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Meditation

Life

Life is crazy.

 “Really, Jason, that’s news?”
I spend so much time going in so many different directions.
Cleaning out our inherited hoarding house, managing the remodel, work, side hustles, kids, friends, family, relationships, maintaining our house, maintaining a relationship with my wife, garage sales, school starting, junior high football season, insurance policies, probate, rush hour, insomnia.
Some days, I feel insanely scattered.  I can’t focus.  I have a hard time making decisions.  I waste time.
Those days, I need to clear my head.
That’s where meditation comes in.
I don’t do the money hum. (Om mone padme, Om)
Instead, I have three activities that demand a total focus.  They drive out any scattered thoughts or unimportant concerns.
They have to because, quite frankly, they can be dangerous if I don’t concentrate.
1. I shave.  I use a double-edged safety razor, so bleeding for the throat is a real concern.   For 10 minutes, nothing else in the world matters.   It has only recently struck me how valuable this is.  That value makes me want to start shaving every day, with a straight razor.  More focus, more often.
2.  I ride.  For the past couple of years, it’s been hard to find time get my motorcycle out.   Small children seem to want attention every day.   It got to the point where I was ready to sell my bike.   This spring, it was seriously misbehaving.  Finally, at the end of the summer, a friend got it running better than it ever has.   I took it out for a couple of hours and came back feeling more clearheaded than I have in a long time.  I won’t be selling my bike until I have its replacement.
3.  I shoot.  Shooting involves a series of simple actions that require concentration to do well. Load the gun, line up the sights, which eye is dominant, breathe, don’t breathe, squeeze the trigger, hole in the paper.   Again, it’s not an activity that’s conducive to worrying about the bills or work.  It’s a way to shut out the world for a few minutes.
For me, a few moments or a few hours of shutting down everything except one thing is the way to stay sane and focused.
How do you deal with it when the world comes crashing in from every direction?
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George Zimmerman: The High Cost of a Legal Defense

News

2012 Trayvon Martin Case
2012 Trayvon Martin Case (Photo credit: werthmedia)

Most people have heard of the controversial nature of the George Zimmerman murder trial. Zimmerman, who defends his actions and is claiming self-defense, is on trial for murdering Trayvon Martin, a 17-year old with a social media profile that projects anything but innocence. While his defense attorneys claim that race had nothing to do with the murder, the prosecution thinks differently. In fact, a majority believe that Trayvon Martin would still be alive today if he hadn’t attacked Zimmerman. Regardless of your stance on the case, there is no denying the fact that Zimmerman’s trial is building strong emotions from both sides.

In an effort to get a not guilty verdict, Zimmerman has hired a top-rated legal defense team to argue his case. Trials are expensive and the average person may not be able to afford a team willing to take a case for the fame. If you are charged for a crime, you have to consider the cost for legal defense. Here is what you need to know about how much you can expect to spend on a legal defense team.

Fixed Prices Versus Variable Prices

Not everyone has a group of supporters raising money to pay for their legal defense. Just because Zimmerman has bad credit does not mean that he had to leave his legal defense up to a public defender in Sanford. If you do not have a Legal Defense Fund where people can donate money to your defense costs online, you will need to distinguish between fixed prices and variable prices for legal defense. During your consultation, the defense attorney should be able to quote you a fixed price based on the case details. Experienced attorneys do not charge on a pay as you go basis because they are confident their abilities. The actual fixed price of the attorney depends on the case, and can range anywhere between a $1000 and hundreds of thousands of dollars. O’Mara and West, who are defending Zimmerman, have quoted $1 million for their services in total. While they have not be paid completely by the Zimmerman Defense Fund, this is money that is due to them.

The Cost For Expert Witnesses

Zimmerman’s team introduced several expert witnesses including an animator, a medical examiner, and a self defense expert. All of these witnesses are paid to testify, and the cost is not always included in the initial quote. If your case is complex, there may be a need for an expert witness. When you are pricing the cost of defense, see if this is included. Assume that you will spend about 10% more than quoted so that you can cover all of the outside costs.

Zimmerman may have been unemployed and working as a volunteer neighborhood watch member, but he does have one of the most experienced legal defense teams working for him to get a not guilty verdict. You may not need a million dollars, but legal defense is not cheap. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for when legal defense is concerned.

