Prenuptial Agreement

No one should get married without a Prenuptial Agreement in place! It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have, you always have to protect yourself! You are making the biggest decision of your life to marry someone.

And second and sometimes third marriages—and the extended families that sometimes come with them—require financial and estate planning. Forty percent of new marriages include at least one spouse who was previously married. A Prenuptial agreement is especially a necessity when getting married after the first time.

There are two key issues every Prenup should address:

The first is how the assets will be divided in the event of a divorce or a death. The time to address this is before you get married. Divorce rates for second marriages, third marriages, etc. are even higher than those for first marriages. While you hope this marriage will work, you just never know. You should have at least three to six months before the wedding to work out the details and have the Prenup finalized.

The second is deciding how your personal accounts and other assets, such as real estate will be kept separate after marriage. It’s crucial that you keep them separate.

Typically a Prenup will spell out what each partner is bringing to the marriage—including income, real estate, retirement savings—and whether each asset will be treated as separate or joint. Most important is that a prenup can shield one partner from any liabilities accumulated prior to the marriage, including student loans, credit card debt, and alimony and/or child support. It is very important that how to treat debt should be decided prior to the marriage and in the Prenup. In the event of a divorce, sometimes courts try to divide debt equally between the two parties. You have to be sure to protect yourself.

Any gifts given during the marriage should not be considered marital assets but should belong to the person receiving the gift.

More than one-third of adults said Prenups make smart financial sense, according to a Harris survey. “The time to plan for a divorce is not when you’re in a state of hate,” says Suzie Orman. You can’t fully protect yourself against a marital heartbreak, but at least you can protect your assets.

Be sure to have a divorce attorney write the Prenup. Just any attorney cannot know the specifics that have to go in one. It has to be done right so there are no loopholes. Unfortunately, in today’s world, Prenups are being challenged in court.

The Clap Is Back

Gonorrhea, the STI your grandparents knew as the clap is back—and unhappily, it’s stronger than it ever was. A report from the World Health Organization shows that antibiotic resistance is making gonorrhea—the second most reported STI, infecting 820,000 people per year—much harder to treat.

If you’re not scared of getting gonorrhea, here’s a sobering thought—left untreated, gonorrhea can lead to chronic pelvic pain or infertility. Scientists fear that soon, some strains won’t respond to antibiotics at all. The problem is the rampant antibiotic use.

A CDC study found that one third of all antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary. Doctors prescribe antibiotics for even mild ailments like the common cold.  And the bacteria that causes gonorrhea is resistant to almost every antibiotic.

Things to think about: You should never take an antibiotic unless it is absolutely necessary. You should make sure anyone you decide to have sex with has a medical clearance from all STI’s. Just don’t hop into bed with anyone without them having a medical clearance! AIDs still exists, as does Herpes and Genital Warts. Using a condom helps but is not that reliable.

The CDC is busy tracking resistant infections and developing new ways to target which antibiotic will work best for the specific strain you have.

You have to be wise and cautious!

Cheaters Beware

In today’s world with all the new technology, you don’t need to to hire a private detective—you can be your own detective. There are new devices out for spying, so doing your own spying has just gotten that much easier.

DIY sleuthing has gotten so common that CheatersSpyShop.com, a mail order firm out of Dallas, caters to suspicious amateurs. Their in-demand items include CheckMate, a kit for detecting semen on clothing and the iRecovery Stick, which retrieves deleted information off of cellphones. They also have a credit card-size GPS tracker.

Sometimes it’s sufficient to rely on a cheater’s technological ineptitude. An Apple glitch puts everything in the cloud—which means that everything is shared. But if you are not lucky enough to live with a careless spouse, you can check out We Recover Data in NYC, who are digital forensics experts.

Just a word of caution. The law involving spousal surveillance can be inconsistent, so you should tread carefully!

Social Media & Your Relationship

In a Pew Research Center survey 46% of millennials said their social media accounts had a major impact on their relationships.

You should always make your partner feel more important to you than your phone. You should always shut your phone off when you are spending special time with your partner—like when you are having a meal. Continually checking your phone when you are together is rude!

Social media makes it easy to check on someone’s life. It can also be easy to check on someone’s emails and texts if you have their password. If you feel the need to snoop on your partner, than there is a lack of trust in the relationship.  Some people are very private and would be very upset if they found out you were snooping on them.  Snooping is never a good idea in the real world or online! Honest conversations about “boundaries” early in the relationship can prevent problems later.

And using Facebook as an open book of your relationship is a big mistake. Even in this time of heightened social media use, very solid, strong, happy couples often choose not to use Facebook except for trivia.

Honest conversations about your social-media boundaries early in a relationship can prevent surprised later.

Survival After Your Divorce

You’ve survived the divorce and now you’re concerned about how to make your settlement last. You know the amount of your divorce settlement—but what you don’t know is whether it will be enough to cover your day-to-day living expenses, support your family and have enough money for the rest of your life! You have to make sure that you don’t outlive your assets. How can you ensure that you can keep the assets you most treasure, rather than having to sell them to survive?

Living alone after your divorce may be difficult—especially if you had a long marriage—financially and emotionally.  Most women can expect to spend at least a third of their adult lives on their own. Because of this, they must get savvy about saving and budgeting. Saving sounds simple, but first you have to have enough income to save some of it.

The first step you must take is creating a budget.  These are some ideas of how to create a budget:

1. Make a list of the budget categories that apply to you;

2. Go through your checkbook for the past year and list each check under its category;

3. Go through your credit card bills and do the same thing;

4. Decide where you need to cut back and which ones you expect will increase;

5. Adjust and readjust the figures until your monthly budget equals your monthly income.

If your income doesn’t cover your expenses, then having your list will help you decide where you need to cut back. If you consistently exceed your budget, then you will have to adjust your spending habits or find a way to increase your income.

