Give the gift of insurance this holiday season

The people have spoken. No, this is not yet another political column. The people have spoken in another profound way—this holiday season they want to connect and reconnect with loved ones at record levels.According to a recent Airlines for America report, 27.3 million people are expected to fly over the 12-day period surrounding Thanksgiving this year. That number would top the 26.2 million who flew in 2007. Millions more will travel by other means to feast, watch football, and [...]

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Deeds Done, Sunday, Nov. 13, 2016

Chestnuthill TownshipLTS Homes LLC to Sharon Jones, Lot 36, Section 5, Sierra View, $229,900East Stroudsburg BoroughMichael M. and Theresa Kasapov to Moustafa and Amanda Cherif, Tract, westerly side Prospect Street, formerly Wall Street, Tax ID 5-1/2/6/8, $330,020Hamilton TownshipWilliam E. Jones and Heidi H. Nyland to Weichert Workforce Mobility Inc., 227 Smiley Lane, Stroudsburg, $191,528, [...]

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Carl Wilgus to leave Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau

For nine years Carl Wilgus has helped the Pocono Mountains remain one of the Northeast’s premiere destination for travelers seeking recreation or for those who simply want a place to get away to.This week, the Washington State native who has spent more than four decades in the hospitality and tourism business, confirmed that his 10th year as CEO of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau will be his last.“It’s only fitting that November, 2017 will be it for me, [...]

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Financial Choices and Personal Growth in a Time of Change

This week has unquestionably been a week for the history books in America. People will be thinking about and living with the consequences of this election for a very, very long time.

Regardless of your personal feelings on the issue, I think we can all agree on two key things.

First, there are many people out there who are having a deep emotional response to the events of the last week. Some people are extremely scared and worried. Some people are celebratory. Some people are relieved. Some people are angry. Some people are just simply uncertain about what is to come. Again, regardless of your own personal views on the changes beginning in America right now, it’s undeniably true that emotions and tensions are running high and they run the gamut.

Second, we are entering a time of change. Whenever you see a major political shift in a country, not only do you see changes in the laws of the land, you see changes in the culture of the land. Although speculation is running wild and we have seen a few knee-jerk responses, we do not yet know what those changes are going to look like.

Those two factors combined can lead people to feel incredibly uncertain, and that leads people to make some pretty poor choices. They’re likely to react emotionally and take actions that they might not otherwise take. Their words might be intense. They might do things that go beyond what might normally be within their character.

Those things may have some real long term consequences. Relationships can be damaged. Reputations can be damaged. Careers can be damaged. If your emotions are running high, you’re very prone to making really poor financial decisions, reacting quickly and emotionally (which is always a mistake).

When change comes in your life and in the world at large, there are some principles that you can always follow to avoid making regrettable moves in the face of that change. These principles apply to everyone, regardless of where you stand on the changes at hand.

Lock down your finances and make no major investment, career, or spending decisions for a while. You should never, ever make a major financial move in immediate response to a major event. Investment goals and spending decisions should be made based upon what you are planning for your personal future, and your plan for your personal future should be considered over a period of time. It should not be radically and suddenly changed by any life event.

Yes, there are life changing events. They happen. The events of this week might be such a life changing event for you. The thing is that even though a major event has happened, you have not given that major event enough time to really think through how it changes the long term plans of your life in a calm and unemotional fashion.

Your best immediate response is to avoid making any major moves with your money for a while. Give yourself some time to process the changes that have happened and, more importantly, give some serious thought to whether or not they really have affected your long term life plans.

Do this with any move in your life that involves significant sums of money, whether it’s making a purchase, selling something, making a career change, or making a financial move. Let all of it rest for a while and process the changes.

Whenever you make a major move in your life, it needs to come from an internal place unless it is absolutely forced by an external change. As big as the changes might seem at the moment, they’re still external changes that aren’t really applying significant force to your life as of yet. That means you should rely on internal changes in terms of what you want out of life, and that takes time. Give it time. Don’t make major decisions right now.

Practice low-cost stress reduction practices in your life. For many people, periods of change (like this appears to be) are stressful, whether that change is beneficial for you or not. People are creatures of habit, and when change happens, that means routines and habits and ways of thinking are going to be altered. That brings stress, period.

If you add to that the fact that many adults lead stressful lives simply due to the time crunch that they’re almost constantly under (myself included), it’s easy to see how a major event like this can take a simmering pot and move it to the boiling point.

