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| Nine Crucial Tips That May Help Save Your Life Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this as it just may save yours or your loved ones life. Because of recent abductions in daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation. This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children and everyone you know. After reading these 9 crucial tips, copy then and send to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in. 1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do : The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do! 2. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Instead, toss it away from you - chances are that the robber is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION! 3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. (This has saved lives.) 4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.) DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head, and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE. If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead start the engine and speed into anything - wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. (If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it.) As soon as the car crashes get out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location. 5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot or parking garage: a.)Be aware: look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor and in the back seat b.)If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. (Some serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars.) c.)Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back and get someone -guard/policeman to walk you back out. (IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. And better paranoid than dead.) 6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!) 7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!!!! Preferably in a zig -zag pattern! 8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP! It may get you raped or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathy of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim. 9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late and she thought it was weird. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a window and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way, but whatever you do, DONOT open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night. Please pass this on and DO NOT open the door for a crying baby ---- The Crying Baby theory was mentioned on America 's Most Wanted this past Saturday when they profiled the serial killer in Louisiana. Please be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of crazies in it and it's better to be safe than sorry. |
| 10 Things Gas Stations Won't Tell You 1. “Good luck finding the best deal.” When it comes to gas prices, most stations are branded—meaning the name of a major oil company hangs out front—and must buy gas from their proprietary company. They can’t shop around. With a lock on sales, the oil companies charge each station a different price depending on various factors, such as the station’s competition and its location. That means a station can pay as much as 46 cents a gallon more than one down the street, and that cost gets passed along to you. Faced with such instability, Gainesville, Fla., resident Steven King plans ahead: “If I know I’ m going out of town, I try not to buy gas so I can fill up after I leave.” King says he can save 10 cents a gallon by purchasing gas on the road. You’d be similarly wise to shop around—with prices constantly in motion, the cheapest gas may not be at the same station every time. 2. “I hate it when gas prices go up.” Stations earn on average between 10 and 15 cents on a gallon of gas. Ironically, they earn the least when prices are highest. When fuel climbs, gas stations must shrink their profit margin to remain competitive, meaning they earn less per gallon than usual. But another big cost during tough times is something they can’t do anything about—credit card fees, which add up to about 2.5 percent of all purchases. When gas is at, say, $2 a gallon, the station pays credit card companies 5 cents a gallon; when gas hits $3, that fee becomes 7.5 cents—more than half the station’s entire average profit. “Those credit card fees are miserable for the gas station business,” says Mohsen Arabshahi, who owns five Southern California gas stations. How do station owners make up for lost revenue? “Prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather,” says Richard Gilbert, a professor of economics at UC Berkeley. For several weeks after wholesale prices drop, stations can earn as much as 20 cents a gallon before retail prices are lowered to reflect the change. 