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July 2017
Summer Vacation
Don’t we all need a break once in a while? I find that, in order to remain productive, it’s important to take a little time off now and then to recharge my batteries and spend time with my family. I’m sure you know the feeling as well. Fortunately, it’s summer, and that means we have the opportunity to get out of town for a few days — or out of the state! Let’s be honest, South Florida is beautiful all year round, but in the summer, it gets a little warm and muggy sometimes. My dad and I experienced some sea breezes and fishing earlier this month, taking a boat to the Bahamas (Guana Cay) for a week away from it all. I love getting there almost as much as being there — a seven-hour boat ride is a pretty cool way to travel, and the yellowfin tuna we found on the trip were the icing on the cake.
The Bruces on the beach
summer, I’m sure you’re enjoying that time with them. Family can be almost as restorative as a week on the beach!
Baby Russell on the beach
As great as it is to head to the Bahamas, we can’t do that all the time (free time and money seem to have something to do with it). For my family, sometimes we just need a weekend away from home, and when that’s the case, we head up to my mother-in-law’s property near Fort Pierce. She’s right on the coast, about 200 yards away from the Indian River on one side and another 200 from the ocean on the other. My oldest can toddle around the property under our watchful eye, and there’s always fun stuff to do. Kayaking is one favorite activity, especially on the river side of the property. I love fishing out of a boat, and it’s fun to get one landed after they put up a bit of a fight. For me, that’s the fun part; after I get them in the boat, I usually unhook the fish and plop them back into the water. Catch and release is just my kind of fishing, especially for the snook, trout, and redfish in the river. Fort Pierce is also a great place to spend a weekend, or even a birthday. Mine is coming up on July 19. I share July with my mom, whose birthday lands on July 7 (happy birthday, Mom!). But really, we just like heading up to Fort Pierce and spending some time away from other people. What’s your favorite escape for the summer? Whether it’s a camping or fishing trip, some time in the islands, or just a drive on the coast, I hope you take some time off this July and enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it.
I hope you take some time off this July and enjoy yourself. You’ve earned it.
We’ve been doing that for a few years now. It used to be with my cousins and family when I was growing up, and one day, I hope to make the trip with Ashley and our two children once they get a little bit older. They’re too young for crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the Bahamas right now, but I’m sure they’ll be over there with me before Ashley and I know it.
Happy Fourth of July,
~ Chris Bruce
Once our kids grow older, summers will be one of the few times we can spend a lot of time together as a family. If you have kids home for the
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H O N E Y The App That Puts More Money in Your Pocket
Property Division in Divorce Bruce Law Firm focuses on representing clients through complicated divorce, alimony, and child custody matters. Our practice is selective, and our clientele is typically limited to those with divorce or family court matters involving business valuation and asset-tracing issues or serious issues involving children. One of the firm’s substantive practice areas is property division. As it states in Florida law, with few exceptions, you and your spouse should each receive one half of the “marital net worth” in your divorce, which means you should receive an amount of property and debt that is equal to half the value of all “marital assets,” minus all “marital liabilities.” In a divorce, the firm’s job is to determine which spouse will receive specific assets and liabilities. Usually, each individual asset and liability is not literally split equally. Sometimes, net worth will be tied up into property, which means it will have to be sold in order for each spouse to have an equal marital net worth. Dividing up marital assets and liabilities can be a tricky task. It’s not always easy to determine what the assets and liabilities in relationships are, and there are many other factors that can impact the division of property and money. However, Bruce Law Firm is well-practiced in distributing marital assets and liabilities equally. Visit our website at brucepa.com or call us at 1-561-810-0170 to see how Bruce Law Firm can assist you in divorce property division. Let Us Help You Determine Your Marital Assets and Liabilities Does a friend or client have divorce questions? our divorce strategy book can help!
“I flipped through all these coupon books, tabulated the best day to make my purchase based on historical sales data and weather patterns, and then leaped from store to store like a frugal ninja to buy you this backpack for 75 percent off.”
Okay, so maybe you didn’t grow up with parents quite this frugal, but you know the value of a dollar. Why spend more than you have to?
Fortunately, like many things in this brave new world, frugality is now automatic. All you have to do to save money is add an extension called Honey to your Google Chrome web browser. It’s an application that works with a number of online stores. When you’re about to hit checkout, simply click on the Honey button, and you’ll see the coupons and sales available for your purchase. Honey does the hard work of crunching numbers for you, automatically applying the best coupon code, so you can sit back and count all the money you saved. On Amazon, Honey is able to look through all of the sellers for a given item and show you the one with the lowest price. Even better, Honey itself is absolutely free, and it kicks back a cash bonus for each purchase you make. These points accumulate in your HoneyGold account, and you can use them for thousands of sellers, including Target, Walmart, Groupon, and more. There’s really no reason not to add Honey to your browser, except for maybe one huge concern. Once you see how much money you’re saving, you might just turn into one of those crazy impulse shoppers!
