Business Protection

Money and happiness are not linked at all, if we’re just talking about pieces of paper and that little emotion we all wish we had in abundance. When we include ourselves in the picture, though, we could all conjure images such as swimming in stacks of 100′s, or holding a huge check with our name on it, smiling for the pictures. We have all had these flights of fancy, especially those of us who haven’t tasted much in the way of sustained financial success.

Why is money and happiness even spoken together in the same sentence? Money, after all, allows us to survive on this earth. We traded in the bartering system quite some time ago for money, or currency, in order to pay for the things we need. How then could something used to hammer out one’s existence be so important as to determine one’s happiness?

The answer is not an easy one, for money has its ties into a few other base emotions besides happiness: power(or fame), greed, lust, and compassion. Everyone has a base emotion that drives them more so than another emotion. If it is one of those emotions I’ve mentioned, then it is linked to money, and by default, to happiness.

Here are some examples of people we know about:
- Movie actors or actresses who make it to celebrity status . They got their payday at the same time, only to find out that with all their fame and fortune that they can’t BUY an ounce of freedom to do something as simple as going to a restaurant, or getting out of the car without someone noticing. That is, unless they move to Montana! Money to them means nothing at this point, because it can’t give them the one thing they really want in order to be happy.
- Billionaire CEO’s such as Bill Gates, who spend most of their lives preparing and educating themselves to get to the pinnacle of the business world, only to find out the one thing that really makes them happy is when focused on giving to charities and helping someone less fortunate.
- Average people, who for most of their lives had just the basics, who win the lottery. They get to hold the big check for the camera and fulfill their dreams, only to blow through the millions buying things for themselves and others. Often these people end up in some sort of trouble due to the sudden experiencing of the full gamut of emotions I’ve mentioned that surround money: greed, power, and lust, and maybe even a little short-lived happiness and compassion for others. They end up where they started, with nothing, except for a new opportunity to figure what’s important in life, and what really makes them happy. It certainly wasn’t the money, was it?

If all of these examples seem extreme, then you for one probably only need to look in the mirror to find out how you feel about money and happiness. Are you happy yet? I hope so.

Auto insurance is a necessity for every person who owns a vehicle. The auto insurance policy has two parts. The first part is the liability coverage. This part is the coverage that covers the other driver if you are in an at fault accident. All states require this coverage before issuing tags. All states require this coverage but they don’t all have the same minimum limits. You can purchase your states minimum limit or you can increase them. I think that most people who own anything of great value such as a home, should increase the liability limits to at least $100,000 bodily injury per person, 300,000 bodily injury per accident and 100,000 property damage, with the same limits for the uninsured motorist. Having limits at these limits will protect you if you are in an at fault accident and are sued. If your assets are greater than the 100,000 you can increase the limits up to 1,000,000. The liability coverage part also includes the uninsured motorist coverage. This coverage is what will cover you, the insured if someone unknown should hit you and leave the scene or someone without insurance should hit you. Some states don’t require the uninsured motorist coverage but I recommend that you have it. You can also purchase medical payments on the policy. This is coverage for you or anyone in your vehicle should you be injured in an accident. You aren’t required to have this coverage. Some personal insurances won’t pay if this coverage pays.

The second part of the insurance policy is the physical damage coverage. This includes comprehensive, collision, towing and rental reimbursement coverage. The comprehensive coverage covers glass breakage, theft, colliding with an animal, hail, etc. This basically covers any loss that you aren’t responsible for. It doesn’t cover theft of personal items from your vehicle. You can choose the deductible you want to pay before the insurance pays. The higher the deductible the lower the premium. The collision covers the damage to your vehicle if you are in an accident where you are at fault. This can include a collision with another vehicle, a bank, or tree etc. You can also choose the deductible on this coverage. Next is the towing coverage sometimes called road service. this covers a tow bill or a road service call to your vehicle, such as unlocking doors when keys are left in vehicle or fixing a flat tire. Basically any thing that is done on the road side. Last is the Rental reimbursement coverage. This covers the cost of a rental car if you need one after an at fault accident or a comp claim.

