When you become a mother, you want to spend all your time with your precious newborn. Being the guiding force in your baby’s life is the most important thing! That’s why work at home moms are so happy with their jobs – working at home allows you to spend plenty of time with your children while still contributing to the household income.

Often mothers are expected or encouraged to go back to work as soon as the baby is old enough to be left with a babysitter or daycare. Some companies only allow six weeks of maternity leave, and that means you have, at the most, six weeks with your newborn child. Many mothers are rebelling against that old expectation and are working at home instead.

Being a work at home mom means you have more time for your family. If your child gets sick, you don’t have to take time off work and juggle appointments to take them to the doctor – you are home already, so you can do whatever your chosen business is, all the while holding your sick child close to you. If you need to make a run to the doctor, no problem! You set your own hours when you work at home, so you can shuffle your schedule to keep your child the priority.

Setting your own schedule can be a wonderful thing, as long as you’re organized enough to make it work! Being a work at home mom is not as easy as others might think it is. You have to be your own secretary, manager and accountant. You are handling not only the duties of a full-time parent, but also those of a full-time business owner. That’s a heavy load to carry!

But it’s worth it when you take a break from the work you love and look down to see your lovely little child smiling up at you, happy and content in the knowledge that you are there for them, all the time, no matter what. That’s a feeling that makes all the hard work seem easy, and makes you thankful that you took the steps to become a work at home mom.

Denise Bergeron

The goal of SingleMomFinancialHelp.com is to help women change the world through information and education. We are creating a support structure through which all women of the world can educate one another about where they have been, where they are right now and where they are going. With help from our site and the information and articles we distribute women will be more educated in finance, business, home matters, relationships, career and higher education.

Money—it’s such a simple, yet potent word that can invoke many different emotions, thoughts, fears and dreams in so many people. We all seem to want it, but most of us for different reasons. For some it’s the means to a better life or survival, for others it’s about power, control, vanity….or simply having things.

I’ve never given much thought to the meaning behind it all—the meaning of money, until I stumbled upon “The Ultimate Gift”. This inspiring movie, based on the book with the same name (by Jim Stovall), reminded me of how easily money can corrupt our perspectives about what’s important, and what is real.

Why do we work as hard as we do? What does all this money do for us? What is it all for?

Ironically, my entire professional life is centered on money, taking care of it for others, making sure that it’s saved, it grows, that it lasts, and that it protects the people that have entrusted me with it, people that have worked so hard for it and others who maybe didn’t. I live and breathe money every day—in my client planning, their investments, savings, budgeting…..money…..it’s everywhere…. in its tangible form. But, what exactly does money mean?

What exactly does money mean to you?

Money is blind, and money blinds. It is a ticket to freedom, for others a sentence in darkness. Some obsess about it, a few loathe it, and yet others cannot ever seem to attract it. I’ve seen money corrupt the most decent of people, rip families apart and poison minds and hearts. But, I’ve also seen money enable dreams, save lives and nourish the existence of those who need it most. Money is meant to be shared, not hoarded, help not hurt.

Every day, we should remind ourselves of our purpose in life, revisit our dreams and face our deepest fears. Life is a journey, it’s our shared existence and every experience, good or bad, painful or happy teaches us something. Every moment is really, an ultimate gift….and money, no matter how much or how little we may have, is merely the means to end–nothing more.

Cathy Pareto, MBA, CFP®, AIF® is the Founder and President of Cathy Pareto & Associates, Inc. For over twelve years, Cathy has been helping financial consumers and professionals understand the world of investments and finance with a sound, but down to earth money management approach. For over a decade Cathy was a Senior Financial Advisor for another Miami based investment advisory firm, where she managed over $200 million in assets for high net worth clients and retirement plans. She has extensive experience in retirement issues, asset allocation, investment selection, investment management, education planning, estate planning coordination, and asset protection strategies. Additionally, she was an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Coordinator for the CFP® Program at Florida International University’s College of Business.

Don’t know about you, but I could really use a pick-me-up.  Markets are bad, people losing jobs, a lot of fear in the world.  When I stumbled upon this video, it actually made me happy.  More than that, it actually made me feel good.

