How To Play Time Management Games Online For Free

1. First a warning, playing games can be addicting so remember to manage your playing time. Also be sure to download time management games from sites that you trust and always keep your anti-virus program up to date.

2. Check your browser some time management games require the Internet Explorer browser and will not work with Firefox and some other browsers.

3. Decide if you want to play time management games online or download them and then play. Please check our "Times Management Games" section for resources that is updated regularly.

4. Let us look at some of the games that you can play for free online. As you will see there are many time management games to choose from so take the time and try several of them, you will soon find out which one you like the most.

Belle's Beauty Boutique:

'Belle's Beauty Boutique' you must help run a beauty parlor single-handedly. The owner, Belle, needs your help to give all of her customers the treatments they want. Help her wash, cut, shampoo and color a crazy cast of characters. Watch them gossip, flirt, and help Belle realize her dream of creating the ultimate beauty salon.

Big Island Blends:

After arriving on Big Island you discover that the "fortune" you've just inherited is an orchard? Well, what better way to turn your fields into a real fortune than opening a smoothie stand Serve your delicious fruit concoctions to the thirsty inhabitants of Big Island in level after level of fast-paced fun. Then, use your hard-earned money to purchase a wide variety of sparkling upgrades to make your smoothie stand the best on Big Island! Colorful, fast, and fun, try Big Island Blends for a unique taste of the tropics.

Burger Island:

Help our heroine Patty turn around a run-down burger stand located on deserted Mount Tikikola Beach in 'Burger Island'. Juggle orders from demanding customers, purchase over 30 exotic mouth-watering recipes, unlock more than 40 delicious ingredients, combining up to 9 per order, all while keeping an ever-watchful eye on the clock. With 60 increasingly challenging levels, see if you have what it takes to help Patty build the best burger stand on the island!

Burger Shop:

After receiving a set of strange blueprints in the mail, you build an extraordinary food-making contraption and open a restaurant. Your goal? Make food and satisfy customers until you discover the truth behind the mysterious blueprints. Burger Shop is a fun and addicting time-management game with several play modes including: Story Mode, Challenge Mode, Relax Mode and Expert Story Mode, each with different trophies you can collect. Utilize unique food making devices to make over fifty different food items during your quest. With four play modes, over sixty upgrade items and ninety-six trophies, you can play Burger Shop forever!

Cake Mania:

Baking runs in Jill's family. Help Jill upgrade her kitchen with state-of-the-art baking tools, while serving her ever-increasingly difficult customers. Help Jill earn enough to reopen her grandparents' bakery in this fast-paced culinary crisis.

Cake Mania 2:

After re-opening the Evans Bakery, and sending her grandparents on an exotic Hawaiian cruise, Jill is back in an all-new, out-of-this-world adventure! Explore six far-flung bakery locations; serve up deliciously original creations to 18 quirky customers, ranging from Federal Agents to mysterious Aliens, and choose the path Jill will take in 'Cake Mania 22!

Delicious 2:

Uncle Antonio needs Emily's help to get out of a financial fix. Help Emily rescue her family's finances in five all-new restaurants, each with a unique menu and theme. Use your earnings to purchase decorations sure to make your customers smile. Emily's friends and family are on hand to help, but it's going to take your serving savvy to get Uncle Antonio back on track. Featuring two game modes, all-new customers, and hours of fast family fun, 'Delicious 2 Deluxe' is just the thing to satisfy your craving for fun.

Features:

* Two Game Modes

* Five All-New Restaurants

* 60 Challenging Levels Featuring New Customers

* Decorate Your Restaurant Your Way

Delicious Deluxe:

Join Emily on her quest to make her dreams come true in two game modes and seven different restaurants. Success means more tables, bigger restaurants, and a menu full of uniquely delectable items. Tasty treats may keep your customers happy, but it's going to take quick clicks and careful timing to get Emily's ambitions off the ground. Take a bite out of Delicious today!

