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Ball of Confusion…

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Social Security Medicare ConfusionSocial Security and Medicare tend to be confusing to many, including Baby Boomers.  They are complex and complicated programs and it doesn’t help that they undergo constant changes and adjustments.

However, it pays to take time to understand what these programs are, how they work and and how you can get the most benefit from your retirement contributions.

Chances are you’ve worked and contributed to the programs for most of  your life, so a few extra minutes will be well worth your effort.

I came across an article that discussed the many different angles you want to look at  when it comes to Social Security and Medicare.

I hope you’ll find the information just as informative and helpful as I did; I certainly have a better understanding about Social Security and Medicare after reading through it.

Social Security And Medicare Planning « Palisades Hudson …

http://www.palisadeshudson.com/

A common question about Social Security is when to start drawing benefits. You can start drawing benefits as early as age 62 but, as mentioned earlier in this article, drawing your benefit as soon as you can will reduce your …

Read more …

Retirement In America – “Broken Eggs”

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Retirement in America - Broken EggsYahoo finance today discussed the film “Broken Eggs”.The 80 minute film covers the looming retirement crisis in America, primarily affecting Baby Boomers -US!

Daily, roughly 10,000 baby boomers are stepping into retirement, reaching their retirement years. Many are not adequately prepared and are primarily relying on income from their social security.

According to experts, retirement should be funded via 3 primary vehicles:

  1. Social security
  2. Pensions
  3. Personal savings

Experts in the film compared this 3 pronged approach to a 3 legged stool. Sturdy and solid until you take one of the legs away and the stool will shake, tumble and eventually collapse.

Social Security
Most experts predict that social security will not last and is headed toward bankruptcy. The prediction is that this will happen sooner than later and some say that the system already is bankrupt!). [Read more…]

Welcome To OlderWiserWomen

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OlderWiserWomen Image

 

Welcome, I’m so pleased you’re here at OlderWiserWomen®!

Wondering what this is all about?

Well, OlderWiserWomen® is about you… and other like-minded women who want to:

  • Stop the negative stereo types (you know… the black balloons)
  • Redefine aging into a positive experience
  • Embrace the miracles that aging brings
  • Learn, prepare, and rejoice along this amazing journey

OlderWiserWomen® was born with the mission and purpose to help women celebrate the transitions, the growth and the wisdom that occurs as we age.

You’ll find information directly pertaining to women who are aging, information pertaining to you.

  • How do you feel about getting older?
  • Are you scared of aging?
  • Have you ever wondered about the physical changes in your body as you age?
  • Why do you seem to be more forgetful, oftentimes agitated or just plain tired?
  • Do you find yourself wanting to participate in new activities and endeavors, unlike anything before?
  • Are you close to retirement age but are not financially prepared?
  • Or perhaps you’re financially prepared but don’t know what to do next?
  • Are you wondering what to do so you’re ready for “old age?”
  • What you can do to maintain your independence.
  • Maybe you just want to connect with great women and share your story?

Whatever it is, you’ve come to the right place. If you want honest, no hype answers to your questions OlderWiserWomen® is for you!

Struggling With Belly Fat?

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scale_wrapped-smallFrustrated because you’re putting on your bathing suit and see belly fat around your middle? Do you see a lumpy, bumpy silhouette when trying on a new dress? Or worse yet, do you see something resembling a spare tire around your abdomen?

Are you frustrated with your body putting on the extra pounds? If you’ve been there, if you know what I’m talking about, you just may be ready to lose your belly fat!

Ask yourself why you want to lose the fat around your abdomen? After all, don’t all or most older women have some degree of belly fat?

Do you simply want to lose fat around your middle so you feel great wearing that new bathing suit this summer, your clothes will fit better once again or so you can stay healthy?

If you’ve been wondering how to lose some fat around your midline, it’s time to take the next step; it’s time to take action.

Start with gathering information so you can craft a plan of attack.

Needless to say, there are a variety of sources out there: books, the internet and weight loss centers all ready to help you in the battle. And of course there are the first hand experiences from friends and family members you might find helpful in finding the approach that’s right for you.

Go over all the information you have found and decide which approach will work best for you. Set a goal for yourself including how much you would like to lose in pounds or inches, how you will do it, and by what date you will accomplish your goal.

And this one is important, write down your goal. Remember the saying: “A goal not written is just a wish”?

Write your goal out clearly! Include the steps you will take and the date/dates by when your goal will be accomplished.

When you have all the information you need, it’s time to put your plan into action. This might just be the hardest part of losing the inches around your middle.

You’ll need to arrange your life so that you can begin losing weight! Chances are you need to do the following:

  1. Adjust what you eat, how you eat and when you eat
  2. Make sure you have specific foods in your pantry
  3.  Avoid the foods you know trigger fat accumulation
  4. Have your “Plan B” ready before going out to eat
  5. Arrange your schedule so you can get enough sleep, because it will help you losing the weight and
  6. Remove as much stress as possible so you’re not tempted to “stress eat’

Losing weight in general is not an easy task for most of us and tends to be more difficult for us women over 50. Losing belly fat can be even more challenging (but can be done…). Put the odds of success in you favor by planning ahead.

