10 Tips: Mental illness can be emotionally — and financially — draining
By Laura T. Coffey

It can happen to anyone, from any walk of life, when you least expect it. A child can be diagnosed with autism. An aging parent can be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A middle-aged spouse can be diagnosed with any number of incapacitating mental disorders.

While such illnesses take an obvious emotional toll, they can hurt families financially as well.

MILFORD — Colleen Birney has worked in the restaurant business for nearly a decade, so there's little the Milford resident doesn't know about proper alcohol-serving practices.
A bartender at Nello's Lacantina, Birney considers herself a good and knowledgeable server. But even she was "surprised" that it was legal in the state of Connecticut for parents to purchase alcohol for their underage children in a licensed restaurant.

By Gary D. Williams
Brigham Young University
Business owners are bombarded with information on what to do to be successful. Scores of books have been written on topics like "25 Tips for Successful Marketing," "Ten Rules to Grow a Business" or "Five Ways to Beat the Competition."
While that kind of information is important and can be very useful to entrepreneurs, it is just as important to know what mistakes not to make and what not to do when starting a new venture.

Contemplation about your death is never pleasant, but doing the wise thing by foreseeing the possible circumstances of your demise and impact on your family is an honorable act. A last will is a document/form that will ensure your wishes are upheld upon your death.

The most important reason why you probably want to make a perfect last will and testament is because you want your loved ones to inherit your precious wealth. You can also use a last will to determine whom the legal guardian(s) for your children will be. A tax efficient last will can help ensure your wealth is mainly transferred to your loved ones by allowing you to name an executor of your will. The executor will ensure the application of the will.

There are a few basic things you should consider while making your will. Make your will at a young age before your so old or become so senile that it could be argued you were too mentally incompetent to execute your last will and testament. Also, remember to always date your last will since a newer last will always cancels out the older last will and testament. Finally, its best to keep your last will as simple, precise, and as easy to read/understand as possible.

Whomever the will is for (the "testator") must sign their last will and testament in the company of at least two witnesses who are not beneficiaries of the will and can attest to it. Each page of the last will and testament must be signed by the testator, numbered, and dated accordingly (any corrections must be countersigned).

It is best to keep the will in a safe place you and the beneficiaries know about; typically this is a bank vault. Any signed copies can be held by an advocate. Codicils can be attached to it and read out to make changes in the will.

Although, if there are too many changes it's best just to write a new will.

The main contents of the will are:
1) Name and home address
2) Short descriptions of your assets

The Hypocrisy of Insider Trading Laws
by: Terry Mitchell

Perhaps Walter Williams and I are the only two people on earth who can see the hypocrisy of insider trading laws. I somehow doubt it, though. Williams wrote a column about a year ago, lambasting these laws and I'm going to pick up where he left off. These laws run counter the notion we accept in every other aspect of society that life is unfair. In every facet of life, there are people who have access to advantages that others do not have. However, we don't attempt to make these advantages illegal except when it comes to insider trading.

The Hidden Danger of the So-Called "Right to Die"
by: Terry Mitchell

In October of 2003, the case of 39-year-old Terri Schiavo once again brought into focus the debate over the so-called "right to die." The Florida woman was temporarily removed from her feeding tube (via a court order received by husband), but was put back on it a few days later when the Florida legislature authorized Governor Jeb Bush to issue a stay. As of this writing, her fate is still being debated in the courts and her case might now be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court. But I wonder if the right to die is something we really want? I always shudder a bit when politicians start talking about giving me more rights. Rights have a funny way of morphing into obligations.

Government Overregulation of Broadcast Content Could Backfire
by: Terry Mitchell

Rush is right! The government's stepped up bid to regulate broadcast television content is indeed frightening. Limbaugh made his comments during one of his regular radio broadcasts last year. Those remarks were in response to the FCC's crackdown on broadcast indecency and Congress' threats to hand out much larger fines to broadcasters for such violations, in the wake of Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl halftime show last February.

Limbaugh is the not only media personality alarmed by this intensified government scrutiny of television content. At the beginning of his news program on CNN during that same time frame, Aaron Brown said he thought the only thing worse than Jackson's Super Bowl debacle is the fact that the government is now getting involved in trying to prevent similar incidents in the future. Amen, Aaron!

Plaintiff Funding
by: Wensley McKenney

Plaintiff Funding is a controversial new finance area in which a plaintiff secures funding based strictly on the potential financial recovery from his or her pending legal claim. Similar to securing a mortgage against your home, a plaintiff can receive a cash advance against the potential future proceeds from a legal claim. There are no income or employment verifications and if the legal claim has no financial recovery, then the plaintiff is NOT obligated to repay the money.

Certain companies like Global Financial (http://www.glofin.com) offer low cost cash advances to victims of personal injury & work related injuries. The cash advances can be obtained quickly and with very little personal credit, however, there are those that oppose this type of financing. Some lawyers point out that the fees are high for their clients and that other options like dissability insurance or goverment programs may be more beneficial and less costly.