How to Stay Financially Secure After Losing Your Job

If you have been laid off because of the COVID-19 pandemic or any other reason, coping with the sudden change can be depressing. Rethinking how to foot your bills and replenish your income will require sobriety. 

Despite the anxiety, remember the next steps you take should be strategic and reasonable to help you manage the harsh season. Below are significant financial moves you should make to stay financially secure after losing your job.

Control Your Emotions

The emotional toll of job loss can affect your mental health significantly. If you do not devise ways of renewing your sense of purpose, you may become an emotional wreck sooner than you think. 

The disadvantage of becoming emotionally and mentally drained is that you may make poor financial choices that might affect you in the long term. If you feel overwhelmed, find a bankruptcy attorney and share your issues. 

Do not rush to pull all your IRA or 401(k) money out without seeking advice from an expert. Instead, use the money you saved for emergencies to sustain yourself as you plan on the way forward.

Check Your Eligibility for Various Relief Programs and Unemployment Benefits

Cutting down your expenses after losing your job will help you a lot as you pursue other courses that could earn you some money. Usually, if you can prove that you did not resign or get fired, you may be eligible for unemployment insurance, among other unemployment benefits. 

Also, your employer may decide to give you a severance package as you go home. Should this happen, consider reviewing the contract before signing on the dotted line. If need be, involve a benefits attorney to help you understand any ambiguous information. 

Rushing to sign a legally binding agreement can be risky because you never know; the devil may be hiding in the details.

Protect Your Taxable Assets

You should act swiftly and apply for state unemployment as soon as you lose your job. Although it is taxable income, the state can defend you if your employer claims a reasonable cause. 

Also, if you withdraw your 401(k) funds, ensure you return it or take a rollover within 60 days, or else you may be penalized.

If you have a mortgage you are refinancing, try to negotiate and ask them to reduce your monthly payments. If you don’t own a home yet, talk to your landlord and negotiate fairer terms. They may consider you because finding new tenants can be tricky sometimes.

Beginner's Guide to Dividend Stock Investing: Achieve Financial Freedom and Live Off of Dividends Forever Review

In A Beginner's Guide to Dividend Stock Investing: Achieve Financial Freedom and Live Off of Dividends Forever (Invest Like the Best), James Pattersenn, Jr., helps his readers comprehend the essential details behind investing in dividend stocks. 

Pattersenn's easy-to-read writing style made it a pleasure to read. The chapters were short and succinct yet filled with useful information on everything needed to start dividend investing, from discovering what it is to how to invest like a pro. 

He uses many examples of investments that he made and what traps to stay away from. There are also several tactics that he uses to picking dividend stocks. I also delighted in the quotes he intermittently tucked in throughout the book from famous investors. 

Pattersenn discusses the distinction between careless trading and risk-free trading, of which the last does not exist. The author describes how to screen for good stocks, when to buy and when to sell. 

He teaches the difference between long-term financial investing, day trading, and which one is smarter. He additionally gives a checklist of resources to make use of when researching companies. 

Generally, this book is what anyone needs that would like to invest money in dividend producing stocks. This would be a wonderful book for an investing club or an individual that wants to learn about dividend stock investing.

How to Get Appropriate Compensation After a Car Accident

Being involved in a car accident can be one of the most disruptive and upsetting events of your life. You may have questions about your health and the long-term effects of any injuries you’ve sustained.

You may also be facing issues about your car, including how you’ll get it fixed, how you’ll get to work without it, and other pressing issues. More long-term, you’ll have questions about potential litigation, costs, and other ramifications from the event. 

Car accidents have just seconds to happen but the effects can last a long time. Getting appropriate compensation can make the difference between struggling and bouncing back quickly.

What to Do First

The most important thing to focus on after you’ve been involved in an accident is your health. Once you’ve received medical attention, be sure to follow the instructions you’re given at your doctor or at the hospital.

How Will I Pay for It All?

The ins and outs of auto insurance can feel tricky to navigate. Here’s where an auto accident lawyer can be a valuable asset. Retaining an attorney can help in a variety of ways:

• Make sure you get the medical care you need and that it’s funded quickly
• Gather all the documents necessary to prove your claim
• Deal with pesky paperwork and logistics
• Make sure filing deadlines are met
• Advocate for you and make sure get fair compensation for your injuries and any other damages you’ve suffered.

Can’t I Just Settle up with the Insurance Company Quickly?

It’s tempting to wrap up an auto accident claim as soon as possible. You may want to put the whole thing behind you. But insurance companies are businesses, and their goal is to resolve issues with as little cost to them as possible. 

Unfortunately, that could mean that you don’t get the full compensation you may be entitled to. That’s why it’s a good idea to consult with a personal injury lawyer before making any decisions.