Features:

* Two Game Modes

* Seven Different Restaurants

* Bonuses Like Bigger Trays, Chocolate, and Stars

* Five Types of Customer

Diner Dash:

Diner Dash is the action-puzzle that brings out the entrepreneur in all of us. Poor Flo! Sick and tired of pushing paper in the world of finance, she ditched her desk job and is setting out to build her very own restaurant empire. Flo's on her own now and heading for the top! It won't be easy, though. To get there she'll have to start on the ground floor and she needs your help to survive and thrive. Diner Dash combines fast-paced puzzle action with a build-your-restaurant-empire theme. You'll start with a run-of-the-mill greasy spoon and end up in a dream restaurant that will take your breath away!

Features:

* 40 challenging levels of addictive, skill-based game play that allows you to grow your restaurant through 4 complete re-models

* Five different types of customers, each with different behaviors

* Two modes of play: Career and Endless Shift

* Fun sounds, cool visual style, flashy effects, and humorous animations

* High score tracking and automatic game save

Diner Dash®: Flo on the Go:

Flo trades in her apron for a passport to paradise! But will our hard-working waitress get a chance to relax? Seat customers, take orders, collect tips and dress up Flo in hundreds of vacation outfits in the all-new Flo's Closet".

Wedding Dash":

Help Quinn, a hopeful wedding planner, make wedding bells ring! Featuring the hilarious ups and downs of wedding day drama, 'Wedding Dash"' incorporates the plate-spinning fun from the 'Diner Dash®' series with the added challenge of pulling off the perfect wedding reception. Can you keep the bride and groom happy and Quinn's business afloat? Help couples select all the details - from tasty cakes to gorgeous flowers - but once they've tied the knot, lookout for obstacles preventing the perfect party, such as tipsy guests, falling cakes, and catty bridesmaids. When the going gets tough, keep an eye out for extra help from everyone's favorite server, Flo! It's a fast-paced challenge to execute a flawless event, but for the determined Quinn, it's all in a day's work!

5. There are several types of games available, some give you resources that you have use or spend to advance to the next level. Some time management games you must complete a number of tasks within a fixed period of time while in other games you have a certain number of lives, when you have lost them the games are over. Also there are games where you can continue to play until you figure out how to advance to the next level.

6. By now you have decided what time management game you want to play. Before you start the game check the game options, select the easiest level or story mode (where available) first time so you time to become familiar with the game.

7. As you become more experienced move through the different levels or game modes. Remember one of the advantages of playing time management games online is that you can communicate with other people playing the same game, so you can always ask for help.

8. Have fun but remember playing time management games can be addictive so take a break away from your PC every now and then.

Shortly we will look at time management games that you can download and play for free, so please re-visit or subscribe to our blog.

Warm regards,

Henrik

PS. Where can you find the games mentioned above? Please go to: http://games.aol.com/browse-games/arcade/time-management/

Unlock Your Spare Time for Making Money at Home

How often have you dreamt how great it would be to have more money but honestly feel you simply have not the time or energy to? Decide first how much you really want to make this happen. If you are only half- hearted about it you will never organize yourself to start to make money at home.

If that you really seriously want to ... then first you have to gain time. We all have the same number of hours in the day some may be organized just with working outside your home, and doing chores. What about the missing time. Do you find yourself sitting down to watch a game and still there on the couch hours later? Okay watch a game but not the next and next. Decide in advance what time you are going to use.

It does not require hours and hours of work to make money on-line. First decide what you could easily do and start. In-fact starting is the largest hurdle for everyone.

Make a plan of how much you want to succeed with doing each day. Even a few snatched minutes here and there will make a difference. Once you get going one step at a time you will gain confidence. Make a list of time slots and action your plan. When you work from home there is only you to make it happen so take control.

Some use a daily planner filling in the spaces into time brackets. Make sure you control your time and learn to say no to others who want distract you. Just re-book them into a time that suits you. You can make this happen. Fifteen minutes here, thirty minutes there and so on, you will go forward step by step. It will not take long before you are making money at home with your home business.

