For many people it is hard enough as it is to raise a child with the help of your spouse, but what if you are raising the child on your own? This is the case for millions of parents each year who have to raise their children without the help of a spouse or significant other. The cost of living is so expensive these days it can become very hard to provide for your children when being a single parent. This is when using online personal finance programs as a single parent can become very important. Using online personal finance programs to save and keep track of your money as a single parent is extremely important because you are a sole provider for your children so you have to make every penny count.
Using an online personal finance program can be very easy if you keep a very close eye on your weekly income and weekly expenses. In order to maintain the amount of money you need monthly it is very important to keep track of your spending, and you have to remember, you can’t spend more than you have. One way to do this is create a weekly or bi-weekly chart of your necessary spending online with a online personal finance program. This chart should include how much you need for each week, and how you are going to go about getting that money. This will enable you to plan for each week. Also, it is very important to factor in child support you may be receiving, and if you are not immediately spending it, make sure that it is going into a savings account for your children.
Using online personal finance programs can save money while being a single parent is by allowing you to focus your time on your other priorities because using online personal finance programs are so easy. We understand that money is very important in the life of a single parent, but we also understand that you don’t want to spend all of your time dealing with it. You want to have time to go see your sons soccer game, or your go to your daughters school play, and by using online personal finance programs, this is easily done. The best part about many programs like this is that you are able to sign up for easy, on-time alerts about your money. Many of these great programs send weekly notification to anywhere you like whether it is through e-mail or even text message. This can be very helpful when you are in a situation where you need to know the balance on any of your accounts immediately.
Wedding Band Hampshire – Wedding Reception Advice
The following is based on our years of experience as a wedding band playing in Hampshire and surrounding counties. Not all of it is music related; we just want to make sure that your wedding reception is the best that it can be and your wedding band give you the best service possible.
Dance Floor – I know this might sound obvious, but make sure that the dance floor is big enough. Good live music gets everyone on their feet and it can become dangerous when people are dancing close to table on the edge of the dance floor, simply because there isn’t enough room.
Bar – Don’t have the bar in a separate room from the reception. When the Bar is located outside the room that the dance floor is in, guests tend to get a drink and hang around the bar talking so eventually half the party ends up out at the bar and the dance floor loses its energy.
Karaoke – Be careful about inviting family or other guests onto the stage to sing! Speak to the band in advance of the event if you really want to do this. A lot of bands are reluctant to let guests play their instruments; they are very expensive and people at wedding receptions often get carried away after a little too much amber nectar!
Energy – If the dance floor is rocking, don’t suddenly decided to stop everything for a wedding photo or a quick announcement; to get that same energy back will be exceedingly difficult.
The Wedding Dinner – A good wedding band will play lively, energetic music whilst the guests are being seated. The first course can take a little while to arrive so the band usually keeps going but are well trained and will often ‘soften’ the music when the food starts to arrive at the tables. It is worthwhile, however, that the band plays lively dance music in between course, just to keep everyone awake and excited about the dancing to come!
Wedding Guest Arrival – Have the wedding band playing as your guests arrive; it will set the scene, break the ice, and build anticipation and excitement about the dancing that is to come.
Interrupting The Band – The band are very experienced at what they do so it isn’t a good idea to keep interrupting them with special requests for music or to make announcements. It really can kill the energy of the dance floor and this will influence everyone’s memories of the day. It is best to make a plan with the band well in advance of your wedding reception and then try and stick to the plan as much as you can.
Choosing Your Song List – The band will know what songs work well together and in a particular sequence to get everyone having fun; go with their advice but you can always request your favourite tracks in advance. You can also put together a short list of songs you do not want played, so the band knows to avoid playing these songs.
Bank fraud is a generic term that defines a group of federal and state criminal white collar offenses all of which, simply put, have to do with stealing money from banks and other financial institutions.
Bank fraud charges may include misapplication, embezzlement, false entries in financial institution records, bribery, fraud, making false statements to procure loans, check kitting, bank officers taking out personal loans at preferential rates, computer crimes, and creating overdrafts.
Let’s consider each offense separately. Misapplication is an offense addressed by federal law 18 U.S.C. Sections 656, 657 that is one of the most widely used tools in bank fraud federal prosecutions. This crime involves willfully converting the funds to your own use, benefit or gain, or the use, benefit or gain of a third party.
Embezzlement is an offense very similar to misapplication and is governed by the same statute, 18 U.S.C. Sections 656, 657 that applies to an insider who embezzles funds or property of a financial institution or its holding company. In simple terms, embezzlement is ”the fraudulent appropriation of property by a person to whom such property has been entrusted, or into whose hands it has lawfully come.” The most important element of this statute is that funds must have belonged to victim but the accused must have had lawful possession of the property.
Another bank fraud offense is False Entries in Financial Institution or Holding Company Records, regulated by 18 U.S.C. Sections 1005, 1006. Under this statute, it is a crime for bank employees to make any false entry in bank documents with the intent to defraud the bank. Violation of this law is punishable by a fine of up to $1 million, or imprisonment of up to 30 years, or both. To make their case under this law, the government must establish that (1) the entry is false; (2) the accused either personally made or caused the entry to be made; (3) the accused knew the entry was false when it was made; and (4) the accused intended that the entry injure or defraud the financial institution or holding company or deceive any officer of such institution, company or certain public officials. Section 1006 applies to insiders acting with the intent to defraud while Section 1005 applies to any unlawful participant acting with an intent to defraud.
Bribery (18 USC 215) is another federal bank fraud charge. The law makes it a crime to give, offer, or promise anything of value to anyone with intent to influence or reward a financial institution’s officer, director, employee, agent, or attorney in connection with any business or transaction of the institution. It is also a crime for an officer, director, employee, agent, or attorney of a financial institution to corruptly solicit or accept, or even agree to accept, anything of value from any person, with intent to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business or transaction of the institution; The penalties for bribery are hefty: the fine of the greater of $1,000,000 or three times the value of the bribe, and/or imprisonment of up to 30 years. However, if the bribe is below $100, the fine is limited to $1,000 and prison term is limited to one year.
The bank fraud statute, 18 U.S.C. Section 1344 is very similar to the federal mail and wire fraud and make it a crime to “knowingly execute or attempt to execute a scheme or artifice to defraud or to obtain, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises, any of the moneys or funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by or under the custody or control of a financial institution”. Over the years since passing of this statute by Congress, this law has been used in prosecutions of virtually any type of fraudulent behavior that has to do with banks, including car title fraud, stolen or phony checks, credit card fraud, ATM fraud, stolen ATM cards, check kitting, etc. In one case, the defendant who participated in scheme of accumulating bank credit was convicted of bank fraud for falsifying income on credit card applications to increase the amount of credit.
Many bank fraud charges were brought for making false statements to procure loans 18 U.S.C. Section 1014. Under this statute, anyone who knowingly makes any false statement or report or who willfully overvalues collateral for the purpose of obtaining credit from a banking institution will be fined for up to $1,000.000 or imprisoned for up to 30 years.
One common bank fraud crime is a check ”kiting” scheme, where one or more persons using checking accounts at two or more institutions systematically exchange checks of similar amounts. The scheme takes an advantage of the delay as the checks are cleared through the Federal Reserve System. As the result, there is an inflated and uncollected balance at the banks involved. While checks drawn against uncollected funds are in the clearing process, the participants in the scheme use the deposited but uncollected monies. Check kitting schemes do often result in prosecution under mail and wire fraud and bank fraud statutes.