Five Steps to a Comfy Retirement

Five Steps to a Comfy Retirement

You’ve probably heard about the Nebraska meatpackers who won the largest lottery jackpot in the United States last week. One winner replied “I’ve been retired for about four days now” when asked what he would do with his winnings. His response did not surprise me; I’m sure my reaction would be similar!

What does surprise me is that many Americans believe that they cannot retire comfortably unless they win the lottery. A survey by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 27% of Americans believe that their best chance to gain $500,000 in their lifetime is to win a sweepstakes or lottery.

Fortunately, building a comfortable retirement nest egg is easier than you think. Here are five steps to help you build a comfortable retirement:

1. Start early! If you started saving $100 a month beginning at age 18, you would have over $500,000 by age 65. The power of compounding is great, and the earlier you start saving, the greater the benefit.

2. Have a plan. The best way to ensure that you will have a comfortable retirement is to plan how much you will need to retire. You can’t reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going.

3. Participate in company sponsored retirement plans. Many companies offer matching contributions to your 401K or other retirement plan contributions. This is free money – take it!

4. Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, that fits your goals and risk tolerance. Studies show that your investment return is determined primarily by the allocation of your assets, not the individual investment selections you make.

5. Keep your costs down. Invest in no-load, low cost mutual funds (or other investments). Lowering the expenses in your portfolio by just 1% can equate to 20% more money in your portfolio after 20 years.

Although winning a large lottery certainly can’t hurt, following the steps above should send you well on your way to a comfortable retirement.

Trademark Properties: Investing In Real Estate Properties Is Never Easier With Trademark

Trademark Properties: Investing In Real Estate Properties Is Never Easier With Trademark

A lot of people work hard in order to have enough money to purchase their own houses and real estate properties for their families. Besides, living in a cramped apartment in a noisy city just doesn’t cut it. You need to have a home for yourself in order to live life in better conditions. So, stop paying rent and start investing in your own home with Trademark.

You have to consider the fact that a lot of people today are now looking for the best quality homes in the best possible location. They do this in order to provide better living conditions for their family. Just imagine living with all of your family in an apartment in a noisy city. As you can imagine, living in an apartment or condo can also serve as a temporary home. You don’t want to pay for rent every month for the rest of your life. You will want a home for yourself where you can raise your children in a better and safer environment.

Today, one of the most popular real estate companies that offer the best real estate properties is the Trademark Properties Real Estate Services. This particular company offers the best real estate properties in the best possible location all across the United States.

First of all, you have to consider that investing in a real estate property is a long term investment and is one of the most important investments that you will ever make. You don’t want to purchase anything that comes your way only to find out that the real estate property you purchased is definitely not for you. You have to think about it first and make sure that the real estate property you invest in will be the one that will suit you and your family’s needs.

This company has professionals that specialize in the real estate field. Whatever you need in a real estate property, they can deliver. They are also experts in buyer and seller representation, real estate problem resolution and consultation, relocation assistance, real estate market analysis, and mortgage assistance.

You have to consider the fact that you don’t actually have to pay through your nose when you are dealing with Trademark Properties Real Estate Services. They offer different payment methods that can make it easier for you to pay for it. This means that you can choose different payment plans for the real estate property you purchased with Trademark Properties Real Estate Services.

You also have to consider that Trademark Properties Real Estate Services has the highest percentage of listings sold in-house of any real estate company. This means that you can be sure that there are a lot of real estate properties available with this company. You can also be sure that you will find the real estate property that you really want. All you need to do is take your time in finding the right property for you. All you need to do is consul with the company and ask for their listings. They will be able to provide you with the potential real estate property that you want. Always remember that the people working in this company are professionals that can definitely give you time as you search for the right home for you entire family.

You can also be sure that the professional assisting you will be knowledgeable about the property you want. All you need to do is describe what kind of real estate property you want and they will be able to show you different real estate properties that will be in your liking. However, you should make sure that you take your time in looking for the different real estate properties available and don’t just jump in to conclusion to purchase a particular real estate property after you saw only two or three real estate properties.

