Boomers and retirement savings - DAI Life Brokerage Services

Boomers and retirement savings: the Good, the Bad and the?Ugly

The world has changed tremendously over the past 70 years?starting around the time Social Security was created?including the way we save for retirement. Unfortunately, more recent history has created some bad savings habits that could very well define the retirement future of the next generation of workers. Not only do boomers have to worry about their own financial future, they need to be concerned about how their children and grandchildren view saving for retirement based on their example.

But history doesn?t have to repeat itself. Some small changes in behavior from boomers today can help to set a solid foundation for building the more secure retirement plans of tomorrow. In that way, we can follow the ?good? savings examples and bury the ?bad? and ?ugly? habits we should avoid.

The Good

Shaped by events such as the Great Depression and World War II, the so-called ?Greatest Generation? took a cautious approach to financial planning, investing and preparing for retirement. The creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1935 to help protect bank savings, as well as the inception of Social Security to provide a base level of financial support in retirement?along with general insecurity about the markets?led many of that generation to want rock-solid guarantees and safety in their financial planning. It also led many to be attracted to companies that offered a defined benefit (DB) plan in the form of an employer-sponsored pension to provide their retirement security.

Their cautious attitude and the relative guarantees underlying two-thirds of their retirement income (Social Security and defined benefit plans) led many members of that generation to stay away from equity markets. They appeared less interested in having control of their retirement assets and instead were more comfortable allowing the government and their employer to provide the guarantees and security they sought.

In addition, they had the benefit of a growing economy, defined by good employment in the manufacturing sector as well as opportunities from programs like the GI Bill. They also benefitted from rising housing prices and a stock market that performed fairly well, helping the personal savings portion of their retirement plan to grow. As a result, they entered retirement on solid financial footing, which allowed them to indulge their kids, the baby boomers of today.

Coupled with their parents? financial security, boomers entered the job market with the wind at their backs. The growth of the technology and service sectors in the 1980s led to an abundance of white-collar jobs that offered lucrative incentive compensation. The economy and markets were strong and although DB plans were starting to go away, the birth of the 401(k) allowed for an easy way to save for retirement. As we moved into the ?90s, the growth of the Internet created opportunities for online trading and individuals learned more about investing on their own. The housing market continued to rise, making home equity loans attractive and boomer consumption habits increased due to enabling from the credit card industry.

As a result, baby boomers approached the management of their assets in a decidedly different way from their parents. Growing up in primarily favorable economic times, and energized by solid economic growth for most of their early working years, baby boomers were often fearless and emboldened as investors. For the better part of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, many boomers focused on maximizing their rate of return in order to accumulate more wealth. Guarantees, however, were not necessarily a focus. Guarantees, or the lack of them, seemed to fall from our collective memories as did the stories told in history class of the Great Depression and bank failures. This lack of focus on guarantees meant any bumps in the road could cause significant problems to the retirement security of boomers.

The Bad and the Ugly

The first sign of these bumps came in the early 2000s when the tech bubble burst. But those bumps turned into huge potholes in 2008 with the mortgage crisis and impending financial collapse, sending many boomer retirement plans completely off the road. From 2000 to early 2003, the stock market (as measured by the S&P 500) lost 41 percent of its value. Then, after recovering from that drop and reaching new heights, the market lost 51 percent of its value, this time in a span of only 17 months between October 2007 and February 2009 (?The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns,? Callan Associates, 2011).

But it was not only stock market performance and the status of their 401(k)s that had boomers in a panic?it was the entire economic landscape and changing retirement picture. It seemed that too many factors were trending negatively and the method for retirement planning used by their parents no longer worked or existed for the boomers.

Many of those who had counted on their home as a retirement asset now found themselves underwater. Defined contributions plans have all but replaced traditional pension plans, so there are no longer many guarantees. Market volatility is increasing, leaving many boomers more uncertain about their retirement portfolios than ever. Finally, the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs has exacerbated unemployment, so many boomers are facing layoffs just when they should be hitting their prime earning years.

As a result, many boomers have been forced to scale back their expectations or even delay retirement in order to rebuild their lost savings. This is a sad reality for these boomers, but it can be even more tragic if their children and grandchildren continue with many of their bad savings habits.

Lessons learned?

A famous Business Week magazine headline from 1979 heralded ?The Death of Equities,? and was shortly followed by nearly 20 years of continuous stock market growth. The point is, predictions of that nature rarely come true, especially when they need to address a long time period. The same is true for retirement planning; just because something is a certain way today, doesn?t meant it will be that way 30 years from now.

One thing that never changes is the impact of good financial habits. If your boomer clients are experiencing problems with their retirement plan because they never developed a true strategy for building and protecting their savings, there is no time like the present to get started. Starting with a few basic steps can help them build something for the future, but it can also assist in showing their heirs that some level of financial security in retirement is not out of reach.

So what can the boomers of today do to help the workers of tomorrow develop better habits?

2006 whitepaper on financial literacy by the National Bureau of Economic Research indicates that a strong positive correlation exists between planning and wealth accumulation. Even something as simple as setting a household budget can make a big difference. Here are some actions that could contribute toward improving opportunities to accumulate retirement savings:

1. Pay yourself first and establish a budget. All people that receive a paycheck need to make savings a routine activity, which means setting aside a specific amount from every paycheck for retirement savings and include that as part of an overall budget. If you don?t know how much money you have to spend every month, you won?t know how much is available to save.
2. Maximize your 401(k) contributions. Obviously, it?s important for people that have access to an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan to enroll, but even more crucial is a directive to contribute as much as possible there and maximize any employer match that is available. If not, you are leaving money on the table. Similarly, it?s a good idea to escalate contributions with any salary increases to take full advantage of the match.
3. Pay down debt. It?s likely that those without ample retirement savings have significant debt as well, including car loans, housing or credit card debt. It?s critical that people are active in managing that debt by developing a strategy for paying off debt, generally starting with highest interest rates first.
4. Understand the role of guaranteed income. How we save for retirement in America has changed drastically in the past 30 years, especially when it comes to guaranteed retirement income. Boomers need to incorporate financial products, like annuities, that can help them address the new reality they face, particularly risks like longevity, inflation and funding retiree health care. Individual responsibility for retirement will only continue to grow, so the next generation will also need to become familiar with the whole retirement savings picture and the different ways they can build a portfolio. They need to get focused on the best way to add guaranteed income into their retirement plan.

If the boomers taught us anything, let it serve as a cautionary tale rather than an example, proving that above all, saving for retirement is a constant activity that begins with your first job. Other lessons can certainly be gleaned from their experience? a home is not a retirement asset, credit card debt is expensive and needs to be managed, aggressive investing is not for the short term. But the key factor to recognize is a simple mantra: A failure to plan is essentially planning to fail.

By helping your boomer client with developing a sound saving strategy, you?re also helping to build a new generation of savers that will have a better understanding of the challenges they?ll face during their retirement years.

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It's official: with Texas win, Romney is the nominee

The GOP candidate clinched the nomination with more than the 1144 delegates required to win the nomination.

By Stephen Ohlemacher,?The Associated Press / May 29, 2012

Mitt Romney in a file photo. The GOP candidate won the Texas primary today, clinching the nomination.

Mary Altaffer/AP/File

Enlarge

Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday with a win in the Texas primary, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals.

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According to the Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 88 delegates in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.

Play Gaffe Dodger, the presidential election game

"I am honored that Americans across the country have given their support to my candidacy and I am humbled to have won enough delegates to become the Republican Party's 2012 presidential nominee," Romney said in a statement.

"Our party has come together with the goal of putting the failures of the last three and a half years behind us," Romney said. "I have no illusions about the difficulties of the task before us. But whatever challenges lie ahead, we will settle for nothing less than getting America back on the path to full employment and prosperity."

Romney must now fire up conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation's struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team in an election that will be heavily influenced by the economy.

"It's these economic indicators that will more or less trump any good or bad that Romney potentially got out of primary season," said Josh Putnam, an assistant political science professor at Davidson College who writes the political blog Frontloading HQ.

Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Donald Trump, who has been renewing discredited suggestions that Obama wasn't born in the United States. Romney says he believes Obama was born in America but has yet to condemn Trump's repeated insinuations to the contrary.

"If Mitt Romney lacks the backbone to stand up to a charlatan like Donald Trump because he's so concerned about lining his campaign's pockets, what does that say about the kind of president he would be?" Obama's deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter, said in a statement.

Asked Monday about Trump's contentions, Romney said: "I don't agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in." He added: "But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

Trump told CNN in an interview Tuesday that he and Romney talk about other issues ? jobs, China, oil and more ? and not about the place of Obama's birth or the validity of his birth certificate. Asked how he viewed Romney's position that the president was indeed born in the U.S., Trump said: "He's entitled to his opinion, and I think that's wonderful. I don't happen to share that opinion and that's wonderful also."

Republicans won't officially nominate Romney until late August at the GOP national convention in Tampa, Fla. Romney has 1,174 convention delegates.

He won at least 88 delegates in Texas with 64 left to be decided, according to early returns. The 152 delegates in Texas are awarded in proportion to the statewide vote.

Texas Republicans also voted in a Senate primary to choose a candidate to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst led state Solicitor General Ted Cruz and Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert in early returns.

If no one gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will go to a runoff in July. The nominee will be strongly favored to win in November in heavily Republican Texas.

Romney, 65, is clinching the presidential nomination later in the calendar than any recent Republican candidate ? but not quite as late as Obama in 2008. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, at the end of an epic primary battle with Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years ago, John McCain reached the threshold on March 4, after Romney had dropped out of the race about a month earlier.

This year's primary fight was extended by a back-loaded primary calendar, new GOP rules that generally awarded fewer delegates for winning a state and a Republican electorate that built up several other candidates before settling on Romney.

Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Trump ? all of them sat atop the Republican field at some point. Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann peaked for a short time, too. But Romney outlasted them all, even as some GOP voters and tea party backers questioned his conservative credentials.

The primary race started in January with Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, narrowly edging Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Romney rebounded with a big win in New Hampshire before Gingrich, the former House speaker, won South Carolina.

Romney responded with a barrage of negative ads against Gingrich in Florida and got a much-needed 14-point win. Romney's opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama.

Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney's work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs. It is a line of attack that Obama has promised to carry all the way to November.

On Feb. 7 Santorum swept all three contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, raising questions about Romney's status as the front-runner. After a 17-day break in the voting, Romney responded with wins in Arizona, Michigan and Washington state before essentially locking up the nomination on March 6, this year's version of Super Tuesday.

Romney has been in general-election mode for weeks, raising money and focusing on Obama, largely ignoring the primaries since his competitors dropped out or stopped campaigning. Santorum suspended his campaign April 10, and Gingrich left the race a few weeks later.

Both initially offered tepid endorsements of Romney, but on Sunday Gingrich gave a full-throated defense of Romney's campaign, saying on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he was "totally committed to Romney's election."

Texas Rep. Ron Paul said on May 14 he would no longer compete in primaries, though his supporters are still working to gain national delegates at state conventions.

Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who has been unaligned in the 2012 race, said the long, sometimes nasty primary fight should help Romney fine-tune his campaign organization so it can operate effectively in the general election. Galen doesn't, however, think it was relevant in toughening up Romney for the battle against Obama.

"Romney's been running for president for six years. He is as good a candidate as he's ever going to be," Galen said. "Whatever you say about him, he was better than everybody else in the race."

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World powers worry Syria sliding to civil war

GENEVA (AP) ? World powers share a belief that Syria could descend into civil war and plan to map out possible ways to avoid such a disaster for the region, a deputy to international envoy Kofi Annan said Wednesday.

Jean-Marie Guehenno told reporters after privately briefing the U.N. Security Council, the world body's most powerful unit, that diplomats are deeply troubled by Syria's cycle of violence.

"I believe that in the council there's an understanding that any sliding toward full-scale civil war in Syria would be catastrophic, and the security council now needs to have that kind of strategic discussion on how that needs to be avoided," Guehenno said in Geneva after speaking to the New York-based Security Council by videoconference.

However, there was no indication that Russia, one of the veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, was changing it's position on Syria.

Dmitry Peskov, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency Wednesday that "there can be no talk" about a shift in Russia's stance on Syria under foreign pressure.

Russia, along with China, has twice shielded Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime from the U.N. sanctions over his crackdown on protests. Syria is Russia's last ally in the region, providing Moscow with its only naval base outside the former Soviet Union and a top customer for Russian weapons industries.

Guehenno, the Annan deputy and a former U.N. peacekeeping chief, also warned of the possibility of outside groups and terrorists taking advantage of the violence. "In any situation where there is a risk of civil war you have opportunistic actors, if one can say that, that can try to exploit that," he said.

Guehenno said he told the closed session of the 15-nation council that Annan's six-point peace plan to end the 15-month conflict must be fully implemented and that political process must include talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.

"It's very important that the Security Council be united in pushing for a political process," Guehenno said.

Annan held talks with Assad in Damascus on Tuesday following the weekend massacre in Houla of more than 100 people, many of them women and children.

At the U.N. headquarters in New York, Germany's U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig said Guehenno told the council that while Annan was in Damascus he appealed to Assad's government "to take bold steps forward" to end to end the violence immediately and implement the peace plan.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said the worst but most probable scenario in Syria is a failure of Annan's peace plan and a spreading conflict that creates "a major crisis" not only in Syria but also region-wide.

"And members of this council and members of the international community are left with the option only of considering whether they are prepared to take actions outside of the Annan plan and the authority of this council," she told reporters.

The best scenario would be for the Syrian government to immediately start complying with the plan, she said, but that doesn't seem to be "a high probability."

And if Assad refuses to implement it, Rice added, then the Security Council should set aside its differences and up the pressure on Syria with added sanctions.

Minutes after she spoke, Russia's U.N, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that "our attitude to sanctions frankly continues to be negative."

But Rice, Churkin and other council members agree the best scenario is full implementation of the Annan plan, with talks between opposing sides, despite the increasing worry that will never happen.

They also agree on the need for all sides to immediately halt the violence and for Syrian troops and heavy weapons to be withdrawn from towns and cities, with the government also providing access to detainees, journalists and humanitarian workers.

Annan said in Damascus that the situation has reached "a tipping point" and many council ambassadors agreed, including Rice.

"I think we may be beginning to see the wheels coming off this bus," she said.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant said Guehenno and one of his French successors, the current U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, provided a grim briefing.

Lyall Grant said there was a sense of "revulsion" at the weekend massacre and the increase in extremist attacks with a new sectarian element, all of which are throwing up roadblocks to Annan's peace plan.

"The key thing is unity of the council," he said, calling for discussion at the U.N. and in world capitals on how to avoid a civil war in Syria.

___

Lederer reported from the United Nations. Eileen Powell contributed from New York.

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Elaborate Portland wedding proposal goes viral

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Facebook shares plumb new depths, valuation questioned

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc shares slid below $29 to a new low on Tuesday as nervous investors fled the company's shares, concerned about the social network's long-term business prospects and an initial offering price that proved too rich.

Shares of the No. 1 social network fell 10 percent to an all-time low of $28.65, before closing at $28.84, or down 9.6 percent. Since its market debut at $38 on May 18, the eight-year-old company has shed approximately $25 billion in value - roughly equivalent to the market capitalization of Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter of Facebook's IPO.

Wall Street has harbored concerns that Facebook, while boasting nearly a billion users worldwide and dominating Internet social-networking, would have difficulty translating its growing presence on smartphones and other mobile devices into revenue. Rivals Google Inc and Apple Inc currently dominate the mobile arena.

Facebook's quest to monetize mobile is spurring widespread speculation over its next moves. Technology bankers say the company would benefit from tacking on mobile operating software through an acquisition of Norway's Opera, which has been on the auction block for a while.

The New York Times cited sources dredging up a longstanding rumor that Zuckerberg was pondering building a Facebook phone, and that an easy way to acquire the hardware expertise needed was to buy troubled Research in Motion.

The Blackberry maker said late on Tuesday that it hired J.P. Morgan and RBC Capital Markets to help the company and its board with a "strategic review.

"They are clearly looking at smartphones and are trying to become more vertically integrated with their users," said Ryan Jacob of the Jacob Internet Fund. "They just don't want to be another app on Google's or Apple's platform."

"Speculation that Facebook is dabbling outside their main expertise and possibly planning another large acquisition may be unsettling to some investors," he added. "But I think options trading is behind today's drop in the shares."

TEMPTING OPTION

Facebook options began trading on Tuesday, presenting a tempting target as more investors bet the underlying stock would head south. They piled into put and call options - granting investors the right to sell or buy stock at a certain price - marking one of the busiest debuts ever in the options market.

"The fact that the stock has been weak on the first day of options trading means people are betting on future declines or buying insurance," Jacob said. "Investors may want to hold the stock but are buying protection in case the price falls further."

Jacob said he did not buy Facebook shares in the IPO and has not bought the stock since the debut.

"If the price is right we would consider buying," he added. "It's not quite there yet."

Janet Tavakoli, president of Tavakoli Structured Finance Inc in Chicago, said she bought puts expiring in September with a strike price of $25, at a cost of $210 per contract, with each contract representing 100 shares.

"The valuation is a complete bluff. There is still a long way to go down from here," she said. "There will be insiders selling their shares on August 20, when the first lockout period is over. There will be a lot of shares that will hit the market and more in coming months."

'TRANSITION'

Analysts say apart from the challenge of earning money off smartphone and tablet users, Facebook - which relies on advertising for the majority of its revenue --may also find it difficult to lure and keep large advertisers.

Days before Facebook's debut, General Motors announced it was pulling out of paid advertising on the social network, citing Facebook's unproven track record and echoing potential concerns about the lack of evidence that advertising on Facebook yielded strong returns on investment.

"Facebook is in a transition in their business model," Walter Price, portfolio manager of the Wells Fargo Advantage Specialized Technology Fund, told Reuters Insider. "It was easy to get the first 5 to 10 percent of an advertising budget to try it on Facebook and do some brand advertising, but getting the next 5 to 10 percent, you've got to displace TV and that's a lot more difficult to do.

"Facebook still doesn't have the metrics to prove profitability and prove growth and awareness from their platform," he added.

Facebook debut after an IPO that raised $16 billion was to have been the culmination of years of breakneck growth for the cultural and Internet phenomenon. But a software error on Nasdaq OMX Group Inc's U.S. exchange delayed the start of trade by 30 minutes.

Then, claims of selective disclosure in the days leading up to the IPO about Facebook's slowing revenue growth engulfed the company in controversy, as did perceptions among some investors that the stock had been overpriced coming out the gate.

Skeptics had argued even before the botched debut and subsequent selloff that Facebook's starting valuation of more than $100 billion - about equivalent to that of Amazon.com Inc and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined - was too high for a company that posted $1 billion in profit on revenue of $3.7 billion in 2011.

Facebook stock debuted at over 100 times historical earnings versus Apple's 14 times. Despite that, many investors bet on a modest first-day pop for the company, which upended traditional technology and business models and is used by about one in seven people on the planet.

"We've been talking about a $50 billion valuation as one that makes sense, I think that would be a stock price around $20," Price said. But "the infrastructure that Facebook is building, and the fact that they have many advertisers that have built followers and fans on their platform, gives them a base to build a great business."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Vague talk about Facebook's next moves in a hotly contested mobile arena may also be giving some investors pause. Rumors that the company may be considering acquiring Opera pushed the Oslo-listed shares up more than 26 percent on Tuesday.

Analysts say the mobile-phone software maker could prove a crucial component in Facebook's still-patchy strategy to earn revenue from smartphones, but it could carry a price tag of as high as $1 billion.

Many Wall Street analysts had also been concerned about the apparent hastiness with which Facebook concluded its $1 billion purchase of photo-sharing service Instagram, though Zuckerberg later said it had been considered for months.

A industry source told Reuters on Tuesday that antitrust regulators had given Facebook notice that its proposed Instagram acquisition will get an extended review.

Speculation has been rife about how Facebook might spearhead a drive into mobile advertising, in which its Instagram purchase was considered key.

Talk that the social networking company might actually get into the hardware business re-surfaced after Google, whose Android OS is now the most commonly used mobile software, completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Bankers and analysts say BlackBerry maker RIM, left behind in the smartphone race against Apple and Samsung, might be doing shareholders a service by allowing itself to be acquired.

Others worry about how Zuckerberg commands more than half of the company's voting shares through agreements with other investors, granting him near-absolute control over Facebook.

The 28-year-old has so far refrained from commenting publicly about the controversy, and in fact is reportedly not even in the country.

As Facebook shares hit a record low on Tuesday, photos of Zuckerberg and his new bride spread across the Internet, depicting the couple - who wed the day after Facebook debuted - touring the Sistine Chapel and sharing a fast-food meal on their honeymoon in Rome.

(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel and Angela Moon in New York; Writing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Steve Orlofsky and Tim Dobbyn)

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Panetta: Asia is the 'project' for new Navy grads

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center, shakes hands with a United States Naval Academy Midshipmen as a fellow Midshipman, right, reacts after receiving her diploma during the Academy's graduation and commissioning ceremonies in Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, May 29, 2012. The Pentagon chief said Tuesday building U.S. maritime strength across the Asia-Pacific region will be one of the main projects for the new generation of America's naval officers. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center, shakes hands with a United States Naval Academy Midshipmen as a fellow Midshipman, right, reacts after receiving her diploma during the Academy's graduation and commissioning ceremonies in Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, May 29, 2012. The Pentagon chief said Tuesday building U.S. maritime strength across the Asia-Pacific region will be one of the main projects for the new generation of America's naval officers. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

A United States Naval Academy Midshipman reacts after receiving his diploma as Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, background center, shakes hands with a Midshipman during the Academy's graduation and commissioning ceremonies in Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, May 29, 2012. The Pentagon chief said Tuesday building U.S. maritime strength across the Asia-Pacific region will be one of the main projects for the new generation of America's naval officers. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center, reacts as he slips into a United States Naval Academy jacket during the Academy's graduation and commissioning ceremonies in Annapolis, Md., Tuesday, May 29, 2012. Panetta received the jacket as a gift from Academy Superintendent, Vice Admiral Michael H. Miller, left, and U.S. Marine Second Lt. Ian Cameron, of Rochester, Minn., president of the Class of 2012. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) ? The Pentagon chief said Tuesday building U.S. maritime strength across the Asia-Pacific region will be one of the main projects for the new generation of America's naval officers.

Speaking to graduates at the U.S. Naval Academy, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the U.S. is returning to its maritime roots.

"One of the key projects that your generation will have to face is sustaining and enhancing American strength across the great maritime region of the Pacific," he said.

He told graduates that their work will help strengthen defense ties with China, modernize ties with old allies like Japan and Korea and build new partnerships with countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore.

"America's future prosperity and security are tied to our ability to advance peace and security along the arc extending from the Western Pacific and East Asia into the Indian Ocean and South Asia," Panetta said. "That reality is inescapable for our country and for our military, which has already begun broadening and deepening our engagement throughout the Asia Pacific."

Panetta said the Navy and Marine Corps must lead a resurgence of American maritime presence and power in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.

" We must be prepared to confront any challenge, but the key to that region is going to be to develop a new era of defense cooperation between our countries, one in which our military shares security burdens in order to advance peace in Asia Pacific and around the world," Panetta said.

Panetta also said the military will protect its investments in cybersecurity, unmanned systems and special operation forces.

"We will ensure our military can confront aggression and defeat any opponent anytime, anywhere," Panetta said.

The Pentagon chief said he departs on Wednesday for Southeast Asia, and he noted he will visit China later this year for the first time as secretary of defense.

"I will tell all of these nations that the United States will remain a Pacific power, and I will tell them why ? because of you ? because during your careers many of you will be headed to the Pacific," he said.

There were a total of 1,099 graduates, including 877 men and 222 women. A total of 810 were commissioned as naval officers, including 634 men and 176 women. There were 267 commissioned as officers in the Marine Corps, including 224 men and 43 women. Several graduated as officers in the Air Force and Coast Guard.

Panetta also noted the death last week of retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown, the first African-American to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1949. He was 85.

The defense secretary cited the academy's diversity, and he noted that some students are gay. This was the first graduating class at the service academy in which gay students could be open about their sexuality after repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy in September.

"You are men and women from every state in the union and 12 foreign nations ? rich and poor, secular and religious, black, white, Latino, Native American, Asian, straight and gay. Diversity of this class is a tribute to the life and service of retired Lt. Cmdr. Wesley Brown," Panetta said, bringing cheers and applause from the audience.

Associated Press

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The science behind Apple's anodization process explained in video

A rather concise walkthrough video of Apple's anodization process has been making the rounds, and may be relevant to our interest in the iPhone 5 if the latest rumors of colored models are to be believed.

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Samsung Galaxy S3 o Galaxy S2: quale scegliere? Raccolta video confronto!

Una bella domanda per tutti quelli intenzionati all? acquisto di uno nuovo smartphone: cosa scegliere tra i due gioiellini di casa Samsung? Il caro e vecchio Galaxy S2 o il nuovissimo Galaxy S3? Gi? ho effettuato un piccolo confronto tra le specifiche dei due modelli, confrontando le due schede tecniche (lo trovate qui), ma ? anche interessante vedere come si comportano i due smartphone durante l? utilizzo. Il Galaxy S2 si conferma ancora con un modello davvero (...)Continua la lettura...?Read?

Samsung Galaxy S3 o Galaxy S2: quale scegliere? Raccolta video confronto! ? un articolo di Cristiano Russo.

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Canada to force striking rail workers back to jobs

TORONTO (AP) ? Canada introduced legislation Monday to force striking Canadian Pacific Railway workers back to their jobs after talks stalled over the weekend, the country's labor minister said Monday.

Labor Minister Lisa Raitt said the freight service shutdown at Canada's second largest railway is hurting the economy.

Locomotive engineers and conductors went on strike Wednesday, shutting down freight service along nearly 14,900 miles (24,000 kilometers) of track in Canada and the U.S.

Raitt called Canadian Pacific Railway the backbone of the country's economy, and she has said she would force strikers back to work if necessary.

"The strike can't go on," Raitt told Parliament. "We need to get the trains running again."

The railway and the union said mediated talks broke off Sunday with little hope of resumption.

The government introduced the back-work-legislation on Monday. Raitt is hoping strikers could be back to work on Thursday.

Raitt noted that Canadian Pacific Railway moves $50 billion worth of freight each year, including more than half of Canada's potash, wheat and coal. The Mining Association of Canada has expressed "grave concern" about the strike's impact.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has cited potential economic damage in the past for preventing or ending strikes at Air Canada and Canada Post.

Opposition parties said the government is undermining the right to collective bargaining.

Major points of contention in the latest strike are pensions, certain work rules and fatigue management.

The strike has come amid big changes at the railway. Earlier this month, Canadian Pacific appointed an interim chief executive after chief executive Fred Green announced his departure, ending a months-long battle that pitted New York activist investor Bill Ackman against a board of directors stocked with Canadian business titans.

The railroad also elected a new board of 16 directors, including seven backed by Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management fund is Canadian Pacific's largest shareholder with about 14 percent of the company's stock.

Associated Press

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How Buying Electronic Vapor Cigarettes Can be Life Saving?

Do you smoke? Are you addicted to the sinful cigarette? Is it true that you want to give up smoking but are unable to quit? If the answer to these questions is yes, then you need to switch to vapor electronic cigarettes. You must be aware of the harmful effects of a cigarette. It is widely known that a cigarette can damage lungs, kidney and heart in the long run. Its harmful effects are not hidden from anybody. But miraculously, electronic cigarette is free from all these harmful properties. You can freely smoke an electric cigarette without doing any damage to your body. Electric cigarettes are sophisticated devices and a marvelous scientific invention. These cigarettes give the same pleasure as given by a conventional cigarette. Yet they are harmless because they do not burn tobacco.

You must be aware of the harmful effects of tobacco.

The conventional cigarette that you have been smoking hitherto, burns tobacco and emits toxic fumes which damage the organs. However, electronic cigarette nicotine uses an aromatic liquid to create the same taste given out by your regular smoking stick. Since it does not yield harmful fumes, you can inhale this stick without causing damage to yourself. The electronic cigarette burns an aromatic liquid whose vapor gives you pleasure. As you see, it is merely vapor and not the dense smoke which is given out by a conventional cigarette. Hence, an electric cigarette can be, indeed, life-saving when it comes to smoking. If you love to smoke, then you should immediately switch to this form of smoking. You won?t feel any difference while smoking an electric cigarette. It gives the same taste as given out by your regular cigarette. The only significant difference is that instead of tobacco, it uses an aromatic steam which is 100% safe.

Health activists and doctors have, for long, spoken against smoking because of its harmful effects. Now they are, instead, advocating the use of electric cigarette since it is a medically approved and highly recommended substitute of a normal cigarette. Vapor electronic cigarettes look and taste similar to your regular cigarette. But since they give out aromatic steam, they are not harmful and they do not cause any lasting damage to our organs. Instead, they are completely safe. Plus, there are no known side effects of using them.

Smoking is an addiction and it is really hard to quit smoking. Many people resolve to quit but fail to do so because of the nicotine effect. In fact, over 90% of smokers become completely hooked to it and are unable to give it up. If you are in the same boat, then why not switch to electronic cigarette nicotine and save your lungs?

Electronic cigarettes come in multiple flavors. You can easily buy them from internet. All the products sold on internet are 100% genuine and authentic. They do not cause any side effect. Moreover, electronic cigarettes are reasonably priced and would not cost you a fortune. In any case, they are the next best alternative to quitting.

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Personal Business Loans

A personal business is one of the most popular businesses in all of Canada.This is a smaller business that can be operated by one or a few other members.This is a type of business that is very popular in that it is used to support the Canadian economy.However,the problem with some personal businesses is that they can deal with too little money.This is where personal business loans can come into play for different businesses around Canada.

A personal business loan is a type of loan that can be used to assist any type of business with getting support for a variety of costs.It can be used to handle expenses that relate to opening a business or expanding it.Modernization expenses can also be handled.Some types of operating costs can also be taken care of.

It should be noted that these loans can be used as secured loans in a majority of cases.Many agencies that are willing to handle personal business loans are going to ask for some kind of collateral to use for handling the loan.For example,some personal business loans might ask for a business to place a vehicle or other piece of equipment that it would normally use out as a form of collateral.

The standards will vary by each lender.However,the main concern is that the loan is going to be given out with the assumption that the business taking it out will be able to have enough of a profit from future actions.This profit should be used to where the personal business should pay off that loan over time.

A convenient part of personal business loans is that they can be found through all sorts of critical agencies.These include such agencies as RBC Royal Bank (http://rbcroyalbank.com),TD Canada Trust (http://tdcanadatrust.com) and HSBC (http://hsbc.ca).

There are many different loans that are available for personal businesses through the Canada Small Business Financing Act.This act from Industry Canada (http://ic.gc.ca)is used to help businesses with earning support that is needed for getting a business to be functional.

The CSBFA is used for businesses that have annual revenues of less than five million dollars.It is used to provide access for business loans to personal businesses.This is critical because any personal business will need to get as much access and reach to small business loans as possible.The act is very popular in that it helps to offer ten thousand loans to people each year with a little over one billion dollars in value on these loans.

Small business loans are truly beneficial for all types of businesses around Canada.These are loans that can be used by many small businesses to help with getting the funds that they need out.Anyone who needs assistance should look into these merchant cash advance services for help.A merchant cash advance like this can prove to help any business out with getting money that it needs to operate.(for more information visit http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/csbfp-pfpec.nsf/eng/h_la02855.html)

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Best Internet sites to obtain your car or truck Look Good | BOSS ...

Posted on May 27, 2012 in Blog by Jennifer Segerius

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Today Was Supposed to Be My Wedding Day

May 26, 2012. It was supposed to be a momentous occasion---the day I would walk down the aisle in my mother's lace wedding gown, peonies in hand, best friend at my side, family and friends looking on with joy. It was supposed to be the day I started a new chapter, the day my dreams would be fulfilled. Little did I know, God had other plans.

We met in the winter of 2010---me and God, that is. He always had his eye on me, but I barely even knew who he was. Once I began spending time with him, our relationship blossomed into something special. He cared for me and loved me like no other. He filled a huge void in my heart.

That's how I came to know God. It's also how I came to know the man I thought I would marry.

The relationship started out like many others, following cultural expectations rather than God's design. Dating, sex, spending the night, meeting the parents, integrating the pets (him, a dog; me, two cats). After 10 months, on a snowy Sunday evening in front of the place we first met, he asked me to marry him. It was romantic indeed. Even strangers passing by yelled congratulations from their car windows.

I was excited to be engaged---to finally be moving toward marriage---but something never felt quite right. I sensed a resistance in my heart, like I wasn't totally sure about something. But he was a good guy---the right age, handsome, fun, easy-going, from a decent family. What more could a girl want?

So I moved forward. Even though I had just bought my own home, I gave it up and moved in with him on a spring day in early March. Everyone has to make sacrifices for love, I reasoned. That's where we're going to end up anyway. Why not start now? At first, it was exciting and felt like the right thing to do. But a different story soon emerged.

After just a few months of living together, God shook things up. I accepted an awesome job opportunity in another state, so we left behind the house we just finished renovating and drove across the country (pets in tow) to set up our life far from home, family, friends, and church.

Shortly after we settled, a friend from work recommended we try out a small new Presbyterian church in the area. I was a tad leery, as I had recently been baptized in a non-denominational church, but I agreed to check it out. I immediately loved it and felt like this could be my church home. On my second visit, I filled out a visitor card, which asked a few questions about how I wanted to get involved. Did I want to join a life group? Be part of a ministry team? Have coffee with the pastor? Coffee sounded good. I checked the box.

Later that week, the pastor emailed me, asking when I wanted to get together. What a great opportunity to get to know him and learn more about the church, I thought. Maybe he would even be willing to officiate our wedding in a few months. High hopes turned to frustration when I mentioned the possibility to my fianc?. "Coffee? With a pastor?" he asked. "Heck, no. That's just too weird."

After weeks of my coercing, praying, hoping, and begging, he finally obliged. But we continued to fight about it---all the way to the front door of the pastor's house. Regardless, I enjoyed myself and looked forward to hanging out with the pastor and his wife again soon. I could see them being our friends---a couple who would help guide our marriage and bring us closer to God.

