"To SPEND or NOT to SPEND..." That is the question!!!

"Ms. Jackson, I work in sales and I just found out that I will be getting a $19,000 bonus for the last sales quarter!  I feel so blessed!  I don't really have that much debt to pay off BUT I have wanted to build a backyard deck.  About a year ago I got estimates for when I was ready and able to have it built.  The lowest bid was around $10,000.  I also wanted a surround sound system since I do a great deal of entertaining at my home.  I know during this economy I should save my money but I feel that I deserve to do something special for myself since I busted my butt last quarter.  What do you suggest?  Should I use my bonus to get what I want or should I bite the bullet and save it?  -  Ready to Spend, Union City, GA"

Dear "Ready to Spend,"

CONGRATULATIONS on your healthy bonus!  You are truly blessed and are obviously great at what you do.  It is also great that your debt is not so overwhelming that you have to use your bonus to pay it down or in full.

I will NOT tell you NOT to spend you money!  If  you are a spender and I tell you that you can't spend, you will feel deprived and may rebel and possibly spend more than you want or spend it all.  For example, I don't do Diets.  When I hear DIET, I hear DIE...deprivation.  When I feel deprived (and can't have a Big Mac), I rebel.  So instead of having a Big Mac once a month, I may have one once a week just so I won't feel deprived.  Same thing with money with Spenders!

I WILL tell you to apply your Spending Plan allocations to your bonus.  At the very least, take 5% of the bonus for your play money and get what you want and put the 95% of the bonus in a high yielding interest bearing savings or CD.

OR, if you are really inclined to build that desired backyard deck, put the bonus in a high yielding interest bearing account and use the money as collateral for a Secured Loan.  This will provide you the following benefits:

• No or Low Risk loan from a financial institution (easy or guaranteed approval & should you default on the loan, the financial institution can just take the money in the savings to pay it off ... you were going to pay cash anyway.  Just kidding.  DON'T DEFAULT!!!)
• You may get a below market interest rate (for example, 3.00% above the savings/cd rate ... 3.00% + 0.50% = 3.50% interest rate.  Shop around.  Credit Unions have competitive Share/Savings Secured Loan Rates)
• You'll have a positive trade reporting on your credit report to assist in improving your credit score
• When the loan is paid in full, you still have your money with interest

Although your funds may be held up during the duration of the loan, at the end of the day, you will still have YOUR MONEY!!!

Which ever option you choose, be wise about your decision and DO NOT spend all of your cash!  Cash is leverage, especially when your credit may be "colorful" and your "credit score" may not be as SEXY as you would like it to be.

My book, Financial Fornication, discusses "Spending Plan Allocation" to help ensure all areas of your expenses have the appropriate allocation of your net income.

Again, congratulations and enjoy your new deck or new sound system and growing savings account!!!

Get my book, Financial Fornication, for more helpful hints or contact me for further assistance at http://www.tarrajackson.com/.

Tarra Jackson
Financial Relationship Specialist
Author of Financial Fornication: Avoid Financial & Credit Dis-Ease
http://www.financialfornication.com/
Tarra@TarraJackson.com

* Do you have Financial Relationship questions? Submit your questions to Tarra Jackson for "Real Life Real Talk" answers to www.TarraJackson.com.

Haunted Chattanooga

I'm going to have to quit my day job soon or go crazy trying to juggle everything.  So here is the cover for my next book.  I had help with this one from Amy Petulla of Chattanooga Ghost tours.  She's absolutely brilliant and if you are ever in Chattanooga I would definitely take her tour.  Haunted Chattanooga will have some wonderful stories in it including:  the haunted Chattanooga Choo Choo, Old Green Eyes from Chickamagua,  A Quarry Ghost or Two, and the Ghosts of Lookout Mountain. 

Ridiculousness of the day

While perusing the news, I happened upon a few ridiculous headlines that I thought I would share with you:

Apparently, a fight brought out because of LINE CUTTERS at the Casey Anthony trial. Let me begin by saying how sick I think it is that people are treating a seat in the Casey Anthony trial as a fucking golden ticket you'd receive to Willy Wonka's mythical chocolate factory. As interested as I am in the trial, I don't treat a murder trial of a 2-year old as a circus sideshow. Perhaps that's just my own personal integrity and where my sense of morality has drawn a bright line in the sand, so to speak. No one was hurt, though. Too bad.

Anthony Weiner has received an offer from Larry Flynt of Hustler. I've not looked into the famous pictures that sparked Weinergate, and I'm pretty sure a full spread of Weiner's weiner would NOT sell. Especially considering THIS is what comes to mind when thinking of Mr. Weiner:

Apparently, Mr. Flynt has anticipated this, and wants to offer him some other kind of job. Flynt has reportedly written to Weiner, "I feel that your unfortunate resignation is a prime example of unfounded political pressure and the hypocrisy that has invaded democracy in Washington, D.C. I hope you will sincerely consider this offer, and I look forward to your response." While his resignation may have been because of political pressure, a lot of people are forgetting how Anthony Weiner smeared a blogger's reputation and accused him of hacking his twitter account (both serious allegations, especially coming from an elected official). He slandered someone. And for that, Mr. Weiner should pay. (That being said, I feel terrible for his pregnant wife. And his unborn child. Mostly for the scandal. Partly because of how unfortunate looking the unborn child will probably be.)

