Library service varies so much from area to area, but just because a town is small doesn't mean it doesn't have access to a wide variety of materials. Here in Minnesota, any library that is part of a regional library system (and that is all but five public libraries in the state) has access to all materials in the state. So, even though my local library is in a town of less than 1,000 people, I have access to the same materials as someone in Minneapolis. I just might have to wait a few days to get it on loan.
Might I make a few suggestions? If you check out an item from the library that is damaged, please let staff know of the problem when you return it so that it isn't checked out to others in an unusable state.
And if you're in an area where library service isn't so good, be vocal about the importance of libraries. Tell the library staff what you want to see. Talk to your city council and legislature and let them know that you value libraries and want to have good library service in your area.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a former librarian and current library board member, so this topic is near and dear to my heart.)
Seniors who have yet to put insurance into their retirement plan may find that a small amount of whole life is the best option for protecting a spouse or providing final expenses after they are gone. While many people may have already purchased some form of term policy for the protection of a spouse or children much earlier in life, some may find that have little or no protection that will continue until they are older and provide a benefit for their spouse long after a term policy would have terminated. Considering how long people are living today, it is imperative that seniors with limited resources have something in place before they become uninsurable.
Unfortunately many people think about the need for life insurance well after it is too late and they have already been diagnosed with a medical condition. So, for a senior couple it is important to lock in a permanent life insurance policy that will be there for your entire life before your health deteriorates. Term is inexpensive but it is designed to last only for a specific period in your life.
Why Whole Life over Inexpensive Term
Term insurance typically offers a lower premium in comparison to a whole life policy, these policies are usually purchased during the earlier years of an insured individuals' life. These term type of policies have a specific time frame or term period as the name implies. These policies will usually include renewal opportunities with premiums that can increase substantially as an insured grows older. Often times these types of policies will include a clause requiring new evidence of insurability. So, if you were ill, it might be impossible to get insurance after you develop a health condition or the policy may become unaffordable at a time when you might need it most. On the other hand a whole life policies remains in force, as the policy's name implies, for your whole life as long as you continue to pay the premiums or the cash value remains in force. Term life insurance is usually only renewable to age 75 and terminates at policy end date if not renewed.
Insurance Protection for Older Families
Whole Life plans have several benefits to seniors: Most policies can be written on an insured until the age 85 years of age and can maintain in force until death. Typically when applying for small amounts of whole life coverage you will not have to take a medical exam or have any blood work examined. As you can see, these plans also have greater flexibility to meet age and health history requirements.
Purpose of Whole Life for Seniors
• Funeral expenses
• Provide income for senior spouse or child beneficiary's after your death
• To insure coverage to age 100 or guaranteed death benefit to beneficiary
• To build cash value and create a supplemental income stream for retirement
• Children purchase whole life for parents to insure security of other parent
• Insurance for seniors who may have been declined for coverage previously
• To leave an estate or college fund for grandchildren
In Addition to a death benefit that is payable to your beneficiary, a whole life policy can also builds up what is referred to as "cash value," or liquid reserve that essentially is a growing tax deferred savings feature that you can withdraw or borrow against. If the policy is purchased early enough or funded heavily in the beginning it can provide a nice retirement resource that can be drawn from at retirement since little can be expected from social security. Many have found this to be a valuable feature if they need additional sources of retirement income to meet daily living expenses. The additional cash value can also fulfill a need for unplanned long term care which is not completely covered by Medicare.
For those married seniors on a fixed budget small amounts of whole life are essential to providing final expense coverage and protecting the remaining loved one for their remaining life at a time they may be unable to go back to work and provide financial support to provide for their own well being. Whole Life was designed to be a simple, fast, and affordable way to secure life insurance for seniors.
Christopher Beard is a virtual agent who uses automation to simplify the consumer buying experience. He is the president of Trinity 1 Financial Group and works with clients planning mortgages, insurance and annuity wealth building strategies. Visit his site at for an free instant term life quote: www.trinity1financialgroup.com or obtain a life quote at www.gotermquote.com
Today I was reading an article in the paper about the Library of Congress audio/video preservation project. In the article, they mentioned the 1933 Barbary Stanwyck movie "Baby Face." It was one of the movies that sparked the movie studios to develop the first "production code." The LoC guy mentioned that they had found two versions of this movie in their archive -- one was a pre-release copy that was more "explicit" about Stanwyck's character's background and motivations.
