The LuxMob Info Tags

San Ramon, CA — Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan,
commented best when he stated “Homeowners might have saved tens
of thousands of dollars had they held Adjustable-Rate mortgages
rather than Fixed rate mortgages during the past decade”. If you
own a 30year fixed mortgage, the first 10years of your payments
will be applied towards paying down your mortgage interest; on
average only 15% of your original principle balance will have
been reduced. Considering the fact that most people will live in
their homes approximately 5 to 7years, it makes since to plan
what your goals will be before deciding on a loan program; your
decision could affect your financial planning for the next
10years.

Statistically speaking, if you have a family of four (2 adults
and 2 kids), a loan balance of $400K with an interest rate of
4.5% (4.642% APR), you’ll need a Combined Yearly Income of
$140,000 just to Almost Break Even each month; actually you
could have a loss of approximately $478 per month.

Here’s the breakdown: Income $140K per year x 35% (tax bracket)
= $91K per year ($7,583 mo.) Monthly Expenses: $2,027 (Principle
+ Interest) + $417 (taxes) + $117 (home insurance) + $1K (2 car
payments) + $800 (food) + $500 (health insurance) + $2K (family
of 4 living expenses) + $300 (student loans) + $300 (credit
cards) + $600 (childcare services) = $8,061 Total Expenses.
These figures don’t include any increases from your local county
assessor’s office, car repair bills, cost of living increases,
cable or satellite services, utilities, etc.

Rather than considering shorter termed loans (with more
favorable rates and payment options), the customer will keep
their existing loan (they like the current low rate) and take
out a Home Equity Line of Credit.

Currently our economy is prospering; this good news creates a
rising Prime Rate, which increases the payment rate on your
Equity Line of Credit. Some people are using their Equity Line
of Credit accounts in order to maintain their current standard
of living. One of two things will eventually happen: a) The
client will have to prematurely sell their home because they
can’t afford the payments or b) The client will maximize their
existing equity and be forced to make higher payments; this
scenario has the possibility of a foreclosure waiting to happen.

In addition to establishing your goals and determining the right
loan program, you should also understand the character of a real
estate investor. Treat your property as an Investment and NOT a
Retirement! Learn to use your equity as leverage in order to
obtain greater wealth! Ask yourself what are you trying to
accomplish with this transaction? In our opinion, “rate
shopping” is the old process for selecting a mortgage loan and
it should be replaced with “payment shopping”. Did you know
there’s a loan program available that may have a higher interest
rate than you currently have, but provides you with a lower
monthly payment (plus extra monthly cash-flow), and no negative
amortization? Also, don’t view negative amortization as a dark
cloud in terms of loan programs; depending on how long you plan
on staying in your home, this lower payment option could be a
blessing in disguise for the true Real Estate Investor.

Copyright © 2005 2002 - 2005 Brisco & Associates. All Rights
Reserved

So you have decided that you want to alkalize and you have gone and read all there is to read on the subject. The chances are that you are now committed but confused!

Unfortunately, due to the fact that the alkaline diet is not trendy sounding, or particularly sexy and coveted by celebrities we need to communicate the science behind it to achieve buy-in and help people understand the principles and how it works.

However, the bottom line is this - alkalizing is simple and following it only involves doing those things you already know are good for you!

The basics are:

- eat the foods you know that are good for you (fresh veg, salads, nuts, seeds essential oils (omegas)

- drink the things you know that are good for you (clean, pure water, herbal teas, ‘green drinks’)

- avoid the foods you know are bad for you (dairy, meat, sweets, ice cream, saturated fats, fried food, refined food)

- avoid the drinks you know are bad for you (coffee, sugary drinks, cola, alcohol, milkshakes etc)

If you took a poll of 50 people on the high street, most of them would cite those foods and drinks if you asked them what was healthy and what was unhealthy. Thats really all there is to it. Its easy when you put it like this isnt it?

As a reference, alkaline foods include:

Vegetables

Asparagus

Artichokes

Cabbage

Lettuce

Onion

Cauliflower

Radish

Swede

Lambs Lettuce

Peas

Courgette

Red Cabbage

Leeks

Watercress

Spinach

Turnip

Chives

Carrot

Green Beans

Beetroot

Garlic

Celery

Grasses (wheat, straw, barley, dog, kamut etc.)

