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Who hasn’t been stung by a surprise overdraft charge? Judging by the sums banks are collecting in overdraft charges, it’s clearly a big problem, both for individuals and for small businesses. As a matter of fact, in 2017 Americans paid a total of $34 billion in overdraft charges. And that’s a lot of money.

There are two reasons for this large amount. First, millions of people pay overdraft charges for a range of avoidable reasons. Next, these charges have been increasing over the years. At the turn of the millennium, for example, they hovered around $20. But today, they’re commonly about $35.

Overdraft Charges Can Be Extremely Painful

An overdraft charge of $35 might seem harmless enough, but it really isn’t. The problem lies in the fact that the effective interest rate of a $35 overdraft fee is extremely high. Just spent $10 at the supermarket? The implied APR of a $35 charge is huge.

Where matters get far worse is when a checking account suffers from multiple overdraft charges. Let’s say you spent the day making several small payments with your debit card. Each payment can trigger a further overdraft fee, and you could end up with more than $100 dollars in overdraft charges just by making a couple of small payments.

Don’t Be a Victim

Consumers who get stung by high overdraft charges don’t necessarily find themselves in that position because they have no other choice. Instead, high overdraft charges are often the result of a degree of negligence from the side of the checking account holder.

Banks offer services such as “overdraft protection” because they know that their clients will fall into the trap of paying overdraft fees. However, as much as overdraft protection sounds like a way to save your finances, it is more likely to cost you significantly in the long run. But how can you avoid being a victim of high overdraft charges?

Act Quickly

We mentioned how repeated overdraft charges can quickly add up. The best way to ward off the worst effects of these fees is to make sure you correct a negative balance as quickly as possible.

First, ensure you get a warning: Enable any low balance alerts, and enable an overdraft alert if you have the option to do so. Alternatively, make sure you check your account balance regularly so that you spot when you have overdrawn your account, or if you are in danger of overdrawing it.

Next, react quickly when you overdraw your account so that you can prevent further overdraft charges. Transfer spare cash if you have cash available or consider borrowing to top up your checking account.

Plenty of overdraft apps can give you a small loan at low or even no cost. The Overdraft Apps site reviews all the popular overdraft apps. There’s a good chance one of these can help you out at a far lower cost than the cost of an actual overdraft.

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Plan Ahead

As we mentioned earlier in this article, banks know that checking account customers are lackadaisical about their financial management habits. And banks cash in on the resulting overdraft fees. However, it’s easy to steer clear of these fees.

Simply get better at financial planning. The key to preventing overdrafts lies in ensuring that you don’t spend more than your income. In fact, you should attempt to spend a bit less so that you can build a buffer of savings.

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A Final Word About Overdraft Charges

However, it’s not just cash flow planning that can save you from overdrafts. Consider opting out of your bank’s overdraft protection service. Sure, you could end up getting some transactions declined, but that’s not the end of the world.

If you really struggle with overdraft fees you could also choose to make use of a prepaid debit card instead of paying with your checking account debit card. With a prepaid card, you’ll simply get a transaction declined if you’re out of funds, instead of having an expensive overdraft charge.

There’s a huge difference between attending a trade show and being a trade
show exhibitor. If you’ve never stood on the other side of the booth, there are
some things you probably don’t know about the experience.

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The Lowdown on Being a Trade Show
Exhibitor

If you’ve never attended a trade show as a trade show exhibitor, you aren’t
fully aware of how catalytic trade shows can be for businesses that are
pursuing exposure, growth, and sales. Some of the key benefits of trade shows include:

Brand Exposure

For one, a trade show can enhance your brand’s exposure. Even if people don’t stop by your booth, they’ll still see your brand name or logo. And this is something that could influence a decision down the road.

Relationships

There’s a powerful networking component to trade shows that brands can
benefit from. Whether it’s a one-day event or a week-long show, rubbing
shoulders with others in the industry gives you a more powerful network.

Lead Generation

There’s nothing like being able to communicate and engage with your target
customers in a face-to-face manner. In terms of lead generation, this is like
tossing gasoline onto a simmering fire: It accelerates the process and improves
your chances of generating significant results.

Every business will have its own trade show experience, but it’s hard to
overlook these three benefits.

However, if you want to increase your chances of having a successful
experience, you need to be aware of what you’re getting yourself into.

