B&D
Newsletter
VOLUME 1-1
October 2004
Chances are you have seen this type of getting money in the movies or on TV. Although Hollywood has it’s way of making things a little more than real at times, the basics of the loan sharking is usually played out pretty much the way it actually happens, in real life. You know the scene, people for a lot of different reasons, borrow money from a loan shark and what happens next is something out of a horror movie, or is it? Usually this kind of thing is reserved for the bigger cities, but that doesn’t stand as a die-hard rule. It can happen anywhere and it can happen to you. Loan sharking is generally linked to organized crime, but that doesn’t mean it has to be. Loan sharks will loan you all the money you want at 100% to 5000% interest rates. It’s kind of like selling your soul to the devil, and yes, that kind of thing still goes on in today’s world. Basically you will owe them your life if you decide to do business with them.
If
you feel comfortable with this sort of thing, then there’s nothing I can do to
stop you from borrowing money from a loan shark. However, payback can be a bitch.
Payback, if you don’t pay on time, can be anything from breaking your
arms and legs and yes, even death in some instances. You ask yourself, is money really worth that kind of abuse?
Do things like this still happen? Unfortunately,
more times than we would like to believe.
Loan
sharks appear when people are in desperate need of money for something that they
did. Things like gambling debts and
the need for a fix, more commonly known as drugs. I’m not talking about the kind you get at the hospital or
clinic, but the kind you can’t get at those places.
The kind of drugs that, in most cases, is not legal.
There
are legitimate reasons you may need money for, such as paying off a medical bill
or helping a friend in need, but generally speaking there are other ways besides
seeing a loan shark for getting the money. The price of having your own personal suite in the bottom of
Lullaby Lake with a pair of concrete shoes on is not my idea of paying my loan
off completely. If you deal with
illegal sources and street criminals, this could be what you are looking at.
Let
me relate a story to you that happened to my friends and I several years back.
We were involved in a bar and the Syndicate was interested in buying it
for whatever reason. They sent a couple of guys in to make an offer.
We had three days to make up our mind.
I asked what would happen if we decided to decline.
They simply said nothing. However,
if we did decide to accept their generous offer, they would own us from that day
on.
We
declined and the men were right. Nothing
ever did happen and we never saw either of the two men again.
The point I’m making in this article is there are many other legitimate
ways to borrow money. Go for them.
(Next
Month: More on Places You Don’t
Want To Borrow Money From)
When hanging artwork, professional designers recommend using art in odd-numbered collections for most pleasing compositions. Don’t center a painting, even a large one, on a big wall. It will seem smaller if centered because there is such a large amount of space surrounding it. Don’t have pictures stair-stepping up and down around a room. Have the bottom edges of the frames at a single height. Maintaining that plane brings stability and unity to your décor. If your wallpaper is a busy print, go with a wide mat and/or wide frame to separate the art from the wallpaper. This will keep you from clashing with your wallpaper.
Looking
for a timeless look in a certain room? Antiques
are an excellent choice. Many
times you can start out with one and add to your collection as your finances
allow you to. Antiques only grow in
value but they can be very impressive when used for decoration.
You can start out by putting an antique table in the middle of your den.
For the sportsman, a deer head or elk horns always ad a touch of class to
a room. Although most pieces of
antique furniture continue to grow in value the older they get, things in the
collectable line, seem to kind of go in and out of style.
A
few statutes on an antique bookcase always add appeal to an otherwise bland
room. Try getting some antique
tablecloths to cover your antique table and place some collectibles on it. An
antique victrola with some old 78’s adds a nice touch to a room also.
Even if you can’t afford the real old stuff, you can usually find
something out of the 50’s or even the 60’s like hanging old 45 records on
the walls.
Try
to stay with one theme if you can. It’s
always pleasant to go into a room that seems to have a theme to it.
Once you start finding things for your décor, you’ll find that looking
for items related to each other will be addictive.