The True Meaning of the Word Freedom

Freedom is a very powerful word. Webster's dictionary defines freedom in many different ways, but this is the one that really stuck out to me. Freedom is the state of being free - liberated from slavery, restraint or the power of another. When I read this definition, the Bible verse Acts 12:7 ran through my mind- And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. Can you imagine the delight in Peter's heart as those chains released his hands and he was no longer in captivity?

You too have the opportunity to escape captivity and live in freedom for the rest of your life. Can you imagine actually being free financially, spiritually, socially, emotionally and physically? For most people that seems completely unrealistic, but I'm here to tell you it can be your reality. Remember, inside the word impossible is possible. It is possible for you to have freedom in every area of your life!

In the United States, we observe Independence Day on the fourth of July. There are fireworks exploding in the air across America in celebration of our freedom, which was made possible by the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. When that document was signed, it was "declared" that America was free. Let me ask you a question. When will you declare your independence? When will you declare your freedom? Before you can achieve it, you must believe it so say it out loud now... I DECLARE THAT I AM FREE IN EVERY AREA OF MY LIFE! THE SHACKLES ARE GONE! I AM FREE!

After you declare that you are free, you need to understand exactly what freedom is to you. If you don't know what it is, then how are you going to achieve it? What is freedom to you? I'm going to break down each letter of the word F-R-E-E-D-O-M, and I want you to visualize what it really means to you.

The first letter in the word freedom is 'F', which stands for focus. Are you focused on being free in every area of your life? If not, then you need to shift your focus and become focused on your freedom. Most people don't become truly free in their lives, because they are comfortable or simply aren't courageous enough to stretch themselves beyond their current life boundaries. Take advantage of getting uncomfortable and stretching yourself, because to be free you have to do things differently than most people.

Just imagine standing inside of an average size circle every single day. Your current job, friends, habits and overall way of life are also in the circle. Can you feel it getting tight? Don't you have the urge to step outside the circle? Now, imagine extending your foot, stepping outside of the circle and feeling an ultimate sense of relief. You have room to move and make decisions that you couldn't make inside that circle. Sadly, you will never get to leave that circle because it's the limit that you've placed on your life unless you make the decision get focused on your freedom and stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone.

Whatever you focus on everyday will determine whether or not you achieve freedom in your life. One of the main objectives that you should focus on is taking advantage of every single minute in your day. If you are scheduled and plan your day, then you are forging forward towards freedom. On the other hand, if you lay in bed at night, reflect back on your day and have no idea what you did all day long, then you are allowing time to take advantage of you. I often hear people say, "I have no idea where the time went." It's one of those moments when I have to bite my tongue, because I want to tell that person that they are wasting their time instead of investing it.

Time is our biggest form of currency so we must spend it wisely. If you focus on freedom and invest your time wisely, then you are one day closer to being free instead of remaining entrapped. While working with one of my coaching students, I asked her to show me her planner. I wanted to know where she was investing her time, because she was stuck in a rut. Surprisingly, she had every single minute of her day scheduled. This woman knew where she was every minute of the day and led an extremely busy lifestyle. However, I looked closer at the actual activity and saw the issue. I explained to her that just because she was active didn't mean that she was productive. She filled her day with meaningless tasks that created activity instead of accomplishment. Just because your calendar is full doesn't mean that you are investing your time wisely. I encourage you to sit down and take a good look at where you're spending your time and how some of those insignificant, waste of time activities are pushing you further away from your freedom.

Another determining factor in whether or not you become free is what you actually look at on a daily basis. I love to take photos with other champions at events and have built a Why wall in my office in South Florida. This wall is filled with not only pictures but also letters, art, cards and many more positive, inspirational things that I have received from people all over the world. In my home office or as I prefer to call it my "construction zone", I have pictures of my own dreams and goals. I focus on these things every day as I sit in my construction zone and build my business. No matter the obstacle that I encounter, I'm constantly reminded of my Why in life, because I see it in front of me.