3. “My gas isn’t better for your car; it’s just more expensive.” Oil companies spend lots of money explaining why their gas is better than the competition’s. Chevron’s gas, for example, is fortified with “Techron,” and Amoco Ultimate is supposed to save the planet along with your engine. But today more than ever, one gallon of gas is as good as the next. True, additives help to clean your engine, but what the companies don’t tell you is that all gas has them. Since 1994 the government has required that detergents be added to all gasoline to help prevent fuel injectors from clogging. State and local regulators keep a close watch to make sure those standards are met; a 2005 study indicated that Florida inspectors checked 45,000 samples to ensure the state’s gas supply was up to snuff, and 99 percent of the time it was. “There’s little difference between brand-name gas and any other,” says AAA spokesperson Geoff Sundstrom. What’s more, your local Chevron station may sell gas refined by Shell or Exxon Mobil. Suppliers share pipelines, so they all use the same fuel. And the difference between the most expensive brand-name gas and the lowliest gallon of no-brand fuel? Often just a quart of detergent added to an 8,000- gallon tanker truck. 4. “If you’re smart, you’ll put that debit card away . . .” Your debit card might be a convenient way to pay for gas, but it’s a no-win proposition. When you swipe a debit card at the pump, the bank doesn’t know how much money you’ll be spending until you’ve finished pumping. So to make sure you have the funds to cover the purchase, some stations ask banks to automatically set aside some of your money: That amount can be $20 or more. That means even if you just topped off your tank for $10, you could be out $30, $50, even $100 until the station sends over its bulk transactions, which can take up to three days. If your funds are running low, you might end up bouncing a check in the meantime—even though you had the money in your account. Unfortunately, paying inside with your debit card isn’t much of a solution either. Many banks charge their customers between 50 cents and $1 for the privilege of using their debit card in any PINbased transaction. The American Bankers Association estimates only 13 percent of consumers pay these fees, but critics say the practice is on the rise and consumers are often unaware of these charges. 5. “. . . and don’t even consider applying for our gas card.” When it comes to gasoline credit cards, a little research goes a long way. The good deals are great, but the bad deals are really bad. Similar to store cards issued through retailers, gas cards are riddled with drawbacks, says Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com. APRs are high, starting above 20 percent; many don’t offer rebates on gas purchases; and they often lack standard protections such as fraud monitoring and zero liability for unauthorized transactions. What about a Visa or MasterCard affiliated with a gasoline brand like Exxon or BP? They often offer lower interest rates and significant rebates, but limit your ability to shop around. In December 2005, a few months after gas hit $3 a gallon, Justin Andringa of Minneapolis considered a Shell MasterCard with a 15 percent rebate on gas purchases. But the rebate was temporary; he decided to stick with his Citi Dividend Platinum Select card, which gives him a 5 percent rebate on all gas purchases no matter where he buys it. “I’m a college student,” Andringa says. “I need to save money.” The deals on these cards are constantly changing. So visit CardRatings.com to find updated information. 6. “Looking for the cheapest gas in town? Try the Internet.” You can’t actually buy gas online, but Web resources can help you find the cheapest fill-up in town. Among them, GasPriceWatch.com and GasWatch.info help people track pump prices. But the most comprehensive of the bunch is GasBuddy.com, which includes a network of 174 local sites, complete with maps and message boards that tally gas price by ZIP code. “People are frustrated by the variation in the price of gas,” says GasBuddy.com cofounder Jason Toews, and they’re using the Internet to take control. It has worked wonders for Sue Foust. Every day, as she passes roughly 10 stations on her commute across Tucson, Ariz., Foust makes a mental note of their prices, then posts them on TucsonGasPrices.com, a local affiliate of GasBuddy.com. Then every four days or so, when she needs to fill up, she checks the prices others have posted in her area. It turned out the Shell station she used to frequent is one of the most expensive in the city. Now she fills up elsewhere. “I really do feel like I’m saving money,” she says. 7. “It’s a gallon when I say it’s a gallon.” It’s hard to know if you’re getting all the gas you paid for at the pump. But in some places there’s a very good chance you’re not. The state or county weightsand- measures department usually checks pumps for accuracy, but in some areas it can be years between inspections. Arizona, for example, has only 18 staff members to check the state’s 2,300 stations. That means stations there can expect a visit once every three to four years, according to Steve Meissner, an Arizona Department of Weights and Measures spokesperson. In 2005, 30 percent of the more than 2,000 complaints the department received were valid, and it levied $167,000 in fines. The good news is that it’s often easy to catch the most common problem: Older pumps in poor repair may begin charging you for gas before you’ve pumped it. Check the meter to make sure it registers $0.00 before you begin and doesn’t start charging you before the fuel is flowing. 