Benard Worseley


Whether you deny it or not, health life insurance can really help protect your family. Although there are a lot of people who do not entertain the idea of death, it is still something that cannot be avoided. Unless you have discovered the fountain of youth, death is the ultimate threat to your loved ones.

Death does not just entail the loss of a loved one. In many cases, death haunts people because of the series of events that it triggers. For example, the death of the breadwinner in the family is more than enough reason to have larger than life problems. Would you want your family to experience this kind of situation? Get a health life insurance now.

Health life insurance in focus

A health life insurance is a kind of well, insurance, that covers a lot of things. Funeral costs are usually the major coverage of most health life insurance. In some cases, a health life insurance also provides people with the benefit of not worrying about hospital bills. There are also health life insurances that will provide your loved ones with certain amount of money after your death.

Offered by the different public and private institutions, health life insurances can be compared to social securities. People who have health life insurances are required to pay a minimum amount during a period of time. Once the insurance policy matures, the bearer of the health life insurance would be entitled to several benefits agreed in the policy.

Advantages of having a health life insurance

Having a health life insurance for your family will always provide you with a number of positive benefits. To give you an idea, here are just some of the things that you would enjoy for having a health life insurance:

You’re insured!

A health life insurance would guarantee that you or your family will have the financial means to support and solve whatever life and health related problems will come along the way.

No worrying about funeral expenses

Death may have its toll financially. As a matter of fact, funeral expenses can just aggravate the lost of the families left behind. Some sources say that funeral expenses costs an average of $10,000—an amount that not all families have. And since death is always unexpected, having a health life insurance that covers funeral expenses is like being prepared for the unknown.

Money for those who were left behind

Some health life insurance also covers giving certain amounts of money to the beneficiaries of the insurance holder. Depending on the type of health insurance plan, the funds could be received in bulk or in scheduled releases. Having a health life insurance of this type will ensure that life would still go on for those who were left behind.

No debts/bills to be paid

Since a health life insurance will cover all the expenses for the funeral and hospitalisation, families need not worry about paying bills or getting credits. This would mean that they would be free of worrying about the consequences of the death of their loved one.

Steve Dubin


 

With offices in Dedham, the Commonwealth Advisory Group provides professional guidance to seniors and their families with regard to asset preservation for more than 16 years.

 

Attorney Philip Amaru and Executive Director Laureen Vaughn of the Commonwealth Advisory Group, who are specialists in asset protection for seniors, offer a Burial Trust or a Burial Insurance Policy to individuals who wish to plan ahead.

 

With a Burial Trust, monetary funds of an individual are placed in the name of a trust (which is essentially a bank account) and managed by that individual’s adult child.  When the individual passes away, the trust is available to the adult child to be used for funeral expenses.

 

“As opposed to pre-need funeral arrangements which are paid upfront to a funeral home, a burial trust allows you to hold on to your money.  It may be set up as a CD at a bank in your trust’s name so it is safe and insured,” explained Attorney Amaru.

 

The second option for those wishing to plan ahead is a Burial Insurance Policy.  Laureen Vaughn draws up a single pay term insurance policy for $10,000, which grows at three percent interest (with an interest rider).  When the individual passes away, funeral arrangements are made and the funeral home receives payment directly from the insurance company.  Any remaining money goes to the estate of the deceased. 

 

Amaru continued, “Other insurance policies are life insurance policies which are not flexible.  A Burial Insurance Policy enables an individual to put aside a certain amount of money for a luxurious funeral if that is what s/he desires and those funds are available for family members to utilize once the individual passes on.”

                                                                               

For more information contact Laureen Vaughn at 800-705-1415.

 

Asset Preservation Planning

For 16 years, the Commonwealth Advisory Group has helped over 1,500 clients save their assets (which includes property, gifted assets, retirement accounts, insurance policies, investments and savings) prior to and during an admission to a nursing home.  Unlike financial planners, Commonwealth Advisory Group specializes in asset preservation for elders and their families.

 

In addition to providing asset protection services to clients, Attorney Amaru and Executive Director Laureen Vaughn serve as educational speakers for hospitals, elder agencies and businesses throughout Southeastern Massachusetts.   Commonwealth Advisory Group has appeared with Jordan Rich of WBZ News Radio 1030 in variety of seminars on the topic of Senior Asset Protection.

 

Attorney Amaru is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys; the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys; the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys; the Massachusetts Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

                   

Commonwealth Advisory Group is located just off Route 128 at 3 Allied Drive, Ste. 125, Dedham, MA.  For more information, contact 800-705-1415 or visit www.CommAdvise.com.

                       

Nidheesh K B


WHO ARE TRIBALS?

The word “tribal” or Adivasi brings to our mind a picture of half-naked men and women, with arrows and spears in their hands, feathers in their heads, and speaking an unintelligible language, their lives often combined with myths of savagery and cannibalism. However, any person having visited a tribal village will be surprised and thrilled to see a community living close to nature, peace-loving, equitable and with advanced cultural/social forms. Our knowledge about the tribals is very limited, leading us to believe many myths at the cost of their dignity. Even when majority of the communities in the world kept changing their life-styles, competed with each other and developed materialistic instincts to keep pace with the “progress” of the world, there were communities still living in line with their traditional values, customs and beliefs. The exploitative mindset of the mainstream society made these communities recede often into forests and high-altitude mountains, where they could continue to live in peace with Nature and their unpolluted surroundings. As the so-called civilized communities of the mainstream society neither could comprehend the values and ideals of these communities nor had the patience to understand their lifestyles, the mainstream world branded them variously as natives, uncivilized people, Aboriginals, Adivasis, Tribals, Indigenous people etc. In India, we mostly refer them as Adivasis/Girijans. In spite of the merciless treatment by the “civilized” men and the socio-economic perils faced by these communities all over the world, the tribals continue to live in the continents of Africa,Asia, North and South America and Australia.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1911, defines a tribe as a “collection of families bearing a common name, speaking a common dialect, occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is not usually endogamous though originally it might have been

so”. Another definition of a tribe by D.N. Majumdar is that “a tribe is a collection of families or group of families bearing a common name, members of which occupy the same territory, speak the same language and observe certain taboos regarding marriage,

profession or occupation and have developed a well-assessed system of reciprocity and

mutuality of obligations”.

Can the rural tribes manage their saving? Can the rural tribes aware about the schemes?

These are questions that have engaged the attention of people trying to design microfinance products for the tribes. In the past the tribes were always addressed from the supply side through “schematic finance”, now we have reached a stage where we need patience to understand the financial status, financial flows, savings and their attributes in terms of security ,liquidity and risk-return relationship preferred by the rural tribes. It is known that not only the well to do, but also the tribes have patterns in income and expenditure and have evolved products that take care of these ups and downs in financial flows. The objective of the study was to understand the financial flows of the rural tribes so that a better design of savings and loan products in the microfinance sector can be planned.To fill up the gaps between inflows and outflows, the poor need intermediaries in the form of institutions that help them manage the flows. In all

most all villages the private moneylender performs this gap filling function .The debate between private money lenders and tribes are the common issues in the local economy.

. The moneylender provides access to credit, and there are arguments that the image of the moneylender is unnecessarily tarnished in the literature( Chamala and Sharma, 2003) There are counter arguments on whether this fits with the development intervention to be undertaken [Chavan 2003]. There are arguments that because of traditional relationships of trust, it is almost impossible to replace the moneylender, but possible to redefine the relationship by providing an atmosphere for formal competition [Sriram 2002].There researchers focus on general poor but this paper concentrated on poor tribes.