Tips and Tricks for Being a Successful Trade Show
Exhibitor

Here are some tips and tricks that have been curated with the first-time
trade show exhibitor in mind:

1. Register Early

Try to register for a trade show as early as possible. Not only is there
limited space at most events, but you’ll also find early-bird pricing.
Moreover, this can be as much as 15 to 25 percent cheaper than standard
pricing. Furthermore, you’ll give yourself more time to plan and invest in
pre-trade-show marketing and promotion.

2. Choose a Good Location

The location of your booth at a trade show will have a direct effect on your
ability to engage people. At some trade shows, most booth spaces will be
created equal. However, at other shows, there’s a significant disparity between
the best and worst booths. Good booths are located near restrooms, concessions,
or points of entry. Bad booths are tucked away from the main avenues.

3. Design a Compelling Booth

Booth design is important for a number of reasons. First off, it helps you generate attention and bring people into your booth. Secondly, it allows you to articulate your branding and develop a specific emotional response. Be sure to invest
in quality trade show displays so that you’re able to use them over and
over again.

4. Staff the Right People

A compelling booth located in a conspicuous area will bring people into your booth. But once they’ve shown up, you need the right reps to interact with them and start the process of qualifying and converting leads. Choose people who are gregarious, experienced, and familiar with the ins and outs of your brand.

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5. Collect Information

You never want someone to visit your booth, interact with your reps, and walk away without leaving you their information. Moreover, it’s impossible to generate warm leads without having a system in place for collecting data. Even if it’s as simple as a name and email address on a note card, every trade show exhibitor needs a system.

6. Get Out and Network

Don’t spend all of your time sitting at your booth. Even if you’re
interacting with prospective customers, every trade show exhibitor has
additional responsibilities. So while your brand reps stay behind, go out and
network with other business leaders. This is a perfect opportunity to grow your
professional network and get a pulse on your industry as a whole. 

Sign Up for Your First Experience as a
Trade Show Exhibitor

Trade shows may or may not be extremely effective for your business. It all
depends on the industry you’re in, what your main focus is, and how your
customers move through the purchase process. However, you won’t know until you
try. Sign up
for a trade show this year and give it your best shot. There’s a lot to
like about being a trade show exhibitor!

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Are you considering turning to forex trading to raise funds for expanding your business? If so, you might have heard of forex trading robots. In this post we weigh their pros and cons.

Forex trading is considered one of the most versatile money-earning approaches. That’s because of the various trading styles and techniques it offers.

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For example, traders of all levels of competency and experience trade on the forex market. Fortunately, traders these days have the opportunity of benefiting from automated trading solutions. These automated alternatives can produce better results in less time than the manual approach to trading.

In this post, we’ll be unearthing the truth to find the best forex robot. Are you excited? Let’s get started!

What Are Forex Trading Robots?

According to Investopedia, forex trading robots—sometimes called “online expert advisors,” or EA’s—are computer-designed programs. They help traders determine whether to trade a particular currency pair at a given time.

A forex trading robot is a precisely programmed bit of software. These robots can work around the clock, seven days a week, with no interruptions.

Moreover, these robots are not affected by human emotions. Therefore, they tap the best possible market opportunities. Some of these opportunities are simply not possible with manual trading. However, are these automated solutions worth your trust and your money? In other words, are forex trading robots really safe? Let’s find out.

Forex Trading Robots Can Either Be Safe or Dangerous

Depending on your approach, forex robots can either be safe or dangerous. However, it takes a great deal of research to find the program that will place your trades accurately.

There is no denying that the idea of earning passive income while sitting back is appealing. But relying on the wrong software could result in big losses for your trading business.

Forex Trading Robots Are Safe If You’re Using the Right System

The profitability of the algorithms of forex trading robots mainly depends on the program you use. Generally speaking, these software programs are based on analyses of exchange rates.

A forex trading robot produces trading signals based on current market conditions. Its algorithm also takes past and present statistics about exchange rates and price fluctuations into account.

A forex trading robot places a trade once all a trader’s conditions are fulfilled.

But They Can Be Dangerous If You’re Using the Wrong System

Forex trading robots have significantly improved the forex trading scenario in recent years. However, the wrong program can be dangerous to your trading business. For example, a problem can arise when you choose a program that’s wrong for your trading style. For instance, if you’re into day trading and you pick software that’s best for scalping, you won’t get great returns.

