first blogs info

There is currently a genuine state of confusion regarding commercial loan rates. The confusion is not just restricted to borrowers, either. Brokers, lenders and professional investors are all struggling to get a handle on what is going on with commercial loan rates.

Borrowers are under the impression that we’re at historic lows. They hear about the feds lowering rates and also hear national banks quote ridiculously low rates. What these national banks aren’t advertising is that their decline rates are at historic highs. Is difficult to be able to track a statistics like this but my friends and associates that work at intuitions like Bank of America, CITI etc tell me that there decline rate are at 95% or so.

So what that means is that they are cherry picking to an incredible degree (can you blame them?). The low commercial loan rates that they are advertising are only relevant for 5% of the borrowers that apply. Think about that for a moment, for every 100 people that fill out those 6 page applications, provide their tax return, etc, 95 of them are getting declined. As a comparison the decline rates are normally more like 50%.

The confusion is not just restricted to borrowers but to professionals in the industry as well. The spreads or margin are varying from one lender to the next more than we have seen. People in the business are struggling to understand why. Normally if you were to get 10 quotes on the same deal the commercial loan rates would be within .25 -. 35% of each other. Perhaps a few would tweak the prepayments or term, etc but their rates would be close. Now we are seeing commercial loan rates on the same deal varying between 2% -3%…

Part of the problem is that some of the lenders and banks themselves are having their cost of capital increase. Some of their credit rating are being lowered, as their balance sheets are scrutinised. So despite the Feds lower their rates, the margins that the banks charge (in order to cover their costs, risk and make a profit) go up as their cost of capital go up. So as one bank is more financial healthy than the next its costs of capital varies.

So what’s the happy ending? We currently don’t have one. If you’re thinking of buying or refinancing a commercial property in the next few months we would suggest getting it done now as in maybe a while before things re-stabilize and commercial loan rates become more universal.

Jeff Rauth is President of Commercial Finance Advisors, Inc out of Birmingham, Michigan. He has a STORE for commercial loan brokers. Contracts, spreadsheets, books, etc. Products starting at $4.95! Check it out commercial mortgage broker store or commercial loan rates

Anyone who has paid attention to the mounting credit card crisis afflicting modern Americans should not be surprised by the sudden explosion of debt management firms in the last decade. The debt management industry has grown exponentially over the past few years, assisting any number of borrowers with their financial burdens, but, as with any new business that concerns itself with debt and credit cards, a breed of predatory debt service ‘professionals’ seek only to exploit the economically desperate households by promising savings they could never deliver and sometimes even defrauding them altogether. Scam artists are an unfortunate consequence of any profession, and the debt relief industry is no better or worse. However, since word of mouth and a reputation for honesty and competence can make or break a company – especially a finance company – these nefarious loan workers don’t last long. However, just in case you’re unlucky enough to meet one of the less reputable debt management workers, here are a few tips to identify the worst sort.

Since debt consolidation loan programs are the most popular form of debt management, let’s start with loan officers and how they can trick unwary homeowners into borrowing more than would be advisable upon their property. Essentially, this sort of debt consolidation depends upon home equity. Credit ratings (above 700 FICO scores, ideally), debt to income ratios (less than forty percent of gross months income should go to home mortgage payments and revolving debt payments), and employment histories (clients most likely to be approved should have worked the same job for two years as provable by W-2 tax returns) are, of course, important. However, the most important element for mortgage debt consolidation will be the amount of home equity the homeowner currently enjoys.

Now, not only is home equity a tricky subject at present with property values falling all over America, but this drop in values is largely the fault of mortgage companies themselves. With an absence of regulation somewhat absurd in retrospect, criminally negligent loan officers and mortgage brokers (together with processors that looked the other way and appraisers that exponentially bumped up home values) gave loans to borrowers that should never have deserved them. The resulting mortgages proved more than the homeowners could possibly afford, and the glut of foreclosures (which should have been expected) drove down home prices which only worsened the potential refinance and debt management solutions homeowners would ordinarily presume to be available. Furthermore, these same foreclosures cost the original mortgage lenders (within a debt industry dependant upon constant cash flow for their bottom line) tens of millions of dollars and a previously inexplicable number of mortgage companies simply faded away. Though many of these businesses deserved to go under, the sudden failure of so many mortgage companies had a dire effect upon the American economy and our newly skyrocketing unemployment is but one consequence.

This is not to say that all of the mortgage refinance options are to be avoided. While it is much harder to take out a mortgage loan under current conditions, some homeowners – facing adjustable rates or balloon payments – simply have no choice. On the other hand, it is NOT necessary for them to include their credit card debts within their refinance no matter what the more aggressive loan officers would try to convince them of. Home mortgage refinancing is a form of debt management, of course, and making sure that what will be the average American consumer’s largest lifetime debt falls under acceptable (and formally fixed) interest rates should be of the utmost priority. However, what trustworthy mortgage professionals will explain is that the longer the term the more money you pay with even a locked prime interest rate. That’s just the way compound interest works. For that reason, mortgage professionals attempting to explain debt management should do whatever it takes to make borrowers have the lowest terms that would be comfortable for their household budget.

Not, you understand, that they should try to find the lowest payments for borrowers (obviously, it would be rather the opposite), but rather the fewest payments that they would have to pay over the course of the loan. A fifteen year term, if applicable, should be advised before the thirty, and biweekly payment programs that add up to essentially thirteen months of payments every year with accompanying years off the loan pay-off should also be strenuously encouraged. Perhaps most importantly, the loan officers should always ensure that the lender did not include some provisions against early pay-offs. Prepayment penalties, though technically legal, are the most underhanded strategies of less than trustworthy mortgage brokers. Anyone who tries to force through a prepayment penalty on unsuspecting homeowners or tries to convince them of the merits – often they’ll knock a few hundred dollars off the loan fees – should be avoided no matter their (evidently overstated reputation).

