Everyone wants to become a desired asset to their company.  It means they have succeeded and are well respected.  However, what often ends up happening is that most people just become a cog in the wheel.  They are disposable, and they are just going through the motions as a corporate employee.  Year after year they simply churn out a living.  Contrary to what many people believe, it does not have to be that way.  Getting to the top is a lot easier than most people think.

Step One

Read.  Read everything you can about your business and industry.  Read on your phone while on the bus or train, read relative news articles while in the bathroom, take five minutes away from your lunch and learn something new.  Read the sales literature that your company puts out.  Read and learn the complete history of your company and the industry as a whole.  Understand the ins and outs of the company all the way down to how the mail is picked up and delivered.  At the same time, read about your competitor.  Know their products, their strengths and their weaknesses.  Know everything you can possibly know about the entire industry on down to the names of the CEOs’ dogs.

Step Two

Apply this knowledge.  I don’t mean go around and tell people random trivia facts.  Nor do I mean sit down and ask your boss to quiz you.  You do not need to flaunt the fact that you know more than anyone else, but rather weave it into your every day workings.  In your reports talk about how the company started with XYZ values and how your suggestion is helping to make sure they are a prominent feature of the company.  Show how your company stands out above the competitor, and offer solutions that nobody else does.

Step Three

Get to work.  The average employee actually only works about 6 hours per day.  If you can work just 7 hours, you will be doing more than most people, and that extra hour of work will shine through.  But don’t just go through the motions.  Take the initiative to do a task.  The kicker is that you have to take on tasks that are not prescribed to you, and one that is not even known to be an issue.  You need to be one step ahead of everyone else and get the job done before the boss knows that it needs to be done.

Final Thought

Working hard and getting ahead is more about knowing what to do rather than just applying yourself and following through on tasks.  If you can stay one step ahead of your boss, you will become an invaluable asset to the company.  But first, you need to become an expert by spending every spare moment reading about the company and industry.  Then by carefully weaving your knowledge into your work, you will become recognized as someone that knows what they are talking about.  Finally, when you start going to the boss with solutions to problems that he or she didn’t even know were problems, you will be an asset to the company, and get all the perks that go with it.

What do you do to make yourself stand out at work?

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A debt validation request is a secret weapon that enables you to verify any debt you owe. This simple tool can help you clarify any outstanding debt, stall the collections process and provide you with all the information you need to determine what debt is actually your responsibility and what is not.

Debt collection agencies will attempt to collect a debt from you regardless of whether that debt is actually one you incurred or not. The best way for you to verify if the debt is yours is to use a debt validation letter.

In order to clean up your credit and any past due accounts, you must first find out if the debt you owe actually belongs to you. Too often, people do not take advantage of tools available to them to check their credit, such as free credit reports. When a debt collector calls, the consumer feels pressured and instead of pursuing avenues of debt verification, they simply pay the debt.

Finding out if a debt that is in collections is yours is rather simple and does not always require the assistance of a debt lawyer. First, contact the creditor or collection agency and tell them that you want debt verification. This means that you want to verify that the delinquent account is yours and that the activity on it is comprised of transactions you made and not those resulting from fraud. This will help stop debt collection harassment – at least for 30 days while the debt is being verified. People with rather common names can find themselves with other people’s debt information on their credit without their knowledge. Taking this first investigative step is critical to keeping your credit clean and avoiding any unnecessary credit collection actions.

How do I request debt verification?

When someone owes a debt, they are usually more worried about getting creditors off their back than they are about investigating the debt. However, if the debt is not yours, or fees have been added to your original debt, you have the right to know. Here are the steps to take to get debt verification of your delinquent account.

• Ask creditor to put their collections efforts in writing. They will have five days to do this. Their letter should contain their information, the details of the debt and the terms of the loan. Many times, the collection agency attempting to collect the debt is not the original creditor you got your loan through. When a debt becomes severely delinquent, it is often sold to a third party for the purpose of collection.
• Review the verification of debt in detail. Make sure that the debt collection agency information, creditor information and your information are all accurate.
• Request debt validation. If you are unsure if the debt belongs to you, work with a debt lawyer or contact your creditor again, this time asking for debt validation. The company will have 30 days to get this to you, during which time they must stop any attempts to collect the debt. After you receive the debt validation letter, you will have another 30 days to respond.

