5 Points to Consider Before Taking a Job Offer

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Like millions of Americans out there, you might be on the hunt for a job. Not just any job, but a stable source of income for you and your family. After a long decade of high unemployment, there are no more job openings than there are people looking for work, which is a huge improvement.

Yet, despite the numbers, not everything is as it seems. All jobs are not created equal and some can even have many disadvantages. A lot of young people make the mistake of taking the first decent job that pops up or deciding solely based on finances and not other factors.

In a lot of cases, you’d be better served declining a job offer rather than having a history of short-term jobs on your resume. No employer wants to see you worked at 20 different jobs in the span of 5 years. To prevent yourself from taking a bad job, you should consider these five points and reevaluate your decision:

1) Is Your Heart in It?

If you’ve been trying for months to find work, you’re behind on your bills, and you finally get an offer, you might be inclined to jump at the chance. But, are you accepting this job offer because you want this job or because it’s the only one you’ve managed to get? If your heart isn’t in it, the job won’t be a good fit and can cause a black mark on your record.

Employers are looking for enthusiastic workers who care about the work they do. Thinking you can just get a job for a few months and you show you don’t care about the job only makes you look bad. Don’t hurt your professional reputation by making lots moves and haphazardly accepting jobs your heart isn’t in.

2) What is the Reputation of the Company?

 Some companies just have atrocious records when it comes to treating their employees well. Thank goodness for review sites! For most places you should be able to find a website where you can see reviews from previous employees. Turnover rates are another thing to look at. High turnover rates can reveal a toxic culture within management.

3) Is It a Good Fit for You?

Another tough reality is some jobs aren’t made for everyone. Many can require hours on your feet doing hard labor. Others are intellectual and/or analytical. If you’re a withdrawn introvert, you might not like working in a customer service-oriented job or one that requires you to work as a team.

There’s nothing wrong with finding a job that suits your needs and accommodates your style of work. You’ll be more successful in the long run if you don’t deviate too much from a culture that is close to your own.

4) What is the Future of the Company?

You want stability as one of the biggest deciding factors. There’s nothing worse than trying to start your career with a company that’s on the skids and about to close their doors. Of course, a lot of companies try to hide the fact that they’re not doing well, but with a little bit of research, you can find out for yourself.

For example, what are their stock prices? Are they falling? Any clues about potential mergers? Has the CEO stepped down or considering it? Was there a major PR incident that forced this company to get blasted in the news? While you’re checking their reputation, also look at the financial side of the business to get a clear picture.

5) Is There Room to Grow?

There’s nothing worse than being stuck at a dead-end job, with no opportunities for advancement, raises, or leadership opportunities. That means, no matter how well you do and outperform others, you’ll remain where you are. Good companies will offer not just advancement, but great development opportunities to help you advance.

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Students and Teachers Rally for Change

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Right now, across our great country, there are thousands of people walking out of our educational institutions with one word on their mind: change. Teachers are walking out to demand better pay and benefits. Students want a safer learning environment after a series of mass shootings rocked their sense of security.

In West Virginia, schools have been called off in every county as teachers rallied at the state capital in Charleston. Their main gripe involves not being paid adequately enough, as well as benefit cuts to health insurance that has left the state’s educators reeling. They’re also firmly against new legislation known as “paycheck protection”.

Governor Jim Justice did sign a bill that increases teacher salary by 2% and 1% after two years, but the teachers still aren’t happy. The new pay increase is minimal and offers no additional health benefits. They continue to rally and march outside of the state capital, hoping these extra days off will compel their government to act, but no one knows if or when it will happen.

Students Are Rising Up

In the wake of the February 14th shooting at Stoneman Douglas that left 17 dead, school had been called off, giving traumatized students time to grieve and unite together for a now common goal: gun reform. They’ve started rallies, held speeches, and even participated in a CNN town hall to tell their story and compel U.S. lawmakers to make a change.

Of course, that task isn’t as easy as the students would hope it would be. While democrats and anti-gun advocates stand firmly behind the students, pro-gun groups see it as a threat to their constitutional right to own a firearm. While the debate continues to rage on, the students continue to rally.

Not just at Stoneman Douglas, or even in Florida, but all over the country. Carrying signs and staging walk-outs, these angry teenagers feel they have no voice since they are too young to vote and need to speak out in the best way they can. Taking full advantage of their spotlight, these students want the world to know they’re angry and fed up.

