Questions To Ask About Boat Insurance

Summer's almost here and millions of Americans will be taking to the nation's waterways in boats. However, before they back down ramps at lakes, rivers and at coastal communities, boaters should be aware of an additional concern other than seals, fuel systems, GPS units, live wells, fishing tackle and engines. That would be insurance. There's boat insurance and then there's better boat insurance.

The Boat Owners Association of America lists five questions boaters need to ask before purchasing an insurance policy. Making sure a policy covers these basic questions could save a boat owner thousands of dollars and lots of worry. The answers also could reveal whether or nor a current policy has much value.

The first question to ask a boat insurance agent is does his company pay salvage costs or does the policy put that burden on the policy-holder's shoulders? Most people purchase insurance to cover big-ticket items, such as the total loss of an automobile or home because of a wreck or natural disaster. In these days, with tornadoes flying around the South like pinballs, nothing could be more important.

In the case of boats, the most common catastrophic insurance claims involve sinkings or devastating wind storms such as hurricanes or tornadoes. They can destroy a boat, sink it or lift it into the next county and leave it in small pieces. In any of these cases, a policy's "salvage" coverage should pay to hoist the boat from the bottom of a body of water or from a neighbor's property. An effective policy should have separate and full salvage coverage up to the policy limits for the costs to remove the boat that isn't less than or limited to a percentage of its hull value (the part of the policy that reimburses for actual loss of the boat).

A less-than-adequate policy could reimburse for the loss of the boat but could make a boat owner pay some salvage fees out of his own pocket. Another question to ask an insurance agent is how much help will his company provide when a claim is filed?

In other words, insurance companies have two schools of thought when it comes to handling claims. One is a hands-off approach that makes the claimant do all the work. With a large claim, one type of insurance could make the boat's owner responsible for finding a salvage company, a crane company or barge and trucking company. The policy then would reimburse the policy holder for submitted expenses.

On the other hand, a hands-on company - usually a specialty marine insurer - has access to these services and knows how to negotiate pricing, hires and pays contractors, and can arrange for and guarantee repairs. A third question to ask is does a boat insurance policy contain consequential damage coverage? In the boat insurance universe, catastrophic losses such as fire, explosion, sinking, de-masting, collision and stranding are classified as a consequence. For instance, if a boat sinks because its hull fittings are rusted and break off, that's a consequence of the broken-through hull. Good boat insurance policies include consequential damage clauses that cover such specific catastrophes. More simply, if consequential damage isn't covered in a policy, expenses caused by a sinking or fire could be excluded totally because of a finding of wear and tear.

A fourth question involves how much involvement a boat owner needs to supply after an incident occurs. A good insurance policy offers immediate emergency claims response that can step in with resources needed to prevent further damage.

In the case of boat owners living in a hurricane-prone area, such as the North Carolina coast, the policy should share the cost of a haul-out to move a boat to high ground or pay a captain to move it to a safe place.

The last question to consider is what an insurance company does over time for a boat owner who doesn't have any claims and regularly makes premium payments. A good insurance policy should give such an owner credit for not having claims and offer diminishing deductibles for each year the boat owner files no claims. A boat owner who isn't satisfied with his agent's answers to these questions should start shopping for a better policy.

BOATUS offers more information on-line at http://www.BoatUS.com/insurance.

Filing Bankruptcy? Don't Worry About What You Lose But What You Gain

Now that we are once again heading into a holiday season most Americans put a high priority on materialism. As consumer debt continues to rise many Americans will be considering filing bankruptcy once again for their New Year's resolution. Most people take on the attitude that they will have one more outrageous Christmas on their credit cards and then start working on becoming debt-free even if it means filing for bankruptcy. But instead of taking care of business now, the pain is pushed off to 2013.

The good news is a bankruptcy filing can break the bondage of debt and free your soul. When we look at how materialistic and superficial the world has gotten we need to look at what the Bible says about it. In Matthew 16:26 Jesus made a strong statement regarding this, "For what willit profit a manif he gainsthe whole world and forfeits his soul? Basically, he is saying that you can't take the stuff with you, so you need to get your priorities in check. The last time I checked, you never see a hearse towing a U-Haul trailer. Basically, Americans are putting themselves in debt so they can have everything they want. What they give up is the debt ends up owning them. Many families end up breaking up as the debt becomes overwhelming that was created so they could have the big house, the fancy cars and give their kids everything they asked for. We see this scenario played out over and over again in American culture where it ends up in divorce, a foreclosure and a bankruptcy filing.

