• By more thoughtful gifts
• Shop for birthdays and holidays only on sales through out the year (before the event)
• Take a home-packed lunch to work
• Avoid buying expensive food just to save time
• Pay off all debits as soon as possible
• Avoid expensive nights out
• Avoid expensive entertainment like movies
• Have home cooked meals
• Visit your library instead of buying books
• Avoid using petrol at all. (There is this thing called biking)
• Use coupons
• Shop on sales
• Spend less money than you earn
• Plan your finances
• Do not allow credit cards to start gathering interest
• Stop purchasing frivolous, impulse items
• Do not purchase non-essential items
• Find cheaper insurance
• Don't buy something just because it is on sale
• Go into town knowing what you are going to buy
• Buy generic, or non-name brand merchandise if quality is not important
• Drive used cars
• Do not buy the latest and greatest items
• Stop smoking
• Become a self sufficient hermit (might not apply)
• Hold garage sales
• Use public transport
• Buy used items
• Eat more veggies and less meat
• Never spend windfalls
• Never spend money that you are given.
• Haggle and barter to get prices down
• Do not buy from mail order catalogs or TV
• Avoid fees
• Clean your own car, clothes, house etc
• Fix the neighbors' car if she will paint your bathroom
• Live as if you never got a pay rise
• Have low cost pets
• Look around for cheaper prices
  

• In 1914, Western Union issued the first consumer credit card to preferred company customers as an offer of an array of special services.
• A large number of non-financial companies, including hotels, department stores and gas companies, issued credit cards to their customers in the first decades of the 20th century
• The Diners Club card was the first credit card to be accepted by different merchants in 1950
• In 1951, Franklin National Bank of Long Island, New York, issued a card that was accepted by local merchants, and soon approximately 100 other banks began to issue cards.
• In 1958 the Bank of America launched its BankAmericard program in Fresno, California. The card was an instant success.
• By 1965, the institution had already subscribed licensing agreements with a group of banks outside California, allowing them to issue BankAmericard. At the same time, another group of banks in Illinois joined forces in the U.S. East Coast to create Master Charge.
• By 1970, over 1,400 banks were offering BankAmericard or Master Charge cards, and bank cards were already generating US$3.8 billion in sales volume.
• In 1970, Bank of America gave up control of the BankAmericard program. BankAmericard Issuer banks took control of the program, creating National BankAmericard Inc. (NBI), an independent non-stock corporation, which would be in charge of managing, promoting and developing the BankAmericard system within the U.S.
• Outside the U.S., Bank of America continued to issue licenses to banks to issue BankAmericard. By 1972, licenses had been granted in 15 countries.
• In 1974, IBANCO, a multinational member corporation, was founded in order to manage the international BankAmericard program.
• In 1976 / 1977,NBI changed the BankAmericard name to Visa, retaining its distinctive blue, white and gold flag. The name Visa was a simple, memorable name that is pronounced the same way in every language. It is thought that this name change occurred as there was still reluctance to issue a card associated with Bank of America.
• In the 1980s with the rise of mail and telephone order transactions, merchants didn't have to see the actual card. Previously the cards were used only in a physical face-to-face transactions.
• In 1986, Visa began an affiliation with the PLUS ATM network, opening the way for cardholders to get easy access to cash. As the decade closed, more and more banks had started to issue debit cards, providing bank account holders with direct access to their money.
• In the 1990s, the technological revolution changed the traditional financial institution.

Now that you are reading this page, what made you come to this page? For most people, the mention of the word free in any title or headline grabs attention. There is something about getting something for nothing or 'free lunch' that seems to draw people, even if people have to jump through hoops to get it.

Free?

Recently a free seminar was offered in our area where all people that attended got a free meal. Although most people went thinking that they would not buy anything, it is amazing how a 90 minute seminar can change peoples opinions.
What really gets to me about some free offers is what people will do to get something for free. Quite a few people will think nothing is wrong with sitting through a 90 minute seminar to get a free meal. If the meal is only worth $10, you are in theory getting paid less for you time than the teenagers working in the local store.

Advertising with the word 'Free'

Recently I tried to work out which of 2 titles was the most effective at drawing people. The idea was to see if the word 'free' would really draw people by using the titles:

• Get paid to join a forum
• Join a forum and get a free iPod

What I found out was that the second title was a lot more effective. There was something about the word 'free' that make an offer seem more attractive than the word 'paid'. What this does show is that if you can use the word 'free' in any advertising, it seems to get a good response.

Free giveaways from Companies

One of the most well known companies for giving away products is Microsoft. As a ploy to get more people to use their Windows Operating System, Microsoft gives away as many products as it can. Their Internet Explorer Web Browser is free, and their development platforms are free or cheap to use. The reason that they do this is that they want to encourage as many people and companies as possible to use their products. Although they give Internet Explorer away for free, people need the Microsoft Windows Operating System to use it. This makes all of the giveaways from Microsoft into marketing ploys.

Making money from free giveaways

There are many ways that you can make money from giving away free items.

• Provide a free 'lite' or 'demo' version of your products
• Give away products when people refer other people to your products
• Make products free if they require another product of yours that they must buy.
• Provide free advice
• Provide free quotes
• Give away items that have advertising on them

"Credits cards are a convenience, not a crutch".

Credit cards are a great way to make purchases and record to the penny your spending. They also provide a way to postpone payment on items and thereby earn more interest on your money.

For example, if you have a money market account that gives you 5% annual interest and you spend $1000 a month through your credit card, you can keep that $1000 in your money market account for an additional month. At the end of a year you would have earned an additional $51.16 for doing nothing.

Now $51 may not be much but it's free!

Also you can use your credit card statements to keep track of exactly how much you are spending and where your money goes. With some credit cards you can use personal finance software to download your credit card transactions from the Internet right to your home computer.

Credit cards may actually save you money. Some people avoid making purchases if they do not have cash. Cash seems to "burn a hole" in our pockets, it just disappears. It is so easy to spend and it is right there. But a credit card takes more effort and you know that you have to pay the bill later that month.

Your credit card may also offer a rewards program where you get cash back, frequent flyer miles or discounts on services and merchandise.

Credit cards are convenient. Some purchases, especially those on the Internet, will only accept credit card payment. Also you don't have to continually go to the bank or ATM to get cash.

A credit card also provides a measure of safety. You don't have to carry large amounts of cash for large purchases. Even if your card or credit card number is stolen, you are not responsible for the thief's use of your card.

Credit cards can also be a crutch. Too many people see their credit limit not as the maximum amount of debt they can go into, but as an account full of money that they can spend.

Average household consumer credit balances have now topped $7000. The monthly interest charge for a credit card charging 18% interest is over $100. More than $1200 a year just in interest.

