Acquiring Knowledge About Your Marketplace

Think of your marketplace as your playing field, not unlike an athlete views a football field, basketball court, or hockey rink. The better you know every inch of that playing field, the more you can exploit it to your advantage.

Before I became a REALTOR®, in my early twenties, I was a racquetball professional. I played hundreds of tournaments over my sports career, and my best games were always at my home club. There, we had a court with floor-to-ceiling glass on the right side and back wall, making it particularly difficult to see in the back right-hand corner where the two walls of glass converged.

When players came for tournaments at my club, they struggled to pick up the ball in that corner - giving me what you might call a significant home field advantage. I rarely lost a match on that court.

Real estate is like any other competitive endeavor. If you learn all there is to know about your playing field, you'll acquire a competitive advantage that will distance you from the competition and build the basis of your success.

The most challenging aspect of gaining market knowledge is determining what facts to collect and where to find the information you need. Fortunately, a number of readily accessible resources are available to REALTORS®. All you have to do is contact the right people and ask the right questions. The following sections will help you on your data quest.

Your Local Board of REALTORS®

All professional agents belong to REALTOR® associations that compile and make available a wealth of statistical information. The facts you can obtain from your local board include:

o The number of agents working in your marketplace. This information helps you understand your competitive arena. It also allows you to track whether your competition has expanded or receded over recent years.

o The production of the average agent in terms of units and volume sold. By obtaining this information and comparing it with your own production units and volume, you will be able to contrast your performance against the other agents on your local board. This information will be useful in your effort to calculate your share of the market. It also helps you understand how you stack up against the other agents your prospective customer might be considering.

o Experience levels of agents in your field. Most Boards of REALTORS® keep information regarding the percentage of agents recently licensed and those with three, five, and ten years in the business. This information provides you with another factor against which to measure your competitive position.

Meet with the executive director of your local Board of REALTORS® to learn the extent of information that is available to you, how frequently new research is released, and how you can obtain copies for your ongoing review.

Your Local Multiple Listing Service

The Multiple Listing Service, commonly called the MLS, keeps statistics of all the listings and sales in your area that are processed through the MLS.

The MLS does not cover every sale due to the fact that some sales bypass the system. Often, new construction builders, particularly in very robust markets, don't submit their inventory into MLS. Agents also sometimes sell properties themselves or in-house, and those sales are not submitted to MLS. However, the MLS, in most markets, covers more than 95% of all marketplace sales, and it represents the surest indicator of real estate activity in your region.

The MLS can give you key market statistics including:

o Days on the market averages

o Listing price to sale price ratios

o Listings taken versus listings sold ratios

o Geographically active markets inside your service area

Nearly all REALTORS® recognize the MLS for its significant role in increasing communication and exposure of real estate properties. Fewer REALTORS® recognize the MLS for its powerful but under-utilized role in reporting trends and performance of agents, companies, and subsets of the marketplace. Access and put this information to work to your advantage.

The National Association of REALTORS®

There are a number of national resources that you can access to obtain a wealth of knowledge and statistical trends. The best is the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), which produces some wonderful studies, reports, and market statistics that most agents never use. The truth is most agents don't even know they are available.

Their monthly "Real Estate Outlook" publication provides a national view of real estate sales: What has happened in terms of sales, days on the market, what people are purchasing, what financing they are using, emerging trends, and predictions for the future. This is a powerful tool in the hands of a successful agent. If you aren't currently receiving and reading it, put it into your information arsenal immediately.

They also conduct annual surveys and studies of home sellers and homebuyers. They delve into why consumers selected particular agents, what services they sought from agents, and what geographic areas, home amenities, and features caused them to buy. This type of knowledge will enable you to provide the highest level of counsel and value to your clients.

NAR also issues reports on second home markets, investment properties, financing options, and many other topics. It's one of the best services that NAR provides, but it's the service that agents use the least. Make yourself an exception and dive into this deep pool of information.

Visit the NAR website at http://www.REALTOR.org to obtain an overview of the association, to access quick links to useful sites including REALTOR® Magazine Online, and to subscribe to receive e-mail updates on real estate topics and statistics.

Other Sources of Marketplace Information

Consult your broker about company-compiled statistics on regional trends and also on your firm's market share and market penetration. Especially if you work for a regional or national real estate company or franchise, your organization has likely commissioned studies that will be useful to your fact-gathering efforts.

Also, if you live in a state where sellers provide title insurance to buyers, the title companies often conduct market trend reports that allow agents to better understand the marketplace they are working in.

Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President & CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 250,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. He's the widely published author of Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, and over 300 articles in print.

You can get more information by visiting Real Estate Coaching, Real Estate Training, Free Resources For Realtors

Information About Passive Smoking, Smokeless Tobacco And Other Health Risks

Involuntary or passive smoking is associated with premature disease and death. Estimates indicate that 38,000 to 43,000 nonsmokers who are regularly exposed to environmental smoke die annually from smoking related causes. 16 The majority of these (35,000 to 40,000) die from heart disease, and 3000 die from lung cancer. There is a dose response effect. The more the nonsmoker is exposed to environmental smoke, the greater the risk for premature morbidity (illness) and mortality (death).

Children of smoking parents are more likely to experience a higher incidence of influenza, colds, bronchitis, asthma, and pneumonia. The impact of passive smoking on them can last a lifetime and may range from delayed physical and intellectual development to the hazards associated with prolonged exposure to carcinogenic substances.

An alarming trend is the escalating sale of smoke less tobacco products. Chewing tobacco and dipping snuff have become popular among high school and college men. The world health organization (WHO) has described the growing use of smokeless tobacco as a new threat to society. Nicotine is an addictive drug regardless of the method of delivery, and its effects are similar whether it is inhaled, as in smoking, or absorbed through the tissues of the oral cavity, as in dipping and chewing. The incidence of oral cancer may be 50 times higher among long term users of smokeless tobacco products than among nonusers. Smokeless tobacco is addictive and deadly.

Physical inactivity is finally being officially recognized as a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease by the AHA. The upgrading of physical inactivity appeared in their latest position statement and reflects the importance of participating in physical activities regularly. The change occurred because the weight of the evidence that has been accumulating in the last 10 years shows that exercise produces many important health benefits. This is good news for those who have been physically active, and it may motivate some sedentary people to become active.

Physical inactivity (hypokinesis) is debilitating to the human body. A couple of weeks of bed rest or chair rest produces muscle atrophy, bone demineralization, and decreases in aerobic capacity and maximum ventilatory capacity. Your body was constructed for and thrives on physical exertion. The american college of sports medicine has established guidelines for the development and maintenance of physical fitness. The amount of physical activity needed to improve and maintain good health and to affect longevity is currently under investigation.

The evidence of investigators at the centers for disease control provided the statistical basis for the position change by the AHA. These researchers showed a relationship between physical inactivity and heart disease that was similar in magnitude to that of cigarette smoking, high serum cholesterol levels, and hypertension. approximately 26% of the population smokes cigarettes, 30% have blood pressures greater than 140/90, and 32% have cholesterol levels greater than 200 mg/dl.

Although these numbers are impressive and a significant change in any one would lower the incidence of heart disease, the researchers concluded that regular exercise was the one lifestyle change that could most affect the health of the nation. This is based on the fact that 78% of americans are sedentary or exercise too infrequently to enhance their health. Regular physical activity also has a modifying effect on many of the risks for cardiovascular disease.

Other major studies have supported the view that people who regularly engage in physical activities of moderate intensity have significantly less heart attacks and experience fewer deaths from all causes than people who exercise little or not at all. Moderate activity was the equivalent of walking 1 to 2 miles per day for a total of 5 to 10 miles per week. The greatest health benefits were gained by those who expended 1500 to 2000 calories per week (15 to 20 miles of walking) in physical activity.

A total of 17,000 men were followed for more than 30 years. Those who regularly walked, climbed stairs, or participated in sports activities decreased their risk from all causes of mortality. Those who expended a minimum of 500 calories per week (5 miles of walking or its equivalent) to a maximum of 3500 calories per week (35 miles of walking or its equivalent) experienced a progressive increase in longevity.

Investigators at the cooper institute for aerobics research 22 studied the relationship between physical fitness and mortality from all causes. The uniqueness of this study was twofold: first, the researchers measured the physical fitness level of all subjects by treadmill testing, and second, more than 3000 of the 13,344 subjects were women. Because of their lower risk for cardiovascular disease, women have essentially been neglected as subjects in heart disease studies.

The results of this study indicated that a low physical fitness level increased the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all other forms of disease. The difference in all cause mortality was greatest between those who were in the moderately fit category and those in the low fit category . The difference between the moderately fit and the highly fit was insignificant. For people who exercise regularly, the risk of dying from a heart attack compared with the risk for sedentary people is 35% to 55% less.

A study completed using only women as subjects investigated the physical fitness benefits versus the health benefits of three levels of walking intensity. One group walked at 5 mph, a second group walked at 4 mph, and a third group walked at 3 mph. The results showed that physical fitness improved on a predictable dose response basis. The fastest walkers improved the most and the slowest walkers improved the least, but the cardiovascular risk was reduced equally among the three groups. Low level exercise was as effective as the highest level in promoting cardiovascular health. Exercise for health does not have to be as strenuous as exercise for physical fitness.

A sedentary lifestyle imposes a financial burden on all people. Active people pay a price a lifetime subsidy of approximately $1900 to support the medical costs of sedentary people. The costs come from collectively financed programs, such as health insurance, sick leave coverage, disability insurance, and group life insurance. Because premiums and payroll taxes that finance these programs are equal for both sedentary and active people, the programs subsidize unhealthy behaviors. If sedentary people became more active, they would live longer and healthier, thus reducing the cost they impose on others.

The health and longevity returns from exercise and a physically active lifestyle are significant. Estimates indicate that longevity is increased by 1 minute for every minute spent walking and by 2 minutes for every minute spent jogging. The potential for improving the health status of Americans through appropriate lifestyle behaviors is evident from estimates indicating that 60% of all deaths are premature and approximately 50% to 60% of all illness and disabilities are preventable.