You have to consider that the professionals working for Trademark Properties Real Estate Services have seen every listing. Therefore, it will mean that they can discuss every property available with confidence with you as the buyer.

So, if you are looking for a particular real estate property, you should consult with Trademark Properties Real Estate services. With this company, you can be sure that you will find your dream home in no time at all and at a very practical cost with the payment plan you choose.

Business Is A Game

Business Is A Game

As a business coach on occasion I find it helpful to remind my clients to lighten up. I’ll say something like “It’s a game; this won’t matter on your death bed.” As business owners it can be tempting to lose ourselves in the issue of the day, week or month. We forget that it is not a life or death situation. Okay, we could be on the verge of losing our business or maybe a really big account but these are the moments that perspective may be our most powerful edge. Remembering that business is a game could give you the mental and emotional acuity needed to get you through the rough patches we all experience.

Let me say more about business being a game. Just like a game there are rules, lots of them, your rules, industry rules, cultural rules, government rules and more. In regards to keeping your perspective, your rules are the ones that matter the most. Here are some rules that I recommend;

1. Play the game of business to win “as if” your life is at stake and then toss your head, smile and laugh when it doesn’t work out.

2. Have fun whenever possible, smile a lot.

3. Keep your physical, spiritual, emotional and mental reserves full for the game by exercising, praying, reading positive books, nurturing your relationships and getting rest. Of all the rules, this is the most important. Would a world class athlete show up exhausted, spent and mentally unprepared?

4. Learn basic business principles in the areas of finance, marketing, organizational development and operations. Then master the basics.

In business we are essentially playing two games at once, the internal game (the real game) and the external game (the worldly game). The external game is your daily business practices and your business model. The internal game (invisible) is about being positive, having integrity, being focused; present and aware, expressing your vision and being mentally clear about what you want. As you can see, the rules I recommend are for both games.

The first three rules are for the internal game. Rule number 4 addresses the external game. If we play the external game and forget about the internal game we will be reactive, experience stress, get stuck, neglect our bodies and our loved ones and lose complete sight of the fact that it is a game after all. If we only play the internal game and forget about playing the external game we will neglect to master the basics of business and be very happy but unsuccessful in business. Unfortunately, I have noticed very few people have the latter problem.

So how do you start applying the principles above? I recommend that you sit down and write your rules for the game of business. You will want rules for the internal and the external game. Then create your ideal day, week, month and year on paper or in your calendar. You want to be able to see how a master would operate. This is your gap. Now what? Get a coach, mentor, teacher, guru, whatever is right for you. These concepts are simple not easy.

Discover The Healing Power Of Art

Discover The Healing Power Of Art

We are all creative beings. Men’s creative minds made them reach the peak of the highest mountain in the world, plant a flag on the moon, fly into outer space. Our creativity brought about inventions that have changed human history and culture such as the computer, the Internet, cell phone, TV, x-ray machines, and a long list of other innovations. These are all the end result of man’s creativity.

Suffice it to say, creativity produces works of art, which in turn, plays a large role in our everyday lives. We can see them in almost every corner, every space or walls around us. Art has been used as a visual means of communication and expression dating back to prehistoric times. Art speaks of originality, individuality, a creative process, graphic materials, colors, textures, spontaneity, risk, alternatives, and imagination. But art is not only for the creative minds or the famous painters. It is also a healthy way to express the way we feel and deal with our emotions. Art has been of central importance to the healing practices of many cultures over much of human history. As time went on, art has been developed as a tool for psychological diagnosis and treatment called Art Therapy.

According to the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is a method that utilizes art media, images, and the creative art process to help a patient to address concerns and conflicts. Art Therapy is based on the knowledge of human development and psychological theories which are implemented in the full spectrum of models of assessment and treatment including educational, psycho-dynamic, cognitive, trans-personal, and other therapeutic means of reconciling emotional conflicts. It is also used as a tool for fostering self-awareness, developing social skills, managing behavior, solving problems, reducing anxiety, aiding in reality orientation, and in increasing self-esteem.

