Deal or no deal who s your banker

Copyright 2006 Andy Warren You may have seen or heard of the hugely successful worldwide show, Deal or No Deal. If you haven’t, the premise is quite simple. In the UK version there are 22 sealed boxes each containing a cash value of between 1 penny and Ј250,000. No one knows what each one contains. The contestant chooses one of the 22 sealed boxes to hold and then opens all the other boxes one-by-one, revealing the amounts inside. As each box is opened it gives the contestant a better idea as to what prize may be contained in their own sealed box. Throughout this process the player receives calls from “The Banker” offering “deals”. The deal will be an amount of money offered to the contestant that they can accept instead of holding onto their box. As the odds of the contestant’s box being a larger prize increase these deals usually increase too. The Banker uses lots of analysis, tools and assistants to help him make his decision, whereas the contestant has to rely on their own guesswork and the advice of their friends and family. The Banker, who doesn’t know how much is in the sealed box, constantly observes the contestant, analyzing their psychology and their behaviour. The goal of The Banker is to try and make sure the contestant leaves the game with the smallest amount of money possible. The Banker makes cash offers based on the amounts of money the player has eliminated and their knowledge and perception of the contestant. Whenever The Banker makes an offer, the contestant has to choose whether to accept the offer and deal or say “no deal”. The risk is that the contestant could end up with nothing if they don’t accept the offer. So it’s a choice between a known amount of cash now or an unknown amount in the future. Of course this is all just a gameshow and doesn’t bear any relation to real life. Or does it? How many times a day are you being offered things by a mysterious Banker who tells you that you if you don’t take this offer now then it will be gone? How much are you being analysed by unseen eyes that identify what your hot buttons are and what you’ll respond to? Huge amounts of research is done into demographics to identify the key triggers that will cause people to make decisions. Seemingly generous offers of loans and credit cards are set at tempting levels so that the amount to be borrowed draws you in and the repayments are just about within your reach. How many times do you choose to deal and take what’s on offer? Unfortunately, the deals that most people take in real life are deals that don’t really give them anything except more debt. What seems like a good offer is really coming from someone whose goal is to see you walk away with as little money as possible. Equally people are walking past good offers of cash today as they hold out for an unknown “prize” somewhere in the future. How much money is spent each week on lottery tickets instead of putting it into a decent savings account. And how often does that hoped for prize turn out to be a low value amount or nothing? There are Bankers all around you who are trying to figure out how to make sure you walk away with the smallest amount of money. And every time you’re faced with a decision you need to ask yourself what the real deal is. Are you putting yourself in the position of the contestant, with nothing but the advice of your friends and family to rely on? And let’s face it, they’re probably no more informed than you. Or can you turn it around and become as informed as the Banker? Can you get the information that allows you to set the deals? The better you understand the rules and the game the better you can play it. And no–one understands it better than the Banker. So get informed and become your own Banker today, and put yourself in charge of the game.

