How to Spot Counterfeit Money

How to Spot Counterfeit Money

How can you tell if money is fake? Check the bills in your wallet with these methods.

By Geoff Williams | July 21, 2021 U.S. News & World Report

Checking counterfeit money light. 100 dollars against the window in his hand. Check for watermark on new hundred dollar bill. translucence of the American currency.

If you hold the bill toward the light and there's no watermark or if you can see the watermark even without holding it up toward the light, then the bill you're holding is probably a counterfeit.(GETTY IMAGES)

It would be easy to assume that it's rare to encounter counterfeit money. After all, plenty of people rely on credit and debit cards and even cryptocurrency, and go long stretches of time without touching a dollar bill or quarter.  But cash isn’t exactly dead yet. Every week, it seems, counterfeiters make news throughout the country.

In Casper, Wyoming, the police are investigating phony $100 bills circulating. Counterfeit money recently turned up in Hartville, Ohio. Counterfeit cash was also passed at businesses in Lubbock, Texas. A local band in Richland, Washington, received four fake $100 bills in their tip jar.

So, yes, counterfeit crime is still very much a thing, and if you use cash in your day-to-day life, or even just occasionally, it may pay off to know the signs of counterfeit bills. If you want to know if your U.S. dollars are real or fake, use these methods.

Evaluate the Feel of the Paper

This observation is based on gut instinct.

“Most counterfeits are identified by the feel of the paper,” says L. Burke Files, president of Financial Examinations & Evaluations, a firm that does investigations, risk management and other types of consulting in Tempe, Arizona. Generally, fake money, he says, “does not have the crisp money feel and the raised feeling of the black ink on the front of the bills."

Files, who has been a financial investigator for 30 years, says that counterfeit money – in all countries throughout the world – is a problem. He also says that quite a few business owners unfortunately appear to accept – and pass on – counterfeit dollars knowing they’re fake.

“As one person told me, it only becomes bad when someone fails to take it,” Files says.

It's easy to imagine why a business owner might knowingly pass on a counterfeit bill. Often, when a business owner or consumer turns in counterfeit money to the authorities, they aren't reimbursed for that bill.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2013/04/25/how-to-spot-counterfeit-money

What It Means To Be Rich

What It Means To Be Rich

Posted July 25, 2021 by Ben Carlson
My wife and I have a good system of divide and conquer when necessary so the next morning I took the kids for a family bike ride to get them out of the house to give her some peace and quiet after a rough night. On our bike ride we approached an older couple that was walking in the opposite direction. The woman, who looked like she may have had grandchildren based on the way she smiled at my kids, said to me, “You’re a very rich man.”  Here I was feeling sorry about myself because I was tired from the night before and this stranger hits me with a perspective bomb out of nowhere.

I love the way she put this. She didn’t say I was lucky or blessed or had my hands full (I get that a lot with twins). She said I was rich which is not the way I ever looked at this before.

There are many ways to be rich beyond the amount of money you have in your investment portfolio or checking account.    Plenty of people have a lot of money in the bank but terrible personal lives.

Having millions of dollars wouldn’t come close to providing the same feeling I got this past week watching my 7-year old scale a rock wall like a champ or confidently walk up to do a high ropes course with zero signs of trepidation or fear.

Huge gains in the stock market can’t possibly match watching my little guy ride his bike for the first time this summer.

No amount of money can melt my heart the way my youngest daughter does when she says something sweet to me out of the blue.

Being a parent is not always easy. At times there is chaos, yelling, screaming, crying, fighting, pouting and puking. But there’s also laughing. Lots of laughing. And smiling. And joy. For me, having kids is like setting a constant memory factory in motion.

Obviously, there are other ways to be rich that extend beyond family.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2021/07/what-it-means-to-be-rich/

Cash and 21 Other Everyday Things Wiped Out by COVID-19

Cash and 21 Other Everyday Things Wiped Out by COVID-19

By Nicole Spector January 16, 2021

The things you grew up with are on their way out.

