Edwin Bernard

How often do you ask yourself what should you do the rest of your life? When I was younger I wish I had asked myself this question. Instead I just meandered through life allowing my future to be decided by circumstance. Sure I made major decisions. They were not made in the context of the question what should I do the rest of my life. The goal is to help make hard decisions about the future.

What am I doing with my life right now?

This is the question that we should ask first. We all need a frame of reference that can be used to measure the gap between these two questions. You may find out that what you are doing right now is exactly what you had planned. If so then that is awesome. What if it is not? Or what if you decide you need to move on from were you are now?

Get a pen and paper, your computer or mobile device and start writing. Write in great detail exactly what you are currently doing to spend your time each day. Each week. Each month. And even each year!

Read this carefully. Then ask yourself, is this what you want to do for the rest of your life?

Now is the time to ask the question, what should I do the rest of my life?

A different way to look at this question

Instead of thinking what do you want to do for the rest of your life consider this instead. What would you like to achieve in the future? In what way would you like to impact not only your life but also the lives of your loved ones, friends and associates?

Is what you are doing or would like to do going to make your life better?

Is it going to make the lives of others better?

Rather than living for the moment have you thought about leaving a legacy when you pass on? I do not mean to be morbid. I only bring this up because I suggest you think about ways you can leave your world a better place compared to where you are now.

If money was not a factor what would you enjoy doing every day?

Here’s the problem. Most of us have jobs for the sole purpose of financing our daily lives. We need money to pay the bills. Save for emergencies. Maybe even to pay to do something for fun!

The term to live within our means has been used as good advice. Think about this. Is that really the case?

If your means happens to be paltry, will you be able to afford all the things you would like to do? What do most people do in this situation?

They borrow money through credit cards and loans to finance activities today that must be paid with future earnings. Our consumer based society helps us create a noose around our freedom.  We like to think we are free. But our freedom is limited by our ability do pay for what we would really like to do.

The catch for high income earners

I said above that in order to be truly free we need to have the means to pay for the things we want. Do you think that high income earners like doctors or lawyers have it easy? Think again!

Individuals in high paying jobs only get paid when they work. No work, no pay. And boy do they put in the hours, 50 to 60 hours a week. They are trapped by their careers. All the luxuries in life they can buy will not give them the time they need to enjoy what they own.

Worse yet. They can’t take off in a trip whenever they want to. Their families can only enjoy being with them in small increments if at all.

The harsh reality of life

Visualize a Bell Curve distribution of the population. Approximately 10% falls under the left edge of the curve. Another 10% falls on the right edge. The remaining 80% lie in the middle.

Most of us fall in the middle. We have jobs and are often stuck. We are dependent on our livelihood upon the companies we work for. And have you tried getting a raise or a promotion? These are hard to come by. And when you do succeed, does your pay jump up by a lot? The irony is you are expected to work much harder and achieve greater results in gratitude for the modest increase in pay you will be getting.

Doesn’t seem fair does it? Here’s a cold hard fact. Nobody promised you that life would be fair. If you live in the US, the Constitution only guarantees us the freedom to pursue happiness. Not happiness itself.

What about the 10% on the left? Sadly they happen to be in a group that for various reasons got left behind. The poor and helpless fall into this 10%. In some areas this number may even be higher.

It is the 10% on the right edge who do  not have jobs like the rest of us. Let’s look at this 10% in more detail.

Building an ASSET vs Working in a JOB

An Asset may take a while to create. Such as writing a book, acting in a movie, or investing in real estate or the financial markets. When you create or own an asset it keeps paying you whether you work at it or not.It may take some time to build that asset to a level where it can pay you. Often while you are building your asset you do not get paid until it is complete.

The wealthy fall into the asset owning category.

In a job, we trade hours for money. With an asset, you trade money for hours. Owning a money generating asset gives you free time all the time!

How do we build an asset and fire your boss?

The best way to do that today is by using the Internet through Affiliate Marketing.

You would think that major companies like Amazon, Walmart and Nike do not need our help to make sales. Sales and profits are KING. And they will do whatever it takes to grow these numbers.

That is why they allow anyone to sign up with them to market their products independently. The incentive they give is a percentage of the sale price. The customer pays the same price no matter if they purchased directly from the company’s website. Or through the website of an Affiliate Marketeer. Isn’t that cool?

