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The process of transitioning out of the military can present its own unique set of challenges. While the armed services train soldiers well in technical and leadership skills and do provide soldiers with many useful resources as they exit, there are some things that military service does not prepare you for when re-entering civilian life.

Here are five tips to help make the transition a bit easier:

How to connect to a new communityWith its relocation and MWR departments, the military does a lot to help soldiers and their families adjust to a new base, posting and locale. Once out of the service, though, you may find connecting to a new community quite daunting. Apart from become involved with the school your children attend and joining a new religious organization, there are other ways to immediately connect to a new community.

Tapping into your interests, hobbies and sports can reveal others who are like-minded and share your passions. You can also choose to get involved by volunteering with a not-for-profit organization or taking a class at the local community college or at a hobby or home improvement store. Many cities also offer a Newcomer’s Group to welcome recent additions to their new home. Check out the meetings and events calendar in your newspaper or ask at the local library to find out when they meet. It’s a great way to meet people who may know a lot about the city, who can perhaps point you towards other resources and groups and who want to welcome strangers. Finally, civic organizations and special interest groups offer a further way to involve yourself in a new community and build long-term relationships that can help with your career as well as your social life.

How to write a resumeInstead of a resume, the military uses a Field Service Record to detail qualifications, training and experience. This poses several challenges to you in civilian life. First, you may never have had to write a resume. Second, the information contained in the service record is dictated by military regulations. It may include things not applicable to a resume while neglecting to mention other useful and marketable skill sets. Finally, they are written in military language that is difficult to translate into civilian speak.

In addition to learning how to write a good resume, you must also learn how to remain marketable in today’s business climate. Military planners often look ahead to determine future needs and train soldiers accordingly. Also, few soldiers are concerned about getting laid off in a downsizing. You didn’t have to be ready with a current resume and a strong network of contacts. In the competitive civilian world, individuals must keep informed about where their chosen industry is heading and gain or refresh skill sets ahead of when they are needed to ensure their future employability.

Although soldiers pride themselves on being resourceful and self-reliant, this is one area in which it’s best to obtain professional help. On many bases, there is a department that provides soldiers with specialized help in creating a good civilian resume and there are numerous outside sources of help as well.

How to select your family’s support teamMedical and dental care and basic life insurance is provided to all active military members and their dependants and soldiers. Similarly, soldiers have access to basic legal services through the Judge Advocate General (JAG) office.

Once out of the military, these support services are no longer available and you may have no idea how to locate, interview and select medical health providers, life insurance, lawyers and financial planners. It’s important to learn about these different services, determine what your family’s needs are and thoroughly research the providers before choosing your support team. Many resources are available, particularly on the Internet, to help you. Several even list important questions to ask during the interview process as well as the customer service record of various providers.

How to succeed in the civilian business world One of the first things that soldiers encounter is the competitive nature of the civilian business environment. Most find the dog-eat-dog mindset of their new civilian co-workers and supervisors bewildering and disappointing. After participating collaboratively in military service where you are trained from boot camp on to look out for and depend on the other members of your team, you may quickly discover that civilian workers are often lone wolves when it comes to careers. Where you might expect camaraderie and support, you might find anything from caution to backstabbing, from poor morale to ruthlessness. While this is not true of every work environment, you need to understand that this behavior grows out of a competitive employment climate marked by downsizing, industry shifts and turnover.

In the military, you are given an assignment for a specific length of time at a standard pay grade with a predictable salary and are provided with the clothing, equipment, and training necessary to carry out the mission objective. Ordinarily, you don’t face such issues as researching a company prior to a job interview, negotiating salary and benefits packages, selecting and purchasing a civilian work wardrobe, keeping skills and a resume updated frequently, being ready for downsizing, creating and maintaining a network and giving a resignation notice without burning any bridges.

Working with a transition coach or other similar resource can help to process the experience and ease the pains of necessary change.

How to start your own businessPerhaps because former military members find the civilian business environment so alien, some decide to become their own bosses and start their own businesses. Unfortunately, many aspiring small business owners do not take the time to fully research and plan how to start and run a business and lose whatever savings they have managed to accumulate. Starting your own business requires a clear vision, full commitment, plenty of work, and realistic planning.

Fortunately, there are many resources available. Start with a local Chamber of Commerce or Small Business Development Center (part of the SBA). These organizations can help or point you in the direction of further assistance.

By Bob Schwartz, California Gold Nugget Prospector

There is a giant vacuum scooping up most of your financial wealth and you dont even hear the noise. Quite simply, you are going broke. The US currency was designed to be, literally, as good as gold, from the very beginning. The Constitution states that our currency was meant to be only gold and silver to prevent exactly what is been happening to the US dollar right now.

