Your Questions About Best Home Based Businesses

I need help with a complicated divorce situation…?

I was married for 7 years, have three kids, 2,8, and 9. My ex and I struggled for many years with intense fighting, her alcoholism, and other marital issues. It was hard for me to do, as we had kids, but I decided that divorce was best for everyone, seeing that all we did was fight. I own a house, a house that was our marital home. We were separated in November 2007, the divorce was finalized in January 2009. We could not come to an agreement in our divorce, as she demanded quite a bit. I gave in and agreed to pay $1400 monthly for child support, and the mortgage on the marital home ($900 a month) for one year, after one year, she was to begin “renting” the home from me for $600 monthly, with me paying the leftover $300. Well, a lot has happened in the past year. I own a business, which is losing a lot of money because of the bad economy, and my monthly debts (credit cards, loans, etc) are now 60 days late. I am facing bankruptcy, and CANNOT pay for the mortgage. To add to this, my ex has been flaky with rent, and states she does not have the money to pay the rent. I have not made the mortgage payment in almost 60 days. MY PROBLEM: My parents are affluent, they live a higher standard of life. They are appalled that I am going to let the home go into foreclosure, that my children will have to move to an apartment. They state that the kids do not deserve to live “like that”. They have been guilting me, like I am a horrible father for making my kids live in an apartment. (Might I add, my ex is fine with the apartment idea.) Are my parents right? Am I a bad father for not providing my kids with a large, newer home? Is it bad for your kids to live in an apartment? I feel really torn, as I really want the best for my kids, and don’t want to hurt them. But it is literally impossible for me to keep providing my ex and the kids with such a high standard of living that we lived when we were married. The standard of living that I had provided was largely based on credit cards, now, they are maxed out, and unpaid. I do know and admit that I was in over my head, so please, no harsh or judgmental replies.
My name is solely on the mortgage. My ex has not worked in probably 8 years. She is currently unemployed, and has no other income other than child support, ($1400 a month). I am upside down on the home, as I have refinanced quite a few times, and the value of my home has deteriorated due to the many foreclosures in my neighborhood. My ex does have sole custody, she has told me that she has stopped drinking, but unfortunately I would have no way of knowing if she is telling the truth.

Is it possible, with a little effort & planning, to have both a great relationship w/ the spouse AND mistress?

The spouse could be a stay at home mom, affectionate at times, keeps a good house, fun to tease in a brother-sister way and is submissive, but also comforting in the bedroom one or two nights a week; while the Mistress, who is married herself, is professional, also has a sense of humor, a bit more fiery and aggressive, happens to be available a night or two a week when the wife is asleep anyway, or during business hours. There’s also a genuine affection there, but based in the reality that there’s no immediate future to the relationship.

Isn’t this the best of both worlds, really?

I’m a rising senior and need help with college stuff?

Hello everyone. I am a rising senior and I am very interested in studying business (preferably some form of international business with a minor in Mandarin), but I’m not sure what the best colleges are for this area. I’m from north Georgia, so I’d like to stay close to home, but I wouldn’t be close-minded enough not to attend a school based on location.

I’ve done pretty well in my past 3 years of high school. I began attending a fairly prestigious private boarding school in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when I was in 9th grade. I had trouble with the change in work load at first, since I had gone to terrible quality public schools up to that point.

During my freshman year, my GPA was a 3.49. Sophomore year was a 3.67 and my junior year was a 3.88. I’ve been told that this pattern of my grades improving over my high school career looks very good to colleges and are more impressive than similar grades in public schools. I’ve also taken many challenging courses, with several being Honors or AP.

I’ve also taken the SAT once (although I plan to take it 1-2 more times and the ACT as well). I had a 600 in Critical Reading, a 630 in Math, and a 610 in Writing. I actually didn’t prepare for it at all, so I’m confident I’ll do better my next time(s).

Thanks for all the help!

Whose fault is the economic crisis anyway?

So let’s look at how we got here:

ILLUSIONS

Big part of what makes the American Dream is hope. However unrealistic, uneducated, and misinformed choices replace hope with illusions.

Buyers had the illusion that homes would always keep increasing rapidly in value. However, they failed to understand that the real estate market has cycles. Some of the factors that create a change in the market are increased amounts of supply or demand, deregulation of the financial industry, easy and available credit, low interest rates and much more.

People who bought homes they could not afford did it because they saw an opportunity to “invest” their life savings and achieve the American dream. They viewed this opportunity as attainable because banks made it possible, unscrupulous agents/brokers made them believe it was possible, and because they lacked the knowledge necessary to understand the responsibilities, risks and benefits of owning a home.

