5 Ways to Boost Energy

By Nick Tate  |  NewsMax Health  |  July 28, 2014

Coffee. Energy drinks. Sodas. Who hasn’t resorted to one, or all, of these caffeinated beverages for a little pick-me-up to power us through a workday afternoon or late night at the office?
 

But such quick-fix energy boosters provide only temporary results and can negatively affect your heart rate, blood pressure, and mood.
 

Certified nutritionist Deborah Enos tells Newsmax Health there’s a better, safer way to boost your energy without compromising your health. 

“Drinking one to three energy drinks daily could interfere with your heart rhythm and boost blood pressure, according to a review presented at a 2013 American Heart Association meeting,” says Enos, author of “Weight a Minute! Transform Your Health in 60 Seconds” and a Seattle-based wellness coach. “There are natural ways to boost your energy, and they work by providing your body with what it needs to function.”

 

Enos recommends five specific ways that raise your energy level without resorting to caffeinated beverages or stimulants: Exercising; drinking water or green tea; and eating a high-fiber breakfast, salmon, and dark chocolate.
 

No. 1: Exercise. It may seem counter-intuitive, but exercise is a better way to boost your energy, if you’re feeling fatigued, than taking a nap. The reason: physical activity raises metabolism and blood flood to the brain, which pumps up your energy reserves.

“I will always encourage my clients to choose good blood flow over drooling during a nap,” she says. “However, if you can manage both — do it. And I will try not to be jealous. On a serious note, anytime you move your body [and raise your body heat] you will be burning more calories and boosting your metabolism.”

But there are exceptions to this rule of thumb, she says. If you’re feeling truly exhausted, working out could lead to injury.  “Just use your common sense,” she says.

One in Four Americans’ Nest Egg Balance: $0

By Christy McFarland  |  Country Financial Security Blog  |  May 19, 2014

A sluggish economic recovery may have many Americans wondering if they’re saving enough for retirement. However, this month’s COUNTRY Financial Security Index survey sheds light on a more concerning factor. One in four Americans, across all age groups, admit they are not saving at all for retirement, or they are unsure.

Americans ages 18 to 29, are the biggest offenders. Thirty-two percent in that age bracket are not saving at all for retirement. Perhaps they’re buried in college loans, or feel like retirement is too far away to worry about.

Can we learn from past mistakes?

Flash forward to people 40 years and older, and you’ll find nearly 40 percent say they regret decisions they’ve made with their retirement savings. What’s the biggest reason they point out? Nearly half say they regret not starting to save early enough. Hopefully this is an eye-opener for today’s 18-to-29 year-olds, college loans or not, to save early and to save often.

Are people giving up?

Let’s circle back to the 25 percent of Americans who aren’t saving at all. Nearly half (46 percent) say it’s not possible for a typical middle-income family to save for a secure retirement. This is two points higher than this time last year and the most to say this since March 2011.

Is it possible they aren’t saving because they don’t think it’s possible to have a secure retirement? That we don’t know. But, what we do know is making retirement a priority is an important step in achieving long-term financial security and avoiding what appears to be the coming retirement crisis.

10 awesome Google features you should be using

By Kim Kamando  |  USA Today  |  August 15, 2014



Google is so ubiquitous it's easy to overlook some of the search giant's coolest tools.

It has many tricks and products that you don't need to spend money on. Some of these will make your life easier and others will just blow your mind.

Let's take a look at 10 of them.

Google Flight Search.

Need to find the best price on a flight? Google Flight Search is one of the easiest price-comparison sites around. Pick your start point and destination - or destinations - on the map, and then pick your dates. When you pick the dates, be sure to pay attention to the prices on each date and Google's graph of days with the cheapest tickets.

Then, you can filter the results by flight length, airline, price, stops and more. When you find a flight you like, you can book it directly on the airline's site.

Atari Breakout.

Need to take a quick break? Thanks to Google, you can play a version of the classicAtari Breakout game on your computer whenever you want. Simply go to the Google Image Search page - www.google.com/images - and search for "Atari Breakout." Then, wait for the fun to begin.

One cartoon that captures the horrible truth about Assad and ISIS

By Zack Beauchamp  |  Vox.com  |  August 22, 2013

The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has made it really difficult for the world to intervene to stop the Syrian civil war, now three years of violence, much of it Bashar al-Assad's forces attacking his own people. If the alternative to Assad is ISIS, how can a Western intervention guarantee Syria will be any better off?