Affiliate marketers are able to help customers find solutions to various problems through helpful reviews and tips using their own websites that are structured to showcase the products discussed.

By selecting a niche, it is possible for an affiliate marketeer to provide engaging articles within their niche. Hence it is helpful if you selected a niche that you were an expert in as well as passionate about.

For example, you could be passionate about fitness. In this niche you could market fitness equipment, exercise programs, healthy eating and many more. However, it works best by narrowing the niche to one of these areas and projecting yourself as the expert.

There are many elements in building a successful online  business. I’ll mention just one as an example. You will need to get enough traffic to view your website in order to make sales.

How would you like to see how it is done for free? All you’ll need to do is to click the link below and enter your email address. You will be transported to an amazing world where you can get trained to make affiliate marketing a money making tool! Welcome to my world of passive income!

Learn all about affiliate marketing for free

I’ll see you on the other side!

I’ve scattered several vacation shots taken by me to show you places you can travel to when you have time freedom in your life!

 

 

 

Want to know the truth about MLM Companies? It ain’t pretty. That is why you need a Paradigm Shift if you want to succeed in this business. Before I reveal what I mean, let me give you a primer on the principles of Multi Level Marketing (MLM). Network Marketing is another term for the same business model. I shall be using the abbreviation MLM from here on. If you are well versed in MLM skip the next section.

Primer on MLM

Companies have a wealth of options to market and sell their products today. The Internet has been growing in popularity at  frenetic pace, and is gradually supplementing and even overtaking brick and mortar stores. Before the Internet was available, some companies added the MLM model to their marketing methods. Amway was the grandaddy of this model and has become one of the largest MLM companies in the world. They trail blazed through uncharted territories that created the model for the myriad of companies that followed. They proved that MLM is a legitimate form of selling products and services.

With MLM, instead of spending a huge amount of money on advertising, companies directed these funds towards recruiting Independent Representatives to promote and sell their products. Other terms for Independent Representatives used are Distributors and Associates.

The cost for these companies to create an independent salesforce consisting of thousands of individuals would be cost prohibitive. Incentives,  were derived for the original group of salespersons to recruit Independent Representatives themselves. The idea was to foster geometric growth by sharing the cost and energy required with existing Independent Representatives.

The company would give them a percentage of the sales made by their recruited Independent Representatives. This percentage would be scaled downwards many levels deep. Hence those who recruited the most hardworking Independent Representatives stood the chance of earning the most. In theory, anybody no matter at what level they are in the organization could be as or even more more successful than those above them if they built a large enough hardworking network.

The company provided an array of tools to promote sales as well as to recruit new Independent Representatives. A common practice was to hold meetings ranging from small business briefings to major conventions to motivate their sales force and also help to recruit more Independent Representatives. Everyone was and is encouraged to bring as many guests to these events to encourage sales and recruitment.

Sounds good so far. Right? Sales of companies that have adopted MLM have been generally very successful. Those that have failed did so because of serious missteps. In general though everything seems hunky dory with MLM companies.

Not so fast. I want to discuss the undertones of this practice.

What The Company Doesn’t Want You to Know

The recruiting literature promises the opportunity to create a high paying MLM business to everyone. If you work hard and never give up, you will be successful. The Independent Representative is asked to tell everyone they know about the company products and business opportunity. They are taught this is a numbers game. Some will join. Some wont. So go on to the next. The idea was to do simple tasks like inviting people to look at a video or to attend a meeting often. The idea was to expose their prospects to others who were more experienced than them to essentially do the close.

The vast majority of recruits are looking for a way to make money fast. It takes time and patience doing the right things to build a successful MLM organization. Hence many get discouraged and give up. It takes a person with vision, dedication and discipline to do the simple things day in and day out to achieve success. Then when they recruit a team, they have to work with them to train them, motivate them to do the same. Until they are able to build an organization that can sustain itself several layers deep, there is risk that their network will fall apart together with their dreams.

Why is this so? Most people are afraid of public speaking. MLM demands talking to people. At the very least, you have to ask them to watch a video. go to an event. And get  commitment that they will do that. Therefore, the success comes in the follow up. Lots of it. It takes at least 9 invitations to get a friend or family member to even look at the materials you give them. Today this process is automated using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software.

There are several unfortunate results that occur with virtually every MLM company. The first being the turnover is very high. Hence recruiting is always a huge priority. The second is that the ratio of the big money earners to those who earn a pittance very low. Companies are requested by law to publish the average earning of Independent Representatives. They hide this detail in small print because it is disgracefully low. Less than $1000 a year in most cases.

