1st Choice Lending

Is your life in-balance? Balance is a state in which all forces are equal. Think of standing an egg on end or watching a spinning gyro. These examples illustrate two kinds of balance: static and dynamic. Static balance is delicate and motionless; dynamic balance involves movement and change. We need both, but of the two, dynamic balance is the more important. It is the eye of the hurricane, the still small voice that is heard above the lion’s roar. Dynamic balance is silence amid chaos. Static balance occurs when the conditions are right; dynamic balance occurs in spite of conditions. Dynamic balance is that state of internal calm and clarity that overrides the externals of life. The question is: how does one achieve this kind of balance? Here are ten ways to begin.
1. Eliminate distractions. Divest yourself of negative and draining influences, people and situations. It’s awfully hard to remain on-balance if someone or something is constantly tugging at you, but that’s just what some friends, acquaintances, and circumstances do. The normal tendency in such cases is to humor, tolerate, and excuse them. Wrong! Gaining or regaining balance in one’s life requires that one be ruthless in eliminating influences that would push or pull one off center. Tough to do, but absolutely essential.
2. Establish boundaries and standards. These are two kinds of autopilot. Boundaries ensure that others do not intrude upon your space, time, energy, etc. Boundaries are the imaginary, but well understood lines that tell others how far they can go or how close they can come. For example, one of your boundaries might be that you do not allow others to make demands upon you. They can suggest, request, advise, and recommend, but they can’t demand. Standards, on the other hand, are rules to which you hold yourself accountable. You might, for example, have a personal standard of always doing outstanding work, not criticizing others, or listening more than you talk. As standards, these are simply automated choices—things you do out of conscious habit. Having standards enables you to live life in a more relaxed way; you don’t have to re-decide in every instance, you have only to follow the standard you have set for yourself.
3. Become fit in terms of nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle. Fitness is a requirement for balance, because the fully fit person wastes less time and energy getting things done and accomplishes them more easily. Fitness involves viewing body and mind as interdevelopmental systems in which every part performs and essential role.
4. Put self, family, work, and leisure in proper perspective. The order here is not accidental. If you don’t put your “self” first, you cannot give your best to others. If family is more burden than delight, you are missing both valuable learning and intimate joy. And if work is all-consuming, that’s just what it will do to you: it will eat you alive. As the saying goes, no one on their death bed ever lamented that they hadn’t spent more time at the office!
5. Be fully present. To be fully present is to enjoy a relaxed attentiveness that takes in all but does not judge. It is to be able to focus on a single person, idea or topic to the extent that all else becomes imperceptible background noise. And finally, to be fully present is to have no preoccupations with past of future. Being fully present takes practice and a willingness to purposefully exclude all that is not directly relevant to the subject at hand, and to remain in the now even when drifting off into memory or speculation might be more appealing.
6. Act deliberately. To act deliberately is to act carefully, without haste, and in full awareness of the consequences of your actions. Deliberate action is paced action rather than automatic reaction. Deliberate action fosters quietness of mind and body. Deliberate action begins with a single step, word or thought and all those that follow, each monitored with the full relaxed awareness of total present mindfulness.
7. Listen and observe while withholding judgment. If you can be fully present and act deliberately in all that you do, this step is accomplished automatically. All too often, judgment is an imposition upon experience that is designed—sometimes subconsciously—to shield, protect, and promote ourselves. “Objective judgment” is almost an oxymoron, for rarely can we meet the standard set by a great teacher nearly two thousand years ago … “as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” (The Bible, John:5:30).
8. Meditate. To meditate is to allow the scales to settle into peaceful quiet balance. There are many ways to meditate—breath, mantric, and action to name only three. The point is that regular disciplined meditation affords mind and body a “safe harbor” from the tugs and pulls of daily life. Meditation is the deep stillness that is revealed when all the noise is swept away. If you don’t meditate, you’re robbing yourself of an immediately available peace.
9. Become aligned. With what? With the infinite precision and accuracy of the spiritual universe. Becoming aligned is at first an act of extreme faith because, chances are, the world will be screaming at you that all is NOT well, when it is! To become aligned is to discover your place and course, not in an intellectual way, but in the form of a quiet confidence that calms and assures. Alignment springs from the sudden or gradual awareness that all, right now, at this moment, is RIGHT!
10. Live in integrity. Shakespeare said it so well: “To thine own self be true, and thou canst not be false to any man (or woman)”. To live in integrity is to have no regrets for your actions, to not need to apologize to others, to be real to yourself and to them, and to recognize that you ARE special, unique, and precious.