New year home budgeting

The pre-Christmas period is the peak time of the year for retail sales, and many department and other stores depend on a successful Christmas for their annual profits. There is another side to that coin: the same period is also the peak time for consumer spending. A surge in consumer spending often means a jump in borrowing to support that spending in the stores. Even people who might normally be very careful with their finances, may feel some pressure to overspend at and before Christmas. A combination of peer pressure, the desire to please the children and other members of the family, and the sheer desire to have a great Christmas, may tip the normally frugal into being a bit careless with their spending. An excess of borrowing can mean later problems for those consumers who really do let their finances get out of hand, and every year tens of thousands of people do. For many, the spectre of debt hangs over their Christmas festivities and spoils the party even before they have sat down and fully assessed the damage caused by the pre-Christmas excesses. Between Christmas and New Year is a good time for home budgeting, looking ahead to the next year and plotting the best route to make it a happy year. When it comes to your finances, and debt in particular, then the last week of the year is a particularly opportunity to plan, and set a home budget. How To Budget For The Year Ahead What you have spent over Christmas, whether on credit or out of savings, is a matter of fact. What you already had in outstanding credit and overdue credit, is also a matter of fact. It is important to treat those facts as such, and keep a detached view as you write down your current financial situation. It is all to easy for personal finances to become overbearing because of emotional pressure you may place on yourself. When planning your budget, start by making a list of all your outstanding debts, who they are owed to, and how much you need to budget each month to keep up with the payments. Always remember that if you fall behind with payments, your financial situation will deteriorate, as costs, penalties and interest charges mount up. As you list your monthly credit payments, use them as the starting point for your monthly outgoings. It is also worthwhile keeping the list of actual amounts owing at the start of the year, and then see if that figure can be reduced by the end of the year. That way you can monitor progress, just as a business would. You want to see your net assets going up, not down, at the end of your budget period. Next, list out your unavoidable and essential monthly payments in order of importance, with any state and local government payments, such as taxes, at the top. Then will come your mortgage or rent, and other necessities such as electricity, telephone, gas, food and household expenses. At this stage, work out a sub-total of all the above items, which will be your priority monthly payments. Now is a good time to compare the total you already have with your net monthly income. If they are in balance, then you can make your payments each month, but not have any flexibility or cash for non-essentials and luxuries. Hopefully, though, you will have a surplus each month which you can use for desirables and for savings to set aside for any unexpected expenses. You can then add to your monthly budget by listing those desirables you want to spend money on and how much. You should also aim to build in savings to your budget. Bear in mind all the time that if you spend on consumables, your personal assets go down. If you save, they go up. If your spending has really gone over the top of your capabilities to repay on time, then you need to use the budget plan you have come up with as a starting point for seeking debt counseling, or for consolidating some or all of your debts. The important thing, though, whatever the outcome of your home budget exercise, is to keep calm and detached. Discuss with your partner and family all the steps you need to take to get your home finances in order after an extravagant Christmas, and then do your best to carry through your budget plan, preferably setting aside savings along the way to prepare for an interest free Christmas the following year.

How to get your husband to cancel his weekly poker game

Over the past few years it always bothered me that my husband would go play poker with his friends every Friday night. Whenever I complained that it would be nice to spend time with my husband on Friday, he just complains that this is the only time he gets to be with his friends. I decided I had to come up with a way to make him choose me over his poker buddies so I tried many different things, at first I tried by asking him to stay home so we could have sex all night. That worked a few times but then he caught on to what I was doing. I also tried finding different events that he may want to go to like action movies, car shows and other things of that nature but there were not always things to do, so that was another failed attempt. But after 6 months of trying I had just about given up, finally at my wits end I decided that maybe I could get real good fast I could challenge him to a game and if I won he had to stop going to his game, and if he won I would pay for him to go to Vegas I spent every spare moment I had reading everything I could find online about Texas Holdem. Eventually I decided to go online and practice at some Video Poker. Eventually I started playing for real cash Online, and once or twice while he was at his game I would drive to one of the local casinos and play for a few hours in their poker rooms. Finally I felt I was good enough to make the challenge. So one night I told him that I wanted him to stop going to his Friday night games and to stay home with me, as I had expected it started a big argument. I waited until he made his speech about working hard and needing some “guy” time. So I felt this was my time to strike, I asked him if he would at least allow me to come and watch the game, to which he replied that players only as the rule and that since I did not know how to play I could not go. So I said if he could do it how hard can it be that really got him going, so he then asked me if I wanted to make the game a little interesting with a little bet. Now I had exactly what I wanted. I said if he won I would pay for him to go to Las Vegas alone, he did not know I had made some good money playing poker recently, and if I won he would give up his seat in his regular Friday night game. He looked at me suspiciously at first and I thought he was not going to risk it but he said ok. He ran to the closet and grabbed his chips we each started of with $100 in chips and agreed the first one out is the loser. Well in the end it was me that lost, but he was so excited at how good I was that he did stop going to his Friday night game, now every Friday night we go and play together at the casino. We have been doing this for 2 years now and our relationship has never been this good. Sometimes it really is better to try to get interested in his hobby.