When the gold standard was set in place the price of gold remained a constant $20.65 per ounce and fluctuated only one penny over the years 1833 to 1890. From the years 1891 to 1930 the price of gold was still pretty stable. The low was $20.58 and the high $21.32 per ounce. This means that for the period of 1833 through 1930, a total of 97 years, the price for 1 ounce of gold changed only 74 in US dollars. An interesting fact is that gold hit an all-time low $17.06 during the Depression year of 1931.

Many people believe that the 1931 goal was influenced by the newly formed Federal Reserve which kept the money supply very tight. Some believe that it was the Great Depression that created the Federal Reserve. Actually, the Federal Reserve was created in 1913, well before the Great Depression. Since the Fed’s creation, the US has been slowly going off the gold standard. On August 15, 1971, President Nixon announced that the United States would no longer redeem US currency for gold. This was actually the final step for the US abandoning the gold standard.

Since going off the gold standard the value of the US dollar has been steadily and continuously declining. While the actual price of gold remained fairly consistent, one has to look at the value of the dollar. Since going off the gold standard, the dollar has declined.

Recently the price of gold hit all time highs at over $1400 an ounce. Since then the rate has dropped below $1400 but the Federal Reserves latest scheme to buy 600 trillion of the Treasury’s debt, it seems certain that gold is about to reach a new high once again.

Now here’s an interesting fact: In 1964, a quarter would buy you a gallon of gas. Quarters made in 1964 and earlier were roughly 90% silver and 10% copper. Today, with gas going for about three dollars a gallon, the silver in that pre-1964 quarter would buy over a gallon and a half worth of gas. So you can see, it’s not that the price of silver has gone up so much. It’s the fact that the dollar has been tumbling that makes this possible.

There are many out there that are saying this is a gold and silver bubble and it’s about to bust.

The uncontrolled spending here in California by the state government, as well as the Federal government, indicates the dollar value will continually erode, at least in the foreseeable future.

It takes about 5 1/2 pre-1964 quarters to make up 1 ounce of silver. In my example above you can see that the price of gold and silver actually remains quite constant, while the paper currencies that are not tried to gold and silver have actually declined. One can look to the European countries to see the crisis that’s happening with the Euro and individual currencies.

Today the current country in economic distress is Ireland, a few weeks ago it was Greece, and people believe Spain is in the same boat.

This overspending and debt creation has been driving the purchasing power of the dollar down. This is exactly what the founders of the Constitution warned us about and foresaw to prevent by putting us on a gold standard to back our currency. The current $600 trillion Treasury note debt purchase by the Federal Reserve, is just a tax on all US citizens. The government is taking money from each and every citizen by pushing down the value of the dollar. The vast majority of citizens don’t realize this is a tax; in reality that’s exactly what it is.

If you listen to the government, you’ll hear there is no inflation. Go to the grocery store and look at prices for basic staples (milk, fresh vegetables, cheese); they’ve all gone way up. Even though ones salary has been pretty consistent, youre able to purchase much less and have much less disposable income. The concern is not the fact that these commodities are going up; it is that the dollar value is going down.

Investor portfolios should include gold investment in order to offset the decline in the dollars purchasing power.

The majority of the worlds gold mining results in fine gold dust and natural gold nuggets are rare. Everyone should have some investments in gold.

My personal passion is weekend gold nugget hunting. The adventure of finding my own nuggets is a joy. Meeting many other prospectors has been educational and fun.

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By Sean A. Kelly

Christmas is just round the corner and you are probably one of those doing some last minute shopping. Many people are looking for ways to fund their Christmas shopping. If you are not cash rich, you would probably be funding your shopping with credit cards or personal loans. You can always skip Christmas shopping to save some money. But what is Christmas without some gifts? You could be wondering how to pay off your debt after Christmas. You might even have debts from last Christmas. Find a partner like Freedom Debt Relief to help you find a solution to debt relief.

Freedom Debt Relief is a reputable and solid partner for debt relief. As a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it is one of the leading debt resolution providers in the country managing $1 Billion of debt. It has helped customers to settle $40 Million of debt every month and the amount is growing. Freedom Debt Relief (FDR) runs a program called Freedom Fresh Start. It is an effective debt reduction or debt settlement program to help its clients resolve debt burdens in a short amount of time. There is no risk to you in using this program because FDR guarantees no fees payment for its services until your debt is successfully resolved.

There are a few programs to settle your credit card debt and debt settlement is one of them. Debt settlement or debt negotiation is the process whereby you negotiate with creditors to reduce overall debts. The creditor must first agree to forgive a certain percentage of the total amount owing. The reduced balance will then be paid either in a lump sum payment or divided into smaller amount of monthly payments. However, not all debts can be negotiated. Debts secured by real assets like home loans and auto loans cannot be settled.