The $25 billion settlement with banks over foreclosure abuses may result in a wave of home seizures, inflicting short-term pain on delinquent U.S. borrowers while making a long-term housing recovery more likely.
Lenders slowed the pace of foreclosures as they negotiated with attorneys general in all 50 states for more than a year over allegations of faulty and fraudulent paperwork used to repossess homes. With yesterday’s agreement, banks are likely to resume property seizures.
“The best thing about the settlement, frankly, is that it will be done,” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for Seattle-based Zillow Inc. (Z), a provider of home-sales data. “The shadow of the settlement hung over the market for a year now.”
The backlog of foreclosures has trapped homeowners in properties they can no longer afford, depressed neighborhood prices by increasing the number of abandoned homes and led banks to tighten mortgage credit standards because of uncertainty about the cost of their potential obligations. Foreclosure starts fell 46 percent in December from October 2010, when the investigation into the so-called robo-signing of mortgage documentation began, according to Irvine, California-based RealtyTrac Inc.
The agreement will direct $17 billion to writing down debt to buffer about 1 million homeowners from foreclosure through mortgage forgiveness, forbearance or loan modification programs, according to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. About 750,000 borrowers may get direct payments of as much as $2,000 to compensate them for servicing errors.
Small Borrower Universe
Principal reductions and other loan modifications will be accessible to a small universe of borrowers because the deal doesn’t include loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae (FNMA), Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae, which pools and sells Federal Housing Administration loans. The five banks included in the settlement control or own 7.3 percent of all outstanding single-family mortgages, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.
“The primary beneficiaries of any principal reductions, loan modifications or refinancings are really a universe that excludes 92 percent of mortgage borrowers,” said Guy Cecala, publisher of the newsletter.
After a six-year slide in home prices, demand is showing signs of strengthening, bolstered by a jobless rate that fell to 8.3 percent last month. The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in December held near a 19-month high, indicating that stabilization in the market that began in late 2011 may continue this year.
Driving Down Prices
A surge of home seizures may drive down values, at least for a while, in a fragile market. The number of new foreclosure filings fell 34 percent last year, according to RealtyTrac, resulting in a backlog that now may flood the market with low- cost properties. About 1 million foreclosures will be completed this year, up 25 percent from 2011, according to the firm.
“All of this will result in more foreclosure pain in the short term as some of the foreclosures that should have happened last year instead happen this year,” Daren Blomquist, a RealtyTrac vice president, said in an e-mail yesterday.
About 5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure in the U.S. since 2006, according to RealtyTrac.
“I think there’ll be more price weakness, because we’ll see the number of distressed sales pick up,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics Inc. in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “But I think the price declines will be modest. I think the banks themselves are going to be very sensitive to market prices. I don’t think they’re just going to dump property. That wouldn’t be in their best interest.”
Decline Since 2006
Home prices have dropped 33 percent from their July 2006 peak, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index of values in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas. About 11 million U.S. homeowners have negative equity, or owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, according to CoreLogic Inc. (CLGX), a real estate data provider. That has limited their ability to sell or refinance and reduced the incentive to keep paying.
Principal reductions may help cut the number of mortgage delinquencies by improving borrowers’ finances and reducing incentives for so-called strategic default, when homeowners walk away from a property because they have too much negative equity, according to a Federal Reserve report sent to Congress Jan. 4.
U.S. homeowners have $750 billion in negative equity, Humphries said. The deal will help the residential market “at the margins, but little more,” according to an analysis late last month by London-based Capital Economics of the impact of the settlement on housing.
Reductions ‘Seem Small’
The money may have an added benefit: It will test the effectiveness of principal forgiveness in preventing defaults, and may spur a larger-scale program if successful, said Paul Diggle, a property economist at Capital Economics.
“There has been a lot of discussion of principal reductions and whether that’s the one measure the U.S. housing market needs to get it going again,” he said in an interview this week. “That may well be the case. But the amounts of principal reductions under the settlement seem small.”
Principal was reduced on 10,772 loans, or 7.8 percent of the mortgages with payment modifications, in the third quarter of last year, according to the office of the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency. All of those loans were held by private investors or were in bank portfolios.
The agreement announced yesterday includes $5 billion in cash for states to pay for foreclosure-prevention initiatives. Loan servicers will refinance $3 billion in mortgages to reduce homeowners’ interest rates and pay about $1.5 billion to borrowers harmed by botched foreclosures.
Debt Forgiveness
The money set aside for mortgage-debt forgiveness also can be used for short sales, when a lender agrees to a sale for less than owed on the home. Banks have been stepping up the sales by pre-approving deals, streamlining the closing process, forgoing their right to pursue unpaid debt and in some cases providing as much as $35,000 in “relocation” incentives. Short sales accounted for 33 percent of financially distressed transactions in November, up from 24 percent a year earlier, according to Santa Ana, California-based CoreLogic.
For California, which has the highest number of properties in the foreclosure pipeline, banks agreed to pay $12 billion to help 250,000 homeowners with principal reductions or short sales, according to Kamala Harris, the state’s attorney general.
Borrowers in Florida, which had the second-most foreclosures, will receive an estimated $7.6 billion in benefits from loan modifications, including principal reduction, according to state Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Citigroup, Wells Fargo
The total value of the agreement with lenders including Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. may grow to $40 billion if the next nine largest mortgage servicers sign on to the agreement, Donovan said. In a best-case scenario, if all banks participate fully, the deal might be worth $45 billion to homeowners and victims of foreclosure.
The settlement adds to a series of recently expanded government steps to protect consumers and encourage lenders to refinance homes and modify payment terms for homeowners facing foreclosure.
President Barack Obama this month proposed plans to expand loan modifications for delinquent homeowners to include some principal reductions through his administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Underwater homeowners would be able to refinance at current low interest rates through the Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP. Some of the refinancing plans require Congressional approval.
Under the administration’s Making Home Affordable program, $29.9 billion in aid had been pledged as of Jan. 30.
Buying in Bulk
Separately, Fannie Mae, the mortgage company under U.S. conservatorship, invited investors to apply for a new program to buy foreclosed homes in bulk to be managed as rental properties, under another program announced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The goal of that program is to reduce the inventory of foreclosures while providing rental homes to people who can’t qualify to buy or don’t want to own.
“No action, no matter how meaningful, is going to by itself entirely heal the housing market,” Obama said at an appearance with state attorneys general in Washington yesterday. “But this settlement is a start. And we’re going to make sure that the banks live up to their end of the bargain.”
Investors are likely to buy many of the foreclosed homes that come on the market to take advantage of low prices and demand for rentals, Zandi said. About 21 percent of home sales in December were investor purchases, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Manage as Rentals
Private equity funds including Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management LP (OAKTRZ) and New York-based GTIS Partners announced plans in January to buy $2.5 billion of foreclosed single-family homes to manage as rentals, focusing on states with the highest number of foreclosures, such as California, Florida and Nevada.
“There’s pretty strong investor demand, particularly in some markets where prices have overshot,” Zandi said. “They’ve gone well below what you’d expect given incomes and rents.”
There remains a danger that “a wave of foreclosures” may destabilize the housing market, said Susan Wachter, professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
“The logjam has to be unleashed and it has been — this will do that,” she said. “That’s a good thing. But then there needs to be methodical loan-by-loan determination of the best resolution.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Prashant Gopal in New York at pgopal2@bloomberg.net; John Gittelsohn in Los Angeles at johngitt@bloomberg.net