8. “I might gouge you on a soda, but my coffee’s a real bargain.” With margins on gas taking a hit—in 2006, fuel sales made up 71 percent of revenue but only 34 percent of gross margins—stations are increasingly looking to their convenience stores for income. Given that fact, you’d assume the average Kwik-E- Mart to be a terrible place to buy just about anything. But that’s only partially true. Stock that usually sits on the shelf does tend to be vastly overpriced, so if you forgot ketchup on the way to a barbecue, you can bet you’ll pay a lot more for it at a gas station than you would at a supermarket, says David Bishop, director of convenience retailing for Willard Bishop Consulting. What about popular beverages? You’ll pay more for a 20-ounce soda at a gas station than you would for a two-liter bottle in a supermarket; water and energy drinks similarly tend to have high markups. But there are bargains to be had: Some high-volume goods, such as cigarettes and beer, are often competitively priced at gas stations. And a cup of coffee goes for a fraction of what you’d pay at Starbucks. 9. “If you’re having car trouble, you’re in the wrong place.” The days of the local gas station staffed with a skilled mechanic have all but come to an end. Station owners are swapping car lifts for beverage cases and car washes, anything that brings in a high-volume stream of income and traffic, says Dennis DeCota, executive director of the California Service Station and Automotive Repair Association. The more people who pull over for a soda, the greater the chance they’ll top off their tank and vice versa, the thinking goes. Few owners want the hassle of a business like car repair even if it earns the same amount of money as a convenience store. In addition, repairing cars is increasingly expensive, and the ill will and potential liability from a fix-it job gone wrong are more of a headache than many owners are willing to risk. Today a service station can require $100,000 worth of diagnostic equipment—a significant investment. It’s a risky venture with little payoff, says Southern California station owner Arabshahi. In fact, Arabshahi removed the service station from one of his locations after he bought it. “I don’t have a service station because I am not a mechanic,” he says. “If he messes up a job, then it’s my name on there.” 10. “You don’t even need gas to run your car.” Cars run on gasoline—but not all cars need gasoline to run. In fact, 6 million cars on the road today (mostly from U.S. manufacturers and built since 1998) are “flexible fuel” vehicles that can run on E85, a fuel that is 85 percent ethanol and only 15 percent gas. When Minneapolis resident John Schafer bought a car in late 2001, he chose a Chevy Tahoe because it’s a flexible-fuel car. Since then he’s filled up almost exclusively with E85. The big difference he’s noticed: Cars using E85 get about 15 percent fewer miles to the gallon. But it’s a drawback he’s willing to put up with. “I’ m committed to the technology,” Schafer says. “With E85, it burns cleaner so it won’t pollute as much.” While E85 generally costs less than regular gas, there is some concern that it may grow prohibitively expensive as demand outpaces supply: By 2006 ethanol was not just being used in E85—it also composed 15 percent of every gallon of gas sold. Supplies of ethanol are likely to grow thin, which could drive up the price of E85. And even die-hard Schafer says he won’t buy E85 if it starts to cost more than gasoline. SmartMoney.com |
| Recognizing A Stroke A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough. Recognizing a StrokeROKE: Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR .. Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions: 1) S - Ask the individual to SMILE. 2) T - Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today) 3) R - Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue .. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke. A cardiologist says if people knew just the basics, there is a greater possibility that at least one life will be saved. |
| A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man should have to seek Him first to find her. When I say that 'I am a Christian', I am not shouting that 'I am clean living. I'm whispering 'I was lost, but now I'm found and forgiven.' When I say 'I am a Christian’, I don't speak of this with pride. I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide. When I say 'I am a Christian’, I'm not trying to be strong. I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on. When I say 'I am a Christian’, I'm not bragging of success. I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess. When I say 'I am a Christian’, I'm not claiming to be perfect. My flaws are far too visible, but God believes I am worth it. When I say 'I am a Christian’, I still feel the sting of pain. I have my share of heartaches, so I call upon His name. When I say 'I am a Christian' I'm not holier than thou, I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow! Pretty is as Pretty does but, Beautiful is just plain Beautiful. |
