Cut the Take Out

A long hard day at work. You get home and need dinner. Nothing in the fridge, nothing in the cupboard. Take-out again. The wallet just won’t comply much longer.
Re-wind.
A long hard day at work (sorry can’t help with that one). You get home and mmmm, what is that aroma? Dinner! Smells delicious, your mouth is watering.
And no you didn’t go to the wrong home and no you are not dreaming. You arranged all this, in a few minutes this morning.
What I won the lotto and hired a personal chef?
Well no, not exactly – you got a Crock Pot. A Crock Pot? Yep, it’s a cooker that cooks your food over a slow heat. Put it on in the morning and dinner is ready at night.
Don’t think you’ve got time in the morning. Well you will be pleasantly surprised how quick it can be. Chuck in some veggies (frozen or pre-cut if really short on time), throw some meat on top, pour in a sauce, put on the lid and turn it on low. That’s it.
It truly is that easy. And the aroma of dinner when you walk in the door at night, it is sensational – better than any take out.
Happy Crock Cooking
Lisa – “The Crock Cook”
www.a-crock-cook.com
Crock Pot Recipes and everything else Crock Pot

Understanding Your Property Tax Bill

The first thing to understand about your property tax bill is the terminology. Many people look at the tax bill and see a bunch of numbers that have no meaning to them. In reality, they do have a special meaning to the property owner. If you do not understand what the sections on your property tax bill mean, you might not know if this bill is correct or not. Here are some terms that you need to understand when looking at the tax bill.

Fair cash value is what the property can be sold for between two parties without any duress. The assessed value of the property is what the city or county deems a fair assessment of what the property is worth. This is figured out by comparing your property to similar properties in the same area that have sold recently.

Exemption means the removal of said property from the tax base, this is only a part of the assessed value of the property. This might hold true for a church that is only used for religious activities. It may also be due to a homestead exemption. If it is for a home that is considered a religious property for worship only, you can claim the tax exempt status if you only use it for church activities, no personal use.

When you look at the property tax bill, you will see the tax rate. This is the tax due on the property after being calculated with percentages of the tax base. The term taxing district represents the schools and local government that has the levy against your property taxes. The tax code is used for office purposes of the county clerk that represents a combination of taxing structures or bodies.

For those who have a lottery, you will see a section where it states that you are receiving a lottery credit, which will lower your total property tax due. Everyone in the county receives a lottery credit and that is why the credits are usually very small in amounts. The lottery credit will affect your total tax due and not the tax base.

Once you understand the property tax bill terminology, it does make it a little easier to understand the bill. If you do see problems or you have issues with the tax bill, you can request a property tax appeal with the help of a property tax lawyer or consultant. It is always wise to consult an attorney before taking such a step where property tax and the government are concerned.

If you see that your lottery credit is missing or different from others, you might need to question this or question your assessed value of the property. You might even have questions regarding the fair market value of your property. You can always question the bill before paying it, if you do not receive answers that you understand, visit a property tax consultant and see if they can help explain the answers you need to your questions.

Long Island Schools Improve in the 2005-2006 School Year

Long Island Schools Meet State and Federal Standards

Long Island Schools had over 30 schools not meet the New York State Standards for the 2004-2005 school but this year the number of schools rose dramatically. Schools that succeeded this year that had not last year include East Hampton, Ronkonkoma, Mineola, and Valley Stream. The Long Island Schools’ ratings were based on New York’s expectations of a school’s test scores and graduation rates. These standards were met in part because of many Long Island Schools have greatly improved their education methods and instructional opportunities for those students with learning disabilities. Several Long Island Schools did not attain the required state scores from their special education students last year. During the 2005-2006 school year more teachers and paraprofessionals were hired throughout all Long Island Schools which allowed students with disabilities to be in inclusion programs and have smaller class size. A lot of these changes have been inspired by the No Child Left Behind Act that required Long Island Schools to raise the mathematics and language arts scores of all students with emphasis placed on specific student groups including whites, blacks, Hispanics, the poor and the disabled. The students in these groups should achieve higher percentages of success every year with the goal being 100% proficiency by 2014. Currently around 83% of all New York schools meet the academic requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act.

