Princess Catherine Make-Up

Its nice that Princess Catherine decided to do her own make-up on their wedding day "so that she could be sure that Prince William would recognize her. She looks absolutely radiant!

Happy Easter

Give thanks everything we have
instead of worrying about what we don't have

How to stop feeling guilty about spending money

1. 
2. • photo credit here
   • 1

     Look at your financial situation. If you are solvent, able to support those you need to, have extra cash, and have an emergency fund, know that it's fine to spend a little extra money! There should be no issue in getting that new, hardcover book you've been eyeing or spending a few extra dollars to get a fancy lunch with friends.2

   • 2

     Understand where your cash goes. If it helps you to understand that you money isn't being wasted completely, look at what happens to it: in buying a glass of orange, juice, for example, money is going to the company that supplied it, the store you bought it from, the worker who picked the orange, the farmer who grew the tree, the company that built the car that the worker drove, and so on. It's a never-ending cycle of where the money goes. Look up some economic theories to understand why spending money stimulates the economy.

   • 3

   • Realize what you're doing with your money otherwise. If you're not spending that few dollars in your pocket, it does nothing but get sucked through the washer a few times. If you never spend it, it stays for years without going into circulation and benefiting you little.

   • 4

     Consider your money-spending a gift. Try spending something on yourself as a reward once in a while: plan on buying something when you get that major promotion or for your birthday. Small rewards like this will help you feel as though you're treating yourself without turning into a full-blown addiction to wasting hard-earned cash.

   • 5

     Look at what you need. If you feel bashful spending money on basic needs, such as food, really reconsider why you feel this way. Some things are necessary in life, and it's hard to get them without spending some money. Don't ever think of these things as luxuries, and don't budget yourself so harshly on them.

   • 6

     Get a little job on a side. In order to combat my Spender's Guilt, I started writing online. I consider my usual income to be what it always has been: pretty untouchable. The money I may online, I reason, is something I wouldn't have ordinarily, so I should feel perfectly fine using it to treat myself once in a while, so long as it doesn't exceed the amount I make writing.

Original article found here

Nice article about feeling secure

How to Feel More Secure

February 8, 2008

By admin

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How secure you feel is largely determined by how secure or insecure you feel as a person. If you are a generally insecure person you are likely to be frightened by every little disturbance that happens around you or by not having money. The world is trying to tell us that what we feel inside is separate from “reality”, i.e. the things that happen around us on the physical plane. According to this thinking, the source of your anxiety or insecurity is outside; hence people who feel insecure are trying to fix the problem on the outside.Going with this argument, people do all kinds of things to improve their security. Many people want more money, because they believe this will lead to more security. However this is not necessarily true.This may be fine if the source of your insecurity is outside, for example if you have received threats or if the area where you live is dangerous. In that case more money will help you to improve your present security or move to a safer area.But what if your insecurity comes from within? How can you fix it outside? I know what I’m talking about. I suffered rejection while being raised by my Aunt, which projected itself as insecurity in my later life.My insecurities and fears were very real and were compounded by the fact that we had little money. My wife and I often had blazing rows because of the fact that she bought stuff, sometimes even things that we needed. As far as I was concerned we shouldn’t have bought anything until we had “enough” money. I thought at the time that having more money would solve the problem, because I didn’t realize the problem was inside me.The truth is that money doesn’t necessarily give security. If you feel insecure, clearly examine what you feel insecure about. Is there a clear physical threat to your security, for example, someone threatened you personally? If you cannot really pinpoint where your security comes from, it is likely that it is from within.So if you are having anxiety relating to money, reason with your mind in a logical manner.

• Ask yourself who has died from not having money.
• Ask yourself what is the worst thing that can happen to you if you don’t have money. Try to paint the most ridiculous possible outcomes.

When you do this you confuse your mind.

• Remind yourself that there are people who are worse off than you, but they haven’t died.