While all of this should be fully recognized by homeowners before they start talks with any mortgage lender or broker, your authors are aware that debt management this day and age primarily concerns itself with credit card debts. There are many other sorts of financial burdens for consumers to worry about, but the average American’s greatest worry tends to be the overload of credit card bills. Student loans, for example, generally boast the lowest interest rates of all types of debts. Hospitals and insurance companies, whatever their public perception, regularly work with their debtor clients to make sure that their medical bills are not an undue burden, even offering stays of payment. Auto loans, it is true, sometimes have higher interest rates, but they’re still rarely above those offered from mortgage loans or home equity loans. Nevertheless, even if there is a significant different between the interest rates (and, for credit card debts, there is almost always a steep drop once consolidated), the smart borrower has to remember the effects of compound interest. It is easy to see why loan officers would try to sugar coat the debt consolidation program, their pay is based around the overall size of the loans that are refinanced or taken out, but that is no reason to willfully ignore the borrowers’ true needs.

Not to belabor the point, but the worst suggestion that an unscrupulous loan officers can inflict upon their homeowner clients would be advising them to throw their credit cards debts onto a mortgage consolidation lasting decades. This is not debt management, this is debt avoidance. Borrowers will find that they are still paying their debts, but, after the interest continues to multiply, they will be paying their debts many times over. Worse still – especially in these trying times – homeowners are surrendering their ever more precious equity for only a temporary fix. Credit scores will fall from the sudden amount of credit card accounts now open, and, more to the point, how many consumers, once they have moved their debts over to a different loan source, would be able to resist the temptation to revisit their former spending habits and once again rack up bills through thoughtless purchasing. The key to any true and lasting debt management must be the debt professional working with the consumer to actually pay off their debts! Simply moving them to an equity loan that, for the moment, lowers their payments (however much longer and how much more they will inevitably pay) does nothing to assist the borrowers’ long term financial stability. Any viable program for debt relief must concentrate not only upon education to prevent such debt from occurring in the future but on actually eliminating the borrowers’ debts!

There are many other varieties of debt management, of course – not all debtors, after all, own their own homes. Consumer Credit Counseling companies have been exploding in popularity of late, but they contain their own string of suspicious activities each consumer must keep an eye out for. Since the industry does not tend to care so highly for certification, they attract more than their share of con artists and shady ‘corporations’. For this reason, borrowers must be incredibly diligent when investigating the bonafides of any business that they consider dealing with. Do not be fooled by flashy web sites or nice offices in well regarded areas. Debt management is about the people that you work with and many of the best debt professionals and debt management films, working in such a new industry, will not spend the time or money on advertisements while trying to make their way through a career or business with the best of motives.

Once again, though, even for those Consumer Credit Counseling companies that actually are legitimate, so much of the industry still depends upon credit card conglomerates (the very creditors that your debt management representatives are ostensibly fighting against) for half of their payments. Have you ever wondered why there are so very many Consumer Credit Counseling commercials on the television urging unsuspecting debtors to take a change at easing their financial burdens? As it turns out, above and beyond the sky high fees initially charged to the debtor clients themselves, the CCC firms get even more money from the various lenders. It is all part of a ploy by the credit card companies to prevent borrowers from attempting to declare bankruptcy. Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection has been greatly lessened over the last few years of an unfettered congressional deregulation, but the option does still attract a number of desperate debtors, and, though the chances are slim to none under the newest changes to the bankruptcy code statutes, some may have even have a chance to successfully wipe clean their unsecured debts (though it would also mean basically erasing the entirety of their possessions).

Because Chapter 7 bankruptcies do still remain a threat to their eventual bill collection, the credit card companies help fund the Consumer Credit Counseling companies so as to convince hapless borrowers to maintain and try to repay their loans, albeit in a different form. There are benefits to signing up with the program, to be sure. Interest rates are lower (not that they could actually be higher) and many of the creditors will agree to waive some of the fees assessed from over limit accounts or payments that arrived too late. However, considering the amount of money Consumer Credit Counseling professionals would charge for the opportunity – and, also, keeping in mind how damaging the Consumer Credit Counseling approach would be to the prospective client’s credit ratings once entered – most every applicant should be able to search out a better route to debt management success.

Debt settlement is another form of debt management rising in publicity the past few years, and these types of companies have many similar features to Consumer Credit Counseling firms. Both industries, after all, ask borrowers to sign over their collected debts (once again, primarily those unsecured ones which would be affected by bankruptcy protection). The debt settlement industry, however, does have a national certification program with which borrowers may rely upon to ensure that the people that they are dealing with could be properly trusted. Furthermore, since the underlying principles behind debt settlement thoroughly guarantees that there will be no collusion between the debt management professionals and the credit card companies, consumers do not have to worry about their counselors serving two masters. With debt settlement, the specialists working upon the specific case maintain an adversarial (though, as you’d imagine, still friendly for business purposes) relationship with the credit card companies so as to negotiate a reduction of their clients’ total balances. The debt settlement representatives have no reason to ever do anything more than work for the debtors’ best interests. That’s the only way their careers and the industry as a whole will survive and thrive within the new economic realities.

No matter the foundations of the debt settlement industry’s guiding principles, however, there still exists (as always will, with any possible employment opportunity) desperate scavengers aiming to take advantage of their clients’ ignorance and neediness regarding complicated financial matters. As we have said, these few practitioners of economic scams are found sooner rather than later and let go, but borrowers must always be wary of any debt management specialist that insists upon his or her fees paid up front. Initial consultations, by industry standard, should always be free of charge. They are, after all, trying to impress the clients with their professionalism so as to win their business, and it is highly suspicious that they would ask for money before they have even begun to do their job. Debt management must garner the trust of both the debtors and the creditors. Do not take the advice of anyone that you believe would be purely out for the quick buck.

For that matter, there are also any number of less than legal financial ploys that may sound like normal business practices but, in actuality, would leave the borrower open to charges of fraud. In the same way the malfeasant loan officers may urge homeowners to go with appraisers promising to pump up home values to tens of thousands of dollars more than the properties are actually worth or fool with pay stubs and tax records to suggest greater gross incomes than the true earnings, some debt management professionals might even advice that their client ask for a different Employee Identification Number. The purpose of altering Employee Identification Numbers is purely to trick lenders into disregarding credit report information and would be thought of as highly fraudulent behavior punishable by the fullest extent of the law. Before signing off on any such activity, make sure that you contact an attorney or – at the least – read up on the consequences of such actions. Whatever minimal savings may result from these sort of tactics are hardly worth the legal struggles that may ensue.