1. Begin with yourself. Focus on caring and giving as much to yourself as you give to others. An old Scandinavian proverb says: “The mark of a well-nourished self is the ability to nourish others.” In other words, you must be well-nourished in all aspects of your life to share with others. Make a conscious effort to do at least two things each day that really show you care for you.

2. The universe is a mirror: whatever we send out is “mirrored” back to us in every aspect of our lives. Improve the quality of your life by consciously being aware that what you give always comes back to you. When we love and support others, that love and support flows back to us.

3. Establish standards and boundaries: Let others know what your needs are and how to best communicate with you. Choose to work with only those who honor your standards and boundaries.

4. Move from “just getting by” to “having reserves” to “having abundance”. Everyone has “abundance” in some aspect of their lives (even if it’s your bills! Others have an abundance of trust that you will pay them!) Focus on what you have that is your special talent or gift. Be thankful for what you have rather than focusing on what you don’t have. Seek to spread the “abundance” to those areas where you are “just getting by”. The notion of “self-fulfilling prophecy” tells us that what we focus on is what we create. When we focus on struggle and lack, we create more struggle and lack. When we shift our focus to what we do have and are grateful for it, we create more of that which we are grateful for.

5. Don’t just settle for being competent at what you do: become a master. Whatever you have chosen in life–spouse, parenthood, career, friend—be the best you can possibly be.

