Travelling this spring?

Thinking of travelling this spring, consider England as a trip destination. When you are in England why not take a guided tour. Most guided tours of England focus on London and yet miss the beautiful and historic places you can go in the rest of England.  It’s a lovely country with lots of history and places in which you can truly have an adventure.

A favorite place for many guided tours of England is Stratford upon Avon.  Located on the Avon River, it was the birthplace of both William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.  You may be able to stay in hotels that date back to the time of William Shakespeare, see his place of death and surrounding gardens and the Anne Hathaway House.

Guided tours of Stratford upon Avon will take you to Trinity Church where both William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were buried and you can see the lovely Hathaway Cottage—a must-see on most guided tours.  In addition, Shakespeare’s birthplace has been turned into a showplace of period furniture that takes you back to the time of his birth in a delightful little museum.

You may also wish to travel to Warwick Castle—another must-see destination on many guided tours.  It is perhaps one of the best preserved old castles in all of England.  Located along the Avon River, your tour guide will tell you that the original castle was built around the year 900 AD. Gradually, parts of the castle were added onto and fortified until it became the huge and sprawling castle you can see today.

Guided tours of Warwick Castle are available to groups and include the dungeons, the high buttresses, and rooms from various eras, including the Victorian Era.  One of the special features of this castle is that it has been outfitted with wax figuresmade from Madame Tussaud’s galleries.  There is an entire section of ornately decorated Victorian period rooms, complete with wax figures.

Often, guided tours will allow you beyond the castle walls and out into the massive gardens and conservatory, where visitors can have lunch and enjoy the beauty of the gardens.  If the weather is right, you will be able to walk among real peacocks strutting through the gardens.  All in all, it is a day worth remembering.

Guided tours that partake of the southern part of England will take you to the famous Stonehenge, built more than two millennia ago and a favorite tourist attraction.  Those who come during the summer or winter solstice should expect that there will be a crowd there at the crack of first daylight.

Fun guided tours of England will take you to Oxford, home of the famous Oxford University and to Christ Church, where some aspects of the Harry Potter movies were filmed, including the scenes in the great hall.  In fact, you can take an entire Harry Potter guided tour that will guide you to as many places as possible that were included in the filming of the movie.

After rolling past the many castle ruins, fabulous gardens and quaint British homes on one of the guided tours of England, you may forget all about London itself.  If not, extend your tour into the big city of London—a city that often offers  guided tours involving just those wondrous things you’ll find right there.  Take your time and enjoy all that England has to offer.  .

Facts About Credit Scores

If you are considering managing your debt, then one of the first things you will want to do is to know your credit score. To people who are not familiar with the term credit score, they often assume that this is the score that we get in our credit cards for the number of purchases that we have made every year. But nothing is further from the truth. Credit scores are actually the grade that you get depending on how reliable a person is in paying their debts and credits.

Credit scores are determined by a lot of factors, how much your outstanding debts is, how regular do you pay for it, how much you spend and how much you earn. It will also be determined by your past credits and how were you as a borrower. These are all being gathered and recorded by credit bureaus and credit reference agencies like Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

So, if you think, you are the only one who knows that you owe a credit card company a big amount, think again because they do keep records and what is more, all the credit transactions that we get are being filed for future reference of every credit and financial institution in the country.

Credit scores is important because it can mean being accepted or rejected for a loan. With a really bad credit score, you may not be able to get a house loan, a car loan, a school loan and even a credit card. In short, with a bad credit history, your days of borrowing money is history. As an added salt to the injury, it is not only credit card companies, lending companies and banks that do get information from the credit scores.

Even private companies and government agencies use this to background check a current employee or a potential employee. You see, a credit score will determine a person’s financial savvy and sense of responsibility. This will also show just how much a person is willing to face up to a problem instead of running away from it.

This is especially true with employees that are being hired or were hired to assume posts that deal with really sensitive financial issues or those who are directly in contact with money. A credit history and a credit score are important in determining if they will be able to handle the finances well.

Mobile phone companies and credit card companies also use credit scores to determine the clients that they should target. People who have good credit scores are often those who have the spending power. Thus, they are good people to offer mobile phone packages and credit card services.  

In securing a loan, credit scores are also used in determining the kind of loan that will fit your credit profile. People who have high credit score are given higher amounts in loan, lower interest and longer time frame in which to pay the loan.