It is important to understand the roles of each of the players providing finance for the tribes and how they manage money.The most commonly used measure of poverty is based on income or consumption levels. People are considered BPL if their consumption

or income level falls below a minimum needed to meet the basic needs and wants. This level is defined as the “poverty line”. This definition differ from place to place and time to time.. Each country uses a definition appropriate to its level of development, societal norms and values In our country, Planning Commission estimates the proportion and number of poor separately for rural and urban sectors at the national and state levels based on the recommendations of committee members.. The committee members had defined the poverty line as the cost of an all-India average consumption basket at which the calorie norms are met [GoI 2002]. The norms were 2,400 calories per capita per day

for rural areas and 2,100 calories for urban areas. These calorie norms were expressed in monetary terms as Rs 49.09 and Rs 56.64 per capita per month for rural and urban areas, respectively at 1973-74 prices. These figures were updated again with the consumer price indices (CPI) in 1994-95. The updated numbers are Rs 228 and Rs 305 per capita per month, for rural and urban areas, respectively [Pradhan and Subramanian 2001; G1993)..

India has the largest concentration of tribal population in the world. The tribal are the children of nature and their lifestyle is conditioned by the eco-system. India due to its diverse ecosystems has a wide variety of tribal population. Tribes people constitute 8.14% of the total population of the country, numbering 84.51 million (2001 Census). There are 697 tribes notified by the Central Government under Article 342 of the Indian Constitution with certain tribes being notified in more than one State. More than half the Scheduled Tribe population is concentrated in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand and Gujarat whereas in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Pondicherry and Chandigarh no community has been notified as a Scheduled Tribe.

As per 2001 census there were 3.21 lakhs Scheduled Tribes in Kerala State The Tribal population in Kerala State is 2 ??of the total population in the State. The literacy

status of STs was 57.22??in 1991 as against the general literacy rate of 89.81?. Major

portion of the STs are seen in the districts Wayanad, Idukky and Palakkad. The poverty

ratio of the ST families estimated as on 31..03..1 998 was 35.89?. This was 48.47??as

per the State Survey in 1992. Nearly 23??of the tribal families are living within forest

areas. There are 35 tribal communities in the State. Among them Paniyar (nearly 20??) forms the majority. The Paniya and Adiya communities in Wayanad District are very

backward and most of them landless agricultural labourers. There are 5 Primitive tribal

groups (PTGs) viz., Kattunaikan, Cholanaikan, Koragas, Kadar and Kurumbas. These

398 Groups are the most vulnerable communities among the tribals and are all below poverty Line. They constitute 5??of the total tribal population in the State. As per the survey conducted in 1996-97 the population of PTGs was 16678 consisting of 4406 families. . They belong to 35 distinct communities including the primitive tribal groups such as Cholanaikan, Kattunaikans, Kurumbas, Kadars and Koragas. They constitute nearly 4.8% of the Scheduled Tribe population. There are 69,444 ST households in the State while in 1981 it was only 52,421. The present number of ST households is estimated around 84,000. The Scheduled Tribe Population is even more unevenly distributed in the Districts. Among the Districts Wayanad has the highest tribal Population nearly 36??of the Tribal Population. Idukky and Palakkad account for another 26?. The lowest representation of tribal population is in Alappuzha District

This paper try to understand and map the financial flows of the tribes and how do they manage their money available to them? The paper is organised into five sections. Section II looks at the literature. Section III has the geographical setting, methodology, sample size, design and administration of the questionnaire. Section IV contains findings of the study. We conclude with Section V – discussing the issues that need to be addressed at a larger scale and also how this study can be taken forward, while identifying the limitations of the current study.

Literature Review

The Governments and Financial intermediaries play a key role for uplifting the tribes in our country.The state has intervened in this segment to address the issues

of inequity from time to time. It has not only created institutional mechanisms, but also has had targeted schemes that help the tribes for eradicating their poverty and economic upliftment. However, most of the efforts have been supply-driven and have looked at the credit and not the savings needs of the poor. The microfinance institutions (MFIs) have

Financial Status of Tribes A Study in Wayanad District

A village-level study conducted in Wayanad district of Kerala attempted to map the financial status of the tribes and the funds flow indicated that the overall asset-savings-income profile of the tribes was not alarming. However, most of the assets and savings are liquid, forcing the poor to borrow at high cost. The study reveals the failure of financial institutions to penetrate the savings and loan market. It also reconfirms earlier findings that health-related expenses are one of the major causes of indebtedness amongst the tribes

Still now reliable financial services are not widely available for offering of credit by MFIs is pigeonholed into the ‘grameen’ type with little flexibility and the self-help group

type with more flexibility, concluded by (Smita Parhi and M S Sriram 2006) and they addressed the issues of financial flow.The loan products available in the formal sector do not address the needs of the poor.Therefore, there is still a gap in the needs of the poor and the offerings [Fisher and Sriram 2002]. They need money in lumps and finding ways

to meet such requirements is a challenge. Savings is nothing but the choice of not consuming cash. This is a fundamental and unavoidable first step in money management. We should look at issues pertaining to savings and credit together, to understand

the needs of the poor [Rutherford 2002].There are some recent studies focusing on financial flows of the poor. The MicroSave-Africa has done a series of studies to

provide financial toolkits for bankers and others. These studies recognise the growing interest in introducing savings products in MFIs. The MicroSave and the consultative group to assist the poor (CGAP) collaborated to study the dynamics of institutional

change in transformation of a microcredit institution to a MFI [Wright, Christen and Martin 2000]. They studied Association for Social Advancement (ASA), which is an important model for microcredit institutions planning to introduce savings products.The ASA was a microcredit institution working only on credit delivery and recovery system based on grameen methodology. Rutherford (2000) argues that the best way to designa product is to ask people about their own preferences, because they are the best judges.

. Ruthven and Kumar (2002) argue that the success of the moneylenders, deposit collectors, pawnbrokers who reach people where others fail, is in providing lump sums instantly, with no security and also regular savings devices on a sufficiently small-scale basis. There are many tricks that the formal institutions need to learn from informal players if they want to widen their client base to reach the poor . On savings, Wright (1999) argues that in many instances the poor have “illiquidity preference” which is a

committed savings mechanism that prohibits them from withdrawing in response to trivial needs and allows them to escape from the demands of their relatives for loans or assistance. It was also found that poor give importance to security and liquidity

aspect of savings and do not look for significant returns.Rutherford (2002) did a one year study using financial diaries to understand the financial flows of 42 low-income Bangladeshi families. The study revealed that better managed MFIs were considered “reliable” among the formal and informal financial service providers The factors associated with becoming poor were quite different from the factors associated

with escaping poverty. Therefore, the programmes of the state needed to get an appropriate focus [Krishna 2003]. A study in,12 villages of Rajasthan found that diversification of income sources; irrigation and information on various opportunities were the key factors in overcoming the poverty trap. The social factors that pull them into the poverty trap were mostly not in their control. Even the programmes of state aimed

at poverty reduction were unable to neutralise the negative effects of these social factors. Many times assistance from the state was unable to trickle down to the grassroots. However, Krishna (2003) has argued that the state support through poverty reduction

schemes had a positive effect in making poverty more tolerable. A similar study in Gujarat showed a different picture. Gujarat being economically sound and more industrialised, it was expected a priori that poverty reduction would Rajasthan [Krishna et al 2003]. The authors argued that falling into poverty is not just the converse of escaping from poverty but more than that. It is evident that there is considerable interest amongst scholar in examining the financial flows of the poor. Our study is different from what we have reviewed. It focuses on regions recognized, as backward. The objective of our study is twofold.

1 To understand the financial flow of tribes through empirical analysis.

2 To study the saving habits and credit behaviours..

Methodology

A questionnaire was designed to capture data on various parameters. The design ensured that we use significant events in the last decade as time markers to gather financial data on how these events were managed. We also had asset purchase and sale as additional

markers. These helped us in associating the financial flows – savings, borrowings (both formal and informal) with the ups and downs of a family,and in triangulating the indebtedness data.

