According to Morningstar, over $17 billion has been pumped into funds that invest in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS) this year. Last year, the same group of funds saw a total net inflow of just under $10 billion.
Why the rush to TIPS? Fear of inflation.
Many investors and analysts believe inflation is on the horizon due to government spending.
The fear is that the increased spending will lead to higher inflation, and higher inflation will eat away at returns on other investments.
TIPS offer protection against inflation by providing an inflation-adjusted principal. The bonds pay a fixed rate coupon every 6 months, and as inflation (measured by CPI) changes …read more

Earlier this month, I wrote two posts about work-at-home moms and how some (read: not all) are choosing to be freelancer writers because they think it is an easy way to stay at home with their kids while also earning a lot of money. The conversation turned, briefly, to what makes a writer qualified and legitimate…and how to become one.
When you’re new in any industry, you have to prove yourself. That’s true whether you’re a real estate agent or an actor or a construction worker. You have to start at the bottom and work your way up, and you have …read more

If you really want to make your online customers happy, you need to pay attention. Listen to what they want. Think about how they navigate, what they search for and what they really need. I can’t tell you how many times I have clicked away from a site in frustration. It could be due to poor navigation, bad site search software, or wanting too much information from me too early.
So when I came across 32 Tips To Make Online Customers Love You on Conversation Marketing, I found myself nodding to many of the points Ian made. Many of these tips …read more

With every project you take as a freelancer, you have to prepare for problems. Point in case: my One Prompt, One Product newsletter today.
I had signed up for a free account with a newsletter service, but so many people signed up right off the bat that I had to upgrade to a better service – and when I did that, I lost the option to import email address. That means that everyone who had signed up was no longer signed up. In a few short hours, I went from over 100 subscribers down to zero.
Luckily, I had planned for such …read more

Looking for money saving tips? You can find them at Google.

(www.thegoldenpencil.com)
Seth Godin has a wonderful post called Is effort a myth?. (Thanks to Your Book Publishing Coach for the pointer.)
It’s a wonderful and helpful essay, complete with the suggestion to find 120 minutes each day and commit to something positive. He lists a number of things that can be done with that time, plus makes some other suggestions I like.
If I had to choose just one it would be: Only spend money, for one year, on things you absolutely need to get by. Save the rest, relentlessly. In fact, I’m going to do that and so commit to you, …read more

I just came back from a two hour meeting with a client. We got a lot done and I’m now trying to get my notes worked into manuscript. The trouble is, and it isn’t really trouble, is that we didn’t talk in a nice, neat order.
Sure, we each had copy of the manuscript and we went through it page by page, but we didn’t totally stick to our agenda. Instead, we had a free-flowing exchange of ideas, including the start of a couple of new chapters and even a new book. So I’ve got notes in the manuscript, along the …read more

Even though sometimes I have trouble getting my own writing done, I am really good about getting the work done for my clients on time. The other day someone asked me how I was able to manage meeting multiple deadlines.
It’s really simple, or at least it seems that way to me. If you were to look at my daily calendar, you’d find my writing time is actually blocked in each day. Not only that, it’s blocked in by project. So, for example, today I have:

Blocked out the time between 7:30 and 9 for writing on my book – yes, more …read more

As many of you know, book ending is one of my favorite tools or tricks for actually getting the writing done. Now I’m experimenting with a new-to-me tool.
For the balance of the week, a writer friend and I have agreed to be accountability partners. After I publish this blog I’ll give her a call and tell her I expect to spend just about an hour on a book of my own I’m writing. Except that’s been a problem. While I’m on target with the writing I’m doing for clients and mostly on target with blogging, I’m way behind on my …read more

No clue why, but this morning I don’t seem to have a single idea for a blog in my head… except this one. You know, the old write-about-the-idea-of-having no-ideas trick. All professional writers can come up with this one when they get well and truly stuck.
And why am I mostly idea less this morning? Who knows, and I’m not even sure I care much at the moment. Because I have a couple of secret weapons. The first is my ever present list of blog ideas. This is a simple word file that lives on my desktop. Currently there are 39 …read more