Help The Middle Class » Family

RETIREMENT ALERT: 6 WAYS YOU’RE SABOTAGING YOUR RETIREMENT (SF GATE/INVESTOPEDIA)

Man In The Middle — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:09:08 +0000

Millions of senior citizens are discovering that they do not have adequate financial resources to retire. Some seniors are unable to retire due to the recent economic crisis and others due to poor financial habits. The stark truth is this: financial decisions that you make on a daily basis have a direct impact on your financial future. Poor financial habits will have you working longer, retiring later and finding yourself flat broke in your golden years. Here are six financial habits that could be keeping you from reaching your retirement dreams.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE SF GATE & INVESTOPEDIA: 6 Things Youre Doing To Delay Your Retirement.

2010’s Worst-Selling Housing Markets (Forbes.com)

Man In The Middle — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:18:24 +0000

Miami-area home sellers looking to unload their properties might want to make sure they have comfortable couches.

It looks like they’re going to be there a while.

That’s because Miami tops our list of the nation’s most sedentary housing markets. These 10 spots feature a potent mix of dropping prices and sluggish sales rates. Also on the list: Denver; San Diego; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Tampa, Fla.; Phoenix; Orlando, Fla.; and Chicago.

In compiling our list, we looked at price growth and sales rates in the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas. We took the cities in the midst of year-over-year price declines, based on National Association of Realtors data, then calculated how quickly these cities are shedding inventory from their peaks, which occurred between four and six months ago, based on data fromZipRealty (nasdaq: ZIPR - news - people), an aggregator of multiple listing service data. Atlanta, a likely contender for the top ten, was not considered due to irregularities in inventory reporting.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO FORBES: America’s Worst-Selling Housing Markets – Forbes.com.

Autism Signs Appear in Babies’ First Year (Health Key)

Man In The Middle — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:16:59 +0000

The social disengagement that is the hallmark of autism-spectrum disorders begins to appear in the second half of a baby’s first year of life, according to a new study. But Californiaresearchers found that parents typically do not notice the decline in their child’s behavior until well into his or her second year.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is among the first to glean the pattern of autism’s emergence in very young children by following babies from the age of 6 months. At that age, babies who would go on to be diagnosed as autistic and babies who would develop typically showed no significant differences in social behaviors, including smiling, making eye contact and vocalizing responsively.

The study calls into question the bases on which much early speculation about and research on autism and its causes have been based: parental observation. For starters, the study found little to support the observations of some parents that their baby showed symptoms of extreme social disengagement from birth. But it also cast doubt on the accuracy of parents’ reports that their baby’s descent into autism was sudden and dramatic.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO HEALTH KEY:Autism Signs Appear in Babies’ First Year – Health Key.

Obama Still Plans On ‘Redistribution Of Wealth’ To Pay For Deficit (Los Angeles Times)

Man In The Middle — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 08:11:15 +0000

Reporting from Washington

With enactment of his signature healthcare law, President Obama has also made good on another major campaign promise: to ease the tax burden on middle-class Americans and pay for his domestic agenda by raising taxes on the wealthy. And for upper-income taxpayers, the tab for healthcare is just the beginning.

Families earning more than $250,000 and individuals making more than $200,000 will not only pay new healthcare-related taxes, but also face the likely expiration of upper-income tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush. As a result, these Americans could be tapped for about $650 billion in additional taxes over the next 10 years — a prospect that is loaded with both political opportunity and peril.

Obama and the Democratic majority in Congress, faced with the need to pay for healthcare while also trying to rein in the deficit, see a chance to limit some of the political and economic pain by putting more of the burden on the country’s highest earners. But Republicans are already hammering Obama for leading a broad-scale redistribution of income that could threaten the economic recovery.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Tax burden mounting for high earners – latimes.com.

7 New Taxes Laws You Need To Know About (Bankrate.com)

Man In The Middle — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:29:26 +0000

Facing a struggling economy, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., turned to the tax code to help get it, and us consumers, moving again. Most of the tax changes were part of the stimulus package enacted last February, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. There are seven new tax laws you should know, and some old tax laws with new amounts adjusted for inflation.

Tax breaks were created, or in some cases expanded, for autos and home purchases, as well as for certain residential improvements. Uncle Sam now pays more of some educational costs. Some workers get bigger tax benefits to offset their commute to work. Folks who no longer have jobs at least get some tax relief. Even how you pay your IRS bill could turn into a deduction.

Here’s a look at some popular tax laws that could come in handy as you work on your 2009 tax return.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO BANKRATE.COM7 new tax laws to know.

How Alzheimer’s Disease Alters Lives (USA Today)

Man In The Middle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:36:54 +0000

How an Alzheimer’s caretaker’s life and challenges may evolve as their loved one’s disease progresses:

Early stage

•May notice patient is more anxious, forgets friends’ names and telephone numbers, places everyday items in the wrong storage locations, leaves projects (laundry, meals) unfinished, has trouble making change and balancing a checkbook.