It’s a good reason to go to garage sales and flea markets.
Don’t forget to look at the books at a garage sale.
You can find some real finds if you know what you’re looking for.
If
you find an antique mirror someplace and you want to hang it on the wall, make
sure that the mirror reflects a pleasant view.
Place a candle or lamp in front of it on a shelf to enhance the light in
a room and give it that soft, comfortable look. Keep your room looking uncluttered. Never get too much junk unless you have several rooms and
several themes.
Antiques
can be a lot of fun and they make very good conversation topics.
If you find a table or chair that needs fixing, unless you have an
unlimited budget, plan on doing the restoration yourself.
To pay to get it restored will usually be more than the item is worth.
Simple repairs like refinishing a certain item are basically a time
consuming, but on the other hand, a relatively easy thing to do.
Just make sure you do it in a well-ventilated area and have plenty of
cleaning rags on hand. If you have
a second hand store in town, that’s a good place to get your rags from.
Try to stay with the cotton. Stay
away from the polyesters. They
don’t work well for cleaning rags. If
you can’t find the rags that way, your local retail store may be selling rag
on the roll or if nothing else, buy a ton of paper towels.
Just
make sure that when you’re using cleaning products of any kind, when you throw
them away after use, put them into a garbage can that is away from everything
else and preferably outside. The
garbage can should be made of steel. Used
staining rags can ignite all by themselves so be very careful.
Rubber gloves are also a good idea.
I’m not saying you’re a sissy when it comes to things like this.
I am a silk screener and because of the mess involved, I wear rubber
gloves all the time. It saves a lot
of scrubbing.
There
are several good books and a few videos on the market that deal with this sort
of thing. Check your local library
for more details. Basically, this
whole process is a live- and-learn type of thing.
The only thing you must keep in mind is that you want to keep the antique
that you’re working on as close as you can to the original. Do some research.
Remember this. If you
don’t put the item back into it’s original condition, you have just
decreased the value of that item.
I
hope the above advice gives you enough information to get started on what might
become a fascinating hobby for you and yours.
It’s a good way to pass away some hours and it will definitely improve
your home when you put the items on display.
A tune up every 3000 miles will help you to keep the auto mechanics away from your vehicle for major repairs. Another thing that helps is an oil change, religiously, every 2000 miles. The time of the year this should not be neglected is the coming of winter. Winters can be hard on a vehicle. Letting them sit outdoors in sub zero temperatures and going out to start them in the morning before going to work is the hardest part of all. If you are one of the unfortunate ones, like myself, that don’t have a garage to put your car in at night, an engine heater is the next best thing.
However,
if you are one of the fortunate ones that have a garage to put your vehicle in,
you could have other problems such as gas line freeze.
We’ve all heard about gas line freeze and there are a few of us that
have experienced it. It ain’t no fun, is it?
There is a way to just about eliminate gas line freeze.
When you pull up to the pump to fill your car or truck with gas, go
inside and buy a can or bottle of Nox-Ice or some other similar product, open it
and pour it in the gas tank before filling the tank.
It will basically eliminate gas line freeze.
Although
you people with the garage, especially a heated garage, are more apt to get gas
line freeze, that doesn’t mean that you other people are home free.
Everyone that lives in cold weather climates should also use the Nox-Ice
or a similar product. I always carry an extra bottle of it in my vehicle.
In fact, when it’s on sale at Fleet Farm, I usually pick up a case in
the fall. I throw it in my trunk or
back seat and I use a bottle every time I fill with gas when the temperature
gets below freezing. You’ll
be amazed what a little can do. If
you have ever had the pleasure of experiencing gas line freeze, it won’t be
long and you’ll be joining me with my idea of carrying the product all the
time during the winter months. You
talk about cheap insurance. Tune-ups,
oil changes and gas line freeze protection is the cheapest way to keep your
vehicle under control. Try it, I
think you’ll like it.