Check out how herbal medicines work, its diseases, uses of creatine and its effects. Also, know about the bodybuilding supplements You can get all this in detail at http://www.online-health-care.com

Redefining Empowerment-A Case Study About Effectively Marketing To Teens Without Turning Them Off

Can we inspire teens to choose to do something with the same methodology that convinces them not to do something? For example, does the same decision-making process lead to teens buying $15 Starbury One basketball shoes and to not buying the designer $130 Nike Zoom Kobe I sneakers? Is there a common denominator in how teens choose to start smoking cigarettes and how they choose not to? Can we as marketers reach them at the pivotal decision-making moment to inspire desired behavior? Denver-based Cactus Marketing Communications thinks they have uncovered the simple truth about effectively altering teen behaviors by redefining empowerment as a marketing strategy.

I. Background

Youth empowerment has been defined as an attitudinal, structural and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of other people, including youth and adults.

Over the past decade, the word empowerment has become a buzzword in business and youth development, but the word has different meanings for different people. According to the Journal of Extension, "empowering teens" refers to a process through which adults begin to share responsibility and power with young people... It is the same idea as teaching young people the rules of the game...Youth development professionals are helping young people develop non-academic competencies that will help them to participate in the game of life.

Traditionally, most campaigns that employ youth empowerment as a strategy actually encourage social movements through advocacy and activism. They encourage teens to speak out for causes and to rally other teens to join them in activism. This notion has been particularly popular with youth development campaigns such as 4-H and public health campaigns such as tobacco control. Another popular example that demonstrates this notion is Rock the Vote, which encourages young adults to serve as brand ambassadors and activists to encourage other young adults to vote.

II. Redefining Empowerment

In the fall of 2006, Denver-based Cactus Marketing Communications launched a campaign called Own Your C that is redefining empowerment as we know it. Rather than encouraging a public advocacy or activism in their communities, Own Your C aspires to encourage teens to make positive choices to implement change in their own lives.

Commissioned by the Colorado State Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership (STEPP), Own Your C is a tobacco prevention and cessation educational campaign targeting Colorado youth ages 12 to 18. Over the past year, Cactus and STEPP have worked hand in hand to produce an integrated marketing campaign with the goal of reducing tobacco use among teens. The following is a summary on the insights gained into the complex world of teens and how those insights led Cactus to redefine empowerment as a marketing strategy with the Own Your C educational campaign.

A. Problem:

1. National tobacco trends:

- According to the Centers for Disease Control, a survey released in July 2006 claimed that a decade-long decline in youth smoking has halted among high school students.

- Ninety percent of adult smokers started smoking by the age of 18.

- Camel's No.9, a new offering that The New York Times called "dressed to the nines," employs fashionable marketing techniques that appeal to young women - from ad placements in fashion bibles like Vogue and Glamour and its name's haunting coincidence to the perfume, Chanel No. 21, and the song, "Love Potion No. 9". Flavored cigarettes, including Kauai Kolada, Twista Lime and Mandarin Mint, also appeal to teens.

2. Colorado is on center stage in the nation's battle against tobacco:

- Decreases in tobacco use rates among Colorado youth have become stagnant in recent years.

- The tobacco industry spent $217 million on marketing to youth in 2005, this is more than 200 percent of the funding the state has to combat their efforts.

- Tobacco companies spend $4 million marketing to Coloradoans every week.

- Colorado is often selected to test market new tobacco products.

B. Insight:

A variety of research methods were employed in order to understand the complex and ever-changing world of teens, both tobacco and non-tobacco related. The goal was to find a message is universally relevant and important among teens of all ages, ethnicities, genders, income levels and geographic locations.

1) Anti-tobacco campaign effectiveness

Through secondary research, Cactus and their research arm, Market Perceptions, Inc., set out to discover whether or not other public education campaigns to-date have been successful in reducing teen smoking levels. What they discovered is that there is a precedent for success with advertising in regards to reducing teen smoking levels.

One study published in 2005 measured students in 75 major media markets with varying levels of state-sponsored anti-tobacco TV ads and found that students from markets with higher advertising levels were significantly less likely to have smoked in the past 30 days, more likely to perceive great harm from smoking and more likely to report they would not be smoking in five years' time. Additionally, a study measuring the effectiveness of the national "truth" campaign reported that 22 percent of the nation's overall youth smoking decline between 1999 and 2002 could directly be attributed to the campaign.

While the counter-industry theme (anti-Big Tobacco) has been proven successful in the past and once tested positively in the late 1990's and early 2000's, more recent studies have shown that due to the proliferation of it as a strategy (nearly two-thirds of all state campaigns use counter-industry), it's yielding diminishing returns. A study published in 2006 by the American Journal of Public Health reported that counter-industry ads did not significantly enhance anti-industry motivation or lower smoking intent.

Studies have found that ads graphically portraying the effects of living or suffering from the afflictions of tobacco use (as opposed to dying from) rank high in getting youth to "stop and think" about tobacco use. Researchers caution against using messages that inflict fear, which have several limitations, and trigger disgust, which some believe to be the single most effective strategy in reducing teen smoking. Ads that employ fear tactics are more likely to be rebelled against, don't break through teens' invincibility barrier, and potentially only enhance the idea of tobacco as the "forbidden fruit," whereas disgust motivates action and corresponds with a lower intent to smoke.

2) Communicating with teens

When conducting a marketing campaign aimed at teens, it's not only important to communicate the right messages to them, but to communicate in the right ways with them. Teens are leading the technology-driven, new media movement, spending more time with computers, the Internet, hand held devices, MP3 players, cell phones, etc.

While talking on the phone is still the preferred communication method of choice (when not hanging out in person), teens' communication patterns go hand in hand with their increased use of new media, with online forums (Instant Message, social networks, etc.) growing in popularity and changing the dynamics of relationships.

After the phone, teens report Instant Message (IM) as their second choice for communicating with friends. IM breaks down traditional communication barriers, lowering inhibitions and allowing them to say things they wouldn't say in person. The same is true of social networks, where a majority of teens build detailed and in-depth profiles for the entire world to see. Their profiles allow them to project an image of how they want to be seen, rather than their true identity. Their profiles also allow them to build a large network of friends, seeking out like-minded teens with similar interests, regardless of geographic locations. Teens more than any other generation, are widely connected to each other through this virtual community.

In addition to identifying and prioritizing the proper communication vehicles, Cactus and Market Perceptions sought to better understand what brands are effectively communicating their messages to teens. Through the mass clutter of brands today, they wanted to understand not necessarily which brands are "in" versus "out", as that is constantly evolving with this fickle audience, but what makes a brand relevant, albeit just briefly, in the minds of teens today.

Overwhelmingly, brand theorists point out that a brand is no longer a badge of quality or insurance of a safe choice as it is with older generations, however, it is a means to define themselves, to express who they feel they are or want to be outwardly to their peers, family, strangers, etc. It is an interesting juxtaposition of self-expression while at the same time enhancing connectedness to other like-minded teens.

A recent global brand study showed that several U.S. brands are losing favor with teens to more innovative, international brands. Experts argue that the brands losing on teen relevance are those that try to impose images on teens, rather than reflecting teens' perceptions of themselves. One particularly successful campaign that resonated with youth is the Adidas "Impossible is Nothing" campaign, which spoke to teens optimism and connectedness.

Overall, teens are aware of marketing and "hip to the hype" and they need to feel in control and that they are discovering brands on their own. Teens need to feel as if they are a part of the brand story.

3) Teen decision-making

While secondary research provided an understanding of tobacco usage among teens, Cactus still needed to understand the decision-making dynamic surrounding teen tobacco use, especially when the decision is not to smoke. There was need to understand teenagers in terms of how they see tobacco within the context of their experience of being a teenager.

Therefore, Cactus and Market Perceptions conducted primary research with the explicit goal of enhancing their understanding of teens through a novel approach that would reveal more about the decision-making dynamics from a teen's perspective. Recognizing that developments in computer technology have transformed the ways in which youth communicate and interact, Market Perceptions built a virtual research space, http://www.YouthRuckus.com. This site became the center around which continuous online interaction afforded insight to uncover these truths.

The methodology for primary research included Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and ethnographic components. After spending two months with teenagers, watching their behavior and interacting with them, Cactus learned that teen decision-making around tobacco requires a broader perspective beyond the topic of tobacco. The research uncovered the simple truth that tobacco use, or the avoidance of tobacco use, stems from a dynamic that lies at the root of many challenges that teens experience. They are making a transition from doing what others want them to do toward doing what they want to do - and they are learning to make choices along the way.

What Cactus revealed is that there are two ways in which teens become non-smokers.

One way looks very much like the decision to smoke. They don't smoke because someone doesn't want them to smoke. For these teens, we must tell them not to smoke, understanding that we are competing with others who are telling them to smoke.

The other way is a choice. These teens choose not to smoke. Recognizing that these teens are different from their reactionary peers is important in two respects. First, the ability for teens to make decisions for themselves remains a critical element of resistance to pro-tobacco advertising. These teens crave the control to make choices and be accountable for those choices. Second, making choices creates a demand for information.

The implications of this research, therefore, are clear. There are two segments within the teen population. One segment requires a simple message - "Don't smoke!" The other segment requires a very different message - "Own your choices." While membership in these segments is not static, the movement is generally from the first to the second. As teens learn and grow, they all begin to own their choices. Unfortunately, this means that the message "Don't smoke!" will have less impact as they do so, and will undermine their ability to see smoking as a bad choice as they make the transition.

4) Key findings

The research can be boiled down into the following key findings:

- Teens desire to be in control of their lives.

- Teens are pack-oriented and experience self-inflicted pressure to belong.

- Teens understand the choices they make today impact their future but, in the moment of decision, they often ignore this and act impulsively without thinking about the consequences of their actions.

