Best Writer

Assignment: (approximately 1500 words total)
Conduct research to identify various budgeting and money management apps. Determine the features, ease of operation, and information provided by these apps. Which app would you consider using for your budgeting and money management activities?
Talk to a young single person, a young couple, and a middle-aged person about their financial goals and saving habits. What actions do they take to determine and achieve various financial goals? In your opinion, what more should/could they do?
Carl Lester has liquid assets of $2,680 and current liabilities of $2,436. What is his current ratio? What comments do you have about this financial position?
Based on the procedures presented in the course, prepare your current personal balance sheet and a cash flow statement for the next month.
Use the following items to prepare a balance sheet and a cash flow statement. Determine the total assets, total liabilities, net worth, total cash inflows, and total cash outflows. Items: Rent for the month- $650, Auto insurance- $230, Monthly take-home salary- $1,950, Household possessions- $3,400, Cash in checking account- $450, Stereo equipment- $2,350, Savings account balance- $1,890, Payment for electricity- $90, Spending for food- $345, Lunches/parking at work- $180, Balance of educational loan- $2,160, Donations- $70, Current value of automobile- $7,800, Home computer- $1,500, Telephone bill paid for month- $65, Value of stock investment- $860, Credit card balance- $235, Clothing purchase- $110, Loan payment- $80, Restaurant spending- $130.
Imari Brown is attending community college. She has $1,000 of education expenses. She claims herself on her tax return. She is trying to decide between the tuition and fees deduction or an education credit. If Imari is in the 15% tax bracket, which should she choose? Justify your answer.
Using the tax table in Exhibit 4-7 on page 138 of your text, determine the amount of taxes for the following situations: a. A head of household with taxable income of $75,750. b. A single person with taxable income of $75,052. c. A married person filing a separate return with taxable income of $75,926.
Samuel Jenkins made two investments, the first was 13 months ago and the second was two months ago. He just sold both investments and has capital gain of $2,000 on each. If Samuel is in the 28 percent tax bracket, what will be the amount of capital gains tax on each investment?
On December 30, you decide to make a $1,500 charitable donation. If you are in the 28 percent tax bracket, how much will you save in taxes for the current year? If you deposit that tax savings in a savings account for the next five years at 4 percent, what will be the future value of that account?