How
important is vitamin C? Stop and
think about what I’m about to reveal to you.
In a recent study of over 400 people, it showed that a surprising 30
percent, about 120 people, had blood levels of vitamin C low enough to be
considered depleted. Experts point
out that fatigue is one of the first symptoms of vitamin C deficiency.
There
are lots of products on the market that can help with this problem that you can
buy right off the grocery store shelves. You can also find some helpful products
and advice from your friendly health storeowner.
Of coarse, orange juice, as the sunshine lady, Anita Byrant tells you, is
a real good source of vitamin C. However,
you may have to go on a supplement of some sort at first.
Orange juice or oranges will keep you up on the right track once you have
got your defiency taken care of.
Did
you know that staying up could age you? That’s
right. Not getting enough Z’s can
prematurely age people and promote serious illness.
And those changes can take place quickly.
If you ask my teenage son, he will definitely agree with all of this.
He believes that a person should spend about 12 to 14 hours in bed every
day if one can get away with it. Scientist
discovered biological signs of “accelerated” aging in healthy young men
after less than a week in which they slept four hours a night.
But here is the good news; 12 hours of sleeping for several nights turned
everything back to normal. But there is still a difference between getting a good
night’s sleep and being just plain lazy.
If
you’re a dieter here’s some interesting news.
A survey of more than 107,000 adults found despite American dieters’
efforts to shed pounds, more than 66 percent could fail because they are not
simultaneously exercising and reducing calories. A total of 35 percent of men and 40 percent of women dieters
are not counting calories. Many are
eating less fat, but there again, they are consuming as many if not more
calories from eating the lower-fat foods. Just because a lower-fat food is lower
in fat, it does not mean that it’s lower in calories.
In other words, watch the calories.
Also the federal government says you should exercise at least 150 minutes
each week. If you aren’t watching
your calorie intake and you are not getting the proper exercise, you will find
it very hard to lose weight. Once
again, your local heath store can help you out.
Here’s
something that you might want to think about if you have a baby and you
continuously put them in a walker. You
know those cute little things that you rely on as babysitters to keep the little
ones out of trouble? A study shown
recently suggests that by using the walker you could be actually slowing down
your babies progress, both physically and mentally.
Babies placed in walkers were slower to sit up, crawl and walk than those
raised without them. So next time you want to put Jr. in a walker, remember what
you read here.
Home
Businesses…
Are there any home businesses that actually work? To tell you the truth I haven’t found any of those businesses that you can sit at home and the money just rolls in. I don’t believe, in today’s world that there are any. You can read all the advertisements and you get tons of “home based business” offers in the mail, but I can tell you to save your money because from spending over $100,000.00 on these type of programs personally, I can tell you that there are none of them that work.
Unless
you have an Internet business, and unless you get on the first three pages of
the search engines, and unless you are getting tons of traffic every day, you
will not be making money hand over fist. In
fact, you’ll barely make expenses. You
are better off working for someone else and taking your paycheck and investing
what you can of it in mutual funds.
There
are businesses that you can base from home and work out of your home to get
business, but don’t ever think that you are going to be able to sit back and
watch the money roll into your mailbox.
These
people that write all about how to do these things, are writing material that
they hope you’ll buy and that’s the way they make their money.
Yes, you can make money on commodities, but you’d better not take the
money that you set aside for your house payment and invest that in the commodity
market. And don’t believe that
you can take $500.00 and turn it into $5000.00 in a couple of days.
The only way you can safely make money with stocks, bonds, or
commodities, to include mutual funds, is to be able to take extra cash, about
$5000.00 and invest it for the long haul. It
doesn’t, it won’t and it can’t happen overnight.
And don’t believe anyone that tells you it can.
There
are excellent courses on the market that can and will teach you how to do these
kinds of things, but they take time. They
take a lot of effort on your part to learn how to make money.
I’m not telling you to not buy these courses, but what I am saying is
to make sure that you have the extra money to invest in the markets.