| Don't Stop Doing These I was getting ready to pray myself to sleep ............ (have you ever done that?), and the Lord spoke a word in my spirit and He said to just start typing and I will give it to you as you type. Work on the following and it will bless you. Don't worry about the situation, attack the devil! The Word says, don't be overcome with evil, but overcome the evil with good. When the devil floods your mind with unloving negative thoughts, find someone to love. Don't try and find fault in people; look for the good in them and forget the negative. Many people put themselves in a bad way because they are always focusing on people and never letting the Lord use them to be a blessing to others. Rent the movie "Polyanna." Don't miss church when you are down. This plays into the devil's hand. Don't ever,ever,ever, give up. Watch the movie "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" or "The Norwest Passage." Don't stop praying. Satan will use situations to get you depressed and to get you out of focus. Pray every day and pray with someone who can encourage you..... prayer partner. Don't walk around with 'give up on you!' Shake the devil OFF! If you are going through hell, don't look like you are going through hell. Don't be led by your flesh! A lot of times God is not up with stuff that we say He is saying. If you do not have a powerful prayer life, you are not hearing from God and you are just doing what seems right in your own eyes. Don't put your mouth on people and have a gossiping spirit. You will speak a curse in your life and wonder where did that big Mack truck come from. Don't stop loving and forgiving. If you find yourself in a bad mood about people all the time, it may be you that really have the love issue. Michael Jackson said "Look At The Man In The Mirror." Meditate on this fact ........... love is always the answer. Whatever the devil or your flesh is telling you to do or say, cancel that thought and LOVE. Don't stop desiring to change! Don't worry about someone else changing, you change! Let the Word of God change you into a beautiful person............ Amen Don't keep sitting down and doing nothing. Do something! Get the CD ....... Do Something! Don't you be the one to fight leaders and have an uncooperative spirit. Remember that God sits high and looks low, and His eyes are over the good and the bad. Don't be late to church services! Don't let falling down ........ get you down. Get back up! Remember this. God knew you were going to fall before you fell, but He has called you His own and the apple of His eye. Hot Dog! Glory! You just had a setback. You got wounded in battle! God says that a just man falleth seven times, BUT SEVEN TIMES HE GETS BACK UP! The devil loses. The only way that he will win if you stay down. God loves you no matter what............ and so do I. Well, maybe you can think of others concerning yourself. I challenge you to be hard on yourself today. Get someone else to be hard on you. That promotes change. On Wednesday night the Lord said not to minimize His word. Print this one out and get into your spirit. Love Is Always The Answer Pastor |
| Back To School! It happens every year just around now: the mad scramble to gear up with the newest, coolest paraphernalia for the coming school year. But in these tough economic times, just the thought of shelling out the dough for all that stuff can make you lose sleep. To help, we sorted through myriad choices to find a selection of really great items we think kids will love and will help parents rest easy (they're all under $30). Enter the "green" zone This fall, it's hipper than ever for kids to be green -- and affordable for parents. Yup, school supplies of all sorts have gone eco- and wallet-friendly. Carolina Pad's Sasquatch line includes recycled notebooks, folders, binders and divider tabs in earth tones and with eco-themed interactive challenges and games. A two-pocket folder starts at just under a buck. Rebel Green's lunch totes ($24) ("bad habits are disposable" is one catchy slogan here) are made from organic cotton, come with reusable cotton napkins and feature hip designs that are made from low-impact ink materials. Play it smart with video games We all know that tearing kids away from their video games can be nearly impossible. So why not load up their high-tech toys with fun and educational video games? The handheld Nintendo DS' "Personal Trainer: Math" ($19.99) is a game for all ages featuring "Professor Kageyama," who decides whether you're ready to advance to a higher level. Kids can compete with up to 15 of their friends in various math challenges. "My Virtual Tutor: Reading" ($29.99) targets reading comprehension with click-able animations and interactive quizzes for readers pre-K to second grade. A "paint" play mode allows