How to spice up your marriage

How to spice up your marriage

Early in the marriage most couples find that they have fun learning more and more about the person to whom they promised they would spend the rest of their life.  In the beginning there is passion and intimacy but as the years roll on this journey moves from steamy to lukewarm and even worse – to an ice cold stage.

Thankfully there are several ways to spice up your marriage without adding conditions that will make one spouse or the other uncomfortable.  Too many marriage break up because of a lack of intimacy.  For the woman this may mean more meaningful conversations and opening up to feelings and for the man this definitely corresponds to a more physical relationship.

While privacy can mean different things to the opposite sex, they can be mutually satisfying and lead to a positive way to spice up your marriage. Sometimes the root of the problem is redundancy. There are many different ways to experience marital intimacy, but too often couples fall into a rut, going back to the same time and duration of the routine again. A simple variation on a familiar theme can help effectively

An alternative that is well appreciated by women is a burning candle before the conversation to bed when the two of you enter the stress of the day and the kids and relax for a while with each other. Another variation linked to attract the man is seductive lingerie. This garment helps make the woman feel more attractive and exciting the more visual male

Another variation on a familiar theme is to add music to the events of the evening, candlelight or even a red bulb in the lamp in the room. Remember that as a married couple, it is not the destination that counts. When married couples engage in physical activity without leading to reports, it may seem almost illegal! You can give your partner the gift of a massage all over with lotion or heavy cream to help them relax after a long day.

Role playing is another popular way to spice up your relationship. Some couples find that dress in a particular role, as a cowboy, increases the excitement. At other times, you may want to act on the fantasy boss-secretary. You can start the role-play in the morning before the boss goes to work and end up in the evening after the kids are in bed

Role playing can also be taken outside the home.  Go out on a date with your husband as an alternate personality.  Dress differently, meet them at a restaurant and end the night at a hotel 

Do something for your spouse that you wouldn’t normally do, just because you love them.  Add a note to their lunch or briefcase; bring home flowers; get an unexpected gift

Leave a note in the bathroom or the computer just to let them know you are thinking of them.  Everyone likes to know they are important to their spouse!

Do something thoughtful that you know they’ll appreciate whether it’s taking out the garbage, doing the grocery shopping, cooking a meal or giving them time away from the kids.  The most important part of spicing up your marriage though is to make it a priority

Make time for intimacy.  As busy as you might be, making love to your spouse is a top priority in the marriage.  Studies show that humans need touch every day to keep their immune systems working well and to keep depression at bay.  What better way to touch your spouse than with a spicy romantic interlude!

How to keep romance in a marriage

How to keep romance in a marriage

Keeping romance in your marriage after spending years together is like trying to insert an elephant into the living room and ignoring it.  For some reason we all think that romance is something that shouldn’t be talked about but should ‘just happen’.  Fortunately that just isn’t true!

This is fortunate because you now have control over the how to keep romance in a marriage and you aren’t at the mercy of fate. 

After several years of marriage most couples fall into habits.  We begin to take our spouse for granted and as children enter the relationship romance becomes a diminishing factor.  Marriage shouldn’t be the end of romance but rather the beginning. 

It is a comedic joke that the last time a man says ‘I love you’ is during the wedding ceremony.  After all, the woman heard it once, that should be enough!  Nor is it funny when a woman doesn’t respect or appreciate the work and effort that her husband does for the family

How to Write Your Business Plan for Your Online Business

How to Write Your Business Plan for Your Online Business

The very first thing you are going to do when you decided to start a new business should be your business plan and that applies to both traditional and online business ventures. Your business plan is designed to outline your business strategies, how you plan to make your business a success, your marketing goals, your financial needs, and your overall blueprint to success.

It will be used by you as the business owner to stay on your business path and it will be used by potential investors and lenders to help them decide whether your business venture interests them, whether they think your business venture is a viable investment opportunity for them. For that reason alone, you should make sure you take the time to create the best business plan you can.

An online business is generally much different than a traditional business and your business plan needs to reflect that. In addition, your business plan must make sure that it details the nuances of your online business that investors may not be aware of or may not understand.

You can begin writing a business summary. If your business is strictly online then you need to break down all the components of operating an online business You need to include things like what you will offer, how will you get customers, who will run your business, where will your business be located?

Next you want to create your marketing plan that will delve into the research behind your market and include pricing, markup, advertising, building your brand, etc. Make sure the information is current and relevant.

You will also want to include all the details related to your management team and their various duties. Often with online businesses this is a minimal number of people. You’ll also include your business schedule both current and long term. This would be things like when is your site going live, will you be getting a loan? Basically, you want to outline the key growth points to give the reader a picture of where you visualize your business going.