The Associated Press lists this as the leading line for a man recently convicted of murdering a 2 year old child: "An Oregon man has been sentenced to life in prison for killing his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter in a brutal wrestling match."

LAST TIME I CHECKED, A TWO YEAR OLD V. A 230 POUND MAN WAS NOT A "MATCH." Also last time I checked, a 230 pound man who lacerated a child's liver, collapsed her lungs, and caused severe internal bleeding was not "wrestling" with the child. He was BEATING HER TO DEATH. Yes, he may have been using "ultimate wrestling moves," but he WAS.NOT.WRESTLING. He was beating her to death. May Kacy now have peace.

Thank God it's Friday.

Exam Time

Patsy Collins has posted a link for a competition asking for true stories about odd things happening in exams. As an exam invigilator this should be tailor made for me but I can't really recall anything that merits a 300 word story. I have a few observations about the experience but I don't think they fit the brief of the competition so I'll just share them with you here:

It never ceases to amaze me how many kids insist on bringing phones and iPods into the room (which they have to leave at the front) but don't think to bring pens or rulers etc.

I'm astounded that they are sitting A levels in stuff like physics and computing but if you ask them whether they are sitting in rows A to L or rows M to X they haven't a clue which side row F is in.

Geography students have trouble finding their way to their desks (or even getting to the correct room).

Maths students can't work out the finishing time for an exam which starts at one fifteen and lasts an hour and three quarters.

They have to bring a photo ID card and place in on their desk so that we can go round and inspect them after the exam has started. But since the photo was taken they've probably changed their hairstyle or hair colour, lost weight or had piercings so it's difficult to be one hundred percent sure. Even with the boys.

I wish young girls would stop asking me if I can lend them a rubber. I always make sure to call it an eraser when I ask for it back.

Are Snakes a Sign of a Haunting?

A reader sent me an interesting story a few days ago.  He is a writer and has been following the story of a house close to where he lives with great interest.  He wasn't entirely sure to make of events, but thought a haunting might be involved.  Apparently,  the house he has been following was the site of a double homicide a few years back.   A father shot his son and then himself.  Since that time the house has become infested with snakes.   New residents in the house have left the house, unable to live with the resident snakes.   The writer was wondering if I knew of any connection between ghosts, evil, and snakes.

Of course, Christianity has always linked snakes to evil and they are a sure sign Satan is near.  Ever since the serpent tempted Eve in the garden of Eden, snakes have been a symbol of evil in Christianity.  Infestations of many kinds are often indicative of supernatural activity and plagues of frogs and flies have been seen at haunted locations on prior occasions.  I am not entirely convinced snakes in and of themselves are a sign of the supernatural, however.

I found an interesting story in the newspaper this morning that was very similar to this writer's story.  A house was sold to a young family and they discovered it to be infested with garter snakes.  The family described the house as like "living in a horror movie" and like "Satan's lair."  They describe living in terror and having PTSD after living in the house.  They tried sueing the real estate agency that sold them the house since it was apparently well known that the house had a snake problem but it was not disclosed to them.  The prior owners didn't mind as much.  The law suit failed, but the cause of the snake infestation was well documtented by biologists.  Although the residents thought the house was evil, in truth it was built on the site of a hibernaculum.  This is a place where snakes gather in large numbers to hibernate during the winter.  In the spring and summer, the snakes travel and hunt, in the winter they gather in the same place for heat and spring breeding.  The house was built on a know hibernaculum and the snakes weren't going to change their lives for a few people.

So, could the snake infestation of the house with the double homicide be haunted?  I believe it is possible, but in the absence of other, more definitive evidence of a haunting,  it seems more probable that biology and not ghosts are haunting this house to me, although I love it when people disagree with me.

Attorney for Hak Wah Lau

From: Hak Wah Lau Executive Chairman, CEO
Subject: Legal Assistance
Date: June 15, 2011 11:39:13 PM PDT
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Reply-To: hakwahlauminwa@gmail.com

Attorney,
we have previously sent an email to you, requesting legal representation for our
delinquent customers in the U.S.A and still no response from your Law firm.
Please confirm the receipt of this mail and advise us, if your Law firm is in the
position to represent us or not in the in U.S.A; to recover money owed to us by our
delinquent customers. So we can provide you with exact details of the legal
representation that we require.

Regards,
Hak Wah Lau
Executive Chairman, CEO
Minwa Electronics Co. Ltd.
22/F., Far East Finance Center,
16 Harcourt Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong
Tel (852) 2557 3245
Fax (852) 2897 2085
Web:www.minwa.com

Lawyer for "client in your locality"

From: Mr Daniel Paulson
Subject: Dear counsel
Date: June 15, 2011 9:18:16 AM PDT
Reply-To: ukrmj@9.cn

Dear counsel

I am contacting you in regards to a breach of business loan agreement with a
client in your locality. I provided a loan to the company so that they can meet
up with their management and operational obligation during the rough economic
climate two year ago. I provided the company with an emergency loan of $550,000
with a term of 12 months and fixed interest rate of 8.5%. The repayment period
has since elapsed but the company has been unable to finalize the repayment of
the loan and have only paid $120.500.00 till date. Let me know if this falls
under the scope of your practice so that I can provide you with more information
on this matter.

Best Regards

Mr Daniel Paulson
mr.danielpaulson@9.cn

My Address is necessary.
702 Forest Park Rd
Great Falls, VA 22066-2908