The coronavirus pandemic has radically altered nearly every aspect of everyday life that people once took for granted. Activities and commodities that were standard just a handful of months ago have become scarce, if not impossible to access. Everything from paper money and coins to buffet restaurants and live concerts are becoming dim and distant memories for Americans. It’s quite possible that future generations won’t recognize a handshake or any of these 21 other items that are disappearing rapidly.

Cash

Long before COVID-19 battered the globe, e-commerce and the proliferation of payment apps have been replacing cash transactions. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., cash represented just 30% of all payments in 2017. The fear of handling paper money contaminated with the coronavirus has accelerated the digital marketplace. With so many brick-and-mortar businesses closed, there’s a tremendous decrease in in-person transactions.

“Prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, about one-third of Americans under the age of 50 made no purchases in a typical week using cash,” Plamen Nikolov, an assistant professor of economics at Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Concerts

Remember dancing up a sweat in a tightly packed auditorium while your favorite band blasted songs from the stage? Hold that memory dear because it could be quite a long time before you have that experience again.

“In the case of the music industry, we have seen a complete stop in the production of live events, however, artists are evolving to offer live streaming concerts,” said Javier Abrego Lorente, CEO at Revolucion Music, an online record label. “In Madrid, we had the first gig in a stadium (WiZink Arena) since the lockdown, where instead of thousands of [people] there were only a few hundred.

This doesn’t cover the costs of the production, but this concert was offered as well via streaming, and tickets for the streaming version could be purchased online, this enables the possibility of increasing the audience virtually and it’s a great example of adaptation.”

In-Person Notary Public Services

Wasting your lunch hour waiting in line at a bank or another office with a notary public is one pre-pandemic hassle that could evaporate even once we enter safer times. For the future, you may not have to leave your desk to have a document notarized, as 26 states have implemented remote online notarization (RON), with more expected to follow suit.

According to attorney Diane Vidal of the law firm of Chiumento, Dwyer, Hertel and Grant, “RON is revolutionary in that it enables a signer to appear before a registered Notary using a simple webcam via Internet-enabled audio-visual programs.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/business/familiar-things-that-will-soon-disappear/

Why Rich Parents Are More Likely To Be Unethical

Why Rich Parents Are More Likely To Be Unethical

David M. Mayer, Professor of Management & Organizations, University of Michigan

Sat, March 6, 2021, 9:11 AM

Federal attorneys in 2019 arrested 50 people in a college admission scam that allowed wealthy parents to buy their kids’ admission to elite universities. Prosecutors found that parents together paid up to US.5 million to get their kids into college. The list included celebrity parents such as actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

Some might ask why did these parents fail to consider the moral implications of their actions?

My 20 years of research in moral psychology suggests many reasons why people behave in an unethical manner. When it comes to the wealthy, research shows that they will go to great lengths to maintain their higher status. A sense of entitlement plays a role.

How people rationalize

Federal attorneys in 2019 arrested 50 people in a college admission scam that allowed wealthy parents to buy their kids’ admission to elite universities. Prosecutors found that parents together paid up to US.5 million to get their kids into college. The list included celebrity parents such as actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.

Some might ask why did these parents fail to consider the moral implications of their actions?

My 20 years of research in moral psychology suggests many reasons why people behave in an unethical manner. When it comes to the wealthy, research shows that they will go to great lengths to maintain their higher status. A sense of entitlement plays a role.

How people rationalize

Let’s first consider what allows people to act unethically and yet not feel guilt or remorse.

Research shows that people are good at rationalizing unethical actions that serve their self-interest. The success, or failure, of one’s children often has implications for how parents view themselves and are viewed by others. They are more likely to bask in the reflected glory of their children. They seem to gain esteem based on their connection to successful children. This means parents can be motivated by self-interest to ensure their children’s achievement.