- Teens are concerned with their future, but their notion of future often goes no further than getting into or graduating from college.

- Teens are surrounded by negative messages and want to see things that reflect their optimism.

- Teens have high aspirations and respect brands that reflect this idealized version of themselves.

C. Solution:

Armed with meaningful research, Cactus and STEPP determined that a successful strategy for the commissioned public education campaign would recognize youth's desire to make choices as part of making the transition to adulthood and empower them to seek out information and take responsibility for the outcomes of those choices. Doing this, Cactus redefined empowerment as it had been defined by previous social marketing campaigns. Rather than encouraging advocacy and activism, this campaign encourages teens to make positive choices to implement change in their own lives. This empowerment strategy executed via effective vehicles of communication yielded a powerful and impactful youth tobacco prevention and cessation campaign coined "Own Your C" (Own Your Choices).

"Choice" was selected as a message because it is universal to all youth, regardless of gender, geographic location, ethnicity, sexual orientation, income or age. Choice is relevant to all teens since it connects to them on an emotional level. While youth are impulsive by nature, they demonstrate that they are receptive to messages that provide perspective and empower them. Own Your C was developed as the brand because it embodies the empowerment strategy and choice message. A common vernacular among young adults, "own it" means to step up and take accountability for your actions.

To breakthrough the advertising clutter in a teen's world, Cactus had to create a bona fide youth relevant brand, not just another public health campaign. The Own Your C brand has to compete for attention not just against other public health messages, but against other youth brands so campaign elements were designed to fit within the current fashions and trends of the youth culture. A fully integrated communications strategy was developed with the ownyourC.com experiential Web site as the hub. Tactics include irreverent television spots, a street team, events, cessation tools, mobile marketing, online advertising, and tapping social networks.

The site engages teens in education and conversation on the topic of choice-making as it relates to tobacco. Divided into three main sections of a virtual town called C-Ville, the site include a 'Park area to aid teens in the choices that impact their lives; a 'Downtown' area where teens can be immersed in the Own Your C brand through TV spots, contests and downloads of art, music and ringtones; and a 'Drive-in' area where teens can learn and discuss the impacts of using tobacco.

TV Spots. The television campaign is a series of three television spots that drive home the message that choices define you. "Cecil the Seal" is a tongue-in-cheek play on government-sponsored public service campaigns and introduces the campaign concept: C is for Choice. "Haunting C", based on a thriller suspense movie, reminds teens their choices may come back to haunt them. And "Omnipoteen" centers on a teen superhero who has the power to choose and the consequences associated with his choice. These PSAs are designed to appeal to teens and create a buzz, while driving them to visit ownyourC.com.

C-Ride. A branded ice cream truck, the C-Ride serves as a "C" brand ambassador, building buzz and generating excitement at youth-oriented events statewide. The truck features a back-lit chrome "C" hood ornament, airbag suspension and custom rims, custom lighting and sound, and a freezer for distributing ice cream and treats. Cactus commissioned an artist from the U.K. popular for his offbeat character illustrations to design the truck's exterior. Equipped with a street team, the C-Ride extends the brand to urban, rural and mountain communities and serves as a distribution point for tobacco cessation materials.

Promotional Items. Cactus commissioned artists from around the world to express what "owning your C" means to them. Choice-inspired designs from artists in Thailand, the U.K. and the U.S. have been parlayed into t-shirts, winter hats, stickers and magnets, which are distributed by the C-Ride street team.

Quit Kits. Cactus created discreet quit kits for teens to quit smoking or chew tobacco. The kits are encased in anonymous encyclopedia covers with hollowed interior space to store a quit journal, gum, stress balls and alternative-to-tobacco mint snuff pouches.

D. Preliminary results

Since Own Your C launched in the fall of 2006, it has been acclaimed as a relevant youth brand and has created tremendous buzz among the advertising, design and interactive communities. ownyourC.com has been heralded as one of the world's top Web sites targeting youth and has competed for industry awards in the company of Nickelodeon, Curious George, Gillette, Adidas, Altoids and Nike, to name a few. The site has been honored with recent accolades including:

2007 The Webby Awards Winner in Youth category

2007 The One Show Merit Award in Non-profit category

2007 South by Southwest Web Awards "Best in Show"

2007 South by Southwest Web Awards "Gold" in the Business: Green/Non-Profit category

2006 Favourite Web Site Awards "Site of the Year" third place

September 2006 "Site of the Month"

January 2007 CommArts "Site of the Week"

According to ad industry blogs:

"Denver agencies Cactus and AgencyNet have created a visually stunning, bang on strategy online campaign for the state of Colorado... But marketing the value of choices is a strange thing I hear you say? Well, it's a not so thinly guised push at educating teens about the health effects of tobacco. Its completely non-preachy form of communication is refreshing and the perfect tone for speaking to teens." - Tait Ischia, marketing student, Australia

"OwnYourC takes a form conducive to internet-saavy teen visitors-an interactive world, full of animation, green-screen video, 3D characters, stop motion animation, sounds, etc. The campaign conveys this message artfully throughout the site, and the site creators are starting to see that kids are 'becoming the voice to extend the campaign.'" - Josh Spear, trendspotter, writer, designer, Denver.

What's more important, the campaign has been well-received by Colorado teens. The Own Your C street team has visited 115 schools in 40 counties since December 2006. The Web site has had over 310,000 unique visitors since the campaign launched last fall and it has nearly 7,000 C-Ville "citizens," or registered site members, that receive updates on events, contest information and monthly newsletter.

It seems that Colorado youth have responded positively to the campaign message. They appreciate that Own Your C empowers them to make smart choices and does it without preaching or talking down to them. They also seem to like that this campaign doesn't solely focus on tobacco use, but rather overall positive decision-making for the game of life. According to Colorado teens:

"I think that this a really cool, fresh way to get kids to relieve how their decisions effect their future."

"Thank you for not lecturing me on information that I know about tobacco already."

"I'm amazed that someone came out to our school to talk about positive choices."

"I've made a lot of bad choices without thinking of the repercussions, and the outcome. I think that I will start making better choices from here on out!"

The C-ride program has also been lauded by Colorado schools. The branded ice cream truck and the C-ride street team have visited 120 counties in 40 counties, traveling over 8,700 miles since December 2006. On the road, the street team has distributed thousands of t-shirts, hats, stickers and magnets to teens across the state. Additionally tobacco quit kits and posters were distributed to local community health agencies and about 1,000 urban and rural middle and high schools in Colorado. Feedback from students, teachers and other anti-tobacco organizations has been positive.

What's next for Own Your C? The campaign has national potential for expansion. Five state health agencies from across the nation have expressed interest in bringing the youth empowerment campaign to their states. The State of Colorado is currently taking requests from other interested states.

Written in May 2007 by Denver-based Cactus Marketing Communications sharpideas.com a full-service branding agency that grows companies through advertising, design, interactive, media services and public relations. For more information, contact Ashley Boyden, Cactus PR Director, 303.455.7545 or ashleyboyden@sharpideas.com

Global Warming - Everything You (Don't) Want to Know About it!

A wise, cynical, political maxim "Follow the money" - is global warming for real? Global warming and human causation - are they two sequential scientific truths - or do they represent political ideology running amok? Is global-Earth really warming from carbon emissions and a greenhouse effect - and is it a true threat to the planet: oceans on the rise to inundate urban centers? Is it caused by mankind's flagrant disregard of pollution from fossil fuels - spewed wantonly for almost a century: fireplaces, factories, automobiles, airplanes? Or (per rightist-extremism fears) is it only a "propaganda tsunami" from radical left-wing ideologists, using politicized pseudo-science to "level-the international-industrial-playing-field" by penalizing capitalism and the US?

The shocking reality (to those of casual interest) is the unprecedented recent gathering at Copenhagen of all world leaders in December, 2009 - 193 countries, with entire staffs and entourages: democracies, kingdoms, dictatorships; from first-world industrial nations to third-world consortiums of famine-fighting villages - all of-a-common purpose: to impose severe civilization-disrupting constraints and financial penalties upon efficient industrial activity! What could be the forcing function to organize such a gathering with such an agenda?

Two considerations should give a reasonable person pause - in view of the drastic changes and penalties contemplated - shouldn't there have been a science-session preamble, establishing unquestionable proof of the premise before such extreme decisions were sought? On the disclosures of leaked emails from Great Britain just prior to the conference - admissions of falsified temperature data - where was a stunned reaction by the scientific-community to this challenge to trust-worthiness; where was a scurrying to reestablish faith in their global temperature-rise conclusion? Instead, what the world saw was "cooked" temperature disclosures swept "under the rug", a media effort to "shoot the messenger" (email hackers). How can that not be disturbing to objective minds? Absent any preliminary scientific presentation to prove the global-warming scenario, then the media cover-up - is a conclusion of powerful political machinations and agenda not unreasonable?

Consider also, the US House of Representatives has already passed a Cap-and-Trade bill, as if - again -man-caused global warming is proven fact - with hundreds of billions-of-dollar-consequences to American industrial life ($1700 to $2000 per family per year estimated; worth billions to GE, etc.); it awaits only comparable Senate action to be signed into law by President Obama! Or even worse - with the authority of presidential decree, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has now assumed the executive power to establish costly pollution standards for US industry (not even awaiting a US Senate bill)!

On the other hand - if one does accept the scenario of global warming - man-made pollution from industrial nations being a major cause, emerging countries (e.g. India and China), do then have a compelling argument: since everyone shares planet Earth, where heretofore industrialized countries have had a gigantic head-start advantage - using cheap energy and causing emission/carbon pollutants - should not ascending countries be given their right to "catch up"; shouldn't the US and other industrialized countries pay heavy compensation (perhaps a trillion dollars per year - most by the US)?

