Monday, June 13, 2011
Pics: Scotty McCreery & Lauren Alaina Performing at CMA music Fest
Liz Weston 50/30/20 budget Provided by Bravorecovery.com
It’s the 50/30/20 budget. Here’s how it works:
You start with your after-tax income. That’s your gross pay minus any wage-based taxes, such as withheld income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and disability taxes. If your employer deducts other expenses from your paycheck, such as 401k contributions, health insurance premiums and union dues, add those back into your net pay to get your after-tax income.
You aim to limit your “must-have” expenses to 50% of that after-tax figure. “Must-haves” include all the basic expenditures you really need to make each month: outlays for housing, utilities, transportation, food, insurance, child care, tuition and minimum loan payments. If you can delay a purchase for a few months with no serious consequences — for example, clothing or dining out — it’s not a must-have. If you’re contractually obligated to pay something (a credit card minimum, child support or a cell phone bill), it’s a must-have, at least for now.
Your “wants” can consume 30% of your after-tax pay. Vacations, gifts, entertainment, clothes, eating out and other expenses are all “wants.” Some bills you pay might overlap the two categories. For example, basic phone service is a must-have. But features such as call waiting or unlimited long distance are wants. Internet access and pay television are two other expenditures that can feel like must-haves but usually are wants, unless you’re on some kind of long-term contract.
Shopping by the calendar
Savings and debt repayment make up the final 20% of your budget. Warren’s a bankruptcy expert, remember, and she knows the devastation that results from too much debt and too little savings. To achieve financial independence and minimize the chances of disaster, you need to get rid of consumer debt, save for retirement and build your emergency fund. Any loan payments you make above the minimum belong in this category, as do contributions to your retirement and emergency funds.
(If you pay your credit cards in full every month, by the way, your credit card bills aren’t debt. You don’t assign the credit card payments themselves to categories; instead, you allocate each individual expenditure on the bill to its appropriate category, that’s it.)
I said earlier that this budget plan isn’t easy, and it’s not. Limiting your must-haves to 50%, especially, is flat tough for most of us.
My husband and I make a generous income, and we have affordable mortgage payments and no other debt. But the first time I did this exercise, our must-haves consumed more than 60% of our after-tax income. It took a year of trimming, and some more income, to get us to the 50% mark.
We were lucky. I’ve heard from other people whose must-haves consumed 75%, 80% or even more of their after-tax pay. Fixing that can take a while.
You may be discouraged by how far you are from the ideal. But running the numbers can help you understand why your money isn’t working for you. If basic overhead consumes so much of your paycheck, it’s no wonder you have trouble saving, paying off debt and
You start with your after-tax income. That’s your gross pay minus any wage-based taxes, such as withheld income tax, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and disability taxes. If your employer deducts other expenses from your paycheck, such as 401k contributions, health insurance premiums and union dues, add those back into your net pay to get your after-tax income.
You aim to limit your “must-have” expenses to 50% of that after-tax figure. “Must-haves” include all the basic expenditures you really need to make each month: outlays for housing, utilities, transportation, food, insurance, child care, tuition and minimum loan payments. If you can delay a purchase for a few months with no serious consequences — for example, clothing or dining out — it’s not a must-have. If you’re contractually obligated to pay something (a credit card minimum, child support or a cell phone bill), it’s a must-have, at least for now.
Your “wants” can consume 30% of your after-tax pay. Vacations, gifts, entertainment, clothes, eating out and other expenses are all “wants.” Some bills you pay might overlap the two categories. For example, basic phone service is a must-have. But features such as call waiting or unlimited long distance are wants. Internet access and pay television are two other expenditures that can feel like must-haves but usually are wants, unless you’re on some kind of long-term contract.
Shopping by the calendar
Savings and debt repayment make up the final 20% of your budget. Warren’s a bankruptcy expert, remember, and she knows the devastation that results from too much debt and too little savings. To achieve financial independence and minimize the chances of disaster, you need to get rid of consumer debt, save for retirement and build your emergency fund. Any loan payments you make above the minimum belong in this category, as do contributions to your retirement and emergency funds.
