In any decision, it is always best to take your time. Delay is often the fraud criminal’s worst enemy. Ask for time to think about what you are being asked to give. Talk to friends and family about investment opportunities or work to be done around your home. If you are being told that you have to act before you hang up the phone or close the door, that is a red flag that someone is trying to scam you!
Does it make sense? If an offer sounds good to be true, tell a friend about it. What is the reaction? Sometimes a convincing sales pitch sounds absolutely unbelievable when we repeat it to another person.
Develop a giving plan. Decide at the beginning of each year which causes you want to support and in what amounts. If you receive a solicitation from another charity during the year, explain that you already have a giving plan for this year, but if the solicitor will send you information in the mail, you will consider making a gift next year. Legitimate charitable organizations encourage planned giving and will not be offended by your request; they will still be around next year and will still need financial support.
Is the solicitor following applicable law? If a door-to-door solicitor cannot produce a business license, stop the conversation and close the door. If you are on the state or federal “Do Not Call” list, tell the telemarketer and hang up the phone. Report suspicious mail solicitations to the Postal Inspection Service.
Indicators of Fraud:
Mail that includes an enclosed check that you are instructed to deposit in your bank account and then transfer a portion of the funds back to the the sender.
E-mails that include embedded hyperlinks to fraudulent clone websites- designed to look like a legitimate site for a bank or credit company.
Any request for personal identifying information from any person who has contacted you. If you did not initiate the contact, do not give any personal information!
“Now or never” offers are almost always bogus. A solicitor may not be trying to steal from you, but in all likelihood the quality of the product you receive in return will be far less than what you expected.
Mail that looks like “official” correspondence from a government agency, but is actually a solicitation- shred it or send it to the postal inspector.
If you think you are being scammed, call someone to report it- such as local law enforcement, district attorney, legal aid, area agency on aging and disability, adult protective services. All these agencies exist to help and will respond to your call.
For more information please contact Premier Solutions or Find an Agent.
“My husband injured his left shoulder that resulted in a Torn Rotator Cuff that required surgery. When he filed a disability claim with Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company, the claim was put under sickness ( the policy doesn’t pay for sickness) despite the 2 doctors reports of a accidental injury w/trauma.They gave my husband the run around for 4 months and sent him a letter denying his claim. After speaking with my friend Wanda Brown she shared some information with me and ask that I visit her website. Needless to say after visiting her website I was blown away about the information I received. I became a Legal Shield member and I used the service the very next day! After speaking with an attorney about my husband’s situation, he immediately wrote a letter of appeal on my husband’s behalf to Colonial. Imagine our surprise when we received a check in the mail for $ 7,550.00 along with a letter stating that he will receive automatic payments each month as long as he is under a physicians care…. AWESOME!!!”
You may be thinking about hiring a Financial Planner when discussing financial products. Financial products can include the following:
- insurance
- budgeting
- annuities
- stocks
- securities
- mutual funds
- mortgage options
- trusts
The right Financial Planner for you will have a Code of Ethics that he/she lives by in spirit as well as written general ethics principles he/she adheres to such as:
- honor
- confidentiality
- diligence
- professionalism
- competence
- integrity
- fairness
- honesty
- objectivity
- dignity
When choosing a Financial Planner, ask about these things:
- education
- references
- designations
- professional associations
- code of ethics
- continuing education
- experience
- licenses
- commission/fees
DO:
- have your advisor conduct a comprehensive analysis of your needs
- thoroughly understand how the financial product will meet your needs
- be able to explain it back to your advisor
- inquire about alternate solutions
- inquire about trial periods… these vary by product
- review the information at home before making a decision
DO NOT:
- accept the first product presented
- decide on good points alone
- be rushed
- be pressured
- sign any documents until you completely understand
For legal advice about financial planning or choosing a financial planner, contact Premier Solutions or Find an Agent in your area.