Insurance

If you must use lethal force, you should be prepared to spend tens of thousands of dollars defending yourself.   It’s worth looking into self-defense insurance.   The USCCA is the only such company that offers up-front expenses and is willing to cover bail.
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Financial Pet Peeve: Fees To Receive Paper Bank Statements

Finance

Today’s post is written by Tim of Faith and Finance. It was written for a blog swap run by the Yakezie personal finance blog network to answer the question “What is your biggest financial pet peeve?“

Chances are, you’ve probably received a few notices from your bank or investment company about receiving e-statements.  I’m all for getting less mail, and having online access to my statements is a really nice feature.  In fact, most of my statements are online now.

So why is it a pet peeve if I LIKE viewing statements online?  Here’s why:  If you don’t get the online version of your statements, many places will charge you for the paper statement.  My bank (which will go unnamed) pulled this very move.  If you want to receive paper statements you had to pay a few dollars each year for the ‘service.’  Now I understand that printing statements costs money, but what bothers me the most is that the bank continues to send junk mail even though I opted in to the e-statements.

It seems a little impolite to say “You have to stop using paper…but we’ll keep sending you stuff you don’t want in the mail.”  Each time they send me something in the mail promoting a new product or those goofy cash advance checks, I think about how much money they’re NOT saving.

***Ok ok, I’ll stop ranting.  That’s what happens when you’re challenged to write about a pet peeve…you get a little excited.  🙂

Solutions to the problem

I’m a firm believer that if you’re going to complain about something, you should be willing to suggest alternatives, so here’s what I’d do differently if I were the banks.

  1. 1. Don’t punish for paper statements, incentivize for online statements

If you want to connect with people online and save money in the long run, provide an incentive to make the shift to online statements.  Money and interest rates talk, so maybe provide $5 plus access to a higher paying certificate only available for our online banking members.

  1. 2. Consolidate the message.

If people want to get paper statements still, don’t charge them – instead, use the statement envelope to promote your products.  The envelope is already paid for, so why not use it for marketing purposes.  Now I know they’ll say, “people don’t read statement stuffers.”  To that I’d say, “what makes you think they’d read a dedicated mailer then?”

Those are my two cents.  Has anyone thought the same thing?  How do you feel about paper statements vs. online statements?

[Jason’s note: There is a fee that irritates me a lot more than paying to get a paper statement.  I hate “online access” fees.  Those are the fee where you get charged for other people doing less.   They are usually called convenience fees or, in the case of government, technology fees.]

 

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Credit Counseling: Swimming Out of the Mess

Finance

I once read a news story about a horse that slipped into a manure pit.

Some people–much like the unfortunate horse–are up to their necks in a mess, paddling for all they’re worth, wondering how to get out and panicking about the apparent hopelessness of their situation.

The mess I’m referring to is–of course–debt.

Fortunately, there are some life preservers out there.

The simplest option is a debt snowball.   You just list all your debts in order from smallest balance to largest.  Then, focus all you energy on paying off the smallest, while making minimum payments on the rest.   When the smallest debt is paid off, throw that money at the next smallest balance.   Eventually, all of your debts go away.

What are your other options?

There are debt consolidation loans, debt consolidation programs, horrible debt settlement plans, and even bankruptcy.   There’s a whole shark-infested reef of options, some of which will make things much, much worse for you.  What to do?

Take a look at credit counseling.   Credit counseling is designed as a way to educate debtors on their options, and how to pursue those options.  A good counselor will look at your income, your debt, and your spending habits and help you understand what went wrong and how to avoid it.

The trick is to find a good counselor.

First, search for approved and licensed counseling organizations here.

Once you have a list of candidates, you can start trimming it using these steps:

  • Ask them for information.  Good agencies will send you information about itself and its services at no charge.  If the balk, run.
  • Are they nonprofit?  In many places, credit counselor must be nonprofit to operate legally.  Whether or not it’s a legal requirement, consider making it your requirement.
  • Ask about their fees and get it in writing.  Is there a setup fee?  Monthly fees?
  • Will there be a signed agreement?  If there is, be sure to read it, first.
  • How do they train their counselors?  What are their qualifications?
  • How are the employees compensated?  Do they get bonuses if you sign up for certain services?  If they do, go elsewhere.  Their first priority should be your needs, not getting a bonus.

Once you’ve found a company you’re comfortable with, schedule a counseling appointment.  At the appointment, you can expect to go over your finances in detail, including your income, expenses, debt, and financial goals.  You’ll review your options with the counselor and build an action plan.

