My Personal Finance Blog

Do you feel you are a natural leader and have a good eye for the big picture? Do you feel you can get the most from people to achieve a goal? Then an online management degree can help you to be in the position to achieve a target through inspiring leadership. If taking the reins appeals, then this is defiantly the course for you.

Brief Overview of Training

Management simply involves overseeing various operations to achieve a given objective. This normally involves breaking down the primary objective into subsets of it to make it more manageable. The key areas of study involved in a management program include:

Leadership and Supervision Principles of Organization Business Ethics Principals of Organization Social Responsibility and Contracts

However, since the main aim of a management degree is to prepare individuals how to plan strategically, lead a group of teal and achieve a desired target, thus its feasible to first get a good solid working background and then move towards achieving the desired management degree.

Hence, the best way to proceed in this direction is by finishing your schooling and moving on towards to work environment to gauge which field you are interested to work in and then coming back to pursue a management degree in it.

Opting for an Online Degree

Most people that opt for management have left school and have gone into the working world. They have picked up a lot from the school of life and they have probably reached supervisor position or equivalent. More often or not to break into management requires a qualification and the chances are they have picked up commitments and possibly dependents upon the way. Dropping everything and going to college is no longer an option.

Online studying solves both problems at once. Studying online means studying whenever you have the time. This way it fits in with the rest of your life and it means you can study an online management degree and take care of the kids while you do.

Online degree courses are just as demanding as their on campus based counterparts. They require dedication and time. In many ways they are harder as though the support offered online is very good, sharing ideas with fellow students or hearing opinions on concepts is not an option online. However, dedication yields its own rewards.

Career Outlook

Getting an online management degree can prove to be quite fruitful and rewarding. Once you have your degree the opportunity to organize, inspire, and realize your dreams will be in your grasp. Your sense of worth, satisfaction, and earnings together with your quality of life will improve.

Nancy Martinez is your guide to online degree Courses.

One of the results of the recession has been to reinforce the tendency to opt for term insurance as the first life policy. With the disappearance of credit and the pressure on employment, people have decide to switch to prudence. That means paying down the debts and cutting back on discretionary spending. Is this financial puritanism sensible? There are a number of factors to consider. First, a definition. A term policy is life coverage for a fixed number of years. Think of it as like a bet. If you are still alive at the end of the term, the insurance keeps all the premiums, and you and your dependents get nothing. Now, let’s focus on the psychology of the young. Most never bother thinking about insurance or, if they do, it’s a very low priority. Why bother worrying about something that’s unlikely to happen for decades? Statistically, this is a reasonable view. Just as many young people back their health and refuse to buy an individual health plan, the majority see no advantage in life insurance. Life expectancy has been rising steadily over the last 50 years. This calm confidence lasts until they enter a stable relationship. Until children appear. But, by then, the cost of living has gone up and, potentially, what was two incomes has become one. Then, buying term insurance is the cheap option.

The real question is whether buying a whole life policy early is always the right answer. The argument goes that you take on the higher premiums when, as a young single, you have the most disposable income. Inflation and pay increases slowly make the higher premiums more affordable. If you do become a two-income family, this really takes the pressure off. Hopefully, by the time children come along, you have already produced a financial situation in which the premiums are now affordable. Hmmm. Back to definitions: this policy insures your life, but also has an investment element that builds up a cash value over time. If you keep up the premiums, this provides security during retirement and for your dependents. Except, people do not make rational financial decisions. The young prefer to enjoy their youth rather than stay home and save for their retirement. Worse, the reality of most of the investment elements is that they represent poor performance. If you bought term insurance and invested the balance of the premium saved in regular investments, you would almost certainly do better. The hard reality is the insurance companies charge commissions for setting up your account and then impose management fees for investing your money. This slices the top off the investment returns.

So the conclusion is slightly bad news. The decision on what to buy is not directly related to the life insurance quotes you receive through a site like this. The best value is buying term insurance and having the self-discipline to invest a growing proportion of your income. If you do not have that self-discipline, the whole life, universal and variable policies represent compulsory savings. In effect, you are paying the life company to do the work of investing for you. The perfect choice starts with the life insurance quotes and diverts through the office of an independent actuary who will give you an educated guess on the quality of the investment returns from the whole life policy as against managing your own investments over the next thirty years or so. Now you can decide whether you want to trust yourself or accept a low but guaranteed yield from the insurance company.

