Fantastic post Linsey. Your friendly hellos always bring a smile to my face.
Ray and I exchanged some emails discussing what he can use his gift certificate on. I told him the new Serenity DVD is the way to go. But he's not convinced. We may have to take the certificate back.
We also use microfleece, but we use it to line the cloth nappies. That way moisture is quickly wicked away to the cloth (we mostly have hemp and bamboo nappies) or pocket nappies and the boy is dryer, happier and less likely to need creams etc. In fact, we rarely used creams except for a couple of isloated incidents.
But I'll stop now before this wanders into cloth nappy discussion :)
Personally, I bought some towelling and some microfleece (not microfibre) and overlocked them together in squares about the size of a facewasher. We put sorbelene cream on the towelling side, wipe off the mess, fold it in half and give the skin a quick going over with the microfleece. One clean baby, coming right up!
Oh, and they go in the nappy bucket after (we use cloth nappies, too).
When you know the exact numbers you're dealing with, there are not many variations. I'm no math whiz but it's probably between 20 and 30 different ways (help me out math bods). If you entered one code every 3 seconds, that would still take less than 2 minutes. Not very long at all.
It also wouldn't be too hard to routinely press all of the keys when entering, as long as you garage door doesn't have some funky lock out mechanism for unwanted key presses. Enter you actual code, then press all the other keys for good measure. Everything is oily, everything is worn.
Actually, you don't necessarily need to be in terrific health to get a good deal with an insured annuity. See - with this concept, you're playing both sides of the insurance fence.
If you are in poor health, you indeed may have higher life insurance premiums (because the insurance company figures you're a higher risk of dying sooner than later and they want to get enough money in premiums out of you to justify giving you the policy).
BUT - You're also getting an annuity, and since you are in poor health, the insurance company will give you a higher income since they figure you have a reduced life span.
So as long as you are in good enough health to qualify for life insurance at all, the numbers generally work themselves out.
And a great observation on having a little additional cash on hand.....it's always prudent to have an emergency reserve. The example I used in the article is fairly narrow in scope, not taking into account what the entire financial situation looks like.
@Linda: You're welcome! I love it when people get it! Not that I specifically recommend any of these products for everybody (you are right in that you need to make the best decision for yourself) - I just want people to understand them.
If you don't know what your passion in life will be, but have in inkling, this is a great time to find out: Make a serious go at doing whatever it is that you think you might be interested, and see how you like it.
I knew a woman in college who thought she wanted to be a clinical psychologist until she volunteered at the crisis hotline and spent a summer working at a summer camp for kids with problems. If she'd gone ahead and gotten an advanced degree in the field before she realized that she didn't enjoy the work, she'd have been even further behind.
As for making sure that you spend some time enjoying yourself in college, my experience is that the amount of money you have has only a little to do with how much fun you have. The person I remember from college as having the most fun of anybody had a discretionary budget of just $10 per term. Mind you, this was back in the 1970s when $10 was real money--you could get a small pizza and two sodas for $3, so she had enough to take someone out for pizza three times over the ten-week term, and still have $1 for some extravagance. I had perhaps ten times the available cash, but I don't think I was any happier.
I work for a company that offers Critical Illness insurance sold direct to consumers. This is a great feature b/c much of the CI sold in the US is through worksite. This is a very popular type of insurance in Canada and the UK, but has been slow to catch on in here in the US.
However, with the changing landscape of healthcare today - high deductible plans, co-pays, prescription costs, out-of-pocket expenses -the need is growing for this type of protection. You may think health insurance and disability will cover everything...but the don't!
The great news is that more and more people are surviving illnesses that were once fatal - but are their finances and savings surviving? Our website is keeplifegoing.com - and I think that says it all. Don't let a serious stand in the way of continuing to do the things that you love in your life!
Here's the link to my company and our CI product www.keeplifegoing.com
My father was a 'measure 8 times cut once' kind of guy, and he drove my mother bananas. She believed in the 'Principal of Limited Sloppiness', just to get things done, but he built some quality stuff in his day.
Hi Nora - what a great post on the Insured Annuity Strategy. For those that don't know - this is a very commonly used strategy for those who would like to reduce taxes and increase cashflow - so in other words, pretty much everyone.
There is one catch though - in that you have to be in good health in order to get an insurance premium low enough that the strategy will make sense. If you are of "average" health for people your age - then the quotes generated by insurance policy illustration software is the going rate. If you qualify as healthier than average then the strategy will really start to look like a no brainer. Unfortunately, if you are below average health then the strategy may become untenable as the insurance premiums are too high...
I suppose the other flipside is that you DO give up the use of the $500,000 (in this case) which may tie your hands if you need to make an "extraordinary" one time purchase (i.e. for an emergency). If that is something you are worried about, then you could always do a half and half strategy - i.e. do the insured annuity strategy for $400,000 and keep $100,000 on hand just in case. (Okay, I realize that's not technically half and half... :) )
For those who would like serious peace of mind - this is definitely a strategy worth investigating.