The international unanimity of purpose and size of the Copenhagen conference has never before been seen: not world rebellion against military powers; nor against dominant religions; nor political ideologies - only one single objective, to reduce carbon and impose penalties. Right-wingers see an unleashed political ideology in this unprecedented international undertaking: a combination of left-wing governments and media joining with openly communist dictators in every hemisphere. Even thoughtful commentators upon the world scene, like Charles Krauthammer, see something amiss!

So what do true scientist-experts in the specific technical field of Earth's atmosphere say? Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, Ph.D., is a Professor of Atmospheric Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has written extensively on the subject. His analysis is summarized below in an effort to separate "wheat from chaff" for lay-man understanding - whether global warming is, in fact, really occurring; whether man-made industrial emissions are the proximate cause; and whether the threat to planet Earth is truly imminent. Below are Prof. Lindzen's talking points:

Despite exaggerated emotion-evoking statements, surface temperatures have shown cycles of global cooling as well as warming for over a century: cooling from 1875 to 1910, warming from 1911 to 1943, cooling from 1944 to 1976, warming from 1977 to 1998, but no warming since - we are now experiencing an 8th year of cooling. While all these changes were happening, carbon dioxide levels has continually risen.
There are five major world centers which collect global temperature data: the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (where recent email leaks of doctored data occurred); Remote Sensing Systems; the University of Alabama at Huntsville; the Goddard Institute for Space Studies; and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. All of these temperature data centers show no warming since 1998, and all show cooling by varying degrees since.
Significant problems (for honest scientific projections) arise when using surface temperature records to track global changes: the number of worldwide climate-measuring sites has dropped from 6,000 in 1970 to under 2,000 today; two-thirds of the closed weather stations were in country areas (colder night-time temperatures); whereas those remaining include a high percentage of urban stations (warmer night-time readings due to concrete pavements, buildings and urban sprawl). This fact alone biases the overall temperature record, as urban areas around the world have grown exponentially in the last 50 years - studies indicate that perhaps half of indicated "warming" in the data base during the last fifty years is due to land-use changes - not increases in energy emission. Urban growth is thus the major cause of man-made temperature-increase data.
NASA is quoted as stating that the oceans were warmer in the summer of 2009 than ever before - arrived at by subtracting satellite-measured ocean temperatures from ocean temperature base data - however, NASA does not use the (over 3300) ARGO buoys deployed in world oceans - which, contrarily, show ocean heat-content falling ever since the buoys were deployed in 2003.
No statistical relationship exists between carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and temperatures during the last 150 years - however, a strong statistical relationship does exist between the cyclic Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and global temperature. The PDO shows a 60 year cycle of warming and cooling of the Pacific Ocean - in every instance over the last 150 years: when the PDO was cooling, the global temperature cooled; when the PDO was warming, the global temperature rose. The PDO has now shifted back to a cooling phase - as has air temperature.
The total carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is only 4 hundredth of one percent (0.0004 of total atmosphere). The total increase by volume of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in the last 150 years is only one hundredth of one percent (0.0001). This has actually benefited agriculture and plant life, which grow faster with more carbon dioxide (the well-known animal-plant symbiosis - oxygen and carbon dioxide exchanges), and are more resistant to drought.
Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant - everything that grows on earth needs it, the source being irrelevant. If all carbon dioxide were removed from air (which animals breathe), earth would die.
Ice cores show that increases in carbon dioxide in the past were the result of warmer temperature, not the cause of it. The laws of nature have not changed. Most of the increases in carbon dioxide in the air are the result of nature, the human component being small, perhaps 3 percent. Also, half the carbon dioxide emitted into the air by human activity each year, is immediately absorbed into the biosphere. Carbon dioxide is 3.5 percent of the greenhouse effect - water vapor is 95 percent. Since human activity only adds 3 percent a year, with half of that absorbed into the biosphere, the total human contribution to the greenhouse effect each year is about one-tenth-of-one-percent. Reducing this amount by some fraction will have no significant effect on global temperatures.
There is a strong relationship (ignored by pro-warming advocates) between the strength of the solar wind and global temperature. Strong solar wind equals a warmer earth, weak solar wind equals a cooler earth. Variations in cosmogenic isotopes of carbon 14 and beryllium 10 in ice cores prove this. Right now the solar wind is weaker than anytime that NASA has been able to measure it (nearly 50 years) and the earth is cooling. The solar magnetic index is the lowest since measurements began in 1932, and continues to lessen. The Pacific Ocean is in a cool phase and will be so for another 25 years. The Atlantic is showing signs of cooling. The heat source of the sun is weak and will likely be so for the next two solar cycles. We are heading for colder temperatures, not warmer.
The downward cyclic trend in the amount of ice remaining in the Arctic at the end of summer has ended. Polar-orbiting satellites clearly show the extent of arctic ice, which is increasing - there is 25 percent more ice today than two years ago (dramatic Arctic photos of drastic ice reductions over very many decades are misleading - probably intentionally).
Satellite measurements show there is more ice in the Antarctic than 30 years ago - news media report only shrinking ice in the Arctic, never about ice growth in Antarctica.
The melting of glaciers is not new. The "Little Ice Age" was from 1400 to 1850. The coldest temperatures were in the 1600s. Global temperature has been rising unevenly for 300 years. Glaciers have been retreating unevenly for at least 250 years.
Data from the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite show outgoing longwave radiation (heat) increased by 4 watts per square meter in the 1980s and 1990s, while the oceans were undergoing a cyclic warming. Computer models predicted outgoing longwave radiation would decrease as oceans warmed. All the models used by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were wrong. (Note, more on IPCC later.)
Indicating a clear intent to present a political viewpoint on environmentalism rather than honest fact, an April 2009 Time magazine article, with major input from environmental groups, reported there were "only" 25,000 polar bears remaining in the arctic today - omitting the fact that in the 1960s, the number was but 5,000,

Some significant comments by Dr. Lindzen get to the heart of his concerns about the scientific accuracy of the global warming "sellathon" and its possible motivation - with "follow the money" considerations; his specific quoted words are;

CO2 - what is it? Not a pollutant, CO2 is a product of every living creature's breathing; it's the product of all plant respiration; it is essential for plant life and photosynthesis; it is a product of all industrial burning; it is a product of [automobile] driving - I mean, if you ever wanted a leverage point to control everything from human exhalation to travel, this would be a dream. So it has a kind of fundamental attractiveness to bureaucratic mentality.
Large environmental groups, political "leaders" and eco-activists believe: just reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and we can regulate the world temperature. People who think this way are far more dangerous than global warming itself (if it were true), because some of these people wield great power.
Computer models say that there should be a rapid warming of the upper troposphere - between 30 degrees north and south of the equator - if global warming is proceeding. However, measurements with weather balloons over the last 50 years show no such warming. This proves the computer models do not predict how the climate system works - [predicting] the climate 50 to 100 years in the future. Computer model forecasts of warming are not evidence of climate change. They are marketing tools for research institutions and universities to continue their funding from our government. Despite concerns re motivation, this means the models make wrong assumptions about how climate-complexity works, and are scientifically useless in making any climate policy.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was formed in the late 1980s to "prove" human burning of fossil fuels causes global warming - from its beginning it was never a scientific organization - it was formed with a biased political agenda. The true goal is to capture political power from dominant countries through climate treaties (Kyoto)- partly to insure the institutions own survival. These treaties give the UN the legal power to redistribute the wealth of developed nation. The concept of "climate debt" owed to third world countries is justification. The debt would be retribution for the industrialized nation's sin of "polluting" the climate with carbon dioxide - using all the available carbon space in the air. It is the UN's goal to use global warming to extract money from developed nations without having to work for it. Recently the chairman of the IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri, announced "We're at a stage where the warming is happening at a much faster rate." Apparently, he does not look at real world data.
As for Al Gore, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 - his message of fearing global warming has the third world now demanding "climate reparations" for damage that the western world has inflicted on climate over the last 150 years. They now say we owe 'Climate Debt' because we have used up all the carbon space in the air. This is not promoting peace, it is causing tension and anger in the developing countries towards the west - Gore's "peace prize" is having the opposite effect. As for Gore's financial investments in green companies, "beware of prophets seeking profits". The urge to save the world is always a cover for the need to rule it."
The "climategate" emails prove that there is at best, blind ambition among some of the worlds leading climate scientists - and at worst, criminal activity. The reaction of much of the mainstream media in the United States is proving to be very revealing. They either don't report the story or they defend the actions of the climate scientists. Some of these leading scientists were caught intimidating scientific journals to keep skeptics prom publishing, and altering data to make the case for man-made global warming. The emails also reveal that these scientists have deleted data or refused freedom-of-information requests; and have deleted emails relevant to those requests, a criminal offence. NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies has also been stonewalling freedom-of-information efforts. It is clear from the emails that a small but powerful group of leading climate scientists have used their lofty positions to pervert the science of climate change.

Beyond the realm of of hard scientific data points such as temperature, velocity and direction; air and sea; locations and dates, Dr. Lindzen extrapolates his knowledge of the limitations of atmospheric mathematical modeling into conjecture as to motivation for weather-scientists proclamations of man-caused global warming. The phrase "Follow the money" has often proved reliable as a roadmap to explain otherwise puzzling activities. Many powerful groups and organizations have strong financial interests in American belief that carbon dioxide is pollution: domestically this includes influential environmental groups, brokerage houses, corporations, universities, media outlets and political parties, as well as third world governments. The evidence is widespread - cash-strapped states and cities, with hundreds of millions of federal monies earmarked for "green energy" development, decades away from practicality - while essential infrastructure programs, such as water mains, highways and bridges, are unfunded. On the UN scene, conscience and liberal guilt have become the means to international spreading of the wealth.

