Children Don't Want Their Parents To Get Fired!

Very eye-opening blog post about the workforce today!

Especially moving is the story of a woman whose son got hit by a car but the son didn't tell her because he didn't want her to miss work and get fired. But after the mother found out that her son was hit by a car she wanted to go home to take him to the hospital. Her boss told her if she left then she was fired. She left, got fired but found out that her son had a broken arm!

It's very hard keeping a job now-a-days simply because you just can't be prepared for every emergency that might come up. Things like a sick child, car accident or any number of other emergencies that can come up can make taking too many sick or personal days off a prelude to losing one's job. When I was a cashier I think we had something like 5 sick/personal days a year!

The Number Of Elderly Who Are Losing Their Homes Has Increased By An Alarming Rate!

I just got finished reading an article about how the number of elderly who are losing their homes is increasing by an alarming rate. I wrote on my LaMott Blog about how I personally knew a neighbor who had lost their home because of the back property taxes that weren't paid. They had lived in their home for a number of years and had accumulated a lot of stuff. But the time came and a notice was put on their door and their house was sold.

Now in my area the property taxes run about $4,000 a year! It comes from 2 different tax bills and one of those is the school tax bill (which is the highest). Some seniors argue that since they don't have any children in the schools that they shouldn't have to pay these taxes. While the issue has been debated there nothing that has been put into law. There is a funding program where seniors can get some money to offset the cost of their property taxes but in my area that amounts to just over 10% of the tax due.

It seems that the counties are going after unpaid property taxes more strongly and I know of at least one area where the due property taxes are sold at auction to the highest bidder. The county gets their money and there is a new holder of the property tax bill that the homeowner has to pay.

By law, the city can seize homes and sell them for back taxes at a treasurer's auction. Homeowners who don't pay the debt within 90 days of the auction will lose their homes.

One person's home was put up for auction because he only owed around $600 in back property taxes.

Food Recall

Looks like there is another major recall going on. This time it for a popular snack food (although I don't use it).

Click on the link in the title to find out more about this latest food recall.

Should Taxpayers Have To Pay For Inmate's Sex Change Surgery?

This was also added to my Grant Basics 101 blog but I think that it should also go here because it has to do with taxpayer dollars.

Should Taxpayers Have To Pay For An Inmate's Sex Change Operation?

Making Teaching Respectable Again

Interesting article from the Wall Street Journal online. The teaching profession has always been known for its low pay. Add to that the problem of safety concerns and it becomes an even bigger issue.

The bulk of this article talks about how poorly paid teachers are and how that fact stops a lot of students from going into teaching.

There's also some great information about a program that they are offering that I should definitely put in my grants blog. They have a program in place that provides a monthly stipend of $1,500 for those who want to teach.

"Ask Oprah And Ye Shall Receive"

Found this very interesting article about Oprah and the people that ask here for money. Actually she has this kind of video contest thing where you ask her for what you need. If you win you get it!

1/13/11 -

Update!

Please be advised that there may be various ways for one to get financial help including government grants and free money.

You should also see if you are due some unclaimed money money as well! Please visit my blog The Unclaimed Money Blog to find out more about unclaimed money.

Asking For Free Dental Care

Although there are a few options for getting free or low cost dental care, there aren't a lot of those options.

People need dental work that can cost as much as $2,000 and that money has to come from somewhere. Some dentists allow you to pay your dental bill on a payment plan. But not all dentists do this so you will have to check around to see which ones do.

"Can I Have $50K To Buy A New Car?"

Cyber-begging is alive and well! In case you don't know what cyber-begging is it is people using the internet to beg for money. If you click the link above you will see a blog entry from someone who is making good money using Adsense. He got an email from a 16 year old kid who is asking for money to buy a car.

Personally I won't comment on this but I will say that I like the replies that say "give a man a fish and he can eat for a day but teach a man to fish and he will be able to eat forever" - meaning that the kid should learn how to make money himself. I was also surprised by a few of the comments that suggested the kid be given the money simply because he had the balls to ask for it.

I'll let you decide!

Banks!

Of course any business that wants to stay in business has to make money. I was reminded of this when I saw a posting about banks. Banks make money in a variety of ways. They provide loans to people and businesses (and get paid for providing these loans), they also get money from atm and other service-related fees - as we the customer well know!

With all of this there are still banks around that don't have a minimum account fee and if and when you find these kind of banks please be sure to open an account. Having a bank account makes things a lot more easier and convenient.

I know that there are some people who don't and can't have a bank account because they have had some problems in the past but if you can please try to take care of them.

It has been pointed out that banks are seeking more and more customers and that they are trying various means (and enticements) to get them.

What To Do When You Lose Your Job

Here is an article that has very good advice about what it is you should do if you lose your job. More and more this is becoming something that is happening more and more often - people are losing their jobs that they have had for years!

Hopefully this article will help you.

Student Loans - The Dark Side of....

So there is a "dark" side to the student loan process!

