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South Korea has reached a significant financial milestone, with the country’s foreign reserves hitting a record high. This may be encouraging news to exporters in South Korea, who like exporters throughout Asia are currently facing the challenge of a slump in demand – but what exactly are foreign reserves, and how does this development affect South Korea’s global financial position?

About Foreign Reserves

Foreign exchange reserve (or forex reserve) is a term used to describe the total amount of foreign currency deposits and bonds held by a country’s financial authorities and central banks. The purpose of official foreign currency reserves is to ensure that a country’s central bank can purchase the domestic currency (despite the fact that it is considered a liability) and in so doing, stabilise that currency’s value. China is currently home to the world’s largest foreign exchange reserve; other top countries include Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Brazil. The latest rise in South Korea’s foreign reserves saw the country rise to seventh place in the global rankings at the end of January 2012.While the term foreign reserve strictly refers only to matters of foreign currency bonds and deposits, it is also more broadly used to refer to gold, position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and supplementary assets known as Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

About South Korea’s Foreign Reserves

South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves reached an impressive 315.8 billion dollars at the end of February 2012 –according to the Bank of Korea, this marks a 4.46-billion-dollar increase between January and February.

What is the cause of this phenomenal rise in South Korea’s foreign exchange reserves? BOK representatives say it is due to the country’s increasing investment profits, as well as the increased conversion value of South Korea’s non-dollar-denominated assets.How are the foreign reserves of South Korea (also known as the Republic of Korea or ROK) divided? The Bank of Korea reported that the reserves consist chiefly of:

• Securities – 289.5bn dollars

• Deposits – 179.7bn dollars

• Special Drawing Rights – 3.56bn dollars

• International Monetary Fund positions – 2.6bn dollars

• Gold bullion – 2.17bn dollars

Based on the figures above, it seems that the core foreign reserve assets – namely securities and deposits – have been the main contributing factors to the rise in the ROK foreign exchange reserves, followed by those included under the broader category of foreign reserves (SDR, IMF positions and gold).

Will the coming months see South Korea’s foreign reserves reaching even greater heights and rising up through the ranks among the top five, or even the top three? We’ll be paying close attention to foreign reserve developments in the ROK this quarter.

If you’ve got a pickup truck sitting in your driveway and need extra money, why not put it to work for you? As more people make the change to smaller, more economical cars, they have more of a need for people with trucks. Here are five great ways to make money with your pickup truck:

Help Someone Move

Have you ever watched a neighbor try to move, hauling carload after carload of stuff to their new house? It can take forever! Eventually, you’ll see a U-Haul show up in the driveway to help move the larger items like furniture and appliances. Why not offer your truck for the job?

Pickup trucks, especially those with larger beds, are great to use when moving house. Many people spend hundreds of dollars on moving vans.  Why not get some of that money for yourself? The next time a neighbor, family or friend is moving, offer them the use of your truck, for a small fee of course.

 Haul Dirt, Gravel or Mulch

With spring just around the corner, now is the perfect opportunity to hire your truck out to haul landscaping supplies. Chances are that you know someone who could use some help getting mulch from the nursery into their front yard.

Maybe you know someone who is putting in a sidewalk or driveway. There’s no doubt that this person would be more than happy to give you $50 to use your truck for the day! It will be far cheaper for them and easy money for you.

 Garage Sale Delivery

People announce their garage sales in the newspaper about a week in advance. If a phone number is provided, call the homeowner and offer your delivery services. Decide what you can fit in your truck and what you can reasonable move, and then set your fee. The benefit is twofold: people will be more apt to buy larger items if there is someone available to move them, putting more money in the pocket of the homeowner, and you’ll also make money delivering the goods.

Plow Snow

Turning your truck into a plow will take an initial outlay of cash, but you’d be surprised at how many people are willing to pay someone to plow their driveway in the winter. Install a plow onto the front of your truck and go visit your neighbors. Charge $20 per driveway, get five clients and you can easily make $100 on a snowy day. If you show up on time and do a good job, word will spread and you’ll be making more money than you can shake a stick at.

