You Win A Lawsuit, But Where Is Your Money?

You get injured or otherwise have damages coming to you from a lawsuit. You have been through the wringer just to get to the point of the lawsuit and then the trial. And then you win and have been awarded a large judgment. That is wonderful! But what is not so wonderful is that it takes forever to actually see the money, or it comes to you in small increments. Meanwhile, you have had to pay for all kinds of doctors bills or repairs and maybe you can't even work. You are out of money! What do you do?

You could try to take out a loan or borrow from friends or family. But you may not have that option.  There are companies that give lawsuit cash advances--they go ahead and pay you and then they get reimbursed when your money finally comes in. I don't know the details about such transactions, and what the associated fees may be. I don't even know if it is a good idea to get one of these advances--I just know they exist.

The companies that offer  lawsuit cash advances advertise on TV and such, appealing to those who may not have savings. Can you imagine going through an accident or a medical malpractice injury, and then being on the verge of losing your house or otherwise  being destitute? I guess a fair number of people find themselves in similar situaitons.

I know I worry about having enough money, and I haven't had a serious injury or accident. If something like that happened to me, I might check into one of the lawsuit cash advances just to find out the details.  The stress of worrying about money and getting by would add stress to whatever negative situation you are in. I hope to never be in such a situation. But accidents and injuries do happen unfortunately.

Tools For Managing Business Finances

I have challenges managing my personal finances, so probably would have a hard time with business finances too. I don't know for sure, because I haven't had to manage any business finances yet. But I  may be taking over a company at some point in the future,  so I worry about how I would manage. I can't overdraft my business checking account, that is for sure!

Lucky for me there are some ways around my limitations. I have mentioned I am not good at math or money or some operations, and people have said there are some tools I can use. People have mentioned that there are some online accounting and bookkeeping software options out there that I should check into. And I could always hire an accountant or bookkeeper. I could also buy some estimating and planning software to help me out in those areas.

So I guess I won't despair. There are tools that can help me. In the meantime, I continue working on being better with my money.

Flood Damage Costs A Lot In Money And Morale

Parts of my city flooded a couple of years ago. Luckily, my area escaped devastation, but other areas weren't so lucky.  People were frightened at how fast the water rose, and they had to escape the best way they could, many by boat. One woman said she looked out her door and saw the water a foot away from the house, and an hour later, it was up to the second floor.

What was odd was that some streets and houses were totally underwater, while other streets 500 yards away were dry as a bone. That enabled those who were not affected to immediately come help those who were, however. Our city is good about things like that.

I have a cousin in Austin who also recently had severe water damage. The creek near his house flooded and damaged his basement and first floor. He was really worried as his wife is disabled and can't walk on her own. But he was able to get her out in time, and they were able to go somewhere safe. Now they are repairing the damage and will be able to move back in soon. One small perk is that they will end up with some nicer appointments in their home; they will be replacing their water damage wood floors austin with nicer floors.

I feel particularly bad for one of my cousin's neighbors. He not only had flood damage, but a couple of years ago also had a house fire. http://www.thesteamteam.com/austin-restoration-services/smoke-fire.shtml I really don't see how he can cope. He must be superhuman to get through all of it and remain optimistic. I hope he has better luck in the future.

Flooding is terrible, as is fire, and it takes a toll not only on your finances but on your psyche. It can be hard to face the devastation, especially when you don't have flood insurance, or enough homeowner's insurance, and you've lost everything. You are back to square one, or maybe even worse off than before. But as they say, as long as you are safe and still alive, you are rich.

Trading Stocks 101

I have my 401Ks, not much of a savings account, and I am terrible at managing money. So, I know I need to get better at this. I need to budget, clip coupons, stay home once in a while and invite people over for a drink at my house instead of going out to expensive restaurants and bars.

My most recent effort at saving and making money involves the stock market--or more accurately, dipping my toes into the stock market. OK, so I am not one of those top tier stock owners. No company is going to tremble at the thought of my owning a few measly shares of their company. But I have wanted to do this for some time and to learn about trading at my own pace. So I started a sharebuilder account. I have been able to add a few shares of this or that stock every week for minimal cost. Not making much money yet, but am enjoying the learning process. (At some point though, it needs to become about making money!)

So, in the process I have been doing some research on stocks and finding out what looks hot or not. I have been reading everything from information on the sharebuilder site itself to articles in Smart Money, Wall Street Journal, Motley Fool, and some other informative sites, including press releases from the chemical investment banking group and other such entities.

Even though most of these articles are not relevant to me and my investments, it is good to learn what is happening in different sectors. If you read trend reports in money magazines or WSJ, or a chemical m&a advisory or stock analysis from another source, you may know what to do with your money when you have gained a substantial amount. Or what companies to invest in now. If you know that a company is being acquired or merged, that can clue you into how the compay may perform in the future.

Or simply put, reading such material can also prepare you to talk intelligently about mergers and acquisitions when you are at a fancy dinner party, and the people next to you are talking about a deal in the works. Never hurts to know the lingo and what is going on in the sectors.

Think Twice Before Filing Bankruptcy

Years ago, I was afraid I might have to file bankruptcy. Drowning in debt, it seemed like a distinct possibility. But I didn't, and I have been on payment programs for my credit cards since. Within a year and a half, I wll totally be out of credit card debt. So excited! I remember when it was five years until being debt free and it seemed like I would never get there. Now, I it is within grasp. I am glad I did this. Too many times, people may choose bankruptcy, when they can work the problem out for themselves. And a bankruptcy will dog you forever.


Then I went to law school and became interested inb being a bankruptcy attorney. I took the class in school and have since graduated, bot I have not followed through yet on being a BK attorney. I almost took a chapter 7 case, but I taked him into making a payment plan instead. I would really like to have a BK practice someday. I haven't bought the software yet--it is pretty expensive, plus I have't worked out my schedule yet to be able to take some classes. There were some other things that I needed to figure out, like where to find a bankruptcy class for my clients to take (it is required.). I have heard that an online bankruptcy course would fulfill the requirement too. There are a lot of things to think about when taking on this area of law. But I think it would be interesting and also lucrative in this economy.

Going Back To School Expenses

One of my more interesting mystery shops lately involved dental assisting schools. I had to contact a couple of different schools and pretend that I was interested in going back to school and switching careers. The type of schools I was to shop were of the "career college" ilk--those that you frequently see advertise practical type degrees that you can earn in a year or two. So I had to come up with a reasonable explanation that why all of a sudden I wanted to change course 180 and become a dental assistant.

I thought I was pretty convincing. My industry, and therefore my company, are going downhill because of the economy, and I need to be trained in a field that will have demand in the future. So dental assisting makes perfect sense!

If  I really needed to do that, I think it would actually be a good idea. So I went through the whole rigamarole, and learned about the schedules, fees, courses, and most importantly, how well the school administrators handled my inquiry.

One of the things I thought interesting is that students need to wear scrubs to class. http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/. I don't know, but am guessing, that that is to get the students in the right frame of mind. Which makes sense.

For such short degree programs, the students can rack up some debt. But at least they have a good chance of finding a job quickly to pay it off. Some things they can do to help keep costs down are look for used textbooks and find scrubs on sale. Every little bit helps!