#- this household is good on the donating equal or more money than spent on the holiday

[juniperharvest]

I don’t even think I can convey how much I need the 4 day break I have coming up. For no one in particular my plans are as follows:

Thursday: make scalloped potatoes, watch Molly of Denali and maybe cry a bit

Friday: listen to Tommy’s playlist and vibe in bed, do need to buy some stuff on the day of capitalism like a bed frame for said bed and maybe boots for myself as a treat (but also a necessity of someone who walks to work and lives in the PNW)

Saturday: finally redo briars tattoos and post my circle of magic fanart Sunday: B-)

[mistahgrundy]

Please help Rowan

https://www.gofundme.com/f/hp3x4-help-me-not-lose-my-home?member=17624197&sharetype=teams&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer

I know their go fund me looks fully funded but it’s not, that’s the goal that was set back in december and they haven’t updated it. They still need help.

Rowan was kicked from their house in their teens (I’m sorry I’m using they/them because I’m not entirely sure on their pronouns I think it might be he/him but I don’t want to assume) for being queer. They spent some time being homeless and then finally got out of that and went back to school to become a mortician when they got diagnosed with cancer

Since 2020 I’ve been posting in a PMF thread called Passing Time In Chemotherapy: A Diary, which has been equal parts me talking about fighting Stage Four Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and being given two months to live, and equal parts screaming about how horrible the American Healthcare System is and trying to make a case for universal healthcare. Briefly I went into remission and then my cancer returned. I also have Stage 1 breast cancer. These last two weeks I have been in the hospital with a kidney disease likely brought on by my chemotherapy treatments, and a lung disease which I need tests to rule out that it’s lung cancer. The problem is I need $4500 to continue receiving care because I am am several hundred thousands dollars in debt due to my chemotherapy. Each chemo treatment cost me $50k after insurance, which no sane person has, so the debt has built up to the point where I am being held hostage for micropayments in the thousands of dollars range in order to receive life saving treatments. I received mod approval to post a GoFundMe I set up in order to pay just for December healthcare bills. I will either lose treatment or lose my home, and I was recently homeless over a year a few years ago and would not like to repeat the experience. My wife is permanently disabled after her battle with Ovarian Cancer (and needs another $800 down payment foe a surgery but that’s ANOTHER can of worms). Basically, without goon help, I am fucked. I have zero plans for Christmas or any holidays this season because I’m too busy fighting to keep my home and my health. My GFM is nearly halfway funded as it is, and on the off chance that it gets overfunded the excess will go towards my wife’s surgery. Both my GFM page and my PMF thread show I am very transparent with where the money goes and what it’s spent on, so no worries there. You can find my GoFundMe here! I intent to post an update to it this evening to keep everyone up to date with health stuff. If you would rather donate something other than money, which I totally get, I have an Amazon wishlist here which is mostly household things we need and food for the cats. I will happily post pictures of them in the thread. They are very sweet baby who cry if a stranger comes to the apartment and doesn’t pick them up. I’ll try to stay on top of removing items from the wishlist as they get bought. I’m not very good with signing off posts, but if anyone has any questions about Lymphona or chemo or the american healthcare system (or just want to see cat photos!) please feel free to ask and I’ll answer as best I can! Thank you in advance for your generosity and kindness. Bless. Edit 12/10: It was suggested that I throw my Venmo in the OP for those who would rather donate that way! Venmo: @moringottos Paypal (please ignore my deadname it’s a nightmare to change): paypal.me/necromancermoons

This is their update today, May 25 2022:

The minimum payments for my medical bills in arrears (mostly chemo) comes out of my bank account automatically to prevent them from suing me over it. I’ve already used my one (1) free grace period of “please give me a few more days before you take my money” according to the lady on the phone, so I’m left with $0.11 in my bank account with several bills, including rent, looming on the horizon. The electric company has already made it very clear they will not hesitate to cut off my power if I even act like I’m going to be late. What do you even do when faced with this level of “fuck you entirely”? I keep telling myself that people are inherently good, but between this and the news and the man at the insurance company writing me a polite email that says “if you have another cancer, try dying this time”, I’m starting to have a hard time with it.

May 18, 2022 7:32 PM

Due to some concerning test results my oncologist is now pushing for testing for multiple myeloma. MM killed my birth dad. I think I may have sorta blacked out during half of what she said. I asked her if it was usual to have this sort of insane cancerous comorbidity, she said it’s not impossible. The imagining center got back to me FINALLY. They said even though my insurance is up in the air and they usually require payment at time of service, my doctors have been hounding them enough that they will let me have a payment plan for x-rays and scans costs. I’ve had enough biopsies that the MM tests don’t scare me like they would have two years ago. Immediately after my lung biopsy I threw up a ton of blackish blood so I feel inoculated to the trauma. Anyways at this point it feels silly, like my body is throwing this massive temper tantrum that it doesn’t want to be here anymore and it’s like “understandable, but consider: we can’t let capitalism win”. Also god won’t let me die because then I’ll be his problem.

the threads: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3987338&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1 I believe this one isn’t paywalled

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3916924 but this one might be, this is their diary of day to days of discovering the cancer (they went to the hospital for covid originally). warning: this thread might be very upsetting and hard to read if you have hospital or cancer trauma. or even without

[lildante]

A Government by The People

A Government by The People

For The People.

Article One

       When did our government stop being “of the people” and become a corporation?

Far too long we have had career politicians holding seats for profit over the interests of the American People. No longer do the interests of the constituents that these people represent matter. Our system of government has turned into a “for profit” organization.

We have our representatives making three times the median income of the general public, yet the people struggle maintaining the necessities we need to live. We have impoverished people working multiple jobs just to merely get by.

We have a taxing system that increases the wealth of the rich, and keeps the working class struggling to make ends meet. Taxes are meant to build and maintain our society, yet we spend so much on foreign aid. Should we not take care of the people of our society before helping other societies?

We have a voting system of all or none when it comes to the electoral college, making it so not every voice matters. Presidential candidates only need to win a few States to secure their win because we give the entire States vote to the majority of the people of that State. 

So how can we change it? Is it too late for our society as we see it? Is there anything that will save our Great Nation?  I believe we can recover and become Great again. We need to return how we run this Country to The People as it was meant to be.

Pg. 1

To begin with we need to make our representatives equal to the people. Why is it we pay our representatives so much more than the people they represent? The average income of a politician is $175,000 per annum with a yearly cost of living increase. The median income of the people is roughly $68,000 per household annually, and we are paying representatives almost three times the amount that a two income family makes. We need to adjust our representatives salaries to reflect that of the people. We should have people who wish to take office do it for the good of the people, not for the exuberant payday. Representatives should make no more than that of the median of the people they represent.

Taxing of the lower and middle class has also gotten out of hand. We tax the people based on their income, yet many fall below the median of their area. We allow the wealthy to “donate” to themselves through an organization they have created for themselves. We need to make our taxing system work for all. I believe this can be accomplished by using the median of an area to regulate what percentage one pays for taxes. The median should be a base point as the minimum owed, and as wealth increases over the median then so should the taxing.

Having a median based taxed system would also be beneficial to all. If we would tax wealthy businesses and corporations instead of allowing frivolous deductions to lower their tax penalty then they would look to the employees to increase the median of the area they do business.

The People’s money is spent so carelessly with no oversight. We have some citizens who have turned a career into the welfare system. This system was made to help people in hard times not to let individuals abuse the system and be taken care of by the working class. We need better regulations of what constitutes hardship.

We need to stop spending so much on foreign aid until we aid the people of our own Nation first. Our tax system was made for the people of this Nation not others. Our Nation collects $500 Billion a year and yet we have citizens who can barely afford a place to call home.

Pg.2 

We need to regulate how donation deductions work as most of the wealth is just passed around between the different organizations owned by the wealthy. We need to regulate that these donations are actually being used for the causes that should be deductible instead of just paying salaries of members of the organization. Political donations should not be deductible. No “charitable” organization should be given a tax exempt status unless it is truly for a necessity of the people. 

We have organizations given tax exempt status who do nothing “charitable” for the People of our Nation. We have organizations that collect donations and pay themselves a hefty salary to which 1-3% actually go to the cause they collect for. If it truly is a charitable cause why would one keep a majority of it for themselves?

We also need to reconfigure the banking system in this Country. The people who place funds into the banking system to gain a mere percentage, usually under 1%, of what banks are making with our money. Banks charge anywhere from 5%-23.99% with the funds we have placed in their care, through loans and other profitable ventures. Is it fair that the American People’s money is used to gain profits for the institutions? 

Along the lines of banking we also have the great credit reporting agencies, which allows for exuberant interests to be charged by their perspective of responsibility to repay. Why is it that it is only monies borrowed that show the ability to repay? Does someone's rental payments not give some insight into the ability to pay a mortgage? Why aren’t these payments a factor for credit worthiness? We need to fix what and how things may be reported on the basis of necessity, which should be a factor into credit worthiness.

Our Presidential voting system is something else that needs to be repaired. We have a win all take system with the electoral college. if the State is majority for one candidate over the other, then that candidate wins the entirety of that electoral vote of that State. Why should the minority of those States vote not matter? The electoral vote should be divided as that State is divided. This would lead to a more precise choice of leadership by the majority of the people. It would cause candidates to look at the Nation as a whole over just key states that would secure a win.

Pg. 3

We also have certain positions which can or are a lifetime position ranging from representatives through re-election and Supreme Court Justices who are appointed by not the People but by the President at the time. We can not allow members to be able to hold a position of power for as long as they see fit, this should be upto the people.

We need to also restructure the Criminal Justice System to make sure when laws are broken the penalty is based on facts and evidence not by the “net worth” of the individual on trial. Along with the penalties to be the same across all individuals breaking the law without outside “personal” factors coming into play.

But how would we as “The People” change how the system already works? This Nation has been divided by too many wedges pushed on the people. We are segregated by so many different aspects in this Nation that we have a hard time seeing how to become one as a People. We are divided by Race, Party affiliation, Gender, and even sexual identity. They have pushed for us to be selfish in our own ways, through the media, to blind us to the corruption that is going on around us.

We need to put aside our differences and truly watch what is becoming of this Nation and the corruption that is guiding it. We need to be one voice so that our “leaders” will hear us. One way to do this would be to refuse to pay taxes, claim allowances with our payroll departments to stop having our tax prepayments made and make them understand we are done paying for the demise of our great Nation. Let us start holding their paychecks for failure to do the jobs they have been hired to do. We need to come together as one and show them, we need change. 

I  know we have countless other matters that we need to fix to bring this Country back to the Nation it once was. This could just be the start of the peaceful revolution that we as The People of the United States need to start before we no longer have a say in this Nation. It will either lead to change for the better or the next revolutionary war.

