Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 17, 2015

13

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 17, 2015 

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


PET PROPOSALS 

Did you realize that 6 out of 10 U.S. households 
have pets? That means that those without critter 
companions are in the minority, but if you�re a pet 
owner selling your home, you shouldn�t ignore the 
perceptions of those families that don�t include cats 
or dogs. 

 Odors are the biggest issue. This isn�t to say that 
your housekeeping is remiss, but remember that 
some buyers who visit your home may experience 
allergies or be particularly sensitive to pet dander 
or odors. Just vacuum the floors and furniture 
frequently and use an air sanitizer.

 During the early stages of your listing, you�ll 
likely experience more frequent showings and visits 
by buyers. This is a particularly good time to make 
arrangements to board your pet, or seek out a good 
�doggie day care� center for quick visits during 
showings. This may be safer and less stressful for 
your pet than a constant parade of strangers in your 
home, and may put buyers more at ease as well. 

 In any case, be sure to pick up toys, bowls, and 
bedding in advance of a showing, just as you 
would tidy up the children�s things and other 
rooms throughout the house before buyers visit. 
A particularly attractive gesture would be to offer 
a cleaning allowance, no matter how scrupulously 
you maintain your home. This should quiet any 
potential objections.

LIFE LINES by Amanda Rogers


CELEBRITY ESTATE PLANNING LESSONS OF 2014

TOP TEN LISTS

A new year always brings the sad reviews of notable 
personalities who have died in the past year. Two A 
list movie stars - Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul 
Walker - provide a cautionary tale on the importance 
of keeping your estate plan up to date. In Hoffman�s 
case, his 2004 estate plan had never been updated and 
he had two children after it was created. Walker�s 2001 
plan had also never been updated to reflect the changes 
in his life.

 Conducting an estate plan review whenever 
something major changes in your family - like a birth, 
death, marriage, divorce, or major asset purchase or 
sale - is key to ensuring your estate plan remains valid 
throughout your life and the people you love are taken 
care of in the way you intend. Here are some additional 
steps you can take to be sure your estate plan works:

 Make it easy to find. It is not uncommon for people 
to file away a will and estate plan in a safety deposit 
box, which makes it inaccessible to family without a 
court order.

 Make wise choices in your fiduciaries. Not only 
should you name more than one person as executor/
trustee - you will want backups (and even backups for 
the backups) if for some reason your primary choice 
cannot serve - you should also inform each person that 
you have chosen them to ensure their willingness to 
take on the job.

 Avoid contradictions in your estate plan. Be sure 
that your planning documents do not contradict 
your choices for the beneficiaries of your retirement 
accounts, life insurance policy, etc. This can cause 
major headaches for your fiduciaries and beneficiaries.

Name guardians. If you have minor children, one of 
the most important functions of your estate plan is to 
name legal guardians. If your first choice cannot serve, 
you will need to have named backups (and again, 
backups for the backups) to ensure the future of your 
children does not end up in the hands of a judge who 
doesn�t know you or the choices you might have made 
for them. We have a free report we can send you on 7 
Things Every Parent Must Do When Naming Legal 
Guardians � so you can avoid the most common 
guardian naming mistakes! Just contact our office for 
a free copy of this valuable report.

 Beware of unintentional disinheritances. If you are 
remarried and have children from your first marriage 
you wish to provide for as well as your current 
spouse, you will want to make special provisions for 
them in your estate plan. If you wish to intentionally 
disinherit someone, you should specifically state 
those intentions in your plan.

 Get professional guidance. Wills, trusts, and other 
estate planning documents downloaded from the 
Internet will not be tailored to the specific needs 
of your family. They do not come with guidance 
and counsel. And they do not help you preserve 
and pass on your greatest wealth � your stories, 
wisdom, guidance, and love. You should seek out 
the experience of a qualified attorney to help you 
accomplish all of that and avoid mistakes that could 
jeopardize your family�s financial future.

I�d be glad to sit down with you, learn about your 
family, educate you on the legal issues, and help you 
identify the best strategies to provide for and protect 
your loved ones.

