Real Estate Innovation

How Does Long Term Care Insurance Work?

How does long term care insurance work? This is a question I hear almost every day. Many people still do not understand how LTCi works. Due to the heightened awareness of Long Term Care Insurance over the past several years, most people realize that this coverage is an important part of their financial planning.

When you purchase LTC you are simply purchasing a pool of money to be used at a later date. We all hope to live to be 101 and pass away in our sleep. Unfortunately this is not often the case. There is almost 70% chance that one person in a couple will need Long Term Care at some point in their lives. For a single person there is a 40% chance of needing Long Term Care. Your pool of money is equal to your daily $ amount times your benefit period. Thus, if you select 4 year plan with a daily $ amount of $150, your pool of coverage is $219,000 ($150 X ’s 365 days = $54,750 X 4 years = $219,000). Keep in mind, even though you have selected a 4-year plan, the policy can last much longer than 4 years. The policy will last as long as you have money in your pool of coverage. It works just like your checking account. As you receive care, the cost of the care comes out of your pool of money. Instead of you writing out the checks, the insurance company now acts as your bank and pays for your care from your pool of coverage. Thus, lets say you need homecare and the cost is only $120 a day, instead of the $150 a day you purchased. The other $30 a day is not lost it stays in your pool of money giving you 5 years of coverage instead of 4 years. If you are in a situation where you are receiving the full $150 a day, but you are only receiving care only 4 days a week, your pool of money would last 7 years instead of 4 years under this regimen.

Now let’s assume, you purchase this policy today with $150 daily coverage, but you do not need care until 10 years down the road.Due to inflation, the $150 is not going to stretch far enough. Therefore, it is recommended to purchase an inflation protection option at the time you purchase coverage. With a 5% simple inflation option (which is recommended for people over age 65) the coverage grows and doubles every 20 years. Thus, the $150 you started with would grow to $225 in 10 years and $300 in 20 years. With a 5% compound inflation option, (recommended for people age 65 and under) your coverage grows and doubles every 14.3 years. Keep in mind , your pool of money is also growing and doubling over time, to offset the high rate of inflation.

When it is time to receive coverage under your Long Term Care policy, you are responsible for your elimination period. This is similar to the deductible in your auto insurance policy. It is the number of days before benefits begin. Common elimination periods are 30, 60 and 90 days, with the 90-day being the least expensive.

Long Term Care is not as confusing as many people make it out to be. Hopefully this article will make it a little easier to understand the question “How does long term care insurance work?”. The bottom line is, going without this important coverage could easily wipe out your life savings. Remember, when you are looking into this coverage for yourself, you are simply purchasing a pool of money to pay for your future Long Term Care expenses.

Don’t Underestimate a Christian Classical Education

How your children see the world and how they deal with life are influenced by their education. So is the strength of their personal character. The choice of determining where and how your children will be educated is one of the most difficult to make.

All schools and educational options have something to offer, whether the schools are public, private, religious, charter, home, or non-sectarian. However, there is also Christian Classical Education, which is different in that it is promoting the most proven form of education.

Many of our greatest thinkers, scientists, and leaders were the result of Christian Classical Education. In fact, some of these very people were also the Founding Fathers of America.

Respected leaders, movers, and shakers continue to emerge from a shattered version of classical education. Regretfully, the untainted form of classical education includes a Christian worldview.

Christian Classical Education is so successful because it is based on the Trivium. No matter how fast a child learns, he or she goes through three phases of learning.

Through kindergarten to grade 6, memorization is the focus. Logic, critical thinking, and forming arguments are the focus in grades 7 and 8. Independent communication and thinking become the focus in grades 9 through 12. This creates the Trivium, which effectively teaches children to communicating through writing and speech.

Some of the subjects that are included in Christian Classical Education usually involve literature, history, language, art, math, and science. Some of the works that are read include Western literature and philosophy.

It’s also common for students to learn classical languages like Greek and Latin, which was very common in classical curriculum. Some of the better known teaching methods also include debates, Socratic teaching, and lectures.

Christian Classical Education is probably more important now than ever before. As the world quickens its pace on technology, pop culture, and geo-political forces, our daily lives are constantly being restructured.

The skills we need in order to get and keep a job are always changing. No matter what the future holds, we will always need great thinkers and speakers. We need people who can acquire new skills swiftly and through their own devices, regardless of their field. Christian Classical Education is proven to produce exactly the kind of students we need in this ever-changing world.

Make Some Serious Money Writing For The Internet

If you are a writer, you know that the demand for your skills has always been good. But the huge demand for internet content and articles has only put your talents more in demand. So it’s a good idea for us to come up with some good ideas for you to cash in on this big market segment.

One of the outcomes of this big demand for writers are some great sites that will pay you directly for your writing. One of the best of this genre is www.associatedcontent.com. But be aware that their standard rate of 3-4 dollars an article is that low because they basically take any writer whether they have credentials and skills or not. But it’s a good site to have on your list to keep the grocery and gas money coming in.

These paid article sites are regularly looking for unique content to bring attention to their site and clients. Some of these websites are also looking to act as brokers to other websites needing articles. They can always use more articles so they will always be there when you need them, but they don’t pay every well and you efforts could be better spent elsewhere.

The article you submit need to be written by you, but they don’t need to be masterpieces. Just create a simple 500 word article on the given topic, spellcheck it and proofread it and submit it. If you are struggling to find out what to write about or how to structure it then check out the articles already online. Don’t copy them but they can really give you some inspiration and direction.