All of these warnings are not meant to turn prospective borrowers away from the good that proper and law abiding debt management counselors could do for household dearly in need of debt relief. The overwhelming majority of specialists working in these fields obey the strict letter of the law and, even beyond that, the specific rules of their chosen field. Most debt professionals enter the industry because they enjoy helping borrowers climb through the thickets of debts and find a better life for themselves and their families. Do not assume, just because of a few bad apples, that debt management specialists should be considered suspicious solely because of the nature of their work. As with any profession – from mechanics to congressmen – there are always bound to be a few brigands only out for themselves, but, with careful study of their company and a close reading of precisely what they are attempting to do, it is not that difficult to figure out which ones you should trust.

For more information on debt settlement or if you need immediate debt help please visit http://www.debtrelief.us.com Use the debt calculator to see how much debt you can eliminate.

You may have seen many investment promises to gain riches and wealth quickly and easily. Some investment pitches fail to tell you the specific details of the investment and only tell you the good parts. There is no such thing as a no risk investment and anyone who tells you otherwise is not telling you the whole truth. Whenever you are thinking of investing, before you do anything you need to get written confirmation of any annual reports or prospectuses they have.

Beware of any investing opportunity that tells you any of the following from an investment:

• Avoid if an investment tells you to actively get a loan or financial backing for an investment or asks you to cash in any equity or retirement funds.

• Applies a lot of pressure on you to get you to invest quickly.

• Promises you fast profits with little risk.

• Tells you the federal law disclosure documents are only a formality and not required.

• Asks you to lie on your application forms.

• The information they give you has bad grammar, spelling mistakes or doesn’t make sense.

• Doesn’t send you your money within a good timeframe.

• Tells you they can share with you some kind of inside information.

• Uses high risk words such as ‘limited offer’, ‘high returns’ or ‘guarantee’.

• Use the following words – this particular investment is IRA approved for you.

• Tells you that any offshore investments are completely tax free and always confidential.
Fraudsters tend to look at wealthier people to carry out their investment fraud on. Retirement age or rich people are usually targeted as the more money they have the more likely they are to be able to invest.

There is a certain type of people that investment fraudster look for:

• Able to make monetary decisions

• Wanting to make large investments

• Know quite a bit about financial aspects

• Has more than an average income

• Is retired and wealthy

• Educated above college level

• Had a recent health problem or a financial worry

• Willing to listen to new investment ideas and sales ideas

Many fraudsters are becoming more aware of what we look for. For instance, we know that if something sounds too good to be true it will be. However, more fraudsters are starting to make their pitches sound great but not too great that we automatically become suspicious. This is where we have to become smarter than the fraudsters.

Some of the fraudsters will try to get to sign up to their investment by giving you false hope of riches that don’t exist. Some of them will claim to be a firm that has helped so many other people or try to convince you that they wouldn’t sell you an investment that wouldn’t make you money. These are all tactics to avoid. Make sure you do a lot of research on the company and the people before you sign up to any investment deals.

Writer and author, Cheryline Lawson in conjunction with Fernando Reyes, who is an Internet Marketing guru and expert in a variety of fields including finance invite you to find out more by visiting the website at => http://crowleybiz.com/finance

Health Insurance has gained high importance in the present scenario, since it safeguards health of you and your dependents against financial crisis arising on account of medical emergency. Basically, it covers the overall risk and emergencies of healthcare expenses and develops a regularized structure of finance such as a monthly premium or annual tax to the insurance company. This process ensures that money is available to pay for the healthcare benefits specified in the insurance agreement. It also includes insurance covering disability or long-term nursing or custodial healthcare needs. Therefore, having your health insured on a plan helps you to get timely coverage and better medical care while uninsured people tend to face delays in the times of urgency and receive inadequate health care.

Basic benefits covered in Health Insurance:

• Health Insurance is also known as Mediclaim or Medical Insurance. Some of the best Health Insurance companies cover the material consequences of a disease. The chief benefits paid by the Health Insurance companies include sickness coverage, hospital allowance and additional facilities that may differ per plan.

• In cases of severe accidents and surgeries, health insurers not only pay for the medical expenses but also take care of the hospitalization costs.

• Hospital charges consist of costs arising from the treatments taken in the particular hospital, which requires at least one night’s stay in the respective hospital.

• At times, even those expenses are covered by the Insurance Company if by accident the concerned physician, doctor or a medical practitioner has given a wrong or incomplete treatment, therapy.

Guidelines to choose the best Health Insurance:

• The major concern while selecting a health insurance plan is the factor of the ability to afford.

• Health care plans that are reasonable yet provide maximum benefits become the utmost priority. Preferably, the plans that cover cashless hospitalization at numerous hospitals and healthcare centers provide quick options to buy or renew the plans online at your convenience and avail you with better services like tax benefits compared to other plans should be the topmost priority.

• It is true that people buy insurance for different reasons but some of the best health plans that comprehend the additional needs are of much significance. For instance, you may get free coupons that help you to save your money when you go for a health check-up.

• Also, there are certain benefits of expanding the coverage by renewing the plans. There is a belief that Medicare is easily accessible but it has certain barriers. Safety-net care from hospitals and clinics provides facilities to have such an access but cannot be a substitute for Health Insurance.

• Therefore, with health insurance you can be at peace since it provides you valuable coverage in cases of normal or extreme emergencies.

At ICICI Lombard General Insurance, our aim is to provide best health insurance and thus, we offer variety of health insurance plans such as Health Advantage Plus Insurance, Family Floater Plan and Personal Accident Insurance Plan that secure health of you and your family.

Imagine paying off your mortgage 5 or 10 years earlier than the 30 year arrangement you originally set up. Many people are doing just that by paying a little more towards their principal each month.