The auto insurance policy can be confusing but if you ask your agent for an explanation, they will be happy to give you one.

The first thing to remember is that there are 2 main types of personal loan:

1: Unsecured loan. Typically for amounts from c. 1k to 25k, and used to buy a car, make home improvements, pay for a wedding, etc. Generally payments can’t be varied once the loan has been set up – i.e. you’ll make fixed payments of 250 for 5 years.

2: Secured loan. The borrower pledges some asset as collateral for the loan. Mortgages are the main type of secured loan. There are many different types of mortgage. They may include the ability for you to overpay, or pay in ad hoc lump sums.

To ensure you get the best deal, the things you need to do include:

1)Determine what type of loan you want. Is it a personal (unsecured) loan or a mortgage that you need?

2)Shop around. Do your research and remember to compare a range of providers to make sure you’re getting a good deal.

Tip: For mortgages, don’t just compare on the interest rate. Also check whether there are any penalties if you subsequently want to switch to another bank? Check whether it offers the flexibility to overpay (i.e. make a lump sum payment, or pay more than the initial fixed amount).

3) Get a quote. Most banks have tools on their websites that enable you to get a quick quote. Or alternatively, you can phone them or visit a branch. This will tell you how much your monthly repayments will be based on the amount you want and the length of time that you intend to pay the loan off in.

Tip: For unsecured personal loans, check whether the quote includes loan cover insurance? Loan cover insurance is not mandatory for unsecured loans, so whether you take it will depend on whether you want the extra piece of mind.

For mortgages, you will require life assurance, and you will probably also want to get Building & Contents insurance. Make sure that you have included all these additional costs when comparing.

4) Having done your research and found the best deal, speak to your chosen bank and apply. You will be taken through an application form, at the end of which you will be credit scored and hopefully approved for the loan/mortgage.

Tip: If you’re declined for the loan, ask the bank if they can tell you why you were declined. If it was because you failed the credit score, you can send off to the credit reference agency for a report that shows your credit status. This costs 2 in the UK. The best way to improve your credit rating is to maintain a current account in good order (i.e. without exceeding your overdraft limit or incurring charges) for a period of time. Banks generally recommend that you wait at least 3 months before reapplying.

Choosing the product that’s best for you could save you quite a lot of money.

Finally, if the loan you’ve taken is a mortgage, remember to review the mortgage at regular intervals to make sure that it’s still competitive and that you’re getting the best use from it. For example, paying in a lump sum work bonus will help you pay off the mortgage more quickly and may save you thousands in interest payments.

Affordable Health Dental Insurance – Supplemental Dental Insurance Plan

There have been many instances whereby insurances that include dental care will fail to fully support the expenses incurred for dental care of a family. These would tend to create financial problems as the family would have to spend their own money or even borrow just to cover for the expenses created by the dental care of a family member due to insufficiency of insurance coverage. For this reason, supplemental dental insurance plan was created.

The importance of verifying fully the fine prints of an insurance coverage should never be taken for granted. By verifying and fully understanding your coverage and likewise the limitations of your insurance protection, you can prepare yourself for any eventuality that might arise. If your insurance for example would include dental care as part of your coverage, it does not necessarily mean that all services related to your family’s dental care will be covered. You will have to read the fine print of the policy to know if what kind of dental care is really covered by the insurance.

The stipulation as to what dental services are not covered will also be found there. Thus, if you are already aware of the true extent of your dental coverage, you can then decide for yourself if you still need a supplemental dental insurance plan. Your decision will of course consider the dental situation of your family; whether your daughter’s set of teeth might not be in a good condition due to sweets or that maybe your son’s set of teeth might have to be subjected to braces because of its abnormal growth position.