A debt verification notice will include all the information pertaining to the debt. After a full review by you or a debt lawyer, if you believe that the debt is yours, begin making arrangements to negotiate or settle your debt. When working with a collection agency, do not give them any information above and beyond what is absolutely necessary. For example, if a debt collector wants to know how much money you make, where you are employed or where you bank, do not disclose that to them. Also, never give a debt collector your personal banking information. They do not have the right to those details and if they decide to pursue legal action and wage garnishment, they must first jump through several legal hoops. A debt lawyer can help you understand and navigate this process if it comes to that.

How can a debt lawyer help me?

A debt lawyer is educated in the complicated and convoluted laws that surround consumer debt. Working with a debt lawyer will not guarantee that you will be able to walk away from debt that you owe, but it will improve your chances of settling the debt in an affordable and timely fashion. Further, debt lawyers know how to hold creditors at bay with debt validation letters and other strategies, and they know how to protect your rights if a debt collector is violating them. Many times debt lawyers are able to turn the tables and get compensation for the debtor if their rights were violated.

Before you hire a debt lawyer, do your homework. Research the debt yourself by reviewing your free annual credit report. Contact the collection agencies in writing and verify that the debt belongs to you. The more legwork you do initially, the lower the fee your debt lawyer may charge. If you are already in debt and having trouble making payments on your loans, you probably will want to keep your legal fees low as well.

Debt lawyers are excellent advocates in the debt collection process. They will not only help you find errors in debt accounts, protect your consumer rights and help with debt settlement negotiations, but they will also be there if you need to sue a debt collection agency. Consumers are entitled to sue collection companies if they violate any of the consumer rights outlined in the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). If you feel your rights have been violated, or you feel that a collection agency or creditor is targeting you unlawfully, seek the advice of an experienced debt lawyer who can help you identify illegal practices and follow-through on legal actions against those who commit them.

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Last year, my husband and I looked into the possibility of purchasing a rental home. It seemed like a good time to buy real estate, and we could swing the down payment on a small home in our area.

However, despite the fact that we were comfortable with the idea of being landlords and everything that went with that, the additional mortgage and paperwork headaches that we would be facing with a non-owner occupied purchase was enough to put the brakes on our scheme. It seemed fairly clear that the best path to becoming a landlord was one several friends had taken—buy a new house to live in, and rent out the previous home.

Unfortunately, even that path is not necessarily an easy one. If you are in the situation where you are renting out your old house, you may be surprised to find out how difficult it is to refinance your rental. If you’re thinking about refinancing a home you’re currently (or are planning on) renting out, here’s what you need to know:

The bank will want to see a good deal of equity in your rental home

Considering the fact that you do not live in the house, lenders will see a refinance with less than 25% equity in the home as a default risk. With little invested, you’ve got little to lose if you walk away.

Your rental income won’t necessarily be included in the number crunching

Refinancing landlords might assume that their rental income could be included in the calculations for underwriting a refinance, but that’s not always the case. Since rent cannot be counted on, lenders are pretty leery of included more than a portion of it in their underwriting.

In addition, renting to a family member can also discount your rental income. The bank will recognize that you might be willing to let Cousin Ed miss a month or two of rent without penalties, when you’d be much more businesslike with a stranger. Because of that, you would need to provide more proof of a good rental history from your family member/tenant in order to get that income to count in your refinancing.

Getting a refinance before you move out could be considered fraud

If you know that you plan to rent out the house you currently occupy, it might seem to make sense to simply go through the refinancing while you still live there. However, in order to qualify for an owner occupied refinance, you must intend to continue living there—and the bank will even ask you to sign an affidavit as to that intention at closing. Breaking that promise can be considered fraud.

Considering the fact that job transfers and family emergencies can alter occupancy plans, banks do recognize that there is a gray area in terms of intent to occupy. A good rule of thumb is one year of residency after a refinance indicates a good faith intent to occupy.

The Bottom Line

Owning rental property brings new concerns and potential headaches to landlords. Knowing ahead of time whether or not you will be able to refinance the mortgage on your rental home can help you determine if a rental home is an affordable option for you.

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In case you don’t know what an asymmetric investment means, asymmetry is the opposite of symmetry. Thus, in a “symmetrical” investment (for example, you bought stocks), the probability of those stocks going up and going down is theoretically 50-50 (hence the symmetry). Oppositely, in an asymmetric investment the probability is jiggered in your favor beforehand – the odds of the market moving in a direction that’s favorable to your investment is far greater than the odds of the market moving against your investment. Hence, the important question is, how does one create an asymmetric investment? There are 2 methods – the best investors combine these two methods.