What are you looking at? If your answer to that question is "nothing", then that's exactly what you are doing to achieve freedom in your life...NOTHING. In my favorite book, The Bible, it states that a man without a vision will perish. Another way of saying it is that a person without focus in pursuit of his dream will fail. I cringe when see someone reading those garbage books and magazines that highlight all the gloom and doom in the world. Can you really expect to achieve freedom in your life if you are focusing your mind and eyes on that trash? I challenge you to throw out the garbage and start reading positive, inspirational material. You can also take it a step further and hang some pictures of your dreams and goals in your construction zone. You won't believe how quickly your results will skyrocket when your focus is shifted!

If you're saying, "That sounds easy. All I have to do is organize my planner and hang a few pictures then I will be focused on achieving freedom in my life." YOU ARE WRONG! It's not a one step process. It's daily focus in every area of your life. When I say that you have to be focused, I don't mean that you just simply think about freedom sometime during the day. You need to be focused like a sniper with a laser pointed at his target...laser-focused! If you let anything or anyone distract you, then your target (freedom) will no longer be in sight.

Money Can't Buy You Love

As the old adage goes, money can't buy you love, but it can buy you time with the ones you love when you need it most. We all hope to have a long healthy life with plenty of time with family and friends. Sometimes however, life has different plans and a little planning can ease the financial burden at a time when the last thing you should be thinking about is money. Critical illness insurance is one option to account for the unforeseen future.

A long term client found themselves in this exact situation. While they were diligently working on their retirement plans, one of them was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer only to pass 37 days later.

Fortunately during the financial planning sessions, we discussed and included critical illness coverage to their suite of group and insurance options. This allowed the family to spend their limited time together as well as have the proper time to grieve the loss of a father and husband without worrying about finances.

Critical illness insurance pays a lump sum benefit if you are diagnosed with a dreaded disease such as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's, cancer or Parkinson's disease. Other conditions covered may include coma, stroke, heart attack, and kidney failure. Benefits are paid for the first occurrence and may be used to pay medical expenses, modify your home or even take a vacation.

There are many versions of critical illness insurance available and different insurance carriers offer different coverage. Be sure not to let premiums be your guide when choosing the right coverage for you and your family. Speaking with a financial planner can help you navigate the tricky waters of ensuring your future needs are met based on your family history and future goals.

Due to the aforementioned situation, the children of this couple have now been meeting with their financial planner on a regular basis to develop their own financial plans and to ensure that their inheritance and financial affairs are well looked after. Firsthand experience has shown them a little planning goes a long way.

Make Money and Love It

Someone once told me that play is work that we enjoy. I began to wonder why people do not play at work. There is a stigma that surrounds the word work. It is a necessary evil; it forces you to work for your weekend - the time you enjoy; it is just to be endured. But I do not believe it. Work can be fun, sure there will still be tough days, but there is nothing wrong with looking forward to going to work on Monday. Many things factor into whether you will enjoy your work: the people, the environment, and the work itself. These factors can keep you from enjoying work, but when used to your benefit, they can also help you find and retain enjoyment at your work.

What you excel in doing will affect if you enjoy the work you do. This is because individuals find satisfaction in accomplishes. I am a great goal-setter, planner and executor. I worked for a company where I severely got to use any of those skills. Instead, my time was focused on encouraging people to do things that did not want to do, which required skills in reading people, customizing messages to each individual person, and being a cheerleader; none of which are my strengths. Knowing this, each day I would try to improve how I talked to people and to influence them to smile at customers, and each day when my goals were not reached I went home feeling like a failure. Being in an environment where you can use your strengths allows you to go home with a sense of accomplishment. Spending your day toiling in areas where you struggle, leaves you feeling empty.

Many books have been written that will help you discover your strengths and weaknesses. Some go so deep as to help you find your undering motivators. These are fantastic resources which I recommend. For now, however, I want to focus on a quick analysis.

Think of your best day at work where you felt a sense of accomplishment. What happened? What activities were you doing? Did you land a tough deal? Did you overt a crisis? Did you create a successful plan? What attributes did that day's activities have? By boiling it down you will find the basics of what you enjoy doing.