Also do this. I’m sure there are many homeless people on the streets. In the morning talk to yourself and say:

• This morning I’m going to prove that I’m overcoming this fear. Stop next to some homeless people and give them some money, or something which they don’t have.
• Also ask them if not having money have killed them. When they say no, walk away and tell your subconscious, you see I told you that nobody has ever died of not having money.

You’ll find you will not believe these things you say to yourself, but don’t worry about that. The mind is a creature of habit and it will take a while before things start to change.

The key to establishing new behavioral patterns is to keep on repeating it for at least 21 days. When the thought of not having money comes, laugh about it. Tell others that you “have this silly fear” that you may not have money for the things that you need. You see these fears only have power over you as long as you don’t confront it. As soon as you confront, and share it with others it will start to go away.

original article here

Free Will

We watched "The Adjustment Bureau" a few months ago, and I have been going through the web to find the last lines from "The Adjustment Bureau. Finally, today I found it! Its about free will and trying to create the life you want for yourself. Here is my favorite line from the movie]. Life is short. Live your dream.

Harry Mitchell: [voice over] Most people live life on the path we set for them. Too afraid to explore any other. But once in a while people like you come along and knock down all the obstacles we put in your way. People who realize free will is a gift, you'll never know how to use until you fight for it. I think that's The Chairman's real plan. And maybe, one day, we won't write the plan. Your will.

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt

Quote for the Day

The standard of success in life isn't the things.

It isn't the money or the stuff ---

It is absolutely the amount of joy you feel.

--- Abraham

Excerpted from the workshop in Lincroft, NJ on Tuesday, October 15th, 1996 # 39

Derek Jeter

Here’s what the 36-year-old Yankees shortstop had to share with the mag:

On his own future: "I haven't met a person who can change what's happened in the past, and I haven't met a person who can tell the future..."

On the secret to his success: “My parents always told me, ‘There’s always going to be someone that’s better.’ But there’s no reason why someone should outwork you. That’s just an excuse.”

On his off-season contract saga: "I always said I wasn't going to talk about it. I didn't talk about it. I addressed it one time in the press conference, and I won't bring it up again. In my mind, it's over with, it's done with. That's how I've always been, and that's how I'll always be. I think when things linger, that's when they become a distraction. I don't want any distractions."

Photos: Terry Richardson/GQ //

More Alex O'Loughlin

pictures courtesy of this site

More videos: interview on CBS, Alex's Chemistry meeting with J-Lo, Alex comments about Jennifer Lopez , his character Stan, video

The Back Up Plan

I just finished watching "The Back Up Plan". I started becoming a fan of Alex O’Loughlin a few months ago when I started watching Hawaii Five O. This movie just seals the deal even more! My favorite line in the movie is when he takes her out on a date in the garden and asks JLo "can I ask you a serious question? Did you buy that dress to wear for me tonight"? Click here to watch that scene. Wooooo, soooooo dreamy! Here's the first time he asked it on their date, click here.

my favorite scene in "The Back Up Plan" found here: http://www.videodetective.com/movies/trailers/the-backup-plan-i-will-never-tell-trailer/432454 (I will never tell)

Thankful Sunday

Look back and thank God.

Look forward and trust God.

Look around and serve God.

Look within and find God!"


God closes doors no man can open &
God opens doors no man can close.

Stop Saving So Much for Retirement

by Eric Schurenberg
Friday, March 4, 2011

Recently, Christine Fahlund, the financial planning director at mutual fund company T. Rowe Price circulated what you'd have to call a pretty novel retirement planning strategy for boomers. Stop saving. Instead, spend the money on cruises and other indulgences until you retire. Do this, her calculations showed, and you'll end up with 70 percent more income in retirement than someone who saves like crazy for the rest of his or her career.

Why, yes, there IS a catch: You have to work until age 70. Fahlund contrasts the results of that tactic with those of a hard-saving boomer couple who leave the workforce as soon as they become eligible for Social Security at age 62. You can see how it works out in the chart below. Maybe it's cheating to compare retiring at 62 to slaving away until 70, but Fahlund's point is, it all depends on how you define slaving.