Asymmetric Market Prediction

An asymmetric market prediction is exactly what it sounds like – the odds that your market prediction is right is greater than the odds of it being wrong. An asymmetric market prediction is completetely based upon 1 fact: history repeats itself.

Obviously, history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, or else we’d still be in the days of the Flintstones. However, the SYMPTOMS in history are always the same. Symptoms such as economic growth, contraction, loose monetary policy, etc are always the same (there are only so many types of economic conditions!). Same story, different scenery.

Here are the steps to creating an asymmetric market prediction:

1. Current market conditions

Write down a list of characteristics that pertain to today’s market. What are the economic conditions driving this market (economist growth, deleveraging, technological innovation, etc)? What is the price pattern like? What has the market’s wave pattern been like recently?

2. Go through History

Find historical examples when the market conditions match that of today’s. Historically, I do not go any farther than 1930 because prior to the 30′s, the stock market was heavily manipulated by individual players (read Reminisces of a Stock Operator). Thus, I cannot accurately use pre-1930′s markets to reflect today’s market, a market so large that no individual player can impact it in any meaningful way.

3. List all the Possible Outcomes

Now that you’ve got a list of historical examples when the market conditions matched that of today’s, compile another list of ensuing outcomes. For example, what happened when history fulfilled criteria X, Y, and Z? What was the next step that the markets took? Bullish or bearish?

The last part of really easy. Whichever outcome was most probable (in Step 3) will be most likely to happen in today’s market. Hence, an asymmetric investment is made because history is skewed in your favor.

Asymmetric Expression

How you express your market prediction (via what financial product you choose) is just as important as the market prediction itself. Let me use a wild example that has happened to me before. Back in 2008, I was extremely bearish on on the finance industry as a whole (back in the day when banks were imploding left right and center). Since I wasn’t sure which bank was going to be the worst, I decided to express this bearishness via shorting a financial sector ETF. I’m just going to skip all the complex math behind an ETF, because it’s not relevant to this story. But long story short, despite the fact that the financial sector faced something akin to the Rapture, I ended up making no money. I was dead right, but I made no money because the way I expressed my market prediction was wrong! My point is, how you choose to express your belief can be more important than the actual belief itself. Some investors are so skilled that their market prediction can be wrong, but they can still escape with a little bit of profit because the way their position sizes are set up.

To asymmetrically express a trade, you need to find a financial product that inherently has asymmetry within it. Stocks inherently are not asymmetrical – theoretically speaking, stocks have just as much room to fall as they have room to rise in price. Other financial products, such as options, are inherently asymmetric. On any given options trade (investors tend to avoid options because the math behind them is really complex), the risk is limited whereas the potential profit is unlimited. That is the essence of asymmetry.

• Limited risk, unlimited potential profit.

Options have this characteristic because in any option, all the buyer can potentially lose is the premium he paid for the option, whereas the potential profit is literally a hundredfold the premium.

Hence, many investors and traders avoid making outright bullish or bearish bets (buying stocks outright, etc). Instead, they choose to express that bullishness or bearishness through an asymmetric financial product such as a call option (bullish option) or put option (bearish option).

Combine These Two

Just to recap, the best investors combine these two types of asymmetry. They make asymetric market predictions, and then express that market prediction through an asymmetric financial product such as options.

Troy runs a finance blog at The Financial Economist where he analyzes current economic events and shares investment know-how. If you’re interested in making yourself a better investor, feel free to check his his blog.

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There are two different ways of viewing the world.  One could call it pessimism or optimism; glass half-empty or half-full.  Another way of looking at it is: are you an abundant thinker or a scarcity thinker?  It is more than just looking at the positives and negatives of the situation; it is how you respond and react in order to shape the world you live in.  Those who are successful and happy understand the difference and make an active choice to be an abundant thinker.

There is a book by Stephen Covey called “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”  In this book Stephen teaches his readers how to become an abundant thinker, and how to move from a recipient of what goes on around them to playing an active role in shaping the circumstances around them.  He later went on to define this idea as the abundance vs. scarcity mentality.  What it boils down to is that many people feel the world is filled with a finite number of resources.  They believe that successful people are taking those resources from the less successful.  In this mindset one should live as simply as possible, only taking and using exactly what they need and no more.  However, the world is not a zero-sum game.  When the proper abundance mentality is applied, there can be win-win or win-win-win situations.  The more abundantly a person lives, the more resources there will be to go around.