This horrific situation was, in part, brought about by Assad's deliberate design. This deeply sad cartoon, by prominent Iranian artist Mana Neyestani, illustrates the brutality and calculation of Assad's plan.

IranWire/Mana Neyestani

The really sharp point in Neyestani's cartoon is that Assad is bashing the protestors, but ignoring ISIS. That directly mirrors his real-life strategy of targeting moderate rebels, but only devoting minimal resources to rooting out ISIS.

In essence, Assad and ISIS seem to have made an implicit deal: ISIS temporarily gets a relatively free ride in some chunks of Syria, while Assad gets to weaken his other opponents. The two sides still hate each other, but both benefit from the status quo.

In 2006, Neyestani was imprisoned by the Iranian government for a cartoon depicting a cockroach as ethnic Azeri; it sparked riots and a police crackdown. Today, he lives in exile in France, and IranWire — an Iranian diaspora website — regularly runs his cartoons. This one is a biting, depressing satire of Assad, whom the Iranian government backs to the hilt, and his cynical manipulation of the ISIS threat.

How To Invest $100, $1,000, Or $10,000

By Matthew Amber-Burton  |  Mint  |  January 30 2014

From Business Insider

To end your day with a happy hypothetical, let’s say you’ve been following our advice on how to build a buffer account.

It’s going so well that now you’ve got a little money you’d like to invest.

“Great—I’m going to get started today!” you think.

Then you Google “How do I get started investing?” and learn that you can choose from thousands and thousands of mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, bonds, brokerages, and asset classes.

“Hmm, I’ll get started investing tomorrow. Today: Candy Crush.”

I know how you feel. Last month I was in Japan, and my earbuds broke. So I went to a big electronics store, figuring they’d have a few to choose from.

Did they ever. I spent over an hour trying out earbuds before buying a new pair of the same ones that broke.

I can’t help you choose headphones, but whether you have $100, $1,000, or $10,000 to invest, I can help you get started. In investing, as in headphones, “good enough” is better than driving yourself crazy figuring out the perfect solution.

12 facts about depression and suicide in America

By Dylan Matthews    Vox  |  August 12, 2014

Robin Williams' death is, first and foremost, a horrible tragedy for his family and friends. For the public at large, it's a dark reminder that depression and suicide are shockingly common, both in America and in the world, and radically under-diagnosed and under-treated. Here are 12 things you need to know to understand the gravity of the threat depression poses.

To see the article and the 12 facts, click here.

32 Amazing Websites That Will Actually Save You Money

By Jessica Probus  |  BuzzFeed  |  July 26, 2014

To see the list, click here.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicaprobus/amazing-websites-that-will-save-you-money-on-everything#3z0oyf4

DEA paid Amtrak $854,460 for passenger lists it could have gotten for free

By Associated Press  |  FoxNews  |  August 11, 2014

The Drug Enforcement Administration paid an Amtrak secretary $854,460 over nearly 20 years to obtain confidential information about train passengers, which the DEA could have lawfully obtained for free through a law enforcement network, The Associated Press has learned.

The employee was not publicly identified except as a "secretary to a train and engine crew" in a report on the incident by Amtrak's inspector general. The secretary was allowed to retire, rather than face administrative discipline, after the discovery that the employee had effectively been acting as an informant who "regularly" sold private passenger information since 1995 without Amtrak's approval, according to a one-paragraph summary of the matter.

On Monday, the office of Amtrak Inspector General Tom Howard declined to identify the secretary or say why it took so long to uncover the payments. Howard's report on the incident concluded, "We suggested policy changes and other measures to address control weaknesses that Amtrak management is considering." DEA spokesman Matt Barden declined to comment.

Passenger name reservation information is collected by airlines, rail carriers and others and generally includes a passenger's name, the names of other passengers traveling with them, the dates of the ticket and travel, frequent flier or rider information, credit card numbers, emergency contact information, travel itinerary, baggage information, passport number, date of birth, gender and seat number.

5 money habits of unhappy couples

By Richard M. Grasso  |  NerdWallet  |  August 10, 2014



You know this couple. They met, fell in love, moved in together — and then slowly began to sink under the weight of their money habits. He ran up her credit card; she kept purchases secret. They ignored their financial woes.