Sample selection: choice of the area and village: This study has its focus on families defined as tribal. All families under the “below poverty line (BPL)” category fell into our focus population. It is not our intention to debate the methodology adopted by the state in defining the tribal. As the idea of the study is to look at how tribal managetheir financial flows This is based on the presumption that the findings would be used

for developing financial products that would be offered to a continuum of clients from the very poor upwards. The artificial boundary of a poverty line is only helpful in drawing the sample. While we wanted to base the study in some of the most backward districts in India, the choice of Wayanad was made purposively. The selection of wayanad was driven not only by its general backwardness, but also the geographical backgrounds .

Wayanad formed November 1 1980 as the 12th district and most backward district in Kerala,it is 3.79% urbanized. Wayanad district stand first in the case of adivasi population(about 36%) among other district in the state.

Design of questionnaire: For collecting household data, a detailed questionnaire was designed, with a view to capture financial flows of families over a long horizon of time. The base data were the demographic and asset profile of a household. Other data were built around this to get the financial history of the household. We collected details of income, indebtedness and savings. We sought inputs from local resource persons to include questions/ asset in the checklists specific to the geographical region.

We collected information on the income flows, agricultural land, physical assets, saving habits, loan transactions and the details of the events that happened in the family in the last 10 years. Although the questionnaire was not divided into different stages, each question collected specific information. This collectively gave an idea of the financial flows of a family. In the first part we collected data on the general family details, including income, inward and outward remittances. The second part collected information on landholding and details of other physical assets, including dwelling and livestock details. In this process we captured the information on financial transactions while purchasing or selling assets, the mode of financing and the purpose of purchase. The third part focused on the physical assets, where we captured the information on mode of financing, purpose of purchase, and its value. If any asset has been sold, we found the amount realised from the sale. By seeking this information, we tried to understand the process of acquisition and sale of assets and the circumstances under which they are acquired or sold. In the fourth part, we captured savings and indebtedness details

of the family. We also asked the respondents to rank the sources with whom they had savings and loan transactions to get a feedback on their comfort levels, details on accessibility, costs, security and liquidity of the products they used. We also asked

them the amount of maximum savings and loans and the source where it has been parked or drawn in the last 10 years. This roughly gave us an idea of the reach of the financial institutions and at the same time told us about the extent of convenience and faith the poor placed on these sources. It helped us find which of the formal or informal source provided most acceptable product. Similar details were collected on indebtedness. In the last part we collected details of the events that occurred in the last 10 years – such as marriage of the children, health expenses and purchase of assets or funeral expenses. These event details capture the financial flows involved with birth, death, education, marriage and emergencies. This gave insights into how such events are financed and managed. The questions on which we had difficulty in getting data were about health-related problems and expenses. They were unwilling to talk about these issues. These details were collected in a circumspect manner. Data were not forthcoming on some sensitive issues as well. As this is a tribal area, there is a prevalence of bride price as against dowry in the plains In this area people had a small piece of land, productivity was

low and most of the produce was consumed. The levels of monetisation were also low. Imputing a value for self-consumption was therefore difficult. Using events as time markers were useful, but that gave us the data on financial flows at the event point. However, several respondents were unable to articulate their outstandings, due to low levels of awareness on aspects of repayment and the split between interest and principal.

The data was collected using men and women investigators. We found it was better to use women investigators for data collection. Using women helped us because: – Respondent-women available for a longer part of the day. Therefore, chances of drawing a blank or need to revisit the household were minimal. – Women had the time to patiently answer the questionnaire and were able to recall details more clearly than men, and responded

to women investigators well. – Women were not suspicious and did not have a tendency to hide. However, the downside of collecting data exclusively from women put a question on accuracy. Ideally this data should have been triangulated by a short interview of the men. But due to constraints of time, this could not be done.

Findings

1 Major sources of money transaction in the village are Village moneylenders,

Shop keepers; Family and relatives, Banks , Co-operatve Society and SHG

.

2 General household and employment: We used data from50 households from which we collected information. These 50households had total 226 individuals – an average of around five persons per household. The basic demographics are given in Table 2. Usually areas of poverty are associated with a high prevalence of child labour. Our pilot indicates that, of the 85 children (under the age of 15), 45 were perusing some vocation or the other, mainly in agriculture, procurement of minor forest produce (MFP) and

travelling to town to work in non-farm enterprises. Of the others above the age of 18, there were only six persons who claimed to be unemployed. Only 45 children of the total 85 under the age of 15 are studying. The other 40 children who were not in school might

have either been employed in some chore or the other, which the families chose not to reveal or were too young to start work. The levels of education were low (Table 3). Wayanad is listed under one of the most educationally backward districts in the country. There was nobody who had attained education beyond the primary level and about two-thirds of the people were illiterate. Most of the employment opportunities were seasonal in nature. Given this, there is an opportunity to introduce financial products that aid the smoothening of cash flows of these poor people. The details of the employment status are given in Table 4.

3 Income: Households had income from agricultural and non-agricultural sources. The income from non-agricultural sources was higher than from agriculture (Table 5). Continuous drought for the past years and non-availability of cultivable land might have driven them to seek income from non-agricultural activities Many persons from the village go to other city to work with non-farm enterprises. Connection with the city has played a major role in diversification of livelihood opportunities. The new income streams discovered out of diversification from the present job has pumped in extra cash to the regular cash flow . High debt had also forced them to come out of the village

and look for alternatives that fetch them regular cash flows. Sometimes the income is in kind. We captured this by converting the flows into monetary terms. For instance, grass and MFP collected, contributed significantly to the income flow of the household. These were monetised. In the upper end households where the income is more than Rs 4,000 per capita we found that more than one member of the family got regular work in city. Some of them also had land, adding to their flows. Although we did not find households abandoning agriculture, Table 6 shows that agriculture is not lucrative and finding wage

employment seems to be an alternative. The households falling in the lower income group, continued depending on agriculture, and were unable to move out of the poverty trap.

4 Assets : The assets owned by the families are given in Table 7. From the list we see that apart from utensils, cots and rudimentary farm implements, there is pretty little in the form of assets that the households had. The most significant asset in the households were silver ,gold ,handcrafts materials etc . It was found during the field visit that most of the assets listed were not usually sold. People in the village prefer to borrow in times of crisis at fairly high rates of interest, rather than liquidate any assets and if they need to sell their assets they would first sell livestock but would not touch the jewellery. All respondents had a dwelling unit of their own. Some of them had two dwelling units, but the families used both. None of the families had leased out land, while several families had leased in land.

5 Borrowings: The profile of borrowings is shown in Table 8. The maximum number of loan accounts was with moneylenders. However, the average size of a loan from moneylender was smaller than other sources. In all, borrowing from moneylender

and other informal sources accounted for almost 85 per cent of the number of loans and 80 per cent of the amounts borrowed. Borrowing from relatives and from commercial banks had a significantly high average loan size. There was no significant difference between the source from which Group I and Group II had borrowed.4 It appears that SHG was not an option for Group I households. The formal sector has been unable to reach this segment of the population. The reasons might pertain to transaction size and costs. Even the SHGs were working with the upper end of the poor families. When we compared loan amounts and borrower profiles, we found that the commercial banks have a bias towards making loans for productive assets (Table 9). The bank had given one

loan for social consumption5 out of five loans made. The health related expenses, contributed to higher expenditure. The borrower portfolio was diverse for the moneylender. The moneylender had extended loans for consumption, social consumption,

health expenses, buying assets, and also to meet charges for litigation. The moneylender loans for assets were mainly for the purchase of livestock. All SHG loans were for consumption. People borrowed mainly for consumption, social consumption and health-related expenses from the family sources. The community usually funded the social events in the village – the expectation was that the recipient would pitches in when there

was a similar event in others’ family. Therefore, the borrowings for marriage and funerals were usually from informal sources. Only one loan from the family sources was for buying assets. Tables 9 and 10 indicate that people borrowed from moneylenders for asset purchase. Borrowing from moneylenders for emergency purposes, is understandable, but the larger share in asset purchase indicates that there is scope for formal institutions to step in. We should also note that the most frequent purpose for borrowing is “health-related”.