The beginnings of modern art therapy can be traced to the early 1900s when psychiatrists first wondered if there was a relationship between artworks and the illnesses of patients. At the same time, art educators began to observe how the free and spontaneous artworks of children were a form of personal storytelling which conveyed emotionally and symbolically meaningful messages. These two areas of interest that eventually resulted in the emergence of the distinct discipline of art therapy in the 1930s. During the second half of the twentieth century, art therapists became increasingly organized, setting up graduate programs, professional associations, and journals.

A variety of artistic methods are used in Art Therapy. These methods or professional areas include: music therapy, dance therapy, psychodrama, and movie therapy. Other methods include speech therapy, recreational therapy, photo-therapy, and poetry therapy.

Art therapy has actually developed into a human care service which expands the psychotherapeutic process to encompass the client’s visual and verbal expressions, and intellectual insights or reflections. Art therapy clients are able to deal with the same kinds of issues they would deal with in conventional talk therapies. They are not required to have any special artistic skills or abilities in order to benefit from art therapy. However, the clients engage in the therapy by creating with art materials in collaboration with the art therapist. The art therapist serves as a witness, guide, and facilitator — helping the artist-client to express their unique creativity and then “translate” their creative language into meaningful avenues of exploration and personal insights.

Drawing, painting, and sculpting help many people reconcile their inner conflicts, release deeply repressed emotions, and foster self-awareness, as well as personal growth. Some mental health providers use art therapy as a diagnostic tool and as a way to help treat disorders such as anxiety, abuse-related trauma, and schizophrenia. Art therapy sessions are also given to prison inmates and HIV patients.

Although there is relatively little scientific evidence to prove that that it helps people with cancer, many health professionals think it may encourage the cancer patients to express their emotions, which could help them improve their relationship with others. It can also take their minds and feelings away from pain and discomfort.

Art is found to be of great help most especially to a depressed individual. Through art, they can discover their anger and express it in a healthy way. In one study, art therapy was used with suicidal teenagers, and results showed that it had positive effects as part of an overall treatment plan. Teenagers with depression are often slowed down in their journey towards independence and to having a secure self-identity. Therefore, it is very helpful to provide a safe outlet for the distress that has triggered the depression. With the creative process of art therapy, negative factors that cause depression such as guilt, worthlessness, and hopelessness are gradually addressed.

When used along with other interventions for the treatment of depression, art therapy can be an effective and creative way to aid an individual’s journey toward self-knowledge and emotional health. The idea is not to focus on producing a masterpiece. The important thing to remember is to concentrate on the act of creation itself. The images that are produced can help lead the individual to a new and different understanding of how they think and feel, and this knowledge may be the tool that helps them unlock their inner happiness.

Emotional disturbances such as depression, anxiety, and stress overload are the result of losing touch with one’s own thoughts and feelings. One way to get back in touch with these thoughts and feelings is through the use of art. Art therapy provides a sense of accomplishment, enjoyment, and personal expression for those interested in simple relaxation and self-discovery.

Home theater furniture, for a homey movie theater

Home theater furniture, for a homey movie theater

Home theater system may be best for you if you want entertainment and relaxation after a long day of work. If you are one of those busy executives who want to relax after a long day of work by watching movies but hate traffic jams, setting up a home theater may be what is best for you. Home theater is a luxury for some. This is because not many people can afford it however, knowing the basic components of a home theater may help you enjoy this modern entertainment. Know the basic components you need for your home theater system including home theater furniture to acquire the theatrical experience right in your own living room.

Basic home theater furniture such as home theater chairs and television cabinet may be good for your home theater set up. Other furniture that will enhance the home theater set up may be necessary but the home theater chairs and television cabinet are two of the basic home theater furniture that you may need. Other home theater furniture may be added dependent on the size of your living room. Apart from the home theater furniture required, the most important component of the home theater system, after considering the size of the room, are the three basic gadgets.