Many people have turned to debt settlement to solve their debt problems in favor of credit counseling or bankruptcy. The negative side of debt negotiation is that the forgiven balance is considered taxable balance by IRS. You may seek advice from your tax advisor on Cancellation of Debt Income and obtain more details about Form 182. In addition, the settlement will also be noted on credit report creating a negative impact.

If debt settlement is not for you, you may want to consider other options to settle your credit card debts.

? Balance Transfer: If you have a few credit card debts, then balance transfer is the simplest way to consolidate these debts. Total up all the monthly minimum payments which you have to make for your credit cards. You will get a combined balance. Add an extra amount to this combined balance and you will get a new monthly amount. Transfer all your credit card debts to one new balance transfer card and pay the new monthly amount every month. The extra amount you pay every month will be a great help to settle you debts. You could check out balance transfer program with 0% interest rate and zero transfer fees or low transfer fees cap at $50 to $70.

?Debt Consolidation Loan: If you have large credit card debts which you probably cannot pay off during the balance transfer offer period, you may consider debt consolidation loan. If you own a home with equity you can take up home equity or refinance loans. It is a good way to pay off your debts because it has low interest rate and it is tax deductible. You could also apply for a personal loan which comes with higher interest rates and is also more difficult to get approval.

? Credit Counseling: Credit counseling is a service that helps to review your debts, income and expenses and work with you to create a payment plan called Debt Management Plan (DMP). With DMP you only need to make a single monthly payment to the service and it will distribute it to your creditors. Prior to this, the service will work with your creditor to reduce the interest rates and fix a monthly payment amount. Many lenders perceive this service as similar to bankruptcy even though it will not affect your credit score.

? Bankruptcy: This is your last resort if everything else fails. However, it is more difficult to eliminate credit card debts through bankruptcy due to the revisions in 2005 to the bankruptcy law.

You may not be sure which option is the best for your situation. You could probably speak to consultants from debt services companies. They could provide you details of the various options and help you come to a decision. Whatever you decide to do with your debts, it would require commitment and consistency to pay off your debt in the shortest time possible.

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Submitted by: Marcus Brooks

It’s not something people do very often but there’s no doubt it can easily rank as one of the most profitable or most expensive tasks we ever have.

People typically move house 2 or 3 times during their life, so we’re not expected to be very experienced in preparing our houses to be sold. However a little advice goes a long way here, because that bit of extra effort in the right area can quite literally mean substantial amounts of extra cash in your bank account. First impressions count highly when buying houses and if your home creates a favourable mark, you are more likely to sell it quickly and you’ll probably get a higher price too. Don’t give your prospective buyers any excuse not to buy or to knock you down on price.

We’re not talking about a fresh vase of flowers here or some fresh coffee brewing. Those things don’t cut it anymore and people’s expectations are much higher these days. You need to look at some more fundamental changes which may not be easy to achieve but can be well worth it. Broadly speaking the tasks fall into 4 main areas.

Clearing out clutter, repairing, redecorating and cleaning. Before you start any of this you need a clear plan, a budget, some help from friends possibly and some time set aside.

Let s start with clutter. If you’ve lived in your house for more than a few years, then you have probably built up a healthy volume of possessions and goods that are filling every cupboard, wardrobe and spare room. Now is the perfect time to have a good clear out and you need to be ruthless. By all means pack things away and put them out of sight in the loft or even in temporary storage, but you could be

creating a problem further down the line when you move into your new house. Make some hard decisions about possessions you can now live without – if they have any value then consider selling them, giving them away to friends or donating them to a local charity store. If it looks like you’ll need to dispose of lots of stuff then you may choose to hire a skip to make things easier. Don’t forget to clear out your loft and your garage if you have one at the same time.

Next you should fix or repair anything that needs attention. Buyers will expect all the basics of your home to be in good working order and if the property looks as if it has been well-maintained, then people will feel more comfortable about making an offer for your property. For specialist tasks like plumbing or electricals make sure you get expert assistance.

It may seem odd to start redecorating your home when you are just about to move out, but if some of your rooms are looking a little tired or dated, then this task can make a huge difference. Ask some friends to be brutally honest about what they think of your house and which rooms could do with a fresh lick of paint. It’s easy not to notice these things when you are living there. Choose neutral colors when repainting as you want to appeal to as many people as possible. Your prospective buyers may be young or old, families or single people – try not to alienate anyone.

The big push towards a successful sale ends with a thoroughly good clean. A spring clean like you’ve never done before! Get your carpets and furniture cleaned at the same time to remove any musty smells.

So you’re nearly there – all that remains is to make sure you (and your family) keep the house looking great all the way through the sales process. With a little luck all your efforts will be repaid with a quick and profitable sale, making your move into a new home less stressful and much more enjoyable.

About the Author: Marcus Brooks is a writer and publisher of home improvement and property advice. His advice and time saving tips cover a wide range of subjects. His latest initiative on

skip hire

can be found at www.skiphiredirect.co.uk

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