6. “Go with the flow”. When you are in synchrony or on the right path, your choices and decisions become effortless. We experience struggle when the path we have chosen is not the best one for us to travel. When you experience difficulties, instead of continuing to resist, pause and rethink your decision. Is this the right path for me? Does this decision truly support me and if so, how? Is there another course of action that would be better for me in the long run? Stop “fighting to make it happen” and surrender to the “flow”. Watch the magic that happens when you do.
7. Allow your heart (i.e. “right brain”) to be your guide rather than the logic (left brain). Follow the “inklings”, the “quiet voice within”, that speaks softly to us if we will only listen.

8. Create each present moment as fully as possible. Keep your thoughts on the present at least 80% of the time. Give the past and future only 20%.

9. “Strive for Excellence”. Polish and perfect what you already have. Strive to make what you already have excellent. When you set higher standards, your personal and professional growth with always continue to blossom and develop.

10. Focus on the positive in every aspect of your life: Be accurate, tell the truth, but do it in a way that is constructive to all involved. Remember, you attract who you are.

Standards are what you do for yourself or behaviors to which you willingly adhere. To live without standards is to place yourself at the whims of chance, others, and the world. Here are ten areas in which it is useful to have standards, along with some suggestions as to how to get started.
1. Honesty.
Being honest with yourself and others is a source of power. Being honest means that no one can call your bluff. In setting a standard of honesty, ask yourself: “When do I tell the truth, the whole truth? When I do remain silent? Under what conditions is it appropriate to tell another person only what I know he/she is ready to accept?
“2. Integrity.
Integrity is living a value-based life. Integrity is broader and more inclusive than honesty. To gauge your standard of integrity, ask yourself: “What is my ‘bottom line’–the bedrock standard that covers what I will do or not do irrespective of external pressures?” Integrity is the basis of authentic being and true friendship.
3. Power.
Power enables you to act, to maintain your integrity and honesty, and to enforce your standards. Ask yourself: “What is the source of my power? Is my power derived from within (self-referral) or from outside (object-referral)?” The closer you are able to move towards self-referral, the more reliable your power will be.
4. Commitment.
Your commitment is a measure of your dedication to what you do and believe in. Only full commitment offers a promise of excellence. To commit only partially is to invite mediocrity. Ask yourself, with respect to each aspect of your life, work and play: “What is my level of commitment? What am I willing to commit to 100%?”
5. Acceptance.
Acceptance and approval are different. To approve (or disapprove) is to judge. To accept is to recognize and acknowledge what IS. Acceptance eliminates the need to judge and quiets the mind. Ask yourself: “Am I willing to accept (not approve) others, situations, life, etc. as they are or it is? What am I not willing to accept?” It’s interesting to note that accepting a situation “as is” does not forfeit your right to change it.
6. Tolerance.
Tolerance has both negative and positive connotations. On the one hand is the question of what we are willing to ‘put up with’ in life; on the other, are issues pertaining to what we are willing to forgive. Both are important. Ask yourself: “What am I tolerating that limits my growth or happiness? What am I ‘allowing’ that aids my own or others’ growth or healing?
“7. Pace.
Horses and marathoners have pace–a rhythmic style that makes trotting and running seem easy. Pace is measured relaxed action. Many of us lack pace in our lives. For each endeavor in which you are engaged, ask yourself: “What is the pace at which I feel completely comfortable? Am I willing to adhere to it despite pressures to the contrary?
“8. Reserve.
Reserve is a margin, the gas in the tank or the cushion in the account. To have reserve is to be freed from the demands of circumstance or crisis. There are ten areas of reserve. Ask yourself: “What are my reserves of time, space, money, energy, opportunity, love, information, wisdom, self, and integrity?”
9. Fitness.
Fitness is physical, mental, and spiritual. To be “fit” is to be more than prepared to deal with what comes at you. Fitness is a process whereby we create reserves of energy. Ask yourself: “What are my standards for physical (aerobic & muscular), mental (intellectual & emotional), and spiritual fitness?” What is the minimum level of performance in each of these areas that I am willing to accept?” (In the area of spiritual fitness, you may want to look at Top Ten lists, number 21, “Ten Ways to Tell When You’re in Alignment,” and number 51, “Ten Principles of Transformation”.)
10. Communication/Relationships
While the journey into and beyond this life is a solo one, we live in concert with others. The standards we maintain with respect to how we communicate and what is the basis of our relationships are critical in determining the success with which we negotiate this journey. Ask yourself: “What is my basis for communicating with others? Am I direct, indirect, or a combination of the two? On what are my relationships based (need, mutuality, giving)? What am I willing to give to others? What do I expect to receive in return?” … These ten areas are illustrative rather than inclusive. The areas you select and the standards you set for yourself must be appropriate for you.