Financial harmony is crucial to a couple's long-term synergy with money. In my experience, couples with cohesive financial strategies have the most successful relationships. Over the years, I've seen the same bad money decisions tear apart couple after couple. In fact, of couples exhibiting these behaviors, more than 95% ended on bad terms.

Here are the top five bad money habits couples have:

1. They disrespect each other's credit. One of the worst fiscal violations I've witnessed is how credit is misused in a relationship, causing a party's credit score to falter as credit card balances are increased and leaving the trusting partner in a relationship on the hook for the bills. I have seen otherwise smart individuals allow a partner to use their credit and turn a blind eye to misuse, until it's too late and they're in a hole financially — and spend years paying back big debts.

Rule: Never permit a loved one, including a marriage partner, to take advantage of your available credit and perhaps ruin your credit score, whether it's intentional or not. It's not a matter of trust; it's a matter of control. You must be the steadfast gatekeeper of your available credit and scores. If it's true love, the other party will appreciate your discipline. If you do share credit, make sure to carefully examine all credit card statements and access credit reports annually for free atwww.annualcreditreport.com.

In search of Obama's Iraq strategy

By Nick Childs  |  BBC News  |  August 10, 2014

President Barack Obama has said that America has a strategic interest in not allowing Islamist militants from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group to establish a caliphate in Iraq and Syria.

Yet he has so far framed the US intervention in northern Iraq - both military and humanitarian - in limited, if urgent, terms.

His undoubted reluctance to relaunch US military action in Iraq may be understandable for all sorts of reasons. But, for some Obama critics, this is a mixed message that underscores a lack of strategy.

The president insists that he has a long-term strategy.

The administration has framed its current actions narrowly to protect American lives and those of thousands from the Yazidi and other Iraqi minority communities who have fled the latest advances by IS fighters.

And, while the number of US air strikes is mounting, this does not look yet like a full-blown effort to destroy IS military capabilities.

Beginning Stock Investor? Here’s All You Need to Know

By Stacy Johnson  |  Money Talks News  |  July 5, 2014


Which would you rather have: $108,000 or $600,000?

Start with $300, add $300 monthly for 30 years, and you’ll accumulate $108,000. But here’s how much you’ll have by compounding at various interest rates:
2 percent — $147,622.
5 percent — $245,609.
10 percent — $623,787.

The lesson? Saving is important, but what you earn on your savings is super important.

Unfortunately, today there’s no way to earn anything close to 10 percent in an insured savings account. In fact, it’s tough to earn 2 percent. The only way to get higher returns is to take some risk, like that offered by stocks.

Depending on how you measure it, stocks have averaged 8 percent to 10 percent annually over the last 100 years. Of course, stocks entail risk; that’s why they pay more. But avoiding risk creates a different one – the risk of not having enough to survive your retirement years.

So learning about stocks is important. And it’s not rocket science. In fact, you can learn everything you need to know in this one article.

Obama military downsizing leaves U.S. too weak to counter global threats, panel finds

By Ronan Scarborough  |  Washington Times  |  July 31, 2014

An independent panel appointed by the Pentagon and Congress said Thursday that President Obama's strategy for sizing the armed services (#) is too weak for today's global threats.

The National Defense Panel called on the president to dump a major section of his 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) and write a broader strategy that requires the military (#) to fight on multiple
fronts at once.

It also said the shrinking U.S. armed forces (#) , which are being downsized to fit that strategy and budget cuts, is a "serious strategic misstep on the part of the United States." The forces' numbers spelled out in Mr. Obama's QDR are "inadequate given the future strategic and operational environment."

The warning comes as Mr. Obama is under criticism from many Republicans and some Democrats for his standoff policy (#) toward Syria and his limited response to a June offensive by an al Qaeda offshoot that has gobbled up swaths of territory in Iraq.

Congress authorized the panel of outside experts to review the QDR, a strategy for shaping the active and reserve force. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel appointed the co-chairmen: former Defense Secretary William Perry, who served under President Bill Clinton, and retired Army Gen. John Abizaid, who ran U.S. Central Command during the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq.

The panel's report said the past several years of budget cuts and mandated reduction in personnel and weapons have stirred deep unease among allies who would count on the U.S. in a crisis.