Joel Christopher's LIFE INTEGRATION (Marketing, Business & Personal) Blog: "My NEW YEAR's GIFT To You"

Joel Christopher's LIFE INTEGRATION (Marketing, Business & Personal) Blog: "My NEW YEAR's GIFT To You"

I have been to the above site and downloaded a very interesting diary for my desktop. Have a look yourself, if you use Outlook Express as they don't supply a calendar etc.

With the diary, you can put in all your payments due and keep notes on any comments you need to make for future reference.

I am going to give it a trial test as I think it is something we could get great benefit from.

If you decide to download it, please leave me a comment on what you think of the diary, because it could be a great help to many others.

Wishing you great success and happiness in 2007.
Aine
Be Happy In Debt - http://www.debts-challenge.com

Debt Challenge - Can Credit Cards Help

Want your credit cards to do something for you? http://debts-challenge.ecreditdirectory.com

When you are in debt, one of your worse fears is how to manage this debt so that it does not rise further. The answer can be Credit Cards.

You can use your credit cards as a project to manage your money.
Every day, spending a few minutes checking your expenses and daily spending, can very soon get you out of debt.

Yes, that's true! You'll find that the focus you give to managing your debts will start you on the road of taking complete control.

Using credit cards with 0% interest rate would be your first step in this direction. The link above will take you to a site which offer over 10 such sites. The sensible way of using these cards is to watch your dates carefully and then move balances as the date arrives for paying interest on your loans.

You obviously have to be very focussed so that you don't build up debts on them. But you can use them to clear off one card at a time.

Remember, the only person who can take complete control of your expenses and debts, is yourself.

Aine Callan - www.debts-challenge.com


Debts Challenge - Have Fun In Debt

The Mortgage Challenge

How often have you been tempted to spend some of the collateral in your property? Imagine spending some of the money on a luxury holiday, revamping your home or just putting some extra money into your current account so that you don't have to worry about the utility bills.

But then also imagine, instead of leaving an inheritance for your children, you leave a big mortgage.

A new mortgage has been introduced, named the 'inter-generational' mortgage. This enable a person to just pay the interest only with the capital sum remaining unpaid until the death of that person, the mortgagee – then the children of the mortgagee will have to decide if they want to take on the mortgage or sell the house. (Bearing in mind that the children may themselves be tied in with their own 'inter-generational' mortgage.)

Obviously there are concerns whether this is actually a good scheme. Even though it is cheaper at the beginning of the term, in the long run it works out much more expensively for the mortgagee. How, for instance, would people be able to pay the mortgage when they are in retirement?

It appears that the only people who would benefit from this would, surprisingly, be the mortgage landing companies.

Are we surprised though?

Aine Callan
For a Free Report on Debts Challenge CLICK HERE

Debt Challenge for Bank of England

It was reported this week –( last part of October 06) - that the Bank of England are very concerned by the fact that approximately 80% of personal debt in the UK is made up of loans secured against homes, such as mortgages and re-mortgages.

This is a major challenge situation in the arrest of mounting debt for the Bank of England. We all know that the repercussions related to this type of debt have far reaching effects and take many years to overcome.

They are also concerned that as well as this debt, other debts, such as credit cards now amount to over £1,000bn.

News this week regarding personal finance and property prices has generally been very negative and it has also been reported that many more people are going bankrupt or taking out IVA.

Debt agencies said that they are seeing an increase of approximately 50% in debt problems, over the last six years. The mountain of debt has been silently growing but is now coming to a head.

Yet at the other end of the financial spectrum, house prices have been reportedly rising each month. This was not anticipated earlier this year but it appears that no matter what the financial experts say about property, they hardly ever get it right. Who can blame them? Money is such a mystery! Pity debt is'int.

If you have money concerns, well guess what? Believe me you can be happy in debt.
For a FREE REPORT - click here for www.debts-challenge.com/report.htm

3 Ways of Generating Extra Income At Home

There are times in everyone's life when they want to generate extra income. It may be for a particular holiday, special gift or even to pay off the credit card debts.

1 - Spare Room
Do you have a spare room that you could let out? There are a lot of costs to be taken into consideration with doing this however it may be worth it in the end as there are generally some tax concessions allowed. Contact your local tax office and council office to find out the implications of doing this.

If your home is near a hospital it may be worth advertising within the hospital as many nurses will already be looking for accommodation. The same goes with local colleges but you have to make sure that the timing is right. Students don't generally change accommodation during their course year. Local businesses may also have people looking for accommodation just for during the weekday nights.

2 - Writing
If you enjoy writing, why not write some articles for your local paper or magazine. This would help build up your confidence in writing and within weeks you could be selling your articles to national magazines and newspapers. Many magazines offer money for personal stories or funny jokes etc. Readers Digest is just one of these.