So how do you spot abundant thinking?  Once you start to see it, you will be able to recognize it everywhere.

Logical vs. Emotional Investing

Abundant thinkers will rely on logic, what has been proven to be true.  Scarcity thinkers will see that the market has gone down and panic resorting to cash.

Living to Work vs. Working to Live

An abundant thinker will shape his or her career to fit their lifestyle, making work enjoyable.  A scarcity thinker will drag themselves to work because they have to make a living somehow.

Money is the Goal vs. Money is the Tool

Like shaping their jobs, the abundant thinker will find that money is a tool to make more money.  While the scarcity thinker finds that money is the end, a means to purchase items needed to live.

Calculated Risks vs. Safety

An abundant thinker knows that there is great wealth to be made; they take calculated risks in the market or with their business.  A scarcity thinker would rather have the safety of cash, not experiencing any losses but missing all the gains.

Our Success vs. One Person’s Success

The abundance mentality knows that everyone can be successful.  The scarcity mentality feels if one succeeds another has to lose.

Teamwork vs. Untrusting

Abundant thinking shows that working with others provides a greater outcome than working independently.  The scarcity thinker is untrusting and does not believe in synergy.

Synergy is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  Simply put 1+ 1 = 4.  Meaning if I can create 1 widget per day working by myself, and you can create 1 widget by yourself, together we can create 4 widgets per day (the premise behind assembly line work).  This is because working alone is draining, time consuming, and cumbersome.  By synergizing and using the abundance mentality, a team can get far more work done together than if they each worked on their own.

Think of a viewpoint you have.  Are you thinking abundantly or scarcely?  Have you avoided partnering with anyone because you think they will eat up profits?  Have you avoided taking risks even though the pros outweigh the cons?  The point is to re-tool how you think, then implement this new thinking.  Take it from being a win for you, to a win for everyone.

What area of your life can you change from scarcity to abundance?  How will you get there?

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Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms.  Today is truly a special day, because we get to celebrate the ones who have made life possible.  I am so grateful for everything that my Mom has done for me.  She is a remarkable person and has helped me become the man I am today.  This year is also very special for me because it is the first year that I get to celebrate my wife being a Mom.  She has done such an amazing job with our six month old daughter Colette.  From trying to get her to bed at night to late night feedings, she has really been a rock star.  Parenthood is by no means easy, but it is the greatest thing in the world.

Now let’s talk about a few of my favorite personal finance articles from the past week.

Do You Trust Your Partner With Money? - Monster Piggy Bank

Live the Life You Imagined – Prairie Eco-Thifter

A Childhood Play on Words and Finding Our Happy - Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

Three Hands and an Action Plan – Canadian Budget Binder

How to Navigate the Financial World After Graduation - The Heavy Purse

Recent Carnivals

Carnival of Financial Independence

Yakezie Carnival

Festival of Frugality

Carnival of Personal Finance

Yakezie Carnival

Financial Carnival for Young Adults

Carnival of MoneyPros

Fearless Men’s Most Wanted

When one parent decides to stay home with the children, families will often have to do quite a bit of belt-tightening in order to make the transition to one income. One place where it may seem smart to economize is on life insurance for the stay-at-home spouse. After all, without an income to replace, why would you need the insurance?

However, going without life insurance just because you are not currently working for a paycheck can be financially dangerous for your family. Here’s what you need to know about insurance for non-working spouses:

Imagine Paying For the Stay-At-Home Spouse’s Work

You may remember when several salary calculators determined that a stay-at-home parent’s earnings would be over $100,000 if he or she were paid for her work. Because a stay-at-home spouse is making daycare, housecleaning, convenience foods, laundry services, transportation and other services unnecessary, he or she is saving the family a great deal of money that a single parent would have to shoulder in order to keep the everything going.

And considering the fact that the $100,000 amount is for a single year of stay-at-home parenting, it’s pretty clear that even a non-working spouse needs good life insurance.

What Would Life Be Like Without You?

It’s also important to remember that if a stay-at-home spouse passes away, there’s much more than just an immediate financial impact. The children and the surviving spouse will all be emotionally devastated, and will need some extra TLC. With no or minimal life insurance on the stay-at-home parent, the other parent may find himself having to work extra in order to make ends meet—which means both his and the children’s needs might be neglected. In order to weather the loss of a parent, many families might find that the working spouse will need to stay home while everyone comes to terms with their loss.