Evaluating Banking Services: (approximately 1,000 words)
“Wow! My account balance is a little lower than I expected,” commented Melanie Harper as she reviewed her bank statement. “Wait a minute! There’s nearly $20 in fees for ATM withdrawals and other service charges.”
“Oh no! I also went below the minimum balance required for my free checking account,” Melanie groaned. “That cost me $7.50!” Melanie is not alone in her frustration with fees paid for financial services. While careless money management caused many of these charges, others could have been reduced or eliminated by comparing costs at various financial institutions.
Melanie has decided to investigate various alternatives to her current banking services. Her preliminary research provided the following:
Mobile banking- allows faster access to account information, to quickly transfer funds, make payments and purchases. May include access to expanded financial services, such as low-cost, online investment trading and instant loan approval.
Prepaid debit card- would prevent overspending, staying within the budgeted amount loaded to the card. Cards are usually accepted in most retail locations and online. A variety of fees might be associated with the card.
Check-cashing outlet- would result in fees only when services are used, such as money orders, cashing a check, obtaining a prepaid cash card, or paying bills online.
Many people do not realize the amount they pay each month for various bank fees. Some basic research can result in saving several hundred dollars a year.
Questions: Thoroughly explain each calculation/answer (25 words each)
What benefits and drawbacks might Melanie encounter when using each of these financial services? a. Mobile banking, b. Prepaid debit card, c. Check-cashing outlet
What factors should Melanie consider when selecting among these various banking services?
What actions might you take to better understand the concerns associated with using various banking services?
Exercises:
Discuss the effect of technology on the types and costs of services offered by various financial institutions.
If a person has ATM fees each month of $18 for 6 years, what would be the total cost of those banking fees?
A payday loan company charges 4 percent interest for a two-week period. What would be the annual interest rate from that company?
A certificate of deposit will often result in a penalty for withdrawing funds before the maturity date. If the penalty involves two months of interest, what would be the amount for early withdrawal on a $20,000, 6 percent CD?
What would be the net annual cost of the following checking accounts? a. Monthly fee, $3.75; processing fee, $0.25 cents per check; checks written, an average of 22 a month. b. Interest earnings of 6 percent with a $500 minimum balance; average monthly balance, $600; monthly service charge of $15 for falling below the minimum balance, which occurs three times a year (no interest earned in these months).
Louise McIntyre’s monthly gross income is $2,000. Her employer withholds $400 in federal, state, and local income taxes and $160 in Social Security taxes per month. Louise contributes $80 per month for her IRA. Her monthly credit payments for Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards are $35, $30, and $20, respectively. Her monthly payment on an automobile loan is $285. What is Louise’s debt payments–to–income ratio? Is Louise living within her means? Explain.
Fred Reinero has had a student loan, two auto loans, and three credit cards. He has always made timely payments on all obligations. He has a savings account of $2,400 and an annual income of $25,000. His current payments for rent, insurance, and utilities are about $1,100 per month. Fred has accumulated $12,800 in an individual retirement account. Fred’s loan application asks for $10,000 to start up a small restaurant with some friends. Fred will not be an active manager; his partner will run the restaurant. Will he get the loan? Explain your answer.
What changes might take place in your personal net worth during different stages of your life? How might these changes affect your credit capacity?
Dorothy lacks cash to pay for a $600 dishwasher. She could buy it from the store on credit by making 12 monthly payments of $52.74. The total cost would then be $632.88. Instead, Dorothy decides to deposit $50 a month in the bank until she has saved enough money to pay cash for the dishwasher. One year later, she has saved $642—$600 in deposits plus interest. When she goes back to the store, she finds the dishwasher now costs $660. Its price has gone up 10 percent. Was postponing her purchase a good trade-off for Dorothy?
Sidney took a $200 cash advance by using checks linked to her credit card account. The bank charges a 2 percent cash advance fee on the amount borrowed and offers no grace period on cash advances. Sidney paid the balance in full when the bill arrived. What was the cash advance fee? What was the interest for one month at an 18 percent APR? What was the total amount she paid? What if she had made the purchase with her credit card and promptly paid off the bill in full?

Discuss the risks and opportunities associated with using credit to purchase an automoblile or a major appliance.