(If you pay your credit cards in full every month, by the way, your credit card bills aren’t debt. You don’t assign the credit card payments themselves to categories; instead, you allocate each individual expenditure on the bill to its appropriate category, that’s it.)
I said earlier that this budget plan isn’t easy, and it’s not. Limiting your must-haves to 50%, especially, is flat tough for most of us.
My husband and I make a generous income, and we have affordable mortgage payments and no other debt. But the first time I did this exercise, our must-haves consumed more than 60% of our after-tax income. It took a year of trimming, and some more income, to get us to the 50% mark.
We were lucky. I’ve heard from other people whose must-haves consumed 75%, 80% or even more of their after-tax pay. Fixing that can take a while.
You may be discouraged by how far you are from the ideal. But running the numbers can help you understand why your money isn’t working for you. If basic overhead consumes so much of your paycheck, it’s no wonder you have trouble saving, paying off debt and
Casey Anthony Trial: Tot's Bone Evidence Reveled
Watch: Trial Evidence Reveled Video
**Warning, THIS VIDEO MAY CONTAIN IMAGES THAT ME BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWERS**
This week starts the 4th week of trial for Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter Caylee Anthony. Over the last week in trial, there was evidence reveled to show that Caylee's body may have been moved. Although they were unable to the cause of death, they were able to conclude that this was a homicide. Dr. G took the stand last week to go over some of the evidence and stated why she believes this is a homicide.
Fact 1- The body was hidden
Fact 2- The body was wrapped
Face 3- There was duck tape around the head of the child
For these reasons Dr. G stated that she could conclude this was not an accident, she stated there is NEVER a reason for a child to require duck tape to the head after death.
Casey Anthony murder trial experts describe tot's bones
(Warning: This video is RAW and contains images that may be disturbing)
Garavaglia is the star of the Discovery Channel reality show "Dr. G: Medical Examiner." She also is the official in charge of determining the cause and manner of questionable deaths in central Florida, including Orlando where Casey is on trial for first-degree murder in Caylee's death.
Garavaglia was expected to tell the jury her conclusions after a lunch break. Prosecutors have said duct tape wrapped three times around Caylee's head, nose and mouth is the only evidence indicating cause of death.
Prosecutors say Casey killed her toddler on June 16, 2008 so she could "live the good life," free of the responsibility of parenthood. Casey's attorney told jurors Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthony family's backyard swimming pool and no one reported her death.
By the time Caylee's body was found on December 11, 2008, after a nationwide search, only her skeleton remained.
Friday marked the second day of testimony dominated by graphic descriptions about the condition of the child's remains. Thursday's court session adjourned early after Casey fell ill.
The 25-year-old defendant was back in court first thing Friday morning. She kept her head down and dabbed her eyes and nose with tissues during testimony by John Schultz, a forensic anthropologist and archeologist who helped recover most of Caylee's bones from the crime scene.
From what he found, Schulz concluded Caylee's body was mostly intact inside layers of bags when it was dumped in a wooded area. Over time, he testified, the body was pulled apart and dragged by animals to other spots nearby.
As Schulz testified about a bone he said showed signs of having been "chewed on by an animal," Casey appeared to slump toward one of her lawyers, who wrapped an arm around her.
Schulz said he found that plant roots had grown through the matted hair surrounding Caylee's skull and through her bones.
One pelvic bone was partially buried in sediment. Schulz said the sediment indicated to him that the area had been underwater for a time and that silt suspended in the water had settled on and around the bone as the ground dried out.
That detail helps explain why the body was missed in searches of the area in August 2008.
Meter reader Roy Kronk first reported seeing something suspicious in the woods that August, about one month after Caylee was reported missing. Kronk has stated that the area was wet and harbored snakes. Although deputies responded to the scene, they failed to find the body.
Defense attorney Jose Baez, in his opening statement to the jury, suggested Kronk had some role in placing Caylee's body where it was found.
Casey Anthony: Watch: Caylee Grave
Caylee Anthony grave found.