Personal growth seems to occur in spurts. We gain a little, lose a little, surge ahead or slide into a holding pattern where in growth seems to be stagnated. Here are ten ways to get back on track.

1. Recognize that growth continues, despite our best efforts to thwart it. There’s a saying: God’s time and mortals’ time differ. Nowhere is that more true than in the area of personal growth. Growth can be likened to fermentation; it often occurs well below the surface and appears dormant for long periods. Still, much is going on, if only we have the good sense to realize it. And, there ARE things we can do to break through the surface layers…

2. Engage in the process; give up attachment to the result. We live in a results-oriented world. That’s both good and bad. In the short term, it enables us to get more done faster. In the long term, however, it conceals a great life truth: ultimately, ALL is process, and as we engage in the process and relinquish our obsession with results, the results occur spontaneously, easily. To be involved fully in the process is to be fully in the present.

3. Work on one thing at a time. High achievers and type A’s pride themselves on their ability to keep several balls in the air at one time. For many, it works, but there is a price. Multi-tasking, as it’s come called, splits your focus, reduces the energy devoted to any single task and–when the balls mysteriously begin to get out of control–leaves the serious multi-tasker at a loss for words or acts. But to work on one thing at a time is tantamount to enjoying the beauty of a single rose, savoring the clean clear taste of cold spring water, and feeling the exhilaration of a new day. Single tasking gets the body and the mind going again, inspires and invigorates.

4. Stop thinking, writing and speaking in the first person. Here’s a fun exercise. It’s called, an I inventory and it goes like this. Review our correspondence file, the letters you’ve written, and note how often you begin a sentence with, I. Then, pay attention to your conversations with others. How often do you use that word, I? If you journal, take a yellow (better yet, red) marker and overline every single I. All of these are good measures of your reoccupation with yourself. Try taking a vacation from the word, I. You may find it both refreshing and stimulating.

5. Realize that it can take great effort to achieve a state of effortless achievement. Sounds like double talk, doesn’t it! But it’s true. In order to achieve effortlessly, which is a measure of alignment, you must get beyond concepts that serve as comfort zones e.g., self-importance, personal attachment, and even enlightenment. With respect to enlightenment, it’s not so much a state to be achieved as one to be recognized.

6. Look for the lesson in pain. This is not a plea for a life of self sacrifice, or an argument that pain is necessary and good. It’s just that sometimes, pain IS. Stopping, taking time to examine what’s really going on in the present state of pain, prevents this all too common emotion from developing into anger, resentment and resignation. Looking at pain dispassionately, openly, allows you to learn the lesson and move ahead.
7. Let go of your need to have an opinion. When things go wrong, friends offend, and our progress seems to be grinding to a halt, it’s natural to have an opinion, to explain, justify and defend. Natural, yes;
understandable, yes; but productive? No! To give up the need to have an opinion in such instances is to free the mind to receive answers.

8. Walk away from it. Years ago, I was going through a rough time, but was determined to stick with it until I won out. A friend who sensed my frustration asked if I would tell her about it. With some hesitation, I told her of the problem, the struggles, and the seeming lack of progress. She listened patiently and, after I finished, hesitated a moment, and then said something I’ll never forget: “You know, sometimes wisdom is knowing when to walk away from it.” So, when IS it time to walk away? From a distance of some years now, I would say it’s when the course you are “stubbornly” pursuing is not producing results and you have no real feeling that it will!

9. Follow your path rather than your plan. The distinction relates to specificity. Paths are often winding, indistinct and surprising in where they lead. Plans are clear, definite, and designed to eliminate uncertainty. To follow a path is to be open to discovery, to the sudden turns that yield joy, insight and challenge. But, to really follow a path requires courage and a willingness to give up certainty. To follow a path is to go forward when you can see only a single step ahead, confident that the next step will appear.
10. HEAR what is being said. Have you ever had a friend offer you some unwelcome advice and preface it with, “You’re not going to want to hear this, but …” Well, often when new information comes to us that conflicts with what we know, believe, think, or want, we DON’T hear it. Even while we’re “listening”, we’re preparing our replies, defenses and rebuttals. In short, we’re blocking our chance to learn. To “hear”, as opposed to simply listening, is to withhold judgment, to go beyond the actual words, and to really be open to the possible lesson that may be lurking just beneath the surface. the difference between listening and hearing is that, somewhere in between, there’s a filter, and it’s usually our resistance to new and sometimes conflicting information.

