I'm a 26 years old female, got into an accident that almost killed me; I sued, and after attorneys fees and medical bills from hell... I will walk away with around 1.2 million dollars tax free.
I live in southern California but would like to move overseas after establishing stable investments.
I am not the type of person that would invest in McDonald's, but would consider other less evil franchises (maybe?).
I understand I need to research many things including but not limited to; stocks, bonds, trusts, real estate, taxes, and so on.. but where on earth does one start!
Are there other relatively safe investments anyone can suggest?
The amount of money you have should be enough for you to live a safe but somewhat restricted life if you never worked again - but it could set you up for just about any sort of financial goal (short of island buying) if you do just about any amount of work.
If your money is invested in very low-risk ways, such as a money market fund, you might earn, say, 3% in interest every year. That's $36k. But, if you withdraw that $36k every year, then every year you have the same principal amount invested. And a dollar tomorrow can't buy as much as a dollar today, because of inflation. If we assume for simplicity that inflation is 1% every year, then you need to contribute an additional $12k to your principal balance every year, just so that it has the same buying power next year. This leaves you with a net $24k of interest income that you can freely spend every year, for the rest of your life, without ever touching your principal balance.
If your money is invested more broadly, including equity investments [stocks], you might earn, say, 7% every year. Some years you might lose money on your investments, and would need to draw down your principal balance to pay your bills. Some years you might do quite well - but would need to remain conservative and not withdraw your 'excess' earnings every year, because you will need that 'excess' to make up for the bad years. This would leave you with about $74k of income every year before inflation, and about $62k after inflation. But, you would be taking on more risk by doing this.
If you work enough to pay your daily bills, and leave your investments alone to earn 7% on average annually, then in just 10 years your money would have doubled to ~ $2.4 Million dollars. This assumes that you never save another penny, and spend everything you make. It's a level of financial security that means you could retire at a drop of the hat. And if don't start working for 20 years [which you might need to do if you spend in excess of your means and your money dries up], then the same will not be true - starting work at 45 with no savings would put you at a much greater disadvantage for financial security. Every year that you work enough to pay your bills before 'retirement' could increase your nest egg by 7% [though again, there is risk here], but only if you do it now, while you have a nest egg to invest.
Now in terms of what you should do with that money, you need to ask yourself: what are your financial goals? You should think about this long and hard (and renew that discussion with yourself periodically, as your goals will change over time). You say university isn't an option - but what other ways might you want to 'invest in yourself'? Would you want to go on 'sabbatical'-type learning trips? Take a trade or learn a skill? Start a business? Do you want to live in the same place for 30 years [and thus maybe you should lock-down your housing costs by buying a house] or do you want to travel around the world, never staying in the same place twice [in which case you will need to figure out how to live cheaply and flexibly, without signing unnecessary leases].
If you want to live in the middle of nowhere eating ramen noodles and watching tv, you could do that without lifting a finger ever again. But every other financial goal you might have should be factored into your budget and work plan. And because you do have such a large degree of financial security, you have a lot of options that could be very appealing - every low paying but desirable/hard-to-get job is open to you. You can pursue your interests, even if they barely pay minimum wage, and doing so may help you ease into your new life easier than simply retiring at such a young age [when most of your peers will be heavy into their careers].
So, that is my strongest piece of advice - work now, while you're young and have motivation, so that you can dial back later. This will be much easier than the other way around.
As for where you should invest your money in, look on this site for investing questions, and ultimately with that amount of money - I suggest you hire a paid advisor, who works based on an hourly consultation fee, rather than a % management fee. They can give you much more directed advice than the internet (though you should learn it yourself as well, because that will give you the best piece of mind that you aren't being taken advantage of).
Pay off the credit cards. From now on, pay off the credit cards monthly. Under no circumstances should you borrow money. You have net worth but no external income. Borrowing is useless to you.
$200,000 in two bank accounts, because if one bank collapses, you want to have a spare while you wait for the government to pay off the guarantee. Keep $50,000 in checking and another $50k in savings. The remainder put into CDs. Don't expect interest income beyond inflation. Real interest rates (after inflation) are often slightly negative.
People ask why you might keep money in the bank rather than stocks/bonds. The problem is that stocks/bonds don't always maintain their value, much less go up. The bank money won't gain, but it won't suddenly lose half its value either. It can easily take five years after a stock market crash for the market to recover. You don't want to be withdrawing from losses.
Some people have suggested more bonds and fewer stocks. But putting some of the money in the bank is better than bonds. Bonds sometimes lose money, like stocks. Instead, park some of the money in the bank and pick a more aggressive stock/bond mixture. That way you're never desperate for money, and you can survive market dips. And the stock/bond part of the investment will return more at 70/30 than 60/40.
$700,000 in stock mutual funds. $300,000 in bond mutual funds. Look for broad indexes rather than high returns. You need this to grow by the inflation rate just to keep even. That's $20,000 to $30,000 a year. Keep the balance between 70/30 and 75/25. You can move half the excess beyond inflation to your bank accounts. That's the money you have to spend each year. Don't withdraw money if you aren't keeping up with inflation.
Don't try to time the market. Much better informed people with better resources will be trying to do that and failing. Play the odds instead. Keep to a consistent strategy and let the market come back to you. If you chase it, you are likely to lose money.
If you don't spend money this year, you can save it for next year. Anything beyond $200,000 in the bank accounts is available for spending. In an emergency you may have to draw down the $200,000. Be careful. It's not as big a cushion as it seems, because you don't have an external income to replace it.
These are contradictory goals, as stated. A franchise (meaning a local business of a national brand) is not a "stable investment". A franchise is something that you actively manage. At minimum, you have to hire someone to run the franchise. And as a general rule, they aren't as turnkey as they promise.
How do you pick a good manager? How will you tell if they know how the business works? Particularly if you don't know. How will you tell that they are honest and won't just embezzle your money? Or more honestly, give you too much of the business revenues such that the business is not sustainable? Or spend so much on the business that you can't recover it as revenue?
Some have suggested that you meant brand or stock rather than franchise. If so, you can ignore the last few paragraphs. I would be careful about making moral judgments about companies. McDonald's pays its workers too little. Google invades privacy. Exxon is bad for the environment. Chase collects fees from people desperate for money. Tesla relies on government subsidies. Every successful company has some way in which it can be considered "evil". And unsuccessful companies are evil in that they go out of business, leaving workers, customers, and investors (i.e. you!) in the lurch.
Regardless, you should invest in broad index funds rather than individual stocks. If college is out of the question, then so should be stock investing. It's at least as much work and needs to be maintained.
In terms of living overseas, dip your toe in first. Rent a small place for a few months. Find out how much it costs to live there. Remember to leave money for bigger expenses. You should be able to live on $20,000 or $25,000 a year now. Then you can plan on spending $35,000 a year to do it for real (including odd expenses that don't happen every month). Make sure that you have health insurance arranged.
Eventually you may buy a place. If you can find one that you can afford for something like $100,000. Note that $100,000 would be low in California but sufficient even in many places in the US. Think rural, like the South or Midwest. And of course that would be more money in many countries in South America, Africa, or southern Asia. Even southern and eastern Europe might be possible. You might even pay a bit more and rent part of the property. In the US, this would be a duplex or a bed and breakfast. They may use different terms elsewhere.
Given your health, do you need a maid/cook? That would lean towards something like a bed and breakfast, where the same person can clean for both you and the guests. Same with cooking, although that might be a second person (or more). Hire a bookkeeper/accountant first, as you'll want help evaluating potential purchases. Keep the business small enough that you can actively monitor it.
Part of the problem here is that a million dollars sounds like a lot of money but isn't. You aren't rich. This is about bare minimum for surviving with a middle class lifestyle in the United States and other first world countries. You can't live like a tourist.
It's true that many places overseas are cheaper. But many aren't (including much of Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, etc.). And the ones that aren't may surprise you. And you also may find that some of the things that you personally want or need to buy are expensive elsewhere. Dabble first and commit slowly; be sure first. Include rarer things like travel in your expenses.
Long term, there will be currency rate worries overseas. If you move permanently, you should certainly move your bank accounts there relatively soon (perhaps keep part of one in the US for emergencies that may bring you back). And move your investments as well. Your return may actually improve, although some of that is likely to be eaten up by inflation. A 10% return in a country with 12% inflation is a negative real return.
Try to balance your investments by where your money gets spent. If you are eating imported food, put some of the investment in the place from which you are importing. That way, if exchange rates push your food costs up, they will likely increase your investments at the same time. If you are buying stuff online from US vendors and having it shipped to you, keep some of your investments in the US for the same reason. Make currency fluctuations work with you rather than against you.
I don't know what your circumstances are in terms of health. If you can work, you probably should. Given twenty years, your million could grow to enough to live off securely. As is, you would be in trouble with another stock market crash. You'd have to live off the bank account money while you waited for your stocks and bonds to recover.
You need the services of a hard-nosed financial planner. A good one will defend your interests against the legions of creeps trying to separate you from your money.
How can you tell whether such a person is working in your best interest? Here are some ways.
Do they have an industry certification (like CFP, certified financial planner)?
Ask who they have a fiduciary responsibility to. There's only one right answer to that question. The planner you hire must have a fiduciary responsibility to you, and you alone, for your business.
How are they paid? They need to put bread on their tables, so they need to be paid. A planner paid by you is more likely to work in your interest than a planner paid commissions by investment or insurance companies.. Paying $500 for a decent ten-year plan is a much better use of your resources than paying 3% of your investment money in broker commissions.
What stock/bond investment suggestions do they make? There's only one right answer to this: diversified low fee unmanaged index funds. Vanguard and DFA are two companies offering these funds. If somebody says, "I have a great stock tip for you," walk away. Better yet, put your hands over your ears and say "la-la-la-la-la" loudly while you're walking away. Seriously. Beware.
Do they work for a not-for-profit investment company? Thrivent Financial and TIAA-CREF are two such companies. Either company will assign somebody to listen to your needs and offer suggestions. Both companies are well-known for serving customer needs before their own.
Do they listen carefully to your situation?
Do their references check out? (Also check the BBB).
You'll be able to tell pretty quickly whether the planner lets you get through the same story you told us. The ability to listen carefully without interrupting is a good way to tell whether the planner is going to honor your needs. You're looking for a human service professional, not an investment or business guru.
Of course, you need to take the planner's advice, especially about spending and saving levels.
Until you get some financial education, you will be vulnerable to people wanting your money. Once you are educated, you will be able to live a tidy life off this-- which is exactly why this amount was awarded to you, rather than some other amount. They gave you enough money. This is not a lottery win.
I mean "financial counselors" who will want to help you with strategies to invest your money. Every one will promise your money will grow.
A few will straight-out rob you.
A few will choose horrible investments (like fast food franchises) and you'll lose most of it.
Some will choose the right classes of investment, and they will grow, but very poorly compared to the investments you should be in. That's because they are paying kickbacks to the "advisor" and his firm.
The latter case describes every full-service broker, e.g. what will happen if you walk into EdwardJones. This industry has a long tradition of charmingly selling investments which significantly underperform the market, and making their money by kickbacks (sales commissions) from those investments (which is why they significantly underperform.) They also offer products which are unnecessarily complex meant to confuse customers and hide fees. One mark of trouble is "early exit" fees, which they need to recoup the sales commission they already paid out.
Unfortunately, one of those people is you. You are treating this like a windfall, falling into old, often-repeated cliché of "lottery-win thinking". "Gosh, there's so much money there, what could go wrong?" This always ends in disaster and destitution, on top of your other woes.
It's not a windfall. They gave you just enough money to live on - barely. Because these lawyers and judges do this all day every day, and they know exactly how much capital will replace a lifelong salary, and if anything you got cheated a bit. Read on.
You don't want to feel like greedy Scrooge, hoarding every penny. I get that. But generous spending won't fix that. What will is financial education, and once you have real understanding and certainty about your financial situation, you will be able to both provide for yourself and be giving in a sensible manner.
This stuff isn't taught in school. If it was, there'd be a lot more millionaires, because wealth isn't about luck, it's about intelligent management of money.
Good advisers do exist. They're hard to find. Good advisors work only one way: for a flat rate or hourly fee. This is called a "Fee-only advisor". S/he never takes commissions. Beware of brokers who normally work on commission but will happily take an upfront fee. Even if they promise to hand you their commission check, they're still recommending you into the same sub-par investments because that's their training!
I get the world of finance is extremely confusing and it's hard to know where to start. Just make one leap of faith with me: You can learn this.
One place it's not confusing: University endowments. They get windfalls just like you, and they need to manage it to support them for a very long time, just like you. Endowments are very closely watched by the smartest people in finance -- no lottery fever here. It's agreed by all that there is one best way to invest an endowment. And it's mandatory by law.
An endowment is a chunk of money (say, $1.2 million) that must fund a purpose (say, a math professorship or "chair") in perpetuity. You're not planning to live quite that long, but when you're in your 20's, the investment strategy is the same. The endowment is designed to generate income of some amount, on average, over the long term. You can draw from the endowment even in "down years". The rule of thumb is 4-6% is a sustainable rate that won't overtax the endowment (usually, but you have to keep an eye on it). On $1.2M, that's $48,000 to $72,000 per year. Not half bad.
See, I told you it could work.
Read Jane Austen? Mister Darcy, referred to as a gentleman of 10,000 pounds -- meaning his assets were many times that, but they yield income of £10,000 a year. Same idea.
Keep in mind that you need to pay taxes. But if you plan your investments so you're holding them more than a year, you're in the much lower 0-10-15% capital gains tax bracket.
So, here's where I'd like you to go.
Ravenously consume either Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey, don't care which. This is just basic money 101 with a little bit in investing. You'll have to toss away a little of what they say about investing, because they would never be as aggressive as a university endowment. That's why we need to make you a Boglehead.
John Bogle, Common Sense on Mutual Funds, because those (or actually ETFs) are a cornerstone of any investment strategy, and you need to know why they are important, and the most important thing: minimize your fees.
Now off to your local universities. Disregard large ones like Harvard or Cal -- they are too big, and tend to be activist investors, and you can't keep up with all that. You want to see how the small/medium fish operate, who have $10M-100M of capitalization. They will certainly want to talk to you, hoping you'll give... and you'll be able to ask very pointed questions about how they invest. And they will tell you -- because they are public institutions.
I would say more, but this will give you quite an education by itself.
Say you gave all your money to me. And said "Your nonprofit needs an executive director. Fund it. In perpetuity." I'd say "Thank you", "you're right", and I'd create an endowment and invest it about like this.
That is fairly close to the standard mix you'll find in most endowments, because that is what's considered "prudent" under endowment law (UPMIFA). I'd carry all that in a Vanguard or Fidelity account and follow Bogle's advice on limiting fees. That said, dollar-cost-averaging is not a suicide pact, and bonds are ugly right now (for reason Suze Orman describes) and real estate seems really bubbly right now... so I'd back out of those for now.
I'd aim to draw about $60k/year out of it or 5%, and on average, in the very long term, the capital should grow. I would adjust it downward somewhat if the next few years are a hard recession, to avoid taking too much out of the capital... and resist the urge to take more out in boom years, because that is your hedge against the next recession. Over 7% is not prudent per the law (absent very reasonable reasons).
UPMIFA doesn't apply to you, but I'd act as if it did. A very reasonable reason to take more than 7% would be to shift investment into a house for living in. I would aim for a duplex/triplex to also have income from the property, if the numbers made sense, which they often don't in California, but that's another question.
At your financial level -- never, never, never give cash to a charity. You will get marked as a "soft target" and every commercial fundraiser on earth will stalk you for the rest of your life.
At your level, you open a Donor Advised Fund, and let the Fund do your giving for you. Once you've funded it (which is tax deductible) you later tell them which charities to fund when. They screen out fake charities and protect your identity. I discuss DAFs at length here.
Now when "charities" harass you for an immediate handout, just tell them that's not how you support charities.
If you were the friend of my daughter or some other "trusted" relationship, I would tell you to head on over to Bogleheads.org, follow their advice and do research there. I would advise you to aim for about a 60/40 allocation. They would advise you to make a very simple, do it yourself portfolio that could last a lifetime. No need for financial planners or other vultures.
The other side of this curtailing your spending. Although the amount seems like a bunch, you probably need to keep your spending under 41K per year out of this money. If you have additional income such as from a job or social security payments then that could be on top of the 41k and never forget taxes. To help manage that, you may want to consult a CPA, but only for tax advice, not investment advice.
Certainly you should make the credit card debt disappear. You may want to reevaluate your current location if the costs are too high compared to your income.
