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Month: October 2017

Why Do We Gamble?

Let's start with a definition. What is gambling? Gambling is betting on something that may or may not happen in the future. When we gamble, we take a risk, choose an uncertain outcome, and bet on it. Gamblers bet on casino games, horse racing, and sports where the result can not be predicted with certainty. Some people will bet on anything. Remember the Seinfeld episode where Kramer bet on the arrival and departure times of airplanes at a New York City airport?

How is gambling different from buying stocks and bonds? Stocks and bonds are considered investments and not gambles because we can reasonably expect to come out ahead in the long run. They may be risky but not in the same sense as gambling.

How is gambling different from buying insurance? When we buy insurance, we are betting on something that may or may not happen in the future. We do not want to take the risk that it will happen, so we pay someone else (the insurance company) to take the risk for us. When we buy homeowner's insurance, for example, we are betting our house will burn down and the insurance company is betting it will not. (Of course we hope we will not win this bet.) This is not gambling because the risk can be calculated. The insurance company uses all kinds of statistics to analyze the probability of our house burning down and fixes the premium we will pay accordingly.

People have gambled since ancient times. However, society never approved of it because it was labeled an attempt to get money without working for it. Society believed that hard work should pave the way to financial success. It was not until the late 1960s that states (except for Nevada which had legalized all forms of gambling earlier) started to run lotteries to raise money for goodwill causes.

So why do we gamble even though we are illegally to win in the long run? We gamble for the exclusion of the uncertain exit. Some gamble to try to make their financial dreams come true. Some people gamble for entertainment or enjoyment, such as a night out with friends at the casino or a bingo game for a charitable organization or a lottery ticket. Some think they can beat the odds and make a living out of gambling. There are people who gamble because they simply love the challenge. They look at gambling as a game of skill or problem solving and they are sure they can win. Some like the environment or the thrill of a possible big win, or the adrenaline rush of taking a chance. Casinos allow us to socialize and pass some time. There are no clocks in a casino; We lose track of time; We forget all our troubles. It's like a therapy session! If we are timid, we can go to a casino and boldly take chances.

Occasional gambling may be a relaxing form of entertainment but be careful not to …

How To Know If It Is Time For Divorce

Divorce. In the minds of many, this word conjures up images of a husband and wife who are constantly at each other's throats, as well as labeling each as a failure and a loser. They do not want to get a divorce but even the most casual observer would look at their lives and wonder why the obvious action of divorce has not been taken, since it seems like only a matter of time before it does or at least should.

Most people present an absolutely different picture of their marriage and level of happiness to the outside than the one that is real. The reasons behind these are made clear based on many studies that have been conducted. Divorce is not a viable option because that would mean that one or the other (or both) are inflexible, incapable of working out differences, a failure, a bad decision maker, and a host of similar self-degenerative thoughts.

Those thoughts are counter-productive, however, and you really need to look at your marriage and determine if it is something you still want. When you were standing at the altar all starry-eyed so many years ago, it looked like the thought of divorce could never be uttered from your lips, but things have changed. Both of you have changed, and if you have changed in different directions and now have different goals, or if the number of things you have in common is now limited to one thing like the weather, then sometimes it is time to look out for # 1, since absolutely, you are the only one who is really responsible for your own happiness.

But it is a tough decision. Perhaps you feel like you need to put up with it because you need the income that your spouse's job provides, or you need the health care insurance their job provides. Is that an excuse, or have you really investigated the alternatives? Are you capable of working or providing your own health care, if you had to? And if you had to, yes your life would be more hectic, but at the end of the day, would you be happier than you are right now?

These are all tough questions but you need to ask yourself these questions and be honest with yourself in your answers. The root cause can frequently be traced back to a lack of communications between husband and wife. You do not listen to what he says, and he does not listen to what you tell him. Could things change? Of course they could, but not until both spouses are fully aware of the problem, are willing to admit consciously that a problem exists, and outline and FOLLOW a plan to get things back on track.