This interest is not like home mortgage interest that you can deduct from your taxes. You are paying an additional 15-36% on top of the $1200 for taxes on the interest you are charged. That brings your interest charge total up to $1400-1600 each year. Even more if your balance or interest rate is higher.

What is silly is that many people who are paying 18% interest rates on credit are also investing in a stock market that only averages 11%. Or worse, keeping money in money market, savings accounts or CDs that only pay .5-3%.

Want an investment that returns over 20%? Invest in paying down your debts. In the above example you can save over 20% with taxes factored in.

Many people have developed the habit of using their credit cards to buy what they want now and paying for it later. They then make only the minimum payments required. Often the minimum payment is set so that you only pay the monthly finance charge (interest) or just a small amount above it.

This will keep people paying that 18% rate for years. A $1000 purchase can end up costing $1500 when paid off after 5 years. Ironically many of these same people will wait months for a sale so that the item's price goes down 10-20% and then make a purchase on their credit card and end up giving the savings to the credit card company instead.

Sometimes the credit card can lead a person into living a lifestyle that is beyond their means. If a person gets in the habit of dining out two to three times a week and these meals are paid for by credit card, the card balance increases quickly. Often the additional expense was not planned or budgeted. People can even end up spending more each month than the actually earn.

This can continue as long as the credit card balance is below the limit and the person makes their regular monthly payments. But as soon as the credit limit is reached, many credit companies will increase the credit limit and give the person more room to get into debt. I have personally seen a credit card limit expanded by $10,000 within three months.

This cycle can continue until the person is required to make a minimum payment that is more than they can afford. Now not only do they have to cut back on the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to over the years, but they also have to either increase their income or cut out things they enjoyed before increasing their lifestyle with their credit card.

Also what happens if the person is suddenly out of work or has to take a pay cut or lower paying job. That's right, the credit card bills keep coming. And many people rely on the remainder of their credit limit to supplement their income until they are working again or can find a better paying job.

We have seen this cycle in America increase average credit card balances each year and eat up the equity in many people's homes. Home equity loans are used as credit cards to live a lifestyle that is beyond people's means. Or to purchase toys they really can't afford to buy let alone keep and use.

Or the home equity money is used to "pay off high interest credit card debt" as the ads suggest. But then people continue the habit of living off their credit cards and get right back into debt again.

So what is the answer to America's growing debt problem? Abolish credit cards? Nationally imposed credit limits?

How about a little old fashioned self-discipline? I know it's not in style anymore but it is still the best policy.

Bottom line: pay off your credit card balance each month. Don't buy something now and expect the big end of year bonus to pay off your credit card. Even if you do get it, you will probably spend it on something else.

Don't fall into the habit of living off your credit cards. If you have $1000 of disposable income to spend each month, whether through a credit card or in cash, only spend the $1000. Don't try to make up for extra expense this month by assuming you can catch up on your credit card payment next month. It won't happen.

If you have developed bad credit habits, cut up your credit cards, or only keep one for emergencies and resolve to pay off the balance each month. Then create a plan to get yourself out of debt and stick to it.

You can relieve stress, avoid family conflicts and sleep better at night knowing that there are no credit card wolves howling at your door.

Written by Simple Joe, Inc.

The interest rate that the issuer of a bond must pay is influenced by a variety of factors, such as current market interest rates, the length of the term and the credit worthiness of the issuer. Since these factors are likely to change over time, the market value of a bond can vary after it is issued.

The market price of a bond is the present value of all future interest and principal payments of the bond discounted at the bond's yield, or rate of return. The yield represents the current market interest rate for bonds with similar characteristics. The yield and price of a bond are inversely related so that when market interest rates rise, bond prices generally fall and vice versa.

The market price of a bond may include the accrued interest since the last coupon date (some bond markets include accrued interest in the trading price and others add it on explicitly after trading). The price including accrued interest is known as the "flat" or "tel quel price". (See also Accrual bond.)

The interest rate adjusted for the current price of the bond is called the "current yield" or "earnings yield" (this is the nominal yield multiplied by the par value and divided by the price).

Taking into account the expected capital gain or loss (the difference between the current price and the redemption value) gives the "redemption yield": roughly the current yield plus the capital gain (negative for loss) per year until redemption.

The relationship between yield and maturity for otherwise identical bonds is called a yield curve.

Infratil Limited is a New Zealand-based infrastructure investor. The Company, along with its subsidiaries, operates in four industries: investment in infrastructure and utility companies, airport, transportation and energy operations. The airport operations comprise the revenue and expenses associated with Infratil Limited's investments in Wellington International Airport Limited and Infratil Airports Europe Limited; transportation comprises the businesses of New Zealand Bus Limited and New Zealand Bus Finance Limited and subsidiaries, which was acquired by the Company on November 30, 2005, and the energy operations relate to Victoria Electricity Pty Limited and Infratil Energy Australia Pty Limited. On December 5, 2005, Infratil Limited acquired a 90% interest in Flughafen Lubeck GmbH (Lubeck Airport).

Thoughts

Infratil Limited has seen strong growth in the past few years and is making great effort to expand. It seems to be a reliable investment with moderate returns.

Share prices

The share prices for FPA can be found on the following sites:

• NZX
• Stockness Monster
• Findata

For some people who can not manage their money, credit cards can be a one way road to debt. When the high interest rate kicks in, it can take a lot of effort to break the debt cycle.

For others, credit cards can save money. It can be a way to:

• Rewards
• Saving on fees
• Invest money earlier
• Flatten out 'cash bumps'
• Easily make payments
• Save up to $15.20 on a $1000 purchase

The great thing about credit cards is that they can give you a month to pay for items without incurring any interest and the seller will pay for the transactions.

Rewards

Most good credit cards offer rewards for using them. The rewards may be in the form of air travel, store vouchers, gift certificates or in some cases, cash. The reward is often of about 1% of the value of what you spend on your credit card.

For people who pay off their credit cards before being hit with interest, these rewards can be a great bonus.

Saving on Fees

Eftpos transactions are pay for by you, the buyer. When you buy an item on Eftpos, the bank will deduct a transaction fee of about $0.20. Over time this can cost you quite a bit.

Credit cards are different as the transaction costs are paid for by the seller. When you use your credit card in a store, the store pays the $0.20 transaction fee for you. So already you credit card may be saving you money.

When some credit cards offer rewards worth 1% of what you spend, they are in theory giving you a card that will get you a 1% discount on any item in any store. That stereo no long will cost $100, but only $99. (Hey it makes a difference)

Invest money earlier

Credit cards give you one month after making a purchase before they start charging you interest. This means that when you spend $1000 while out shopping, the $1000 will not leave your savings account for another month. As long as you pay off your credit card in time, you can invest that $1000 and make $5 to $10 before paying.