Overview:
This assignment will allow you to explore White Balance as you shoot. You’ll need to discover how to access the White Balance function in your camera’s manual. This will require a little bit of research on your part. You will be shooting three of the same photographs, but changing the white balance function with each shot to be able to review the difference.
Look up the white balance feature in your manual to see how to find how it can be accessed and adjusted.
Instructions:
Before Shooting:
Look in your camera’s manual to find out how to access the white balance feature. In most situations, the AUTO function will be a really great way to allow you to get the best white balance in camera, but sometimes you may need to adjust the white balance to get a better result.
What other white balance settings does your camera have? Most cameras will have the following white balance options (or similar ones)
AUTO
Daylight
Fluorescent
Tungsten
Flash
Cloudy
Shade
What settings does your camera have?
Set Up Your Shot:
Shoot during the day (not at night and do not use your flash) and use a tripod or find a place to secure your camera so you can shoot multiple images without moving the camera
Find a daytime outside scene that you would like to shoot that contains an average amount of contrast (a foggy morning isn’t the best time to shoot for this assignment, nor is shooting at night or a scene where a flash is needed)
Use good compositional tools like the rule of thirds or frame within a frame or the golden ratio
Set up your camera on a tripod or other stable surface like a picnic table, set of books, etc.
Set ISO to 100 or 200 for this scene
Shoot in JPG image quality
Shoot Six or Seven Images (depending on your white balance options) Without Moving the Camera:
When shooting, note aperture and shutter speed. You will be creating six or seven photographs of the same scene with the same exposure for each image, but changing the white balance.
Keep the exposure the same for each shot as long as the light doesn’t change drastically between shots.
Set camera to AUTO White Balance
Meter off of the scene and find the meter reading that gives you an average meter reading
note exposure
Shoot the photograph
Change White Balance to Daylight
Shoot the photograph
Change White Balance to Cloudy
Shoot the photograph
Change White Balance to Fluorescent
Shoot the photograph
Change White Balance to Tungsten
Shoot the photograph
Change White Balance to Flash
Shoot the photograph
Change White Balance to Shade
Shoot the photograph
If your camera has any other White Balance settings, shoot using those
Post Process the Images:
No need to adjust exposure or contrast or burn and dodge in Photoshop for this assignment as long as the images have an average exposure.
Open all three images in Photoshop and place them in a grid using the technique from this week’s demonstration.
use the guide in the demo video for guidance
Use the text tool to label ISO, aperture and shutter speed and label each image with the White Balance setting that was used
Flatten the file and resize it to 12″ or 15″ wide at 150 dpi
Save file as a jpg
Submit Your Images and a Reflection:
Submit your file containing all images in a grid with white balance and exposure information
Submit a reflection of about 150 words that addresses:
Describes how your images change with each white balance adjustment
What did you see happen to image as you adjusted the white balance?
How did you make the image visually interesting?
What compositional tools are being used and how?
What elements and principles of design are being used and how?
What WB setting was the best for your image and why?

1. Would you prefer a fully taxable investment earning 8.1 percent or a tax-exempt investment earning 6.1 percent? (Assume a 28 percent tax rate) Why?

Watch one of the modern adaptation of Frankenstein listed below and discuss how it addresses the concerns brought up in Mary Shelly’s original version of Frankenstein of the scientist as god, the fears of progress gone too far, and a world without women. Are these issues still addressed in the film you chose if so how and why, if not why not? Have new issues taken their place, if so what are they and why? Is the original Frankenstein still relevant in today’s world?
Edward Scissorshands (1990)
Frankenweenie (2012)
I, Frankenstein (2014)
Victor Frankenstein (2015)

Throughout this essay, we’ll be discussing Rodney King and society’s effects of police brutality on a black man’s psychological well-being. Besides this, I’d like to incorporate the amount of pressure society put on King which caused him to find certain coping mechanisms such as an excessive amount of alcohol and drugs; cocaine metabolites, cannabinoids, phencyclidine, benzoylecgonine. I’d mainly like to focus on the effects of society and the classification/effects of each drug on the body. This is for a sociology drug and alcohol abuse class

