27 Money Lessons Every High School Graduate Should Know !

29 Money Lessons Every High School Graduate Should Know !



A financial literacy test given by the National Financial Educator's Council found that test-takers from 15-18 years old scored an average of only 59.6%.
No matter what they're learning in school, most young Americans are lost when it comes to managing their money.
That's why we put together a basic guide to financial facts and concepts that will come in handy no matter where you're headed next.
This list is by no means exhaustive, because there's no end to the things you can learn about money. It doesn't include points about considerations like mortgages and 401(k)s and long term care insurance, because those are things that can wait, at least for a little while.
Today, you should know:
ABOUT BANKING
1. Understand where your money goes. If you don't know how much you've spent and on what, you won't know how much you have left to afford the things you want. Duh, right? Free apps like LearnVest and Mint will keep track for you with barely any work on your end.
2. A budget is just a plan for your money. Once you know where your money goes, a budget maps out how much money you owe every month, and how much money you have left. It's not restrictive, like a diet — it's just a way to make sure you aren't spending money you don't actually have.
3. A checking account is different from a savings account, so don't treat it as one. A checking account earns no interest and keeps cash at hand, to pay bills or make cash withdrawals. You shouldn't keep more money there than you need for your bills, plus a buffer. A savings account earns a smidgen of interest and is meant to hold money for the longer term.
4. Never pay ATM or checking fees. There are plenty of banks out there with conveniently located in-network ATMs and checking accounts without fees. Paying for either at this juncture simply means you didn't do the two-minute Google search to find a better option.
ABOUT CREDIT
5. Don't confuse debit and credit cards. Debit cards can only spend the money in your checking account. Credit cards enable you to spend more money than you have: The company essentially loans it to you, for a price (interest).
6. Don't charge money to your credit card that you can't afford to pay. Leaving some of the money your credit card company "loaned" to you unpaid and applying it to next month's bill is called "carrying a balance." Make no mistake that this is a form of debt. Don't do it, because …
7. You should avoid credit card debt at all costs. Credit card debt has some of the highest interest rates out there, meaning it's some of the most expensive debt you can take on.
8. It's never too early to begin building your credit. This all makes using credit cards seem like a minefield, but it's a necessary evil(ish), because you need to build your credit — the record of credit use that proves you're trustworthy when it comes time to make big purchases like a house.
ABOUT WORKING
9. People don't give you money you don't ask for. It's estimated that people who don't negotiate their salaries at the start of their careers lose out on half a million dollars of earnings over a lifetime. The same principle applies when you're trying to get your friends to pay you back for gas — if you don't ask, you won't get it.
10. You'll always take home less money than you expect. Just because you're making $10 an hour doesn't mean you'll take home $400 at the end of a 40-hour workweek. Taxes will take a chunk before you ever see it.
11. Most jobs won't make you rich on their own. For now, it's great to have an employer who gives you a paycheck. But if you want to be rich, you need to start thinking bigger.
ABOUT RETIREMENT & INVESTING
12. It's never too early to open a retirement account. You can open a retirement account the minute you start receiving "earned income" (i.e. a paycheck), and you should.
13. Your retirement account is invested in the market. Keeping a savings account called "retirement" is not the same thing. You need an actual retirement account.
14. A Roth IRA is a great option for young people.  There are a few different types of retirement accounts. For young people in particular, a  Roth IRA  may be a good choice, due to its tax structure.
15. Investing isn't all about picking the hot stocks. The minute you start reading financial news, you'll see a million recommendations for and against individual stocks. Don't bother. Especially this early on, you'll probably want to take the safer route and put any invested money in relatively conservative investments like index funds. The same goes for choosing your retirement investments.
16. If you start saving for retirement the moment you get a job, you could become a millionaire with practically no effort. This doesn't have to be a post-college office job — anything with a paycheck qualifies, like a summer job as a camp counselor. The earlier you start saving, the easier it will be to have $1 million saved by the time you retire. That's because ...
17. Interest can be a good thing or a bad thing. When interest is accruing on, for instance, your investments, you're earning money. When it's accruing on, for instance, your student loans, it's increasing the amount you have to pay.
18. You should be impressed by compound interest. It's a big deal.
ABOUT STUDENT LOANS & DEBTS
19. Public and private student loans are entirely different animals. Public (federal) student loans tend to be a lot more malleable than private loans, issued by private lenders. Whatever loans you plan to take out, read the fine print before signing on the dotted line.
20. Start paying your student loans before you have to. You won't be required to start paying your student loans until after graduation, after what's called a "grace period." Interest, however, accrues during that period you aren't paying, so make an effort to start paying the minute your loan servicer will allow it, to reduce the balance. Unsure when that is? Give them a call.
21. Don't pay just the minimum. If you have the money to pay more than the minimum on any debts you carry, do it. Paying just the minimum amount owed will drag on the lives of your debts and mean you pay more in interest overall.
22. Missing bill payments is a slippery slope. Missing a payment isn't like turning in a late assignment. It has serious consequences for your credit and for your wallet, so do what you have to to remember to pay your bills on time.
ABOUT SPENDING
23. Buying lunch and coffee every day seriously adds up. There's a reason every personal finance book you pick up tells you how many hundreds of dollars you could save per year if you bring coffee instead of buying it. The little stuff adds up.
24. All money is real money. Student loans and credit cards don't feel like "real money" because you aren't handing over any cash. But when you're being billed for $10,000 a few years down the line, that money is just as real as the $10 you just spent on lunch.
25. Don't be a stingy tipper. They're the worst. If you can't afford to tip appropriately, don't request the service in the first place.
26. A fancy car means nothing. Despite what you see on Instagram and Snapchat, a Maserati doesn't mean a person is set for life. A fancy car means nothing about a person except that they choose to spend money on a fancy car — and many of the country's millionaires don't even bother.
27. Lottery tickets are a waste of time. Not only do you have a better chance of becoming the president of the United States, but many lottery winners end up completely broke. Put that money towards your retirement account instead.
source:yahoo