How Do Some MLM Leaders Make a Fortune?

We have to give them credit. They earn everything they get. When they started their MLM business, they worked hard and smart. They were aware right off the bat that they had to do the simple things to promote their business opportunity as often as possible. They didn’t let their feelings or being rejected get to them.

The idea was not to reinvent the wheel. But to do the things that have worked in the past over and over again. The KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid applied here very aptly.

Not everyone can do this. In order to succeed you have to become a leader. If you continue to remain a follower, you will not succeed.

I call them LEADERS for a reason. They had to show leadership, integrity and resolve that they were success oriented. And that they would not stop helping any member of their team who was willing to put in the work and follow guidance.

The Ugly Truth

What matters the most to MLM companies, or to any company for that matter, is the bottom line. What are their annual sales? What is the cost of these sales? And what is the net profit?

They will do whatever it takes to make these numbers look good. And high turnover is just a cost of doing business.

Does this mean that MLM cannot work? For most people yes.

Unless you have a PARADIGM SHIFT in your thinking and approach that I will discuss in my next post entitled: How To Make Money In Network Marketing – Online!

 

 

Do you know what a Binary Option is? I will give you a brief primer on Binary Options before I tell you how these scams work and how to protect yourself from being scammed. The vast majority of Binary Option Companies are located abroad.

Binary Options Primer

When stocks are traded their value can either go up or down. A financial instrument exists where you can make money by correctly predicting if a stock goes either up or down in value at the end of a specific time interval. Minimum bets start at $100. You make a bet by selecting the stock or financial asset like currency pairs, then the amount you wish to bet, and finally the time duration. This can be as little as one minute to as long as several hours. At the end of that period if the value of your asset has risen in value by as little as one cent, you double your money. If it drops in value by one cent, you lose your stake. It doesn’t matter how high or low your asset ends up you either double your bet or you lose it.

Sounds simple right? It appear’s you have a 50/50 chance of either winning or losing. Not so fast. This is not like flipping a coin. There are several factors at play that could stack the direction of the assets value either way. If you do not educate yourself substantially, the odds are against you. But the scam artists do not tell you that.

The Hook

The scam artists will connect with you by various means. Phone calls. Texts. Emails. They select individuals who are trying to develop new ways to create an income. Presentations are made to illustrate that the probability to make money is quite high. Initial cost to try the opportunity is relatively low. After you create you4 account and make your deposit it’s not long before you see your investment double and even triple. You’re invited to invest more. And if you falter they suggest taking* your money out.

Leveraging Borrowed Money

Once you get the feeling it’s easy to take out your winnings, greed takes over. The next step is to make a deposit using a credit card. They suggest this to give a feeling of security. If they scam you the credit card company will cover your losses. So you make a deposit of $1000. An account manager is assigned to give you advice and guide you. And by magic your account doubles again. The account manager suggests you make an even bigger deposit of $25,000.00.

If you balk once again they will tell you to take out your money. And you do that. By now, you’re putty in their hands as greed completely takes over. You tell them you don’t have $25,000.00. Your account manager starts to play with your mind. They counter that for this month only the company is offering a special deal. If you find a way to invest $25,000.00 they will give you a matching bonus bringing your account up to $50,000.00. You need to sign an agreement that you will not be able to make a withdrawal until your account doubles again. To sweeten the deal, your account manager who happens to be a master trader will trade for you. Your account can be accessed anytime so you can track your earnings

Leveraging More Borrowed Money

Your account manager suggests you apply for one of those high interest loans that are easy to get. He convinces you that you will be able to pay the loan off using the profits in your account before the first loan payment is due. This argument is so compelling especially the thought of being given a matching bonus. You go for it and get that loan. You can hardly wait to make that deposit. Once it is in you see your bonus added and your balance reads $50,000.00!

You can hardly believe your mind when you see your account growing by between $1000 and $3000 each day! It’s not very long before you have over $100,000 in your account. You have a feeling of euphoria and start thinking* it’s possible to become a millionaire. Your good fortune is overwhelming. You try to make a withdrawal of $25,000.00 to pay off your loan. Your account manager informs you that the agreement you signed had a clause saying the bonus $25,000 needed to grow six times before you could make any withdrawal.