Pg.4

[wanderingsoul]

money and love

i recently saw a podcast clip talking about how we often feel the same about money as we do relationships. if we’re in a scarcity mindset, its most likely affecting these two areas of our lives in similar ways. 

my first reaction was to balk at the comparison, knowing that money stresses me out beyond belief and feeling that i’ve “hacked” relationships at this point and they don’t really cause me a lot of anxiety anymore. mostly due to an extreme amount of self-evaluation and need to have everything packed away neatly, but i digress. 

ever since i was young, i felt money was something that i always craved but never had enough of. my family grew up poor, and so there was no room for extras or fancy things. my mom says i was cursed with expensive taste, and i actually agree with her. i am drawn to designer clothes and shoes, expensive events and hobbies and really a luxury lifestyle. i started working when i was 13 years old, and from the get-go, i never got into the practice of saving. anything that i made babysitting would be spent at the mall or online within a few weeks or months. my parents would force me to donate money to our church, or a charity every month but that was the only time the money i made was not mine to use entirely. once the pattern was created, it has stayed fairly consistent over the past 10 years, with increasing paychecks, and increasing spending. i’ve paid almost every bill ive had early, and was able to save enough to buy a few cars, and a house, so you would think i would have some sense of security in that. or security in my job, where i make more than the median household income in america. but somehow its never enough. every check is spent paying off student loans and my credit card debt, which is from the last check where i spent more than i made. and i am fully stuck in the cycle. it feels like for years now, at least 1-2 years, that has been my life. bi-weekly stress of paying off bills and loans, and over-drafting my account several times a year. you would think at some point, i would start saying no, learn some impulse control and stop buying things. and some months i do, but most months i don’t. so lets look at the mindset i have when it comes to money, which is “it comes and goes easily”. i say this often mostly joking but truly do feel this way. i am able to make much more than i ever though possible, and am able to afford things and experiences i never thought possible. i hardly every say no to things regardless of the cost because i know i will be able to manage it. i still manage to pay my credit cards off every month so in my mind i am fine. i still stress every single paycheck, every month about money, but also am having the most fun of my life. 

when it comes to relationships, i can see some sort of patterns in my early experiences. i really did not have any notable relationships until college, and felt that attention was not something that i got very often. i had been single for a very long time, and did’t care to compete to date someone like most everyone else did. so when i did attach, i would become a bit obsessive. i would think about them all the time, want to spend every waking moment with them, and for the first notable partners, they did not feel the same. but as i’ve matured and expanded my dating pool, i have come to realize that i am the commodity. i am the prize and i can put in fairly minimal effort to get the attention i want. however, the attention that i get is never from someone that i see as an equal, or someone i would consider as a serious partner; it often comes from lonely guys looking for a good time. my mindset is a bit more protective of myself when it comes to dating, i am not going to invest my time in something i know won’t lead to where i want, and when i do invest time into someone, its at my pace, on my timeline, when works for me. i do not chase love, and i truly believe what is meant for me will be for me. 

after looking at both areas of my life, i realize that i do have some sort of trust in the universe that i will be taken care of, and i will be able to do achieve all my dreams. but for some reason, that peace doesn’t carry over as easily into money as it does in relationships, even though the stability i have in money is arguably much more than in relationships. i think with money i feel out of control and irresponsible, whereas in relationships i almost always feel in control. i would like to shift my thinking about money away from the scarcity mindset into one of abundance. 

[paintedpeeta]

bonjour, may I request some day in the life content? 🌷

domestic, everyday everlark is my entire brand so of course you can!!!

🕯 🧺 ☕️🍂 🛁 🪵 🍲

first off, i think that peeta is a super early riser. it would just come with being a baker, and although some people don’t see him reopening the bakery after the war, i think that he would. so with that, he’s the first to get up in the morning. sometimes it bugs katniss when she’s especially cozy and is disturbed from a good sleep, but it’s something that she would get used to as they grew back together and started living as a family. he tries to be as quiet as possible when he’s puttering around the house in the early hours, and usually sets her out some tea to wake up to or maybe prepares a quick breakfast for her (that has to be kept well out of reach of the cat who never leaves his side when he’s in the kitchen, scrounging scraps and being an all around nuisance).

katniss becomes less inclined to getting out of bed early as time goes on and she heals. she no longer has to hunt everyday to feed her household, and eventually she learns to enjoy and feel like she’s earned a long lie-in. when she does get up though, she always has a plan in mind of how she’s going to spend her day - whether it’s visiting peeta at the bakery, going to the woods, or spending a day trying to get haymitch’s house in some sort of order. she runs errands and stops to talk to the people in town, who she originally thought were being nosey and prying in her life but has come to realise they all genuinely care for her in their own way.

when it comes to day-to-day around the house, i think peeta would do most of the chores. not because katniss refuses to, but because he thinks that he’s better at them 💀. he complains that she doesn’t dry the countertops after doing the dishes, and pairs odd socks together when folding the laundry. she thinks he’s a clean freak and he thinks she’s a pain in the ass, but they make it work. at mealtimes, they split up the cooking duties (even though she swears he’s a better cook than her) and a lot of the time they end up working together on dinner. he can get quite sidetracked by trying to sneak some kisses in while she works away in the kitchen, but she manages to keep him in check - especially when she’s hungry and wanting to get her food with as little fuss as possible involved.

they both take care of haymitch in equal shares, as well as doing their bit for the community around them. if there was any sort of childrens home i think they’d both want to help out in anyway they could, either in the form of donations or hands on volunteering. peeta uses money from the bakery to fundraise for the school, and katniss volunteers to tend to the grounds from time to time. katniss has to become more sociable than she’d like to be, because peeta enjoys having people over for dinner and attending little events around the district. the first time he asks her to go to the harvest festival with him “as a date”, she looks at him like he’s insane (they’re married.) but she agrees and entertains the idea for his sake.

on days where neither of them are busy, they try to find things to do together outside of their home. it’s usually hiking out to spend an afternoon at the lake, or when the weather is less favorable they simply fill some flasks with hot chocolate and go for a walk around town. at first, she shies away from any sort of public affection but as they grow closer and she becomes more comfortable in their relationship, she walks through town burrowed into his side. some days they’re happy to just laze and take a bath together and then spend the rest of the night in bed. they both learn to live life easily, together.

their evenings are often spent doing separate things while they sit together. i can see him painting or sketching while she sits at the other edge of the couch, either sewing (which she learned how to do in order to fix their clothes, but finds that she likes it post-war as it keeps her hands busy while being less sinister than tying ropes) or writing in the plant book, or even reading. occasionally, one will stretch out to nudge the other and remind them of their presence. when he starts to notice her eyes getting tired he’ll stop whatever he’s doing and urge her up to bed.

they have their own night time routines too, but they often help each other out. she reminds him to remove his leg, and he applies cream to the burns scars that she can’t reach on her back. he braids and unbraids her hair until he has it perfect, while she doses off in the cool air or their bedroom. she traces patterns on his arms and trunk before he moves her hands away and grumbles about being ticklish. sometimes she’ll sing for him, but only when he asks her - she can’t say no to him when they’re lying tangled up together. sometimes sleep comes easy, and other times they’ll lie awake for hours. they both try their best not to disturb the other when they give up on sleep altogether and get out of bed, but they usually get out of bed to go and find them in their absence.

the bad days become more sporadic as time goes on, but they never fully go away. it’s something that they both learn to live with, and learn how they can help the other when things get too much. at first, he tries to let her come out of bed on her own time but eventually he becomes a little firmer, urging her to get out and making sure that she’s still eating and taking care of herself - even if it is like she’s on autopilot while he reminds her to do all of these things. i doubt that his episodes are ever violent after the war, because honestly i don’t think that he would have gone back to 12 if he thought he was a risk to her safety (and i also doubt that he’d start a serious, intimate relationship with her like we see at the end of the books). however, that doesn’t mean they’d be any less terrifying and exhausting for both of them. he worries about losing control, and she worries about losing him. they have to navigate through something that is probably an entirely unique situation, and so there’s bound to be some learning curves and roadblocks along the way. but of course, they manage together.

🕯 🧺 ☕️🍂 🛁 🪵 🍲

[emma-what-son]

Eat the Rich: Classism in the UK Entertainment Industry

Ohnotheydidnt Jan. 2020: To take you back a few years ago, right when HP was coming to an end, there was HP Blue-ray bonus documentary where Emma claimed to have come from a poor family. How she got pencils as gifts for her bday and how her dad didn’t afford to send her to the school she went to. This post is a great addition to posts I’ve made a few years ago about how Emma wasn’t actually poor growing up. You can find the posts here.

# TimesYa Grammar Kween Emmione Granger has come a long way since her # HeForShe days, taking the criticisms levelled towards her white feminism to heart and upping her activist game. Since that B.A. in English lit from Brown has gotta go somewhere, one only has to look as far as her Twitter and Instagram feeds (I appreciate that she at least uses her massive platform to lend exposure to women of colour, Ireland’s abortion rights, workplace harassment and from someone who has struggled brutally with gender dysphoria, trans visibility—no sarcasm there). Though once upon a time, Justin Bieber’s Disney Doll was under the impression that she could persuade her legion of fans she enjoyed an ordinary upbringing. Notably, in 2009/10 during a set interview for Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (included in the four-disk Blu-Ray bonus documentary When Harry Left Hogwarts) she presented herself in a vulnerable light, stating that when her parents divorced when she was five years old her financial situation was “tight” (transcribed in the gifs below because the doc is no longer on YouTube, boo!).

YUUUSSS KWEEEN! Hermione is an ONTD member like the rest of us! Or *dot dot dot* is she? While her words sound inspiring and classy at face value and being the cute bae that she is she doesn’t deny she was well-educated, what is missing from her version of the tale and her carefully manufactured image, however, is that both the good sis’ parents are lawyers. From around 1995/96 until 2003, she attended the co-educational pre-prep and prep day and boarding institution, Lynams nursery and the Dragon School in Oxford (Tom Hiddlebum and his one shirt was also a pupil). The fees [applied to 2019/20] eat up as much as £31,686 for boarders and £21,768 for day pupils each schoolyear (there are three academic terms in British schooling). Circa 1999-2000, Emma was also a pupil at the Stagecoach Theatre Arts School Oxford Headington, a franchise part-time theatre school (about ten minutes away from the Dragon). According to their website, “The cost per term for Early Stages is £168 and for Main Stages it is £336.” This is simply a luxury skint kids cannot receive without a grant or hardship fund and based on one version of events Emma has told us, it was while she was in attendance at Stagecoach when she was spotted (along with other potentials) by the Potter casting team for the role of Hermione. (I also discovered through related Google searches that some other minor actors from the Potter series, particularly Daniel Radcliffe’s “son” Albus Potter and “mother” Little Lily Potter went to the Dragon School and Stagecoach in Oxford, respectively. “Lily” was even taught by Emma’s former drama teacher and principal, Maya Sprigg—which tells me this woman’s hustle is not a coincidence.) From there, Emma attended Headington until the age of 18, an independent girls’ day and boarding school. The admission fees for Upper 3-5 and Sixth Form day pupils [applied to 2019/20] is £6,090 per term (£18,270 a year); full boarders pay up to £36,630 a year. Last year, the cost for day pupils was £5,884 per term (£17.5k/yr.). In 2016 before the UK referendum, fees for boarders were roughly £28k a year. As for her parents’ professions, her father Chris Watson is Head of the CMS Technology, Media and Communications Group (he has a M.A. from the New College, Oxford). We also know from a December 2010 British Vogue interview that he owns a vineyard in France where Emma spent the summers as a child. Her mother Jacqueline “Jackie” (nee Luesby) joined the Smith & Williamson financial services firm in 2007 as a senior manager for their tax team in London (she previously worked for Morgan Cole, a commercial law firm in Oxford and from circa 1990-95 the tax team Ernst & Young, an accounting firm in Paris, Emma’s birthplace). In a September 2015 British Vogue interview, Emma confirmed her parents worked full-time: “My parents couldn’t take the time off; they had careers and they weren’t together. They couldn’t swap in and out like Rubert Grint’s [sic] and Dan Radcliff’s [sic] parents.” Emphasis on careers, not occupations. 

My basic bitch research skills are unable to track down the estimated salaries of her parents’ positions, but the Great British Class Survey classifies lawyers (including telecommunication lawyers and solicitors) as “elite” and the average household income is placed at £89,000 a year. Me thinks her parents weren’t blowing through £89k on pasta, toast and beans. Post-Potter, Emma pulled in $3 to $15 million for 2017’s Beauty and the Beast (obviously, this was a decade ago, but in 2010 she was making around $32 million). In 2018, she donated £1 million ($1.4 million) to Justice and Equality, an anti-sexual harassment fund (disappointing however, the superior Emma Thompson only donated £500, GIRL?!). Guess she figured she should finally throw away pennies of that Potter money from her offshore accounts (‘cause you can’t take it with it you)? In 2019, her estimated net worth is $80 million (about £60.9 million). Before Hermione blessed her with bad hair, Emma was already the slaying Speak & Spell singing Disney princess we deserved. Although, it seems she has since educated herself and changed her tune. In 2018, she introduced Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race for her Goodreads book club, writing: “When I heard myself being called a ‘white feminist’ I didn’t understand. […] It would have been more useful to spend the time asking myself questions like: What are the ways I have benefited from being white? In what ways do I support and uphold a system that is structurally racist? How do my race, class and gender affect my perspective?” No one needs to award her brownie points and even if I (along with most of ONTD) am not fond of her tightly controlled PR image, it’s one step towards acknowledging she’s part of a structural, systematic problem and it’s more than what most privileged celebs are willing to do when called out. On the other hand, homegirl needs to be educated on tax evasion. In the meantime, the Oatmeal Queen is living her best life with her Pop Rocks.