Good luck to you and sorry about the wreck.
US citizens living and investing overseas can VERY easily run afoul of the IRS.
The IRS penalizes (often heavily) certain types of financial accounts. Tax-sheltered accounts (for education, retirement, etc.) are in the crosshairs, and anything the IRS deems a "foreign-controlled trust" is especially bad.
Some US states will demand income taxes from former residents (including expats) who cannot prove residency in a different US state. I believe California is neutral in that regard, at least.
I am neither a lawyer nor an accountant nor a financial advisor, so please take the above only as a starting point so you know what sorts of questions to ask the relevant experts.
Since the question asked for options, rather than advice, I'll offer a few. And you can ignore the gratuitous advice that may sneak in.
There are countries that will happily give you citizenship for a fee. And others where an investment of far less than your million will get you well on your way. Having citizenship and a passport from another country can be handy if your current one is or becomes unpopular or unstable.
With the first few dollars you get, you might take steps to hedge the possibility of not actually getting it all. Appeals can take a long time, and if the defendant runs out of money or figures out how to hide, the size of the judgment is irrelevant.
Believe strongly enough in something to donate money for/to it?
I'll leave the investment options to others.
Former financial analyst here, happy to help you.
First off, you are right to not be entirely trusting of advisors and attorneys. They are usually trustworthy, but not always. And when you are new to this, the untrustworthy ones have a habit of reaching you first - you're their target market. I'll give you a little breakdown of how to plan, and a starting investment.
First, figure out your future expenses. A LOT of that money may go to medical bills or associated care - don't forget the costs of modifications and customizations to items so you can have a better quality of life. Cars can be retrofit to assist you with a wheelchair, you can build a chair lift into a staircase, things like that which will be important for mobility - all depending on the lingering medical conditions. Mobility and independence will be critically important for you. Your past expenses are the best predictor of future expenses, so filter out the one-time legal and medical costs and use those to predict.
Second, for investing there is a simple route to get into the stock market, and hopefully you will hear it a lot: Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). You'll hear "The S&P 500 increased by 80 points today..." on the news; the S&P is a combination of 500 different stocks and is used to gauge the market overall. You can buy an exchange traded fund as a stock, and it's an investment in all those components. There's an ETF for almost anything, but the most popular ones are for those big indexes. I would suggest putting a few hundred thousand into an S&P 500 indexed ETF (do it at maybe $10,000 per month, so you spread the money out and ensure you don't buy at a market peak), and then let it sit there for many years. You can buy stocks through online brokerages like Scottrade or ETrade, and they make it fairly easy - they even have local offices that you can visit for help. Stocks are the easiest way to invest. Once you've done this, you can also open a IRA (a type of retirement account with special tax benefits) and contribute several thousand dollars to it per year.
I'll be happy to give more advice if/when you need it, but there are a number of good books for beginning investors that can explain it better than I. I would suggest that you avoid real estate, especially if you expect to move overseas, as it is significantly more complicated and has maintenance costs and taxes.
You should invest your money.
A measly $24,000 / year.
Many people say that you can get 10, 12, even 30% return on your investment. I won't speculate on if this is true, but I will guarantee that you cannot get those returns simply by handing your money over to a money manager.
You need to find a fiduciary advisor pronto. Yes, you are getting a large amount of money, but you'll probably have to deal with higher than average health expenses and lower earning potential for years to come. You need to make sure the $1.2 million lasts you, and for that you need professional advice, not something you read on the Internet.
You should also consider what your earning potential is. You rule out college but at 26, you can have a long productive career and earn way more money than the $1.2 million you are going to get.
Wow, everyone tells you different investment strategies.
You have all your life ahead of you. Your main focus should not be getting the best return rate, but ensuring your existence. Who cares if you get 7% if you'll lose all in the next market crash and stand on the street with no education, no job and nothing to fall back on?
Buy some real estate. Ideally, one place for yourself to live in and one place to rent out for some monthly income.
Question the university condition. Having some kind of education will be a tremendous benefit in your life. You didn't specify why university is not an option, so I'll just leave it at that. But investment in education is possibly the one that will yield you the highest ROI.
Use what's left of the money after 1) to get into some business. You can use it to start a business or buy yourself into an existing one. Note that many businesses fail, so splitting your investment into multiple options is more safe. However, the main goal here is not so much to become rich, but to become a business woman. Make contacts, boost your CV, understand how things work in whatever business you picked. These things you can leverage into a career even if the original business fails.
Use some money as "door openers". Continuing the thought, money can bring you into places and make you meet people that otherwise you couldn't. Use it to build a network that you can use for business opportunities, jobs, friends etc. who can be useful to go up in life.
Keep some in reserve and for spending.
The best advise given above was to not consider this as an option to never work again. It's not enough money for that, unless you want to live poorly and always be afraid that the next financial crises wipes you out completely.
Something not in answers so far: define your goals. What is important to you?
My goals, if I were in your shoes, would include a debt-free home, passive (investment) income so I would not have to work, and have health insurance covered. I could think of many more details, and already have, but you get the idea.
To help determine which investment information to learn first, consider how much risk you can tolerate. I know that's vague at this point, but if you're looking for safe investments first, you could learn about mutual funds, and then index funds specifically. At the risky extreme, you could learn about stock options, but I would not recommend such risk.
When I was in a similar situation (due to my stocks going up), I quit my job and decided that if I live somewhat frugally, I wouldn't have to work again (I haven't). But I fell victim to some scams, didn't invest wisely, and tried to play as a (minor) philantropist. Bad move. I still have enough money to live on, and want to buy a home of my own, but with the rise in real estate costs in ALL the "good" major cities my options are very limited. There is a LOT of good advice being given here; I wish someone had given me that kind of advice years ago.
$1,200,000 sounds like a lot but it's not infinity.
Side comment: I've seen lots of articles that claim to help you figure out how much money you need in retirement but why do they all start out by asking you "how much money do you need in retirement?"
Firstly, sorry about the accident.
I am afraid you will need to do your own legwork, because you cannot trust other people with your money. It's a good thing you do not need to rush. Take your time to learn things. One thing is certain, you cannot let your money sit in a bank - inflation will digest them.
You need to learn about investing yourself, or you run a risk of someone taking advantage of you. And there are people who specialise in exploiting people who have money and no idea what to do with them. There is no other way, if you have money, you need to know how to deal with it, or you are likely to lose it all.
Since you need to have monthly income and also income that makes more money to make further investments, you need to look at two most common investments that are safe enough and also give good returns on investment: Property and index funds.
You might also have a look at National bonds as this is considered safest investment possible (country has to go bust for you to lose money), but you are too young for that. Young = you can take more risk so Property and shares (indexes).
You want to have your property investments in a country that is stable and has a good ROI (like Netherlands or Lithuania).
I'm surprised nobody else has suggested this yet: before you start investing in stocks or bonds, buy a house. Not just any house, but the house you want to live in 20 years from now, in a place where you want to live 20 years from now - but you also have to be savvy about which part of the country or world you buy in. I'm also assuming that you are in the USA, although my suggestion tends to apply equally anywhere in the world.
Why? Simple: as long as you own a house, you won't ever have to pay rent (you do have to pay taxes and maintenance, of course). You have a guaranteed return on investment, and the best part is: because it's not money you earn but money you don't have to spend, it's tax free. Even if the house loses value over time, you still come out ahead. And if you live abroad temporarily, you can rent out the house and add the rent to your savings (although that does make various things more complicated).
You only asked for options, so that is mine. I'll add some caveats.
Pay attention to value. Some houses are overpriced for their market, and many wonderful houses will be overpriced for your situation even if they are priced appropriately for their market. Also, some cheap houses are a great deal, but other cheap houses are cheap for a reason.
Depending on your finances and abilities, a run-down house may be a good idea; you can often (but not always) repair it to turn it into a dream home, for less money than outright buying a dream home.
Stay away from the extremely hot markets, such as the major cities on the East or West Coast. It only makes, limited, sense to buy in those cities if you have a (well-paying) job there. The risk of houses losing value over 20 years are much greater than gaining value. I use a rule of thumb: find the median income in a city, and multiply it by 3 to 5. If median housing prices are more expensive than that, average people can't afford housing, and over the long run, something's gotta give. NEVER believe a real estate agent about expected future appreciation.
If you like an expensive city, you can look in some of the more distant suburbs (but be aware of medical care if you go too remote). Of course, if you plan to rent out the house for a decade or two, then the rent may make up for the higher purchase price.
Stay away from the very cheap parts of the country. They tend to be cheap for a reason: no jobs, and that means no renters, as well as that you'll miss many of the amenities of urban life.
Watch out for property taxes. Some states with low housing prices have exorbitant property tax rates. It tends to be a better deal to buy in a state with high housing prices and low property taxes, because you only pay the price once.
Stay away from homeowner's associations. They do have benefits, but also dramatic risks. Even if the HOA dues are affordable today, they can, and will, go up over the course of 20 years or so. I used to live in a condo complex where the dues ended up being almost as high as rent in the same city.
Pay attention to natural disaster areas. Many of the nicest areas to live in are also particularly disaster-prone. Since my suggestion is to buy for the long term, you want to make sure you don't lose your value to a flood, hurricane, earthquake or wildfire. But also don't be terrified of those areas as long as you can buy good insurance. Just be mindful of the risks.
If you can still work, I think a very good course of action would be to invest the majority of the money in low-cost index funds for many years. The reason is that you are young and have plenty of time to build a sizable retirement fund.
How you go about this course of action depends on your comfort level with managing your money, taxes, retirement accounts, etc.
Open a retirement account and invest as much as you can tax-free or tax-deferred. Since you already received the money tax-free, a Roth IRA seems like a no-brainer.
Pick some low-fee equity funds, like an S&P 500 Index fund, for a large chunk of the money.
Avoid individual stocks if you aren't comfortable with them.
Alternatively, get a recommendation for a fixed-fee financial planner that can help you plan for your future.
Above all, don't spend beyond your means! You have an opportunity to fund a very nice future for yourself, especially if you are able to work while you are still so young!
If I were you, I would invest at least half of the cash in growth ETFs because you're young enough that market variability doesn't affect you and long term growth is important.
The rest should be invested in safer investments (value and dividend ETFs, bonds, cash) so that you have something to live off in the near term.
You said you wanted to invest ethically. The keyword to search is "socially responsible ETFs". There are many, and if this is important to you, you'll have to read their prospectus to find one that matches your ethics.
Since you're American, the way I understand it, you need to file taxes on income; selling stocks at a gain is income. You want to make sure that as your stocks appreciate, you sell some every year and immediately rebuy them so that you pay a small tax bill every year rather than one huge tax bill 20 years from now. Claiming about $20600 of capital gains every year would be tax free assuming you are not earning any other money. I would claim a bit more in years where you make a lot.
You can mitigate your long term capital gains tax exposure by opening a Roth IRA and maxing that out. Capital gains in the Roth IRA are not taxable. Even if you don't have income from working, you can have some income if you invest in stocks that pay dividends, which would allow you to contribute to a Roth IRA.
You should figure where you're going to be living because you will want to minimize the currency risk of having your money in USD while you're living abroad. If the exchange rate were to change by a lot, you might find yourself a lot poorer. There are various hedging strategies, but the easiest one is to invest some of your money in securities of the country you'll be living in.
You should look into how you'll be converting money into the foreign currency. There are sometimes way of minimizing the spread when converting large amounts of money, e.g., Norbert's gambit. Shaving off 1.5% when exchanging $100k saves $1500.
This may be a great idea, or a very bad one, or it may simply not be applicable to you, depending on your personal circumstances and interests.
The general idea is to avoid passive investments such as stocks and bonds, because they tend to grow by "only" a few percent per year. Instead, invest in things where you will be actively involved in some form. With those, much higher investment returns are common (but also the risk is higher, and you may be tied down and have to limit the traveling you want to do).
So here are a few different ways to do that: Get a college degree, but only if you are interested in the field, and it ends up paying you well. If you aren't interested in the field, you won't land the $100k+ jobs later. And if you study early-childhood education, you may love the job, but it won't pay enough to make it a good investment. Of course, it also has to fit with your life plans, but that might be easier than it seems. You want to travel. Have you thought about anthropology, marine biology or archeology?
Pick a reputable, hard-to-get-into, academic school rather than a vocation-oriented oe, and make sure that they have at least some research program. That's one way to distinguish between the for-profit schools (who tend to be very expensive and land you in low-paying jobs), and schools that actually lead to a well-paying future.
Or if your interest runs more in a different direction: start a business. Your best bet might be to buy a franchise. Many of the fast-food chains, such as McDonalds, will let you buy as long as you have around $300k net worth. Most franchises also require that you are qualified. It may often make sense to buy not just one franchised store, but several in an area. You can increase your income (and your risk) by getting a loan - you can probably buy at least $5 million worth of franchises with your "seed money".
BTW, I'm only using McDonalds as an example. Well-known fast food franchises used to be money-making machines, but their popularity may well have peaked. There are franchises in all kinds of industries, though. Some tend to be very short-term (there is a franchise based on selling customer's stuff on ebay), while others can be very long-lived (many real-estate brokerages are actually franchises).
Do be careful which ones you buy. Some can be a "license to print money" while others may fail, and there are some fraudsters in the franchising market, out to separate you from your money.
Advantage over investing in stocks and bonds: if you choose well, your return on investment can be much higher. That's generally true for any business that you get personally involved in. If you do well, you may well end up retiring a multimillionaire.
Drawback: you will be exposed to considerable risk. The investment will be a major chunk of your net worth, and you may have to put all your eggs in none basket. If your business fails, you may lose everything.
A third option (but only if you have a real interest in it!): get a commercial driver's license and buy an 18-wheeler truck. I hear that owner-operators can easily make well over $100k, and that's with having to pay off a bank loan. But if you don't love trucker culture, it is likely not worth doing.
Overall, you probably get the idea: the principle is to use your funds as seed money to launch something profitable and secure, as well as enjoyable for you.
First, spend $15 on J.L. Collins' book The Simple Path to Wealth.
Bottom line: ALWAYS live within your means.
Own your own home free and clear. Don't buy an annuity unless you have absolutely no self control. If it feels like you're spending money too fast, you almost certainly are.
Lots of good advice so far. Here's some meta-advice.
Read through everything here twice, and distill out what the big picture ideas are. Learn about what you need to know about them. Pick a strategy and/or long term goals. Work toward them.
Get advice from many many places and distill it. This is currently known as crowd-sourcing but I've been doing it all my life. It's very effective.
No one will ever care as much about your money as you.
rental properties are also an asset that produces income. If you got that route, be cautious about tenants and trust your instincts.
I believe you can escape the IRS completely by renouncing citizenship. Not sure about this, but it might save you taxes long term. OR (and it's a big OR) if you never come back to the US you can ignore the IRS. BUT, the US is a lot of places you don't expect, embassies world wide, armed forces bases, stop overs in the US between foreign end points. Be very very cautious here.
Since you mentioned moving, you can buy real state very cheap here in Mexico that will give you income monthly. I will tell you some numbers in case you're interested.
You can buy a very nice home for yourself for about $110k.
A new car, something average let's say a Jetta Mk 2018 for $14k.
You would spend about $500 monthly for everything else (food, services, gas, bills, clothing, all of that).
Average house $25k which will give about $220 monthly of income. Let's say you buy 20 of these that would be $4400 USD monthly. Now you have a very high standard here and you will never have to work again, and each year the income will increase about 2% and you still have $576k left.
Buy a land and build a house. Then plant wine trees. Hire people after like 5 years and start to do and sell wine. A beautiful business :-) A second opation is to buy a houses in a city and rent rooms.
There is a big crisis coming soon (my personal prediction) in the next 10-15 years, and when this happens: government will hold your money if you leave them in the bank (allowing you to use just part of it; you will have to prove the reason you need it), government will pass bills to make it very hard to close your investment positions, and government will pass new laws to create new taxes for people with a lot of money (you).
20% I would buy gold certificates and the real thing (I would put the gold in a safe(s)).
20% I would put in bitcoin (you would have to really study this if you are new to crypto currency in order to be safe).
40% I would invest in regular finance products (bonds, stocks and options, FX).
20% I would keep in the bank for life expenses, specially if you don't want work for money any more.
20% I would invest in startup companies exchanging high risk hoping for a great return.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged starting-out-investing or ask your own question.
How long would five hundred and fifty thousand dollars last in retirement?
What should I do with a lump sum payment while I don't have a steady source of income?
New to investing — I have $20,000 cash saved, what should I do with it?
What to do with monthly surpluses?