Benefits Of Owning A Dog

People who own dogs live longer! They’re healthier. They’re calmer. Their children are less prone to allergies.

Dogs aren’t big on social distancing. They lick and sniff everything and one another. Conversation, friendships and even romance between owners can often be the result.

A dog’s love is unconditional. Once you have a dog, you can’t live without one!

Living in a home with a dog may be linked to healthier psychological development in young children, researchers report.

A study in Pediatric Research made by Australian scientists, found that after adjusting for other factors, compared with children without dogs, those who had them were about 30 percent less likely to have behavior problems, 40 percent less likely to have difficulty relating to their peers and 34 percent more likely to show pro-social behavior. There was no association of dog ownership with emotional difficulties or hyperactivity.

The study suggested that the benefits of dog ownership started very early in life. “We are not saying, ‘Go out and get a dog’…That’s a really important decision. Owning a dog comes with responsibilities and costs. But the benefits outweigh the costs.”

Tips on Divorce You Need to Know

With a multitude of divorce tips from the internet and self-help books, acquiring the essentials on how to rise above this challenging ordeal can be your best offense. The grueling process of divorce can take a toll on your health, finances, and mental stability. Equipping yourself with valuable divorce tips that have stood the test of time is vital for survival.

• Benefits of good communication. One of the most common divorce tips you can find is the attempt to keep this often nasty process out of the court room. Mutual resolution is evidently the perfect scenario to aim for, and it is indeed feasible through open and constructive communication. This will provide a fitting venue to communicate your individual concerns without the fear of being attacked by your spouse.

• Integrity is key. Throughout the course of filing papers, settling, or court trial when applicable, keeping your values no matter how tempting it might be not to, must be at the top of your list of divorce tips. You have to preserve your dignity by being honest—from your financial records to your accounted married life. You owe it to yourself and to your children to walk away from this difficult chapter in your life with self-respect.

• Set an example. It is your children who carry the irrevocable damages of a broken home. While some divorce tips focus on the husband’s and wife’s standpoint, putting the child’s interest first and foremost can give you a wider and more mature perspective on things. You have to know that saying negative statements about your spouse in front of the kids only worsens the already painful experience for them. Keeping it civil helps the children to feel a sense of consistency, which is important when the big change finally occurs.

Observing these divorce tips in these trying times can provide a firm foundation on what you must prioritize on and how to tackle them successfully. With these basic guidelines, you can have a good motivator on effectively handling divorce with dignity.

Seven Steps to Data Security

SEVEN STEPS TO MORE DATA SECURITY:

1.  Freeze Credit Reports  …Probably the most important thing you should do! You can do this free with all three major credit reporting bureaus. This makes it tough for criminals to get your social security number and get a credit card, mortgage, buy a car, etc. in your name. You can temporarily unfreeze the reports if you need to;  but when you do, just do it for a minimal time, like 24 hours.

2.  Just Say “NO” …Be stingy with personal information. The less data you give out, the less there is to be  stolen. You are not obligated to comply with every request for personal data.

3.  Guard Your Mother’s Maiden Name  …Since crooks can search online for details such as your mother’s maiden name or where you went to elementary school, use memorable but fictitious details for online security questions.

4.  Be Unique  …Using strong passwords is a must, but it is just as critical to use different ones for each site. You don’t want cybercriminals to luck into your bank password if they happen to hack into another site you go to.

5.  Write It Down …In a perfect world, you’d create your hard-to-hack 11 character alphanuneric passwords to memory. But it’s not a perfect world. Write down your passwords and keep them somewhere safe.

6.  Use A Burner eMail …Create a separate eMail address for one-time purchases and for other stuff. That will limit the risk to the eMail address you use as your main eMail address.

7.  Monitor Your Accounts  …Look for suspicious activity on financial accounts, credit card statement, etc. Get Lifelock…https://www.lifelock.com/

Credit After Your Divorce

Every woman should be establishing her OWN credit from the day she gets married—if not before.  You should have at least two credit cards—an American Express and a bank Visa or Mastercard that are in your name only—no way linked to your husband.  You should also have at least one or two department store credit cards.  Make little purchases every month and pay them off on time to establish credit in your name.  You should have your own checking and savings/money market and a stock account,  also in your name only—not tied to your husband in any way.

If possible you should also have a piece of property in your name only.  At the very least, any piece of property you buy with your husband (house or apartment, for example) should be in both of your names, with “Right of Survivorship.”

Your name should be on some of your household accounts, like the electricity, gas, phone and cable. All these are so important in case a divorce should happen to you.  This will help you establish your own credit (it is very difficult to get credit as a divorced woman), and keep your husband from canceling your credit cards, bank accounts, shutting off the electricity, etc. and leaving you helpless and vulnerable.

You have to think ahead and protect yourself every way you can.  If a divorce doesn’t happen to you, you’ll still be better off having established your own credit. Unfortunately, sometimes life throws you a curve ball, and a divorce happens when you least expect it.

Divorce Or Not To Divorce…

To divorce or not to divorce, that is the question!  Many women ask themselves this question when they find out their husband has been cheating on them.  Being the good wife and standing by a cheating husband is not what women want to do anymore.  This despicable behavior is all too common and accepted in our society.

Why don’t men understand that staying faithful is smart and sexy?  Why don’t men understand that straying when you’re a married man is exhibiting a lack of character?  When are men going to think about what they are doing to their families and keep it in their pants!

Unfortunately, there is a double standard in our society.  What’s good for the male is not good for the female.  The only place a husband is going to feel it is in his bank account.  Every woman must be prepared for divorce—just in case.  “The Divorce Survival Guide for Women” will prepare you  “just in case.” www.preparefordivorce.com