Jan's Posts - Page 6 of 10

The Hard Truth About Marriage

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As an adult, you need to realize that marriage is a legally binding, financial business arrangement. You will be co-habitating, which means signing contracts together for either an apartment or a house. You might be getting joint bank accounts and joint credit cards. All these tasks involve legal and binding contracts or leases. Neither one of you can get out of any such agreement without the other’s cooperation.

That said, it is a really good idea for you and your other half to have some serious discussions about finances and make sure that you both agree on how household finances are to be handled. This discussion should cover decisions about paying bills, how much of your combined income is “disposable,” (aka, spending money), how much should be saved and for what.

You should also discuss whether you want to have kids, if you want to buy a house, and when to retire. This is not a complete list of things you should discuss with any potential spouse, but it should get you headed in the right direction. If you and your spouse-to-be don’t agree on these main topics, you should seriously consider not marrying that person.

When you have decided to get married, there are a few other things you must do: Some are legally required, some are not:

Prenuptial Agreement: Yes or No?
The Marriage License: Where, How Much and When?
To Have a Wedding, or Not: Who’s paying?
Will You Change Your Name?
Then Updating Your Social Security Card and Driver’s License: Yes or No?
Filing Taxes: Joint or Separate?
Rent or Buy, House or Apartment?

As you can see, there are a lot of things that will legally tie you together. A smart person will be aware of this before the engagement!

Divorce

I’d be remise in sharing information if I didn’t give some voice to the other, not so wonderful side of the coin: divorce. Going through a divorce is when you truly learn that a marriage is more than just chemistry and romance:

It’s a legally binding financial agreement.

Briefly, divorces can go one of two ways:

In a friendly divorce, or one where there’s really nothing (no real property, children or pets) to split between the two of you, you could just use a paralegal to assist with completing all the legal paperwork and filing it with the family courts.

Or -

In a nasty divorce where there’s a lot of fighting going on, I strongly suggest you consult a divorce lawyer in order to protect yourself and your finances.

In either situation, here are just a few things to consider:

A friendly or “amicable” divorce (in California) will take a minimum of six months from the minute you file the initial paperwork in family court.
In order to protect yourself financially, file for a legal separation immediately. This will cut your responsibility for any debt your spouse incurs during the divorce proceedings.
Make copies of all bank account statements and credit card statements. This will help both of you determine what debts (money owed) and assets (money and property owned) you share.
Close any joint credit cards as soon as possible. This will protect both of you from one spouse running up more debt just to upset the other.

Bottom line, a marriage is not something one should walk into without being aware of all the legal aspects of it. Put all the romance and chemistry aside for a day and really give these issues some serious thought. Here’s hoping you make the best decision for everyone involved!

Jan

6 Basic Tasks for Moving

Sometimes you just need a basic list, right? Well this is as basic as it gets!

Give thirty days’ notice to vacate current residence
Collect boxes and packing materials
Pack all of your belongings
Get all your utilities turned off in current location and on in new location
Submit a change of address to the U.S. Post Office
Arrange to transport your belongings from one place to the next

Give thirty days notice

Generally speaking, there will be a form that your landlord will require you fill out when you want to move. Get that form and be sure to read it over before you leave the office just in case you have questions. There’s nothing worse that getting hit with some sort of fine because you didn’t fill something out correctly and you missed that detail in the fine print.

Collect boxes and packing materials

The cheapest way to do this is to hit up a cashier at your local grocery or drug store. They can tell you when they get shipments and are usually happy to give away the boxes so they don’t have to break them down.

Pack all of your belongings

Do yourself a HUGE favor and label your boxes! I strongly suggest marking each box with the room name. There's nothing worse than getting into a new apartment and not being able to find the toilet paper!

Get all your utilities turned on/off

Much of this can be done online. Just be sure to call at least two weeks ahead of time, you never know if there’s a waiting list for the electric company. Cable and internet companies are the worst! If you can plan 3-4 weeks out, do it!

