AVOID COSTLY BENEFICIARY BLUNDERS

Carefully choosing a beneficiary for your life insurance policy and keeping the information up to date will save loved ones time, heartache and money later. "It may be an awkward five-minute conversation to have with your beneficiary, but it certainly beats the hours and hours they may spend tracking information down after the fact," says Craig Lemoine, assistant professor of financial planning at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Here's how to help avoid common and potentially costly beneficiary blunders. Update as relationships change. It's not just birth, death, divorce and marriage that call for beneficiary updates, Lemoine says. If you have children who are no longer minors, you can name them as direct beneficiaries of a policy or fund rather than putting the money in the hands of a guardian or trust. Also consider the health of aging relatives. If a beneficiary has a condition that causes cognitive impairment, such as Alzheimer's, you might better provide for that person by naming a different beneficiary and making provisions for the person's care in your will. Be specific. Don't be vague about the beneficiary in an attempt to avoid having to update the information later, Lemoine says. "Sometimes people name 'my children' or 'my siblings,' and that can cause problems," he says. Being specific when naming your beneficiary may eliminate future legal challenges and confusion. Be cautious when naming yourself or your estate. When people name themselves or their estate as beneficiaries, the money becomes part of the insured's general estate, which leaves it subject to potential taxation as well as seizure by creditors. In addition the death benefit may not be distributed in accordance with the insured's true wishes. Consult your lawyer and tax advisor for help determining what beneficiary designation will best fulfill your wishes. To learn more about what life insurance can do for you, visit statefarm.com.

DEFEND YOUR HOME'S VULNERABLE PIPES

Even if you live in a part of the country that normally escapes sub-zero temperatures, don't think your pipes can't freeze this winter. All it takes is a cold snap that drops the outside temperature below 20 degrees. In fact, homes in mild-winter climates are especially vulnerable to frozen pipes, since they tend to have plumbing in exterior walls, attics, crawl spaces, and other unheated or unprotected areas. No matter where you live, when water freezes inside a pipe, it creates a blockage that causes pressure to rise. The pressure builds up and the pipe eventually bursts. And the resulting deluge can seriously damage your home, especially if you're gone when it happens. Fortunately, there are ways to help keep water pipes from freezing. Play it safe and follow this advice from the Institute for Business and Home Safety. Wrap pipes with foam or fiberglass insulation to help keep them from freezing. Seal openings in exterior walls where cold air can get to unprotected pipes. Disconnect garden hoses and place insulated covers over outdoor faucets. Better yet, install inside shut-off valves for outdoor faucets and drain water from the pipes. Consider wrapping pipes with heat tapes or cables. These provide a small amount of electricity to keep pipes warm. Some come with built-in thermostats. For pipes located under kitchen and bath sinks, leave cabinet doors open to let warmer room air get to the pipes. If you're worried about a certain pipe, turn on faucets to a very slow drip to relieve pressure. Make sure both the hot and cold water lines are open. When you leave home for an extended time during the winter, set the thermostat to at least 55 degrees. Get more tips on preventing frozen pipes at statefarm.com.

PropertyManager.com

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Officials Burn Down CA Rental Property Packed with Explosives Posted: 15 Dec 2010 07:00 AM PST Thursday Dec 9th, San Diego officials burn down an Escondido, CA house rented by George Jakubec. The property contained so many homemade explosives that investigators concluded that burning the home to the ground was the safest way to dispose of the hazardous materials inside. Jakubec is now in jail for bomb-making and bank robbery charges as neighbors try and piece together how he was able to get by for so long without being caught. George had been renting the house for the past year and filled it with chemicals and explosive materials. Bomb experts deemed it too dangerous to enter. Local residents were evacuated and as the crew of professionals set fire to the house, paramedics and firefighters stood by just in case. Almost all of the “bomb-house” was destroyed within 30 minutes and onlookers could watch the billows of black smoke fill the air. What kind of additional tenant screening could this unfortunate property manager have done to avoid his property being burnt to the ground? Hope they at least had a security deposit. Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/09/AR2010120900911.html

Holiday Travel Made Easy

Be it for Christmas, Thanksgiving, the Fourth of July, or even President’s Day, many Americans spend the holidays away from home. Holiday travel can be a well-deserved break or an additional stress. Here are some suggestions to help make your holiday travels as stress-free as possible.