. This is an opportunity to reflect on your development from a young writer into someone with more knowledge and experience. This is not to say that it should be an essay on your improved mastery of the semi-colon, although your essay may deal with that. It is an opportunity to think about writing in the big-picture sense. The essay is asking about your relationship to writing, how that relationship may have shifted during your time in this course, and how you can take that knowledge with you into the future.
You may draw upon everything that you’ve experienced and produced in this course to help form and explain your theory. For example, you can pull from all the readings, the modules, and the handbook, but you should also be consulting your journal entries, your assignments, and the feedback you received on your writing. If you want to reference one of the authors from Module 9 and their conception of writing, you are welcome to do so; however, they cannot be the focus of your assignment. Your focus must remain on your own writing across the term.
There are several different prompts in this assignment sheet to help you focus your thinking, but whichever you choose, the result of your reflections will be a formal essay that shares your insights about yourself with a reader.
• SCOPE:
o The essay should cover ideas discussed throughout the course. o The essay must have a clear and consistent thesis.
• LENGTH:
o Your essay’s word count total between 450 and 550 words.
• FORMATTING:
o This assignment is an essay.
o You may choose to write in either MLA or APA style.
• LANGUAGE AND STYLE:
o This essay is grounded in personal experiences and opinions. It may
therefore be written using slightly informal tone and diction.
Direct quotation is required. Quotes must be integrated into your own sentences.
o This document should be formatted in either MLA or APA style. • RESEARCH:
o No research is required for this assignment.
o You may quote from anything used in or produced for this course.
Prompts: use one of the following prompts to guide your essay. You do not need to answer all the questions in prompt exactly. You should also avoid producing a list of answers to the individual questions. You should instead use the set of questions to guide your thinking as you produce a unified response to the prompt. However, you do need to address both change across the term and what you will bring with you into the future.
1. Narrate the process of one assignment, similar to Lamott and Osborne. You can use drafts, lectures, journals, feedback, peer reviews. You can trace your process or use your internal process from the “Think-Aloud Exercise.” How does your writing progress from the vague brainstorming level to the final draft? What spurs your process, and what hinders it? What is effective about your process, and what could use improvement? How can you use your knowledge of your writing to approach writing in the future?
2. Describe how your writing and your relationship with writing has changed across the term. How have these assignments, journals, and other activities changed your approach to writing? Have they given you different techniques or styles of writing? Have they made you realize any of your strengths, or changed any of your weaknesses? Have you considered your writing from a different angle as you learned more about paragraphs, citations, norms, genre, and the like? Where did your writing start, where is it now, and where might it be in the future – academically, professionally, and otherwise?
3. Consider your understanding of writing at the activity level, the genre level, and/or the theory level. Using your writing across the term, choose one or two levels of writing to ask yourself: why do you write? What drives your process? What are your activities of writing? What do they tell you about what writing is to you? What have you learned about your writing process across the term that has given you a better understanding of why you write? Have any concepts you’ve learned helped you understand why you write? How can you take your understanding of why you write with you into future writing?

Marking Requirements:
• You have an argumentative thesis about your personal theory of writing
• You stay focused on proving your thesis throughout the essay
• You address one of the prompts in some manner
• You quote directly from at least one of your various writings across the term
• You address your development as a writer in at least one of the following
ways:
a. How your relationship with writing had changed across the term
b. How your understanding of writing has changed across the term
c. How your writing process has changed across the term
• Your address how your current understanding of writing will prepare you for successful engagement with future writing tasks
• You keep your essay organized and coherent
• You use proper MLA or APA citation style and format

5-page Paper #2: Reentry
Using the textbook and at least 3 articles from the library databases, do the following:
· Introduce the topic by defining and describing what reentry is in corrections.
· Research and discuss 3 “best practices” or successful reentry programs and the details as to how they operate.
Conclude with a discuss the future of reentry.

sources:
https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.ezai.ez.cwmars.org:3243/eds/results?vid=0&sid=17e13ce2-b683-4f3d-846c-18d05974c940%40redis&bquery=-%2BLouisiana%2Bstate%2Bpenitentiary%2Bcorrections%2Bcourt%2Breentry%2Bprogram%253a%2Bteaching%2Bmorality%2Band%2Bchange%2Bthrough%2Binmates%2Bmentors&bdata=JmNsaTA9RlQxJmNsdjA9WSZ0eXBlPTAmc2VhcmNoTW9kZT1BbmQmc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl

1.
Create a at least a 4000-word Strategic Plan in which you make
recommendations for leadership development and implementation, as well as relevant
HRM applications for your chosen company. The word limit is exclusive of tables/figures/charts/references/appendices.
2.
You can choose a known large company
(ex. Amazon), or build your own company
3.
The name of the chosen company should
be submitted by 7/04
Note
1.
Your Strategic Plan should make clear what directions the company should
be pursuing for a competitive future, which actions it should take, and how it
can implement some quality processes to take best advantage of its collective
capabilities.
2.
Your simulation has so far created a
context of social, global, and technological changes in connection with your
company, and should generally be consistent with the solution of an issue that
you have identified. These are listed below. Keep asking questions and using
the Internet to seek solutions.
3.
You should use the Strategic Plan structure
provided.