One area that search engines have made a number of significant advancements in recent years is in how they evaluate content on a website. So what does a perfectly optimized page look like in 2012? Let’s look at 10 elements.

1. Title tags are still important, but it’s not a good idea to over-optimize them.

2. Descriptions still don’t appear to add much ranking value, but can help encourage clicks.

3. Header tags still need to be relevant.

4. URL still ideally mentions the keywords.

5. Content is now about semantically relevant supporting keywords, not multiple mentions of the keywords. The example chosen is a recipe, because in order to make béarnaise sauce there are specific ingredients that are 100 percent relevant to the eventual outcome. One way of checking what keywords Google might consider as relevant is to do a ‘~keyword’ (or tilde) search. Other ways, let’s be honest, involve nothing more than common sense and knowing your subject.

6. Video and other ‘rich’ content can be useful on a page to increase engagement levels, reduce bounce rates and also to appear alongside results as illustrated.
7. Internal links need to follow the “reasonable surfer” patent. It makes sense in the “perfectly optimized page” example above to link to peppercorn sauce as an alternative to béarnaise.

8. Facebook/Twitter/other login comments are a way of sharing the content on other platforms. The direct SEO benefit may be debatable, but it never hurts to get your content in front of a large amount of people. With Google Search Plus Your World, it could be that adding a Google+ login is more important than anything else.

9. User reviews add regular content to the page, which can also be coded to include microformatting instructions and add extra elements to your listings in search engine result pages (SERPs).

10. Newsfeeds only share content that already exists elsewhere, but they contribute to an overall impression of the page changing on a regular basis.

It’s worth noting that the “perfectly optimized page” above won’t be perfect for all verticals, or for all brands – not everyone has the ability to add customer reviews to their product pages (e.g., insurance comparison sites).

Although there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, hopefully the above list will give you some guidance on how to perfect your on-page SEO.

 New Home Office

It wasn’t long ago that bringing your work home with you was considered unhealthy. Work was for the workplace, and home was where you focused on your family and friends.

Times have changed, and for many people the home office has gone from a peculiarity to a necessity. With advancements in technology and a listless economy, telecommuting is no longer a dirty word.

While you might not have to worry about your lunch being stolen from the fridge or the office gossip popping in to chew up your time and your ear, it’s important to create a distraction-free space that puts you in the right frame of mind for work.

Picking the Space for Your Workplace

Not everyone who has chosen — or has been forced by circumstances — to work from home has the space to allocate an entire room as an office. Carving out a functional, comfortable area is important, and you don’t want to set up shop on the sofa, where you’re surrounded by myriad distractions.

“Location, location, location. That’s what they say about a successful business, and it is imperative that the space you choose be comfortable, as free from distraction as possible, and offer the opportunity for success,” said Rafael M. Kalichstein, owner and principal designer of FORM Interior Design.“Choose a spot that is quiet enough to make business phone calls but that gets enough light that you don’t feel like you have to go spelunking to get there.”

If you have a spare bedroom that you can convert, or even a large closet, your location decision is an easy one. A garage can also be a great option, because you get the world’s fastest commute and over time that short walk across the driveway will get your brain thinking “work” before you reach the garage door. For most people, however, space is at a premium, so it’s important that your office be as separated as possible from the rest of your home.

“A space that can be closed is ideal — privacy for most of us when we’re working is best — but use what you have,” said Kalichstein. “Most importantly, make sure that it is a space that can be in some way entirely delineated, at least from an energetic standpoint. Your kitchen table, in other words, is a bad idea.”

Avoiding the high-traffic areas of your home, especially in an apartment, might seem impossible, but more often than not, that easily separated space is right under your nose. It’s not “where” you look, but “how” you look.

“People live in all sorts and sizes of places, so you have to work with what you have and be creative,” Kalichstein said. “You can take over what might have been an underutilized breakfast nook, or some hallways have enough space, and a lot of people will have living rooms or dens with a corner that can easily be delineated.”

Lighting is also a key factor when settling on a space. A basement office might afford you privacy, but you’re not going to want to go to work if your office feels like a dungeon.

“Some of the advantages of working from home,” said Los Angeles-based interior designer Estee Stanley, “are avoiding the omnipresent buzz of fluorescent light bulbs, and you get to give yourself an office with the best view in the building. So use that to your advantage. Position your office by a window if you can; the view can be soothing, and the natural light will help you stay more focused.”

