When would debt management be inappropriate?

Debt management may not be the right approach if:

• You won’t be able to repay your debts within a reasonable period of time.
• Your income isn’t steady. This could be the case if you are self employed, or earn commission-based pay.

When would debt management be appropriate?

In most cases - but not all - debt management could be an appropriate debt solution if:

• You have been unable to sort your debts out through a debt consolidation loan or a remortgage (possibly because of the current economic climate).
• Your total unsecured debt is less than £15,000 (the lowest amount usually needed to qualify for an IVA).
• Your monthly disposable income is less than around £200 (the usual amount for monthly payments on an IVA).
• You can afford to repay your debts in less than 5 years (the typical duration of most IVAs).

How could you enter a debt management plan?

You can, if you want to, manage your debts on your own. However, you will need to be prepared to put in the time and effort needed to negotiate with your lenders (perhaps on several occasions). Or you could approach a professional debt management organisation. If you decide to do it this way, you will be benefiting from the knowledge and experience which the right organisation will have. The organisation should be used to dealing with creditors, and may have dealt with cases similar to yours in the past. Whether you work with a debt management organisation ‘go it alone’, your lenders will only accept new, lower, repayments if you cannot afford to make the repayments as laid out in your current agreements. If you want any further information regarding debt management, you should contact a professional debt adviser.

How to get to La Torre Golf Resort

The course at La Torre is situated just outside of the old village of Roldan in the Murcia region on the east coast of Spain. The closest airport, situated in San Javier, is just 10km from the resort (the airport itself is called Murcia Airport) and plenty of low-cost flights out of the UK arrive here. Once you’ve landed you’re just a 15 minute drive from La Torre. Should your flight land at Alicante airport you’ll have a 55 minute journey into La Torre. In 2010 a new airport will open in Corvera which is just a 20 minute drive away.

La Torre Golf Resort

Within the Polaris World La Torre golf resort there’s a town centre with extensive modern amenities including the 5-star Crowne Plaza Hotel and Spa (containing 200 rooms, indoor pool, gym). Arranged around a magnificent lake, the town also boasts restaurants, bars, boutiques, tennis courts, a swimming pool complex and supermarkets all linked to the golfing greens, parks and properties by wide tree-lined avenues and streets. The resort has a Mediterranean and Floridian appeal largely due to the development being based on Fort Lauderdale in Florida, USA.

Some of the stunning properties currently available at the resort include these three apartments:

	A 2-bedroom apartment with views across the golf course, this first floor property has a lounge/dining room area, terrace, underground parking (lift access) and is sited close to a communal pool.
	Another great 2-bed first floor apartment complete with views across the golf course and lake, this property has generous living space, underground parking and comes fully furnished.
	Situated close to the town centre and all the great facilities, this second-floor 2-bedroom apartment has a south-facing aspect, parking and use of the communal pool.

La Torre Golf Course Guide

The La Torre Golf Course was designed by Michael Nicklaus for Nicklaus Design – one of the world’s leading golf course design companies headed by the legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus. Michael Nicklaus is the youngest son of Jack and his course forms part of the Nicklaus Golf Trail of 9 courses within a 25km radius (as a Polaris World property owner you have discounted green fees at the courses located in La Torre, Condado de Alhama, Mar Menor, El Valle, Hacienda Riquelme and La Loma resorts).

So, how does La Torre play? The 18-holes are spread across 5 hectares of lush surroundings that combine with and enhance the resort itself. There are various changes in the level of the terrain, sculptured bunkers and three lakes which means this course offers picturesque views at whichever hole you’re playing.

La Torre is a par 68 course with four tees per hole (colour coded black, blue, white and red) which will suit all abilities. The course is kind to those with a higher handicap giving you plenty of safe routes to the pin. For the low handicappers, there are opportunities to take riskier shots particularly on the Par 3’s and 4’s where there’s plenty of sand and water hazards to negotiate. Should you find yourself in the bunkers, the sand is top quality so the ball never sits too low which helps your escape shot (although you’ll still need some skill!).

La Torre comprises 6 Par 3 holes, 10 Par 4 holes and 2 Par 5’s – this means the course requires a strategic approach and calls for accuracy over distance. Although the course is by no means short (and your driver will be called into action), you’ll need to be on form with your wedges and irons as the greens are well protected by hazards. With forward tee positions on the Par 5’s, the big hitters among you will reach the greens in two shots. The first Par 5 is sited on the front nine at the 7^th hole with the second on the back nine at the 12^th.

Course fees vary depending on the season. High season is: February, March, April, May, October and November. Low season is: January, June, July, August, September and December. As a visitor, expect to pay around 60 Euros in low season and 80 Euros in high.

As a Polaris World property owner your green fees will be lower at around 55 Euros for 18 holes although there are special afternoon and twilight rates that can cost around 20-25 Euros.

