Source: CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Come January, you’ll start to see some changes in your paycheck, as the new Social Security tax break that President Obama signed into law Friday takes effect.

The measure, part of a sweeping package of tax cuts, will reduce the amount of money workers pay into Social Security in 2011, which will mean more take-home pay for many workers, although not for all.

Workers normally pay 6.2% on their first $106,800 of wages into Social Security. As a result of the tax cut deal passed by the House on Thursday night, they will only pay in 4.2% in 2011.

So, for every thousand dollars in wages per paycheck up to the cap, one would only have $42 withheld (4.2% x $1,000), rather than $62 (6.2% x $1,000).

But given how late in the year it is, it may take employers a couple of pay periods to get everything working as it should.

Employers typically need a few weeks to program and test their new payroll systems. The IRS just issued guidance on Friday morning, a few weeks later than normal because Congress waited until the very last minute to render its decision on tax policy for 2011.

“It could be the third paycheck of the year before you see a ‘normal’ check,” said Scott Mezistrano, senior manager of government relations of the American Payroll Association.

Read the full article…

Image Courtesy of Binau.com

Winter Tips

This is an H3

• Remove screens from windows and install storm windows
• Clean out gutters and downspouts
• Insulate pipes in your home’s crawl spaces and attic
• Store firewood at least 30 feet away from your home
• Familiarize responsible family members with the gas main valve and other appliance valves
• Clean the clothes dryer exhaust duct, damper and space under the dryer
• Make sure all electrical holiday decorations have tight connections
• Check the attic for adequate ventilation
• Clean the kitchen exhaust hood and air filter
• Check the water hoses on the clothes washer, refrigerator icemaker and dishwasher for cracks and bubbles
• Test all ground-fault-circuit-interrupter (GFCI) outlets.

Sources

State Farm Winter Tips

The ritualistic donning of the evergreen Christmas tree is seeped deep in the tradition of man, and has nothing to do with religion. 

The evergreen tree has played a role in Winter celebrations since ancient times, as a symbol of fertility and reproduction. Evergreens were set up in the home as symbolic idols, adorned with apples and other fruit. Decorations were intended as fruit offerings, and it is speculated that is where the idea of putting gifts under the tree originated. 

Many pagan festivals used evergreen trees to honor gods and spirits. Nords used trees as a symbol that Winter would pass and the green of Spring would return. The Druids of ancient England and France decorated oak trees with fruit and candles in honor of their gods at harvest time. Romans would decorate their trees with trinkets, candles and small pieces of metal for Saturnalia ceremonies.  

The modern custom of the Christmas tree is said to originate in Germany. German would bring trees in their homes to decorate. In areas where evergreen trees were scarce, families would build a Christmas pyramid out of wood and adorn it with branches and chandles. 

It’s unknown the exact date that trees were first decorated in America, but the term “Christmas Tree” did not come into common use until 1830 when it spread throughout the land with the arrival of German immigrants. One of the first public displays of the Christmas Tree was set up by German settlers in Pennsylvania at a time when most considered the tree to be a pagan symbol. They would bake fancy ornaments for their trees, and eat them once the tree was taken down. 

German glassblowers began producing lightweight glass balls to replace the heavier, natural decorations which weighed down the tree limbs. The trimmings were said to represent the joy and light of Christmas, with a star on top to represent the “Star of the East.”

English royalty made the Christmas tree popular with the first tree at Windsor Castle in 1841. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, adorned the first English Christmas tree with candles, candies, fruits and gingerbread. Soon the custom spread throughout England. 

The tree is said to have gained its Christian symbolism by St. Boniface and later, by Martin Luther.

Source: Christmas Tree (Wikipedia) & Nova Reinna

This IS it! It is THIS! Your life. Not over there, or back there, or if this happens, or when that happens. Embrace now! Love now! Aim high, but don’t waste your IT away.

This week is Thanksgiving, a time to give thanks for what we are blessed to have. This is the time of year when we return to our roots, visit our families and keep the rituals that we’ve had since birth. A time to step away from the hustle and bustle of life in the information age, to a place where memories are stored. A time for giving thanks for our blessings, for our family and for love.

