Guest Blogs

Knowitall.ch often invites local experts in their field to contribute to their own blogs on our site. This means not only you will benefit from the useful recommendations that we make on our News pages, but you can also profit from some of the great advice and tips that these experts have to make on their favorite subjects. Whilst each of these bloggers has been recommended to us at some point during the evolution of Know-it-all passport and knowitall.ch, obviously we are not able to test out all the suggestions they make on their blogs, nor do we necessarily agree with all their opinions. So if you do find one of their tips useful (or not!), do let us know!

To make these blogs more accessible to you, we have now decided to group them altogether in one section, entitled Guest Blogs, accessible from our main menu bar. We will also post the most recent blogs on the home page of our site in the right hand column.

We are still building up this area of the site, and are looking for bloggers in a number of sections, including Your Home, Travel, and Leisure, so if you feel you have a useful contribution to make in either of these areas, and have the time to submit blog entries approximately every month, then please get in touch!

: Published: 02 September 2015

juliewagner4

By Julie Tompkins-Wagner, www.Julie-music.com

As the start of a new school year approaches, many parents are looking to enroll their children in music lessons. This is a wonderful opportunity for the students but the experience can quickly turn sour if the situation isn’t right.
So how to you guarantee a positive experience? There are no guarantees. We are all human and go about learning in different ways. But here are few things that will help you find your way to a fun, positive learning experience for your children.

First, don’t leave the decisions to someone else. So many times parents think that because they are enrolling their children in an established music school or conservatoire, or having the lessons at the child’s academic school, that things will be fine. While a school or conservatoire will normally hire only qualified teachers that meet their standards, this doesn’t mean that the teacher you get may actually work out. It is the teacher/student relationship that makes the lessons a success. And a teacher who works well and has much success with some students might not necessarily work out well with a different kind of student. But there is normally a pool of teachers there to choose from, so it can be a good place to start.

: Published: 05 August 2015

By Sabine Hutcheson, Education Consultant at TutorsPlus

As most international students are aware, those considering the US for their university degree will have to take an SAT or ACT exam. Both of these exam boards offer a standardised set of skill-based exams on English language and Math skills. The nature of the questions aims to test students on their analytical, logical and reasoning skills in a short space of time.

While the ACT test will remain the same as it has been for several years, the SAT exam has been revamped for 2016, with the first session of the new format to take place in March. Broadly speaking, according to College Board, the new test is changing to reflect the high school curriculum more closely and to stand as a better indicator of students’ readiness for university degrees. The principle is still the same, the higher the score, the greater the choice of top universities.

: Published: 04 August 2015

non dairy raspberry yoghurt 500

By Hiba Giacoletto, Healthwise

Something I hear often is how 'healthy' people think fruit yoghurt is. Sorry to burst your bubble but have you actually read the label on a fruit yoghurt? At best, it is loaded with sugar - at worst, lots of yucky stuff.

It is time for a really simple, delicious alternative that is free of sugar, dairy, soy and gluten!

This breakfast or snack is creamy thanks to the soaked, uncooked buckwheat and hemp seeds. It’s sweet thanks to the raspberries and dried figs. And it has that little bit of tartness thanks to the lemon.

Once you have soaked everything in the evening, it takes only 5 minutes to blend everything in the morning and can keep for up to two days in the fridge.

And because of the mix of healthy fats, protein and fiber, it is filling enough to be a meal in itself.

: Published: 03 August 2015

Retirement Plan 500

By Dr Graham Brown, Forth Capital

Anyone who has pension benefits with a value in excess of the lifetime allowance (LA) will be subject to a tax charge on their excess benefits value known as the lifetime allowance charge.

Key facts

The lifetime allowance was introduced in April 2006 and is the maximum value of benefits that can be taken from a registered pension scheme without being subject to the lifetime allowance charge.

Benefits in excess of the lifetime allowance could be protected from the lifetime allowance charge by using primary, enhanced, fixed and individual protection.

The lifetime allowance has been steadily decreasing since 2012 as follows:

: Published: 27 July 2015

simplicity premiumlinkedin

By Sarah Santacroce at Simplicity

If I received 5$ every time someone asked me that question I would be a very rich Swiss lady. Do you have a free account and are wondering if you should upgrade? Or maybe you’re paying the monthly fee but are not sure if it’s really worth it? Read this post for some answers (and my personal opinion)

Disclaimer: the opinion and views expressed in this post are solely my own and might not represent those of other LinkedIn experts – or LinkedIn itself.

So should you pay for a LinkedIn Premium Account?

It depends… on your general knowledge about LinkedIn, on your profile, on the objectives you are trying to achieve, on your position (are you a recruiter, a sales professional or a business consultant?)… There is no standard answer. But… in my experience a lot of people are wasting their money on the paid account. But I’ll get to that. Let’s look at the benefits of a Premium Account first: