2009 Wedding Website Challenge

February 23, 2009 P-Square's "No One Be Like You" FYI, we don't have the wedding websites for our 2009 challenge up on our website (fabnaija.com) yet, but we will have them up soon for your viewing and rating pleasure. Just passing by.Btw, your website have great content! _________________________________ Making Money $150 An Hour

How the recession can help your love life

February 10, 2009 What's the famous saying: When life gives you lemons make lemonade. If you take this approach during the recession, you might actually find that the recession has a positive effect on your love life in 3 major ways. 1. More Time to Find The One: If you are in the worst case scenario because you've suddenly found yourself out of a job or your hours have been cut at work, you may suddenly find yourself with more time on your hands that you did not have before. No longer required to work late hours, you may have more time to go out to your place(s) of social interests, be it clubs, church, libraries, coffee shops, etc. You may even find yourself with more time to volunteer. More time for social activities could not only mean you have more time to catch up with your friends and family members, it might also mean you have more time to meet new friends and who knows….meet the One. So keep an open mind and even if your career is not going well and it might take forever for things to pick up, there might be a bright side to all this extra time on your hands. 2. Finding Out the Real Person: The recession might help your love life if you're dating because now that money is tight, you might be able to figure out if you and and your "intended" can hang with each other through the tough times or if that special person is just with you for the money. Most people can promise to be with you "in sickness and in health" when you are actually healthy or "for richer and for poorer" when you are in fact rich. If things are not going well, this might a chance to see how your "intended" handles financial stress and whether or not you want to move forward with marriage plans. 3. Enjoying The Best Things: "The best things in life are free," or at least so they say. With the recession, here's your chance to focus on the Best things in life. The small things, the free things, the things that sometimes get lost in all the financial enjoyment. Here's your chance to find out what's most important to your date and focus on providing those things during a date instead of simply spending money lavishly. Perhaps focus on talking and finding out more about each other instead of going out spending time and money with others but never really talking to each other. All in all, the point is life is what you make it, so make it good.

Finding and Keeping Your Love Life (from Oprah)

Jan 29, 2009 We thought this might be helpful if you are single and trying to find "the One." Afterall, we can't have weddings unless you meet that special person. Could this be the year you meet your soul mate? Renowned anthropologist Helen Fisher, PhD, author of the new book Why Him? Why Her?, has a formula for romance based on mixing the right brain chemistry. http://www.oprah.com/article/relationships/200902_omag_love_match

Newly Weds (Financial, etc) Checklist

On a more serious note, today we are talking about other things you should remember in the process of joining two families. You might be completely overwhelmed by wedding preparations, but it's also important to consider your financial and legal marriages. I'm sure you've heard that when you get married, you are not just marrying the person, you also getting married to habits, desires and traits picked up from family. Some financial habits are deal breakers (for example consistently abusing money) while others may just be minor inconveneniences. I prepared this checklist for my friend before she got married in 2005. I hope you find it helpful. Contact me at editor@fabnaija.com if you need more detailed information or legal assistance with preparing documents or structuring your finances. Name & Address Change (if applicable) change address with post office file SS-5 form with Social Security Administration for official name change www.ssa.gov / 1800 772 – 1213 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1800 772 – 1213 end_of_the_skype_highlighting change name and address with company's human resources file From 8882 with IRS for change of address changing with the Post office is usually sufficient for the IRS change, but don't take chances if you are busy, think about whether you should change your name right away. (if you change it in one place, you really need to change it in others to avoid any confusion. If you don't have time to do all this, then leave it for now) Filing Taxes Should you file Jointly or Separately? It is not always beneficial to file jointly when you are married Depends on how much more you have to itemize as a married couple The easiest way to know which is more favorable is to do a rough calculation of either type of filing and see which one saves the most taxes Disability Insurance make sure you have enough you don't want to overburden your spouse's income if you are unable to work for a while some recommend 75 – 80% of your current income long term disability insurance is very important don't take unnecessary risks; get enough Life Insurance may not be necessary till you have kids, if there is no one you are financially responsible for now review any plans you had before marriage to ensure that you have the right beneficiary ie don't forget to the change it to your spouse and children if that's what you want consider who should really be a beneficiary on your life insurance policy. You may want to include your parents (if they are dependent on your for their finances) make sure you have enough life insurance for final expenses (funeral etc) consider funding an irrevocable trust with your life insurance policy (discussed under irrevocable trust below) Get a Durable Power of Attorney: document designates the person who can make certain health decisions when you can't (usually your spouse, but does not have to be) Determine whether the person has a good grasp of what you would like Make sure the person is assertive because people may have a different opinion Make sure the document states what constitutes a terminal illness Will For very interesting tax reasons, you need separate wills. File a copy with your bank. Make sure you follow the rules for will creation in your state Children College fund is the main thing to remember (open as soon as possible) Contribution to college fund is tax free up to the annual gift tax exclusion ($11,000 in 2005 and indexed for inflation) You can set this up in most banks consider separate savings account for children it encourages them to save and they can use the money for something other than education I don't believe the contribution to this account is tax free Consider using the donations the kids receive from visitors when they are born to start this account (be a good parent, do not spend the money) Irrevocable Trust You may want to consider creating an irrevocable trust for your children It's irrevocable so you won't have access to the money You may also make your life insurance the property of the trust This way, when you die, all the money they would have received under the life insurance policy goes to the trust This is a good idea because the trust will have a trustee that will ensure that the money is used carefully by the children if they are young Remember to have someone other than your spouse listed as a secondary trustee in the unlikely and sad event that you both die at the same time if you create a trust or Will be sure to list all your children. Preferably just list "children" instead of listing the names of your children because you may forget to update it when you have a new kid Considering how expensive weddings are, you may want to create an irrevocable trust for your kids' weddings Retirement Note that retirement accounts are owned individually. Use work retirement plans as much as possible. Do not depend on your spouse's retirement fund (big mistake) Consider IRAs Contribute to 401K or 403(b) plan. Contribution is tax-free and growth is tax deferred. 401ks have been getting special attention in today's economy. Talk to your financial advisor about your particular situation or contact us at editors@fabnaija.com for our recommended advisor. review the beneficiary on retirement accounts ( make sure you have the right name) you may need to elect survivor benefits on your company's retirement plan (check) Ask yourself how much you can live on each year. When you decide, use the calculator on the following website to determine if you are saving enough to reach your goal retirement income: http/Newlywedfinances.com/retire_calc/index.html

2008 Wedding Website of the Year

12/5/2008 See results for the 2009 Challenge: http://fabnaija.wordpress.com/2009/11/02/winner-wedding-website-challenge-2009/ After tallying the votes we received as of October 31, 2008, the winner of the 2008 Wedding Website of the Year Challenge is Anehita and Roland's wedding website, www.anehitaandroland.com. The first runner up is www.odufawedseki.com Congratulations! We look forward to next year's challenge on http://www.fabnaija.com/wedding_website.php