How do you deal with a family member who time after time finds himself in a financial sink hole?

How do you best help? Is it as simple as writing a check?

It’s a bit more complicated than that and you can take a few important steps to help your family and safeguard your finances at the same time.

Giving financial assistance to family members

Here are a few steps I recommend:

1. Don’t put your head in the sand.

People don’t wake up stupid and they usually don’t wake up broke. You can see the signs of bad financial behavior years (and sometimes decades) before a crisis. Don’t wait until this person comes to you for money.

When you see someone you care about making dumb financial moves, understand that you may be the one left holding the bag. Don’t think the problem is going to disappear all by itself. If this person is on the road to self-destruction, it might be just a matter of time before that trouble lands on your doorstep.

This happened to a client of mine, Pam. Her son had great ideas – but somehow he was never able to get it together. Time and time again, Ron came to his mother to “invest” in his doomed projects. I showed Pam that she simply could not afford to continue doing that – regardless of what that meant to her son. That leads us to the next step.

2. Know your limitations

Even before anyone asks you for money, be realistic when you see trouble on the horizon. Get ready.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you’re going to get back whatever money you loan this person. He or she has already demonstrated financial irresponsibility and it would be silly to expect that somehow this person is going to magically get it together. Personal debt collection is ugly – especially if it’s your brother-in-law you’re trying to collect from.

If you do provide support, remember that this personal loan is a one-way gift. It’s money you’re NOT going to see again. Regardless of the promises you’ll get (and you will get plenty) don’t kid yourself. This money isn’t coming back to you. The obvious conclusion is to only give money that you can live without ever seeing again.

3. Set boundaries quickly, gently but clearly.

If you are the designated “Mr or Mrs Moneybags” in the family, you’re this person’s ace in the hole. Their meal ticket.

Time to cancel dinner.

Again, you don’t have to wait for this person to come to you with their hands out. The sooner you communicate the better.

Let them know what you see and how you feel. Don’t judge. But let them know what you are willing to do to help and what you are unwilling to do. That support should include talking things out in addition to any financial support. You might give this person the gift of personal responsibility by saying no which is invaluable but

3. Don’t expect gratitude

If anything, you might get indignation. You are doing this person a huge favor by setting boundaries and by forcing them to start accepting responsibility for their financial behaviors. But they may not see it that way.

4. Know That Your “NO” Isn’t Going To Be The End Of The World

You cutting someone else off financially probably isn’t going to end with them being homeless. They may see it as the end of the world but it ain’t. Don’t fall into the guilt trip they will try to send you on.

Let’s use a worst-case scenario and say this person is forced into bankruptcy. It’s bad…but it’s not cancer. And you didn’t do it to them…they did. And did you know that you can declare bankruptcy and still hold on to your home? Don’t tell yourself you’re forcing them out on the street because you aren’t.

Have you ever been in a situation like this? How did you handle it? What was the outcome? Are you still on this person’s Christmas list?

~$~

This article written by Neal Frankle. Neal Frankle is a Certified Financial Planner, author, and blogger with over twenty-five years of experience in the financial services industry. His financial blog covers tips on how to make smart financial decisions. Stop by his blog, Wealth Pilgrim, for more.

All content copyright Cash Money Life.

No related posts.

IF YOURE looking for a good example of how corporate social media campaigns are rapidly overtaking traditional investor relations communications in both reach and effectiveness, look no further than Hewlett-Packard Companys (NYSE:HPQ) announcement that it is acquiring Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) for $1.2 Billion.

While HPs announcement on April 28 was made via the usual website postings, PR wire release, analyst conference call, and regulatory filings, the most significant publicity and attention around the announcement was driven by the companys digital corporate communications team.

By using a variety of social media channels, including microblogging service Twitter, social network Facebook, and document sharing services SlideShare and Scribd, HPs web communications pros reached thousands of interested individuals and professionals, who in turn shared the information with thousands more of their online connections and readers.

A $1.2B deal in just 82 characters

News from HP about the deal first hit the social media world on Twitter at 4:08pm ET when HPs @HPnews account, which has 16,500 followers, issued the Tweet shown below.

This message was ultimately re-shared hundreds of times over, reaching tens of thousands of people with the companys message long before the mainstream media and Wall Street analysts had a chance to analyze the deal.

Although it is only 82 characters long, theres a lot to take note of in that one short message. For starters, it is written in all-capitals. Generally, you should never use all-caps, but in this case the news was important and the capitals help to make the tweet stand out among the dozens of messages that compete for the average Twitter users attention at any given time.

The second thing to notice are the tickers $HPQ and $PALM. By including these in its message, HP was directing the news to StockTwits, a service built on top of Twitter that is primarily used by investors and traders. Including the dollar symbols and tickers resulted in any StockTwits users interested in either HP or Palm getting the news almost instantaneously.

Last but not least is the tip @techmeme part of the message. This is designed to alert the editors at the popular technology news aggregator Techmeme about the news. Since Techmeme is read by almost every technology journalist and blogger in the business, getting the news on Techmeme has the effect of spreading it more quickly and getting it picked up by scores of technology media websites and blogs.