People especially today should be aware of what's going on economically nationwide and take the steps to put their personal financial future in check. For some people, filing bankruptcy might be the best way for them to put their debt behind them and get a second chance at becoming debt-free in the future. Since the housing market blew up back in 2007, many Americans have been scraping along hoping that things will turn around. While hope is good, there becomes a point in time where common sense has to come into the picture. People really need to take a hard look in what is in the future for the industry they are in and how it will affect their finances. The way it looks now for the economy is this is the new normal. Thinking any differently is utter foolishness.

Being proactive when it comes to financial matters will help alleviate any stress that comes with being behind on bills. When someone gets to the point that they are robbing Peter to pay Paul they should consider seeking the advice of a bankruptcy attorney to see if filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy might have something to offer for their personal situation. It doesn't mean that they have to file bankruptcy immediately, but it might give the individual some information that could prepare them for what is to come whether it be good or bad.

All we need to do is remember that knowledge is power and the more knowledge you have about financial matters including filing bankruptcy will give an individual an upper leg on getting out of debt quickly and get on the road to becoming debt-free. Many famous people have done exactly this and are now successful giants in industry. Instead of waiting around for things to turn around people should be proactive especially in this economy and consult a bankruptcy attorney before it's too late.

Will Malpractice Cases Increase for Connecticut's Home Health Care Industry?

Several forces are coming together which will expand the home health care industry in Connecticut.

Governor Malloy is expanding the MFP ( Money Follows the Person) program. This is a federal reform program that aims to reduce the number of patients on Medicaid in expensive institutional healthcare settings. It focuses on moving people out of long-term care facilities and placing them back into their homes where most elderly people prefer to reside. The Connecticut legislature has approved new regulations for the home health care industry that will allow nurses to delegate medication administration to home health aides that are working with patients in their homes. All of these changes are designed to benefit the elderly and to improve quality of life and expand the elderly population that can reside at home with assistance. These are all positive things for health challenged individuals, providing the proper community support is available. This was not the case when the state decided that mental health patients belonged in the community and not in chronic care facilities. Community support was grossly inadequate in the 1980s when the state deinstitutionalized patients from psychiatric hospitals, producing disastrous results for many communities and individuals. Hopefully this most recent plan to transition people into the community has taken into account the need for expanded home health care services.

A second shift in the state's public health policy that has started to effect the home health care industry is in the area of informed risk. Informed risk is basically a policy stating that a person who may not be deemed safe to stay at home is allowed to remain at home as long as patient and family acknowledge that the patient is at greater risk of injury at home as opposed to a facility. It is an honoring of the patient's wishes as opposed to what the agency may feel is the best plan of care for the individual. Up until recently if a person was deemed unsafe in their home environment the home care agency would not support the person remaining at home. In other words they would refuse to provide services. Now the state is promoting keeping people at risk in their homes, providing that they are mentally sound, and they have acknowledged the fact that they are assuming greater risk by staying at home.

Even with good agency oversight it is inevitable that these shifts regarding informed risk and allowing non nurses to give medications will lead to an increase in injuries, accidental overdoses, misuse of medications as well as negligence and/or abuse. Agency staff will need to carefully document risk assessment and delegation of duties. Careful monitoring and good case management will help minimize errors and limit abuse and neglect in this population however the home care industry is certain to have an increase in liability hence the possibility of increasing nursing malpractice claims.

With the first wave of baby boomers starting to retire, the number of senior citizens in Connecticut continues to expand. The need for experienced home health care experts will continue to grow as well.

The History of Questions and Answers Sites

People will always have questions. It's the nature of the human condition. We love to ask questions and more importantly we love to answer then, maybe it gives us a sense of purpose that we can advise others or maybe we just like to feel a sense of superiority.

Whatever the reason, they have become very popular, and what is Facebook but just a glorified questions and answers site. There are hundreds of such sites that offer expert and amateur solutions to everyday problems. From the mundane like "what can I eat for lunch today?" to life changing questions such as "should I get divorced?".

Some of these sites are well loved by their followers and are used on a daily basis, some of these early examples of question and answer sites are very bizarre.

One of the first was Forum 2000, a very odd site that claimed to be run by artificial intelligence, although in later years it was recognised as a hoax.

The Hateatron became live on January 15, 2002 at a time when lots of other Q&A sites were springing up. The Hateatron ran on software written by its creator Safiire Arrowny and has gone through different incarnations since its launch. The Hateatron's main difference was that aside from just fielding questions with its characters, known as "Haters," it had a forum called the User Owned or UO Forum.

The evolution of this kind of forum was a fluke, and it turned into an extension of the Q&A format. The Haters who answered questions on the front page now sprang to life inside the UO Forum, interacting with the users who had become active in the community. The Hateatron sported a community and readership of over 100 regular users, organized a yearly convention called Hateakon, and answered nearly 5000 questions.

