Last week, the stock markets suffered some of their greatest losses in two years. The Dow was down 3.6% for the week, the Russell 2000 4.91% and the NASDAQ 5.18%. Many of the major averages lost close to 2% on Friday alone. How should you react when the stock market drops significantly? Read on to find out.

First, let’s look at the big picture to better understand the causes of this decline. Currently, a host of mixed signals has created uncertainty over the strength of our economy. Oil prices have surged, inflation fears have escalated and economic growth has appeared to slow. Big blue chip companies such as GM and IBM have reported disappointing earnings.

On the other hand, General Electric released impressive earnings figures reflecting organic growth of 10%. Citicorp and Wachovia also exceeded expectations.

As usual, the signals add up to one big question mark. There are no concrete conclusions you can draw from them one way or the other. So the questions remain: has our economy hit a soft spot? Is a recession in our near future? Will inflation fears come to pass? Will the spike in oil prices spell doom for our economy? Or will all the bad news just blow- over and amount to nothing?

I wish I had the answers. And the truth is, no one can say for sure. When in doubt, markets tend to focus on the negative, not the positive. Markets are very emotional and sometimes end up fulfilling their own prophecy.

Individual investors are very emotional, too. And therein lies the problem. Investing shouldn’t be an emotional decision. It should be a strategic one, with a long-term course of action carefully thought out and planned for. Changes in long-term strategy should not be made because of short-term events.

Unfortunately, few investors are able to detach themselves emotionally from their investments. They fall into a fear/greed cycle that not only costs them money, but also peace of mind. They end up worrying needlessly about the natural fluctuations of the market.

Investors must slay the ghost of markets past. But many allow the events of 2000-2002 to make them so fearful that they don’t get to enjoy the benefits of investing in equities. Even small downturns in the market cause them to lose sleep. They only focus on the negative and convince themselves the sky is falling. Yet when the markets trend up, they want to grab all of the gains.

The markets were down significantly most of 2004 but ended the year up 9%. Those who left the market in fear didn’t have the confidence to get back in early enough to participate in the gains. Investors that want to have all of the gains without going through any losses are going to be very disappointed.

It’s like installing a swimming pool. You know it’s a major investment and you plan to use it for years to come. What if every time there was a cold snap or a rainy day, you had a bulldozer come and fill in the pool? “We can’t use it now. We’ve made a big mistake!” Then later, when the sun shines again and warm weather returns, you say, “I need my pool back! Let’s put one in again!”

Obviously, you wouldn’t do such a thing. Weather changes are expected and planned for. You shut the pool down in the winter and blow the lines so the pipes don’t burst. You have a solar cover to hold in the heat during swimming season and chemicals to keep the water clean and clear. You don’t fill in the pool with dirt every time something goes wrong. You recognize it is a long-term investment and you use tools to manage the short-term events.

It should be the same with your investments. Equities are important to a well-balanced portfolio. Don’t abandon your long-term strategy just because the market has declined several percent. Make tactical decisions based on short-term events within the context of your overall strategy. For instance, I utilize a proprietary portfolio management system that naturally reduces exposure during declines and increases it during upward trends. That allows my clients to pursue the long-term use of equities without losing sleep every time the market drops.

Nationally-syndicated financial columnist and Certified Financial Planner® Jeffrey Voudrie provides personal, in-depth money management services and advice to select private clients throughout the USA. He’ll answer your financial question - FREE at http://www.guardingyourwealth.com

Got questions? Go to www.guardingyourwealth.com and click on ‘Ask Jeff’. I’ll answer you personally.

In addition to being a nationally syndicated columnist and Certified Financial Planning Practitioner, Mr. Voudrie provides personal, private money management services to clients nationwide.

It’s amazing what happens when you fully commit to something. Whatever that action is that shows there’s no turning back: booking the flight, resigning from a job, paying a bill, writing that letter, making a call or agreeing on a date.

W.H. Murray, the explorer, wrote:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”

The word, “DECIDE”, is from the latin “Decidere”, which means “To kill off any other alternatives”.

Sitting on the fence wastes time and money, decreases confidence, diminishes one’s reputation with those Eagles who are action and result oriented and increases the chance that one will do nothing but find excuses. The window of opportunity is prone to slamming shut on the fingers of the vacillating weakling. The indecisive, wavering, faltering entrepreneur watches as others boldly overcome their fears and walk away with the prize every time. No matter how much we justify our fears, the bottom line is clear: you have to leave the shore in order to reach Treasure Island.