Regretfully I have a loathsome job. Actually, correction - my job is quite decent, it is the BOSS that is loathsome.
Think I am simply complaining? How about a fact that I just love sharing - his 3 daughters from his first marriage have DISOWNED him, they hate him so much. They refuse to talk to him - at least one has stated they wish he would simply die off.
He is a thoroughly unlikable individual - narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive, a truly ugly combination of character traits.
At "least" he knows that he is obsessive-compulsive...
Sometimes no matter what we do we have "miserable" jobs; thinking about the "better" parts of the job does not help. And since he is co-owner of the place, there is nobody "higher" to go to (because his business partner hates him, as well).
I am looking for a new job but simply must keep this one to make ends meet.
I wish these "self-help" articles would target the 'lost cause' situations as well as they do the "it isn't TOO bad" situations.
This is great advice...the only problem is most high school and college kids dont really know what their passion is yet. Sometimes it takes time to discover these things. I also feel my early experiences working in restaurants to save money truly were beneficial in they instilled a strong work ethic in me and gave me the communication skills I probably could not get in school.
However, if I knew then that I would love art now and want to be an artist, I would definately have spent more time in this area. But again, who knew?
this is a problem of fighting the war on drugs...the money laundering is a predictable and unavoidable affect fo fighting a ridiculous war on drugs...and this is another example of how the war on drugs destroys the fabric of society. much worse than the drugs themselves....want to know another way to spend the cash money? give it to politicians and high ranking officials...the "donations" help in many ways.
Actually, it was the result of a horrible hair experiment gone wrong. The only thing left to do was shave it all off. I have a bumpy skull, it turns out.
If you make it a habit change the code every 3 months or so, the numbers will wear evenly.
It was my pleasure... I love seeing all the places that link to Wisebread. I have met so many fantastic people!
That means a lot coming from you. =)
Fantastic post Linsey. Your friendly hellos always bring a smile to my face.
Ray and I exchanged some emails discussing what he can use his gift certificate on. I told him the new Serenity DVD is the way to go. But he's not convinced. We may have to take the certificate back.
We also use microfleece, but we use it to line the cloth nappies. That way moisture is quickly wicked away to the cloth (we mostly have hemp and bamboo nappies) or pocket nappies and the boy is dryer, happier and less likely to need creams etc. In fact, we rarely used creams except for a couple of isloated incidents.
But I'll stop now before this wanders into cloth nappy discussion :)
I am no authority but you guys continually impress me with your content. I officially predict that you'll minimally double in size over the next year.
Jay
You can also punch in all the numbers you don't use before the ones you do and wear them down as well.
Personally, I bought some towelling and some microfleece (not microfibre) and overlocked them together in squares about the size of a facewasher. We put sorbelene cream on the towelling side, wipe off the mess, fold it in half and give the skin a quick going over with the microfleece. One clean baby, coming right up!
Oh, and they go in the nappy bucket after (we use cloth nappies, too).
For the advice and the link! Freezing my credit cards was fun! :)
When you know the exact numbers you're dealing with, there are not many variations. I'm no math whiz but it's probably between 20 and 30 different ways (help me out math bods). If you entered one code every 3 seconds, that would still take less than 2 minutes. Not very long at all.
With 4 numbers, that's still alot of combinations, they must be standing around awhile before they get lucky.
Wow, I never really thought about the keypad on the garage as being so easy to crack. Thanks for the great tips.
I found some great deals, but when I searched for "Coach", I found several listings spelled "Cocah" that were all by the same seller.
http://www.fullmovies.biz/details/movie/Last+Holiday-45849.html
A lot of people use keypads for their cars, too. A way to make it a little harder for burglars is to repeat one of the digits.
It also wouldn't be too hard to routinely press all of the keys when entering, as long as you garage door doesn't have some funky lock out mechanism for unwanted key presses. Enter you actual code, then press all the other keys for good measure. Everything is oily, everything is worn.
Actually, you don't necessarily need to be in terrific health to get a good deal with an insured annuity. See - with this concept, you're playing both sides of the insurance fence.
If you are in poor health, you indeed may have higher life insurance premiums (because the insurance company figures you're a higher risk of dying sooner than later and they want to get enough money in premiums out of you to justify giving you the policy).
BUT - You're also getting an annuity, and since you are in poor health, the insurance company will give you a higher income since they figure you have a reduced life span.
So as long as you are in good enough health to qualify for life insurance at all, the numbers generally work themselves out.
And a great observation on having a little additional cash on hand.....it's always prudent to have an emergency reserve. The example I used in the article is fairly narrow in scope, not taking into account what the entire financial situation looks like.