Some time in early 2005, the Q&A portion of the Hateatron was dropped from the front page of the site for unpublicized reasons. The rest of the site has since been decommissioned, although it is still occasionally updated with bizarre messages. Maybe an extreme version of the format but it still cemented the importance of these websites in the public agenda.

One of the largest in the questions and answers sites in the UK is Interestingly or Answerbank covering topics like News, Food, Fashion and Health. Users post as many questions as they like and some posters are posting multiple ties per week. Subscribers are encouraged to answer multiple posts and plenty of the questions on their have more than one answer.

If you have not already tried out one of these sites, they can be very interesting and informative so why not give one a go?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - An Easy Household Guide - Book Review

I was very excited to review Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - An Easy Household Guide by UK author, Nicky Scott. Because my husband and I wrote Trash Talk, which is a similar guide written for North Americans, I was very interested to learn how individuals in the UK are dealing with reducing waste.

With the 96-page book, the author attempts to provide a guide for people to follow; "in a world of confusing messages" where overwhelming environmental problems weigh down our hearts, Nicky hopes to encourage readers with positive information. Cute little illustrations by Axel Scheffler accompany most of the pages, adding a little touch of humor.

One of the first things Nicky discusses is the importance of refusing to purchase over-packaged items - in fact he states it is the main focus of the book, and it does briefly discusses avoiding disposables, things that cannot be recycled and those that are made from all virgin materials. Whereas the book seems to concentrate on how to reuse or recycle existing trash, it also comments on seeing the reuse, repair or recycle potential for products we are considering buying. He also suggests taking advantage of re-fill retailers (i.e. in Canada: Body Shop, Sampson Soaps, etc) and bulk outlets (grocery stores, bulk products at hair salons, etc). The author mentions that maintenance increases the likely hood of reuse and stressed donations and private sales. Tips are included on ways to make the recycle system run more smoothly and interesting UK statistics.

Chapter three hosts 59 pages of an extensive A-Z guide for items that are commonly found in waste bins. What to do with Fluorescent and CFL bulbs, funeral alternatives to consider, what the various numbers on plastics mean -it's all covered here in this tidy book. I found the information about all the different kinds of batteries, particularly the button-cell variety (watch, camera, calculator, etc), quite interesting. Interestingly, I never considered donating furniture too battered for reuse to upholsterer businesses and classes, where they may wish to reuse the frame to make new furniture.

Readers may find that some of the information is repetitive and Chapter four seems to reiterate what the book is trying to say. I enjoyed chapter five, which discusses the future of zero waste and cleaner waste (less toxic or greenhouse gas producing), very much. The book closes with an excellent resource section that offers roughly two-dozen organizations along with their contact information and lists about thirty books that are certain to make the environmentalist in you drool with anticipation.

Nicky Scott, Chairperson for the National Community Composting Network (CCN) in the UK, is the author of three small books (roughly 4 x 6 inches) dealing with waste reduction and has appeared in two videos about composting. His interest began while working at a compost business as a young man, and the passion grew while he studied at the UK's leading organic research organization, The Henry Doubleday Research Association. As initiator and Secretary of one of the first community composting projects, which continues to created jobs, and the head of the newsletter for the CCN organization - he is a busy man. Between all this, he squeezes in time to run workshops and give lectures. In his spare time, Nicky is a musician and artist.

Author: Nicky Scott Illustrator: Axel Scheffler Publisher: Green books (UK) ISBN: 1-903998-40-9

The Payment Protection Insurance Controversy

Confusion sometimes exists regarding the differences between Payment Protection Insurance and income protection. "PPI" is an insurance based product, which may be designed to provide coverage for a current debt. Income protection is not related to a specific debt but provides cover for any type of income. It is usually connected by banks or other credit providers, as an extension to a loan or overdraft, generally giving cover to borrowers against circumstances that could result in them being unable to honour the debt.

Payment protection is generally offered as insurance in respect of minimum loans or overdraft payments for periods of usually twelve months. On expiry of this term, borrowers are forced to resort to other methods to repay the debt. However, this term is usually sufficient for most borrowers to restore their capabilities to service the debt. This type of insurance differs with others, for example home insurance, by being complex in determining whether it will be beneficial to a borrower.

A discerning assessment is needed, regarding potential consequences should a borrower become unemployed. Considerations would involve for example, determining whether any payments made in lieu of notice, would render such a claim ineligible. This is irrespective of the borrower, genuinely being unemployed. In an instance such as this, the direction taken by a Payment Protection Insurance company is comparable with that taken regarding unemployment benefits.

