Easy Loans

The topic of debt consolidation is an important one to discuss, and not only because we are just beginning what could be a long recovery from the economic recession of the past year. The recession has not caused debt problems for most Canadians. It has merely exacerbated a problem that already existed before the recession hit.

Consider the results of a Vanier Institute report released in early 2009. Called The Current State of Canadian Family Finances 2008 Report, the study includes some troubling numbers.

Debt loads are in what the reports authors call the "danger zone". Average household debt increased to more than ,000 in 2008. Looking a little more closely, the report also shows that the total debt to disposable income ratio climbed to 140% in 2008 - the highest level in 44 years.

Of equal concern is the ratio of consumer debt plus mortgage debt.

Sitting at 127% of disposable income in 2008, the rate is higher than what we saw in the U.S. in 2006, just before the bubble burst on their housing market.

The Debt Service Ratio (DSR) measures the percentage of gross income spent on interest on household debt plus payments on the principal. A "dangerous" DSR is anything in the 40% range. In the U.S., 6.3% of households had a dangerous DSR at the time the Vanier study was conducted. In Canada, 4.4% were in the danger zone. That 4.4% translates into 600,000 households. Unfortunately, many of those households are in the lowest third in terms of income. In other words, low income households are struggling harder than most with unwieldy consumer debt.

The report also reveals that spending and debt are rising faster than incomes: "The average household income rose to ,200 in 2008 and was up by 11.6% since 1990.

Spending increased twice as fast (+24.4%) over the same period while total debt (+71%) increased more than six times faster than incomes."

The bottom line - people are spending more than they earn and carrying enormous amounts of debt, much of it in the form of high interest credit card debt. The average Canadian has more than 2 credit cards, and in the five years between 2002 and 2007, MasterCard and Visa transactions jumped 60%, with the total value of sales increasing by 55%.

Although some claim the recession has ended, the pain will be felt by many well into 2010 or beyond. Job losses continue to mount and our economic difficulties threaten to push many people into insolvency.

Many mortgage brokers are trained to offer debt consolidation services to help homeowners get a handle on their debt. For those with a decent amount of equity in their homes, a home equity loan or line of credit - at current low interest rates - can give them the money they need to pay off high interest debt. If you are concerned about your personal debt, talk to a professional about debt consolidation with a home equity product.

Many e-Learning and documentation developers have already noticed that our audiences dont have as much patience for extended content as in the past. There are probably a couple reasons:

Increased use of portable information devices with tiny screens.
Impatience with large quantities of un-engaging text.

Info Devices and Tiny Screens

Did you know that 33% of the Earths population uses cell phones, but only 17% uses computers of any kind? What does this mean for the e-Learning industry? Think about the following:

1. Today, more people use mobile information devices like cell phones than traditional PCs.
2. These mobile devices have squinty little screens.
3. Screen text can shrink only so much before it becomes unreadable (especially for an aging population).
4. Having to scroll displays around to read things irritates users.
5. Therefore, tiny screens on portable devices will probably force ALL of us to write more concise materials, with less text and reduced on-screen scrolling.

Too Much Text!

Also, todays students seek much of their information through Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Web blogs, and Wikis. These are engaging, lively, and (often) very concise delivery channels. For example, Twitter messages can be no longer than 140 characters. If youve never tweeted, heres what 140 characters looks like (including spaces, but excluding quotes): A big shout-out to my many fans of ME!! Im at the mall & wanted to ask everyone what you think I should buy my girlfriend for her birthday?

A whole new generation of information consumers is learning to communicate and exchange information using these miniscule chunks. Similarly, millions of YouTube visitors every month view video clips that are normally no longer than 150 seconds.

As I saidextremely concise delivery channels!

And if they arent already our customers, todays students will become tomorrows users of our products and services. After graduation, theyll continue to expect concise content to be delivered over engaging media. These future audiences wont permit themselves to be bored by e-Learning materials that drone on or dont grab and keep their interest.

Im already seeing the results of this. As SyberWorks STC software grows increasingly full-featured, my manuals become fatter and fatter. When I arrived here a few years ago, the STC User Manual was only 300 pages long. Today, its 1,200 pages and rising. I could hold or reduce these counts by providing less detail, but thats not a popular approach. So page counts grow, and customers willingness to open their manuals drops. Today, theyre more likely to just call Customer Support with questions because the manuals contain too much paper.

As a result, the documentation field has been moving toward smaller modular content chunks, which can be left standalone or combined with each other and delivered to different users and information devices. The concept is actually quite similar to SCORM.

The Rise of Learning Nuggets

Similarly, Learning Nuggets are tiny e-Learning chunks that can be standalone or strung like beads in e-Learning necklaces. These tiny lessons tend to focus on single concepts or tasks. They can be developed using existing technologies (HTML, XHTMS, CSS, JavaScript, SyberWorks Web Author), and usually include Flash animations, audio, video, demonstrations, educational puzzles, and quizzes.

For example, Ive seen a nugget that shows people how to determine their effective annual salary, based on their annual wage and the number of hours that they REALLY work. This nugget also shows how to compute what their salary WOULD BE, if they were paid for every one of these hours. I could see this nugget being just one standalone unit in a string of personal finance activities.