The main heading is a link to HP's media section. All of the smaller links below it are websites and blogs that have referenced the news or linked to the company's release.

The only negatives about HPs initial announcement tweet are that it was about 3 minutes later than the actual news release, and it linked to the release on Business Wires website rather than to the version on HPs own website.

Synchronizing the timing of announcements across all web channels is something I addressed in my recent post on social media and investor relations compliance. And linking to the companys website rather than to a third-party site is key to companies developing their sites into recognized channels under the SECs Regulation FD guidance, as Google is doing.

As it turned out, however, Techmemes readers tended to favor the version of the release on HPs website media section, so it soon become the most linked-to resource on the deal anyway.

Following its initial Twitter message, HP used Twitter to post updates about the analyst conference call and to provide links to media and blog articles about the acquisition until late into the evening. Most of these messages were also sent to StockTwits.

Uploads to document sharing sites

As part of its social media treatment of the acquisition, HP uploaded the deal presentation to the SlideShare presentation sharing website, while the news release was uploaded to the Scribd document sharing service (see embeds below).

The availability of these embeddable documents, which analysts, journalists, finance bloggers and anyone else can freely use on their own websites or blogs, was made known by HP via Twitter. HP cleverly copied both SlideShare and Scribd on the Tweets, and both services quickly made the documents featured content on their sites, exposing the information to thousands of their users.

As I write this, SlideShare is reporting that HPs presentation has been viewed 5,200 times and embedded on 12 separate websites and blogs, including the highly popular Mashable website. Meanwhile, Scribd is reporting the news release has been read 1,000 times on the site.

HP to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion

Facebook: less fanfare

On HPs official Facebook page, which has 66,000 fans, the news was treated with less fanfare. Two items were posted to the pages wall, the first was a link to an article on the Engadget gadget news website and the second was a link to the SlideShare presentation.

Between the two, they attracted 155 likes and 46 comments from fans. Its unclear to me why HP chose not to link to the official news release on the deal or use Facebook more deliberately given that the page has many more fans than the companys Twitter account.

And HPs IR website?

The most striking thing about all the web activity around the Palm acquisition is that HPs traditional investor relations website barely registered as a source of information about the deal. Almost all of the traffic and third-party links to the companys website were directed to the media section of the site rather than to the investor relations section.

For instance, Backtype shows that the deal news release in the media section of the companys website attracted 1,734 tweets and 152 comments on various websites. Meanwhile, the news release in the companys investor relations section received a paltry 21 tweets. Even sites like SlideShare and Scribd attracted more interest.

Clearly, social media is changing the nature of investor relations communications. IR departments might want to start paying attention.

IN A development that demonstrates the potential for the social web to bring companies and their shareholders closer, Canadian-based copper producer TVI Pacific Inc. (TSE:TVI) has recognized the discussion board on the companys Facebook page as its official Corporate Discussion Forum.

The move to official status was announced in an April 22 news release providing details of the companys annual meeting and updating investors on the construction of a zinc extraction system at the companys Philippine mine. The release referred readers to the companys Facebook discussion board for more information about the the Zinc circuit.

Designation of the Facebook discussion board as an official company communications channel was made in a news release.

Since launching its Facebook page in November 2009, the discussion board feature, which is bundled by default with all Facebook pages, has developed into a key communication channel between TVI and its investors. The first posts on the forum were initiated by retail investors. As of April 22, almost 200 posts have been made across 33 separate discussions.

By officially adopting the Facebook discussion board, TVI is now drawing all investors attention to the fact that the forum is a formal part of the companys communications program and that they may find useful information there. It was important to do this so that all investors were made aware of the boards existence and have an opportunity to review the information the company is providing on it.

The move also demonstrates the companys commitment to a method of communication that its retail investors have adopted and are comfortable with.

Quelling rumors, building relationships

TVI does not use the forum to disclose material non-public information. The information the company posts provides useful context and additional explanation. However, the information is obviously of high value to investors because they are consistently appreciative of it.

Its worthwhile reviewing the discussion board yourself to see the nature of investors questions and the companys posts.

TVIs executive director of investor relations Rhonda Bennetto explained it this way in an email: TVI decided to adopt Facebook as its official corporate discussion forum for two reasons. First, it is an effective way to correct the facts. When we notice, on public chat rooms like Stockhouse Bullboards, incorrect information about TVI , we post a discussion topic and simply post the correct information. I know it works because I will see a post on the Bullboards a short time later quoting the correct information. This has been very effective in keeping the facts straight.

The second reason is that its important for us to develop relationships with our shareholders and by using Facebook, we can identify with them without the anonymous factor. Shareholders who are personally or emotionally attached to a company tend to be more loyal and less likely to spook in a downturn.

An example of a typical discussion on the forum

User profiles make participants more accountable

Access to view the discussion board is open to the public and all information on it is exposed to public search engines such as Google. However, only individuals with a Facebook profile are able to join the page and post comments and questions.