Winners know that they can’t wait until circumstances are perfect before making a commitment. They don’t wait until all the traffic lights along their route are green before leaving home. The best time is right now. They know that some decision, any decision, is better than no decision at all. Their enthusiasm and passion to reach their goals is greater than their trepidation. They focus on finding solutions and they believe in themselves and the value of their objectives. They make strong, firm and fast decisions. They don’t call fourteen meetings before deciding what to have for breakfast. And when they commit, as Mr. Murray tells us, things miraculously start to work out.

You can tell a lot about a person by the length of time it takes them to make a decision and a commitment. How about you? What decisions are your pondering? What are you waiting for? Are you paralyzed with fear? It takes guts to leave the ruts, but once you commit, it just gets easier.

About Robin J. Elliott

For more than 19 years, Robin J. Elliott has worked with thousands of businesses in over 49 industries across the United States, Canada, and Africa. He specializes in helping small business entrepreneurs build wealth and gain access to new markets and profit centers through Joint Ventures. Through his Joint venture Seminars across North America he has thought thousands how to create increasing, multiple streams of income without cost or risk and very little time.

Get Robin J. Elliott’s FREE: “How To Grow Serious Wealth Using Joint Ventures” Mini-Course, and The Prophet of Profit e-Zine along with video blogs, world class articles, free video, and access to top Joint Venture Partners at http://www.jvwisdom.com

Alice Miller was trained as a psychotherapist. In 1979, after twenty years of practicing psychoanalysis, she decided psychoanalysis was not the best way to help people. She came to believe that it would be more helpful to write about the parent-child relationship. She wanted people to see how parents and teachers unintentionally damage children, even when they believe they are acting in the best interests of the child. She wanted people to see how the belief that hurting children is good for them has been perpetuated from one generation to the next. She is still one of the most articulate children’s advocates writing today.

“…It is possible to resolve childhood repression safely and without confusion - something that has always been disputed by the most respected schools of thought.”

“Regression to the stage of early infancy is not a suitable method in and of itself. Such a regression can only be effective if it happens in the natural course of therapy and if the client is able to maintain adult consciousness at the same time.”

“The results of any traumatic experience, such as abuse, can only be resolved by experiencing, articulating, and judging every facet of the original experience within a process of careful therapeutic disclosure.”

“Anyone who has ever been a mother or father and is at all honest knows from experience how difficult it can be for parents to accept certain aspects of their children. It is especially painful to have to admit this if we really love our child and want to respect his or her individuality yet are unable to do so.”

“Every smack is a humiliation.”

“Physical cruelty and emotional humiliation not only leave their marks on children, they also inflict a disastrous imprint of the future of our society. Information on the effects of the “well-meant smack” should therefore be part and parcel of courses for expectant mothers and of counseling for parents.”
The claim that mild punishments (slaps or smacks) have no detrimental effect is still widespread because we got this message very early from our parents who had taken it over from their own parents. Unfortunately, the main damage it causes is precisely the broad dissemination of this conviction. The result of which is that each successive generation is subjected to the tragic effects of so called physical “correction.”

“Hitler, Stalin, Mao and other dictators were exposed to severe physical mistreatment in childhood and refused to face up to the fact later. Instead of seeing and feeling what had happened to them, they avenged themselves vicariously by killing millions of people. And millions of others helped them to do so. If the legislation we are advocating had existed the time, those millions would simply have refused to perpetrate acts of cruelty at the command of crazed political leaders.”

“Children who become too aware of things are punished for it and internalize the coercion to such an extent that as adults they give up the search for awareness. But because some people cannot renounce this search in spite of coercion, there is justifiable hope that regardless of the ever-increasing application of technology to the field of psychological knowledge, Kafka’s vision of the penal colony with its efficient, scientifically minded persecutors and their passive victims is valid only for certain areas of our live and perhaps not forever. For the human soul is virtually indestructible, and its ability to rise from the ashes remains as long as the body draws breath.”

“I was amazed to discover that I had been an abused child, that from the very beginning of my life I had no choice but to totally comply with the needs and feelings of my mother and to ignore my own.”

“I realize that my parents and teachers were not allowed to feel and thus they were convinced and believed what they did was right and passed along their dysfunction without ‘even the trace of a bad conscience.’”

“Had just one person understood what was happening and come to my defense, it might have changed my entire life.”

“My intellectual conceptual training as a psychologist is ‘false, deceptive and disastrous.’”

