Research several health insurance plans to find the one with the lowest cost.  Many employers offer two or three different health insurance plans, and it’s up to you to decide which plan is the most cost effective for you.  Use an online health care insurance cost calculator to determine which plan best suits your needs while giving you the best price.  If you are self-insured, spend some time visiting health insurance Web sites and compare the costs for different plans.  Make sure you are comparing costs for similar plans.

Choose a plan that gives you access to the providers you want to use.  Traditional health plans allow you to choose any healthcare provider or facility.  These plans generally cost more than Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) or Preferred Provider Organizations (PPO).  HMO’s require you to visit doctors specifically associated with their organization.  PPO’s negotiate contracts with healthcare providers and facilities for reduced rates, and you are encouraged to use these contracted providers.  PPO’s usually let you use non-contracted providers as well, but you will pay more for these visits.  If you prefer particular doctors, specialists, or hospitals, make sure they are covered under your selected health care insurance plan.  You can get a list of a health insurance plan’s providers before you commit to the plan.

Look at the required copayments and deductibles.  A copayment is the amount of money you must pay for a healthcare service.  Copayments are sometimes a set amount, such as $25, and sometimes they are a percentage of the total cost, such as 20%.  A deductible is the total amount you are required to pay before the health insurance company benefits are activated.  Coverage for some healthcare services, such as preventive care, is provided before the deductible is met.  Keep in mind that health insurance plans with low copayments and deductibles usually have higher premiums than plans with higher copayments and deductibles.

Make sure the health insurance plan covers everything you need.  If you require periodic visits to a specialist, medical supplies, or ongoing prescriptions, check the health insurance plan’s coverage of these items.  No one can predict what type of healthcare services they will need in the next year, but try to determine what you will most likely need.  If your insurance plan does not cover current or possible needs, look for a plan that does.  Your savings from a lower-priced plan will soon be gone if your coverage doesn’t meet your healthcare needs.

Look at the pre-existing conditions policy.  Some insurance policies will cover pre-existing conditions, such as high blood pressure or diabetes, and some  will not.  Caring for a health condition can become quite expensive without the proper healthcare coverage.  If you are not sure if a health plan will cover your pre-existing condition, talk to a customer care representative to find out.

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Securities-based or Assets-based Financing

One alternative real estate financing option is securities- or assets-based financing.  Your securities or assets are used as collateral for the real estate loan, and you don’t need to use your cash reserves for a down payment.  You borrow against your assets instead of depleting your assets for the down payment.  There are several benefits to this alternative real estate financing.  First, you can keep your investment strategy on track because you are using your investments as collateral instead of selling investments for a down payment.  Your securities will still increase in value while giving you the collateral you need.  Second, your entire portfolio of securities can be considered for your real estate loan, giving you a substantial borrowing advantage.

Home Equity Loans

For real estate financing, you don’t need to look any further than the equity in your current home or other real estate property.  As you make monthly payments for your real estate, you decrease the amount you owe on the mortgage and increase your equity in the property.  Equity is the difference between the market value of your property and the amount you still owe on the property’s mortgage.  You can secure a home equity loan or a home equity line of credit against the equity you have built.  Home equity loans and lines of credit are fairly easy to obtain, and the interest you pay on these loans is tax-deductible.  Keep in mind that your current real estate is the collateral for a home equity loan or line of credit, and your home or other property can be seized for nonpayment of your new real estate loan.

Assume Seller’s Mortgage

Sometimes sellers are willing to allow a buyer to simply assume, or take over, their mortgage.  This usually means that no money is exchanged.  Sometimes the seller is willing to pay the buyer to assume the mortgage.  This may be the case if the seller is desperate to sell the property.  In a sellers’ market, the buyer may be willing to pay a fee for the convenience of assuming a mortgage.  The seller signs over the deed to the buyer, and the current mortgage terms may or may not need to be revised.

Lease Option

A lease option gives the buyer immediate possession of the property and provides for the purchase of the property at a later date.  The seller retains ownership of the property until the date of sale.  Instead of providing a down payment for the property, the buyer makes monthly lease payments until the determined purchase date.  Typical lease option payments are about 5 – 15% higher than average local rent payments.  The buyer pays the property taxes and insurance as well as maintenance and repair costs from the beginning of the lease option agreement.

