Posts Tagged ‘special needs’

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The Second Carnival of Special Needs and Money

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Welcome to the October 2, 2008 edition of special needs and money. This is our second carnival! Where does the time fly? As usual dear carnival guests, do your own research and due diligence with any business claims found on the net. The popcorn is popping, the children are having fun. Looks like a great day for a carnival. Our second carnival is on, let us check out the booths and rides! Shall we get started?

special needs-the money go round

Steve Holder presents Paying for Medical Costs of A Brain Injury posted at Head and Brain Injuries, saying, “Kim… I hope this article fits the theme of your carnival. I have another one that is in a similar vein I’m going to submit separately. If you pick either or both articles, I’ll put a link to your blog on my web site. Best of luck with your Blog! Steve”

Steve Holder presents Traumatic Brain Injury – The Medical Insurance Maze posted at Head and Brain Injuries, saying, “Kim… This is the other article I thought might fit your blog carnival. Feel free to use one now and one later on an upcoming carnival. I’ll put a link back to your site for each article you choose. Thanks! Steve”

Michelle McFarland-McDaniels presents Funding Autism Treatment Takes Resourcefulness and Determination posted at Autism Assistance Resources and Information.

special needs-the emotional roller coast

Evidently, nobody has any emotional issues or questions this month when it comes to money or special needs! Whoo hoo! 
Just in case, please check out my article “When filing out Medical or Govt Forms, Take your Time at my blog, profitable.

Sometimes money seems to be everything and it can get very depressing. One way to try to come to grips with it might be, Thinking Poor But Happy. It might help you save some money and ease some of the emotional weight that is something we just don’t need when dealing with special needs situations!

 
Steve and Michelle, thank you for your submissions this month!

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of special needs and money using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, and his second carnival of Special Needs and Money.

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Second Carnival of Special Needs and Money Coming Up

Friday, September 26th, 2008

The dead line is approaching for my second carnival of special needs and money. My first carnival was a little on the light side in terms of content, so if you have a blog that is relevant to autism, Rett Syndrome, CP or any other special needs issue or something that deals with money and special needs, please send the listing through the Blog Carnival.

I am trying to get relevant articles up that deal with coping with special needs situations and of course, trying to keep an income stream, leave alone trying to stay profitable. Anything that makes sense (or even venting) is welcome. No spam, ads for inappropriate items (you are smart enough to know what I mean), junk mail or something that really doesn’t belong in the submission.

Please keep writing your political representatives and the candidates to keep funding for special needs programs. Our particular group tends to not get heard in politics unless we are screaming with everybody else, so keep the screaming up.

I especially would like to see Rett Syndrome blogs or articles for the next carnival if you have them.

Keep the faith and this is a short post!

Kim Isaac Greenblatt

You are reading Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable and his request for entries for his Second Carnvial of Special Needs and Money that is coming up.

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Getting Organized and Staying Organized

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

What do project management, teaching, running a business and running a family have in common?  Organization skills.  Do you think it is by coincidence that projects get completed, buildings get built, the kids are clean, dressed, fed and off for school?  How about that everything you will need for a class is explained for you on the first day?  That’s right, you can thank organization.

Moms, project managers, teachers and businessmen know that you have to have your own house literally in shape before you can tackle the outside world.  If you are a little rusty in these areas, it is time to get profitable by improving your organization game.  In fact, find a parent who has a special needs child if you want to see a master in organization skills!

Got a calendar?  If not, get one.  I am not talking about Outlook or a computer reminder.  I am talking about a good old fashioned paper one with months and days and room to write inside the squares. 

Start writing down upcoming events and schedules for your activities (pick up kids from soccer), the kids activities (drop kids off at soccer), your business plans (meeting with sales team noon on Friday), everything that is going to cut into your time should be written down. 

If you are comfortable with cell phone calendar reminders or Blackberry reminders, great.  But it doesn’t work if you listen to the reminder “beep”, turn it off and don’t act on it!