“I got in touch with my repressed feelings first through art as an adult. I learned to follow my impulses.”

“…the conventional methods of psychoanalysis block the creativity of patients as well as analysts.”

“I want to help others avoid the slowness of their path of discovery and for this I have been thanked but also received much hostility.”

“I realized I couldn’t change my parents in the slightest, but felt compelled to try to help young parents avoid abusing their power.”

“I speak from the child’s perspective, because that is where my knowledge came from.”

“… if we are willing to open our eyes to the suffering of the child we will soon see that it lies within us as adults either to turn the newborn into a monsters by the way we treat them, or to let them grow up into feeling–and therefore responsible–human beings.”

“Don’t ever dare to take your college as a matter of course - because, like democracy and freedom, many people you’ll never know have broken their hearts to get it for you.”

“The truth about childhood, as many of us have had to endure it, is inconceivable, scandalous, painful. Not uncommonly, it is monstrous. Invariably, it is repressed. To be confronted with this truth all at once and to try to integrate it into our consciousness, however ardently we may wish it, is clearly impossible.”

“When a woman like that whom I’ve seen so much, All of a sudden drops out of touch; Is always busy and never can, Spare you a moment, it means a man.”

“I was not out to paint beautiful pictures; even painting good pictures was not important to me. I wanted only to help the truth burst forth.”

“If it’s very painful for you to criticize your friends - you’re safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that’s the time to hold your tongue.”

“The capacity of the human organism to bear pain is, for our own protection, limited. All attempts to overstep this natural threshold by resolving repression in a violent manner will, as with every other form of violation, have negative and often dangerous consequences.”

“A child too, can never grasp the fact that the same mother who cooks so well, is so concerned about his cough, and helps so kindly with his homework, in some circumstance has no more feeling than a wall of his hidden inner world”

“Contempt is the weapon of the weak and a defense against one’s own despised and unwanted feelings.”

Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, author, “If I’d Only Known…Sexual Abuse in or Out of the Family: A Guide to Prevention, specializes in: Mind, Body, Spirit healing and Physical/Sexual Abuse Prevention and Recovery. As an inspirational leader, Dr. Neddermeyer empowers people to view life’s challenges as an opportunity for Personal/Professional Growth and Spiritual Awakening. http://www.drdorothy.net

Among the fairest and most balanced offerings on the Imus incident hails from journalist Ellis Cose in Newsweek for the week of April 23, 2007 in an article entitled “What Will We Learn.” Another offering well worth the read is “Imus’ Safety Net Failed” penned by the World Net Daily columnist Barbara Simpson, April 16, 2007.

TV interviews are too numerous to cite even though not much variation is offered. It seems like a replay of the same interview and it goes like this. Imus had a right to say what he wants, networks and corporate supporters have the right to bounce him and why doesn’t somebody call Rap and Hip Hop out on the carpet.

Naturally when a race card pops up Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are sure to pop up as well. Jackson is seen marching with a tiny placard about Rainbow Coalition and Sharpton is filmed as the magnanimous mediator of the Imus apology, just what we might expect, nothing new in this picture.

Not far behind these familiar scenes another recurring but worn out and highly questionable outcome is the monotonous drone of the interviewers trying to assuage Rappers with talk about their connection to art. A lot of sycophantic gushing can’t hide the fact that untold millions of people believe that calling Hip Hop “art” is like comparing Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup can.

Pop cultures’ fling can produce bling but it takes something a little more classic to add something significant to a nation’s culture, something that will endure through the ages.

Others have aptly pointed out something already well known namely, that it is the big green money machine that drives Hip Hop. Millions of bucks will also be lost by the networks and sponsors as a result of giving Imus the boot. So that question serves only to raise yet another question. Why did the networks and corporations suddenly go moral on such a lopsided scale?

A few voices have been heard that dare to call Hip Hop artists and sponsors to respond. Among them has been African American poet Maya Anjelou. In her customary dignified and refined manner Maya gracefully lambasted the rappers in an interview on CNN. Are there any other voices out there like this one? We are waiting.

Raising a plethora of new questions seems to be the main product of the entire controversy. These questions are useful only if we are willing to hunker down and search for the answers and beyond that we must demand that they be answered.

Here is a list of questions that should be asked of every citizen, network chief and corporation in America. It may not be a comprehensive list but it should do for starters.

If profanity has become art, hasn’t art become profaned?

Does America and especially African Americans know the difference between a mere activist and a real leader?

Are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton activists or leaders?