A marriage counselor or a pastor is a great resource who can act as an objective outside observer and offer suggestions. It will probably mean that both of you will have to change some things about your behavior or lifestyle, sometimes …

Home Insurance Advice

If you do not have coverage for the fair or full value of the owned property, you will not be able to get financial help from mortgage companies. A few tips can make your home insurance meet your needs:

Homeowners’ insurance isn’t cheap. People living in areas more prone to earthquakes, floods or high claim areas pay the highest coverage. Sometimes, high-risk residents are asked to pay thousands of dollars as annual premiums. However, this does not means that homeowners of secluded, suburban areas can buy a cheap policy. The basic policy for relatively out-of-the-way areas lies between 100-500 US dollars.

Many people restrain from purchasing homeowner’s insurance because of the expenses involved in it. Homeowner’s insurance is not a choice that you can make. It is absolutely necessary and you should not refrain from buying it. The best thing about this is that you can cut down its cost by following some steps.

1) You Security Alarm Helps Cut Down Premium Costs: By installing a burglar alarm in your house and connecting it with a police station can help you cut down your premium costs up to 5 percent. However, in order to avail this benefit, you will have to show the insurance company the contract paper. Smoke alarms can also make things easy for you. Usually, a smoke alarm is installed in all newly built houses but if you set a smoke alarm in an old house, you can save more than 8 percent on your premium amount. Keeping you away from fire is another benefit that they give. So get the alarms for your safety and cut down your insurance cost.

2) Increase Deductible To Decrease Premium: Just like any other kind of insurance, if you choose a higher deductible for your homeowner insurance, you will have to pay lesser premium. This is another simple and easy way to keep away from paying higher premiums.

3) Buy From the Same Insurance Company: Instead of buying your auto and health insurance policies from other companies, consider purchasing them from the same company where you have bought your homeowner policy. There are a lot of companies that allow a discount up to 10 percent to all their customers who buy multiple policies from them. In this way, you can save on two or more premiums and control your expenses considerably. Moreover, you will stay away from the hassle of contacting different companies in case of any incident.

4) Pay Back Your Mortgage Loans: People who repay their debts to mortgage companies have to pay smaller premiums. You may wonder why it’s so. The answer is downright simple. The owner who manages to pay back his loans to take possession of his homes is also capable of taking care of his home. Once you satisfy Mortgage Company, the insurance company will satisfy you.

End Note

In order to keep yourself away from any kind of trouble and to receive your insurance money in time, make sure that you have everything …

Forex Strategy Secrets – The Ten Commandments of Trading

Just like any other business Forex trading has rules that must be adhered to in order for you to be successful. What follows is a list of important, “must do’s” for profitable Forex trading.

Controlling your risk is without a doubt one of the most important things you can do in order to become a profitable trader. It’s pretty obvious that without risk control it doesn’t take much time for your account balance to go to zero. Risk control should be designed to keep you in the game during those particularly difficult times when your chosen Forex strategy is not reading the market in exactly the way that it should.

Understand the mechanics of trading. It really doesn’t matter whether you are a manual trader or one who uses an automated Forex trading robot. You need to understand how things work and how trades are placed. This is important because you need to minimize your mistakes as any mistake could be potentially costly.

Instantly correct any mistake you make. We’re all human and we are subject to make mistakes from time to time. If you happen to click on the “buy” button in your trading platform, but meant to click on the “sell” button, get out of the incorrect long trade immediately. Many beginning traders will make the fatal mistake of waiting to see what the trade does rather than correcting the mistake and following their system to the letter.

Don’t abandon a strategy that is working. This may seem obvious to you at first glance, but you would be surprised at how many new traders are only happy chasing the latest, greatest Forex strategy.

Do what your trading system tells you to do. It seems in the world of foreign exchange that following instructions is one of the most difficult thing for beginning traders to do. By not following your system’s instructions you are both leaving money on the table as well is throwing good money away.

Learn to take losses. At first glance this might seem like I’m asking you to, “be a loser”. That is not what I’m saying at all. What I am saying is that since losses are a natural part of trading it’s best not to be freaked out by them. Keep in mind that even the very best strategies will experience losses.

Don’t expect miracles. The world of trading is full of bright-eyed, bushy tail beginners who are unfortunately being led to believe that anyone can get rich just by trading on the foreign exchange. This isn’t meant to sound negative, it’s meant to be realistic… and that is what you must be if you plan to succeed. Remember that there is no such thing as a successful trader with unrealistic expectations.