* May need to take over some household responsibilities — like bill-paying — if not already doing them.

•If patient’s work life is suffering, caregiver also may need to take on more financial responsibility.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO USA TODAY: How Alzheimer’s disease alters lives, stage by stage – USATODAY.com.

HEALTH ALERT: Breast-Feeding Could Save Babies Live & Billions of Dollars (Yahoo! News)

Man In The Middle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:01:07 +0000

The lives of nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with billions of dollars, if 90 percent of U.S. women breast-fed their babies for the first six months of life, a cost analysis says.

Those startling results, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, are only an estimate. But several experts who reviewed the analysis said the methods and conclusions seem sound.

“The health care system has got to be aware that breast-feeding makes a profound difference,” said Dr. Ruth Lawrence, who heads the American Academy of Pediatrics‘ breast-feeding section.

The findings suggest that there are hundreds of deaths and many more costly illnesses each year from health problems that breast-feeding may help prevent. These include stomach viruses, ear infections, asthma, juvenile diabetes, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and even childhood leukemia.

The magnitude of health benefits linked to breast-feeding is vastly underappreciated, said lead author Dr. Melissa Bartick, an internist and instructor at Harvard Medical School. Breast-feeding is sometimes considered a lifestyle choice, but Bartick calls it a public health issue.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR YAHOO! NEWS: Study: Breast-feeding would save lives, money – Yahoo! News.

CREDIT CARD NEWS: Late Credit Card Payments Don’t Justify Rate Hikes Anymore (Creditcards.com)

Man In The Middle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:11:57 +0000

Late payments don’t justify rate instant rate hikes anymore

Passage of the Credit CARD Act protects those who slip up once in a while

QUESTION:
My husband and I are trying to pay off our debt. I keep track of the bills on Quicken and try to pay everything early. Today I was 3.5 hours late paying a credit card bill. Not like me at all, and I’ve never been late otherwise. Now I’m deathly afraid my interest rate will be raised. I tried calling after I paid my bill online. They have agreed to waive the late fee, as I have been with them forever, but I can’t afford higher interest on this card. Is there anything I can do? It seems so unfair the bill was just a few hours late today. Please help! — In Trouble

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR CREDITCARD.COM: Late credit card payments don’t justify rate hikes anymore.

Can Eating Junk Food Really Be an Addiction? (TIME)

Man In The Middle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:34:33 +0000

In 1982, Scientific American published an article suggesting that snorting cocaine was no more addictive than eating potato chips. People continue to use when the stuff is around, and simply stop when it’s gone, the researchers argued. The paper was later widely denounced for minimizing the risks of what soon became known as the most addictive drug all. Cocaine, that is, not Fritos.

In 1982, Scientific American published an article suggesting that snorting cocaine was no more addictive than eating potato chips. People continue to use when the stuff is around, and simply stop when it’s gone, the researchers argued. The paper was later widely denounced for minimizing the risks of what soon became known as the most addictive drug all. Cocaine, that is, not Fritos. (See pictures of what makes you eat more food.)

The funny thing is that the same headlines are still making news — except written in reverse. On March 29, the New York Daily News declared: “Fatty foods may be just as addictive as heroin and cocaine: study.” Indeed, a look at Americans’ collectively expanding waistline — with two-thirds of adults qualifying as overweight or obese — would suggest that the Scientific American article may have actually understated the addictiveness of junk food, not cocaine. Some addiction researchers might even argue that potato chips — and other high-fat, high-calorie foods — are more effective than a crack pipe in terms of keeping “users” hooked long-term.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK FOR TIME MAGAZINE: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1977604,00.html#ixzz0kCHLXbEL

via Can Eating Junk Food Really Be an Addiction? – TIME.

6 Ways To Reduce Your Energy Bill (Yahoo!)

Man In The Middle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 04:02:49 +0000

There are a bunch of little tricks you can employ to cut back on power consumption at home—which not only has environmental benefits but keeps you from wasting cash too—and it’s highly unlikely you’ll even notice a difference. Between the National Resources Defense Council’s site and powerscorecard.org I found some really good tips. Here’s a re-cap of six simple, painless ways to cut back:

1. Check this: refrigerators suck up a whopping 20% of your household electricity use. Time to turn them down! Aim for somewhere between 38-42 degrees in the fridge, and 0-5 degrees in the freezer. If you’ve got an energy saver switch, make sure it’s flipped on. Doors should be sealed tight: to test, stick a dollar bill between the gaskets and close the fridge door; if the bill is hard to pull out you’re in good shape. If not, it’s time to replace the gaskets.

TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE, CLICK THIS LINK TO YAHOO! Save power, save money: 6 easy tips to reduce your electricity usage and bills on Shine.