What will you do this year? More importantly, what attitudes will you embrace? The holidays can be hectic, with old wounds from sores gone by aching and causing grief. Past grievances come to life over pumpkin pie, as you’re reminded that your sister, or cousin or brother or aunt, always did get the most attention, after all.

The question this year is this: How can you face this Thanksgiving with an air of peace? How can you let go of the past and allow love and forgiveness to heal?

Sure, there are many issues in your family, such is universal to man. Pain, hurt and offense is a part of life. The key to becoming a better person, rather than bitter, is to give negative emotions no place to stay. Taking a deep breath, holding it for a moment, then releasing your air and all the angst along with it.

Then, no matter what happens, or who says what, you can offer a warm smile of love and forgiveness into everyone in your life, regardless of flaws. Nobody is immune to hard issues, but it’s our individual choice to hold unforgiveness, or like the tree that releases its leaves in fall, to let it go.

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
– Raymond Lindquist

Written by dotJenna

(c) 2010 All Rights Reserved

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Obama administration is singing a different tune about foreclosures.

A year ago, officials focused on stemming the foreclosure tide. Now they are touting the need for foreclosures to rebuild the housing market.

Last week Phyllis Caldwell, head of the Treasury Department’s Homeownership Preservation Office, told a congressional panel that “an important part of ensuring longer-term stability in the market is to enable properties to be resold to families who can afford to purchase them.”

And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs last month told reporters that without sales of homes in distressed areas the “recovery in the housing market stops. It’s frozen.”

“That obviously can have — we believe and others believe — a very negative and detrimental impact to our economic recovery efforts and the housing markets in states that have been hardest hit,” Gibbs said.

But when Obama unveiled his signature foreclosure prevention program in February 2009, he said loan modifications were a key way to prevent the housing crisis from deepening. His initiative called for reducing distressed borrowers’ monthly payments to 31% of their pre-tax income.

“We’re not just helping homeowners at risk of falling over the edge; we’re preventing their neighbors from being pulled over that edge too — as defaults and foreclosures contribute to sinking home values, and failing local businesses, and lost jobs,” the president said.

The shift in rhetoric signals the Obama administration is recognizing that its loan modification program is foundering, experts said. Also, it is acknowledging that banks must address their swelling ranks of delinquent loans.

To be sure, the administration is still concerned with helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. Officials have rolled out a series of initiatives in 2010 aimed at assisting the unemployed and the underwater who owe more than their houses are worth.

And, they have called for reviews into the institutions’ foreclosure policies and procedures, stressing that servicers must comply with the law.

But they also now acknowledge more vocally that foreclosures must continue for a normal housing market to return. And that, in part, is why the administration is not supporting a nationwide foreclosure freeze despite the paperwork scandal that is roiling the mortgage industry.

The administration says there has been no change in either policy or rhetoric surrounding foreclosures and the housing market. The loan modification program was never meant to save every homeowner and officials always acknowledged the role of foreclosures in the market’s recovery, according to a Treasury spokeswoman.

“We have always thought some foreclosures needed to happen for there to be a full housing recovery,” said the spokeswoman, Andrea Risotto.

But, experts say, the new tone eminating from the White House also recognizes that the modification program is not living up to its initial goals of helping up to 4 million people avoid foreclosure. Some 496,000 distressed borrowers have received long-term modifications through September.”What they have now realized is there are a lot of borrowers who can’t be saved and have to be moved through the foreclosure process,” said Laurie Goodman, senior managing director with Amherst Securities.

And they must break this news to Americans.

Officials are “trying to soften everybody up” to the fact that foreclosures are necessary, said Guy Cecela, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry newsletter.

The new talking points, however, won’t likely result in a change in policy, said Anthony Sanders, a real estate finance professor at George Mason University. Administration officials will continue to support foreclosure alternatives because they are more palatable.

“As long as politics are involved, they’ll keep doing it,” said Sanders.

Full Story CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The Obama administration is singing a different tune about foreclosures.

A year ago, officials focused on stemming the foreclosure tide. Now they are touting the need for foreclosures to rebuild the housing market.

Last week Phyllis Caldwell, head of the Treasury Department’s Homeownership Preservation Office, told a congressional panel that “an important part of ensuring longer-term stability in the market is to enable properties to be resold to families who can afford to purchase them.”