As the page owner, TVI can moderate participation by blocking people from joining its page and by deleting discussions or posts. The company has posted a simple Discussion Board Etiquette that states that the discussion board is not an opinion or venting forum and any posts that lean in that direction, or hint at slander or defamation, will be removed and that account blocked from further participation.

A major difference between Facebook and other forums, including Broadridges InvestorNetwork, is that most participants are identifiable. Facebook does not permit anonymous profiles, and even though privacy settings can mask much of a users information, its impossible to be completely anonymous if a user wants to post content to the forum. Non-registered users who have read-only access are completely anonymous to the company.

This makes participants more accountable for their actions and statements and, coupled with the moderation tools, leads to a higher standard of decorum compared to anonymous message boards.

Being able to view participants public profiles, including friends lists and their interests, gives participants a greater sense of community and understanding of who they are conversing with.

From a legal perspective, companies are not responsible for comments made by other participants. Of course, any posts by companies or on their behalf are subject to securities laws, so the same rules that apply to any other communications apply on a forum.

User profiles make participants more accountable for what they say and help other participants to know who they are dealing with.

More user control over privacy than typical IR website

Although Facebook often draws criticism over privacy issues, the fact is that the social network gives investors greater control over their privacy than they have on companies’ investor relations websites.

Many companies use advanced tracking systems on their IR websites, a fact that is typically not disclosed to the investors and analysts who use the sites. By comparison, companies have limited access to information on the use of their Facebook pages. In the case of users who are not signed in to Facebook, no identifying information is available to page owners.

Ultimately, TVI is responding to something initiated by its retail investors. Institutional investors and analysts likely will find the forum of limited value.

But then they often have the luxury of having IROs, CFOs and CEOs on speed dial.

* Disclosure: I was consulted informally by Rhonda Bennetto prior to the company making this announcement. I advised her to make the forum an official part of the companys communications program so that all investors were made aware that the company may use it to post relevant information and context.

Sponsoring themes is the most killer way to build thousands of
backlinks for a very low price. It is among the most popular methods
among webmasters to get their link a lot of backlinks. It is important
that you more specifically focus on sponsoring WordPress themes.

I am sure that most bloggers today started off with a free WordPress
theme. Even when you were a newbie blogger you must have used a free
Wordpress theme on your blog. Similarly, most people cannot afford a
new WordPress theme and the first thing they browse are for the free
themes that are developed for Wordpess.

If you sponsor a theme they you can encrypt your blog link in the
footer of the theme. And whenever a blogger uses the particular
Wordpress theme then you automatically get the backlink.

Many blogger have built over 10,000 links over a short period of
theme. Many bloggers have clearly experienced a jump in their page
rank and traffic with the increase in backlinks to their site. So it
is important that you always try new ways to improve the number of
backlinks. And sponsoring WordPress themes are a great way to boost
your number of backlinks.

Where to Sponsor a theme?

You can sponsor a theme at DigitalPoint forum this is the best place
on the whole of internet. There are always 10-15 themes that you can
choose from to sponsor. Each theme allows 3-4 sponsors although it
depends. All the theme developers are experts and professionals in the
area.

But there are a few things that you should keep in mind while
sponsoring a theme-

What niches will the theme cater to?

It is important that you know what kind of niche blogs will use the
theme. It is very important that the theme is related to your website
niche. This way you can get the most of the SEO from backlinks.

Scope of use

Would you yourself use the theme if you had to? It is important that you sponsor a theme that most blogger would love to use.

Hope you use the technique to improve your backlinks.

Related posts:

1. Should You Buy a Premium WordPress theme?
2. How to Boost Backlinks through Article Submission Directories?
3. IF God had to Blog he Would Use Thesis WordPress Theme

WHERE THE JOBS ARE NOW: The Fastest Growing Industries and How to Break into Them
by Joe Watson

Excerpt from McGraw-Hill Professional Group:

Despite the current job market, there are industries that are still extremely successful and open to new job seekers. Prominent career advisor Joe Watson shows you how to delve into the top 7 industries for stability, profitability, and job satisfaction.

Where the Jobs Are Now is a one-stop resource and reference guide that breaks down these growth industries (healthcare, biotechnology, energy, education, government, security and information technology) and their roles in a clear, down-to-earth way, and most importantly, shows how you can quickly gain the necessary skills for a long and profitable career in any of these fields. Regain your feelings of security and confidence and take control of your future.

• Gives a detailed breakdown of career opportunities in the fastest-growing industries
• Offers the most recent information on how to get the training you need to start in or transfer to one of these industries – with minimal disruption

This book helps you match your existing skills to the market and get the training you needwithout overturning your life. Take control of your future with an exciting new career that is guaranteed to weather any economic climate.

My Thoughts: I agree that healthcare and biotechnology are some of the fastest growing careers. Especially in research. The salary for healthcare research is decent, but above that, the career has been extremely stable in the face of recession.

More from Amazon: Where the Jobs Are Now: The Fastest Growing Industries and How to Break into Them

To Enter:

Leave me a comment by Saturday night, May 1st. I will pick a winner on Sunday, May 2nd.