An Interview with Gary Dunn, Publisher of the Caretaker Gazette
I am always on the lookout for innovative, unconventional, and first and foremost, cost-saving ways to travel. I recently came across the concept of "caretaking", i.e. looking after other people's (often beautiful) properties and estates, as a way of procuring rent-free living opportunities in ... more...

Protecting Your Expatriate Family
If you and your family relocate overseas, one of your first priorities from a financial planning point of view may very well be establishing health care.Costs and services abroad can differ greatly to what you are accustomed to back home. Therefore its essential to make sure that you are fully ... more...

Marketing Success - Marketing Strategy - Brand Identity Guru
Marketing message x Credibility x Visibility = Marketing SuccessThese three variables, when working positively together, create success. Period. But determining how to get those variables to work together is the trick.Your marketing message isnt a static entity. It can have a high or low impact on ... more...

Debt a Glossary of Terms
Bankruptcy - Having been legally declared financially insolvent. There are two types of bankruptcy - liquidation, in which your debts are cleared (discharged) and reorganization, in which you provide the court with a plan for how you intend to repay your debts.Collateral - Property acceptable as ... more...

Disaster Assistance Through the IRS
Every year millions of people have property damage from unexpected events. There seems to be a rise in natural disasters occurring all around us, from the western earthquakes to the southern hurricanes. Although we rarely think of the IRS and our taxes when disasters happen, it can actually be a ... more...

Planning to Buy Your Dream
Lots of people are dreaming about that little cottage with the white picket fence or that modern apartment with a killer view or that fixer-upper in the country orThe dreams are endless, but the idea is all the same owning your own home is a major milestone in life. Many people fell like they cant ... more...

Who's That Knocking At My Door? Investing To Rent!
Investing to rent can create the financial and real estate success you have been searching for, but it takes hard work, thoughtful preparation and practical knowledge. As a landlord you must be creative, fearless and intuitive. In the Tidewater area approximately one out of every five homebuyers ... more...

Shorting Stocks The Basics, Part I of II
What does it mean to short a stock?This means that you borrow the stock from your broker to sell to a third party. The idea is to buy back the stock at a lower price, returning the shares to your broker while leaving the remaining cash in your account as a profit. Put another way, a short seller ... more...

Should You Buy Old or New?
You are looking to buy a home. You dont know whether a new home or an older home is good for you. Which is best for you?Whether a brand new home or one that has been broken in is best for you depends on your preferences. A homebuilder will tell you that you need a new home. Real estate agents will ... more...

The Real Estate Cycle
The real estate cycle, like the business cycle, refers to the activity of the real estate market as it reacts to the forces of supply and demand.Supply and demand.When demand for a product, such as housing, exceeds the supply, the price for the product tends to increase. In real estate this ... more...

Stopping Home Foreclosure with Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy Will Stop Your Sale - At Least For Now For $395, you can stop your sale- at least that is what the ads say. You are about to find out how bankruptcy can be good or very damaging.Bankruptcy will stop your foreclosure sale. It's a fact. However, filing bankruptcy for the sole purpose of ... more...

It's High Time for a Lower Credit Card Rate
How would you rate your credit card interest rate? Unfortunately, this is a simple question that few consumers take the time to ask, and it can be a costly oversight. High interest rates on your credit card balance can inflict some heavy damage on your wallet. A higher rate means higher finance ... more...