Welcome to a new era

First Google, now Microsoft. This country's two power house companies are being challenged, finally.

Google:
According to Hitwise, during the week of March 8th Google was bested by a company that originally no one saw coming. Born from a night full of hacking and coding just a few years ago, Facebook posted a slim lead over Google in terms of visits to the site. This move marks the first time that a social networking site has bested the search engine giant. And it reveals that whether you like it or not social networking sites and applications are here to stay. Facebook's superiority was short lived as Google regained it's normal spot as the world's most visited site. But, if you truly think about it, that was the day when Facebook changed the world. That was the day that the culmination of being featured on smart phones, t.v. screens, video game consoles, and many music sites came to fruition. Consider the fact that when this company goes public, will you be ready? Investors generally get caught up in the semantics of established companies, in the process they miss out on the high-reward of a newly public, but established company. I think that history will be the same here so don't miss out on a chance to be apart of it. If Facebook goes public, be ready.

Microsoft:
Microsoft even as a software company has been pegged as the leader in it's market. However, it's reluctance to delve into the physical/hardware until recently (this year they are debuting Kin 1 and Kin 2 smart phones), has maybe hindered the chance it has to stay in the lead. On the heels of Microsoft is Apple. Apple is a company for the young crowd, and even though many business still stick with Microsoft operating systems, Apple's market capitalization is only $46 billion away from vying for the pole position in technology. Apple may very well complete the slaying of Goliath in the next year or so depending on the success of it's new iPhone OS 4.0 and the ubiquitous iPad.

Diversifying your portfolio is important in building and maintaining wealth, I would recommend that Apple and Facebook (if it goes public) are in the line up. I can't guarantee it...but these companies are on their way to being relevant for a very long time. Only time will tell if they stay on that path.

A different kind of insurance

History has been made...last week a sweeping health-care reform was passed. And whether you benefit (children being on parents' insurance until age 26), or lose out (business owners required to provide minimal amount of health insurance), the end goal should be to build wealth over your lifetime. When you build wealth by simply spending less than you make and saving the rest, then self-insurance isn't that far-fetched.

Self-insurance is described as a way of managing risk by minimizing insurance expenses and cash flowing "predictable" future losses. In many ways becoming self-insured is the only way to not be tricked by insurance companies. "Tricked" as meaning higher than average premiums/deductibles for differing levels of income earners. Although it is rare that anyone becomes exclusively self-insured, coupling minimum insurance policies with responsible financial management will indeed allow you save and invest more.

Insuring your self, or senior family member, will especially come in handy if you incorporate it early on in your financial planning. Incorporating early can help to afford the $10,000 a year health care for the elderly (whether nursing home or in-house nurse) and not have to go deep into debt in the process. Another way to self-insure against the cost of health-care is to save dollars in tax deferred or tax-free financial instruments. In states that don't have a state income tax, investing in short term municipal bonds. Municipal bonds will give a tax advantage while also allowing cash to grow faster than if it were in regular savings accounts. The taxes on interest is the exact same federally but with municipal bonds (in states without state income tax) you typically earn a higher rate of return than with commercial banks.

There are many other ways to plan financially for proverbial "rainy" days, here are just a couple of ideas to get your brain moving. With simple research into all of the different ways to grow your money, along with a knowledge of how these paths affect your taxes, you can create a customized savings and allocation plan that fits your family's needs.

Creativity in your planning is a must have. There are some forms of investing for the future that require outside-of-the-box thinking in order to hedge against unexpected losses.