The three basic components of the home theater system like the television set, the speakers and the DVD player. Even for a small living room, the size of the television set should not be less than 27 inches. You may not want to watch a movie in a very small screen. Twenty-seven inches and above is necessary to acquire the big screen experience for a small room. Concerning the speakers, you may need at least three speakers for a small size living room. If you have a bigger room for the home theater set up, you may add up to six speakers. For extremely big room, a subwoofer may need to compliment the six speakers to arrive at the surround sound for your home theater. The DVD player is also important aspect to consider. A DVD Player with progressive scan will prove to be beneficial because of its sharp images and flicker-free performance. You may consider adding other equipments like home theater projectors, and for bigger rooms, you may add home theater projector screen. For the home theater furniture, the seating is a major consideration. The television cabinet is a secondary consideration of a home theater furniture. Adding other home theater furniture will give more life to your home theater system. However, we leave the recommendation to home theater experts especially concerning home theater furniture.

You may consider acquiring their services if you have bigger room for your home theater system. They will be able to advice you more particularly to the power rating requirements and speaker requirements like if you need an amplifier or other home theater furniture. Hiring the services of a home theater designer will add to the possibility of acquiring the most entertaining home theater system with complete home theater furniture.

A well-designed home theater system will be beneficial for the busy executive who needs to relax after a long day of work. If the home theater is not properly set up, the home theater experience will not be relaxing and entertaining. The surround sound will help you forget you are inside your own living room and not in a movie theater, but if the speakers are not of high quality, the sound may be irritating in the ears. Avoid having to suffer this, and enhance the possibility of a real-life movie theater experience with your home theater and the inclusion of home theater furniture by ensuring that a home theater designer will design it for your enjoyment.

The Song Of The Antique Music Box

The Song Of The Antique Music Box

There’s nothing like a music box; those haunting melodies that can instantly take us back in time. The song of a music box sounds like history; maybe because they have always been a fixture in homes throughout the centuries. Perhaps that is why the antique music box seems so fitting. It is though the music box has been restored to its original form; and in taking its place in our homes, tells the story of a life steeped in history.

The first music box was made by Swiss watchmaker, Antoine Favre in 1796, and acted as a rudimentary record player of sorts, allowing owners to enjoy and entertain with music in their homes. Music boxes continue to evolve under the guidance of their native country. Even as other regions began to design their own music boxes, the Swiss still enjoyed the credit for this miraculous invention. Even today, many an antique music box is referred to simply as a Swiss music box.

Depending on the time period in which the antique music box was made, you will surely enjoy a variety of period music. In this way, the antique music box acts as a time capsule of sorts, capturing the specific nuances – both in design and melody – of that very particular time in history.

While it can be a valuable and treasured item, the antique music box does not come without its challenges – mainly in the area of repair. Repairing an antique music box – because of its intricate and long outdated parts – can be difficult. It’s important to find a reputable and skilled professional to repair or service your antique music box. You may look to those stores that sell contemporary music boxes; many times the owners and operators of these stores are music box enthusiasts and have knowledge of the complexities of the antique music box.

Keeping your antique music box in proper working condition will allow you to enjoy it for a lifetime and even pass it down to future generations who can then have the opportunity to hold history in their hand.

Outsourcing Your Marketing Needs

Outsourcing Your Marketing Needs

Have you ever stopped to notice that your marketing
campaigns and activities are not paying off, or
getting your desired result? So, you are spending a
fortune on marketing booths, exhibits, brochures,
flyers and so on and still your client database has
not improved? Have you ever stopped to think what are
you doing wrong? What is it that you lack?

You may have a pool of right-brain creative people in
your marketing team, producing impressive brochures
and coming up with great exhibit ideas, but do they
have the left-brain analytical people for a better
understanding of the statistics and trends in the
modern-day information and tech-savvy market? I guess
not.

This is the usual reason why most companies waste
time, money and effort on futile marketing campaigns
and activities-they don’t have the right people for
understanding the market.

Yes, they have the creative ones but that is not
enough to generate the result your company is aiming
for. These creative people of yours may only be
wasting their creative talent because it is not
well-aimed at the target. Fortunately, more and more
companies are realizing this mistake and so they are
now outsourcing their marketing needs for a more
focused and successful marketing endeavors.

The trend started with outsourcing only a part of the
marketing function, which is the advertising. Now,
companies are already outsourcing the more
nitty-gritty marketing tasks such as customer
analytics, lead management and direct-mail management.
What used to be simple marketing tasks have now been
realized as very significant factors that can greatly
help boost marketing success.

