Most people have life insurance - they basically insure themselves against death - and should they die, their loved ones should be taken care of financially.  Now, what about insurance that can benefit you while you are alive?  No, I am not talking about car insurance, home insurance, or other types of insurance on the stuff you own.  Rather I am talking about an insurance policy on you - have you ever heard of that?

Up until a few days ago, I had no idea.  In fact, some blogs I read educated me about some things I should have insured.  Do you know one of the biggest things people don’t insure and this lack of insurance usually leads to financial ruin, or at the least, poverty?

Your health.

That’s right.  You probably wouldn’t have guessed it - I know I had no idea.  But understand this - think of your three closest friends and listen to this: three out of four of you will need some type of long term care in your lifetimes.  Now, this can be as simple as home care, to an extended stay in a nursing home.

Now that I have your mind rolling, what does this affect the most for you besides your health?

Your finances.  In fact, based on the current prices for long term care, most retirement savings would be wiped out in less than a year - not an exciting proposition.  Once the retirement savings is gone, quite often your children will end up paying the bill for your care.  This can cause many things like financial ruin, divorce, and anger towards you.

How do you avoid the financial and family problems?

That is simple - plan ahead.  Now, you can buy some long term care insurance to pay for your possible future long term care needs - and leave your children’s money out of it.  The prices are quite reasonable for the insurance policy - talk to an expert to help you setup some coverage.  Don’t procrastinate - or you may have to spend your retirement nest egg - you didn’t save all your life to blow it all at once, did you?

Ever since I was little, my mother has always talked about how she wanted to go to New Zealand someday.  Now, almost thirty years later, she has not had the opportunity to make the trip.  I thought us kids should book her a trip to go for her birthday, or she may never get the chance.

We decided that Auckland would be her destination and proceeded to check out the hotels in Auckland New Zealand for a place for her and my father to stay.  It wasn’t long before we realized that there were quite a range of hotels to choose from, and we would have our work cut out for us.

After a few hours of research we booked them in both the Heritage Auckland and the Hotel Airedale.  This way they could experience the city from two different locations and get a bigger view of the city.

Now that we have the hotels lined up, our last task is to find an airline to get there.  I think Jennie (my sister) is going to talk to her boyfriend who is an airline pilot and see if we can get a deal.  Hopefully we can have this all ironed out by her birthday - we still have a few months till then.  I can’t wait to see her face when she opens the present!

I have obtained a payday cash loan from time to time when my finances are running low.  Now, I know that these usually are not the best options in terms of getting money that I need, but I am not here for a lecture.  Usually I only use them if I have a short term money crunch and I pay them off as quickly as possible.

It was not until recently that I learned that there can be some payday loan legal issues.  I was unaware that the laws on the maximum interest rates and fees that you can pay on your loan.  They are in place to essentially protect you from being ripped off and taken advantage of.

These laws are usually easy to keep track of, but be sure you know that they vary state to state.  Not all payday loans are created equal, and before you get one, be sure you know your legal rights - or you may end up getting taken advantage of.

Well, I have tried for a long time to avoid MySpace.  My reasoning for not embracing the site is that I don’t have a lot of time to just goof around.  From what I have seen of my friends profiles, all of them spend a lot of time customizing their MySpace layouts and updating their profiles.  Up until recently I didn’t really have the time.

But things change.  You see I have been able to quit working a job and work at home.  So, I have been able to free up some time between tasks to fit MySpace in.  So this past week I have looked on many free MySpace layout websites to find some kind of layout that represents me.

I eventually found one that I liked.  Now, I wanted to use some MySpace tweaks I found to customize the layout - and make my site my own.  I moved some of the items on my page around and I am satisfied with how it looks.  Now all I have to do is add my friend… this is sure going to take a long time!

I had an old lazy boy chair that is so comfortable - but I cannot bear to part with it.  I have decided that instead of throwing it out, I would move it into the den.  Sure the color isn’t the greatest, but man, do I love that chair.

With the old recliner out of the way, I have finished furnishing my house with brand new lazy boy furniture and I absolutely love it.  They are all very modern looking and make my living room look fabulous.

Until I started shopping around I was not aware that Lazy Boy made other furniture besides recliners.  I ended up finding a Lazyboy sofa that matched the new chair I purchased.

