Long-Term Care Planning & Long Term Care Insurance

In this video, Tennessee-based long term care insurance expert Mark Wardell explains why all Americans need to do long term care planning, and most should consider long term care insurance to protect their assets and provide funds for care if and when the need arises. Mark L Wardell is a long term care planner and partner with the nation's leading long term care brokerage firm, LTC Financial Partners. He has lived in Memphis for over 25 years and for the last ten has helped individuals and corporations design and implement comprehensive and affordable plans by working with all major carriers in the industry. Wardell has consistently been recognized as a leading producer and expert in the Memphis area. He consults with financial advisors and attorneys to protect their clients' assets from the catastrophic costs of long term care. He is committed to helping other professionals identify the most appropriate action for themselves and their clients. Mark Wardell and his family provided care for a loved one with Alzheimer's in their own home for three years and understand how effective planning can protect your loved ones when life takes away your choices. Wardell and his wife Toni have been married since 1974, and they have three children. He is active at First Evangelical Church and travels annually to Ukraine where he works to help meet the physical and spiritual need of the children of that country.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdniEHRavwo&hl=en

Fatigue at the Wheel: Root of Serious Traffic Accidents

Last year in Germany, the police authorities reported a total of 3034 accidents triggered by fatigue, including 1786 collisions resulting in personal injury. This equates to about 0.5 percent of all serious accidents. Nonetheless, safety experts believe that the figure is much higher. This is because at the present time it is difficult to verify signs of fatigue by the time accidents are reconstructed.

Scientific studies revealed that between 10 and 20 percent of traffic accidents is caused by drowsiness. According to investigations conducted by insurance companies in said territory, 1 out of 4 fatal motorway accidents are caused by fatigue. Further, the probability of being killed in a road accident due to fatigue is 2.5 times higher than for other causes.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in the United States, over 100,000 accidents are caused by driver fatigue. Out of which, 1500 people are killed and 71,000 are injured.

In Canada, a study about fatigue at the wheel established that 1 out of 5 has at some time nodded off while driving. Finding also showed that two thirds of fatigue-induced accidents occur during nighttime. Majority of incidents occur in the early hours of the morning between 2 and 6. They can also occur in the middle of the afternoon.

Moreover, safety experts employed by automakers are concentrating on improving safety features of their lineup. According to automotive reports one of the major causes of serious traffic accidents is - over-fatigue. Moreover, safety experts are trying to develop a system that recognizes fatigue to warn the driver. This system will be integrated to automobiles to be accessible to drivers.

Engineers from the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre also conducted several studies and testing regarding this potent auto system. Said engineers have tested more than 200 motorists on motorways and in the driving simulator. This system is expected to be released in a few years' time.

In order to obtain objective indicators of fatigue, Mercedes safety experts employed electroencephalogram (EEG) and other physiological readings. Another method used is the analysis of dynamic driving data.

Mercedes assistance systems will be mated to Mercedes-Benz car parts to avoid real-life accident scenarios. Today, Mercedes safety systems like Electronic Stability Program and Brake Assist, have contributed significantly to the reduction of serious road accident.

According to studies, many motorists are actually able to recognize when they are tired, but by then it is often too late. Moreover, safety experts recommend that drivers should take a break when they are tired to avoid road accidents.

Tax Deductions - Tips For Individual Real Estate Investors

Tax deductions are not the top priority for most individual real estate investors. They often work out of their home with no employees, other than those on-site at the property. Challenges (aside from tax deductions) include selecting what property to purchase, screening tenants, repairs, managing expenses, obtaining financing, and deciding when to sell. This article addresses tax deductions sometimes over-looked by real estate owners.

Tax deductions reduce taxable income but do not directly reduce taxes. For example, $10,000 in additional tax deductions will generate $3,500 in federal income tax savings ($10,000 X 35%), assuming a 35% federal income tax rate. Since most require a cash expenditure, increasing actual expenses to increase tax deductions is not desirable. Let's review fine-tuning the depreciation schedule and reclassifying existing expenditures to increase deductions.

Real estate depreciation is a potent but underutilized source of tax deductions Real estate depreciation schedules are commonly established by just separating land from the improvements. This is analogous to asking a world-class pianist to play a piano which is not tuned and has several keys which are not functioning. The results are just not as good as they should be.

Congress has provided depreciation as a tax deduction to encourage real estate ownership and investment. Numerous court decisions have provided clear guidance for accurately and precisely depreciating real estate. Cost segregation can typically increase real estate depreciation by 50-100% in the first 5-7 years of ownership.

Owners can claim a tax deduction windfall for properties owned more than one year by "catching-up" previously under-reported depreciation. After obtaining a cost segregation report, you can "catch-up" depreciation without filing any amended tax returns.

Another meaningful source of tax deductions is to scrutinize any cash expenditures which are being capitalized. Have minor repairs been capitalized in error? Are there more significant repairs which do not clearly extend the life of a component? Discussing these items with your accountant can yield additional tax deductions Also review items which were capitalized in prior years; can you claim any of them as current year tax deductions?