Also at the same time, don’t be mislead by people that are telling you
that all you need is $500.00 to get started.
Most brokers that deal in the markets require a deposit to the tune of
$2,000.00, and that’s something you won’t find out until after you’ve made
the investment in the course.
Working
for yourself can be very rewarding and very profitable, but it will take know
how and it will take time. You’re
always better off starting something while you are working for someone else.
In today’s world you can never tell when your job will be terminated.
Notice I said will be and not if. The
way business is today, it’s probably just a matter of time before you’re
going to be without a job. So
it’s a good idea to try and find something else as a second income.
Now
with that said, I’ll get to the business at hand, finding a second income.
There are several ways in which you can begin the process, but most will
take work, both physical and mental. If
you’re looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you’re going
to have to get rid of that dream and concentrate your efforts towards things
more realistic.
A
friend of my dads said one time that there are so many ways to make money in
this world that it’s a shame he wouldn’t live long enough to get around to
them all. This friend was very rich
and to my knowledge he never had a steady job in all the years I knew him.
Most people don’t realize that in their lifetime of working for someone
else they will make over one million dollars.
You don’t believe that? Figure
it out. Take what you are making now and do the math.
Let’s
say that you are a truck driver. You
are being paid about $30,000.00 a year. You
are twenty years old and you plan to work at this job for 35 years.
If this is the case, at the end of 35 years, you will have gotten paid a
little over one million dollars, ($1,050,000.00 to be exact).
Surprised? Most people
don’t realize this, but the mathematics doesn’t lie. The thing about this is that although it’s
unbelievable, the $30,000.00 a year figure is very conservative. Most people or couples in this world are making more
than $30,000.00 a year.
I
don’t recall the gentleman’s name as I am writing this article, but there
was someone that said I don’t know what the seven wonders of the world are,
but I definitely know what the eighth wonder is.
It’s a thing called compound interest.
It has been said that if you took a dollar a day and started when you
turned 20,and put it away making 5% interest, by the time you were 45, you would
be a millionaire.
The
problem with all of this is although it looks good on paper, how in the hell do
you make it work? It really
is simple. It takes a lot of
discipline. You have to set a
schedule and follow that schedule without wavering even one little bit.
Most people are not that well disciplined. I tried it once in my life, only to end up getting a divorce
because I didn’t want to spend any of that cash we had put aside.
It means no entertainment for at least 5 years.
It means not going to any bars or nightspots, and it means not spending
any excess money for things you don’t need.
Unfortunately, my ex-wife couldn’t live like that and eventually we
separated ways.
Compound
interest can work both ways for you. It
can make you a millionaire, but it can also put you in the poorhouse.
Credit cards are one of the biggest evils in today’s world.
Any one can get them and most people find it hard to live without one.
Extended credit is everywhere. If
you don’t believe me, watch the checkout lines in any big department store, or
better yet, watch the checkout at your local convience store.
Plastic is everywhere. What
started this revolution? Greed
is one of the biggest things. Keeping
up with the Jones is another. It’s
unfortunate that people think this way but thinking this way is getting them
further and further into debt.
Another
thing is your local bank. Take your
house mortgage for instance. You
financed your house for $115,000.00 and the bank put your loan payment at
$1,165.00 a month for 30 years. 30
years is 360 months. What this
means is that you’ll be paying this payment of $1,165.00 every month for 360
months. In simple terms you’ll be
paying $419,400.00 for your house by the time you pay it off.
That’s wonderful news, isn’t it?
Kind of gives a new meaning to the term friendly banker.
Makes you wonder just how friendly your banker really is, don’t it?
Now
if you’re one of the many people that’s currently drowning in debt,
wouldn’t you want to do something about it?
I think you would and did know that you can do something about it.
You can, with a little help, get yourself out of this fix you’re in.
You don’t need me nor do you need someone else to help you. I can’t help you unless you want to help yourself.