6 Savings: Without the awareness and complex legal requirements of banks most of the savings in SHGs. There was one recurring deposit account. Savings in SHGs were on the weekly basis. Many members were irregular in their savings. Even this was irregular as there is no regular income flow in the household. So whenever there was a little money available with the women either by selling the MFP, vegetables or bamboo, they preferred to save in the safe earthen container inside the house but away from their husbands’ eyes. From the data on financing of asset purchase and financing of significant events, it was evident that these savings are very sparingly used for outflows. Sale of assets and jewellery was not seen at all in the sample households. Savings are perceived to be a different compartment that was to be used sparingly. An overall look at the income, savings and borrowings data indicates that the level of indebtedness is not alarming (the figure). In almost all cases the overall borrowing was less than their annual income, and far less than the total worth of the assets they had. In this sense no respondent suffered from a negative net-worth. However, what seemed to be very prevalent is stashing money away in pots, as there were no alternatives available for savings. Formal sources were accessed only by a handful of people and they also seemed to have multiple accounts. This problem was faced both in the borrowing and the savings departments. Table 11 shows the savings of the poor in institutions

CONCLUSIONS

Mapping the financial flow of the poor requires careful investigation of the income and expenditure patterns and the most important is the involvement of the people themselves. This paper illustrates the results of a study conducted in one village of Kerala which was under the influence of natural calamities and farmers problems for last years and has experienced some rainfall this year. But that area resolve some of the important problems by way of government programes and individual cooperation , particularly pertaining to wage employment and helped them diversify their livelihood sources. Although there are

various studies conducted to identify the factors that drag people into the poverty trap, the major findings of this study are that the overall asset-savings-income profile of the poor in this village give a comfort while compared to the indebtedness. However, most of the assets and savings are illiquid, forcing the poor to borrow at high cost and service such loans. The study indicates the failure of institutions to penetrate the savings and loan market. Even if we assume that the “emergency” needs would be met by the local sources, the institutions (including microfinance mechanisms like SHGs) were unable to

make inroads into financing non-emergency planned needs such as asset purchase and house construction. There is a need for an appropriately designed savings product – a major attribute of the product must be safety. Liquidity and return does not seem to

be a concern as most savings is in a “pot” stashed away. It is important to note that significant borrowings also come from relatives thereby reinforcing the social bonding in the community that we studied. This is also evidenced in the way marriages and other social events are financed. The poor seem to be smoothening their interest costs by resorting to informal, zero cost borrowings for certain purposes. This has an important

indication for us. There has been a very strong fungibility argument for pricing loans uniformly, by MFIs. This is seen both in the Grameen style and SHG type of organisations. One of the arguments is that this takes care of adverse usage of credit (the oft-cited example is subsidy based production credit being used for social consumption). However, the pattern of borrowing and the use to which the poor have put the funds in our sample indicate that if we can ensure the end use, there is a case for differential

pricing of loans. It also proves that informal structures ensure that even in consumption, this could be limited by social systems – the example being the non-availability of finance from the social system for second and subsequent marriages. The study re-confirms the findings of earlier studies – the most killing expense is health related. This leads the poor into further indebtedness. The borrowings for health expenses form one of

the most significant chunks of borrowing. We also noticed that there was no significant difference between the upper end of the poor and the lower end in having access to formal institutions both for savings and loans and in either case the dealings with these institutions were limited. A combination of factors like information about income opportunities, accessible and cheap healthcare facilities, credit on affordable terms and awareness about the unnecessary expenses on social functions would help

them in managing their money judiciously. Although we could gather valuable information but still there are certain things missing and the study does not capture like

the relation between the cost of borrowing with and without collateral – particularly with moneylenders, long-term flows and whether these households have been better-off as compared to a decade ago and the effect of diversification of income streams in dealing with

difficult situations – particularly considering that the sample area was affected by severe droughts in the past three years. A significant gap was also found in the lack of data collected on current expenditure.

Profile Of Wayanad District

District Wayanad

Area (in sq.km.) 2,131

Population 7,80,619

Males 3,91,273

Females 3,89,346

Sex ratio : Females/1000 995

Density of Population 366

Per Capita Income (in Rs) 34,123

Literacy rate 85.25%; Male 89.77%; Female 80.72%

Coastal line in km. Nil

Water bodied area in ha. 936

Forest area in ha. 78787

Assembly Constituencies 1. Kalpatta

2. North Wayanad

3. Sulthan Batheri

Taluks Head Quarters No. of Villages

Vaithiri Vaithiri 18

Sulthan Batheri Sulthan Batheri 15

Mananthavadi Mananthavadi 16

Live stock Population (2000 Census)

Cattle Buffaloes Goats Sheep Pigs

106393 5847 38188 110 3254

Monthly rainfall (m.m)

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Rainfall 7.4 9.1 21.5 96.3 186.3 694.1 1163.6 639.6 258.7 206.6 101.4 26.7

Profile of Noolpuzha Village

Geographical Area (Hec) 24297

Forest Area (Hec) 19287

Cropped Area(Hec) 3330

Irrigated Area (Hec) 200

Total Number of House hold 4627

Population 23151

Male 11806

Female 11345

SC / ST 9861

Hospitals 9

High Schools 3

Post Offices 8

Banks 4

Village Offices 1

Telegraph Offices 1

SHG

General 296

ST 111

Sources: Panchayat Schedule

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2: Distribution of Age across the Sample

Year Age

1-15 85

16-30 68

31-45 34

45 years and above 29

Total 226

Table 3: Level of Education across the Sample

Level Of Education No

Illiterate 126

Literate 48

Primary education 52

Total 226

Table 4: Distribution of the Sample according to Employment Status

Status Employment (Nos)

Unemployed 62

Student 16

Housewife 29

Agriculture 60

Non-farm enterprise (seasonal) 33

Non-farm enterprise (regular) 4

Service 8

Any other 14

Total 226

Table 5: Income Details for Different Occupations

Source of Income

Average Income Per

Person Employed

per Annum (Rs) Capita Income

of Households

per Annum (Rs)

Agriculture 1,329 752

Agricultural wage labour 10,800 2,700

Non-agri enterprises (seasonal) 10,621 2,392

Collecting MFP/grass

(primary employment) 950 480

Overall Income from non-agri sources – 519

Per capita income from all sources 6843

Table 6: Income Sources: Agriculture and Other

Per Capita

Sources From Agriculture

From Other

Total Income

Income of HHs (No of HHs) (No of HHs) (No of HHs)

0-2000 6 33 5

2000-4000 25 12 19

More than 4000 19 5 26

Table 7: Asset Details

Asset List

Number

Approximate Value

of the Asset ( Rs)

Physical assets

Clock 9 940

Scooter 01 7000

Cycle 01 2000

Watch 10 2210

Radio 05 2300

Cot 24 5100

Chairs 01 50

Elec connections

(number of bulb points) 15 3500

Utensils (approx value) 17900

Farm implements 52 11500

Pump 01 8000

Jewellery (silver) (approx value) 213600

Jewellery (gold) (approx value) 1500

-

Livestock

Cows 3733700

Bullocks 5566000

Goat/sheep 81 35650

Poultry 41 6720

Land (area in acres)

Own irrigated land 0.375 22000

Own rain-fed land 20.5 81000

Own non-cultivable land 11.7 232000

Leased rain-fed land 1.875 66000

Leased non-cultivable land 0.375 10000

Dwelling

Small 7

Medium 20

Large 01

Table 8: Borrowing Details from Different Sources

Details of the Monetary

Transactions Break-up of the

Client Base

Sources Loan

No Of

Accounts Ammount

(Rs) Ave Loan

Size (Rs) Group I

19 Hhs Group Ii

15 Hhs

Commercial banks

post office 05

(7.8) 49,000

(17.33) 9,800

02

03

Moneylenders

42

( 65.62) 134,100

(47.45) 3,193

18

24

SHG

04

(6.25) 2,700

(0.95) 675

00

04

Relatives

12

(18.75) 91,800

(32.48) 7,650

06

06

Any other

0 1

(1.56) 5,000

(1.79 ) 5,000

00

01

Total 64 2,82,600 4,415

38

26

.