Would Jackson and Sharpton be willing to march around network offices, media outlets and corporate sponsors who gain from Hip Hop?

Do Christians believe that the gospel and gospel music, traditional or contemporary, can really stand by themselves to produce the desired effect? If so why have some groups borrowed from the Rap genre to present their message?

Would the networks be willing to tone down the crap in rap just to give it a slap (no rap intended) in the next Hip Hop presentation? Would they be willing to cancel the next Hip Hop presentation?

Are African American women any less insulted by the rappers than they have been by Imus? Would they be willing to let their voices and their “Hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn” be heard on the same?

Have parents listened to what is being piped into their children’s brains and what is bombarding their sight daily by Hip Hopsters and are they willing to pull the plug if necessary? Do you know the definition of difficult?

Has anyone at all noticed that the Imus incident clearly says that freedom of speech does have responsibilities connected to it?

Would rappers be willing to ponder the question of why only rap music gets a bad rap? Why haven’t other music genres that African Americans have contributed to or wholly created been spoken against? Like Mississippi Delta Blues, Black Gospel and Choir music, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Dixieland, etc. etc. etc? Why doesn’t anyone question that these genres are actually art?

Would Rappers be willing to ponder this great proverb? In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. Proverbs 10:19

Would the rest of us be willing to ponder these important words from the Saviour of the world? “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” Matthew 12:36-37

Rev Bresciani is the author of two Christian books one that is entirely on the second coming of Christ. He is a contributing columnist for several online news and commentary sites. His articles are read throughout the world. Please enjoy a visit to http://www.americanprophet.org

Question: My husband and I spoke with a financial advisor who is a salaried employee of our credit union regarding two of our retirement accounts. I managed these accounts myself during the boom years, but feel “out of my league” in present market conditions. I really want to protect these two nest eggs and grow them over time, while my husband starts fresh in his new 401K plan.

The advisor mentioned a product called the USAllianz High Five variable annuity. I’ve spent this evening reading mostly negative things about annuities, but we do seem to fall into the “it might be right for you if…” category, mostly because retirement is still 20 years or so off. Do you have any thoughts on this topic as it relates to us or this product in particular? My husband and I are 44 and 42 years old respectively, with two young children. We live on one adequate but modest income. Saving is second nature–if only we had a similar talent for investing!

Answer: First, don’t be fooled by the fact that the person you spoke to is a salaried employee of the credit union. Having worked in a bank environment, I can assure you that there is tremendous pressure on these employees to meet certain quotas. Just because the person is salaried does not mean there isn’t a conflict of interest.

Credit unions and banks make more money off of investments now than they do on any other banking product. By using salaried employees, the bank or credit union gets to pocket the 5-7% commission on the Allianz annuity, while the salaried advisor might only get a $50 bonus.

As for the credit union’s recommendation, I am not a proponent of using annuities for IRA money. (See articles on my website.) A Variable Annuity is essential a mutual fund in an insurance wrapper. The problem is that ‘wrapper’ adds considerable costs to the equation. In most variable annuities, the underlying costs will often total 2.5-3.5% per year-or higher! Plus you are limited to the choices they give you and have no control over what choices are added or taken away.

Secondly, it is important for you to remain flexible. You need to be able to change your investments and advisors without facing any surrender penalties, especially over the 20 years you have until retirement. There are ways to protect your investment from significant loss with growth potential that don’t require you to tie up your money for an extended period of time.

For instance, I use a proprietary money management system for my clients. It is designed to allow them to participate in market growth while significantly reducing their potential for loss (in many cases to less than 3%). It is designed for those who want to grow their money without losing their shirt. And it does so without any commissions, surrender penalties or time commitments. Sounds like you could use something similar

Question: I have heard that there is a stock that covers the Dow and protects your money better than any individual stock. I heard that this stock has all the stocks in the index, so it performs just like the Dow. What is the stock symbol and what is it selling for? Do you recommend it for long-term growth?

Answer: What you are referring to is an Exchange-Traded Fund. ETFs are designed to mimic their underlying index so they give you the diversification of a mutual fund and the liquidity of a stock. There are over 150 indexes with ETFs tracking them. The symbol for the one that tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average is DIA. There is also another one (IYY) that tracks the Dow Jones Total Market Index.

Ever since the mutual fund scandal and the redemption fees added by many mutual funds, I have switched to using ETFs almost exclusively with my clients. As far as recommending them for long-term growth, that will depend on your situation. I am not a big proponent of strict buy and hold because there is too much risk of having to wait years to recover from a loss. This doesn’t make sense if you are retired.

