Category: Finances

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Stop that check!!

I found it very interesting to read about how the country of Great Britain is considering stopping the use of checks. It seems that boards of bankers think they are too expensive to clear and they favor cheaper ways of paying bills. They have set a preliminary date of 2018 for the complete stoppage of check clearing. There are some who are concerned though.

The elderly people tend to write more checks than any other age group. They are not always computer savvy and are set in their ways. Some businesses also want to continue their customer’s use of checks. Whatever happens, I am sure that sooner or later, the checks will be stopped.

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Deciding on Marshall Amps

The Marshall Amps that I have been looking at lately online are now being offered at a much cheaper price then they were a couple of weeks ago. I have always been told that “good things come to those who wait” and maybe this would be considered one of those times. With the holidays just barely right around the corner, prices will be fluctuating and it will just all become a real challenge when life becomes so demanding with the arrival of the cold weather. Not something I am looking forward to at all.

We were robbed of our normal summer weather and I hear that this will be one heck of a winter season, one that folks won’t forget any time soon.

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After Dinner Chillaxing

Last Sunday’s family dinner was so good – my mom and sisters out did themselves this year! I know that I ate too much, but I couldn’t stop. I should have skipped dessert, but evidently I have no willpower when it comes to coconut cake. Besides, everyone else stayed seated at the table and kept eating, too. It would have been rude to get up and leave the table.

After dinner the guys went into my dad’s “man cave” and watched some TV. Dad has satellite and gets so any channels he never misses anything important. For only about $40 a month, he gets just about everything out there, including 61 HD channels. Since we all pitched in and bought him a flat screen HD TV at Christmas last year, getting all those HD channels from his Satellite TV is a really sweet feature.

This gave me a great idea for his birthday present this summer. I think we should pitch in and buy him the NFL special package on Direct TV called, The Sunday Ticket. This is only available on Direct TV and it gives you ALL he NFL games, with no restrictions like blackouts, and they are all in HD. Once you watch an NFL game in HD and see how much more detail there is, you can never go back to regular TV and enjoy the game as much. Trust me on this!

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They make it easy!

One of the best things that has happened over the last few years is the growing prevalence of the gift card! These cards come in handy when a gift is required, but you don’t really want to spend a lot of time figuring out what to get someone. All you have to do is come close to a general category that you think the person will like.

I really like to give out gift cards from the most popular restaurants. I know that no matter what, people have to eat. I have always had good success with these cards and plan to make my life a lot simpler by giving them out!

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French Fried

It seems that the country of France is looking for ways to save money on its public finances. They have a very large deficit and are planning ways to combat the red ink. One thing they are doing is raising their retirement age from 60 to 62. They hope to save a lot of money by doing this.

Of course, there are many people who are not happy with the decision. But, many believe it is the only responsible thing to do in light of the deficit. The plan will be implemented over a number of years and has some loopholes for those who need it. I think France is doing the right thing by keeping their deficit in check!

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Protect yourself

Being as that the economic times are so uncertain, I decided to look into ways to ensure my economic prosperity. After doing some research, I decided that I needed to purchase gold. There are many benefits for doing so and I will explain some of them to you. For example, if you purchase gold coins, you can rest easy at night knowing that you have made a safe investment.

It seems that gold usually goes up in value whenever the world’s economic scene goes bad. If there is a disaster or a war, gold’s value tends to go up. This makes it an excellent investment. When you purchase gold coin, you put your money into an investment that is safe. You can always have access to your money and you become free to withdraw your money at any time.

One of the best things to do is to purchase gold bullion. An investment like this has a proven track record of going up in value. I wish I had done so many years ago as I would be very well off by now. When you purchase bullion, you are telling the ones you love that you care. I am sure that no one would argue that is a bad thing. I hope you will be able to look into the matter further when you get a chance.

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Dead Money

I was shocked to read today that the U.S. government has been sending out checks to those who are deceased. It was found out that over the last three or four years; more than 20,000 checks were sent to dead people. This is the kind of waste that makes Americans angry. That’s not all of the news. Some checks were sent to convicted felons as well as deadbeat contractors.

The Obama administration is vowing to rectify the situation by creating a database that list the dead as well as felons and contractors that owe the government money. I hope this new system will save the poor taxpayers some of their hard earned money!

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Girly Things

Sometimes it is nice to step back and appreciate the girls for being girls. When you grow up with sisters, you probably take a lot of things for ranted. Then when you  just around a lot of guys, like in a college dorm, you start to understand that girls do a lot of nice things and you start to miss them.

I like the way girls fuss with their hair and makeup. I especially like nail polish on their fingers and toes. And they smell nice. I would much rather breathe deep and take in a nice floral fragrance from a girl than the smell of a dorm room with a bunch of guys dirty clothes, leftover food and stale smoke.

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The House, Our Home

The wife and I have been working to fix up the old homestead. We have had a wonderful time working together on various projects around the house. This year, we have concentrated a lot of our effort on the outside of the house including getting our lawn and gardens into shape. We think that the outside of the house is just as important as the inside. We have worked hard to find ways to improve the view of the house from the street.

One thing we are really happy about is the addition of an address plaque. We put the plague by the street and surrounded it with plants. We also added some rocks and figurines around it. It looks great and makes it easy to find our house. We didn’t know about home address plaques before, but now that we do, we are glad to have found one that fits our style.

One of our neighbors commented on the plaque and asked for more information about it. I told him to get on the internet and type in address plaques and he would find a place to get one for himself. I am sure that over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be seeing one in front of his house as well. While I am sure that our house will never be perfect, I am glad that we made this one fine addition.

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They Fall So Fast

When the recession started to really take hold last year, the McDonald’s corporation was delighted. People started to flock to their stores as their low prices made them an affordable place to eat. They were high on the hog for awhile and were happy with their sales.

The bad part was that they had to offer incredibly low prices on their products which left them with little wiggle room. At this point, the economy is starting to recover but their sales are once again slipping. The company is hoping that the slow recovery of the economy will drive up sales and restore their profit margins. I hope they get what they want, not that I like anything that comes from McDonald’s except maybe their fountain drinks, sweet tea and their french fries. Other than that I have no use for the majority of their products.