Five gift ideas for your loved ones

 

It is winter and almost Christmas time! We all know what it means - time for Christmas shopping for gifts for the family, the loved ones, relatives and so on. Of course it is even better to use your tax refunded money for that purpose but let's see if we can help with the following ideas – in case you are still undecided.

1. Watches.

In most of the situations a stylish rosegold watch should be a great gift for most of the women and it can be found for around $100 depending on the brand.

When we talk about men, the gold isn't the best choice, so it would be good to consider purchasing a smart watch instead. The price is similar, mainly depending on the brand and features.

2. Video games.

With the release of Xbox One and PS4 a good variety of next-generation video games are going to be released as well – for example Destiny, Watch Dogs, Titanfall and others so consider pre-ordering those and getting a hefty discount. If your beloved ones didn't had the chance of getting a new console and still miss some current generation titles - Battlefield 4, Grand Theft Auto 5, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Rider and a lot more are here to stay!

3. Throw up a surprise party.

In order this to work out completely, you should, at least, keep it secret until the very end. The more the people involved, the merrier!

4. Books.

Having a good book as a present with signed title page is extremely sweet and simple (in a nice way) present. Of course, you can consider swapping this with a E-book reader if it looks like a more suitable gift to you.

5. Universal charger.

No doubt that with all those tech gadgets and devices around us, the only constant concern is...battery life. You can choose from wide variety of chargers that can use solar energy, kinetic energy (motion), ones that are suitable for backpacks, bikes, etc. The choice is yours, depending on the person you are making this gift for.

Another government shutdown evaded with budget deal?

The United States Congressional budget committee reached to a budget agreement in Tuesday for reducing the federal deficit with $23 billion while not raising the taxes. If this is approved by the Congress, another shutdown scenario will be avoided as the government funding will run out on 15th of January 2014.

As you remember, the previous federal government shutdown of 2013 was from October 1st through 16th and is still unclear if IRS will delay the new tax-filling season with a week or two as previously predicted.


Paul Ryan, Chairman of the Congressional budget committee commented that the deal “cuts spending in a smarter way." It will also prevent budget clashes and possible shutdowns for the next two years. The Senate Budget Committee with Chairman Patty Murray said that "we have broken through the partisanship and the gridlock."


Before going to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature, the new budget agreement must be passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. The voting should be carried by the end of this week.

Related articles:
After the Shutdown, the new tax season starts late
Budget cuts and ID thefts causes delays for the IRS

Yet another Black Friday result – people are buying silver and gold with bitcoins

After this year's Black Friday, Business Insider came with an article about the rather interesting preference of some customers. It happened that a lot of people used the so popular lately electronic money currency – Bitcoin – to actually buy silver and gold bars and coins!

This specific buy is reasonable in terms of the relative stability that the gold and silver has to offer. It also supports the trend revealed by Coindesk that Bitcoin actually is getting more and more popular with more than 1000 businesses worldwide accepting this payment method. The current mid-market rate for 5th of December 2013 for 1,00 Bitcoin is 1,011.40 USD.

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, bitcoins aren't actually money, as they should be treated like a non-legal currency. That is why any transaction with them is regarded as a barter. In the other end of the world, China banned their banks from any Bitcoin transactions.

The former U.S. congressman Ron Paul said that “There will be alternatives to the dollar, and this might be one of them." When asked to continue: If people start using bitcoins en masse, Paul added “it'll go down in history as the destroyer of the dollar”.