Submit a Change of Address

This can be done online or in person. I think online is easier but it will cost you a dollar or two, payable with a credit card. The Post Office prefers you give at least a week’s notice, but I like to do this two weeks out as well. Call me paranoid.

Arrange to transport all of your belongings

Seriously, think about how much stuff you have and decide if you need to rent a U-Haul truck/van or if you can just use a couple of pick-up trucks. Keep in mind that not all of your friends are just sitting around waiting for you to move so they can help.

A Few Simple Tips for Improving Your Grammar

You may not have a college degree, but if you want to move up in the world, good verbal and written communication skills can help make you sound like you do.

This is so easy if you know just five groups of words and how they’re supposed to be used. (There’s a tip about punctuation at the end too!)

I’m on social media a few hours a day and I see these errors all the time. As a hiring manager, I used to see them on resumes too. (Those resumes usually went immediately to the circular file!) The scary part is that I know a lot of those people making these simple mistakes are college educated and very successful. At least you’re in good company, right? Ha!

The proper use of the following five groups of words will work wonders in making a good impression on potential employers, future coworkers and all the other people who might see you on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Yeah, remember, everybody can see you on the internet!

There, Their, and They're

There

A place, as in, “Over there,” or, “Oh, Davison High School? I went to school there.”

Remember, if the possessive/”belonging to” version, or the two-words version (aka, contraction) - both shown next - aren’t appropriate, then you should also use this form of the word “there.” For example, “how many are there?”

Their

Belonging to someone, someplace or something, as in, “It’s their fault,” or “Mittens and Bullet always kick the litter out of their box.”

Extra Tip:
Notice that in both examples I’m talking about multiple people or cats. If there were just one person or cat, then you would use “his” or “her” instead of “their.”

They're

A combination of the two words, “they are,” as in “they’re moving in” would sound fine if said as, “they are moving in.” “I wonder where they’re going” also works with “they are.”

If you aren’t sure, see if you can substitute the two words (they are) for the one word “they’re.” If that works, then “they’re” is the right way to do it.

Your and You're

Your

Belonging to someone, as in, “that’s yours” or “where is your car?”

You're

A combination of the two words, “you are,” as in “where do you think you’re going” or “you’re crazy if you believe that.”

If you aren’t sure, see if you can substitute the two words (you are) for the one word “you’re.” If that works, then “you’re” is correct.

To, Too, and Two

To

Usually a place or direction as in, “I’ll be running to the store after work.”

If you are writing a sentence and the next two options don’t work well, then use this one. For instance, “How am I going to say this otherwise?”

The word “also” doesn’t apply in that sentence,and I’m not referring to two items, as explained in the next two examples.

Too

Same as the word “also,” as in, “I’ll be visiting Paris too,” or “I want that one too.”

Should also be used when something is excessive, such as too long, too short, or too far.

Two

Spells the number “2.” No exceptions.

No and Know

No

It’s a negative as in “no you can’t, no way, no how.”

Know

Refers to your knowledge, as in “what do you know?”

Is and Are

Is

Singular connecting verb as in “There is one person,” or, “your tie is crooked.”

Are

Plural connecting verb as in “There are two people,” or, “it’s so easy to get lost in this town since there are so many one-way streets.” Since the word “many” means more than one you should use “are” in this last sentence.

Punctuation Tip: When using quotes in your posts, like I did in most of the examples shown above, the quote at the end of the sentence always goes outside the closing punctuation. (Check my work and see if I did them all correctly!)

This is not everything there is to know about good grammar, but as I mentioned above, these common errors are so cringe worthy that it could make the difference of whether (not “weather,” as in rain) or not you get the job or college degree. So memorize them because it’ll give you a good start as you learn to navigate the Business of YOUR Life!

Jan

What You Should Know About Tariffs

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In the small example shown here, American farmers are losing big time: The only people making money on milk produced in America is Canada.

Unless of course, the farmers can pass on some of the cost to their neighbors, also known as, citizens of the US. They do that by charging the $1 per gallon plus a $3 service fee/ markup, or whatever you want to call it. Regardless, now the average American is paying $4 for a gallon of milk.

