The day-count convention (DCC) determines how the day-count fraction (DCF) is found when calculating accrued interest. The day-count convention on your bond is defined in the accompanying indenture (contract). For example, 30 days in a month and 360 days in a year would mean a DCC of 30/360. Other bonds, especially U.S. government (Treasury) bonds, calculate interest using the exact number of days in a month and year. Such a DCC is sometimes referred to as "actual/actual" or "ACT/ACT." In practice, bonds can also use a combination of these two DCCs, with such possible DCCs as 30/ACT and ACT/360. In practical terms, the convention used will make very little difference in terms of interest earned. Double-check your bond indenture to be sure. Your interest rate, also called the the coupon rate, specifies the amount of interest you earn on the bond annually as a percentage of your par (or "face") value. The payment frequency signifies whether your bond pays interest once a year or more often. Bonds typically pay interest either annually or semi-annually (once or twice per year). This information can be found within your bond indenture. For example, your bond might pay a 6% coupon rate twice per year. In this case, the annual interest rate would be 6% divided by the number of payments within the year. Thus, a 6% bond that pays interest twice per year would effectively pay 3% of the par value for each of the two payments during the year, or 6% total. Search your records to see when your bond made its latest coupon payment. This information is available from the financial institution that sold you the bond. This will depend on your DCC, as the passage of days is calculated differently in each type of bond. Generally, if your bond is actual/actual, you will actually count the days. If your bond is 30/360, you would use those numbers for each month or year that has passed. Let's say you have a 30/360 bond, and exactly two months have passed since your latest payment. You would simply multiply 2 x 30 and use 60 days in your calculations, regardless of how many days there actually were in the elapsed months. This is the amount paid to the holder of the bond at maturity (when the interest payments stop). This will be stated clearly on your bond indenture. Note that the par value may be more or less than what you actually paid for the bond originally. Market price is affected by the existing rate environment and the bond issuer's creditworthiness. Bonds are often valued at $1000. That would be the par value even if you paid slightly more or less for it.

Summary: Determine the day-count convention on your bond. Confirm the interest rate and payment frequency on your bond. Find when the most recent coupon payment was made. Calculate how many days have passed since the most recent coupon-paying day. Confirm the face or par value of your bond.

Before you head out, search for videos of club dance moves. Some of these videos just feature people dancing to club music, others take you through tutorials of how to master the moves. Watching these videos can help give you a mental picture of the moves that you can imitate. If you're extremely worried about what you look like, tape yourself dancing to club music to make sure your moves look okay. Fix anything you find strange about your movements. Compare it to videos you see online. Look for things like not enough movement, being too stiff, arms being too rigid, and awkward head movements. Get dressed up and go to the club with a group of friends. This can help you feel relaxed and less self-conscious, which will help you perform the dance moves much more confidently. One of the worst things you can do at a club is overthink your moves. Overthinking makes you rigid and awkward. Be careful not to do spastic moves where you are flailing all over the dance floor either. When you first get to the club, scope out the other people on the dance floor. See how they are dancing, what they look like, what kind of moves they are doing. More than likely, they will be doing some of the same basic dance moves you will be. Don't stress and have fun. Relaxing also helps you stay loose. If you're feeling tense, just start moving around to warm up and loosen your muscles. Roll your shoulders, stretch your neck from side to side, sway as you bounce a bit. This helps you get the key body parts moving so you can dance more fluidly.

Summary: Watch videos of club dance moves. Tape yourself dancing. Go with a group of friends. Relax.

Texting doesn't vary that much depending on the phone, but there can be some slight differences, especially between older cell phones and smart phones. For example, you might see "messaging" on a phone's menu to start the texting process. Or you might see "Send SMS" instead. It means the same thing. Newer smart phones will offer keyboards that are touch screens. You will use this to type the message. On older phones, you will need to use a keyboard built into the phone itself, that doubles as the buttons you press with numbers to call people. Be aware that you may have to pay to receive or send texts. Some cell phone plans have unlimited texting built into the plan. If you're going to be texting a lot, this might be a better idea. Some plans will only let you send a certain number of texts per month before incurring overcharges, though. If you don't have an unlimited plan, you could be charged something like 20 cents per text, so make sure you research the costs beforehand.
Summary: Research your own phone's manual. Check the cost with your phone service provider.