Cucumber

Broccoli

Kale

Brussels Sprouts

Fruits

Lemon

Lime

Avocado

Tomato

Grapefruit

Watermelon (is neutral)

Rhubarb

Drinks

‘Green Drinks’

Fresh vegetable juice

Pure water (distilled, reverse osmosis, ionised)

Lemon water (pure water + fresh lemon or lime).

Herbal Tea

Vegetable broth

Non-sweetened Soy Milk

Almond Milk

Seeds, Nuts & Grains

Almonds

Pumpkin

Sunflower

Sesame

Flax

Buckwheat Groats

Spelt

Lentils

Cumin Seeds

Any sprouted seed

Whereas acidifying foods include:

Meats

Pork

Lamb

Beef

Chicken

Turkey

Crustaceans

Other Seafood (apart from occasional oily fish such as salmon)

Dairy Products

Milk

Eggs

Cheese

Cream

Yoghurt

Ice Cream

Convenience Foods

Sweets

Chocolate

Microwave Meals

Tinned Foods

Powdered Soups

Instant Meals

Fast Food

This is just a sample to show you actually how simple it is. It is almost just following the advice your parents gave you all those years ago - eat your veggies and stay away from the candy!

Click here for a full list of alkaline foods and for a great introduction to alkalizing.

Energise for Life is a great free resource for anyone serious about alkalizing and achieving an acid/alkaline balance.

The one thing I have always enjoyed about fishing is that you rarely see anyone wearing a tie.

I suppose there is the occasional urban lunchtime warrior who might race from his cubicle to the Hudson river to get a few casts in for some glow-in-the-dark fish, but ties are certainly not the norm when it comes to suiting up for a days fishing on the river.

When it comes to high fashion in the fishing world, a button up fast drying high tech shirt is about as close to fashionable as it gets.Unless of course you count the plaid jacket!!

As it is, I can’t quite figure out the purpose of the necktie anyway.

Who in their right mind would come up with a part of the male wardrobe to wrap around your neck, and then cinch it up tight, and consider this a vital part of the function of clothing.

For Gods sake,this is what they would do to condemned men just before they drop the floor out from under them, to create a rather discomforting constriction about the windpipe and neck.

I could understand it if the tie somehow held all our other clothes up,like a belt, keeping our clothes from dropping to our ankles in a useless gathering of cloth. As far as I know there has also never been an instance of a tie keeping a shirt in tact in high winds.

It’s obvious the tie was invented by our female counterparts, and is the ultimate payback for all our manly sins that we commit everyday. I am sure it was produced under the guise of “fashion” at some point, with some weak feeble argument that a “gentleman” should always don a noose around his neck-lest he become a barbarian!!

Other parts of the wardrobe I understand.

Shoes?

I understand shoes. They were developed to help protect our feet from the hostile environment of thistles, weeds,pavement,and hot coffee spills. Shoes make sense

Socks?

Protection from shoe rub and sneaky thistles approaching from ankle height.

Pants?

Well, outside of not developing them with an expandable waistband, pants have proven beneficial in adding warmth, again providing protection from yet even higher thistles and stickers, keeping the suns harmful rays off of pasty white anglo legs, and protecting us from hot coffee spills. As an added benefit, they also protect our eyes from viewing knobby knees and senior citizens who might otherwise have been walking around in black socks, Florisheims, and a loin cloth had pants not been invented.

Underwear?

The jury is still out on this benefit–BUTT– we will give underwear the benefit of the doubt.

Shirts?

Again, sun protection, warmth in the winter, and a place to hide those man breasts and ape like features we men have worked hard to develop. Keeps ketchup and mustard off our bellys also.

Hat?

We all know where the heat is going to escape. A brilliant invention and very much like the thermos–it keeps you warm, it keeps you cool, how does it know???

Coats, gloves,vests,belts,boots–hell– even chaps, all seem to have a function behind them.

But the tie?

Unless it was developed for men to have a permanently available napkin, or snot rag—I see no purpose.

