What the Boss Drives
What type of car do you think the average CEO drives? What types and brands come to mind? As reported on _BusinessWeek Online_ on 10/6, a recent survey from CareerBuilder.com and Cars.com found that most people think the typical company leader drives a luxury sports car costing over $70,000. However, when CEOs were asked, they […]
The Smell of Shopping
In a quest to more effectively separate us from our money, retailers have tried music to tickle our ears, lighting to please our eyes, and special flooring to comfort our feet. Now they’re taking their appeal straight to our nose. According to an article in the 10/16 issue of _Time_ magazine, businesses ranging from bedding […]
Give Yourself a Raise
Are you looking for a little extra Christmas cash this year? How about giving yourself a raise? You may be able to if you were one of the nearly 99 million taxpayers who received a refund from their 2005 taxes. With the average refund totaling $2,200, that amounts to about $185 per month that people […]
Does Tony Soprano Need Life Insurance?
Which of the following TV dads do you think has the greater need for life insurance: mob boss Tony Soprano, Cliff Huxtable of the Cosby Show, or Mike Brady of the Brady Bunch? According to a national survey conducted for the non-profit Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE), most people assume Tony Soprano […]
Living With Urgency
“Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.” – Job 14:5 Next month will mark the two-year anniversary of my father’s death. The following month will mark the three-year anniversary of my mother’s death. Maybe it’s the experience of losing my parents so recently […]
Popular Board Game Adds Product Placements
MONOPOLY purists may be dismayed by the just-released “Here & Now” edition of the popular board game. Virtually everything has changed. As reported by the _New York Times_, Boardwalk has been replaced by Times Square; the railroads have been replaced by airports; and the reward for passing “Go” has zoomed from $200 to $2 million. […]
Checking Out Charities Before You Give
During the last quarter of the year many charities dial up their fund-raising efforts. An article in the _Chicago Sun-Times_ on 9/18 gave some good counsel for deciding which causes to support. It recommended seeing what “Charity Navigator”:http://www.charitynavigator.org and “GuideStar”:http://www.guidestar.org have to say about organizations you’re considering. Both rate charities on a variety of measures, […]
Where Savers Live
What makes one person a saver and another a spender? Income? Education? Genes? What about where a person lives? A.G. Edwards has identified the communities where residents do the best at building wealth. As reported on _Yahoo Finance_ recently, the company examined 12 financial factors–everything from retirement plan participation to credit card debt–among residents of […]
Getting Real About Retirement
How current workers envision their future retirement differs greatly from the reality being experienced by people who are now retired. However, this time the disconnect may be an indication of unusually realistic thinking. According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, a non-profit “fact tank,” 77 percent of current workers expect to continue […]
Where Old Cell Phones Go to Die
The average cell phone user–and there are 200 million of us in the U.S.–gets a new phone about every 18 months, according to a recent article on _MSN_. What becomes of the old ones? Tens of thousands of them, each one containing toxic materials, end up in landfills every day. Fortunately, there are alternatives that […]