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When the Economy Is Down, Keep Your Health Up

FitSugar — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:00:00 PDT

With the way things have been going in the economy, more and more folks are starting to let the stress of the news get to their health and mental health facilities are getting more calls than ever.

Don't let it be you. Instead of getting consumed with the media reports, make sure to create a balance between watching the economy and watching your health. When the news gets rough, take a walk or hike, go for a jog, ride your bike, or play with your kids outside. Find free or inexpensive activities to do that will not only help clear your mind, but will also keep you moving forward on your health goals. Above all, relax. If you need some tips I've got a lot of ideas for relaxation.

Source

10 Things You Do to Save Money That End Up Costing You More

Wise Bread — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:15:37 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Wise Bread story here on Savvy!

Have you heard of the expression “penny wise, pound foolish”? It’s something I heard a lot growing up, from my parents, and it can have multiple meanings:

You are very careful with small amounts of money, but throw caution to the wind with large amounts. This is akin to someone who eats from the dollar menu every day but then blows a hundred dollars every month on a gym membership that’s never used.
You do things to save money now, only to have those savings cost you more farther down the road.

The second definition is what I’m focusing on today, because it’s a lot easier to fall into the trap of saving money only to have it bite you later on. Here then are 10 things that you may be doing to save money that could actually cost you a lot more in the weeks, months, or years to come.

RELATED: The Case For Expensive Shoes

1. Avoiding Regular Checkups With the Doctor, Dentist, or Optician

It’s something I did in college when money was tight. “Aah, who needs to pay money to a dentist to have him tell me I should floss more?” Well, after leaving the dentist alone for a few years, I paid the price. Avoiding the regular cleanings and checkups left me facing a hefty bill later on when I needed a bunch of costly fillings. I was lucky that I didn’t need root canals or replacement teeth. Now I have a dental plan that covers free checkups twice a year, but even if you don’t, get to the dentist and doctor for health checks. It’s a lot better to pay a co-pay now than pay for major surgery later on. And worse still, it could even cost you your life, especially as so many conditions can be treated if they’re caught early enough.

Read on for more.

15 Smart Things You Can Do With $100

Business Insider — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:15:47 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart Business Insider story here on Savvy!

At first blush, $100 is only $100. It's so easy to fritter away on eating out, entertainment, or booking a trip online.

But you should never underestimate how far $100 can go, even in this economy.

"It's smarter to put that money away because once it's in your pocket, it's pretty much gone," says Joel Larsen, a certified financial planner based in Davis, Calif.

No matter where you are in your financial life, we've compiled 15 tips to help you stretch that Benjamin.

Open a college savings account

"A lot of people will say, 'it's only $100,'" says Larsen, but if you were to save $100 a month over 20 years at a 7% rate of return, you would amass $52,092.67. Impressive, right?

Depending on your financial picture, you'll need to shop around to find the right plan based on investment performances, expenses, and tax exemptions.

Andrew Schrage, founder of the personal finance site, Money Crashers, recommends looking into a 529 College Savings plan set up by governments or colleges to help parents save.

"One of the primary benefits of a 529 savings plan is that it offers tax protection from the federal government," he says. "Also, you may be eligible for tax protection from the state government."

Read on for more.

The Best Time Investments You Can Make

LearnVest — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:15:57 PST

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

We all agree that time is more valuable than money.

At least, that’s what we say.

Then we turn around and spend hours watching bad TV we’re not even that interested in. Or 45 minutes on the phone with customer service fighting a $5 charge. Or years in a relationship or friendship we stopped feeling fulfilled by long ago.

But I’m convinced it’s not for a lack of good intent that we often end up treating time as our most fungible asset. (Hey, there’s plenty more where that came from, right? Well, not really . . . ) I think we simply get too busy to think about it, or don’t think we have the resources to make more time in our lives. We do have the resources, though. All it takes is a fresh look at how we really spend our days, hours and moments.