Among the Long Island Schools that did not meet standards last year that did succeed this school year include: Comsewogue High School, Center Moriches High School, Ronkonkoma Junior High School (Connetquot), Walter G. O’Connell Copiague High School, East Hampton High School, Eastport-South Manor High School, Harborfields High School, Hauppauge High School, G.W. Hewlett High School (Hewlett- Woodmere), Hicksville High School, Huntington High School, Island Trees High School, RJO Intermediate School (Kings Park), Lindenhurst Middle School, Long Beach Middle School, Newfield High School (Middle Country), Mineola Middle School, Oceanside High School, Saxton Middle School (Patchogue-Medford), South Side Middle School (Rockville Centre), Joseph A. Edgar, Intermediate (Rocky Point), Roslyn High School, Sachem High School North, Pierson High School, Floral Park High School (Sewanhaka), New Hyde Park High School (Sewanhaka), Sewanhaka High School, Walt Whitman High School (South Huntington), Southold High School, Ward Melville High School (Three Village), Valley Stream Central High School, and Westbury High School.

Seniors in Long Island Schools Win New York Lottery Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship

New York Lottery Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship awards a $4,000 scholarship to one senior at every New York high school paid in $1,000 increments each year for university study. This year Long Island high schools in Suffolk School District and Nassau School District had one senior from each high school receive a New York Lottery Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship. To be eligible for the New York Lottery Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship students must meet the following requirements:
Scholarships can only be used toward the cost of attendance at a New York State accredited college, university, community college or trade school; At least a B average, based on seven semesters of high school; Experience in extracurricular and community activities; Demonstrated leadership skills; and Parents/Guardians are not employed by the New York Lottery or one of its contractors
The following requirements must be met by the awarded student in order to keep the New York Lottery Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship: Attend a New York State accredited college, university, trade school, or community college; Maintain full-time student status; Maintain at least a B cumulative average, as determined by school; Do not accept full-cost-of-attendance scholarship from another source; Provide program administrator with proper transcripts/documents to confirm eligibility; and Complete studies within five years of high school graduation date.

How to Construct A Powerful Profit Pulling Business Portfolio

What is a portfolio and do I really need one? A portfolio is simply a group of investments held by an investor. It’s a very carefully chosen selection of businesses and generally, yes; it’s a good idea to have one.
Let look at it this way. Imagine that you owned an umbrella shop. If it didn’t rain for several weeks, you would make no sales at all and therefore, you would make no money. If your shop sold umbrellas as well as wellington boots, raincoats, ponchos, sun hats, sun cream, sun glasses, ski shoes, hats, coats and scarves, chances are, you would make a sale whatever the weather was.
When it comes to starting business as an Internet Marketer, you actually have a lot of choice.
If you are good at spotting a niches and if you are skilled enough to create a product then you have this as an option available to you. Alternatively, allow other people to create the product and all you have to do is market the product as an affiliate. If the nature of the business allows it, you can build networks of marketers and/or customers and grow your business this way.
Whatever route you chose to go, you will ultimately be in business to sell a product or service. The not so good news is this: Despite the excellence of your goods or the amount of skill, wit and charm with which you promote your wares, not everyone will be interested in what you have to offer all of the time. In fact advertising standards suggest that less than 5 in every 100 people that you approach will say yes!
But you can save the day, keep your options open and make your profit regardless. If you happen to have a variety of services then you automatically increase the chances of selling at least one product to your prospect.
It makes excellent business sense to have a business portfolio. Although most well known entrepreneurs make most of their money from one primary source, many do have their finger in more than one pie at the same time. If sales or signups go down in one area, you may be doing well elsewhere and still be in profit overall.
If your product is seasonal, you would still want to be making sales whatever time of year it was.
That said, exactly what goes into creating the ultimate portfolio of businesses in internet marketing? I will use one portfolio that I have created as an example.
The Internet is now a force to be reckoned with regards to shopping largely due to the growth and extensive advertising campaigns of companies such as Amazon and Ebay. If you own a website, become an Amazon affiliate and position shopping links for your visitors on your site. Visitors may not be interested in the e-book that you spent many late nights writing but if they are in the mood to go shopping online and they spy your ‘shop here’ amazon link, hey presto, you’ll make some cash!
Next tip: Choose programs that are easy to promote. Programs that have a good simple product that everybody needs. Choose a program that offers a good simple pay structure. What about a fun program? Everybody has played the lottery at least once. Would it be easy to promote a program based on the World’s Largest Lotto?
If you are promoting more than one affiliate program, you will almost definitely need a downline builder. This is a program that houses all your online businesses so to speak. You advertise your downline builder and when people signup, they see all your other programs and can consider whether or not to join. downline builders are efficiency and economy exemplified. Buildreferrals and Referralware are two such examples. Indispensable business building tools.
After you’ve spent a few weeks building your business on the internet, you will begin to notice this: There is a large group of people of all ages and backgrounds who will ask this question on a regular basis: “I want to start an internet business but I don’t know where to start. Can you help me?” People asking this question pop up all over the place – In online discussion forums, in your inbox, you name it. Here’s your chance to help a hot prospect to become successful and thereby become more successful yourself in the process. Read how:
Introduce them to a program that will teach, guide and educate them for you, making them into a professional, well-learned marketer. Imagine having several people like these as partners in your business. Check out Michael Russell’s MPAM and Steve Leung of CashCulture’s Make Money University.
Let these professional programs teach your Newbie all about search engines, traffic exchange programs, rotators, email list building, safelists and every other conceivable advertising method available online today. If they sign up to any recommended programs, you effectively build your up business simultaneously.
Everybody needs a business building tool but not everybody may need your particular service or product. So aim to promote or be affiliated with educational tools, website builders, downline builders and so on.
In summary, many programs offer you what seems like the opportunity to make a million in a very short time as well as a host of other fantastic benefits. But always stop to ask:
What does this program have to offer my customers or my downline?
Will it be easy to promote? Will the conversion rate be good?
Will my portfolio be balanced so that I am offering different prospects different types of goods and services?
Adopt an ‘I have something for everyone’ approach in business.