This type of insurance has been the centre of controversy, being sold with mortgages, loans and credit cards since the nineteen nineties, to the extent of reportedly 6.5 million policies a year. However, further reports show that during 2011, one million complaints were received from consumers relating to their policies. This insurance product was referred to the Financial Ombudsman, under the term "mis-sold, payment protection insurance".

The number of complaints received between October and December 2011 were assessed at 30,301, which is a significant increase of 57% in comparison with the previous three months. These statistics assume even greater significance, by a report that more than two-thirds, or 68% of complaints related to controversial insurance, were resolved by the Financial Ombudsman in favour of the complainant. This was a positive result in comparison to the figure reported for between July and September, of 92%. There is naturally trepidation prevailing in providers of this type of insurance and there is uncertainty as to the number of complaints that will be forthcoming in the future.

Are You Looking For Classic Bike Insurance?

You have that amazing bike and it is a classic, registered before 1982, it has been restored and pampered and now you need classic bike insurance. Once you start to shop around you will find that because of the age and the care taken with the bike the cost to you is lower than you would have suspected.

Getting insurance requires some research as to the type of policy you will need. Some insurance companies do not insure older motorcycles at all and others as per State or Country have to check with the underwriters insurance guidelines as to age criteria, be the insured young or an older person they may not be covered with some companies. Check with your motorcycle insurance specialist and remember to include in your policy travelling and storage insurance for when you are transporting your bike on a trailer, going to the show circuit or even taking it with you on vacation. Keep in mind that the bike must be insured even if you leaving it sitting covered in your garage and it will never be driven.

It would depend on what part of the country you are living in, up north or in the southern States; you may qualify for a less expensive rate if the bike is stored for the cold and snowy six months of the year in the north while it will be ridden all year in the south. Theft of older bikes is not as common as with the new ones, but it is good to have theft or loss included in your policy. Many other factors come into play when deciding what kind of insurance you need. Some collectors would be asking for a package rate on all the bikes they own. Others have special insurance needs, whatever the reason ask your broker once you have picked the company you want to go with.

There are some insurance companies that specialize in classic bike insurance. Looking on the internet will provide you with the information and companies to contact. Many of these companies carry insurance for other items; auto and boat insurance are some. Speak to an agent and save money with bundling all your policies together. You can look into motorcycle handling classes that could help reduce your insurance rate this could be one way for a new rider to save money on his policy. Whatever company you go with remember ride safe and keep the shinny side up.

Important Conditions of UK Employers' Liability Insurance

Every business owner in the UK is governed by some regulation or other. For any business that employs staff, one of the most important regulations is actually a legal requirement as laid down in the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969.

There are a couple of exemptions to the Act. These are most public organisations including government departments and agencies, local authorities, police authorities and nationalised industries and health service bodies, including National Health Service trusts, health authorities, primary care trusts and Scottish health boards.

The law effectively makes UK employers responsible for the health and safety of their staff whilst they are working. If an employee is injured at work, or a former employee develops a work-related disease, they may be entitled to file a claim for compensation. The Act requires UK employers to have a minimum level of insurance to cover such claims. For any level of business, the employer liability insurance cost is always going to be massively lower than any potential compensation claim, because as well as any eventual payout that may be awarded to the employee/former employee, there will also be legal fees.

There is obviously going to be an issue in cases where employees have developed an illness after leaving a certain employment. In order to regulate and trace employment histories to ensure the right party's insurance pays any compensation, there is the ELTO. The Employers Liability Tracing Office is a body devised by the UK Government and the insurance industry. Although not a legal requirement, there is a cross over with UK FSA (Financial Services Authority) compliance, so most UK insurers who underwrite employers' liability insurance have joined the scheme.

When a business takes out an employer's liability insurance policy, it is registered by the insurer with ELTO. This means that even if a claimant is a former employee, or the business no longer exists, the insurance company providing the original cover is able to meet its obligations to the claim. The information collected is of a general nature, and includes the company registration number and owner/directors details as held by Companies House.

With this in mind, and the facts of the 1969 Act, it is important that any business looking for employers' liability insurance buys it from an authorised insurer, i.e. one registered with the FSA, as per the terms of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The basic employers liability insurance cost a business pays provides cover of £5million, which is the minimum required by UK law, although the general level set by most insurers is £10million. For high-risk industries, increased cover is an option through an increased premium.

Girls Softball Drills: Pitching Machines Hinder More Than Help

Attention all girls softball coaches and hitters. This will explain why performing softball drills with pitching machines hinder more than help. Due to pitching machines, most girls softball  hitters never really reach their greatest hitting potential!

Girls softball teams use pitching machines because it is very difficult to throw strikes from a live hand in batting practice. A pitching machine is the tool most used in softball drills for helping hitters practice their swing mechanics. The reality is that the machine alters a players swing and timing more than it helps.