Panic Time

Your euphoria turns to fear. Have you been scammed? Your account manager tells you the amount in you’re account is your money. At the rate of growth your account balance will soon be at the level where you can make any withdrawal you want. Even all of it. You find your account manager is not accessible like before. He had to go home for family reasons. A new account manager is assigned to you. He is more difficult to get hold off. You now contact your Law Firm to get you out of this mess. They find out this company is headquartered in a foreign company. This information was available to you if you only knew where to look.

Your lawyer sends them a legally worded letter demanding your money is returned to you. The company stalls and you get nothing back. The company is located in another country so your lawyer can’t sue them abroad. What seemed like a nice nest egg in your account, that you can still see when you access it, is getting more and more unattainable.

Let’s face it. You’ve been scammed. Not only is your investment of $25,000 gone but you have to pay that back to the loan company.

Responsibility

Who’s responsibility is it for this disaster? I have a confession to make. This happened to me. I was able to renegotiate the loan with the good graces of the loan company. Although I was scammed, I took full responsibility for this result. I should have known better. When something is too good to be true it is. My emotions were manipulated by skillful agents in this fake company. When I researched this scam I found out that most of the companies were located in Israel. The Israeli Government were well aware of this situation and had taken legal steps to close these companies down. I found out that the company that scammed me had their main offices in Israel and used a UK address as a shell to make it seem they were legitimate.

Steps to Avoid Binary Option Scams

1) Do not get involved in the first place. If you are invited to participate in a Binary Options program, run as far away as possible. Metaphorically speaking off course.

2) If you do get hooked like I was with early small profit payouts, take your profits and do not invest any more money no matter how attractive their argument is.

3) Get as many details regarding names, addresses and phone numbers and report them to the FBI.

It all comes down to common sense. I should have sent my agreement documents to LegalShield for review. I have asked myself so many times why didn’t I do that. I am ashamed to say I knew what they would tell me. Can you guess what that is? I didn’t want to hear them tell me not to get involved. I was hooked into the prospect of making a lot of money easily and quickly.

A red flag should have gone up when they persuaded me to get a loan to invest. They made it seem low risk so I didn’t even think of the real risk I was taking. The risk of losing it all. Greed took over me.

Lessons Learned

Binary Option Scams are more prevalent than you think. Just enter Binary Options Trading into Google. You will be amazed at the plethora of programs that will show up. I guarantee you all of them are scams. I spoke to some lawyers in Israel who told me so. They are trying to pick up the pieces for clients who invested hundreds of thousands of dollars. I considered myself fortunate that all I invested was $25,000. And I am even more fortunate that I negotiated a deal where I would pay back half over a two-year period with no interest and have my account paid in full.

Why Am I Bringing This Up At My Website?

In like to think of it as using my sorry experience to pay it forward to people who read my story. Do not do what I did!

 

 

There are so many ways to be taken advantaged off. It becomes so common that we accept this sad fact as a way of life. Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to right these wrongs in an affordable stress free way?

Yes you can!

Equal access to the Law just like the wealthy is something you can have.

But first let’s review the types of wrongs you can face in everyday situations.

DEBT COLLECTION HARASSMENT – A Personal Story

The Great Recession of 2008-2009 laid waste to the welbeing of so many people. I was in that group. Retirement was a few years away before my pensions and social security would kick in. I was laid off just before the Great Recession. I managed to change careers to have some income coming in. It was not enough to pay all our bills.

We stopped paying our credit card bills as well as the mortgage. The banks were very busy taking care of a whole lot of people in similar situations to us. They left us alone for a bit. This gave us breathing room. But the letters and phone calls from the bank and the credit card companies were relentless.

Fortunately we subscribed to this program that gave us access to legal help. Our Law Firm explained to us that the best way forward was to declare bankruptcy. However, if we were not current with our mortgage, we would lose our home. They advised us to proceed with the Government Home Affordable Refinance Plan introduced by the Obama administration. They helped us with that process.

Once the application went in all foreclosure proceedings, debt collection calls and letters from the bank were halted. It took a year to get approval. Our mortgage was upside down. We were fortunate to get a plan that cut 30% of our principal as well as drastically reduce our interest rate. Thankfully we could make our new monthly mortgage payments.