Supplemental dental insurance plan was precisely designed by insurance companies to answer the growing needs of insured clients to make it easy for those who may have to avail a dental service without the burden of having to pay additional cash for such service. This is understandable since the dental coverage included in a regular insurance plan is complimentary in nature. As such, it is not made to cover most of the expenses that will be incurred in a dental care service.

In getting a supplemental dental insurance coverage, careful selection should be made in consideration of your foreseen dental needs. If you think there is a real need for your son to have later on a dental brace, then you can go for a supplemental dental insurance coverage for braces. Do not ever think that a supplemental dental insurance will cover for all your family’s dental care needs. Again, examine the policy. Read the fine print and know what are you covered for under the agreement.

It would be more to your advantage if before you decide on a supplemental plan, you first try a research on supplemental dental insurance plan. Researching on this subject in the internet can give you a good idea about the many supplemental dental care plans in relation to the exact coverage of the plan and the cost that you have to fork out as your monthly premium.

Following your research, visit the insurance company concerned and have them give you a sample of the policy of your intended supplemental dental care plan to get and examine it for any phrase or words that you might not fully comprehend. If there is any, ask them and be fully clarified about it. After you have fully understood the fine print, you can now start your application for the supplementary dental insurance plan that you would like to have for your family’s dental protection.

You may have heard stories of people that lose all of their riches in a very short amount of time. This story occurs most often with people who used to be music stars, sports stars, actors, or actresses, to name a few. Basically, these people made millions of dollars at one point in their lives but for some reason or anther, literally lost everything they had because they ran out of money. You may be wondering how this could ever happen. How can people have millions one day and literally nothing the next?

Probably the most common way that this happens is that people do not know how to manage their money. Any fortune, not matter how big, can be depleted if you engage in reckless spending and have no more money coming in the door. For example, let us assume that you have a net worth of $10 million. You are not exactly super rich but you are definitely financially secure. As such, should you decide to buy a $5 million home, a couple of super exotic cars, and engage in daily shopping sprees, you would be surprised how fast that money would disappear. Additionally, because you have to pay taxes on a home and have other costs associated with cars, you will still be spending money long after purchasing these things.

On its face, you may not think that spending this kind of money is a big deal because, given our example, the person started with $10 million. However, what if no more money was coming in the door. What if you were a sports star for a couple of years, never got any endorsement deals, and was released from your team because of an injury. All you ever made was $10 million dollars and because you can no longer play due to injury, you will not have any more money coming in the door. If you know how to handle and manage your finances, you should be just fine. However, if you do not know how to do these things, you will soon find that due to your accustomed lifestyle, you will blow through that money faster than you ever thought possible.

Nobody is financially invincible. As such, if money is no longer coming in the door, and you spend with reckless abandon, you will soon learn that your millions account for nothing because they will be gone in a blink of an eye.

“Good morning, Ms.Smith, I’m with ABC Credit Services. I’m calling today because someone used your credit card last night at a Stop-N-Go. Can you please confirm your credit card number for me?” Fraudster Phone Call

The internet is ripe with information on how to avoid credit card scams. But what they won’t tell you is what the people calling will sound like, or what they will say.

First, be aware, that banks will call to confirm your purchasing habits but NOT to confirm your credit card information. There is a distinction. Card companies will already have your credit card numbers. This information will be up on one of several security systems. Second, regardless of who is on the phone, tell the person that you will call your card company to confirm and HANG UP. Dig your credit card or credit card statement out and call the 1-800 number listed. If the customer service agent does not have notes on your account about a call to you, ask to speak with the Fraud Detection Department. These are the people most likely to call you. By law all Credit Card Companies and Banking Systems have Fraud Detection Departments.

So, here are some other things fraudsters may say when they call you:

“Good afternoon, Mr. Smith, I’m with ABC Credit Card Company. We noticed some unusual activity on your card. Can you confirm your credit card is in your possession? To confirm, please read off your last four numbers AND the csc/cvc code on the back.”

“Hello, Ma’am. I’m with your bank. I have your credit card here. Can you confirm the numbers? Why? Because someone found it outside and I want to make sure I’m talking to the right person.”