Your garage or dayroom a mess?  Time to start throwing stuff out a la “Clean Sweep” and put whatever you still need (and hopefully it won’t be much) in boxes or shelves so you can actually find it.  The rule of thumb though is if it isn’t a financial document you need to save for 3-7 years and you haven’t looked at it in 2 years, you really should trash it or sell it.

How do I stay organized?  When I receive mail I throw out junk and anything that isn’t a bill or a birthday/anniversary/friendship card.  I try to save the cards only a little bit after the holiday unless they are something special (like the entire family and the neighborhood signed it or something like that).  How many pictures of your kids do you really need?  If you have a lot of duplicates, think of giving the dupes away and maybe only keeping one set of dupes for each kid.  You can always make more or scan the pictures later on.

Before I go to bed each night I review with the family what the next day’s activities and schedule will be and we work out conflicts (Mom is taking Arianna to the doctor so Dad has to pick up Jacob, things like that).  You should be doing the same thing.  Carry this thought process over to your business and you will be very profitable and playing your “O” – for “organized” –  game.

Kim Greenblatt

 

Learn with Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, to be organized and stay organized.

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Kim’s EMF – Emergency Medical Fund

Monday, September 8th, 2008

Take five minutes now. I want you to answer a question for yourself.
Do you have money saved up in case you have a medical emergency? If you were to slip and break your arm and somebody has to pick up the kids, get them home or take care of your parents or a special needs loved one, do you have emergency cash available?

Separate from your insurance, you should have cash put aside for some basics that people don’t think about:

Medical Deductible – They range from $5 (if you are lucky) to $100 (average these days) to whatever it is on the plan you have. Don’t always count on credit cards to get it covered. Make sure you get a receipt for any deductibles you pay if you use cash.

Prescriptions – Pain killers, antibiotics, and whatever else – figure $20-200 depending on what has happened to you and your medical coverage.

Parking – Hospital parking runs from free to $15 in some cities.

Food – Relatives who visit need to be fed and watered (hi kids) and snack machines, cafeteria meals are easier to do when everything is up in the air then worrying about brown bagging it to the hospital.

Phone Cards – Some hospitals don’t give you outgoing phone service, you should plan for it accordingly by having some phone cards for $20 in case you don’t have your cell phone with you when you are checked into the hospital or it is damaged or separated from you. Watch the hours that they don’t expire right away or have a relative buy a phone card and bring it to you the day you check into the hospital. Remember also cell phones aren’t normally allowed in a hospital.

This is just a start – you can figure regionally for what the cost might be for you. Figure the neighborhood of $200 – $1000 depending on what city that you live in and what kind of medical coverage that you have. Keep it in your checking account and accessible by your ATM card.

I know it is weird locking up money like that but trust me, when you are in pain, and there are a million other things going on you need to take care of, you will be glad that you had some cash saved up. Insurance, if you have the coverage, will kick in, but it doesn’t always cover all of the little things that you need to have taken care of when you check into a hospital.

Kim Greenblatt

You are in Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, where he is suggesting you establish an Emergency Medical Fund of cash.

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Upcoming Book Chapter Listings – Practical Money Making

Monday, August 25th, 2008

I just uploaded this weekend my book and cover to the printer.  Hopefully I will have a clean proof and be out with the new book within a week.  In the meantime, dear readers, here are the chapters for you to review and be amused with (or not depending on your mood).

Chapter Titles for the upcoming book, Practical Money Making – Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION 
WHAT IS YOUR FINANCIAL GOAL? 
NO JOB 
YOUR DAY JOB 
YOUR 2ND JOB 
MY COMIC BOOK DELIVERY BUSINESS 
NON-PROFIT JOBS 
DON’T TAKE ON A JOB WHERE YOU SELL SOMETHING THAT YOU LOVE TO COLLECT 
I HAVE NO MONEY AND I NEED TO DO SOMETHING PART TIME 
MAKE MONEY DOING THINGS THAT PEOPLE HATE TO DO 
THINGS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN PICKING A BUSINESS 
DEVELOPING PASSIVE INCOME STREAMS 
THINK FOR THE FUTURE 
NEST EGGS 
PAY OFF DEBTS FASTER 
LONG TERM INVESTMENTS 
ACCOUNT FOR TAXES 
WORK AT HOME OR WORK AWAY FROM HOME AND SOME TAXING QUESTIONS 
REVIVING OUR DEAD SERVICE ECONOMY 
DO WHAT YOU LOVE, BUT DON’T LET IT DESTROY YOU FINANCIALLY 
RETIREMENT 
MONEY IS TIGHT AND IT IS ABOUT TO GET TIGHTER 
THREE AWESOME CLOSING BITS OF ADVICE 
 