It is commonly known to most, if not all, baseball hitters and coaches, to stay away from pitching machines. Pitching machines do not have the same action that a live hand does when the ball is delivered in either sport. The spitting action that a pitching machine depicts when the ball flies out of it, is deceptive to the hitter. This deception adversely affects the hitter's timing and, ultimately, the hitters' swing.

Although baseball players and coaches know this intuitively, the message has not been made clear to women's fast pitch softball and girls softball. Women and girls softball relies on these machines far too much.  Most girls softball coaches have not figured out the proper way to use the pitching machines for softball drills or how to help players improve their confidence when using a pitching machine.

Softball drills for hitters should always be performed at a slower speed and the human pitcher or pitching  machine should be a good 3 to 5 paces in front of the pitching rubber. This is the only way to improve the confidence of the hitter. The hitter should have every opportunity to know what it feels like to connect with the ball efficiently; this type of set up will give the hitter that opportunity.

Unfortunately, in girls softball, the pitching machine is placed to close to the pitching rubber and the coaches set the speed of the pitch near the speed of what the hitter would see in a game. This does not help the hitter for 2 reasons:

1. The machine "spits" the ball harder when the machine is turned up and causes even more deception. Most hitters have to change the mechanics of their normal swing just to be able to contact the pitch. Because of this, hitters tend to throw their hands at the ball and do not have the time to adjust to the timing of the machine. This can only lead to improper use of their body and hips, not to mention, the hitter is practicing incorrect swing mechanics that will not be used during a game. Over time, continued use of pitching machines in softball drills will train a hitter's muscles to consistently swing the wrong way, even during games. This results in decreased levels of performance as well as confidence.

2. The hitters confidence goes down because most hitters swing and miss or just foul off the majority of the pitches when a machine is improperly placed and the speeds are increased. If you are a believer in achievement through visualization, then you should agree that a hitter who gets continuous images in their head of swinging and missing or bad hits, will not get better, but worse.

The key is to pitch batting practice out of a live hand if at all possible. Just pitching under hand close up with the L-screen at a slow pace will greatly improve the confidence and skills of the hitter. If you have no choice but to use a pitching machine for softball hitting drills, please adhere to the following proper use guidelines.

Proper Use Guidelines for Pitching Machine Drills When using a pitching machine for softball drills, set the machine between 30-40 mph depending on the age of the player. Place the machine 3-5 strides ahead of the pitching rubber. This will simulate the right pace that a hitter needs to see and feel in order to get her rhythm, timing, and swing down.

Proper use of pitching machines will also improve a hitters confidence and enable the coach to instruct much more efficiently. There is no reason why female softball hitters cannot be just as consistent as male baseball hitters. From a training perspective, this is the reason why baseball players experience more success with batting average and slugging percentage than softball players do. Most baseball players practice off live arms and if a tosser is not available, the player, more often than not, knows how to use pitching machines properly.

Girls softball needs the machines because it is hard to throw strikes from a live hand in batting practice. Use them properly and hitting will improve dramatically.

How to Be Consistently Profitable in The Forex Trading

The possibilities in Forex are virtually unlimited. Through study, hard work, and perseverance, many people have made significant sums through the foreign exchange market. During the learning process, new traders can greatly benefit from guidance provided by seasoned traders. This article teaches some of the ins and outs of foreign exchange trading through the useful tips below.

Trading on Foreign Exchange means you need to check your greed at the door. Only trade in areas that you truly know about. Before you leap into the market, be sure you fully understand it. As a beginner, take things slow and make guarded judgements to guarantee success.

Set a timeline for the how long you plan on involving yourself with foreign exchange. This will help you create a good plan. If you are in it for the long haul, pay particular attention to mastering the tricks of the trade. Keeping a reference list may help you. You can thoroughly learn one standard practice a month. This way you become a rock solid investor and trader with impeccable habits and discipline that will pay off over the years.

Foreign Exchange is not operated from a central market, and it is important to keep that in mind. No natural disasters can completely destroy the market. Don't panic and sell all that you have if something goes wrong. All major events have to possibility of affecting the Foreign Exchange market, however this does not mean that the currency pairs that you trade will be affected.

Make sure to practice trading and research foreign exchange before participating. The best way to gain initial risk-free trading experience is through a demo platform.

If you are not ready to commit to a long-term plan and do not have financial security right now, trading against the foreign exchange market is not going to be a good option for you. Beginners should completely avoid trading against market trends, and experienced foreign exchange traders should be very cautious about doing so since it usually ends badly.

There are multiple sources for information about foreign currency exchange trading available on-line, night or day. You are better supplied for the experience when you definitively know the ropes. Read for awhile, then log in to a forum where you can discuss what you have read. There you may get guidance from people with expertise in Foreign Exchange.

