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Do you think personal loans are over used?

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I think there comes a time in almost everyone’s life when they have to apply for a personal loan. How many of my readers have never taken out personal loans? I suspect that only about 10% to 20% of you haven’t taken one out yet.

I bet all of us know people that are living beyond their means and have taken out multiple personal loans just to pay their bills. I see people nodding their heads. I think that is one of the worst reasons to have to take out a personal loan.

I think we have to face that facts that most people, even those living within there means are going to need to take out a loan at some point in their lives. Whether it be unsecured loans, personal loans, a mortgage or even home improvement loans, we’re all going to be in debt one day.

The only loan that we are paying off at this time is our mortgage. That’s a great feeling, because at one point we were paying off two student loans, and a personal loan for our car purchase. Now those are all paid off and it’s just the mortgage that we have to worry about. However, just like anyone else I would suspect that we might take out a personal loan at some point in the future, but I would hope that it would never be because we spent to excess.

How do you feel about people taking out personal loans? Do you think that the people you know do this far too often? Are there better ways to pay of debts than to keep taking out loans?

My view is that a personal loan should really only be taken out by someone who has the means to pay it back in a timely manner. Yes, on the very rare occasion there will be emergency expenses, such as a large hospital bill, that makes it necessary for some to take out a personal loan, but I don’t think that people should take out loans just to get out of debt.

Perhaps the kind of people who take out loans because they’ve over spent should look at debt consolidation or talk to a banker and get some loan advice so that they can understand their spending habits and learn how to overcome that desire to live beyond their means.

What do you think?






Have you ever wished you could track your teens movements by GPS?

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Have you ever thought about GPS tracking and how handy it would be to equip your vehicle with a GPS tracking unit? I’m sure many a parent has thought of how nice it would be able to use a teen tracking system when their child is late coming home.

Are they ok? Did they get in an accident? The road conditions are bad, could they be in a ditch some where, where it would be hard to find them? All parents have those thoughts from time to time don’t they?

livewiregps.gif When GPS first came out, and even as recently as last year it was much too expensive for the average home owner to have installed in their cars. The cost of the unit and monthly service fees were just too high. Now there are user friendly systems for under $500. GPS systems like the LiveWire by lightningGPS, see photo, make tracking affordable to small businesses and families alike. You can even see how the livewire LightningGPS works by watching this short demo.

If I were a business owner with a small fleet of cars or trucks I’d most definitely consider using the Livewire GPS tracking system and I can see how easily it could be used to track a teenage driver as well.

Would you ever consider using a GPS tracking system on your vehicle? I’d love to hear your reasons why or why you wouldn’t use one.

My reasons for thinking this is a great idea, especially for tracking a teenage driver are simple. 14% of all deaths due to motor vehicle accidents involve teenage drivers, plus these driving deaths occur on weekends at least 53% of the time. 1/3 of these accidents were related to speeding.

Just think, if you were able to track the driving movements and driving habits of your teenager you could sit down and talk with them about their activities and perhaps prevent a fatal accident from occurring. It’s all about saving lives and keeping teenagers safe as far as I’m concerned.

Also, as I mentioned earlier. Suppose you set a midnight curfew for your teenager. They went out with friends and now it’s two in the morning and they still aren’t home. Worried? Well, you could just use the real-time location of a mobile unit system that comes with the livewire GPS to see if the car is moving and to see where it is. If it’s moving you can even track what speed it’s traveling at. If the cars not moving you can see if it’s in a remote location and possibly send help directly to the vehicle if you are worried that your child might have been involved in an accident.

You can of course also use this system if you discover that your cars been stolen. Did you know that approximately 1.7 million vehicles were stolen last year in the U.S. yet arrests were made in less than 15% of these thefts. Having a GPS system in your vehicle might not only help you assist the police with recovering your vehicle, but it might also help catch the thief.

I bet your insurance company might even appreciate it if you had a GPS system in your car. Perhaps they’d lower your insurance rates. Now wouldn’t that be nice.

Obviously I can think of hundreds of reasons why having a GPS system in your car would be a fantastic idea. I’d love to hear your ideas on the subject.

It’s warming up

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Hey it’s warming up here. I think we might have a good week ahead of us. If we’re lucky we might even get away from the terribly harsh cold that has plagued us most of this month.

It’s almost warm enough for us to go outside and BBQ. Yeah, I’m sure that most of you still wouldn’t barbecue in this cold, but we get cravings for a tasty BBQ sometimes and just can’t help ourselves. I make a mean grilled veggie barbecue and if you enjoy grilled vegetables you can click that link and get my recipe. It’s delicious.

Oh my. I’m making myself hungry just thinking about it. Yum!

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