In contrast, people who do not have a good credit score may be refused a loan or at the very least be given a small amount in loan, much higher interest and shorter time frame to pay the loan. This is because credit card companies and lender also want to protect their interest. Low credit scores are more riskier and therefore warrant higher interest rates.

Debt Management

I know it is only 10 days into the new year, but the bills from Xmas and the holidays will be starting to arrive soon. Many Canadians overspend during this time of year and one of the resolutions made is to try and get debt under control.  Debt management is something that can be very beneficial to every one of you out there that seems to be struggling with managing your finances, which far too many of us know plenty about right. I want to discuss with you some important information about debt management that will hopefully be quite helpful to you all and will help to get you back on the financial path that you need to be on. 

Debt management can totally change your way of thinking and spending, whenever it comes to knowing exactly what kind of corners need to be cut and everything else in your life that could be changed to potentially help you out financially. Managing your finances properly can completely turn your life around and send you into a great big spiral of financial freedom, which so many of us only dream about our entire lives and normally never get to actually experience.

There are plenty of good and most helpful books on the Internet where you could find out all there is to know about debt management and different helpful tips that could guide you in the right direction when it comes to learning how to save your hard earned money for your future and the future of your children. Learning and growing as a person can truly benefit every single aspect of your life and get you set up for an incredible journey, a journey free from unnecessary stress that is caused due to too much debt.

Debt management can make all the difference in the world whenever it comes to your future financial freedom and knowing how to live much more by your means than ever before in your lifetime. You will finally have the opportunity to see and experience what it feels like to have the ability to sleep better at night because of knowing that your bills are going to be paid on time and you might actually even be able to save yourself and your family some extra money each and every month.

Having extra money is definitely a very nice change, especially whenever your used to having to always struggle, thinking to yourself that $20 is a great deal of money. It is so difficult to never have any money so that you and your family can go out and have a good time but if you learn better debt management, that opportunity might actually become a reality for you, over a period of time and patience.

Once you learn more about debt management, whether it is you gaining your knowledge from books, the internet or even from a professional, your life is going to take a turn for the better and you are going to finally know what it feels like to live a fun filled life, without all of the strain and struggles from piling up debts that can never possibly be paid on time or even paid at all

Moving day

In November, my adopted daughter had to move because her landlord had sold her condo, she and her guy were given 2 months notice. However, three days before the move, November 27, the landlord said he had made a mistake and they needed to move out, not Dec 1 at noon as he had originally told them but November 30th at noon.

So, my wife and I agreed to help them pack the boxes and furniture they had into the truck they rented to store their furniture until Dec 3 when they could move into their new home. My wife, who had just finished a 6-week stint working on a play came town with a cold and was unable to help on that day. I was near the end of my cold so I was willing and able to help.

When I arrived, her brother was there and we waited for a while before Andy came with the truck. Once the truck was ready to be loaded up we started carrying out the boxes and the furniture. I noticed very quickly that Scott (the brother) started to help me by first saying that box is too heavy, here is a lighter one, and that continued with the furniture when Scott and Andy would not let me help carry the heavier furniture. At first, I was annoyed and then I became bemused. Andy and Scott were trying to be nice and they were trying to be thoughtful. In fact, they were practicing ageism. Ageism is defined as discrimination against persons of a certain age group. with a tendency to regard older persons as debilitated, unworthy of attention, or unsuitable for employment.  Here is my question, should I have said something about the ageism, other than what I did say which was, "I have no problem with lifting the heavier boxes or heavy furniture". Both comments were ignored, by the two younger men.

I was not upset at the attitude as it came from a place of respect and love, but it was annoying and if I had called them on it, I would have gotten blank stares. They would not have know what I was talking about, which is unfortunate. I talked to my friends and they said, yes it happened to them when they were asked to help others move. My brother who is one year younger than I am said he never asks his friends to help move because he is concerned about their health. I also remember when I was younger and I moved, Colleen's grandfather who, at the time, was about 60, helped. I remember making sure he did not have to lift the heavy boxes and also he did not lift any heavy furniture. 

Ageism is a major issue for seniors. Our Seniors Advocate Isobel MacKenzie says ageism is one of many issues that affect seniors worldwide. It can be as simple as complimenting a senior for going to the gym every day.

According to a Revera Report on Ageism, nearly two-thirds of Canadian seniors 66 years of age and older say they have been treated unfairly or differently because of their age. Ageism is a form of discrimination that society does not see, but hopefully will as more and more boomers become seniors.