Nuggets arent defined by any specific authoring technologies, either. The key things that differentiate them from traditional course lessons are that nuggets are short, can stand alone, can also be sequenced with other nuggets to meet individual training needs, and can be delivered over a variety of media.

Googling learning nuggets will give you much more information about the work thats being done with them. When I did, I discovered that:

Londons The Learning Nuggets Company is creating low-cost nuggets for students in urban and rural sub-Sahara Africa. Subjects include vocations, principles of management, computing technologies, and even the rules for driving in Europe.
Developers have also discovered that nuggets lend themselves to open source sharing, where nuggets developed by one company are exchanged with other developers around the globe. Some tradeshows have even begun to collect pertinent nuggets from their exhibitors to sell or give away to attendees!

If you also research nuggets, youll discover many approaches to creating and delivering them. But they all target flexible, low-cost content libraries that can be delivered to as many kinds of devices as possibleincluding wireless gizmos carried in the worlds pockets.

But Things Could Get TOO Condensed

Recently, the British Qualifications and Curriculum Authority found that too many U.K. students (especially those in their mid teens) were being taught using extracts and short stories, as opposed to what they called a sufficiently demanding reading diet (e.g., novels and textbooks). This condensed instruction, they added, is already producing students without reading stamina.

Thats an interesting concept. And one must askCould breaking user documentation into ever smaller chunks and learning materials into tiny standalone nuggets similarly erode the learning stamina of my documentation readers and your online learners? We must stay on the alert to see!

The housing market, combined with the recent tax incentive, has created a new target audience for Realtors and Loan Officers. The need for a sales and marketing plan to address education, building relationships, and communication will generate increased business for the Loan Officer and Realtor to provide assistance to first time home buyer.

The housing downturn has created significant demand for homeownership, especially among first-time home buyers (FTHB), according to a survey on Realtor.com. That is great news for the real estate market, but there are some significant challenges that Realtors and Mortgage Professionals will face.

First challenge: Looming Deadline with NO PLAN

November 30th, 2009 is the date the tax credit goes away. Thats 5 months from the day this article was written, which seems like a long time but the reality is that it will be here before we know it. Those who plan on taking advantage of this opportunity need to have a well thought out, fool-proof plan to execute. The sad reality is that people have been/were so busy with refinance business that they didnt have time to build a plan. Others are starving for direction and want a plan but dont have the "know-how" to build one. A strategic sales and marketing plan includes tactics that keep your plan within the necessary timeline.

Second challenge: Weak Relationships

FTHBs are tricky and require a strong relationship and good communication between the Realtor and Loan Officer. As a result of the recent low interest rate environment or "mini refi-boom, mortgage companies focused much of their efforts and time on capturing the refinance opportunities, not building relationships with Realtors. The result: many Realtors were left unattended. Relationship marketing tactics are needed to generate a successful partnership to meet this challenge.

Third challenge: Weak Value Propositions

Everyone knows that Loan Officers need to partner with Realtors but the question is , "why would they partner with you?" Good service and low rates are overused clichs and dont differentiate. Relationships are great, but at the end of the day the relationship needs to lead to "value creation" for both parties for it to be sustainable. A sales marketing plan will outline the strategy needed to create value for the Loan Officer and Realtor.

Fourth challenge: Education Gap

The Obama administration is hoping that a recently enacted tax credit can generate housing demand and help mop up the existing unsold inventory. But according to a survey by Move, Inc.--which operates Realtor.com--nearly half (47%) of home buyers dont even know the tax credit exists! A marketing communication plan is needed to target the first time home buyer educating them about this tax incentive.

Fifth challenge: Fear in the Marketplace

-52% of Americans are concerned that they or someone they know will face foreclosure in the next six to 12 months.
-18.9% (one out of five) of homeowners plan to take advantage of the administrations new program to help prevent foreclosures.
-21% of all homeowners with a mortgage contacted a lender to restructure their loan in the last 12 months.
-Half (10.6%) of those homeowners that contacted their lender experienced success while 5% still await an answer.
-27.1% of adults believe that they or someone they know may default on their mortgage because of unemployment or because they owe more on their home than its worth.

I wont even begin to mention the medias contribution to this fear. The reality is that people are scared and need guidance. The question is , "who will they trust?" They will trust those whom they have a strong relationship with and/or those who have unshakeable credibility. To meet this challenge create a marketing plan that brands you as experienced in your field and a knowledgeable professional that can be trusted.

The good news in all of this is that there is a ton of opportunity out there. Take a look at the statistics of when Americans are planning on buying:
-23% of all adults plan to purchase a home in the next five years
-5.8% within next 12 months,
-12.8% within the next two years

Here is the opportunity -

First-time Home Buyers make up over half (53.5%) of the market, and the government is offering them an ,000 tax credit to purchase a house. But heres the kicker: 47.6% of Americans dont know about the tax credit! Thats almost half the American population! What this means to you is that a lot of people want to buy a home in the next 12 months and most of them are FTHBs who arent even aware of a huge incentive (,000 tax credit).

Okay, so now you see the opportunity, and the question that should be going through your mind is, "how do I maximize this opportunity given the challenges outlined above?" Great question!

This is a great opportunity and the Million Dollar Challenge was created to assist Mortgage Professionals and Realtors to take advantage of it. The Million Dollar Challenge is a call to action and a business plan example to help First Time Home Buyers receive ,000,000 in tax credits.