What You Need to Know About Depression

The blues is a temporary and usually normal reaction to stressful life situations. Most cases don't involve physical symptoms, loss of self-esteem, or suicidal thoughts, and the negative state usually passes within a few hours or days.

Depression on the other hand, is an intense, pervasive and long-lasting disorder of mood that attacks the body as well as the mind, often resulting in serious problems in work, social, and physical functioning. 

Unfortunately, some people don't recognize depression for the serious illness it is. They think of it as a personality flaw, a sign of weakness or a character defect.

To go further in depth, depression occurs in at least three different dynamics. 

People in the first dynamic are chronically depressed. Depression is built into them and may be passed from generation to generation.

The second dynamic concerns lasting grief that occurs after a severe loss. Its severity is entirely subjective but might occur with the loss of a child, spouse, or loved one, an amputation, mastectomy, a sizable career setback, or loss of functioning brought about by disease or trauma.

The third dynamic involves loss accompanied by anger. People who have unresolved issues with a departed loved one often do not know that they are angry. This despair can set in after messy divorces or after a close relative or friend passes away. Since they are not able to deal with these problems by interacting with the object of their anger, they take their antagonism out on themselves instead.

Loss is the common element in all three dynamics. It could be a loss of time, an object, an idealization of an object, or a person.

Symptoms of depression often include disturbances with sleep, appetite and body weight, energy, concentration, and sexual functioning. There is frequently excessive guilt, feelings of worthlessness, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, and, in severe cases, thoughts of or attempts at suicide.

Some depressions are the result of a chemical imbalance and may only be treated by anti-depressant medication, some require psychotherapy, and still others a combination of methods.

Those with chronic depression can't be helped except by antidepressants. In these cases, psychotherapy may be of little help and a poor use of time and money. Time helps a person who has suffered a severe loss as well as an involved other person who listens to the aggrieved as he or she gives words to the pain. This does not necessarily have to be a therapist, but if there is not a strong support system, treatment is very necessary. 

Finally, only a strong guide can help people whose loss is accompanied with anger move toward slow recognition and safe expression of their real feelings. This is usually the only path out of melancholy.

The good news is that more than eighty percent of depression sufferers can be treated successfully. If you or someone you care about is depressed, seek help now by contacting a qualified mental health specialist.

Whole Life Insurance - the Best Choice in Funding a College Education

Include Whole Life Insurance - A Must

Whole life insurance, written on one of the parents, is an excellent funding vehicle to pay for a child's college education. 

There are several good reasons:

1. Life insurance is a "self-completing" plan. If a parent dies while the child is still young, life insurance would pay an income tax-free death benefit to the beneficiary (presumably the surviving spouse) who can use that money for the children's college education.

2. If you become seriously ill or disabled, with waiver of premium included as a feature of the policy, the company will pay the premium for you and keep your policy in force with the cash value continuing to build up.

3. Cash value in a life policy will not only grow tax-deferred, but can be borrowed tax-free for college expenses, through policy loans. If its never paid back, it will simply be subtracted from the face amount the beneficiaries will receive when the insured passes away.

4. After borrowing from the policy, it will still have cash value remaining or once again begin to grow for years to come. When you  retire, you can access that cash through withdrawals and policy loans. This is using your policy to its greatest potential. 

5. Also, money in a whole life policy is not a countable asset when a child applies for college financial aid.

The self-completion, locked-in investment gains, tax-favored access to cash throughout the owner's life, and exemption from countable assets are significant values to the client.

Furthermore, you may choose to have your children take out student loans to pay for college knowing that the interest rate is very low and that the money in the life policy will grow at a better rate. 

This provides leverage and options for the parent, and the ability to give more money to the child tax-free later on, to pay off the student loans and then some.

Leave your comments and questions below.

Forget the Political Parties. Know the State of the Economy

People have began again to look for work. The participation rate has recent risen to 62.9%. However, The Labor Department’s unemployment rate of 4.4% does not tell the true story. 

A huge number of people have simply dropped out of the job market and are not counted.

Great Recession of 2008
The depth and severity of the Great Recession after the 2008 financial crisis pushed millions of Americans to the sidelines and discouraged them from looking for work and none of President Obama’s policies helped. In fact, it made the situation worse.

The type of jobs available has been part-time jobs-- less than 30 hours per week due to Obamacare. This reflected a provision in the law that defined “full- time employees” as those working 30 hours or more. 

Destructive Obamacare Mandate
Under Obamacare’s employer mandate, companies with 50 or more “full-time” employees will be required to offer health insurance to their workers or pay a penalty if at least one of their employees purchases a plan through the healthcare marketplace with a federal subsidy. 

Obamacare raised the cost of hiring along with the minimum wage controversy. Moreover, the average working person hasn’t had a raise in the last 15 years.

The national deficit now stands at $603 billion, but is predicted to go down to $440 billion this next fiscal year.  The national debt doubled over the eight years of the Obama administration to now close to $20 trillion. This was more debt accumulated, in those eight years, than all the previous 43 presidents combined. This was total recklessness on the part of Obama. Fortunately, this increase of the national debt is now slowing down.

The economy has now experienced a growth of 3.0% this past quarter.

Eliminate Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
There is no new money available for programs, social or otherwise, unless unspent funds are found in the budget or waste, fraud, and abuse are eliminated and the funds redirected. 

However, with the elimination of waste, fraud, ,and abuse in the government’s agencies, no truly beneficial programs need to be cut.

All federal employment should be frozen and any cost-of-living increases should be pegged to the inflation rate. The pensions should be equalized rather than income. All employees should be either on Social Security or on a 401k plan.

Rationally Choose Your Candidates
By knowing the state of the economy, you can rationally choose the candidates with the best policies to address these issues and not get hung up on party labels, or the race or sex of the candidate. And, most of all hold them accountable. 

Our country is teetering on the brink of self destruction. President Trump is now in office. Now regularly contact your Representatives and Senators and let them know how you want them to vote. 

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