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text:
Ambulance workers in the UK stage their biggest strike in decades
Tens of thousands of ambulance workers in England and Wales went on strike on Wednesday, walking off their shifts and joining picket lines to demand pay rises and better working conditions in the biggest labor unrest to hit Britain's emergency services in decades.
The walkout, an effort by three unions, comes as Britain faces weeks of industrial action as a growing cost-of-living crisis, fueled by double-digit inflation, grips the country. On Tuesday, nurses went on strike over pay that had not kept up with inflation, and rail and border control workers are expected to do the same this week.
In ambulance services, workers have raised the alarm over record delays for patients seeking emergency treatment, with paramedics citing staff shortages and burnout, as well as fears of arriving too late to help some callers.
These problems have been compounded by deep-rooted problems in the National Health Service, where a high level of staff vacancies has led to delays and long waiting times in hospital emergency rooms.
On Wednesday, ambulance services only responded to the most critical cases.
Ahead of the walkout, which was expected to involve more than 20,000 workers, some hospitals asked people to arrange their own transport to hospitals, including pregnant women going into labour. Patients requiring non-urgent care were advised to seek advice elsewhere, including by telephone or from GPs or pharmacists.
With Christmas and New Year celebrations underway, health leaders urged people to avoid risky behavior on a day when services would be stretched. "You don't get so drunk that you end up with an unnecessary visit to A.&E," said Stephen Powis, chief medical officer of NHS England, in an interview with the BBC, referring to accident and emergency departments of hospitals
Health service management said before the strike that there was "deep concern" about potential harm to patients at a time when the service was already under intense pressure.
"This is not something NHS leaders would say lightly, but some are now telling us they cannot guarantee patient safety tomorrow," Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, which represents service organizations in England.
The NHS planned to manage the outflows by calling in military personnel and volunteers, increasing staff in call centers and discharging patients from hospitals where possible to free up beds.
Unions representing ambulance workers blamed the government and called on political leaders to come to the negotiating table. Workers argue that a pay rise of about 4 percent proposed by a government review body amounts to a cut in real terms. Inflation in the country has soared to 11.1 percent in recent months, the highest in four decades.
"We don't want patients to suffer in any way, shape or form," Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, told the BBC on Wednesday. "I have never seen such an abdication of leadership in 25 years of negotiation."
In a letter to First Minister Rishi Sunak, NHS England leaders said that on health grounds "we have clearly entered dangerous territory".
"We ask you to do everything possible to reach an agreed solution," they said. "Otherwise, more members of the public will suffer unnecessarily."
Mr. Sunak has described the industrial action as disappointing and has threatened to impose laws that would limit the reach of unions.
Despite concerns about the impact of the strikes, some people affected by delays in ambulance services expressed sympathy for the workers.
In north London, Robin Lockyer said on Wednesday morning as she walked to work that her father had been forced to wait seven hours for an ambulance after breaking his hip recently. "He's 86 years old, it was really traumatic for him," said Mr. Lockyer said. "But I don't blame the ambulance service," he added. "I blame the government."
"The government is taking a strange position," said Mr. Lockyer said. "And I think there's going to be a lot more action."
Saskia Solomon provide reports