Flatten out 'cash bumps'

Things never go according to plan. Unexpected bills come up and this can mean that we go over budget some months. The power of the credit card and one month interest free means that you have a month longer to figure out how to pay a bill. This means that when you pay for $1000 worth of repairs on your car, you are not going to have to pay for the repairs until next month.

Easily make payments

When it comes to making payments over the phone or Internet, no other payment is as simple as credit cards to pay. By only typing in or reading out a number, you can pay a store anywhere in the world. Easily make payments over the Internet and phone

Save up to $15.20 on a $1000 purchase

For a payment of $1000 on your credit card, you may save:

• $0.20 in transaction fees
• $10 by redeeming rewards
• $5 in interest from keeping $1000 in a high interest savings account

This means that suddenly your $1000 payment only cost you $984.8 and you have saved $15.20

In economics, there are various definitions for money, though it is now commonly considered to be any good or token that fulfills the money functions: to be a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. Some authors explicitly require money to be a standard of deferred payment, too. In common usage, money refers more specifically to currency, particularly the many circulating currencies with legal tender status; deposit accounts denominated in such currencies are also considered part of the money supply.

The use of money provides an alternative to bartering, which is often inefficient because it requires a coincidence of wants between traders. The emergence of some form of money is a natural market phenomenon observed repeatedly across civilizations and is not dependent on any central authority or government. Indeed, the division of labour in any but the most basic of forms cannot occur without it.

Commodity money

Commodity money was amongst the earliest forms of money to emerge. Under a commodity money system, the object used as money is actually useful in everyday life (has intrinsic value). It is usually adopted to simplify transactions in a barter economy; thus it functions first as a medium of exchange. It quickly begins functioning as a store of value, since holders of perishable goods can easily convert them into durable money.

Fiat money

Fiat money is a relatively modern invention. A central authority (government) creates a new money object that has negligible inherent value. The widespread acceptance of fiat money is most frequently enhanced by the central authority mandating the money's acceptance under penalty of law and demanding this money in payment of taxes or tribute. At various times in history, government-issued promissory notes have later become fiat currencies (e.g. US Dollar) and fiat currencies have gone on to become a form of commodity currency (e.g. Swiss Dinar).

Africa

Botswana

• Botswana Stock Exchange

Egypt

• Cairo & Alexandria Stock Exchange (CASE)

Ghana

• Ghana Stock Exchange

Kenya

• Nairobi Stock Exchange

Malawi

Mauritius

• The Stock Exchange of Mauritius

Morocco

• Casablanca Stock Exchange

Mozambique

• Maputo Stock Exchange

Namibia

• Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX)

Nigeria

• Nigerian Stock Exchange
• Abuja Stock Exchange

South Africa

• JSE Securities Exchange / Johannesburg Stock Exchange
• The South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX)

Swaziland

• Swaziland Stock Exchange (SSX)

Tanzania

• Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE)

Tunisia

• Bourse de Tunis

Uganda

• Uganda Securities Exchange (USE)

West Africa

• Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres

Zambia

• Lusaka Stock Exchange (LuSE)

Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

Australasia - Oceania

Australia

• Australia Pacific Exchange (APX)
• Australian Stock Exchange (ASX)
• Bendigo Stock Exchange (BSX)
• Newcastle Stock Exchange (NSX)
• Sydney Futures Exchange (SFE)

Fiji

• South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPSE), formerly the Suva Stock Exchange

New Zealand

• New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX)

Asia

Afghanistan

• Afghan Stock Exchange

Bahrain

• Bahrain Stock Exchange

Bangladesh

• Chittagong Stock Exchange
• Dhaka Stock Exchange

People's Republic of China

• Shanghai Metal Exchange
• Shanghai Stock Exchange
• Shenzhen Stock Exchange

Hong Kong

• Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK), precursor to Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing
• Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx)

India

• Ahmedabad Stock Exchange
• Bangalore Stock Exchange
• Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange Association
• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
• Calcutta Stock Exchange
• Cochin Stock Exchange
• Coimbatore Stock Exchange
• Delhi Stock Exchange Association
• Gauhati Stock Exchange
• Hyderabad Stock Exchange
• Inter-connected Stock Exchange of India
• Jaipur Stock Exchange
• Ludhiana Stock Exchange Association
• Madhya Pradesh Stock Exchange
• Madras Stock Exchange
• Mangalore Stock Exchange
• Mumbai Stock Exchange
• National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)
• OTC Exchange of India
• Pune Stock Exchange
• Saurashtra-Kutch Stock Exchange
• Uttar Pradesh Stock Association
• Vadodara Stock Exchange

Indonesia

• Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX)
• Surabaya Stock Exchange (SSX)
• Jakarta Futures Exchange (JFX)

Iran

• Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE)

Iraq

• Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX)

Israel

• Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE)

Japan

• Fukuoka Stock Exchange
• Hiroshima Stock Exchange(Merger wirh Tokyo Stock Exchange)
• JASDAQ
• Nagoya Stock Exchange (NSE)
• Niigata Stock Exchange(Merger wirh Tokyo Stock Exchange)
• Nippon New Market Hercules (Former Nasdaq Japan Market)
• Osaka Securities Exchange (OSE)
• Sapporo Stock Exchange
• Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE)

Jordan

• Amman Stock Exchange

Kazakhstan

• Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE)

Kuwait

• Kuwait Stock Exchange

Kyrgyzstan

• Kyrgyz Stock Exchange

Lebanon

• Beirut Stock Exchange

Malaysia

• Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (Bursa Malaysia) (KLSE)
• Kuala Lumpur Commodity Exchange
• Kuala Lumpur Options & Financial Futures Exchange
• MESDAQ

Mongolia

• Mongolian Stock Exchange

Nepal

• Nepal Stock Exchange

Oman

• Muscat Securities Market

Pakistan

• Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE)
• Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE)
• Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE)

Palestine

• Palestine Securities Exchange (PSE)

Philippines

• Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)

Saudi Arabia

• Saudi Arabia Electronic Securities Information System, precursor to Tadawul
• Tadawul

Singapore

• Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES), precursor to Singapore Exchange
• Singapore Exchange (SGX)

Sri Lanka

• Colombo Stock Exchange

South Korea

• Korea Stock Exchange
• KOSDAQ

Taiwan

• Taiwan Stock Exchange

Thailand

• Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET)
• Market for Alternative Investment (MAI)

Turkey

• Istanbul Stock Exchange

United Arab Emirates

• Abu Dhabi Securities Market
• Dubai Financial Market
• Dubai International Financial Exchange

Uzbekistan

• Tashkent Stock Exchange

Vietnam

• Vietnam Stock Exchange (VSE)
• Hanoi Stock Exchange (HOTSC)