In the case of cheating for their children, parents can justify the behavior through comparisons that help them morally disengage with an action. For example, they could say that other parents’ do a lot worse things, or minimize the consequences of their actions through words such as, “My behavior did not cause much harm.”

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-rich-parents-more-likely-141127240.html

When Everyone’s a Genius (A Few Thoughts on Speculation)

When Everyone’s a Genius (A Few Thoughts on Speculation)

Feb 24, 2021 by Morgan Housel

The end of a speculative boom can be inevitable but not predictable. Unsustainable things can last a long time. Identifying something that can’t go on forever doesn’t mean that thing can’t keep going for years. Years and years and years.  Part of it is emotion. During the Vietnam War Ho Chi Minh said, “You will kill ten of us, and we will kill one of you, but it is you who will tire first.” Emotional trends aren’t beholden to logic, which can keep them going far past any point of reason.

Part is storytelling. Unsustainable trends have life support if enough people think they’re true, and once people believe something’s true it gets hard to convince them it’s not. Or put differently: If enough people believe it’s true it’s just as powerful as actually being true.

Every investor is making bets on the future. It’s only called speculation when you disagree with someone else’s bet.

In hindsight there was as much speculation in the 1990s that Kodak and Sears would keep their market share as there was that eToys and Pets.com would gain market share. Both were bets on the future. Both were wrong. It happens.  Of course there’s a speculation spectrum. But let’s not pretend that others speculate while you only deal with certainties.

The willingness to believe crazy things increases when it feels like the world is dangerous and falling apart. Chronicling the Great Plague of London, Daniel Defoe wrote in 1722:

The people were more addicted to prophecies and astrological conjurations, dreams, and old wives’ tales than ever they were before or since … almanacs frightened them terribly … the posts of houses and corners of streets were plastered over with doctors’ bills and papers of ignorant fellows, quacking and inviting the people to come to them for remedies.

Optimism always overshoots. It has to. The correct price of any asset is what someone else is willing to pay for it, because all asset prices rely on subjective assumptions about the future. And like a blind man who doesn’t know where a wall is until he bumps into it, markets cannot know exactly how much people are willing to pay until they go a little too far and say, “Ah, in hindsight, that was the limit.”

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/speculation/

How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught

How to Think: The Skill You’ve Never Been Taught
No skill is more valuable and harder to come by than the ability to critically think through problems. And schools don’t teach you a method of thinking. It’s one of those things that can be learned but can’t be taught.  When it comes to thinking and making decisions the mind has an optimal way to be operated. When operated correctly you’ll find yourself with plenty of free time. When operated incorrectly, most of your time will be consumed correcting mistakes.

Good initial decisions pay dividends for years, allowing you abundant free time and low stress. Poor decisions, on the other hand, consume time, increase anxiety, and drain us of energy.

But how can we learn how to think?

For the answer we turn to Solitude and Leadership, a lecture given by William Deresiewicz. The entire essay is worth reading (and re-reading).   https://fs.blog/great-talks/solitude-and-leadership/

Learning How To Think

Let’s start with how you don’t learn to think. A study by a team of researchers at Stanford came out a couple of months ago. The investigators wanted to figure out how today’s college students were able to multitask so much more effectively than adults. How do they manage to do it, the researchers asked?  The answer, they discovered—and this is by no means what they expected—is that they don’t. The enhanced cognitive abilities the investigators expected to find, the mental faculties that enable people to multitask effectively, were simply not there. In other words, people do not multitask effectively.

And here’s the really surprising finding: the more people multitask, the worse they are, not just at other mental abilities, but at multitasking itself.  One thing that made the study different from others is that the researchers didn’t test people’s cognitive functions while they were multitasking. They separated the subject group into high multitaskers and low multitaskers and used a different set of tests to measure the kinds of cognitive abilities involved in multitasking.