Some of Dr. Lindzen's observations warrant notice:

On the day the Copenhagen conference opened, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claimed jurisdiction over the regulation of carbon emissions in the US - flatly declaring them an "endangerment" to human health.
Since the US has an overwhelmingly carbon-based economy, the EPA is thus claiming authority to regulate practically everything. No institution that emits more than 250 tons of C02 a year will be beyond EPA control - over a million building complexes, hospitals, plants, schools, businesses and similar enterprises.
This naked assertion of vast executive (presidential) power in the name of the environment becomes the perfect fulfillment of the prediction of Czech President Vaclav Klaus that environmentalism is becoming the new socialism. Going into the possibility of even darker motivation, Dr. Lindzen points out a world socialistic scenario - the conceding of US sovereihnity to the UN, with the domination of the UN by ultra-liberal groups and (numerically controlling) Islamic-Arab oil controlling countries.

Similar grave concerns are expressed by other scientists, including charges of U.N. "fraud"on climate change - Dr. Philip Lloyd, an honorary research fellow at the Energy Research Center at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, has been a coordinating lead author for the United Nations IPCC. According to Dr. Lloyd, the IPCC should be dismissed as an authority on global warming - in an article that appeared on South Africa's BusinessDay Web site. Dr. Lloyd writes about the "flaws behind the whole process" of the IPCC:

The IPCC "claims that it has thousands of scientists and almost as many reviewers producing their reports." However, Lloyd says there was no review "in the accepted sense of the word - there was no independence of review, and the reviewers were anything but anonymous. The result is not scientific."
Another problem cited by Lloyd is that the IPCC issues a Summary (for Policy Makers) four months or more before the scientific report (on which it is supposedly based) is published.
Lloyd concludes: "It isn't necessary to list all the changes I have identified between what the scientists actually said and what the policymakers who wrote the Summary for Policy Makers said they said. The process is so flawed, that the result is tantamount to fraud. As an authority, the IPCC should be consigned to the scrapheap without delay."
Lloyd's article was before the so-called climategate scandal, which has called into question the validity of some of IPCC's science that supports the conclusion of man-made global warming.

In a related note, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, following the eruption of the climategate controversy, acknowledged that the science supporting man-made global warming may not be "as certain as its proponents allege." Even common-sense commentators on the world scene, like Charles Krauthammer, trying to find explanation for the global warming phenomenon, describe it as "Environmentalism - the new religion of the liberal left".

Aaron Kolom qualifies as a "rocket scientist" with over 50 years aerospace engineering: Stress Analyst to Chief of Structural Sciences on numerous military aircraft, to Corp. Director Structures and Materials, Asst. Chief Engineer Space Shuttle Program through first three flights (awarded NASA Public Service Medal), Rockwell International Corp.; Program Manager Concorde SST, VP Engineering TRE Corp.; Aerospace Consultant.

Aaron L. Kolom: "The Passover Saga, Myth or History?" (PublishAmerica); "Brainwashed* and Miracles**" (* The Perceived Mind-Set of the Secular Elite re Darwin Evolutionism!, ** To Believe in Them - Have Faith - In Science and Logic! - AuthorHouse)

IVF and the Twin Trend: Educating Patients About the Risks

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

It's advice that couples tend to ignore when talking to their fertility doctor about the number of embryos to transfer during IVF. Because the cost of fertility treatment is high and is usually not covered by insurance, they hedge their bets and gamble that transferring multiple embryos will increase the chances of getting pregnant. And while stricter guidelines for embryo transfer have been successful at reducing higher order multiples (triplets or more), "the next hurdle is how do we reduce the twin rate while maintaining the same pregnancy rate?" says R. Stan Williams, MD, president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies (SART), and professor and chair of the Department of OB-GYN at the University of Florida.

Patients, however, tend to not see the risks of being pregnant with two. Michael A. Feinman, MD, Medical Director of HRC Fertility in Southern California, says some couples strongly want to transfer two embryos or actually desire twins. "Some couples think twins are 'cute,' because they do not see the ones who experience the problems of prematurity or see how difficult it is for parents to handle them."

The Risks of Multiples

Fertility doctors and patient advocates are working to educate patients about the serious health risks and high costs of having more than one baby at the same time.

"We have to do a better job educating patients about the health risks - they are not getting these messages," says Barbara Collura, executive director of the infertility patient advocacy group RESOLVE. "They are being told it by their doctor as part of the informed consent process. But reproductive endocrinologists - you can ask any single one of them if they ever get pressure from the patients to transfer more than the required guidelines state, and they will tell you 'yes, every day.'"

Even though there seem to be twins everywhere these days (between 1980 and 2004, the rate of multiple births increased by 70 percent), the risks to the health and well-being of the mother and babies - and the costs to society - are quite high.

"It has been shown that twin pregnancies cost society billions of dollars each year," Dr. Feinman says. "These costs are due to increased maternal hospitalizations to prevent prematurity, increased intensive care for the babies from prematurity, and increased rates of lifelong disabilities like cerebral palsy in twins."

Women who are pregnant with twins are at much higher risk for pregnancy complications, including:

Premature birth: About 60 percent of twins are born prematurely at an average of 35 weeks.
Low birthweight: More than half of twins are born at less than 5 ½ pounds. Low birthweight babies, especially those born before 32 weeks and/or weighing less than 3 1/3 pounds, are at increased risk of health problems during the newborn period, as well as lasting disabilities such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, and vision and hearing loss.
Cesarean section: Women who carry multiples may be more likely to need Caesarean sections, which may require a longer period of recovery and at times can increase the risk of hemorrhage during and after delivery.
Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS): About 10 percent of identical twins who share a placenta develop TTTS, which occurs when a connection between the two babies' blood vessels in the placenta causes one baby to get too much blood flow and the other too little.
Pre-eclampsia: Women expecting twins are more than twice as likely to develop pre-eclampsia, which is a combination of high blood pressure, protein in the urine and generalized swelling that can be dangerous for mother and baby.
Gestational diabetes: This pregnancy-related form of diabetes can cause the baby to grow especially large, increasing the risk of injuries to mother and baby during vaginal birth. Babies may also have breathing and other problems during the newborn period.

Single Pregnancy Is Safer

Being pregnant with one child is safer, with the greatest chances for an optimal outcome. A recent study published in BMJ (British Medical Journal) found that women who undergo IVF are almost five times more likely to give birth to a single healthy baby following a single embryo transfer (SET) when compared with women who choose to have two embryos transferred. In addition, the SET appeared to significantly increase the chances of carrying the baby to full term (37 weeks).

With medical advances, assisted reproductive technology (ART) has come a long way from the early days of transferring six embryos in the hopes of getting just one to implant. Newer techniques such as blastocyst stage culture and transfer are maximizing pregnancy rates and minimizing the risk of a multiple pregnancy. By growing embryos for five days in the laboratory and enabling them to reach the blastocyst stage of development, fertility doctors can better determine which embryos have the greatest likelihood of implantation.

Research has shown that success rates for single embryo transfer vs. double embryo transfer are similar in certain circumstances. "In a favorable patient who is having a blastocyst (Day 5 embryo) transfer, one blastocyst is an equivalent pregnancy rate to two," Dr. Williams says.

But some couples have difficulty accepting these studies, according to Dr. Feinman. "They intuitively feel that the second embryo must hedge their bet. Also, input from friends and former patients often affects their feelings."

The most recent 2009 guidelines on embryo transfer from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and SART are very individualized. For example, for a woman under age 35 who is in the favorable category, the recommendation is to transfer one embryo if it is a Day 5 (blastocyst), and one to two embryos if it is a Day 3.

"The big advantage of the American system is we can look at shades of gray," Dr. Williams explains. "Depending on the patient's age, the prognosis of the patient, and the stage of the embryo development, we can develop guidelines that are more flexible to meet the needs of the patient while trying to reduce the potential for multiples."

Every Fertility Story Is Different

In addition to fertility problems such as blocked tubes, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and her husband's low sperm count, Petra, a former fertility patient, now 51 and the mom of 5-year-old twins, had experienced a brain abscess and surgery to repair a congenital heart defect in her early 20s. After trying to get pregnant for 15 years, she and her husband tried in vitro fertilization (IVF).

"Once we got into the surgery room the embryologist told us that we had three blastocysts," she says. "One of them was hatching, which was excellent news. The other one also looked wonderful. However, the last one was fragmented and would not survive the freeze. We had to make the decision to either transfer the last one or discard it. Desperate for a child, we decided to transfer all three."

With her heart problems, however, Petra could not have endured a triplet pregnancy. "In my eighth week, I had a vanishing triplet, but I always wonder: What if that had not been the case? I would have been faced with some terrible decisions that women who undergo fertility treatments do not want to make. If we had to do it again, I would have 'discarded' the third embryo, and I wish I would have been more informed - even fragmented blastocysts can make it."

Dr. Feinman says that when discussing how many embryos to transfer, his fertility clinic usually abides by the ASRM guidelines. However, "personal issues and embryo quality will also affect our advice. For instance, if multi-fetal reduction is not an option, we might transfer one less embryo. Conversely, if embryo quality is poor, we might discuss transferring more than the recommended number. In ideal cases, such as egg donation, single embryo transfer should be strongly considered. Most clinics doing this show very little decrease in pregnancy rates, compared to transferring two embryos. Even a small decrease in success will be balanced by the higher pregnancy loss rates and prematurity associated with twins."

Ultimately, however, the decision-making rests with the fertility patient.

Educating Fertility Patients

The high cost of fertility treatment and the lack of insurance coverage are key reasons why fertility patients tend to turn a deaf ear to the risks involved with having multiples.

According to Petra, she and her husband were advised of the medical risks, but chose to have the three embryos transferred anyway. "I couldn't wrap my head around having one baby... especially since I knew I would not have a chance to do another IVF. I probably would have felt different if we had fertility coverage. I know our decision to transfer more than one embryo was, unfortunately, made with our finances in mind and not based on medical facts and studies."

One of the biggest obstacles in patient care is cost, says Collura. "We also know that patients tend to feel more pressure to transfer more embryos when they have pressures on cost - if somebody does not have insurance, and they only have $15,000, they may say, 'Look, I only have this one shot. Transfer as many as you can.'"