Actually, you could make the argument that fishermen are the only men that SHOULD wear ties. As long as they were made of sheeps wool, the flyfisherman could use the “fuzzy tie” to have even a greater drying pad to keep his caddis, royal coachman, and brindle bugs handy and at the ready for quick pattern change out.

But enough about the tie.

Fashion, as a general rule has escaped the fishing world.

This is a world where despite the efforts of Orvis and L.L. Bean, plaid is still the king, the t-shirt is still considered standard issue and drab greens and brown tones rule the day.

Thank goodness, because I know the day is coming -when the Gods of fashion will begin to turn the fishing world upside down with trendy nouveau styles and colors.

Before long, tall, emaciated, high cheek boned beauties will be “walking the runway”, in Jordache waders showing us the latest designs of, breathable yet flattering river wear, in purple,yellow, floral and …….dare I say it….TAUPE!! Especially since more and more women are taking up the sport of flyfishing, can high fashion be far behind??

I’m not sure you can feel like a snappy dresser with fish guts,bait and slime all over you but maybe with a diamond encrusted net dangling from your hip you will feel properly accessorized for an elegant evening on the river.

The fishing world has already come a long way when it comes to fashion–or should I say style.Once upon a time, most fisherman looked more like deck hands, wearing rubber waders with big oversized boots at the bottom. You would slip these over your jeans and big thick wooly socks and if was cold, that red and black checkered jacket would keep you warm.It also would help to hide the tobacco juice stains that you would invariably always spit on yourself while fishing. It basically was one size fits all–and you couldn’t tell if a person was 270 pounds or 140 pounds under the rubber–everyone looked 270 pounds.

Today neoprene and lightweight high tech shredded milk carton shirts are being seen more and more, and the fishing vest has more cubbies and pockets than a colony of Kangaroos.

And they look good on the cover of magazines to boot!!

Speaking of boots.

I remember my first wading boots were basically the same boots I wore to muck out manholes when I worked for the telephone company. Now, they look more like “Hush Puppies” and I’m not so sure I wouldn’t be proud to wear them into the office.

I suppose the day is coming when neoprene waders will be made to look like tuxedos or Armani suits–so we can really look like gentlemen out there. That might not actually be a bad idea, I for one could see the benefit in that–especially if the wedding ceremony runs into the evening hatch–one could still make it out to the river and save some valuable time avoiding “change time”.

All in all, it doesn’t really matter to me if some style continues to creep into the fishing world, but if they start making the “river tie”–I’m taking up Golf!

A.J. Klott
Author, writer of fishing humor,and “fly tack” peddler.A.J. writes about the people,characters and modern day events that surround the fishing world. His first book is due out in December of 2005.
If you need a laugh or a fun gift, visit his website at:
http://www.twoguyswithflys.com

With the 2006 NFL Draft coming up at the end of next month (April 29 and 30), fans are asking, what they should expect and if there will be any big surprises this year. To answer these questions, let’s take a look at the players, teams, and negotiations that are highlighting this year’s event.

Reggie Bush is looking like the first-round favorite. Bush, who played running back for USC, is a great all-around athlete. He’s versatile too; equally skilled in running, receiving, and returning. Vince Young garnered national attention when his Wonderlic test score was originally reported as a 6; it turned out to be an unexceptional 16, so look for this talented quarterback from Texas to be tapped in the top five. Another quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart from Southern Cal, gave up being last year’s #1 draft choice to finish school. This savvy player will be snapped up early in the proceedings. D’Brickashaw Ferguson, an offensive tackle from Virginia, should go quickly as well due to the fact he’s little, but nimble, and extremely fast.

At 2-14, the Houston Texas will make this season’s first pick. Look for them to beef up their struggling offensive line. The New Orleans Saints, in the number two spot, is looking for a strong young quarterback to take over. Third pick goes to the Tennessee Titans, who are looking to rebuild after last year’s salary cap reorganization. Fifth-seated New York Jets could use a strong offensive tackle, but will likely choose a more dependable QB in the first round.

The biggest League news so far this year is that the owners and the Players Association still have had trouble reaching a labor contract agreement. The free-agency deadline has already been pushed back by three days to give all parties time to cool off. Fans are watching this dispute closely, hoping that the NFL doesn’t go the way of Major League Baseball.