There are many laws that give you rights when it comes to dealing with creditors. For example, perhaps you make a late payment to a store credit card for whatever reason and because of this, your credit report is negatively affected. In this situation, you can write a letter to the store as well as the credit bureaus explaining why the payment was late, and if the store does not reply within a certain amount of time, the credit bureaus must remove it from your credit report. It is important to talk with a legal professional about these types of situations and how you can improve your credit score. Contact Premier Solutions or find an agent to learn your rights.
Credit is your reputation as a borrower. It tells others how likely you are to repay your loans. Lenders provide the information about your borrowing history. In addition to lending decisions, credit is used for insurance and employment approvals. You may have questions about credit issues, including:
- Credit improvement
- Credit myths
- How to get credit
- Pitfalls of bad credit
- Loan Denial
- Bankruptcy
- Credit Crunch
- Credit Mistakes
- Credit Repair
- Accessing Credit Scores
If you have questions about your credit, or how to improve your credit score, contact us or find an agent.
More than ever, thieves are working hard to steal your identity. They do not care who is affected with it, young or old. Their main objective is to steal for their own benefit. What can you do to make it harder for the thieves to steal your identity? Know that there are simple measures that you can incorporate in your daily life to prevent thieves from stealing your identity. Believe it or not, what you have earned for years could go down the drain if you are not careful about protecting it.
Identity theft affects millions of people at present. Its debilitating result is more than enough reason for you to guard your identity.
Here are simple but very important measures to take to shield your identity.
1. Social security card must be placed in a safe place in your home not in your wallet. This is where your identity gets stolen when you lost your wallet and/or your wallet gets stolen.
2. All documents with your personal information need to be shredded and not tossed in the trash. Thieves are not hesitant to get dirty to steal your identity.
3. Make it harder for thieves to steal your identity by renting a mail box so that they do not have an easy access to your mails. A mail box that is not locked invites thieves to dig into it without sweating.
4. Invest in a good shredder. A cross-cut one is better.
5. Monitor your credit report, financial statements, and report any unusual activity. To go to the next level in protecting your identity, simply get a company that can show you the odds on how to handle these things.
Learn more about identity theft so you can better guard yourself from this crime. Knowing what to do can guide you how to avoid being a victim. You cannot underestimate the work that needs to be done if you are a victim of identity theft. Prevention is the best route to take. Equip yourself. Discover the benefits of having a legal team on your side today.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/credit-articles/identity-theft-simple-measures-to-shield-your-identity-1633950.html
During the tax season, identity thieves are busy at work knowing that so much of your personal information is exposed. When a criminal gets a hold of your information, it becomes a major time investment and cost for you to try and clean up the mess. Who has time to worry about how secure their personal information is? Most people do not.
Most people purchase home-owners insurance so that if something happens to their home or someone breaks in, they know they have a team of professionals that will help them get their life and home back in order. With identity theft being the fastest growing white-collar crime in America, happening every 3 seconds, don’t you think identity theft insurance is something to take a look at? Most consumers do. And with the cost being as little as ten dollars a month for the entire family, most families across North America find it to be a no-brainer and worth not having to worry about what they will do when someone violates their identity.
When you think of identity theft, most people only think of financial ID theft. But this is actually only 28% of what identity thieves are doing. Below are 4 other areas that make up 72% of identity theft crimes.
Drivers License Theft- thieves use your info to:
- gain employment
- rent properties
- get cell phones
- get DUI/speeding tickets
- bail out of jail
Social Security Theft- thieves use your info to:
- gain employment
- use your services
- obtain medical care
- apply for loans
- commit crimes
Medical ID Theft- thieves use your info to:
- use your services
- get prescriptions
- use Medicare/Medicaid
Character/ Criminal Theft- you could be:
- arrested for crimes you didn’t commit
- denied employment
- stopped at airport security
- documented as a criminal on a background check
Would you know what to do when something like this happens to you or your family member? Last year it happened to 10 million Americans. Don’t wait until it happens and then try to repair the damage. Protect your family with identity theft insurance and breathe easy this tax season.
For more information about identity theft insurance, contact Premier Solutions or find an agent in your area.
