Maria Pascucci, president and founder of Campus Calm™, has been named “Protégé of the Year” by the Allstate Minority and Women Emerging Entrepreneurs (MWEE) program.

The program is a joint venture by the University at Buffalo School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) and the UB Center for Urban Studies.

Pascucci received a $1,500 prize for the honor. Campus Calm provides training solutions to colleges and universities to help develop the next generation of young female leaders.

Laura St. Pierre Smith, of Blaine Realtors in Hamburg, was awarded the second-place prize of $1,000. Additionally, Melissa Neal, M.D., owner of Twenty 20 Eye Care and Aesthetic Oculoplastic Medicine in Buffalo, was awarded the third-place prize, $500.

The Allstate Foundation, a charitable organization funded by subsidiaries of Allstate Insurance Corporation, sponsored the program and presented the awards at a banquet on Nov. 8 in the

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Ignoring the problems that bad credit creates can be easy at times. Day-to-day most people don’t need to worry about their credit scores. Unfortunately the time will come when you need to face the issue head-on. I came to this point about a year ago and decided that I needed to fix my credit rating.

How Bad Credit Hurts You

A low credit rating will cause a whole range of problems when it comes time to get a loan. Depending on your score you may not be able to get a loan. If you are able chances are your interest rate will be very high. While a 1% or 2% difference doesn’t seem like much it can cost you thousands of dollars over the life of loan.

How I Fixed My Credit Rating

The first step I took as I started to fix my credit rating was to order copies of my credit reports. This can be done once a year for free from the AnnualCreditReport website. Thi

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Money never sleeps and also the need for it is always there with it (money). Everyone needs money some of them like you earn it through regular jobs. But remember that, the kind of regular job that you are doing is always not going to turn you up with the regular stash, it lessens up when your retirement comes and you know what….. The living standards are also not going to be regular. So don’t care about that, you are here which means that you’re blessed by financial god (Roth IRA). To know more about this god visit the site roth-ira.org. Roth Full Article…

Stephen Hadhazi has a website devoted to sharing his knowledge regarding vandalism losses with policyholders who have suffered losses. A licensed public adjuster in Texas, Florida, Hawaii, and Oklahoma, Stephen got his start working in the construction industry. Stephen explains,

Like so many public adjusters, I began as a general contractor and an roofing contractor who performed work primarily on homes damaged by hail, wind, hurricanes, etc. In the course of doing business with adjusters from the insurance carriers over the years it was kind of a natural progression to eventually move into full time Public Adjusting. I suppose my passion for helping others in just natural. It is sort of who I am.

Stephen has a passion for helping policyholders and is a devoted Insurance Claim Software Developer who has developed iScope™ Damage Estimating Software, Contents King©, MacroNote©, Claim Doc Labeler©, PicPal©, One-Button Desktop Cleanup© and One-Button Screenshot©. These pr

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Being able to pull out a debit card or credit card has virtually eliminated the chances that you will be caught short of money at an inconvenient time, such as at the checkout counter at a grocery store or during dinner with friends at a restaurant.  In 2006, there were 984 million Visa and MasterCard credit and debit cards in the United States alone.  Although these cards seem to work in similar manners, there are notable differences between them.

Debit cards provide a convenient alternative to cash, especially if you do a lot of shopping or pay your bills online.  The cards are linked to your bank account so the money you spend is automatically deducted from your account and your bank balance goes down with each debit transaction.  This makes you less likely to overspend and reduces the chances of accumulating significant debt.

Credit cards allow you to use a lender’s funds to make a purchase now and you pay the money back later.  If the money is paid back within the billing period, no interest is charged for the purchase.  If you do not pay the balance in full before the end of the billing cycle, you will be charged interest on the balance of the credit card.  These interest charges can add up fast, resulting in quickly accumulating debt.

Using credit cards responsibly can offer a number of advantages.  They help build your credit and provide more protection than a debit card if someone steals your card or account information.  If a fraudulent charge is noticed on your credit card account, you can call the credit card company and make a dispute claim, resulting in the charge being removed from your balance.  If thieves steal your debit card information and use it, it could take weeks for the bank to complete their investigation of your claim and replace the lost funds.

For many people, having both a debit card and a credit card available makes sense. The importa

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American Express has brought back its Small Business Saturday promotion for another year. What does this mean? On Saturday, November 26, 2011 (the day after Black Friday), you can receive a one-time $25 statement credit when you use an eligible American Express card to make a purchase of at least $25 at a small business. To participate in this promo, you must enroll your card first at this . The number of cards that can be registered for this promo is limited, so you’ll want to register ASAP.

There is also a limit of one statement credit per registered card, regardless of the number of transactions you make with the card. However, if you have multiple authorized users on a card, each authorized user should be able to register separately and earn a credit. S

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