I was curious to see it. So I went to netflix.com and added it to my queue. Then I thought, "let's see if the library has it!" Indeed, they have two copies, one available at a branch that is not convenient to me. So I requested it, and expect I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow or the next day, at the branch a block from my office.
When it's there, I'll get an email, I'll walk over to the library, grab it from the hold shelf, wave it over the self checkout station, and walk out with it in my hand for viewing anytime in the next week. All for "free"!
(Yes, my library is the same as Catherine's and commenter 8 -- Ann Arbor District Library. I paid almost $200 in 2007 property taxes for these services. It's still a bargain.)
"Where is this wondrous library? Oh, right here in town." LOL!
Yes, it's true not every town has such a nice library system. And if you live in the country it doesn't work so good, either. (There are small town libraries, but they tend to be very tiny.) I also like my Netflix queue. So far we have received one Netflix movie disk that was broken and had to be replaced, and have received one library movie that was scratched to the point it was challenging to watch it. (We had try it in multiple household DVD players before we could get it going.)
This is very true, I am also using the library for movies. The library here in my new city have the best collection of Criterion's DVD, and all free of charge. http://www.criterion.com/asp/
I just tried this for a small town I like to visit. The search worked great for motels that were medium priced and up. Lower priced motels, such as Motel 6, did not show up. The independently owned motels didn't show up either.
This appears to be a good place to start when looking for a motel, but you still need to do some research if you want to be sure you found the best place.
My wife and I tried the library years ago. But most of the time, the DVD's were so scratched up that we couldn't use them. I for one am proposing Netflix, because 95% of the time we do not have a problem with their DVD's. We also canceled our cable subscription and just have the local channels, because the area we live in is antenna impaired. For those who are really hurting financially or just plain frugal, Netflix has a $5 a month program. Also, if you have high speed internet over 768k you can watch TV programs online at hulu.com for free. CBS also has a similar site as well.
Our libraries in Minnesota are just as you described (down to the museum passes that are available at Minneapolis metro-area libraries--what a sweet deal!)
The only thing keeping me from dropping my Netflix subscription is the queue builder. Since I don't see movies (and thus, trailers) in the theater, how do I know which ones to add to my library list? If anyone has ideas for (free) "if you liked this, you'll like this" movie sites, I'd enjoy hearing about it.
Did a test search on Seattle hotels; the #1 hotel returned was in California and the #5 hotel was in Kentucky. So I won't be relying on this site anytime soon. Cool idea, though.
lol i was wondering where your library was that offered all these great services and then I realized yours was ann arbor which is where I live. Just shows how I under utilize the library. Thanks for the great post.
my library charges too, $1 for a one-day rental, and then $1/day late fees (so essentially, a dollar a day). They have the most current movies, but still, free would be better.
Your library works differently than mine. Whereas you have free holds and no limits on DVD checkouts, I have to contend with $0.50 hold charges and a limit of 5 feature/5 instructional DVDs out (1 week, no renewals). Those fees and limits would seriously cramp my ability to adopt your techniques.
As it is, we have two libraries we visit on a regular basis for DVDs and videos, plus NetFlix.
Growing up we used the libraries a lot. I loved to read and we'd also get movies, audio books, music, etc. When I was a teen, we were within walking distance to the library and I was in heaven! My first job was at a library even. Even as an adult, I used to go to the library a lot for audio books and movies especially (reading time is now limited).