[salesna21ahsgov]

California Proposition Assessment

Proposition #4 : Waiting period and parental notification before termination of minor’s pregnancy (2008)

This proposition wouldn’t allow minors to have an abortion until 48 hours after their parents or guardian has been notified. There are exceptions if there’s a medical emergency or if the minor can appear in court and prove their maturity. The proposition also mandates reporting requirements and insures that abortion is done only with the minor’s consent. 

Fiscal Impact: There is an unknown net state cost but could cost several million dollars annually for health and social services programs, court administration, and state health agency administration combined.

Election Results: The election results voted no on the proposition. I was not surprised by the election results but surprised how close it was. 

Proposition Supporters: 

The Friends of Sarah, the Parental or Alternative Family Member Notification Act was the official ballot committee

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Dr. Joseph R. Zanga, M.D., FFAP, Past President American Academy of Pediatrics

Barbara Alby, Author, California's "Megan's Law" Child Protection Legislation

Mary L. Davenport, M.D., Fellow American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Thomas Murphy Goodwin, M.D., FAAP, FACOG, Professor Of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California

The Honorable Rod Pacheco, J.D., District Attorney, Riverside County

The Honorable Tony Rackauckas, J.D., District Attorney, Orange County

The Honorable Bob Brooks, Sheriff, Ventura County

The Honorable Dennis Downum, Sheriff, Calaveras County

Frank Lee, President, Organization for Justice & Equality

Dr. Kenneth Williams, School Board Member, Orange County

Donors:

James E. Holman (He is a publisher of the San Diego reader who also donated large sums of money supporting past propositions 85 and 73 which both failed to pass. He seems to be very dedicated to his cause but all three propositions have not passed.)

Don Sebastiani (He was one of the chief bankers for the proposition and worked alongside James Holman.)

Knihgts of Columbus (This is a Catholic fraternal service order and being Catholic, may have a biased opinion on abortion.) 

Mary Jane Creamer

Lenawee Trust 

Caster Family Trust

The supporters and donors don’t all have an abundance or similarities or are in one political group. Most of them come from various backgrounds, and many of the supporters in California are from Southern California while those who oppose the proposition are from Northern California which I found was interesting.

 Arguments for and against: 

PRO: When a minor gets an abortion without notifying their family there could be health issues that are dismissed and that may cause trouble after the abortion or if there are complications. Also, if the minor needed an abortion because of sexual abuse they may not notify anyone because if the parent knew it would be more likely to be reported. Without parental notification, abuse can be repeated and the victim may be less likely to get help. 

CON: No law should be able to mandate parental communication and those type of laws don’t work. The minor may not have a good relationship with their parents, and they may be suffering from home abuse and notification might cause them to get kicked out, beaten, etc. Also, minors may decide to perform at home abortions to avoid the parental notification which are dangerous. They may also consider suicide or delay medical care. 

How I would vote: I would have voted NO on this proposition because if I was a young girl living in a household without a solid parental relationship, or even a victim of abuse at home who needed an abortion, I couldn’t begin to imagine how much stress the parental notification would cause me. Not all parents are supportive of abortion even if it is their own child and the notification could possibly put her more at danger than if there were to be an abortion related medical issue. Especially today since so many young people struggle with mental illnesses and how much suicide rates have increased, this would just negatively affect that even more.

Fun Fact: One thing I found interesting from the ballot website was how Planned Parenthood had donated so much money against this proposition and how almost 3 times the amount of money was spent against it. 

[yourusedfurniture-blog]

Edinburgh Furnishings Initiative

Stag furniture is no longer made, however there's a huge following for secondhand Stag pieces. Nonetheless, individuals are keen to purchase secondhand garments on account of a thriving and creative charity retail sector. The examine was the first to combine motivational coaching on smoking with an immediate form of suggestions, and follows decades of earlier analysis by Hovell and others at SDSU on secondhand smoke and the residue from thirdhand smoke left on carpets, furniture and other household materials. You might be more inclined to alter or update second hand furniture to make it fit your personal model and taste, and in lots of cases it is a much more economical solution than buying new.

Many people are conscious of the risks of second hand smoke, however, they don't seem to be conscious of the deep effects; even the smallest of residual of that smoke that sticks to your garments and furnishings can be very harmful. Everyone seems to be secondhand to having a number of experiences ubiquitous the day. A seller in secondhand furnishings He's always haunting the secondhand outlets for bargains. Scientists reported as we speak that one compound from this "third-hand smoke," which kinds when second-hand smoke reacts with indoor air, damages DNA and sticks to it in a means that could doubtlessly cause most cancers.

They discovered that decrease earnings, much less education, frequent residential strikes and fluctuations within the number of adults inside the residence had been related to excessive smoke exposure, whereas time spent at a middle-primarily based daycare was associated with decrease smoke publicity. Current well being articles recommendation for folks to be extraordinarily cautious about second hand smoke. College students who select to stay off-campus might find that furnishing their house with previously owned furnishings, appliances, houseware and decor provides them extra money to spend on social actions.

If you are a lucky individual, then you definately might attempt buying the very first furnishings merchandise you come throughout online or offline. If you do not need to keep gadgets in inventory, can give them on consignment by a local consignees retailer, donate to a nonprofit group or a local shop secondhand. Starting off from mutton street where there are more than 100 outlets, it is a improbable place to get your own home furnishings sourced from.

Our database is increasing day by day, making this web site your one-cease store for all of your furniture needs. For the well being and safety of your self and your loved ones, stop smoking, but in the event you should smoke, take it outdoor. Your individual exposome includes the whole lot from secondhand smoke while you were a baby to lead publicity in your childhood to particulate matter if you grew up close to a major roadway or industrial facility. While all secondhand cigarette smoke incorporates poisonous chemical substances, the American Most cancers Society says sidestream smoke comprises smaller particles than mainstream smoke.

While you're giving your lounge an replace, you would possibly discover ornamental inspiration with a flick through the gadgets on provide in the Residence Decor category. Advertise your room to hire; sell your secondhand bike, sell your automobile or promote your outdated guitar; all the pieces from a yacht to a kitchen sink adverts may be marketed at no cost. Her works typically contain secondhand furniture like armchairs and love seats, with the occasional melting piano thrown into her multi-media practice.

BelBruno says that David Kotz, the Champion Worldwide Professor of Computer Science, was the catalyst for the secondhand smoke venture. In our second hand furniture stores we now have an enormous number of second hand beds, wardrobes, bedroom furnishings, couches, sofas, corner sofas, dining tables, dining chairs in addition to a house workplace furniture section. Look in the newspaper, online classifieds and phrase of mouth to see when native motels near it's possible you'll be promoting furniture after renovating.

Storage gross sales, secondhand shops, auctions, flea markets, antique fairs and charity outlets are other fertile grounds to look for good used furnishings. In accordance with the Environmental Safety Company, secondhand smoke accommodates greater than 4,000 different compounds, including a number of brokers suspected of contributing to the development of most cancers. We just sold our townhouse at La Cala Golf resort and offer the quality furnitures and decorations for sale.

We specialise within the shopping for and promoting of high-high quality secondhand furnishings and white items. Yearly million of household items should not in operating condition else peoples are usually not using those gadgets often. Acquiring secondhand beds, couches and furniture is another way that the bugs are transported into buildings. Shopping for second hand when yow will discover good high quality furnishings that meets your wants can help to cut back strain on the rainforests, which are being chopped down at an alarming fee to make cheap furnishings, chopsticks and paper.

Dwelling and kitchen decor reminiscent of past eras is a pattern, and will be created with genuine items from the period extra inexpensively than shopping for new reproductions. If you find a quality merchandise at the store, examine to see if it was a part of a batch of similar objects from the identical donor. A quite common trap for many people is  secondhand furniture getting carried away and buying method too many useless items just because they had been deemed to be an amazing deal, as an alternative of truly being helpful.

In contrast to bizarre smoke detectors that sense the physical presence of smoke, the new AirGuard gadget makes use of polymer films to detect, measure and file the presence of nicotine vapor molecules from secondhand and thirdhand smoke in real time The polymer is sensitive sufficient to select up concentrations measured in parts per billion, making it doable to correlate how a lot nicotine there's within the air with an equal variety of cigarettes.

[aminuorg]

Our promise - Anna Zaaki, founder & CEO, recalls the beginning of the One Love Children’s Home in Tuba, Ghana

We are beginning this article with a video of our One Love Children’s Home in Tuba, Ghana

Anna Zaaki, founder & CEO, reporting

How it all began

I can still remember clearly how the decision to build the One Love Children’s Home meant a step up to the next level. We had founded our Aminu Initiative in early 2006 and since then our task had been to financially support already existing projects in Ghana, i.e. we cooperated with the Günter Frey International School, the day care centre Monika Creche and the “Junior Program”, which our late son/ stepson had started.

Together with our Ghanaian partner, we at some point started to think about ways of expanding our activities. The founder of the Günter Frey International School in Tuba Mamadu Mudasiru (Muda) on many occasions looked after children and young people as well as their families who were in need.

However, as he was approached with more and more requests we together decided to create a place for these children and young people, where they would get all the care and attention they needed.

And together we came up with the idea of our One Love Children’s Home.

Our founder, Amin Zaaki, in front of the One Love Children’s Home in Tuba, Ghana. On the wall you can see our former name Nima e.V.

Not an orphanage, but a boarding house

From the very beginning, we wanted to distance ourselves from the discredited orphanages in Ghana and registered the One Love as a boarding house of the Günter Frey International School. 

The kids were between 2 - 20 years old. The youngest of them attended Monika Creche and the older ones the Günter Frey International School. 

We did not want the children to be cut off from their families and family members but from the start, thought it of great importance that the children keep in touch with their families and bond with them. Consequently, the children spent their school holidays in their family environment.

Only in exceptional cases, - I remember one case, when one of our children returned from their holidays completely starved - some of the children were cared for in One Love or directly by Muda’s family.

Orphans, half-orphans, social orphans and cultural eye openers 

Among the children cared for in the One Love were many orphans, half-orphans and social orphans. What we also learned very quickly is that a lot of our orphans had not even known previously that they actually were orphans as either family members, neighbours or friends already looked after them when they were still babies and brought them up in their own families. This was another reason, why from the very beginning we tried to avoid using the term orphanage, but actually always talk about the “One Love”. 

First year of our One Love Children’s Home in Tuba, Ghana

We do not want to confuse the children and young people in our care unnecessarily and thus have not brought up the subject of many of them being orphans or half-orphans. And the concept of what constitutes a family is actually much wider in Ghana than what we are used to here in Germany. For instance, a cousin may be called brother and an aunt mother. What at first seems very unusual to us, is perfectly normal for people in Ghana.

These intercultural differences exist on all levels of our work, which can lead to confusion, sudden insights and shared laughter. As a German-Ghanian team we constantly keep learning and this is what makes our work particularly exciting. 

Boarding houses - quite normal in Ghana

In Ghana, boarding houses are actually very common. Their function is to ensure that the children can focus on their education, have a regular daily schedule and are generally well looked after. In the families our children come from, it is often difficult to regularly attend school at all, let alone to do your homework and study. The reason often is that the families do not have any money to pay school fees and the children either do household chores and look after younger siblings, or even have to contribute financially to the household income by doing paid work, such as selling oranges.

                 Donate now for our One Love

Finding compromises

We postponed opening the One Love twice as from a German point of view the construction progress was slow which in return perplexed our Ghanaian partners. This is another example for how different both of our cultures are and how from the moment of founding it, we kept learning from each other and had to find compromises.

It was inconceivable for our German team that the children might move into an unfinished building. Everything had to be done by the book after all. For the Ghanaian team this was of minor importance though, as their priority was getting the children into a safe home that was conducive to learning. 

We experienced the same thing with other joint building projects. For instance, the teaching on several occasions took place in classrooms which had not yet been finished. They were then completed later on, once the necessary money for finishing them was available.

Intercultural cooperation - working together as equal partners

We, the German team, had to learn an awful lot over the years, especially that we could not and did not want to impose German ideas on our German-Ghanaian partnership. 

It was all rather about cooperating and addressing the needs of the local people. It is a shared learning process which is still ongoing. Cooperating between two cultures which are that different keeps posing challenges but at the same time it gives everybody the chance to grow and learn all the time.

