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A living will sounds like a contradiction. Wills are supposed to convey the wishes of dead people so why bother with one? A living will, and the accompanying medical powers of attorney, are more important than many people can appreciate. Both safeguard the emotions of survivors and loved ones.

The Cold Reality behind Living Wills

A medical crisis is nondiscriminatory: it will strike a person regardless of race, sex, color, or creed. An automobile accident or a cardiac seizure can render a person unconscious and unable to communicate. Healthcare providers are ethically mandated to comply with a patient’s wishes. A comatose victim cannot communicate instructions and the hospitals only course of action is a life support system. Life support puts a person in vegetative limbo; living but not responsive.

The patient’s family goes through the pain of watching a loved one lying in bed with minimal recovery chances. No one knows what medical care the patient wants. Death may be months or even years away. Group legal plans must address the living will issue and Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services does that. We have a living will option in our group legal plan benefits. Continue reading

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Employees have a right to government services. Their tax dollars support public agencies but getting the benefits they need might be frustrating.

Property tax assessments can be appealed but there are forms to be completed and accurate evidence must be submitted. Deadlines are very strict, and appeals are rejected for being too late.

Getting government services is not easy for foreign-born employees. They are new immigrants or here on work visas. The American legal system is a mystery and they are not sure of what to do. It can result in disabled children not getting the help they need in school, or elderly parents not getting the additional attention they need. Group legal plans must guide their plan members through the bureaucracy jungle and cut red tape. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services will do both. Continue reading

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People always have the best intentions. They want to keep credit card debt under control, make necessary payments on time, and save for a rainy day. It’s sad, but the road to ruin is paved with good intentions. Establishing and maintaining financial wellness requires effort.

More Than Good Advice

Many folks have problems due to lack of experience with finances. Recent college graduates have little understanding of house budgets and how to allocate money. Older employees have lived from paycheck to paycheck. They do not always save money and a medical emergency can create a serious challenge. Others want to save for a house and do not know how to do it.

Good advice indeed helps, but that is not enough. Financial wellness needs the right tools to build fiscal stability. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services knows this, and we provide the means to create a healthier personal balance sheet. Continue reading

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Increasingly more people are becoming worried about their information and with very good reason. Cyber theft has become chronic and it is a multi-billion-dollar, international business. It has spread from banks and retail establishments to social media. It seems every day we are hearing about how a major social media platform has had a security breach. The danger is very serious.

What people must understand is that cyber thieves aren’t necessarily going for one individual’s information. Instead, they steal batches of personal data and sell them to other criminals. These people will in turn raid bank accounts and set up bogus credit card accounts. Victims will not know about the crime until the end of the month when their statements come in. Credit integrity is compromised as well as personal finances. Identity theft has become a desperate situation which needs to be controlled and credit status needs to be closely monitored. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services has the solution for ordinary consumers. Continue reading

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Foreign-born employees are hard workers. They know the opportunity America presents and they want to make the most of it. Coming to a new country does have challenges for them and group legal plans should be able to respond.

The Will Must Be Correct

Immigrants are from foreign countries that have unique judicial codes. It might be the Napoleonic Code, Sharia law, or some other form of jurisprudence. A last will must reflect American law. An inadequate will, or no will at all, guarantees the survivors’ benefits will be tied up in probate court.

A simple will can prevent serious problems. This document is just a few pages but spells out how the estate will be divided. Drafting a will is something any group legal plan ought to be able to do. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services offers this plan benefit. Continue reading

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Parents warn their children about financial emergencies. They advise the youngsters to put money aside not just for rainy day but for unexpected expenses, as well. This is commonly ignored wisdom. People are compulsive spenders, and many will not budget their cash. Everything is fine until disaster hits. An emergency can cause serious harm to financial wellness.

Problems Will Come from All Directions

Emergencies come out of nowhere to damage a person’s finances. A medical condition may require surgery and generate a high deductible’s expense. Repair work on the house, the kind not adequately covered by home insurance, will be a shock to the wallet. Millennials and Generation Z employees can get a major college debt bill in the mail. Car repairs, especially installing a new transmission, can cost in the thousands of dollars.

Hasty Decisions Harm Financial Wellness

Emergencies cause panic. A large bill can create issues that an individual never plans for appropriately. Inexperience in dealing with money challenges may result in horrible decisions. Continue reading

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If hacking were a company, it would be a high-level Fortune 500 corporation. Cyber theft is a multi-billion-dollar industry with international reach. Finance, retail, and hospitality were once the primary hunting ground for hackers. Social media has now becoming increasingly more vulnerable.

The Leaks Are Damaging

Security walls are built to shelter data, but social media has leaking issues. Giants such as Google are now forced to admit that large quantities of personal information were exposed to theft. Corporate apologies are nice, but they don’t do a lot to minimize the danger.

Hackers will do more than open a bogus credit card account. These felons will sell bundles of data to criminal groups who will invade bank accounts and personal privacy. Group legal plan vendors can offer separate services to help people protect themselves from the consequences of a privacy raid. Countrywide Pre-Paid Legal Services can furnish a group identity theft and credit monitoring plan benefit in addition to a group legal plan. Continue reading

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Financial woes cause considerable anxiety. The debt from college loans or a medical emergency generates feelings close to panic. It doesn’t have to be that way. Financial wellness can be achieved and maintained by following a few general rules of proactive conduct.

  1. Never Take Counsel of Your Fears

The college graduate can be stunned by the loan repayments necessary to retire college debt. Many have debts as large as a house mortgage. The common worry is being forced to spend most of life paying a bill that could be more than the monthly rent. The same is true for medical bills or sizable credit card balance.

Excessive concern causes panic and forces a person to make poor decisions. These include forbearance, completely ignoring the bills, or overpaying a monthly bill when it is not necessary. Thinking calmly and making sound decisions are the best ways to meet a financial wellness problem. Continue reading

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Pre-paid legal services include creating documents. There are many forms of legal paper an individual might use and some that are essential. In fact there can be serious consequences for not having the latter. Effective group legal plans offer a variety of document drafting service.

Protecting Your Survivors

Everyone should have at least a simple will. This protects survivors of loved ones if an untimely death occurs. An estate without a will is considered intestate and the beneficiaries are at the mercy of the probate court. It could take years before the estate is finally distributed to the heirs.

Accidents or a medical crisis may leave a person comatose and living only because of life support systems. Families have the heartache of watching a victim lie in a vegetative state, with no chance of final closure. Decisions about a victim’s care could be delayed if there is no living will or medical powers of attorney. Continue reading

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School days are not over for some employees. A few may still be finishing up a Baccalaureate degree and others are just beginning a Master’s program. An organization’s educational system program may not cover all the expenses. An employee may have to pay the lion’s share of tuition and it can threaten financial wellness.

Making Tough Decisions

A person could have a well-paying job and still face college debt problems. Costs are rising and the required classes might be a strain on the budget. There are many college loan programs, but each has its own requirements. The employee might not know which loans are best suited for his or her financial situation. An employer might not be able to enlarge an existing educational assistance plan. However, a benefit that includes college loan counseling can be just as good.

Countrywide Offers Financial Wellness

Our program helps employees deal with common financial situations including college debt. We have a nationwide network of certified counselors who will provide the service. Continue reading