We have a slew of NFL Betting Systems to help you invest properly in sports and for those of you novice bettors looking find a Safe Reliable Bookie Review - Bodog.

Competition is everywhere in business, especially for an online business. Because of that fact, it is essential that business owners take the steps necessary to make their e-commerce website more competitive. There are things that can be done to compete. Below I will list 5 steps that will help you do just that.

1. Offer free shipping. Free shipping is a great thing to offer customers because it is as though they are shopping at their local store.

2. Find a niche. Having a niche is one of the most important things you can do to ensure you can compete. While your competition sells every product to every market you can focus on one market or one product and make good money.

3. Have real time chat. This will allow customers to obtain answers to questions without having to send and email and wait 24 hours for a response.

4. Use bizrate or another program that allows customers to rate your service. The higher your ratings are, the better chance you have of obtaining new customers.

5. Have a toll-free phone number. This is essential not only for customers to contact you but also it looks more professional than having a phone number customers would have to call collect.

If you adhere to those 5 steps there is no doubt you can compete in the e-commerce world.

Andre Bias is the owner of http://www.kidfriendlyentertainment.com, and online source for top notch DVD’s for children 10 years old and younger. He is also the owner of the websites http://www.pokergreed.com and http://www.mustseeauctions.com

Top 5 Choices Vary by Age, Gender,
And Level of Income or Net Worth

From among more than 16 possible choices, the wealthy selected clothing, gift certificates/money, and books/CDs/DVDs as the top three choices on their wish list for Christmas and Hanukah gifts in a recent survey of the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households.

Women favored gift certificates/money (81%), clothing (46%), and books/CDs/DVDs (33%). Their next two favorites were fine jewelry (29%) and home furnishings (19%). The priorities of men were a little different: gift certificates/money (59%), clothing (55%), books/CDs/DVDs (43%), sports equipment (27%), and home entertainment equipment (25%).

Gift certificates/money were mentioned most often by those with income under $200,000 (84%), income above $200,000 (56%), net worth of $1 to $6 million (70%), net worth above $6 million (53%), ages under 50 (65%), ages 50 to 59 (69%), and over 60 (75%).

Clothing was the second most frequently mentioned gift among all groups (ranging from 46% to 57%). Books/CDs, and DVDs were the third most popular gift, being named by 33% to 50% of all groups).

Rounding out the top five choices for these groups were fine jewelry for those with income under $200,000, those with a net worth of $6 million or more, and those in the 50 to 59 age bracket. Collectibles (antiques, wine, art, etc.) were named by those with income under $200,000, income over $200,000, net worth of $1 to $6 million, and those under 50 and those over 60.

Also in the top five choices were home entertainment equipment (for those with income over $200,000, net worth of $1 to $6 million, and under 50) and sports equipment (for those with net worth above $6 million and the 50 to 59 age group). Photography equipment was among the top five choices for those 60 and over.

These results were obtained from the recently completed Fall 2005 “Affluent Market Tracking Study #8” by The American Affluence Research Center. A continuing series of twice-yearly surveys, these studies track the 12- month economic outlook and spending plans of the wealthiest 10% of Americans, the 11 million households representing about half of all consumer income and spending and a third of the total US economy. These are the consumers who have helped the more upscale retailers to out perform others in recent years.

The survey participants were asked to choose their first, second, and third choices of gifts they would like to receive from a list of 15 possible gifts. They were also given the opportunity to name something not listed. The combined total mentions were used to identify the favored gift items shown above.

Highlights of the national survey of 448 men and women in the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households can be found on the AARC website, www.affluenceresearch.org. The survey participants have an average income of $308,000 and an average net worth of $2.7 million. The survey has a 5% margin of error at the 95% confidence level.

Ron Kurtz is a principal of The American Affluence Research Center and The Management Resource Group. Both companies provide marketing research and strategic planning services to prominent clients in the travel and hospitality industries, especially those targeting the affluent market.

Prior to founding MRG in 1989, Ron’s experience included over 20 years in senior management positions in the airline, hotel, and tour business. As the founding President of Sea Goddess Cruises, he created the product category of small deluxe ships for the very affluent. He also served as the chief marketing officer of four cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line and Windstar Cruises.

