Category Archives: Money and Finance

Internet Marketing, Money and Finance

Making Money from Online Surveys

Someone send me a email and asked me whether you can make money from doing online surveys. I would liked to share my experience about online surveys in this blog. Many people are wary about online surveys and see them as nothing but scams. If you do a search on this topic, you will find many websites offering attractive payments for online surveys. Most of these websites would asked you to pay a membership fee or a joining fee first before you are given surveys. They claimed that their members had earned hundreds of dollars just working few hours each day taking part in surveys. Please beware and avoid such websites – because they are basically scams.

Can you actually make money from online surveys? The answer is Yes. There are legitimate survey companies that actually pay you for taking part in their online surveys. But please take note that it is quite time consuming and the money earned is not much. You may have to take about 20 surveys or more just to receive US$50. In each survey that you are going to participate, the survey company will inform you of the number of points or the value in terms of dollars on this survey; and also the approximate time needed to complete the survey. Once you have completed the survey, the survey companies may take a few days to verify the information in the survey that you have taken. If the information are valid and correct, they will credit the points or dollars into your account. There is a minimum cash out value or points that you need to achieve before you can cash out.  You will receive your money the following methods – 1) by cheque through post to your mailing address 2) through your Paypal account 3) direct credit into your bank account and other methods stipulated by these companies.

There are two survey companies which I have personally participated. They are free to join and are legitimate survey companies.

Globaltestmarket.com

Surveyhead.com

For Globaltestmarket, I have joined this survey company for about 2 years now, and have been receiving quite a number of cheques by mail to my home. It takes about 2 months to receive the money if you are staying in Asia. For every 1000 points that you have, you can convert it into US$50. Don’t worry about the currency conversion rate, so if you are staying in Singapore, Malaysia or Indonesia, they will convert it into the local currencies for you. As for Surveyhead, I have not cash out yet as I have yet to reach the minimum cash out sum. I would say that I received many surveys from Globaltestmarket on a monthly basis but very few surveys from Surveyhead.

There are other legitimate companies as well in the market. Remember if a survey company request payment from you before they allow you to join them, just skip and ignore such companies. Legitimate survey companies are definitely free to join but you have to be patient for them to send surveys to you via email. Taking part in surveys is definitely not going to make you rich and it is not a good full time home business model. It does give you some fun, the opportunity to provide feedback on products and services and some pocket money to buy something nice for yourself.

 

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About Life, Money and Finance

Best Home Insurance Policy

It is the time of the year to review and renew my home insurance policy again. My insurance company would send a letter of notice telling me that my home insurance  is up for renewal and indicate the dateline to pay the premium before it expired. Normally during this period I would assessed and see whether I need to upgrade or stick to the existing coverage for my home. Of course I would also looked around to see whether other insurance companies can offer better coverage at more competitive rates. Let me share with you how on I assess and choose my home insurance policy to ensure that I get the best coverage at a competitive price.

The first thing I looked into is the profile of the insurance company that I am interested in doing business with them. I would try to find out about this company as much as I could. I would check their records especially when it comes to claims. I would asked people whom have dealings with this insurance company as well as read up on any news, discussions or forums in the internet about them. I would also take time to drop into their office and speak to their customer service officer about the home insurance. Specifically I would direct my questions on claims – how long does it take to file a claim and for them to service a claim from a customer?

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Best Home Insurance Policy

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When it comes to replacement cost due to loss or damage to home and renovation, do not choose the most basic plan. I always make sure that the replacement cost or the reinstatement of my property to the same condition as if it is new must be fully covered. I also make sure that I get proper coverage for all major perils such as floods, earthquakes, windstorm, bursting of water piples, strikes, malicious acts, theft or force entry, etc. In other words, I go for deep coverage protection for my home. How do I determine the amount of replacement cost to sufficiently cover my home? I would looked at the construction and renovation cost that I have done for my home and add up about 15% for inflation and other additional minor works. Alternatively if you know a builder or a real estate agent, you could seek some advice from them.

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Home Insurance Protects Your Precious Home

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My home insurance policy also provides me with other benefits such as loss of rental income, hotel expenses in the event that the home being uninhabitable, Worldwide liability for the family from claims from third parties, Worldwide personal accident for the family, medical expense, loss or damage of contents, the cost of removing debris after the destruction or damage done to the house, compensation to the servant’s loss or damage personal effect, indemnify for the replacement of locks and keys, payment to the policyholder a sum of money as emergency cash allowance, indemnify for the loss of ATM/credit cards and even stress payment.

I know that some of the benefits may seems to be irrelevant to the home insurance policy, but if I could add these benefits to my current home insurance policy, I see it as a bonus. Of course additional benefits normally give rise to additional premium being paid, but I would weigh the benefits and costs to see its value. In other words, if something really bad happened and the home was destroyed, what sort of benefits would I liked to see being given to me immediately, to reduce my burden and stress of rebuilding my home; and at the same time maintain my quality of life during this transition period. So benefits such as an allowance or payment given to secure alternative accommodation during this transition period is important, the payment of cash for emotional stress and emergency cash allowance are also important. Surely seeing a home being destroyed by fire or flood is a very stressful experience and money is a good stress reliever. Such compensation would ensured that a person can continue to have a quality of life while he handle the task of rebuilding and repair works for his home.

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Home Insurance Protects Your Precious Home

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Some people looked at home insurance as an unnecessary expense and try to avoid by not buying it, or buying it without sufficient coverage or compensation. I looked at home insurance as something very important and a necessity. The home insurance policy must have deep and wide coverage to ensure that my home and my quality of life is well protected.

 

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