They found that in every case the high multitaskers scored worse. They were worse at distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant information and ignoring the latter. In other words, they were more distractible.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://fs.blog/2015/08/how-to-think/

How People Learn to Become Resilient

How People Learn to Become Resilient

By Maria Konnikova   February 11, 2016

Perception is key to resilience Do you conceptualize an event as traumatic or as a chance to learn and grow

What Matters Is The Intensity And The Duration Of The Stressor

Norman Garmezy, a developmental psychologist and clinician at the University of Minnesota, met thousands of children in his four decades of research. But one boy in particular stuck with him. He was nine years old, with an alcoholic mother and an absent father. Each day, he would arrive at school with the exact same sandwich: two slices of bread with nothing in between. At home, there was no other food available, and no one to make any.

Even so, Garmezy would later recall, the boy wanted to make sure that “no one would feel pity for him and no one would know the ineptitude of his mother.” Each day, without fail, he would walk in with a smile on his face and a “bread sandwich” tucked into his bag.

The boy with the bread sandwich was part of a special group of children. He belonged to a cohort of kids—the first of many—whom Garmezy would go on to identify as succeeding, even excelling, despite incredibly difficult circumstances.

These were the children who exhibited a trait Garmezy would later identify as “resilience.” (He is widely credited with being the first to study the concept in an experimental setting.) Over many years, Garmezy would visit schools across the country, focussing on those in economically depressed areas, and follow a standard protocol.

He would set up meetings with the principal, along with a school social worker or nurse, and pose the same question: Were there any children whose backgrounds had initially raised red flags—kids who seemed likely to become problem kids—who had instead become, surprisingly, a source of pride? “What I was saying was, ‘Can you identify stressed children who are making it here in your school?’ ” Garmezy said, in a 1999 interview. “There would be a long pause after my inquiry before the answer came.

If I had said, ‘Do you have kids in this school who seem to be troubled?,’ there wouldn’t have been a moment’s delay. But to be asked about children who were adaptive and good citizens in the school and making it even though they had come out of very disturbed backgrounds—that was a new sort of inquiry. That’s the way we began.”

Resilience presents a challenge for psychologists. Whether you can be said to have it or not largely depends not on any particular psychological test but on the way your life unfolds. If you are lucky enough to never experience any sort of adversity, we won’t know how resilient you are. It’s only when you’re faced with obstacles, stress, and other environmental threats that resilience, or the lack of it, emerges: Do you succumb or do you surmount?

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/the-secret-formula-for-resilience

How Do Today’s Dads Differ From Prior Generations?

How Do Today’s Dads Differ From Prior Generations?

Ryan Howard  Last Update: December 17, 2020

If you’ve ever watched a sitcom from the 80s, you wouldn’t be faulted for thinking that the only thing dads back then did was drink beer and crack wise after a hard day’s work. The concept of fatherhood, however, has changed dramatically since then, and new dads these days are far more involved in the lives of their children.

Gender roles are breaking down at breakneck speeds, and dads these days are more than willing to rise to the challenge. We examine these many changes in this article and discuss how dads these days differ from prior generations.

In It, Right From The Get-Go

A recent study by Cornell University highlighted the fact that fathers who take longer paternal leave tend to be more involved and engaged in the lives of their children. This type of data particularly highlights the difference between dads from different generations.

It would have been quite a strange request for dads in the 50s and 60s even to consider taking paternity leave, let alone to think about how deeply it would help them engage with their children. Parenting, especially for fathers, has changed from being a hands-free experience to a hands-on experience over the years.

Fathers previously would not be seen anywhere near the birthing room floor. Instead, they would be in the waiting room, quite literally waiting for the good news from the nurse or doctor.

The Lamaze technique only came up during the 1950s, and it wasn’t adopted by both genders whole-heartedly until the 60s and 70s because it required fathers to be a lot more involved in the birthing process.