3 - Selling Products
Everybody knows that you can create a business by selling on eBay but not everyone has the stock available to do so. Now there is a way you can do it at CafePress.
You can design your own tee shirts, hoodies, tracksuits and many other items to sell, without having to do anything other than giving your own artwork to a company, letting them print it for you and then they posting it direct to the customers with your details?
This has to be one of the most inspiring creative web business opportunities available and don't forget all with no upfront costs and no inventory to manage. Have a look at CafePress now.

That is just three way! Can you suggest any other ways?


Aine Callan
Debts-Challenge

How Bad Housing and Debt Affects Our Children

Along with debt comes bad housing.

For children living in run-down, overcrowded and damp housing, the first concern must be that of their health. This in turn, affects their schooling. The eventual results of their lack of schooling lead to poverty later in their lives. This vicious circle of events is carried from one generation to another.

It is a fact that children living in overcrowding in their homes have been linked to tuberculosis, slow growth and a higher risk of heart disease in later life.

The lack of comfort in their early lives can also lead to under achievement in their careers, lack of confidence in themselves and the likelihood of their finding a partner who has come from a similar background to that which they had. The list could go on and on.

What is the answer?

The answer has to be more affordable rented housing for the less well off. Where there is a will, there is a way and there is really no excuse as to why children should be born into such a housing shamble.

One charity who constantly works for the advantage of the homeless and bad housing in general, is Shelter. Without this charity fighting the government for the rights of vulnerable people, what sort of society would we be living in?

All because of the circle of poverty, which is prolific in each city and town throughout each country? Just one step at a time and it can be eliminated.

Another reason why we owe it to ourselves to get out of debt quickly and live the life we want to live - as well as be in a position to help those who need our help.


Aine Callan
Debts Challenge

Homeless and alone!

News arrived today that up to 3,000 Polish people are now living on the street in Britain. This is since their country's accession to the European Union. They came searching for work only to find that there was not enough for them all.

What do they do? But turn to crime, drugs and alchololism in an effort to blot out their despair. Of course it is wrong to turn to crime but how desperate must people be in that position and what is the answer? Obviously having a job is the number one answer.

Surely there is work for everyone in the world? Learning new skills opens the doors to many opportunities which are waiting for good people to fill them.

Now that the colder weather will be upon us soon, it is harrowing to think of all the people sleeping in doorways because they have no family or friends to help them out. We, the strangers to these people, are fearful of getting involved and giving someone room in our our homes. We just have to turn on the news to realise what a cruel and violent society we live in.

Being homeless can happen to anyone at any time in their lives. Marriages break down and somethimes one partner will be completely ruthless in wanting absolutely everything out of the marriage leaving the other partner with absolutely zero. Hopefully, the person, who is left with nothing will have the support of their family and friends to help them until they can build their confidence up again and move onto the next chapter of their lives.

If we, who have our own roofs, moan - we should just stop for a moment and give thanks for all that we have and not always want more.

With love to anyone who is suffering today.
Debts Challenge

Save Money on Your Mortgage.

Today I contacted my building society just to enquire whether my rate could be reduced. It was entirely done as an exercise to give you the results. So the results of this little exercise means that I will be saving myself thousands over the next few years, especially if I do it on a two yearly basis.

Just by contacting your building society and telling them that you are thinking of changing your mortgage to another mortgage supplier may save you thousands over a few years too. They will go through the payments you are paying at the moment and offer you a better rate if they can.

Also, if you have a good record of paying your mortgage on time with no defaults but have now fallen upon hard times financially, you could contact your building society to find out if they have any 'holiday payments' periods. Holiday periods are generally six months of non payment of your mortgage with the unpaid amount being added onto the term of the mortgage. Most building societies now offer this option and if yours doesn't then it would certainly be worth while changing to a more flexible mortgage company.

Another option would be to ask your building society if you could extend the term of your mortgage to make your payments more affordable in the immediate future. Later, when times become easier financially you could pay more each month to reduce the term of the mortgage back to the original term.

The more flexible your mortgage the easier it will be to be in control when you have to deal with hard financial times which may be out of your control.
Aine Callan
Survive your Debts Challenge

Have you ever had your home repossessed?

Having your home repossessed is one of the worst situations you would ever want to be in. Has it happened to you? If so, please leave a comment of how it affected you and your immediate family.

• Did your family understand what you were going through?
  
• Did they offer any good advice which helped you?
  
• Were you too embarrassed by the whole episode that you did not want to talk about it to them?
  
• What impression has the day of your hearing in court left you with?


• What happened on the day of the actual repossession?

If you have had your home repossessed, it would be helpful to others to let them know what to expect, how you dealt with it and how you wished you had actually dealt with it.

It can be hard to relive these facts but someone would be grateful for you doing so.

Many thanks.
Aine Callan
Debts Challenge

What is one way to protect your financial security?