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Home » Paying For College » Questions & Answers » Should I Pay Off My Private or Federal Student Loans First?
Should I Pay Off My Private or Federal Student Loans First?
If you have multiple students loans from multiple sources, you may be wondering the best way to start repaying your debts. It can be a daunting challenge to even consider tackling.
Should I Pay Off Private or Federal Loans First?
As a general rule of thumb, you should pay off your private student loans first. There are a number of reasons for this. First off, private loans tend to have higher interest rates—and you always want to pay off higher rates first, so they have less time to pile on interest costs. Additionally, federal loans tend to have more flexible repayment plans than private loans, so it's better to get private loans out of the way first.
If you find your loans, terms, and payments are overwhelming, you should consider refinancing or consolidating them.
Refinancing a loan will change the terms, life time, and/or interest rate. You could opt to lower your monthly payments by extending the loan, or pay it off faster with higher monthly payments. It's a great way to manage the logistics of the loan.
Consolidation, on the other hand, combines multiple student loans into one—so you only have to keep track of one set of terms, one monthly payment, and one interest rate. It's a helpful simplification option.


Time marches forward and so does this show. This week we have an inspiring talk with the multi-talented Daisy Løvendahl. If you haven't heard about her, it's probably because she quit the art world some years back. But she has been busy building a better and more creative life all while finding the best way to reach out and touch people. And she still makes beautiful images. This is a really good one, and we tackle many tough subjects, so strap yourselves in and enjoy!
Daisy's Coaching & Counseling Business. As you can hear, she is competent and in touch.
1000 Books Art Book Festival. Looks amazing.
Return to Somalia Fundraiser. Movie & debate. Good cause.


