The Affairs Organizer Blog

Instead of signing the back of your credit card, and giving a thief a model of your signature to copy, write “photo ID required” or “check photo ID”.

Hopefully, if your card is lost or stolen and someone tries to make a fraudulent purchase, a conscientious person at a cash register will ask for a photo ID and prevent the transaction from going through.

This is a good suggestion that’s been found in several places over the years, so I’m not sure who to credit as the original source.

(1) saving a small amount of annual premium dollars may be costly if you have a claim, since some insurers are more customer-friendly than others when paying claims. Also, insurance companies weigh a customer’s history with the company pretty heavily when making decisions about whether or not to renew a homeowners policy after a claim has been filed (more claims-free time = a greater likelihood of renewal). It can be difficult getting new coverage once you’ve filed an insurance claim.

(2) homeowners policies aren’t commodities – variations in contract language between one policy and another can make the difference between a $10,000 claim being paid or not. An experienced professional broker (not beholden to a particular company) could help.

Unless you “opt-out” (actively remove yourself), national consumer credit reporting companies will include you in lists for unsolicited pre-approved credit and insurance offers.

Remember Terri Schiavo? She was the young woman who collapsed in 1990 for unknown reasons at the age of 26 and spent the next 15 years, until her death, in medical facilities being nourished through a feeding tube. Whether or not she was brain dead throughout this time has been a topic of impassioned debate and expensive, heart-wrenching litigation.

The legal documents needed to specify your wishes in this type of situation are called advance health care directives, which vary from state to state, but generally encompass a living will and medical power of attorney.

What would you want if something like what happened to Terri Schiavo happened to you?

Suppose you have not completed your advance health care directives and suppose something happened to you tonight.

Who are the people in the world you love more than anything? Gather them all together in your head for a moment, then divide them into two groups.

The first group believes with all its heart that the right thing to do is keep you alive at all costs, even if brain dead with virtually no hope of recovery. The second group believes with equal passion and conviction that you would never want to be kept alive by artificial means under such circumstances.

Would you want the people in each group to channel their grief and saddness into hatred toward the others and spend their entire life savings on legal fees, fighting to do what they guess you would have wanted?

If your answer is no, then use the free resource below (or other resource, such as an attorney) and complete your own advance health care documents tonight!

* FREE Advance Health Care Directive Forms and instructions are available for all states and the District of Columbia online or via U.S. mail through Caring Connections, a program of the 501(c)(3) non-profit NHPCO (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization).

They can be reached toll-free at (800) 658-8898 or on the Web at http://www.caringinfo.org/

Months ago, I read an interesting article by John Jantsch and ended-up sending him a review copy of my book.

Several weeks later, he posted a brief-but-positive review of the book on his well-regarded Duct Tape Marketing blog.  Here’s a link: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/2008/06/06/are-your-affairs-in-order/

I’m grateful for his kind words, but I may have to sue him for copying an image of the book cover. Anyone know a good attorney ???

Free advance health care directive forms, (e.g. living will) for each state from the “Caring Connections” program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Web link: http://www.caringinfo.org/stateaddownload

You may also reach them via their HelpLine at 800/658-8898 or email at caringinfo@nhpco.org

Here it is: http://www.mtgprofessor.com/table_of_contents1.htm

The site provides free, comprehensive and very useful information about mortgages, buying a house, and home ownership.

It’s a public service from Jack M. Guttentag, Professor of Finance Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Earlier he was Chief of the Domestic Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, on the senior staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and managing editor of both the Journal of Finance (1974-77) and the Housing Finance Review (1983-89).

Thanks to Prof. Guttentag for generously providing such great information.