The book can be downloaded for FREE at BrucePA.com/free- divorce-book If your friend or client lives in the South Florida area we will mail them a hard copy of the book upon request.
To get started with Honey and make your savings automatic, check out joinhoney.com!
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Have the Best Divorce Possible Divorce Is Difficult — but You Can Make It Easier
This may sound nasty, but it can be a massive psychological driver to an early settlement, especially if your spouse is too busy with their career.
Avoid the Cash Crunch Money buys leverage during divorce proceedings. Don’t make decisions that will create short-term cash flow problems for you during your divorce. It may sound obvious, but it’s incredibly easy to do. The most common way people create this cash problem is by moving out of the marital home. For an economically dependent spouse, moving out and creating a whole new set of expenses creates an entirely new dependency on the spouse they’re attempting to leave.
Divorce is always a difficult process, but there are numerous ways you can minimize its cost, both fiscally and emotionally. Here are just a few strategies that will help the process.
Anticipate Your Spouse’s Motivations Possibly the best thing you could do, especially economically, is to anticipate what will motivate your spouse’s decision-making process during your divorce.Typically, as more and more money comes into the equation, your spouse’s focus will shift from basic economic priorities to preserving family relationships and their social status. If you can leverage an understanding of your spouse’s anticipated motivations, you can develop a divorce strategy that will be efficient and quick. Make the First Move A tremendous amount of personal and strategic preparation is needed to have the best divorce possible.That’s why, if you begin the divorce already having your act together, executing on a well thought out strategy, you’ll catch your spouse off guard. Everything they will do will be reactive to you as they try to keep their head above water.
Unless there is physical violence, do not leave the marital home. Let your spouse move instead.
Control the Money Don’t hesitate and give your spouse the opportunity to cut off your cash flow or make your money disappear. Make sure you are in control of the money.This will eliminate many of the problems that unnecessarily complicate divorce, while creating a much higher likelihood of getting your spouse to settle on fair terms.
Spring is here, and summer is on its way, which means picnic season has sprung. Enjoy this incredible pasta salad recipe with friends or steal it all for yourself. We won’t tell! Macaroni Salad Marvelous
have a LAUGH
ingredients
Dressing •
Salad •
1 cup mayonnaise
½ pound macaroni, cooked, drained, and cooled
• • • • •
2 tablespoons vinegar 1 tablespoon mustard 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon pepper
• • • •
1 cup sliced celery
½ cup chopped green pepper ½ cup chopped red pepper ½ cup chopped green onion
Directions
1. Mix together dressing ingredients. 2. Mix together salad ingredients. 3. Mix dressing and salad together. Chill before serving.
Recipe inspired by Food.com.
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Summer Vacation page 1
The App That Puts More Money in Your Pocket Dividing Your Assets? page 2 Have the Best Divorce Possible Marvelous Macaroni Salad page 3 Rosetta Phone: Apps for Learning a Second Language page 4
The Rosetta Phone Language-Learning Apps for Everyday Life
It’s said the best way to learn a new language is to be fully immersed in another country. Unfortunately, most of us need to be at work on Monday. So, if taking an extended trip for an immersive language lesson is out of the question, consider one of these language-learning apps, perfect for learning around your 9-to-5. Duolingo Learn a new language on your own time with Duolingo. This app lets you select your lesson intensity based on how much time you’re able to dedicate to each session and can be adjusted at any time. Lessons can range from 5–25 minutes, meaning you can be learning a new language during your lunch break! Additionally, Duolingo blends video game aspects into the learning, awarding students with experience and providing support and encouragement as you advance through the lessons. busuu Along with writing and grammar exercises, as well as flashcards and quizzes, students can communicate
with any of the 60 million other users across the globe through audio recordings. Users can get help with pronunciation and find answers to questions from native speakers with firsthand knowledge. An independent study conducted by City University of New York determined 22.5 hours of busuu Premium offered the same level of knowledge and experience as a semester in a college-level language course. Babble Using speech recognition technology, the Babble app really focuses on helping students get their pronunciation correct right from the start. Rather than overwhelming students with grammar rules, vocabulary comes first, with students learning grammar as they go. Babble offers more customization in its lesson plans, meaning you can focus on the vocabulary that’s relevant to you and your current needs. Whether you need to learn a new language for travel, work, or just for fun, apps like these can help turn you into a real multilingual logophile.
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