Protecting yourself after something as traumatic as an auto accident means looking out for all your interests: your health, your finances, and your rights. 

Getting appropriate compensation after your accident could make the difference between having a tough time or a speedy recovery. Your best bet after an auto accident is to find an advocate who can make sure that the many issues that arise are dealt with. 

This is so that you can focus on taking care of yourself and minimizing any disruptions to your life. With the right help, you’ll move on quickly.

What Makes SEO So Expensive and How to Reduce Those Costs

If there is one thing that is critical to the success of a website, it is its utilization of SEO. SEO or search engine optimization is used to help search engines provide people with the best possible search results. 

The better your SEO, the more likely you are going to show up on the first page. In fact, it is so important that companies such as Coca-Cola and Disney spend millions of dollars just to ensure they remain at the very top. 

Unfortunately, this can make SEO very expensive for the little guys. The following includes further information on why SEO is so expensive and what you can do to reduce those costs.

Why SEO is Expensive

The reason why SEO is so expensive really boils down to three reasons. These include the time it takes for you to begin to rank within search engines (usually a month), the cost of running and maintaining a campaign, and finally, experts who understand what keywords are going to work for your specific business and which are going to waste your money. 

Although there are additional costs such as bidding for placement, these are the most common reasons why you may see a very expensive upfront cost.

Reducing the Cost of SEO

Understandably, most companies, especially if they are new, are likely running on a shoestring budget. Their financial priorities may be focused on paying employees and vendors, and SEO often takes a backseat. 

However, you can reduce a lot of the costs of SEO building by hiring an SEO partner company to take over that aspect of your business and allow you to focus on the rest. They can integrate best SEO practices into your existing marketing initiatives and work as a complement to them, as well as building separate link-building campaigns for your business.

Audit Your Website

One of the most common mistakes business owners make is not auditing their website before launching a marketing campaign. Unfortunately, this can cause higher bounce rates, leading you to have to spend further to attract more visitors to your website. 

However, by taking the time to audit your website and see where issues are present, you are potentially eliminating the need to spend more on your SEO. 

A lot of websites have SEO tools built right in that can help you ensure you have the right metadata to help make sure Google is reading your site correctly and directing the right people there.

Write Content for Your Website

As stated above, keywords are critical to helping search engines connect people with the right type of search results. The more keywords you can add to your site that match your business, the better your ranking will be and the less you have to spend on running ads. 

You can accomplish this by starting a blog within your website. Keywords need to be supported by a lot of content, and having a blog creates a natural way for you to have lots of content about your target keywords without info-dumping on every sales page you have.

Reducing the cost of SEO is something even fortune 500 companies are struggling to do. However, that does not mean it's impossible. In fact, because you are a smaller business, actions such as adding content and auditing your website can go a long way in reducing that cost.

How to Sue for Medical Malpractice

Doctors, medical practitioners, and hospitals owe a duty of care to their patients. They are expected to attend to patients with the most reasonable amount of care a qualified practitioner should have. Once the duty is breached in negligence, patients have the legal right to seek and receive compensation for medical malpractice and any resultant injuries.

Medical malpractice laws are meant to protect the rights of patients that have suffered as a result of substandard medical care. While this protection is provided for in the law, the first step to asserting these rights requires initiative from the patient. 

The following is an in-depth discussion on medical malpractice cases and how to go about them.

Act Before the Expiry of the Statute of Limitations

The biggest mistake any patient can make is taking too long a time to file their medical malpractice. There are statutory time limits requiring patients to file their medical malpractice claims promptly. Time limits vary from state to state; they could be as short as a year since the malpractice occurred. 

Therefore, ensure you find out the statutory provisions for medical malpractice in your state. Pay attention to how long you have to make your claim.

Discuss Your Case with a Medical Malpractice Attorney

Quite plainly, medical malpractice lawsuits aren’t the kind of lawsuits you would risk handling by yourself. These cases are often very complex since they cut across a variety of medical, legal, and procedural standpoints. 

Proving medical practice requires a law firm that understands the laws applying to your situation and familiarity with all the hoops a medical malpractice plaintiff must jump through.

From the moment you realize you want to file a medical malpractice claim, consult with an attorney. A medical malpractice attorney will have access to all the needed experts, such as expert medical witnesses.

Determine Whether the Hospital Was Negligent

Before filing the claim, you must determine who was negligent. Just because medical negligence took place at a hospital doesn’t automatically imply that the facility, i.e., the hospital, must be held liable. 

For instance, if the substandard care was provided by a doctor that is an independent contractor; therefore, not an employee, you should be pursuing action against the doctor herself/himself.