I give her credit. Fahlund's approach addresses one of the key dilemmas anyone faces in planning for financial independence. You fix a lot of retirement financing issues if you stay with your job until 70. CBS MoneyWatch writers like Charlie Farrell, Carla Fried and Steve Vernon have written extensively about the powerful financial upside of working longer. Among other things:

• Retiring at 70 rather than 62 means you have to support yourself without a paycheck for eight fewer years. That means that, for same size nest egg, you get more income.

•Your Social Security benefit grows every year you delaying claiming. For a top earner, the maximum Social Security benefit grows from $21,600 a year for someone retiring at 62 to $38,300 at 70. Claiming that fatter age-70 benefit means you have to provide less of your retirement income out of your own savings.

•You have eight more years to save and your savings have eight more years to grow.

Only problem is, who wants to work until 70? It sounds like the definition of retirement planning failure, not success. Fahlund's strategy finesses the problem by, essentially, inviting you to start enjoying "retirement" before you leave work. You trade the dream of leaving work in your early 60s for the extra cash flow of staying on the job. To make the eight extra years of servitude palatable, you spend the money you had been saving for retirement.

Okay: You get the concept of living it up in your 60s. But how does not saving leave you with more income than saving? A lot of is due to the aforementioned benefits of delayed retirement: The age-70 retirees have to stretch their nest egg over eight fewer years of life, and they collect a bigger Social Security benefit. But a lot of it also comes from earnings on savings they already had. Fahlund's illustration assumes both couples hit age 60 with $450,000 in the pot. Yes, the hard-saving couple hit age 62 with more in the bank. But then they have to start drawing on their savings to cover living expenses. Meanwhile, the stay-at-work couple are able to their nest egg grow another eight years (in Fahlund's example at 7% annually). By the time they hit 70, they have much more in their nest egg than the early retirees, even though they didn't save a penny of their salaries for the past decade.

Can you do this? Yes. Will it work out for you the way it does in Fahlund's illustration? Don't count on it. The model is highly dependent on the return over those years you continue working but not saving. What if, instead of getting 7% you get 2.8%, the rate of return on 7-year Treasury bonds now?

More important, what if you start spending your savings on cruises and spa vacations at 62, as the delayed retirees do in Fahlund's illustration, and the boss cans you at 64? Some 40% of retirees never make it to their intended retirement age because of illness or layoff — and their intended retirement age is usually 65, let alone 70.

You can't control the return on your retirement stash, and you can't necessarily control when you get to call it quits. Fahlund's strategy is psychologically astute, in that it blends the security of working longer with the pleasures of enjoying life while you're still young enough to enjoy it. But in the end, Fahlund's plan depends on two things that are outside your control: Market returns and the length of your career. To stop saving in the hope that you won't need to draw on your nest egg until you're in your eighth decade is a gamble.

What's the takeaway? There's no way around the fact that the best retirement strategy is a balance between three sound but contradictory pieces of advice. Work as long as you can. Save like you'll be on your own tomorrow. Live each day like it could be your last.

Should You Pay Off the House?

by Lisa Gibbs, Money Magazine
Saturday, February 26, 2011
original article here

The issue is that most people only keep their home for 7 years and of course the banks know this. That’s why they will charge all of your interest up front in the first few years. So image in the case of a $200,000 thirty year mortgage that you’ve been paying off for the last 20 years, up to this point you will still owe approx $108,000.

So the question is how do we pay off our mortgage early then ?

One of the most common ways is to increase your monthly payments. For example, If you had a $ 1,200 monthly mortgage payment and that was at a 30 year fixed , if you could possibly add another $100.00 a month to your payments ,

When there was easy money to be made in real estate and stocks, mortgage debt seemed like nothing to fear. Now an increasing number of homeowners are wondering if it makes sense to hasten the day they can say goodbye to a big monthly expense while earning the equivalent of a decent, guaranteed return.