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Concierge medicine allows patients to have access to their physicians any time of day and any day of the week.  Patients can schedule appointments for as long as one hour, leaving behind the typical ten-minute appointment.  Doctors operating under a concierge medicine plan will schedule appointments with patients on short notice, seeing patients within the hour instead of within the next week or month.  There are no rigid office hours, because a concierge medical doctor will accommodate their patients in the middle of the night as well as the middle of the day.  Some concierge medical doctors make house calls.

There is, of course, a substantial fee for the privilege of using a concierge medicine service.  Patients pay annual retainers from $1,500 up to $10,000 and more in order to have access to the personalized care offered by concierge medicine doctors.  Some retainers cover office visits and other services, such as laboratory tests, while others only cover the “membership” in this exclusive medical “club.”  

Doctors practicing medicine in a concierge medicine service have as many advantages as their patients do.  Charging annual retainers for their services allows concierge doctors to have a much smaller patient base.  Most medical doctors are under pressure to see a certain number of patients every day in order to make a profit.  Extra overhead expenses, especially the required sky high malpractice insurance, requires them to fit as many patients into their daily schedule as possible, sometimes double-booking appointments in order to meet their quota.  Concierge medicine doctors have a more relaxed schedule.  Some have as few as fifty patients.

Practicing concierge medicine also allows doctors to avoid working through medical insurance companies.  Their patients’ annual retainers, plus any additional payments for office visits and laboratory tests, more than cover the insurance payments they would typically receive.  There is a huge decrease in the required paperwork for each medical service provided, and the doctors do not need to worry about negotiations with insurance companies or the inevitable dispute over payments.  Some insurance companies have recently begun denying service to concierge medicine doctors, which is a problem for concierge doctors with both concierge medicine and traditional insurance patients.

Concierge medicine plans are the best in personalized medical care.  Families with children, patients with chronic diseases requiring periodic doctor visits, and elderly patients with multiple medical needs and limited access to transportation can benefit immensely from concierge medicine plans.  The cost of one of these plans is usually the main drawback.  They are not feasible for everyone.

If you are able to afford a concierge medicine plan, it may be your best alternative for personalized, as-needed medical care.  If you are happy with your current medical doctor and medical care, a concierge medicine plan may be something you will want to consider in the future.

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Be honest with yourself.  This is the most important rule for creating an online profile.  You can easily fool a stranger, but it’s difficult to fool yourself.  Do you really like long walks on the beach or talking until dawn?  If not, don’t try to pretend that you do.  You will spend too much energy trying to make your date believe you are something that you’re not.  Don’t compromise yourself by trying to be someone other than who you really are.

Stay away from clichés.  Online daters that include expressions such as, “I’m the one your mother warned you about” in their profiles will be viewed as uninteresting by many of the other members.  Creativity is the key in setting up a profile, and clichés do not fit the bill.  Your online dating profile is your chance to snag the interest of potential dates and make a great first impression.  Don’t lead others to think that you are not interested enough in dating to come up with your own descriptive phrases.

Be clear about what you’re looking for.  There’s nothing wrong with dating a variety of people, but if there are certain qualities and characteristics that your date absolutely must possess, be sure to convey that in your profile.  If you continue to attract dates that are just not compatible with you, consider revising your profile because your current profile is probably not specific enough.  There’s nothing worse than an uncomfortable date that you both know could have been avoided.

Use an interesting picture of yourself for your profile.  You want to catch the attention of potential dates immediately, so make sure your profile photograph is intriguing and captures your personality.  Your friends and family probably have some candid shots of you at your best, so ask around for some of these pictures.  Don’t choose a picture that portrays you as overly zany or outrageous, unless that’s the way you truly are.  That type of picture can be an instant turnoff for some people.  Make your profile as accurate as possible.  Your dates will appreciate your honesty.

Make sure your profile essay is interesting.  With so many profiles to read, most online dating members will select potential dates by how unique their essays are.  Choose several points about yourself that you want others to know, and present them in an interesting way.  Steer clear of descriptions that sound “canned” or cliché’.  Write your essay and then read it again a few days later to decide if it’s what you really want.  Let a trusted friend read it and make suggesting.  Time spent up front on your essay will pay off big after you post it on your profile.