If you, my readers, have any questions, please let me know.  The book should be out in stores and available on the internet in about a month.  The isbn number is 978-60622-001-6, and the suggested retail price in the United States will be $14.95.

Also, I am taking requests for what my next non-fiction book should be.  Let me know what you want to see.  In the front running is now a book on Special Needs.  It will be more of a general book than my Rett Syndrome book and will focus on financial issues as well as social, physical, mental and spiritual things.

Let me know your thoughts.  Be well, safe and profitable!

Kim Greenblatt

 

You are reading, Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, and learning about his upcoming book, Practical Money Making,  soon to available everywhere!

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Star Wars victorious over Tropic Thunder?

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

As much as I wanted to go see Tropic Thunder, I was too tired from working the other day.  It is on hold as much due to my exhaustion as to my son’s desire to see the Star Wars movie instead.  So, the upshot on this is pretty much the way I expected it to go.  Normally I see every movie but in this case because of work obligations and time schedules, I have to pick and choose my movies.  Because Tropic Thunder chose a mid week opening such as Wed to try and get more box office money (and I am guessing to get a jump on Clone Wars) they may have had their shot at the golden ticket and it may be over.

I still would like to see the movie but I am not going out of my way to and it may be that I might forget about it because of the dearth of other movies coming out that I want to see.  That is a problem with the movie blockbuster model.  You have to make your money fast before the next contender zooms up on you and tries to get all the buzz and movie ticket money.

From what I read, Tropic Thunder had a decent first night opening of six million dollars or something close to that.  Whether it is good to enough of a start, I am going to hold off judgment since I think that the Star Wars fans are going to bury anything that hits the movies this weekend. 

If you have a good brand like Star Wars, you create your own buzz with the fans and certainly with a thirty plus year pedigree of marketing and product, I think any movie, controversial or not will not fare well against the Clone Wars.    So how was Clone Wars?

It was action packed, non-stop fun and adventure.  I hope it does well in the box office! 

May the Force and making money be with you!

Kim Greenblatt

 

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Kim Greenblatt, in his blog, profitable, thinks that Clone Wars will be the Death Star for Tropic Thunder.

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Kim Greenblatt Asks If You Teach Your Children About Money While They Are Young

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Where do kids learn their first values about money? From mom and dad. Or from your baby’s mom, or your baby’s dad. Whoever. The people that will introduce a strong sense of monetary education into your kids at first will be you. What kind of example are you being for them?

Are you a saver? Have you shown them that they need to start saving money, even if it is with a piggy bank and just small change once a week?

Are you a spender? Do you buy everything you want, when you want it regardless of the cost? Do you end up charging up your credit cards in order to do that? Not a good idea. Do you want to have another generation of kids piling up debt?

I love America. I love the fact that capitalism is all over the globe. What I don’t love is the mass marketing and media shoving ads from the internet, from tv shows, from the radio from magazines trying to tell my kids what they “need” to have. They can get by on a lot less than they think they can and yes, like any devoted parent I want what is best for them but I would be doing my son a disservice by giving him everything he wants. In Arianna’s case, Arianna has Rett Syndrome, I am doing all that I can to make her life comfortable and help her develop her communication skills.

There is a difference between teaching children to be frugal and cheap. Frugal is where you save a little bit of money from each weekly allowance, paper route, usher job at the theater, etc. You put that into a savings account for something big later on. You get your children use to saving for emergencies and a rainy day. Cheap is not leaving a tip to a waiter or waitress at a restaurant who gave you great service. If they give you lousy service, you can teach your children at that point the value of good service by still leaving a tip, just a small one. They may not say anything but they will get the message.