 To you family�s health, wealth, and happiness,

 

 A local attorney, father, and CASA volunteer (Court 
Appointed Special Advocate for Children), Marc Garlett 
is on a mission to help parents protect what they love 
most. His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, 
Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Call 626.355.4000 to schedule 
an appointment to sit down and talk about ensuring a 
legacy of love and financial security for your family or 
visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more information.

What has happened to the process of discovery? 
Knowledge through unearthing the answers. 
All you have to do is have a question, turn to the 
internet and discover the answer by way of top ten 
lists. For example on line I found, �Top 10 Lists of 
everything under the sun. We give you the most 

fascinating gems of human knowledge. Four fact-
packed top ten lists daily. Now I see how convenient 
this can be when looking for a restaurant but what 
is this top ten mentality doing to our culture. I 
suspect it�s making us lazy learners and leaving 
us with facts with no real substance. I can ask my 
computer what are the top ten reasons to eat Kale. 
And I can read the answer. Or I can research the 
answer and in the process learn about the best soil 
to row kale, �search and discovery

The Number 1 Reason I Hate Top Ten Lists�

The top 10 reasons I hate top 10 lists�

 1. By not searching for answers ourself, there�s 
no discovery.

 2. They make us lazy learners.

 3. We�ve become a nation of DJ�s selling 
information off the billboard charts.

 4. We�re missing out on crucial tangents.

 5. We�re not choosing our references or our 
experts.

 6. We turn into a nation of all like minded 
people.

 7. Facts lose color and texture. 

 8. We don�t have to emotionally struggle to find 
the facts. The emotional struggles tells so much 
about urselves as individuals.

 9. It provides innforamtion easily forgotten

 10. And the number one reason I hate top ten 
lists as a writer, I feel like I�m cheating.

 By not searching, we�re not discovering.

 We miss out on the moment of discovery. Isn�t 
figuring it out the reason it stays with us.

 I can wonder what the top ten most distructive 
wars have been. I can read it off a top ten list and I 
guarantee I won�t remember tomorrow. If I study 
it. If I gather facts and in the process come up 
with my own facts discovered, I will remember 
tht information for ever.

 Everyone is Casey Kasem. We�re all DJ�s playing 
down the top 40. Facts lose their color, their 
texture, their emotion. We become a nation of 
facts. Dry, hard facts

 We�re not participating in the discovery

 By not attacking the big picture, we�re missing 
out on tangents.

 It�s making us lazy learners.

 We�re trusting who?? Top Ten according to 
whom? We�re not picking our own references

 We don�t get to see the argument for and against

 We�re squelching our curiosity


BUILDING A SYSTEM

Successful business owners know one thing....a 
good business is built on systems!

 Your social media marketing strategies can be 
built on systems too. Once you take the time to set 
up your tools, you�ll be able to get them to work 
together. 

 When you build a social media system, you can 
post in one tool and populate many.

 Here are a few examples: 

 Link Facebook to Twitter (www.facebook.com/
twitter): Every post you make on Facebook will 
automatically tweet too 

 Twitterfeed (www.twitterfeed.com) allows you 
to feed your blog posts to Facebook, Twitter and 
LinkedIn 

 Simple Share in Constant Contact automatically 
posts your email campaigns on social media. 

 Use your Smart phone to feed the system: I often 
use my voice recognition feature on my iphone to 
make a Facebook post. Because of the system I�ve 
built, it also goes to Twitter and to our web site. It 
takes me less than 10 seconds feed content to these 
3 places! 

 Who says Social Media takes too much time? 
Build a system. 

About MJ: MJ and her brother David own 
HUTdogs, a creative services business that 
specializes in Internet Marketing strategies and 
Social Media. They offer social media management 
services and help their clients build a strong 
on-line presence. �Like� them on Facebook for 
trending news in social media, internet marketing 
and other helpful tips, www.facebook.com/
hutdogs.

 Sign up for their upcoming classes and 
presentations at: www.hutdogs.com/workshops/
schedule