Another good way to get some solid writing work is to work with groups of freelance writers in a groups. Just interact with other writers to find how this works. The good thing about writing groups is they can get plenty of work and you don’t have to work so hard at finding projects. It’s a good idea to build your resume of writing by working with paid sites and then approach a group once you have established yourself.

Sometimes these writers’ communities are managed by a strong leader who serves to make sure the work is shared with the writers and keeps a little commission per job for his trouble. Still other writer’s communities are just that and writers simply land work and share with others at a lower fee when they have more work in than they can handle. But these writers consortiums also benefit from the huge need for quality content on the internet and these groups are skilled at knowing where to find the good projects online.

Along with these options, there are quite a few sites that are always looking to bring on talented writers. However be aware that these sites are usually passing work to you that they hunted up so your pay might be lower than you might expect. So when you sign on with a site like this, read the terms screens closely so you don’t end up doing endless edits and writing more than you agreed to for the money.

These are all “getting started” ideas that won’t make you a world renowned author. But they will get your foot in the door and give you the ability to develop your ability to write. Learn from the experts who know that to write well, you have to write every day. But if you work hard and build your skill and your contacts, you could eventually earn $25 an article or more. But like any other career, you have to start at the bottom and work to the top with hard work and quality writing for your customers.

How To Install Ceramic Tile Flooring in Five Easy Steps

Step One: Get to know your tools.

If you are to learn how to install ceramic tile flooring the right way, then you must start with having the right tools. You can buy most of the tools you’ll need for working on your floor tiling at your local hardware store or home center. For equipment that might be too expensive to purchase like a tile cutter, or hand held micro cutter, try your local home center or tool rental yard. They may have the tools you’ll need at affordable rental prices, or even at discount. And if you’re a newbie at tiling work, they may even help you with information. Here are most of the basic tools you will need for your tiling job:

a) These would include safety clothing and gear like a pair of safety glasses, heavy leather gloves, and long-sleeved work clothes. These are useful especially if your tiling work involves taking out the existing ceramic tiles. Broken shards and other debris from tearing out the ceramic tiles can cause nasty cuts.

b) Tools for carpentry like a tape measure, a carpenter’s square and a bubble level will also be needed.

c) You will also need some tile spacers, a putty knife, a trowel (preferably, the notched kind), a tile cutter (which you can rent), and a rubber grout float.

d) Mortar material for bonding your tiles to your subfloor surface, like a thin set mortar, or tile adhesive, tiling grout and sealant.

Step Two: Prepare your subfloor before installing your tiles.

This is where the tiling procedure begins. It would be a great experience for you to learn how to install ceramic tile by learning about the type of floors you will be putting your tiles on. Always check for cracks and debris when If you’re working on a concrete subfloor. Make it is smooth and clean. Repair as many of the cracks as you can. If you see cracks that are too large to repair, replace the floor section where they are found with new concrete. For plywood subfloors, be sure that the wood is at least 1 and 1/8 inches thick and is supported by an equally strong underlayment. Otherwise, your ceramic tiles will dislodge easily, or worse, break and need replacing.

An existing ceramic tile floor may add another stage to your tiling job, and present something of a challenge for you. You’ll need to tear out the existing tiles. For starters, all you need to do is use a large flat-bladed chisel and a mallet, and just hammer away. Then, you’ll need to clean out the debris. If you to smoothen your subfloor — you may want to rent a sander to do the job. Be sure to keep yourself protected. Use heavy-duty leather work gloves, safety glasses, and long-sleeved work clothes.

Step Three: Do the measurements. To know where to start and how to install ceramic tile on your subfloor, begin by measuring the length and width of your floor. This will help you estimate the number of ceramic floor tiles you will need to purchase. Then, find the center point of your floor area. You Measure across floor area and mark the center. Do this in opposite direction and mark the center, as well. The intersection of the two lines is the center of the floor area where you can start your tiling work. To help with your tiling, run chalk lines over the intersection lines. These chalk lines will help you with how to install ceramic tile and help you keep your tiling straight and organized.

Step Four: Start work on your ceramic tile installation

Place the first tile at the intersection of the two lines you made. Then, bond it to your subfloor by using a thin set mortar, or a tile adhesive of your choice. Using a notched trowel for applying the mortar is best on how to install ceramic tile. But you may actually use the more common trowel variety is you don’t have one. To secure the ceramic tile in its place, press down while twisting it back and forth till the tile no longer is set. If some of the mortar or adhesive oozes out, use your trowel (or a damp sponge) to scrape off the excess. Do this process over with the next tile, and so on and so forth, until you’ve finished your ceramic floor tiling.

Step Five: Finish your tiling job by putting in the tiling grout and sealant

It’s time to put the tiling grout in once the tiles have settled. Tiling grout is a material that you should know more about when you want to know how to install ceramic tile flooring. Grout is tiling material made cement, sand and water, and a little color. It is used to fill in gaps and seal in the spaces between tiles. Tiling grout comes in a wide variety of color tints that may be matched to your tile color. Use a rubber grout float and work the tiling grout into the gaps between the tiles. Use your grout float at an angle so that you can fill in the joint gap with as much tiling grout as possible.

Once you’re done with applying grout along the tile gaps, wipe off the excess grout with a damp sponge. Rinse the sponge frequently to get as much of the excess grout off, and keep each tile clean. You have the option of applying a sealant to the grout lines after they dry.

Make sure you allow some time for the grout to dry before you apply the sealant. These setting periods last overnight, at the very least, to twenty-four hours, at the most. Your sealant has dried, you are done! Congratulations! Now, you know how to install ceramic tile flooring.