"I'm hearing this question more now that clients aren't feeling as comfortable about the market," says Los Angeles area financial planner Eileen Freiburger.

Maybe you're part of a young family, and whittling down your loan balance seems like a sound strategy. Or maybe you're counting down to retirement (perhaps even already kicking back), have only a few years of payments left, and are wondering if you should just knock off the balance.

But if you're thinking of such a move, you're also well aware that mortgage interest is tax-deductible -- and if history is any guide, putting money into stocks will earn you a higher return over the long haul than putting it into real estate.

The answers to the questions below can help you determine your best course of action.

Do you have more pressing financial needs?

Anyone who has credit card debt or isn't maxing out her 401(k) should make those the priority. You should also have at least six months' worth of living expenses in cash.

A few years ago you would have been able to pull money out of your home quickly if, say, you lost your job. Now that lenders have tightened up, that's not so easy.

Retirees and near-retirees contemplating a lump-sum payoff need to ensure they have enough liquid savings to handle emergencies such as unexpected medical expenses, especially because it's hard to tap equity on homes without first mortgages.

And you shouldn't pull money out of your IRA to pay off your home loan, since the IRA funds will be taxed at ordinary income rates.

How long do you plan to stay?

If you plan to trade up to a larger home or downsize to a smaller one within five years, it doesn't make sense to put extra money into your mortgage. The real estate market may be shaky for a while longer, and "you don't want to tie up your cash in your home and then not be able to sell," says La Jolla, Calif., financial planner Christopher Van Slyke.

What do you really gain from the interest tax deduction?

Assuming you itemize your deductions, you can find out what you save by multiplying the mortgage interest you paid last year by your tax rate (federal plus state). A couple in the 28% tax bracket, with a $200,000 loan at 5%, for example, will save $2,781 in taxes the first year of a loan.

Your tax savings decline the further you get into the loan, as more money is applied toward principal.

For many retirees and near-retirees close to the end of the mortgage, the interest deduction is not a reason to avoid paying off the loan, especially since retirees often end up in a lower tax bracket, says planner Peter Canniff of Nashua, N.H.

How would you otherwise invest the money?

Put your money into stocks and bonds and you're likely to get a higher return over the long run than you would paying off your home loan, given today's low rates.

If you itemize, you can calculate your effective return by multiplying your mortgage rate and your tax rate, then subtracting the answer from your mortgage rate (you can do this with the mortgage tax-deduction calculator at bankrate.com/calculators.aspx).

So for someone in the 28% tax bracket with a 5% mortgage, the effective rate of return on paying off the mortgage is 3.6%. By comparison, a 50/50 stock/bond portfolio has historically earned 8.2% long term, though it's sensible to expect future returns to be a more modest 6%.

Still, if you're very skittish about the market or are a retiree keeping a big chunk of money in low-earning CDs, you might do better by losing the loan, given that the average five-year CD is paying just 1.6%.

"For retirees, it's hard to beat the guaranteed return," says Anthony Webb, an economist at Boston College's Center for Retirement Research.

Will being debt-free help you sleep better?

In that case, you might be willing to forgo the extra return you could earn in the market. "Less stress, less worry," says Orlando-area planner Brian Fricke. "Sometimes that matters more than the math."

Four Traditional Money Rules to Break

Who would have thought??? Read article below and see what you think....

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Original article found here

AnnaMaria Andriotis
Saturday, February 19, 2011

Never borrow against a 401(k). Avoid credit cards. Make a bigger down payment on your home or apartment to avoid paying extra mortgage interest. These are among the tried-and-true financial rules consumers have been told to live by for years. But now -- with interest rates still low and credit staging a comeback -- might be a good time to break them.