Europe

Pan-European

• Euronext
• OMX Exchanges

Armenia

• Armenian Stock Exchange (Armex)

Austria

• Wiener B�Ã'¶rse

Azerbaijan

• Baku Stock Exchange

Belgium

• Euronext Brussels

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Banja Luka Stock Exchange
• Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE)

Bulgaria

• Bulgarian Stock Exchange

Channel Islands

• Channel Islands Stock Exchange

Croatia

• Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE)
• Vara�Ã'¾din Stock Exchange (VSE)

Cyprus

• Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE)

Czech Republic

• Prague Stock Exchange (PSE)

Denmark

• Copenhagen Stock Exchange (KFX), one of the OMX Exchanges

Estonia

• Tallinn Stock Exchange, one of the OMX Exchanges

Faroe Islands

• Faroese Securities Market, in cooperation with Iceland Stock Exchange

Finland

• Helsinki Stock Exchange, one of the OMX Exchanges

France

• Euronext Paris (CAC 40)

Georgia

• Georgian Stock Exchange (GSX)

Germany

• Berliner B�Ã'¶rse
• B�Ã'¶rse Hamburg
• B�Ã'¶rse M�Ã'¼nchen
• B�Ã'¶rse Stuttgart
• Eurex (Frankfurt-based; (owned by Deutsche B�Ã'¶rse and SWX)
• Frankfurt Stock Exchange (owned by Deutsche B�Ã'¶rse; Index: DAX)

Gibraltar

• Gibraltar Stock Exchange (GibEX)

Greece

• Athens Stock Exchange (General)

Hungary

• Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) In association with Wiener B�Ã'¶rse

Iceland

• Iceland Stock Exchange (Kauph�Ã'¶ll ��slands)

Ireland

• Irish Stock Exchange

Italy

• Borsa Italiana

Latvia

• Riga Stock Exchange, one of the OMX Exchanges

Lithuania

• Vilnius Stock Exchange, one of the OMX Exchanges

Luxembourg

• Luxembourg Stock Exchange

Macedonia

• Macedonia Stock Exchange

Malta

• Malta Stock Exchange

Montenegro

• Montenegro Stock Exchange
• NEX Stock Exchange

Netherlands

• Euronext Amsterdam (AEX index)

Norway'

• Oslo Stock Exchange

Portugal

• Euronext Lisbon (PSI-20)
• OPEX

Poland

• Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE)

Romania

• Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB - Bursa de Valori Bucure��ti)
• Rasdaq
• Sibiu Stock Exchange

Russia

• Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX)
• RTS Stock Exchange
• Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange (SPBEX)

Serbia

• Belgrade Stock Exchange (BELEX)

Slovakia

• Bratislava Stock Exchange (BSSE)

Slovenia

• Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE)

Spain

• Madrid Stock Exchange

Sweden

• Nordic Growth Market
• Stockholm Stock Exchange, one of the OMX Exchanges

Switzerland

• SWX Swiss Exchange
• Bern eXchange (BX)

Turkey

• Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE)

Ukraine

• PFTS Ukraine Stock Exchange

United Kingdom

• London Stock Exchange (FTSE 100 Index)

North America

Bahamas

• Bahamas Securities Exchange

Barbados

• Barbados Stock Exchange (BSE)

Bermuda

• Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX)

Canada

• Alberta Stock Exchange (ASE)
• Canadian Venture Exchange
• CNQ
• Montreal Curb Market/Canadian Stock Exchange
• Nasdaq Canada
• Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE), TSX is the main index of TSE
• TSX Venture Exchange
• Vancouver Stock Exchange
• Winnipeg Stock Exchange

Cayman Islands

• Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX)

Dominican Republic

• Bolsa de Valores de la Rep�Ã'ºblica Dominicana

Eastern Caribbean

• Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE)

Jamaica

• Jamaica Stock Exchange

Mexico

• Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV)

Nicaragua

• Bolsa de Valores de Nicaragua

Trinidad and Tobago

• Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange

United States of America

• Archipelago Exchange, merged with NYSE
• Arizona Stock Exchange, closed down
• American Stock Exchange (AMEX)
• Boston Stock Exchange
• Chicago Stock Exchange
• HedgeSteet
• NASDAQ
• National Stock Exchange (formerly the Cincinnati Stock Exchange)
• New York Board of Trade
• New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), merged with Archipelago Holdings
• Pacific Exchange (PCX), taken over by Archipelago Holdings
• Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX)
• Rana stock exchange

South America

Argentina

• Buenos Aires Stock Exchange (MERVAL)

Brazil

• Bovespa (State of S�Ã'£o Paulo Stock Exchange)
• Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange (BVRJ)
• Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange (BM&F)
• Maring�Ã'¡ Mercantile and Futures Exchange

Chile

• Santiago Stock Exchange

Colombia

• Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC)

Guyana

• Guyana Stock Exchange

Peru

• Bolsa de Valores de Lima

Venezuela

• Bolsa de Valores de Caracas (Caracas Stock Exchange) (BVC)

Google AdSense, Google's advertising program that lets webmasters display ads from Google's extensive list of advertisers, has taken the Internet by storm. Through this successful program, unobtrusive text-based ads are served in member sites, who then earn a commission every time someone clicks on the advertisers' links.

At this point in time, the jury is still out on whether this program will continue to enjoy its initial success. That is why, through this article, we want to give you some highlights and insights on how the Google Adsense program has worked for us, one month after we signed up for it, so that we can use it as a checkpoint for future analysis.

Why is Google AdSense so Popular?

Google AdSense uses Google's proprietary PageRank™ search technology to deliver ads that are highly relevant to the content of a page. Since Google assigns a PageRank™ only to pages listed in its index, the page must first be listed in Google before relevant ads can be displayed (if the page is not in the Google index, Google will display public service ads, for which no commissions will be accrued).

Running Google AdSense is simple and straightforward: Google gives you a snippet of HTML code that you can paste in the desired location on your page, and the ads start appearing immediately after you upload the changes to your server.

However, Google AdSense's main claim to fame is that, by displaying text-based ads, it is able to deliver much higher click-through rates than traditional graphic banner ads. As usability studies have widely shown, users are already conditioned to ignore banner ads (or anything else that looks like them). As a result, banner ad click-through rates have dropped below a dismal 0.5% (in other words, it takes 200 page views, on average, to get someone to click ona banner ad).

By using text based ads instead of graphic banners, Google has been able to overcome banner ad blindness, delivering click-through rates that are much higher than the industry's average (some put the figure around the 1.5% mark, twice the averge of banner adds).

How much can you expect to earn by running Google Ads on your site?

The pay-off per click varies widely depending on what each advertiser decides to offer, based on the profitability of their products and their expected conversion rate (percentage of clicks that deliver a sale). Google is not saying what the average pay-off is, but they are normally good, but vary widely.