Before we could marry, the church asked us to complete a series of counseling sessions, so we set up time to meet with our new pastor. He recommended we start reading the book When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey. I ordered it online, along with Tim and Kathy Keller's book The Meaning of Marriage. And in my determination to be the very best Christian wife I could be, I also ordered a copy of Carolyn Mahaney's Feminine Appeal.? I thought these books would help us get ready for one of the biggest steps we would ever take.

Help they did, but in a way I didn't expect. As I started reading Harvey's book, the first chapter stopped me dead in my tracks. He explained that faith is the most important part of a marriage. Faith? Really? Even though I was now a Christian, I had never considered this point before. Harvey explains that faith is like the first button on a shirt---if you get that wrong, nothing else will line up right.

I began considering how this idea played out in the episode at the pastor's house, not to mention the weekly task of begging my?fianc? to go to church, trying to convince him to join a Bible study, and asking him to remember to pray before dinner. Is it supposed to be this difficult?

No, it's not, I learned from Harvey, Keller, and my pastor. I began to realize that just as my thinking had been flawed about sex as a prerequisite for love, I also had the wrong idea about the most important traits in a marriage. As I kept reading and talking to other Christians, no one said it was a good idea for me to marry someone with a different worldview. In other words, I had come to love Jesus and make my decisions based on him; my fianc? had not. That discrepancy became poison in our relationship---barely noticeable at first but eventually corrupting nearly every aspect of our lives. As I grew closer to God, I grew further from wanting to marry someone who did not have a relationship with him.

Keller's teaching on Ephesians 5 helped clarify what I was discovering. Ephesians 5:25-27 says:

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit spoke to me on a weekday in early January when my friend opened the Bible to this passage and showed me the truth. I came to understand that God intends for marriage to mimic Jesus' selfless love for his people. I was awestruck. My husband is supposed to lead me closer to God? I immediately broke down crying. I kept digging, trying to understand how I got so far off base. "He's a good man," I argued. "Yes, but is he a Christian? Does he know Jesus?" people asked me in response. "But if I leave him, won't I be going against what God says, by not loving the unbeliever?" Surprisingly, no. I was not yet married. I had not made a covenant with him before God. I was not bound to him. As much as it would hurt to say goodbye, I knew this was not the relationship God intended for me. He promises much more, and I wasn't going to find it in a marriage with an unbeliever.

As this devastating realization sunk in, we began the process of disentangling our lives. And within a few weeks, my ex-fianc? headed back to his home with his belongings, including the dog I had come to love and all of my hopes and dreams for a lifetime of happiness together. We both knew he had to find God on his own terms, in his own way.

Who could have guessed that simply checking a box on a church form would eventually end in heartbreak, financial loss, and unwanted singleness? Difficult and sad as it was, God was there every step of the way. He was there in the simple way it ended, despite our lives being intertwined in nearly every way. He was there in the support and love our family and friends provided. He was there to give me a sense of peace that transcended all understanding. Left to myself, previous breakups had knocked me down to my lowest points in life. But this time, with more riding on the relationship than ever before, I was truly okay. I suppose obedience to God made the difference. As much as it hurts, God is always there to pick up the pieces.

Marriage and family are still the two things I want most in life, but I know that they're in God's control---not mine. Before I knew God, I tried to control my relational life by making poor decisions and sacrifices that brought little reward. Now, I find fulfillment in God. He is my rock, the one who deserves my love and attention. While it is a daily struggle to trust him with the things I care about so deeply, he has proven that he's looking out for me. I leave my future in his hands.

M. Connor is a communications professional living in northern New Jersey. She can be reached at mconnor0526@gmail.com.

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Instant Cash Loans: Cover Sudden Expenses with Ease | Finance ...

If you want to remove the burden of sudden emergencies from your life, then you can easily take help from the great provision of instant cash loans. These loans provide you instant money under emergency circumstances without any hassle. This may help you to deal with your many unplanned fiscal desires within due time.

These loans can be a lifesaver fiscal deal for those people who need finance on a very urgent basis. Through Instant Approval Payday Loans you can obtain easy finance in an instant which are sufficient enough to settle down many short term needs and desires like:-

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After meeting with the above conditions, you are allowed to fetch funds in the range of ?100 to ?1500, as per your income, needs and repayment capability. A short period of 14 to 31 days will be given to you for repaying the loan. Due to being short term by nature, these loans may carry marginally high rates of interest. Thus, you must repay the loan on time for avoiding any penalty charge.

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Home Improvement & Maintenance : About 100 Amp House Wiring

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When seeking at the wiring of a residence, 100 amp wiring refers to the sum of amperage that is readily available for the complete house in its circuitry. Uncover out why the breakers on a one hundred amp services panel may add up to a lot more than one hundred amps with aid from a remodeling professional in this free of charge online video on property wiring. Expert: William Perkinson Bio: William Perkinson is a companion with Perkinson Constructing Company, based in Birmingham, Ala. Filmmaker: Tim Brown
Movie Ranking: five / five

?Home Improvement? Period three Opening Credits & Time 1 Closing Credits

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are extremely crucial?if you want to?make a?new home or?customize the?old 1.?So here?in this article?we are going to?see how?to decide on?Concrete and Masonry Contractors In Miami FLto meet up with your needs. One of the best?and a good deal?practical?techniques to?find?do-it-yourself?contractors?is via?an?on the net?listing. An?on the internet?listing service?can spot?do it oneself organizations?and also other?identical businesses?and offer?testimonials?of these.?

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The listing?really should have?a set of expectations?along with?by which testers rate?different?solutions,?so you?may make?a educated?choice?regarding?which organization?where you will?seek?the knowledge of. You will have?minor difficulty?choosing?an business?when you are able?to evaluate?different?try out it for by yourself?Concrete and Masonry Contractors In Miami FL against?each and every other. There are 5 frequent classes?that you must?used to guideline the testimonials: expense, timeliness, excellent, cleanliness, and general client assistance.?

Bathroom:
Keep loos ventilated to lessen moisture and subsequent mildew problems. Relying on
your drinking water resource, you could encounter rust stains on your lavatory fixtures these should be
cleaned with a rust-taking away cleaning item that will not injury the enamel or finish of your
fixtures. If you are living in an location with hard drinking water, take into account installing a h2o softener. Clear
porcelain, cultured marble tubs and sinks, fiberglass showers and tub/shower combinations, and
shower stall flooring with warm drinking water and non-abrasive cleaner. Thoroughly clean glass doors with a
commercial glass cleaner. Check bathtub stoppers and shower ground drain grates for hair
accumulation.
Moisture Control:
Humidity and mildew are two troubles that will arise in any place exactly where drinking water vapor is current.
To lessen mildew, flip on the exhaust admirer or a bit open a window whilst showering. Wipe
down the showering enclosure when carried out and then hang up towels and washcloths to dry. To
clean mildewed surfaces, utilize a liquid

The knowledge?you discover?by employing an?on the internet listing?is supplied?by purpose?other people you are under no responsibility?to choose?one corporation above one more.?When? you get?suggestions from home,?you may possibly?feel necessary into recruiting they suggest,?as their?specific home.?You don?t want?to seek?the expertise of?Concrete and Masonry Contractors In Miami FL?or maybe?individual?as outlined by?pressure from friends.?Using an?on the internet listing?permits you to?seek?the assistance of?the services-based completely?about the?appropriate qualifications.?

