Peru Earthquake - Overcoming Adversity

I've been on the road this past week, busy and unable to write. Today though I decided to find the time to write about human spirit. The ability to continue in the face of adversity and move forward.



Many of you have may have read news accounts of the 7.9 magnitude earthquake and is one of those things that happen all over the world. It affects people but the desire to live and move on remains a part of our spirit.

“Only after disaster can we be resurrected.” (Chuck Palahniuk)



A friend of mine is in Peru helping those that can use assistance in the normal everyday. But he is there during this added misery that has fallen upon people. The pictures that you see are his. If you want to help out in some fashion, you can write to Paul at paul@openroadmissions.com.



To know that people can face tragedy and come through is something each of us can learn from. In our own lives we will and do face various forms of tragedy. But each of us can pull through, to one day smile. The kids of Peru have not lost that ability, to have hope, to smile.

Family Financial Smarts

Each day we hurry about working to provide and get ahead. We worry about our teenage children driving, the frightening drug use trying to lure them away and all of the possibilities of what could happen. Yet a recent article I read asks, "do we worry about what if something happens to you...what will happen to those around you?"

You can be the most careful person around...buckling your seat belt, eating right and exercising. As the saying goes, "stuff happens." Financial experts estimate that nearly 70% of men have not taken the needed steps to secure their family's financial...heaven forbid you end up hit by a car.

It is natural as humans not to think about dying. Heck, who wants to think about that stuff? But it is relatively easy to take steps to ensure some 'after-you' stability. The steps you can take are listed below.

1. Get yourself together - put together a document listing details of your finances, investments, bank account, insurance policies and any financial advisers. Then ask around for an attorney to draft a will for you.

2. Replace your salary - Employer-sponsored life insurance policies will normally cover two times your annual salary. This is much less than your family needs. So buy a term life insurance policy to cover you until the kids have graduated and moved away. From that point on, the kids are less dependent upon you. Notice I didn't say they are totally independent.

3. Pay your family, not Uncle Sam - When you die and leave everything to your wife, your children lose something many of us didn't know we had: a $2 million exemption from the estate tax. Upon your wife's death, your kids benefit from her $2 million exemption, but yours would be lost. For your kids to get the combined $4 million exemption, the attorney can set up a credit shelter. Transfer $2 million in assets (or up to this amount as all of us do not necessarily have that much) into the trust, including your house and enable your wife to access the funds, but name your kids the beneficiaries upon her death. What happens is eventually the kids will inherit your $2 million and her $2 million...all estate tax free.

4. Protect your legacy - Remember to update and keep updated all beneficiary forms for 401(k)s, IRAs and other retirement accounts as these override your will. Just make sure they are current. Ensure that your will includes instructions including specific instructions about how your assets should be handled.

5. Hire your replacement - When you and your wife are travelling, there is that underlying thought that, "what if the plane goes down?" Assign the jobs of executor and guardian to different people. Divide the power by giving control of your kid's inheritance to one person while someone else takes them in. "The best person to raise your kids may not be the best one to handle finances," says Lisa Osofsky, a tax advisor in New York. Think of things like, what if the guardians divorce? Name one person in a couple as the guardian...and name backups.

For more, see BEST Magazine and simply read, the internet is a great place to start or your nearest library.

Facing Life In A Positive Way

“Attitude is the way you mentally look at the world around you. It is how you view your environment and your future. It is the focus you develop toward life itself.” - Elwood Chapman from his book Up Your Attitude! Changing the Way You Look at Life.

Each of us has a choice on how we look at our place in life. We can accept things as they are with a good attitude and then work to better our condition - if that is what we want. Or we can choose to wallow in despair and spend our energy in complaint.

If we decide to choose a path of 'woe is me', then we will be less inclined, less engaged and have lesser ability to focus on change. All of our energy will be drained by constant self doubt. Our mood will be sour to the point that others will be more reluctant to be around us. Except for other complainers and self-doubters.

Yet to take what you have and turn it into gratitude for what you do have...to see it as an opportunity to move beyond will change your daily life. Having a positive attitude does not guarantee riches and fame. What it does do it help you enjoy the life you already have and allow you to focus, to apply your energy towards something better. It gives you the strength to have boldness that will allow change in your life.

So develop an attitude that is positive, see the world in a new light and then move beyond your circumstance. Stop being angry at the world and those around you. Allow yourself to enjoy your life and the challenges you face.

Reaching A Goal

Here we are on what many may consider the beginning of the last month of summer. August 1 in the year 2007 and only a few weeks left until many school systems here in the U.S. open their doors.

One last chance to get to the beach, the local swimming pool or a quick vacation. One last chance to prepare for final months of this year. Getting yourself ready to complete all of those goals that you set back on January 1, 2007.

At MyGoals, to stay on track they suggest the following. "First, accept personal responsibility for staying on track. It's not up to anyone else, just you. You alone decide what you want to accomplish, and when." It was you that made the decision to accomplish those things in your heart and mind. So accept the idea that it is you that needs to get them completed.

The final months of any year can be busy and quite distracting. Life has a way of pulling us off our charted course. But with the right attitude and conviction, you can keep your focus on achieving your goals. I read a quote once from a person I think was Michael Hanson who said, "to will is to select a goal, determine a course of action that will bring one to that goal, and then hold to that action till the goal is reached. The key is action.”

Action, movement, continuance towards your goal is what you must remember. Change which will result in your goal is caused by movement. Keep moving towards your goal and accomplish that which you seek.