text:
Q: How To find a word and replace with changing pattern I have a text like the following:
case "UID":
if (!Convert.IsDBNull(objDataReader["XYZ"]))
{
    objQualitativeAssessmentBiz.XYZ = objDataReader["XYZ"].ToString();
}
break;
case "GeneratedChaseId":
if (!Convert.IsDBNull(objDataReader["XYZ"]))
{
    objQualitativeAssessmentBiz.XYZ = objDataReader["XYZ"].ToString();
}
break;

Now I want to replace each XYZ with the word that comes after the word: case. So the replaced text would look like this:
case "UID":
if (!Convert.IsDBNull(objDataReader["UID"]))
{
    objQualitativeAssessmentBiz.UID = objDataReader["UID"].ToString();
}
break;
case "GeneratedChaseId":
if (!Convert.IsDBNull(objDataReader["GeneratedChaseId"]))
{
    objQualitativeAssessmentBiz.GeneratedChaseId = objDataReader["GeneratedChaseId"].ToString();
}
break;

Is there any suitable editor that can perform this task? If so, then how?

A: You can use vim's record functionality. You can read up on it here.
As for your code snippet, please try the following in your vim/vi editor:

*

*First select the word "case" by placing the cursor over the word and hitting *

*Now go to the top of the file --> gg

*Turn on recording --> qa

*Now run the following key sequence in command mode.
n w w yw j $ b b P l dw b yw j j 0 w w p l dw i <space> <esc> b yw w w w w P dw dw

*Turn off recording --> q. Your recording has been saved under the key "a" (because you turned it on by running qa)

*Now you can run this recording as many times as you want. So if you want to have it applied to your entire file run it as many times as the total number of case statements. For 10 case statements run --> 10@a.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
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text:
Short-handed Pistons shut down Spurs | Inquirer Sports
Short-handed Pistons shut down Spurs
Associated Press / 03:09 PM December 31, 2017
San Antonio Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge (12) pulls down a rebound between Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris, left, and guard Langston Galloway (9) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 30, 2017, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
DETROIT — Before the game, Stan Van Gundy sounded like a coach with limited options as his undermanned Detroit Pistons prepared to face San Antonio.
"Some guys who haven't had to play primary scorers are going to have to step up tonight and guard better people," Van Gundy said. "There's just no way around it. Guys are going to have to step up and take more defensive responsibility."
Van Gundy could hardly have imagined that a few hours later, he would be marveling at his team's defensive performance after the Pistons held the Spurs to their lowest point total of the season in a 93-79 victory on Saturday night.
"It was really a team effort tonight," Van Gundy said. "Everybody we put in made a contribution."
NBA: Celtics earn controversial OT win over Lakers
Playing without starting guards Reggie Jackson (right ankle sprain) and Avery Bradley (sore right groin), the Pistons never trailed. Reggie Bullock scored 22 points for Detroit and rookie Luke Kennard added 20 — both were career highs.
Andre Drummond had 14 points and 21 rebounds for the Pistons.
Kawhi Leonard scored 18 points for San Antonio, which shot 37 percent from the field and 5 of 26 from 3-point range.
"Stan had them prepared mentally," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We tried to battle back, got back in it here and there, but kept making the same mistakes. So, the Pistons got a good victory. They deserved it."
Detroit led 24-13 after the first, which equaled San Antonio's lowest-scoring quarter of the season. It was 35-20 before the Pistons hit a dry spell of their own toward the end of the half. A 16-4 run by the Spurs left Detroit with only a three-point lead at halftime.
The Pistons managed to maintain their advantage, though. Kennard's outside shooting gave Detroit a lift on a night when neither team was impressive offensively, and Bullock was sharp throughout in just his 12th start of the season.
"No matter who goes down, we've got other players that's able to step up," Bullock said. "We're just doing it together as a team."
Detroit led 63-57 after three quarters, and it looked like it would be a tense game down the stretch, but the Pistons broke it open early in the fourth. A layup by Bullock after a San Antonio turnover made it 78-63.
All those missed shots by San Antonio left Drummond with plenty of rebounds — 17 of his 21 were at the defensive end. Drummond had 10 rebounds in the first quarter and finished with at least 20 for the 39th time in his career.
He also had six assists.
"It's commonplace with him to have a lot of rebounds, and so a lot of times, you don't give him enough credit," Van Gundy said. "I thought that he was another guy, though, that his defensive disposition early in the game was the best it's been all year."
Detroit's Ish Smith made a nifty play in the first half when he flipped the ball to himself, caught it while sailing through the air, and tossed an alley-oop to Drummond.
QUIET NIGHT
LaMarcus Aldridge scored only 15 points for the Spurs. It was just the eighth time this season he did not lead his team in scoring.
Spurs: San Antonio was missing F Rudy Gay (right heel bursitis). … The Spurs' lowest-scoring game previously was when they scored 86 points at Minnesota on Nov. 15.
Pistons: In addition to Jackson and Bradley, Detroit was also without F Stanley Johnson (strained right hip flexor). … Kennard's previous high was 14 points and Bullock's was 20.
Spurs: Visit the New York Knicks on Tuesday night.
Pistons: Visit the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
'Cyborg' Justino defends belt by decision vs Holm at UFC 219
PBA: Allyn Bulanadi extra motivated to make impact for San Miguel
TAGS: Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Sports, Stan Van Gundy
Pagasa: Expect some Sunday rain showers, overcast skies


Chad Patton is First Vice President-Branch Manger with Wells Fargo Advisors.
Chad earned a BS from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He attended graduate school at the University of St. Francis.
Chad is currently a councilman for the city of Southlake. He previously served on the Executive Board of The Pro Players Foundation. Chad is also a member of the Tarrant County Family Law Bar Association, The Tarrant County Probate Bar Association and the Southlake Executive Forum.
Chad enjoys volunteering as a coach for his son's football, basketball and baseball teams and he enjoys watching his daughter play a variety of competitive sports.
Chad, his wife Tracy and their two children are members of Gateway Church.


text:
Q: Issue with Mongoose Timestamp and epoch conversion to Date() I have a Mongoose schema with the timestamp option set as true.
schema = new mongoose.Schema({
    ...
},
{ timestamps: true });

Now I have an Android application that gets the timestamp using System.currentTimeMillis() which works all well and good and gives me number of milliseconds since UNIX epoch time.
I send this data across to my Node.js / Express server which takes the time and returns only documents created after that particular date.
// get all docs
router.get('/api/seekers', function(req, res) {
    Seeker.find({createdAt:{ $gt: new Date(req.query.timestamp) }}, function(err, seekers) {
        if(err)
            res.send(err);
        else
            res.json(seekers);
    });
});

So I send https://api_url.com/api/seekers?timestamp=1479431351762 as a request to the server.
Now a couple of things happen:

*

*I send the value in milliseconds and get this error
{"message":"Cast to date failed for value \"Invalid Date\" at path \"updatedAt\"","name":"CastError","kind":"date","value":null,"path":"updatedAt"}
After a little bit of investigation, it turns out you need to pass seconds to Date(). So,

*I divide the value by 1000 to get seconds (req.query.timestamp/1000). Now I wasn't getting an error, but the query constraint was not working. I'm getting all values since the beginning of time.