This may seem like a small amount, but take a look at higher ticket items such as cars. Yes, we may sell them to Mexico, but we have to pay them a fee, aka, “tariff,” for letting us sell our products in their country. Oh, and never mind that our “American cars” are built in Mexico, we are still charged a tariff for selling them there! That fee is then rolled into the cost of cars for Americans, not to mention the debt our government is racking up for each tariff we pay on each car shipped back and sold there. Seriously???

The problem is that the fees we pay other countries are so high, that our farmers and manufacturers can’t charge us enough to cover them... thus the farmers and manufacturers, and us as Americans, are in debt to those other countries. When the politicians are talking about “trade deficit” being in the billions of dollars to other countries, that is what they are talking about.

Now, in my opinion, if one wants to be fair when it comes to trade with other countries these taxes should never exceed half the normal retail cost of a product. Even 50% at most would still be fair coming or going. According to Wikipedia, tariffs hit about 44% for imports (that’s us charging them) during the civil war, and between 1871 to 1913 they were lower but never dropped below 38 percent.

So if we had to pay, say ideally, a 20% tax on anything we ship into another country, (20 cents on a $1 gallon of milk) we would still make money without having to charge Americans so much for that product in order to make up the difference.

The same could be said for products we receive from other countries: Japan makes cars. America charges them, and they might pay us, say, a $6,000 tariff for every $30,000 car that lands in America. Theoretically, we, American resellers, are making money on each car. And over in Japan, they have to eat that cost by passing it on to their local residents. But the cars can still be reasonably priced.

Where this gets ugly, as shown in the example of the milk, is when the cost to send (export) our products to Canada, Mexico, the UK, or any other country, is almost three times the actual cost of the product here in America. Which is what’s happened with a lot of the import/export/trade agreements America has with other countries. Now we owe them money for the products we make here and ship to them; that’s called a huge debt known as a trade deficit. It’s that simple.

According to the NY Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/upshot/what-is-the-trade-deficit.html) we have a $69 billion United States trade deficit with Mexico and a $336 billion gap with China.

The only thing I will say to that is that I sure wouldn’t be running my business like that.

I hope this information goes towards helping you to understand this issue a little bit better.

Jan

10 Things You Should Know About Contracts

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I've listed these suggestions in order of importance, based on my experience with my kids as well what I've heard from their friends.

People who ask you to sign contracts don't necessarily know what's in them. And they don't like you to ask any questions!

I learned this the hard way when renting my first apartment in a new state. The landlord said, “don’t bother cleaning when you move out because they always pay someone to come in and clean and then automatically and deduct a flat fee of $125 from the deposit.”

Hmm…The contract said I (the tenant) was responsible for cleaning the apartment when moving out. When I asked, the landlord had no idea about that because they “had been doing it this way for years.”

Interesting how many years she’d been getting away with not giving tenants the opportunity to get back their entire deposit.

No contract is "routine"

That only means the people asking you to sign them uses them a lot, but it doesn’t mean they know or understand what’s in them as I pointed out above. And it certainly doesn’t mean you know what’s in them. Most people might see the same contract to buy a car, for instance, 4-5 times in a lifetime. And there is no guarantee that the wording hasn’t changed in the years since you signed your first one. Same with credit cards and especially with buying homes. Don’t “fall” for this very common pressure tactic!

3. Regardless of what's in a contract, you are both legally responsible for its content

But, when you sign a contract with a business rather than just between two people such as the sale of a used car, I’d say between you and a business, you probably have the most to lose if you renege on said contract. Which leads into this next point,

4. Know what "Breach of Contract" means

It basically means that if one person does not do what they agreed to do in a contract, then that person is in “breach” of the contract. People get sued for breach of contract all the time.

A simple example is when you buy a car. You sign a contract with a dealer that says you will pay so much per month in car payments for however long it takes you to pay off the price (loan) of the car. In return, the dealer allows you to drive the car even though you don’t technically own it yet. If you stop making payments, however, you are in “breach of contract” and the dealer has every right to take the car back (that process is called a “repossession”).

Oh, and you will lose in court if you decide to “go after them.”