Of course, you’ll need to cover your financial plan. Your startup capital, and whether you need to borrow some or all of it, your operating costs, your projected sales and profits in six month increments for at least a couple of years, but five is best.

Finally, you need to write your executive summary that pulls the main points into a summary that helps the reader decide if they want to learn more by reading the full report.

Your Online Business Plan – What’s The Right Business to Build

Your Online Business Plan – What’s The Right Business to Build

Don’t even consider creating your formal business plan until you are actually ready to use it. The business plan of today for online businesses is far less formal than it used to be and it is far more practical. Does each section of your business plan when you require it and don’t be too concerned about formalities?

Don’t confuse this with scrapping out your business plan completely, because online entrepreneurs still need to focus on whatever their ‘niche’ is and their plans for getting their business both off the ground and growing.

What’s in your business plan can change based on the current situation, what you will incorporate into your business plan won’t change. So in other words your final destination will remain the same but how you reach that destination can change.

how Your Organization Breakdown in Your Online Business Plan

Your Organization Breakdown in Your Online Business Plan

Your online business plan needs to make sure it addresses the management and administration structure – in other words your organization’s breakdown. Online businesses often have a simpler organization structure than a traditional business, but that’s not always the case, and it must be clearly defined.

You will need to cover the management structure and ownership of your business. It’s okay if one person fills a number of roles. Online businesses that are starting up often don’t have more than one or two people running the whole business.

During the startup period, the owner is not going to be receiving a paycheck or any benefits. Initially owner salaries are going to be figured out based on the profitability of the company but they should never be more than fifty percent of the profit of the business.

If the company is limited, there will be the distribution of shares among the owners. That could be one person, two people or more, but the breakdown needs to be included in the business plan so potential investors know and understand the business structure.

3 Personal Finance Apps That Help You Keep Track of Spending

3 Personal Finance Apps That Help You Keep Track of Spending

$5 here, $10 over there, and a fistful of change slapped into the palm of a department store employee. Before you know it, all of that hard earned cash has disappeared, and your wallet is a mess of receipts and lint.

Wouldn't it be nice to keep track of your finances in order to create a savings plan?

It can be incredibly difficult to save a significant amount of money without keeping track of your income and expenses. There are several excellent applications online that will help. These applications can be installed on your computer or smart-phone.

Google Drive

Google Drive is a free application designed by Google that allows you to create files and store them on a cloud. The files can be downloaded and edited from anywhere in the world. Google Drive is similar to Dropbox but it's primarily designed for worksheets and other work-related files.

So how can you keep track of finances with this application?

Create a spreadsheet. It's relatively easy to create a spreadsheet with Google Drive. Just head to the website and click on "create new spreadsheet."

Then follow these steps:

7 Effective Strategies to Reduce Estate Taxes

7 Effective Strategies to Reduce Estate Taxes

Even if you're not wealthy, an estate plan can ensure that your assets pass on to those whom you want to receive them.

Estate taxes are imposed on the heir of an estate and include any real estate, stock, cash, or other assets transferred to heirs at the time of death. There are both federal estate taxes and, in some states, state estate taxes.

Wouldn't you rather see these items stay in your family instead of being eaten by Uncle Sam?

Laws can vary from state to state, so be sure to find the details that apply to your situation.

Use these tips to reduce your estate tax burden:

8 Important Things to Teach Your Child About Money

8 Important Things to Teach Your Child About Money

Odds are you've had financial stress at some point in your life. If you really think about it, most of the financial stress we suffer is ultimately our own fault. We spend more than we should and save less. We buy things we don't need and fail to give money the respect it deserves. One big purchase on a credit card can result in payments that never seem to end.

If you could go back in time and eliminate all of your financial errors, your life would probably be very different. Though it's never too late to make improvements, it's much easier to prevent challenges than it is to solve them. You can help your child avoid such financial challenges.

You can give your child the gift of financial wisdom.

Consider discussing these ideas with your children:

8 Ways to Invest in Foreign Markets

8 Ways to Invest in Foreign Markets

The United States might have the largest economy in the world, but it's far from the only economy. There's a whole world out there. When the US economy is faltering, there are plenty of other economies doing well. It's much easier to invest successfully in a thriving economy than in one that's struggling.

But most investors don't know where to start. Do you get on the phone and call Tokyo when you want to invest in a Japanese stock?

In 2012, the US was less than 19% of the world economy. That's a lot for one country, but it's still a small amount compared to the combined rest of the world. Do you think there might a few good investments in that other 81%? Of course!

Fortunately, there are several easy ways to invest overseas:

Build Your Savings with Easy Spending Cuts

Build Your Savings with Easy Spending Cuts

It can be quite difficult to save money if you don't know how to reduce the amount of cash that you spend on a daily basis. Once you've made the decision to make daily budget cuts, you'll be surprised to find out just how much money you can save!