Child labor can be good when they are your children and you claim a tax deduction. Consult your accountant or CPA but this can generate additional tax deductions of $5,000 per child, upon which they pay no taxes. (If they are feeling generous, they may return the money as a tax-free gift.)

A tax-deductible vacation is an attractive option to make an expenditure deductible. Simply plan a vacation around a business trip for a meeting or seminar. Your airfare and hotel for the business period are deductible. Hotel before or after the business activity and your spouse's airfare (assuming that your spouse is not involved in business) are not deductible. Half of meals during period with business activity are deductible.

Reviewing personal expenditures can generate additional tax deductions Items used for business such as computer, printer, office supplies, seminars, association dues, and business publications can be deducted. Long distance business phone calls can also be deducted. Self-employed persons can deduct the entire cost of health insurance premiums.

Record keeping for tax deductions does take a modest effort. However, the federal income tax savings make it worth the effort.

Cost segregation produces tax deductions and reduces federal income taxes across the country and in every size market. Below are just a few examples of cities where cost segregation generates meaningful tax deductions.

City:

Las Vegas, NV

Boston, MA

Tampa, FL

Hartford, CT

San Francisco, CA

Memphis, TN

Miami, FL

Denver, CO

Phoenix, AZ

Orlando, FL

Boise, ID

Chicago, IL

El Paso, TX

Oxnard, CA

Rochester, NY

Cincinnati, OH

Jackson, MS

San Jose, CA

Fresno, CA

Charleston, SC

Omaha, NE

Oklahoma City, OK

Buffalo, NY

Albuquerque, NM

San Antonio, TX

Charlotte, NC

Allentown, PA

Austin, TX

Baton Rouge, LA

Jacksonville, TN

Cost segregation produces tax deductions for virtually all property types, including the following:

Property Type:

Used car lot

Research and development

Nursing home

Lumber storage

Truck stop

Tennis club

Hospital

School

Movie theatre

Lodging

Almost every industry, including the following, can generate cost-efficient tax deductions by using cost segregation.

Industry:

Golf courses and country clubs

Textile product mills

Nondurable good wholesalers

Durable good wholesalers

Real estate lesser

Electrical component manufacturing

Textile mills

Laundry facilities

Automotive parts distributors

Plastic and rubber products manufacturing

Purchasing International Real Estate - Worldwide Property Investment

Interested in investing somewhere other than your back yard?

Management companies have made it as easy to have a revenue property across the world as it is to have it across the street. You don't want to be collecting rents and plunging the toilets no matter WHERE it is!

Different laws in different countries means some research is definitely in order. Some countries don't allow you to own the land, you have to lease it. Check on title insurance to make SURE you really own it.

And just as people have bought swamp land in the United States, you need to actually VISIT your property - look at it, make sure that it is in a good area, and looks to be a good investment.

Pictures can be VERY deceiving, and if your lot is next to the city dump, for example - it'll be hard to make a profit on it! Put at least as much effort into buying a $200,000 piece of real estate as you would into buying a $10,000 used car. You'd definitely want to see it, inspect it closely, go for a spin around the block and see how it performs on the highway. Okay, that's tough to do with a piece of land, but take a walk around, get in an inspector, ask the neighbours what they think.

Probably the most important aspect of buying a property in another country is the managment company. If it is rented out, and rents rise, over time, the property will pay for itself, and pay off the mortage. In other words, with rising rents, you basically get revenue properties for free, over time. The renters pay your mortgage.

BUT.....

If you have tenant troubles, people moving in and out and big costs for re-renting, repair and renovation on an ongoing basis, let alone outright destruction - you may never see that happy day when the mortgage is paid off and some appreciation has occurred. The management company is either really good, concerned about your investment, or it is careless. Over time, THIS is the most crucial part of your investment, and should be VERY closely looked at. Talking to other clients is a quick way to get a read on their performance, and you should ask for these types of references.

Any real estate investment needs to be held on a long term basis to allow rising rents and rising property values to almost automatically make you money. A short term hold goes against these trends, especially when you factor in realtor fees, and development company profits if it is new construction. Make sure that it will truly be a "hands off" investment, and hopefully it will yield some headache free profits!

How To Force Your REI Business To Reach Critical Mass And Become A Well Oiled Money Machine

Have you ever ran out of gas and had to push your car? Come on, we were all teenagers once, trying to eke one more mile from the tank of fuel, or just experimenting to see how far under E you could get the needle to go. That's one of my favorite episodes of SEINFEILD, when Kramer gets the car salesman to "KEEP ON GOING!" just to see how far they could get.

Actually, that could be a really good mantra for your REI career. KEEP ON GOING. That's the secret to reaching Critical Mass. But let's define it before we get there.

When your car ran out of gas, you had to push it. Its simple physics, which I'm awful at, but the principle is the same. A body at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Which means the car won't move until you push it. So you sit there and shove and heave, and ho, until the wheels inch forward. Then what happens? As the car gains momentum, it begins to move faster and easier, and once it reaches a certain speed, you just have to keep the pressure constant and it will almost roll on its on. Almost automatically.

