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Can anybody give me an idea how much I should pay for about 5 hours of brush and small-to-medium tree clearing? We're asking the pair to cut, stack and possibly load up to 4 pickup-truck loads of wood/debris. They will have the option of taking whatever wood they want and we offered to deliver it for them.

The pair who will be doing the work are hurting for money and the wood is fairly junky, not ideal for burning or resale so I want to help them out with cash but I want to be fair. I was thinking $100 ($50 ea). Is that needlessly generous or way under-priced? Any recommendations?

I've been hired at a small company where part of my job duties will include warm sales to existing customers and cold calls to strangers, plus I'll be placing new orders from new customers who come in through the website and of course reorders. This sales aspect is not supposed to exceed 50% of the job, and my other duties will take precedence to sales.

I will be the sole employee, next to the owner, and I've been informed that profit sharing or commission will be offered but it hasn't been decided which one it will be. The business has existed for 25 years but it's really just making enough money to maintain itself and my new boss has a reputation for being a bit stingy (but fair). I've been given the impression that I'll be able to argue my side but I don't know much about the pros and cons of profit sharing vs commission. Can anyone give me a quick rundown?

I have already done a good bit of research into my options (I like the idea of diversifying with stocks, bonds and IRAs), so I don't really need input on that, but how do I get started?

Should I find a financial adviser? What about the dangers of corruption? Are there any companies with great records I should look into investing with?

I'm most interested in IRAs, which are available at my bank (VA Credit Union) but the longest the offer on their site is just 60 months and I'm only 22-- so I need one that's going to last AT LEAST 30 years.

Also-- does anyone know if I can have multiple IRAs so I don't have to be limited by the maximum yearly deposit limits?

Please no comments about how I have 'plenty of time'. I don't want to be in a panic when I'm sixty and social security's been overtaxed by the Boomers ^_^;;

Thanks for looking :)

I don't have a proper definition, but an example of the disorder would be: 'an individual is so anxious about being fired that they quit to avoid the pain/ridicule/whatever of losing their job.'

I believe this or something similar may be hindering my relationship with my boyfriend of three years: despite being very happy together, I feel compelled to pour over our relationship looking for flaws. I'm almost positive that 'something' is going to go wrong and tear us apart or that we'll get married and one or both of us will realize we made a mistake and be miserable for our entire marriage. On good days, we're perfect, but on bad days, I feel like my only option is to dump him to avoid a 'horrible future'. He doesn't feel bad at all, btw.

I have tremendous amount of negative input from my two closest girl friends (who have had bad relationships) and my mother (who's still unhappily married to my father) and he's really my first MAJOR relationship (even though I'm in my twenties), so I doubt myself a lot. I feel guilty about talking about our future together because I'm so sure that we DON'T have one. Not that I don't want one, but because that big nameless fear will ruin it.

I've tried to abbreviate that as much as possible but there's a lot to it. Basically, he and I are super-happy together but I can't help but dwell on how 'something' MUST go wrong. I believe in happily ever after, but I don't think I deserve it :(

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I'll be happy to do the research on my own but I need the name of the disorder. Thanks so much!

I'm in frequent, moderately-severe pain. Please help! Recommendations and "talk to the doc about ____" diagnosis are welcomed...

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I'm a healthy 22 year-old female who suffers from hip pain during rest and activity.

Back in Elementary school (~10 yrs old), I experienced discomfort in my groin-- the tendons, I think-- when running the mile. It was minimal and very temporary, so my family decided not to do anything about it: we thought it might be brought on by the gym teacher's insistence on certain performance levels regardless of the student's athletic ability.

There were no more problems until High School, when I happened to be walking with my hands low on my hips. I could feel the right joint 'popping' when I took my weight off it, but there was no discomfort The left hip was fine. Again, we decided to let it go.

In college (~18 or 19yrs old) I discovered that being highly active would cause temporary pain in my hips (localized in the outside-center of either buttock). My right hip was worse and inevitably, the pain started to occur more frequently, even when I was seated. My boyfriend (a paramedic) insisted that I go to the doctor.

I gave her the information above, and I asked her to feel the hip movement as I walked across the room. She told me that she didn't need to, she believed me, and so she had me lay on my back as she manipulated my legs in different directions (looking for unnatural tension or movement, I guess?). I told her that I didn't have problems while on my back and she told me that I might have a "loose" ligament that might require physical therapy, or some kind of deformity that might be keeping the joint out of proper alignment.

The x-ray came back negative, so she told me to take two asprin twice a day and call back in two weeks.

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I'm not ashamed to say that I was furious at what I feel was an act of incompetence. I maintain a healthy weight, am active and young, so I firmly believe that I was dismissed on the basis of my appearance. Since I was angry and had informed her repeatedly that I had a chronic problem, I decided not to take her advice and I never called her back.

Surprise, surprise, my hips got worse. It hurts a lot, so please don't berate me for what I know was a stupid choice. At this point, the pain is interfering with my daily activity (driving, sitting at a desk, during sex, after visiting the gym, prior to going to sleep, etc) and so I don't have any options but to return to the doctor and get a recommendation. I don't blame a General Practitioner for overlooking what must be a fairly specific problem, so I'd like to know what I need to say to be fair and get her to direct me to the right specialist. For my hips, should I see a joint specialist or someone else? Is this something a Podiatrist would treat, or a Chiropractor? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks so much.

Here's the problem: I'm 20, healthy, and restless. I've always loved to travel, even though my family has rarely been able to, and I desperately want to see the world.

Entering the military really is not an option for me (the explanation involves politics and morals, so let's just move on). Another popular means seems to be missionary work, but I'm not part of any structured religion so that's kind-of out of the question too.

I've thought of only two other ways: money-- who has enough, anyway?-- or volunteering.

I'd be thrilled to help people, so I can definitely go that route-- but is there an organization that would accept a very young, very inexperienced, country-girl, college drop-out with no donations and no medical training beyond a first aid license? Is this even the best way to get the world-knowledge and life experience I want?

Mature suggestions from those who've done this would be appreciated and please don't hesitate to mention anything I haven't thought of!

I'm a healthy, 20 year-old woman, who regularly suffers from headaches (they have migrane symptoms although I've never asked for a doctor's diagnosis). For several years, I have found that I develop severe headaches-- localized to the back of my skull-- if I lay down too long without sleeping. This happens regardless of what firmness my pillow is, or how my head is elevated (although removing a pillow and laying completely flat reduces the pain after it starts). The good news is that this reduces the amount of time I spend in front of the TV. The bad news is that I just recently discovered that no one I know experiences this, so it's apparently not typical. Can someone tell me if this is another type of migrane or a tension headache of some kind?