Do You Ever Plan To Return to Work?

Another aspect of life insurance that may not occur to couples in the midst of early child rearing is the fact that the stay-at-home parent may want to eventually return to the workforce. If you were to die before that happens, your family will also lose out on the potential income you could make in the future. Buying enough insurance to cover several years of your anticipated income could help maintain your family’s standard of living.

Leaving a Legacy

Finally, it’s worth thinking ahead toward your children’s adulthood and their own children. If you hope to be able to leave money for your kids or provide financial help to your grandchildren, it makes sense to be well-insured now. That means that no matter what happens, you could leave some life insurance in a trust fund to take care of your descendants, even if you’re not there.

The Bottom Line

It’s a mistake to think of life insurance as only being there to replace an income. There are many aspects of your day-to-day life that will cost your family money if you’re not there to do them. Being a well-insured stay-at-home parent is an excellent gift to give to your family.

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I recently went and had my dog, Murray, micro-chipped. I mentioned to my boyfriend how awesome it would be if we could micro-chip children and possibly reduce the number of kidnapped and missing children in America.

“That is a horrible idea.” He said, “Then the government would always know where you are.”

“The government technically already knows where I am. I’m either at work or at home, and both of those addresses are on my W2’s and tax returns…micro-chip or not.”

No matter which side of the debate you fall on, digital technology is happening and it is moving our society forward into a Jetson-ian era where everything happens virtually. In addition to micro-chipping and being able to track people, currency as we know it would become completely virtual. No matter which side of the debate you fall on, or whether you believe this is where our society is inevitably headed, I’d like to discuss some pros and cons of having a truly “cashless” society.

Pros to having a Cashless Society

Reduction in crime: Yes, cyber-crime will still exist and most likely increase, but because illegal activities are  primarily cash business, having a cashless society would definitely cause a welcome decrease in crime.  Once you eliminate the money that changes hands, criminals will have to come up with more clever ways to conduct business, which will hopefully altogether cease violent crimes like muggings, burglaries, and murder.

Drugs are another “cash only” operation. Once you eliminate cash-what are the drug dealers going to do? Get a paypal account. No, they’re going to find something else to do. This could account for an increase in property values since more undesirable neighborhoods could become safer and drug free for families with children.

Convenience: Everything is mostly online nowadays anyhow, but a final push to a cashless society would mean greater ability to conduct transactions electronically or online. No more having to go out of your way to the ATM to get cash out for the bar cover, or to pay back your co-worker the lunch money they loaned you. You wouldn’t have to worry about changing out currencies when traveling abroad, or –the worst-actually losing your money by putting out the wrong bill (Guilty), or dropping it while you are rummaging in your purse (Guiltier.)

How many times have you misplaced five or ten dollars?

Reduced Government Spending: Yes, you turn on the television and it’s more bad news about the U.S. economy and our government’s spending.  I’m sure you’ve probably heard already how the treasury spends more money producing pennies than they are worth. With no more cash to print, the government could save MILLIONS of dollars each year. Money which could go back into non-profits, or our school systems.

And think about how many fewer GERMS there would be because dollars and coins wouldn’t keep changing hands. Ick!

 Cons of  a Cashless Society

Loss of Control: Not that I’m the type that hides gold bars in my back yard like Ron Swanson, or put wads of cash under my mattress like my Grandmother, but even the thought of having less control over my money sent a chill up my spine as I typed this sentence.

I don’t know what I’m getting my undies in a twist about: I rarely have cash on hand or use paper money, but the fact that I could have access to it if I needed it makes me feel better. What if the zombie apocalypse comes? What if I’m framed for a crime and I need cash to flee the country?  What if an uber-hacker took over my bank’s control system and transferred all of my money into his account? These are all very scary realities and one of the biggest reasons (I think) we haven’t gone cashless already. Giving up control is a scary thing, my friends. Possibly, the scariest.

Loss of Privacy: As I said in my opening, I micro-chipped my dog so I can find out where he is. I’d micro-chip my kid if it meant I could find them easier should they ever go missing. Still, if we are operating in a cashless society that means our virtual dollars would have to be monitored by the government since they control the treasury. This would most likely mean more unwelcome government regulation on our money and personal spending.