How we spend our money is one of the answers to our financial security.

You just have to turn on the TV to see the millions of people queuing up at airports to go on their summer holidays. In many cases it is their second or third holiday of the year. Their suitcases bulging with all the new clothes they needed for the two week event.

After the summer holiday, their next thought is getting ready for Christmas, which is another mad spending time for everyone. They want the latest of everything for their children and family, spending hundreds and even thousands to appease their desire to give the best. Their homes have to be adorned with the newest designer Christmas decorations. They can't use last year's because they are no longer fashionable for the home. If they were truly honest with themselves they would know that their agenda was to impress their neighbours and visitors on how 'clever' they were for putting on such a 'beautiful' show.

They rush off to the stores to buy the pre packed luxury foods for the special two day event. Then they complain about how stressed they are with the constant round of Christmas shopping.

It goes on and on, month after month until the flexible credit card is no longer flexible and certainly no longer friendly.

Ask yourself if you are guilty of unnecessary spending and if you have reached the time when you want to take control of your spending again. Many people have turned their lives around and gone on to acquire financial security - so why not you.



Survive Debts Challenge

Debt in later life

Debt can be a daunting experience at any time in life but debt later in life is a nightmare experience to have to deal with.

When you are in your forties and have to contend with debt problems, you can very easily get back to a financial status which is at the very least, acceptable. In your fifties it is a different matter and can be very depressing trying to find a job yet constantly being rejected. Being sixty and broke is a position nobody would ever want to be in.

It has now become knowledge through recent reports that people in their later life have more debt than ever and in some cases, credit card debts alone exceeding more than £100K.

Finding extra income later in life can be very difficult and even though there are many stories about what you can earn on the internet, they don't tell you how long it takes to learn how to do it actually make that money.

There are many ideas in the eBook on how you can generate more income, most of which are irrelevant of age.

Debts Challenge

Food For Thought

Read the following slowly - it still applies today!

Hercules and Pallas

Hercules, once journeying along a narrow roadway, came across a
strange-looking animal that reared its head and threatened him.
Nothing daunted, the hero gave him a few lusty blows with his club,
and thought to have gone on his way.

The monster, however, much to the astonishment of Hercules, was now three times as big as it was before, and of a still more threatening aspect. He thereupon redoubled his blows and laid about him fast and furiously; but the harder and quicker the strokes of the club, the bigger and more frightful grew the monster, and now completely filled up the road.

Pallas then appeared upon the scene. "Stop, Hercules," said she. "Cease your
blows. The monster's name is Strife. Let it alone, and it will soon become as little as it was at first."

"Strife feeds on conflict."

The more you think about that message the more profound it becomes.


AnneMarie
To go my website www.debts-challenge.com - click the link.

Debts Challenge









Debts Challenge

Be Driven by Challanges

Even though the eBook is ready, I still have to complete the newsletter and report.

Much as I really enjoyed putting the book together, creating the website, hosting and graphics certainly took more time than I expected but it has been a tremendous challenge and learning curve.

I think we all need a challenge in our life at times. Not particularly a financial challenge though.!

Challanges motivate us, they give us a passion to get going and be successful. We all want to win a challenge, whether it is self inflicted or not. Don't you love waking up each morning knowing exactly what you want to achieve on any given day?

To go to the website www.debts-challenge.com - just click the link.


AnneMarie
Debts Challenge










Debts Challenge

eBook - Now Available

After months of work, the eBook is now ready and if you decide you would like to purchase it - there are three bonus books free. For a limited period only, there is also a surprise when you order!

It has been a great experience writing this eBook. I've opened up a lot of wounds but by doing so, hope to help others cope with their financial disasters. To go to the website www.debts-challenge.com - just click the link.


AnneMarie
Debts Challenge

The Challenge of Debt

How many people are suffering today with the worry of their awful financial situation?

In the majority of cases, through no fault of their own, they are having to cope with the stress of constant worry and that in turn leads to many major health problems.

It's a vicious circle. But unless you have been in the same boat, would you really understand? Could you help someone in that situation? Obviously you wouldn't be able to help them financially - or would you, but you could help them by listening.

The loss of you financial security can equate to a breavement or the loss of a relationship. It hurts. It's embarrassing. It's frightening. It keeps you awake at night. You can't eat, or you eat continuously. You drink to blot out your worries. All of this goes on day after day, week after week, month after month and even year after year.

It's so degrading trying to make ends meet all the time. Not having enough money to help those you would love to. Worrying about birthdays, holidays and Christmas.

One day - you wake up in the middle of this despair and realise that there is another way to deal with your debts and that becomes your challenge. Everyone loves a challenge and everyone loves to win a challenge.

This blog will be about the positives of your debts and the fantastic life you would be living.

Look after yourself...
Debts Challenge