As an example, consider the following loan terms and house value:
Value of home: $200,000
Term of loan: 30 years
Loan amount: $150,000
Interest rate: 6%
Monthly payment: $899.00*

*This amount is principal and interest only, and does not include insurance, taxes, association dues, fees, or assessments.

If you were able to pay an additional $100 per month towards the principal of your mortgage, you would reduce the number of months from 360 months (30 years) to 279 months (about 24 years). This is a 6 year savings!

Additionally, consider that you will be paying 30 years of interest on this loan totaling $176,757. At the end of the loan, you end up paying $326,757 for the $150,000 loan you agreed to pay. By making the extra $100 payment per month, your total interest is reduced to $128,470. A savings of $48,287 for the same exact house! In order to find the extra $100 per month in your budget can be difficult sometimes. It may mean cutting back on eating out, doing your own housework, taking on a part-time job, or finding other unique cost-cutting measures.

If you bought your home with less than a 20% down payment, your bank is most likely charging you private mortgage insurance (PMI). The instant that you own 20% of your home, be sure you contact your bank to have them remove the fee for this hefty insurance. Mortgage companies require that you pay PMI if you don’t have 20% or more as a down payment — this is to protect the lender in case you default on the loan.

What if you don’t have an extra $100 per month to apply to the principle? Many banks now offer a service where they will automatically remove half of your mortgage payment from your checking account every other week. In our above example, it would mean paying $449.66 every other week instead of the $899 monthly mortgage payment. Because some months are longer than others, you end up paying an additional mortgage payment over the course of the year. For example, when you enter in the every other week schedule of paying roughly $449.66 into the Mortgage Saver calculator found at www.MortgageSaver.com, it will show a savings of $36,211.03 over the course of the loan as well as 6 years and 3 months. Check to see if your bank will arrange this service for you free before paying a third party company such as Equity Accelerator or Mortgage Saver. The third party companies will charge a start up fee along with transaction fees every other week. If your bank cannot arrange for every other week payments, a third party company is still a viable option.

You may choose to send an additional $100 extra each month ($50 per payment) towards your loan to accelerate the process even more. If you manually send in an extra payment via a check, be sure to indicate that the extra money should be applied to the principle on your loan. If you are shopping for a new home, consider a 15 year or even a 20 year loan instead of a 30 year loan. Although the monthly payments average about 30% more per month depending on your interest rate, you own your home in half the time!

The prepayments on your mortgage provide a great return on investment! Whatever extra payments you pay can shorten the life of your mortgage. You will be pleased with the savings you see with the prepayment strategy and the speed in which you build equity in your home.

The author, Kimberly A. Griffiths, has been through the vicious cycle of debt herself, and provides a no-nonsense system to managing your money paycheck to paycheck. Visit the One Paycheck at a Time Web site for articles and tools to budget your household: http://www.OnePaycheckataTime.com

Asset protection works best when you start before you have a significant number of assets that need protection. You need to fix the roof before the rains pour in. The earlier a trust is created, the greater the benefits.

The time you usually worry about your assets – when facing a divorce, lawsuit, creditor demands, or a tax lien – is when you can kiss your stuff goodbye. If you have not protected it by then, it’s not your property. It belongs to whoever the judge says it does.

Trusts used to be the last thing a middle-class taxpayer had to worry about. Estate taxes were the problem of the rich. A trust, along with appropriate use of corporations and limited liability companies, means never having to give your property to the ex-anyone again.

As it stands now, with modest homes in many parts of the U.S. fetching over $1 million, trusts are the most powerful asset preservation device available. In addition, all gifts and bequests should be made and kept in trust instead of being given outright.

What we call a BCT (Beneficiary Controlled Trust) goes by a more accurate description of “Crummey Defective Grantor Spendthrift Trust”.

Crummey is the name of an individual who challenged the IRS and won, not a depiction of the quality of the trust. For that alone he deserves your respect and admiration.

In our Beneficiary Controlled Trust, the beneficiary also serves as trustee, hence the control. Crummey powers are handled by the second trustee, known as the Distribution Trustee, but all control and decisions remain with the beneficiary/trustee.

The BCT is designed to:

1. Give the beneficiary beneficial use and control of trust property without having ownership which can be reached by creditors or distributed by a judge in a divorce case. You can’t lose property in a divorce settlement if you don’t own it.

2. Have no negative gift or estate tax for the beneficiary or the person creating the trust (Grantor).

3. Own businesses in the form of corporations or LLCs to provide protection from personal liability from debts of or judgments against the business entities.

4. Pass income earned by the trust to the beneficiary to be taxed at lower individual tax rates.

5. Provide a way for parents to use their annual gift tax exemption to transfer wealth to children or grandchildren without estate tax issues for either the grantors or beneficiaries.

6. Restrict income and principal distributions only for HEMS (health, education, support, and maintenance). Distributions are discretionary, not mandated. HEMS conforms with IRS standards to make sure the assets are not included in your estate, and cannot be reached by creditors.

7. Gives you the right to replace the Distribution Trustee (2nd trustee) at any time. While this might not seem important at first, this is one of the few irrevocable trusts that can be “rewritten”. The trust can continue for the beneficiary’s lifetime and for successive generations. The only caveat is that the beneficiary/trustee may not rewrite in such a way as to increase his own benefits.

8. Our BCT has special testamentary powers of appointment which allows you to direct who receives the trust property upon your death. To prevent assets from becoming a part of your estate, the BCT will prohibit you from giving any property to creditors, your estate, or estate creditors. You can now pass the trust assets on to your family or charities or anyone you choose.

9. For parents who want to help their children start a new business, funds given outright to the individual child are exposed to claims of creditors or ex-spouses. Seed money contributions to the trust can be used to form a corporation or to organize a new limited liability company. An LLC owned 98% by the BCT, and 1% owned each by two natural persons such as the parents, is the structure we have found to provide superior asset protection. The LLC can then acquire assets 98% owned by the trust. An alternative is to use a no-asset corporation as manager of the LLC, and have the trust own 99%.

10. The beneficiary has no enforceable right to demand income or principal from the trust, so creditors cannot step into the shoes of the beneficiary and force a distribution. In bankruptcy, the beneficiary cannot voluntarily or involuntarily assign his interest in the trust for the benefit of creditors.