When you have identified what changes you’ll need to make to lose the fat, stick to your plan until you reach your goals.

Don’t get discouraged if things take a bit longer… stick to the plan! As a matter of fact, plan on getting derailed a few times while on course to lose abdominal fat.

Once you have reached your goal, you have a critical decision to make – maintaining your success.

This part of your plan will allow you to continue keeping your body in good shape after you’ve lost the fat around your waistline. Decide to stick with the new habits that allowed you to shed the extra inches.

After all, if you go back to your old habits, fat will find its way back to your middle in no time at all.

How To Select A Domain Name For Your Home On The Web!

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How to select a good domain name?By now you know that you’ll have to pick a domain name for your home on the World Wide Web before you can do anything online. Selecting a good domain name is so important for your online success.

Wondering why it is so important to get this step just right: “After all, if it doesn’t work out I can always change it, right”?

Well yes, nothing is written in stone and while it’s correct that you can change things later, you may not want to do that. And here is why.

Think about your website as your business on the web. Your business has a name and an address your customers use to find you. Change the identifiers for your business and people won’t find you; you’ll lose customers and followers.

I think it’s easy to see that every time you change the name of your business and you move the business to a new location, you will lose customers. And it’s the same with an online business, your website.

As I mentioned in my last article, your website lives at a certain location (similar to a brick and mortar business). Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that, but we’re going for concepts here…!

When you publish content to your website it becomes part of the “location”. Let’s say you’ve just published an article titled “How to grow fabulous Orchids” to your site.

People searching the web for information about growing orchids may come across your article via different routes.

  • They either access the article from within your site; no problem, they can find the information or
  • They enter search terms and Google (or another search engine) brings up the result “yourwebsite.com/how-to-grow-fabulous-orchids/” and displays the article page directly, without going through the site first. So every time you change the name of the site the article location/address changes as well.

Can you see where I am going with this?

While it’s possible to change everything at any given time and there are ways to redirect to new sites and addresses, it’s just simpler if you don’t have to do that.
So what should you consider when selecting a solid domain name so you don’t have to make any changes right away (or at all)?

When choosing a domain you need to come up with both, the actual name and an available extension. The extension is the last part of the domain, most commonly they are .com, .org, .net or .info.

If the .com extension is available, go with that because it’s the default URL most people remember when they go online to visit a website. However, if it’s not, choose one of the other extensions listed above.

Of course, this also depends on what the topic of your site is. If it’s a store, try to stick with the .com, but if it’s a non-profit, going with the .org is usually better.

For the actual domain name, choose one that best represents your site. If your site is about flowers, than choose a name that indicates that. You’ll see this referred to as choosing keyword based domain names.

For example, let’s say your site is about growing Bonsai trees. Wouldn’t it be better to choose a name containing the phrase “bonsai trees” rather than just the phrase “Trees”?

In essence you can go two different ways with choosing a name. You can follow the safe route and choose a keyword based domain name or go with something catchy you think might take off all across the web (think Face book, Google, or Twitter).

Most people prefer to go with a keyword based domain name. You want your website to rank well for your chosen subject and keywords are the prime way you’ll achieve that goal. You can use a free or paid keyword tool to make a list of the top keywords in your niche.

You will buy your domain from a domain registrar, which there are many to be found. Stay with an established registrar; after all, this will be your piece of real estate on the web. Look for support, ease of use and lastly cost. Expect to pay around $10 – 15 for a year of domain name registration.

Through my years on the web I have used both Godaddy.com and Namecheap.com (there are many more out there). I suggest you check out both, GoDaddy and NameCheap and perhaps even look at some others.

When you buy your domain, you’ll be typing in the URL you hope to land, such as growingfabulousorchids.com. If it’s not available, the system will usually show you some alternatives that are available, such as growingfabulousorchids.net, etc.

As you check out with your domain, many registrars will try to sell you additional products and services, like hosting, privacy, site building tools and more. You probably won’t need any of these right away and can always add them on later.

It’s best to take the time and brainstorm different names for your website. Ask yourself:

  1. Does the name tell visitors what the site is all about? Remember “tree” vs. “bonsai tree”?
  2. Is the name clear and easy to pronounce? This is important because people often tell friends about sites they like.
  3. Is the name easy to remember, easy to spell or are there multiple ways to spell it? For example a domain name containing “for” could be spelled “for”, “four” or “4”. You don’t want people to guess.
  4. Is the name short and to the point?
  5. Is the name trade marked? You don’t want to spend time building a site just to find out that the name or something very similar to it has been trade marked. Why not head over to TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) to find potential “offenders”.

Expect to spend some time on selecting a solid name for your domain;  it will pay off in the long run!

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