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://smartparentadvice.com/todays-dads/

The Blind Men and the Elephant

The Blind Men and the Elephant

Emailed To Dinar Recaps

Please entertain yourself while being very enlightened with this story that is a parallel to the Dinar - the Dinar Community and Dinar Intel Providers - It was very well thought out and put together - Thank you Rhino!

​Once there were three blind men who were given the task of describing an elephant. Each was led into an elephant pen by way of a different gate.

The first man approached the elephant from the front and groped around the elephant’s trunk. The second encountered the elephant from the rear and grabbed the tail. The last man walked into a leg and felt around that part of the elephant. Then the men were led out of the pen and asked to describe the appearance of an elephant.

​Well, being blind, none of them had ever actually seen an elephant, but each of them did have a very real perspective from which to share; and share they did.

​Then the men were led out of the pen and asked to describe the appearance of an elephant. Well, being blind, none of them had ever actually seen an elephant, but each of them did have a very real perspective from which to share; and share they did.

They all agreed that an elephant is round. After all, the trunk, tail, and leg are all basically round in shape. But that is where the similarities ended. Before long, the discussion turned ugly. ​

Each man knew that he was correct. After all, he had touched the elephant! You can’t get much closer to a source that than that.

Two of the men, each armed with unequivocal, undeniable, unimpeachable information, felt compelled to argue their cases. They felt it was their duty to convince all other blind people the “truth” about the elephant. These two men looked for every opportunity to pursue their duty, sharing elephant truths.

And other blind people appreciated their efforts and began to ask questions. Some members of the blind community liked hearing about the “trunk” description. Others thought that the “tail” description was closer to the truth. And these two men enjoyed their new-found popularity greatly.

In order to have more things to talk about, one of these same two men, researched Braille articles about elephants.

Unfortunately, some of the articles were written by folks with ulterior motives—ivory hunters, ruthless poachers, who cared only about the monetary value of elephants.

The blind man either didn’t know that some of the articles were intentionally deceptive, or perhaps he didn’t care. After all, the articles did provide talking points, which in turn increased his popularity.

​The second argumentative blind man was content simply to argue. The louder he argued the more attention he got. Healthy, informed debate is good and productive.

​Too bad this one fellow would occasionally resort to name calling, all the while claiming to be the only source of real elephant truth.

Nevertheless, he maintained a substantial following among the blind community and, to a large degree, that was all that mattered; much more so than the elephant.

What about the third blind man? Well, he was out there all the time. He too shared his perspective of the elephant, his own brand of elephant truth. His perspective was limited too, but he shared what he knew to be true.

The difference is, this man stayed true to his mission—sharing truth about elephants. He didn’t rail against the tail perspective. He didn’t throw a tantrum when new trunk information got released. He merely shared what he knew and let members of the blind community do with it what they will.

As you can see, not all the blind men behaved the same way. They did however, have several things in common. They all had great connections (which explains why they were selected as elephant describers in the first place).

These connections afforded them a certain measure of special status within the blind community. Additionally, all three blind men had valid perspectives. After all, their descriptions of the trunk, tail and leg were all accurate.

And let’s not forget the last thing they had in common—they were all blind! Special status or not, they were all members of the blind community.

Thus, while all of them had real information regarding a portion of the elephant, none of them understood the whole elephant.

Ultimately, the complete truth about the elephant resides with one Person—the Creator of the elephant.

If only the blind men knew this. I believe they did. Perhaps all that talk about the elephant created a temporary blind spot.

Go Elephant!

AND THEN IT IS WINTER

AND THEN IT IS WINTER  Author Unknown

 You know. . . time has a way of moving quickly and catching you unaware of the passing years. It seems just yesterday that I was young, just married and embarking on my new life with my mate. Yet in a way, it seems like eons ago, and I wonder where all the years went. I know that I lived them all. I have glimpses of how it was back then and of all my hopes and dreams.