If you have full ownership of property, creditors, spouses, and the IRS can come gunning for you. Failure to exploit trusts to their maximum advantage puts a bull’s-eye on your chest.

When distributions are subject to the absolute discretion of the independent Distribution Trustee, even though the beneficiary can replace that independent trustee, you now have unequalable divorce and creditor protection.

Charles Lamm is a retired attorney and owner of Trustee and RA Services, Inc., in Coral Springs, Florida. His asset protection articles appear on his blog at: http://www.corp-llc-bct.com To learn more about how to combine a corporation, LLC, and Beneficiary Controlled Trust for maximum asset protection and tax benefits, please email him at: asset-protection@corp-llc-bct.com

As part of your year-end planning exercise, take a moment to consider what would happen to your assets and surviving family if you were no longer able to care for them. Then consider the potential benefits of setting up a trust. Trusts are an effective means of helping protect important assets, providing for beneficiaries and managing taxes. And, contrary to popular belief, trusts are not just for the wealthy.

A qualified attorney can help you set up a trust fairly easily that can be used for any number of practical purposes, such as:

• Controlling assets and providing security for beneficiaries.

• Providing for beneficiaries who are minors or who require expert assistance managing money.

• Avoiding estate or income taxes.

• Providing expert management of estates.

• Avoiding probate expenses.

• Maintaining privacy.

• Protecting real estate holdings or a business.

Trust Definitions – A Quick Primer

A trust is a legal arrangement in which you, the owner of the estate and the trust’s grantor, transfer the legal title of that estate to somebody else – the trustee – for the purposes of benefiting one or more third parties – the beneficiaries. The trustee, who may be a person or corporation, is given title to the property in accordance with the terms of the trust agreement.

There are two general categories of trusts: revocable and irrevocable. Revocable trusts can be changed or “revoked.” Irrevocable trusts cannot be changed once they are set up. Most revocable trusts become irrevocable at the death or disability of the grantor. The assets you place into an irrevocable trust are permanently removed from your estate. Income and capital gains taxes on assets in the trust are paid by the trust. Upon your death, the assets in the trust are not considered part of your estate and are therefore not subject to estate taxes.

A Trust for Every Purpose

There are many different types of trusts – each serving specific needs and involving different tax and legal considerations. While a thorough discussion of the many different types of trusts is beyond the scope of this article, following is a brief review of a few widely used trusts.

Living Trust. A living trust allows you to be both the trustee and the beneficiary of a trust while you’re alive. You maintain control of the assets and receive all income and benefits. Upon your death, a designated successor trustee manages and/or distributes the remaining assets according to the terms set in the trust, avoiding the probate process. Living trusts are also an ideal way to provide for management of your financial affairs in the event of incapacity. You, not the courts or an improperly motivated family member, choose who will manage your finances.

Credit Shelter Trust. Married couples enjoy many protections with regard to estate planning. For instance, under the unlimited marital deduction, husbands and wives do not have to pay federal estate tax on assets transferred to each other. This benefit works well until the death of the surviving spouse, at which point nonspousal beneficiaries (typically children) may face a significant federal estate tax bill on any amount in excess of the current estate tax exclusion ($2 million through 2008).

To avoid this problem, couples should include a credit shelter trust in their estate planning documents. With a credit shelter trust, you divide your estate into two parts. One part is left to your spouse, and the other is placed in a trust. Any amounts left to your spouse are tax free due to the unlimited marital deduction, while those in the trust – up to $2 million – are sheltered by the estate tax exemption.

When your spouse dies, the trust assets will pass to your children or whomever else you’ve named as beneficiaries. The trust assets won’t be taxed as part of your spouse’s estate. The assets that passed to your spouse outright will go to whomever your spouse has chosen. These assets will be included in your spouse’s estate for tax purposes, but your spouse’s own exemption will offset some or all of the tax due. Using this planning technique, a couple could currently pass up to $4 million to their children or other beneficiaries estate tax free.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT). This type of trust is often used as an estate tax funding mechanism. Under this arrangement, you make gifts to an irrevocable trust, which in turn uses those gifts to purchase a life insurance policy on you. Upon your death, the policy’s death benefit proceeds are payable to the trust, which in turn provides tax-free cash to help beneficiaries meet estate tax obligations.

Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT). A QPRT allows you to remove your residence from your estate at a discount. Under this arrangement, you get to use the home for a predetermined number of years, after which time ownership is transferred to the trust or beneficiaries. Any gift tax you might incur from giving away the property is discounted because you still have rights to the house during the term of years spelled out in the trust. The potential drawback is that if you die before the term of the trust ends, the home is considered part of your estate.

Charitable Trusts. To help benefit your favorite charity while serving your own trust purposes, you might consider a charitable lead trust (CLT) or charitable remainder trust (CRT). CRTs and CLTs are often described as mirror images of each other: CRTs provide an income stream payable to the donor, a family member or other heir for a designated period of time, after which the remaining principal goes to charity. CLTs, conversely, pay the charity a stream of income for a period of years, after which the remainder is paid out to designated beneficiaries, typically family members.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of trusts is that they allow beneficiaries to enjoy property ownership while minimizing the tax exposure to those involved. Keep in mind that trusts are legal documents – an estate planning attorney can help explain the complexities of specific trust arrangements.

This article is not intended to provide specific investment or tax and legal advice for any individual. Consult your financial advisor, your tax advisor and a qualified attorney or me if you have any questions.

http://www.mosshartwealthmanagement.com

Joshua D. Mosshart CHFC, CEA

Aim Conference Center Hotel Manila is an answer to the myriad needs of a businessman’s lifestyle. This three (3)-star hotel situated in the heart of Makati City, the central business district of Manila, provides guest amenities centered on accomplishing business with a touch of cosiness and ease. Added by an immediate accessibility to the top offices, schools, malls and villages in the Philippines, this hotel is convenience at its best!