What do people say you are good at? Does your boss ever refer co-workers to you for advice because you do something well? Do people seek you out as the expert in certain activities? What do you get recognized for? These are all great indicators of your strengths.

What do you find yourself doing when you do not have to? Are there activities at work or home you find yourself participating in even though you do not have (are not required) to? I am constantly creating plans and setting milestones for projects I do outside of life. My friend will sit down and pound out a book in a day. My husband will design and build things, not because it needs to be done, but because he enjoys the process. Figure out what you enjoy that can be translated to work.

Just knowing what you are good at is not enough, it is important to understand what you do not do well. What do you dread doing at work? Do you avoid paperwork like it is the plague? Do you make as few client calls as possible? What activities do you do that never seem to measure up to the status quo? My first internship I asked to cold call potential investors to see if they would be interested in speaking with a broker. After four hours of cold calling I went home crying. Each time I made a call that day, I would feel apprehension: afraid they would ask a question I would not have the answer to; afraid they would be rude to me; afraid I would get yelled at. Talking to strangers and trying to sell a product was not my strength.

After you know what you do not do well, there are two things to do: either manage those weaknesses or avoid situations that require them. To manage a weakness you need to leakage other skills to help you do that activity to the (level of the) status quo. Do not expect to ever make your weaknesses a strength. That same time you could use practicing and improving your current strengths and yield a much higher return on investment. Look at the activities you do not do well and see if there are ways for you to do that activity a little differently and still achieve it. Some things you can avoid absolutely. Is there someone at work whose strengths compliment your weaknesses? Maybe you can share the work. Do you have the authority to hire someone to take on the work you do not do well so you can focus on your strengths? In my business I am good at the organizational management piece where my partner is better at the sales piece (remember my cold-calling experience). I focus on directing the vision of our organization while he brings in the business. Would this work for you?

By understanding your strengths versus your weaknesses, you can begin shaping your job to fit you (or finding a different career). You will find you have much more satisfaction after spending your day being successful versus struggling through a workday by trying to rely on weaknesses. And go ahead, play at work.

Mutual Fund Investing 101: How You Make Money

How do you make money investing in mutual funds? There are basically two ways to make money and two ways to lose money investing in mutual funds. Let's get down to basics.

There are thousands of funds to choose from and the vast majority of them will fall into one of four categories based on where they invest money (your money). They are called: equity (stock), bond, money market, and balanced funds. In all of the above you open an account, invest money, and this buys you shares. You make money investing based on the number of shares you own. The same goes if you lose money investing.

Let's start with the most popular and the scandal category called EQUITY FUNDS, which invest money in stocks, which are also called "equities". Why invest money here? The primary objective is growth, with dividend income as a secondary objective. You make money investing here when the share price goes up, and from dividends. You lose money when the share price goes down. The disputes come from the stocks in the fund portfolio and are passed on to you. They (like all dividends) are yours to keep. The primary attraction of equity funds: the potential for high returns.

BOND FUNDS have one primary objective: higher income in the form of dividends. They are also called INCOME FUNDS, and are generally safer than the equity variety. You invest money here to earn higher dividends than you can get elsewhere. The disputes come from the interest earned in the fund's bond portfolio. You can also make money investing when the share price goes up; and lose money when the share price falls. Normally, there is probably less price fluctuation than you'll find in the equity or stock category.

BALANCED FUNDS are a happy medium between the two above, because they invest money in both stocks and bonds. Here you make money from both rising share prices and dividends, and lose money investing when share prices tumble. Here you have moderate risk.

MONEY MARKET FUNDS are the safe alternative and you make money investing in them in only one way: dividends. They invest money and earn interest in high quality, short-term IOUs (in the money market). This interest they pass on to you in the form of dividends. Share price is pegged at $ 1 and does not fluctuate. Very rarely do investors lose money investing here.

Most people invest money in mutual funds as a long term investment. So, in most cases they simply allow the fund company to reinvest all dividends (and other dividends) to buy more shares. Distributions (like capital gains from the sale of stock) are a bit technical. Do not worry - if you have them coming, you'll get your share. And you'll also receive periodic statements showing the activity in your account.