In order to start a workers compensation claim in California, the injured worker (or their dependents in a work death case) must give the employer notice of the injury. The employer must notify the injured worker of possible workers’ compensation benefits and provide the worker a claim form. This is called a DWC-1.

The employee is then supposed to provide the filled out the DWC-1 claim form, back to the employer and there is a section that the employer is supposed to fill out. Then the employer is supposed to give a copy of the filled out DWC-1 to the injured worker.

It should be noted that as a practical consideration the employer/ workers’ compensation carrier has to be informed of a work injury or how else will they know they need to provide wokers compensation benefits?

Caution should be taken in how the workers compensation DWC-1 claim form is filled out. Remember, everything that is placed on the form can and will be used against you in a court of law. Namely, the WCAB or the Superior Court in a third party claim. As always, it is best if a seasoned California workers compensation lawyer helps you fill out the form initially. However, absent that – - a few considerations should be kept in mind.

One is statements of “fault” and/or “causation”. Under California workers’ compensation law fault/ responsibility is not an issue. Where this becomes an issue is when a worker makes a statement of fault (that is whom caused the serious injury).

It has been our experience injured workers are usually not in the best position to give an opinion as to whom caused their injury. It’s easy to write that a co-worker negligently used a forklift, for instance. Until you find out – - due to the forklift’s dangerous design – - workers have been regularly injured/ killed due to the unsafe product defect for years.

Thus, it usually better to keep the DWC-1 statement brief and in general terms. An example might be:

“Forklift injury – amputated right leg – also injured left leg, right hip, back and head. Please see medical reports for a complete report of all injuries.”

Notice that a description of the incident was given: “Forklift injury.” That’s enough. No more information is needed. You have protected your rights.

Notice also that all known/ suspected body parts are provided. Please note the part about “Please see medical reports for a complete report of all injuries.” This leaves a lot of wiggle room should you have injuries that are not necessarily apparent when the form was filled out.

For example, when you have lost your leg any injuries to your head may not have seemed so important. However, after extensive neurological testing – - the head injury/ cognitive injuries you received when your head slammed the pavement when you fell, may cause more future problems in regards to employment than the loss of your leg does. You never know. So why take a chance? List all body parts and state, “Please see medical reports for a complete report of all injuries.”

Filling out a DWC-1 technically begins the claim under California workers’ compensation law. However, it doesn’t get you into the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board. In order to have a case number assigned and actually begin the case at the WCAB court house an Application must be filed.

The better practice is to file an Application as soon as possible. By doing so – you are protecting your rights to California workers’ compensation benefits.

Thus, the two main considerations you should have in starting your California workers’ compensation case is to fill out a DWC-1 form and give it to your employer and to file an Application with the WCAB. Of course, you must also “serve” (read: legally deliver) the Application on the employer and the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company.

Disclaimer:

This article is not legal advice. I am simplistic in order to achieve clarity. The circumstances of your case may vary from the circumstances described here. The foregoing discussion is based upon California workers compensation law. If you are a seriously injured California worker you should consult with a California workers compensation lawyer as soon as possible. A California workers compensation lawyer will almost always be able to get more benefits and money for your family then you trying to handle your California workers compensation case yourself.

The biggest financial decision you are likely to make is buying a home, closely followed by less expensive must-haves like a vehicle. But the one deal you should aim to get right is the decision on life insurance. This is the difference between leaving your dependents with an adequate amount of cash to see them through the times of economic hardship after your income is lost, and leaving them with nothing. In this, the decision on term as against permanent insurance is the key. Put the wrong key in the lock and you open a door into real financial hardship. So what’s wrong with term insurance? Think of this as like a bet. If you die within the term, your dependents are the winners. If you prove healthy and live too long, you lose the premiums you paid and your dependents get nothing. Now, when it comes to permanent insurance, this builds up a cash value. The longer you have the policy in place, the more valuable it comes as the premiums you pay attract investment returns. During your own life, you can take some of this money back or borrow using the fund as collateral. When the sad day finally comes, the benefits are paid out to your dependents less whatever drawings or borrowings you have made.