But in Memphis where I currently live you have to PAY to check out movies and any kind of CD or tape (including audio books). I'm a teacher with a decent library at school, so I don't need to go to the library for books often. I miss the free movies and CD's. :(
I do miss the Columbus Public Libraries. Surprisingly, the Chicago libraries are not as advanced as the ones in Columbus (no self-checkout, for one thing), and therefore, my movie rentals and new book reading has come to a standstill for now. :O
Thanks again for setting me straight on the Bund. I thought I had seen at the musuem that the Bund was the whole geographic quandrant where the Huangpu curves and splits the city but a frugal man of the world such as yourself would know better than I. But I'm going to be there every fiscal quarter this year and maybe full time beginning in 2009. At anyrate, total non sequitir. The whole premise of your blog is what I've just now discovered upon returning from Shanghai. Why blow money at Best Buy or the mall? Why go to Times Square or Sunset strip when the ticket I bought roundtrip to Costa Rica for next month cost less than a roundtrip from LA to St. Louis. Wowwwwwwww! There's no reason for me not to travel!!!!LOL:)
Somewhere (I can't remember if it was in the book I mention or another), Alfie Kohn mentions being brought in as a consultant by a company that was working on their incentive plans and other policies.
The main thing they wanted, they said, was for employees to "feel empowered" and more in control of the work they did.
Alfie said, "Well, that's easy--put them in control of the work they do."
Of course, that didn't go over big with the corporate bosses who had brought him in.
I think companies would be way ahead of the game if they treated employees as professionals, giving them the tools they need to do good work, working with them to measure the success of different strategies, and then sharing the more successful strategies with the other employees.
Library service varies so much from area to area, but just because a town is small doesn't mean it doesn't have access to a wide variety of materials. Here in Minnesota, any library that is part of a regional library system (and that is all but five public libraries in the state) has access to all materials in the state. So, even though my local library is in a town of less than 1,000 people, I have access to the same materials as someone in Minneapolis. I just might have to wait a few days to get it on loan.
Might I make a few suggestions? If you check out an item from the library that is damaged, please let staff know of the problem when you return it so that it isn't checked out to others in an unusable state.
And if you're in an area where library service isn't so good, be vocal about the importance of libraries. Tell the library staff what you want to see. Talk to your city council and legislature and let them know that you value libraries and want to have good library service in your area.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a former librarian and current library board member, so this topic is near and dear to my heart.)
Thanks for a good discussion!
Seniors who have yet to put insurance into their retirement plan may find that a small amount of whole life is the best option for protecting a spouse or providing final expenses after they are gone. While many people may have already purchased some form of term policy for the protection of a spouse or children much earlier in life, some may find that have little or no protection that will continue until they are older and provide a benefit for their spouse long after a term policy would have terminated. Considering how long people are living today, it is imperative that seniors with limited resources have something in place before they become uninsurable.
Unfortunately many people think about the need for life insurance well after it is too late and they have already been diagnosed with a medical condition. So, for a senior couple it is important to lock in a permanent life insurance policy that will be there for your entire life before your health deteriorates. Term is inexpensive but it is designed to last only for a specific period in your life.
Why Whole Life over Inexpensive Term
Term insurance typically offers a lower premium in comparison to a whole life policy, these policies are usually purchased during the earlier years of an insured individuals' life. These term type of policies have a specific time frame or term period as the name implies. These policies will usually include renewal opportunities with premiums that can increase substantially as an insured grows older. Often times these types of policies will include a clause requiring new evidence of insurability. So, if you were ill, it might be impossible to get insurance after you develop a health condition or the policy may become unaffordable at a time when you might need it most. On the other hand a whole life policies remains in force, as the policy's name implies, for your whole life as long as you continue to pay the premiums or the cash value remains in force. Term life insurance is usually only renewable to age 75 and terminates at policy end date if not renewed.
Insurance Protection for Older Families
Whole Life plans have several benefits to seniors: Most policies can be written on an insured until the age 85 years of age and can maintain in force until death. Typically when applying for small amounts of whole life coverage you will not have to take a medical exam or have any blood work examined. As you can see, these plans also have greater flexibility to meet age and health history requirements.