internet fraud

Fraud has always been a problem, but now that the Internet is more popular, fraud seems to have found a new home. People use to have to worry about phone calls from scammers, and perhaps the unethical contractor, but today’s big worries come from the things that can show up online in a person’s email inbox. Those phone scammers are still around, but most of these types have turned to the Internet to find victims. Apparently, there are a lot of people out there that are easily taken by Internet fraud, and you don’t want to be one of them.

One of the biggest types of Internet fraud going is the lottery scam. This is when someone is notified by email that they have won some lottery they have never heard of and never entered. In order to get their winnings, they must pay a fee. Once they have sent out the money they never hear from the lottery again. This is because there was no lottery. The only person who won anything was the scammer. These generally say they are the UK lottery, but that is never the case. If you never entered anything, you can’t win. Remember that when you get these emails.

Another case of Internet fraud is the emails that come saying that someone has died and they need help getting money out of an account. Of course, you, a stranger on the other side of the world, are the only person that can help. There are also some that will urge someone to help them. They may need help getting a plane ticket or something similar. They might also say they need someone to process payments. You should never get involved in any of these things. They are all internet fraud, and can land you in quite a bit of trouble in the end. You won’t get any money, but you will get a lot of heartache.

There are other types of Internet fraud out there, and new things will probably pop up as long as the Internet is around. People will think of new ways to play with the emotions of others in order to get money they did not earn and they do not deserve. They know there are a lot of soft hearted people in the world, and they think of new ways to take advantage of them all of the time. Just remember that if something comes to you via email, it is not something you should mess with in any way. Delete it and move on. If you feel the need to help someone, donate your time or money to a local charity that you know you can trust. That way you know you aren’t being taken, and your money is going where it will be used for good.

Five Steps to a Comfy Retirement

You’ve probably heard about the Nebraska meatpackers who won the largest lottery jackpot in the United States last week. One winner replied “I’ve been retired for about four days now” when asked what he would do with his winnings. His response did not surprise me; I’m sure my reaction would be similar!

What does surprise me is that many Americans believe that they cannot retire comfortably unless they win the lottery. A survey by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 27% of Americans believe that their best chance to gain $500,000 in their lifetime is to win a sweepstakes or lottery.

Fortunately, building a comfortable retirement nest egg is easier than you think. Here are five steps to help you build a comfortable retirement:

1. Start early! If you started saving $100 a month beginning at age 18, you would have over $500,000 by age 65. The power of compounding is great, and the earlier you start saving, the greater the benefit.

2. Have a plan. The best way to ensure that you will have a comfortable retirement is to plan how much you will need to retire. You can’t reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going.

3. Participate in company sponsored retirement plans. Many companies offer matching contributions to your 401K or other retirement plan contributions. This is free money – take it!

4. Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, that fits your goals and risk tolerance. Studies show that your investment return is determined primarily by the allocation of your assets, not the individual investment selections you make.

5. Keep your costs down. Invest in no-load, low cost mutual funds (or other investments). Lowering the expenses in your portfolio by just 1% can equate to 20% more money in your portfolio after 20 years.

Although winning a large lottery certainly can’t hurt, following the steps above should send you well on your way to a comfortable retirement.

Five Steps To A Richer Retirement

You’ve probably heard about the Nebraska meatpackers who won the largest lottery jackpot in the United States last week. One winner replied “I’ve been retired for about four days now” when asked what he would do with his winnings. His response did not surprise me; I’m sure my reaction would be similar!