young users to illustrate scenes while they listen to a story. Discover free homework help Cyberspace really can help kids keep up at school. Scholastic.com now offers an entire line of learning sites, including Homework Hub, which provides research articles, study tips, grammar and writing guides, and test-taking hints. Kids in grades 3-6 can improve their math and science skills with StudyJams!, which uses cartoons, karaoke songs and interactive tutorials as teaching tools ($5.95 a month after free trial period). Schoolwaxtv.com offers free videos that help kids with their homework and school projects. And shmoop.com provides homework help with a spin: It's designed by doctorate students who load it up with plenty of pop-culture references and fun 'tude. (Sample from a plot summary of "Hamlet": "Welcome to Elsinore, Denmark, land of the recently deceased king who likes to chill out in ghost form at night on the castle battlements ...") |
| Make school supplies your own Welcome back, student DIYers! Kids now can make their own schedules, backpack tags and locker clings. Think of HP's Creative Studio as a free art workshop online, allowing you to decorate these and other items with lightning bolts, solar-system images and personalized messages. PakNaks ($3.99), are another source of personalized pizazz for backpacks, lunchboxes and other school stuff. Choose from 40 different designs that stick to just about anything with a Velcro-like attachment. Verymeri is a new trend-setting fashion line that lets kids design their own clothing. Our fave is the "Be Buddies, Not Bullies" T-shirt ($24). The non-profit group Free Arts for Abused Children gets 3% of the sales. And a bonus: Kids who create a winning design also pocket 3% of sales! Go mobile with prep for the SAT The iPod has gone educational, too. Now kids can brush up on vocab and math on the fly with downloadable SAT test prep. Kaplan's SAT Flashcubes vocabulary kit is available at iTunes. At $4.99, it features a 3-D flashcard system. Princeton Review has the SAT Vocab Challenge app for iPhone and the iPod for $4.99. Get smart with the most commonly tested words on the SAT. Carry on with these backpacks Here's a tongue twister: Cool new back-to-school backpacks can break the bank. But not these: For $29.99 (solid colors only), eBags' Downloader Laptop Backpack was rated best overall and best value among backpacks by "The Wall Street Journal" for a reason. It boasts special compartments for a laptop, cables, accessories and lots of techno-gadgets. Another great option: Lands' End has a new ClassMate StudyHaul Backpack ($29.50) that is equipped with a pocket for your MP3 player or cellphone on the shoulder strap and glow-in-the-dark zipper pulls. Bookmark like it's 2009 These fun gadgets let families log reading time. Mark-My-Time digital bookmarks ($8.95) sport a built-in stopwatch -- and maybe even create a digital incentive to up their count each time! Phone home in style When it comes to those must-have accessories -- cellphones -- cheap doesn't have to be boring. The Motorola EM330 is available for free when purchased online with a two-year service agreement, and it comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera, FM radio and AT&T Mobile Music player. And the Motorola MOTO W233 Renew ($9.99 with a two-year service contract) comes with music player and text messaging. Try clothes with 'tude Add spark to your kids' wardrobe with shirts and hoodies from BustedTees that read "That's How I Roll" or "More Cowbell," priced between $12 and $20. American Eagle's 77kids line features playful striped hoodies from $24.50 to $29.50 and T-shirts that sport Olympic themes from $16.50 to $19.50. Stay hydrated, drink clean Parents might want to grab this one for themselves: Clear2Go looks like a standard water bottle, but it has a twist. The bottle comes with a replaceable filter, which is good for up to 100 gallons of water -- or the equivalent of 640 20-ounce water bottles. (Bottle and filter packages are available for less than $25.) |
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| Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money by Kathy Kristof Friday, May 7, 2010 Brad Klontz knows all about the dumb things that smart people do with their money: He's a smart guy (with a doctorate in psychology) who lost half of his assets in the technology stock bubble. A financial psychologist, Klontz says that when it comes to money smarts, size matters: The logical part of your brain is so much smaller than the emotional side that it's like "a circus performer riding an elephant." To make smart decisions about your finances, you need the logical side to dominate. But once you get tweaked by greed or fear, that elephantine emotional brain is likely to run amok. That's why otherwise intelligent people chase get-rich fantasies. Or cling to stocks that are long past their expiration dates. Or find other ways to let fear and superstition keep them from smarter financial moves. Here are nine of these common, emotionally driven money mistakes — plus some tricks from experts for getting