10. Your assets do not pass to the right people.
If you do not specify who inherits your assets in a Will, the intestacy laws will govern. In North Carolina, if your assets pass by intestacy and you have children, your spouse receives the first $30,000 of your personal property and either a one-third or one-half interest in your remaining property. The rest will be distributed to your children. Accordingly, if you have a child who has not spoken to you in years, that child will get an equal share of the remaining one-half or one-third of your estate. If you do not have any children but your parents survive you, your spouse will end up sharing your assets with his or her in-laws. In North Carolina, your spouse gets the first $50,000 of your personal property, and anything above that amount will be split evenly between your parents and spouse. Similarly, if you have a Will but it is out of date, your Will may not sufficiently provide for those you now consider to be your beneficiaries.
9. The IRS may become a beneficiary of your estate.
Intestacy distributions do not incorporate any tax planning. As a result, more assets than necessary may be diverted from your heirs into the federal and state treasury. For example, under current law, if you die without leaving a surviving spouse, the federal and state estate taxes on a $2 million estate in the year 2000 would be $560,250. There are many commonly used techniques that could reduce your overall estate tax bill that could be implemented with the help of an estate planner. With proper planning, the amounts going to the government rather than your heirs could be significantly reduced.
8. If you own a family business, it could pass to individuals who do not get along.
If your assets pass by intestacy, or if you have acquired a family business since you had your Will drawn, your family business could be divided in an inappropriate way. For example, your second spouse may end up sharing the family business with your children from a prior marriage. In fact, the children from the prior marriage could end up controlling the family business that had been run by you and your second spouse, leaving your spouse with no control over the asset that could be his or her primary source of support.
7. The court has to be involved in family finances.
In a Will, you are able to confer specific powers on your Executor and Trustee in addition to those granted by statute, such as the ability to serve as fiduciary without posting bond or filing certain accountings or to sell real estate without a court proceeding. If a person does not have a Will, or the Will they have does not confer these specific powers, many things cannot be done throughout the estate administration without going to court. For example, if a person dies without a Will or that person’s Will does not give the Executor the express power to sell real estate, the personal representative of the estate will have to go through a judicial sale to sell any real property in the estate to pay debts, expenses and taxes of the estate. Such proceedings are bothersome and expensive.
6. The court will appoint the guardian of your minor children without your input.
If you die without a will, the court will appoint the guardian of your minor children without any input from you. A recommendation by a parent as to a guardian for his or her minor children can serve as a “strong guide” to the clerk in appointing a guardian for those minor children. In addition, a person may recommend in his or her Will that the guardian not be required to post bond. If you have a Will, but it was drawn many years ago, the person you recommended in your Will to serve as guardian of your minor children may no longer be the appropriate person to serve as guardian, or may not be capable of serving as guardian.
5. Your children may receive distributions at too young an age.
If you die without a Will, once your assets are divided according to the intestacy laws and your children reach age 18, the funds are theirs to use as they want. Children at age 18 may not use such funds wisely. Instead of using such funds for a mortgage or college tuition, they could buy a sports car or support a bad habit or girlfriend/boyfriend. In a Will, you can establish a trust that provides for distributions at ages that are more appropriate than age 18. Similarly, if you have a Will that was drawn several years ago, the trust provisions for your children established years ago may not be appropriate based on their current situations.
4. Your administrator may end up chasing beneficiaries to pay taxes.
Wills typically specify which portion of the estate will bear the burden of estate taxes and enables the Executor to gather assets to pay those taxes. Often, the Will provides that the residue of the estate bears the tax burden, which results in the taxes being paid out of this pot of money before distributions to the residuary takers are made. If you die without a Will, taxes can be allocated proportionately to the assets inherited. Assets that are not distributed pursuant to your Will, such as life insurance and retirement benefits, are still part of your estate and, thus, can generate estate taxes. As a result, the administrator of an intestate decedent will be forced to retrieve funds from the beneficiaries of such assets to pay estate taxes.