For a typical site it is not enough to get rich, but a nice extra income nevertheless, that you can use to pay for your domain name and hosting costs, and then some.

Will Google's AdSense continue to be successful?

This is the big question, and nobody has a definite answer yet.

On the downside:

• The program will most likely face strong competition from other search engines in the near future.
• The proliferation of text based ads could make users "text-ad blind" the same way as they have already become "banner-ad blind", causing click-through rates to drop.
• There is always the potential for abuse, since some unscrupulous program members may violate the program's rules and click on their own ads, inflating the advertisers' click-through rate and forcing them to decrease their pay-off per click.

On the positive side, I believe that Google AdSense's success is not only due to the fact that they deliver text based ads instead of banners, but because those ads are served by Google. The credibility and brand equity that Google enjoys is huge, and I expect them to continue to beat other search engines and advertising networks that may eventually jump on the bandwagon.

However, it is reasonable to expect at least a slight decrease in click-through rates and pay-off as a result of the increased competition.

Mario Sanchez.

Apart from the obvious ways of making money online like selling stock items, there is also a financially safer way turn a website that is in the RED to being in the BLACK. This well known way is using affiliate programs.

The simple way to describe an affiliate program is that it is an arrangement with another site to receive a commission for marketing their products and sending traffic to their site. The amount paid could be based on the amount of traffic sent to the merchant's site or the amount of sales the traffic send make.

Order of events

1. Customer visits your site
2. Customer clicks link on your site and goes to merchant's site.
3. Merchant makes money from Customer
4. Merchant pays you a commission

This shows that there are at least three parties in an affiliate program transaction:

• The customer
• The affiliate site (you)
• The merchant site

Types of affiliate program payment arrangements

• Paid-per-sale (also called cost-per-sale)
  An example of this is Amazon.com's affiliate program. When a customer that visited your site, purchases something at Amazon, you are paid a percentage of the profit or a set amount.
   
• Paid-per-click (cost-per-click)
  In these programs, the merchant site pays you based on the number of visitors who click on a link on your site to come to the merchant's site. They don't have to buy anything, and it doesn't matter to you what a visitor does once he gets to the merchant's site.
   
• Paid-per-lead (cost-per-lead):
  Companies with these programs pay you based on the number of visitors you refer that sign up as leads. This simply means the visitor fills out some requested information at the merchant site, which the merchant site may use as a sales lead or sell to another company as a sales lead.
   
• There are many more as you could be paid really on any action of your visitors, but these tend to be the best and most reliable.

Affiliate Networks

Affiliate networks, or "affiliate brokers," act as mediators between affiliates and merchant Web sites with affiliate programs. They track all activity, arrange all payment, and help affiliates set up the necessary links on their Web site.

Linking Methods

There are many ways to link to a merchant site, some are better than others.

• Text links
  The advantage of text links in an affiliate program is they are ingrained in the content of your site and so don't look so much like advertisements. For a lot of affiliate sites, this is the most natural way to link to the merchant site.

   

• Banner links
  These links appear as boxes, usually containing words and some sort of graphic element. They may be the best choice when you think a text link doesn't do enough to attract visitors.

   

• Search box
  This type of link allows visitors to search an online database on another site. The results of the search are links to other pages on the site.

When it first when online, RaboPlus bank had $500 million under its care within a few months and it has not stopped there. It has forced a shake up in the New Zealand banking industry and is a significant threat to the other banks. It has pushed with:

• First New Zealand banking service to offer direct online access to managed funds
• Accounts with no fees
• Most competitive interest rates in New Zealand

As RaboPlus has the best rating possible and offers brilliant interest rates, people would be stupid and ignorant to have any spare cash sitting in bank accounts instead.

RaboPlus is a division of Rabobank New Zealand Ltd., part of the international Rabobank Group, the world's leading specialist in food and agribusiness banking. Rabobank has more than 100 years’ experience providing customised banking and finance solutions to businesses involved in all aspects of food and agribusiness. 

Rabobank is the only privately-owned bank in the world with the highest possible credit ratings from both Standard & Poor's (AAA) and Moody's Investor Service (Aaa), and is ranked the world's third safest bank by Global Finance magazine. Rabobank operates in 38 countries, servicing the needs of more than nine million clients worldwide through a network of more than 1500 offices and branches. Rabobank is the 15th largest bank in the world based on tier one capital. 

In New Zealand Rabobank employs 208 staff across 28 branches to service its rural clients. Thirteen staff, including a Wellington based call centre, support RaboPlus customers.

KiwiBank Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of the state-owned enterprise New Zealand Post Limited. Through KiwiBank, New Zealand Post provides banking services through its PostShops (post offices) and joint venture Books & More outlets around New Zealand. Hence KiwiBank has the most extensive network of branches out of all banks operating in New Zealand.

KiwiBank started claiming to offer low-cost banking to those apparently not served well by the existing, mostly Australian-owned, banks. KiwiBank advertised itself as New Zealand-owned, with a larger branch network than any other bank. Initially offering low-cost banking only to individuals, KiwiBank has introduced business banking progressively through 2005.

Banking only to individuals was a significant field of controversy in the bank's early days, as it excluded small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). These small businesses form the backbone of the economies of most developed countries.

The bank was initiated as part of Alliance Party policy in the 1999-2002 Labour-Alliance coalition government. Many politicians were critical of the decision to set up KiwiBank and it was widely predicted KiwiBank could never be profitable.

In September 2005, the fledgling bank surprised some critics by posting a maiden full year profit of $7.2 million. Though most of the banks profitable revenue came from over the counter financial services (such as bill paying) that were pre-exisiting services offered by NZ Post before the establishment of KiwiBank.

KiwiBank has topped customer satisfaction surveys, matching TSB Bank, another New Zealand (though not state) owned bank.

Some people do not like the idea of KiwiBank, saying that their rates are not as low as the could be and take money away from common New Zealanders. The difference about KiwiBank is that this money now goes to the Government instead of off-shore.

ASB Bank is one of New Zealand's largest banks, with branches throughout the country. It also has insurance and securities arms. It is a subsidiary of Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

ASB Bank also operates BankDirect, a branchless banking service that provides service via phone, Internet, eftpos and ATMs only.

