Android as a viable operating system, and became the operating system's top manufacturer.

Foolish takeaway
In theory, Nokia's decision to focus on Windows-powered smartphones makes a lot of sense, but it's still a gamble. Everything depends on the first phones it releases. If the company can produce the phone that gets consumers excited about the operating system, that might be enough to make Nokia a competitor again.

If you want keep an eye on Nokia to see how its new strategy works out, add the stock to your watchlist, and we'll keep you up to date on all the latest developments.

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Source: http://feeds.fool.com/~r/usmf/foolwatch/~3/_rfcOhG0En8/nokia-bets-it-all-on-mango.aspx

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Choices To Consider If You Would Like To Prevent Bankruptcy

Occasionally bankruptcy is the very best choice for a person to take control of their finances, but in specific situations you will find other possibilities that really should be regarded as ahead of making the leap into a bankruptcy filing. These are a couple of of the alternatives which you can consider if you would [...]

Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2011/08/14/choices-to-consider-if-you-would-like-to-prevent-bankruptcy/

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Choices To Consider If You Would Like To Prevent Bankruptcy

Occasionally bankruptcy is the very best choice for a person to take control of their finances, but in specific situations you will find other possibilities that really should be regarded as ahead of making the leap into a bankruptcy filing. These are a couple of of the alternatives which you can consider if you would [...]

Source: http://www.legaldebthelponline.com/2011/08/14/choices-to-consider-if-you-would-like-to-prevent-bankruptcy/

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Three Beaten-Down Banks Poised To Drop Even Lower

Investor sentiment toward banking issues is still generally sanguine, creating potential trading opportunities for contrarian-minded bears. In this spirit, here is a closer look at sector peers PNC Financial Services (PNC), State Street Corporation (STT), and SunTrust Banks (STI).

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2011/08/12/three-beaten-down-banks-poised-to-drop-even-lower/

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IVA Or Bankruptcy: Which Is Best?

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When faced with serious debt problems you need to understand what options you have for getting out of the situation. Most people have some understanding of what bankruptcy means, but do you know what happens with an IVA? Find out what the main differences are and how an IVA actually works.

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Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6490969

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Sprint Punts on RIM's PlayBook

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Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM  ) PlayBook tablet suffered another blow as Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S  ) announced that it has canceled plans to sell a WiMAX-enabled version of the device. However, RIM responded to the news by saying that it is focusing its resources on LTE devices and international markets.

Sprint was the first U.S. operator to announce support for the device. In January, the carrier said it would sell a WiMAX-enabled version sometime this summer. However, in April, rumors spread that Sprint was postponing the launch indefinitely.

"It's an interesting concept; it just hasn't caught on with business customers," Paget Alves, president of Sprint's business markets group, told The Wall Street Journal in explaining Sprint's decision not to carry the PlayBook. He added that the tablet space is already crowded. Sprint noted that competition in the markets has increased from the likes of Motorola Mobility's (NYSE: MMI  ) Xoom and HTC's Evo View tablets.

In response to Sprint's announcement, RIM said it has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE. "We remain excited and committed to delivering innovative and powerful 4G tablets to the U.S. market together with our carrier partners," the company stated. "Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already under way and we plan to enter labs for network certifications in the U.S. and other international markets this fall." 

So far, RIM has not secured any U.S. operator for a cellular-enabled version of the PlayBook. Verizon Wireless has not committed to selling the PlayBook, and AT&T Mobility offers a Wi-Fi-only version of the PlayBook for a base price of $499. However, RIM's statement indicates that the company may be getting support from U.S. operators for a LTE-enabled version of the tablet. Verizon (NYSE: VZ  ) has launched LTE, and AT&T (NYSE: T  ) is planning to do so this summer.

A small bright spot for RIM: In July, after months of delay, AT&T announced that it would allow customers to access RIM's BlackBerry Bridge software, which allows PlayBook users to connect their tablet to their BlackBerry smartphone.

RIM launched the PlayBook in April, but the gadget met with tepid reviews. During RIM's fiscal first quarter, the company said it shipped 500,000 Wi-Fi enabled PlayBooks. Apple sold 9.3 million iPads during the same period.

This article originally published here. Get your wireless industry briefing here.

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Source: http://feeds.fool.com/~r/usmf/foolwatch/~3/lffDIP8O_1s/sprint-punts-on-rims-playbook.aspx

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Terrifying Video Of The Sugarland Concert Stage Collapse That Killed 5


sugarland

Five are dead, and at least 40 injured, following the collapse of a concert stage at the Indiana State Fair last night.

High winds assaulted the setup as fans waited for the band Sugarland to take the stage.

But before they did, the roof erected over the stage toppled, sending audience members stampeding away from it.

Video of the terrifying collapse below.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/YN7QsCGr_Fw/sugarland-2011-8

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