3. Your assets could end up with your child’s ex-spouse or creditor.
Without a Will, your children inherit their share of your assets outright at age 18, as mentioned above. A Will allows a person to leave assets to children in trust rather than outright. Such a trust can provide a distribution scheme that would prevent a child’s share of your assets passing to their ex-spouse or to a creditor.
2. Equal distributions to children can be inequitable.
If you die without a Will, and leave behind two children and no spouse, those two children will share equally in your estate. What if one of your children is 32 and a surgeon, and one of your children is 19 and has just begun college? Even though you have already put one child through college and medical school, that child will share equally with the child that is just beginning college, which is probably an inequitable result. This scenario could also happen with a Will that is greatly outdated.
1. The last thing you say to your loved ones is “I Don’t Care.”
One of the last things your family may remember about you is how your estate is settled. If you leave an estate that is extremely difficult to administer and that results in inequitable or inappropriate distributions because you did not have a Will or you did not update your Will as needed, you may be indicating to your family that they were not worth the trouble of planning ahead for their future.
In conclusion, estate planning is something that people generally find to be painful to get started, but often feel a sense of comfort once it is done. Be forewarned that most estate plans involve issues other than drawing a Will, such as procuring life insurance, getting an attorney-in-fact in place, having certain health care documents, possibly establishing trusts and re-titling assets, and reviewing retirement benefits. In addition, estate planning is an on-going process. If your family situation changes, your financial picture changes, or there are significant changes in the law, you need to revisit your estate plan and possibly consult with your estate planner about making some changes to your plan. But don’t let that scare you into not starting the process at all. As you can see from the “10 Bad Things” above, you don’t want to suffer the consequences of not having a Will.
Two Final Considerations: A power of attorney is a document in which you give someone the legal authority to act for you. A Living Will has three purposes: It gives your doctor your instructions about life sustaining procedures, artificial nourishment and organ donation.
This information is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. To contact an attorney, please contact Premier Solutions or find an agent.
Business bondage comes in many forms, from preoccupation with debt-related problems to over-dedication to work. Bondage is characterized by a lack of realistic guidelines that help balance our lives. How can you recognize business bondage? Here are 5 symptoms that you may be in business bondage.
Symptom 1: An Air of Superiority
When we are experiencing severe problems (financial, marital, health) we tend to be humble and appreciate the help of others. But take away the problems and substitute success and most of us will adopt an “I did it myself” attitude. No one is self-made. Only the combined efforts of a great many people make anyone a success.
Symptom 2: Overwork
Our lifestyles today demand more and more indulgences to keep us satisfied. Often this necessitates two incomes and many extra hours on the part of either or both spouses. It is not unusual for a person building a business to work 80 hours a week regularly, and in some cases a hundred hours or more. Unfortunately, many people think this is both necessary and normal. It is true that a 40 hour work week will rarely, if ever, build a successful business. But a 100 hour work week reflects a gross imbalance of priorities, not dedication to being a good leader!
Symptom 3: Excessive Use of Credit
No other financial principle has so dominated the way we do business in our generation as has credit. When you depend on credit to run a business without a plan to become debt-free, you violate the common-sense principle that a prudent man sees evil and hides himself, while the naive proceed and pay the penalty.
Symptom 4: Disorganization
Organization is an absolute necessity, not an alternative, in business. Some people, like accountants are organizers by personality. They are often attracted to the field of accounting because they enjoy detail and order. Rarely, however, will someone who likes detail work become an entrepreneur, unless the business is directly related to an organizational field. Why? Because most entrepreneur types are free-wheelers who like to do a variety of things and do not enjoy routine tasks. But a smart entrepreneur will eventually learn that while ideas start businesses, organization makes them successful. That means a business owner must either develop the necessary discipline or hire someone else to keep the company in order.