*I moved over to the Mongo shell to check whether the issue persists, to which it turns out it doesn't since I can pass the millisecond value to Mongo's Date:
> new Date(1479431351762)
ISODate("2016-11-18T01:09:11.762Z")
But if I tried passing the second value to Date(), it turns out it actually was sending me to the beginning of time:
> new Date(1479431351)
 ISODate("1970-01-18T02:57:11.351Z")
I'm unable to figure this out, what can I do so server request and mongoose correctly processes the timestamp and queries my db?

A: Any wanderers with the same issue, who might have missed chridam's comment, you just need to cast the passed timestamp to int before parsing. This works:
new Date(parseInt(req.query.timestamp))


Ohio City is serviced by 10 public transit routes.
Just West of downtown Cleveland and the Flats, Ohio City is conveniently accessible on the RTA Red Line (at the West 25th Street Station) and located along many bus lines including the 22, 26, 45, 51,79 and the 81. Please visit riderta.com for schedules and fares.
Access the West 25th Street RTA Red Line station at the intersection of West 24th Street, Abbey Avenue and Lorain Avenue on the south side of Lorain. It sits just across the street from the historic West Side Market.
Plan your trip using Google Maps or download these general driving directions.
Click the icons below for route and schedule information.


text:
class CreateUsers < ActiveRecord::Migration
  def change
    create_table :users do |t|
      t.string :user_name
      t.string :hashed_password
      t.string :salt
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


What we get on the DVD is a sequence of interviews with bizarre-looking talking heads suspended in equally bizarre landscapes or rooms. The heads are roughly-drawn, geometric, their pixels grainily visible, their three-dimensional shading merely cosmetic, and their expressions masklike. The landscapes and rooms are mostly rough too: unnatural-looking grass, lumpish trees, toy-town trainrides, buildings without any mass, twinkling saw-toothed edges on the diagonal straight lines. Occasionally, however, there are spatial effects of considerable power. A seahorse-avatar floats above a range of mountains, with another range of mountains suspended upside-down over him in the sky. A black whirlwind sweeps across a flat green space signposted "Kansas", towards a building composed of giant grey Ms. A virtual ship glides weightlessly across a flat indigo ocean shot with silver ripples.
The extraordinary thing is how quickly this bizarre imagery comes to seem natural. Within a few minutes we have accustomed ourselves to the idea of a man's voice emerging from the disembodied, masklike head of a white rabbit; and although we don't exactly accept the rabbit's face as the man's face, we do learn to recognise it as a token of his presence or immanence. We also find ourselves listening with unusual intensity to what is being said or not said. Because the Traveler world is so conversation-based, silences there can be tremendously dramatic. There is one moment in Avatara when an interviewee is asked if he thinks it would be possible for software to communicate with the dead. For a few seconds he is completely at a loss for an answer. The silence is heart-stopping.
We do think of Traveler as a metaphysical space, and of avatar travel as a metaphysical experience. Pravin is not one of the Traveler community and has no direct relation to the other Travelers - he is an outside observer we brought in ourselves. We were originally going to structure the piece along a counterpoint between interviews with hard-core Travelers and (in-world) interviews with outside observers and commentators like Mr Pillay. We changed our minds for various reasons but decided to include the interview with Pravin on the DVD as... an appendix.
Pravin appears in-world as a seahorse-avatar and talks at some length about the spiritual aspects of Traveler experience. He starts by pointing out that the world we live in as human beings is in some sense a virtual world from the beginning - we don't rely purely on the information of our senses but on an interpretation of that information. The example he gives is of visual images, which are actually upside-down when the optic nerve receives them because they are inverted by the lens of the eye, but which the mind puts back the "right" way up, in order to make them fit with the information from our other senses. Language, Pravin argues, heightens and restructures this separation from pure sensory input; and cyberspace is a further development of the same process, "a reflection of the emergent reality of our minds".
As Pravin admits, however, our "ordinary" experience wavers between the physical and the conceptual. Devoted though we may be to our own dream-versions of reality, the material strand of our existence - physical pleasure, pain, illness or deprivation - retains its power to reshape or rupture the smooth continuum of our ideas. One of the creepier attractions of the Traveler world is its freedom from such disturbances, and hence its resemblance to an afterlife. "In here," says one of the interviewees at the beginning of the DVD, "there's no death, there's no injury, there's no physical pain, there's no hunger... This right here to me seems like the conceptualisation of what Heaven would be like."
But this disembodied heavenliness has its social and political aspects too, since Traveler is not a domain primarily designed for individual exploration but for community interaction. And the Traveler community is proactive as well as reactive: the Traveler multiverse now consists largely of "worlds" which have been designed by its users; and the history of Traveler bespeaks a do-it-yourself communal ethic, an ethic which has played a significant role in the development of the World Wide Web itself. As the 536 team explain in their Trace article, when the Traveler software was originally launched in the late '90s there was a big attempt to make a commercial success of it, but it flopped. "It is now owned, maintained, and operated wholly by a community of users who were once known by outsiders as The Utopians." On the DVD, community-members frequently explain their devotion to Traveler in terms of the community and relationships they have formed there: "There are qualities in many of these people that are admirable," states one, "and I refuse to be without Traveler because of it, because of the people. That's why we're here." "This is a collective intellect," declares another. "Any time you're in Traveler, if you have your headphones on, you're going to learn something."
In some respects, then, Traveler represents not only an opportunity to have spiritual out-of-body experiences but to participate in a Utopian society, a society which is largely unburdened by practical considerations such as food or sanitation, and therefore free to devote itself to philosophical discussion and creative self-expression. But one of the things which makes the Avatara DVD so fascinating is that it shows how even such an unburdened community is unable to avoid disruption and dissent. One interviewee, a woman called Purple Tears who has designed many of the rooms in Traveler, describes how a room called "Uninvited" came into being as a reaction to a personal situation she was in at the time: "I was seeing somebody here online that was very very very jealous... I was smothered by this person." The room consists of a metallic cage orbited by red keys, with a blue mural for a backdrop, showing a kneeling woman clawing the air in frustration. Clearly, not all relationships formed in Traveler are problem-free. There is also a section on the DVD entitled "Avatara Wars". "There's been a bit of hell on Traveler," admits one of the interviewees. "We went through a period in '99 to 2000 when there was a free speech war in here." What this war was about is never clearly explained, but obviously it was a major problem. There was damage to more than one of the servers on which Traveler was running. Several of the interviewees talk about the conflict, and interestingly two of them (both female) describe how the war bothered them in their dreams. Then, in the middle of one of these interviews, the DVD shows us a "bonking attack", which consists of an avatar deliberately running into another avatar's personal space, resulting in a glassy bonking noise. "You get that sometimes," explains an interviewee. "You get the adolescents in here..." During the free speech war the problem was even worse: "There was this huge doughnut-shaped avatar, and I mean it was absolutely massive... Just turning the avatar would bonk tens of people at a time; so that was abusive just by its very creation..."
Associated with the question of bad behaviour is the much-debated matter of online identity. "Inside of here," announces one of the interviewees, "we are an anyonymous being, and we can conduct ourselves as such." Anonymity brings freedom from expectations and preconceptions, and hence the chance for individuals to reinvent themselves. It is one of the most liberating things about online communication. But it also offers a chance to misbehave without being held to account. A community-member called Dominic, who clearly uses more than one avatar, describes how he puts on an ugly, multi-coloured mask and calls himself Smitty when he wants to tease or play jokes on other people. "Everybody picks on Smitty... Maybe he's another personality I have..." "Do your other avatars change your personality as well?" asks the interviewer. "No, no. It's not really a different personality, it's just me having fun. It's not like I put on an avatar and I change my personality." Elsewhere, Oz, one of the community leaders, describes how during the free speech war a troublemaker started to imitate him: "He dressed up his avatar painstakingly to look like mine. Then he went to his profile, and had it to read like mine... Then he went to another room and started raising hell. The only time somebody ever tries to assume somebody else's identity is to perpetrate something bad."
It is evident, then, that the Traveler version of Utopia is not an untroubled one; it has its emotional blackmailers, its hooligans and its downright troublemakers; and precisely because of the spiritual and idealistic terms in which the community-members describe their online world, these troubles automatically have a mythic dimension to them. They seem to represent humanity's inability to rise above its own fallen nature.
Themes such as this emerge all the more powerfully from Avatara because they seem unforced. The DVD presents us with a mass of evidence, a wonderfully rich and suggestive mixture of images and ideas, and leaves us to reach our own conclusions about them. It should be required viewing for anyone interested in cyberculture and digital communities.


