‘Guaranteed to Fail’ is a book written by Lawrence J., Viral V. Acharya, Matthew Richardson, Stijn van Nieuwerburgh White can help you to learn a lot about such important things as how poorly designed government guarantees for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led to the debacle of mortgage finance in the United States, weighs different reform proposals, and provides sensible, practical recommendations.

The financial collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2008 led to one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in history.

The bailout has already cost American taxpayers close to $150 billion, and substantially more will be needed. The U.S. economy—and by extension, the global financial system—has a lot riding on Fannie and Freddie.

They cannot fail, yet that is precisely what these mortgage giants are guaranteed to do. How can we limit the damage to our economy, and avoid making the same mistakes in the future?

You can find this book, ‘Guaranteed to Fail: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Debacle of Mortgage Finance’, on Amazon right now.

A central part of office security is shredding important documents, to avoid having them fall into criminal hands.

White collar crime is on the increase, and there are people who make a living out of exploiting the vulnerability of companies.

All they need is to get hold of an item of your letter-headed stationery and they can make as many copies as they like, then send out letters purporting to be from you.

That seriously compromises your business, as they could potentially use the stationery to carry out illegal activity or gain negative publicity for you.

If they got hold of a letter which was signed by you or by a company employee, it would be a simple matter for them to scan in the signature and use it to make their own letters look that much more genuine.

So it’s vital to make sure that all your stationery is kept in a secure cabinet, and only accessible to those who need it.

Just as you wouldn’t leave the keys to the office lying around at the front desk, you should ensure that stationery like company envelopes or documents are kept away from publicly-accessible areas like reception.

In any office, there is bound to be a significant percentage of stationery that is wasted. Either someone spills coffee on it, it gets creased or something goes wrong when it’s used in the printer.

Almost without a thought, company employees crumple up the paper and toss it into the bin. But you have no idea where that item of stationery will end up.

Likewise, if you have a company policy of recycling paper, your focus might be on the environmental concerns rather than the security implications.

So, it’s important that all waste paper products are properly destroyed using an office shredder, or even just one of the many paper shredders for domestic use available online today, to stop them being used for illegal purposes.

All individuals and businesses want to drive down costs in any way possible. Although we are always being encouraged to cut down on the number of miles we drive, sometimes it’s just not practical to leave the car at home, especially if you live out of town.

For many people it’s an impossibility to walk the kids to school and still get to work on time. However, it’s still possible for drivers to take steps to ensure their family cars are running as efficiently as possible.

There are several ways to do this. Firstly, you can change your driving habits to reduce the amount of fuel you can consume.

1. By anticipating congestion on the roads, you can take another route – avoid stop start traffic and unnecessary braking and you’re already well on your way to driving more efficiently.

2. If you do get caught in a jam, and the traffic is standing still, it’s best to switch off the engine and start again when you’re ready to move off.

3. You can also drive at an optimum speed – traditionally recognised across the industry as 55 mph, it’s now been suggested that 40 mph is actually better for fuel economy.

4. Turn off the air-conditioning and open your windows instead. Air-con increases fuel consumption by 8%.

Of course, if you’re ready to change your car, you could choose a smaller model that consumes less fuel. If you don’t want to compromise on size, it might be that the best family car for you would be a hybrid. For example, the Honda Insight gives 61.4 to 64.2 miles to the gallon. Ideally, you’d change your car to a more fuel-efficient model and adopt the driving habits mentioned above, but either strategy is a step in the right direction.

Owners of small businesses can sometimes be guilty of pottering along on a wing and a prayer rather than following a sound financial plan. It is also amazing how many new small businesses open their doors on the basis of a good idea but don’t really have a clearly defined notion of where they want it to take them. If this scenario sounds familiar to you then perhaps it is time to do something about it.

If you have already started trading then you will have some idea of the costs involved to set up and also the every day or weekly expenditure which is necessary for the business to function. The first step is to get this information in one place and in a format which can be easily read and reviewed. You may be confident in doing this kind of work yourself or you may need some help – engaging an accountancy firm is going to be a good idea for many people. Then take a look at the running of the company, do you have the right people? Do you have all the kit you need from a phone to a shredder to a kettle? Hopefully the answer will be yes and you are feeling confident that you can steer your ship forward successfully.

When you have a grip on the basics then you can start forecasting in order to define a budget. Amongst other things, some of the key information to consider will include operating costs, income from sales, staff wages and tax obligations. Turning your mind to the future in this way will start to shape your business plan for the next twelve months and beyond. As you go through your documents and get thoroughly organised, don’t forget what paper shredders are for – protect yourself from potential financial fraud by making sure you dispose of pertinent information securely. Once you are in control again the business stands a much better chance of success so make your plans now and get ready to head in the right direction.