Watch the raw video footage
*Images may be disturbing to some views*
Casey Anthony trial enters 4th week: Watch Live Trial Here 9am-4pm CST
Watch Live Trial: Click HERE
**BE ADVISED THIS IS A LIVE TRIAL AND SOME IMAGES MAY BE DISTURBING TO SOME VIEWS**
The murder trial of Casey Anthony, who's accused of killing her young daughter, enters its fourth week today when testimony resumes in Orlando.
Anthony is charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors say she used duct tape to suffocate her daughter in the summer of 2008. The defense contends that the little girl drowned in her grandparents' pool. The child's remains were found about six months later.
The 25-year-old Anthony, who has pleaded not guilty, faces the death penalty if convicted.
Jurors have so far heard from witnesses ranging from Anthony's family members and friends to law enforcement officials and forensics experts.
Evidence of decomposition?
On Saturday, forensic entomology consultant Neal Haskell testified that bugs found in the trunk of Anthony's car were possible signs that a decomposing body had been in the vehicle.
On Saturday, forensic entomology consultant Neal Haskell testified that bugs found in the trunk of Anthony's car were possible signs that a decomposing body had been in the vehicle.
According to the report, Haskell said fluids from a body that likely spent three to five days in the car attracted insects that fed on human decomposition.Haskell testified that flies and fly larvae were found among the items left in the vehicle.
On Thursday, Anthony cried, dabbed her eyes with a tissue and looked away as pictures of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee's skull were displayed in the courtroom.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Apple Announces iCloud, iTunes Match At WWDC 2011
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled several new Apple services, including iCloud, that underscore a major shift taking place in the tech world as users' information moves from gadgets to the cloud, where it is stored on remote servers and accessible from any device with an Internet connection.
"We're going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device," said Jobs, according to a live blog of his remarks at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. "We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud."
Apple described iCloud as a service that is integrated with apps and "stores your content, and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices." In essence, it will provide a way to ensure that users' data, whether contacts, photos, appointments, or apps, is consistent and equally accessible across Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and PC.
Jobs highlighted how iCloud will work with several different apps, including iBooks, the App Store, and iWork. For example, contacts that are added to an iPhone will be sent to the cloud, then synced across all other Apple devices a user has. Likewise, a Calendar update will be pushed across multiple devices, automatically. Jobs noted that iCloud will regularly back up certain information, via WiFi, such as purchased music, device settings, and photos, then push this data across a user's devices. A photo taken on an iPhone will instantly be accessible on a user's iPad and Mac.
iCloud will be available for free and there will be no ads on the service, as had been rumored. The cloud-based storage system will work on iOS devices (the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch), as well as on Macs.
Jobs also announced iTunes in the Cloud, a service that will download any song a customer has purchased on iTunes on all of her devices without additional cost.
The CEO's trademark "one more thing" announcement focused on iTunes Match, a $24.99 per year service that will help users put any music they've uploaded to their computer (but not purchased via iTunes) on the cloud by scanning and matching the songs (more about it here).
"We're going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device," said Jobs, according to a live blog of his remarks at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. "We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud."
Apple described iCloud as a service that is integrated with apps and "stores your content, and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices." In essence, it will provide a way to ensure that users' data, whether contacts, photos, appointments, or apps, is consistent and equally accessible across Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and PC.
Jobs highlighted how iCloud will work with several different apps, including iBooks, the App Store, and iWork. For example, contacts that are added to an iPhone will be sent to the cloud, then synced across all other Apple devices a user has. Likewise, a Calendar update will be pushed across multiple devices, automatically. Jobs noted that iCloud will regularly back up certain information, via WiFi, such as purchased music, device settings, and photos, then push this data across a user's devices. A photo taken on an iPhone will instantly be accessible on a user's iPad and Mac.
iCloud will be available for free and there will be no ads on the service, as had been rumored. The cloud-based storage system will work on iOS devices (the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch), as well as on Macs.
Jobs also announced iTunes in the Cloud, a service that will download any song a customer has purchased on iTunes on all of her devices without additional cost.
The CEO's trademark "one more thing" announcement focused on iTunes Match, a $24.99 per year service that will help users put any music they've uploaded to their computer (but not purchased via iTunes) on the cloud by scanning and matching the songs (more about it here).
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