Stress is harmful. It causes you to make poor decisions. It has disastrous consequences for your long term health. It rips away your ability to focus. It has a negative effect on your mood. Those negative effects can have disastrous financial, professional, and personal consequences – poor money choices, poor health, poor communication and relationships, you name it. When you lower your stress level, you reduce all of those negative effects.

My own life is almost constantly stressful, but I only feel those effects if I let them get to me. I have a routine of several de-stressing strategies that really help with this and as long as I stick with those strategies, life can hand me a lot and I’ll roll through it without the negative effects of stress. Here are the five key strategies I use.

I meditate or pray. This is something I mention fairly frequently, but I mention it because it really works well for me. It’s reduced my stress and improved my focus a great deal since it became a daily part of my life several months ago. It’s really simple, too. I just sit in a chair, close my eyes, and concentrate on my breathing for five or ten minutes. I breathe in. I breathe out. I focus on just that. If I find my attention wandering, I notice it and don’t berate myself over it, because it is going to happen. Instead, I just guide myself back to concentrating on my breathing. To me, prayer is the exact same thing, except with a focus on a spiritual target instead of one’s breathing. When I’m done, it feels like I gave my mental state a thorough cleaning, and it’s had many longer-term benefits on my stress management and particularly on my focus level.

I go on walks, particularly in nature. When I’m thinking through something, whether it’s how to write about a particular topic on The Simple Dollar or a personal problem or anything else, it’s easy to just sit at my desk and let the gears turn, but I’ve found it’s much more effective in terms of coming to a good solution and feeling better about myself and the world if I go take a walk instead, preferably outside in a more natural setting. I often go to parks and walk around on a trail for half an hour or so, looking around and trying not to think about anything other than the problem I want to resolve and the beauty of the situation I’m in. I almost always leave with a refreshed mind and body and a plan for what I’m going to do.

I try to eat healthy foods. That mostly just means eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. When I’m hungry for a snack, I’m better off if I just grab some fruit or a handful of nuts with minimal seasoning. At meal time, I try to make room on my plate for as many vegetables as possible. While fast food and heavy meals are definitely tasty and can be convenient, they also often leave me feeling bloated and feeling as though something is holding my mood down, so I’m trying to make those things rare in my life.

I exercise. Basically, I just try to do something every day that elevates my heart rate and gets me breathing heavy to the point where I can’t quite talk in complete sentences, and then I try to stay there for a bit. It doesn’t matter so much what I’m doing, but I usually try to alternate between cardio (running, jumping, etc.) and stressing a muscle group (planks, squats, push-ups, etc.). There’s this peak where I’m pushing myself but not too hard that leaves me feeling great at the end. A good place to start for free daily exercises is Darebee.

I try to achieve meaningful things or meaningful progress on big things. The biggest stresses in my life are usually things that I feel are important but that I’m not actually doing or making meaningful progress on. I’m a big believer that everything you do in life falls into four groups: important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and neither important nor urgent. I’m pretty good at immediately addressing the important and urgent things and discarding the neither important nor urgent things, but I often spend more time on the urgent but not important things than I should. That means I leave behind things that are important but not urgent, and when those build up, they cause stress. Simply addressing those things head on is a powerful stress reducer.

Try to avoid expressing controversial opinions – or even political opinions of any kind – in the company of those outside of your inner circle and particularly avoid it in the workplace. This is simply good practice in terms of building and maintaining professional relationships. Like it or not, you’re going to have to work with people you don’t agree with politically. You’re going to have to associate with them in your community, at least a little bit.

No matter how “on fire” you are with your political thoughts right now, whether you’re in despair or jubilant, you are failing your future by bringing those thoughts up in professional company or non-intimate personal company. You are poisoning the well of future relationships with no real benefit.

The truth is that you don’t know the political beliefs of the people in your office or the people you casually associate with in your community. They may completely disagree with you, find what you are saying to be repugnant, and walk away with a severely diminished view of your character, even if you find such character judgments based on political and current affairs viewpoints to be ridiculous. It doesn’t matter what you think in terms of how other people draw judgments about you. They’re going to draw judgments based on their own criteria, and many people do so due to political commentary.

If you feel a strong urge to unleash your political views, simply save it for another forum. Post about it online (preferably anonymously). Go join a political group. Talk about it to your close circle of friends. Find people that are openly willing to have discussions on those topics. Just keep the thoughts to yourself in mixed company.