Is cortana better than siri?:microsoft new voice assistant figures out some things on comparision.

Microsoft  compares its latest cortana voice assistant on windows 8.1 from siri  with some commands to perform where the former does better than latter.Here is the video watch out>

some interesting, but true facts, that you may or may not have known.

Here are some interesting, but true facts, that you may or may not have known.

1. The Statue of Liberty's index finger is eight feet long.

2. Rain has never been recorded in some parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

3. A 75 year old person will have slept about 23 years.

4. Boeing 747's wing span is longer than the Wright brother's first flight. The Wright brother's invented the          airplane.

5. There are as many chickens on earth as there are humans.

6. One type of hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

7. The word "set" has the most number of definitions in the English language; 192 Slugs have four noses.

8. Sharks can live up to 100 years.

9. Mosquitos are more attracted to the color blue than any other color.

10. Kangaroos can't walk backwards.

11. About 75 acres of pizza are eaten in in the U.S. everyday.

12. The largest recorded snowflake was 15 Inch wide and 8 Inch thick. It fell in Montana in 1887.

13. The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that the sound it makes is actually a tiny sonic boom.

14. Former president Bill Clinton only sent 2 emails in his entire 8 year presidency.

15. Koalas and humans are the only animals that have finger prints.

16. There are 200,000,000 insects for every one human.

17. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery had in it to 
begin with.

18. The world's largest Montessori school is in India, with 26,312 students in 2002.

19. Octopus have three hearts.

20. If you ate too many carrots, you would turn orange.

21. The average person spends two weeks waiting for a traffic light to change.

22. 1 in 2,000,000,000 people will live to be 116 or old.

23. The body has 2-3 million sweat glands.

24. Sperm whales have the biggest brains; 20 lbs.

25. Tiger shark embroyos fight each other in their mother's womb. The survivor 
is born.

26. Most cats are left pawed.

27. 250 people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

28. A Blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant.

29. You use 14 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Keep Smiling!

30. Bamboo can grow up to 3 ft in 24 hours.

31. An eyeball weighs about 1 ounce.

Facebook exceeds expectations again with Q2 2014 results

Facebook exceeds expectations again with Q2 2014 results

facebook, mark zuckerberg, revenue, income, q2 2014, arpu


Facebook once again represented  its second quarter results exceeding the expectation of analyst.This happened for 8th time in a row which resulted in positive reactions in market place.The company shows growth in revenue, income and user numbers. Compared to Q2 of last year, its revenue jumped 61% to $2.91 billion and its net income grew 139% to $791 million.
Facebook is also seeing user growth across the board with 1.32 billion active users and 829 million daily active users, up 14% and 19% year-over-year respectively. When talking specifically about mobile, Facebook's Q2 2014 numbers are even more impressive. The company hit 1.07 billion monthly active mobile users, up nearly 6% from last quarter, and its daily mobile users jumped 7.4% from 609 million to 654 million.
Facebook has also now set records around the world for its global rise in average revenue per user (ARPU), according to reports. The company seems to be pulling in more cash on a user by user basis, even as it continues to grow.
As some have suggested, the growth numbers are fairly impressive for a company that already has so many users, but the expansion also rises costs. Facebook spent $1.52 billion in the second quarter of 2014, up about 22% from the year prior.
However, despite the heavy expenses, Facebook clearly had a strong quarter. "Our community has continued to grow, and we see a lot of opportunity ahead as we connect the rest of the world," Mark Zuckerberg said during a statement accompanying the Q2 results. 