Transport Junk

Everyone has something sitting in their house that they don’t want anymore, simply because they don’t have the means to take it to the dump. Offer to take items to the town dump for a fee. You won’t be able to make a living out of doing this, but it can be a good way to make some money on the weekends or your days off.

If you decide to put your truck to use for you, there are some great ways to advertise. Put an ad in the newspaper, post an ad on Craigslist, or even hand out flyers around the neighborhood. Think of performing one or all of these services.  It can be a great way to make extra money each month with a vehicle that would otherwise be doing nothing but taking up space.

Author Dan Nielson is a contract electrician and blogs for trucksping.com, a site that specializes in suspensions for trucks. They have everything you need from replacing an air bag suspension to leveling kits.

If you are like most young adults, you are just starting out your professional career in your twenties. You may be considering how to get your career off to a great start and how to advance it so you can reach professional goals and aspirations. The last thing on your mind may be reaching the end of your career and retiring. Yet there are many reasons why young adults in their twenties should start saving today for retirement.

Increased Savings Over Time

There are so many stories today about people in their 40s and 50s who haven’t saved a penny for retirement. These are individuals who are forced to save large sums of money each month to make up for the last few decades that they did not save regularly. Saving smaller amounts over a longer period of time is easier on your budget than trying to save large sums of money later in life.

Maximizing Employer-Matching Contributions

If your employer has an employer-matching program in place, not taking advantage of that program is like throwing free money away. With these programs, your employer will match the amount of money you contribute to a retirement program up to a certain percentage.

Depending on your salary and the program your employer has in place, this may equate to hundreds and often thousands of dollars over the course of a year. Over time, this can add up to a very sizable amount of money. The longer you participate in such a program, the maximum your benefit will be from it.

Compound Growth

You may choose to save your money in an interest-bearing savings account, in mutual funds, in high-yield dividend stocks, or a mix of all of these. These options all provide growth opportunities for your money over time.

Through the benefits of compound growth on interest and dividend reinvestment programs, your money saved today will grow much faster over time than money invested at the age of 50. Saving early not only provides you with the opportunity to save money, but also for your money to grow more.

Fewer Financial Commitments

Many young adults think they will have more money to spend and save later in their working careers, and so they delay contributing to a retirement program or saving for the future. Young adults often do have credit card debt and student loans.

In your later years, though, you may have even greater expenses such as a home mortgage, the expense of children, and more. It is not uncommon for a person’s expenses to grow as their income grows. So getting in the habit of saving now is advantageous over delaying your savings efforts.

Improved Financial Security

Having money in a retirement account, in a savings account, in the stock market, and more improves your financial security. While there may be penalties for withdrawing money early from a retirement account, these are funds that can be used if you lose a job or face some other financial crisis.

Further, the recent economic crisis has taught us that it is best to save early and regularly. Many people in recent years were forced to delay their retirement plans until the recession ended, and this is particularly true of those who had counted on the stock market to grow at a steady rate as part of their retirement planning. When you save early and diversify your savings, you have a larger buffer against economic fluctuations.

There are many reasons why you should start saving early. Take time today to review your budget and establish a plan to save regularly each month.

Whether you’re a self-employed individual or the CEO of a corporation, it’s important to have reliable bookkeeping and accounting services. After all, there are myriad aspects of business that require accurate and detail-oriented bookkeeping. From taxes to general expense reports, a good accountant can make sure that your books are in order and that your bottom line is crystal clear. If you are seeking services for Southern California bookkeeping, San Diego is a great place to start, as several firms are likely to have the kind of expertise you require. Read on to learn three things to look for before hiring an accountant.

1) Complete Tax Filing & More

One of the things you want to be sure you have a handle on in business is your tax liability. The best bookkeeping firms should be able to make sure that everything is in order and ready to go when it comes time to file your taxes.

