Finance, Investment & Real Estate

I’m flabbergasted. Utterly stunned. Mona (my daughter-in-law’s mother that recently passed away) didn’t have any life insurance. Okay, I think she had a $1000.00 policy but in my mind that’s the same as having no life insurance. I can’t imagine what she was thinking. She had a good job working for a doctor’s office and was treated very well there. I just don’t know why she didn’t have more than $1000.00 in life insurance.

My husband and I have wonderful medical and life insurance through his work, but I’m telling you people to listen up. If you don’t have life insurance this is something you might want to start doing something about it.

I was looking around at options Mona could have taken advantage of. She loved the internet and was on it all the time. There are websites on the net that give tips to get the cheapest quote for life insurance as well as home insurance, car insurance and just about any kind of insurance you’re looking for.

On a selfish note, Mona not having life insurance is going to take a toll on my husband and I. My husband has already offered to pay off her car (she didn’t have credit life on that loan either) so the kids (our son and DIL) will be able to keep it. This is just the tip of the iceberg and I still can’t stop being flabbergasted.

Technorati Tags: life insurance, insurance

I know a lot of people in other states talk about retiring to Florida, but hubby and I are the reverse. We live in Florida and talk about retiring to North Carolina. I haven’t been to North Carolina in years but my husband travels there a few times a year to visit his son who is stationed at Camp Lejeune, one of the Marine Corp bases near Jacksonville. Every time he comes home from his visit he says “you know, I’d really like to live there one day”.

My husband’s retirement is still quite a few years away but sometimes I get the bug just to check to see what the real estate market is like there. We have some friends that live in the Charlotte area and I’ve decided that if we ever do move to North Carolina the Charlotte area is one of my first choices for the location.

The luxury homes in Charlotte are pretty awesome but I don’t think I would ever be happy if I didn’t live near water. I’ve been looking at the real estate market in the Lake Norman area. Lake Norman is the largest body of fresh water in the North Carolina area. Fortunately for us (we’re not rich!) the market is strong for Lake Norman real estate with options that range from ranch-style single family homes to multi-million dollar residential properties with everything in between. Lake Norman has been recognized as Money Magazine’s “Top Places to Retire”, “Top 100 Places to Live” and one of “America’s Hottest Real Estate Markets”.

Even though I have my mind set on the Lake Norman area it is still interesting to look at the Charlotte luxury homes for sale. As a matter of fact, the Weddington NC real estate market is one of the top real estate markets in Charlotte. Situated about 15 miles from downtown Charlotte, the small-town charm of this residential community along with the natural environment and community structure make Weddington a desirable place to live.

I’ve blogged about credit cards a couple of times recently so I guess credit cards are on my mind. We used to have a ton (and when I say ton I mean ton! hehe) of credit cards but we took out a home equity loan a few years ago and paid them all off except one. Well, supposedly one because somehow, and I’m not quite sure how this happened but we’re up to three again.

Okay, I know how it happened. We kept one card for emergencies and this card has a pretty high credit limit. We also kept one card with a very small credit limit that is strictly used for internet purchases. Then I got a wild hair a few months ago because I didn’t have a credit card in my name only (which is important to me) so I accepted an offer from Amazon.com and applied for one of their cards. I really hate this card! The only thing I charged last month was the $14.99 for my World of Wacraft subscription and that credit card company had the unmitigated gall to charge me $2.00 interest on it. I always thought there would be no interest if I paid the full balance before the due date but it looks like I was wrong. If it happens again next month I’m going to transfer my WoW subscription to another card and not use the Amazon card anymore. I was even thinking about using the Amazon card for some 0% balance transfers but I’m not going to do that now.

I’m going to leave well enough alone and not apply for another credit card now but if I ever do I hope I have the good sense to compare credit cards.

I wrote about the PayJr Visa Card about a month ago and how I thought it was a good deal for parents and children alike. Here is some more good news - you don’t have to have an ugly card if you don’t want to. Not that I ever really paid attention to the looks of my credit cards but I know some people do, especially kids.

PAYjr Visa Buxx recently launched (July 11th) with their PAYjr Visa Buxx Competition card design contest. As part of the launch anyone and everyone is eligible to upload and design a card. The public will vote on the cards and prizes include MacBooks, Iods and even a Wii. I know a lot of teens that would love to own a Wii.

The best part of this contest is that you will be able to earn royalties if your card design is purchased so if you have any graphic design skills at all hop on over the the PAYjr Visa Buxx website and upload your entries (you can enter as many times as you like) into the contest.

I don’t think there were any programs available like the PAYjr Teen Prepaid Card when my son was a teen but it sure would have been nice. It would have been especially nice during my son’s senior year since he was living with his father during that time and I had to make special arrangements to pay for some of his expenses. In addition to child support I also assumed responsibility for all the extras like yearbook, cap and gown, karate lessons, senior trips, proms, etc. etc. It would have been easier to have a convenient way to send him the money when I got the phone call “hey Mom, I need money for blah blah blah”. Instead I had to meet him somewhere to hand him a check.

These days parents are lucky to have access to a program like PAYjr Teen Prepaid Card for their teenagers. The card is a convenient way to give teens money electronically and great for getting money to a teen quickly in an emergency.

This might sound strange but I think this would also be a good thing for my adult step-son and daughter-in-law. We have wired them money several times and let me tell you, wiring money is not cheap. If we had one of these PAYjr prepaid credit cards we could send them money electronically and save a lot of hassle and a lot of money by not paying the wiring fees.

The PAYjr Prepaid MasterCard card is a re-loadable prepaid card designed for teens but in our situation I think it would work well for our adult son. He is a Marine stationed in Iraq and his wife is still on base in North Carolina with their two small children. Emergencies do come up and in the event we need to get money to them quickly I think the PAYjr Prepaid credit card would suit our needs very well. I’ll be running it by my husband to see that he thinks.