Karizma Cafe Racer: In Pictures -exclusively @techinfosearch.blogspot.com

Karizma Cafe Racer: In Pictures:

End of the world predicted by scientists !

End of the world predicted by scientists who warn Earth's animals are heading for mass extinction

After 3.5 billion years of trial and error, the world as we know it has reached a tipping point


GettyWipe out: Scientists are warning that another global mass extinction may be imminent
The Earth could be heading for extinction ... and it is all man's fault.

Respected scientists from around the world are warning we may have reached a 'tipping point' after 3.5 billion years of evolutionary trial and error.

And the problem lies with the loss of major species such as elephants which has a knock-on effect on the world we live in.



Press People/Wildlife SOSPay-raju-elephant-kartick-with-showerGoing soon: Elephants could become extinct in the future
In a new review of scientific literature and analysis of data published in Science, an international team of scientists warn the loss of such animals could trigger the planet's sixth mass biological extinction event.

Previous extinctions - including the complete disappearance of dinosaurs - are believed to have been caused by natural planetary transformations or catastrophic asteroid strikes.

But the current one, says lead author Rodolfo Dirzo, a professor of biology at Stanford, is associated with human activity.

The statistics are frightening.

Since 1500, more than 320 terrestrial vertebrates- animals with backbones - have become extinct.




Populations of the remaining species show a 25 percent average decline in abundance.

PA / BBCA Tyrannosaurus RexDino more: Man faces extinction like their prehistoric Earth neighbours
The situation is similarly dire for invertebrate animal life such as insects and worms.

Across vertebrates, 16 to 33 percent of all species are estimated to be globally threatened or endangered.

Large animals -- described as megafauna and including elephants, rhinoceroses, polar bears and countless other species worldwide -- face the highest rate of decline, a trend that matches previous extinction events.

Larger animals tend to have lower population growth rates and produce fewer offspring and their size and meat mass make them easier and more attractive hunting targets for humans.

The scientists say we are at risk because of what they call the 'trickle-down' effect.

Experiments conducted in Kenya have isolated patches of land from megafauna such as zebras, giraffes and elephants, and observed how the ecosystem reacts to the removal of those species.

A brown ratOverrun: Rodents would overwhelm grass and shrub land
They noted the areas quickly become overwhelmed with rodents. Grass and shrubs increase and the rate of soil compaction decreases.

Seeds and shelter become more easily available, and the risk of predation drops.

Consequently, the number of rodents doubles -- and so does the abundance of the disease-carrying ectoparasites that they harbor.

"Where human density is high, you get high rates of defaunation, high incidence of rodents, and thus high levels of pathogens, which increases the risks of disease transmission," said Dirzo,

"Who would have thought that just defaunation would have all these dramatic consequences? But it can be a vicious circle."



Worm hole: Invertebrate animals are decreasing
The scientists also detailed a troubling trend in invertebrates.

Human population has doubled in the past 35 years; in the same period, the number of invertebrate animals - such as beetles, butterflies, spiders and worms - has decreased by 45 percent.

As with larger animals, the loss is driven primarily by loss of habitat and global climate disruption, and could have trickle-up effects in our everyday lives.

For instance, insects pollinate roughly 75 percent of the world's food crops, an estimated 10 percent of the economic value of the world's food supply.

Insects also play a critical role in nutrient cycling and decomposing organic materials, which helps ensure ecosystem productivity.


PAGliese 581Not good: Earth's days are numbered
In the United States alone, the value of pest control by native predators is estimated at $4.5 billion annually.

Dirzo added: "We tend to think about extinction as loss of a species from the face of Earth, and that's very important, but there's a loss of critical ecosystem functioning in which animals play a central role that we need to pay attention to as well.

"Ironically, we have long considered that defaunation is a cryptic phenomenon, but I think we will end up with a situation that is non-cryptic because of the increasingly obvious consequences to the planet and to human wellbeing."