Michigan Blog - Featuring Michigan Shopping, Travel, Business & People

About 70 percent of Michigan adults age 50 to 64 shop on the Internet.

This demographic group is increasing as more of America's 80 million baby boomers pass their fiftieth birthday. As fall approaches, online shoppers will begin deal searching for holiday shopping. Each year the Christmas online shopping season starts earlier and earlier.

Baby Boomers grew up on technological change and are still open to new advances. From transistors to PC's to I-Pods, Michigan Baby Boomers have made the leap from one new innovation to another. Now, as more and more Boomers are passing their fiftieth birthdays, they are flocking to the world’s largest, most convenient shopping mall – the Internet.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 70 percent of adults age 50 to 64 are online, and the majority of those are likely to use the net to gather consumer information and to make purchases.

These numbers will continue to swell as the youngest of Boomers turn 50 in 2014. According to the Internet Site, BoomJ.com, 80 million Americans were born between 1946 and 1964, the years comprising the country's Baby Boom. Even though Boomers are computer savvy, they, like many other online shoppers, may not know how to find the net’s best bargains.

They may be overwhelmed by the number of unorganized and often out-of-date bargains listed on Internet sites. They may also beunaware of how to find and use coupon codes and printable coupons.

Here are good tips to help baby boomers and seniors find the web's best deals.

• Make use of coupon codes and printable coupons. A coupon code is a number issued by a merchant, and it allows customers to save anywhere from the cost of shipping to huge percentages off of an item's price tag. Shoppers type these codes into a box when making an Internet purchase.
• The best place to find coupon codes is to visit a site such as www.MichiganBusiness.us, which keeps an organized and updated list of codes from various merchants. Be wary of sites which are hard to navigate and are sporadically updated.
• The Internet offers a bewildering array of offers. Boomers, seniors, and even younger shoppers should look for sites which organize the web's latest and best offerings in a way that makes it easy for the consumer to sort through a plethora of deals. In the same way, boomers and seniors will appreciate sites, such as www.Michiganbusiness.us, which do not confuse the shopper with a lot of flash and pop-up. Those who are beginning to experience vision problems should also look for a readable, clear font.

Boomer and senior shoppers are more likely than younger consumers to do their research before making a purchase. They are also more likely to read the fine print on a web site. In that sense, mature shoppers generally make wise choices when shopping on the net.

However, since many scams are aimed at mature citizens, it always pays to practice Internet safety. Buy from reputable merchants. Check a retailer's security policy before conveying any personal information. Print out a copy of your transaction so that you can refer to it in the event that there is a problem.

By following these tips, mature Michigan shoppers can take advantage of all that Internet shopping has to offer.

Use coupon code: googlerocks at these fine online retailers:

• GregRobert Pet Supplies
• Rachel's Robin Wild Bird Supplies
• Backyard Style Outdoor Decor and Pond
• Shane's Tack Equine Supplies
• Rabbit Mart
• The Giving Spirit

Labels: Online Shopping

Imagine that you are on vacation overseas (possibly enjoying a trip to England) and you lose your passport. Beads of sweat start forming on your forehead thinking of the worst-case scenarios. They quickly go away when you remember that you stored the Passport online at the Estate Vault. You simply find a computer, login to your vault, get a copy of your passport and take it to the Embassy. Within hours, you have a new passport.

Does this seem possible? It is a reality and you can find out more about the Estate Vault by clicking here.

The Estate Vault is not just an online data storage hub or backup utility. They are quite different from data storage services in that they do not just provide document storage but they also provide a way of inputting data from those documents and then help you simplify your life using that data for your everyday life.

They provide Identity Theft Insurance, Will and Legal Documents Creator, Home Inventory Directory, Account Aggregation and many more topics that those document storage companies do not provide.

The Estate Vault was developed to overcome the daunting task of keeping financial, personal and legal documents up to date and in one place. Together with its strategic product partners The Estate Vault has wrapped up its unique service offering with a Credit Card Registry, Home Inventory Listing, Identity Theft Insurance and an online Legal Documents and Will Creator.

Scroll down to see a list of features or applications that are included in the Estate Vault. Currently it is a great value - but we are guessing that The Estate Vault offers more and more features as time goes on. We also suspect that others will jump on this band wagon when they see how successful the Estate Vault is. But for the time being - the Estate Vault gets our vote to safekeep your life!