Avoid moving stop losses, since you could lose more. Stay with your original plan, and success will find you.

To determine average gains and losses in a particular market, consult the relative strength index. This will present you with the information you need to make a decision. You will want to reconsider getting into a market if you find out that most traders find it unprofitable.

As mentioned in the beginning of this article, information and advice from experienced traders is important for new and less experienced traders. The tips shown here are a great starting point to getting the most out of trading in the Forex market. There are endless opportunities to make money if you are willing to put in the work.

How Do You Set Consulting Fees?

One of the most frequent questions I receive from those who are trying to start or grow their own consulting business is: "How and what do you charge clients for your consulting services?"

The ways of billing clients are numerous. There are hourly rates, by-the-job fixed rates, contingency or performance arrangements, flat fee plus expenses, daily fee plus expenses, and many other methods of charging for your consulting services. Which one is best?

Let us consider some ways of billing for your time.

1. Hourly or Daily Rate

Many consultants charge by the hour or day. To establish an hourly or daily rate, they try to calculate the number of billable hours in a year. Many hours will be spent marketing and in administrative and other functions, so this time is not chargeable to the client. As well, vacation time, holidays, sick days, and so on, can not be directly billed to the client.

Consultants, like other businesses, must charge enough to cover their overhead expenses and also earn a profit. If a consultant wants to earn twenty-five dollars per hour of working time, he (or she) might have to charge one hundred dollars per hour to the client. This assumes one half billable hours and fifty percent overhead and profit.

Your hourly or daily rate may be limited by what your competition charges, especially if you have not positioned yourself as different from them.

2. Fixed or Flat Rate

Some consultants charge by the job or a flat rate. For example, a tax consultant might charge three hundred dollars to prepare a tax return for you and your spouse, including an unaudited income statement for your business from information supplied by you. If the consultant takes only one hour to do this, he grosses three hundred dollars per hour. If, though, the tax consultant miscalculates the time required, he could take twenty hours to complete the job and make only fifteen dollars per hour.

Of course, consultants can also make a profit on the labour of their employees or subcontractors.

Many consultants claim to make more on a flat rate than on a hourly basis. Advantages include being able to give a quote to the client up front and less disputes on price (as the total bill was agreed upon in advance).

To protect yourself on flat rate assignments, always limit the scope of your engagement to something that you can calculate easily.

For example, if you are asked to give a quote for setting up a website for a business, you might break this project into smaller assignments.

First, you could give a quote for preliminary research and recommendations. Estimate the time required to meet with the client, learn about his business and goals, develop strategies and a budget, and prepare recommendations on how to proceed. Then, give the client a quote (perhaps in the form of a one page letter agreement or proposal). Upon acceptance of the offer by the client in writing, you may proceed with this phase of the project.

Some consultants collect one-half of their fee up front and half upon assignment completion for each phase of the consulting project.

If the client doesn`t like your recommendations, at least you get paid for the work you did. Perhaps you can charge him to prepare alternative suggestions.

If your website project was not broken into smaller steps or assignments, you could find that you spent way more time on the project than anticipated.

Also, you might not find out until you present your bill for the whole project that your client won`t pay, either because he is not satisfied with the results or because he is unable or unwilling to pay.

Breaking down a project into smaller assignments helps you estimate more accurately and limits your financial exposure.

3. Contingency or Performance Arrangements

Sometimes clients will ask you to become their partner. If you do, you are no longer an objective consultant.

What if your client asks you to do management consulting for twenty-five percent of the net profits? Will there even be any profit by the time he writes off his car, home office, entertainment, travel, wages to self and family members, and other expenses?

On the other hand, if you are a marketing consultant that is absolutely certain that you can increase a client`s sales, you may feel confident charging a fee based on the increased sales volume of the client. Are you sure your client will co-operate with you in the attaining of this goal?

Some consultants charge a flat rate plus a percentage of ownership or profits for their services.

Fees based on contingency or performance arrangements are risky. Most consultants are better off charging a fair price for their services and leaving the risk of the client`s business to the client.

4. Value Based Fees

Sometimes consultants can justify fees based on their value to the client. For example, if you save a client one million dollars in taxes, your fee may be higher than normal to reflect the value of the services rendered.

You might pay an accountant or lawyer a fee of fifteen hundred dollars based on time for certain tax related services. What would you be willing to pay to legally save an extra million dollars in taxes? Ten thousand dollars, one hundred thousand dollars, or more?

Can you apply this information to your own consulting practice? Is there some particularly valuable service that you can render that would justify premium rates?

However and whatever you charge, be sure that your fee is a good value for your client and also compensates you fairly.