The look is great and I have had most of my friends comment on how comfortable they both are.  My living room looks wonderful - better than it has in years.  It makes me want to replace the furniture throughout the house.  I could use some new appliances in the kitchen, a new bed, and… oh my - this might turn into an expensive trip…

I have been considering switching jobs.  As most of you know I took a job just a short while ago and it has been going okay.  I have had a couple of problems scheduling work around exams - and my current employer has not been very good about it.

So, I have decided that it is time to change jobs.  With my schedule being as busy as it is, I have not had time to write my resume - so I need to find an alternative. 

I have been talking to my friends and they suggested that I hire a certified resume writer to do it for me.  These people are trained to create a resume that can get you to an interview with ease.  For me, this will be the best route - I really don’t have time to do it myself.

A quick search online was all it took to find a resume writing service.  I have contacted them and I am waiting to get my completed resume back.  Now, all I need is some dress clothes… anyone have any ideas?

I have always tried to be a unique individual in everything I do.  Whether it be my hair style, my clothing or the type of car I drive I try to be a wolf, rather than another one of the sheep.

When looking for an engagement ring, I didn’t want to buy something that everyone else had.  I figured that if I picked this one girl out of the three billion or so women on the planet, she must be special.  A special girl needs a special ring - a common ring just wouldn’t do.

So, I have been shopping around for loose diamonds in an attempt to find the perfect stone.  She has small hands, so I am not looking for a lot of carats, rather I want to find the stone that will go perfectly with the setting I designed.

I have been driving around, going to different stores in search of the perfect diamond.  I checked out some Houston diamonds and nothing really caught my eye.  But when I went to a San Antonio diamonds showroom, after looking at many diamonds, I found the perfect one. 

We agreed on the cut and the setting that the ring will be placed in.  I can come pick up the ring in about a week - which will be early enough for me to propose on our first anniversary - December 18th.  I cannot wait to see her face - I know she will like it.

My friend Jill bought a house about two years ago.  It was a large home, magnificent, but the maximum that they could afford.  Things were running smoothly until her husband Brad was in a car accident.

The accident resulted in Brad becoming paralyzed.  Now, this meant that he could no longer continue his practice as a podiatrist, and unfortunately they did not have any disability insurance.  With the settlement from the accident months away, they were getting farther and farther behind on their mortgage payments.  Their bank even called a couple of times to threaten that their home would become one of their repossessed properties.  They didn’t know what to do, and they were looking at the loss of their home.

It just happened that on the night they had exhausted all their option, a telemarketer from a local real estate investing company called.  They were looking for home owners that were in distress and needed cash for their property.  Now this is exactly what they needed - so they let the telemarketer tell them about their service.  He said it was a sell and rent back program - basically they would buy their house from them so they could solve their money problem, and rent it to them so they wouldn’t have to move.

They signed up over the phone and the transaction was done in less than a week.  Their home was not repossessed and now things are going better for them now.  If not for that call, I don’t know what they would have done.

Well, I have been working on a website project of mine for some time now.  It has been coming along great for the layout and the content.  I have been waiting to work on the logo because that is what I have the least amount of experience with.

Making logos?  I don’t really care for it.  But to be honest, a website does not look very professional if it doesn’t have one.  So, I have been looking for some good Photoshop tutorials that could get me through the whole creation process.

There are some specific things I want on my logo: transparency and reflection - to make it look more professional.  So, I have decided to use my favorite web directory (which is a strong directory - for those of you who need to promote your website) and look for people with Photoshop tutorial sites.

After a few minutes of looking at sites, I have found a few that I will use.  Now all I need to do is make it - I will just have to remember, that this should be fun!

We have the opportunity to interview a dozen business owners as part of our finance class next week.  We each have a topic to interview them about, and in my case, our topic was equipment acquisition.

Our group convened today to come up with a set of questioning to create our interview.  After a brief brainstorming session, we came up with the two options they have to acquire what they needed: either financing or leasing.

For the equipment financing, we are going to ask why they choose it and what challenges they face purchasing their equipment.  We also want to take a look at whether or not the use of their available credit impaired their daily business operations.

The questions regarding equipment leasing will be along the same lines.  Questions such as why they chose to lease their equipment, as well as if they faced any challenges in obtaining a lease.  Also, we are going to ask how the chose the commercial leasing company they deal with and what benefits they feel that leases offer their business.

We are going to get together on the weekend to finalize the questions.  I think when we do the interview it will be a enlightening experience.