Your monthly housing payments are an investment for you rather than someone else.  Every month that you pay a mortgage payment, you are closer to owning your home outright.  Even if you sell your home, you will be able to realize the money you have already invested in the house.  On the other hand, rent payments go entirely to the property owner, and you do not reap any profits.  When you move out of a rented home, the only money you will possibly receive is your original deposit. 

Your housing payments will remain constant.  With a fixed interest rate mortgage, your housing payment is stable over the entire life of the loan.  You know what to expect every month for fifteen, twenty or thirty years.  A variable interest rate mortgage payment will remain the same for a specified amount of time, so you can still have some amount of stability with this type of loan.  Rent, however, is likely to increase every single year, even though your housing accommodations stay the same.  Your mortgage payment may be more than the average local rental price at the start of your loan period, but there is a good chance it will be substantially less than the average rental price by the time you pay off the mortgage.

Owning a home gives you tax breaks.  As a homeowner, you are entitled to savings at tax time.  The entire amount of mortgage interest you paid during the year can be deducted, as well as your property taxes.  If you secured a mortgage, refinanced your home, or took out a home equity loan during the past year, you can also deduct some of the loan processing fees.  Monthly rent payments do not yield any tax advantages.

When you own your home, you can decorate and make changes whenever you want to.  If you don’t like the color of your walls, you can paint them.  Do you need extra room for the new baby?  You can plan an addition to your home.  Your home can reflect your own tastes, individuality, and creativity with your selection of curtains, room colors, carpets and wall hangings.  Rental properties normally have a list of restrictions regarding changing the décor.  You will likely need to live with the original paint colors, curtains, and carpet and may be limited to the number of pictures and other wall decorations you can have.  If you are able to make changes and upgrades to your rental property, the property owner will be the one to profit from your efforts, not you.

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One of the frustrating parts of traveling by commercial airlines is actually getting to the airport.  Depending on the time of the flight, traffic may be congested, and you are stressed before you even get to the parking deck.  Parking is not always convenient at airports, and parking areas quickly fill up during peak travel times.  Sometimes you have to carry luggage great distances.  With most private jet charters, the service includes a driver picking you up at home.  You can leave the driving to someone else, and you won’t need to worry about finding a parking space once you get to the airport.

With the stringent security checks at airports, traveling by a commercial airline can mean having to get to the airport at least two hours before your flight is scheduled to leave.  This translates into quite a bit of time wasted at the airport waiting for your flight.  Private jet charter security checks require only a quick check, so you can arrive at the airport much closer to your scheduled departure time.

Many private jet charters allow you to drive up close to the airplane for boarding.  You won’t need to wait in the long lines that commercial airlines are known for.  Your luggage goes straight from your car to the airplane.  This dramatically reduces the changes that your luggage will be damaged, and your luggage will not be lost.

Traveling by private jet charter offers you great flexibility.  Most airports around the world accommodate private jets, so you will be able to travel to anywhere you like.  You will not need to arrange your schedule around the commercial airlines’ travel times because you can choose what time you want to travel.  Private jet charters can also be reserved with little notice or placed on standby.

Many pets become dehydrated and are treated roughly on commercial airline flights. Travelers with pets do not need to worry about how their pet is being treated on private jet charters.  Your pet will be in the passenger area with you on these flights.

The cost of a private jet charter keeps most people from even thinking about traveling this way.  There are some ways to decrease the cost of traveling on a private jet charter.  If you are traveling with a group of people, divide the cost of the flight among all the passengers.  Even if the cost per person is still more than a commercial airline ticket, the convenience and time you save will be well worth the price.  Check into traveling on a private jet charter that is traveling to a pick up destination with no passengers.  Some private jet charters will offer you a discounted rate for these flights rather than flying with no paying customers.

I’ll be doing some work this weekend.  I have an interview with a director of a film I love, I’ll be working on my blog a little, and I’ll be doing a little SEO work for a Las Vegas motor vehicle accident lawyer here in town.  For the most part though, I’m going to relax a bit.

Of course since it’s Thanksgiving, I’ll be watching the best holiday movie of all time, Planes, Trains and Automobiles!  How is it possible to not love that movie?

I hope everyone has a good holiday.  And make sure to check out my interview with the mystery director.  