Dr. Feinman has seen this many times. "Some [patients] think [having twins] is cost-effective if they are paying for their care: 'Two for the price of one,'" he explains. "Sometimes it is hard to convince them that this is not true, since twins tend to cost much more than a frozen embryo transfer.

"In Canada and much of Europe, the government will only cover IVF if the clinic performs single embryo transfers," he continues. "In some countries, if a non-identical twin occurs, the clinics have to pay back the government. In the U.S., insurance companies have abdicated their moral right to affect the situation by refusing to cover IVF. Ironically, they spend a lot more money on the multiple births created by IVF than they would if they covered it and helped regulate it. If our government or insurance companies ever wake up and realize this fact, there might be a move toward increased coverage with increased restrictions accompanying this coverage."

Collura says that patients make better health care decisions when the cost pressure recedes. "There's a lot of data out there about insurance coverage in mandated states and the reduction of multiple births in those states."

A new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers and published in Fertility and Sterility has found that the 15 states that provide insurance coverage for infertility saw significantly lower multiple birth rates. In 2005, it was estimated that the economic impact of preterm birth was $26.2 billion nationally.

RESOLVE has worked with Shady Grove Fertility, a Maryland fertility clinic, to produce a patient education video about the risks of multiples. The video is based on a true patient story and a letter the patient wrote to Shady Grove after she had twins born at 25 weeks, specifically asking Shady Grove if they could use her story to help educate others about the risks of premature birth. The video describes how one twin had intestinal surgery and how both spent approximately seven months in a hospital.

"I am hoping that hearing a person's story about her own experience and providing some data is going to be effective," Collura says. "Our idea is for this to be available to any fertility clinic, anywhere in the United States. "Whatever I can do to help that patient know more and be better educated, I'm going to do that."

SART developed a national consent form for fertility clinics to use that gives very detailed risks for pregnancy with multiples. In addition, ASRM is in the early stages of developing a video about the risks of multiples, according to Dr. Williams. "We are very interested in reducing multiple pregnancies."

Leigh Ann Woodruff writes for http://FertilityAuthority.com, the only web portal dedicated to fertility. FertilityAuthority encourages women and men to be proactive regarding their fertility and provides the tools and information to do so.

All About UK Feed In Tariffs

Feed in Tariffs, abbreviated FITs, make it profitable for homes, businesses and communities to invest in the micro generation of electricity. Every unit of electricity produced is paid for as well as an extra payment is made for power which is exported to the grid. This makes a triple saving, as households can generate their own free electricity, for their own use while getting paid for it, and then any surplus can be sold to an electric company. The government hopes the scheme will help to reduce carbon emissions and make the United Kingdom less dependent on fossil and nuclear fuels.

FITs will encourage the installation of wind turbines and solar panels, for the production of electricity by households or communities. Payments for electricity are guaranteed under the scheme if the electricity has been produced using a renewable means. On the 1st of April 2010 these tariffs were first made available from the big six suppliers of electricity in the UK, excluding Northern Ireland.

Smart building design combined with micro power generation

A lot of energy is wasted through poor insulation in buildings. Drafty windows and doors can increase energy bills. Investing financially in a home or businesses insulation and renewable energy generation can give a return of between five to eight percent on the capital invested. 41.3 pence is paid for every unit of renewable energy generated and 3 pence for power exported to the grid. This can be better than money in the bank and a sounder investment than putting savings into some insecure financial institutions.

Building materials, such as stone, can be utilized in the house to absorb heat which can then be released when it is needed during the cooler times of the day or the evening. Windows can be installed in a direction to face the sun's warm rays to increase the amount of heat that is absorbed by the building naturally. Low energy bulbs and appliances can be used to reduce the power consumption.

These measures when combined with a ground source heat pump to supply the buildings heating and hot water needs, as well as photo voltaic cells to produce electricity can create a saving of almost sixty percent of the energy cost of the average household. This is a substantial saving of money, carbon output and nuclear fuel.

Why the government is committed to feed in Tariffs

The government is legally bound to increase renewable energy in the UK by fifteen percent of the total energy produced by the year 2020. This is up thirteen percent of the two percent that was required in 2009. Encouraging citizens to become micro electricity generators of renewable energy is a key to reaching this target.

A lot of power is lost through transmission over large distances through the grid. This is a waste of environmentally unfriendly resources such as fossil and nuclear fuels which are used to produce this electricity. A large number of micro generators will create a network of "green electricity" which is delivered more efficiently. This system will use the electricity where it is generated eliminating the need for it to be transmitted over large distances.

Who is eligible for these tariffs?

All renewable generators which produce no more than five megawatts of electricity and are approved under the Micro Certification Scheme (MCS) are eligible to receive the tariffs. This makes homes, schools, farms, hospitals, nursing homes, churches, offices, businesses and many others all able to claim these savings in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Micro Certification Scheme is linked with the feed in Tariffs and they work together hand in hand. The Micro Certification Scheme covers technologies which use wind energy, small scale hydro, biomass and solar photovoltaic to generate electricity. A company which is MCS certified will be able to install these generators making the electricity produced immediately eligible for tariff payments.

Household wind turbines can be installed where weather conditions supply a steady wind all year round. These turbines generate a DC current which is converted into an AC current by an inverter so it can be used by existing household lights and appliances. A wind turbine can be connected to the national electricity grid or a battery.

A small micro hydroelectric system can be installed where there is a constant flow of water from a nearby stream or river. These systems usually produce enough electricity to supply power to the average house.

Solar voltaic cells produce a direct current from the sun's rays which is converted by an inverter into an alternating current for the home and the grid. The technology of these cells has improved over recent years making them more efficient even in cloudy weather and reducing their cost.

The benefits

Energy bills are predicted to rise by up to sixty percent by the energy regulator. Producers are guaranteed an income through the government's payback period for the next twenty five years. Installing a micro generator will safe guard against future increases in energy bills as well as providing a continuous flow of electricity in time of emergency.

Instability in oil producing countries can stop the flow of oil at any time. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis can damage power plants leaving a whole country in a nuclear crisis and without enough power. Producing your own heat and power will insure you have some electricity during times of emergency as well as creating extra power for others on the grid. The network of micro electricity generators will reduce the United Kingdom's dependency on fossil and nuclear fuel.

The carbon foot print of the UK will be reduced, decreasing the possibility of global warming. This could avert extreme weather conditions and save many lives. Green electricity will insure a cleaner healthier environment providing a better quality of life for everyone.

The feed in Tariffs is a positive scheme initiated by the government which could have long-lasting benefits for the United kingdom. The participation of household and businesses is essential to its success. This scheme promises to insure a better life for all mankind.

For feed in tariff rates and information please visit http://www.feedintariffsratesuk.co.uk

Top-Rated Trial Attorneys Reveal The Truth About Asset Protection

This article is not legal advice. The accuracy and applicability of the subject matter of this article changes on a daily basis. Laws are different in each state. By reading this article, you acknowledge and agree that you have read and understand all terms and conditions set forth in the disclaimer posted at our web site and incorporated herein. The disclaimer is set forth at http://www.jwcms.com/privacy

Introduction

Today's social and economic environment is more litigious than ever before. Theories of liability are expanding and across the U.S., jury awards are increasing. Not too long ago, million dollar verdicts were rare. Today, it's not uncommon to read about multi-million dollar verdicts (or more) on a weekly basis.

That's why it is so important that when doing business in today's ever changing business world, you must make sure that smart and intelligent decisions are made RIGHT NOW allowing you to avoid unnecessary claims and lawsuits tomorrow.

To take proper legal and ethical steps TODAY to protect your personal and business privacy and assets BEFORE a problem arises sometime in the future.

To setup a system that has YOUR BEST INTEREST IN MIND rather than the best interest of your insurance company or its defense attorneys.

As indicated at our web site, 9 out of 10 lawsuits in the world are filed in the United States. Statistics show that a new lawsuit is filed almost every 30 seconds.

Business owners and professionals have a 1 in 3 chance of being named as a defendant in a lawsuit over the next year. Individuals statistically will be sued 2 to 3 times over the course of their lifetime.

Other estimates show 50,000 new lawsuits are filed everyday with the costs of defense (regardless of merit) ranging from $5,000 for an individual involved in a small case to well in excess of $10,000,000 for larger companies named as defendants in product liability and national class action cases.

Several examples of both legitimate and frivolously lawsuits (obviously each case is unique in and of itself) might include...

Doctors- There are 13.9 malpractice claims for each 100 doctors. 4 out of 10 medical doctors have been sued. The average Obstetrician in New York has been sued eight times. Nationwide, the average jury verdict in medical malpractice cases is $1,333,000 and in New York, it is three times larger than the national average.

Accountants- Accounting firms now face over 3,000 suits each year seeking more than 13 billion in damages. Huge judgments are being obtained like the recent $338,000,000 judgment against Price Waterhouse. Several regional firms have gone bankrupt.

Investors- Every businessman, developer, business owner and board member is exposed. Liability is often based on emerging and unanticipated legal theories. For example, the partners in a major law firm were recently stunned when they were notified of their joint and several liability under CERCLA for the projected $72 million toxic clean-up cost on a parcel of raw land they bought in the early 1970's.

Now add the dollar amount of the verdicts...

Keep in mind that the above figures do not take into consideration the billions of dollars in settlements and verdicts that are paid out each year by businesses in the U.S. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that last year, more than $152 billion was paid to settle frivolous lawsuits. While we believe this figure is grossly overstated, and includes settlements of cases with merit, the point is that there really is no greater financial exposure which will result in permanent detrimental results than of being sued.

So, the real question is, "What type of events can lead to personal or business litigation?"

Events that could trigger liability exposure include...

Intentional acts which are not covered by liability insurance

Negligent acts (automobile accidents, premises liability...)

Dog Bites (strict liability in many states)

Breach of contract

Employment related disputes

Discrimination related claims

Professional malpractice

Business partner claims and lawsuits

Alter ego and piercing the corporation

Officer and Director liability

Promissory notes and personal guarantees

Personal and business creditors

State and Federal tax liability

Environmental law liability

Joint liability like owning a home in joint tenancy

Divorce

Unfortunately, we want our clients to understand that it's not a matter of if you get sued, it's WHEN. The question is, "what are YOU going to do about it?"