* Group I = Per capita income less than Rs 4,000. Group II = Per capita

income more than Rs 4,000

Table 10: Significant Events and How They Were Financed

Event Detail Borrowings

No of Events

in the Past Years(Rs)

Ave Amt

savings

Spent

(Rs)

Used

(Rs)

Marriage of children

19

13,432

1,895

11,537

Health problems of family members 31 1,955

1,281 674

Construction of house 10 7,570 800 5,770

Purchase of agricultural land 07 3,457 428 2 428

Funeral expense 04 200 – 1,200

Other 18 989 906 3,083

.

References

1 . Bapuji M., ‘Tribal Development-Strategies An Overview’, The Indian Journal of

Administrative Science, Vol. III, Jan. -Dec. 1992.

.2 . Beteille, Andre, ‘The Definition of Tribe’, Seminar (14), 1960 in Romesh Thaper (Ed.)

Tribe and Religion in India, McMillan Company of India, Lucknow, 1977.

3 Danda, A.K., ‘Statutory Provisions Safeguarding Interests of Scheduled Tribes and

Scheduled Castes’, in L.P. Vidhyarthi (ed.) Tribal Development and Its Administration,

Concept, Pub. Delhi, 1981.

4 . Dhebar, U.N., Report of the ‘Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission’,

1961, Publication Div. Govt. Of India, Delhi.

5 . Elvin, V., ‘A New Deal for Tribal India, Government of India’, Manager Publication,

Delhi, 1963.

6 . Fernandez W. (ed.), ‘National Development and Tribal Deprivation’ Indian Social

Institute, Delhi, 1992.

.7 Government of India, ‘Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002)’, Vol. II.

.8. Government of India, ‘Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90)’, Delhi.

9 Hasan, Amir, ‘Tribal Administration in India’, B.R. Publishing Corp. Delhi,1988.

.10 Hasan, Amir, ‘Land Reforms in Tribal Areas and Its Consequences’, In H.S. Saxena

(ed.), Perspectives on Tribal Development, Bharath Book Centre, Lucknow, 1998.

11 Hasan Amir, ‘Occupation Pattern on a Tarai Village’, The Eastern Anthropologist, Vol.

XXII 2, July –August 1969.

.12. Hasan, Nadeem, ‘Tribal India’, Palika Prakashan, Delhi 1999.

.13 Karmaker, K.G., ‘Rrural Credit & Shelf Help groups’, Sage Publications, Delhi, 1999.

.14 Mahapatra, L.K., ‘Tribal Development in India: Myth and Reality’. Vikas Publishing

House, Pvt. Ltd., 1994.

15. Mahapatra, L.K., ‘Development for whom? Deprivating the Dispossed Tribals’, Social

Action, 41:3, 1991.

16 Menon, P.S.K., ‘Tribal Development Policies, Plans and programmes’. Yojna, April

2002.

17 Mishra, S.N. and Singh B. (ed.) ‘Tribal Area Development Society for Study of

Regional Development’, New Delhi, 1983.

18 Mohanty, B.B., ‘Land Distribution Among Scheduled Castes and Tribes’, Economic &

Political Weekly, October 6, 2001.

19 Nair, M.K. Sukumar, ‘Tribal Economy in Transition: A Study in Meghalaya’, Inter-

India Pub. Delhi, 1987.

20 . NCW, ‘Report on Tribal Women and Employment’, National Commission for Women,

New Delhi, 1998.

21 . Ramje N. & Bhatnagar, A., ‘Empowerment of Tribals and Sustainable Development of

Non-Wood Forest Produce’. Yojana, April 2000.

22. Saxena, H.S., and Sen, Chandra, ‘Putting People Last: Tribal Displacement and

Rehabilitation’, Inter-India Publications, Delhi, 1999.

23 Singh, A.K., ‘Tribal Development Administration in India’, Bharath Book Centre,

Lucknow (In Press)

24 Chavan, Pallavi (2003): ‘Moneylender’s Positive Image: Regression in

Development Thought and Policy’, Economic and Political Weekly,

December 13, pp 5301-04.

25 Fisher, Thomas and M S Sriram (2002): Beyond Micro-Credit: Putting

Development Back into Micro-Finance, Sage-Vistaar, New Delhi.

26 Mutesasira, L (1999): ‘Savings and Needs in East Africa: An Infinite Variety’

in Potential Products and Product Development Services, MicroSave

Africa, Nairobi.

27 Rutherford, S et al (2002): ‘Innovative Approaches to Delivering Microfinance

Services: The Case of VSSU’, West Bengal, MicroSave Africa,

Nairobi.

Kyle J. Norton


As we mentioned in previous articles, estate planning is the process of accumulating and disposing of wealth before death of individual of group of owner known as estate owner including married couple. It aims is to maximize the wealth of the estate owner. The most important goal of estate planning is to make sure that the greatest amount of the estate passes to the estate owner’s intended beneficiaries while paying the least amount of taxes. Legal capacity of a will is one the process necessary in estate planning to ensure that the estate is distributed as the estate owner wish or otherwise the will is null.

I. Definition

Legal capacity of a will is a law of the state and provincial government that helps to make a will valid.

II. What makes a will valid

a) Age

Since most state and provincial government defines a certain age for people have the legal capacity to create a valid will. In most states and provinces, the age is set at 18, meaning anyone 18 or older has the legal capacity to create a will. However, a few states set the age lower, but in Canada most provinces have an age of majority at 19.

b) Testamentary capacity

Testamentary capacity is defined as a person’s legal and mental ability to make a valid will.This means the person must have a sound mind and memory or disposing mind and memory. Since The requirements for testamentary capacity is minimum, it is up to the estate owner to make a will valid without being contested upon his or her death.

c) Testamentary intend

Testamentary intend means that the person who make the will have the intention to instruct what you want your estate to be distributed. You make sure that your have a clear intention of what you want your wealth to be distributed to avoid any unnecessary will contest up on your death.

d) Will formalities

The general formalities of wills include the following

i) Attested will

It is a witness will. It must be signed by the estate owner and witnessed and signed by those witnesses.

ii) Holographic will

It is hand written by estate owner. Holographic will is not required to be witness.

iii) Nuncupative will

Nuncupative will also known as oral will or verbal will, it must have two witnesses. Oral will usually uses when a person who is in terminal illness and unable to draw a proper written will.

I hope this information will help. If you need more information or insurance advices, please follow my article series of the above subject at my home page at:

http://medicaladvisorjournals.blogspot.com

http://estateplanningarticles.blogspot.com/

How to Make Homemade Wine


How to Make Homemade Wine | Discover How to Make Your Own Unique Wine



If you want to learn how to make homemade wine, there is no reason for not doing it. You don’t need a license, a cellar, and the utensils you need are probably in your home to begin with. It doesn’t take a lot of work either to learn How to Make Homemade Wine.

The first issue you need to learn is the do’s and don’ts of winemaking.

Do

- Rack at least once, and twice if possible.

- Use new corks and boil the old ones.

- Keep your first ferment covered.

- Keep the secondary fermentation air-free.

