Getting Ahead

Getting Ahead
by Takara Alexis

Thousands of years ago, a handful of fortune-tellers roamed ancient China, traveling to the palaces of Mandarins and predicting the future. When they were right, they were showered with riches and praised at lavish feasts. When they were wrong, they were boiled alive.

Taking a risk can be scary when you focus on what might go wrong and exciting when you consider the benefits if all goes well. The trick is to think about risk in the right way and use it to your advantage. Most people see taking risks as opening themselves up to unnecessary, even dangerous, chance. But the truth is, avoiding risk won't keep you safe, nor will it guarantee a smooth ride.

Have you ever wanted to suggest something new at work, but then you back down because you fear people would think it was a dumb idea? Or steered away from giving an opinion or making a decision because you did not want to stir the pot? Although these are natural reactions, they also show a lack of confidence in your own instincts.

Think of it this way: If you're convinced your idea is a good one-or at least, that it has a high enough potential upside to offset the risks involved-why would you expect others to torpedo it? Believe in your own instincts, and sell your idea.

It's easy to fall into language traps, most often if you over-think what your planning to say rather than just say it. Women in particular are prone to using self-defeating language. But the clearer you express your ideas, the more seriously they will be taken, putting you a step ahead from the beginning. And don't think you should be over explaining yourself-have confidence that your ideas are true on their merits.

In terms of attitudes about their own capabilities, people commonly fit into one of four categories. They are good at what they do, and they know it. Or they're good at what they do, but they don't know it or don't believe it. Or they're not very good at what they do, and they know it. Or they're not very good at what they do, but they think they are-or at least present themselves as though they are.

Offices are kind of like families-you're thrust into close relationships with individuals you may normally have nothing to do with. And just as with families, this provides all kinds of opportunities for conflict, whether real or fake.

For many people, the common response in similar situations is to feel not only professionally affronted but personally slighted. Sometimes we're so attached to our own ideas that we cannot fathom people having genuine objections to them; we believe it must be a personality thing. And in certain cases it is, of course-but here's a small secret. No matter whether a conflict represents a legitimate criticism, a personality clash, or something in the middle, you should always treat it as if there's no personal component what so ever.

Improving Your Credit Score

Improving Your Credit Score
by Takara Alexis

Even if it's only a few days behind, just one overdue payment-whether it's for your mortgage, a utility bill, an auto payment, a Visa account, or any of a hundred other credit obligations-can seriously ruin your FICO score. FICO pays a lot of attention to whether you make a habit of missing due dates, so a series of late payments will hurt your score tremendously.

It is never too late to clean up your act. Get yourself up to date as quickly as you can and then stay current. Your score will start to improve within six months- and the longer you keep it up, the more noticeable the increase will be. The negative weight FICO gives to bad behavior like delinquencies lessens over time, so as long as you stay on the straight and narrow, those black marks will eventually disappear from your record for good.

Of all the factors you can control-and improve quickly-how much you owe is probably the most powerful. Say you have got a $1,000 balance on card with a $2,000 credit limit-and then the card company cuts your limit to $1,000. All of a sudden, you went from 50% credit utilization to being maxed out, and being maxed out could cost you as much as 100 points.

Closing old accounts shortens your credit history and reduces your total credit-neither of which is good for your FICO score. If you have to close an account, close a relatively new one and keep the older ones open. Also, closing an account will not remove a bad payment record from your report. Accounts that are closed are listed with active ones.

The best way to raise your score is to display that you can handle the responsibility of credit-which means not borrowing too much and paying back what you do borrow on time. Don't open new accounts just to increase your available credit or establish a better credit variety. This is especially true if you are just beginning to establish a credit history.

When you apply for a loan, the lender will "run your credit"-that is, send an inquiry to one of the credit rating agencies to find out how credit worthy you are. Too many such inquiries could damage your FICO score, since that could show you're trying to borrow money from various sources.

The FICO scoring system is designed to allow for this by considering the length of time over which a series of inquiries are made. Try to do most of your loan shopping within one months time, so the inquiries get grouped together and it's made clear to FICO that you are loan shopping.