African History & Development

Ready to branch out? Tips to Test Your Online Dating Service

So you’ve decided to take the plunge and sign up for an online dating service. You’ve searched around, settle on a few sites and now you’re ready to write your profile, select one of your best pictures and open your account. The entire process can be a little bit intimidating so here are a few tips to help you get started.

1. Check out the database for singles in your local area.

If you meet someone that you like then you’ll want to meet them for drinks or dinner in your local area, so make sure that the listing covers your zip code and a few more that are close to home.

This is especially important if you live in a hard to reach area or if you live in a smaller city and must do some driving to get to the local hotspots. Another item you want to look for is how many singles area actually in the online dating database and see if they are currently active.

2. Look for services that allow you to post a current photograph because pictures can easily double or triple your response rate.

The top online dating services have added or they are in the process of adding 30 second video personals, live chat and video chat applications. It is always a good idea to try out all of the services available during your free trial period to see if they are compatible with your needs and if they are easy to use.

3. Sites that allow multimedia profiles

Most of the major sites will allow you anywhere from a few paragraphs to an entire page to describe yourself and your interests. Some of the matchmaking sites will also offer help from writing and relationship experts to help you create an effective profile. This will come at an additional charge so check your membership agreement for all policies before you sign up.

You should also look for niche communities within the larger online dating site because this will also increase your ability to attract a partner in less time.

If there are chat boards for city dwellers, southerners, lesbians, Christian singles etc. then you can easily sift through millions of daters by spending your time working within the niche group that most closely resembles your back ground and interests.

These are just a few of the things that you can do to test out your online dating service during your free trial period.

Five reasons to join an online dating service

1. You get a lot more choices when you participate in online dating events.

Imagine signing on and with a few mouse clicks getting access to all of the single men and women in your local area. In addition, you can quickly find people based on looks, religion or any other factor that you find important.

Some might consider it shallow to judge someone based on looks, but we are talking about someone who could be your partner for life.

If you only like red heads why go through the process with 100 brunettes? It’s something to think about.

2. Clarify your vision of your perfect spouse.

As you start writing your online dating profile you will probably need to stop and think for a few minutes about the type of person that you want to date. You must weigh the superficial against the other things like sincerity, religious background and other factors that can greatly influence the type of life you will have together.

3. You can be honest about your real needs.

Sometimes there is a quality that we want in a spouse, but we are embarrassed to mention it to our friends and family. So your mother sets you up with local doctors and teachers when in fact, you want someone who is big on travel because you would like to see more of the world.

In the online dating world, you can be brutally honest about what you need. Since you have access millions of other online dating profiles it can help your efforts to be as specific as possible.

4. You can go online and review your matches at your convenience.

If you come home from work and don’t feel like meeting someone for coffee then you can just curl up in bed, log on to the online dating service and chat with a few people, check out the message boards and maybe send out some emails to a few matches.

5. Online dating memberships are cheaper than using a professional matchmaker.

Since the profiles and matching databases are usually built by relationship experts you can get access to matchmaking expertise at a fraction of the cost.

Warren Buffett Becomes The Richest Person On The Planet

Warren Buffett has become the richest man in the world thanks to the growth in his Berkshire Hathaway stock. According to Fortune Magazine, Mr. Buffet is now worth $62 Billion and that puts him at the top of the list, followed by Carlos Slim and Bill Gates in third position.

Mr. Slim created a stir in the media last year when he upstaged Bill Gates and became the richest person in the world.

Given the volatility of the global stock market following the massive mortgage meltdown, it is probably safe to say that the top three, and possibly the top five people on the list will be shuffled around for some time.

Bill Gates previously held the title as the richest man on the planet for 13 years in a row.

You can read more from this article on Quick Online Tips or the complete profile from Fortune Magazine.

A home equity loan is not without risk

It is often said that the best way to get out of debt, is to stay out of debt. If you cannot pay off the new debt that is now secured with your real property, you can lose your home.  A home equity loan is a temporary proposition and must be approached in such a manner.

If you are overwhelmed and overextended, only a long term financial strategy that includes budgeting, paying off existing debts and possibly increasing your income can really lead to a debt free lifestyle.

The $25 trillion dollar land grab

There is a nice little article on the money magazine website about the growth of residential and commercial real estate in the ten fastest growing “megapolitans” in the country. I’m living in one right now and hope to move to another by the end of the year. These areas account for about two thirds of the current population and will increase in percentages and in real numbers by 2030.

Here’s a quick article excerpt: “There has been an impressive amount of construction in the United States over the last three centuries: All told, we've built more than 300 billion square feet of homes, offices, factories and other structures.