- Keep your equipment clean.

- Keep all bottles filled.

- Add sugar by stages and keep records with high level of detail.

- Keep red wines in dark bottles so they don’t lose their color.

- Use trustworthy yeast nutrient frequently.

- Make wines too dry rather than too sweet: add sugar later.

- Use fermentation traps.

- Taste the wine at intervals to make sure the process is going well.

Don’t

- Sell your wine. It is illegal. Don’t try to distil your own wine either.

- Let vinegar flies come in contact with your wine.

- Use metal containers.

- Use tools or containers made out of resinous wood.

- Forget to stir a must twice a day.

- Use too much sugar.

- Try to speed up fermentation by increasing the temperature.

- Be impatient.

- Let dead yeast or sediment anywhere close to your wine.

- Filter for no reasonor too soon.

- Store your wine in unsterilized jars or bottles.

- Bottle your wine before it’s done fermenting.

- Employ screw-stopper bottles.

Now that you have a good sense of what you should do and what you shouldn’t, I will share with you one of my favorite wine recipes and in no time you can learn How to Make Homemade Wine.

Either black, green or amber grapes can be used for this recipe and the resulting wine will suit almost every taste.

2 bags (4 lb.) of grapes – 2 bags (3½ lb.) of sugar – 1 oz. yeast

1 gallon water.

Separate the grapes from the stalks and then crush them by hand. Pour the boiling water over them and leave to soak for forty-eight hours. Strain and put the juice through a jelly-bag. Allow to drain and then pour into the fermenting vessel and add the sugar.

Mix until the sugar is dissolved -this will take a lot of time with cold grape-juice. When all the sugar is mixed well sprinkle the yeast on top and stir in. Seal, and ferment for fourteen days; after which proceed with bottling. It’s so much bliss to learn How to Make Homemade Wine.

If you want to get over 145 step-by-step recipes and learn all the secrets to making your own wine, visit my website: www.SecretsOfWinemaking.com – How to Make Homemade Wine

Andrew Stratton


When people think of Estate Planning, they generally think of legal wills. Estate planning is not just a will, although it does involve writing one. Rather, it’s a series of legal steps that involves allowing your beneficiaries to avoid probate and minimize the taxes incurred, and for you to write a living will in which you nominate trusted associates who would assume power of attorney and executor status should you be incapacitated or die. Estate planning also allows you more direct control over how your assets will be treated when you’re gone.

One of the most important parts of any estate plan are measures to avoid too much of the estate’s worth being lost to taxes. In the United State and abroad, dying can attract a number of specific taxes from both State and Federal governments, like death tax and estate tax. The simplest way to minimize estate tax is to name recipients of funds or assets from your estate in your legal will, specifying that a certain amount should be given as a gift. Provided your lifetime tax-free gift threshold of $1 million is not exceeded, these portions cannot attract any taxation.

An important part of any estate plan is the inclusion of a living will. A living will is not usually considered a legally binding document, however, it is given consideration if you are ever incapacitated and left unable to carry out your legal rights, or make decisions. While the living will itself may not carry much weight, you can nominate someone to assume your enduring power of attorney (EPA). If you are unable to exercise the living will as a legally binding decision, your enduring power of attorney can only be challenged by a court.

The will itself is the most important part of any estate plan. If you should die without writing a will, the specific laws of your state will determine how your assets will be divided following probate. Additionally, with no prior planning of where the assets should go on the event of your death, your estate is likely to be taxed the maximum possible amount. Where no will is present, the spouse is likely to keep one third of the value of the estate with the remainder to be distributed evenly among children.

An estate plan enables you to stipulate, for instance, that if your children receive an inheritance, the property is given to them personally and not, for example, to the child’s spouse. Should your child ever divorce, then the value of any inheritance received would not have to be shared in any divorce settlement, as it would not be a shared asset of that marriage.

One of the more important aspects of estate planning is the protection it can provide your assets. Typically, after a person passes away their family sells the assets that were left to them and divides the proceeds among themselves. If, however, you have a company or significant property holdings, you may wish to prevent the breakup of any of these assets, judging them to have more value whole compared with their value after being broken up.

Estate planning allows very specific instructions for how such assets should be treated if you wish to prevent this asset division from happening. For example, you can specify in your will that you require that your business be run by a family trust whose members and membership requirements you specify. It is not uncommon for people to wish to leave behind some legacy when they’ve gone, and the establishment of a family trust to ensure your assets are managed properly by a family member is a good way of ensuring it.

Another common request made is for a trust fund to be established as a scholarship fund or similar. Again, with a proper estate plan, it is possible for a benefactor to specify who a scholarship fund is for, and who is allowed to sit on any board or committee it relies on to pick a recipient.

Estate planning is the method by which specific instructions may be given in advance on how to manage your affairs should you become incapacitated or die. Estate planning represents the best way of protecting your assets from the whims of financially irresponsible relatives, excessive government taxation, and dissolution of your assets by the normal laws of succession in the state or country concerned.

Jerry R. Guy


Estate planning can be a complicated endeavor if you try to do it alone. As a funeral director I’m often asked estate planning questions while making funeral plans with families. Due to the nature of our meeting the questions usually will center on “final estate planning” and what should they be doing to prepare? My response is always the same “seek the advice of a professional estate planning specialist.”

Regardless of a person’s phase of life, estate planning is something I believe should begin as early as possible. Having heard untold numbers of horror stories from families about losing inheritances due to poor estate planning, I’m convinced the earlier a person starts planning their estates, the better condition their “final estate” will be in.

Estate planning can encompass many areas of a person’s life. Planning for each phase of life can be a daunting task. Many things must be taken into consideration. It is very easy to become overwhelmed just thinking about it and why I believe many people just never get around to doing it formally. Hence, adding problems that many times will surface at the worst time, which is at or near the end of a person’s life. This of course only adds to the stress of loved ones who must then also deal with these estate issues.

Rules and regulations on issues related to estate planning change frequently in my observations. Particularly, those involving senior citizens such as Medicaid and asset allocations. Taxes and inheritance issues involving a person’s estate can be complex also. For this reason, I would advise anyone considering a proactive approach to planning their estate, to discuss these issues with your attorney or CPA first. They should be able to help with these important issues or refer you to the appropriate people who specialize in these areas. If you don’t have an attorney or accountant to ask, call your state bar association for a referral. They should be able to provide you with names and addresses of attorneys in your area who specialize in estate planning matters.

Remember to incorporate some form of funeral preplanning in your “final estate” plans. Many people go to great lengths to have their estates planned out, only to neglect to prepare for the most final of plans, their own funeral. Of all planning done, this will be among the most important and remembered by your family and loved ones.

Tony Hobbs


I remember seeing this site just like it was yesterday.  I’m one of those internet junkies.  I simply love surfing the web for the next “BIG” thing.  When I stumbled upon the Maverick Money Makers Club, I was glued to the information.  I kept asking myself could this be the one program I’ve been looking for. 

Here’s the deal.  I had been looking at another program that was similar to Mack Michaels Program.  I kept reading over and over from various other site how you can make all of this money on clickbank.  There had to be some truth to it.  It simply a matter of partnering up with the right mentor.

After reading Mack Michaels sales page a couple of times, and watching all the videos on the front page, I decided that I was going to join. The information enclosed is simply unreal.  I knew this was the one I have been looking for.  I join around 10pm at night.  His training is provided to you by video tutorial in a step by step format. 

The training is like having Mack Michael standing over your shoulder every step of the way.  Let me tell you.  I could hardly sleep for two days.  All I was thinking about was waking up and getting on my computer so I can use another one of Mack’s technique.  I applied one of Mack’s technique on the video and I made two sales within 48 hours… Seriously!!  The system works!!