Residents can also buy vouchers for 4 or 10 rounds:

A 4 round voucher (lasts 1 month) costs 200 Euros.

A 10 round voucher (2 months) costs 440 Euros.

There are also options to purchase yearly memberships (limited numbers) or a 25 year Golf Right. For a full list of La Torre residents’ golf tariffs click here

La Torre Golf Course Facilities

Before setting off on your round there’s a well-equipped practice area and driving range to get your game in order before you begin play. The course also offers a first class pro-shop and lessons with the course professionals are available (subject to booking fees and availability).

For those seeking refreshments before or after their round, the club house offers the Wood House Bar with a terrace overlooking the putting greens and practice area or on the first floor you’ll find the Pinos Bar famed for its live music. Overlooking the lake and 9^th holes is La Encina Buffet Restaurant offering a great range of grilled meat, fish and salad dishes.

Few people stop to consider the advantages of motorcycle travel in foreign countries. In most places you can rent a scooter without a motorcycle license. They’re easy to operate, fast and efficient, and more than enough for the roads you’ll find. In Vietnam you can also rent a Russian Minsk, the 125cc workhorse of the former Communist world. It’s a noisy, gas-guzzling beast of a machine that farts clouds of blue oil smoke thick enough to befuddle any pursuer: something to keep in mind if you tend to hang out in a lot of military dictatorships. In a land of scooters, it’s also generally the biggest bike on the road.
Midsummer Hanoi smothers beneath a throbbing heat haze. Beads of moisture condense and trickle down a glass of syrupy iced coffee just as the sweat rolls down your back. The narrow streets of the old town are choked with scooters and bikes, and baggy-trousered old ladies in conical hats balancing a pole dangling two pots over a shoulder. The noise - shouts and honks and roaring exhaust - creates an aural blanket that hems you in like the heat. It’s oppressive. It’s stifling. And it made me long for wide open spaces.

Motor biking in Hanoi isn’t for the faint of heart. The streets are a solid mass of humanity whose movements are seemingly linked like those of a school of fish. It’s a chaos of moving metal with no apparent rules, save for some bizarre form of telepathy. I learned how to navigate it the first time I tried to cross the road. I waited timidly for nearly ten minutes, hoping for a break in the flow, until I finally ran out of patience and just stepped out into it and began to walk. The trick is to stare straight ahead and keep a steady pace. The traffic will flow around you like a stream around a rock. If you slow down, however, or try to dodge it in a panic, they’ll get confused - and you’ll get flattened.

The same thing happens when you decide to hop on your own heap of mechanized mayhem and join that flow. I’d only ever driven a motorbike a handful of times, and of course I didn’t have a license for one. But hey, how hard could it be? I found a reputable bike shop, slipped the proprietor some cash, and I was off with a roar and no questions asked.

I have to admit it was a little unnerving at first. Every time I stopped at an intersection, I was handlebar-to-handlebar with someone else, totally surrounded on all sides by revving engines two inches away. To even shift in my seat meant brushing up against someone. And then the light would change, and we’d be racing like mad in one vast polluting pack.
Navigation brought its own unique set of challenges. A left turn down a side street meant gradually edging head-on into the onrushing stream. Unbelievably, the traffic always parted Red Sea-magically and made way before me. Within half an hour I was racing through the city streets like Luke Skywalker on an Imperial Speeder Bike.

It takes a while to get beyond the urban sprawl, but once out of the city you can open the throttle and feel the breeze in your helmet-less hair. This rural Vietnam is a world away from the scams of Hanoi. Pale green rice paddies wilt limp in the heat, backed by steaming jungle hills and jagged karst. You have no place to go, no agenda, and nothing but time. And the people you’ll meet are just as un-rushed. A roadside group of uniformed schoolchildren stop to point at you, jaws agape. When you pause at a roadside stall for pho or iced coffee, you’ll be greeted by shy surprise, followed by curiosity and giggles. You’ll even be waved off with a laugh and a joke when your friend tries to photograph a military helicopter base. That would never happen in the city!

Ahh, the Minsk. It really does set you free. You can daytrip lightly and reach untouched places just outside even the largest "tourist" destination, or you can strap on the saddlebags and wander the map wherever the Road Gods take you. And you can even cruise the highlands of North Vietnam in a Chairman Mao cap.

Ryan Murdock’s pursuit of travel literature has taken him to some of the world’s most unforgiving places, including Mongolia, Tibet, Nicaragua, and North Korea, by Russian jeep, motorcycle, dugout canoe, horse and camel. Please visit http://www.ryanmurdock.com to learn more about his adventures and to follow his Road Wisdom blog.

Geopathic stress is natural radiation from the Earth that comes to the surface, but is altered along the way by electromagnetic fields caused by underground water, collections of certain minerals or fault lines. This radiation can be responsible for conditions ranging from infertility, cancer, migraines, joint pain, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and insomnia. The World Health Organisation also recognises Sick Building Syndrome is a result of geopathic stress.