I’ve been thinking about time as a tangible asset not unlike money in many ways, and about ways to invest our time to yield higher returns - better memories, more hours well spent, even minutes that nourish us instead of fly by. After much research, experience and reflection, below are what I found to be the seven best investments you can make with your time. Think of these as blue-chip time investments that can’t go wrong - and that will yield high dividends for a more fulfilled life.

1. Invest in “Life-Extending” Time

Investing time in caring for your health is an obvious one that will certainly yield you more time, literally - in days, months, if not years tacked on to your life. Yet we often take our health for granted until we experience a wake-up call. Proactively invest your time in your health by eating well, exercising regularly, getting plenty of sleep and regularly seeing your doctors. Invest heartily in those non-physical markers of well-being as well: emotional, mental and spiritual health - you will reap many hours of well-lived life from them. Learn the habits of the Blue Zone people, from the regions in the world where people live the longest. Some common lifestyle traits they share? Building in natural movement and activity, lowering stress and being part of a faith-based community.

Read on for more great time investments.

Lil Links: Jay-Z Will Be a Diaper-Changing Dad

LilSugar — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 05:32:36 PST

Jay-Z talks about changing diapers! - Celebrity Baby Scoop
10 foods to avoid if you have an overactive bladder - Health
15 cringe-worthy things kids say in public - The Stir
Selma Blair is seriously sleep deprived - Celebrity Baby Blog
The economy is starting to affect maternity leaves - FitPregnancy
20 old-fashion baby names that are back in style - Parenting
How to find out you're pregnant before taking a test - The Bump
4 ways not to kill your tot at 3 a.m. - Momformation
A line of luxurious maternity wear that makes mamas feel great! - Child Mode

Why You're So Tired but Can't Fall Asleep at Night

Self — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:19:50 PDT

We are pumped to share one of our fave stories from Self here on FitSugar!

Have you noticed that you're tired in the morning and all day long, but you're so wired at night that you can't sleep? Nurse practitioner Marcelle Pick, author of the new book, Are You Tired and Wired?, has a theory for why you're snoozing and losing.

"When we talk about adrenal fatigue, we're talking about the two glands that sit on top of the kidneys. Without the adrenals we wouldn't live. They're meant to deal with the stress that comes and goes, but in our culture, the stress never goes. It's ongoing, with kids, work, the economy, aging parents, gadgets that we never turn off," Pick explains.

All of this stress causes the adrenals to produce stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. "Too much cortisol actually increases inflammation," Pick says. "A lot of adrenal cortisol disregulates your blood sugar, causes hormonal havoc and causes suppression of the immune system." In fact, if you've been dealing with a few stubborn pounds or digestive issues, it could be due to adrenal dysfunction. When the body goes in panic mode due to stress, you store everything - and therefore have trouble losing weight," Pick says.

Find out how to deal with insomnia-causing stress after the break.

10 Retirement Savings Pitfalls That Trap Savers at Any Age

Bundle — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:15:11 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Bundle story here on Savvy!

Twentysomethings and even teens just starting out in the workforce may aspire to become young billionaires like Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and retire early. But any retiree could tell you it's not as easy as youd hope.

The real trick to a comfortable retirement is to get serious and start early, ideally before home ownership and kids take center stage.

Pitfall #1: Starting too late

Young people should start saving now. Even if you wait till your mid-30s, you might not have enough to retire at 65. The younger you start saving, the more time you have to watch your savings grow. And the earlier you want to retire, the earlier you should start investing for retirement.

Pitfall #2: Assuming you can choose your retirement age

Would you rather retire early or retire comfortably? is it really retirement if youre in your 60s, 70s or 80s and you spend half of your day working? The definition of the word retirement is changing, according to Barclays Wealth.

And theres no guarantee that youll be able to stay in the workforce as long as you want to. Americans in their 50s have been forced out of the job market during a struggling economy and others have been forced to compete for positions traditionally filled by young whipper snappers.