Hopefully you found this article to helpful?  If you did, then take a look at the step-by-step video tutorial here!

http://4u2bn.com/io42

 

 

Angela Booth


Want to write more? You can, even if you think you have “no time.” Many writers write a book a year, in 20-minute sessions. Everyone has 20 minutes a day.

In this article, we’ll discover how you can make every writing minute count, so you can write whatever you want to write. You may well be surprised that you have much more time than you think you do.

So let’s assume that out of your busy life, you can carve 20 minutes a day for your writing. During those 20 minutes, you won’t browse news or shopping sites, or read your email: you’ll write.

Here are three tips to ensure that you do.

1. Set Process Goals, Because You Have Control of Them

You’re in control of your own writing process, so if you set process goals, you’re always assured of meeting them. A process goal may be to write an article a day, or 500 words of your novel, or a post on your blog.

You’ll have other goals for your writing of course, like getting published in Magazine X, or whatever, and you’ll need to map a path to achieving those goals.

However, unless you set and achieve your process goals, you won’t have any product to send to an agent or publisher, so those other goals are moot.

For many years I had a process goal of writing 1000 words a day. That became a habit, and although it’s no longer one of my process goals, I nevertheless scan my diary each evening and mentally tally up the number of words I’ve written that day.

So start today and set just one process goal, and decide that you’ll achieve it every day. Before you know it, that goal will be as much a part of you as every other habit you have, and you’ll be amazed at how much you write each week.

2. Writing Is a Process: Plan, Draft, Write

The best writing reads as a smooth mental transmission of ideas and images, but you can safely bet your nest egg on the fact that that the more easily a piece of writing reads, the more time went into its construction.

Writing is messy and chaotic; it’s a process consisting of planning, drafting, and finally writing. Most of my writing starts off as a mind map or cluster diagram. Then I write a very fast and careless draft. Finally I chop the draft to pieces and write a “first draft.” Depending on what the project is, that draft may be the first one of many.

So use strategies like mind maps and index cards to plan your writing, and write drafts quickly. All writing is a process of discovery. The more you think on the page, the more writing you’ll do.

3. “Writing Time” Is Your Time – Close the Door, or Wear Headphones

If you write at home, close your office door. Make it clear to everyone in the house that your writing time is your time. If you don’t have an office at home, wear headphones.

Alternatively, write in a coffee shop, or in your car before you get home. You’ll find that your family, friends and colleagues will take your writing as seriously, if you do.

I hope I’ve inspired you to use just 20 minutes a day, and write. You can do it – start today.

Eren


Writing Articles: A mini course in article writing: how to write & sell articles

(Based on author’s site www.geocities.com/wriart)

Article writing techniques: how to write articles for prestige, writing & selling freelance articles

Many aspiring article writers are put off by many books on writing articles and writers courses which, with voluminous detail on writing articles and analysis of article writing techniques, cause those aspiring to write articles to be confused about how to write articles, to loose interest in writing articles.

Many columnists earning a living by writing articles did not learn their craft from books on how to write articles or writing courses.

Writing articles to many is a means of earning a living. The field of article writing is one in which it matters not whether you are a writing class graduate or a DLitt., or have no formal exam. pass. To write articles you need only reasonable spelling and general knowledge from reading articles in newspapers or magazines, watching documentaries or news. If you lack the discipline and the patience to write books, novels, movie-scripts, you still can enjoy money and fame writing articles. The article writing market is wide: local or national newspapers, juvenile or teen-age, trade or international magazines all need articles, and writers to write articles. You can write articles on ‘how to’ issues, on issues you feel strongly about and can state opinions.

Freelance Article Writing

Not all possess knowledge or interest to write articles arguing issues. But there are many topics on which anyone can write articles. Many interested in writing articles use files or labelled envelopes to keep magazine or newspaper cuttings, or an exercise book to jot news or ideas in. These help in writing articles; and there are writers’ sources listing important events past, present, or future as topics to write articles on. Reference or quotations books are ideas sources for topics for writing articles. In writing articles, in all article writing, more than the subjects on which writers write articles, how interestingly to the readers they write articles is what sells articles, makes popular.

The trend in writing articles is: biographical, historical; more, on home economics, increasingly philosophical; always human interest articles. You do not have to write articles on these -you may write articles on anything if informative, interesting, and not libellous (e.g., nothing “is not” good but only “I think it is not”).

When you write articles, the copyright is yours -unless also bought. When you write articles normally you sell printing rights. Most buy first publication rights, in the USA some reprint rights. Monies from freelance writing are taxable income.

When writing articles also bear in mind: some publications will not consider unsolicited articles; all want the freelance articles you write to be word-processed, double spaced, with the number of words stated -approx. 1,500 (longer if asked), and your contact details. Submit topical freelance articles at least three months early. If proposing writing a column send at least six articles.

Policies in Article Writing

It is disadvantageous to write articles to submit speculatively. While established writers do write articles to be syndicated, it is advantageous for the newly interested in writing articles to write for newspapers or magazines which they are familiar with, or to familiarise themselves with newspapers or magazines which they wish to write articles for. The USA’s Writer’s Market or even Writer’s Handbook, or the UK’s rather limited Writer’s & Artist’s Yearbook or its Canadian equivalent may help, glancing though the publications one is interested in writing articles for suffices.

Remember when writing articles: newspapers’, magazines’ preferences differ. Cosmopolitan’s emphasis differs than She’s -itself different than in 1970s; policies also change as Ink’s in 1980s. In freelance article writing also style matters: The Sun or Daily Mirror use much shorter sentences than the Times; keep to the ‘fox-index’ -average sentence length. Ask a magazine you want to write articles for, for complimentary copy -college magazines, trade journals aren’t widely available.

Do not offend readers. In writing freelance articles the readership sensitivities matter. “We know Byron’s reason –what’s yours?” wrote the witty Cypriot writer-thinker-poet the late Orhan Seyfi Ari in Birlik in a open letter to a British Prime Minister –whether the author’s stance on the issue in the editor’s opinion from the point of view of the readership would be applauded or frowned upon is a matter entirely of readership sensitivities, generally or on a particular issue at the relevant time and circumstance. More so is language used. Language acceptable to Playgirl is not to Lady magazine. Few publications allow four-letter words; some require above-average inoffensive language. In writing articles bear in mind the sensitivities of the readership your article is for.

In writing articles to freelance remember: what to the American is ‘chips’ to the British is ‘crisps’. In writing articles pay attention to these -it matters: ‘rubber’ in Britain, ‘durex’ in Australia is ‘eraser’ -in the UK ‘durex’, in the USA ‘rubber’ is condom.

If writing articles for teenagers or juveniles do not talk down to them -they like to be treated as grown-ups. The taboos in writing articles for them are: gambling, crime, cruelty, playing on differences of rich and poor, ideologies, politics, war ~subjects considered detrimental to their physical and mental development. What to you may have been ‘groovy, super, divine’ to them is ‘cool’. Some teenage publications concentrate on teenage love, but bear in mind when writing articles for them, more than sexual, it is sympathetic, romantic, idealised love.

Preparation in Writing Articles

1. Subjects in Article Writing

Remember in article writing: most profitable businesses have always been in the fields, in this order, of: money, food, sex.

The most successful soap-operas are about the lives, life-styles, of the wealthy. People like to read about them, copy them ~not everybody purchase at the Ideal Home Exhibition, but many buy the Ideal Home magazine to inexpensively to copy from it. Most magazines and newspapers, even The Times, has cookery columns -cookery books sell ‘like hot cake’. Magazine and newspaper agony or advice columns are often about problems directly or indirectly involving sex -a paperback on how to tell if a man was cheating on a woman, in one single day had to be re-stocked several times by Selfridges and Harrods, on first night went into third print!

It pays in article writing. But article writing can be on, e.g., water.