The ad features porn star Charlotte Stokely in a yellow one-piece swimsuit, which unzips in front.  The Flash ad actually shows Charlotte Stokely unzipping the swimsuit and exposing her breasts.  Quite shocking, and definitely overcomes traditional banner blindness.  

This comes just a few weeks after news about the 5th known lawsuit filed against Dov Charney for sexual harassment.  Although in fairness, the previous four have never gone to court. They have either been dismissed, or settled outside the court room.

Charney, who is originally from Canada, founded American Apparel in 1991 as a competitor to Hanes.  Since then the company has grown to become the largest exclusive American clothing manufacturer in the country.  

Dov Charney often touts the logic behind the vertical integration model of American Apparel, which helps avoid any outsourcing, and can bring a product from idea to market in less than two weeks.  

American Apparel also uses what they refer to as a team manufacturing approach to production, which allocates the strongest work force to priority orders.  By allowing each team to function on it’s own, determining their own production schedule, American Apparel employees maintain a level of control over their own hourly wage.  

But like most good shows, Eli Stone is coming to an end.  No more singing and dancing lawyers.  This is a shame because I can’t help but feel the show was heading somewhere interesting.  

I also have to mention that I thought Julie Gonzalo was the hottest actress to hit television last year.  I will greatly miss seeing her every week, although I’m certain she will land on her feet.

Who knows, maybe Eli Stone will be one of those shows that people rally around to save.  That type of fan base gave Jericho a short reprieve.  Hopefully there will at least be some sort of closure for the finale, unlike Jericho.  

To best catch your husband, it will help to understand how prostitutes work.  First off, there are different types of prostitutes.  There are your street walkers, your escort agency hookers, the brothel prostitute, and your high-end escorts/companions.  

Let’s start with the street walkers.  A typical street walker is going to charge between $20 - $100 (typically $30 - $40), and usually perform the act while in a car.  Since even scumbag husbands have some level of self-preservation, there is likely to be condoms involved.  And that is your first clue.  Condom wrappers in the car is an obvious sign that something is up.  Also, odd charges on a bank card at a drug store of gas station could be condoms.  If you see a charge for gas, and then a separate charge for inside the gas station, you may want to check if they carry condoms, and how much they cost, so that you can compare that to the purchase.  Then ask your husband what he bought.  If what he says doesn’t match the charge, and the price of a pack of Trojans does, he’s busted.

Moving on to escort agencies, these places take credit cards.  Look for any charges for things like “Airport Services”, “Mobile Assistants”, “Hotel Services” or “Massage Service”  .  And if in doubt, call your credit card company and ask them what type of company made these charges.  Believe it or not, the credit card company will sometimes be able to tell if the company is an escort agency.  

Also keep in mind the typical charge for an escort agency via credit card is about $300 - $700.  If you see a suspicious charge from the same company twice in the same day, that could be an escort agency.  Escort agencies charge for having the girl show up to the room.  Once there, it’s up to the girl and the client what happens and the cost.  They will sometimes hit the card when the girl gets there, and then hit is again for the girls “tip”.  

Phone records are also a good indication.  If your husband has half a brain, he’s not going to call the agency from his mobile phone, knowing you could see the call.  So check with the hotel if any local calls were made from the room.  

Brothels are highly unusual, and not likely unless your husband has gone to Nevada, or out of the country.  Still, know these places take credit cards as well, and are not as stealthy as the escort agency at hiding the charges.  Look for charges of about $500 - $1000.

The independent escort is the more common approach these days.  Most advertise on the Web, allowing men to check out the goods through pictures first.  These escorts do not usually take credit cards, although some do use Paypal.  Usually these are cash transactions.  There is a common thought that anyone taking out hundreds of dollars from an ATM after midnight is up to no good.  Keep in mind that these girls typically charge around $300, because that’s what men can take out of an ATM at any time.  So look for late night withdrawals.  

And because these girls are often contacted through the Web, you can often find good evidence through your husbands computer.  Check his browser history, and his cache.  Search the machine for pictures.  Sites like eros-guide.com, or Craigslist.org are the most often paces where guys go shopping for hookers.  If your husband is traveling to a different state, check out the local Craigslist for that state on his computer.  You should be able to tell if he has clicked the links for the “erotic services” section.  

Keep in mind that when confronted, he will of course lie.  And when shown 100% proof, he will claim that it was his first and only time.  This will be a lie.