Ron has been a key contributor to 6 start ups and 11 turnarounds of substantial businesses. He earned his MBA at Harvard Business School.

For further information: http://www.affluenceresearch.org and http://www.mrgconsultants.com

Before you deal with any credit repair agency you need to be aware of what they can and cannot do.

For starters, reputable credit repair agencies can save you the time and hassle of scouring your credit report for errors that may be lowering your credit score. The best agencies will sit down with you and verify any accurate negative information before taking action.

Credit repair agencies can’t remove any negative information on your credit report that’s correct, regardless of any claims that may be made to the contrary. Agencies that knowingly dispute accurate negative information are just wasting your time. Through legislation enacted in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), your creditors have 30 days to investigate any claim to determine whether the negative information being disputed is incorrect. Negative information may be temporarily removed from your credit report but will return if it is verified as true at any time, even after 30 days. In the meantime, the credit repair agency may print you a copy of your “updated” credit report sans your negative info. You may not find out until months later that your credit score has not actually changed.

If your credit score is quite low, some shady credit repair agencies will suggest creating a completely new credit record. In place of your social security number, the agency may try to secure a fraudulent Employer Identification Number (EIN) for you. This is essentially creating a new identity for you that you can use to start over with a fresh credit record. This is also a federal crime. If you fraudulently create a new credit record you will be held fully responsible for your actions and could face prosecution.

Credit repair agencies can charge a hefty fee for their services, regardless of whether their services actually do any good. You need to be aware of all the fees and potential costs before agreeing to let any credit repair agency go to work for you. Legally, agencies need to state in writing what the costs are for their services.

Credit repair agencies also cannot legally make any promises or guarantees they can’t back up in writing. If in doubt about anything the agency claims it can do, check with the Better Business Bureau and see if there are any complaints lodged against the agency. If there are no complaints on file, meet with a representative of the agency you want to do business with and make sure they aren’t making promises that they can’t possibly deliver.

Armed with the knowledge of what credit repair agencies can and cannot do, you should be able to find an agency that will meet your needs and help you clean up your credit report with a minimum of time and hassle.

© cashbuzz.com

John Campbell is the writer and editor of CashBuzz, A financial portal for the rest of us. Check out cashbuzz.com for the latest articles on money management and tips and tricks that can help improve your finances. This article may be reprinted on your Web site if the copyright, author information and active link are included.

Since the term “Life Assurance” has been coined, I have
always assumed that both Life Insurance and Life Assurance are
names for the same form of insurance. But if you belong to my
category don’t be heart broken because various financial wiz
kids have got it wrong too. Life Insurance and Life Assurance
perform two different financial roles and are east to west when
it comes to costs.

But before we go in the nuances of what are the main
differences between the above two forms i.e. Insurance and
Assurance. Let’s just find out why one needs to get
“assured”?

In our youth, planning for our future can be a tedious job plus
a time consuming burden. Considering from where one would get
the time to shop for such products when one is trying to keep up
with the nitty-gritty of work and home life. But even if all
things in life were predictable, death for sure cannot be
predicted. But if the unthinkable would happen, do you see your
spouse and dependants financially secure and healthy for the
rest of their life? If not, then a life assurance policy is a
must.

Life Insurance has been defined by dictionary.com as an
‘Insurance that guarantees a specific sum of money to a
designated beneficiary upon the death of the insured or to the
insured if he or she lives beyond a certain age.’

But Life Assurance on the other hand is different. Life
Assurance is a hybrid combination of insurance and investment. A
‘Life Assurance policy’ pays out a sum of money equal to
the higher of either a minimum underwritten by the policy’s
insurance clause or its investment valuation. Thus, making the
value of your investment reliant on the insurance company’s
performance with respect to investment and growth.

Each year the insurance company adds an annual bonus to
the guaranteed value of your assurance policy and there is a
terminal bonus at the end of your term. Therefore, as years go
by your assurance policy increases in value as investment
bonuses keep adding on. But unlike life insurance if you were to
die during the life assurance’s term, the insurance company
would pay out the higher of either the guaranteed minimum sum or
the accumulated value of the annual investment bonuses.