What does surprise me is that many Americans believe that they cannot retire comfortably unless they win the lottery. A survey by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 27% of Americans believe that their best chance to gain $500,000 in their lifetime is to win a sweepstakes or lottery.

Fortunately, building a comfortable retirement nest egg is easier than you think. Here are five steps to help you build a comfortable retirement:

1. Start early! If you started saving $100 a month beginning at age 18, you would have over $500,000 by age 65. The power of compounding is great, and the earlier you start saving, the greater the benefit.

2. Have a plan. The best way to ensure that you will have a comfortable retirement is to plan how much you will need to retire. You can’t reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going.

3. Participate in company sponsored retirement plans. Many companies offer matching contributions to your 401K or other retirement plan contributions. This is free money – take it!

4. Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, that fits your goals and risk tolerance. Studies show that your investment return is determined primarily by the allocation of your assets, not the individual investment selections you make.

5. Keep your costs down. Invest in no-load, low cost mutual funds (or other investments). Lowering the expenses in your portfolio by just 1% can equate to 20% more money in your portfolio after 20 years.

Although winning a large lottery certainly can’t hurt, following the steps above should send you well on your way to a comfortable retirement.

Abundance is a feeling

This question and answer interview was done by Kathy Smith, one of Michael’s loyal Virtual Assistants. Visit her website.

Q: Michael, many times during your teleclasses and seminars, you say “abundance is a feeling.” Can you elaborate on that statement – what do you mean it’s a feeling?

First one of the important things that we’ve come to learn with the Law of Attraction is that we can duplicate feelings. In other words, just through the words I use I can stimulate somebody or discourage them. In short, we can create feelings within ourselves and within others by what we say and what we think.

Abundance is a feeling. Do you ever notice how excited you feel when you know you have a check coming or when you know you’re getting an income tax refund? The excitement you’re experiencing is the feeling of abundance. We feel abundant knowing that it’s coming, even before we put it in the bank. So a question to ask is, “Do I feel abundant knowing that I’m receiving some money or do I feel abundant only when I put it in my bank account?” For most people, they feel abundant knowing that it’s coming. It has nothing to do with whether that have it or not.

So because abundance is a feeling, and the Law of Attraction responds to feelings (vibrations), what if we were able to duplicate the vibration of abundance deliberately? (This is what’s called Deliberate Attraction). We’ve come to understand that this powerful force called the Law of Attraction is constantly checking to find a vibration that we’re sending and duplicates it by giving us more of the same. So what if when the Law of Attraction is checking at every moment, that in that moment, we are offering the vibration of abundance? Given the formula, the Law of Attraction would duplicate that vibration and bring us more of the same. That’s why it’s called the Law.

Q: How do you teach people to attract more abundance?

The Law of Attraction does not care why you are offering a vibration. In other words, it does not care whether you are remembering, pretending, complaining, creating, day-dreaming or observing your reality. It obediently duplicates that vibration. So ideally, we would find something that makes us feel abundant and include it more often in our daily vibration. There are a number of tools that people can use to duplicate the vibration of abundance. I’ll give you one of them today.

Q: How do you record abundance in your own life?

On my fridge, I have 15 – 2 dollar winning lottery tickets. So I can clearly and truthfully say I won the lottery 15 times last month. I’m a winner. Look how many times I’ve won! It’s worth 30 dollars to me in the bank and it’s worth much more to me vibrationally.

You know when people buy those lottery scratch tickets? Most would celebrate the win for 21 seconds. So for 21 seconds, you are offering the vibration of abundance by saying things like, “Hey I just won 2 dollars! I love it when I win scractch tickets!” And after the short offering of abundance vibration, most people cash the ticket in again and again until they lose. And now they catch themselves saying, “I just wasted money on this lottery again. I only ever win 2 dollars. Easy come, easy go.” Now they’re in a place of offering a negative vibration.

So here’s how to take advantage of the 2 dollar winning lottery ticket. Don’t cash it. Keep it in your wallet. Put it on your fridge. And as you look at it each time, it will be a brief reminder that you won 2 dollars. Now you can tell yourself, I won the lottery! I won money this week! And now, for more than 21 seconds, you are offering the vibration of abundance over and over and over again. Your 2 dollar winning lottery ticket is worth more to you vibrationally than the 2 dollars.