And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs last month told reporters that without sales of homes in distressed areas the “recovery in the housing market stops. It’s frozen.”

“That obviously can have — we believe and others believe — a very negative and detrimental impact to our economic recovery efforts and the housing markets in states that have been hardest hit,” Gibbs said.

But when Obama unveiled his signature foreclosure prevention program in February 2009, he said loan modifications were a key way to prevent the housing crisis from deepening. His initiative called for reducing distressed borrowers’ monthly payments to 31% of their pre-tax income.

“We’re not just helping homeowners at risk of falling over the edge; we’re preventing their neighbors from being pulled over that edge too — as defaults and foreclosures contribute to sinking home values, and failing local businesses, and lost jobs,” the president said.

The shift in rhetoric signals the Obama administration is recognizing that its loan modification program is foundering, experts said. Also, it is acknowledging that banks must address their swelling ranks of delinquent loans.

To be sure, the administration is still concerned with helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. Officials have rolled out a series of initiatives in 2010 aimed at assisting the unemployed and the underwater who owe more than their houses are worth.

And, they have called for reviews into the institutions’ foreclosure policies and procedures, stressing that servicers must comply with the law.

But they also now acknowledge more vocally that foreclosures must continue for a normal housing market to return. And that, in part, is why the administration is not supporting a nationwide foreclosure freeze despite the paperwork scandal that is roiling the mortgage industry.

The administration says there has been no change in either policy or rhetoric surrounding foreclosures and the housing market. The loan modification program was never meant to save every homeowner and officials always acknowledged the role of foreclosures in the market’s recovery, according to a Treasury spokeswoman.

“We have always thought some foreclosures needed to happen for there to be a full housing recovery,” said the spokeswoman, Andrea Risotto.

But, experts say, the new tone eminating from the White House also recognizes that the modification program is not living up to its initial goals of helping up to 4 million people avoid foreclosure. Some 496,000 distressed borrowers have received long-term modifications through September.”What they have now realized is there are a lot of borrowers who can’t be saved and have to be moved through the foreclosure process,” said Laurie Goodman, senior managing director with Amherst Securities.

And they must break this news to Americans.

Officials are “trying to soften everybody up” to the fact that foreclosures are necessary, said Guy Cecela, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, an industry newsletter.

The new talking points, however, won’t likely result in a change in policy, said Anthony Sanders, a real estate finance professor at George Mason University. Administration officials will continue to support foreclosure alternatives because they are more palatable.

“As long as politics are involved, they’ll keep doing it,” said Sanders.

Full Story CNN Money

(MONEY Magazine) — Just when it looked as if mortgage rates couldn’t fall any further, they did.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (excluding jumbos) hit an average of 4.3% in September, the lowest level since 1953, according to Freddie Mac, and are still hovering below 4.5%.

Fifteen-year rates are even more mouthwatering: 3.8%. Mind you, those are averages. The most creditworthy borrowers can do even better, snagging rates perhaps a quarter of a percentage point lower.

So what’s in this for you? A lot, potentially. If you have a credit score of 720 or higher and at least 20% equity in your home, you might use these crazy-low rates to shorten your mortgage term, free up cash, or even add to your real estate holdings, for example.

Whatever you decide, don’t wait too long. Home prices expected to slide another 8%

“The consensus is that rates will gradually move up in the new year,” says Frank Nothaft, chief economist for Freddie Mac. Freddie projects that the average 30-year fixed will hit 5% by the end of 2011.

Read full story on CNN Money

Recently, researchers from North Carolina State University used jury deliberations recorded during a capital murder case to study the role of laughter in small group dynamics. They were particularly interested in using the transcripts of jury deliberations (of a capital punishment case) to study laughter because there is very little research on the role of laughter in communication, particularly when divorced from humor.

What the researchers found was that laughter in this situation was used in a multitude of ways; namely to question, control, and regulate relationships, procedures, and information in the group. For example, sometimes laughter was used to signal support for a group member; at other times it was used to signal a lack of support. At times people used laughter as a tool, intentionally and strategically, to control communication and affect group dynamics, or to shift power.

Full Story on Psychology Today

Source: AllRecipes.com