Marlene, Mary, thank you. You do not know the smile you put on my face during those long days on the road. Mary I am honored you are famous. LOL. I am going to use styrofoam boxes to create the tall planter you have and I found some yellow paint at Home Depot in their return area for 1.00. This is going to be fun. I will start looking for the plates at the thrift store. I have the purple plants that you used and it is one of my favorite houseplants because it grows like a weed. Also, thank you for the extra info on how you created your masterpieces. Both of these pieces spoke to me they are both so cheerful in color and that is what drew me to them. I have done some mosaic floors and walls in my homes but never had time to do any outside garden items. I have been collecting tile at discontinued outlets and the big box stores when I saw them on sale. So I have a lot of tile to do mosaics. I am getting excited and cannot wait for summer to get here.

I'd ask him to list the things that make him want to go back: then see if those things are really there or just his longing for the way things used to be. Sometimes we tend to glorify the good things & forget about the bad. You don't mention the size of the city where he wants to move. Does it still have the amenities, entertainment sources, restaurants, etc. that you both like? What are some of the issues facing the community? We live in a small town where many have moved away; however they keep their home (or parents home when they die) so that they have a place to stay when they come back to visit or can someday move back. But the world they knew it as is no longer reality. The businesses have changed (or gone), the friends & family they knew are no longer around, people don't neighbor like they used to, etc. I'd test the waters before committing. Go back & stay for a month or so. If you want to get out of the city, make a list of the features you'ld really like in your new place and see if his hometown can provide those things.

I am sorry you lost your money to a corrupt broker. At least this woman lost her license. I hope you are able to recover some of your money. Thank you for mentioning the name of the brokerage. I have a friend who is invested with them. I will share this information with them. When we first came into some money, we had little experience with stocks, etc and looked for an advisor. We made appointments to talk with several different types of "professionals". Brokers, CFP's, accountants. Before we contacted anyone, we tried to educate ourselves as much as possible so we would know what to expect (and avoid). We read many financial books and surfed the internet for information before making our first appointment. It was interesting. The source of information that proved the most helpful was the book "Brokerage Fraud-What Wall Street Doesn't Want You to Know"-by Tracy Pride Stoneman and Douglas J. Schulz. The authors have experience as a)securities attorney/Judge/NASD-SYSE arbitrator and b) expert witness for securities fraud cases. The sleeve of their books states " Very often, financial services professionals fail to tell you about the dark side of the brokerage firm business, the investments they recommend, the handling of your accounts, and what you can do about it. The secrets and insights presented in this book will help ensure that you become a better-and better invested-consumer." Before you entrust ANY more money to brokers, etc., you might want to check this book out from your local library as well as visit the following person's website for some very good information about keeping control of YOUR money. Forbes.com Best of the Web E.F. Moody Jr. www.efmoody.com. With 3250 pages and 1650 links, the site bills itself as the "largest and most comprehensive independent financial site ... www.forbes.com/bow/b2c/review.jhtml?id=456 - 24k - (read the link-How to Find a Financial Planner) Here is a story that recently appeared in the Motley Fool. Best of luck to you and thanks for sharing your story. Beware of Brokers Bearing Annuities By Buz Livingston, CFPWed Jul 25, 5:12 PM ET The first baby boomers are making plans for retirement, with their 401(k) plans stuffed with savings. In response to the pending onslaught of soon-to-be retirees, the insurance industry has metamorphosed into "retirement planning." However, it's promoting marketing techniques designed more to generate sales than to expand investors' holdings. Companies offering variable annuities, including Hartford (NYSE: HIG - News) and the John Hancock division of Manulife (NYSE: MFC - News), often add extra features, also known as riders. Agents like these provisions, since they sound good and help win over risk-averse customers. But they often prove completely unnecessary, adding nothing to the value of the annuity or its eventual payout. For instance, one type of rider is called a guaranteed minimum accumulation benefit (GMAB). It promises that the value of a variable annuity will rise by at least a certain percentage -- often 6% -- over time. Sounds nice, doesn't it? But there's a catch. The troubles with GMAB For beginners, the fees to add a GMAB can be obscenely expensive. If you add mortality and expense charges, administrative costs of the variable annuity, and the extra GMAB fee, you could easily pay expenses topping 3% each year. That wouldn't be so bad if you actually got something from it. But the odds are good that you'll never need such a benefit. Some annuities tied to the stock market use a long timeframe -- such as 10 years -- to apply the GMAB. That means that in order to get a benefit from the GMAB, the market would have to earn less than 6% annually over a 10-year period. Historically, the last time that happened was 1984 -- a period that included the tail end of the 1973-74 bear market. The GMAB feature isn't likely to cost the insurance companies anything close to what they'll make on it. Pensions and annuities Another marketing ploy annuity salespeople trot out is the benefit of annuitizing 401(k) rollovers. They argue that the rollover will be taxed as ordinary income, so why not buy an annuity with it? That line of reasoning is true. Yet often, the annuities they recommend -- especially equity-indexed and variable annuities -- are unsuitable investments for retirees. Retirees who want to replace a salary or create a pension-like cash stream should consider an immediate fixed annuity. Although it often won't pay a death benefit to your heirs, it will usually offer higher payouts during your lifetime. Check out low-cost providers such as Vanguard or Integrity Life for options on immediate annuities. In addition, if you want a beneficiary to get back at least what you paid for the annuity, you can choose a return-of-premium benefit. Zealous annuity marketers will sometimes misrepresent an annuity's fees and commissions. (I've heard them do so myself.) Don't fall for it! Except in rare cases, the higher costs for annuities simply mean that you're giving more of your hard-earned money to your broker. Most of the time, comparable mutual funds in a rollover IRA make much better investments. Fool contributor Buz Livingston, CFP owns none of the stocks listed and appreciates your feedback. He believes investors will benefit from professional advice. The Fool's disclosure policy is always on your side. Copyright 2007 Motley Fool Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