History

ASB Bank began in 1847 as the Auckland Savings Bank. During the 1980s the association of savings banks amalgamated the local savings banks throughout New Zealand with ASB at their head, and adopted the name ASB Trust Bank - a name which suffers from RAS syndrome. In 1986, ASB withdrew from the Trust Bank and in 1987 became a fully-fledged commercial bank simply to be known as ASB Bank. In 1988, the Government passed the Trustee Banks Restructuring Act, which enabled ASB to become a public company. In 1989, the ASB Bank Community Trust, the owner of the bank, sold 75 per cent of the shares to Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the Australian government-owned bank. In 1994, ASB Bank amalgamated Westland Bank, its wholly owned subsidiary, which enabled it to operate on a truly national basis. In 1999, ASB acquired Sovereign Limited, a life insurance company, and the retail stockbroking and fixed income operations of Warburg Dillon Read. In 2000, Commonwealth Bank bought the remaining 25 per cent of ASB's shares from the Trust.

There are so many ways to save money, and the least effective one is finding things on sale. We have to learn how to find and use what we already have. It's a talent lost in our present culture of wanting more. Find a few ideas below to stimulate your own creativity to do what fits for your own family and household.

We have been recycling paper for many years, as many others have, but we've found that most folks don't think about using the paper before recycling it. Do you realize how much junk mail passes through the home or office that has printing only on one side? We keep it and use it in our printers. Most of what we print is for ourselves and for our files, so we save having to buy reams of paper.

We also do this when we print something for somebody else that we know, so it will be a topic for conversation, which gives us the chance to teach that recycling and concern for the environment is important....and that frugality can be fun and not embarrassing. We set the example and that opens the doorway to teach that it's okay to choose voluntary simplicity instead of "keeping up with the neighbors."

While we're discussing paper for printers, you must check out the refill options for those ink cartridges... it's much too expensive to keep buying new ones.

We also save all those envelopes included in junk mail. It costs more for a label than it does for an envelope, so it's not frugal to use them in place of envelopes for mailing and the post office doesn't like it either. However, we've used envelopes for sorting things, dropping off a night deposit at the bank, passing a note or a check payment to somebody. We cross off the address with a squiggly, creative flair and write the name of the person we are giving it to. You can file cancelled checks in them, or coupons by different categories. I'm sure you'll think of more uses for them. This also sends a message of "waste not, want not" to our nation of in-debt families.

If you like spiral notebooks because of the hard surface, find a pocket portfolio and put junk mail in it to use. It's actually nicer than the spiral since you can arrange the papers/notes in any order you want and still have them orderly in the portfolio.

We never buy note paper. We have little boxes sitting by the telephones and put any scraps of paper that we find with a clean side up to write on. You can lay sheets by the phone and while you're on one of those long conversations, you can tear them into note size making good use of your time while listening to a friend.

Some paper isn't the right size for a printer. There are all kinds of different scraps of paper to provide for your note paper box: extra deposit slips, the backs of receipts, small junk mail envelopes, the backing on check pads, etc. Just begin the process and you'll find many opportunities for free paper and you'll feel good about saving money and trees. Feel good using some of the junk mail instead of just recycling it!

Do you know that many people have eliminated trash pickup by recycling garbage in a compost pile and recycling almost everything else they use. You can keep a large trash can outside with a plastic bag inside that will take a month to fill... and then you can haul it off to the community dumpster which is free, or take it to the landfill yourself, thereby eliminating trash pickup fees which have really become high in most towns.

Since we decided Voluntary Simplicity is the way for us, we have also been concerned about being frugal with the environment. That has required some choices where we had to choose between frugalities for conservation reasons or the pocketbook. It's been an interesting journey which began when I read the following: "If every household in the US replaced just one roll of 500 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissues with 100% recycled ones we could save: 297,000 trees, 1.2 million cubic feet of landfill space (equal to 1400 full garbage trucks), and 122 million gallons of water (a year's supply for 3500 families of 4)" It doesn't take much to make a difference!

We began using recycled toilet paper, tissues, napkins and paper towels. They cost a little more, but somehow they give us a really deep feeling of satisfaction for helping the world God made for us to enjoy. Most recycled papers are not bleached with chlorine which is beneficial to the environment and our health also. I like the absence of dyes and fragrances, yet another elimination of chemicals in our homes. The toxicity of our environment does not go unnoticed by our physical bodies since research has shown that as chemicals increase so does cancer.

Since we use herbs and vitamins we make sure we recycle those bottles, but first we like to use them for something. We enjoy making snacks from dried fruits and nuts, so we use the bottles for them instead of plastic baggies. You can use them for many things if you get a little creative. Our herb bottles have a 2" wide opening, so they're great to put in drawers to organize paper clips, tacks, rubber bands, buttons, etc. and can be used for pencil holders and flower pots for beginning seeds.

You not only feel good about doing more with what you have, but you'll be surprised at how much more time and money you have when you don't have to spend gas and time shopping. You'll also find that you can reduce your car insurance if you put fewer miles on your car each year.

I firmly believe one of the main reasons the lives of our ancestors were so much more peaceful is because they didn't shop every day or week. Get rid of the "have it now" mentality and make lists of what you need. Schedule a time weekly at first and eventually less often to shop. It will happen automatically as you stir your creativity to find things you can substitute that are already in your home.

Let's allow our minds to become creative again as they were in older days when "things" weren't so available and our nation didn't have a disposable mentality. Frugality begins in finding use of the things we already have in our possession, not just saving money on obtaining more things.

Make your money last longer - you can have more fun times with your family, and you can give more to the organizations for which your heart cries. 

One of the most important parts of 'playing the market' is researching companies.

Instructions

• STEP 1: Obtain corporate financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You can get such documents without charge via www.freeedgar.com.
• STEP 2: Analyze quarterly statements covering two or three years, noting trends in earnings per share and revenue.
• STEP 3: Look for a trend of consistent growth in earnings per share.
• STEP 4: Calculate the company's price-earnings (PE) ratio, a measure of a stock's value. (Divide the stock price by annual earnings per share.)
• STEP 5: Compare the PE ratio with industry norms and with the S&P 500's ratio. The lower the ratio, the less expensive the stock is relative to earnings.
• STEP 6: Beware of debt. Check out the company's balance sheet, looking for the extent of its long-term debt.
• STEP 7: Check cash flow - the movement of cash through the company. You'll want the company to have positive cash flow.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure the company isn't giving short shrift to its research and development budget.
• Calculate a sales-per-employee figure and compare the company with its competitors.
• Assess management. Find out where managers worked before they joined the company by reading proxy statements, registration statements and annual reports.

Saving money when you're young age is an important lesson. All good lessons and habits begin early, and saving is a skill that everyone needs. Many people - adults included - do not have a good sense of saving for the long run. Besides being a great way to ensure you have enough money for your old age, saving money when you are young can only help your future.

I have been lucky to learn this lesson early because I have had a lawn business since I was ten years old. Of the money I make, I spend approximately ten percent and save the other ninety.