“Hello, Sir. Your credit card number was used today at my store. I just want to make sure that I got the full number here because it’s not processing all the way. Will you repeat the number for me?”

And, my favorite all time lie is:

“Good Morning Mr. Smith. I’m with ABC Credit Card Company and you’ve just won our Grand Prize! In order to process all the forms we will need your credit card number. May I get that full number, please?”

Also, be ware of the Visa 911 Scam:

“Good Morning Ms. Smith. I’m with Visa 911. I see your credit card is being used in Guam. Please confirm your credit card number for me so we may stop all the charges against it if your card number has been comprimised.”

Visa 911 will NOT call you. Your credit card company will call you if there is an issue with your card.

Six months ago, Ostrich was my middle name. Why? Because my credit card spending was going up and up and I wasn’t doing anything about it, just paying the minimum payment each month and not even keeping track of the new debts. My problem is, my credit rating is too good. I have 5 credit cards, with a combined credit limit 28,000. And by April my debt totaled 21,000. As my net annual income is about 10,000, this level of debt was frightening.

I kept thinking, I need to tell my husband about this, and ask him to help me find a strategy to reduce my borrowing. But the longer it went on, the more difficult it was to ‘fess up. I was so ashamed. I had a BA and an MA, yet I had been stupid enough to run up a debt I couldn’t possibly pay off in a reasonable time frame. Then Tony found one of my credit card statements and the whole sorry truth came tumbling out.

After a few very unpleasant days when we both gave vent to anger and frustration, we took a more positive attitude. I cut up all my cards except one, and then I spoke to my best friend, Helen, who was not so emotionally involved and was able to advise us both. She told Tony he had to shelve his anger and work with me to clear the debt. And she told me to stop beating myself up and find a constructive way out of my problem. She put me on to a marvelous website, moneysavingexpert.com, where I found loads of in-depth articles with so much valuable advice.

The main thing to do is to escape the minimum payment trap. Like many people, I believed that, unless you could pay off a lump sum, it was no good trying to pay off more than the minimum, as it wouldn’t make much difference. What a mistake-a to mak-a! Even if you only have a spare 10 at the end of the month, it is worth using it to reduce your balance. For example, if you owe 3,000 and your minimum payment is 70, you should continue to pay 70 a month, rather than just paying the minimum. That way, you will pay your debt of in one third of the time and save yourself thousands of pounds in interest.

Another little-known fact is that some credit card providers will give you a lifetime low rate on balance transfers and will not charge a processing fee. Your provider will not advertise this fact, so ask. What have you to lose, and you could gain pounds in interest saved. In this way, I have moved my debts from the most expensive cards and ensured that I am paying off more capital than interest. Just by switching my debt around, without paying out any more per month, I have reduced my debt by almost 1,000 in six months. The difference now is that, instead of my repayments being allocated around 50-50 between interest and capital, less than 20% of my monthly repayments is now swallowed in interest.

Of course, I am also tightly controlling any new spending. And I have been realising some of my assets by doing the occasional car boot sale to bring in a little extra money. The credit card providers were irresponsible in increasing my borrowing limits to such an extent, but it is my own fault that I find myself in this situation. Nobody held a gun to my head and forced me to spend all that money. I only wish I had spoken about it two years ago, before things got to such a parlous state.

If you are reading this and you are in my situation, go and talk it over with someone you love and/or trust right now. There’s plenty of help available, and, best of all, it’s free. You’ll feel great when you finally regain control of your spending and your life. And you’ll start to sleep again instead of lying awake worrying about it all. Take charge. It’s payback time!

Omega-3 is one of the important factors, to providing the nutrition your brain needs. Omega-3 contains fatty acids that, which is the fats your brain needs to function correctly. Omega-3 has help function in memory loss and Alzheimer’s. Omega-3 acts as a blood cleanser, which allows more oxygen reach the brain.