@Linda: You're welcome! I love it when people get it! Not that I specifically recommend any of these products for everybody (you are right in that you need to make the best decision for yourself) - I just want people to understand them.
If you don't know what your passion in life will be, but have in inkling, this is a great time to find out: Make a serious go at doing whatever it is that you think you might be interested, and see how you like it.
I knew a woman in college who thought she wanted to be a clinical psychologist until she volunteered at the crisis hotline and spent a summer working at a summer camp for kids with problems. If she'd gone ahead and gotten an advanced degree in the field before she realized that she didn't enjoy the work, she'd have been even further behind.
As for making sure that you spend some time enjoying yourself in college, my experience is that the amount of money you have has only a little to do with how much fun you have. The person I remember from college as having the most fun of anybody had a discretionary budget of just $10 per term. Mind you, this was back in the 1970s when $10 was real money--you could get a small pizza and two sodas for $3, so she had enough to take someone out for pizza three times over the ten-week term, and still have $1 for some extravagance. I had perhaps ten times the available cash, but I don't think I was any happier.
Our garage, although attached to the house, does not have a door that leads inside.
I work for a company that offers Critical Illness insurance sold direct to consumers. This is a great feature b/c much of the CI sold in the US is through worksite. This is a very popular type of insurance in Canada and the UK, but has been slow to catch on in here in the US.
However, with the changing landscape of healthcare today - high deductible plans, co-pays, prescription costs, out-of-pocket expenses -the need is growing for this type of protection. You may think health insurance and disability will cover everything...but the don't!
The great news is that more and more people are surviving illnesses that were once fatal - but are their finances and savings surviving? Our website is keeplifegoing.com - and I think that says it all. Don't let a serious stand in the way of continuing to do the things that you love in your life!
Here's the link to my company and our CI product www.keeplifegoing.com
Take care.
My father was a 'measure 8 times cut once' kind of guy, and he drove my mother bananas. She believed in the 'Principal of Limited Sloppiness', just to get things done, but he built some quality stuff in his day.
Hi Nora - what a great post on the Insured Annuity Strategy. For those that don't know - this is a very commonly used strategy for those who would like to reduce taxes and increase cashflow - so in other words, pretty much everyone.
There is one catch though - in that you have to be in good health in order to get an insurance premium low enough that the strategy will make sense. If you are of "average" health for people your age - then the quotes generated by insurance policy illustration software is the going rate. If you qualify as healthier than average then the strategy will really start to look like a no brainer. Unfortunately, if you are below average health then the strategy may become untenable as the insurance premiums are too high...
I suppose the other flipside is that you DO give up the use of the $500,000 (in this case) which may tie your hands if you need to make an "extraordinary" one time purchase (i.e. for an emergency). If that is something you are worried about, then you could always do a half and half strategy - i.e. do the insured annuity strategy for $400,000 and keep $100,000 on hand just in case. (Okay, I realize that's not technically half and half... :) )
For those who would like serious peace of mind - this is definitely a strategy worth investigating.
Regretfully I have a loathsome job. Actually, correction - my job is quite decent, it is the BOSS that is loathsome.
Think I am simply complaining? How about a fact that I just love sharing - his 3 daughters from his first marriage have DISOWNED him, they hate him so much. They refuse to talk to him - at least one has stated they wish he would simply die off.
He is a thoroughly unlikable individual - narcissistic and obsessive-compulsive, a truly ugly combination of character traits.
At "least" he knows that he is obsessive-compulsive...
Sometimes no matter what we do we have "miserable" jobs; thinking about the "better" parts of the job does not help. And since he is co-owner of the place, there is nobody "higher" to go to (because his business partner hates him, as well).
I am looking for a new job but simply must keep this one to make ends meet.
I wish these "self-help" articles would target the 'lost cause' situations as well as they do the "it isn't TOO bad" situations.
This is great advice...the only problem is most high school and college kids dont really know what their passion is yet. Sometimes it takes time to discover these things. I also feel my early experiences working in restaurants to save money truly were beneficial in they instilled a strong work ethic in me and gave me the communication skills I probably could not get in school.
However, if I knew then that I would love art now and want to be an artist, I would definately have spent more time in this area. But again, who knew?
this is a problem of fighting the war on drugs...the money laundering is a predictable and unavoidable affect fo fighting a ridiculous war on drugs...and this is another example of how the war on drugs destroys the fabric of society. much worse than the drugs themselves....want to know another way to spend the cash money? give it to politicians and high ranking officials...the "donations" help in many ways.
Thanks for the annuities information, I hadn't geiven them much thought before.
I did. In college. No big deal.
Actually, it was the result of a horrible hair experiment gone wrong. The only thing left to do was shave it all off. I have a bumpy skull, it turns out.