How can it be achieved? In the mist of all these hatred, threats, hunger, anger, sicknesses and lawlessness. I had a dream! To envisaged a non violence earth, but how can this be possible?
Today, all these are nightmares. A child stood up against the parents, so likewise it is between the husband and wife in their marital homes. No respect, no submission, no love. Love becomes just a word of the mouth. Its spoken yet not practice. The one who practically showed love is rejected. They think you are after their money. And they reason why did she/ he visits us? Just to say hello, No! There might be a hidden agenda? Genuine love and trust is lost in our society today. At the work place we see competitions everyday and everywhere. The smart thinks they can have their own way. They scheme, and intimidate the inexperience ones. Likewise the rich, they think their money must buy the whole world. They jump queues, and buy positions. The poor is push aside, nobody hears them, even their right to law is abuse. How can we have a violence free world?
It hurts, and its painful when you know your turn was taken by someone. The strong intimidate the weak, the rich harass the poor, the smart outwit the inexperience.
Suddenly, anger rose and then "boom" one day its breaks into violence. Its escalate quickly because more are involved. Those who should be protecting us are involved. The law makers, the legislature, the judiciary all are involved.
You wonder when all these will stop, when will righteousness prevail, when will peace fill our earth? Then the when, how and why questions sets in. You try to figure out but you can't, you can't trust yourself. Lest you drag yourself into their mess, become a victim and co partner in their crime. You will be tainted if not careful, you will snare yourself with mud. Veerrry dirty mud.
At this point, can you see change? Can we actually have a violence free world? Can we one day see these things as former? If your your answers to these are yes then you are the first change to yourself.
Start now to abhor wicked reasoning, schemes, painful thoughts, hatred etc and replace them with compassion, love, unselfishness. When we all practice compassion, love, and unselfishness in our homes, school, work place and at our religious meeting places then we can beat our chest and say we are contributing to a violence free world.
We can do it. It only needs a can do spirit. I have hope towards a violence free world, a world where a husband feeds and cherish the wife's body less abuse it. A world where love for neighbour overshadowed love for one self, a world where people in the authorities will put the safety of their subjects ahead of Theirs. Its is only then that we can say we have a Violence Free World which I personally term Paradise.
How are you doing? Thanks for sharing your compelling story. I agree that a violence free world starts within every one of us. Together, we can do it, as you said!
By his underserved kindness I am doing fine. I appreciate your encouraged wording. Its heart warming.
Yes, I believe strongly that change must start with us individually. We all have contributed to the current conditions on the world and we again can only put the efforts to change it.
Thanks for reading my dirge song.
Great to hear:-) Too true.
You're welcome. Have a good one!
Thanks as usual and do have a very nice weekend.
A paradise is feasible sis, optimism is the great drive. Lets keep our fingers crossed, mean while I must applaud you for this indelible write-up.
Thanks for your encouraging comments. Yes paradise is for sure but we all have to start working towards it. Let's all play our roles effectively.
It's true that we are living in a nightmare now, but it never hurts to dream a world free of violence. I love that you call it a Paradise. No more pain, suffering, tears or injustice. Just love, faith and hope.
Thank you for sharing your dream and encouraging the "can do" spirit of making this come true so we can all wake up from this nightmare.
You have summed it all :-). "No more pain, suffering, tears or injustice. Just love, faith and hope."
Oh and yes one day we will woke up from this nightmare. Thanks for your up building comment.
I too have hope that Love is more powerful than hatred and violence and the negative reality you described can be obliterated by hope and peace! We have to hold tight to these bold dreams, right?
Yes "We have to hold tight to these bold dreams, right?"
Then only we can realize our dreams of living in a non violence world. Its our only hope!
Sis. I admire your hopes and dreams. Better life and society has only come from that: Hope! Please continue to work toward your goals of non-violence. We in U.S. also have a degree of violence here and there. I am very concerned about gun control here. Please4 continue on your good road to a violence-free community. You are on the right road!
Thanks very much for your up building comment. I really appreciate it. Its true what you said, we need to play our roles effectively.
So sad issue about your country violence. We see and hear it on the news here. I bet you is not pleasurable at all.
Let's all work towards the removal of violence in our societies.
Sis. Salifu - - yes we have violence too in the U.S. Many of us do not see it and are protected well, but it can happen anywhere. We need many fewer guns and better gun control. We have discussions on racial differences and stopping violence. We all work on it. Peace to you! Sleep well.
I love your name. Pls is that your real name? Or a nickname? Nice wording of it. You care for the world haha.
Yes ooo, taking the law into our own hand by the control of the gun is not the best option. I hope you are able to work things out. My sincere prayers will also be by your side.
Thanks for sharing with us about unconditional love. It is an eye opener for us to be better people if we want to create a better world for future generations.
I look forward to reading more of your efforts on this front.
Thanks for the comments. Its very encouraging to hear from you.


When it was time to get new tires for my truck, I wanted to use the old ones for something around home. I don't like paying the recycling fee to the shop to get rid of them, and figured that they would look pretty good in my yard. There are so many other things that you can do with old tires, such as edging for the lawn, or filled with sand for the kids. Just depends on how creative you want to get with the project. These tires came from a vehicle that means a lot to me, so I wanted to make sure to keep the memory alive, and also make them useful.
The project as a whole, was really easy to do! I think the hardest part was finding a pot that was the correct size. Other than that, it went together quickly and looks great in our yard. Being a family who loves cars and is involved in racing, the planters fit in perfectly for our home. 🙂 I sure hope that you like it! Have a blessed day, and please be sure to comment on, and share this craft on your social media channels – thanks!
I was getting ready to get new tires for my truck and wanted to make something useful out of the old ones.
I decided to decorate the backyard with them, and make some planters.
I went shopping for a pot at the local home improvement store that was the exact diameter as the opening. You want to make sure that it fits snugly, so that no water can go between the lip and the inside of the tire. Having water sit in there is a mosquito heaven…no thanks!!
I started the project by filling the pot with some gardening mix.
Next, I stacked the tires and set the pot in the middle – making sure it was secure. You could always add a clear sealant, for extra protection.
Due to the weight from the dirt and the size of the pot, it fit very snugly and I didn't have to worry about liquid getting through when I watered, or when it rained.
After I had it in the spot I wanted it, I found some flowers to plant. I put them in the pot and figured that they would look great in our backyard, and be something the butterflies and hummingbirds would love.
I then had a great DIY planter for our backyard. Perfect for the style of my family, and to make something that usually ends up as trash into something amazing!!
This is a great way to recycle those tires that have no tread left on them. I need to tell my mother-in-law about this idea because we have some tires that could use this kind of love.


text:
Liberal Defence Policy Delay May Make For Awkward Trudeau-Trump Meeting
U.S. president is pressing NATO allies to step up.
Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press CP
OTTAWA — The Liberal government has delayed the release of its new defence policy, setting up a potentially awkward meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump next week.
Trudeau and Trump are scheduled to gather with counterparts from other NATO members in Brussels for the alliance's first leaders' summit since Trump took office in January.
The top item on the agenda is expected to be defence spending, which Trump has been actively pressing allies to increase.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Prime Minister Justin Trudeau upon his arrival at the White House in Washington, Feb. 13, 2017. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/The Associated Press via CP)
The Liberals' defence policy, which officials had promised would be released before the NATO summit, was expected to lay out a plan for how Canada would start moving in that direction.
Canada currently spends only about one per cent of GDP on defence, which is half NATO's target of two per cent and puts it in the bottom third of allies.
But Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan's spokeswoman, Jordan Owens, confirmed Monday that the policy won't be released until after the NATO summit.
The government wants to "nestle" the defence policy within a broader foreign policy context, Owens said, which will give Canadians more context on how the different pieces fit together.
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan speaks in question period on May 1, 2017. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
The delay is likely to aggravate some allies who have been eagerly waiting to see the Liberal governments' plans and priorities for defence.
The Liberals have also faced questions about the length of time they are taking to decide on a peacekeeping mission.
Owens said some of Canada's allies took years to develop their own defence policies, even as she played down concerns about potential irritation from allies, saying the policy is "primarily for Canadians."
But the fact Trudeau will be arriving for next week's NATO summit without a policy could be cause for concern, given Trump's calls for allies to spend more.
Sajjan, Freeland in Washington
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went farther in March, warning that the administration wants allies to draw up concrete plans for reaching the two per cent target by 2024.
"Our goal should be to agree at the May leaders' meeting that, by the end of the year, all allies will have either met the pledge guidelines or will have developed plans that clearly articulate how," Tillerson said.
Sajjan and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland are visiting Washington, D.C., on Monday and Tuesday for joint meetings with Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.
Owens played down any link between the ministerial visit and the government's decision to delay the defence policy's release, but the topic is certain to figure prominently in the discussions.
Liberal officials have previously said in private that the U.S. message is more for European allies, and that the Trump administration appreciates Canada's military contributions to Iraq, Latvia and Ukraine.
Photo gallery When Trudeau Met Trump See Gallery
When Trudeau Met Trump
MORE: defence policy donald trump justin trudeau donald trump nato Harjit Sajjan harjit sajjan defence policy justin trudeau defence justin trudeau nato liberal defence policy NATO Politics trudeau trump NATO meeting


text:
Q: How Do I Make a SagePay BuyNow Button? With PayPal, I can create a BuyNow button pretty easily, containing my merchant info, price, tax, shipping, etc. Is this possible in SagePay?