• $25,000 Identity Theft Protection


• Home Inventory Listing


• Legal Documents Creator


• Account Aggregation


• Financial Calculators


• Credit Card Registry


• Trip Registry


• Key Contacts Directory


• Insurance Policy Listing


• Financial Information


• Personal Information


• 250 Megs of Document Storage


• Collaborate with others


• Estate Planning Tools


• Desktop Version

Labels: Online Storage, Personal Finance

How to buy a Car leveraging the knowledge base on the Internet

I spent the last week researching new cars for our daughter. I currently have 80,000 miles on my Ford minivan and we felt that it was time to get a new family car that she would drive. Given that background - our research started with safety ratings.

As every parent can understand, the safety of a new driver is utmost. (especially if the driver is your son or daughter)

A couple of websites that helped me understand what is important in the safety of a vehicle are here:

• Safer Car.gov
• International Institute for Highway Safety

Given the top ratings for safety (and the fact that we were going to buy from either GM, Ford or Chrysler) - we narrowed our choices between the Ford Taurus, Ford Edge, Ford Escape and Saturn VUE.

After test driving all three of our finalists and using Ford's Cool "Build a Car" Tool - we narrowed the selection to the Vue (which my daughter liked best) and the Ford Edge which seemed like the best value at this time. A couple of the dealerships that we checked had a number of 2008 models on the lot that were fantastic deals.

We got a number of fairly accurate vehicle quotes from Autos.com.

Any hints from our readers? Votes? Suggestions? Good experiences? Bad experiences?

The price difference (when it was all said and done) was $3,000 (The Edge was more expensive). The Vue gets better gas mileage (19 versus 16 in the city).

The Ford Edge is longer and has more leg room. The Vue's styling is more appealing to a teenager and younger buyers. Both of them have side air bags (a must for our purchase).

We will be making our decision tonight and I'll let everyone know what the deciding factors were!!

New Car Pricing and the best deals right now!

Labels: New Car Pricing and Comparisons

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

If you are a Christian parent, you will want to learn more about C28 Retail Store. It is a store with a mission and message that lines up with the beliefs of many parents trying to raise children as Christians in this day and age. But it does it in a language and style that teenagers and young adults like and relate to.

Very impressive.

The Mission of C28 - "TO GLORIFY GOD BY SHARING THE LIFE CHANGING GOSPEL MESSAGE OF GRACE, TRUTH AND LOVE FOUND IN JESUS CHRIST. "
He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." Mark 16:15

Example Christian Music - Switchfoot

Switchfoot returns this summer with NOTHING IS SOUND, their 5th studio album and follow up to their breakthrough record, THE BEAUTIFUL LETDOWN. Picking up where THE BEAUTIFUL LETDOWN left off, NOTHING IS SOUND features 12 all-new songs that continue the band's unique introspective look at life, love, relationships, and faith.

One way to intepret the verse that this store is based on is as follows:

"Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything.

They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ."

If you are shopping for a gift for a teen or some Back to School Clothes or accessories - take a look at this unique store with a mission and values.

Labels: Teen Christmas Gift Ideas

Labels: Equine Coupons

Elizabeth (Wiz) Bachman's parents' - Todd and Barbara Bachman who were visiting the Olympics with her were attacked on August 8th. Her Father was killed and her Mother is in critical but stable condition.

"The United States Olympic Committee and USA Volleyball are saddened to confirm the death of Todd Bachman, father-in-law of United States Olympic Men's Indoor Volleyball Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon and father of Coach McCutcheon's wife, 2004 U.S. Olympic Women's Indoor Volleyball player Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon. "

Elisabeth was with them at the time of the attack but was not injured. The assailant took his own life by jumping from the Drum Tower immediately after the attack. Local law enforcement authorities believe he acted alone.

For those of you who do not follow volleyball as closely as I do, Elisabeth (Wiz) Bachman played volleyball for UCLA, then made the national team and played for the United States in the 2004 Olympics. Her parents Todd and Barbara were the epitomy of "Volleyball parents".

Security has been increased at tourism locations throughout Bejing according to the Chinese government.

We recently caught wind of the name of the murderer - Tang Yongming. The 47-year-old Tang had a series of failures in his life and took his anger out on society, according to the police department here in his hometown in Zhejiang Province. The police said fingerprints and DNA tests had confirmed Tang's identity.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Elisabeth, Hugh, Barbara and the people close to Mr. Bachman.

Volleyball Equipment and Shoe Coupons

Labels: Volleyball