Remember that the market is always right. You’re setting yourself up for disappointment if you just don’t accept the fact that the price is what the price is. You should never make statements such as, “I can’t believe the market went …

Legal Malpractice Insurance – Quick Overview

With the customer's exposure and awareness towards legal malpractice, many legal professionals have to face lawsuits frequently. If we look at the statistics, every four to five law professional out of hundred have to face a lawsuit in a year. For law firms, which typically employ more than 20 lawyers, are likely to face at least one lawsuit every year. Well, the figure is pretty impressive to make one realize that one must have a Legal Malpractice Insurance for good risk coverage in this profession. Let us have a quick look at the various aspects of it.

How does this insurance protect a legal practitioner?

When a legal practitioner defends himself against a lawsuit, he not only loses money but also valuable time. The average figure may vary from 250 to 300 hours per case that can be billed. This insurance protects a lawyer for each lawsuit he has to face.

Is it like other type of insurance?

The difference between regular insurance and this insurance is that a regular insurance gives coverage in case a certain event like hospitalization or accident occurs while this insurance covers a lawyer only for a lawsuit against him within a policy period. So, that means this insurance company may overlook the case history except for policy duration.

What is the cost of buying a policy?

The cost of a policy is directly influenced by the degree of risk involved in your profession. For example, if you are into banking or real estate, the cost may be quite higher than a regular cost of a policy. But, in my view, you should focus more on the fact that policy covers your areas of operations.

How do I get one policy?

There are many insurance players available in the market that offers such insurance. Ideally, there are two ways to approach these companies. First, you can find a broker; second, every company has its Managing General Agent (MGA). You can search for an MGA online as well. …

National Marketing Companies – The 3rd Rail of Insurance

Many people are fully aware of insurance agents and brokers and what they do. They meet with clients and explain potential coverage and service existing business. People also know who and what insurance companies are. When you sign the dotted line, you are purchasing coverage from an agent who represents that company. However, there is a 3rd rail to the insurance system and they are called National Marketing Organizations or NMO’s.

National Marketing Organizations (NMO) are known by a few other names.

Field Marketing Organization (FMO)

Internal Marketing Organization (IMO)

National Marketing Organizations are “middle men” who promote and train agents and brokers on insurance products. They constantly recruit independent insurance and promote insurance products to them. When an agent writes business, the NMO receives an over-ride on commissions. The more agents they recruit, the more money they make.

Independent Agents

NMO’s recruit independent agents who are not contracted or captive agents with one insurance carrier. Think Allstate, Farmers, American National, North Western Mutual and MetLife agents. Independent insurance agents are often times referred to as insurance brokers. They are able to place business with any company they choose that fits their client’s needs and are not required to sell only one insurance company’s products.

Over-rides are Less Expensive

All but a hand full of insurance companies require agents to contract with a NMO instead of contracting directly with the insurance carrier. The Insurance Company wants agents to be trained and serviced through a 3rd party which creates competition among NMO’s for agent’s business. It is less expensive for the insurance industry to pay over-rides to marketing companies for training and servicing agents than it is to hire a few thousand home office people who have to train, service, and market these very same products. When business is down, the insurance company does not have to constantly hire and fire people according to fluctuations in business.

Time to Sell

National Marketing Organizations get contracted with multiple insurance carriers for annuities, life, disability, and long term care insurance. Some NMO’s like the one I used to work for started out just wholesaling annuities and eventually added life insurance to the mix. In order to keep contracts with insurance companies, the NMO has to submit a minimum amount of business or production to have that insurance company available to sell to their contracted agents.

Insurance Hierarchy

Insurance Company (s)

NMO, FMO, or IMO

Agent

Or

Insurance Company (s)

NMO, FMO, or IMO

Broker Dealer/ Insurance Agency

Agent

Agent Commissions

Sometimes an insurance agency or a Broker Dealer is located in the commission hierarchy. Sometimes the agent will receive a cut in their street commissions or will be placed in a lower commission level. A street commission level is also referred to as the General Agent (GA) level and this means that they are receiving the highest level agent commission without taking a portion of the commission from their NMO.