Practitioners are available that can rid buildings of this radiation, or alter the building or its contents in such a way that the radiation is longer an issue. One such method is ‘dowsing’. In dowsing, a dowser uses tools and intuition to seek something (for example a water source, in ‘water dowsing’) – in this instance, the unconscious mind seeks the radiation that is infiltrating a building or room. Once the streams of radiation are found, methods are used to rid the radiation or move it, or alter the room or building so that the geopathic stress is no longer an issue. For example, if someone is suffering from insomnia, a dowser locates any geopathic stress and may find that the bed is lying on a geopathic stress line. By simply moving the bed, the sufferer will find they not only sleep better, but they have increased energy levels and become headache free. Another method that can be used in healing sick buildings utilises channelled energy to eliminate the negative energy (this can also be used on a person). This is known as ‘vortex healing’.

Another healing method is the ‘Alexander Technique‘. This is used to treat people, usually suffering from physical pain and/or stress caused by poor posture. By gaining awareness of how we stand, walk, sit and move in general, we can prevent issues that may arise as a result of poor habits, such as slouching. With this technique, the patient is taught to ‘treat themselves’ by monitoring their posture with a view to curing and preventing problems caused by it. It has been said that after learning how to use this method, patients not only find their pains have decreased (or disappeared), their overall posture is improved and they find more energy and suppleness. This then extrapolates to all areas of their lives.

These healing properties – the Alexander Technique, dowsing and vortex healing – can all work together to help heal sick minds, bodies and buildings. In the fast-paced world we live in today, we need all the help we can get!

Picking the right domain name is essential for many reasons, not the least of which because it’s what people will look up to get to you and your company.

The first thing you need to do is find a name that is original, and not simply a play on another domain name. For example, if you are considering a business in dog grooming, and your name is ‘Al’s Dog Grooming’, then you need domain names reflecting this. However if ‘alsdoggrooming.com’ is taken, then ‘aldoggrooming.com’ is not a wise choice as some of your traffic might, through mis-typing, end up at your competition’s website (even though some of their traffic might end up at yours, you still need something unique). A domain name that’s too close to another is a recipe for disaster for your business. Also, you want to build a brand, something that’s yours and yours alone. Riding on someone else’s coattails won’t get you far, or guarantee long-term success.

Choose something that is easy – to remember, type and spell. Try typing the name yourself and see how it flows – is it easy to type? Do your fingers stumble over one another? And what about the spelling – is it easy to misspell or mistype? Typos are just as common as spelling mistakes. Words such as ‘they’re’ and ‘their’ are always confused, and could mean the difference between someone ending up at your website or your competition’s. Try saying the website domain aloud. Much like a physical address, you’ll get tired of spelling out a long-winded or commonly confused name. For this reason, steer clear of any odd characters like hyphens, underscores, roman numerals, and again, odd spellings of names. Think too of how it will look on a business card. Something simple will be better than a long intricate name. Is the name easy to remember – something short and catchy is better than a detailed name that is always ‘just on the tip of your tongue’.

Pick a name that will accurately describe your business. A domain name like ‘designers-r-us.com’ is ambiguous, and people won’t know whether you’re referring to interior designers, web designers, clothes designers or something else.

Domain name registration is important and should be dealt with as such. These days, you’re not in business until you have a domain name and a professional-looking website, so make it a good one and get traffic flowing today.

www.LoansToYourDoor.co.uk are providers of such cash loans, you can apply online for a loan of between £50 and £500 with an instant decision in principal. The loan will be delivered to your door in double quick time and repayments collected each week. What makes it even better is that with no credit checks these loans are available to all – bad credit history, even CCJs represent no problems at all.

You can forget the horror stories about loan sharks – a loan from www.LoansToYourDoor.co.uk will be affordable to you with no hidden charges or surprises and from a name you can trust who have been established as a responsible lender for over 125 years.

Loans just don’t come any more straightforward!

A blazer is a jacket much like you’d see children wearing to a private school – they are smart, well cut and can be worn over a light blouse or a heavier shirt. In nice soft leather, a blazer would be great teamed with a pair of jeans, or even a skirt.

If you’ve seen an old war movie, then the jackets the men are wearing in the airplanes are called bombers – after the kinds of planes the pilots flew. Bomber jackets are functional, with pockets and zippers for storage and style.

Along the same lines, when you see a biker in traffic the jacket they’re likely to be wearing is known as a biker jacket. Often they are designed with a belt down over the hips. A biker jacket also boasts zippers and is functional - while at the same time ‘cool’ and timeless.

Men’s leather jackets come in all styles, but the ageless look is known as ‘classic’ – picture James Dean or Marlon Brando. Simple and straight cut but with modern additions such as iPod or mobile phone pockets, a classic leather jacket makes any male leading man material.