The only thing you need from me is to show you how and that’s what I
will start to cover in the next newsletter.
A way to get yourself out of debt. To
live a life that you were intended to live.
It doesn’t take a lot of money, in fact it probably won’t take
anymore than you are making at this moment.
If it does, I’m here to give you ideas on how to get that extra cash.
Just remember this, your debt situation didn’t happen overnight, and
it’s not going to clear up overnight, unless you win the lottery or have some
rich relative keel over in the next few months.
No,
I’m going to show you how, believe it or not, to get out of debt in, at the
most about seven years. This
newsletter is designed with people in mind.
It’s designed to put things and to suggest things, which will work.
The things in this newsletter are relatively simple and I’m going to
keep them simple. I’ll write
things that you and everyone else can understand.
Why live a poor life when, if you live conservatively for about five
years, you’ll have more money than you know what to do with.
You
say you don’t believe all of this can happen.
Just wait and see what good things I have in store for you.
This newsletter is free. The
following newsletters will cost you $30.00 a year.
They will be written once a month and we will e-mail them to you once you
have paid your dues. You won’t
want to miss a single issue. There
is so much advice in every single one of these newsletters that you can take
most of it to the bank. Don’t
miss the opportunity to get twelve issues of B&D Newsletter for the price of
$30.00 a year, that’s $2.50 per issue.
We
welcome comments and compliments on our newsletter. The facts we give you are facts which have been proven by
people like myself and others. E-mail
us at [email protected].
Now
here is the rest of the newsletter.
There
is money to be made by being a handyman. A
handyman’s service is one of the most versatile things to do in the world.
It never gets boring and you’re never at the same job everyday and
you’re always meeting new people.
A
golden opportunity awaits the handyman and you can make some big bucks.
Handymen are always in demand. If
you already have the tools and the knowledge to fix things, and are willing to
work some crazy hours, you have got it made.
Handy
men are just what it says. They are
capable of fixing almost anything that can go wrong on the home front.
All you have to do is run a couple of ads in the local newspaper or
shopper and it won’t take long and your phone will start ringing.
One
thing people have, now and will always have are problems.
A leaking faucet that is driving them nuts, a toilet that won’t flush
properly, a sink that keeps dripping so they have a pail under the sink.
All of these problems take very little to fix, but you have to have the
knowledge and that’s where you come in.
If
you have knowledge of basic plumbing, electrical and woodworking skills you will
do quite well as a handyman. If you
have tinkered around your home and fixed things, you already have the basic
knowledge it going to take to be in the handyman business.
If
you prove to be good at what you’re doing, the business will flourish.
You’ll eventually have so much business that you won’t know which way
to turn.
Charge
an hourly rate plus any materials you have to get for the job.
You’ll probably get a lot of business from the older people and keep in
mind that they don’t have a lot of money so try to treat them good when giving
them your bill. Remember, older
people are your best advertisement.
You
don’t have to quit doing what you’re doing now, just start out your handyman
business on a part-time basis. Being
able to fix something that’s broke is a skill all itself.
If
you have the tools and equipment, you’re already on your way to becoming a
person of the trade. If you enjoy
fixing things, this job is for you. Have
fun while making a living. It
doesn’t get any better than that.
I
hope you enjoy this month’s newsletter, which of course is free of charge.
Denny and Brandon in Marshfield, WI create the newsletter and our e-mail
address is [email protected]
We will be happy to answer any questions you have about the newsletter or
anything else we can help you with. Please
feel free to contact us. Now
we’ll leave you with a bit of humor.
A girl who waits for the right man to come along shouldn’t be surprised at his age…
Gina:
I caught my boyfriend flirting.
Stephie:
I caught mine that way to.
Time
tells on a person --- especially a good time…
The
older generation thought nothing of getting up at 6 a.m.
The younger generation doesn’t think much of it either.
See you next issue…Have a good
day…. Denny