You can find a high quality of Omega-3 in fish, walnuts, strawberrys and green vegetables like spinach and broccoli. I’ve personally been taking Omega-3 for the past couple years, and my mind is sharper than it’s ever been. People who take Omega-3 are likely to improve their overall mood and can help with depression.

Docosahexanoic acid(DHA) is an acid found in Omega-3, that plays a vital role into the health and growth of our brain. Omega-3 has been tested numerous times on animals with memory loss, and has proven to be a success. It’s especially great for children who have learning disabilities. The brain functions the greatest at a younger age. If women are pregnant, it’s quite wise to take Omega-3 to support a healthy child.

In fact, Omega-3 is extremely great in lowering cholesterol. High cholesterol and saturated fat, is very bad for your brain function. Not only is Omega-3 good, but the foods we eat have an effect on our brain function as well, that contains lower saturated fats and less cholesterol.

It’s been proven to be excellent at lowering the risk of cancer. You ever wonder why a shark and fishermen never get cancer? The highest quality of omega-3 is in fish, and really improves your overall immune system. A proven brain booster is not the only benefit you get from taking it. It helps to maintain weight, skin complexion, joints, prevents heart disease, cellular communication, function of nervous system, visual function, and much more chronic diseases. It’s even good for your pets, especially with dry skin, skin diseases and lowers the risk of heart disease and cancer. Omega-3 is known to reduce inflammation.

Your brain relies on three things for survival. Oxygen, glucose, and omega-3 fatty acids. You can take omega-3 pills, which is what I take, along with trying to eat foods that provide a good portion of omega-3. We as humans, obtain much more Omega-6, than Omega-3′s, which leads to a poor diet, and raises our risk of cancer and plenty of other diseases. A proper diet should be about 4 more times of Omega-6, to Omega-3. Make sure you obtain supplements that are mercury free.

The coming of Easter means one thing to most children in the Western world today – chocolate eggs! Oh yes, and of course it’s the time when Christians remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, and there’s something to do with Easter bunnies, too…

The origins of Easter and the strange connection with eggs goes back much further than all of this, however. All over the world people of different cultures and religions celebrate the coming of spring, new birth, new growth and the beginning of a new year’s harvest. The ancient Persians decorated eggs as far back as 2500 years ago to celebrate their New Year, Nowrooz, during the spring equinox. In Northern Europe the Anglo-Saxon pagans of pre-Christian times worshipped a goddess called Eostre during the month of April (known as “Eostremonath”). This was recorded by the famous Christian scholar the Venerable Bede (679-735), in his work De Temporum Ratione. Eostre was a goddess who represented life, rebirth and the coming of summer. She is thought to have been associated with the egg, an obvious symbol of rebirth and fertility, and also the hare which could perhaps have been the origin of the easter bunny!

When Christianity spread through Europe many Christian events were celebrated at the same time as the older pagan festivals, for instance Christmas coincides with the midwinter solstice, and Easter with the spring celebrations. Whether this was a blatant attempt to replace the old pagan beliefs and wipe them out for good, or simply a practical solution to avoid disrupting working days with extra holidays, who knows, but there is evidence the the church viewed paganism as devil-worship, and sought to integrate old rituals into the new faith, in order to convert people more easily. Many pagan religious sites were also taken over and became the sites of Christian churches. Gradually the name Easter replaced Eostre, and Christian beliefs superseded the pagan.

Old habits die hard, though, and many of the traditional festivities associated with this time of year have persisted. To this day people still decorate their hard boiled eggs for Easter. As a child I remember going out with my grandmother on Easter Sunday morning to collect bright yellow gorse flowers, with which we boiled our eggs for breakfast, resulting in golden yellow eggshells. There are “egg-rolling” competitions, where participants roll their decorated eggs down a very steep hill, chasing it all the way – the first to the finishing line with an unbroken egg is the winner! And of course the Easter egg hunt, to find all the eggs hidden by the Easter bunny, which is always a favourite with the children.