I recently received information from Betsy Storm, principal of Top Drawer Communications located in Chicago, Illinois about a new endeavor she started. The Mom Entrepreneur endorses Barack Obama so I was intrigued to learn what Betsy was doing to create awareness as well as increase her business. Here is her story…

“About eight months ago, I decided to boost my business while doing something good for the Obama Campaign at the same time. I used my knowledge of graphics, printing, marketing and PR in general to design and produce a limited-edition (500) high-quality long-sleeve T-shirt sporting the slogan “Mamas for Obama Know the Power of Voting.” The T-shirt, printed in front and back in color, has been a moneymaker for my business, a great way to raise awareness of my communications business and a fundraiser for the Obama Campaign. I will give $1,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the T-shirt to the Obama Campaign within a couple of weeks.”

Here is a link to her Web site for more information or to purchase a T-shirt and show your support: http://www.topdrawercommunications.com/mamas_for_obama.htm.

Sometimes it’s hard to stay positive during tumultuous financial times. So, I thought I’d highlight at least a few good things that have resulted from the economic downturn to keep things in perspective:

* Lower gas prices

In a time where already cash strapped consumers are witnessing the evaporation of their retirement accounts and house values, a little relief at the pump will be a welcome change. Gas prices have tumbled from their July highs of $4.11 a gallon down to just under $3 in many U.S. cities, due in large part to shrinking global demand. A happy by-product of this is the negative financial impact it will have on psycho oil-rich dictators like Chavez (Venezuela) and Ahmadinejad (Iran) who are now scrambling to restructure national budget obligations. Sorry boys….looks like the energy orgy is over and it’s time to sober up. I guess this might put a damper on their record of “checkbook diplomacy”, in their efforts to sway leftist or anti-West support in cash poor, vulnerable nations.

*Global warming will slow down

Okay, so I don’t have any scientific evidence to support this claim. But, I figure, if there’s less global demand for oil (and that includes oil guzzling China), then there’s less driving/flying/manufacturing, which means less carbon emissions, which means some slight relief for the ozone layer. Well….at least we can hope, right?

* Responsible bank lending

The days of easy credit are officially over. And while this is bad for some consumers, it’s the responsible thing for banks to do (not only for their balance sheets but for the economy as a whole). If there’s anything that we’ve learned from the sub-prime debacle, is that responsible lending is a critical component for a sound economy. Banks are reverting to their old ways…that is, prudent lending practices that were prevalent before the housing frenzy spiraled out of control. Borrowers will actually have to be credit worthy (gasp!) and will be forced to save for down payments in order to buy a home (gasp, gasp).

*Americans will FINALLY recognize the value in SAVING

It’s no secret, Americans are among the worst savers on the planet and that will come back to bite many of them in the tush right now (and of course in the future). A joint survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and MSN Money, found that Americans are largely unprepared for economic hard times–many don’t even have an emergency fund! I suspect that after we all survive this bitter dose of economic reality, many folks will learn their lessons and give serious consideration to saving for unforseen circumstances (like now) and also for their future. Sometimes it’s the negative experiences that teach us the best lessons and serve as a source of discipline and inspiration in later years.

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.

Reprinted with permission from Israelnewsletter.com

So we now have the much anticipated Barack Obama economic plan with the centerpiece being wealth redistribution. Taking from the rich and giving to the poor, or maybe we could say it’s not allowing one to become rich and making people stay poor. Haven’t we tried this before and seen disastrous results. Throw in a little capital gains tax and we have a recipe for a continued economic slowdown.

My last post about how investors are spooked about the prospect of an Obama victory sure seems even more plausible after hearing about his proposal. Taxing capital gains, increasing taxes for the so-called rich, and giving tax credits to those who don’t even pay taxes to begin with sounds like a rehash of European economic policy for the last few decades and look at their situation.

While the tax raise is troublesome enough, the most scandalous part of his plan is to raise death taxes across the board to 45%. What a scam. We are about to enter into the biggest generational wealth transfer in the history of the world and Obama wants to take 45% of it? Where is the outcry? Why should the government see a penny of inheritance money? Hasn’t it already been taxed multiple times? Everyone speaks about how Obama is all about justice; well where is the justice in taxing already taxed money?

If he gets elected this plan will come back and bite the very same people he is trying to help. Inheritance as well as letting workers keep more money of what the earn is the way to increase individual prosperity. If you were to confiscate all the joint net worth of both Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and you would distribute it evenly among all Americans how much would they end up getting? A couple of bucks at best. What kind of difference will that make to anyone.

This plan is outrageous, and will do nothing to help grow the economy. But heck, Barack, if you are in the giving mood, how about sharing some of the millions you made on your book?

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.

Sunday morning before reading the comics I thought “I am going to look for organizing tips that I can pass on to my friends”. And guess what?…I found organizing tips! I must say I was rather pleased.

The comic Rose is Rose (no credit as to who draws it) was my inspiration for my organizing tips. There was a drawing of cute Mimi picking up leaves running here and there with an armful of leaves in each frame. In the last frame her dad said to her mom, “The raking would go a lot faster if Mimi wasn’t color-coordinating the leaf piles”! I will admit even as a professional organizer that was over the top for me. But….