that elephant in line. 1. Falling in Love ... With Your Investments It can be great to fall in love with a person, but stocks can get you into deep trouble. Newport Beach, Calif., financial planner Laura Tarbox says she sees this all the time: Some clients keep concentrated stock holdings because they inherited them and "Mom just loved IBM," or because they work for the company and feel that selling would be disloyal. Then there's the couple who came to her asking for help investing $12 million. "That sounded really great until we found out that this couple used to have more than $1 billion," Tarbox says. "All their money had been invested in a company that the husband helped launch — and he couldn't convince himself to diversify when he walked away." Sorry, but that relationship just won't work, says Tarbox. No one should have more than 10 percent of his or her wealth locked in one stock. Just ask the former employees of Enron, who lost both their jobs and their retirement savings when the company filed for bankruptcy 10 years ago. 2. Chasing a Fantasy You've read it 100 times: "Past performance is not an indication of future returns." But no one appears to believe it. Purveyors of investment data can trot out tons of statistics showing that when a mutual fund or asset class (such as gold, emerging markets stocks, or junk bonds) gets singled out for great quarterly or annual returns, investors start to pour money into that investment like it was going out of style. And, of course, it is. One extensive study that looked at 19 years of market data found that investors consistently poured money into "hot" investments just as they were about to turn cold. That left the average investor with returns that fell way below the market as a whole and didn't even keep up with inflation. (For more on this, see our recent story "The Biggest Mistake Investors Make.") Klontz admits that this is why he lost his shirt in technology stocks. It's a natural inclination to "run with the herd," he says with a shrug. Maybe so, but if you don't want to get trampled, you have to devise an investment strategy that suits your goals and then stick to it, even as your neighbor gets (temporarily) rich on the investment du jour. 3. Equating "On Sale" With "Good Deal" Consider two television sets: Both are $500, but one is marked down from $800. Which one do you buy? If you're being reasonable, you buy the one that got the better rating in Consumer Reports. But most people buy the one that's on sale, says Matt Wallaert, a consultant for LendingTree, which owns the money management Web site Thrive. In fact, even people who would never have spent $500 on a television often will when it's discounted — simply because it's so cheap! In reality, $500 is $500. If you wouldn't normally spend that much on a television (or any product, for that matter), you shouldn't do it now. We've been fooled by "anchoring": the illogical, but nearly inescapable, tendency to base our estimates of value on the nearest number we see, rather than an independent assessment. Just because the tag has $800 crossed out and replaced by $500, that doesn't mean $800 was a meaningful price. Indeed, an MIT experiment revealed that students who wrote down the last two digits of their Social Security numbers based their estimates of a wine bottle's worth on those two random numbers. The higher their numbers, the more the students were willing to bid for the wine. Before you pull out your checkbook to splurge at a sale, evaluate whether the product, be it a television or a bread machine, is worth that price in enjoyment. Consider how often you'll use it, for instance, and whether you can get something of similar quality for less. 4. Retaliatory Spending You don't need it. You don't want it. But, dang it, no one is going to tell you that you can't have it. New York psychologist Bonnie Eaker Weil calls it "POP" spending — for "pissed-off purchases." She did a survey before publishing her latest book, Financial Infidelity, and estimated from the results that POP spending accounts for about $424 billion in purchases each year. One of Weil's Brooklyn-based clients, for example, went on a retaliatory $500 shopping spree when her husband gave one of her beat-up old jackets to charity without asking her first. When she got home, she informed him that since he didn't like her old jacket, she had gotten a new one from Saks Fifth Avenue. Such purchases can also result from a fight with your boss, mother, or best friend, according to Weil. But as good as retaliatory spending may feel, it can do real damage to your financial health. Tarbox says a better approach is to talk out the anger, hurt, or disappointment — or just your bad day — with a friend, or even a professional counselor. If you have to spend money on a psychologist, it's probably still cheaper than the golf clubs or designer shoes you put on your credit card after that last argument with the boss. 5. Hanging On to Debt The number of people who have money in savings accounts, earning less than 2 percent, while carrying debt on credit cards that charge more