Home development tasks?should be?interesting, not tense. Choosing?do it yourself?Concrete and Masonry Contractors In Miami FL?coming from a?reliable?on the internet?listing?delivers you?the independence?to track down the?best individuals?for the process.

Concrete and Masonry Contractors In Miami FL?with your?location:

The regional surf forecast?in a place?which incorporates?hard weather,?you really should?discuss with regional?roofing organizations?and uncover out which?type of?roofing?is appropriate for?the house. Top rated Contractors In Miami FL?understand what?the best?way of?top?can be?for the place?and the way to?deal with tough leading servicing work.

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Floors:
Floors are normally made of concrete or wooden, but they may possibly be lined by a extensive assortment of
supplies. Carpeting is long lasting and requires minimum care. Shade versions and shading may possibly be
obvious and might rely on the surface texture and the pile fiber of the carpet. Ceramic tile is
effortless to maintain and impervious to water. The grout joints are not water-resistant and demand
particular interest to stop h2o seepage. Most hardwood flooring are pre-finished at the manufacturing facility
with baked on wax coating or urethane coating. Wooden ground tone grain and color versions are
regular and reflect the traits of genuine challenging solid wood. Some squeaking and separating of the
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hardwood floors is normal and is caused by seasonal weather conditions and humidity changes. Resilient
ground coverings are usually installed in kitchens, loos, and laundry regions. Ahead of cleansing
a resilient ground, cautiously study the manufacturers cleansing and care recommendations. Constantly
don?t forget when cleansing your floors, no matter what sort of ground covering you have, to lift your
household furniture when shifting it ? in no way drag household furniture throughout flooring as it may cause damage. Vacuum
carpets regularly and have them professionally cleaned as necessary. Hardwood floors, tile,
vinyl or linoleum floors must be mopped regularly making positive not to depart extra drinking water on
the ground after cleaning. If you have tile floors, you really should check the grouting close to the tiles
and re-grout if needed. The grout may need to have to be periodically sealed to prevent discoloration.
Hardwood flooring may possibly req

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Successful Direct Marketing For Real Estate Investing

If your real estate investing marketing mail piece gets opened, what drives the motivated sellers to call you instead of the competition? The message delivered by the mail piece makes all the difference. Successful sales messages generate billions of dollars. Your marketing message must stick out and force them to call you or visit your website.

This article concentrates on how to write effective copy for your marketing.

Motivated sellers get tens of letters and postcards especially when they face foreclosure. They have no time to read all these mail pieces. They are already stressed out; unfortunately all these letters also increase their stress level. Suddenly everyone promises to change the world for them. Who should they believe? This means that your message must grab their attention, appeal to their emotional needs and have a strong call to action they must act upon. And certainly, it must stick out more than the others.

Let us look at each in turn.

1) Grab attention

Your mail piece will go to the trash in 20 seconds if it does not grab their attention. It must therefore grab instant attention. They can only read the rest once you have their attention. It needs to be bold, direct and address a need the motivated seller holds dear emotionally promise to resolve a need the motivated seller holds emotionally. In other words, you must convince them that you will deliver relief, which is what a motivated seller needs. Be careful not to be overly aggressive, or your marketing fails. You must show sympathy to their situation; they are going through tough times. This applies whether you use letters or postcards in your real estate investing business.

2) Appeal to their emotional needs

Whereas you need to catch their attention, you also need to be sensitive to their emotional needs. Your message must not only promise to buy their house, but also to relieve emotional stress caused by their financial situation. By providing a solution and appealing to their emotional needs, you will come out stronger and more real than your competitors. Majority of the letters they receive are from aggressive real estate investors that seem eager to grab their house off their feet. You will be the one they call if your mail piece appeals to them sympathetically and emotionally.

3) Have a strong call to action

Whether you market using letters, post cards or letters, you must have a strong call to action. This forces them to take the next step ? in this case provide all the information you need to buy their house. The ultimate call to action should be to visit your real estate investing website. The website should pre-sell you, tell your story and convince them you are the best buyer for their house.

Of course it must have a strong call to action so that they submit their information online sending you pre-screened and pre-negotiated deals.

Successful?real estate investing?must be driven by closing more deals spending less time, money and effort. Automating tasks and running real estate investing business is streamlined by having a?real estate investor website?that cuts down your work load while making you a more efficient deal maker.

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Motherhood: Ignoring the Judgements of Others (and Not Passing ...

Welcome to Moms? Month on Dr. Stephanie! This month I will be featuring guest posts from some awesome moms around the country.? They will be sharing tips, tricks, and funny stories about motherhood.? This will be a fun celebration ? thanks for joining us!? Today?s author is Karyn Buhler.? Welcome, Karyn!

Hi! I?m Karyn, stay at home mom of (almost) 3.? (I once had a career as an engineer, and hope to have a career in the future, but for now find joy ? most of the time ? being home with the kiddos).

I am writing this commentary on motherhood from the perspective of a mother with young children.? Right now I have a 4 year old, an almost 2 year old, and an almost here baby (Editor?s note: Karyn had a healthy baby girl a couple of weeks ago ? congrats Karyn and family!).? I?m sure one day I will look back and shake my head at some of the theories and assumptions about parenting I made at this time in my life, but this is where I am now and my ?advice? goes out to all others with small ones.

First of all, be gentle with yourself.? It?s so easy as a woman, but especially as a mother, to put all sorts of expectations on yourself.? You talk to one mother and you worry that your child is not signed up for gymnastics or Chinese, the next interaction you feel guilty for whatever food you have just fed your child, and the third playdate reminds you that your house is a hazard and somehow you still haven?t lost the baby weight.? Each mother is different and each child is different (mine for sure are different!).? I found myself constantly beating myself up over what I was doing wrong.? Here?s the deal: we?ll all make mistakes.? We will ALL do stuff wrong.? But as long as you LOVE your children and you let them know they are loved, then you have done your best.

Secondly, be flexible and learn to laugh.? All the things I planned for, proved not to be an issue.? All the things I didn?t plan for, did happen.? You can read all the books, do all the research, but nothing will prepare you for your actual child.? Heck, even my first child did not prepare me for my second child and I expect the third will throw me all sorts of new curve balls.? I love sleep, yet I didn?t get 3 hours of sleep in a row for somewhere around a year with my firstborn.? My first born responds to logic, my second thinks logic is, well, silly and something to be ignored.? My first had sensory issues and feeding was an issue.? The second has no sensory issues and yesterday I found him playing with feces.? There are times that the challenges make you want to cry.? Sometimes crying is good, but it worries toddlers when Mommy cries, so it?s often best to just laugh.

