Money is often the downfall of many a marriage. If you don’t want it to be so with your marriage, you and your spouse will need to learn how to communicate, compromise and budget. Even if you are the most frugal of misers and your spouse is an incurable shopaholic, there are ways for you to get along if you really work at it.

Set Common Goals

The first step to preventing money related arguments is to agree on goals. If you can get your spouse to agree to a goal, it will be easier to ask your spouse to be mindful of the goal when he or she is tempted to overspend. It helps to keep you honest as well. Make it “romantic” make your spouse feel that you are working as a team towards a common cause.

You should also decide on how to handle your finances. Will you keep separate accounts? Or a joint account? Will you be pooling you money? Or will each of you control how to spend what you make. It is important to set these rules early in a marriage, so that arguments can be minimized.

Budgeting

A budget will serve as your step by step guide towards reaching you goal. List your projected income, and then make an itemized list of your projected expenses along with the individual costs of each item. Then arrange your expenses according to priority, at this point you will be able to see what you can and can’t afford. As your income increases over the years and you improve your lifestyle, you will be able to celebrate milestones by adding things like cable TV or high speed internet, or even long vacations to your budget.

The beauty of a budget in black and white is that it makes it that much easier to adhere to goals and to inject discipline into spending habits. Budgeting doesn’t have to be an unromantic concept either. The idea of a two people sacrificing individual wants to be together is a very romantic situation. As you income increases over the years, you’ll find yourselves fondly reminiscing the times when you needed to sleep in a single bed because the only flat you could afford wasn’t big enough for a queen sized bed. Ultimately, agreeing to a plan and sticking to it together, and helping each other stay on track can only be good for a marriage.

The Department of Labor lists teens between the ages of 16 and 19 as the demographic most adversely affected by the current recession. Unemployment among those in this group is up to 20%. While most kids that age still depend wholly or at least heavily on their parents for financial support. Many will still be looking to make money this summer. There are options they can consider even in these times of low job availability.

Internships and apprenticeships

Internships and apprentices ships are a great way for post grads to get started. To go out for such posts will require a bit of resourcefulness as most organizations that offer them don’t actually advertise publicly. Apprenticeships are always paid, but internships are very often not paid. Even unpaid interns though are usually entitled to transportation allowances, and more importantly academic credit. Whether or not internships pay off in actual cash, they can be great career investments.

Cooperative learning programs

Cooperative learning programs are designed precisely for students who need to earn some money while they are in school. Students who are on such programs study for a semester, and work in jobs related to their fields of study for the next semester. Such students earn better than most summer interns, and their hire rate after graduating is better than regular students as well. School career centers have the necessary information for students who want to enter such programs.

Research grants

There are really great for resume building and if you’re a lucky student, you could even make money doing it. Colleges usually offer these, sometime even directly, particularly to deserving students; especially those in need of financial assistance. The typical method to getting such grants though, is to start searching for openings in February, in order to work the next semester.

A student’s own college academic office or financial office is the best place to start, but there are also many scholarship sites on the internet. The government also maintains a site for such students: students.gov

Work-study jobs

“If you’re smart about picking a work-study job, it can actually give you more real-world experience than a summer retail job,” says Caroline Ceniza-Levine, a career coach and founder of SixFigureStart consulting in New York City.

Schools often offer work study jobs for students in need to financial aid. These range from research assistant to recycling manager. They are by no means lucrative, but they don’t affect financial aid status, unless the earn over $3,000 a year in which case they will lose 50 cents worth of federal funding of every dollar they earn over $3,000. Should the students be fortunate enough to find work with the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or Teach for America, they will be exempted from this rule.

America’s attitude of nonexistent personal responsibility is nowhere more apparent than in the area of alcohol sales. Businesses that serve alcohol are always vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits brought on by individuals and organizations who do not believe that a person is responsible for their own actions. If you have a business that serves alcohol, a liquor insurance policy can save you tons of money and perhaps save your business should you fall victim to one of these lawsuits.

Liquor liability insurance is a type of commercial insurance specifically tailored to businesses that serve or sell alcohol. The insurance protects the business from lawsuits brought on as a result of a liquor related incident. Any business that has anything to do with the sale of alcohol, including distributors, should absolutely have a liquor liability policy.

Basic commercial policies usually do not cover specific alcohol related matters. It’s necessary to have a liquor liability clause added to the policy. This will cost a little extra, but will easily pay for itself many times over should you be forced to pay a lawsuit claim.

Like all insurance types, companies that offer alcohol insurance are tightening the restrictions on claim payments. The rising number of lawsuits is also taking its toll on the insurance companies. When getting a policy, you must ensure that the policy covers certain situations and has a few necessary provisions.

Where there is liquor, there are often fights. Therefore the policy must contain assault and battery coverage. Should a fight occur in your establishment as a result of alcohol consumption, the clause will cover claims against you.

The policy should also cover the costs of a defense attorney. This can often be a greater expense in litigation than the settlement. It would seem common sense that the policy cover attorney’s fees, but this is not always the case automatically.

All employees should be covered by the policy. Since they will likely be involved in anything that happens in your establishment, you must cover them the same as you cover patrons.

Many lawsuits use mental damages as a catch all when specific injuries can’t be proven. The policy needs to cover these types of rewards also.

You can often lower the premiums by implementing specific policies in your establishment. Safety regulations including not serving intoxicate patrons and employee training programs are a couple of examples. Maintaining a safe environment will also lead to lower premiums.

There are two type of liquor liability. Host liability covers things involving guests at the establishment. You are considered the host. Liquor legal liability covers the owner should action be taken against him of or the establishment. Both types of coverage are essential for a complete policy.

No establishment that serves alcohol is safe from legal action as a result of alcohol related problems. Whether a private club or a public establishment, such as a restaurant or even a sports park, you absolutely require liquor liability insurance these days. It’s sad that people are so quick to find someone else to blame for their drunken actions, but this has become the standard in America. Make sure that one drunken guest that can’t control his liquor will not jeopardize your entire business.

Everybody needs to get out once in awhile, but the sad reality is not many of us have the luxury of getting a lot of time off from work to skip off to some exotic location with a lot of pocket money. The fact is, most of us have neither the time nor money for that dream holiday, and to many such vacations remain dreams.
Still, that shouldn’t prevent us from taking a bit of well earned time off once in awhile. You needn’t travel too far to enjoy some quiet time, and there are beautiful things to see and fun places to go that don’t require that you have a huge chunks of time and thick wads of cash to spare. Charleston South Caroline is a great place to visit in late May or Early August. There are loads of things to do and sights to see, most of which are within the spending power of the budget conscious vacationer.

The Folley beach is a public beach, there are no fees charged, and it is a really great place to kick back on a sunny day. The Not So Hostel hostel is a popular destination for many of Charleston’s international visitors. Located conveniently in the center of town, you can stay for as little as $30 a night. They have free Internet use, a great staff, and visitors from all over the world.

Ranked among the top 5 markets in the world is the central market off King Street. You can find anything from the freshest produce to the most wonderfully crafted home décor and furnishings. Just off the market is the Nacho Royale restaurant. You can have a great Mexican feast for under $10 per person. Their Mexican pizzas and Margaritas are particularly famous. One of the oldest museums in the US is in Charleston as well. Charleston also features a rich and vibrant night scene.

Getting around in Charleston is never expensive; bikes are available for rental at whole day rates. You can save money and get some exercise as well. If you’re in the mood for a nice getaway, but are afraid of what it might cost, come to Charleston and be pleasantly surprised.