Developers have not yet found a way to design all-inclusive forex trading robots. In other words, no one robot will be able to cater to all the requirements of every forex trader. Moreover, how these programs perform depends completely on how they are coded. Therefore, they deliver great results in trending markets but they fail in anomalous ones.

So it’s important to invest time in research and comparison. This is how to pick the right forex trading robot for your trading style and your business.

How to Pick the Right Robot

It’s important to pick the robot that
will work best for you. Here are some criteria to keep in mind.

1. Track the Performance

First and most important, check out different websites that measure the performance and profit factor for different trading robots. MyFXBook is a great resource for this step. It can help you track the performance and past results of different forex trading robots. It can help you to forecast each robot’s return on investment as well.

2. Read the Testimonials

Testimonials and reviews are yet another way to assess the credibility of a forex trading robot. Here, it can be a good idea to skim through third-party independent websites. This will give you the best chance of reading unbiased and honest reviews.

3. Ask Questions

You can also get in touch with the robot’s owner and clear your doubts before making a purchase. If you get quick and reliable answers to your questions, your decision will be easier.

4. Ask for a Free Trial

A free trial is a must, and it is certainly an important step. So always ask a vendor to provide a free trial. This way, you can see for yourself if a particular robot aligns with your trading style.

How to Know If a Robot Fits Your
Trading Style

One way to choose among the various robots is to backtest a particular robot before using it for actual trades. That is, you test the robot against historical data to find out how well it would have performed.

Even if you already own a particular program, it’s a good idea to backtest it every few months. You need to see whether or not it’s delivering consistent results.

Forex Trading Robots Are Here to Stay

We have tried to be impartial in this post. Most of all we wanted to convey the idea that forex robots are not going away anytime soon.

However, if you carefully select your forex trading robot, you can expect great returns. What’s more, thereafter you’ll be able to relax and watch your returns roll in. Happy trading!

PEO stands for “professional employer organization.” A PEO is an outsourcing firm that provides a variety of services to small and medium-sized business.

When would you need a PEO? Perhaps when your business has grown to a certain size, you might need to create new departments that you never needed before. For instance, you might find that you need a human resources department to help in the management of your staff and their salaries. This is where you might call on a PEO to help you out.

Do You Need PEO Services?

There might be other reasons, too. For example, you might decide that you need a PEO company if a key member of your staff is retiring and you want to outsource their duties instead of trying to replace that person.

Whatever the case, at some point in your business operations and growth you might find you need a PEO company for one reason or another. However, what should your criteria be, and how will you know when you have found the right one?

Well, in Pennsylvania as well as globally there are thousands of PEO companies. What’s more, when you search the Internet, you’ll see that you have plenty of choices.

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But how will you know which ones are trustworthy? Naturally, you’ll find genuine ones such as Digital Exits. However, there are many PEO companies that make claims they don’t fulfill. This makes it difficult for business owners to make a good decision.

According to the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NAPEO), the United States has more than 780 PEO’s. Keep in mind, however, that these are just the ones that have registered with that organization. There are other virtual PEO companies in Pennsylvania that have not been registered. Additionally, there are three things you should look for:

3 Things to Look for in a PEO Company

1. Accreditations and Certifications

Any prospective PEO company that wants to work with you should be accredited by the Employer Services Assurance Corporation (ESAC). They should also have the Employer Certification offered by the IRS.

If you choose a PEO company that has these two certifications, you will be assured of working with the best. That’s because fewer than a hundred PEO companies in the United States are registered with ESAC. Digital Exits is one such PEO company in Pennsylvania. What’s more, this company will work with you to ensure that they properly address your business goals.

2. Experience and Resources

Most PEO companies in Pennsylvania claim to have the experience and the necessary resources to support your business. However, you should look into the details to determine whether their claims are honest.

They should give you referrals and references so you can know how they dealt with other businesses. You will also need to ask questions that are relevant to your needs to see whether the solution they offer aligns with your goals.

3. How They Determine Their Fee

Most companies offering these services will charge based either on your growth or at a fixed rate.

If you choose a company that bases their PEO fee on a percentage of your payroll, be prepared for them to increase their fee as your payroll increases. Other companies base their fees on the number of employees you have.

Conclusion

There are other factors to look into before selecting a PEO company in Pennsylvania. These include the depth of experience that their employees have, which you should ask about. However, the criteria listed here should form the basis of your research.

If you’re having trouble deciding, just reach out to Digital Exits. They can save you the hassle of trying to find a great PEO company in Pennsylvania. That’s because they are one.

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