This solid financial advice isn't suddenly all wrong, but many of these axioms no longer result in higher savings or less debt. That's because the economic recovery has opened up more exceptions and loopholes to standard advice, says David Peterson, president of Peak Capital Investment Services, a financial planning firm. Advisers, for example, typically discouraged clients from taking a loan from their 401(k) -- but this is now the cheapest way to borrow money, with the average rate at 4.25%, lower than most personal loans, to pay back debt they racked up during the recession. But as some parts of the economy have improved -- equities are once again outperforming fixed income, banks are slowly returning to lending, and consumers are spending more -- the rules for making and saving money are changing, at least temporarily.

Here are four traditional money rules you can break -- at least for now.

401(k) Loans

Old school advice: Avoid taking one at all costs.
Now: The most affordable loan available.

For decades, borrowing from a 401(k) plan was synonymous to derailing retirement savings. But right now, the cheapest bank for many borrowers -- especially those who feel secure in their job -- is their own 401(k). Average interest rates on credit cards are 14% and on home equity lines of credit 5.22%. But a 401(k) loan charges a fixed average of prime (currently 3.25%) plus 1%, according to the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America. Approximately 90% of employers offering 401(k)s permit employees to borrow from them, according to the PSCA, and the loans can last for up to 15 years. These loans make most sense for consumers stuck with high-interest credit card debt. In a year, a borrower can save around $800 in interest with a loan that eliminates a $5,000 balance on a card with a 20% interest rate.

And the money the borrower pays back goes into their 401(k) -- not to a bank. Repaying can also be easier than it is with a regular loan, says Olivia Mitchell, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, who recently coauthored a study on 401(k) loans. About 60 million people contribute to a 401(k), according to the PSCA; once a loan is taken out, any contributions made via automatic payroll deductions first go toward paying down the loan. But, there are still some pitfalls: If you lose your job or leave it voluntarily and can't pay the loan back within 90 days you'll be hit with federal income tax on the outstanding amount, plus a 10% penalty if less than age 59 1/2. And you'll need to reallocate some of what remains into higher-yielding equities until the account is made whole, to avoid missing out on potential gains, says David Wray, president of the PSCA.

Roth IRAs

Old school advice: Convert a traditional IRA into a Roth to save on taxes.
Now: Stick with the IRA.

The Roth IRA's appeal has always been that contributions, rather than withdrawals, are taxed, shifting the tax burden to pre-retirement instead of years down the road when taxes could be higher. Roth IRAs became even more user-friendly last year when taxpayers were allowed to convert from a traditional IRA regardless of income (the limit for conversions had been $100,000 modified adjusted-growth income). But in many cases, staying put in a traditional IRA will lead to bigger savings -- especially for people five to 10 years away from when they plan to withdraw their money, says Peterson. Here's why: It can take years of tax-free growth to make up the taxes incurred during the conversion. For example, someone who converts $100,000 from a traditional to a Roth IRA and pays $30,000 in taxes will need at least five years to make that money back -- assuming a 7% rate of return. And that doesn't address the loss of compounding that would have occurred if that money didn't go toward paying taxes, says Sheryl Garrett, a fee-only certified financial planner.

There's also less time to pay taxes on this conversion now. Savers who converted from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA last year were able to spread the income from that conversion over 2011 and 2012. But now, all of the income from a conversion made in 2011 (and after) is taxable at once. Also, this conversion comes with the risk of getting bumped to a higher tax bracket during that year because the money counts as income -- so converting might not make sense for someone whose budget is currently stretched thin. Instead, savers might now want to convert a smaller amount gradually once a year that won't put them into different bracket, says Garrett.

Mortgages

Old school advice: Choose the mortgage with the smallest interest payments.
Now: Go with more interest.

Paying the least interest on a mortgage requires two steps: a down payment of at least 20% and paying down the loan quickly. But both strategies can create a setback for a borrower -- especially in still-uncertain housing and employment markets, says Chip Cummings, president of Northwind Financial, a training and consulting company for mortgage firms. With interest rates still low, instead of throwing most of their money into the home -- where some of it could be lost if home values decline -- consumers might want to make a down payment of 10%. Keep the extra cash in an emergency fund in case of sudden job loss or unexpected renovations and take on the added cost of private mortgage insurance.