Tax services should include:

• payroll services

• sales and tax reporting

• expense reimbursements

• job costing

• inventory setup and management

• merchant account reconciliation

• Quickbooks setup and usage for streamlined tax preparation

• completion of your 1099s

Your accountant should be able to file your taxes via an electronic federal tax payment system. This can take the burden off your shoulders and free you up to focus on other pressing business issues.

Although taxes are important, your accountant should be able to help you with other financial matters, too. Expense reports, credit card reconciliation, budgeting and forecasting, as well as commission reporting, are just some of the many other business concerns that a bookkeeper should be able to tackle.

2) Experience

When choosing San Diego bookkeeping services, you want to be sure your business is in good hands. The best way to get accurate, thorough financial services is by choosing an accounting firm that has experience, like Allen Barron.

When it comes to accounting, every dollar is important. Accountants who have been in business for five to 10 years have been filing taxes and offering other services and advice for many kinds of companies and individuals, and thus have a wealth of experience. These kinds of individuals and firms would not stay in business if they didn’t consistently provide superb accounting and bookkeeping services. Thus, choosing experienced bookkeepers over startups can be your best bet when you can’t afford to take the gamble.

3) Convenience & Availability

Availability and convenience are also important when picking an accountant. You want to be able to reach your bookkeeping company whenever you have a question, comment or financial amendment to make. Companies that provide toll-free numbers, email addresses and physical addresses ensure that you can get in touch whenever necessary.

Go online today to find an experienced, accessible firm that can assist you with a full spectrum of financial considerations.

Payroll companies are one of the more popular services available to companies of all sizes.  Essentially, this type of partner takes over management of all the payroll functions, including providing an easy way to calculate wages and salaries for each of your employees.  Services of this type also take on the tasks of calculating taxes, withholding the right amounts and even making sure the money is sent on to the right tax agency.  Choosing to use a payroll provider instead of managing the process in house offers other benefits, some of which are directly related to the employees.

For business owners

Choosing to outsource the payroll can make a big difference to the bottom line.  Since there is no need to maintain full-time personnel to manage payroll functions, that helps to decrease company expenses.  Lower business expenses means more of the generated income is net profit, which is often the source that funds bonuses, commissions, and raises for employees.  Those savings also mean that the company can build more of a nest egg, which in turn means that employees can worry less about the company going out of business.

Since there is no in-house payroll team, that means the process of preparing the payroll is not slowed down by absenteeism or sickness.  There’s no need for another employee to take over and muddle through, while others try to cover his or her job responsibilities.  Outsource providers deal with that type of issue, and absorb the cost of making sure the weekly, biweekly, or monthly payroll is accurate and issued on time.  A bout of the flu going around the office does not mean anyone will be paid late.

Calculating and withholding taxes is a time consuming task, even for a small business

With a competent payroll service managing the job, all you have to do is make sure the money is on hand to pay the taxes.  The service prepares the forms and remits all the tax payments, including taxes withheld from employee wages and salary right along with the employer taxes.

Going with a service also means you always have access to the latest information regarding taxes and changes in payroll laws.  There’s no need to spend time and money making sure employees are up to date on these issues before they calculate a payroll, since the service is making sure their staff is constantly updated.

Employees often benefit from the use of a service simply because that typically means the option to enjoy direct deposit.  A competent service will ensure the payroll is calculated and the deposit is initiated in plenty of time for it to post to the employee’s checking or savings account without fail.  Many payroll service providers also offer online access to individual employee payroll accounts, allowing the employees to easily look up and even print data for tax purposes.

The right payroll service will take one concern off the shoulders of the business owner and make it possible to focus more on growing the company.  At the same time, the right service also makes life a lot easier for employees, since wages and salary are always received on time, taxes are calculated properly, and they can look at their payroll histories whenever they like.  Given that using a service is less expensive and also ensures access to fully qualified payroll professionals, looking into this option just makes sense.

Indie journalist Patrica H. Hugley frequently blogs about finances and payroll companies, this is one of her many great blogs – Enjoy!