TWDA

A Certificate of Deposit (CD) can be the best way to save and invest money. CDs are free from risk as they are backed by insurance, and they provide high interest rates. One possible negative point against CDs as an investment is that your money is locked in to the investment term that you choose, so if an unplanned emergency should arise you are not able to access your funds without severe penalties.

When choosing a CD there are several things to take into account as well as the highest CD ratese done with the interest earned (paid back to you or re-invested to compound the interest).

If you are a UK Expat living in Europe one of the things you are going to miss above all is Sky HD TV. There is a website that can set up subscriptions to Sky HD TV for you if you are living in Europe, and ship out the Sky card and digibox to you. They also provide telephone support for their European Sky service.

You don’t have to worry about the complex Sky contracts as everything is taken care of for you. StoreSatellite don’t require you to have a UK address or even a UK bank account to watch Sky TV in Europe, you can pay with any credit card.

StoreSatellite can even supply and install equipment for you to be able to watch Sky TV on your boat or yacht!

Have you ever dreamed of owning a property somewhere in the sunnier areas of Europe, a place where you can take holidays with family and friends, somewhere to create special memories? Well the Overseas Property Shop specialise in making dreams come true. They are a company of professionals who’s passion is bringing details of superb Spanish property to the attention of Britons for holiday and investment. They offer information in the UK and are great to have a chat to if you are thinking of buying overseas as they have unbeatable knowledge of Spanish hotspots.

Check out the Spanish property experts.

Have you ever taken out a secured loan and wondered if you were getting the best value product? With so many different loan providers on the market it is really difficult to be sure that you are making the right decision. That is where Accepted.co.uk comes in. They have a free service which searches through over 250 different financial products to find the best secured loans to suit your own personal financial services.

All you need to do is fill out a short form (less than 2 min!) and they will perform the search for you. There is no charge and no obligation, and no credit checks are made.

I really enjoyed this website about bees and bee keeping. The site is small but perfectly formed. A great deal of attention has been paid to the design, with valid XHTML & CSS, as well as a great looking template. The site has useful information for potential bee keepers written in a clear and entertaining manner. The pictures of honeybees and honey really complement the sites colorscheme. If you have an interest in beekeeping then this is definitely the site for you!

Check out Bee Keep.

Rolling on from my last post about great sites to find advice relating to financial agreements such as loans and credit cards here are another three sites that will help out if you have financial questions. Again, they are published by the government, so you can trust what you read there, and no-one is going to try and sell you anything or sign you into an agreement.

Money Made Clear
Impartial information from the Financial Services Authority, the UK’s financial watchdog.

Consumer Direct
The money and finance section of this site covers all aspects of consumer issues with clear and practical advice. Factsheets can be downloaded.

Citizen’s Advice
The Citizens Advice Bureau online. CAB offer free impartial advice through their network of volunteers.

Today we are looking at financial services websites. The best financial services websites for loans and credit cards are run by the governement. By using the government websites to research financial products you can be sure of getting impartial advice (and it is free). Two of the better sites for researching before you take out a loan or credit agreement are Advice Guide (from the Citizens Advice Bureau) and Money, Tax and Benefits. These sites provide a wealth of information in themselves, but if you need further advice they also show you where you can get it local to you, and usually for free.

Grokodile is a human-edited regional directory for blogs and other websites. The blog directory is free to submit to, a reciprocal link is not required, but is rewarded by better placement in the directory. You don’t even have to confirm your listing, but confirmation (via email) also gives your position in the directory a boost, so it is recommended.

Sites submitted are listed immediately although they may be subject to human review at any time, so only quality websites and blogs need apply.

The site has a clean design and is quick and easy to navigate. Finding a category relevant to your location takes just seconds.

I really like Grokodile regional blog directory & think that the team have a winning formula.

Paid posting is a great service for webmasters of forums or social sites, and offers a good opportunity for freelance workers to make some money whilst writing and talking about topics that are of interest to them. Paid forum posters and paid blog posters can find work here in a good environment, and build up their reputation in a similar manner to the feedback system used on sites like ebay.