Learn as much as you can about the changes on the horizon. Whenever something unexpected happens, whenever your sense of how the world works changes, it is very tempting to respond emotionally and “demand” in some way that the world not change, particularly if you don’t like that change.

The truth is that when a major change happens outside of your control, you’re going to have to live with it, at least for now. All of the anger and pain and jubilation in the world won’t change that.

Instead, if you’re that invested in the change, learn about the change. Study the change.

By that, I don’t mean turning to the talking heads on cable news or talk radio who are employed to give highly opinionated “hot takes” on current events. Those things are complete garbage in terms of actually informing yourself.

Instead, sit down and read well-researched and well-considered books and articles on the world from a lot of perspectives. For example, I think that one of the best books about the most recent election has already been written: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance. I read it in the months before the election and it actually had a significant role in changing and growing my perspective on why things had happened.

Regardless of my own feelings on the events of the day, I know that there are real reasons for why those changes happened and not simple negative knee-jerk reactions pulled from emotion. Situations never, ever break down into simply thinking that some specific group of people is wholly bad or wholly good. They’re neither bad nor good. They’re just operating on principles that you may not be seeing because you haven’t yet bothered to look.

Look. If you don’t see the principles of what’s happening due to change caused by humans or find the ones you see wholly negative, you’re not looking hard enough. Keep looking. Keep learning. Understanding is the source of healing. Understanding is the source of knowing what the next step is, not just to fix the immediate problem you see, but the things that lie underneath that are actually causing the problems.

Try to understand those changes through the eyes of others. Whenever something unexpected happens in the world, one of the most powerful ways of understanding it is to simply try to see that change through the eyes of others. How does someone else see that change?

How does someone whose future has been destroyed by a factory leaving their small town see this change? How does someone who is a first generation immigrant see this change? How does someone who feels that their life concerns have been completely ignored for the last few decades by state and national leaders feel about this change? How does someone who has finally been able to marry someone that they love after decades of waiting feel about this change?

When you do that, two things happen. One, you begin to see other people as much more human, even if they’re doing things and expressing views that you don’t understand. Two, you begin to see that the changes aren’t as one-dimensional as you may have initially thought.

This process works for any change that occurs that’s out of your individual control and large enough to affect a significant number of people. By simply stepping back and considering how the change affects others, not only do you humanize the other people, you often begin to see the change more clearly.

So, how does that help you and your finances and your career? The more clearly you understand and see the changes happening in your life and in the world, the more likely it is that when you do take action in response to that change, it’s going to be a positive action that’s beneficial for you.

For example, some people panicked and immediately yanked money out of stocks as soon as they heard of an unexpected result. Those people almost immediately lost money in terms of brokerage fees and in terms of the fact that the markets didn’t react quite like they expected. They didn’t spend the time to try to understand the changes that were happening, and they paid for it.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” This is a well known quote, but it’s absolutely true. Whenever you feel very emotionally invested in and affected by change, your heart is telling you to get involved.

Channel your energies in a positive direction. Take all of those feelings and use them positively to bring about the world you want to see. If you’re invigorated by the sense that perhaps America will finally address some of the economic problems it’s been ignoring, see what you can do to help and to hasten those solutions. If you’re scared that America is stepping back from the promises of its founding documents, go find an organization dedicated to that cause and get involved.

When something shakes you to your core, take that not as a sign to retreat, but as a sign to engage. Turn that energy into something positive. Don’t sit at home and let it fester into something negative. Find a way to channel that passion into building the results you want to see.

When you’re out in public, think to yourself about the type of person you want to be present in your community and then be that person. There’s no better way to bring about the people you want to have in your community than by being that person by example.

Remember we’re not as different as we sometimes think we are. It is very, very easy in moments of change to see people on the other side of that change as being incredibly different than you. It’s easy to see them as something “other,” something unrelatable.

That is basically never true.

To buy into that idea that people on the other side of change are unrelatable does nothing but damage your personal and professional relationships going forward. It puts you into a situation where you’re restricting yourself to interacting and dealing with only a subset of people, which is going to chop down your opportunity.

Instead, you should be looking at what we all have in common, even across divides. We all love our families. We all love our friends. We all want a better life for ourselves. We all want better economic outcomes for the people around us. We all want to experience happiness in life.