Symptom 5: A Get Rich Quick Mentality
The get rich quick mentality can be seen throughout American enterprise today in the takeovers and sell-offs of thousands of companies. Some people view a business as a vehicle to make some quick money with a minimum amount of effort and then get out. The people who hold to this philosophy leave broken lives behind them. from..”Business by the Book” by Larry Burkett
There are two fundamental questions that any business person thinking about joining a partnership should ask: Who is in charge, and do we agree on fundamental values?
1. Who is in charge?
Often this question is not asked in the formative stages of a partnership because one Christian doesn’t want to embarrass another or confront the issue. Usually if the business just breaks even there is no particular problem. But if the business either succeeds greatly or fails, this issue will become the central one.
The power that comes through controlling a successful enterprise will test the commitment of the partners. If the issue of who is in charge is not settled up front, it can easily create a rift in the partnership.
Conversely, if the business or investment gets into financial difficulty, strong, decisive leadership will be required to pull it out. Saving a business that is in trouble may well mean laying off family members involved in the enterprise and restricting the outflow of money. For one partner to tell another that he has to go out and get a job because the business can’t support two or more people is impossible unless the issue of control is settled from the outset.
2. What are your absolute values?
One of the best exercises in preparation for any potential partnership is for each of you to spend some time deciding what your absolutes are. These are the principles by which you operate and will not compromise for anyone. You won’t be totally aware of all of them the first time you attempt to make your lis, but the more you do this exercise the more will surface.
If you are deciding to be in partnership with someone, both of you should know them from the outset what the other stands for. Be sure that you both share the same personal values and convictions and approach a partnership with caution. Unraveling a business partnership is sometimes as heart-wrenching as a divorce. If you reach a mutually satisfactory agreement on a partnership, every single detail should be written down.
There are many legal factors to discuss before creating a business partnership. For more information on this, or to talk to a specialized attorney, please contact PSI or find an agent in your area.
A large number of distressed home owners are discovering that it is really not always easy to sell a home in a short sale. Short sales are complicated and, if a home owner doesn’t handle the short sale properly, they can see their house lost to foreclosure. Short sale home sellers come in all size and shapes and each scenario differs, even so, there are many pitfalls that all home sellers should know about to be certain that their short sale finalizes.
The first thing a house owner needs to do when considering selling their house in a short sale is to locate a seasoned short sale real estate agent. Quite a few agents are hurting in this tight economy, and they will generally take on short sales though they have hardly any expertise. It is important that the agent a home owner selects has successfully closed short sales. If the realtor has never closed a short sale, next the homeowner should think twice about going with a more knowledgeable short sale agent. The realtors comprehension of closing short sales is important for a successful short sale, and many realtors do not understand the amount of work involved in getting a short sale closed. The not so skilled agents typically get overwhelmed and the short sale can turn out getting lost to property foreclosure.
Another frequent error homeowner’s make when selling their property in a short sale is listing the home for the incorrect price. Pricing a short sale can be difficult, since they need to be priced reasonably to be able to contend with various other non-short sale listings inside the same area, and, it’s unwise to price the house well beneath market value. Marketplace value is vital whenever discussing a short sale with the lender. The short sale loan company will not take more than a 10-15% lowering of market price. In the event that an agent sends in a bunch of low ball offers to the short sale mortgage lender, the financial institution will just reject the offers and the property will usually land in real estate foreclosure.
Understandably, house owners who decide to short sale their house are often doing so under duress. These homeowners genuinely don’t desire to sell their home, however want to prevent the real estate foreclosure, so they opt for the lesser of two evils. Difficult sellers are making an error in not cooperating with the short sale procedure as they are just delaying the inescapable, and much more frequently these days, these sellers lose their homes in home foreclosure simply because they they were not committed to the process in the early stages.
These types of sellers usually have a lot of showing restrictions and make the house unfavorable for buyer’s agents to present the clientele. A short sale can’t close without an offer and when the property owner just isn’t able to show the home to potential buyers then these people might as well basically let the property go in real estate foreclosure. In short, it is important for short sale home sellers to do their investigation and remain invested in the process.
Fore more information please contact Premier Solutions or find an agent.
of records