And if you ease off the pressure? The car slows back down, eventually coming to a complete stop. Then you have to spend even more energy just to get back to where you were. What if someone helps you push the car? Then you can reach your maximum momentum (critical mass) even faster.

So your REI career right now may be like the stalled car. You need an outside force to act upon you to get you up off your lazy bottom and out in the field. If you don't think right now is the best time to employ a buy and hold strategy, and put cash in your pocket every month, then you need to go sell life insurance. If you think you can't flip for profit, then it's time to hit the job search sites and find a less successful, less easy career.

Still here? Good, because now I'm going to let you in on a little secret. If you want to reach critical mass in your REI career quickly, you just have to follow a map. The market today is just like the market in 1989-90 (same President, with the same last name, and the same contender going for his title). What that means for you as an REI is that while the media is screaming about how bad things are, they will go up again. In some pockets soon.

Other, more experienced REI's have been through this before, and they have written books (maps) about it, and created courses about it. Now is the time to educate yourself about the strategies you can use in REI. When is the best time to flip? How do you assign a contract? What's the best way to buy and hold?

How do you define critical mass? Like most areas of success, the definition is almost always up to you. Do you want sellers to call you and beg you to buy their properties at fifty cents on the dollar? Do you want to earn an extra $10K per month by signing a piece of paper and then assigning it to another investor? Do you want to get 10 properties under your belt in 4 weeks, and cash flow $4000 per month?

Critical Mass is when you expend the same amount of effort (follow a systematic approach to success) and reap greater results from that effort. It might go something like this. Wake up Monday morning, check your e-mail for the 10 deals sellers sent you overnight. Mail out 25 postcards. Drive to view 4 property appointments. Draw up 2 contract offers. Call your realtor buddy to tell him what to send you next. Take the afternoon off to go fishing. Wake up Tuesday morning. Check your e-mail, respond to deal offers. Mail out 25 letters. Go by the properties you're flipping to check the progress of the work. Accept the phone numbers from your contractor of FSBO's he's seen while riding around. (he gets a bird dog fee if you close a deal). Visit the title company to sign on a property you flipped. Drop by the bank to deposit the check. (they call you sir now).

You get the idea. REI will give you the freedom to live the life you want, but that life must include a love of finding the deal. Finding the deal means asking people the Why questions. Why are you selling? Why won't you give me the low low price? Why don't you want to flip this yourself?

Your critical mass will come once you've pushed past the initial efforts and it becomes second nature, to make the calls, to send the postcards, to visit the neighborhoods you want to buy in, to go to the REI meetings in your city, to do the one thing extra today, that will turn into another $10K next month, that you can plow back into Real Estate and generate an extra $100K per year with no effort at all.

Momentum begins with a push. What effort did you make today to start your momentum?

Truth TV World News-9/11 LIVE-UnCut/UnEdited News Coverage of 9/11-WE WERE LIED TO!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dwM83uBFMs&hl=en

Ferrell Law Firm - Every claimed abrasion case is different

htt://lawferrell.com - Don't expect the same result or settlement as your neighbor. When it comes to personal injury cases each and every one is different. Memphis personal injury lawyer James Ferrell discusses how two cases with the same injury can have vastly different outcomes and settlements.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkqT5NTAt0g&hl=en

Morat Insurance Services Inc. Memphis, TN Auto Insurance

Been shopping for insurance online? You could be saving a lot of time and money by just going to Morat Insurance Services in Memphis. With one easy visit, you can compare several regional and national carriers and mix and match policy options to suit your needs. Then buy your policy and walk out fully insured. It's that easy. Visit us www.yellowpages.com



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gY4pNpl_mDA&hl=en

New HUD Measures on Foreclosed Properties Are a Great Opportunity For Investors

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced on January 15, 2010 a temporary policy that will expand access to FHA mortgage insurance. Investors will now be allowed to quickly resell foreclosed properties.

Previously FHA would not insure a mortgage on a home owned by a seller for less than 90 days. This ruling has been temporarily lifted and will give investors access to a wider range of foreclosed properties. The waiver will take effect on February 1, 2010 and will be effective for one year. HUD has reserved the right to stop or extend the program at any time.

The FHA found that buying and preparing foreclosed properties for resale usually took less than 90 days. By not allowing the use of FHA mortgage insurance for a quick resale within 90 days of purchase they found it stopped sales to investors. Investors do not want the extra expense of holding costs or the threat of vandalism that could happen during the 90 day holding period.

This change in policy will allow investors to use FHA Insured Financing to purchase HUD Properties, bank owned properties, or private sale properties. As a result homes should sell quickly, aiding in stabilizing prices in real estate and rejuvenating neighborhoods and communities.

To protect buyers against predatory practices of "flipping" these homes at inflated prices, certain conditions have been set:

All transactions must be arms-length. There can be no relationship between the buyer and seller or anyone participating in the sales transaction.

If the sales price is more than 20 percent of the seller's purchase cost, the waiver will only apply if specific conditions are met.

The waiver is limited to new mortgages.

To find out more about this program go to HUD's website or contact your local Certified Distressed Property Expert.