Although ladies could carry off the classic leather jacket look, they have the monopoly on the short leather jacket. Sitting just on the hips, a short leather jacket (usually fitted) can be worn to the movies or the theatre. Men, however, share their ownership of the long leather jacket – it can be worn by both sexes and to any occasion. It can be dressed up or down, and can range from a parka-style to a trench coat-style. For ladies, a long coat cut correctly and worn with jeans can be quite trimming – not to mention trendy.

If you want to spoil your lady, or you’re a lady who wants to spoil herself, then you can’t go past a lambskin jacket. With gorgeous soft fur trimming, this leather jacket won’t only keep you warm, but looking good as well.

Ladies’ leather jackets can’t really be worn by men, but ladies can indeed wear most men’s jackets. However, a reefer leather jacket is quite masculine in appearance and can be dressed up or down, depending on the occasion.

Waistcoats are traditionally a piece of men’s apparel that is now worn by women as well. A classic waistcoat looks great with a skirt or jeans (jeans for the men!) and a nice cut blouse or shirt under it. For the more sporty amongst you, a sports waistcoat can be worn fishing, hiking or just travelling in your 4WD.

Last but not least are larger leather jackets for plus-size people – in both men’s and ladies’ ranges, leather jackets can be ordered to ensure that they fit well and look great!

When you decide to utilise the services of a web hosting provider or an email hosting business, you need to consider a few things. Top of your list might be cost, but beware – cost may be a poor indicator of how good (or not) a company may be. A cheaper company might not necessarily be worse than one that costs more. Conversely, an expensive company might not be better than a cheaper one. It boils down to services provided, after sales service and whether you intend to look after it yourself, or have the company do it for you.

Is the cost they quote all-inclusive? Or is the provider likely to add on charges and fees for any queries you have? Is it yearly or monthly, and do they offer discounts for a once-off payment? Does the quote cover after-sales service, or are they charged additionally? After sales service is handy as you might need to make alterations later on – and if the company is done and dusted with your contract, then it might take another work order (and more money) for you to have the changes made. And if they are in another country, does their after sales phone number operate at times suitable to you? Does the provider allow changes to the bandwidth (if so, how much?)? Do they handle everything for the price, or is the service self-managed?

What is their downtime like? If they are in another country, is their downtime in the middle of your day (hence potentially affecting your site’s exposure to local clientele)? What backup systems do they have in place? If the site does happen to go down, how long will it take the provider to restore it? What security measures do they have in place for your site? Are these extra or are they included in the quote?

What platform do they use? If you are managing it yourself, are you familiar with the platform they use? Can they provide assistance if you aren’t familiar with the platform?

What disc space do you think you might need? Can you change this as your needs change? What will this cost?

And lastly (but not least, and certainly not finally) freebies: everyone loves freebies. But make sure that what you’re getting is free, and worthwhile. If not, ask for them to be left out of your quote.

Your website is the face you present to the public. If it’s second rate, not operational or takes too long to load you’ll lose business – so make sure you trust the people you put in charge of it.

One of the most important things you need are banners – large PVC banners will catch the eye of people as they wander around the exhibition, and let them know that you’re there, and what you’re doing there. Placed in the right spot, they will do a great job of shouting “Hey!” –from there you will need a few other things to reel them in.

Banner stands can act as a row of lights along a runway, particularly the ones that come with a light. When you find the right location, they can be seen from several angles, and potential customers will be able to see them as they walk towards you. If they display an eye-catching design, the customer will forgo all other stands selling the same thing, and head directly to you. What’s more, they can be safely stored in the padded case they come with, so when you pack up and head to the next show they’ll arrive in tip-top condition. Purchase several, and rotate them as you set up for each expo. Keeping things up-beat and interesting is the key to projecting the same to your customers.

Once you have the customer in your little stand (or, big corner stand, if you’re lucky) then you need to have somewhere to demonstrate your goods or show them samples, or even complete purchases. This is where a pop up stand is king. Pop up stands come curved or straight, and sit behind you (particularly great if the only thing there is a boring carpeted partition). A printed graphic advertises your product, and the stand it hangs from is quick and easy to assemble and pack up (all the while constructed from strong, lightweight aluminium).

The carry case converts into a stand with its own printed graphic, and this can be used to display printed material, or for customers to sign the sales form! The stand/case also has wheels for easy manoeuvrability and the whole thing comes with a spares kit so if the included light blows its bulb, you won’t be caught short.

Speaking of keeping things up-beat and interesting, you can purchase replacement pop up panels for your pop up stands, so at each show you can advertise a different special or offer.

Depending on where you purchase your advertising materials from, many companies offer deals on bulk buys, so take advantage and buy enough to last a year, then rotate them as you go. Make sure your first impression is a lasting one!