A Change Needs to Happen

It should be obvious to any viewer that school funding simply isn’t enough. When President Donald Trump first proposed the idea of arming teachers to help protect students, the first reaction was essentially, “you don’t even pay us enough for books and pencils, much less for guns and training.”

They have a good point. Our education system is falling apart. It wasn’t but a few short years ago when the Detroit Public Schools was all over the news for their poor standards. Only 16% of all 11th graders in that district scored a proficient grade in math and reading. It’s not just bad test scores, but corruption as well.

$46 million was found to be missing after an audit and several employees were charged with embezzlement. Combine this with the deteriorating classrooms, they have a real mess on their hands, one that won’t be cheap to fix. They ended up closing 29 of the schools, laying off over 2,000 teachers, and cutting their curriculum budget by over 80%.

Regardless of where you stand on certain issues, changes need to be made. Teachers need to be paid more, students need to feel safe in their classrooms, and we need to work on overhauling our entire educational system. This is especially true in inner-city schools where funding is scarce, violence is rampant, and students are under-performing.

Who knows. Maybe there’s a huge link between teachers being unable to teach, the turbulent lives of young students, and the failed education system that presents the negative consequences we see today. The only thing that will help is a dramatic increase of funds for schools to help pay teachers and improve safety.

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Overcoming Cost of Living Challenges

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Saving money is hard. It’s a reality most Americans have to contend with. In a perfect world, we’d all love to have a nice nest egg in case we need it. The problem is, the cost of living is way too high! It’s so high, that more than half of us don’t even have $1,000 in savings.

When asked, 36% of Americans claim their biggest regret in 2017 was not saving money, and they blame the high cost of living as the number one reason why. 20% blame their low salary as the reason why they don’t save. 15% don’t even budget, essentially throwing their financials together with duct tape and sawdust.

Everything Changes Except Salaries

The biggest culprit behind people not being able to save is how much things change from year to year. With every turn of the calendar year, it would seem as if prices continue to rise. The cost of rent goes up. The cost of food goes up. Gas prices fluctuate, but most often, go up. Insurance rates go up. Interest rates go up. Taxes go up.

 

While all these aspects of everyday living continue to grow more expensive, our salaries stay the same. If you’re lucky, you might get a $.50 raise, but that doesn’t go far compared to the other bills that keep stacking on top of each other. It’s no wonder more Americans are finding themselves struggling with debt.

Despite the Struggle, Saving is Key

No matter what our circumstances might be, we cannot afford NOT to save money. It’s crucial, essential, and may even be lifesaving! How would you be able to afford a major crisis happening? Most of us go through life as if nothing bad can touch us, so we don’t even worry about it.

Maybe we can get through until our golden years relatively untouched, but what happens then? We lived at or above our means for so long, did you have time to plan and save for retirement? This is one part of life that just has a way of creeping up on us. Americans are now working longer than they ever used to before due to the lack of financial planning.

You Must Become Debt Free

As difficult as it might sound, the only salvation for rising costs is to get out of debt, especially if you don’t anticipate your salary rising. Americans get caught in the trap of turning to credit cards and getting loans when they want something they can’t afford. But that’s the thing! They try to pay for things they can’t afford and it costs them in the long run.

Just assuming you’ll get things on track before retirement isn’t going to cut it. You need real change and to get ahead of the snowball running downhill. It will only grow larger and larger until you can no longer manage it. Having an emergency nest egg, saving for retirement, and ensuring you can live comfortably below your means is MUCH more important than buying that brand-new car or doing anything that incurs new debt.

If you’re burdened with lots of debt, the best course of action might be to consider debt consolidation. That will allow you to put all your loans and debts into one neat package to make the repayment process simpler, saving you money verses not getting a consolidation.

You can also try to do a debt settlement, which may even lower the amount you owe and can save you thousands of dollars. Whichever you choose, getting out of debt (and not adding on more) is the best way to improve your financial situation.

The best rule of thumb is to not pay for anything you can’t afford. If you’re in a dead-end job and you don’t see your salary going up anytime soon, there’s no reason to make your circumstances more difficult than you need to.

Make new goals and be smart with your finances. Then, you can celebrate being one of the few Americans who are debt-free and without the worry of having nothing to fall back on in case the worst were to happen.

 

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5 Tips for Improving Your Credit Score in 2018

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One of the biggest financial goals most Americans make revolve around improving their credit scores. Whether we get ourselves into trouble during our early years as an adult, or we’re determined to one day buy that dream home in the suburbs, there may come a time when we decide to buckle down and figure this out.