than 14 percent is "shocking," Wallaert says. Of Thrive's customers who have more than $500 in credit card debt, almost 40 percent have more than enough in savings to pay it off, he says. Wallaert connects this mistake to "mental accounting" that separates our money into different stacks that we think ought to stay separate. But illogical separations can create mathematical mayhem. Consider a person with $5,000 in credit card debt and $10,000 in savings. The debt costs him 14 percent per year, or $700, but the $10,000 in savings earns just 2 percent annually, or $200. He could pay off the debt, saving the $700, and still earn $100 annually on the remaining $5,000 in savings. Net result: He's immediately $600 richer and can start saving faster. You might argue that you need those savings for emergencies. And you do need some emergency savings, allows Frank C. Presson III, a financial planner in Tucson, Ariz. But if you've got considerably more savings than debt, there's no excuse. Keep one month's worth of living expenses in the bank, even at those sorry returns, Presson advises. Use the rest to pay off the high-cost debt. Then rebuild the emergency savings, not the debt. Worst-case scenario: You still have the credit cards (now with zero balances), and you can tap them in an emergency. 6. Parental Martyrdom An emerging problem involves parents who spend themselves to the edge of insolvency bailing out their children. "It starts from a good place, basically from wanting to be a good parent," Klontz says. "They'll say that Johnny is going through a rough patch and needs some help. But it becomes financial enabling." Worse, it often causes the parents to suffer money woes that keep them from retiring or living comfortably because they're constantly paying Johnny's bills. Any time you help an adult child, you should have a clear idea of how much help is necessary, how long it will be required, how it will help the child get back on his or her feet, and when (or whether) the child will have to pay you back. When there's no plan — just an open checkbook or couch — you turn the child into a dependent who becomes increasingly incapable of taking care of himself, Klontz says. "I talk to the parents about how their attempts to help are like giving a drink to an alcoholic because his hand is shaking. This kind of helping is hurting," he says. "Then we talk about what kind of help would really help." (Hint: That kind generally doesn't involve cash.) 7. Cyber Insecurity Roughly half the world has signed on for free online banking, which makes money management easier and saves the typical consumer about $50 annually in postage stamps. Among the people who don't use online banking, 41 percent say they've held back because of security concerns, according to a recent survey by Gartner Research. What do banks typically do to secure online customer accounts? They put up multiple firewalls, which are the equivalent of brick enclosures around your house, and they have techno-security teams attempting to find the weak spots and shore them up. They also patrol the firewalls 24/7, looking for climbers. Now, let's look at your mailbox. It's probably unlocked and unguarded — just what a thief needs to steal your credit cards. In reality, the chance of becoming a victim of identity theft or financial fraud as the result of low-tech crime — whether it's somebody stealing cards or "spoofing" you into providing private information via e- mail — is a lot greater than the chance that somebody will breach your bank's online vault. So sign up already and save the stamps. And if you're worried about security, check your account regularly to make sure there's no suspicious activity. 8. State of Denial Remember when you were 2 years old and you thought you could hide by closing your eyes? When the stock market plunged last winter and spring, that's just what investors did, leaving their quarterly statements sitting unopened on the counter. If watching too closely would make you abandon a reasoned investment strategy, go ahead and ignore a statement or two. But losses don't go away just because you don't look at them, Tarbox points out. At some point, particularly if you're nearing retirement or need the dough for some other reason, you need to take a look, assess where you are, and figure out what to do about it. 9. Hoarding Money Children of the Depression did a lot of this — stuffing $20 bills in their bibles or balling up tinfoil and rubber bands so they wouldn't have to buy more. But planners say that this is often a problem with wealthy and responsible older folks today: They're so afraid of running out of money that they don't enjoy the money that they have. "When people deny themselves things that they could clearly afford, you have to ask them what they're saving that money for," Tarbox says. "We have to tell them that they're not spending enough." If you're worried about running out of money, sit down with a financial planner and work out the math. Make sure you consider worst-case investment scenarios, not just the averages. That will make you more comfortable about weathering a bad patch like the one we just muddled through. Then, if you still have more than enough, make a plan that will allow you to enjoy your wealth by either spending the excess or giving it away. Money, after all, is a means to an end — not the end itself. You save it to make you, and the people you love, calm and comfortable. And it's a lot more fun to take the kids and grandkids on vacation — or provide them with college money or other gifts while you're around to get the hugs and kisses — than to know that they'll inherit a fortune after you die. |