Other illusions buyers had was their wages. The had the illusion that their wages would go up enough year after year to cover their ever increasing debt due to a lavish life style. This illusion, the lack of financial education and self-control allowed for people to live well beyond their means.

Today people, banks, and our government are drowning in debt.

CREDIT

Competition in the market forces business to improve on their products and allows the consumer to purchase those products at affordable prices. However, competition between banks in a booming economy and low interest rates created a credit bonanza.

Instead of banks improving on their products and services, they began utilizing creative financial tools to attract more borrowers. They also lend money to risky borrowers with little regard of their qualifications. Anybody that had a pulse could literally get a loan.

Banks can’t accommodate the demand for credit only with their money reserves. So if they want to lend more money, they sell these mortgages to commercial banks and Wall Street lenders.

Financial Crisis: Who’s Fault Is It, Anyway?

Doesn’t matter.

Because just about everyone is to blame.

Republicans opened the door through debt-based credit derivatives and deregulation. Democrats further contributed by turning a blind eye to Fannie and Freddie and insisting that even those who couldn’t really afford mortgages be allowed to get them. The Bush Administration touted consumer spending as a means to boost the economy, and encouraged reckless consumer behaviors with billions in “stimulus”money, all while fueling the national debt through a disastrous war and tax cuts for people who don’t really need them.

And, of course, greedy banks and mortgage lenders went along, doing their best to bilk whoever came through door for whatever they could get — before passing the risk on to equally greedy investment banks and hedge fund managers. Consumers came along for the ride, abandoning reasonable financial practices and using credit to fuel materialism — as well as making poor decisions by buying homes they couldn’t afford with “creative” mortgage financing.

Nearly everyone shares some of the blame. This is not the time to bicker over who is most at fault. It doesn’t matter. The past is past. It’s time to move forward and fix the problem. REALLY fix the problem. With practical solutions (that’s right, follow the link for just one alternative — and better IMO — solution) that don’t involve throwing a large, arbitrary amount of money at the problem.

This is something that requires measured thought. And a change in how our society now views debt, money and the economy. There’s no reason to rush into a bailout plan right now. Instead, a little more analysis is needed.

Everything is changing so fast….?

Okay, so I’m just basically going to write what I’m thinking right now and I don’t know you can write back or something. The reason I put this on here is because I don’t really have anyone else to talk to about it.

My life is just going through major changes and I don’t know if I like them/ whether or not I can keep them. I’m Jamaican and so are my parents. I come from a place where homo sexuality is not acceptable. I have always been taught that it warrants death (Jamaica), but I do not feel that way. I recently moved to Montreal for a school. Mtl is a very liberal city and there are gay people everywhere. I became really close to this one gay guy who is my best friend here and this weekend we really talked about everything. I’ve always thought of him as not being gay because then its “okay” for me to be friends with him. He basically told me that he did not like that and that it wasn’t okay that I did that. Another thing I talked about was my use of the word fag, ******, gay and homosexual and how I use them all on a daily basis. Basically I’m scared of being okay with homosexuality. I’m scared of change. My whole life I’ve been indoctrinated by the Jamaican culture and the Christian religion that it is wrong. I know now that it is not a choice and I truly believe this because who would want to go through that… My friends and family are not liberal in this subject at all and whenever I call home they ask me how the fags are and what not. One really good friend of mine actually talks about how they should all be burned, all the time. I’m scared of going back home and being changed because I know that I will be persecuted and made a mockery of by EVERYONE. My gay friend asked me if I even wanted to be friends and I cried because I love him so much and of course I want to be his friend and I’m trying but it’s so hard. It’s so hard to be different and I know that what gay people go through is a million times worse. My brothers friend (and mine as well) committed suicide at the age of 13 because he was bullied based on his sexuality. I want to change for him but when it’s the norm for 19 years of your life how do you just, change? I’m just scared to be the person I am here, at home.

What do you think… I know its weird and I just don’t know anymore. I can’t talk to any of my friends back home and I cant really talk to the gay friend because he thinks that I’m not trying hard enough. I love him for who he is and I almost don’t want him to be gay.. I want us to just be good friends without the sometimes awkwardness that comes when he says something like boy friend or I say something like ******. I don’t know how to handle this anymore by myself. I feel like my whole like/self is changing and I have no say in it. Please understand that I don’t discriminate against gay people, I would just not go to a wedding and I just don’t want to hear about it. It’s almost like the don’t ask don’t tell policy except for I do this with everyone. I don’t want to know anyone’s sexual business, gay or straight.

I don’t know, is it normal that I feel this way? I ughhh.. sigh. Thanks.