Nationally-syndicated financial columnist and Certified Financial Planner® Jeffrey Voudrie provides personal, in-depth money management services and advice to select private clients throughout the USA. He’ll answer your financial question - FREE at http://www.guardingyourwealth.com

Want me to personally answer your financial question? Go to www.guardingyourwealth.com and click on ‘Ask Jeff’.

In addition to being a nationally syndicated columnist and Certified Financial Planning Practitioner, Mr. Voudrie provides personal, private money management services to clients nationwide.

When you’re ready to start doing Joint Ventures, you should look at opportunities that fit the following criteria:

1. There should be no cost or risk to you and it should not involve a lot of time, and definitely no selling.

2. The deals should be able to create enough money per deal to be worth your time and effort.

3. You should only work with people you like and trust, who take action and are reliable. Don’t deal with whiners, losers or flakes.

4. Look at the turn-around time. If you’re bringing leads to realtors or financial planners (insurance salespeople), for example, their deals generally take a long time and often fall apart, whereas certain deals are time sensitive (like a seminar) and people have to make fast decision, so the deal happens or it doesn’t in a shorter period of time. We want high-return, no risk (to EITHER party), little time invested, no money invested, and a quick turn-around time.

5. Structure your multiple income sources to complement each other. Instead of a “feast or famine” scenario, have different businesses with different busy cycles in the hopper, so that you get an even flow of income. Also look for synergies between the different demographics and buyer needs so that the same customer can buy from more than one income source.

6. Put the deal in writing - who does what, how they do it, when they do it, how payment takes place, the exact amounts or percentages paid, when payment takes place, etc., the more detail the better so that there are no misunderstandings later on. Do you get paid on the first transaction or on ongoing transactions?

7. Attend the DollarMakers Joint Venture Forum Member meetings and conference calls and attend Bootcamps so that you stay connected and keep on learning. Remember, if there’s no risk to either party and a deal doesn’t work out, nobody gets hurt, so don’t be afraid to fail. Also, some people will not want to Joint Venture with you. Don’t take it personally; they simply don’t understand value yet.

8. Create an action plan and be prepared to do some research on people whom you intend to approach. For example, what are their profit margins, underutilized resources and needs? What kind of reputation do they have? Google them, check the Better Business Bureau, run a credit check, ask around.

9. Be upbeat and optimistic when approaching potential Joint Venture partners, but never be desperate. You don’t need them. Be prepared to walk away from any deal at any time.

10. Finally, business is a numbers game. The more you fail, the more people you talk with, the more you try, the bigger you think, the better. Joint Ventures is the fastest, best and most fun way to make an unlimited amount of money with no risk, little time and no money, that I have ever seen. Make it happen!

About Robin J. Elliott

For more than 19 years, Robin J. Elliott has worked with thousands of businesses in over 49 industries across the United States, Canada, and Africa. He specializes in helping small business entrepreneurs build wealth and gain access to new markets and profit centers through Joint Ventures. Through his Joint venture Seminars across North America he has thought thousands how to create increasing, multiple streams of income without cost or risk and very little time.

Get Robin J. Elliott’s FREE: “How To Grow Serious Wealth Using Joint Ventures” Mini-Course, and The Prophet of Profit e-Zine along with video blogs, world class articles, free video, and access to top Joint Venture Partners at http://www.jvwisdom.com

There are many investors who are “once bitten, twice shy” when it comes to investing, especially those that have had significant losses in the past. Unfortunately, those bad memories are causing many of them to make bad investment decisions today. Over-generalizing past experiences, both good and bad can have dire affects on your hard-earned nest egg.

Many people who traditionally shunned stocks began investing in the stock market during the ’90s. They were handsomely rewarded. But those investors (and their advisors) failed to realize the dramatic shift that began occurring in 2000. As a result, many lost much of what they had gained, some selling out with huge losses.

It’s understandable that someone is hesitant to invest in an area where they’ve lost significant amounts in the past. One of the biggest mistakes investors make, though, is to overreact to investment experiences. You certainly want to learn from the past, but a knee-jerk reaction will create a host of new ones that will greatly impact you long-term.

Stock markets naturally fluctuate, but these ‘bitten’ investors become very nervous with even minor market drops. The truth is that the markets don’t move up in a straight line. You can’t take your money out of the market every time it posts a small loss and reinvest later after it’s recovered-you’ll continue to lose money.