The Law Firm proceeded with our bankruptcy petition. Until this move took place we continued to get debt collection harassment calls, threats and letters. Once our bankruptcy application was filed all creditors were informed that we were now under the protection of the bankruptcy court. And that they would be breaking bankruptcy law if they continued with their collection tactics.

Miracles of miracles, all these nasty calls and letters stopped. Thanks to our lawyer. I lost count of the number of hours our lawyer devoted to our case through innumerable phone calls, helping us with the process of filling out the application, submitting the application and accompanying us to the hearing at bankruptcy court. Within three months our debts were discharged by the bankruptcy court. All $300,000 of it!

If it’s ok with you I’d like to tell you how much it cost us. Besides our low monthly subscription of $49,95 (this included Identity Theft Protection as well as legal services) we got a 25% discount from the specialist lawyer who helped us. He charged a flat fee of $1,400. Court fees were $350. The most valuable outcome for us was peace of mind and a renewed financial stability.

Just one year later lending companies were trying to loan us money again. My car was old so I took this opportunity to purchase a two year old car. The interest rate was a tad high at 8% but still very affordable. I also qualified for credit to install solar panels on our roof. The icing on the cake. our home mortgage was also discharged but the bank agreed that we could still own it if we maintained our restructured mortgage.

When you have debt collection harassment you do have options you should check out. And if you want any information on the company we used I’ll add a link here: LegalShield

If you are in a similar situation please consider using our way out of the problem.

HOME RENTING ISSUES

When you rent a home or an apartment, you need to sign a lease. This document is primarily designed to protect the rights of the owner or landlord. What about your rights? Do you ever read the agreement thoroughly and understand it all?

When you subscribe to our legal plan you can get your lease reviewed by a lawyer specialized in this field within three days of document receipt. They will tell you exactly what the “gotchas” are. If necessary they can help you amend the lease to make sure your rights are protected to your satisfaction.

Doesn’t it make sense to take preemptive action rather than suffer the consequences after the fact?

EXPOSURE TO FRAUD

Fraud is one of the most common injustices around. Doing business online has amplified fraud to a whole new level. If you experience fraud no matter what kind it is, you can call your Law Firm and get connected to a lawyer expert in this field to give you advice on how to handle the situation.

Your lawyer will get all the necessary information from you. In most cases they will write a letter to the party that subjected you to fraud that will invoke applicable legal terms to make them reconsider. Often this will result in the wrong being righted. If this doesn’t work your layer will advise you on the next step.

Doesn’t having a lawyer on your side reduce the helpless feeling you would have had if you tackled this on your own?

CONTRACTOR DID A BAD JOB OR OVERCHARGED

When you need the services of a contractor to do work in your home, always create a document that describes exactly what services will be provided and for what amount and payment terms. This is yet another document you can get your Law Firm to review for you to make sure your rights are protected.

There may be occasions that the work does not get completed to your satisfaction. Or the job drags on behind schedule. Once again, you can contact your Law Firm and get them to communicate with your contractor in legal terms to make sure they meet the agreement they signed up to. And if not, to compensate you for the shortcomings. This kind of compensation could be entered into the agreement before it is signed off.

What price is there to having peace of mind in stressful situations like this?

TRAFFIC CITATION OR ACCIDENT

One of the most common traffic citations is for a speeding . After I lost my job I took on other jobs that required a lot of driving. Inevitably I got several speeding tickets. The last one would have been a huge problem if I was found guilty because it would have affected my drivers license.

I called my Law Firm and a lawyer was assigned to represent me in Court. I explained my situation to her and asked her if there was anything she could do to get my citation reduced.

She was able to talk to the police officer and managed to get him to amend the charge to a level where my drivers license would not be affected. There was no way I could have dint that myself. The lawyer saved me and I didn’t even have to be in Court. This service was part of the legal plan and it cost me nothing.

VACATION GONE WRONG

When we go on vacations the plan is to have a good time with as little or nothing going wrong. There are many areas where things can go wrong. It can start with your flight. You could be given a room that didn’t meet acceptable standards. Tours could go wrong. What do you do? You could ask for compensation. Would that be enough to pay for a replacement vacation? Perhaps not.

What if you could have your lawyer send the various establishments a stern letter demanding appropriate compensation. Or else! The chances are you would get compensated enough to pay for another vacation. Be honest. If I hadn’t told you about the option about using a lawyer would you have thought about that? Off course not because the cost of a lawyer would be more than what your vacation cost. But not if you have the right legal plan.