In most cases, you cannot sue a hospital for any doctor’s treatment error, unless the doctor in question is an employee of the hospital. However, exceptional cases occur, like when the doctor’s incompetence should have been apparent to the concerned hospital.

This is where an attorney comes in; once you consult with one, they’ll listen to your case’s circumstances and give you sound advice.

Obtain Your Medical Record and Determine Your Damages

Every hospital keeps their past patients’ medical records, at least a few years since their treatment. Upon making a request, the hospital should give you your records without hesitation. The most they should charge you is the copying expense.




At some point, the hospital or negligent practitioner may offer you a settlement; you must determine your case’s value beforehand. Consider all the possible harm and losses that stem from the malpractice, including future medical treatment that resulted from the error.

Evaluate the past and future lost wages. Valuing damages by yourself is risky since there may be some valid losses that should be compensated for that you are not aware of. 

For instance, you need to take into account any decrease in your life’s value due to the injury, a loss measured by lifestyle changes like losing the ability to walk, enjoy sports or play with children.

You may also get damages for the loss of consortium, which is the loss suffered by your family members due to your injury. A seasoned attorney will have the requisite knowledge to evaluate every single loss you suffered from the malpractice.

Draft and File Your Complaint

A lot of states have varied rules regarding the procedure involved in filing a medical malpractice suit. For instance, some states require their patients to file an affidavit of merit where a qualified medical expert has attested that the patient has a valid case.

Your attorney will take you through these processes to ensure your claim isn’t invalidated over a small step missed. Finally, you and your attorney will draft and file the complaint describing the occurrence of the injury, the harm caused to the patient, and the amount of money expected in compensation.

Make a Claim and Get Justice for Your Injuries

Sometimes, mistakes are just mistakes, while other times some mistakes are obvious and could have been avoided. If you suspect that you are a medical malpractice victim, seek a professional medical expert and medical malpractice attorney. 

Explain the circumstances and check whether you have a valid case. Once you have ascertained that you have a claim, go ahead and begin the process.

How Car Accidents Can Affect Your Retirement Investment Accounts

No matter how old you are or whether you have been in a car crash before, nothing can ever fully prepare you for a car accident. The unpredictability of car accidents is perhaps the main reason they are so stress-inducing. 

You are probably wondering what implications if any, a car accident may have on your retirement investment accounts.

There are several dreadful implications that car accidents may have on your retirement plans and benefits. To avoid them, you need to understand what those repercussions are. Here is how car accidents can affect your retirement investment accounts.

If You Are the at-Fault Party

The financial implications of a car crash significantly escalate when the accident was caused due to your negligence. Perhaps it occurred during an unguarded, distracted moment, but it could cost you a considerable fortune. It is even worse when you did not have sufficient insurance cover to settle the damages.

In this case, the offended party may file a lawsuit against you, upon which the court may rule that your assets be used in settling the claim. These assets include your retirement benefits and plans.

If You Sustained Severe Injuries

On the other hand, if you are the victim of another driver's negligence, you are at risk of spending a significant amount of money, depending on your injuries' intensity. Spending these amounts of money may leave huge dents on your retirement accounts. 

Fortunately, you do not have to pay much if you file a claim against the at-fault party. The claim often covers all the medical costs, including prescriptions and consultation fees.

How to Protect Your Investment Accounts

Depending on whether you were the victim or the at-fault party, there are a number of ways to protect your retirement accounts from the adverse impacts they may receive from car accidents. Here are some of the measures:

1. Buy Sufficient Insurance Coverage

Even after you retire, it is never a good idea to stop getting insurance. Some may argue that you need to be more insured after retirement since it is at this time that you need financial security the most. Buying sufficient insurance cover will ensure you do not have to pay extra money in case you cause an accident.

2. Get an Umbrella Cover

Purchasing umbrella coverage is one of the smartest ideas. This is because umbrella policies come with extra liability covers. You will find this very helpful in situations where the damages are costly. 

The beauty of this policy is that it can cover both your automobiles and your home. This way, you do not have to worry yourself sick whenever you get into an accident.

3. File for Compensation

To avoid spending money from your retirement savings, make a claim against the at-fault party in your accident. Having this compensation will cater to your treatment, saving you from unnecessary and unplanned expenses.

4. Seek Legal Advice

One of the main ways to avoid spending more than necessary is by seeking the opinion of professional car accident attorneys. With their vast experience in car accident laws and processes, they can quickly evaluate your case and give you the best advice on how to go about any accidents without posing any unnecessary threats to your retirement plans.

Value Your Retirement Accounts

Many people tend to downplay the value of having retirement investment accounts. However, it would be best if you realized that maintaining financial security past your fifties dramatically relies on your retirement accounts. 

For this reason, you may want to implement one or some of the tips offered above. This way, you can safely enjoy your retirement.