Get up and dance!
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

(Hat tip to Presentation Zen)

When a new client who had recently received an inheritance opened up an account with me, he transferred this new portfolio from a well-known brokerage firm. After the transfer was completed, we sat down to review his current holdings and adjust the portfolio. Some of the client’s stocks were showing large losses. However, he explained that since he had received them as an inheritance, he felt awkward about selling them. He felt attached to them and didn’t think they should be sold. He then said that as he realized that such attachments were not beneficial to investment, he was going to wait for them to move back up to the price for which his recently deceased father had bought them. Then, he would sell them.

This is a very common scenario. Children often refuse to make changes to a portfolio that they have received as an inheritance. Very often, this is due to sentimental reasons. In other cases, investors stick with a losing position for years in the hope that it will return to the original price they paid for it. However, this is not the best approach to investing.

We All Make Mistakes

Sometimes you may have a little extra money at your disposal, and you decide to invest it. Maybe a friend gave you a handy stock tip, or you read about a company that sounded like an interesting prospect. After doing some research, you decide to invest in this company because it seems like an obvious winner.  But when you receive your first statement, you see that the stock has dropped. So you decide to follow the policy of being patient. As time goes by, you keep checking, but the stock keeps dropping. Eventually, you become living proof of the old adage that patience is a virtue. The stock market may be moving up, but you are stuck with a loser.

In fact, chances are that if the stock starts dropping by 10, 15 or 30 percent, there could be problems with the company, and it may potentially pay to sell. However, many of us find it psychologically difficult to admit that we have picked the wrong stock. It’s hard for us to say that we made a mistake.

Opportunity Cost

Very often, the longer you hold onto an under-performer, the more money it costs. The reason for this is that the investor could have put his funds into something that actually made money. Therefore, stubbornly holding onto a losing stock will only cause financial harm to the investor. In economics, this situation is referred to as opportunity cost. Opportunity cost is defined as the cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action, or the benefits that could be received from taking an alternative action.

Profit from Losses

Never think that all is lost. Some good can actually be derived from losing stock positions. When the position is sold, the investor realizes the loss, which may have certain tax advantages. The loss can be used to offset other gains, thus lowering the tax bill. In fact, although they may not realize it, for many investors tax-loss selling may be the most important way to reduce their tax bill. If done correctly, receiving the appropriate advice before making any trades, it can save the investor money and help diversify the portfolio in various ways.  

Working with licensed and experienced financial advisers can help you evaluate objectively whether you are holding bad positions. It is then worthwhile working with an accountant to create a tax-efficient portfolio. Many professional investors live by the credo that you should ride your winners and dump your losers. The reason is simple. There may be a reason why the stock is performing poorly, namely, that the company is not executing their business up to its potential. This indicates that is probably a good place for you, the investor, to avoid putting your hard-earned money.

There is a good chance that the relative that left the money for you as an inheritance would like you to gain from it. Speak with your financial adviser to see if your newly inherited portfolio matches your investment goals and needs and whether it is invested in an efficient manner.

Aaron Katsman is President of Global Investments at Profile Investment Services.  He is a licensed financial professional both in the United States and Israel, and helps people who open investment accounts in the U.S. Securities are offered through Portfolio Resources Group, Inc. a registered broker dealer, Member FINRA, SIPC, SIA. For more information, go to www.profile-financial.com  or email aaron@profile-financial.com 

I spent a lot of time over the last day or two watching cable news and the feeling I got was that it’s over. Close up the shop because the US economy is about to enter a recession or even a depression. Even congressmen were using the dreaded ‘D” word, irresponsibly I may add. But is it really time to throw in the towel and declare the end of America as we know it? Is this just a ploy by the media to scare Americans into voting for a Messiah, who will then save the country from itself?

There is no question that the economy has some problems, namely a credit crunch, but Sec. Paulson’s plan will help relieve the crunch and open up credit flow. If you examine the economic data, we aren’t even close to the average recession. The amount of job loss pales in comparison to average job loss in recessionary times. the amount of banks that close is negligible compared to the hundreds that close during recessions. And I could go on and on. So why isn’t ‘main-street’ getting this information? Anyone notice that the usage of ‘main-street’ has taken on a life of its own?

