Once a year, every former and current American worker aged 25 and older receives a statement in the mail that summarizes the estimated benefits they will receive upon their retirement or death. 

In addition to these automatic mailings, workers of any age can also request them from the Social Security Administration. 

The purpose of these statements is to help with your long-term financial planning, to ensure that your information is correct, and to inform the public of disability protection and death benefits allowed to a family. 

Here is a sample Social Security Statement:

If you are looking for a job (or a second job), you might be discouraged.  It seems that jobs are few and far between these days. 

However, if you extend your job search to a few specific industries, you may find that there are quite a few industries that are actively hiring right now. 

Here are some places you may want to look to find a job, or possibly even... to start a business.

When you play the stock market, the key to success is to buy low and sell high. 

According to Investopedia, if you understand stock market cycles, and you time your investment accordingly, then you will earn more money than you lose. 

Smart investors who recognize the different parts of a market cycle are more able to take advantage of them to profit. They are also less likely to get fooled into buying at the worst possible time. -- Investopedia

People who take a chance in the stock market are warned against panicking in times of economic downturn.

According to MSNBC, "Investment experts warn that a period of major stock market volatility is no time to make rash decisions."  In fact, they recommend that you take the time to reassess your past decisions in order to avoid market queasiness.

It seems that people now playing the house market in a way that is very similar to playing the stock market.

One of my brothers played the lottery every single day.  He spent at least $5 every day, plus a couple of extra dollars for goodies and treats from the store since he was there anyway. 

He was also a poor man due to a lifelong illness, so this ate up a good deal of his limited monthly budget.  He would win a lottery or scratch-off card for a large amount once or twice a year.  When I say a large amount, I mean a thousand dollars or so.  In my estimation, he was breaking even at best.
 
My brother would often call me with a tip.  “Play the lottery today,” he would tell me, and he would give me numbers to play.  I would tell him “No” and we would argue a bit about why lotteries did or did not make sense.  We would always end the conversation with him telling me that he would buy me a house when he won, and then I’d believe in the lottery system.  Sadly, he passed away before that happened.  He never struck it rich, and I never got my house. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, we should all be stockpiling foods to ensure that we won’t run out when store shelves become empty.  They claim that stockpiling food is a smart economical move in the event of lean times ahead. 

Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster. Source

But for those who are accustomed to only buying what you need when you need it, how do you know what kinds of foods to stockpile? And exactly how much should you purchase?

Who would have imagined 2 years ago that we would be paying $4 or more for a tank of gas?  Well, believe it or not, it's a reality.  We appear to be in the midst of a gasoline crisis. 

While the New York Times debates the validity of there being an actual crisis, our pocketbooks say otherwise.  And, CNBC points out that gas prices are, in fact, at full-blown crisis level. 

I think the best way we can survive this hike in gas prices is to lower our need for gas.

Here are some simple things you can do to lower gas consumption and lessen the damage that gasoline prices are putting on your pocketbook:

Due to today's economy, many Americans are tempted to cancel vacations this year in lieu of saving money (or paying down credit cards and other debt). 

It probably is a good idea to use vacation money to pay bills, especially if you are in debt.  But being financially responsible doesn't necessarily mean that you need to deprive yourself or your family of a relaxing vacation. 
 
If you find yourself in need of a vacation without the money to finance it, before you cancel your vacation plans altogether, here are 5 simple things you can do to keep your vacation plans on track.

Could there be a a correlation between the current state of the economy and our waistlines?

They call times of financial recession lean times for a reason, you know.  People tend to eat less because of the high price of food. 

I had this happen to me the other day...

An email in my inbox this morning started with “How will YOU stimulate the economy?” The person then stated that she is going to use her tax rebate check to take a summer vacation.  Then the sender proceeded to try to sell me a vacation package.
 
I am tempted to unsubscribe to my home business email lists until after the stimulus checks have come and gone.  I get an email or two like this daily.

According to numerous reports, charities are hurting because people are not giving right now.  Church offerings have decreased.  People are holding on to their old clothes longer and not giving them away for charities to sell.   People aren’t giving away old cars, appliances, and furniture. 