This hotel very well understands the tight schedules that business people follow, giving a special emphasis on valuing time. Reaching this hotel requires no long hours of travel because it is only 6 kilometers away from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). It only takes 15 minutes to reach this worthwhile accommodation. Taxi cabs can bring you straight to the hotel with no detours and delays. On the other hand, an adventurous ride in a public bus, jeepney or train will definitely be worth a try! Two of the main train lines in Manila, The Metro Rail Transit 3 and the Light Rail Transit 1 can both be used to reach the hotel. If you want to take a quick sightseeing in the city, try any of these two train lines and have a fast, enjoyable journey in the heart of Manila.

From the airport, you’ll pass by the SM Mall of Asia, the largest mall in Asia, that offers a wide variety of choices for shopping, eating and recreation. The Science Discovery Center, which is an interactive museum, and the Animax 3D Theater are only two of the many hot spots that people patronize in this mall. There are also open restaurants and bars overlooking Manila Bay. A dinner in Italianni’s or Gerry’s Grill will be a romantic moment to watch the sun set behind the Manila horizon (known as the best sunset in the world) and feel the warm breeze of Manila bay brushing against your skin. For classic tastes, revert to Max’s Restaurant, Kentucky Friend Chicken or McDonald’s. For oriental treats, try a taste of Filipino food in Kamay Kainan or Japanese food in Tokyo Tokyo. Whatever your choice in food, entertainment or shopping is, SM Mall of Asia has something to offer!

On your way to the hotel, you are also likely to pass a long line of skyscrapers and corporate offices in Makati City. Staying in the hotel allows businessmen to have a quick access to nearby offices and corporate buildings for quick visits. The RCBC Tower, Manila Stock Exchange, PeopleSupport, Convergys and PBCOM Building (the highest building in the Philippines) lines up along the Ayala Avenue, one of the main routes in the district. Within the vicinity are top schools like the Ateneo Law School, Asia Pacific College and University of Makati. Same goes with high-end communities, Legazpi Village and Bel-Air Village are just within minutes of travel to get to.

A stopover to nearby shopping malls like Glorietta and Greenbelt is also definitely possible! These two malls provide a convenient, shopper-friendly experience for people in a hurry or those observing a tight schedule. For a quick errand or a total shopping galore, a stroll in these malls would probably lead its shoppers to highest satisfaction. A little more adventure such as a visit to the Ayala Museum could spice up the limited time of sightseeing. This is museum is the home of sixty handcrafted dioramas that tell the story of Philippine history. Get to know fast and interesting facts about the history of the Philippines in a quick trip to this nearby tourist destination!

Getting a good rest and relaxation upon arrival is the top priority of the hotel. A first look on blending light colors of walls, floors, bedsheets and appliances sets up a laid back ambiance. Manifesting this carefully chosen color combinations cultivates the same “homey” mood one gets from his own home. Every room in the hotel has an Internet connection for guests to use for work-related or personal communication. There is also a data port ready for use any time.

Looking for a place to hold events? There is no need to run around the business district in an attempt to find a venue for business meetings. Events can be scheduled right away in the hotel’s conference rooms, business center and convention hall. Work related activities are made possible within the hotel building itself! Guests are assured that there is a suitable, ready-to-use place to host spur-of-the-moment meetings or long-planned company conferences. No need to worry about the messy preparations because the hotel takes care of everything!

Additional services offered by the hotel are: laundry and dry clean services, morning calls and radio clocks. Rooms are also designed with private safes to keep valuables intact. The guests no longer have to worry if they leave important documents, gadgets and other belongings in the hotel when going out.

For all the services offered by Aim Center Hotel Manila, there is nowhere else a traveling businessman would ever want to be! Nothing could be as good as doing business with a no-hurry threat but a laid-back, relaxing treat instead!

Last Minute Manila Hotels provides excellent reviews of the hotels and accommodation available in Manila, Philippines. Check out the best offers, and also the excellent reviews of each of the available hotels at this fantastic site.

If you are looking for a more affordable Manila Hotel to spend your nights, do checkout our fabulous recommendations at Budget Manila Hotels.

Budgeting is important to your family’s financial health. Those with strong budgets tend to have their lives in much better order financially. Slowly, no matter what kind of income you have, you’ll see your net worth increase as you stick to your plan.

But what if your plan is weak?

Following is 10 steps to help improve your budget:

1. Use Microsoft Excel- Don’t waste your money on expensive budgeting programs. You can have a budget that is just as effective using some type of spreadsheet (Excel or Google Spreadsheets work fine). Simply learning a few formulas online, you can create a fully-customizable budget that adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides any figures you need.

2. Determine Your Net Income- Doing a budget off a gross income makes it more difficult to compute. Taxes will be taken out of your check each time and that money may never be realized until you get your tax return back for the year. Be sure to calculate off a net figure; in other words, how much do you bring home monthly/weekly AFTER tax? You’ll have a better grip on what money you actually have to work with each month this way.

3. Determine Your Fixed Costs- What sort of expenses can you expect each month that don’t change? These are fixed costs, and you should have a category for them so you can see what are solidified expenses that can’t be avoided. Typically, your fixed cost line doesn’t have any wiggle-room. It could be a car payment, home mortgage, or insurance expense; these don’t change month to month.

4. Know Your Variable Costs- A variable cost is one that tends to do just that- vary. This could be your grocery bill, entertainment fund, misc. fund, gift fund, etc… From month to month, these tend to be a bit more flexible; if you know you’re going to be tight for money one month, look to you list of variable costs to cut where you can.

5. Every Dollar Needs a Spot- Make sure that every dollar has a place to go. There shouldn’t be any money at the end of the month that doesn’t have a job. Categorize where all of your money will go. If you fail to do this, you’ll end up spending what extra money could be saved!

6. Set Goals- If you have no end goal, you’ll fail with a budget! Is there a new home you’d like to get your hands on in the next 2 or 3 years? Maybe it’s the car you’ve been dreaming about since you were young. Whatever the case may be, have a goal and let that be your motivation to stick to that budget. If not, you will fail!

7. Save Your Receipts- If you don’t save every receipt, you’ll find that remembering all of your expenses will be tough! After making a purchase, make sure that you not only get a receipt but have a ready spot to put it. That way, at the end of the night when you’re updating your budget, you won’t let any expense fall through the cracks.