For further Information and resources about consulting, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/consulting.html

What Is a Patent Lawyer and How to Find the Right One

If you want to flourish, then the first thing that you need to work upon is a unique idea and there begins your first step to a long journey of becoming known or of doing something meaningful. But one of the first hurdles that you need to jump over is getting your idea patented. Yes, that's right; even ideas need to be protected these days. You need to be able to prove it to someone or everyone that a particular idea was originally yours.

If this is all coming new to you, then you must be wondering how that can be done. Well, as strange as it may sound to have your idea patented, it would be even stranger to learn that there are in actuality qualified and experienced patent lawyers out there who would can help you in the process of filing for patent of your idea with the government of the U.S.

Of course you cannot just stumble upon the door of the first patent lawyer that you find in the yellow pages; nor can you trust all the ads and links provided on the internet. So what do you do? How do you protect your unique brainchild from getting into the hands of someone who can misuse it?

If you are looking for an authentic, trustworthy and experienced patent lawyer, then follow these guidelines that are provided below.

· One way to search for a worthy patent attorney is through the word of the mouth. Remember, that it is the flashy and non-worthy lawyers who usually spend a lot on getting advertised. Those who have a good reputation only rely on their customers to spread the good word amongst their acquaintances. So ask around; it is best to ask someone you can trust or someone who is in the same business as you to guide you to a patent lawyer.

· However even if someone you know has suggested a name, don't trust it blindly. Keep in mind that you have a unique idea up in your head that needs to be protected; therefore you need to ensure that the attorney you work with is going to protect the confidentiality of your idea. So once you have gotten a name, check out his reputation through varied sources. These sources, again, could be either another friend or associate who has worked with the patent attorney or you could search him up over the internet. See if you can find admirable reviews of either that patent lawyer or his firm.

· The lawyer that you go to should have the proper qualification and experience in dealing with trademark issues, patent matters, copyright subjects and other intellectual property disputes. Of course depending upon the issue that you have to deal with you will know what qualities and qualifications matter to you the most.

Being a Spammer and Abusing the Internet

Let's face facts nobody likes getting junk mail in the post but getting the same amount of spam into your e-mail inbox is even more annoying. Spam is unsolicited e-mails that you receive usually with the intent of selling you something or generally trying to con you out of your hard earned cash.

The other thing about spam is that it's never sent to you manually - there isn't some guy sitting somewhere sending out one e-mail at a time. No no. Spam is sent in bulk by software programs that usually send this crap out in batches of about 1 million e-mails at each go.

It's bad enough that a lot of the spam you get is either not very nice in terms of it's content. No. What's worse is that these crooks don't even have to pay the cost of a stamp to send you e-mail. It's pretty much free for them to do this. Spammers do run into some costs but compared to the amount of cash some of these idiots make the costs are very small.

So why do you hate spam so much? Most people hate the daily chore of having to delete a few annoying e-mails. Or having their anti-virus program kick in and complain that there's a trojan virus hiding in that last piece of spam. That's enough to be dealing with but when you start receiving 100 or 200 pieces of spam each day it means that you're spending a lot of hours every single week tidying up this mess.

In the early days of the Internet, before we all used e-mail as much as we do now, spam was mostly limited to USENET groups, newsgroups that were established to discuss specific issues and topics. As that process advanced, it became possible for people to cross post, or send one message across multiple groups.

Once people began cross posting, that process was exploited by spammers. They quickly learned that you could send the same message to thousands of newsgroups regardless of their interests or the topic of discussion. When e-mail began to rise in popularity, spammers discovered that this was a whole new way to develop a new audience for whatever junk products or services they were promoting.

As spam began to increase we had a new problem - spambots were born. These are programs that are used to harvest e-mails that will be compiled into lists in order to spam individuals or very large groups of people.

While most of you are sick of amount of spam we get, for the spammer there is a good return on the spam they sound out in terms of cash. Some e-mail that you consider to be spam is really known as 'shotgun' advertising. This is advertising that is targeted and sent only to people who seem to have a valid interest in the product or service offered. Usually the e-mail addresses are acquired in a "legitimate" way - you filled out a form on a website somewhere.

But most spam is of the other nasty kind and while most people won't fall for the ridiculous merchandise or get-rich-quick scheme that are promoted in e-mail, there is that one person who will provide a credit card number or other information that provides the spammer with a solid payoff. In this case the spammers efforts are rewarded.

Although it seems like the spammers can get away with a lot without us having any say in the matter, the reality is there are many efforts being made to combat spam. Government, technology officials, companies and trade groups are forging an alliance to figure out how to combat spam and make it something that we talk about in the past tense. While the problem might never be solved 100% there are now tools and legal procedures in place which are helping us all to tackle this problem.