We agree on those core things almost universally. The difference between us is solely on the path to those identical goals. The events of our lives cause us to follow different routes to those end goals than other people. Those differing events causes us to look at dilemmas in life differently because we’re simply at different places in our own journey, not because the person who sees it differently is evil.

It’s simply not true.

Whenever you see someone expressing views different than your own, take a moment to realize how much you really have in common with that person. You both have people that you deeply love. You both want to see a better world, though you may differ in some of the specifics. You both want to build a better life for yourself and for the people you care the most about. All you really differ on are the details, and they’re small by comparison and often shaped just by different life experiences.

Don’t get caught up in the little details. If you do, you throw away wonderful relationships and awesome opportunities, and for what? Very little.

The old Chinese proverb, “May you live in interesting times,” is meant as an insult, because to live in “interesting” times meant that you were likely living in dangerous and unfortunate times. Let’s do our best to make these times a little less interesting.

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Why You Should Get Pre-Approved for a Car Loan Before You Head to the Dealership

Heading to the car dealership just to look around isn’t a bad idea if you need a new car, right? Just because you look doesn’t mean you have to buy, right? Well, if you’re not concerned with price or the type of loan you wind up with, then this type of thinking is perfectly fine. If you’re price-conscious like the rest of us, on the other hand, and want to get the best deal on your new ride, you should do some homework before you hit the dealership.

Not only should you research the fair value of the vehicle you’re considering and shop around and negotiate to get the best price, you should also shop around for a loan. While shopping around for a car loan doesn’t sound nearly as fun as shopping for an actual car, it’s essential if you want to avoid getting ripped off.

The idea behind getting pre-approved for a car loan is simple: By shopping around for an auto loan, you’ll enter the dealership with a good idea of the interest rates and terms you can expect — and if you’re pre-approved for a car loan, you’ll have an extra bargaining chip with the dealer to help you get a low rate, which will make your new or used car more affordable in the long run.

The Benefits of Getting Pre-Approved for a Car Loan

The auto-research experts at Edmunds agree that loan shopping before you reach the dealership is a must. “The problem with starting your car financing at the dealership is that you don’t know whether the loan you’re being offered is the best financing you can get. It can also complicate the negotiations, and limits where you can shop to get the best price,” notes Edmunds.com. “The best way to counter this is to get pre-approved for your car loan. Getting pre-approved for a car loan is the closest you can come to the perks of paying with cash while not having to save up for months or years in advance.”

Where having the cash to pay for a car can give you an edge at the dealership, getting pre-approved for a loan is the next best thing, because it makes you less reliant on the dealer’s financing options. Here are some notable benefits of having your car loan squared away before you hit the dealership:

Get a better interest rate.

Shopping around is always your best bet when you’re trying to save money, and shopping for a car loan is no exception to that rule. By getting a few different quotes from various lenders, you can ensure you’re getting the best interest rate and loan terms possible.

Know how much you can actually afford.

Shopping for your car loan separately can help you create a realistic car budget to adhere to without the pressure of a dealer’s sales pitch in the background. When you shop ahead for your loan, you’re more likely to understand the type of payment you’ll end up with based on how much you spend, and you can take your time to evaluate the numbers without a salesman bearing down on you. By knowing this information before you shop, you can focus your energy on cars in your price range and avoid the rest.

Make your shopping experience easier.

When your car loan is already taken care of, your dealership experience will be a lot less complicated. You’ll be treated more like a cash buyer, which means you can focus your energy on negotiating the price of your car versus the car loan itself.

Gain the upper hand in negotiations.

As the next best thing to a “cash buyer,” you’ll have the upper hand when you negotiate with the dealership for the best deal. Since your financing isn’t tied to the dealership, you can take that pre-approval to any car dealer in town, and they know it.

And with a pre-approved car loan offer in your hand, you’ll have a set price you don’t want to stray from. When it comes to the add-ons and upgrades dealers try to sell you at the end — or the well-known tactic of stretching out your auto loan to seven years and focusing only on the lower monthly payment — you won’t fall for it, and you’ll have ample reason to say “no.”

Choose the best financing option in the end.

The best part about getting pre-approved for an auto loan is that it’s not set in stone. If the dealer you choose just so happens to offer an awesome financing deal after you agree on a purchase price, that’s just icing on the cake.

Since some dealerships offer 0% APR financing and other amazing deals at certain times of the year, this is important to consider.  Remember, just because you approach the dealership with a pre-approved car loan doesn’t mean you can’t choose dealer financing in the end if it’s a better deal.

