Month: October 2007

Landing at Logan International BEFORE Garmin nüvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America: Land at 9 pm ET, find way to rental car, get in rental car, ask rental car attendant for directions to Mass Pike West. Make the first turn correctly. Miss the second one. End up on who knows which freeway but definitely not the Mass Pike.
In the dark, in the rain. Apparently street lights are illegal in MA.
Several miles and many tears later, pull into gas station to find out what was already known – this was the wrong direction. Get correct directions from gas station attendant, hoping this was not the MA equivalent of the Tenderloin, try to memorize them, and get back on the road.
Pray I don’t miss the turn this time.
Landing at Logan International AFTER Garmin nüvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America: Land at 9 pm ET, find way to rental car, get in rental car, snap Garmin onto the windshield. A nice Australian accented female voice tells me to make a left, then a right, then the first left. Mass Pike West entrance is successful.
Drive through Mass Pike, only to find it consists of miles of tunnels. Garmin satelite doesn’t do tunnels.
Ah oh.
Just before entering tunnel # 2 Garmin reconnects to satelite and announces a turn was missed. She recalculates. She suggests the next viable option. Hop right on it. 45 mintes later I arrive at my destination. No tears, no panic, and only one easily recoverable missed turn.
If you are wondering if Garmin nüvi 350 Pocket Vehicle GPS Navigator with Maps for North America is worth it’s $366.99 sticker price, just ask my husband. He will tell you it is worth every penny:-)

After giving up on The Expected One, I moved on to Suze Orman’s The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. It was great! It was very accessible and easy to read. Rich Dad, Poor Dad, is still my favorite and something I consider a must read, but this book really helped me understand a lot more about our money and how to protect it.
For example, and keep in mind I am paraphrasing big time here, did you know that if all you have is a will, when you (and your spouse, if applicable) pass, all of your assets must first go into probate? This can take months to years before titles to properties are transferred to the beneficiary. Once it is out of probate, some states, including CA of course, have a standard probate tax – and it’s material. How do you avoid this tax? You really should read the book, but in short you can create something called a revocable living trust.
She goes over a lot more, like durable power of attorney (so you don’t end up stuck on a respirator somewhere), life insurance, long term care insurance (1 in 2 adults who have LTC insurance will use it), and bypass trusts (they protect your beneficiaries from federal estate tax). It is a quick read and I feel a lot more confident on how to prepare for the future. I am now reading Cramer’s Mad Money. It’s really good so far too.