2. Viewpoint in Writing Articles

If you are writing articles, e.g., for a water-bottling firm’s trade magazine, write from its viewpoint: ‘bottled water better!’ … Or…

Cookery column: how water can be used to make lighter pastry.

Health magazine: how water contains all the elements essential for health. Woman’s magazine: that it refreshes, keeps the skin and hair young, and how. Teenage magazine -boys: magnet on glass of water, oxygen’s qualities…

Teenage magazines -girls: blue roses, pink daises with ink in water.

Children’s magazine: germinating peas on wetted blotting paper.

The viewpoints of most magazines are at a glance obvious. Article writing does not necessitate detailed study of magazines.

3. Write Articles with Catchy Titles

An example cited can not be bettered: ‘Princess Raped in Canteen’ -money, food, sex! Write articles with interesting titles.

We are writing an article about water -what title for our article?

If for water-bottling trade journal, ‘Healthiest Drink Unhealthy’.

Cookery column: ‘Lighter Baking with Water.’

Health magazine: ‘Water’s Good for You’.

Woman’s magazine: ‘Look Younger with Water.’

Teenage magazine -boys: ‘Amaze with Water’…

Teenage magazines -girls: ‘Colour Flowers with Water.’

Children’s magazine: ‘Magical Pea Shoots with Water!’

A publisher is quoted to have told a writer: “Just tell me the title and I’ll tell you if I’ll publish it.” Write articles with catchy titles.

How to Write Articles

Article writing are of many kinds. Writing articles of the informative kind there are two kinds of, which differ from most other kinds of article writing: the instructive ‘how to’ articles (e.g., some cookery columns), and the descriptive travel articles. Often they are accompanied by photographs or drawings.

These techniques of writing articles vary. State the title, begin: e.g.: ‘How to Repair a Punctured Bicycle Tire’… 1. Inflate it (illustration)… 2. Place it in a bucket of water (illustration)… 3. Look for air bubbles (illustration)… etc. Or, (unless to attract tourists or praise or criticise), e.g.: ‘Cyprus’… Geographically situated in the Mediterranean (a map)… The history of this little island… Prominent in this district is the St. Hilarion Castle (picture), etc.

Generally, in writing freelance articles, stick to the rules below.

4. ‘The Beginning’ in Article Writing

When writing an article begin by briefly saying what the article is about. Tell readers what your article is going to tell them. Whet their appetite for what you will tell them, in less than 100 words.

In writing articles, at the beginning, create a little ’suspense’…

Cookery: ‘Did you know that you can surprise, amaze, with your baking -make others ask for your recipes? You can, using water ~they’ll ask the secret!’

Health: ‘Water isn’t only essential for our proper functioning, both, physically and mentally; it’s healthier than fruit juice -more than orange, grape juice.’

Beauty: ‘Can water keep you young? Have you ever wondered why flowers in a vase stay fresh only so long as there is water in it -and why the water needs to be changed to keep them fresh? Water can work wonders for your skin!’

Teen boys: ‘Have you ever used a magnet on water? The qualities of water are amazing! With a magnet you can raise the water, amaze your friends!’

Teen girls: ‘Do you want to have blue roses, pink daisies in vase-full, overnight, impressively to beautify your room -be the envy of your friends?’

Children: ‘Can you grow pea shoots without planting them? Here’s how!’

Most freelance articles are rejected within three seconds at a glance at the beginning. Write articles with interesting beginnings.

5. ‘The Middle’ in Writing Articles

In about 1,300 words now tell what you said you were going to…

Cookery: which pastry or cakes, which tars or pies.. How they are normally made with milk, wine or rum -and to substitute water for parts of them.

Health: the qualities, constituents of water; why it is essential, which vitamins contain fruit, vegetable juices; how water contains all those with more.

Beauty: why, indeed, it is that flowers in a vase need water to remain fresh, how flowers whither if the water in the vase is not changed daily to replace the used up oxygen in it.. and that so is all life, so our bodies and skins.

Teen boys: the reason for tides, magnetic pull of the moon on oxygen in water; that water is two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen; ‘lunatic’ from ‘luna’, lunar pull on our bodies -80% liquid; magnet on glass raises water.

Teen girls: white roses, stems in water at night with few drops of blue ink; how, why petals blue by morning; and yellow daisies, with red ink.

Children: how, why, peas on wetted blotting paper in box small grows shoots.

In article writing, in the middle you expand the beginning, and also justify the point to be made or emphasised in the ending.

6. Write Articles with Good Endings

When you write articles summarise them at the end. In freelance article writing this is done with a paragraph of not more than 200 words, or two of not more than 100 words each.

Endings of articles are regarded as ‘telling them what you have told them.’ In article writing readers expect a point to be made or emphasised in the ending -make them feel privileged, go “How so, indeed!”, or “Well, if viewed from that point, of course so.” A articles do not have to argue points, but must end satisfactorily.

Bottled-water journal: ‘How unhealthy is tap water! Bless you bottled water!’

Cookery column: ‘A great way to save on ingredients and impress friends!’

Health magazine: ‘Why not supplement health foods with water? It’s free!’

Woman’s magazine: ‘Who wouldn’t love to look younger? Let water help!’

Teenage boys magazine: ‘Great for showing off, amazing your friends, huh?’

Teenage girls magazine: ‘Blue roses, pink daises… Friends green with envy!’

Children’s magazine: ‘Is your electronic pet real? Peas you can nurture are!’

Remember when writing articles, in the ending to be consistent. Briefly state conclusion/s based on ‘the middle’, and your point.

What to Expect from Writing Articles

Some write articles to aid cause. Many are interested in writing and selling articles. The former is rare; the latter hardly think of most aspiring writers, wanting simply to see their names in print.

Writing and Selling Articles

One may write and sell an article only to meet a financial need. For those interested in earning their living or regularly supplementing their income by writing and selling articles, the article market is wide and lucrative. You can write a subject from different angles, write and sell articles on the same subject to many publications -e.g., ‘water’, environmentally (boat-house, pools in parks) or as a form of energy (hydro-electricity). Writers sources list magazine payments for freelance articles from $50 to $3,000 each, re-saleable as reprint articles to some others.

Writing Articles for Influence or Prestige

Writing articles sometimes is to influence, or for prestige: e.g., an image building article on a celebrity may be sold not to the Daily Mail, but for less to the Sun read by more; one who may write and sell articles with a scientific flavour for more to the Reader’s Digest may prefer publication in Scientific American.

Feature article writing can be to write creative articles to sell or to influence. ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’? Not immediately, but yes: a black lady’s account in the New Yorker of her treatment at British customs brought from top politicians week long repeated public apologies -of greater importance was to China to a New York Times reporter’s visit than a US president’s.

Creative or inspirational article writing can be for prestige, with literary aspirations: fame. Being a writer, to others, makes one very special. If one is not only published because of the e.g., public, office held, then even merely aspiring to be a writer makes one special to others. In the trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover as acceptable a literary expert witness as the top columnist of the Times was an unpublished young lady who was writing a novel.

If your article writing ambitions include power, the influence of some columnists’, concentrate on writing socio-political feature articles, perhaps first locally -be inoffensive, factual, logical…

Newspaper -end: ‘Bottled costs money! When will tap water be safe to drink!?’

If you aspire to writing intellectual or literary articles try college magazines -note: they tend to be ‘modern’. Such ‘littles’ often pay in copies, but are regarded as publishers of ‘quality writing’.

Littles titles: ‘Is Global Warming and Melting Icebergs Worth the Expense?’

‘Inspirational Beauty of Water-ways Viewed from a Hill-top in Fall at Sunset’

Is literary article writing beyond some writers? Conrad influenced English literature -he learned English in the merchant-navy.

There is not more than the above to article writing, whether you aspire to writing articles to sell, or to write articles for prestige.

May interest: Teacher, Thinker, Poet, Writer