In the beginning we said that there are basically two ways to make money and two ways to lose money investing in mutual funds. What's the second way you can lose money? Let me give you an example, and as a former financial planner I've seen this time time and time again. Joe Blow decided to invest money in mutual funds through a "financial planner" (not me). He put $ 20,000 into a stock fund, and about a year later he looked at his latest statement and it showed a total value of $ 19,000.

The stock market in that year showed a modest gain. How did he lose money investing? Answer: $ 1000 came off the top to pay for sales charges called "loads". About $ 300 went to annual fund expenses, and another $ 300 to extra fees. Joe claims that he did not know anything about these charges and fees.

It is not necessary to pay big bucks when you invest money in mutual funds. Had Joe gone with NO-LOAD funds, he could have invested for a total cost of about $ 200 a year, for expenses. You can make money investing in mutual funds as a long term investment. Just do not work against yourself by losing money to high charges and fees.

Inflation and Your Money - What Is Its Real Value?

We held a Retirement Seminar for dentists at our office recently. This being part of an ongoing series of educational talks and workshops to several groups of scholars in the north, and which also takes us to North Wales next year.

It was good to see familiar faces in attendance, as well as new, with specialist dental accountant Alan Suggett also chipping in with a slot on the value of Practices and the complexity of Incorporation.

Part of what we covered was how volatile the markets have been this year, and also how inflation can play havoc with your wealth over time.

It is sometimes not appreciated how, over time, inflation can really damage wealth creation and preservation, and with inflation very high at present it is worth looking at this in more detail.

Of course, the context here is the real value of money. When we talk about the 'real return' on your money, it means the return that you get (or do not get) over inflation.

So if inflation is, say, 5% pa, and you are getting a return in the bank of 3% pa ​​before tax, and 2.4% pa after basic rate tax, then you are not getting anywhere near a real return on your money.

If this were to happen over many years, then the real value of your money would reduce markedly. In fact, with present rates at around the 5% mark and with many experiencing a salary freeze, some people will be seeing a fall in their standard of living.

Let's take a look at the impact of inflation on some consumer items, as well as salaries, pensions and debt over a recent 10 year period.

PRICE COMPARISON 1999 - 2009

Price in 1999 Price in 2009% change Source

Milk (pint) 34p 45p 32.30% ONS

White Loaf 51p 1.26 147% ONS

Sugar (kg) 61p 88p 44.20% ONS

Pint lager 1.93 2.79 44.50% ONS

20 Cigs 3.37 5.39 60% ONS

Petrol / l 63.6p 90.4p 42% Petrol Prices

Ave salary 18,396 20,900 13.60% ONS

Weekly state pension 66.75 95.25 42.70% PAS

Level of UK consumer debt 565.4 1457.4 158% BOES

billions

Price of oil per barrel 8.80 28.70 226% WTRG

Bottle of wine 3.55 4.18 18% W & STA

Ford Focus 15,500 16,095 4% Ford

McDonald's Big Mac 1.90 1.99 4.70% McDonald's

Source: This is Money

So those of you who like a pint and a fag while munching on a white bread sandwich will have reasons to moan!

Whilst the wine loving burger fans may well have a smile on their face!

For a bit of fun (answers below), have a guess at the price of these items in 1960 compared to the 2009 prices below:

1. Fish N Chips - 4.50

2. A Mini - 12,345

3. Petrol - 86p (was it ?!)

So we can see that just 10 years can seriously erode the value of money, never mind 20, 30 or 50 years!

So what is the best way to combat inflation with your savings and investments?

The first thing to say is that there is no magic answer, and that there are 3 rules to investment return:

1. Risk and return are related

2. Risk and return are related

and yes

3. Risk and return are related

Other factors are accessibility, tax and the time period you have to invest.

Of course, in our opinion, the only reliable way in which you can find out what rate of return you NEED longer term so that you can be on track to achieve your goals in life is to devise a proper strategy, and have your own financial map called a cash flow forecast.