NMO Commissions

Marketing companies receive an over-ride when an agent’s policies issue and …

The Convenience Of Booking Cheap Summer Holidays Online

In the past, booking your cheap summer holidays to anywhere in the world,would require you to visit your local travel agent in the high street, choose a selection of brochures and carry them home to browse through page after page of exotic locations with sunny poolside photographs, enticing you to book the holiday of your dreams within those glossy pages.

Since the recent convenience of being able to search and browse the various internet search engines, consumers now have a much wider choice when deciding to booking their cheap summer holidays in their own country or when travelling abroad.

Finding a suitable holiday or travel service to cater for every consumers needs and personal budgets, has over the last few years become really fast and easy with thousands of cheap holidays and services available to view with a simple click of mouse.

Consumers will now find that all the top and lesser known travel agents have an online presence, and every category of holiday and travel service is catered for such as flights, accommodation, car hire, airport transfers, travel insurance and a whole list of other services for booking cheap summer holidays online.

With these types of travel services now available on the internet, any consumer has the ability to customize their own cheap summer holidays, picking and choosing which services they would like to use with their choice of holiday destination, without having to just accept the travel services contained in a travel agents holiday package.

Anyone who books holidays is always looking for the cheapest and best summer holiday bargain, and holiday consumers will find several dedicated holiday comparison websites that have full access to the major travel agents databases, so are able to offer the latest up to the minute pricing on a wide range of holidays and travel services.

Consumers get help to find the cheapest flights, holiday accommodation, car hire, airport transfers and many other travel services which are offered by the top travel agents online. Taking the time to use this type of website service can truly reveal some great last minute deals when booking cheap summer holidays, and is highly recommended for a starting point when booking holidays online.

Many travel agents and travel services are now in direct competition with each other thanks to the wide choice of the internet, and many of the holiday websites online offer some great discounts and discount codes throughout the year, so holiday consumers should always search the internet to find the best cheap summer holidays.

The overall ease and wide range of choice when booking cheap summer holidays online, has in the last ten years resulted in thousands of holiday consumers becoming more and more confident with booking various holiday and travel services online.

With hundreds and hundreds of holiday services setting up websites online every year and thousands of holiday consumers now becoming more and more internet savvy, this trend of searching online for booking cheap summer holidays and travel services is set to …

The Top Four Ways To Make Money Online

It seems as though making money online is something everyone wants to do these days. It's understandable due to the huge amounts of money that can be made online and the fact that you get to work for yourself while doing it. But what can you do to make money online? Well, this article is going to reveal the top four online money making methods that I have found to date. These are not get rich quick schemes. They are proven online money making methods, and if you put sufficient effort into these avenues of money making online, you will find success.

So, here are the top four ways to make money online:

1) Marketing Information Products

This is the favorite of many and definitely one of the best ways to make a lot of money online. Creating and selling your own information product such as an ebook can make you a lot of money in a relatively short amount of time. Once you have created and started marketing your product, it can be sold over and over again for years. The best part is that you make 100{4917788a0bd7aa7369c2a945027b4fe6c9853cda4150a24fe1255b18ce3083dc} of the money from sales and your customers can download the ebook as soon as they buy it, so you do not have to worry about any inventory or shipping costs. I suggest every person who wants to make money online have at least one product being sold at all times.

2) Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing allows you to start making money online without having to create any products or services of your own. Instead, you market other people's products and services. Affiliate marketing is great because it is so fast and easy to get going. You can actually be in business for yourself, marketing products as an affiliate in a matter of minutes. Now, actually getting sales and making money as an affiliate marketer may not be quite as easy but it's not exactly hard either.

Being an affiliate marketer can easily supplement any product or service you are already selling, so if you are not doing this you are literally leaving money on the table. Affiliate marketing can provide instant profits but you should take your time while choosing companies to promote because commission percentages range broadly. One company may only offer a 5{4917788a0bd7aa7369c2a945027b4fe6c9853cda4150a24fe1255b18ce3083dc} commission per sale, while another company may offer 75{4917788a0bd7aa7369c2a945027b4fe6c9853cda4150a24fe1255b18ce3083dc}. Usually the higher, the better.

