Sam Francis Fitness

Archive for February, 2010

The popularity of online casinos is increasing by the second, as more and more people are realizing the convenience of online gaming.  The same rules, terms and conditions apply to online casinos as that of land based casinos, they also provide the same thrills and excitement, the only difference that they have is the venue.

In land based casino you have to squeeze yourself into crowded play areas just to wait your turn, or wait for your poker table to be full, in online casinos, you can play anytime and anywhere you want to, with players available 24/7.  With just a web browser, internet connection, and a computer, you are now ready to have fun at online casinos playing all your favorite casino games like, poker, roulette and blackjack, and experience the same thrills and excitements as that of land based casinos. So why bother leaving the convenience and comfort of your own home, when you can have the same experience playing at an online casino.

If you are looking for that perfect vacation spot, where you and your family can spend a wonderful and memorable time, then you can choose from a wide array of resorts located at Oceanfront Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Every Resort in Myrtle Beach have a spectacular view of the sea, the difference will be at the vacation packages, features and services.

There is one Myrtle Beach Resort which redefines the idea of vacationing, with the friendliest staff along the Grand Stand with completely unobstructed coastline views along the Northern shoreline.  It is the Grande Shores Resort with generously-sized one, two, three condominium units to accommodate every family size, golf and vacation group and also affordable hotel rooms to fit every budget type.  So, what are you waiting for, check in to this Oceanfront Myrtle Beach Hotel now.

Once you’ve gone through the process of understanding where your money goes every month, it’s time to start thinking about saving for your future. Everyone needs a rainy-day cushion to soften the impact of unforeseen life events such as illness, accident, or loss of a job. This comes under the heading of “first things first.” Therefore, before you become an investor, make sure that you build up an emergency reserve that will cover at least two to six months of living expenses. This is the portion of your assets that you don’t want to lose—ever. As you’ll see later in this chapter, my father and I believe that cash-equivalent investments such as money market funds are good places to stash this cash. It’s crucial to realize, though, that saving for the future and investing for the future are two different things. Saving implies putting money aside in a safe place, such as a federally insured bank account. Investing, on the other hand, generally refers to uninsured brokerage accounts and products. As strange as it may sound, you can save too much. If you focus too much on short-term safety and limit yourself to savings accounts, you could end up depriving yourself of the long-term growth potential the stock market can provide. Inflation can eat away at your purchasing power if you don’t put that money to work. That’s why we say that saving is smart, but in the long term investing is smarter.

Sharing the ABCs of investing can be a wonderful way to home in on your family’s dreams and financial priorities. As you probably already know, however, simply bringing up the topic of finances can easily be misconstrued by family members as a lack of trust. So getting your loved ones to the table to talk about investing and money requires that you clearly articulate what the discussion is designed to accomplish (getting everyone to participate in planning for the future) and what it’s not (taking anyone to task). The toughest part will be getting over the initial hump. Not many people are comfortable doing something for the first time. Co to a new aerobics class, and you feel like a klutz. If you’ve never taken an aerobics class at all, figuring out the steps seems that much harder. But when you hang in there, you soon find that it gets easier. Then you realize that it’s not
so bad after all, especially in light of achieving your goals. Puffing a face on investing by defining those values and dreams you want your money to support will help overcome the inertia most unseasoned investors experience. So will avoiding technical jargon. The concepts are really simple when the investment-speak labels are omitted. So keep it simple—but not too simple. Just because your friends or family aren’t familiar with investing doesn’t mean they’re stupid, so don’t talk down to them. Respect will get you a lot further than condescension. Finally, whether you’re talking to your spouse, your best friend, your parents, or your kids, avoid assuming an advisory role. In her book You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation (Quill, 2001), Deborah Tannen warns that providing counsel effectively puts you in a power position. And that will do absolutely nothing to propel the conversation forward. A better bet: Ask whomever you’re talking with for their opinion on the subject at hand, or to state their desires or concerns. Listen to what they have to say. Answer any questions. Then create a plan together.

In a study reported in Beisky and Gilovich’s Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology auctioned off a pair of hot basketball tickets to two groups of volunteers. In both cases the auction was sealed, and the tickets went to the highest bidder. But here’s the difference: The first group was told that the winner would have to pay for the tickets in cash, within the next twenty-four hours. The second group was told that the winner could put the expense on a personal credit card. If you guessed that the second group bid higher, you’re right. But did you guess that they bid twice as much? Does this kind of reasoning sound familiar? Join the crowd. Most of us tend to devalue the money we spend on credit—a familiar but dangerous trap.