Purpose of Whole Life for Seniors
• Funeral expenses
• Provide income for senior spouse or child beneficiary's after your death
• To insure coverage to age 100 or guaranteed death benefit to beneficiary
• To build cash value and create a supplemental income stream for retirement
• Children purchase whole life for parents to insure security of other parent
• Insurance for seniors who may have been declined for coverage previously
• To leave an estate or college fund for grandchildren
In Addition to a death benefit that is payable to your beneficiary, a whole life policy can also builds up what is referred to as "cash value," or liquid reserve that essentially is a growing tax deferred savings feature that you can withdraw or borrow against. If the policy is purchased early enough or funded heavily in the beginning it can provide a nice retirement resource that can be drawn from at retirement since little can be expected from social security. Many have found this to be a valuable feature if they need additional sources of retirement income to meet daily living expenses. The additional cash value can also fulfill a need for unplanned long term care which is not completely covered by Medicare.
For those married seniors on a fixed budget small amounts of whole life are essential to providing final expense coverage and protecting the remaining loved one for their remaining life at a time they may be unable to go back to work and provide financial support to provide for their own well being. Whole Life was designed to be a simple, fast, and affordable way to secure life insurance for seniors.
Christopher Beard is a virtual agent who uses automation to simplify the consumer buying experience. He is the president of Trinity 1 Financial Group and works with clients planning mortgages, insurance and annuity wealth building strategies. Visit his site at for an free instant term life quote:
www.trinity1financialgroup.com or obtain a life quote at
www.gotermquote.com
Today I was reading an article in the paper about the Library of Congress audio/video preservation project. In the article, they mentioned the 1933 Barbary Stanwyck movie "Baby Face." It was one of the movies that sparked the movie studios to develop the first "production code." The LoC guy mentioned that they had found two versions of this movie in their archive -- one was a pre-release copy that was more "explicit" about Stanwyck's character's background and motivations.
I was curious to see it. So I went to netflix.com and added it to my queue. Then I thought, "let's see if the library has it!" Indeed, they have two copies, one available at a branch that is not convenient to me. So I requested it, and expect I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow or the next day, at the branch a block from my office.
When it's there, I'll get an email, I'll walk over to the library, grab it from the hold shelf, wave it over the self checkout station, and walk out with it in my hand for viewing anytime in the next week. All for "free"!
(Yes, my library is the same as Catherine's and commenter 8 -- Ann Arbor District Library. I paid almost $200 in 2007 property taxes for these services. It's still a bargain.)
"Where is this wondrous library? Oh, right here in town." LOL!
Yes, it's true not every town has such a nice library system. And if you live in the country it doesn't work so good, either. (There are small town libraries, but they tend to be very tiny.) I also like my Netflix queue. So far we have received one Netflix movie disk that was broken and had to be replaced, and have received one library movie that was scratched to the point it was challenging to watch it. (We had try it in multiple household DVD players before we could get it going.)
Catherine Shaffer
Wise Bread Contributor
This is very true, I am also using the library for movies. The library here in my new city have the best collection of Criterion's DVD, and all free of charge.
http://www.criterion.com/asp/
I just tried this for a small town I like to visit. The search worked great for motels that were medium priced and up. Lower priced motels, such as Motel 6, did not show up. The independently owned motels didn't show up either.
This appears to be a good place to start when looking for a motel, but you still need to do some research if you want to be sure you found the best place.
I searched my home town and it left out several hotels that are closer and cheaper. Time to reprogram.
My wife and I tried the library years ago. But most of the time, the DVD's were so scratched up that we couldn't use them. I for one am proposing Netflix, because 95% of the time we do not have a problem with their DVD's. We also canceled our cable subscription and just have the local channels, because the area we live in is antenna impaired. For those who are really hurting financially or just plain frugal, Netflix has a $5 a month program. Also, if you have high speed internet over 768k you can watch TV programs online at hulu.com for free. CBS also has a similar site as well.
Our libraries in Minnesota are just as you described (down to the museum passes that are available at Minneapolis metro-area libraries--what a sweet deal!)
The only thing keeping me from dropping my Netflix subscription is the queue builder. Since I don't see movies (and thus, trailers) in the theater, how do I know which ones to add to my library list? If anyone has ideas for (free) "if you liked this, you'll like this" movie sites, I'd enjoy hearing about it.