A WINNING ADVANTAGE

The above is just a short list of situations where you could use legal help to right the wrongs you experience. Having access to affordable legal help can give you a winning advantage.

How do you get this legal advantage? Go to the next page for all the details.

There is one more thing. There is a way you can earn some extra money by telling others about these benefits. If they subscribe you get paid. Isn’t that cool? I will explain more about this option too in the next post.

Please let me know if you can relate to any of the issues discussed above. I welcome any kind of feedback, good or bad. Suggestions to make improvements will also be much appreciated. Each post has a comments section below to write what you think. Co click the subject link shown on the right if the comments window is not there. Thanks a bundle!

What is a Legal Protection Service?

Most humans do not like disasters of any kind. That is why we have Home Insurance, Auto Insurance, Accident Insurance, Life Insurance, Theft Insurance, and so on and so forth. List all the insurance plans you have that protect you from the unthinkable happening.

One of the biggest weaknesses we have is being exposed to others taking advantage of us in various forms. Since we are usually not familiar with the Law, we often do not do anything to protect our rights.

However, wealthy individuals are well aware of the importance of legal protection and more often than not have one or more lawyers under retainers. Over time, it costs them a bundle. Their actions are proactive too. Rather than waiting for bad things to happen they put legal mechanisms in place to protect their rights before their rights are violated.

What Options are available to individuals who are not wealthy?

Sad to say not many. You could google any bad situation that has already happened to you or looking ahead to be prepared. The bottom line is you will still need to pay for the services of a lawyer. To ask a lawyer a question can cost you upwards of $150 minimum. Hourly rates are often $200 and up. Good lawyers charge even more. They came into existence over 40 years ago.

Enter LegalShield. It’s founder suffered from a traffic accident and had a huge problem getting compensated. So he devised a plan where individuals could purchase a subscription to have access to a lawyer any time they needed one without having to pay just to talk to one.

Having access to legal services during working hours and 24/7 in emergencies does indeed provide you with legal protection. If you knew you could call and talk to a lawyer about any situation where you were worried about the legal ramifications without being charged a fee would you take advantage of such a service? I bet you would.

Let’s compare different protection services

When you have auto insurance, the idea is to use the benefits as little as possible.

Would you intentionally get into an accident just to get your money’s worth would you?

Would you knowingly get ill just to test out your health insurance policy. Right?

Would you leave your front door open just to check out the benefits of Home Insurance?

With a Legal Protection service like LegalShield, you are encouraged to use the service as much as possible. You may need to sign a contract and worried about not understanding the fine print. As a LegalShield member you can take advantage of its Legal Protection Services and call your Law Firm who will connect you with a lawyer well versed to handle your particular situation. The company encourages its members to use the services as often as necessary.

I think you can see the benefits of having access to affordable Legal Protection.

Who Do You See?

LegalShield has contracted with top-notch Law Firms in every State. As the laws vary between States this is essential. When you become a LegalShield member a local Law Firm is assigned to serve you. You get VIP treatment. When you call your Law Firm to discuss a problem or need, the assistant takes notes that will be passed along to a lawyer who is best suited to handle your case. You will receive a call from a lawyer within four hours. A case number is assigned and it stays open until the issue is resolved.

My Experiences

I wrote about my experiences as a LegalShield member in other blogs on this website. I urge you to check those out. The beauty of LegalShield is in addition of providing Legal Protection it also provides a means to monetize your membership. You have an incredible way to help others and make decent earnings in the process.

Four Truths of LegalShield

Check out this short video and get perspectives from others in this business:

The 4 Truths about LegalShield

Helping Others

Would you like to help others get affordable Legal Protection? And get paid for doing something amazing?

Click this link to this interactive video that will find out what is important to you and help you make the right decisions.

Learn More Interactively

The 1st Question – Do you need to write a will?

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Most people think a will is only necessary for old people. Or people with a lot of money they need to distribute after passing away. The nearest topic that we find difficult to face is buying life insurance. Both of these instruments have a lot in common. They both take effect after the person who authored the will and whose life is insured dies. It is our fear of death that makes us ignore doing something about them.

A will is nothing more than a legal document that enforces your intentions when you are not around to do anything about it. Unless destitute, we all have assets. Usually the younger you are the value of these assets may be low. However, in today’s environment there is less correlation between age and assets than ever before. It is possible for young entrepreneurs to create substantial wealth.