5. You should read all contracts before signing them

Look at the fine print for details such as any definition of what a late payment might look like (one minute past the due date, one day, one week, one month?) and what kind of fees are attached to that? Some contracts have late fees that increase as time goes by. Is there a grace period? Sometimes utilities and mortgage companies have those.
Look for any “pre-payment” penalties. This means if you pay off a loan early they will charge you a huge fee. The reason for that is because in essence, when you pay off a loan early, you are preventing them from collecting interest on the remaining length of the loan. Most companies really don’t like that because it’s less money for them.
Look for the details on those “no interest for 12 months” deals too: That’s not always what you think it is.
Many companies count on customers to NOT read contracts and to NOT ask questions before signing them. This allows them to sneak in crazy high-interest rates, late fees, random “administrative” fees and weird penalties.

6. You must question anything you don't understand

Do not let them rush you! They will always try to do this (because they are sooo busy and their time is much more valuable than yours-not!) thus preventing you from finding the details. So don’t ever feel stupid asking questions, or calling a friend to ask questions.

Remember the first point I made about them not knowing? Many companies update and change contracts more often than you change your underwear. In the real estate and banking industries for instance, the government changes regulations all the time which leads to new versions of contracts being created on a regular basis. Combine this with the fact that most employees are usually kept pretty busy during their work day and don’t always have time to sit down on the job and read up on all the changes. They also aren’t very likely to want to do this on their off time. In most cases, they are probably learning when someone, like you, asks questions.

So, again, do not be afraid to ask questions and do not ever assume the sales reps are smarter than you are: That is a huge disservice to you!

7. Be prepared to walk away for ANY reason at all!

Before you sign a contract, you have every right to walk away for any reason.

For instance:

If a salesperson cannot explain any part of the contract.
You do not understand or agree with any part of the contract.
You simply changed your mind.
You don’t like the personality, looks, or smell of the salesperson.

And you are not obligated to explain why you are walking away, regardless of what they say or if they threaten you with some sort of made up legal action.

These are sales people and yes they will probably be pissed if you walk away after all the time they may have spent with you, but that’s one of the risks they take by being in sales.

It is not illegal for you to walk away if you have NOT signed anything – regardless of anything that was said.

8. It is very rare that a verbal agreement is legally binding or enforceable

Surprisingly enough, there are a few exceptions to this rule. From what I’ve read, if you are dealing with horses or cattle, verbal agreements that are confirmed with a handshake are legally binding.

I’ve also read that when it comes to an engagement, the ring is a sign that one has legally agreed to be married. When a woman breaks the engagement she is legally obligated to return the ring because it was given to “seal the deal.” (It’s up the to the guy on whether or not he wants it back, but it’s still kind of interesting, isn’t it?)

If you are ever thinking you might find yourself in this kind of situation, do some homework: This gray area differs from state to state and per each situation.

9. If you are over 18, your signature is legally binding

If you aren’t, then it’s not.

Contracts can only be legally signed and enforced when both people signing it are over the age of 18. That’s pretty much the “legally an adult” age in the entire USA when it comes to contracts and most laws.

The only exception that I know of might be in regards to getting married. And remember, 18 or not, if marriage is legal at 16 in your state, it too is a very legally binding financial agreement.

10. How to handle doubts

Lastly, if you are ever in serious doubt about a contract that could make or break your business or seriously affect your finances or lifestyle, you should always call a lawyer that specializes in whatever business said contract is all about. In many situations, such as a buying a car, renting an apartment, or financing your first refrigerator, you can always ask a friend or family member with some experience in that arena. You might even want to bring them with you to guide you through the process. (I did this with both my kids when they bought their first car.) But if they have no experience with the type of contract you’re dealing with, contact a lawyer. Your family or friends may not be equipped to represent you in a court of law if it ever comes to that and you really don’t want to get into that sticky situation.

I hope this information prevents you from getting yourself into any sort of legally binding financial agreement that you don’t fully understand.

Your comments or suggestions are always welcome: Leave them here on my site or email me at jan@janetmnast.com

Jan

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