Did a test search on Seattle hotels; the #1 hotel returned was in California and the #5 hotel was in Kentucky. So I won't be relying on this site anytime soon. Cool idea, though.
lol i was wondering where your library was that offered all these great services and then I realized yours was ann arbor which is where I live. Just shows how I under utilize the library. Thanks for the great post.
my library charges too, $1 for a one-day rental, and then $1/day late fees (so essentially, a dollar a day). They have the most current movies, but still, free would be better.
:-P
Your library works differently than mine. Whereas you have free holds and no limits on DVD checkouts, I have to contend with $0.50 hold charges and a limit of 5 feature/5 instructional DVDs out (1 week, no renewals). Those fees and limits would seriously cramp my ability to adopt your techniques.
As it is, we have two libraries we visit on a regular basis for DVDs and videos, plus NetFlix.
Yes, my library also charges. Not only do they charge for the DVD loans, but they also charge a hold fee for any material put on hold.
Growing up we used the libraries a lot. I loved to read and we'd also get movies, audio books, music, etc. When I was a teen, we were within walking distance to the library and I was in heaven! My first job was at a library even. Even as an adult, I used to go to the library a lot for audio books and movies especially (reading time is now limited).
But in Memphis where I currently live you have to PAY to check out movies and any kind of CD or tape (including audio books). I'm a teacher with a decent library at school, so I don't need to go to the library for books often. I miss the free movies and CD's. :(
Has anyone else ever had a library that charged?
I do miss the Columbus Public Libraries. Surprisingly, the Chicago libraries are not as advanced as the ones in Columbus (no self-checkout, for one thing), and therefore, my movie rentals and new book reading has come to a standstill for now. :O
Wow! 2007! Way before my time. So why use Redbox at all? That 24 hour deadline would be the death of me!
Catherine Shaffer
Wise Bread Contributor
It was called "free movie rentals for life."
Basically, the same article you've just written, about using the library for free movie rentals. FYI.
http://www.wisebread.com/free-movies-rentals-for-life
Thanks again for setting me straight on the Bund. I thought I had seen at the musuem that the Bund was the whole geographic quandrant where the Huangpu curves and splits the city but a frugal man of the world such as yourself would know better than I. But I'm going to be there every fiscal quarter this year and maybe full time beginning in 2009. At anyrate, total non sequitir. The whole premise of your blog is what I've just now discovered upon returning from Shanghai. Why blow money at Best Buy or the mall? Why go to Times Square or Sunset strip when the ticket I bought roundtrip to Costa Rica for next month cost less than a roundtrip from LA to St. Louis. Wowwwwwwww! There's no reason for me not to travel!!!!LOL:)
Jabulani Leffall
Monetary Gadfly, Common Currency
00000 Broke Blvd. Kitchenette #68 & 1/2
Lowcash, CA 90000-0000
I just completed a similar project myself. Here's the "why" post I did on it:
http://eclecticgeekology.blogspot.com/2008/03/tyranny-of-stuff.html
I actually need to post one last update on it now that I'm down to the last few items up on Ebay!
There are two mistakes in this article: Regular vinegar does not contain vitamin C. Balsamic vinegar doesn't contain any oil.
Somewhere (I can't remember if it was in the book I mention or another), Alfie Kohn mentions being brought in as a consultant by a company that was working on their incentive plans and other policies.
The main thing they wanted, they said, was for employees to "feel empowered" and more in control of the work they did.
Alfie said, "Well, that's easy--put them in control of the work they do."
Of course, that didn't go over big with the corporate bosses who had brought him in.
I think companies would be way ahead of the game if they treated employees as professionals, giving them the tools they need to do good work, working with them to measure the success of different strategies, and then sharing the more successful strategies with the other employees.
I actually have another article specifically on doing estimated taxes for people with irregular income:
http://www.wisebread.com/taxes-on-irregular-income
Great post. Having been called "The Water Nazi" more times than I care to count, I'm quite a proponent of increasing water consumption.
I'm also a natural health expert, and my primary concern for these types of lists is the "health factor" of them.
I'm happy to give yours a very high mark.