Marketing outsourcing business companies have
recognized this importance and have focused on
producing experts in these fields so they could
provide the best service to their clients. So, these
days, services for these seemingly mundane but very
important marketing tasks, can be outsourced for
better results.

And a lot of companies are realizing the sense in the
idea. A recent survey reported that 53% of polled
marketing executives are now planning to outsource
their marketing needs. They now realize that
outsourcing marketing activities saves the company
marketing cost, while at the same time producing
improved quality work that generates the result they
wanted.

Also, they see now that mass marketing is no longer
reliable for reaching more prospective customers
because nowadays, communication has become more
complicated than ever, hence, it needs expertise on
computer aided analysis. And this is what marketing
outsourcing business companies have and offer.

However, this does not mean that marketing executives
and officers of the company are no longer needed. The
opposite is true.

While the activities are outsourced, there is a vital
role for the marketing executive to play-they still
need to build and maintain good working relationships
with their clients and customers.

The good working relationship still rests with them
because customers still need to see the company in
flesh and blood, despite the convenience of outsourced
computerized services on the Internet. The marketing
executives, of course, still have to oversee the
production and progress of the marketing activities
that are being outsourced.

Of course, that still has to be managed and monitored
to ensure the company get the best result. Also, they
are to build good working relationship with these
outside suppliers to ensure that the company’s
specific needs are met. As in every business, success
lies in building and maintaining good working
relationships with both the clients and the suppliers.

When Selling A Property

When Selling A Property

When you are selling a property and it is in the middle of a property tax year, the seller is responsible for the property taxes up to the day of closing after which time the remaining tax is due by the buyer. Now some people are very unaware of this fact when they close on a property and usually find out at the closing. The seller will bring a check along for their part of the taxes and the seller’s mortgage company receives the check, which is deposited in the buyer’s escrow account. This however is only one option presented for coving split property taxes.

Many times the seller’s mortgage company will keep the funds and send it directly to the property tax office at the appropriate time of year. This rare of course, but has been done in the past. It all depends on the new mortgage company for the buyer and the mortgage company for the seller. The proper way many believe is to give the monies to the buyer’s mortgage lender and have them send the check to the property tax office by passing the intermediary, which is the buyer. This ensures the buyer’s mortgage lender that the money is indeed going for the property taxes.

You might wonder how they divide up property taxes and for a year. The mortgage lender of the seller will take the total property taxes owed from the past year and divide this by twelve months. After finding a monthly amount owed every month, they then will divide the number of days in the month of the closing that the buyer had the property in their name by the monthly amount. This will give a prorated property tax amount owed by the seller. The same is done to calculate the remainder of the months for the buyer.

Who Receives The Lottery Credit If There Is One

The lottery credit is usually awarded to the buyer. If the lottery credit is smaller than the previous year, you may have to add some money to your escrow account to pay the property taxes. If the lottery credit is smaller, you may see a small refund coming your way. This amount however is never very much, it could be as high as fifty dollars or as low as five dollars that you would owe or receive a refund for unless there are other circumstances you are unaware of with the taxes.

You never have to worry about the property taxes when a property change takes place, the mortgage lenders would not allow the seller to forget about their share. There are officers of the mortgage company that have special jobs and one is the property tax issues and insurance as well.

Your first year of property taxes is always your best, it can change after that, especially if they raise your taxes after a sale of the property and you are not escrowing enough money to cover the raise. Your mortgage company made alter your monthly payment to cover this issue.

Bonus Hunting: An Online Casino Gambling Sure Thing?

Bonus Hunting: An Online Casino Gambling Sure Thing?

Most online casino gambling aficionados play hard and they play to win. But there’s an alternate strategy (no, not to lose – that would be silly!): a strategy more conservative, more demanding of discipline, as well as of considerable more questionable merit than straightforward online casino gambling, but with significantly higher odds of a player walking away from the (computer) tables with more dough than he or she started with. It’s called “bonus hunting” and it’s the closest thing in online casino gambling to a sure thing. So why isn’t everyone doing it? That question is the subject of this article – why not bonus hunt?