Make realistic travel plans
First of all, make some realistic assessments of the constraints upon your travel. You might not make it to see all your relatives for the Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays, or have the time or budget to see everything you want to see on your vacation. If you can, take the ideal amount of time you’d like to spend away and add one day to either end, so you don’t feel so cheated if you get delayed traveling.

Afraid you’ll have nothing to do that extra day? Call or visit the Web site of your destination’s chamber of commerce — they frequently carry coupons for local public attractions.

Travel insurance
Think about your destination as well: your risks of being delayed are higher heading to the snowy Northeast in the winter, or to the Gulf Coast during hurricane season. Trip insurance normally doesn’t make sense for a weekend getaway, but if you’re taking a major trip with a budget to match, it might be worth considering.

Plan ahead
The earlier you can start planning, the better. If you’ll be taking a car trip, consider making plans to have any necessary maintenance for your car, such as an oil change or a new set of tires, completed two weeks in advance.

Planning might also help you score cheap plane tickets. Farecast is a service that predicts when airfares for a particular trip may rise or fall, while sites such as Orbitz and Kayak can search for cheap flights, hotels, and rental cars.

Pack light
Pack as light as you can, especially if you’re flying. It will mean fewer checked baggage fees, fewer chances to lose your bags, and less strain on your back.

If you are traveling for a gift-giving holiday, consider shipping presents to your destination. As the Transport Security Administration may choose to unwrap presents in baggage for security screening, pack gifts unwrapped and wrap them when you arrive, if you cannot ship the items.

Be prepared
Be prepared for something to go wrong. If you have time beforehand, run through some of the worst-case scenarios — you miss your flight, you lose your identification while on vacation, your car breaks down far from home — and see if you can work out backup plans. If you know what to do when bad luck hits, you should feel less stress.

AirSafe.com has a detailed explanation of your rights when your flight gets delayed or bumped. Check out their list and you may feel more prepared for potential flight trouble.

Learn from the past
Finally, learn from past mistakes. If you stressed yourself visiting relatives last year, see if they’ll come to you instead, or ask to visit during a quieter travel period. If you know a three-day weekend isn’t enough time to relax, take some time off at either end and turn it into a proper vacation — instead of an exhausting whirlwind trip.

Some years you may need a holiday from holiday travel. Take only those trips that are going to be rewarding for you.

Holiday Charity Giving Guide

‘Tis the season to give generously, whatever holiday you may be celebrating. Many choose to step up their charitable giving around the end of the year for a number of reasons: the holidays move them to share their blessings; they want to make sure they can deduct their donations for that tax year; or end-of-year bonuses allow them to act on their generosity.  However you might be moved, here are some tips for getting the most out of your holiday charitable donations.

Make giving your gift
Numerous charities allow you to give gift certificates.  If you buy a gift certificate for Donors Choose, which helps fund projects at underfunded public schools, for example, the recipient can choose which project to fund.  If your recipient wants to support internationally, he or she could choose a microlending project to fund with a gift certificate from Kiva. Or give to JustGive, where a charity gift card (with a service fee) can be donated towards any of dozens of charity choices.

You can give time as well as money
Local food banks and shelters will appreciate your assistance, as the growing cold means more demands on their services.  Not sure what you’d want to volunteer for?  United Way’s Live United site offers a “Match Your Passion” quiz to help you find volunteer opportunities you’d enjoy.

…or part of yourself
Contact The American Red Cross and volunteer to donate blood.  Also consider joining the national registry for bone marrow donors.

Don’t forget season-specific drives
Many cities and organizations have coat drives to help make sure recipients can keep warm during the winter; the annual coat drive run by New York Cares is one of the most famous.  Your natural gas provider might have ways for you to donate to cover lower-income families’ heating costs.  Also look for food drives at your local supermarket; often you can find opportunities to buy someone a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.  SecretSanta.org keeps a database of toy drives across the country.

Give while shopping
If you’re doing your holiday shopping online, you can donate while shopping through the iGive portal.  When you choose a particular charity or cause and register with iGive, a small donation will be made for every purchase you make at participating stores.  The Minnesota Council on Foundations maintains a list of similar charitable giving portals.

Check out the charity
You may receive many appeals for charity in the mail and over the phone during the holiday season; how do you know which charities will use your money most responsibly?  Charity Navigator keeps financial and operations information on hundreds of charities so you can find out how donations are used.