Who can blame them? 

Did you know that the average produce travels 1,500 miles from the farm to the typical U.S. table? 

This means that when you buy produce at the grocery store, in addition to the cost of the farmer growing and harvesting the produce, you are also paying the cost to ship the item as well.

I have been talking lately about all of the effects of the current economy, but there are also some positive affects that you may not realize.

As people max out their credit cards or realize that the high interest rates make the cards not worth using, more and more people are turning back to good old cash.

The economists say there's no reason to panic just because the economy seems to be in a downturn. But if you are already in a panic, like many are right now, it can be hard to compose yourself and think rationally.

There some things you can do however to make your life more comfortable for the moment until the rough spot in the economy, or in your life, passes.

There is nothing like seeing a Title Loan Shop or a Pawn Shop to signal that a neighborhood is going downhill. Likewise, seeing an increased number of commercials for such places on television is a bad sign for the economy.

There are a few other ways to get cash fast when faced with an emergency...

If you watch "buying a first home" shows on TV, you will hear them talk about qualifying for a loan. The standard rule in qualifying for a home loan seems to be getting the largest loan that the bank says you qualify for. Even if this means you home payment may be a reach for you, the hope is that salaries will increase and the burden will become less difficult.

For a few people, who are just starting out in high paying industries this is a very valid approach. To most people however, who never knows when they might lose their job, this is a very bad idea.

I went to the grocery store this morning for muffins and cat food. I usually spend $20 on every quick run to the grocery store (not including bi-weekly shopping trips). Seeing the elevated prices in the store this morning, I could not force myself to pick up anything, and I left having only spent $17.

You might think that is great that I saved $3 -- or that I had no business spending over $5 in the first place -- but the extra money I usually spend at the grocery store buys my bulk sale items. (Link to previous article about buying in bulk) Unfortunately the sales were few and far apart today.

First, here's how high prices have gone from 2003:

• Wonder bread - up 74%


• Boneless center-cut pork chop - up 124%


• Farmland Skim Plus milk - up 38%


• Arnold stone-ground wheat bread - up 36%


• Ribeye steak - up 64%


• Carr's water crackers - up 39%


• Birds Eye frozen sweet corn - up 28%


• Bananas - up 41%


• Birds Eye frozen baby peas - up 21%


• Diet Coke - up 10%

And, the change in world prices since May of 2007:

• Meat - up 12%


• Dairy - up 24%


• Cereals - up 89%


• Oils and fats - up 77%


• Sugar - up 40%

I recently watched an Oprah Winfrey episode where she profiled the Freegan movement. Freegans are people who get as many items as possible that they use -- for free.

This may mean taking items they find on the street. This may mean dumpster diving for food. This may mean going without new clothes.

The purpose of the Freegan movement is to inform the rest of the world about over consumerism.

According to the Economic Stimulus Package, the U.S. Treasury will start sending out checks in May to 130 million families.

The purpose of sending out this money is to stimulate the economy.

Think the value of your home can't decrease? Think again!

According to the National Association of Realtors, the average price of homes will fall nationally by approx 0.7%. This is significant because it would be the first national decline in home prices in over 38 years.

As homeowners, there are two different ways we can look at this anticipated decline.

First, the value of the home where you presently live may decrease in value. Second, there may be buying opportunities if real estate values do decline.

Medical costs, along with medical insurance premiums, are out of control in this country! Why is this, and who's to blame?

Why is it that when I have a 10 o'clock appointment with my doctor, I end up sitting in the waiting room for 30 minutes. Next, I wait on the butcher paper in a smaller waiting room on an uncomfortable table for another 15 minutes. Finally, the opportunity comes to see the doctor who barely has five minutes to spend before rushing out the door.

My bill ends up only being $25 dollars because that's what the copay is on my health insurance. I go to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled and it costs me $10 for a pharmacy copay

This is exactly what is wrong with our health system - in this and many other countries. With any other transaction, if the professional was 45 minutes late for our appointment I would have left never to return again. However, with our medical system there seems to be no penalty for failing to provide top level service.

Let's look at the problem a little further and how we can fix it...