Past experiences cause many investors to entirely shun a category that should play an important role in their portfolio. Many investors today want to avoid equities all together. Others might avoid real estate. You may have lost money in a bond mutual fund and now avoid all mutual funds. But avoiding any category completely is a big mistake. A properly balanced portfolio has been shown to contain less risk than an unbalanced one.

Some REITs provide an excellent, stable source of income but some investors avoid them like the plague because they bear a slight resemblance to failed limited partnerships of the 80’s. They’ve allowed losses they suffered on LPs years or decades ago keep them from benefiting from quality REITs today.

Just as bad experiences color our investment vision so do good experiences. This can cause investors to over-invest in a single category. Technology stocks are one example, bonds are another. For the last two decades, bonds have given returns approaching the high single digits, making them the investment of choice for retirees.

Bond’s great returns have caused many retirees to over-invest in them. Most have seen the level of interest they receive plummet the last few years and have turned to risky investments to replace that lost income. This puts them in a precarious position moving forward.

Successful investors have learned the secret of not overreacting and over-generalizing. They recognize that their bad experiences could have been the result of issues specific to an investment but didn’t affect the rest of the category. Perhaps the mutual fund they were in had bad management or used an ill-timed strategy. But that doesn’t make all mutual funds bad.

They also realize that various investments will perform differently depending on the market and economic environment. The same investment can be the worst possible investment in some situations, but the investment of a lifetime in other situations.

For instance, there is a mutual fund called Rydex Tempest that is designed to produce a return twice the opposite performance of the S&P 500. Funds like this are called ‘inverse funds’ because they move up when the index goes down and down when the index goes up.

In 2003, Rydex Tempest dropped 43%! An investment of $100,000 in the beginning of that year would have been worth only $57,000. On the other hand, Tempest was up 37% in 2002-a terrible year for the market.

Is this fund a good or bad investment? Neither. There’s just a right time and a wrong time to be invested in it. When it comes to investments like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or real estate investment trusts, how and when the investment is used will in large part determine whether it was a good or bad investment.

So don’t let the ghosts of markets past cloud your investment decisions today. Don’t overreact. Properly managed, each category of investments will play an important role in your portfolio.

Nationally-syndicated financial columnist and Certified Financial Planner® Jeffrey Voudrie provides personal, in-depth money management services and advice to select private clients throughout the USA. He’ll answer your financial question - FREE at http://www.guardingyourwealth.com

I’ll personally answer your financial questions. Go to www.guardingyourwealth.com and click on ‘Ask Jeff’.

In addition to being a nationally syndicated columnist and Certified Financial Planning Practitioner, Mr. Voudrie provides personal, private money management services to clients nationwide.

In an attempt to get more funding into the poorer school districts and reduce funding for the wealthier districts, Governor Eliot Spitzer replaced the very rigid, long-standing formula for funding of the New York schools. The old formula gave the same per student funding to all New York schools districts without regard to needs or demographic/economic differences. Spitzer convinced Senate Republicans in wealthier districts, such as Long Island, to vote for his final budget by including special funding add-ons for only this year. The funding add-ons guaranteed that New York schools in the wealthier districts would receive similar funding as last year, though they are not guaranteed beyond this year.

A multitude of mathematical computations were required for this year’s funding formula, which gave a distribution of $1.76 million. Overall, it appears to be similar to last year’s distribution; however, upon a closer look, a disparity occurred between at least two New York schools districts that creates the exact opposite effect desired by the Governor.

Shelter Island school district in Suffolk County serves a resort town between the forks of Long Island. It has only one school with a New York schools student enrollment of 270 and is as close to being a private school as you can get and still be public. The area, itself, has higher local taxes than many New York schools districts, which means more funding for its school. With a higher median household income for its 2,000 plus residents and a low poverty rate, more funding from the New York schools can be used for programs that are a luxury in other New York schools.

With the new funding formula for the New York schools this year, Shelter Island almost doubled its funding over last year with a 90.5 percent increase - compared to a statewide average increase of ten percent. By far, it was the biggest winner under this year’s funding formula. Last year, this New York schools district lost ten students to the CDCH Charter School in East Hampton. The funding add-ons gave Shelter Island additional funding to compensate for this loss of students (and per student funding). They will receive a total of $775,000 in funding, compared to last year’s $406,000. School board member Barbara Warren said the board is waiting for confirmation of the amount to ensure it is correct.