The whole point is that, with a pre-approved car loan, you’re the one in the driver’s seat.

Related Articles:

• Best Auto Loans for 2016
• The Simple Dollar Guide to Auto Loans
• Low Monthly Car Payments? Look at the Long-Term
• Best Car Insurance Companies

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Four Ways to Tackle Overwhelming Debt

Any amount of debt can seem overwhelming, depending on what your income is or how much debt you’re comfortable having. If you’re feeling in over your head, it’s time to start looking for help to get you out of debt and back on track.

When it comes to digging out from underneath your debilitating debt, there’s a sort of order you should go through — beginning with some fundamental strategies before turning to increasingly drastic measures. Here’s where to start when you’re staring down an insurmountable debt.

Do-It-Yourself Debt Help

Here’s where you need to begin, before you call anyone else in. No one can help you like you can help yourself. Look at your finances, see where you can make some spending cuts, and pay that extra money forward to make more aggressive progress against your debt. If you’re being honest and track your spending with a critical eye, you’ll probably be able to find some expenses that could be better spent on getting yourself out of debt.

• Related: Five Things I Was Willing to Give Up to Save Money

In this process, reach out to your lenders, especially any you’ve fallen behind in paying. What do they need you to do to get back on track? Starting here is going to save you time, money, and aggravation. Once you’ve done this, if you’re still having trouble, it’s time to think about bringing in some additional help with your debt.

• Related: Constructing a Debt Repayment Plan

Debt Consolidation

We’re still sort of in the DIY arena here, but this is a little more aggressive. You might look at zero-interest balance transfer credit cards or consolidation loans as a way to get your debt under control. In most cases, this means trading multiple high-interest balances for one larger loan with a lower interest rate (or, with a balance transfer card, an introductory period with 0% APR).

This approach has a few benefits: First, if you qualify for a consolidation loan or new balance transfer card, it’s probably going to help your credit score immediately — the increase in your overall credit limit will reduce the amount of your available credit that you’re using, called your utilization rate. You’ll also have just one monthly debt payment to keep track of, instead of several – potentially

Plus, if you’re able to consolidate to a lower interest rate or even a 0% APR credit card, more of your money will go toward the principal of the debt — meaning each payment will have a greater impact and you’ll make faster progress.

In addition to balance transfer fees or loan fees that you need to be mindful of, there’s one other major pitfall here: If you’re not careful — if you don’t change the behaviors that landed you in this predicament in the first place — you can just end up deeper in debt. So know yourself and tread lightly. But if the lower interest rate makes up for any fees you’ll pay, and you think you can handle the responsibility, debt consolidation offers a straightforward path out of debt.

• Related: Should I Consolidate My Debt?

Debt Settlement

Some people pursue debt settlement, but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. In the first place, you’re going to have to not pay your bills for several months before your creditors are even going to consider negotiating a settlement with you — and this is going to have a very negative impact on your credit report and credit score.

What’s more, settled debt is treated like income by the IRS. You’ll get paperwork at the end of the year for the “income” that you owe taxes on and the IRS will expect you to pay it.

For most people, it’s best to skip this step. It’s just not an option that has a lot of positives to it. If you’ve already fallen behind, however, and your credit report is already pretty roughed up, this might not be quite so bad.

Debt Management

Debt management is a bit like debt settlement, but a little more positive. You pay a company a single flat rate every month to manage your debt for you. That’s going to save you a lot of money when it comes to interest and fees — however, they’re not going to do much for you that you couldn’t do for yourself. In this case, you’re effectively just outsourcing a debt consolidation loan to a third party and paying for the difference.

Better than this is getting free or low-cost consumer credit counseling from a non-profit agency. They can help you to evaluate all of your options and come up with a plan that works best for you. Paying high fees to another company to do what you can do for yourself isn’t necessary. Calling in a third party for a fresh set of eyes on the situation, however, might be useful in helping you to figure out precisely what it is that you need to be doing to get yourself out from underneath a mountain of debt — and hopefully before bankruptcy is a serious option.

Related Articles

• Debt Payoff Calculator
• How to Get Out of Debt Without Credit Counseling
• Five Signs Your Debt Is Threatening to Swallow You Home

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Missed Out on Veterans Day Deals? Here’s Where to Get a Free Meal on Monday