From there, your job will be to stay on the plan and get yourself out of debt.

Have you ever met with a credit counselor?

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May 30 Day Project

Life

Before I discuss May’s 30 day project, I’m going to talk about April’s.

Last month, my goal was to declutter my entire house.  Every room, every closet, every drawer.

I missed the goal.

My wife has gotten behind this project wholeheartedly.   She’s had friends over helping almost every weekend.  She’s kept the kids occupied while I’ve been working on it. It’s been a team effort, which has been nice.    One room at a time, we’ve tackled the entire house, except for a couple of spots.

Our son’s closet isn’t finished.   He hasn’t had use of his closet since we moved him into the room he’s in.  It’s been the filing center for a couple of business opportunities.   Most of it has been cleared out, but not all.  It will be finished in the next few days.

Our storage room isn’t done.  It pains me to have a “storage room”, but I don’t think its purpose will be changing.   Now, however, instead of unopened appliances and boxes of clothes, it’s almost down to just seasonal stuff and things we do need occasionally.    We have the Christmas decorations, the pet crates, and a few other things that get used rarely, but do get used.   This room used to have a 6-foot cabinet of computer parts, leftover from the days when building/supporting computers was my main side-hustle.   That has been reduce to just one box, mostly power cords.    The gaming pads and old hard drives are gone.    All that’s left for this room is one shelf, and the remainder of another old side-hustle that has some emotional attachment for my wife.

The remaining trouble spots will be cleaned out by this weekend.   We’re having a garage sale the following weekend, and it will all be there. We’ve been pricing as we’ve been sorting, so we’re almost ready.

Decluttering an entire house that’s been filled by the horrible habits of two accumulators means we literally have thousands of things we’ll be selling in two weeks.   We split our garage with our roommmate.   Our stall is full.    We’ve got some stuff in the driveway.   We’ve got a pile of boxes in the basement, ready to go.  Our dining room is full.

Let me repeat that last point:  Our dining room is full.

My project for May was supposed to have been having dinner at the table at least 3 nights per week.   At the moment, I’m not entirely sure we still have a table. I certainly can’t see it and there is no way to use it for dinner.  This project has to be moved.

So, what’s the plan for May?   I’m going to tackle June’s project.

I will not use the computer while anyone else is awake, except for household necessities. Household necessities on the computer are almost nonexistent, since I’ve automated almost everything.    I balance the checkbook on a monthly basis, and may have to pay a quarterly bill later this month.   I’m going to take the time to be with my family, and do something that matters more than Google Reader.  That means writing happens after everyone goes to bed, or at 5AM, which will be motivation to keep that wake-up time. Internet on the blackberry counts as computer use.

Family first.

Why do you need a trailer?

Finance

As I mentioned before, we recently bought a Chevy Tahoe.   When we bought it, we had a Ford F150 and a Dodge Caliber that we could have traded in, but decided to sell on our own, instead.

About a month ago, we sold the truck.   If you’ve never owned a truck, you probably don’t realize how handy they are to have.   From hauling brush to moving furniture to donating large amount of crap to Goodwill, we used our truck.

We’ve also been on a mission to replace all of our old crappy stuff with nicer things, without spending a ton to make that happen.  We’ve been selling stuff on Craigslist, then taking that money to buy other stuff we’re finding good deals on.

We found a 4×8 utility trailer for $300.   It came home with us.   The first thing I heard was “Why do you need a trailer?”

Now, we could have made do with delivery fees or rental trucks, but that seemed silly to me.

  • We recently replaced our living room couches.   One of our cats had mistaken one of them for a litter box.   No amount of enzyme cleaner gets that smell out of a couch cushion.   Shortly after that, my fat a** popped two of the springs out of the bottom.    Bad couch.    We found a good deal on brand new replacements, but the delivery fee would have been $80.
  • My wife found a beautiful entertainment center last week that matched the corner entertainment center we already have.  We don’t need another entertainment center, but after convincing the seller to sell us the side units without the center unit, we have glass-doored bookshelves that exactly match the largest piece of furniture we own.   Without the trailer, we would have had to rent a truck to get them home.
  • Tomorrow, we’ll be taking the last load of stuff out of my mother-in-law’s house.   Without the trailer, that would be several trips in the car.

We’ve had the thing for 3 weeks and it has almost paid for itself in time and money.   I think that makes for a good investment.  I don’t expect to buy a new living room set every month, but it’s nice to be able to deal with large things when the need arises.