In contrast to Shelter Island, Germantown is a rural area in Columbia County across the river from Catskill. Like Shelter Island, Germantown has about 2,000 residents and only one school serving the entire district. An enrollment of 700 students, grades kindergarten through 12, are all in one building. The Germantown district is much poorer than Shelter Island with needs for funding to cover programs to aid its low-income students.

Germantown, a New York schools district that must count every penny of state funding it receives, will get an increase of only 0.6 percent this year. This is clearly an inequitable increase, compared to the wealthier Shelter Island funding amount. The only reason Superintendent Patrick Gabriel can find for the little funding increase is in the Public Excess Cost category, which covers the costs of students with disabilities. Though they did receive $700,000 in capital building funds, Germantown is clearly going to have to stretch every penny next school year.

Patricia Hawke is an expert researcher and writer on real estate topics such as economics, credit improvement tips, home selling advice and home buying preparations and education for relocating families. For more information please New York Schools

On a clear November day my wife and I set out to explore real estate in the mountains east of Jackson, Wyoming. We dropped our youngest daughter, then fourteen, with our oldest daughter who was in college a few hours away. It was the Monday before Thanksgiving and we planned on returning Wednesday night to spend the holiday with our daughters.

In our rented SUV and a suitcase of clothes that reflected our Texas lifestyle, we headed out of Jackson and down to Pinedale. I had recently left my corporate job to strike out on my own. Since I traveled with my consulting, we thought we’d find a place to live that we liked, it would be the first home location we had chosen since getting married thirty years before.

At the time our spiritual lives were in some upheaval and we yearned for a new start. Our daughter had been raped, then attempted suicide and we were just finishing some lengthy counseling over the ordeal and were trying to get the train of our lives back on track.

Our first stop in Pinedale revealed a cute little town of a couple thousand nice, friendly people, with moose grazing on the outskirts of town. We looked at one house and when the folks told my wife they went shopping once a month in Salt Lake, some four hours away, that was the end of that. We had a quick lunch in Pinedale and didn’t bother to tell our kids we had changed plans. Instead of heading further east and around the mountain back to Jackson we were heading south and west to Star Valley and the town of Afton.

As we headed south towards Rock Springs I could see from the map this was going to be a five hour drive down and around. I happened to see a road on the map about an hour south that headed west and over the mountain and dropped right down into Afton. It went right through the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It was a gorgeous fall day, so I ignored the two dotted map lines that was the outline of the road I’d picked, and we headed up the mountain. My wife immediately said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

Ignoring her feeling I plowed ahead. Three more times she would say, “Ed, I have a bad feeling about this.” Four hours later, high in the mountains and deep in the forest we stopped at a ‘T’ in the road. Before us was two wooden Forest Service signs, with arrows pointing in opposite directions that read - Afton 50 miles - Pinedale 50 miles. While I didn’t admit it at the time I knew we were in deep trouble, it was 4 p.m. and about to get dark.

Instead of doing what my wife strongly suggested I plowed ahead towards Afton and one hour later, on a steep incline, we were stuck in three feet of snow. We knew we weren’t getting out anytime soon, much less that night. We had no cell phone, a few extra T-shirts, a Hershey bar, two diet sodas and a half tank of gas in our now buried SUV.

Dark surrounded us as my wife quietly wept next to me. We debated our next course of action as she humbled me in prayer. A former atheist turned Christian, I was still struggling with the spiritual side of my life since my daughters problems. I resorted to the macho, Marine Corp side. I was a Marine sniper for two-years in Vietnam and just looked on this as an adventure at first, an adrenaline rush, surely we’d get out of this.

The car was aimed up a small path heading to the top of the mountain. As I sat there in the black of night looking at the star filled sky, a plane went over. It was then it hit me, with my wife finally sleeping in the seat next to me, that we were in deep water and that I alone was not getting us out of this one. I had certainly been stupid enough to ignore my wife’s admonitions and get us stuck though.

We would later learn that we were fifty-seven miles from Pinedale and nearly ten-thousand feet up in the forest. We endured the night, cold and lonely and decided to walk to safety at first light. We were in our early fifties and not in great shape. Our clothes were light leather jackets and sneakers for shows. We were not equipped for the walk we were about to endure.

During the night my wife led us in prayer often. It was sometime in the early morning hours when I humbled myself and cried out to my Lord and Savior. I cried out to Him as never before and after some time could feel the warmth of His Spirit wash over me. I knew that somehow we would be rescued.

