GeekSugar

Seniors Have Some Swing Batter Batter Wii Fun

GeekSugar — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:00:31 PDT

The Riderwood retirement community in Silver Spring, Maryland is following in the footsteps of the Sedgebrook retirement home in Chicago, Illinois by hosting Wii game tournaments. A feel good story from Kotaku explained how the residents at Riderwood had a Wii Home Run Derby last week in honor of Barry Bonds record-breaking home run. They even had Doris Terry, a pitcher from the 1940's All-American Girls Baseball League participate in the Derby. Considering 47 percent of all casual game players are 50 or older, and nearly 20 percent are 60 or older, the Wii seems like a fun way for seniors to get some exercise, stimulate their minds, and have a jolly good ol' time!

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7 Money Tips For Couples Starting a Family

Business Insider — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:15:00 PST

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

Middle-income parents will spend nearly $227,000 in 17 years for children born in 2010, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

But don't let that scare you - saving for a family can actually be fun if you know what you're doing.

"The most important thing to understand is that your priorities are going to change and your spending habits need to change to reflect those changes," says Stuart Ritter, a financial planner at T. Rowe Price.

With Ritter and other financial experts' help, we'll help you prepare.

Invest in a 529 savings plan

Saving for your child's education is crucial to his or her success, and 529 plans are tax-advantaged college savings accounts that are available in all 50 states.

Most are free to set up, while some states require a minimum of $25 to open an account, says Adam Koos, a certified financial planner with Libertas Wealth Management. Anyone can contribute and take advantage of the tax benefits.

Open the plan before your child is born, says Ritter, and name yourself the beneficiary. You can change the name on the account once your child is born.

Read on for more.

6 Ways Couples Can Tell They're Financially Ready to Live Together

Business Insider — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:15:47 PST

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

Moving in together as a couple is more than deciding who gets the "good side" of the bed and finding the best spot to stash the PlayStation.

Not only will you be sharing household bills and probably setting up a joint bank account, but you'll also get up close and personal with your partner's money demons for the first time.

"A husband or wife, even a boyfriend or a girlfriend, is not a financial plan," says Dr. Taffy Wagner, CEO of Money Talk Matters. "We've seen enough drama on Court TV shows."

As a certified personal finance educator and author of Bride and Groom Money Talk FAQ, Wagner's an expert on all things relationships and finances.

Before you start building a bigger closet, make sure you're both ready to merge your finances by checking for these six signs:

1. You can talk money without arguing. Per Wagner: "When you can openly discuss finances without arguing and blaming the other person when there is a financial issue," you're on the right track. "The people in this situation would also be able to discuss a financial issue and reach a viable solution that is best for the overall relationship."

Read on for more.

A Simple Way to Save: the $5 Savings Jar

Emily Co — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:40:53 PST

This is a twist on the ol' change jar, but it works just as well. The concept behind a savings jar is simple but effective - you mindlessly drop cash into a jar and before you know it, you'll have a good amount of money that you can chuck into a savings account or retirement account. But if you replace loose change with $5 bills, you'll be able to accumulate money more quickly.

All you need to do is find a big fat jar and whenever you find yourself with a $5 bill, you should do your best not to spend it. Instead, immediately put those bills in your jar once you get home. Of course, this might be best for people who tend to use a lot of cash. For those who choose to pay for purchases with cards, you might not find your savings growing as quickly as you'd like. Do you have other savings tricks to share?

3 Things Advisers Are Doing to Get Millennials Excited About Investing Again

Business Insider — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:07:20 PST

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

It's no big secret that millennials are scared silly at the thought of investing in the stock market.

With employment still sputtering along and home ownership little more than a pipe dream, the so-called graduates of the recession are mainly focused on finding a job and investing in what they need to get by.

"We look at where they are almost similar to a generational thing we saw in the 1930s," said Chris Hobart, a financial adviser. "These investors look at money totally different than their parents did, and they see the stock market as being extremely scary and that the opportunity may not be worth the potential."

This wary outlook has made it harder for financial advisers to lure young investors into stocks and savings vehicles in general, wrote Jane Hodges in the Journal. Advisers are having to come up with new and unique ways to get millennials excited about financial planning, but what's surprising is that many of these tactics aren't all that new to begin with. Here, we outline a couple trends taking hold among Gen Y investors:

Investing like Buffett

Perhaps the biggest step in getting millennials to plan for the long-term is changing their mindset, said Hobart. (See why having the wrong mindset might be keeping you poor.)

"Adopting the Warren Buffett approach tends to get them interested," he said. "The idea is that they should find something that people need or want, understand why they need or want that and then buy it."

Drawing from everyday experience makes the act of investing feel more accessible to millennials, he said. It feels like less of a chore.

Hobart has also found that Gen Y - early 30-somethings included - tends to gravitate more toward privately-owned shares of tangible products such as oil and gas.

"Being a small owner of a small piece of land that produces oil represents a larger value," he said, noting Gen Y's desire for a sense of ownership despite its reliance on the Cloud and social media. "It gives the investment a solid feeling."

For what else is working, keep reading.