Teach them about money to avoid gambling schemes as well.

Special needs kids can get the message too. They need to learn – and some learn it quite well and quickly – the need to price shop, to learn the difference in value with some items and to see through marketing at times.

If you are reading my blogs, I am sure you are teaching your kids the value of money. While you are at it, you may want to look into getting them a Roth IRA if they are working a part time job as well.
It doesn’t hurt to start their retirement while they are young.

If they have questions about money, please encourage them. Any ideas about making money also should be encouraged. If they want to start a part time business, do what you can to help them. You never know. They may become the next garage start-up billionaire.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

You are reading from Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable, on teaching your kids about money, taxes and money management while they are young!

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Tropic Thunder Timothy Shriver, Chairman of Special Olympics and boycotts

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

In the Rett Syndrome community as well as in other special needs communities, there is some buzz about Timothy Shriver’s op ed piece in the Washington Post.  Evidently in the upcoming film, Tropic Thunder, there will be exchanges where the actors talk about playing characters who have special needs and are called “retarded”.

Not having seen the movie nor read the script, I cannot say myself what is being said but I can say one thing.  It looks like there may be some decision to boycott the film by the National Down Syndrome Congress and the national ARC (if I have my information correct).  All politically correct heated debate put aside, how does this relate to business and being profitable?

Well, if enough groups get together to boycott a film, it won’t be seen.  It depends on the spending money of the groups as well as the total bad publicity – or perception of bad publicity that will be out there.   Remember the OJ book where he told how he might have killed his late wife?  

 In the previews, it shows Morton Downey Jr having undergone surgery to transform from a white man into a black man for acting.  Okay, was that a concession to also show how edgy and funny they are? I dunno yet. If this is part of the satire, I get it. That will help in the movie’s overall box office.

Readers of my blog know that I have an open mind and a sense of humor so I am going to refrain from saying anything until I see the movie myself.  I am not a hypocrite.  If it is funny, it is funny.

The problem is, I agree with Timothy Shriver that the movie is going after a group of people who can’t defend themselves.  I’ve had the same issue with Carlos Mencia.  Surprisingly, or maybe not so, I haven’t had this problem with South Park because they are truly equal opportunity offenders. 

I also don’t know what kind of agenda Mr. Shriver has and maybe he is mad because he didn’t get a shot at reviewing the movie. Again, I don’t know and it is beyond my paygrade, folks.

So, back to the business angle…

How much economic pull will this have on the movie if there is a boycott?  It is hard to tell because it may backfire and make the movie a big hit because it has been boycotted by all sorts of special needs groups.  People may go see it to see what the fuss was all about.  Remember, controversy gets people interested in seeing something.

If enough people don’t see it though or it dries up quickly, it maybe because it was a horrible movie, period. Maybe the satire is above people’s heads. I dunno.  Lately, when a lot of comedies are just over-packing their movie with lowest common denominator jokes hoping some will stick they are finding that people can get that stuff for free over the internet and they run away.  If the movie can generate $10 worth of laughs per person multiplied by 100 million people, with or without the special needs jokes it will be a hit, even if there is a boycott.

Stuff like this happens all the time. It use to be to become a hit in the United Kingdom you use to say something bad about the royal family to get banned from the radio and you would be a hit.

An interesting fact is that I was probably going to see the movie without all the attention being called to it. In the previews it looks like they are three clueless actors. In the roles they are playing you are expecting to hear nonsense come out of their mouths. My hope is that they don’t dwell on the special needs humor as one aspect of it.

Should we just ignore the protests and see what happens with this movie? You need to come to the decision yourself. As for me, I will see the movie for myself and make my own decisions afterwards.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Please feel free to spread the word, if you are a social site such as Technorati, http://technorati.com/.

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

You are reading from Kim Greenblatt’s blog, profitable on special needs, money and the Timothy Shriver op end piece about boycotting Tropic Thunder.

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Special Needs Sensitivity and Business

Monday, August 11th, 2008

I’ve noticed at amusement parks and some places that for special needs people, there are certain hoops that a person has to jump through now to get passes for special access.  Some parks have modified their rides to be wheelchair friendly to the point where you can literally take your wheelchair on a rollercoaster. 