At first light we were off, heading down the mountain, committing to each other we would somehow walk for twenty-four hours if necessary to see our children. We left the SUV at seven a.m. and it began to snow. We walked patiently, feeling amazingly good, and reached the wooden signs we’d seen the day before. The signs were seven miles from our vehicle. We’d made the trek in about two and a half hours - we knew we had help because we could not walk that fast on flat ground, let alone the snow that was increasing steadily.

We walked and prayed and walked and prayed and my wife grew weaker. I walked and prayed as I walked and the snow was getting deeper and coming down heavy. We stopped on one occasion to pray and it was two p.m. We’d been walking for seven long hours in the snow, the wind was picking up. As we started out again I noticed the light in my wife’s eyes wasn’t as bright and committed as it had been … I knew we could not make the night.

As I walked trudging in the heavy snow across a high plateau at around seven thousand feet, I prayed as I had never prayed before. I prayed Lord, we have done all that we can. My wife is struggling - we don’t want to die. Lord please provide us a miracle and provide it now. By three p.m. the snow was blinding. As I walked, looking ahead I thought I saw a small speck in the snow. What could it be? I was sure it was a mirage. I didn’t say anything.

We kept walking and soon a truck appeared. We waved excitedly as if they wouldn’t se us, the only two people in miles. The two men inside looked like they were right off a Marlboro commercial. They were plumbers heading to close down a new log house they’d been working on all summer. The man on the passenger side rolled down his window and said, “I hope you two know you have someone walking with you out here today!” Indeed we did. He went on to explain they were supposed to be in and out by ten in the morning but were held up in town by an architect working on the house and the were running late.

We found out that the snow we were enduring was as they said up there the snow that shuts the mountain down. The elk had come down that night and now one would get up there until spring. We had walked seventeen miles when our Plumber Angels rescued us. The Lord had provided us with the miracle we asked for and saved us to see our children. He had rescued me from my own stubbornness and stupidity. He had taught me humility and that indeed He answers our prayers.

Ed Kugler is a former Marine sniper with two consecutive tours in the Vietnam War. He is also a former atheist and now a Christian. He as been changing for a lifetime. He is a recovering alcoholic, successful business leader who made it to VP of Compaq Computer with no college degree, flunked high school English and has written six books. He is the father of three, grandfather of three and has been married to the same woman for thirty-eight years and counting. http://www.lulu.com/nomorebsbooks and http://www.nomorebs.com

Inviting someone to participate in a Joint Venture with you should always be carefully structured as an “Offer that is too good to refuse”. This is easier than it might seem, and it is done by creating a large benefit or solving a significant problem for the other party, while at the same time removing the following barriers:

Remove the barrier of RISK to both parties. This includes the risk of alienating, upsetting, or losing his existing customers or losing customers to his competition.

Remove the barrier of TIME invested by the other party (and you should also invest the minimum amount of time.)

Remove the barrier of EFFORT. Entrepreneurs are busy and they will want you to do most of the work if possible. Remember, you’re approaching them, not vice versa.

Remove the barrier of COMPLICATION. Some proposals are very complicated. Complication, many irrelevant facts and the promise of huge, unusual rewards, is often the mark of a confidence trickster. Keep it very simple and straightforward and answer all questions in advance.

Remove the barrier of RELIGION and POLITICS. People are often negatively disposed to certain religions, religious groups or political affiliations. Play down your religious and political leanings until a relationship of trust has been developed, and, even then, business is not about religion or politics.

Remove the barrier of THREAT to the Other Person’s EGO. People don’t want to be made to look foolish or unsuccessful. Keep things simple.

Remove the barrier of LOSS - any loss, including embarrassment, time or reputation.
By carefully structuring your JV proposal to remove the above threats, you lower the barrier to business. Think through the deal from the other person’s perspective. This means doing your homework - credit checks, Google searches, police checks, understanding the other person’s business and Hot Button and obtaining a clear understanding or their needs, wants, goals, drives, problems and dreams - before structuring your proposal.

About Robin J. Elliott

For more than 19 years, Robin J. Elliott has worked with thousands of businesses in over 49 industries across the United States, Canada, and Africa. He specializes in helping small business entrepreneurs build wealth and gain access to new markets and profit centers through Joint Ventures. Through his Joint venture Seminars across North America he has thought thousands how to create increasing, multiple streams of income without cost or risk and very little time.

Get Robin J. Elliott’s FREE: “How To Grow Serious Wealth Using Joint Ventures” Mini-Course, and The Prophet of Profit e-Zine along with video blogs, world class articles, free video, and access to top Joint Venture Partners at http://www.jvwisdom.com