Now here's some information that you probably didn't know. Even if you do everything right but are at the receiving end of a large damages lawsuit, there are inherent conflicts in our insurance liability and defense system that place your best interest no higher than third on the priority list.

At the top is your insurance company. Next on the priority list are the insurance defense attorneys hired by your insurance company to protect your interest. And last on the list is you. Your "best interest" is superseded by your insurance company and defense attorney. Here's why.

Conflicts Exist In Our Current System

Whether you know it or not, most insurance companies and defense law firms have huge conflicts of interest concerning issues involving protecting your interest from claims and lawsuits while at the same time, maximizing their bottom line profits.

Insurance companies are in the business to make a profit. The less money they pay out in claims each year, the greater their annual profits. Defense attorneys hired by insurance companies to defend you or your company generally bill by the hour. The longer they "work" your file, the more money their law firm gets paid. There is absolutely no incentive by either the insurance company or defense attorney to place your interest before their own. In most states today, there are little, if any, "checks and balances" in place to protect your interest.

Problems We've Personally Seen With Insurance Companies...

Failing to properly and timely open your file and investigate the claim.

Failing to properly investigate the facts and analyze liability and damages issues.

Improperly interpreting policy coverage, amounts and exclusions.

Failing to simply and timely pay a claim.

Forcing you to try and first get the other person's insurance company to cover the claim rather than allowing you to deal with your own insurance in company as you're entitled to do.

Improperly raising your insurance premiums simply because you presented a claim under the terms of a policy that you have been paying premiums on for years "just in case" something like this ever happened to you... and the incident wasn't your fault.

Fraud and deception.

Failing to provide you with all the facts, options and proper counsel.

Requiring you to "jump through hoops" or provide documentation not required under the terms of your policy.

Denying your claim and arguing that it never received a premium payment from you after your submit a claim.

Implementing improper or unlawful schemes to decrease or eliminate your rights to pursue a claim.

Failing to keep you up-to-date on all important issues including settlement discussions

Failing to settle a case within your policy limits thereby unnecessarily exposing your personal and business assets to an excess policy coverage verdict.

Failing to resolve conflicts of interest- for example, the same claims person handling conflicting claims.

Improperly demanding reimbursement from you for money they paid out on your claim.

Problems We've Personally Seen With Defense Attorneys

Insurance companies may hire inexperienced or inadequate attorneys to try and protect your interest.

Giving you the impression that experienced partners are handling your defense when in fact, inexperienced associates are doing much, if not all, of the work.

Rather than quickly and timely resolving your case, the claim is dragged out over an extended period of time allowing the defense firm to heavily bill the file.

"Rolling the dice" at your expense- settlement offers are not communicated to you or, unrealistic promises of getting you a complete defense verdict are made. When the verdict comes back from the jury for an amount in excess of your policy, you are the one writing a check for the difference.

Overworked, understaffed and underpaid. Many associates are given caseloads which are simply too large to effectively handle. We constantly run into defense attorneys who are answering "ready" for trial on a Monday morning on three different cases in three different courtrooms.

In all of these instances, you should ask yourself, "who's best interest is being served?"

Real Case Examples- Still skeptical. Read several "real case" examples from our personal files...

Insurance company intentionally misrepresented and interpreted important facts against its own insured

Our client was hit head on by a drunk driver who was drag racing another vehicle. The drunk driver was uninsured.

Our client sustained serious injuries including broken bones and serious head trauma. His medical bills were about $100,000.00.

After we were retained, our client's own insurance company told us that he only had $30,000.00 in insurance coverage. Furthermore, based upon their review of the file, that was more than enough to cover the value of the case.

Our independent review of our client's written insurance policy indicated to us that there was actually $1,000,000.00 of available insurance. Furthermore, our client and his family had been paying large insurance premiums to this insurance company for more than a decade with the impression that they had the $1,000,000.00 in coverage.

Our instincts told us that something was wrong with how this claim was being handled and we filed a first party bad faith lawsuit against the insurance company to protect our client's legal rights. We asked for copies of our client's insurance claims file and the insurance company refused. Only after threatening to bring a motion to have a Superior Court Judge order the files be produced and for an award of monetary sanctions were the files finally disclosed.

What we learned blew us away.

In the files were letters and memorandums indicating that the insurance company's own lawyers valued this case at a figure substantially higher than the insurance companies earlier $30,000.00 offer. The file also contained written documentation that the insurance company had earlier consulted with an accident reconstruction expert who confirmed that the cause of this accident was the negligent operation of an automobile by the other driver.

To our surprise, a follow-up reference was found in the file stating that if the insurance company discounted their own expert's earlier opinion and instead retained a new expert who (for a price) would point the finger at their own insured (our client) for causing this accident, it could save the insurance company a ton of money.

We put our team to work and eventually obtain a binding uninsured motorist arbitration award for our client in the amount of $865,000.00 and a subsequent insurance bad faith settlement for another $2,500,000.00. The total claim was resolved for $3,365,000.00. Remember, this is after our client was originally offered only $30,000.00 by his own insurance company.

And here are two more real cases.

Policy Limits Misrepresented by $1,800,000.00!

In two separate cases involving tragic wrongful death traffic accident claims, we were told by the insurance claims adjuster over the telephone that the only insurance coverage available for our clients' families was $100,000.00 for each accident.

After litigating each case and conducting discovery (forcing the insurance companies to turn over all documents and their insured to answer questions under oath), we discovered that in fact, there was $1,000,000.00 in liability coverage resulting in an additional $900,000.00 of coverage per claim. Both of these claims were then subsequently resolved for the full policies.

New Privacy Concerns...

The USA Patriot Act was signed into law on October 26, 2001. As a result, new agreements, laws and treaties with foreign governments have opened up the doors to the free exchange of information that was once difficult to obtain and extremely confidential in nature. Without discussing personal views on whether or not this Act was the right thing to do, as we understand the Act, several important facts are as follows:

It grants the FBI broad access to individual and business records without evidence of a crime.

Surveillance laws have been broadly expanded (wiretaps, search warrants, pen/trap orders and subpoenas).

"Secret searches" are authorized.

"Roving" wiretaps are authorized.

Telephone and internet communication surveillance rights of police departments are broadened.

Right now, attorneys and investigators can access databases giving them information about your:

Voter registration records

Medical records

Telephone records

Business and personal checking account information

Property tax records

Driving records

Social Security number

Workers' compensation information

Police records

Court records

Real estate records

Fictitious business name and licensing records

Corporate records

Marriage records

Utility records

Credit card records

Family history records

Probate records

The average consumer is simply not aware of the financial exposure lawsuits can bring and, the lack of privacy that exists in this country today. People's best interest are placed after the defense attorneys and insurance companies and personal and business assets are unnecessarily exposed.

And that's where we come in.

Jackson & Wilson Consulting and Manages Services, LLC was founded to help individuals, entrepreneurs, small business owners, large companies (including officers and directors), services organizations and professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants...) minimize exposure to lawsuits and maximize privacy and asset protection.

To offer products and services designed to protect you and your business with a strong emphasis on specific, constructive and objective solutions, by seasoned and experienced trial attorneys, showing you how to MINIMIZE your liability exposure and MAXIMIZE your personal and professional privacy and, the protection of your personal and business assets.

So, what can you do next to protect your family and business?

Proper Steps Taken Today Can Maximize The Protection Available To You, Your Family and Business From Future Claims and Litigation

Developing new business revenues, prospects and clients should be at the top of every businesspersons list. At the same time, legitimately protecting your privacy, personal and professional assets must also be a main priority.

How do you go about this?

First, you need to know that most of what you know or have been told about "asset protection" is probably wrong. Although we hate to be the bearer of bad news, the reality of the situation is that now is the time to find this out, not later after you or your business is being sued by a talented trial attorney who you watch walk through your layers of asset protection as easily as one would peel back the layers of an onion. An experience that is not necessarily limited to bringing tears to your eyes.

Fact No. One: There are no "asset protection" specific laws or statutes under State or Federal law. For example, in California, we have a Vehicle Code which controls the operation of vehicles. We have a Business and Professions Code which controls how you do business. There are no "Asset Protection" Codes or Statutes which describe or control how you can avoid having your assets taken by a creditor.

Fact No. Two: Most of the tools and concepts offered in the "Asset Protection" seminars you read about in various advertisements found in the Sports or Business sections of your local newspaper are worth no more than the piece of paper the ad was printed on.

Most of these seminars are given by people with little, if any, legal background. The alleged benefits and protection which are inaccurately, but effectively hyped with all the bells and whistles, are for the most part, completely ineffective for purposes of asset and privacy protection.

State and Federal Judges will normally use concepts or equity and fairness when determining whether or not a good faith creditor should be paid for provided products or services and will not simply disregard money you have stashed in a Family Limited Partnership, Nevada Corporation, or Off-Shore Trust to avoid creditors.

And while you may argue to a Federal Judge that all of your assets are in an Off-Shore Trust beyond her control, he will remind you while you are standing in front of her that your failure to turn over your assets would result in you being in-contempt of court and that you can continue to assert your argument from inside a federal jail cell.

Furthermore, remember the USA Patriot Act which expanded the amount of information now available to the government.

What You Can Do...

To effectively, legally and ethically survive in today's litigious environment, you must be smart about

1. How you make decisions;

2. How you setup and manage your personal and professional life;

3. How you hold and manage your personal and business assets.

An overall plan must be designed and put into place which incorporates a combination of proper estate and succession, financial, business, risk management, liability insurance, asset preservation/ protection and tax planning. By necessity, it must involve a comprehensive approach to establish and then manage your personal and professional life in such a way as to maximize the ultimate transfer of your estate to your heirs while at the same time, minimizing liability risk thereby preserving and protecting your assets.