Why Haven't You Been Told About The AMAS Test?

With all the media talk about prostate surgery vs. taking drugs for prostate problems, you would think those are your only two options.

If information like this can save one more person from making a mistake with their prostate health, it will be worth taking the time to educate yourself on this important subject.

Are you aware that you can avoid surgery and drugs with proper testing in the first place?

Let's take a look at the facts when it comes to testing for prostate problems and look beyond the media headlines.

Better testing leads to more accurate information and a better diagnosis about the health of your prostate. And one of the keys is early detection with the RIGHT tests.

The most commonly MIS-used test is the PSA or Prostate Specific Antigen test.

Prostate-specific antigen - is a protein which is naturally produced by the prostate gland. Prostate tumors typically cause over-production of PSA, so when a blood test reveals an elevated level of the protein, it's a red flag that warns of possible problems.

Both cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH which is a swelling of the prostate, can increase PSA levels.

What doctors usually do next is to recommend a biopsy. This is the next step toward trouble. Prostate biopsies are painful procedures that can result in bleeding and infection which only worsens your problem - if you even have one.

And recent evidence shows that most of these biopsies are completely unnecessary.

In a 2003 study from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, researchers set out to determine if fluctuations in PSA levels would reveal a single PSA test result to be unreliable on its own.

The conclusions of this 4 year study revealed that an isolated PSA screening with an elevated level should be followed with an additional screening several weeks later before proceeding with further testing or a biopsy.

Because the problem with a single PSA test is that PSA levels normally fluctuate and having just one test leads to over diagnosis of prostate problems.

Here is where the AMAS test is significantly better.

A more sensible and dependable way to screen for prostate cancer is a blood test called the anti-malignin antibody screen (AMAS). Anti-malignan antibody levels become elevated when any cancer cells are present in the body.

Most importantly, these levels rise early in the development of cancer cells, which means that cancer can sometimes be detected several months before other clinical tests might find it.

With an accuracy rate of more than 95 percent, the AMAS test is much more reliable than the PSA test. And the best way to detect prostate problems is a SERIES of PSA tests (as the Sloan- Kettering Trial concluded), WITH the AMAS test.

This powerful combination of tests will allow you to avoid false alarms which lead to painful biopsies, drugs and unnecessary painful surgery.

The more you learn about these tests, the more you will feel compelled to implement them.

You can find out more about the AMAS test at http://www.amascancertest.com.

As you can see, these are important tests to take over a period of time which can save you from unnecessary surgery and drugs.

Take control of your own health by educating yourself about tests, treatments and nutrition so that you can become more healthy and stay healthier in the long run.

2004 © by Lee Cummings Leeman@LC-Nutrition.com

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Can't Get There From Here

Can't Get There From Here

Juneau is the capital of Alaska, but did you know that you cannot drive there from anywhere?

You can fly into Juneau or you can take a ferry to Juneau, but you can't actually drive there. There are no roads into Juneau. Can you imagine not being able to drive to the State Capital in the state where you live?

Normally, a lot of business and a lot of government takes place in a state's Capital. Not having easy access to it would create lots of problems, wouldn't it? Well, not in Alaska.

In fact, up until a few years ago Juneau was two time zones or more away from the rest of the state. A few years ago Alaska had five time zones. Now we have only two time zones and our Capital is now in the same time zone as most of the state.

Governor Frank Murkowski has a transportation plan that would include the building of a 65 mile road from Juneau to Skagway by the year 2010. That would connect Juneau by road to Anchorage, Fairbanks, and much of Alaska.

Of course, you would have to drive through part of Canada to get to Skagway. Not a big deal, since Canada still likes us.

However, many Alaskans are not too thrilled by the idea of building an expensive road to Juneau. According to Skagway business owner, Jan Wrentmore, "It will be as stupid an idea in 2010 as it is now."

Part of the issue is that Skagway and Haines depend on the marine ferry system for business, since Skagway and Haines are the northernmost terminus for tourists who want to disembark the ferry and drive. The fear is that Juneau would become the northernmost stopping point for the ferry if a road is built from Juneau to Skagway.

"We lose our status of what we've had for 100 years," said Jan Wrentmore. "It creates a competing port."

Of course, the rest of Alaska doesn't really care about the competing port issue. The point is that the rest of Alaska doesn't really care about the whole issue. Our legislators at the State Capital seem to get along just fine the way things are currently.

Change comes slowly in Alaska and I would guess that this issue will be talked about for a good many more years to come.

If we talk about it long enough, eventually it will become a mute issue. We won't need a road. Eventually we'll be able to teleport ourselves to the Capital if we wish.

Beam me up Governor.