I have learned to appreciate this very much over the years and am grateful that our German-Ghanaian partnership keeps forcing us to adopt different perspectives and to make an effort to understand the opposite side’s position. Intercultural cooperation is only possible that way. Working together as equal partners.

Different religions living together

In October 2009, the first 12 children celebrated moving into our One Love even though not everything - but nearly everything - had been completed. Great celebrations took place in the community, all neighbours, family members, teachers and prospective carers for the children attended. 

Opening ceremony of our One Love Children’s Home in Tuba, Ghana

We were able to welcome the Chief Imam from Ghana as a particularly special on the occasion. He is the religious leader of the Muslim community and his presence made the opening celebration a very special event.

Even if our educational projects in Tuba and Nima-Accra are in areas with a majority of Muslim families, it never played any role in our work whether somebody belonged to a particular religion. From the very beginning, there was a fairly wild mix of Muslim and Christian children, boys and girls, orphans, half-orphans and social orphans, just depending on the demand we encountered.

This is actually characteristic of Ghana, as Ghana is a very good example for a country where different religions manage to live together peacefully.

The children of that time - our promise

The children of that time have become young adults by now. Some of them have just passed their A-levels, other study or train for a job. 

The former One Love children our now young adults and have just graduated from their Senior High School 

Unlike other organisations, we and our partner have agreed from the start that we will not release our children from the program when they turn 18 but that we will continue to look after them and support them financially until they have become independent and can manage on their own. We do not regard anything else as sustainable. 

One of our One Love students is now studying accounting at the University of Accra - he is amongst the best students in Ghana

Naturally, the educational costs increase with every year our children get older. In order to keep the promise that we have given the children, we will need even more funding in the future. 

Every single donation makes an impact. Many of our students are amongst the best in their schools, many times even amongst the best in Ghana.

Every donation counts, as it makes a difference

An even more sustainable way of donating is to give monthly, which is already possible from 5 Euros (approx £4.50) with us. 

Please help us to ensure that the children and young people in our care continue to have access to an education and donate now. One click takes you to our website, where you can donate online very easily.

We thank you very much as every single donation matters and has a positive impact on the lives of the children and young people in our care. Thank you so much!

                 Donate now for our One Love

For those preferring to donate by bank transfer, our bank account for donations is:

Aminu Initiative e.V

Frankfurter Volksbank eG

IBAN: DE84 5019 0000 0007 4303 70

BIC: FFVBDEFF

[recalculatingthegenderwar]

Woman Women feminist shitstorm begins Part 2: Feminists can't help but endorse blatant sex discrimination against men

Recently, I wrote about the Alamo Drafthouse holding women's only screenings of the upcoming Wonder Woman movie. I wasn't surprised, since Wonder Wonder has always been a lightning rod for gender politics. While the movie itself looks like it might good, I fully expected its release to foster some kind of deluge of feminist craziness.

Unfortunately, the Alamo Drafthouse doubled-down in the face of legitimate criticism by setting up screenings at their Brookyln location too. They have even decided to donate all the proceeds to Planned Parenthood, an extremely controversial organization that many women don't even support. The Drafthouse could have picked hundreds of other more inoffensive, apolitical women's health organizations. They could have even donated the proceeds to some sort of men's charity as an apology (Sorry guys, we already sold the tickets so we have to do this, but all money is going toward this men's health charity). It seems less and less like Alamo Drafthouse accidentally stepped on a gender politics land mine and more like they are planting explosives themselves.

Many mainstream media outlets covering this have been relatively neutral. However, women's sections are filled with less objective reporting and more snark. The New York Time's Women in the World writes:

"Although it’s important to point out that the screening is set for June 6, four days after the film officially hits theaters nationwide, that did not stop the tide of frustrated comments from men who realized that the theater would not change their plans and that by virtue of their Y-chromosomes, they would be unable to attend the showing."

The WITW staff finishes the article with what they seem to believe destroys the entire controversy.

"Insisting that the criticism is unfounded and that the “women-only” screening is a celebration of the character as a feminist icon rather than a conscious attempt to exclude male fans, the theater chain has held firm and added a second “women-only” screening at its New York Location. Sometimes the lasso of truth hurts, gentlemen."

Sassy. I'm hearing this argument about the supposed "veterans events" at the Drafthouse come up a lot. However, the WITW staff provide no evidence the Drafthouse has ever excluded non-veterans from public screenings. All I can find is that the Drafthouse once gave veterans free tickets. This is very different from barring non-veterans from public screenings. Also, even if the Drafthouse did bar non-veterans from public screenings, that wouldn't some how make baring men from public screenings okay. Ignoring the important differences between veterans and men, when did two wrongs make a right?

I won't even get into what the WITW is inadvertently saying about feminism by claiming that women-only events are needed to celebrate feminist icons.

Feminist outlets are much worse

A lot of coverage from smaller media outlets is even more dismissive and patronizing, but it doesn't hold a candle to coverage from feminist media outlets:

On Feminist cesspit Jezbel, Lauren Evans wrote "Men Lose Their Shit Over Alamo Drafthouse's Women-Only Wonder Woman Screening, Theater Responds By Adding More". Evans writes, "It sold out immediately, and with good reason—what better way to spend an evening than with Gal Gadot, a vat of rosé and a blissfully dick-free environment?"

Like a lot of feminist commentary on the Drafthouse screenings, Jezbel doesn't explain how a "dick-free environment" enhances the experience. The writer then goes into a predictable list of women's grievances:

"Men make 20 percent more money than women; they perform fewer child care duties and household chores (even when their wives are the family breadwinners). They pay less for pants and haircuts, and they are responsible for dictating our abortion laws. But GOD DAMN IT if they’re going to let a few dozen women celebrate the rare arrival of female superhero protagonist!"

I could spend a whole post just on this paragraph, but I'll resist. The wage gap has been debunked to the point of cliche and I've written about the alleged differences in prices for men's and women's consumer goods.

I also don't have to address any of this right now, because it's a basic logical fallacy to suggest that supposed injustices toward women invalidate injustices toward men. This is a common feminist tactic. It also makes about as much sense as me saying you don't have a papercut BECAUSE I broke my leg.

The most interesting article I've seen so far is from i09, Jezbel's nerdy sibling. Beth Elerkin's sensitively titled "A Women-Only Wonder Woman Screening Is Predictably Upsetting Dumb-Ass Sexists" actually gives a (very bad) reason for why a women's only screening is needed. Although it provides no evidence to back up the claim that the people condemning the unnecessary sex discrimination against men are some how the real "sexists" here. The article starts off about as diplomatic as you would expect:

"Within a matter of hours, a movie theater in Austin, Texas sold out its first women-only screening of DC’s Wonder Woman, and they’re already planning at least one more showing. Unfortunately, the laws of the internet dictate that anytime women get something cool, some men have to bitch about it"

And only gets better from there:

"Some men have promised to boycott the Drafthouse in retaliation, and the movie theater company’s Facebook page and Twitter account are full of cries of “reverse sexism,” “misandry,” and whatever other nonsense these jackasses use to try and explain something that doesn’t apply here at all. "Let me be frank: A women-only screening of Wonder Woman is an excellent idea, and any man who thinks it discriminates against them needs to spend the rest of the day staring in the mirror while a single tear flows down their collective cheeks."

Elerkin goes on to argue that barring men from a screening of Wonder Woman is some how justified since the majority of major superhero movies have male leads. An argument that simply doesn't make any sense.

"We’ve had trilogies for Blade, Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, among countless others. The Hulk has had least three different films so far, each with different actors, and Spider-Man is on his third franchise in a decade, with at least one sequel already guaranteed. Do you know how many of those 130 films had female leads? Eight"

Okay...but how does this justify, or even relate to, barring men from a public event?

"So, to all the men complaining that a couple screenings of Wonder Woman exclude them, I say this: just shut up. Women have had to deal with the bullshit of non-representation for generations, and we will probably keep having to deal with it for generations to come. Wonder Woman is the first blockbuster comic book film starring a woman in American history, and it happens to star comics’ biggest female icon. At the very least, women deserve to have a space—even if it’s just a single screening of a movie that’s going to open in literally thousands of theaters across America—where they can celebrate that together. Any man who doesn’t respect that doesn’t understand what Wonder Woman’s been fighting for all these years."

Wonder Woman is definitely not the first blockbuster comic book film starring a women in all of American history. What happened to those eight movies with female leads she mentioned earlier? What definitions of "starring" and "blockbuster" is she using? The recent American Ghost in the Shell movie stars a female lead and it was based off an incredibly popular Japanese comic book (which spawned several movies, video games and a TV series).

Also I don't think Elerkin understands "what Wonder Woman's been fighting for all these years". As I mentioned in my last post, Wonder Woman has often gone against the rule that no men are allowed on her home island.

However, Elerkin does finally give us some kind of argument as to why a women's-only showing is necessary. Women apparently require a women's only space to soak in this incredible moment. A space that would be ruined by their male friends, but not by female strangers. Oh...and revenge. That also seems to play a major role.

The dumbest thing feminists could do.

Feminists have a pathological urge to squash any suggestion of the mere possibility men could face sex discrimination. It protects feminism's monopoly on gender politics. However, commenting on this was a very poor decision for feminists. While the Drafthouse's Planned Parenthood donation certainly narrows down their likely political views, it is unclear if the management are actually feminists. Feminism had plausible deniability for an instance of objective sex discrimination against men that has little real political value to the feminist movement. It's not like this will affect abortion legislation.

But many feminists couldn't help themselves. They are putting their seal of approval on the Drafthouse's actions. Now we don't just have an instance of blatant gender discrimination against men, but an instance of a feminist supported (if not outright celebrated) instance of gender discrimination against men. Again, our self-proclaimed champions of gender equality can't resist showing they actually fight against gender equality.

Notice none of the feminist responses convincingly argue that the Drafthouse's action aren't sex discrimination. At most they just say this sex discrimination doesn't matter, but they don't adequately explain why. While many people have dismissed the Drafthouse's women-only screenings as simply not being a big deal, feminists doesn't have this luxury. Feminism has spent decades shrieking at supposed sexism hidden in every shadow: in climate change, in air conditioning, in the way men (supposedly) sit down, etc. Feminists have set their bar so low for sexism, they can't help but trip over it when it comes to discrimination against men. I could only imagine the feminist response to a male-only showing of a movie about a male superhero from an all-male island who comes to our world to hack up hordes of evil women with a sword.

The hypocrisy only gets worse when you remember feminists constantly try to sell feminism to men under the guise that it will allow them to honestly express feelings of weakness that the big, bad patriarchy makes them keep inside. A patriarchy that supposedly demands men are always stoic and emotionless. A patriarchy that uses shame to keep them in line. However, feminism has again shown the moment men express any sort of emotion that feminists don't like, its accusations of whining and #masculinitysofragile. It doesn't take much for feminism to show that it's actually the devil it claims to fight.

[siliconwebx]

Customer Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need

Let’s get right to it: loyal customers are more valuable to your business than not-yet-acquired or un-loyal customers. Well-executed customer loyalty programs pay themselves back over time. Unfortunately, a lot of brands set up loyalty programs and convince customers to sign up, but they don’t see any results.

There are a ton of stats out there about customer loyalty and satisfaction. I read them. They all boil down to these points:

It’s less expensive for a business to keep a customer than to acquire a new one.

Satisfied and loyal customers spend more.

More satisfaction leads to more loyalty and more spending.

Satisfied customers tell other people about the brand, which leads to more satisfied-turned-loyal customers.

Bottom line: customer loyalty can help a business scale faster than sales and marketing can.

The Difference Between Customer Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction

Let’s define customer loyalty and customer satisfaction to understand the difference:

Customer Loyalty: The customer’s willingness to purchase from a company multiple times.

Customer Satisfaction: How pleased a customer is thanks to their positive experiences with a brand and the value they receive from interactions and purchases.

While they’re related, customer loyalty is the result of customer satisfaction. Loyal customers have decided that they get the most value from sticking with one brand, even if there are lower prices or different benefits offered by a competitor.

Customer satisfaction is driven by customer experience and customer service, and brands have to keep those experiences positive. According to American Express, 33% of American say they’ll consider switching companies after just one poor experience.

The Customer Loyalty Program

Brands create customer loyalty programs to reward loyal customers with coupons, freebies, advanced-release products, VIP treats, etc.