If you want to do anything in your adult life, one of the key factors of success is having a decent score. Need a loan? To get that apartment? To finance a vehicle? Even a lot of employers will pull your credit score to determine your worthiness for hire. So, here are 5 ways you can help improve your credit score in 2018.

1) Use Cash More Often

We all know that the best way to improve your credit score is to lower your debt balance. The problem is, every time you use your credit card, it changes your credit utilization. In layman’s terms, the more credit you use, the more it impacts your credit score. The goal should be to keep your balance as low as possible.

To keep your balance low, try to pay for items with cash. It always pays in the long run if you can use cash instead of credit. You save money in the long run and it helps stabilize your balance. Of course, if you don’t have to make the purchase itself, use that money to pay more of your balance down. That’s a great way to improve your score.

2) Don’t Be Afraid of Talking to Your Creditors

If you find yourself in a bit of trouble, don’t be afraid to talk to the people who can help you! You might be quite surprised to find out that most of these companies have programs designed to help with those who find themselves dealing with a hardship. You won’t know unless you call them and try to work something out.

3) Pay Off Your Debt

Of course, you knew this was coming! You won’t get anywhere unless you start paying down some of the debt you’ve incurred. Current debt accounts for about 30% of your credit score, so if you have a lot of it, you’re going to struggle to maintain your numbers. Credit reports love it when you actively pay off your debts. That’s much better than defaulting!

4) Be Patient and Follow the Process

Improving your score is going to take a lot of planning and months (even years) or following that plan to reach your goals. The amount of time it takes really depends on your debt and what you owe to your creditors. Since you can’t pay it all off immediately, take your time. Every little bit helps and will nudge that score up little by little.

5) Dispute Errors

Don’t always take your credit score as 100% accurate. There are a lot of people who end up with hits against their score that were wrongfully applied to them. If your credit report doesn’t look accurate, you have every right to dispute it. It can be something as simple as an inaccurate late payment claim that can drop your score as much as 110 points!

 

It’s quite possible to improve your credit score this year. By taking these five steps, you’re well on your way to improving life for you and your family and easing the anxiety and frustration that comes with being in debt to your creditors.

 

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The 16th of December was the seventy-fifth day

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Passepartout was delighted. His master’s last exploit, the consequences of which he ignored, enchanted him. Never had the crew seen so jolly and dexterous a fellow. He formed warm friendships with the sailors, and amazed them with his acrobatic feats. He thought they managed the vessel like gentlemen, and that the stokers fired up like heroes. His loquacious good-humour infected everyone. He had forgotten the past, its vexations and delays. He only thought of the end, so nearly accomplished; and sometimes he boiled over with impatience, as if heated by the furnaces of the Henrietta. Often, also, the worthy fellow revolved around Fix, looking at him with a keen, distrustful eye; but he did not speak to him, for their old intimacy no longer existed.

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Why Rent to Own When You’re Not Ready to Buy

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Some home sellers will make their properties available on a rent-to-own basis. The buyer and seller will agree to a rental term and rate. In turn, the property owner agrees to put aside some portion of payments for a down payment in order to help the tenant qualify to purchase the property after the term is over. Ideally, this type of arrangement can work out well for both parties.

These arrangements can offer advantages to both buyers and sellers:

  • They give a buyer time to improve their credit in order to qualify for a good mortgage.
  • They can also give the prospective buyers a change to gather a down payment.
  • A rent-to-own deal can help a seller make an income off of a property that might have been tough to sell quickly for a good price.

Advantages of Rent-to-Own Deals for Prospective Buyers and Sellers

In theory, the renter should be in a better position to qualify for a mortgage by the end of the rental term. Making timely rental payments will help. They can use the down payment that the owner set aside to help them buy a house that they already have equity in. This should help them qualify for a better mortgage rate, lower monthly loan payments, and give them the financial security of already having some equity in their home. It also gives the renter time to be sure that buying a particular home in a particular neighborhood is really something that their family wants to commit to.

The deal can be great for property owners too. It gives the owner a chance to make an income off of a property that might have been tough to sell. Typically, they also get charge a bit more for rent and deposits because they are helping the buyer gather a down payment and qualify for a home mortgage. This kind of deal might make some rental properties more attractive to tenants than they would be otherwise.