Some parks though have gotten pretty tight with granting access because so many jerks and lazy slobs have abused the special needs pass access.  Because somebody is tired they should NOT be given a wheelchair.  Sit down and rest.  If they actually have a documented condition, that is fine with me.  Bring a doctor’s note with you otherwise you are taking access away from my daughter and others like her.

I am tired of the Carlos Mencia (that isn’t even his real first name, by the way, he uses it to sound more Latino) nonsense about people expecting special needs people to say that others are either better than that.  His harping on special needs because they are an easy target is nonsense.  If he ever has a child or relative born with special needs he will sing a different tune.

To be fair, there are some special needs comics who use their disabilities as part of their routine.  More power to them I say.  For a lot of people who can’t speak to defend themselves, all they are asking for is a little bit of courtesy.

At one of the amusement parks in Southern California, we had people give us grief about Arianna trying to get a pass.  One look at my daughter and as gorgeous as she is you can see that she, due to her hang-wringing from Rett Syndrome has something going on.  The guy gave us the party line until we basically showed him the pass we had last time.  Sharren and I had gone to the park with our documentation in the past. 

Also, please tell all everybody that special needs chairs and access are there for special needs people first people.  Get your freaking baby strollers out of the way.  We had an instance where we were cut off by a family with a stroller.  Not cool. The amusement park employees wereon it and corrected the situation.  Kudos all around!

Our money is just as good as people’s money who don’t have special needs relatives.  I can just as easily find another venue where my wife, kids and relatives can go to spend more money.

Have any rants or bones to rattle about special needs and business? How about people who aren’t disabled using driving cards they shouldn’t?  Let me know your beefs here.

Part of all my book proceeds go to research finding a cure for Rett Syndrom and reversal of symptoms.

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

Special note: Effective immediately any comments to post over a week old may not be added. I may add them subject to editorial discretion. Just to let you know…

Kim Greenblatt, on his blog, profitable, talks about the recent breakdown in treatment of people with special needs because of people abusing the system and what people can do to change it. More at http://www.kimgreenblatt.com/wordpress.

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Comic book rush is on and I give it two years

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

With the success of Iron Man, Wanted and the Dark Knight movies it looks like the next two to three years will be comic book movie years.  It had been hit or miss with Marvel with hits like Spider-Man and some misses like the second Fantastic Four (movie).  Warner Brothers DC Superman Returns did okay but not as phenomenal as the Dark Knight movie.

How do you profit from this?

If you are a creator or owner of comic book character rights, this is the time to pitch your characters since studios are goobling up comic book stories or trying to build their franchise.  Disney will be developing in house their own comic book line characters apart from what they license already.  I give the window two to three years before people get tired of them since these things seem to go in cycles.  I may be completely wrong here but that is my story and I am sticking with it.

If you own comic book related collectibles, now is the time to sell your Watchmen comics with the movie coming out, anything related to recent comic book movies or collectibles.  It has been my experience that after the movie is out is a bad time unless you are one of the first people who can buy or sell the collectible item.

My motto on collectibles is that if you sold it a profit, count your blessings.  You don’t want to be the owner of a mint condition set of Watchmen comics at $400 if you cannot sell them for $150 two years later!

If you are planning on buying anything for speculation I would stick with rare items.  Limited items from the Comic Con, true items of scarcity are the way to go.  That is the way to get collectors interested in buying something from you and better yet, to pay top dollar.

I posted on somebody else’s blog a comment about what happens if a movie that costs $180 million dollars fails at the box office?  A lot of studio people will cry and even worse, they will stop making movies in that genre for awhile because they goofed with the previous film.

Follow the entertainment companies like Marvel, Disney and Warner Brothers.  Keep in mind that if they have other divisions other than their movie division they may net out with a loss despite a great year in their film division.  Also, film division profits are notariously all over the map.

Due your own due diligence, super friends!

Kim Greenblatt

Questions or comments? Let me know about them! Thanks for taking the time to visit and for more information or to get back to the beginning of the blog, go here.

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