What’s scary is the Democratic plan to save humanity. Capping salaries of private company CEO’s is not only illegal, but will scare them off from trying to purchase ‘toxic’ assets. Larry Kudlow had a brilliant point on the matter. He said, “And then there’s the ownership question. Some Democrats want Uncle Sam to take an ownership position in all the selling and purchasing banks. This is nuts. In America, this is nothing but property confiscation. It also will sharply curb buyers of the distressed assets.
You think Henry Kravis or Steve Schwarzman are gonna take a salary cap and lose an ownership share of the private-equity funds they themselves created and built? They shouldn’t and they won’t. And these funds are crucial to the new process. The only banks that will sell in this over-regulatory environment are the absolute, near-bankruptcy turkeys.”

Right on! He goes on to say that in the case of Fannie and Freddie and other companies bailed out by the government that in those cases you can feel free to pay the CEO along the lines of a high salary bureaucrat, but not the CEO of private company.

I think everyone needs to take a deep breath and get a bit of perspective. Things aren’t as bad as they are being made out to be. Pass Paulson’s plan, and allow the market to work the problems. My gut feeling is that if we do that, we are going to be in fro a bigtime economic boom.

Please see our Disclaimer HERE.

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

You may know my daughter and her husband just moved to a different state. One of the things they had to do when they got to their new place was to get new phone numbers. This meant I had to program their new numbers in all my phones.

As I was programming their numbers I noticed there were several people I don’t call much anymore so I removed them from speed dial and added others who I call more frequently.

Because I am a home organizer my mind thought of my clients and you all who read my blog and I want to pass on this tip to you. Take the time this week to look at your programmed numbers and see if you too need to ‘clean up’ your phone numbers. And are you using all the numbers allotted to you? We had 20 numbers we could use that I had forgotten all about.

I called the phone company and found out how to program numbers (the last time I had done it was over two years ago) and then I typed up a list of speed dial numbers and made copies for every phone plus I will keep one in my planner. Speed dialing saves time, I love that feature.

Do you have a time saving tip you will share with us? We would love to know it.

Marilyn Bohn is an energetic, lively, compassionate, hard working and creative organizer. She was born to organize! Before becoming a professional organizer she worked professionally in diverse environments. She is involved in her community, providing her clients with a broad base of experience and knowledge.  She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).

When you’re talkin’ ’bout your generation, do you like to compare old-school vs. new-school technology savvy and habits? I know I enjoy having some fun with “olds” who think the Onion article about “The Google for Older Americans” is about a real site (my dad) or who equate computers with “the Devil” (my grandma).

Thinking about what’s happening in the market right now. I don’t want to wade into what the Treasury’s plan means for the market. Nor do I want to analyze the consolidation occurring in the Investment Banking industry.

I’d like just to put some thoughts down on how current events may impact investment research going forward and what that means for investors.

1. Investment banks are currently the best we’ve got in terms of researching companies.  I don’t mean to say that they are always (ever?) right, but my point here is that individual investors can never get as close to a company as does a sell-side equity analyst.  As outsiders, we’re left frequently to decipher using shadow-puppetry what’s actually going on inside a company.  Certainly, there are times and certain companies where analysts are equally outside but I’m just describing, not prescribing.
2. Fewer banks mean less research.  As investment banks consolidate into retail banks (as Merrill Lynch has with Bank America, for example), it ultimately means further consolidation in research departments as it doesn’t make sense to keep both brands separate and maintain separate teams.  This means fewer stocks actually covered with research and fewer opinions on those stocks already covered.  This is bad for investors as investors have proven that they, like many professionals, have an aversion to paying for research from independent research outfits.
3. Importance of New Rules of Investing (NROI) grows: In order to compensate for the loss of research, investors are going to continue to flock towards free web resources (see my Top 5 Investment Sites) to make their own decisions.  This is a huge opportunity for those competing in the Online Finance 2.0.  In addition to expert communities and pickybacking sites, look for a flurry of new models in addition to incremental changes online with new charting technologies, blog aggregation, etc.
4. Opportunity for Investor Relations firms who “get it”: As a buy-side analyst at a hedge fund, I always felt that Investor Relations firms were missing an opportunity.  In a the Web 2.0 world, as investment banks continue to consolidate research ops and struggle with their business model, investor relations firms can really innovate here with new distribution models for disseminating information, new models for interfacing with company executives, etc.  The old road show/press release model can be improved upon by those who get it.  Firms who “get it” have an opportunity to compete against the i-banks, albeit coming at the game from a different perspective.  Maybe, as the result of all of this, we’ll see the role of the IR firm change as well.