 But, here it is... the winter of my life and it catches me by surprise...How did I get here so fast? Where did the years go and where did my youth go? I remember well seeing older people through the years and thinking that those older people were years away from me and that winter was so far off that I could not fathom it or imagine fully what it would be like.

 But, here it is...my friends are retired and getting grey...they move slower and I see an older person now. Some are in better and some worse shape than me...but, I see the great change...Not like the ones that I remember who were young and vibrant...but, like me, their age is beginning to show and we are now those older folks that we used to see and never thought we'd be.

 Each day now, I find that just getting a shower is a real target for the day! And taking a nap is not a treat anymore... it's mandatory! Cause if I don't on my own free will... I just fall asleep where I sit!

And so...now I enter into this new season of my life unprepared for all the aches and pains and the loss of strength and ability to go and do things that I wish I had done but never did!!  But, at least I know, that though the winter has come, and I'm not sure how long it will last...this I know, that when it's over on this earth...its over. A new adventure will begin!

Yes, I have regrets. There are things I wish I hadn't done...things I should have done, but indeed, there are many things I'm happy to have done. It's all in a lifetime. 

So, if you're not in your winter yet...let me remind you, that it will be here faster than you think. So, whatever you would like to accomplish in your life please do it quickly! Don't put things off too long!!

Life goes by quickly. So, do what you can today, as you can never be sure whether this is your winter or not! You have no promise that you will see all the seasons of your life...so, live for today and say all the things that you want your loved ones to remember...and hope that they appreciate and love you for all the things that you have done for them in all the years past!!   "Life" is a gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to those who come after. Make it a fantastic one.   Live it well!  Enjoy today!   Do something fun!   Have a great day!

Be Safe! Be Careful! Be Well! Be Happy! Be Brave! Be Truthful! Most of ALL – Be KIND! 

 Remember "It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.

 Today is the oldest you've ever been, yet the youngest you'll ever be so - enjoy this day while it lasts.

Author Unknown

https://www.inspirational-words-phrases.com/AndThenItIsWinter.html

$2,000 stimulus checks: How soon could you get one?

$2,000 stimulus checks: How soon could you get one?

Doug Whiteman  Tue, January 12, 2021

Joe Biden's $2,000 stimulus checks: How soon could you get one?

President-elect Joe Biden is getting ready to unveil a multitrillion-dollar coronavirus rescue package that'll include his plan for a quick, third round of "stimulus checks" for most Americans.  Biden last week promised $2,000 direct payments would "go out the door" soon if voters in Georgia gave him a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate — and they did, through a pair of runoff elections.

Over the past two weeks, many people have been receiving their second COVID relief payments in the amount of $600. That's after an attempt to raise the amount to $2,000 failed in the closing days of 2020. Biden has referred to the $600 as a "down payment," with more to come.

Here's what we can currently say about whether and when you're likely to see a third stimulus check.

Vote results in Georgia set wheels in motion for new checks Biden made his remarks about $2,000 checks at a campaign rally in Atlanta, one day before a vote that unseated two Republican U.S. senators from Georgia. The Democratic wins in those races gives Biden's party control over both houses of Congress. That could make it easier for his proposals, like $2,000 stimulus checks, to become reality.

"That money will go out the door immediately to help people who are in real trouble," Biden said at the rally.

Many struggling consumers have been eager for the government to keep sending cash. Americans largely used their first stimulus payments for basics like groceries and utility bills, a survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found. Some also invested the money, the survey said, or used it to meet various other needs. Those may have included buying affordable life insurance, as sales of policies have surged amid the pandemic.

When Biden says "immediately," just how quickly might that be? He's not scheduled to take office until Jan. 20, and the new Senate — with Democrats in charge — may not be seated until the 22nd. So, if there will be fresh relief payments, you're not likely to get one until February, at the earliest.

What if you need more than $600 right now?

To continue reading, please go to the original article here:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/expect-third-stimulus-check-under-160500295.html