The problem is that some brands are wasting time and money on their loyalty programs. According to The Loyalty Report from 2017, which sampled over 28,000 consumers in North America, the average consumer is enrolled in about 14 loyalty programs but only participates in less than half of them. In one way or another, half of those programs aren’t offering enough value to the consumer or they’re too complex to figure out. The program is so not worth it that the consumer went through the trouble of signing up but never feels like taking advantage of the perks.

Don’t create that kind of loyalty program.

5 Types of Loyalty Programs

1. The Point System

The point system is possibly the most common type of loyalty program out there. Customers earn points when they make a purchase. The more frequently they shop, the more points they accrue. Those points can eventually buy them a reward, like a discount, freebie or VIP service.

The point system is best for brands that have short-term products (coffee, makeup) and that want customers to make frequent purchases. However, points (and miles) are also used in the travel industry, possibly because the purchase amounts are so high that customers can accrue thousands of points with just one purchase, adding to the program’s appeal.

How the points are acquired and how they can be redeemed for an award can be too confusing. “For every dollar spent, you’ll get 1.5 points, and 1.5 points are equal to 50 cents, and once you get $20 dollars in points, you’ll get 15% off your next purchase.” Thanks, but I’ll pay the extra 15% to not have to listen to that again.

Starbucks has one of the better loyalty programs, but I still think it’s too confusing. Plus, they don’t just say “rewards,” they also talk about “stars,” which I guess are points, but it’s an extra level of stuff to understand. It’s also unclear how many stars/points actually translate to rewards:

Make the conversions simple. Speak the customer’s language. I had a hard time finding an example of a company that does this well, but the closest I came was this travel rewards card from Wells Fargo. The numbers make sense in relation to one another – $3,000 gets you 30,000 points, which is $300 cash value.

PayPal also does this well. If you use your PayPal debit card, you get 1% back on certain types of transactions. At the beginning of every month, the cash back is deposited into your account. Couldn’t be easier to understand, and they handle the reward collection component for you.

2. The Tier System

At first, the tier system sounds almost exactly like the point system because points (or rewards) are given to customers. However, the tier system starts off with small, base rewards and then increases the value of the rewards as the customer becomes more loyal and buys more. Customers get short-term value from the program no matter how little they spend.

Source: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

The tier system is best for brands with high price points and high-commitment customers, like travel and insurance companies. The goal is to hook the customer as early as possible so they keep returning.

I see the same problem with the tier system that I see with the point system: it can be hard to figure out. However, brands that have expensive offerings may find it easier to hook customers with this type of loyalty program. I may not be willing to figure out the tiers for saving on cosmetics, like with the Tarte program, but I’ll definitely sit down to figure out the tiers when I’m spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on travel. The stakes are higher, and therefore my commitment is higher.

3. The Upfront Fee Charge

This type of loyalty program requires the customer to buy-in to reap the benefits. There’s a one-time, monthly or annual fee serving as a paywall to the loyalty program. This program is best for companies that need frequent, repeat business, and that want to make it more convenient for customers to buy regularly.

This program sounds terrible at first, right? Then I realize I’m doing it with Amazon Prime, and that I love Amazon Prime and order from them constantly.

I want to walk through a mini case study to illustrate how companies can do this well. This is based on my experience with Amazon Prime, and even if you’re an anti-Amazon-er, there’s wisdom to be gleaned from how I became so loyal:

Competitive prices plus free 2-day shipping mean that I will stand in a store, holding the item I want to buy, and still order it from Amazon. I save money on the item and don’t pay for shipping – Amazon has solved two purchase barriers for me (and the mobile app couldn’t be easier to use).

The other Prime freebies are highly valuable to me – free movies, TV shows and books. I take advantage of them weekly.

Since I’m already watching and reading with Prime, if I do want to rent a movie or buy a book, I do so through Amazon – I’m already there, they’re giving me a great experience and my credit card information is ready to go.

Solve the purchase problems your customers have, throw in extra perks that complement the products you sell and make it super easy for the customer to take advantage of everything.

4. The Values-Focused Program

For brands with customers who have strong values, a loyalty program can tap into those beliefs.

I wrote about this in our Marketing to Millennials: What You Need to Know to Close the Sale article, so I’m going to quote myself here to give you an example:

“My favorite example of this is BoxLunch and their Get Some Give Back initiative, which provides a meal to someone in need for every $10 spent. BoxLunch sells unique pop culture clothing and gifts, with bright colors and cartoon characters kids would love. You only have to spend $10 to have that meal donated, and being surrounded by so much fun makes me think of all the families that don’t even have that much to spare. Without fail, I make a purchase every time.”

This type of program is ideal for the millennial buyer because they tend to choose brands based on shared values.

Brands can approach this from either direction. They can get customers in the door with the products they sell (like BoxLunch does), or they can put their value-based message front-and-center, like TOMS does. Even though I’ve never owned a pair of TOMS, I’m well aware that they donate a pair of shoes for every pair purchased.

5. Honorable Mention: The Coalition Program

Brands can partner with complementary businesses to expand the reach of their loyalty program. When I ran digital marketing for a bakery in North Carolina, I encouraged them to partner with a nearby coffee shop to promote each other’s businesses. The bakery sold individual treats but didn’t serve coffee, and the coffee shop had limited baked goods available. Is there anything better than something sweet and bready paired with a cup of hot coffee? There isn’t.

A co-branded deal is beneficial for both companies as well as their customers. The companies will reach each other’s customers, who are all part of the same audience. Customers will trust your brand because they see that you care about what’s best for them, not just getting another sale.

Loyalty Program No-No

There are some brands that seem to always have coupons for loyalty program members – DSW, Bath and Body Works and Bed, Bath and Beyond are three of them. On the one hand, this is great for the company because if I’m going to buy shoes, candles or household items, I’m going to these stores because I have a coupon for them. On the other hand, I don’t value the products for their quality, I value them for the money they save me – and if I’m shopping during a rare time when I don’t have a coupon, I’m not shopping there at all.

All three of these companies could do more to gain my loyalty, and none of the improvements have to do with discounts:

DSW could have more sizes available and check customers out faster so the lines don’t take forever.

Bath and Body Works could lower the price of their large candles (almost $30 for a fast-burning candle is too much) or make product changes so they burn for longer.

Bed, Bath and Beyond could have a less-cluttered store and better customer service. Even thinking about walking in there feels like a time-suck.

These are perfect examples of where customer satisfaction would lead to more customer loyalty. The customer loyalty program would then just be the cherry on top for an already-committed customer.

The #1 Way to Create a Successful Customer Loyalty Program: Generosity

The more you give away, the more your customers will appreciate you.

I’m a member of the REI Co-op, and the day I joined, I was on the phone with a hiker friend of mine – we were signing up at the same time so we could take advantage of a discounted outdoors class. “That can’t be right,” I kept saying. “It must be $20 every month. How can that be right?” It was right – for a one-time fee of $20, REI gives you lifetime benefits. Fantastic benefits, like 10% cash back, seriously-discounted garage sales and wilderness classes, and even more discounts off purchases and new products.

Give away as much as you can, as often as you can. Show your customers you care about them. Throwing a generic 10% discount at them isn’t going to gain you any loyalty.

Final Thoughts

There are a couple of different sides to customer loyalty, and the way customers express their loyalty may be based on customer satisfaction. A customer may spread positive word-of-mouth about your company, but they may not make frequent purchases – maybe they like the experiences they’ve had, but they don’t find value in having too many of them. Or, the customer may be a frequent buyer because you’ve made the process easy in some way, but they could be neutral about or displeased with the experience. You want the customer to be both loyal and satisfied.

Here are the key takeaways:

Loyal customers are the most valuable customers you can have.

Customer satisfaction has to precede customer loyalty if you want the biggest ROI for your loyalty program. Don’t try to gain loyalty through rewards alone.

The best loyalty programs are simple to understand and/or simple to take advantage of. For example, a well-designed mobile app can make it easy for the customer to collect, view and use points.

Loyalty programs should solve some problem for the customer or make their life better in some way.

Be as generous as you can possibly be.

Like any marketing program, a customer loyalty program has to be tracked and assessed to make sure it’s working. Surveys, data and tuning in to online mentions of your brand will help you determine if and why your customers or loyal. Check out my article about identifying the best KPIs to track for your goals to help with this part.

The post Customer Loyalty and Customer Satisfaction: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

😉SiliconWebX | 🌐ElegantThemes

[mcjoelcain]

Financial Samurai Mid-Year 2018 Personal Goals Checkup

Since it’s a quiet week with nobody around, I thought I’d do some more mid-year reflecting.

To hold my feet to the fire, I’ve been setting public goals for a while now. But I’ve mostly just checked in at year-end, leaving me no opportunity to course correct during the year in case I was lagging. Oftentimes, I wouldn’t even remember what my goals were. Not this year baby!

My theme for 2018 is: Back To Early Retirement Life.

I spent years building a lifestyle business in order to one day be a good stay at home father. But I kinda screwed things up in 2017 when my son was born by maintaining my writing schedule, my tennis schedule, and even taking on a part-time high school tennis coaching job. As a result, I was more stressed than I wanted to be and suffered numerous injuries.

Surely, things had to change. Below are my goals made at the beginning of this year and my self-assessment in italics. Everybody reading should go through this exact same exercise because I bet you’ll be surprised by your results as well. 

Mid-Year 2018 Goals Checkup

1) Return to early retirement life. As this site has grown more people are reaching out for help or contacting me with business opportunities. It’s become overwhelming. I will publish only 100 articles for the year (down from 175 a year) and start having more fun with the topics. While the business component of this site is exciting, it has become too much. Just like with day job income, after you make a certain amount of business income, there is no more additional happiness.

Went the complete opposite way: I’ve more than doubled production by writing 100+ posts and pages in the first half alone. I’ve also recorded over 50 podcasts on my iTunes channel compared to a target of 30 for the year. What the heck? I’ve been obsessed with not giving up because of my son. Kids provide a ton of motivation to stay fit, eat better, and work harder than ever before. 

I also have this fear that because he is a minority, my son will face bullying in school and discrimination as an adult just like his old man did. I got into so many fistfights in grade school, it was nuts because I NEVER backed down from bullies. I always had this mentality that if you were going to beat me up, no matter how big you were, I would at least get in a good smack before I went down. Anybody who disrespected me, my family, or my friends would pay. I fear my son will be equally combative when it comes time to standing up for himself, partly because I will teach him to be a strong boy. 

Because we have a lottery system to get into public school here in San Francisco, no matter how much in property tax you pay, there’s only a small chance your child will get into their local public school. That leaves costly private school at $30,000 – $50,000 a year. But because private grade school in SF is predominantly white, and not at all a reflection of the SF population, I have my doubts he’ll get into a good private school either. It’s clear private schools can do more to accept students that better reflect their environment, but they don’t, which means there’s something artificial going on. Then there’s university, which hopefully won’t matter 17 years from now. 

Besides being a supportive parent, the one sure thing I can think of to help my son is to build a strong business where I can teach him the ropes so he can create his own business one day or take over ours. I don’t want to rely on the existing system because the system feels stacked against folks who are different. 

The other alternative to leveling the playing field would be to move to Asia or Hawaii where he is a majority. I forgot about all the slights and fights I went through attending high school and college as a minority until I started thinking about my son’s future. It’s like my son unearthed all these repressed memories that I had buried deep within my psyche. We’ve come a long way since the 1990s, so perhaps I’m just stuck in the past. But I’d rather try and earn and save as much as possible to rely on nobody. 

2) For six days a week, provide an average six hours of JOYFUL assistance to my wife. For the seventh day, provide four hours of joyful assistance for a total of 40 hours a week.

Work in progress: I think I’ve provided on average 4-5 hours of joyful assistance or primary care for my son a day. But I still get grumpy about little things because I continue to work too much and sleep too little. Things are getting better, however, because we’re now more confident parents with a routine. Further, our son is finally sleeping better through the night. 

But maybe I’m underestimating my childcare help. I’m here for my family when my son is awake between 7:00am – 11:30am and 1:30pm – 8pm, four days a week. The other three days a week, I’m either exercising or meeting a business partner for three hours at most out of his ~12 waking hours.

I might not always be directly helping out when he is awake, but I do clean the house, wash dishes, make sure we have food, drive us everywhere, look after him while my wife uses the bathroom, assist with bath time, help change his clothes and so forth. Such assistance should count, right? In my mind, I was thinking six hours of non-stop primary care, which is not how co-parenting works. 