The investment industry has seen various modes of expansion/contraction throughout its lifecycle.  I believe that this stage is natural in this evolution.  This economic contraction for the industry happens to correspond to an expansionary period in web technologies so that when these firms emerge, they may be left behind in their research.  This is a huge opportunity for other participants.

Since September is Menopause Awareness Month, I thought I would share my own menopause memoir to commemorate the month.  I should warm my male readers that this post will contain information about my girlie parts, hormones and my periods menstrual cycles.  If you are squeamish of such topics or simply just not interested, then now would be a good time to click away.  However, if you stick around to read my post, you may learn a little more insight to the baffling female species.

Before children, my cycle was 21 days, but at the age of 34 after the birth of my second daughter, I began to have irregular periods.  For some cycles, my period would arrive 6 weeks later.  As you can imagine, these irregular period patterns would cause me to think I was pregnant, but then my old reliable Aunt Flo would finally arrive. 
About two years ago in the midst of this new pattern of irregular menstrual cycles, I became pregnant.  Unfortunately, the pregnancy was not viable and I lost my baby at 10 weeks, which was my first miscarriage and my first experience with all the awful symptoms that occur as a result, such as severe cramping and weeks of very heavy bleeding. 
Then, almost a year later to the date, I experienced another episode of severe heavy bleeding, which I thought I was another miscarriage.  I took a pregnancy test which read negative, but I doubted the accuracy of the test and tried 2 more tests which also read negative.  I began to think there was something more serious happening with me and I made an appointment with my obstetrician.

When I visited my OB, a number of tests were performed on me: a pregnancy test, blood work and an ultrasound.  As the other pregnancy tests already demonstrated, I was not pregnant.  Thyroid was also ruled out.  Nothing irregular showed up on my ultrasound.  So, what could be wrong with me? 

That’s when the nurse practitioner revealed to me news I was not ready to hear.  “You are experiencing pre-menopause.” 

*Freeze frame for dramatic effect and insert tragic climatic music.*

According to my NP, my heavy and irregular periods could only be explained by perimenopause.  It would not affect my ability to get pregnant, but simply my biological clock ticking and reminding me to get cracking if I want more children.

After I left the doctor’s office, I researched pre-menopause and I even recalled a show that Oprah did years ago about the topic.  When the episode aired, I remembered thinking what an unfortunate situation for these women in their thirties to face.  Who knew I would be one of those women? 

    
As I read the symptoms of perimenopause, it became a checklist for all my bizarre ailments over the past 2 years, particularly an increase in allergies and insomnia.  Even my poor sex-deprived DH would attest to my change in libido. 

Upon my research, I also discovered that perimenopause can occur 5-15 years prior to the onset of menopause.  I recalled my mother’s menopause experience.  My mother went through her change when I was teenager.  When I did the math, I realized my mom could have very well been my age when her symptoms of perimenopause surfaced.

As with everything else, diet and exercise seem to be the key to ward off the symptoms of perimenopause.  At the time of my menopause manifestation, I consumed a lot of Diet Dr. Pepper, so my first course of action was to replace my daily dose of diet soda with green tea.  I began to eat more flax seeds and other foods with Omega-3.  I added soy milk and soy beans to my diet.  I also limited my morning coffee to one cup.  I increased my number of work-out days from 3 days a week to 5 days. 

Within a week of changing my diet and increasing my exercise, I felt remarkably better.  My energy levels rose and my sleeping patterns improved.  My menstrual cycles became more regular and my menstrual flow gradually decreased.

It has been a year since my menopause manifestation.  By simply changing my diet and increasing my exercise routine, I feel I have found my own Fountain of Youth.