The idea of front loaded interest on mortgages is a bit of a misconception, while you pay more interest in the early years that is only because you owe more money (If you have a 3.9% mortgage then you pay 3.9%/12 on the outstanding balance you owe each month). While that may sound pertinent, the discussion is really about effective interest versus compounding interest. As you pay on your principle you pay less interest, so over time the interest charges are smaller because your principle is smaller. While on an investment you start with a principle and if left alone for some period of time the interest continues adding to the principle and therefore pays more interest. This discussion is largely around the idea of people who have some income coming in and some ability to make payments. While, I could note that guaranteed payment annuities are about equal to house payments, they are no more liquid than houses so not really an investment that is better than a house. In the end, we are discussing people who want to be done with the headache of a mortgage and not people who simply don't have the income to continue paying a mortgage. Edit: It is also important to remember that a 15 year mortgage doesn't mean you have to make 15 years of payments. Making even a few years of payments before liquidating the investments to pay off the balance will typically result in gains. I think a lot of people focus too much on the stress of coming up with the money for monthly payments and forget that any time you get tired of stressing over payments, you can simply liquidate your investment and pay off the loan. While I have said the same thing jn3344 has many times, I have a completely different conclusion. When you have a paid off house and little money in the bank you have no options for dealing with uncertainty. Cash gives you options, the farther you get from cash the less options you have, and nothing is farther from cash than a house. Think of it this way. My father was just this week presented with a treatment option for a medical condition that was not covered by Medicare, the time sensitive treatment was going to cost $35,000, but it would greatly improve his quality of life. What allowed my father to make that decision was having access to $35,000, if he paid for his house outright and didn't have any money then he couldn't make that decision. Now suppose spending this $35,000 means my father will not be able to continue paying his mortgage and will have to move out of his house into a smaller apartment. I feel confident he will tell you walking around his smaller apartment beats not being able to walk around his bigger house. Edit: Many people have a false sense of security from a home. The only real security a paid off home provides is the equity (the access to cash). Homes are fairly inefficient domiciles, the taxes, maintenance and less efficient utilities minimize any real savings over renting. The path to homeless has nothing to do with a paid off house and a lot to do with not enough cash.