Related: A Day In The Life Of Two Work From Home Parents With A Baby

3) Increase business productivity. In other words, find a way to do less and maximize my existing content to boost traffic and revenue. I will not spend more than four hours a day on the business in 2018. Further, I will cease responding to comments and e-mail questions whose answers are obviously discernible in the post and encourage readers to use the search box on my website for answers.

Work in progress: I’m not proactive in putting myself out there. I have this passive attitude where if folks want to read my stuff, they know where to find me. But in order to truly grow, you’ve got to proactively pimp yourself. Thankfully, there has been outreach from larger online publications who’ve wanted to feature my work, like when Yahoo Finance syndicated, Why Households Must Earn $300,000 A Year to Live A Middle Class Lifestyle Today. 

Further, I have been doing some occassional Quora writing to build a new audience when I have nothing else to do. Looks like I’ve got about 3,400 followers and 2.6 million views from my answers. If 2.5% of the views translate into visitors coming to FS from Quora, then so far I’ve got about 65,000 new visitors. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit counts. 

I came up with four hours a day of work because I figured I could work from 6am – 8am and then 9pm – 11pm on average. But there would be a lot of days where I would just keep on working until 1am to try and get ahead of schedule, which resulted in grouchier support during the mornings. This needs to stop. 

4) Spend more time doing work in the hot tub. Through voice dictation, I’m actually writing this post in my hot tub right now. Yeah baby yeah! Not only am I utilizing my hot tub investment more, but I’m getting some stress relief while also producing work.

Success! I go to the hot tub roughly 3X a week for 1 hour each session. While in the hot tub I’m reading research, interacting with folks on social media, and responding to comments. The hot tub is the best $15,000 expense ever.

5) Aggressively spend more money on help. Until recently, we’ve always done all the lawn work, housecleaning, and childcare. There’s something therapeutic about gardening and cleaning. But now that we are tired parents, we need to prioritize. I really need help at this stage because my lower back is still tender. It’s kind of torturous to crawl around and chase a baby for a couple hours with a bad back.

Making progress. We finally hired cleaners for $200 a session once every two months. Not cheap, but feels darn good to come home to a clean house while we go outside and play with our boy. We’re also spending $20/hour for nine hours a week of babysitting help on average. This allows us to go on date nights and unwind. So important for our sanity. But to be successful in “aggressively” spending money to hire help, we need to spend 3X more. We just haven’t found reliable help because they’re either sick, traveling, or have other commitments. Oh, and thank goodness, my lower back pain is no more!

Related: The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Bad Spending Habits

6) Continue to help people of all types in different ways. This means publish two times a week, produce at least 30 podcasts, see my foster child mentee at least 24 times, coach high school tennis, and participate in more fundraising events.

Success! The best benefit of staying consistent with Financial Samurai is the nice e-mails saying how Financial Samurai has helped a reader’s life in one way or another. I’ve also been pretty regular with my private newsletter as well, sending out one out at least twice a month. 

The foster care system is a difficult place. I’m not sure how I can make a bigger impact besides donating more time and money. Being a mentor makes a huge positive difference to young kids who have very little. I guess I can just continue to be an advocate and encourage others to get involved in their communities. 

7) Stop feeling guilty for not doing more. Since I was 13, I’ve always had the belief that if I can, I must because a friend of mine died in a car accident and was never given the chance. Every time I catch myself slacking off for more than an hour, a little voice inside my head tells me to do something productive instead.

Work in progress. The more my son sleeps, the less guilty I feel about working because that means my wife needs less relief during the day. But why should I feel guilty working to support my family so my wife and I don’t have to go back to a day job? If I was working 70+ hours a week and never home, that’s one thing. But I’m home all day most of the time and get most of the work done while he is asleep.

For those of you who’ve been able to get rid of the paradoxical guilt of working to take care of your family, let me know some of your strategies. I’m thinking that all I’ve got to do is not work so much for the first five or six years until he goes to kindergarten, and then turn on the after burners.  

8) Get regular physical checkups. One in three people will get cancer. And one in four people will die from cancer. The closest thing to curing cancer is early detection. However, most cancer is detected only after a patient feels symptoms. By stage three, only 8% of cancer patients live past five years.

Fail. Haven’t gotten a full physical yet. Time to schedule one! Ugh. But I am regularly exercising 3X a week and have also joined a softball league. So fun. 

9) Find a way to grow net worth by $2 million. With the estate tax threshold doubling to $22 million for couples, why not shoot for more wealth while trying to take things down a notch.

Failing. Based on my +6.7% net worth growth for 1H2018, I’m not going to make it. Getting to $2 million is extremely difficult with only my public investments and savings because my public investments account for less than 40% my net worth and I don’t earn enough. But if a private investment hits big or if I sell off a piece of Financial Samurai for a good price, there’s a small chance. Unfortunately, I think there’s also a 40% chance the stock market and real estate market stays flat or goes down, hence my relatively defensive portfolio. We live off about 2% of our net income a year.

With the good times fading, we’ve got to either work harder or finally start enjoying our returns. I’m choosing the latter! Stay tuned for an upcoming post on how we can all benefit from our wise investment decisions. 

Learning To Let Go Of Opportunity

Thanks for humoring me with this review because I really did forget some of my goals. Discovering all those repressed memories from childhood was also a surprise. Despite working more this year, I’m less stressed because I’m more comfortable with my new role as a dad.

For the remainder of the year my priorities are:

Be a better caregiver by consciously providing one more hour a day of care

Produce three items of work a week (post, page, podcast, or newsletter), not three posts plus a podcast and newsletter

Work on outreach for one hour a week (PR, social media, interviews, commenting on other sites)

Stick to two hours of work in the morning and two hours of work in the evening before midnight

Protect our wealth from declining

Provide updates to all the pre-schools we’ve applied to for 2019 about our son’s progress

Start potty training our son in 4Q

Spend a week in Napa before September (our first trip away from the house)

Spend a week in Tahoe this winter to show our son snow for the first time

Make all grandparents come to visit before year-end (will pay for flights)

Practice daily gratitude during dinner

It’s been very difficult to take things down a notch. The correlation between effort and reward is so great when running an online business that it would be a shame not to take full advantage while my mind still works. At the same time, for the sake of my family and my health I must come to grips with letting go of opportunity.

How are you guys doing with your personal goals so far? What do you need to work on for the rest of the year? How do you learn to be OK letting opportunity pass you by? If you’ve been able to create work/life balance, please share your secrets!

The post Financial Samurai Mid-Year 2018 Personal Goals Checkup appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from Money https://www.financialsamurai.com/financial-samurai-mid-year-2018-personal-goals-checkup/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[ronaldmrashid]

Financial Samurai Mid-Year 2018 Personal Goals Checkup

Since it’s a quiet week with nobody around, I thought I’d do some more mid-year reflecting.

To hold my feet to the fire, I’ve been setting public goals for a while now. But I’ve mostly just checked in at year-end, leaving me no opportunity to course correct during the year in case I was lagging. Oftentimes, I wouldn’t even remember what my goals were. Not this year baby!

My theme for 2018 is: Back To Early Retirement Life.

I spent years building a lifestyle business in order to one day be a good stay at home father. But I kinda screwed things up in 2017 when my son was born by maintaining my writing schedule, my tennis schedule, and even taking on a part-time high school tennis coaching job. As a result, I was more stressed than I wanted to be and suffered numerous injuries.

Surely, things had to change. Below are my goals made at the beginning of this year and my self-assessment in italics. Everybody reading should go through this exact same exercise because I bet you’ll be surprised by your results as well. 

Mid-Year 2018 Goals Checkup

1) Return to early retirement life. As this site has grown more people are reaching out for help or contacting me with business opportunities. It’s become overwhelming. I will publish only 100 articles for the year (down from 175 a year) and start having more fun with the topics. While the business component of this site is exciting, it has become too much. Just like with day job income, after you make a certain amount of business income, there is no more additional happiness.

Went the complete opposite way: I’ve more than doubled production by writing 100+ posts and pages in the first half alone. I’ve also recorded over 50 podcasts on my iTunes channel compared to a target of 30 for the year. What the heck? I’ve been obsessed with not giving up because of my son. Kids provide a ton of motivation to stay fit, eat better, and work harder than ever before. 

I also have this fear that because he is a minority, my son will face bullying in school and discrimination as an adult just like his old man did. I got into so many fistfights in grade school, it was nuts because I NEVER backed down from bullies. I always had this mentality that if you were going to beat me up, no matter how big you were, I would at least get in a good smack before I went down. Anybody who disrespected me, my family, or my friends would pay. I fear my son will be equally combative when it comes time to standing up for himself, partly because I will teach him to be a strong boy. 

Because we have a lottery system to get into public school here in San Francisco, no matter how much in property tax you pay, there’s only a small chance your child will get into their local public school. That leaves costly private school at $30,000 – $50,000 a year. But because private grade school in SF is predominantly white, and not at all a reflection of the SF population, I have my doubts he’ll get into a good private school either. It’s clear private schools can do more to accept students that better reflect their environment, but they don’t, which means there’s something artificial going on. Then there’s university, which hopefully won’t matter 17 years from now. 

Besides being a supportive parent, the one sure thing I can think of to help my son is to build a strong business where I can teach him the ropes so he can create his own business one day or take over ours. I don’t want to rely on the existing system because the system feels stacked against folks who are different. 

The other alternative to leveling the playing field would be to move to Asia or Hawaii where he is a majority. I forgot about all the slights and fights I went through attending high school and college as a minority until I started thinking about my son’s future. It’s like my son unearthed all these repressed memories that I had buried deep within my psyche. We’ve come a long way since the 1990s, so perhaps I’m just stuck in the past. But I’d rather try and earn and save as much as possible to rely on nobody. 

2) For six days a week, provide an average six hours of JOYFUL assistance to my wife. For the seventh day, provide four hours of joyful assistance for a total of 40 hours a week.

Work in progress: I think I’ve provided on average 4-5 hours of joyful assistance or primary care for my son a day. But I still get grumpy about little things because I continue to work too much and sleep too little. Things are getting better, however, because we’re now more confident parents with a routine. Further, our son is finally sleeping better through the night. 

But maybe I’m underestimating my childcare help. I’m here for my family when my son is awake between 7:00am – 11:30am and 1:30pm – 8pm, four days a week. The other three days a week, I’m either exercising or meeting a business partner for three hours at most out of his ~12 waking hours.

I might not always be directly helping out when he is awake, but I do clean the house, wash dishes, make sure we have food, drive us everywhere, look after him while my wife uses the bathroom, assist with bath time, help change his clothes and so forth. Such assistance should count, right? In my mind, I was thinking six hours of non-stop primary care, which is not how co-parenting works. 

Related: A Day In The Life Of Two Work From Home Parents With A Baby

3) Increase business productivity. In other words, find a way to do less and maximize my existing content to boost traffic and revenue. I will not spend more than four hours a day on the business in 2018. Further, I will cease responding to comments and e-mail questions whose answers are obviously discernible in the post and encourage readers to use the search box on my website for answers.

Work in progress: I’m not proactive in putting myself out there. I have this passive attitude where if folks want to read my stuff, they know where to find me. But in order to truly grow, you’ve got to proactively pimp yourself. Thankfully, there has been outreach from larger online publications who’ve wanted to feature my work, like when Yahoo Finance syndicated, Why Households Must Earn $300,000 A Year to Live A Middle Class Lifestyle Today. 

Further, I have been doing some occassional Quora writing to build a new audience when I have nothing else to do. Looks like I’ve got about 3,400 followers and 2.6 million views from my answers. If 2.5% of the views translate into visitors coming to FS from Quora, then so far I’ve got about 65,000 new visitors. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit counts. 

I came up with four hours a day of work because I figured I could work from 6am – 8am and then 9pm – 11pm on average. But there would be a lot of days where I would just keep on working until 1am to try and get ahead of schedule, which resulted in grouchier support during the mornings. This needs to stop. 

4) Spend more time doing work in the hot tub. Through voice dictation, I’m actually writing this post in my hot tub right now. Yeah baby yeah! Not only am I utilizing my hot tub investment more, but I’m getting some stress relief while also producing work.

