In today’s modern world, going about your financial transactions without using the best prepaid card is almost impossible. Fortunately, when you use the best prepaid cards, you will not only enjoy peerless ease and convenience, you can also easily adhere to your budget and live within your means.

If you are looking for an effective budgeting tool that can help you create a budget and manage your money better, you can never go wrong with the best prepaid cards. Not only that, prepaid cards also provide unmatched flexibility so you can shop online and  easily carry out transactions that require the use of plastic cards.

Essentially, prepaid card providers offer various benefits, fee structures, and features. That said, it is recommended that you do your research and shop around before picking a prepaid card. This is necessary if you want to find a prepaid card that will suit all your needs.

If your main purpose for getting a prepaid card is help with your budgeting, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will cover how you can use your prepaid card to stick to your budget and to manage your money properly. Get your budgeting efforts off to a wonderful start by keeping the following basics in mind:

Load only the money you have budgeted for a specific purpose to limit your spending.

If you load a specific amount of money in your prepaid card, it becomes easier for you to stick to the budget you have created. Case in point: let’s say you want to allot $200 for eating out each month. If you spend all the balance in one go, that means you won’t go out until the end of the month when you will replenish the card again.

Use your prepaid card in lieu of cash.

If you have been trying to budget your money but in vain, it is likely that you have not yet tried the envelope system. With the envelope system, you place cash you want to set aside for a specific thing in each envelope. While this technique is undeniably effective, it also comes with certain risks.

For starters, it’s not always safe to constantly keep and carry money anywhere you go. There is also the likelihood that you would be able to use it on other things aside from its intended purpose. With a prepaid card, it’s easier for you to stick to your budget without the risks. It’s also hands down more convenient.

You are spared from costly interest charges and late fees.

If you are using a credit or debit card, it is likely that you can attest how difficult it can be to budget your money using those financial tools. Come to think of it, with a credit card, you will be using money you don’t really have. It is the bank’s money that you are borrowing for the time being and you will eventually pay at a later date.

If you want to avoid accumulating a mountain of debt and spare yourself from those exorbitant monthly fees and other charges, using a prepaid card is one of the best options available at your disposal. Also, when you use a prepaid card, you won’t need to worry about your credit score if you can’t pay your credit dues on time.

You can load school allowances on the prepaid card.

If you want to teach your children smart budgeting and spending habits, giving them a prepaid card is recommended. With a prepaid card, you can teach them how to budget their money and at the same time, you can also teach them how to be responsible with their spending.

Did you know that 67% of projects fail outright, and that of those that succeed businesses reported an estimated 11% in wasted resources? What could you accomplish if you could improve productivity by 11% and complete more of your projects on time and under budget?

To do this you need to choose the right project management methodology for your team. Don’t worry if you don’t know where to start because you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about the lean methodology vs scrum and how they can work for your team’s next project.

What Is Lean Methodology? 

Just as the agile method is more of a philosophy rather than a strict process, so too is the lean methodology. Because of this, lean has translated well across many different industries and business models.

The lean method evolved out of the manufacturing process and focuses on eliminating waste within your production process. This method works best in businesses that produce similar or the same product continuously such as manufacturing products or the publishing model.

The premise behind lean is to eliminate waste both in your processes and in the product you create. You can start by identifying where your processes can improve and then working to continually improve until you eliminate all waste. As you get started you should consult a lean methodology guide to help you plan your processes.

What Is Scrum? 

Another agile method that many teams successfully use to create quality products quickly is the scrum method. This method is based on working in small teams throughout a pre-defined sprint, usually around four weeks. During this time the team will meet daily to discuss progress and define their next steps.

The Scrum method is a great tool for projects that are singular in nature rather than continual as you’ll find in the lean process. With each sprint you run, you’ll assess your progress and make adjustments accordingly. You can also check out the official scrum guide to see how the creators of scrum suggest you implement their philosophies.

Key Lean Methodology vs Scrum Differences

Both the lean and scrum methodologies focus on improvement and team collaboration. These systems move away from the traditional waterfall method that focuses on creating an ultimate plan before starting the process and following through until completion. Instead, both lean and scrum empower your team to start quickly and iterate their processes until they succeed.

To see the key differences between these two methods, let’s look at their frameworks and how they tackle timelines, outcomes, and management styles:

Lean

• Eliminates waste
• Repeatable processes
• Improves processes
• Reduces costs
• Focuses on continuous processes

Scrum

• User centered-products
• Sprint-driven rather than continual processes
• Works in incremental phases
• Develops new solutions

As you can see both solutions provide a great method for achieving your outcome goals albeit through different methods and processes. Choose the best one based on what your overall outcomes goals are and whether you create user-centered products or use a repeatable manufacturing or development process.

Choose the Best Process for Your Team

Both lean and scrum offer solutions to teams working towards increasing productivity while delivering a quality product. The differences between lean methodology vs scrum center around the way you create your product and your timeline used so choose accordingly as you create your own method for success.

For more great information on this and other topics, check out the rest of our blog.

The FBI has reported that cybercrimes cost people more than $6.9B in 2021. That’s a $2B jump from 2020, according to their annual Internet Crime Report.

Today we see all types of cyberattacks with government organizations conducting vaccine research and managing COVID-19. For these targets, the result is negative publicity and reputational harm. When panic is about and emotions are running high, hackers see this as a prime time to attack you.

As an individual or a part of a larger corporation, what can you do to protect yourself? Read our guide below to learn what types of cyber security attacks to be aware of.

Malware

Malware stands for malicious software. The intent of the software, program, or code is to harm a computer, network, or server.

This is one of the most common types of cyberattacks out there and is often used as an umbrella term for other attacks such as ransomware, trojans, spyware, cryptojacking, viruses, worms, keyloggers, and bots.

Ransomware

A ransomware attack is a type of malware that will lock out a user to their system until payment (ransom) is met. These types of cyberattacks aim to exploit vulnerabilities in the system while gaining access to the network.

Hackers will block access to hard drives or encrypt files. Payment is typically demanded with private cryptocurrency.

Phishing

A hacker will try to phish sensitive information such as your password, PIN, or account numbers from you using social engineering techniques. This is done through e-mail, texting, phone calls, and social media.

Examples of this include impersonating a doctor, government organization, or courier. If something feels “phishy” it most likely is—do not be fooled.

DoS and DDOS

A DoS (Denial-of-Service) attack will flood a network with false requests with the purpose of disrupting business operations. When these types of cyberattacks occur, users won’t be able to do routine things like e-mail, accessing sites, or private accounts.

Head here to see what you can do to prevent this from happening to your company or organization.

Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking is one of the new emerging types of cyberattacks. How it works is when a hacker gains access to a person or organization’s computers to mine cryptocurrency.

The hacker will gain access to the computers by getting them to install malware with a phishing attack. This can also happen when the victim visits a site and there is a snippet of code inserted to mine the cryptocurrency. As cryptocurrencies rise in popularity and value, cryptojacking is something to be aware of in the future.

Be Cautious of the Different Types of Cyberattacks

Whenever you go online, you are vulnerable to these types of cyberattacks. By understanding how hackers and bad actors think, you can better protect yourself, your loved ones, and your employees.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this article about the different types of cyberattacks. As technology changes, you will need to keep up. That’s why we highly encourage you to check out our other blog posts to learn more on the subject.