8. Update Your Budget Daily- This one is a must! Make sure you don’t wait until the end of the month to track all of your money’s goings and comings. You’ll find that your results will be inaccurate; and if that’s the case, what’s the point of your budget?!

9. Evaluate Each Month- If you’ll take a good solid 30 minutes at the end of the month to go over what happened with your money, you’ll have the statistics to help you see strengths and weaknesses; those numbers promote change. Otherwise, you might find that you’ve spent a lot and you know you need to change, but you won’t be able to identify those areas that need it most.

10. Have A Leisure Fund; Have Some Fun- You’re budget should create a little room to have a little fun! Budgets tend to have a bad reputation because they are often too restrictive. Allow you and your spouse to have a little fun with that hard earned money! Lay aside x-amount of dollars for a “leisure fund” each month to help keep your sanity. After all, you have to have a little fun with your money, right?!

Trever Shipp, the author, works as an online business consultant, student, husband, and business owner. Follow his personal finance blog and see how he and his family take finances by the horns and steer them to success.

Everyone in the online world knows extremely well that the most sought after traffic to one’s site comes from a Google search. Folks, 80% of searches on the internet are done in Google.

In theory, it is simple – if you have something interesting to someone else, if you build a website with the honest to goodness goal to provide something useful for someone else, that someone else will find you. That is also how the creators of Google describe their main goal, to more or less have a great repository of information, and help people of our planet find useful stuff.

In practice, it is not that simple. It is not that simple because there are thousands, possibly even millions of sites like yours, because you might be running a very honest online business, selling some very useful product, but do not have unheard of, exceptionally grand ‘content’. If your site is listed on page 265 of a search results set, be sure you will never get any visitors that way.

Unlike Yahoo and others, who rely on human involvement, Google does everything through automation. Websites are indexed (or crawled, or spidered – all terms refer to the same process) by their indexing software called Googlebot. Googlebot looks at websites daily, and rules programmed into the software decide which of your pages make it into the main Google index and which don’t. After your site was indexed, whether it was submitted for indexing by a human or the robot just stumbled upon it, your pages are ranked, so Google knows on which page of a search to put your site on, and on what search phrases should your site even be part of the result search.

The Googlebot is very smart and works really well. Keep in mind however, that is just a piece of software, a very sophisticated one, but it’s just a computer program. Consequently, it has a set of algorithms (rules) it uses to index web site content (information), a set of capabilities (as I said before, Googlebot is really intelligent) and a set of limitations. As such, there is an impressive number of ways in which one can trip up the Googlebot and make it impossible for it to index your content. Alternately, the Googlebot can index your site well, and then people will find it when searching for words it contains.

This article will try to teach you all the basics necessary to achieve consistency and persistency in Google, starting with the very basic step: getting indexed by Googlebot, Google’s indexing robot.

1. Read Google’s own Webmaster Guidelines

The people behind Google seem to have two main things down to a science: One, most of their algorithms (rules) are so secret, that all us non-Google employees do is speculate. Two, their guidelines are very simple, direct and precise. Following their guidelines will never hurt your site’s ranking. Disregarding their guidelines can and probably will hurt you in the long run. So go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html and read what Google has to say about itself.

2. Have text links.

Make every single page on your site accessible via a text-based link, as opposed to Javascript, Flash, DHTML (Dynamic HTML), etc. Googlebot’s native language is text.
Google says: “Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link.”

This is probably the number one key to your site’s existence in Google. Googlebot is actually a robotic, browser-like software, based on the venerable Lynx browser. The reasoning behind this approach is that the creators are trying to get as close as possible to emulating human browsing, making sure your website is actually human friendly. Consequently, by downloading Lynx on your computer and looking at your site through Lynx (http://lynx.isc.org), you will see more or less exactly the information Googlebot can read and index and the links Googlebot can follow. You will also see HTML errors on your pages and places where a robot would be stuck and could not reach the rest of your site.

I know it is very unfair to those of us who understand and love the potential of websites built completely in Flash, or other engines. However, until the nice folks who run Google figure out a good way to crawl inside a Flash file and extract the appropriate information, we are stuck with standard HTML.

This is not to say that you cannot make your site really pretty and fill it with Java Script and Flash eye candy. But you must have regular text and standard text links. Usually you can achieve the desired effect by having extra navigation menus based on standard text links.

3. Avoid frames.

Avoid frames at all cost. If you must use them (for example to make someone else’s page look like it’s part of your site), do not use them on your front page.

Frames are like the plague, they sneak up on you. It is incredibly easy to lose Googlebot’s tracks inside a badly formatted frameset. You might hear that some of the robots, including Google’s Googlebot and Yahoo’s Slurp are quickly gaining capabilities to go inside frames properly. My philosophy is, until a feature becomes ubiquitous, if you’re uncertain, leave it in the closet.

4. Keep the number of links on a given page less than 100.

This comes straight from Google’s Webmaster Guidelines: “Keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number (fewer than 100).”

This looks more like a suggestion and I am not 100% sure if you get penalized in any way or if Googlebot just stops reading your links after 100. I can however tell you from personal experience that I tried a page with 700 links and it seemed fine. Then one day I tried to view the page from my Blackberry PDA and I got this strange error message saying my page is illegally formatted. After I split the page into several ones with 80 links each, the pages worked on the PDA also.

Who cares about the Blackberry? Well, if you’re reading this and your goal is to get visitors, then your main concern should be not to alienate anyone. Remember, today more than ever, people use different devices and different software to access the web. Every visitor is a potential customer. Every employee at a major US lawfirm and many other corporate people use a Blackberry.

Lastly, why would you need that many links on one page anyway? Let’s say, for example, that you specialize in promotional products – corporate branded gifts, such as pens, caps, mints and other products (called sometimes ‘premiums’) imprinted with one’s logo. Your name is John Doe, and you decided to name your company JDPromos (not very imaginative, but will do for our examples). You would want to have every item in your catalog as a text link, so every item gets indexed as a link and as a keyword. Also, those who run forums, ezines, blogs, might want to have standard links to their articles, as the software they use might create dynamic links, invisible to certain robots.