First let’s lay out the practice for you. Peruse gaming site reviews on sites like www.casinobrain.com and www.poker-ranking.com and you will see that almost every one offers a Bonus upon sign-up. It may be called a “Sign-Up Bonus”, a “Welcome Bonus”, an “Initial Deposit Bonus”, a “First Deposit Bonus”, a “Match Bonus” – but whatever it’s name, the concept’s the same.

For signing up and making your first deposit (or “purchasing” your first stack of chips), the online casino gambling site will give you some percentage of that amount in bonus chips. As soon as you make the deposit, the full amount of the bonus is added to your player account.

But, of course, there’s a catch – you must wager an amount equal to some multiple of the dollar amount of either your bonus or your initial deposit (depending on the online casino gambling site or poker room) before you can withdraw any of it.

As you can probably guess, in the process of meeting your wagering requirement, two things are likely to occur:

1. You lose some or all of the bonus amount and some or all of your initial deposit too

2. You enjoy the online casino gambling experience at that site so much (or have lost so much money you just can’t let yourself walk away) that you deposit more and more money and just keep on playing

What Bonus Hunters have discovered, however, is that by only playing at the lowest stake tables (ie. 1 cent video poker), they can severely minimize the percentage of their bonus that’s eaten away in the process of fulfilling the wagering requirements. It is unlikely that a bonus hunter will come out ahead. It is even highly unlikely that the bonus hunter will walk away with most of the bonus. But they’ll probably walk away with some of it and get their initial deposit back.

So what are the drawbacks? Well, get ready, ‘cause there a bunch – more in fact than you may realize. To put it plainly, bonus hunting is fraught with its own inherent challenges and flaws, not the least of which is its yield. What bonus hunters happily lose in risk, they gain in time commitment. Playing not to win but to “not lose” takes a ton of time, and you’ll probably find the reward not worth the absence of risk at all (think: 50 cents an hour – might as well get a minimum wage job).

Not all bonuses are built alike – you must hunt (thus the moniker) for the biggest bonuses (percentage-wise) with the lowest wagering requirements and the lowest stakes games (giving you the greatest chance of keeping most of your bankroll safe). That’s a mighty tall order. When you consider this, the pool of potential “targets” suddenly dwindles considerably. Likewise, the amount of time you’ll spend trying to find an online casino gambling site to hit will increase exponentially the more you do it.

And there’s always the fact that if you choose unwisely, you could lose it all.

Online casino gambling sites don’t like bonus hunters – is it any wonder – and as such, if you’re ever tagged as one, you may be permanently locked out of the casino, forced to give up any winnings, and find yourself blacklisted not only from that casino but from its affiliates and sister sites too. Try it at your own risk.

Video Game Tester

Video Game Tester

Did you Know?
You don’t need any formal education to be a video game tester.
You can get paid $9 – $80 an hour being a video game tester and get to keep the games you test.
Anyone can become a game tester, all that is required is that you are 15 or older.
You only need one video game system to become a video game tester.
You can work as much or as little as you want to.
FAQ
How Much Can I Make?
You can Make anywhere around $9 to $80 an Hour, right now I make about $65 an Hour. Here is a check I recieved for doing a Week-Long Assignment.
Why Would a Company to Pay Me?
Because your opinion on their Video Game is extremely important to them. You will be telling them what you like about the game, and what you dislike about it, and to let them know if there is anything wrong with the game. This information is crucial to them, to ensure the successful release of the game.
How Much Can I Work a Week?
You can work as much or as little as you want. Just pick the jobs that you would like to complete and they will either have you go into a local testing center, or they will send the game to you.
When Do I Get Paid?
Normally, you get paid upon completion of an assignment. Usually, about once a week.
Are There any Requirements to Be a Game Tester?
There are no requirements. Normally, you just need to be over the age of 14 to get a Game Tester job.
Do I get to Keep the Games I Test?
Many companies allow you to keep the games you test. I have about a 300 XBOX game library from all of the games I have tested.
Here is my Website, it will help you get a Video Game Testing job Fast, with no guess work: Game Tester Guide