3) Google AdSense

AdSense is a program that places relevant ads on your site and you are paid each time the ads are clicked by your visitors. The ads are created by Google AdWords advertisers and you get a percentage of the price they pay for the ad each time someone clicks on it. If you get a lot of traffic to your site you can make a lot of money with Adsense. I recommend doing some research on AdSense before you start using them because there are a lot of tactics you can use to drastically increase your profits.

4) …

Reconciling Your Checking Account

Do you find one of the most difficult household record keeping tasks to perform is reconciling your checking account and keeping track of are the checks you write and the times you use your debit card? I sure did and I put it off for months and months until finally, I had such a mess in my checking account, I had to close it and start a new one. I’ve learned my lesson and have resolved some of the issues that caused all my frustrations.

I find using checks with a duplicate copy a really good idea because I always have a record of the amount of each check. Also, every time I use a debit card, I am careful to put the receipt in my checkbook. This serves as a reminder for me to update my check register. No matter what kind of check writing method you use, it is very important that you keep track of all of your transactions in your check register.

When you receive your checking account statement from the bank, put it in a place where it won’t be forgotten. I usually put it with my bills to be paid. That way I know I will remember to reconcile my account each month. If you toss it in an unfamiliar place, you will surely forget to balance your account later on.

Selecting a specific time to reconcile your account each month is a good habit to get into. I know life can be very hectic at times and only you know when you will have enough time to devote without interruption. When you are ready, gather your account statement, your checkbook and your check register along with all ATM transactions for the previous month.

With all that said, let’s get started! I am going to make this quick and painless, I promise.

DEBITS: All money items charged to your account including checks written, debit card purchases, ATM cash withdrawals, fees and charges.

CREDITS: All money items put into your account including deposits you make and interest you might earn.

Grab a blank piece of paper and we will create a ** Worksheet for you to use to reconcile your account.

On the first line write: CHECKBOOK BALANCE: Next to that, write the balance amount your check register says you have in your account.

On the second line write: BANK BALANCE: Next to that, write the final balance shown on your bank statement.

On the third line write: OUTSTANDING ITEMS: do not write anything next to it just yet.

Your worksheet should look like this:

CHECKBOOK BALANCE: $1,002.50

BANK BALANCE: $1,230.00

OUTSTANDING ITEMS:

Now, referring to your check register, put a check mark next to those items that have been cashed. You will find these items listed on your Bank Statement. When you’ve finished, go back through your check register and look for items that are not checked … put an “O” next to all those items. These are your “Outstanding Items”.

Next, list all …

Video Gets More Money Than Anything – Period

Traffic is the lifeblood of your online business. For any website to be successful, it must have regular targeted traffic. Without visitors coming to the website, all your efforts will be lost.

Question: How do you get targeted traffic to your website WITHOUT competitive with the big boys backlinks?

Answer: By using VIDEO!

So Why Use Video?

Did you know that Google rank video as one of the best ways to appear on the coveted first page of their search engine? If you do search in Google for "How to do something" ie "How to bake a cake" for example, the top 5 results will include a section called "Video Results for …" Try it for yourself and you'll be amazed at what videos are being listed in this highly competitive area on page one.

There must be a reason they are so high up. They must have thousands of quality, relevant backlinks, right?

Wrong! If you do a backlink analysis using Yahoo, you will see that these videos have an incredible, wait for it …. 9 LINKS !! (To use Yahoo backlink checker simply type "link:" before the domain name you want to analyze)

The No.1 company for that search term has a thousand backlinks, but the video, only 3 places down, has only 9 backlinks, which is easily achievable for anyone.

Can you now see the power of using video for your website marketing.

But How Do I Make A Video?

You do not need any fancy, expensive equipment. A standard computer or laptop, a $ 20 Logitech microphone headset and Microsoft PowerPoint or Keynote is all you need to make your video. If you decide to star in your video then use a cheap web cam and record directly into YouTube, and you're done! It's really that easy to start using video.

Video is set to take over the Internet in the not too distant future, so start now. Amazon are using video on their product pages. Do a search for "amazon kindle" and see for yourself how powerful, but simple video is.

So stop wasting your efforts on writing articles (can not believe I'm writing this one!), Optimizing and re-optimizing your web pages and …

Start using video. Period. …