Thirdly: There is a lot of judgement out there.? The term ?mommy wars? gets used a lot.? The judgement gets old. It helps no one.? Do your best to ignore judgement and not to pass any on.? We?re all doing our best!

Lastly, motherhood is hard work.? It?s wonderful work, but it?s hard.? If you?re an introvert, you?re around a non-stop chatterbox and never get a moment to think.? If you?re an extrovert, you have that same chatterbox, but you never get a real conversation in.? It can take years (literally) to have a full night sleep.? It?s not about you.? It?s never about you.? A lot of? your identity will be wrecked during your child?s infancy.? Your body is wrecked, you are sleep deprived, and complete sentences are hard to form.?? (I?m hoping that after the initial year you can get some of it back? or at least I hope to one day have at least one uninterrupted and coherent thought).? There are days that you want to pull every. single. hair out of your head.? And then, your child smiles at you, or tells you they love you, or just giggles at a cat walking past the window and everything is better and every single sacrifice worth it.

Tags: being flexible as a mom, colorado psychologist, erie child psychologist, erie counselor, erie psychologist, erie therapist, joy in motherhood, judgemental mothers, Karyn Buhler, Mom of 3, stay at home mom, stephanie smith, succeeding as a mom

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Shelly Wan - Lines and Colors

Shelly Wan is an illustrator, concept artist and gallery artist who works both in digital and traditional media. She is currently an artist for Pixar and also does work for Magic: The Gathering as well as comic covers and book covers.

Originally from Guang Zhou, China, where she studied at the Guang Zhou Academy of Fine Arts, Wan came to the U.S. to study illustration at the Art Center College of Design in California.

Wan?s digital illustration has a luxuriously detailed and richly textural quality, drawing on influences from Art Nouveau and Victorian painting as well as pop culture and classic adventure illustration. Her compositions often have a wonderful sense of motion, leading your eye through sweepingly curved paths of value and color contrasts.

As far as I know, Wan doesn?t have a dedicated website, though she maintains a blog which often features work in progress, as well as articles on other art related subjects of interest.

For a selection of her professional work, look to her portfolio on Eidolon Fine Arts, which also features a gallery of her oil paintings, many of which are figure studies.

There is also a gallery of her work on Tor.com, as well as selections on Gallery Nucleus and CGHub.

There is an article on ImagineFX, and interview on Last Man Standing, another on Irene Gallo?s The Art Department and a video convention interview (unfortunately in a noisy environment) on YouTube.

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Sade talks about tattooing, youthful look, new DVD ? Artesia News

In this Sept. 30, 2010 file photo, singer Sade Adu arrives at the ?Keep A Child Alive Black Ball? at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. Sade, the Grammy-winning veteran soul band, released a live DVD this week called ?Bring Me Home ? Live 2011.? It features behind-the-scene moments and more from the group?s U.S. tour last year. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, file)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Sade Adu may have appeared confident when she hit the stage on her massive U.S. tour last year in her all-black ensemble, svelte look, high heels and red lips.

But the 53-year-old singer was nervous. So nervous, she gave someone backstage a tattoo.

?It was giving me something to divert me from the chaos of getting ready psychologically to go out there,? Adu said in a recent interview. ?I think I was more stressed about giving that tattoo than I was (doing) the show that night.?

But Adu had reason to feel anxious: As the leader of the veteran group Sade, she and her band mates were riding high off their platinum-selling 2010 album, ?Soldier of Love,? their first release in 10 years. Sade won a Grammy a year later, and embarked on a 54-date U.S. tour.

The moment Adu gave that tattoo ? and many other moments ? are captured in the new DVD, ?Bring Me Home ? Live 2011,? released this week.

Adu talks about the tour, maintaining her youthful look and when the group plans to release new music.

AP: You were really that stressed backstage?

Adu: I was so stressed. ? That impression that you give onstage is what people go away with ? and remember you, and I feel in a way that?s what that tattoo was. I was going to mark him for life. I had to get it right.

AP: Have you done more tattoos?

Adu: That was my big tattoo moment.

AP: How have you maintained your voice over the years?

Adu: I?ve never been great with keeping up with vocal exercises. For 28 years I?ve been saying, ?Tomorrow I must do some scales.? But I haven?t done them yet. I think just being onstage and performing, you learn technique just by being there and having to deliver. You unconsciously learn technique just to survive those two hours.

AP: What was it like performing for your feverish fans after being away for so long?

Adu: That?s why you sort of feel like you?re a gladiator going out there because even though you know most of these people have come from a good place and they love your music and they come with a feeling of love, which is what you walk away with, it?s a bit like being thrown at the lions when you go out there because you have this sort of fear, even though it?s irrational, (that) you?re going to get torn apart, so you go out and you have to be good.

AP: You?re 53, but you look 30. What are you doing to maintain your youthful look?

Adu: I do move a lot. I?m always doing stuff. I don?t lounge around much. ? I?m always moving and I?m always active. ? I?ve tried things and I?ve tried exercise because I know it?s good and I?ve tried to do yoga, but my life just doesn?t seem to allow it.

AP: ?Soldier of Love? went gold in its first week out. When you?re creating music, do you think about album sales?

Adu: I don?t think, ?Are we going to be a success?? Not consciously anyway, you know. But in my subconscious I?m probably, there?s probably that feeling of, ?What if it doesn?t work out?? But I don?t sort of actually have abstract thoughts like that. I actually don?t stop and think, ?Yeah, this is going to be a great success.? By the time it happens, it?s almost too late.

AP: In the 10-year break between ?Lovers Rock? and ?Soldier of Love,? did you run into fans who asked about new music?

Adu: Always in the queue at the petrol station. The gas station. I?m always being asked it, and I?ll always say ?it?s tomorrow? and they all think I?m a liar because I always imagine it?s going to be much sooner than it is. But then my life just gets in the way. I?m always asked that question. Like I said, I?m Nigerian. I?m always late.

AP: When will the band release another album?

Adu: I?d like it to be sooner and I always think that. It?s not like I go off of music or I go off the feel of it, but there?s a lot to it. I can?t work unless I go and I have to find the right moment to cut off. I?m not someone who can just sit in the middle of chaos of my life and write songs. I have to go away somewhere and cut off ? I would love to make an album soon, but it just doesn?t happen that way.

AP: A lot of young singers are inspired by you. Who are you currently listening to?

Adu: Somebody I recently discovered in the last couple years is Ray LaMontagne, and I love his vocals. I think he?s really, really talented and exceptional. He?s doing his thing. He?s sort of not associated with the times. It?s just his own thing. I (also) listen a lot to hip-hop because I like hip-hop lyrics; to me it?s poetry.

AP: Why do you think so many fans resonate with Sade?s sound?

Adu: The key is probably the songs ? they come from the heart, and when we?re making an album, we put our whole heart in and everything we?ve got. And it isn?t about making a hit album; it?s not about second-guessing and predicting what people want to hear or what they want to buy. There?s sort of integrity in that. We just get lost in the music.

___

Online:

http://www.sade.com/us/home/

___

Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/musicmesfin

This entry was posted on May 24, 2012, 11:20 am and is filed under Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

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