It seems that some schools were getting a "kickback" or some other kind of brible in recommending some student loan programs. It seems that colleges had the right to act as "middlemen" for some student loan resources and those "acts" were quite lucrative. Now Congress wants to introduce bills to get rid of this.

Did you know that some lenders are protected even if a student defaults on their school loan?

Did you know that some "for-profit" schools have been accused of accepting students who don't stand a good chance of graduating just so that student will apply for (and the school itself will get the) student loans(s)

excerpt from the Ann Arbor News

Adsense?

For those of you that have never heard of Adsense it is a very great way to make money using one's blog or website. It places ads on your site and you get paid when visitors to your website click on the ads! The above link is to a blog that shows a list of how much some people have made using the Adsense program.

One of the reasons why I mention Adsense is because #1 it is a great way to make money and #2 its a great legitimate way to make money!

Basically how it works it that ads are placed on your site according to the content of your site. As you can see on this blog the ads are related to the subjects of this blog.

Now if you are reading this and have a blog or website you should definitely look into adding Adsense to your site. People have made a LOT of money using Adsense and if anything it a great resource for bringing in some extra money.

Getting Behind On Your Bills?

I know of someone who told me that they were a couple of months behind on their phone bill but they were afraid to call the company. My advice is for you to call and see if you can set up a payment arrangement. Time and time again I have seen representatives from these companies talk about how its important to keep in contact with them as opposed to not sending in any payment. In fact its better if you can send in what you can to at least show that you are making the effort.

I talk about a lot of programs that are out there to help people who fall behind on their utility bills and you should see if you are eligible for any of these programs.

Unclaimed Money?

Have you ever heard the term "unclaimed money"? That is exactly what this is. Unclaimed money includes bank accounts that have been forgotten, insurance policy proceeds that are waiting to be paid and on and on and on. If the account holder of these unclaimed accounts are deceased then the money goes to their next of kin.

In my own area (Philadelphia) there is a listing that appears in the newspaper and its about 4 - 6 pages long! Nothing but names and how much money is under that name! I have seen amounts as high as $50,000! (By the way I checked our family name and it wasn't on there )-:

The department that is in charge of all of this unclaimed money seems to frown upon those who charge others for this kind of information. This has always kind of bugged me. If the department can't do a good job of letting people know that they may have unclaimed money that may be theirs then what is wrong with someone (or some company) helping people with this for a fee. I'm not talking about those that do this kind of thing dishonestly but a legitimate professional individual person or company.

Do You Want To Buy Property Cheaply?

I have always had mixed feelings about about buying foreclosures and buying property "on the cheap". The problem I have with it are the people that don't want to lose their homes and they are forced to lose their homes - sometimes at a price less than the equity that they already have in their homes.

With that being said there seems to be a lot of talk about real estate investing and opportunities for people to buy their first home or for investors to buy property. Unfortunately there will be a record number of foreclosures this year and a lot of people and investors are taking advantage of it. I even posted earlier about how one county sells delinquent property tax bills to the highest bidder. The county gets their money and the highest bidder now has a valuable lien note.

There are different types of property sales all over the United States and when you figure in how many different counties there are in different states then the number of opportunities increases. I have seen properties sold for less than 1/10th of their appraised value! And that is where the money is being made as far as investing in real estate is concerned.

However if you're not a real estate investor and are just looking for property that you can live in you should definitely check out some of these opportunities. You may be able to get a good piece of property very cheaply!

Dollar Store Buyers Beware!

Interesting article about the toothpaste that is being sold in various "Dollar" stores.

Home Loans - Oh The Trouble We Get In!

There are going to be a record number of foreclosures nationwide! This is sad news for homeowners but good news for real estate investors.

I know that investing in real estate is a popular (and lots of people say) profitable business to go into but my thoughts are on the people that are losing their homes. It is not a very good feeling and it is not a pretty sight!

If you are a homeowner and you still have a mortgage on your property - in my honest opinion - I think that you should make paying your mortgage a priority! While you make your regular mortgage payments set aside what extra money you have and put it towards a "mortgage" fund. In fact try to make it a point of having extra money that you can put aside and put into your mortgage fund!

What about mortgage insurance? Personally I would rather set up my own mortgage insurance using the advice that I gave above. Insurance companies take your money and invest it and earn interest and dividends on it. Hopefully you should be able to do that very same thing on your own.

Having Your Own Bank Account

While having your own bank account is a good thing I realize that there are a lot of people that don't have one. There could be a number of reasons for this like they don't have enough money to put in a bank account or they are not able to open a bank account because they have had a previous bank account that hasn't been settled. For instance here in Philadelphia you can't open a new bank account if you have a debt to be paid from your old bank account.

I even remember talking to one bank cashier who told me that she didn't even have a bank account - although she hereself worked in a bank!

Also a lot of banks have a lot of different fees - fees that keep people away from having a bank account. So there are a lot of different reasons why some people don't have a bank account.

But if you can manage it please do try to have one. Hopefully you will be able to find a bank that doesn't charge excessive fees and/or don't require a minimum balance in order to keep it. I realize that you may have to do a bit of searching around to find such a bank but there are some of them out there.