Success! I go to the hot tub roughly 3X a week for 1 hour each session. While in the hot tub I’m reading research, interacting with folks on social media, and responding to comments. The hot tub is the best $15,000 expense ever.

5) Aggressively spend more money on help. Until recently, we’ve always done all the lawn work, housecleaning, and childcare. There’s something therapeutic about gardening and cleaning. But now that we are tired parents, we need to prioritize. I really need help at this stage because my lower back is still tender. It’s kind of torturous to crawl around and chase a baby for a couple hours with a bad back.

Making progress. We finally hired cleaners for $200 a session once every two months. Not cheap, but feels darn good to come home to a clean house while we go outside and play with our boy. We’re also spending $20/hour for nine hours a week of babysitting help on average. This allows us to go on date nights and unwind. So important for our sanity. But to be successful in “aggressively” spending money to hire help, we need to spend 3X more. We just haven’t found reliable help because they’re either sick, traveling, or have other commitments. Oh, and thank goodness, my lower back pain is no more!

Related: The 10X Investment Consumption Rule To Fix Bad Spending Habits

6) Continue to help people of all types in different ways. This means publish two times a week, produce at least 30 podcasts, see my foster child mentee at least 24 times, coach high school tennis, and participate in more fundraising events.

Success! The best benefit of staying consistent with Financial Samurai is the nice e-mails saying how Financial Samurai has helped a reader’s life in one way or another. I’ve also been pretty regular with my private newsletter as well, sending out one out at least twice a month. 

The foster care system is a difficult place. I’m not sure how I can make a bigger impact besides donating more time and money. Being a mentor makes a huge positive difference to young kids who have very little. I guess I can just continue to be an advocate and encourage others to get involved in their communities. 

7) Stop feeling guilty for not doing more. Since I was 13, I’ve always had the belief that if I can, I must because a friend of mine died in a car accident and was never given the chance. Every time I catch myself slacking off for more than an hour, a little voice inside my head tells me to do something productive instead.

Work in progress. The more my son sleeps, the less guilty I feel about working because that means my wife needs less relief during the day. But why should I feel guilty working to support my family so my wife and I don’t have to go back to a day job? If I was working 70+ hours a week and never home, that’s one thing. But I’m home all day most of the time and get most of the work done while he is asleep.

For those of you who’ve been able to get rid of the paradoxical guilt of working to take care of your family, let me know some of your strategies. I’m thinking that all I’ve got to do is not work so much for the first five or six years until he goes to kindergarten, and then turn on the after burners.  

8) Get regular physical checkups. One in three people will get cancer. And one in four people will die from cancer. The closest thing to curing cancer is early detection. However, most cancer is detected only after a patient feels symptoms. By stage three, only 8% of cancer patients live past five years.

Fail. Haven’t gotten a full physical yet. Time to schedule one! Ugh. But I am regularly exercising 3X a week and have also joined a softball league. So fun. 

9) Find a way to grow net worth by $2 million. With the estate tax threshold doubling to $22 million for couples, why not shoot for more wealth while trying to take things down a notch.

Failing. Based on my +6.7% net worth growth for 1H2018, I’m not going to make it. Getting to $2 million is extremely difficult with only my public investments and savings because my public investments account for less than 40% my net worth and I don’t earn enough. But if a private investment hits big or if I sell off a piece of Financial Samurai for a good price, there’s a small chance. Unfortunately, I think there’s also a 40% chance the stock market and real estate market stays flat or goes down, hence my relatively defensive portfolio. We live off about 2% of our net income a year.

With the good times fading, we’ve got to either work harder or finally start enjoying our returns. I’m choosing the latter! Stay tuned for an upcoming post on how we can all benefit from our wise investment decisions. 

Learning To Let Go Of Opportunity

Thanks for humoring me with this review because I really did forget some of my goals. Discovering all those repressed memories from childhood was also a surprise. Despite working more this year, I’m less stressed because I’m more comfortable with my new role as a dad.

For the remainder of the year my priorities are:

Be a better caregiver by consciously providing one more hour a day of care

Produce three items of work a week (post, page, podcast, or newsletter), not three posts plus a podcast and newsletter

Work on outreach for one hour a week (PR, social media, interviews, commenting on other sites)

Stick to two hours of work in the morning and two hours of work in the evening before midnight

Protect our wealth from declining

Provide updates to all the pre-schools we’ve applied to for 2019 about our son’s progress

Start potty training our son in 4Q

Spend a week in Napa before September (our first trip away from the house)

Spend a week in Tahoe this winter to show our son snow for the first time

Make all grandparents come to visit before year-end (will pay for flights)

Practice daily gratitude during dinner

It’s been very difficult to take things down a notch. The correlation between effort and reward is so great when running an online business that it would be a shame not to take full advantage while my mind still works. At the same time, for the sake of my family and my health I must come to grips with letting go of opportunity.

How are you guys doing with your personal goals so far? What do you need to work on for the rest of the year? How do you learn to be OK letting opportunity pass you by? If you’ve been able to create work/life balance, please share your secrets!

The post Financial Samurai Mid-Year 2018 Personal Goals Checkup appeared first on Financial Samurai.

from https://www.financialsamurai.com/financial-samurai-mid-year-2018-personal-goals-checkup/

[djgblogger-blog]

This old Catholic ritual is giving Brazil's economy a small boost, one Virgin Mary statuette at a time

http://bit.ly/2xwh3D6

Brazilians are moving away from Catholicism. Today, fewer than 50 percent of Brazilians identify as Roman Catholic, down from 92 percent in 1970. But after 500 years in South America, the Catholic Church remains deeply enmeshed Brazil’s economy and society.

Among its many footholds is a little-known tradition called the Movimento das Capelinhas, or “small chapel movement.” This phenomenon, which takes place in hundreds of cities and towns across Brazil, centers on the circulation among Catholic households of small sanctuaries containing a Virgin Mary statuette.

Alternative economies on the rise

The Movimento das Capelinhas is an example of a circulation-based collaborative network, a kind of hyper-local economy that is popping up across the globe, from one London district’s alternative currency to the time banks of New Zealand.

Such systems appeal because they exchange a narrow focus on economic value (only money matters) for a broader definition of what has value to people. By circulating dear objects in a certain pattern, these collaborative networks distribute their benefits to all involved, and the “profit” goes well beyond the small economic bump communities may see.

The small chapel movement forms part of a long history of Roman Catholic rituals involving sacred relics and statues sent out to tour the world’s parishes.

Protected by their wooden homes, Brazil’s moving Marys pay one-day “visits” to various parishioners’ homes in a semi-formal process determined by neighbors, parishes and lay volunteers. Most chapel groups include about 30 families, such that each family receives one visit a month. Local clergy oversee the Marys’ progress around town.

Mary pays a visit to a home in Campos Novos. Daiane Scaraboto

In doing their rounds, our research found, these peripatetic chapels do more than just physically circulate – their travels actually create profit and value for participants. The end result is a de facto local Catholic “economy,” one based on shared values rather than money.

Rituals and relics

To understand the economic impact of the popular small chapel tradition, we spent two years studying the Marys’ circulation in two southern Brazilian cities: Curitiba, which has 1.76 million residents; and Campos Novos, a small town southwest of there.

Our study, which was published in February in the Journal of Macromarketing, found differences in the size and organizational level of each city’s small chapel movements. But in both places, everyone in this ritual receives some kind of benefit, be it economic, spiritual or social – creating what’s called “hybrid value systems.”

Curitiba’s system is well-coordinated by the church, with approximately 100 volunteer mensageiras (messengers) who steward an estimated 10,000 small chapels from household to household.

‘Mensageiras,’ or messengers, at Mass in Curitiba. Daiane Scaraboto

In Campos Novos, which has 32,800 inhabitants, the market was less robust. Approximately 100 Marys circulate among local Catholics, overseen by about the same number of mensageiras.

For participating communities in both cities, the effect of the moving chapels is to create an alternative economy, one based not on traditional capitalist values but on participation, community and faith.

Money does, of course, play some role. Households make monetary donations to the Catholic Church for the honor of hosting a chapel. Some small capelinhas even come equipped with their own coin slot.

In Curitiba, we found that these small contributions earn the church about 1.5 million Brazilian reals (approximately US$500,000) per year. In Campos Novos, the church’s profit was significantly less, likely garnering the local archdiocese just several thousand reals.

Historic downtown Curitiba, where 10,000 Mary statuettes circulate every day among hundreds of thousands of households. Francisco Anzola/flickr, CC BY

Money can’t buy you faith

Host families and community members see less tangible but equally valuable benefits from the traveling Marys.

For lay mensageiras, it’s social status: Working as your neighborhood’s representative of the church is a prestigious role. Likewise for the families, parishes and communities interconnected by the regular visitation of these small chapels.

There is a spiritual value, too. For Catholics, Mary, as the mother of Jesus Christ, is one of the most powerful holy figures, and recipients of the small chapels that house her feel blessed by their access to divinity, support and good luck.

The Brazilian Catholic church carefully manages this aspect of the chapel visits, presenting them as a source of comfort. The Marys “move,” says Church doctrine, and in doing so sustain their devotees emotionally.

The capelinhas often become a favored local symbol of their family group, transcending their religious significance to be, quite simply, beloved and familiar objects.

The Curitiba archdioscese’s Movimento das Capelinhas Facebook page and blog reveals host families, messengers and priests celebrate the traveling Marys. After one family posts about a chapel’s arrival to their home, other commentators excitedly retell their visitation stories.

A screenshot of the Facebook page dedicated to the circulation of the Virgin Mary chapels in Curitiba.

The church also takes to Facebook and to the pulpit to recognize the volunteers who help to circulate the chapels, even honoring them in special Masses. Lauding participants in the small chapel movement gives them a special social status, or what we call “reputational value” – another benefit created by this alternative economy.

The church actively promotes the social and reputational value of the Marys. When a new church opens in town, for example, the small chapels will be given new circulation routes as a welcome to new parishioners.

Priests in Curitiba train and mentor the small chapel messengers, helping to ensure that the Marys circulate in ways that mutually benefit all participants, either economically, spiritually, socially or on multiple levels.

One type of value often translates into another. Spiritual value becomes economic whenever someone donates to a small chapel, for example. Then, when this money, in turn, is used to educate an apprentice priest or to introduce a new route for a small chapel, the value again changes, becoming social or reputational.

Brazil’s “Marys that move” may not be able to pull Brazil out of its deep recession, but our research reveals that these hybrid systems do hold the potential to combat economic malaise, albeit on the local level, by reminding Catholics that even if money is in short supply right now, friends, family and faith are not.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

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A former exec at Trader Joe’s grows another kind of grocery store

Kathy Shiels Tully, CS Monitor, June 23, 2017

BOSTON--Anyone else in his position would be sitting on a tropical beach wearing a flowery Hawaiian shirt, his toes curled in the sand. But not Doug Rauch.

Mr. Rauch worked for 31 years at Trader Joe’s, the last 14 as a president. He helped grow the small retail chain in California into a grocery store with a national presence. He retired in 2008.

But Rauch wasn’t really ready to call it quits. It took a few tries, but after a while, he started growing another food store--Daily Table, located in a low-income neighborhood of Boston.

“I failed retirement,” says Rauch, his eyes crinkling when he smiles.

Since it opened two years ago, Daily Table has been a pioneer in its approach to food waste, food deserts, hunger, and obesity. It’s a nonprofit grocery store, selling healthy food at bargain prices.

The food that Daily Table sells is excess food--either donated by various organizations or bought at steep discounts from big-name companies looking to unload items that are close to their expiration dates. The items are resold at a fraction of retail prices--and yes, they still haven’t reached their expiration dates.

Rauch came up with this model, which has been received enthusiastically by customers, after a stint as a fellow at Harvard University and through collaborations with others in the Boston area working on food issues.

“I love what Doug is doing,” says Sasha Purpura, executive director of Food for Free, a nonprofit in Cambridge, Mass., that rescues excess produce from local farmers markets and distributes it to local food pantries, as well as Daily Table.

“Here’s somebody who’s coming out of a senior role in the corporate food world with a tremendous amount of experience, connections, and intelligence,” Ms. Purpura adds, “and he’s bringing that into the nonprofit world and doing it in such a collaborative, genuine way.”