A: The desired system is called SagePay Form as far as similarity to PayPal's BuyNow button + PDT process. First, you need to create a FORM like so:
<form action="https://live.sagepay.com/gateway/service/vspform-register.vsp" method="POST" id="SagePayForm" name="SagePayForm">
    <input type="hidden" name="VPSProtocol" value="2.23" />
    <input type="hidden" name="TxType" value="PAYMENT" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Vendor" value="<?= $YOUR_VENDOR_LOGIN_NAME ?>" />
    <input type="hidden" name="Crypt" value="<?= $PAYMENT_CRYPT ?>">
    <input type="image" src="images/buynow-sagepay.png" />
</form>

(One can swap the live URL with a test one here: https://test.sagepay.com/gateway/service/vspform-register.vsp)
As for the $PAYMENT_CRYPT, you have to first create a string like so:
VendorTxCode=406227821909
&Amount=32.00
&Currency=USD
&Description=1 ACME Widget
&SuccessURL=http://example.com/success.php
&FailureURL=http://example.com/fail.php
&BillingSurname=Smith
&BillingFirstnames=John
&BillingAddress1=123 Main Street
&BillingCity=Anywhere
&BillingPostCode=29555
&BillingCountry=USA
&DeliverySurname=Smith
&DeliveryFirstnames=John
&DeliverAddress1=123 Main Street
&DeliveryCity=Anywhere
&DeliveryPostCode=29555
&DeliveryCountry=USA

It's kind of dumb why they need some of this information when PayPal doesn't, but oh well. The docs clearly say that the thing will error out if they don't receive legitimate values like a real postal code that validates for that city and country, and is also used for problem dispute arbitration.
Note in my example that there's no tax or shipping breakout as PP has, so you'll need to display that as necessary before showing this BuyNow buton, or perhaps on your confirmation page or confirmation email you send. They do have a "&Basket=" parameter where the tax can be specified, but it's redundant to what you can display on your form page yourself and not necessary. Therefore, the &Amount value must be the gross value, not net. There is also no quantity value (which the &Basket parameter could be used to specify). More than likely you'll find the &Basket parameter just redundant to what you can already display on your own form during the checkout process. So, that's why my example didn't include it.
As for the VendorTxCode, that's something you create so that you can track the order back to the appropriate customer.
This $PAYMENT_CRYPT is then encrypted using XOR + Base64 encoding, using the encryption password provided by SagePay. They have an AES + Binhex encryption option, but it's overkill and your server has to have the mcrypt library enabled. Some shared hosting plans STILL don't have the enabled yet!
They provide an XOR example, but it's the typical one you see countless times in Computer Science courses where you repeatedly loop through each ASCII code of the password and each ASCII code of the data and take the complement bit of the other (the XOR process). Once done, feed it through Base64 encoding for safe POST transfer. The Base64 encoding uses the built-in function from PHP.
The response from this is more like PayPal's PDT process than PayPal's IPN process. They do direct someone to success.php and fail.php along with an encrypted URL response via GET that you can unencrypt and parse (base64 decode + XOR), but the difficulty is that the customer can close the form before waiting for the page to redirect. In that case, one will see this in their control panel in SagePay and have to fulfill the transaction manually for the customer.
On the success.php and fail.php it's up to you what you want to do. Once the query string &crypt parameter is unencrypted, you'll be able to parse out whether the transaction is complete or not by looking at Status parameter being "OK".
Note that you don't have to go direct to success.php. You can make it be like success.php?custom=value to pass extra information on the transaction that you can parse. Their code will automatically figure this out and tack on the &crypt= parameter on the end. The same goes with fail.php.
They do have ways to make SagePay send emails to the customer and to the vendor, but it's really overkill because you can do the same thing in your own PHP code with the mail() statement when doing the order.
REFERENCE: Note that the following doc URL may change in the future. To get the latest version of the doc, visit the website, enroll as a developer (a 1 minute process), and search on "form protocol".
http://www.sagepay.com/sites/default/files/downloads/sagepayformprotocolandintegrationguidelines_0.pdf
EDIT: New Link (25th Oct 2017) - https://www.sagepay.co.uk/file/25041/download-document/FORM_Integration_and_Protocol_Guidelines_270815.pdf


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This page displays sold house prices for Lenmead in Maidstone.
Lenmead in Harrietsham, Maidstone consists predominantly of detached houses. Properties on Lenmead typically have values around £400,000 - £500,000, but larger detached houses can command upwards of £500,000.
Map showing Lenmead in Maidstone.


text:
Carlo Ancelotti (født 10. juni 1959 i Reggiolo) er en italiensk fodboldtræner, der senest, frem til 28. september 2017 var fodboldtræner for FC Bayern München. Han har tidligere været træner for storklubber som Juventus (1998-2001), AC Milan (2001-09), Chelsea (2009–11), Paris Saint-Germain (2011-13) og Real Madrid (2013-15).

Som træner for Parma førte han klubben til to andenpladser i Serie A og gentog senere to andenpladser med Juventus. Som træner for AC Milan vandt han både Serie A og Champions League. Kontrakten med AC Milan blev efter Champions League-sejren 2007 forlænget til 2010. Han var en mulig kandidat til at overtage landsholdet efter VM-slutspillet samme år.

1. juni 2009 blev det klart, at han overtog Premier League-klubben Chelsea. Han var manager i Chelsea i to sæsoner, indtil han blev fyret den 22. maj 2011. Herefter blev han i ansat i franske Paris Saint-Germain F.C..

Han overtog senere cheftræner stillingen i Real Madrid, men blev fyret og overtog herefter jobbet i Bayern München. Som træner for Bayern München vandt han Bundesligaen, men manglende succes i Champions League førte til, at klubben fritstillede Ancelotti i september 2017 efter et 0-3 nederlag til PSG. Som træner for Real Madrid vandt han Champions League 2022

Litteratur

 Ancelotti, Carlo (2017). Mit spil. København: Memoris. .

Referencer

Eksterne henvisninger

Fodboldtrænere fra Italien
Fodboldspillere fra Italien
Fodboldspillere fra Parma FC
Fodboldspillere fra AS Roma
Fodboldspillere fra AC Milan
Fodboldtrænere fra Chelsea F.C.
Fodboldtrænere fra AC Milan
Fodboldtrænere fra Real Madrid CF
Fodboldtrænere fra Paris Saint-Germain
Deltagere ved verdensmesterskabet i fodbold 1986
Deltagere ved det europæiske mesterskab i fodbold 1988
Deltagere ved verdensmesterskabet i fodbold 1990

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


DUI DEFENSE - YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, I HAVE ANSWERS.
Whether the crime charged is Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, Drugs, Chemicals or Marijuana, Christopher D. Ramsay has defended many persons charged with DUI in both the criminal courts and before the Washington Department of Licensing.
The State of Washington has placed DUI prosecution and conviction on a high priority status. The penalties for DUI conviction in Washington reflect how serious this crime is taken.
As a citizen, you have important rights that must be protected in the balance.
Do not assume that because you have been charged with a DUI that the prosecutor will drop the charge if it is your first offense and that you have an otherwise clean record.
DUI prescription drugs with 2 prior DUI convictions reduced to negligent driving in the first degree.
If you have been charged with a DUI, you face the criminal justice system and the Washington Department of Licensing. Don't do it alone.


"Sänpäkkilä has achieved what can only be described as musical perfection. [...] This is highly, highly essential!" (Foxy Digitalis) "...most profoundly psychedelic mesmerism to come out of the scene to date." (The Wire) Re-relase of the fantastic double lp on K-raa-k.


Dream Tipi is one of the leading Tipi hire companies in Scotland. Their mission is simple…to turn an ordinary event into an extraordinary event. Catering for events of all shapes and sizes from small intimate gatherings to the wedding of the year, their events are so memorable they are talked about for years!
Dream Tipi...turning dreams into reality!
Dream Tipi is in the business of making memories…whether that be a small gathering of friends, a grand wedding or a corporate affair. Based in Scotland they are paving the way and bucking trends by offering a totally unique and exciting portable venue to host events, with wow factor written all over them.
Dream Tipi came to us via a referral from an existing client in the Tipi industry (we've got a bit of a tipi theme going here) and we were delight to help with everything from the branding, website design, optimised content and SEO campaign.
There's nothing better than working with a client, helping to build their business from the ground up with standout branding, a memorable website & successful SEO campaign. The tribe at Dream Tipi gave us total control over the design process while they got on with running the business which is sometimes terrifying and sometimes absolute bliss, however our team of designers & writers were bursting at the seams with creativity which really shines through in the end product.
The branding is simple and effective, the website is visually led and designed to capture the imagination and enquiries at every turn. A simple navigational structure, persuasive copywritten content and inspirational images all come together to offer a delightful user experience. The SEO campaign has gotten off to a flying start and all of the Dream Tipi keywords were on page 1 of Google within 6 weeks. Now that's a result worth having a powwow about!