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Business News & Trends

Mountain Views News Saturday, January 31, 2015

MVNews this week: Page 13

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 31, 2015

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett

WHAT TO KNOW

ABOUT ESCROW

When you buy a home, or just make an offer, you will encounter the term "escrow account." Like
making a friendly bet and asking a third party to hold the wager money, the "escrow agent" is the neutral
party that holds funds in the interest of the mortgage lender and the borrower.

When the terms of the purchase and loan agreements have been met, the money is released. When
your application is approved and the loan takes effect, the lender will likely require money for property
taxes and homeowner's insurance also to be held in escrow. These funds are added to your monthly
mortgage payment and disbursed when the tax and insurance bills are due.

This protects the lender by ensuring a lien isn't placed against your property for non-payment of
taxes, and your home (their collateral) is protected against catastrophe. But escrow also benefits borrowers
by spreading the large annual payments for taxes and insurance over twelve months.

For example, if your taxes are $1,600 per year and your insurance is $800, you're budgeting a reasonable
$200 per month instead of making two big payments. Escrow accounts do not earn interest, so
if you make a large enough downpayment, you may be able to avoid the monthly escrow and pay the
bills directly. Ask your agent and your lender about the pros and cons.

“AND THE ESTATE PLANNING OSCAR GOES TO...”

The film “Black Heirlooms” has not received any
Oscar nominations. It was made by 32-year-old
Amanda Brown, whose once close-knit family was
ripped apart because of her grandmother’s lack of
comprehensive estate planning.

The film, profiled recently in the New York
Times, is “about the extended uncomfortable,
intergenerational conversations that we do not
have enough of and that her family did not have
until it was too late.”

Vonley and Edna Mae Royal raised eight children
together. Vonley had several businesses that
provided a small inheritance for his wife after he
died. Following his death, the Royal children tried
to get Edna Mae to talk about how she wanted the
estate divided after she died. She proved resistant
to such a discussion, however, and so her children
backed off. “We didn’t want to give her the
impression that we were trying to gain some kind
of advantage,” said her son Gary.

Unfortunately, Edna Mae had a stroke in 2009.
Shortly thereafter her children became divided on
how she should be taken care of, whether or not she
could make decisions for herself, and who should
have power of attorney over her affairs. The family
eventually wound up in court, exhausting any
inheritance they might have had on legal fees and
dividing the children.

Today, 90-year-old Edna Mae is taken care of by
five of her eight children; the other three do not
speak to their siblings and rarely see their mother.
The inheritance that Vonley and Edna Mae worked
so hard to provide to their children is gone. In the
film, Edna Mae’s granddaughter Amanda wonders,
“Now that the family is divided, what was the point
of working so hard to keep everything intact?”

If you have been putting off this type of
conversation in your family, we can help.
Executing a comprehensive estate plan can be
extremely fulfilling, knowing you are providing
and protecting an inheritance for your children,
making your wishes known and alleviating your
family of the burden of guessing the right health
care choices for you.

If you would like to learn more about estate
planning for your family, we can help. We can
also assist you with that all-important family
discussion (which could just be one of the most
important discussions your family ever has).

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.

POST ONCE, POPULATE MANY -
BUILD SYSTEMS FOR YOUR ONLINE MARKETING

Building systems for your social media marketing will
save you time and help you get your message out. Here
are three simple systems that are easy to set up:

Constant Contact Email System:

When you schedule your next Constant Contact Email
campaign, use the Simple Share Feature. As you schedule
your email to go out to your subscribers, it will also post
to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

A Simple Facebook System:

Facebook can act as a distribution hub as well. When
you post to your Facebook Page, you can have that post
populate Twitter and your web site.

To link your Facebook posts to Twitter simply follow
the instructions at www.facebook.com/twitter.

You can have Facebook feed directly to your web site
via a Facebook Like Box. Get the html code for your Like
Box at: bit.ly/likeboxmaker.

This will create a content box on your website which
will display your most recent posts. Plus it can give your
web site a fresh look every time you post to Facebook.
You will need to have designated space on your site for
the feed.

Instagram System:

Instagram is a great starting tool in a system. You can take
a picture from your smart phone, post it on Instagram
and it will automatically post on Twitter, Facebook and
your website. Here are two easy steps that will build
a system for your Instagram posts:

- Instagram settings: choose “share settings.” Select
Facebook and Twitter and follow the instructions to link
to your accounts. You can set up your Facebook feed to
go to your personal profile page or to a business page you
admin.

- Add a feed to your website: Use a widget maker like
Snapwidget.com to create code that you can install on
your website. There are several widget format types to
choose from (grid, slide show, scrolling etc.) This is a
great way to keep images current on your website.

The systems mentioned are pretty basic. You can build
on them as you grow your on-line presence. The point is to
create systems that work for your business. Systems that
will save you time and provide maximum exposure for
your valuable content.

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.

LIFE LINES by Amanda Rogers

A teacher of mine once described to me the
difference between being brave and being a hero. A
brave person will enter a burning building to rescue
a baby, while a hero will enter a burning building to
rescue a baby … and then never talk about it. That
leads me to believe that true heroism defies ego. Is
that why Superman quickly returns to his Clark Kent
identity? He’s not looking for accolades, slaps on the
back or a new movie from Warner Brothers with
his name above the title. What makes Superman
different than most of us has very little to do with
his lightening speed and superhuman strength. The
real difference is that he has arrived. The stories of
great heroes tell more about the journey than the act
of heroism. The hero’s journey takes the ordinary
man from home, across dangerous thresholds and
then home again with an expanded consciousness.
So departure, struggle and return, the three phases
of the journey are really a metaphor for what we all
are programmed to do.

Our task, our goal, is to evolve from the neurotic
ego through to the healthy ego and then ultimately
to the spiritual Self. Departure for Clark Kent
might be stepping out of his office and putting
on his Superman cape, while for us mere mortals
departure is of a different kind. Departure for us
means letting go of our attachment to the illusion
of being in control and the compulsions to cling
to what we falsely imagine will make us happy.
Where Superman struggles with any number of
enemies, our human struggle is with the neurotic
ego. This struggle consists of our learning to take
responsibility for our feelings, dealing with fear,
anger and guilt, building self-esteem, maintaining
personal boundaries, achieving true intimacy and
befriending our “shadow self.” And just like our
heroic forefathers of fiction, we humans leave the
familiarity of our mother’s house believing our
journey is to faraway lands, only to find it was a path
to bring us back home. Only now, we’ve brought with
us the capacity to give and receive unconditional
love. And that is what being a hero is.