Be aware that instructions in a will does not have to focus on assets entirely. You may want to leave messages for your relatives and friends. Should you have pets you may want to make arrangements as to who will take care of them.

The more effort you take in preparing your will, the fewer problems there will be for your loved ones who have to deal with the aftermath. A will is also a living document while the author is alive. Your situations will change as you get older. And so will your assets and their nature. For example, you may become a collector of valuables and may want to pass those on to specific individuals in your family. For example if you have accumulated baseball cards or even Pokemon cards you may want to bequeath those to your children or other young individuals in your family. A will is the only way you can let your intentions be known and protected by law.

How do you prepare a will?

Once you have an idea what you wish to include in your will, you need to figure out how are you going to prepare it. You could write out something yourself. But that could cause problems regarding authenticity or if there are multiple wills lying around. The best way to address these issues is to have an attorney prepare a will for you. Of course, you could give the attorney your intentions in writing and they will embody them in a legal document using language that will be unambiguous.

Finally, how expensive is it to create a will?

The final question is how much will it cost to have your will prepared for you. Basic will preparations cost a minimum of $300. Most average about $1000. More complicated wills can cost you much more. There are ways to make budget wills but beware of their legitimacy.

One of the benefits of being a member of LegalShield is will preparation at no additional cost. It is covered like so many other benefits by your low membership subscription. If all you want is to prepare a will and are not interested in the other benefits of LegalShield then I suggest seeking out an attorney just to do that. However, I urge you to review the benefits of LegalShield because you may not be aware of how being a member can give you peace of mind in a big way.

You can learn more about the benefits from this link LegalShield

How I benefited from two wills

I want to share a personal story to show how I benefited from family members who had wills. There have been only two. My parents and my uncle and aunt.

My parents lived in Canada. We all originated from India but our family resides in India, England, Spain, Switzerland, Canada and Australia. This includes my wife’s family too.

My parents had a joint will where if one member died everything passed to the living spouse. Once the spouse died their assets were to be equally divided between my three siblings and I. My Dad’s stamp album was to go to my brother after he passed away. And his coin collection would be passed on to me. My Dad passed away first. The only part of their will that was executed after my Dad’s death, was the stamp and coin collection. When my mother passed away, their estate had to go through probate. Since they had a clearly written will, the probate was a mere formality and the courts gave approval to liquidate their estate and distribute the proceedings per the will. My parents had assigned me the executor of their will.

All my siblings and some of their children made our way to Canada when my mother was gravely ill. She passed away while we were there. This simplified and sped up the process. We got the court approval to execute the will. Since neither of us wanted to take possession of their home we put it on the market and it sold after we left. Everything had been put in place to allow the proceedings to go to a bank account I set up.

There is a US tax code that allows death benefits under $3M not to be subjected to taxes. I can assure you that the amounts we all received was no where near that amount. My parents wanted to make sure we had no problems in receiving our inheritance after they passed away. And that was made possible by their will.

My aunt and uncle who lived in England had a similar will. It seems the guy always goes first. My uncle passed away  and all their assets were transferred to his wife. After our aunt died the courts gave their approval to release their assets. The presence of a will helped tremendously. Their home was sold first and the funds deposited into a bank account. All the funds were divided not only among my three siblings and I but also three other relatives in India and the US. My sister who lived in Spain was assigned as the executor of their will. My Aunt and Uncle’s assets were much more than our parents. They had no kids and were very frugal. So they were able to save most of their earnings.

Once everything was converted to cash my sister made arrangements for the banks to disburse the funds to the beneficiaries through wire transfer  wherever they lived.

Nail Biting Time

This happened in mid June 2016. The Brexit vote was taking place on the 22nd. We had a decision to make. If the vote was in favor of staying in the EU, the chances were that the British Pound would rise in value. And if the vote was to leave, the opposite would occur. My sister made arrangements for the funds to be transferred the day before the vote. We all know what happened to the Pound after. It plummeted. So I lucked out! If the funds were transferred a day later I would have got 20% less. I can tell you I would have lost tens of thousands of dollars!

This has absolutely nothing to do with preparing wills. I wanted to share this story to show how timing can also play a role in processing a will.

Would you like to share a story?

Should you have an interesting story in connection with a will please share it by navigating to the comments section. I would also love to hear any other comments you may have on what I have shared with you on wills.

I truly appreciate your time in reading my post.