Daily Table is located on a busy corner in Dorchester, the diverse Boston neighborhood where the actors-musicians Mark and Donnie Wahlberg grew up, as well as the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer. As of a 2007-11 estimate for the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, more than 45 percent of households in Dorchester had incomes of less than $40,000.

Daily Table looks like a Trader Joe’s. Blackboards display welcoming messages in colorful chalk, and some walls are painted in eye-popping orange and green-apple colors. Bouncy music--such as “We Are Family”--plays while shoppers stop to chat with friends.

And there’s the food--stacks of organic cereal, produce piled high on display tables, and in a refrigerated section, precooked meals and fresh salads made on-site. There are almost 60 suppliers to Daily Table, a mix of nonprofits like Food for Free and major companies that include Newman’s Own, Cedar’s Mediterranean Foods, Wegmans, and Whole Foods.

“Quality equals dignity,” Rauch says.

Daily Table accepts only food that meets its strict nutritional guidelines, particularly regarding sugar and sodium. This is the reason the store does not sell orange juice.

“You won’t find anything here that won’t move you forward,” says Rauch, adding that one woman told him she’d lost 15 pounds after shopping regularly at Daily Table.

His manager, George Chakoutis, says he and Rauch “get into it” over the self-imposed limitations every so often. “We could have so much more,” Mr. Chakoutis says. But Rauch won’t budge.

Still, each week brings new and different shipments. “Shopping here is like a treasure hunt,” Chakoutis says as a pallet stacked with 60 donated cases of celery hearts rolls into the storage room.

In its first 20 months, Daily Table enrolled 11,000 members; 450 to 500 customers are served daily. Chakoutis says that the average size of the shopping basket--that is, what people buy--has doubled, as has the number of items the store carries. “We’re a larger part of their diet,” Rauch says.

All that’s required to join is a phone number and a ZIP Code to ensure that the majority of Daily Table customers are people who live nearby. However, people from any ZIP Code--and of any income level--are welcome, Rauch says: “If Warren Buffett walked in, he’s welcome.”

Kim Chan-Hernandez, a home health aide and mother of three who lives and works in the area, often picks up some lunch from the store.

“I like it for the prices. Look at that--49 cents for 12-ounce cans of Polar flavored seltzer. How can you beat it? I’ll grab something, quick and easy,” she says, scanning the refrigerated shelves.

Daily Table may be operating smoothly now, but the path to developing it wasn’t so simple. After retiring, Rauch figured he would sit on some boards. But then he realized that most of his time would be spent fundraising. “One, I’m not a fundraiser, and two, why not get money by delivering on the business?” he says.

But the question was, what business? He began to shape his ideas during his fellowship at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, where he studied food waste and food deserts.

Catherine D’Amato, president of the Greater Boston Food Bank and one of Daily Table’s suppliers, says Rauch met with her to discuss one of his early ideas.

“He was going to collect all this bread because there was so much of it, and give it to us,” she says. “I told him, ‘That’s thoughtful, but nobody wants it.’ His idea wasn’t big enough. It wasn’t the right idea.”

So Rauch returned to Harvard to retool his plans. And there, he had a number of “awakenings.” One was understanding that “hunger isn’t a shortage of calories; it’s a shortage of nutrients.” Second was that “the model for tackling hunger is outdated, designed around people getting food to eat versus getting good food to eat.”

As many as 49 million Americans are food insecure, says Rauch, citing a common statistic. The data have frustrated him.

“We’re one of the richest nations in the history of food production,” he says. “We have far more food than we need as a society. It just seemed so incongruous to me.”

Championing changes to the tax code was another idea Rauch bounced around. He figured better incentives might lead corporations to make larger donations of healthier food. But he recounts that Ray Goldberg, one of his Harvard professors, warned him not to waste years “wrestling with the IRS.” Dr. Goldberg, who along with John H. Davis developed the Agribusiness Program at Harvard Business School in 1955, persuaded Rauch to work in an area he knew well--retail. “His comments transformed my thinking,” Rauch says.

To get excess healthy food into the hands of those in need, Rauch searched for “inefficiencies in the system.” He found them and channeled what he learned into Daily Table.

Although there are about six to eight other nonprofit grocery stores in the United States, such as Fare & Square in Chester, Pa., “Daily Table’s commitment to health and healthy foods is unique,” Ms. D’Amato says.

In April, Daily Table began offering free cooking classes for all ages. “Doug has grabbed the bull by the horns,” writes Anthony Stankiewicz, chief of staff for the Codman Square Health Center, in an email. The health center, also located in Dorchester, is a Daily Table partner and was instrumental in the store’s launch. It built the teaching kitchen.

Rauch says he failed at retirement, but a lot of people may be grateful he did.

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No shortage of currency and coins, says Minister of State for Finance

The authorities today set the document immediately on cash move, saying there may be no shortage of notes besides some sporadic instances.

The government today set the report directly on cash circulation, pronouncing there is no scarcity of notes except a few sporadic cases. In his written respond to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said diverse measures were taken for equitable distribution of notes across the united states to make sure availability of small denominations. “there is no scarcity of forex notes and coins besides a few sporadic and coffee incidents of shortage,” he stated. He turned into replying to a question whether there’s the shortage of notes and coins of Rs 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 forcing people to procure the equal from black marketeers at heavy prices.nursing shortage 2016

The minister said manufacturing of currency notes and coins has been raised substantially to fulfill any shortfall in the call for.

At some stage on November 10 to December 19, 2016, a total of 22.6 billion pieces of notes of numerous denominations were furnished of which 20.4 billion were small denominations of Rs 10, 20, 50 and 100. Huge quantities of cash of Rs five and Rs 10 too were furnished.

Five Factors Causing Global Food Shortages

Currently, there is a meals scarcity of big proportions sweeping the globe. This meals scarcity will affect residents of poor and less-advanced countries first, but the effects will trickle down to even the maximum tremendously evolved countries fast. The food scarcity is not as much of a scarcity due to reduced manufacturing as a scarcity caused by charge will increase.

residents of nations that devour a higher share of processed ingredients to unprocessed ingredients can climate the hurricane greater without problems than people whose diets consist frequently of unprocessed fundamentals. This is because human beings eating many methods foods can transfer to shopping for fundamentals, saving cash and ultimately able to pay for his or her food. Those whose food regimen includes basics together with the sparkling end result, veggies and grains, have nowhere to go, besides hungry.

This food shortage is the end result of many different factors which include the aforementioned price increases. There are five fundamental factors contributing to the worldwide metals shortage that’s rapidly evolving right into a global meals crisis.surplus and shortage definition

Five elements Contributing to the global meals crisis

1) Growing Fertilizer Fees

Farmers in the poorest international locations can not come up with the money for fertilizer for their plants. Their land is so depleted of vitamins that they can not efficiently boost food without fertilizer. Fertilizer fees are Rising because synthetic fertilizer is produced the usage of oil-primarily based electricity sources, the fee of that is Rising progressively and quick.

2) Subsidies for production of Bio-fuels

Biofuels are produced with the identical components of meals. Agricultural subsidies spent towards biofuel production are monies no longer spent on food manufacturing and distribution. While now not the most effective cause, biofuel subsidies are an issue due to the fact they take cash away from meals manufacturing subsidies and biofuel manufacturing nonetheless requires the use of fertilizers, that are produced the usage of strength from traditional fossil fuels.

3) negative Distribution Systems

Donating meals to developing countries is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it provides necessary vitamins to from time to time starving populations. Then again, free meals delivered to hungry countries contributes to fee collapses for nearby meals producers, removing the incentive to produce meals locally.

4) Unchecked Populace Boom

Populace Boom is a vicious cycle in particular in developing international locations. Households need assist farming crops, so they have more kids, translating into extra bodies to help and greater mouths to feed. Moreover, beginning control measures are much less to be had in developing nations, contributing to the short Population Increase.

5) Drought

Everywhere in the global, drought in top-food generating regions is reducing food production and using expenses better. Drought throughout foremost meals generating areas of the united states, along with the southeast, Midwest and western areas is growing food fees. Drought in areas of the African continent and in Australia is making it impossible to develop food due to the fact there’s no water to buy and no cash to buy it.

Other factors, consisting of political relationships, are contributing to the worldwide meals emergency. The 5 listed above are the main factors, in huge component due to the fact they may be either factor out of manager of people (we cannot manipulate the climate), or because they may be due to lack of research into electricity and alternative fuel sources.

Global Financing – Hard and Soft Currency

International financing and trade prices are most important topics whilst thinking about a venturing commercial enterprise overseas. Within the intending, I’m able to explain in element what hard and gentle currencies are. I’m able to then go into detail explaining the reasoning for the fluctuating currencies. Subsequently, I’m able to give an explanation for hard and tender currencies significance in dealing with dangers.

hard currency

difficult currency is usually from an incredibly industrialized u. S . A . that is extensively common around the sector as a shape of price for items and services. A difficult foreign money is predicted to remain especially strong via a short time frame, and to be highly liquid In the foreign exchange marketplace. Another criterion for a hard forex is that the currency ought to come from a politically and economically stable united states of America’s. The U.S. greenback and the British pound are exact examples of difficult currencies (Investopedia,2008).

Tough currency basically way that the currency is powerful.

The phrases robust and susceptible, growing and falling, strengthening and weakening are relative terms Within the international of forex (occasionally known as “foreign exchange”). rising and falling, strengthening and weakening all suggest a relative alternate in function from a preceding degree. whilst the dollar is “strengthening,” its price is rising on the subject of one or greater different currencies.

A robust dollar will purchase more devices of an overseas forex than formerly. One end result of a stronger dollar is that the expenses of foreign goods and services drop for U.S. consumers. This will allow People to take the long-postponed vacation to Every other use, or purchase a foreign vehicle that was too steeply-priced. U.S. purchasers’ advantage from a robust dollar, however, U.S. Exporters is harm. A sturdy dollar means that it takes more of an overseas foreign money to buy U.S. bucks. U.S. items and offerings turn out to be greater pricey for foreign customers who, as a result, generally tend to shop for fewer U.S. merchandise. As it takes greater of a foreign forex to buy sturdy bucks, merchandise priced in greenbacks are greater costly while sold foreign places (Chicago fed,2008).

The Relationship Between Insurance and Finance

Coverage and finance are closely interwoven fields of enterprise, no longer least due to the fact they each contain cash. In addition they frequently each involve hypothesis and risk, and frequently where one goes, the alternative will follow. Take belongings funding, for instance, it entails a huge quantity of capital outlay, hastily accompanied by means of Insurance to protect the capital funding. It might be ridiculous to spend such a massive sum of money on a task and no longer shield it in opposition to feasible harm. It consequently makes the experience to store information on those subjects together, as the connection is so logical.

Coverage is a form of danger control used to protect the insured towards the threat of a loss.

It’s miles defined as the equitable switch of the chance of a loss from one entity to some other in change for a premium. There are distinct styles of Insurance for pretty much every workable event. The most common Insurance might be existence Coverage, which provides a monetary benefit to a decedent’s circle of relatives or another detailed beneficiary.

It can cowl funeral or burial fees and may be paid out to the beneficiary in either a lump sum or as an annuity. property Coverage is one of the extra essential insurances as the property is extremely high priced and if It’s far lost or damaged for some reason (fireplace, earthquake, flood) It could be very difficult to update without adequate compensation. Travel Insurance was seen as a needless expense and remains viewed as such by using many. Its importance is, but, being an increasing number of recognized by using the general public at big. It’s far cover taken by using people who Travel overseas and covers positive unforeseen occasions such as clinical prices, loss of personal property, Journey delays and so forth. There are numerous other varieties of Coverage, too many to say, all important if you want to protect something of particular significance to you or another.

Inside the global of finance, there are many sub-classes,

Also too numerous to say however some can be protected right here. Forex, or the forex marketplace anywhere one currency is traded for any other. It includes buying and selling between banks, speculators, institutions, corporations, governments, and different monetary markets. The average every day trade In the global Foreign exchange is over US$ 3 trillion.

Tax consulting typically involves CPAs and tax lawyers in addressing any tax issues that you may have. There will also be Expert Strategic Tax Planners and Enrolled Dealers, relying on the corporation that you rent. They’ll help you reduce your tax debt, eliminate tax consequences, an innocent spouse claim, tax liens, financial institution levies, and preparing unfilled tax returns, in addition to any other tax decision trouble that you may have.