Margret Sloan

We told my step-daughter that we want to talk with her this weekend and to make plans for someone to watch her son for a couple of hours so we won’t be distracted with his constant need for attention while we talk. We see some of the serious signs of her heading into financial trouble and we want to try to nip it in the bud.

She’s been trying to make a go of it on her own since she was 16 but didn’t pop into our lives until about 3 years ago when she showed up on our doorsteps with a suitcase and her son looking for someplace to sleep. And I don’t mind helping her, but at some point you have to cut the apron strings or kick the baby bird from the nest or whatever you have to do to get them on their own two feet.

So our talk will be about taking financial responsibility for herself and her son. I don’t think her mother ever talked with her about anything like balancing a checkbook, using a debit card and establishing credit. But in today’s world, the young people need to learn these things and be smart about their credit to build a secure future for themselves.

We’ll help her get a copy of her credit report, open a checking account and then apply for a credit card. We’ll work with her to find credit card deals and then monitor the card usage and bills for a few months to explain how it all works and to make sure she understands how important it is to keep these financial matters in good standing. After all, we won’t be around forever to bail her out, and she needs to be a good role model for her son, too.

I found a good website to help with our discussion and I’ve bookmarked their page. Here’s the press release that caught my eye:

Press Release:

We often hear: be responsible with your finances, use wisely credit cards, try to establish good credit history, etc. But why should we take pains to establish good credit rating? What good credit cards can give us? What does high credit score mean?
You credit history is considered to be good if your score is between 660 and 749. Having established good credit, you are eligible for the most beneficial credit card offers. High credit score proves your responsibility and payment abilities and banks are ready to reward you. Now you can apply for plastics with rewards programs. If you are frequent traveler, you will benefit from a credit card with free air miles or a hotel card. Gasoline credit cards will let you save on everyday gas purchases. Do you enjoy shopping? Cash back credit cards give generous rewards and rebates for the purchases you would make anyway.
Good credit history also lets you enjoy low interest rate credit cards that are certainly the most beneficial credit deals. Good rating gives a chance to benefit not only from using credit cards. It also helps to get a loan or a mortgage with more favorable terms and low interest rates.
The advantage of good credit rating is evident. So, visit FreeCreditScoreOnline.com to learn how to raise your credit score and build strong credit history.

Decided this was a good time to read up on ED (erectile dysfunction) and check out the options for treatment, as this conversation might be coming up soon.

I checked a couple medical sites and then I found a website that is an online pharmacy that sells the top three most popular treatments for ED, called edrugstore.md and read through their pages on the three prescription drugs:

• Cialis
• Viagra
• Levitra

The page on Cialis talked about how this medication works for up to 36 hours, can be taken with or without food, and begins to work as quickly as 30 minutes after taking it.

The website has good information about their policies and how they work - all medications are brand names - no generics or counterfeits. They only dispense FDA-approved prescription medications and guarantee the lowest prices on the internet.

There is also a section on their home page that links to articles, such as “What Exactly is Cialis and Is It Right For You? ” and other helpful articles. I find reading these in the privacy in my own home is a lot easier to absorb rather than sitting in a doctor’s office and listening to him quickly go over the main points before handing us over to a medical assistant or, worse, their billing department.

The website also has a forum for discussions and a pharmacy blog. I like the way this company is really up to date on technology and writes in plain English so I can understand all the information on what can be a difficult subject for a lot of people to talk about.

Last night we had a board meeting for the non profit that I’ve been working with these past several years. We had to review the nominations for new board members and officers for the coming year. I was glad to learn that we’ve found someone new to serve as Treasurer, a young man who works for a large financial services company, Northern Trust.

I had reviewed their website and was totally impressed with Northern Trust. They offer a variety of financial services for individuals, including

• business owners
• legal professionals
• medical professionals
• corporate executives
• families in transition

I’m hoping that, if elected, the Treasurer can meet some of our consumers and works with them, as well as other board members, to help with long term financial planning. Some of them need help with understanding the processes of estate settlement and some just need a friend they can talk to about arranging for the future care of their disabled children and get the peace of mind that financial security brings.

Was in the mood for a chick flick so I picked up Georgia Rule with Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan and Felicity Huffman. It’s better than I expected - a combination of good writing and excellent acting. The Director, Garry Marshall, also directed “Pretty Woman” and “The Princess Diaries.”

Something I do for fun when I am watching a DVD on the set with a remote control is to use the Spanish subtitles and then watch it again in Spanish if the DVD has that option. I took Spanish in school and I can understand a lot of it when I hear it, but I never have the opportunity to speak it to anyone. I feel terribly handicapped when I am around a lot of Spanish speaking people and cannot participate in the conversation.

I would love to go to the Spanish immersion camp they host every month out west. You go for 2 weeks and everything around you is in Spanish. Being able to speak it and have feedback from someone interested in helping you improve your speaking ability would be the best part for me.

Several years ago I was heavily involved with a state-wide nonprofit group. Part of the reason was that I cared about and had been personally affected by that particular medical condition, but also because I do like to contribute to charities and I felt that I had some talents that they could use. But after 5 years, the makeup of the board and the leadership changed quite a bit, and I got discouraged with the bickering and sometimes heated arguments that precluded every single decision, so I took a break.

I still hear from quite a few of the people involved with that organization, and last night received a call from the new Executive Director asking for my input on some of the issues with pharmaceutical companies. Well, I always have an opinion and I’m using quite willing to share my thoughts on any issue.

He asked if I would be willing to participate in a pharmaceutical marketing research group that was being formed. I asked him for more details and agreed to think it over. I know that research groups play a big part in the marketing strategies for drug therapies, and that the outcome might well affect thousands of people and their health. So it is something I don’t take lightly.

The research company, Decision Resources, is well know in the medical industry. They research and prepare in depth reports and many well known diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes 2, multiple myeloma and many more. My family has been touched by all of those, so I want to read through their website and see what I can learn about their studies before making a decision.