Pitfalls of the Home Office

The benefits of a home office are more or less obvious: flexibility, accessibility and a pants-optional workplace. Distractions, however, can pop up everywhere. You may not have a boss and co-worker poking their heads into your office, but you may have a pet or a child who is blissfully unaware that something like work even exists.

A working mother herself, Los Angeles-based designer Estee Stanley offered these basic tenets for avoiding the common pitfalls of working from home:

Know how to turn it on. “Avoid having the TV on while you’re working. You’re at home, so you can be relaxed, but you still need to be focused. You shouldn’t work on the couch or in bed, because that just leads to bad habits. You should still have a desk, and especially a good comfortable but sturdy chair that makes you sit up.”

Know when to turn it off. “It’s easy to keep work and play separate when you get to leave the office and come home, but when your office is your home, you need to know how to shut it off. Try to separate your work life from your home life even though you’re steps away from the office.”

Avoid overstocking your kitchen. “It’s easy when you just can’t focus to get up and go to the kitchen for a light snack. But if you do that every time your brain needs a little break, you’ll be eating mindlessly. Try taking a five-minute stretch or walk break instead.”

Appointing Your Home Office: Form and Function

You have picked out where your office will be, so now it’s time to set it up.

“Make sure to get a ‘tall’ desk, one that uses space to its full capacity, with plenty of storage space; this utilizes the wall space but doesn’t encroach on the floor space in the rest of the room,” Stanley said. “This way you’re saving space and avoiding clutter, because it gives you a place for all of your appliances and files.”

Set up your work area with a flexible floor plan that takes into account the three needs of an office.

“You should always have a work station, a reference center and an area for supply storage,” Stanley advised. “Your work station should be free of clutter, with your computer and space to write, with the basic supplies that you use regularly — like a pen or pencil, a notepad, and maybe a stapler. All the rest of the supplies, like extra reams of paper or boxes of pens, should be kept in a different area for easy access.”

A balance of function and form can be helpful.

“Find things that you really love: a chair, or a desk, even a lamp,” Kalichstein said. “These things don’t have to be expensive, but they should inspire you to want to be with them.”

And they don’t have to come from an office furniture superstore. Looking for that perfect desk at a thrift store or flea market could save you money and make the space less sterile and more your own.

“Ikea is a great place, and it is very budget-friendly, but do you wake up in the morning and feel inspired to go sit at your Ikea desk?” Kalichstein asked. “Be certain there is enough of a draw to that space that you are enticed to go there because — in some small or large way — you think it’s a great space in which to be.”

Get Creative

Just because it’s the part of your home that is dedicated to work doesn’t mean it has to be drab or boring, so get creative in a way that’s comforting to you and not distracting.

“You can do something as simple as painting a wall in a bold color, which both separates the space and gives you a shot of energy when you walk into the room,” Stanley said. “Or small things, like using vintage trays to hold things like paper clips and other office supplies. You’re still organized, but it’s much prettier than a container from your local office supply store.”

Even if you’re short on room, there are ways to make the space appealing even when you’re not working.

“Try some curtains hung from the ceiling, or maybe just some cut yardage of a heavyweight fabric, or even some variation of a shoji screen — any material, any style that works for you,” Kalichstein offered. “If none of these things is possible, just make sure that the overall aesthetic of the things there is cohesive enough to look like its own space.”

To get you and your workspace started off on the best possible terms, don’t be afraid to indulge yourself a bit. Giving it some little perks will ease the “commute” and help the workday go by faster.

“Make a checklist of all the things you need to have in your home office,” said Kalichstein. “Then make a list of all the things you want to have in your home office. Buy some things that make you feel spoiled, and make it like back-to-school for grown-ups. Figure out what you feel is the cool new lunchbox equivalent for you in your office, and pick things that are different from what is in your house, things whose personality makes you feel like the king of the hill.

“You will be more confident and productive if you are surrounded by things that remind you of success.”

Partner with people you’ve worked with before.

Believe in your core but don’t be afraid to change.

Don’t be shy about telling people they won’t fit.

Build your organization around the skills of talented individuals, rather than trying to find the right skill for a predefined job.

Leave your ego at the door.

Be honest about the consequences of growth.

Sharing success creates more of it.