Color coordinating can make organizing clutter in our homes easier and faster and help to keep them organized. This is especially helpful for people with ADD.

•Use colored file folders. They are easier to distinguish in a file cabinet, or when they are left out. They key our minds as to what are in them. Freedom Filer filing system is the color coded system I use. My mind immediately keys in to what is in the files by color. (Resource, permanent, active, taxes, remove/replace). This has saved me a ton of time. And it is a no brainer when it comes to filing.
•Color coding towels for different bathrooms helps immediately to know what room they go to by color.
•Sheets color coded by size immediately identifies what bed they go to.

Look around your home and see how many things you color code and please share with us your organizing tips on how this helps you with organizing clutter and how to be more efficient and organized.

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).

There is a great deal of pride in the size of a man’s, er, uhm well, you know, their network or at least the number of people in their database.  But, isn’t there an old saying about it’s not about how big it is but more about how…….um, well how well you know the people in your network?

Quality of quantity, visibility networking over credibility networking.  When you work in your network, building relationships, following up with people finding ways that you can help them and connect them you are building a stronger, more credible network. 

Recently, I wanted to meet a certain person who’s name will not be mentioned.  I began to ask my network, who had this person in their network and could they connect me.  Keep in mind, for me a connection is either a face to face introduction or a conference phone call where all three parties are on the call.  More than half my network had his name and number in their network, but only 2 people were able to pick up the phone and arrange a meeting and introduction and both of those people were willing to make that happen for me.    Only 2 people really knew the person I was looking for………so what good were the others?  What value is there in having a name and phone number in your network if you have not done anything to turn it into a relationship. 

Take time to develop your network, not just grow your network.  Take the time to build Credibility, in so doing, it will lead to Profitability! 

I had taken the time to build strong relationships with the 2 people who were willing to connect me, they were in my highly credible network and I was in theirs, so they did not hesitate to make the connection for me.   By the way, the 2 people who were able to connect me, theirs were not the biggest.

Ok, we know that the economy has gone south, credit is practically unavailable, businesses are drawing their spending back and so is the consumer, so what are you going to do as a business owner or sales manager to make sure that your business is not one of those that will be gone tomorrow?

The two places that most business want to cut back are not the wisest choices:

Training - A successful sales team or business owner stays involved with continuous training, keeping their prospecting, and sales skills sharp. This is the one place that the small business owner pinches their pennies, finding no value in quality training. It is important to keep new material in front of both the business owner and the sales teams.  Now is not the time to stop learning more about how to be a more effective sales person, how to implement referral systems that will generate higher referred prospects and how to close more deals.

Memberships -  Business Owners and Sales Managers alike begin to pull back on the networking groups and organizations where their teams have been spending time. A better result would be to diversify the organizations and make sure that you and your team are spending time in the right places with the right people and measure their results. 

After completing our course many of our clients are amazed at how much time they have invested in  networking activities that are not productive or effective.  If you and your people are out there networking then it is impotant that they be trained to do more than create visibility.  They must be able to effectively leverage their networks that become profitable for both parties.

Now is not the time to pull back, now is the time to become more strategic and more effective. 

Here is a poem from my daughter Julie

“She whispered in the wind, hoping her words would travel safely to the soft pink pools in their ears. Where they keep the memory of her childhood laughter, safely echoing and resting like she did in their arms when a child.”

I read this and thought that was nice. But I didn’t understand it until my other daughter re-read it to me and explained what it was saying. Wow! It is beautiful.

I think that is how it is with many of us; we want to get organized and we often “collect” organizing ideas and organizing tips but we don’t know what to do with the information. Sometimes we need someone else to help us understand organizing ideas or organizing tips in a different way.

I have a friend who bought a container to hold pens in her desk. The next day her girls took the container and were using it for something else. She jumped to the conclusion that containers don’t work and never bought another one for ten years. (GASP, containers make organizing fun, easy and simple). She had a good organizing idea but she needed more help or instruction on how to successfully use it.

A few things she could have done was to explain to her girls what it was going to be used for and if they needed containers for other things she would get them. She could have labeled the container. Labeling containers seems to anchor the contents to the container and it makes it easy to find things in them.

What is an organizing idea or organizing tip that has worked well for you?

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).

Being a single mom and still providing for yourself or your children can be a very stressful and frustrating experience. There are many problems in finances for single moms and loans for single moms but getting help isn’t always easy so there are some services you should be aware of.

Education loans can be very tough to pay back, should you have debts remaining on your student loans. This may force many moms to consolidate their payments, which will put them into debt for 10-30 years, but allow them to keep out of bankruptcy longer. If you have children who wish to obtain student loans, and you are a single mother, it is harder to get such loans for a few reasons. First, women usually make less money than men. If you are a single mom, you don’t have a partner’s help with income, and also learn less than a man would. You are also less likely to have enough collateral to prove that you can pay the loans back, and you are more likely to have previous debts to pay. Education loans and single moms obviously do not mix well together, as you can see.