Rent to Own Doesn’t Always Work Out

It’s a good idea for both renters and landlords to be careful when setting the terms of these agreements. Renters may not always qualify for a mortgage after the set term, or they might simply decide that they’d rather not buy the house. It’s important for both parties to agree to a resolution of this kind of situation before any contracts get signed. Typically, landlords won’t refund the extra payments unless the tenant actually sits down at a closing table to buy the home.

Some landlords might extend the term to help out a good tenant, but some might simply evict the tenants and keep all of the payments that they made if they don’t end up buying the home. In fact, there have been cases of landlords who rented out these houses with higher rates, never expecting the tenants to qualify for a mortgage. They would get to keep deposits and extra payments and simply move on to the next tenant.

Of course, renters may have another advantage because they can lock in a sales price in advance. Their hope is that the home’s value will improve over time or at least, it won’t decrease. If the value does decline, the owner might not be eager to renegotiate the price. If the home’s value does increase considerably, property owners might get locked into a bad deal.

Find Rent-to-Own Deals in Your Hometown

Despite some potential pitfalls, renting to own can work out well for both hopeful buyers and property owners. If you’d like to find quality rent-to-own properties in your own city or town, contact FinancialHelpers.com.

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Runs towards the Maybury Hill: Embeds test

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A moderate incline runs towards the foot of Maybury Hill, and down this we clattered. Once the lightning had begun, it went on in as rapid a succession of flashes as I have ever seen. The thunderclaps, treading one on the heels of another and with a strange crackling accompaniment, sounded more like the working of a gigantic electric machine than the usual detonating reverberations. The flickering light was blinding and confusing, and a thin hail smote gustily at my face as I drove down the slope.

At first I regarded little but the road before me, and then abruptly my attention was arrested by something that was moving rapidly down the opposite slope of Maybury Hill. At first I took it for the wet roof of a house, but one flash following another showed it to be in swift rolling movement. It was an elusive vision a moment of bewildering darkness, and then, in a flash like daylight, the red masses of the Orphanage near the crest of the hill, the green tops of the pine trees, and this problematical object came out clear and sharp and bright.

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Top Fun & Healthy Activities Tips for You

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For sleeping man, ’twas hard to choose between such winsome days and such seducing nights. But all the witcheries of that unwaning weather did not merely lend new spells and potencies to the outward world. Inward they turned upon the soul, especially when the still mild hours of eve came on; then, memory shot her crystals as the clear ice most forms of noiseless twilights. And all these subtle agencies, more and more they wrought on Ahab’s texture.

It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he seemed so much to live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits were more to the cabin, than from the cabin to the planks. “It feels like going down into one’s tomb,”—he would mutter to himself—”for an old captain like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my grave-dug berth.”

It was so with Ahab; only that now, of late, he seemed so much to live in the open air, that truly speaking, his visits were more to the cabin, than from the cabin to the planks. “It feels like going down into one’s tomb,”—he would mutter to himself—”for an old captain like me to be descending this narrow scuttle, to go to my grave-dug berth.”

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Thousands of miles from Oregon (Typography)

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But thou sayest, methinks that white-lead chapter about whiteness is but a white flag hung out from a craven soul; thou surrenderest to a hypo, Ishmael. Tell me, why this strong young colt, foaled in some peaceful valley of Vermont, far removed from all beasts of prey—why is it that upon the sunniest day, if you but shake a fresh buffalo robe behind him, so that he cannot even see it, but only smells its wild animal muskiness—why will he start, snort, and with bursting eyes paw the ground in phrensies of affright?

There is no remembrance in him of any gorings of wild creatures in his green northern home, so that the strange muskiness he smells cannot recall to him anything associated with the experience of former perils; for what knows he, this New England colt, of the black bisons of distant Oregon?

No; but here thou beholdest even in a dumb brute, the instinct of the knowledge of the demonism in the world. Though thousands of miles from Oregon, still when he smells that savage musk, the rending, goring bison herds are as present as to the deserted wild foal of the prairies, which this instant they may be trampling into dust.

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My effort was crowned with a success

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But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this huge and terrific incarnation of hate, of vengeance and of death. The man himself, for such I may call him, was fully fifteen feet in height and, on Earth, would have weighed some four hundred pounds.

He sat his mount as we sit a horse, grasping the animal’s barrel with his lower limbs, while the hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the side of his mount; his two left arms were outstretched laterally to help preserve his balance, the thing he rode having neither bridle or reins of any description for guidance. And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet at the shoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head from its snout to its long, massive neck.

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