Once you’ve reached the last month of the tax year, your options are limited to minimize your income taxes. But there are a few things that could still be done, so don’t give up hope.
For example, you could double up your real estate taxes by prepaying next year’s tax during December. Doing this with, for example, a $3,000 per year real estate tax bill could result in a reduction of tax for the year of $750 if you’re in the 25% bracket. Keep in mind though, that you’ll have forked out this money long before it is actually due in most cases, and for the next year you won’t have this deduction available if you used it in this year.
The same could be done with your charitable contributions – there’s no reason that you can’t make additional contributions to your favorite charities at the end of this year instead of waiting until next year.
You could also send your final estimated state income tax payment due in January of next year during December and claim that payment on this year’s itemized deductions as well.
Prepaying your January mortgage payment will credit that mortgage interest to this year as well, further increasing your itemized deductions.
Other itemized deductions could be “stacked” in one year, such as medical expenses (subject to the 7.5% floor) and miscellaneous deductions (subject to the 2% floor).
It’s important to keep in mind that the moves that you make this year might reduce your tax now – but you might have an adverse impact on next year’s income tax by doing so. It will pay to run the calculations based on what you know about this year’s tax and next year’s tax to make sure that it is in your best interest to do this.
Here’s how it might play out: if you prepaid your next year’s real estate tax during this year, it might reduce your deductions below the Standard Deduction – which could be a good thing. In doing this, you would get to use the Standard Deduction to increase your tax deductions on next year’s return when you specifically reduced your deductions for that year by prepaying the deductible real estate tax in during this year. In this fashion you might be making the most of the standard deduction and your itemized deductions year after year – one year using the “stacked” deductions, the next using the standard deduction.
These prepayment options could have a negative affect if you are subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Prepaying your state tax, mortgage interest and some medical expenses might trigger or cause an increase in AMT. One tactic that you might consider is selling a taxable investment that has an inherent loss; this is especially useful if you’ve sold another investment at some point in the tax year that has resulted in a taxable gain. Losses can be used to offset those capital gains dollar for dollar, and an additional $3,000 in capital losses can be used to reduce your ordinary income as well.
You can also make up for underpayment of estimated tax by taking a withdrawal from an IRA (especially if you’re over age 59½) and having tax withheld from the withdrawal. This can also be accomplished by having more tax withheld from your paycheck if you’re still working, by filing a new W4. Another significant move you can make includes the Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA, 401(k) or 403(b) – allowing you to bypass recognizing that income, including your RMD. This can only be done if you’re at least age 70½ and subject to Required Minimum Distributions. The charity receives a contribution, and you get to lower your year-end balance in your account, therefore reducing your RMD for next year. For more details on this, you should check out the IRA Owner’s Manual.
You can also delay your first RMD (if you reached age 70½ this year) until as late as April 1 of next year, although that will mean you have to take two RMDs next year. But in some circumstances that may be the better option.
You can also make a deductible contribution to your IRA, if you qualify – but you don’t have to do that before the end of the year, you have until April 15 to do that.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of year-end tax moves, just several of the more prominent ones. Hopefully you’ll find what you need here to help with your year-end tax plans.

The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent during the month of November, as employers added 120,000 new jobs to their payrolls, the U.S. Department of Labor said Friday.
By the government’s calculations, the unemployment rate declined by 0.4 percentage point from 9.0 percent reported in October to hit its lowest level since March of 2009.

Analysts at IHS Global Insight were expecting the economy to add 125,000 new jobs last month, but the rate to hold at 9.0 percent.

Earlier this month, IHS published the graphic above, illustrating its projections of how long it will take each state to return to peak levels of employment.
Employment assessments for both October and September were revised upward. The Labor Department says total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 jobs in September rather than the 158,000 previously reported. October’s numbers were revised from 80,000 new jobs to 100,000.
Still, the 72,000 more jobs than previously thought over past months isn’t enough to cut the unemployment rate by forty basis points.
Much of the drop can be explained by the fact that those who’ve been unemployed for extended periods are no longer counted as part of the Labor Department’s unemployed population as they become ineligible to claim unemployment benefits.
The Labor Department’s report does indicate that the size of its measurable labor force contracted by 315,000 persons.
Commenting on the latest numbers, Ed Delgado, CEO of the Five Star Institute, said, “While the decline in the national unemployment rate is significant [40 basis points] the comprehensive view of employment, or U6 rate, that includes all marginally attached to the labor force, remains high at 15.6 percent and 60 basis points higher than a year ago.”
Delgado went on to explain, “Some of the decline can be attributed to seasonal employment trends as we approach the holidays and we remain cautious that a one month decline of this magnitude does not necessarily suggest a sustainable trend … that said, the abrupt decline is an impressive one-month reduction in unemployment.”
The analysts at Capital Economics agree with that assessment. The sharp drop-off “is another illustration that the U.S. economy is, for now at least, shrugging off the global economic downturn and fears about the collapse of the euro-zone,” they said in a research note published Friday.