From these short sentences, you will immediately suspect the other difference between the products. Term life insurance is the cheap option. It gives you security in the amount of the benefits for the number of years you select. If you buy one term policy after another, the premiums are higher each time because your life expectancy is less on each renewal. Permanent insurance premiums are higher because a percentage of what you pay is invested on your behalf to generate the cash value. So your fund receives the benefit of the interest, dividends and other returns the investments generate. This makes the total of the cash value the key factor. Do you want a higher rate of return on the premiums? This can be for your own benefit should there be an emergency during your life. Or it can build up over the years for your dependents. If the answer is yes, you must be prepared to pay more to start off the policy – the first year’s premiums often disappear into a black hole representing set-up costs and the selling agent’s commission. But the amount you pay stays the same throughout the lifetime of the policy. So, with inflation, what starts out a struggle slowly grows easier to pay.

The real problem is the uncertainty of the future. Who knows how inflation may affect different aspects of life. What may be cheap now, may be expensive tomorrow and vice versa. So here are a few simple rules. If all you want is cover over the next few years (no more than ten), get life insurance quotes for a term policy. Ten years is not a long enough period of time to build up a worthwhile cash value. Estimate what benefits might be needed, e.g. your daughter will need $50,000 to cover her college tuition fees, and the total will set the amount of the insurance. If you are looking at a period of at least twenty years, you should think seriously about permanent insurance. Again, get life insurance quotes but you should also take advice on the different types of policy available and create or review your estate plan. Between ten and twenty years is a gray area and whichever way you decide is not going to be wrong.

It’s always better to start article with good news. This sets a positive tone to the piece and keeps people reading. So, let’s start with good news. The premiums for life insurance have been dropping! Yes, you can believe your eyes. It may not feel like it, but there has never been a cheaper time to buy a life policy. How come? Well, unlike other forms of insurance, the policy only pays out in the future when the life insured ends. If you go back to 1980, men lived to an average of 70 years, women to 77 years. In the latest figures released by the Center for Communicable Diseases, men now live to an average of 75.6, with women now into the 80s at 80.8 years. As an aside, the poor quality of the US healthcare service is highlighted by the life expectancy figures. The US ranks only 38th in the world. That said, since the obligation of having to pay out on a life policy is disappearing into the future, the cost of the benefits payable can be collected over more years. This makes premiums fall.

You will have noticed that women usually live longer than men. There are a number of explanations for this, but the reality is simple. Women have always had stronger levels of immunity to almost all diseases that strike down men. They are also more careful and less likely to die in any kind of accidents or while indulging in dangerous sports. This reflects the gender roles with women acting protectively over their children and, in later years, acting as the primary caregivers to older family members and relatives. This throws up the first major decision. If a woman is going to leave dependents behind her, there will be a need to leave a more substantial lump sum behind. Women multitask and buying in professional help to do all the work is expensive. Whereas it’s estimated that men should leave an average of seven times their average pay, women with dependents should aim for a multiple of not less than ten. The plan should be to provide a substantial lump sum that can be invested and generate an income to supplement the capital for those who remain.

With family responsibilities, the second decision is the type of policy to buy. If your budget is tight, there will be a temptation to buy the cheaper term insurance. But, with life expectancy extending, you are gambling you will not outlive the policy. Remember, there is no payment if you are still alive when the term ends. Although permanent insurance costs more, it gives a valuable safety net for your dependents. More importantly, a permanent policy has a cash value and this can give you access to money if expenses are threatening to overwhelm you. So when you start shopping around, always get life insurance quotes from the widest possible range of companies. Then check out that they are financially stable. You need your choice to be around in the decades to come. It’s also a good idea to find out whether the company offers an advice service to help older people manage their money. So don’t stop when you get a list of the life insurance quotes using the search engine. Talk to the companies before deciding which is going to offer you the best deal.