Google AdWords

A “dollar and a dream,” is all you need said the television commercial. The lure of the Lottery is a seductive one: plunk down a dollar and you might become a millionaire for life. The promise of “pennies from heaven” makes the Lottery a daily habit for millions. People flock to convenience stores every morning to buy a newspaper, a cup of coffee, and a lottery ticket.
I see that same kind of passion and unrealistic dreaming among Google AdWords advertisers. Why? Because they heard they can “strike it rich” with Google Adwords. It doesn’t help matters any that Google makes it ridiculously easy to get started with their pay-per-click program. All you need is “five dollars and a dream!”
Google doesn’t advertise that message of course. However, for most advertisers, it’s still a huge gamble nonetheless. Do advertisers make money with Google AdWords? Some do, yes. However, the vast majority of advertisers might as well blow their money on lottery tickets.
Is Google AdWords to blame for so many advertisers losing their money? That depends on your point of view. Are lotteries responsible for people gambling and losing their money?
In my opinion, the answer to both questions is yes and no. Lotteries would never admit this, but their whole purpose for being is to entice people to gamble. I mean, c’mon. That’s why they exist. If people didn’t gamble, there would be no lotteries.
Yes, lotteries hide behind legislation and the pretense that the money they generate goes toward education and other laudable endeavors, and for the most part that’s true.
However, it’s also true that there are people barely living above poverty level, spending money they can’t afford on lottery tickets. They get sucked in, because like the television commercial said, it’s only a dollar. However, those dollars tend to add up pretty quickly, when you’re spending ten or twenty dollars a pop on lottery tickets.
It’s the same with Google AdWords. People who wouldn’t ordinarily advertise get sucked in, because it’s only five dollars to get started. But when Google charges $500 to their credit cards every couple of weeks, and they haven’t made any money, the harsh reality of the situation sets in. It’s not nearly as easy as they thought or heard it would be.
Of course, it’s easy to blame Google AdWords. However, most of the blame has to fall on the shoulders of the advertisers. The majority of Google AdWords advertisers, simply don’t have a clue about what they’re doing. They read some e-book about how to make money with Google AdWords, and instantly think they’re ready to conquer the world.
It’s just not that easy, people. You still have to have some fundamental knowledge of advertising, in order to succeed with Google AdWords or any type of advertising for that matter. You have to educate yourself first.
And the best way to educate yourself is by reading “real” advertising books like “Scientific Advertising,” by Claude Hopkins and “How To Write A Good Advertisement,” by Victor Schwab and “Advertising Secrets Of The Written Word,” by Joseph Sugarman.
Educate yourself first, and then lay down your money. That’s how it works. To do otherwise, you’d be better off playing the lottery!

If American Adopted the Premium Bonds Program

The British have found a unique way to invest their money. By buying premium bonds the citizens of Britain can enter their bond numbers into a lottery each month and have a chance to win over a million pounds. There are millions of other cash prizes that awarded to the bond numbers drawn and this cash prize is seen to be better than interest generated from traditional savings program. The system is so popular more than a third of the country invests this way. The investor can pull out their money at any time and there is not penalty or cost to do so. The money invested is used by the government to fund projects and at the same time give their citizens a chance to be millionaires.

What would happen if this system was used in the United States? Premium bonds would be a welcome financial opportunity for American citizens. The current lottery system is taking in millions of dollars across the country but there are few winners. Once you buy a lottery ticket you don’t get your money back and you lose that dollar. This is gambling and not investing. The odds of winning an American lottery are astronomical. One person in Florida in 1999 bought ten thousand lottery tickets. After the numbers were pulled, the person only won eight hundred and sixty three dollars. The investor lost over nine thousand dollars in taking a huge chance of winning the twenty three million dollar prize.

This would not happen with premium bonds. Thought the prize money is not as huge as the American lottery, the British investor would have twelve chances to win a million pounds over the course of a year. The chances of winning less amounts are even greater. The British citizen is allowed to invest up to thirty thousand pounds into the system and if they don’t win they can take their money out anytime they want. They lose nothing for their investment. This way the premium bond market is not considered gambling and the investor can be assured that their nest egg will remain in place.

The problem with premium bonds coming to America is that the government will have to restructure their thinking of how to save and distribute the funds. They are making millions now without having to do anything but have the weekly lottery and pay off the winners. They pocket out the cash without having the responsibility of letting people have the opportunity to save. Church groups and other anti-gambling groups will win a victory as they will look at the investment opportunity as a savings plan and not a gambling operation.

Unlike the British system where the investors purchase their bonds from the post office the postal service in the United States would probably be overwhelmed if they had to take responsibility for the program. The United States would probably benefit by selling premium bonds online and have an agency that deposits and awards the prizes. This would take a lot of planning but the American population would definitely embrace it.