A complete guide for parents to choose the best toys for their children.Written by Eugen Lisov
Do you remember how it was when you where a child? What was your main activity? Was it working? Of course not. Your main activity was playing. You had no concerns. You needed toys and your parents where supposed to provide you with them. They had to find toys you wouldn’t throw away and believe me, it wasn’t easy for them. Now you are a parent and you are in same situation as your parents years ago. You’re looking for toys that your child will like. That’s why you must know how to choose right toys. My parents made one common mistake: they would buy me toys that they considered wonderful. But usually, when they would give me toy, I would either consider it too girlish or too boring. It wasn’t fun for them to see how a toy they bought for me to play with would stay forgotten in my closet. How to find out what’s right toy for your child? Just watch your child closely to determine his preferred activities, skills level, preferred band(s) and movie(s), and so on. Based on these observations you can get a clue on what types of toys your child would prefer. For instance, if your child loves movie Lord of Rings, I bet that he’ll also like Lord of Rings toys… Now don’t just go into first toy shop and buy first Lord of Rings toy you find. Observations aren’t enough. There are some other very important factors you must consider. Adding them into equation helps ensure you that your child will have lots of fun with toy you’ll choose to buy for him. Here are factors you must consider when choosing toys for your child: • Child’s age – This is very important. If you buy toys too advanced for your child’s age, chances are that he might get injured. Toy manufacturers struggle to make their products as safe as possible, but if you don’t follow their recommendations, your child may suffer. On other hand, if you buy toys made for children with age under that of your child, he will consider them too boring. The best thing is to choose toys designed precisely for your child’s age. Here are two articles that will help you choose toys for babies and toys for toddlers.
| | Springtime Money LaunderingWritten by Roger Sorensen
Summer is right around corner and most of us have our to-do-lists figured out, mentally, if not written down yet. Bible camp for kids, plant a large garden, and a trip to lake. What about financial housekeeping, shouldn't that be on your list too? Early summer is a great time to take a financial breather. The holidays are a long way off, taxes have just been paid and we're spending time eating in backyard instead of dining out. If you take even one day out of your summer play/work and organize your finances, you could cut down on forest of bills, bank balancing, and paperwork facing you all year long. Now is even a good time to take a look at your retirement and investment accounts and check up on your insurance coverage. Getting Started Starting with your bank papers, check out how many savings and checking accounts you have and minimize them. I like to have two checking accounts for house, one is used only for regular bills and other is for household items and irregular spending. Two savings accounts are enough as well, one for long-term saving and other for short-term. Another time and paper saver is if you set up an automatic deposit of your paycheck into your checking account, and then set up an automatic payment from your checking account into your savings, investment, or IRA accounts. Even if you pay yourself only $10 a week, it adds up over year and is a good discipline to learn. You can even use automatic deposits to save money for Christmas presents, a vacation or other "special occasions". If you are technologically savy and comfortable with idea of electronic payments, consider using e-payments to pay your regular bills, such as mortgage, electric, or car loan. Don't let companies do electronic with-drawls for you. How do you guarantee that they took right amount, and if they made a mistake (which happens) how do you get money back? It is a lot simpler and potentially safer for you to do an electronic bill-pay through your bank. Another step In 2001 Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act made it easier for you, investor, to consolidate your retirement accounts and still retain tax-favored treatment of money. Prior to this act, advisors frequently told their clients to keep retirement accounts separate to save on taxes. Now you can take eligible distributions from tax-qualified plans, 403(b) and 457 pension plans and other types of plans like IRA, and roll money into other tax-qualified plans. The purpose here is to consolidate your multiple plans into one or two accounts. This'll make it easier for you to keep an abreast of what your money is doing. With fewer accounts, you'll have less confusion, hopefully everything is on one statement and if you have questions or need to make changes you only have to talk to one representative.
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