Making sure you don't spend too much and continuing to save is a good way to accumulate wealth. I have put my earnings in a bank, and with investments and regular interest rates, have almost doubled my savings. Your money will double after twelve years at a modest rate of six percent interest. Many teens I know spend all the money they earn so it never has a chance to grow.

Teens should realize that now is a prime time to begin saving. In high school many parents pay for almost everything, so expenses can be small. If you have a job, you should have fun with some of the money. But you should also save some so that it will grow for you without your working, and begin planning for your future. When you spend money, you not only lose that money, but also the interest you could have accumulated by saving it.

After high school, college is expensive and then "real" life begins, with expenses such as food and rent. If you can hold onto a good portion of the money you earn as a teen, going to college and buying a house will be much easier. The earlier you begin saving, the more time the money has to grow.

If you are in your thirties without any savings, you will always have to play catch up. If you can just save $100 a month for five years at a ten percent interest rate, that money will be worth $7,750 in five years. After 25 years continuing to save $100 each month, your savings will be worth $132,000. These statistics show that the earlier you begin saving the easier it is to create a nest egg.

Later in life it can be hard to start saving because life is more expensive and you may only have enough to pay your bills. If you want to buy a house and have a family, you need capital, which comes from savings.

Many say money cannot make you happy (which is true), but money can help you lead a stable life.

Saving early will mean you will have to work fewer years when you are older and allow you to spend time doing things you want. You also want to be financially secure so you can live the way you want without worrying. Also, you will be able to retire at a reasonable age.

Think: if you have two million dollars capital when you retire, that money growing at a modest five percent annual interest rate will produce an income of $100,000 a year without you working an hour. That is without even mentioning the possibilities of wise investing in the stock market or mutual funds, where sometimes you can increase your capital by a hundred percent!

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974), also known simply as Duke (see Jazz royalty), was an American jazz composer, pianist, and bandleader.

Many regard Duke Ellington as the most important figure to emerge from the U.S. jazz scene in the twentieth century, although Ellington himself might have quibbled with the description, as he was reluctant to describe his work as anything more specific than "music". The word jazz was too narrow for Ellington, a man whose greatest compliment was to describe others who had impressed him as "beyond category".

Indeed, Ellington has proved to be enigmatic, slipping through the easy classifications of biographers. Musicians run into much the same kind of problem when dealing with Ellington's compositions. Musically, he wore many hats, and he could never settle on just one.

Through the ranks of Duke Ellington's Orchestra passed some of the biggest names in jazz, including Johnny Hodges, Cootie Williams, Bubber Miley, Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, Barney Bigard, Ben Webster, Harry Carney, Juan Tizol, Sonny Greer, Otto Hardwick, Clark Terry, Jimmy Blanton, Lawrence Brown, Ray Nance, Paul Gonsalves, Wellman Braud, and William "Cat" Anderson.

Many of these musicians played in Ellington's orchestra for decades, and while most were noteworthy in their own right, it was Ellington's musical genius that melded them into one of the most well-known orchestral units in the history of jazz. His compositions were often written specifically for the style and skills of these individuals, such as "Jeep's Blues" for Johnny Hodges, and "The Mooche" for Tricky Sam Nanton. He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan" and "Perdido", which brought the "Spanish Tinge" to modern big-band jazz.

Ellington was one of the twentieth century's best-known African-American celebrities. He recorded for many American record companies, and appeared in several films. Ellington and his orchestra toured the whole of the United States and Europe regularly before World War II. After the war, they continued to travel widely internationally.

Early life

Duke's father, James Edward Ellington, born in Lincolnton, North Carolina on April 15, 1879, was the son of a former slave. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1886 with his family. Ellington was born to J.E. and Daisy Kennedy Ellington at 2129 Ward Place NW (the home of his maternal grandparents) in Washington D.C. J.E. made blueprints for the United States Navy; he also worked as a White House butler for additional income. Daisy and J.E. were both piano players, and at the age of seven or eight Ellington began taking piano lessons from a Mrs. Clinkscales who lived at 1212 Street NW (the address erroneously, but commonly, given as his childhood home).

In his autobiography, Ellington claims he missed more lessons than he went to, feeling that the piano was not his talent. Over time, this would change. Ellington sneaked into Frank Holiday's Poolroom at fourteen and began to gain a greater respect for music. Hearing a mentor play the piano ignited Ellington's love for the instrument and he began to take his piano studies seriously.

He began performing professionally at the age of seventeen. Instead of going to an academically-oriented high school, he attended Armstrong Manual Training School to study commercial art. Three months before he was to graduate, he left school to pursue his interest in music. He never made broad claims for his piano playing, saying that many Washington piano teachers were better. The British pianist Stan Tracey has countered this by claiming that Ellington 'had chops', but often chose to focus on the melody that sprung from a number rather that show off his technical ability.

Early career

Ellington's band by now had become a large orchestra and the ranks had been filled by many men who would become famous in their own right. Trumpeter Bubber Miley was the first major soloist, an early experimenter in jazz trumpet growling. Miley is credited with morphing the band's style from rigid dance instrumentation to a more "New Orleans", or earthy style. An alcoholic, Miley had to leave the band before they gained wider notoriety, and died in 1930 at the age of twenty-eight. Johnny Hodges joined the orchestra in 1928 and stayed until his death in 1970, except for two brief sabbaticals. Hodges became the band's undisputed leading soloist, the king of romantic alto saxophone ballads with his swooning, creamy style remaining influential for years.

Barney Bigard, formerly a member of King Oliver's band, was a master of New Orleans jazz clarinet and stayed with the band for twelve years. Harry Carney was one of the original innovators of the baritone saxophone, winning each Downbeat magazine poll until the emergence of Gerry Mulligan. Carney, who also pioneered circular breathing, was the longest lasting member of the orchestra, joining in 1927 and remaining with the group until his death in 1974 (just several months after Ellington's). Lawrence Brown brought a buttery, elegant trombone style that conflicted with that of Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton, who was the originator of many unique trombone stylings, most notably the plunger mute technique. Filling out the rhythm section* were Ellington's childhood friend Sonny Greer, who stayed with the unit until 1950, and guitarist Fred Guy.

The 1930s saw Ellington's popularity continue to increase, largely a result of the promotional skills of Duke's manager Irving Mills, who got more than his fair share of co-composer credits out of the deal. Ellington would finally break with Mills in 1937.

While their United States audience remained mainly African-American in this period, though the Cotton Club had a near exclusive white clientele, a 1934 trip to Europe showed that the band had a huge following overseas. At home, meanwhile, Mills arranged a private train just for the band, so that they would not have to suffer the indignities of segregated accommodations while touring the South.