This will be able to calculate what returns (and there before risk) you need to take, with the aim to minimize any risk due to a possible option. What such a plan will give you is how much to invest in the various asset classes, with each having their own expected rate of return & risk (standard deviation). So getting the right mix is ​​vital.

We covered some of this at the seminar, and using figures from a Scottish Widows UK Financial History graph (Barclays Index data), we could see that returns from some major asset classes made interesting reading.

What one pound invested in 1950 to 2010 would be worth:

Building Society (Cash) - 1,560

Gilts (Government loans) - 6,146

Equities (Stocks & Shares) - 117,500 (dividends reinvested)

Retail Prices Index - 2,680

Other methods would be to utilize products that give a return over a period that is guaranteed to be above inflation. Even Tesco had launched such a bond a little while ago - but as is the case with ANY investments / savings accounts, watch out for the small print.

Of course, the past is no guarantee of the future, but what do these figures tell us?

Well, the most important one we feel is that in the longer term, say 10 years plus, it is important that any investments you have show a real return. That is a return that is higher than inflation.

To give you the best chance of this, having a relevant risk assessed investment portfolio that has the right 'blend' of asset classes that lets you sleep at night on the one hand, and yet give you the return you need on the other, is a tried and proven route.

Talking about inflation, we came across a couple of quotes to share with you:

By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.

- John Maynard Keynes

And on a less serious note:

"Inflation is when you pay fifteen dollars for the ten-dollar haircut you used to get for five dollars when you had hair."

- Sam Ewing

Mini Quiz answers:

1. 6p - a 7,400% rise

2. 496 - a 2389% rise

3. 5p - a 1620% rise

Source: National Statistics.

The first one really is a surprise. The chip shop owners must have been salting their profit away for years! (sorry)

The Financial Tips Bottom Line

Really think about what you want in life and by when. Then measure the cost of this, and compare it to what assets you have.

If you do not know where you are going, how do you know when you'll get there ?!

Use cash flow forecasts - how does it look for you?

ACTION POINT

If you have an advisor, ask them to create you own cash flow forecast. If they do not know how to do this, then maybe it's time to find a financial planner that does!

Catch That Bouquet!

I have three weddings booked for this winter. In case you were wondering, no, I'm not a wedding planner. Not even close! I have three weddings written down on my calendar to attend. Hey, these are important events. Weddings mean a chance for me to catch the bouquet. Do you know what that means?

Whoever catches the bouquet will presumably be the next to marry. It's almost like being a contestant on a TV game show. There is plenty of competition among the single women for the prized bouquet. So why, exactly, does the bridal bouquet hold this promise?

In Medieval Europe, (Why does every custom origin here? Ever noticed that? I'm just saying.) European brides were no different than American brides. Like you, they only expected to wear their wedding dress once. (And if you have plans for another time, all I can say is your poor husband.) In those days, single women looked at the bride's wedding dress as a good luck charm. After the wedding was over, these women chased the bride and ripped off pieces of her dress. You can imagine what the bride looked like after these women got through with her!

Bring us around to the other side of the globe, back to America. Women are buying more expensive wedding gowns and would actually like to keep them! Keep their dignity, too. After the wedding, the bride began throwing several different items in an attempt to distract all the aggressive women. The bride's goal was to keep the women happy and keep her wedding dress. Well, one of those items just so happened to be the bouquet! Have you figured it out yet? As time went by, the bouquet became the most traditionally thrown object.

The wedding bouquet seemed like the perfect solution. Flowers symbolize fertility, which is almost as good as having a piece of the actual wedding dress. Also, since flowers are perishable, brides do not usually save their bouquets. But, the wedding dress is something she does want to keep!

Be advised, when deciding which weddings to attend, some brides do away with throwing their bouquet. The bride does not want her still single great aunt (the one who talks to her cats) to feel uncomfortable. Or depending on what type of wedding guests the bride invites, the competition to catch the bouquet can become a violent stampede.

This wedding season is wearing me out! Let me know ahead of time if you do not plan on throwing your bouquet. That way, I can scratch your wedding off my list!