PMI varies, but on average is 60 basis points. On a $300,000 30-year mortgage, a borrower keeps an extra $30,000 in cash and pays $1,800 a year just in PMI until he or she hits the 22% equity threshold. What's more, a 30-year mortgage, rather than a 15-year one, is one good way to build a savings safety net, says Keith Gumbinger, vice president at HSH Associates, which tracks the mortgage market. On average, monthly payments are 20% to 30% smaller with a 30-year mortgage, he says. That extra money could be stashed in savings for a rainy day or to pay the mortgage if you lose your job.

Credit Cards

Old school advice: Refrain from using them.
Now: Swipe -- with caution.

Stashing credit cards in a bank safe deposit box or freezing them in a block of ice were commonplace for many consumers during the recession in an attempt to lower spending and take time to pay down cards. But now, it seems that in order to hold onto a good credit score and access to credit cards in case of an emergency, borrowers need to make more purchases using them. Prime borrowers who stop using their credit cards will find their credit lines slashed or closed -- largely because their accounts are unprofitable since there's no balance to charge interest on, says John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for SmartCredit.com, a credit-monitoring web site.

The median FICO score of borrowers with no trigger event, like a missed payment, who've been affected, is 770, according to a 2010 study by Fair Isaac. The result is a higher amount of credit card debt compared to total credit limits available, a ratio that can contribute to about 30% of their credit score. Use your credit cards at least once every three months -- and pay the balance off in full each time -- to avoid this, says Ulzheimer.

MAKE ONE EXTRA MORTGAGE PAYMENT THIS YEAR

Part of original article found here

Okay, this one sounds a bit unrealistic, especially to those hard working Americans who are having serious trouble just making their regular payments, much less tacking on one more. But hear me out. The average mortgage payment can run about $1800/month. If you want to save that amount over the course of the year, that’s $5/day, or $35/week. Take ten minutes on the phone with your bank, and create an account in which they automatically deposit $35 of your pay into it every week. By the end of the year, you’ve got the $1800 you need to pound down one extra mortgage payment. Sure, you could withdraw it and blow it on overpriced holiday gifts or a fun weekend in Atlantic City, but then I’d have to hunt you down and completely flip out. Don’t create that kind of work for me, I beg of you. The way interest and principal are calculated on a home loan, paying down one extra mortgage payment every year will save you TENS of thousands over the course of the loan (easily double that extra amount you put in) and shorten that loan time from 30 years down to easily 24 instead. By any account, that’s an investment that will pay off huge.

Quotes of the Day

We can all learn something from the innocence of children!


'Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.'

A sharp tongue can cut your own throat.



If you want your dreams to come true, you mustn't oversleep.



Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important.



The best vitamin for making friends...... B1.

The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.



the heaviest thing you can carry is a grudge..

One thing you can give and still keep...is your word.





You lie the loudest when you lie to yourself.

If you lack the courage to start, you have already finished.

One thing you can't recycle is wasted time.



Ideas won't work unless ' You' do.



Your mind is like a parachute...it functions only when open.



The 10 commandments are not a multiple choice.


The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime!

It is never too late to become what you might have been.



Life is too short to wake up with regrets.. So love
the people who treat you right.. Forget about the
ones who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If
it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life
would be easy, they just promised it would be
worth it.


Friends are like balloons;
once you let them go, you might not get them
back. Sometimes we get so busy with our own
lives and problems that we may not even notice
that we've let them fly away. Sometimes we are so
caught up in who's right and who's wrong that we
forget what's right and wrong.. Sometimes we just
don't realize what real friendship means until it
is too late. I don't want to let that happen so
I'm going to tie you to my heart so I never lose
you.