What to Do With Your Year-End Bonus

LearnVest — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:15:06 PST

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

You’ve just been informed by your supervisor that you have a tidy bonus coming to you soon for all of your hard work this year. (And, of course, you totally deserve it.)

But whenever a large sum of money falls in your lap, you need to have a plan for it, so you don’t wake up a month or two later and realize that it’s all gone.

That’s no way to reward yourself for a job well done.

What You Shouldn’t Do

Rack up credit card debt in advance of your bonus expecting to pay it off.
Use it to treat your family and friends to oversized Christmas gifts.
Count your chickens before they hatch. Even if you’ve been told how much your bonus is, it will be taxed like regular income. Because of all the factors that play into it, don’t assume you know exactly how much will land in your account.
Plan your finances around the same bonus showing up next year.

Read on for more.

7 Smart Tax Moves to Make Before the Year's End

Emily Co — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:30:46 PST

Now that the year is quickly winding down, you might find yourself with countless to-dos to tackle. Make sure you remember to put some of these tax chores on your list. Kathy Pickering, the executive director of The Tax Institute at H&R Block, shared a couple of smart moves every savvy taxpayer should make before the end of 2011.

Offset capital gains with capital losses: "It has been a roller coaster ride with market fluctuations over the past year, but there is some good news. Taxpayers with a large net capital gain in 2011 could reduce their tax liability by selling stock before Dec. 31 if it would generate a loss. Capital losses don’t just offset capital gains - if capital losses exceed capital gains, up to $3,000 of capital losses can be used to offset ordinary income such as wages."
Claim casualty losses from natural disaster: "The president declared a record-breaking number of federal disasters in 2011 including Hurricane Irene, tornadoes in the Midwest and Texas wildfires. Taxpayers in a federal disaster area who sustained casualty losses (e.g. damaged or loss property) can claim their losses on a tax return for the year the disaster occurred or on the prior year’s return."
Pay it forward: "Those who have not taken full advantage of the American Opportunity Credit should considering paying spring college tuition before Dec. 31 to take advantage of this tax break on their 2011 return. Also, taxpayers can pre-pay their December mortgage payment due in early January or make an additional student loan payment to claim the highest possible interest deduction on a 2011 tax return."

Read on for more smart tax moves.

Video: Angelina Jolie Talks "Crazy" Family Dinners and Cooking With Brad Pitt

Karli Bulnes — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:45:22 PST

Angelina Jolie is sharing stories about home life with Brad Pitt and their six children, including their Thanksgiving cooking adventure and "crazy" nightly dinners. Listen to Angelina gush about her family and hear her response to the rumors that Brad is retiring from acting in PopSugar Rush.

When Do You Turn Off the Baby Monitor For Good?

BabyCenter — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:32:46 PST

We're excited to share this post from our partners at BabyCenter! Every week, we will be bringing you the best parenting and lifestyle stories from the experts at BabyCenter, including this post from Kristina Sauerwein about outgrowing the baby monitor.

My friend posed this question on Facebook: “At what age did you detach yourself from the monitor with your child?” She was wondering if she should get rid of the baby monitor for her 4-year-old son who “sleeps with his door open…(and has been) talking/yelling in his sleep soooo much lately, (she) was up almost hourly to check on him.”

I left a comment telling her to retire the baby monitor. Honestly, I never really used our baby monitor much. My husband and I slept upstairs on the same floor as our kids, and I am the type of sleeper who would wake up if one of my baby’s coughed loudly. A monitor by my bedside would have revved my mind and kept me awake. Every little stir would have me evaluating my baby’s well-being and I would spiraled into an motherhood-OCD-worrywart hell.

Besides, as one mom said in my friend’s Facebook comments, if a baby’s stirs or cries are important enough, you’ll know.

That said, we did place a baby monitor in our basement since our baby slept two floors up. But even then, I could hear important cries sans monitor.

As for a video monitor, that would’ve wired me to no end so I never bothered. My friend said she used to watch it so obsessively, her dreams would be about her baby on the video monitor. Another friend said she watched the video monitor until she noticed her toddler boy could only get to sleep if he played with his private part and she just didn’t want to know that.

I will say there are two things I liked about the auditory baby monitor:

Once my husband and I heard another couple in our so-called perfect town fighting about stupid things such as his overgrown nose hairs and her annoying food-chomping habits. We had no idea who these people were so it was rather amusing and we took it as free entertainment. I know, it was immature and bad of us but it was a train-wreck-we-had-to-watch moment.
I never did this but I always wanted to turn the baby monitor on when my husband and his friends played cards, drank beer and watched back-to-back football games. After all the guys left, I’d ask my husband what they all talked about and he’d say “nothing.” Nothing? For six hours? I don’t buy it and so I always threatened to eavesdrop via baby monitor. My husband said all I’d hear is a lot of gas passing.

So tell me: Did you use a baby monitor? What kind? When did you ditch it? Did you ever eavesdrop on anyone or have any funny baby-monitor mishaps?

More great stories from BabyCenter.com:
3 simple holiday cookies to make with your kids
Do you force your baby to nap?
Does working make you a better mom?
9 Hanukkah crafts for kids
Kids birthday parties at home: Yay or Nay?

Source: Flickr User kona99

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.