Here's One Proven Approach You May Want To Take A Close Look At...

Step No. One- Use a "Private Consulting Attorney."

Set up a system to allow you to make smart and informed decisions. You establish a win-win professional relationship with a "private consulting attorney" who has no financial connection to your partners, board of directors, liability insurance company, any of the defense law firms "on retainer" with the insurance company.

All important business decisions, documents and contracts are reviewed with your "private consulting attorney" before decisions are made and documents signed. We can't begin to tell you how many major lawsuits could have easily been avoided had this initial step been routinely followed.

An additional benefit of private counsel is that decisions are made in your best interest as opposed to the best interest of insurance companies and defense firms.

Important Attorney/Client Privilege- Another important reason to use a "private consulting attorney" is the strict confidential privilege with any communications between you and your attorney. This relationship is a "must have" in order to maximize all legal and ethical confidential attorney-client communications. The only way to invoke the well established attorney-client privilege is to properly retain an experienced and qualified attorney to assist you with the concepts discussed herein. Your professional relationship with an accountant or any other non-lawyer, although critically valuable and important, WILL NOT invoke the important "attorney-client" privilege.

Why is this important? Because absent the "attorney-client" privilege, a court or creditor can force your non-legal adviser to disclose all information, notes and documents associated with the establishment and existence of your plan. Your discussions, ideas and concerns all become a matter of public record. Not a good idea.

Subject to all "attorney-client" privileges, your private attorney will review your personal and business situation and determine your unique potential creditor exposure. Past, present and future challenges and issues are review and analyzed. Special forms can be used to streamline this initial process.

If you find yourself in the middle of unavoidable litigation, your "private consulting attorney" can be the educated professional holding your hand and looking over everyone's shoulders to make sure ALL insurance decisions are made with your best interest in mind. He or she will also be able to "review" the efforts of defense counsel resulting in you getting top-notch legal representation as opposed to the services of a first year inexperienced defense attorney.

Believe it or not, other steps can be taken by private counsel to maximize the chances of any excess verdict (a trial verdict for more than your policy limits) actually being paid by your insurance company. About 12 years ago, we had such a case resulting in an insurance company being obligated to pay more than $950,000.00 more than the written policy limits. In another case, more than $200,000.00 was paid out above the policy limits.

Step No. Two- Set and manage your business using the correct business entity.

Before taking personal or business actions, make sure you are doing so under the protection of the correct business entity. For example, when setup and used correctly, Corporations and LLC's can offer you certain tax and liability advantages that simply are not available when acting in your individual capacity.

Your best choice for the specific type of entity may directly depend on the type of activity or business you are planning to conduct. Also related to choice may be short and long-term tax, retirement and estate planning considerations. It may be best to use a combination of different entities for different assets and projects, depending on your unique circumstances.

Depending on your individual needs, various tools and approaches can be put into action to maximize such a plan. These include but are not limited to Insurance (liability, disability, life, D&O, business loss), Corporations (Nevada, Delaware, domestic and foreign), International Business Companies or Corporations (IBC), Collateralization, Trusts (revocable, irrevocable, domestic, international, spendthrift, domestic asset protection trust, foreign asset protection trust), LLC (charging order protection LLC, Delaware Series LLC, Offshore LLC's), ERISA Plans (anti-alienation provisions), Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), IRAs SEP IRAs, Keogh's, Private and Public Pension Plans, Annuities, Extreme LLC, Xesop (complex arrangement for holding an operating business which combines an ESOP with an Xtreme LLC), Homestead and Creditor Exemptions, Family Limited Partnerships (charging order protection) and Management/ Leasing Companies.

Different entities may be used to segregate different assets. And when it comes to allocating liability risk, different business entities can be used to separate companies and liability arguments.

Step No. Three- Setup and manage an estate plan.

Now that you have a good start on the proper way to run your business, generate wealth and legitimately minimize tax liability, you need to make sure that you have an effective plan to pass on your estate to your heirs. Not only will proper estate planning guarantee that your heirs, and not the state or federal government will receive the bulk of your estate, but in many cases, you can avoid probate and minimize taxes. Concepts and options to review would include one or more of the different entities described in step two above.

An indirect result of proper estate planning techniques is that in your planning, you may also create certain privacy and asset protection devices. Benefits which on their own, might be subject to being tossed aside by a Federal Judge. But if part of a legitimate estate plan, these same benefits may very well be preserved and interpreted as simply a secondary benefit to a valid primary estate plan.

Step No. Four- Obtain proper insurance.

The basic, but important issue as to whether or not you have proper and adequate insurance coverage is reviewed. Remember, when used with the additional services of your "private counsel," liability insurance benefits can be maximized.

Depending on your personal and professional needs, entities and estate plan, insurance coverage to review might include homeowners, auto, umbrella, commercial, directors and officers, disability and life. Each entity may require different insurance choices and amounts.

Step No. Five- Maximize creditor exemptions.

Creditor exemptions should be maximized. What we mean by this is that certain state and federal statutes actually provide an almost "bulletproof" shield allowing you to protect various significant assets.

For example, in different states, certain retirement plans (for example, ERISA anti-alienation provisions) and accounts (IRA, Keoghs, public pension plans, county employee pension plans...) may be protected from creditors. Life insurance and annuities (for example, may require a clause which prohibits proceeds from being used to pay the beneficiary's creditors) may also afford a level of protection. Homestead exemptions also may provide exemptions depending on your state and circumstances. In California and as of 2004, several homestead exemptions are $50,000 for a single person, $75,000 for a couple and $125,000 if 65 or older.

Depending on your particular situation, the type of entity you are doing business under may provide you with the ability to annually contribute to an exempted retirement account certain funds that a creditor may not be able to touch in the future. Combining this protection with legitimate estate planning tools and these funds may be able to pass to your heirs free and clear from attachment by creditors. Furthermore, certain exemptions built into estate planning tools (like a QTIP trust) also play a factor in passing wealth along to your heirs without creditor intervention.

Step No. Six- Utilize advanced products and services.

If necessary and appropriate, use more sophisticated privacy and asset protection products and services. Other alternatives to further legitimate business and estate planning goals, while as a bi-product, providing privacy and asset protection, may include the use of various out-of-state corporations, off-shore business corporations and off-shore trust. At this level, a combination of one or more of the above tools are normally utilized to best serve the client's interest.

Under the right circumstances, many of these entities can offer excellent benefits associated with legitimate business and estate planning needs. Additionally, they may offer outstanding privacy and asset protection levels offering various forms of legal and geographical privacy barriers.

Summary

In summary, and looking at the above six steps from a slightly different perspective, a properly established plan is a combination of proper estate and succession, financial, business, risk management, liability insurance, asset preservation/protection and tax planning.

It is a comprehensive approach to establish and then manage your personal and professional life in such a way as to maximize the ultimate transfer of your estate to your heirs while at the same time, minimizing liability risk, thereby preserving and protecting your assets.

A properly established and managed plan requires constant review and modification depending upon your personal and professional needs and, changing state, federal and international laws.

A properly established and managed plan is designed using established laws, to make it extremely difficult, inconvenient and in some instances, impossible, for someone to know what business and assets you have... or don't have.

A properly established and managed plan must not be established to hide income or avoid paying legitimate income taxes. However, it may be created and implemented to take advantage of legitimate and established tax laws to minimize or eliminate certain tax consequences.

A properly established and managed plan helps you avoid personal and professional litigation or if the initiation of litigation is beyond your control, promotes an early amicable and fair settlement within your insurance liability policy limits.

A properly established and managed plan will, from the very beginning, have a proper, legitimate, legal, ethical and moral purpose. Otherwise, most judges will allow a creditor access to your assets.

Despite what slick, uninformed non-lawyer seminar presenters are advertising and promoting across the country, judges will not normally tolerate an "asset protection plan" that doesn't look, taste or smell right. A plan that is setup for all the wrong reasons like tax evasion and fraudulent asset conveyance. "Real world" judges will rarely issue a ruling or order resulting in a debtor being allowed to defraud creditors.

A properly established and managed plan absolutely requires an attorney-client relationship in order to invoke the confidential "attorney-client" privilege. Only after the important attorney-client relationship is established will other experts and consultants such as other attorneys, accountants, retirement plan experts and tax specialist be utilized, in proper format, to plan, establish and manage your plan.

The most important aspect of a correctly implemented plan is to make smart and informed personal and professional decisions which will help minimize or completely avoid legal and ethical mistakes and litigation in the first place. The best plan possible is one that is never put into use because the need never arises.

With the above in mind, smart people will take action right now to begin an overall analysis of their personal and professional "situation" in order to determine what steps they need to take to minimize their exposure to lawsuits and to maximize their estate planning, privacy and asset protection.

We've provided you with a great deal of information and want you to know that we are available to answer any questions you may have with respect to the information in this article.

P.S.- Important Tip: If a claim or lawsuit is filed before you have taken steps to properly setup and manage your plan, your options, if any, will be extremely limited because of a set of laws commonly referred to as the Uniform Fraudulent Transfers Act (UFTA). This act allows a creditor to challenge a transfer of assets to pay an obligation owed to the creditor.

To be protected, you must properly setup and manage your plan well before any "hint" of a problem. Give us a call if you would like more information or to get started today!

Jackson & Wilson Consulting and Manages Services, LLC was founded to help individuals, entrepreneurs, small business owners, large companies (including officers and directors), services organizations and professionals (doctors, lawyers, accountants...) minimize exposure to lawsuits and maximize privacy and asset protection.

Southern California Office (Main Office) 23161 Mill Creek Drive, Suite 150 Laguna Hills, California 92653 Tel No. 949.855.8751 Fax No. 949.855.8752 Toll Free 800-661-7044 Email: admin@jwcms.com Web: http://www.jwcms.com

Northern California Office 2489 Lake Tahoe Boulevard, Suite 25 Lake Tahoe, CA 96150