Like education loans, automobile and home loans operate in the same manner. You are more likely to be rejected for a house rather than an apartment, since houses on average cost much more. Automobiles also put single moms at a disadvantage- since automobiles often break down, requiring more money be spent. This makes the odds that a single mother can pay back a loan less likely, as maintenance can eat up much of a single mother’s income.

Business loans are another subject that may cause single mothers to have trouble obtaining loans. This is increasingly harder than other loans, since businesses are extremely risky operations. The odds of maintaining a successful business is usually quite low for small business owners. Having sufficient collateral is again a problem with single mothers, forcing many to not get the needed business loans to start their own business. Single mothers usually have a lower credit score, since they incur more debts than other couples or single men on average. This will also lead to a lesser chance of getting approved by credit card companies, making the buying power of single mothers even more burdensome.

However, there are ways to influence or take advantage of situations in favor of single mothers. You may speak with the Department of Social Services for things such as welfare, food stamps, child support, medical programs, and child care assistance. These programs can be found in phone books, government agencies or on this website. There is a lot of paperwork to apply, and the waiting time can be very long. The wait is often worth it, since single moms need all the help they can get.

School lunch and breakfast programs should be taken advantage of. This is a federal program that gives reduced prices or even free lunches and breakfast to kids who attend school, and eat at the school. Other grants can help you in funding for food or even gas and heating bills. Churches often have programs to help as well, and you should explore all of these options for a better life for children a single mom may have. Reduced prescriptions and free counseling are also available to those who apply- so make sure you take advantage of such offers to the fullest.

When looking to improve your credit score, you should have family members or roommates split bills, and put some bills in your name. This will improve your dependability and credit rating. Also make sure that you stay away from penalties such as bounced checks, which can effectively ruin your credit. Doing this will eventually raise your credit score enough to gain some respect among loan specialists, which can bring you to a new step above where you previously were.

When you have better access to loans, you can get lower rates. You can better obtain a business loan, for example, with your improved credit rating. You may also co-sign loans with family members to add credit to your score- and regular payments will again boost it. In case you can not make a payment, the money is then billed to your family member- so either way the bank will most likely get its money. This is the best way to obtain a loan if you are not qualified enough, and doing so is one of the best ways to improve your credit.

Over all, single moms are at a disadvantage. Statistically, they will make less money and not qualify for loans. They will also have more poor living experiences, and will have less buying power. Following the previous steps will allow single moms to achieve a better way of life for them or their children, regardless of their standing in society’s hierarchy.

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.

During one of our water breaks on our long Sunday runs, Tiffany asked me what time I put down on the application for the Disney Marathon.  

“Well, if I run at my slowest pace of 11 minute miles, that’s 55 minutes to run 5 miles.  Given that pace, I figure I should finish it in about 5 hours, right?” 

“Good!  That’s what I thought, too!” Tiffany replied.  “My goal is to beat Katie Holmes’s time: 5:29:58.” 

“Oh we could so beat her!”  We’ll kick Katie Holmes’s a$$!” 

Then, this past week, Tiffany asked me if I knew that Palin ran a marathon. 

“Palin ran a marathon?” 

“Yeah, it was in Runner World.  Her time was 3:59:36.” 

“How old was she?  Wow.  The other Denise was right.  She is a super woman.  She is a machine, but I still ain’t voting for her.” 

I began to visualize Palin running a marathon along the icy polar caps of Alaska while holding a rifle and shooting baby seals.  How does a mother of five and a governor find time to train for a marathon?  How can she be that fast?  She simply can not be human.

My training trance was abruptly interrupted when Lori commented on how my pace suddenly picked up a bit.  

“Well, I thought we only had to be Katie Holmes.  Now, I have to beat Palin’s time!” 

Indeed, Palin did run a marathon at the fabulous age of 41.  She ranked 15^th place in her division and 63^rd out of 203 runners. 

If I can’t beat her time in January or February, then it’s something for me to strive when I hit the big 4-0! 

Other Politicians Who Have Run Marathons

• George W. Bush, Houston Marathon 1993 (3:44:52)
• Michael Dukakis, Governor of Massachusetts, Boston Marathon 1951 (3:31:00)
• John Edwards, Marine Corps Marathon 1983 (3:30:18)
• Bill Frist, Marine Corps Marathon 1997 (4:54:36)
• Al Gore, Marine Corps Marathon 1997 (4:58:25)
• Mike Huckabee, Governor of Arkansas, Little Rock Marathon 2005 (4:39:04)
• Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa, Little Rock Marathon 2005 (5:28:39)
•  Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Marine Corps Marathon (3:11:xx) 1979

Celebrities Times I have to Beat

• Katie Holmes, New York City Marathon 2007 (5:29:58)
• Oprah Winfrey, Marine Corps Marathon 1994 (4:29:20)    
• Will Ferrell, Boston Marathon 2003 (3:56:12) -As if I could run that fast!  LOL
• David Lee Roth, New York City Marathon 1987 (6:04:43) - I could so kick his rocking a$$!
• Mario López, Saved by the Bell, Boston Marathon 2002 (5:41:41)