One feature I would like to see implemented at Paid Posting is the ability to offer a job straight to a poster. Sometimes you find a specific poster who would be good working in your niche and there is no need to put the job up for bids.

One guy who everyone that is interested in Real Estate should meet is James Smith. James Smith Real Estate Investor is a guru of the real estate world, who has built is property portfolio over the last three decades - a multi-million dollar real estate portfolio that spans the whole of the US, ranging from east coast residential property to west coast commercial developments.

James Smith Real Estate doesn’t stop there, however. James Smith himself teaches the secrets and techniques of real estate investing to those with a passion for profits through his seminars. To check out the dates of James Smiths speaking seminars, visit the James Smith Real Estate Investor home page.

Have you ever seen those super clever inventions and products from the ‘As Seen on TV‘ people? Products that make you think wow, I need one of those! Well now there is a shop online where you can buy all your favorites, and as a special bonus all the products are at great prices. From super labor saving devices like the one touch can opener (great for anyone who finds cans difficult to open) to great original ideas like ‘hercules hooks’ that allow you to hang any picture or shelf on your wall up to 150lbs in seconds! Checkout the range of As Seen on TV Products right now!

‘Stuff that makes you say WTF‘ is the promise of this weird news blog. The well written blog of strange things has recently covered topics such as odd statistics (90 million people flushing 350 million gallons of water down the loo at superbowl half time) and strange animal stories (iguana’s on viagra anyone?).

Along with all the offbeat news is a movie review section written by the same author in the same humorous style, and a section on expensive stuff that are out of the reach of the author (and most other people too I would expect). All in all I had a good laugh reading the stories and news on WTF stuff.

If you are big on free stuff (I know I am) then you are sure to be a fan of the Cheetah Find Web Directory. As well as a free web directory with 10 comprehensive categories and hundreds of sub categories, Cheetah Find offers free web templates, free clipart, free online payment calculators that help you calculate and convert easily, free hit counters for websites and blogs, and other great free tools. My favorite is the free online photo album where you can upload your own pictures to share with family and friends or other web users, and the kids love being able to use the clipart for their school projects.

Cheetah Find also has a free news service with a unique perspective on many topics from hundreds of different authors.

I’m been hunting for a great Home & Garden Decor website for a couple of hours and I think I might have come upon the best of the bunch. OnlineDiscountMart.com stock just about everything you could possibly want for the home and garden. They have the store super well categorized so it is easy to navigate and find just about anything that you want, from garden furniture to relaxation products.
They also have a section of tips and ideas for gardeners and DIY enthusiasts. The tips also include craft projects, so if you are looking for ideas to make a special something for your home or garden I’m happy to recommend the site.

These boys aren’t going to win any awards for design, but their content more than makes up for it

These fellas had an idea after one of their stag weekends to put a website together full of all their stag stories, and try and get other blokes to submit their stories too. They have a pretty good bunch of stag party ideas - if you are going on a stag do for the first time go here first and find out what you are getting yourself involved in

A great fun website, and one that I’m sure will be a sucess. Probably not safe for work due to the massive amount of lady photos

A simple yet effective design is called for when selling an everyday service on the internet. Dry Cleaners London specialise in Curtain Cleaning and Laundry Service and have the perfect website to support their business. Contact details and prices are easily found and the services are promoted in a simple, large type font. Images of the types of items they clean complement the text and lead the visitor in the right direction. In summary, the website does its job well without any unnecessary bells and whistles. A+.

As is the case with most things Italian, this Italian scent store has been designed with style and flair. The site sells incensi (incense), candele (candles) and profumi ambiente (ambient perfumes) which is perfectly illustrated by the opening flash movie. Once inside the site the navigation is clear with enticing images as well as text. The site is available in three different European languages, and so is accessible to its target demographic. These are the reasons the site deserves to be given a design award. If only it was possible to transmit scent across the internet…