Ellington in the 1940s

The band reached a creative peak in the early 1940s, when Ellington wrote for an orchestra of distinctive voices and displayed tremendous creativity. Some of the musicians created a sensation in their own right. The short-lived Jimmy Blanton transformed the use of the double bass in jazz, allowing it to function as a solo rather thana rhythm instrument alone. Ben Webster too, the Orchestra's first regular tenor saxophonist, started a rivalry with Johnny Hodges as the Orchestra's foremost voice in the sax section. Ray Nance joined in, replacing Cootie Williams who had "defected", contemporary wags claimed, to Benny Goodman. Nance, however, added violin to the instrumental colours Ellington had at his disposal. A recording of Nance's first concert date, at Fargo, North Dakota, in November 1940, is probably the most effective display of the band at the peak of its powers during this period.

Three-minute masterpieces flowed from the minds of Ellington, Billy Strayhorn (from 1939), Duke's son Mercer Ellington, and members of the Orchestra. "Cottontail", "Mainstem", "Harlem Airshaft", "Streets of New York" and dozens of others date from this period.

Ellington's long-term aim became to extend the jazz form from the three-minute limit of the 78 rpm record side, of which he was an acknowledged master. He had composed and recorded "Creole Rhapsody" as early as 1931, but it was not until the 1940s that this became a regular feature of Ellington's work. In this, he was helped by Strayhorn, who had enjoyed a more thorough training in the forms associated with classical music than Ellington himself. The first of these, "Black, Brown, and Beige" (1943), was dedicated to telling the story of African-Americans, the place of slavery, and the church in their history. Unfortunately, starting a regular pattern, Ellington's longer works were not well received; Jump for Joy, an earlier musical, closed after only six performances in 1941.

In 1951, Ellington suffered a major loss of personnel, with Sonny Greer, Lawrence Brown, and most significantly, Johnny Hodges leaving to pursue other ventures.

Revival of his career

Ellington's appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 7, 1956, was to return him to wider prominence. The feature "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", with saxophonist Paul Gonsalves's six-minute saxophone solo, had been in the band's book for a while, but on this occasion it nearly created a riot. The revived attention should not have surprised anyone — Hodges had returned to the fold the previous year, and Ellington's collaboration with Strayhorn had been renewed around the same time, under terms which the younger man could accept. Such Sweet Thunder (1957), based on Shakespeare's plays and characters, and The Queen's Suite the following year (dedicated to Queen Elizabeth II), were products of the renewed impetus which the Newport appearance had helped to create.

The late 1950s also saw Ella Fitzgerald record her Duke Ellington Songbook with Ellington and his orchestra, a clear recognition that Ellington's songs had now become part of the cultural canon known as the "Great American Songbook".

In the early 1960s, Ellington was between recording contracts, which allowed him to record with a variety of new artists. In 1962, he participated in a session which produced the "Money Jungle" (United Artists) album with Charles Mingus and Max Roach, and recorded with John Coltrane for Impulse, who also recorded Ellington and his Orchestra with Coleman Hawkins. Musicians who had previously worked with Ellington returned to the Orchestra as members: Lawrence Brown in 1960 and Cootie Williams two years later.

Last years

Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1965, but was turned down. His reaction: "Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn't want me to be famous too young". He performed his first Concert of Sacred Music, an attempt at fusing Christian liturgy with jazz, in September of the same year. This concert was followed by two others of the same type in 1968 and 1973, called the Second and Third Sacred Concerts, respectively. This caused enormous controversy in what was already a tumultuous time in the United States. Many saw the Sacred Music suites as an attempt to reinforce commercial support for organized religion, though the Duke simply said it was "the most important thing I've done", perhaps with a touch of hyperbole.

Though his later work is overshadowed by his music of the early 1940s, Ellington continued to make vital and innovative recordings, including The Far East Suite (1966), "The New Orleans Suite" (1970), and "The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse" (1971), until the end of his life. Increasingly, this period of music is being reassessed as people realize how creative Ellington was right up to the end of his life. However, some critics, such as James Lincoln Collier, continue to dismiss Ellington's later work.

Duke Ellington was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969, and the Legion of Honor by France in 1973, the highest civilian honors in each country. He died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974, and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York City.

Work in films and the theatre

Ellington's film work began in 1929 with the short film Black and Tan. He also appeared in the film Check and Double Check. It was a major hit and helped introduce Ellington to a wide audience! He and his Orchestra continued to appear in films throughout the 1930s and 1940s, both in short films and in features such as Murder at the Vanities (1934). In the late 1950s, his work in films took the shape of scoring for soundtracks, notably Anatomy of a Murder (1959), with James Stewart, in which he also appeared fronting a roadhouse combo, and Paris Blues (1961), which featured Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier as jazz musicians.

A long-time fan of William Shakespeare, he wrote an original score for Timon of Athens that was first used in the Stratford Festival production that opened July 29, 1963 for director Michael Langham, who has used it for several subsequent productions, most recently in an adaptation by Stanley Silverman that expands on the score with some of Ellington's best-known works.

Posthumous dedications

A large memorial to Duke Ellington, created by sculptor Robert Graham, was dedicated in 1997 in New York's Central Park, near Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, an intersection named Duke Ellington Circle. In his birthplace of Washington, D.C., there stands a school dedicated to his honor and memory: the Duke Ellington School of the Arts. The school educates talented students, who are considering careers in the arts, by providing intensive arts instruction and strong academic programs that prepare students for post-secondary education and professional careers. The Duke Ellington Ballroom, located on the Northern Illinois University Campus, was dedicated in 1980. Although he made two more stage appearances before his death, what is considered Ellington's final "full" concert was performed there March 20, 1974. Ellington is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first black greek letter fraternity

Stevie Wonder wrote the song "Sir Duke" as a tribute to Ellington in 1977.

The Ellington Orchestra itself continued intermittently as a "ghost band", led by Mercer Ellington (1919–1996), after his father's death.

When it comes down to it, a publicly traded company is pretty much a slave to its share price. Its sole aim is to create growth or dividends for their shareholders. If the company fails to do this, the share price drops and this allows all sorts of issues to arise. Some examples of such issues are:

• Management shake-outs

• Less opportunities to sell the company to or merge with larger organisations

• Less credit available to the company

Motivating management

In many cases, the high level management is paid partly through stock options. These stock options will fluctuate as a share price fluctuates. If the share price falls, the high level management, are in effect, getting paid less. Even if upper management does not get paid partly though stock options, they can still be in-line for bonuses if the company does well.

Between bonuses, personally held shares and stock options, it is in the upper managements financial interest to grow the company so that they can also profit.

Power of directors

Although the company cares about its share price, the directors of companies have other issues that they may also have an interest in. The director cares about their long term survival. If the company ceases to exist, there will be no board and no position for a director. Often the director also cares about:

• Employees

• Creditors

• Communities damaged by corporate action.