Mom. Student. Wife. Doctor?

Lately, I have been feeling the need to set down some roots. I really think that we should look into buying our own house. It is a real asset to own real estate and although I would not be looking to invest in real estate, owning your own home is really the only way to acquire wealth. My husband and I are debating this right now because everything I read says that you have to stay in your home for a while before you actually make some money on the deal. He thinks that we can flip property for profit, but I assured him with the real estate market as it is the most we can hope for is to buy a home and use it for a rental property. In my opinion that is the only way we will make money on a home purchase if we decide that we don’t want to live in it anymore, and I am not sure with the loans that I have taken out for school if we could actually own two houses at one time. I don’t think a bank is going to give us that much money, unless they can take into account that one of them is a rental property. I am not exactly sure how that works, does it count for you or against you or both? In any case, we have decided to stop debating investing in real estate and just seek out some investment advice. Not only about real estate investing, but in all types of investments including stock market investing and how to invest. Actually I came across a workshop at the local library where they are going to have an open forum where you can ask the expert’s questions and get some free advice. So I think that we will be going to that together, if we can get a sitter for the kids.

I am really just feeling like we need to be on better financial ground for the well being of our family. Having kids makes you think a little more about the future and what will be. Securing their future is everything to me. I want them to have a house to grow up in, and to come back and visit me in when I am old and they are grown. I want them to bring their kids and show off their rooms from when they were kids. I want them to have a yard to play in and I want an asset that I can borrow against if I need to in the difficult times. A home is a place of stability for a family, and that is what I want.

I am working on a report for school and have been researching all sorts of natural supplements. It seems that with all the government regulations on the natural health industry, the use of nutritional supplements has actually been on the decline in this country. Some people feel that the economy and the reduced drug prices have something to do with this trend, but I personally am not sure. I find personally that I get many health benefits from using vitamins not only to supplement, along with eating right, but also for natural healing. Some people turn to drugs when they are ill, however, I am not one of them. I turn to organic ways to treat illness such as herbal remedies and homeopathy. I find that the benefits of doing this are so incredible, and believe it or not homeopathy works much better than many over the counter medications for the same issues. The greatest thing about using natural health remedies like homeopathy is that they are completely safe. They don't offer up lots of side effects and other symptoms, they just address the problem. With homeopathy, if you were to accidentally choose the wrong remedy, then it would not do anything to or for you. It is specifically designed to affect positively the body and address the issue, if you are wrong, no harm done.

Now a day, you can actually order all your health needs online. I personally like to go to the local health food store, where I can get some organic foods and produce and soy milk in addition to vitamins and nutritional supplements. Our little store is very good about ordering things for me if they don't have them available, and stocking things that they know I will come in and buy. The staff works very hard to stay well informed about the newest and latest things available including the latest research.

I think that with the condition of the world, problems like obesity, cancer and heart disease, that the American public should be looking toward an alternative to the sugar and fat filled foods that cover the grocery store shelves. Keep in mind that many of the nutritional elements of foods in the past are long gone, and of course people's bodies are suffering. You may be lacking something that provides incredible nutrition and not even know what that item is. It is important to research about nutritional findings and realize that you could be overeating looking for a nutrient that our foods are devoid of. Trying out different things to help your body stay balanced and in harmony is a great way to take your health and weight into your own hands.

The Credit Catch All

Trying to go to school while starting a family is not truly the ideal path, however, it is where I find myself these days. The demands of having two small children and having to be in classes all day long, does not leave me much time for anything else. I get student loans and that helps, plus I do a work study during my free time at school and my husband works in the evenings. Still as hard as I try these days, I really can't make ends meet. I know everyone keeps talking about how the economy and how bad things are getting, well personally I can really feel it. About a year ago, in desperation I applied for a few credit cards and got approved. I was thrilled as we really needed a little bit of cushion and we had blown all of our savings moving for my schooling.

I made my payments, but just the minimum and apparently I came too close to my credit limit. Well, I really had no idea that if the interest and charges reached my credit limit that they were going to start charging me over the limit fees. I have always had good credit; however, I never came close to my credit limit before. I guess I probably should have done a little more to compare credit cards before I began charging on them. I had always used my American Express card for my purchases, which fortunately didn't have a credit limit and needed to be paid every month. I never realized a balance could get out of control so quickly. Fortunately, I was able to transfer the balance from that card to another card quickly and without getting too far into this scam. I have checked my credit score and all still seems to be fine, although a friend of mine told me to check back again in a few months because sometimes things don't show on your credit report right away.

If there is one lesson I have learned from all this is don't borrow money if you need it. I know that sounds pretty silly, but I really do think that it is only safe to borrow money if you can afford to pay it back, and if you can't then you really can't risk ruining your good credit. It seems like a catch all I know, but your credit rating is a very important part of your wealth and you must hang onto it at all costs.

The Car Accident

My husband and kids and I spent an incredible weekend in VA with my parents. They are considering moving there and invited the whole family to a hotel get together on them, which was really great since we really couldn't afford to stay in such an awesome hotel on our own. We had a great weekend, well with the exception of when the hotel had to be evacuated because they thought there was a fire in the place, but really it was just a couple that lit too many candles and then blew them out all at once. It was a really good time.

When we got home, my husband had to go back to work; he has been doing some delivery driving in the evenings for a local place. All of a sudden I get a phone call that he has been in a car accident and he has totaled his car. The accident was the other guys fault and thank goodness, my husband was okay with the exception of a few aches and pains in his arms, neck and back. Well, needless to say I contacted our insurance company right away and they told me that they would get working on our claim settlement. The next day, my husband was still having some pain, so we decided to look for some law advice, and found a law firm that offered us to come in right away. An accident lawyer sat down with us and gave us some free law advice and said that he thought we would be able to get claim settlement resolved quickly. Our insurance company came through quickly, however the other guys insurance fought tooth and nail about every penny. It was a frustrating process, but I was really glad that my insurance company reimbursed us for our vehicle and paid off our loan very quickly. We had the extra kind of insurance that paid off the whole vehicle not just what it was worth; thank goodness we had the foresight to cover it completely. Who wants to keep paying on a car that they no longer have, and since the car was only about a year old that is the way this could have played out.

In any case, we did get the doctor's bills reduced and we did get a settlement from the other party's insurance company, however, this was a difficult process, and we didn't make any money off the deal at all. I know that there are people who think that they can make money by being in a car accident that is someone else's fault, well believe me when I tell you we lost money in the deal.