5. Give every page a meaningful title.

Give every single page on the site a complete and meaningful title. This is also directly from Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. See Rule #1.

Incidentally, for those who are fascinated by the debates on the death of the Meta Tags, the

The “title” tag is supported by every web creation tool out there, and goes in the header of a web page (between the “head” and the “/head” tags).

Google offers the ‘allintitle’ syntax, which lets users search only text that appears in a page title. A lot of people who integrate a Google bar into their websites allow users to get results only by title. There are over 29 million results returned for Untitled Document.

Most of us – myself included – copy and paste template pages, out of the convenience of not having to recreate all design elements from scratch. If you do so, do not forget to change the title.

Make sure your title is not just a list of keywords and that it is related to the actual content of the page. Google can and will check that, before deciding on your page’s ‘relevance’.

6. Do not place important text inside images.

Google says: “Try to use text instead of images to display important names, content, or links. The Google crawler doesn’t recognize text contained in images.”

It is very tempting to create images with text inside them, for the very simple reason that as designers, we are not limited to the very few font (type) options that basic HTML allows. Also, different browsers tend to display things differently nowadays, so it is much easier to create a text image, which will be shown consistently and not worry about styles, operating systems, etc.

7. Use descriptive “ALT” tags.

The “ALT” tag is used as a text alternative (hence the name) for images and image links and was designed so that text browsers (such as Lynx) do not just display a generic ‘Image’ for every picture link you might have. If all your links say ‘Image’, how would a potential visitor know what they are?

Make sure that the text description is meaningful and accurate. Take our promotional items company as an example. Let’s say they have a picture of a tradeshow display, as an example of a service they provide outside the ordinary imprinted mint boxes, calculators and keychains. If the “ALT” tag only says “display”, that is what Googlebot will see and index. If the tag says something like “example of a tradeshow display design”, that is certainly more useful and more Googlebot friendly.

Please note that although the “ALT” tag does count and Google seems to put a high price on this tag, it ranks lower than plain text.

8. Use meaningful descriptions for links

With the risk of sounding like a scratched CD, I’ll have to say this again: Whether you use picture links or text links, please use meaningful text inside your tags so that Googlebot can associate that text with that href link.

In other words, let’s pretend again that we are designing that website for that imaginary promotional items company we called JDPromos. If you intend to put a link to a set of sample coffee mugs promos, say something like “link to JDPromos samples of branded coffee mugs”, not just “coffee mugs”, or even worse, “click here for pictures”. Never use link text like “read more” or “go here” or “download it”, “click here”, “don’t click here”, you get the picture – I hope.

Don’t try to fool the Googlebot with hidden links or duplicate content or irrelevant pages of words like “sex” and “hot girls.” The Googlebot doesn’t like being played and you will be penalized, one way or another, in the long run.

9. Use a “description” tag for every page

Include a

tag in your page header to summarize your site. Use a meaningful one or two sentence description, do not keyword spam.

Even better, include descriptive text on the site’s front page where users can actually read it. This text will appear as the description for your site in Google results.

Place more important content higher in the page than less important content in a page, Google does categorize text on a page based on it’s position, text at the bottom of a page is considered less important, or ‘relevant’, to use one of Google’s own terms.

10. Use short query strings

Use URLs with query strings sparingly, if at all possible. Query strings are also called dynamic pages. You can usually recognize dynamic pages by the presence of the “?” character. Keep in mind that the shorter the list of query string parameters, the better. Be aware that not every search engine robot can crawl dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them few.

11. Never use the “&id=” parameter

If you must use query strings, or dynamic pages, never use the “&id=” parameter as part of the string.

I know this might sound ridiculous, as it might be hard or impossible for you not to use the “&id=” parameter, but if you are a programmer and you can change the variable’s name, replace “id” with something else. Otherwise, Googlebot will just skip that page.

Google says: “Don’t use “&id=” as a parameter in your URLs, as we don’t include these pages in our index.”

12. Use robots.txt

Use robots.txt to show the Googlebot around your site. This ancient and very standard mechanism for directing well-behaved robots like the Googlebot will allow you to specify places where the robot is not welcome, whether for privacy reasons, or for reasons of avoiding Google penalties. You might want to keep the robot away from your cgi-bin directory and other places you maybe don’t want available to the entire searching population of the globe. Remember this is a guideline, not a barrier, robots that are not programmed to comply, will disregard. Bottom line, use the robots.txt to guide Googlebot, but not to enforce strict security.

Google says: “Make use of the robots.txt file on your web server. This file tells crawlers which directories can or cannot be crawled.”

13. Make a sitemap

A site map is just a page on your website where you guide your users through the structure of your site. The most basic form of sitemap is a page that lists all of your pages, with a brief description and a link – all text, of course. When you make the sitemap, follow all the rules above and don’t forget that the purpose of the sitemap is to guide your human visitor.

Google says: “Offer a site map to your users with links that point to the important parts of your site. If the site map is larger than 100 or so links, you may want to break the site map into separate pages.”

14. Use the Google Sitemaps project

At the time of this writing, the fastest, best and most accurate way to make sure your site is properly crawled and indexed by Googlebot is to participate in the Google Sitemaps project.

In a nutshell, you make a sitemap as an XML page and submit it directly to Google. Google then sends Googlebot to index your site. Besides the speedy free submission, you also get a good amount of statistics and the opportunity to fix potential errors in your site.

Please note that the XML sitemap needed for the Google Sitemap project is intended specifically for Googlebot, and is different from the sitemap described in the previous Rule, which is intended solely for human users.

Also, do not be afraid of XML, Google’s sitemap is a very simple text file and they give you all the necessary information and directions at: https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps

Good luck!

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Andrei co-owns Bsleek – a company that specializes in web design, hosting, promotional items, printing, tradeshow displays, logos, CD presentations, SEO and more. Andrei has amassed an extensive technical knowledge and experience through his career as the CIO for a major travel management company and through his past careers in military research, data acquisition and airspace engineering. He also consults for Trinity Investigations, a New York based PI firm.

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