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| Success To Me Is... Success to me is seeing a smile on my face and others around me. Success to me is achieving the impossible. Success to me is showing love to those I care for. Success to me is being proud of who I am. Success to me is me giving a helping hand to those in need. Success to me is helping others find a brighter future. The difficult I do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer. |
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| Stroke Awareness - Think F.A.S.T May is National Stroke Awareness Month and the National Stroke Association is urging people to take charge of their health by knowing the signs and symptoms of a stroke, asking their doctors about stroke prevention and adopting healthy lifestyle habits. A good first step is to have your blood pressure checked. High blood pressure is the number one cause of stroke. Nearly 60 million Americans - 29 million women - have high blood pressure, and almost a third do not even know it. Every 45 seconds, someone in the United States experiences a stroke. Yet, despite being the third leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in this country, fewer than one in five Americans can recognize a symptom of a stroke. In addition, some people still believe that this condition is simply a “stroke of fate,” not realizing that stroke is preventable and treatable. While a stroke can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender or race – women are uniquely impacted. Consider these facts:
A stroke, or “brain attack,” occurs when blood and oxygen flow to the brain is interrupted by a blood clot or a broken blood vessel. This kills brain cells in the immediate area, often causing physical and emotional disabilities including speech problems, memory loss and paralysis. In addition to high blood pressure, there are several things that can contribute or increase a person’s risk for stroke including cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, obesity and family history. Women have additional risk factors to consider such as pregnancy and using hormone replacement therapy to treat menopause, all of which can increase stroke risk. But the good news is that stroke is one of the most preventable of all life-threatening health problems, provided you pay proper attention to lifestyle and medical risk factors. Treatment exists to help minimize the effects of a stroke, however it must be given within 3 hours of the first symptom. So it is important for people to be able to recognize the symptoms of stroke and seek emergency medical attention. Recognizing stroke symptoms can be easy by learning to think F.A.S.T. F= Face Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop? A=Arms Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? S= Speech Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred or strange? T=Time If you observe any of these signs, then it’s time to call 9-1-1. Studies show that stroke patients who arrive at the hospital by ambulance receive quicker treatment than those who arrive by their own means. But where are the best hospitals to go to for the treatment of stroke? There are numerous hospitals across the country that have been certified as stroke centers, and specialize in the treatment of stroke. This designation goes to hospitals that make exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke care, and whose quality of care is effectively managed to meet the unique and specialized needs of stroke patients. To find a stroke center in your area please visit www.stroke.org and click on the emergency stroke center locations. Every year, more than 750,000 Americans experience a stroke, but with increased awareness 80 percent of all strokes can be prevented. While the statistics are sobering, they are not irreversible. National Stroke Association is committed to reducing the incidence and impact of stoke through creative educational programs. By educating people about stroke, we can save lives and preserve quality of life. For more information on stroke and stroke prevention, call 1-800-STROKES or visit www.stroke.org. Article reprinted courtesy of the National Stroke Association |
| ALWAYS REMEMBER F.A.S.T. F= Face Ask the person to smile. Does one side of the face droop? A=Arms Ask the person to raise both arms. Does one arm drift downward? S= Speech Ask the person to repeat a simple phrase. Does the speech sound slurred or strange? T=Time If you observe any of these signs, then it’s time to call 9-1-1. |