I’m not anti-establishment, but this would provide government agencies increased access to my spending habits, which aside from being awkward and uncomfortable, could completely change the face of marketing and advertising. Marketing would become even more invasive and targeted than it is now;  not only would the government know exactly where I’m spending my money, they’d know how often and how much I could afford to pay. I’m sure big corporations could brain storm a bajillion ways to get that information from Uncle Sam, and then use it to their advantage.

These are just my musings, but what do you think? Are you for or against a move toward a cashless society?

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If you’re in debt then somehow, the idea of packaging that debt up neatly into one little box is always an appealing thought. So when you read about debt consolidation, it often seems like a great idea. But is it really such a good idea?

What is Debt Consolidation?

To consolidate your debts simply means to bring them into one; consolidating them into one overall balance. The theory goes that if you have all your debts in one place, you’ll be able to pay the lot off by one monthly payment at a time and life will be a lot simpler. And there’s a lot of truth in this. But remember that debt consolidation loans aren’t always as good as they seem – and there is more than one option for how you organize them.

The Downsides

The main pitfall is that people in debt are often so panicked about it all that they’ll easily turn to what seems like a simple solution and are easily taken in by adverts from companies offering to consolidate their debts.

By allowing such a company to take over our debts and to speak to our creditors and rearrange things on more favorable terms, the companies promise to alleviate the pressure on us and get our debt problems better organized once and for all.  Typically debt consolidation deals run with an APR of around 6% and extend for three to five years on average.  It may be simpler just to organize all of your debts on your own and pay them off with a debt snowball method.

The Advantages

Alternatively, if you have a good credit rating, you may qualify for a 0% balance transfer credit card which will enable you to pay off all your debts – but there are transfer fees and the big danger here is the availability of further credit which could plunge you further into debt.

Overall, debt consolidation via a professional company can be good thing as they’ll negotiate with your creditors. But be wary of the up-front charges and check out references and recommendations from others before deciding which, if any, to choose.

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There are very few people that actually enjoy paying taxes.  So it is no wonder that when mill levies come up, there is a very vocal group saying they are not needed.  However, many of these levies are necessary for the greater good of everyone.  For instance, without taxes we would not have police or fire departments.  But require their services just once and the taxes are worthwhile.  Unfortunately many people do not hold education levies in as high regard as they do the emergency services levies.

In about a month there are two education levies that will come up for a vote where I live.  One of the levies is to get the schools up-to-date with their technology, the other is to hire more teachers so the already overcrowded classrooms can get a break.  Both levies together will cost most people less than $2 per month, but there are many people who do not see them as necessary.  Even if I had no kids and never planned to have kids, I would always vote for education levies.

The reason is that properly funding education will benefit everyone.  It is known that children who attend schools that are well funded (not excessively funded, there is a difference) will perform better.  This means smarter children who will one day be running our cities and country.  These children that are being educated now are the ones that will be serving you food, maintaining your streets, stocking the shelves at your favorite stores, and working on your cars when they breakdown.  By properly funding schools, children will have the base they need to go on to get advanced degrees and do great things with their lives.  But it is not all intangibles.  People moving to the community will look for which schools are the best.  Better schools help to increase property values.  Exceptionally talented people, such as doctors and other professionals, will seek to have their children attend a well funded school to encourage their talents as well.  By paying just $2 more per month in taxes, the schools will be able to train children to do great things.

If educational levies do not pass, and continue to be voted down, schools have to go without certain services and repairs.  Have you ever tried to learn in a room with a constant temperature of 50 degrees?  Without the levies the classrooms become overcrowded.  Have you ever tried learning in an area with a lot of background noise?  Not only does learning suffer, but if the overcrowding solution is not fixed, the district loses its accreditation, that means the degree is not recognized when the child goes to apply for college.  Without passing levies, we are saying the next generation should have fewer opportunities than we had.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone who will suffer because they pay $2 more per month.  It could be ten times that and few people  would actually notice.  Unfortunately, many people have gotten the idea that any education levy goes toward administrator’s and teacher’s pay (although these people work hard and deserve a pay raise).  Quite frankly in order for everyone to have a prosperous future, whether you have children or not, school levies need to be passed.  This investment in our future will help make everyone’s life better, and personally I find it much easier to deal with intelligent people than with stupid people.  $2 per month is a small price to pay to make our future happier.

Have you recently had an education levy on your ballot?

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