But according to new studies from the Brookings Institution and Virginia Tech urban planning professor Robert Lang, we're about to pick up the pace -- it will take just 25 years to erect the next 200 billion square feet, which we'll need to accommodate 70 million more people and to replace homes and offices erased by everything from disasters like Hurricane Katrina to plain old obsolescence.”

Whether you plan to buy property for your family or as an investment, this article is a great place to start. There is also some statistical information about the growth of jobs and available retail space for development in each area.

Las Vegas Realtors having a field day

The Las Vegas Real estate market is still one of the strongest around. According to industry statistics, over 7, 000 people migrate to the desert city every year. Builders are still struggling to keep up so sellers and others trying to leave the city can easily cash in with their own property. Most of the demand is for new homes, but older homes in good condition can also bring in premium prices for their owners. 

Some more quick information about Las Vegas Realtors and their hot market activity:

If you’re thinking of moving to the desert paradise remember that cost of living is an important issue. Las Vegas is a boom town and everyone knows it. Home prices are rising, cost of living is rising, cost of private schools and other essential utilities are also rising. Also, remember that this is a desert city, much more so than Los Angeles. Summer weather can be brutal easily reaching the low 100s and the teens (113, 115) etc. inside the city and metropolitan borders.

Also expect to put up with a lot of construction. You might buy a home with a great view, but that view can easily disappear in a year or two when another home or development is constructed.

To get some real facts on moving to and living in Las Vegas, check out the official Las Vegas city pages.

Daily Money Tips

Why estate planning matters! Middle Class Americans are passing on their wealth to their children and grand children at record rates.

Bankruptcy filings soar ahead of law changes. See the rush to file for bankruptcy protection before the procedure gets a lot more difficult after October 10th, 2005.

What's a credit score? Most people are still not sure about their credit scores including what exactly goes into calculating the score, how to get a copy of their credit report and how to improve their credit score. The most common questions for consumers? They don't know why a good score suddenly goes bad.

Did you know that there is a statute of limitations on Credit card debts? According to this article on Bankrate, there is a limit, but it varies by state. The limit is calculated based on the last date of use of the last time a payment was made. Of course, this only applies to credit card debts. For other financial debts check with an attorney or financial advisor in your area.

Best of the Seeking Alpha Network. This is a list of the best article from the Seeking Alpha Blog Network. A Network of financial services blog with great daily tips to save money, make money and more.

SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) opening a formal inquiry into the sale of HCA, Inc. shares by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. The company was started by Frist's family. The inquiry stems from several issues including the sale of shares by Frist before a dissapointing quarterly earnings report that led the stock to take a huge dive.

A few quotes on Love

Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other.
Euripides

Love does not consist in gazing at each other
but in looking together in the same direction.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes.
There’s too much fraternizing with the enemy.
Henry Kissinger

If you have love in your life it can make up for a great many things you lack. If you don't have it, no matter what else there is, it's not enough.
Ann Landers

Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.
Elie Wiesel

Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all
St. Augustine

Daily Real Estate Links

Quick roundup of the Weekly Mortgage Rates in some of the top metro areas.

Home Mortgages Applications fell Last Week as rising interest rates deterred existing homeowners from getting home equity loans and potential home owners from applying for new loans.

US Housing Starts dip 1.3 percent in August

Fannie Mae offers temporary housing to Hurricane Katrina Victims. Over 1500 foreclosed single family homes have been offered by the agency as temporary housing units for the victims of the devastating hurricanes. Freddie Mac also getting into the action by offering forbearance to homeowners who are victims of the hurricane as well as National Guard Servicemen helping with rescues and the cleanup.

Paying your mortgage after a natural disaster. Many victims of Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita and other natural disasters will need help from their Mortgage companies to get forebearance, payment extensions and other types of assistance with maintaining their good credit standing and holding on to their homes.

File for bankruptcy before the law changes

Bankruptcy attorneys are getting deluged with clients from all over the country to want to beat the October 17, 2005 deadline for the new bankruptcy laws to go into effect. One big change coming with the new law is that bankruptcy filers must go into some sort of credit counseling program if they want their petition to be considered and granted.

Many critics argue that this is not necessary and putting unnecessary strain on the system, but others argue that this is exactly what’s needed to enlighten consumers who are facing bankruptcy. It will be interesting to see how things turn out since many people end up in bankruptcy after finding themselves unable to cover medical expenses and many other one time large debt payments. 

Is it a matter of financial planning or just being caught between a rock and a hard place? Only time will tell.