Pitfall #3: Not expecting to live that long

When youre young, it may not be pleasant to imagine yourself as a retiree, but thats something youll have to do if you want to take an accurate look of your long-term financial picture and decide how much youll need to afford the kind of retirement you want.

The average life expectancy is about 78 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But keep in mind that a man who's 60 years old right now has a 20 percent chance of living to 95 and a 60 year old woman has a 30 percent chance, Wachovia advises.

Read on for more retirement traps.

10 Jobs That Didn’t Exist 10 Years Ago

Kiplinger — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:30:29 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy!

Thinking about a career change? For the best odds of snagging and hanging onto a job for the long haul, you'll want to avoid professions on the decline in today’s economy (think bookbinders, textile workers and machine-tool operators) and focus on professions whose outlook is rosier (such as health care, financial analysis or social work).

Technology, cultural shifts and changing demographics combine to create new career fields all the time. Here are ten of our favorite new roles for 2011 and beyond, ones that didn't even exist ten years ago:

Social Media/Online-Community Manager

Social media or online-community management is a field made possible and necessary by the gargantuan rise in social networking activity. Sites like Facebook serve 500 million (yep, that's half a billion) users, who share personal and public messages, photos, videos, games and other experiences at a dizzying pace.

Social media strategists focus on building their employers' or clients' brands through the use of social media sites and tools, whereas online-community managers specialize in fostering user discussion and evangelism for the marketers they support. There is overlap between the two fields; one can manage social media tools without dabbling in online community, and vice versa, or the two functions can be combined in one group or person. What does a social media or online-community manager need to succeed? Essentials include great written communication skills, a sense of humor, empathy, a marketing background and lots of experience with social media tools (Facebook, Twitter and Youtube among them).

For more jobs that didn't exist 10 years ago, read on.

The Rising Cost of Graduate School: Is It Worth It?

LearnVest — Wed, 18 May 2011 00:15:10 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

Graduate degrees are becoming like tattoos: you should think hard before getting one.

Tuition at graduate schools has been skyrocketing - for professional programs, it has jumped 60% in the last decade. In 2009, a year of grad school was $21,900 at a public school and $34,100 at a private one. These are serious numbers, especially considering that you’ll also pay living expenses and most grad school programs are two years long.

At the same time, traditional grad school funding options are vanishing. Cash-strapped companies are dropping tuition reimbursement and universities are cutting graduate fellowships. To cap it all off, a job afterwards is not guaranteed in this economy, while grad school debt is very, very real.

Deciding whether to spend the cash (and time) on a degree depends on the return on your investment. No single equation will determine this, but the following factors can help you make a smart decision.

Why Do You Want To Go?

Obviously, some career paths like psychology, medicine and law require an advanced degree to practice without getting arrested. And if you’re switching fields and don’t have relevant experience, then graduate school can make sense as well.

However, nowadays the more traditional appeal of graduate school - that it’s a safe bet to further your career and earning potential - should be questioned in light of rising costs. For instance, the University of California system will raise tuition 31% this year, and Stanford Law School’s planned tuition increase this fall – 5.75% – is higher than inflation.

It’s true that on average, holders of postgraduate degrees earn 23% to 55% more than those with bachelor’s degrees. But when you drill down into individual professions and financial situations, it’s unclear whether that increased earning potential will outweigh the real costs.

5 Airlines That Offer Healthy Food Fare

Heather Dale — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:52:08 PDT

When you are purchasing a flight, do you have a favorite airline that you always book with? Or do you just go for the best deal? And what makes you have an airline preference - the service, the extra leg room, or maybe it's the amazing snacks and meals? For me, if the airline has awesome service, great in-flight entertainment, and other perks, it tends to have delicious food as well.

Last year, the Diet Detective conducted an Airline Food Survey, which rated how healthy the food is aboard the top US airlines. After examining the economy class menus of several airlines' domestic flights and taking into consideration the Diet Detective's results - not to mention some of my own personal biases - here are the top five airlines that I think are serving up the healthiest snacks and meals.