These tips will make it easy for you to make progress towards your financial goals:

1. Keep track of your spending. One of the easiest ways to track spending is to use a small notebook that you can keep handy in your pocket or purse.

* Whenever you spend some money, jot down the amount that you spent in your notebook. Most people make the mistake of skipping this important step.

* Never underestimate the power of tracking your finances. Even though your mind is incredibly powerful, it can be difficult to remember where all that money went.

* It might take awhile to get into the habit of writing down the amount of cash that you spend on a daily basis, but once you get used to it, it becomes fairly automatic.

Do Stock Prices Really Follow Earnings

Do Stock Prices Really Follow Earnings?

Stock gurus commonly claim that stock prices follow earnings. Is that an accurate statement? There's some evidence that it used to be truer in the past than it is today. The flood of armchair investors is likely the culprit. It's much easier for a stock price to be artificially inflated or deflated by investor sentiment than in the past.

Microsoft is one such example. The company has done exceedingly well over the last 13 years, but the stock price has done nothing. Revenue and earnings have increased dramatically, but the stock has been stagnant. The stock was simply overpriced many years ago, and the earnings are still struggling to support the price of the stock.

Short-Term Earnings

There is little dispute that, over longer periods of time, earnings are an excellent predictor of stock price.

How to Create a Budget Chart to Slice Expenses and Save Money

How to Create a Budget Chart to Slice Expenses and Save Money

Using a computer program to keep track of your budget is quite addicting. You start to feel proud and satisfied when you can add a new amount to the "earnings" section of the budget. Of course, the most satisfying part would be watch your earnings and savings increase as you cut back on spending

But what if you need to pay an upcoming bill and you're flat broke?

Relax, there's no need to panic. Fortunately, your handy budget chart will help you cut back on spending without losing the roof over your head.

In addition, keeping track of your expenses will help you avoid spending money unnecessarily, so more funds can be allocated to saving.

Keeping Track of Income and Expenses

This tutorial can work for any Excel style spreadsheet:

1. Open a new spreadsheet

2. In the first rows, type in the factors that you would like to track (earned, spent, saved)

3. Below the label, select the formula area, and type "=sum(A2:A30)"

This is one of the simplest formulas that can be used in Excel. It simply adds the amount of numbers that are found in column A between row 2 and 30

Income Tax Requirements When Living Out of the Country

Income Tax Requirements When Living Out of the Country

Living in a foreign country holds a lot of appeal. It gives an exotic impression and seems like a never-ending vacation. But it doesn't matter where you go, because the US government still expects you to file a tax return and pay taxes. This is true even if you become a citizen of the other country and live there full time

The United States might be the only country in the world that does this.

If you were a citizen of Italy but living and working in Argentina, Italy wouldn't expect you to pay any taxes! You would have to pay them in Argentina, though. The US would expect you to pay both.

For your peace of mind and to keep you out of jail, become familiar with the income tax rules that apply to you as a citizen of the United States living outside the country.

Income tax rules for US citizens living abroad:

1. No matter where you live, you must file a tax return. It's entirely possible that you won't owe any taxes, but you must file an income tax return each year.

2. You're still subjected to all US tax laws. This includes income tax rates and the same credits and deductions.

3. There are 2 primary ways to reduce your taxes owed in the United States. The United States has a reputation for double taxation, but in practice that only applies above certain income limits.

Want to be Wealthy Stop Swapping Your Time for Money

Want to be Wealthy? Stop Swapping Your Time for Money

Many of us were taught to do well in school, get a great job, work hard, and you'll eventually make a lot of money. This may be true, but there is a great limitation to working for someone else. Time. There are only so many hours in a week. No one can buy or create more.

Even doctors suffer from this limitation. The average physician makes a large salary, but there aren't many that make a million dollars a year. Even a physician is swapping his time for money. He only gets paid while he's seeing patients. He can't see more than one at a time and he can't see them while he's asleep. The clock ultimately limits his income.

This is also true for consultants, dentists, lawyers, and CEOs.

If you want the opportunity to make a tremendous amount of money, it's important to find ways to earn without your presence being necessary. Free yourself from the clock and your ability to earn is unlimited.

There are better ways:

What a Prenuptial Agreement Can and Can't Do

What a Prenuptial Agreement Can and Can't Do

With over half of all marriages ending in divorce, many people are choosing to use a prenuptial agreement to protect their income and assets. While such an agreement can be very powerful, it does have its limitations.

Remember that marriage laws are primarily at the state level. The limitations of a prenuptial agreement will be different from state to state.

Most people think these agreements only apply to those of considerable wealth. But consider that in any divorce, there is usually one party that feels good about the outcome and one that does not. Consider which side you're likely to find yourself. Anyone getting married would be wise to at least give it some thought.