What happens when Americans fall into the holiday shopping debt trap-Mandi Woodruff

Five years since the Great Recession officially ended, shoppers are feeling twice as generous when it comes to their holiday spending.

Americans plan to spend an average of $861 on holiday gifts this year, up 8% from 2013 and double their meager $417 budget in 2009, according to the American Research Group. (Meanwhile, a Gallup survey found that Americans will spend an average of $720 on gifts this year, slightly higher than their $704 estimate last year.)
This is no doubt a good sign for retailers — especially given those ho-hum Black Friday sales reports — but just because consumers plan on shelling out bigger bucks this year doesn’t necessarily mean they can afford it.
Holiday budgets may have swelled but wages certainly haven’t. 
Over the last 30 years, median hourly wages for Americans rose just 6.1% (0.2% annually on average) and the lowest-paid workers (the bottom 10%)  actually saw their earnings decline by 5.3%, according to the Economic Policy Institute.  
As such, household earnings have barely kept pace with the rising cost of fixed expenses — the roofs over our heads, the cars in our driveways, and the food on our tables.
On top of that, less than half of Americans said they would be able to come up with cash for a $1,000 emergency expense in a recent survey by the Consumer Federation of America.
And yet, we’re hitting the malls anyway. Should we be worried?

“If we continue to live over our means, we’re just going to have to repeat the lessons we learned during the recession,” says Tiffany Aliche, founder of "The Budgetnista," personal finance educator and author. "Not only are we not saving but we’re spending what we can’t afford.”

Larger families arguably have an even more difficult time stretching their dollars around the holidays. When Aliche lost her job as a schoolteacher during the recession, she and her family implemented a new holiday tradition: each Thanksgiving, she and her four sisters put their names into a hat and agreed to purchase a holiday gift for only one person. For their parents, they pooled their cash and bought a group gift.

“It’s fun but you have to get everybody on board,” she says. “It’s much easier for everybody to put in $50 than me purchasing a $250 gift by myself.”

Culled from yahoo finance

The retirement threat few people think about- Steve Vernon

Thinkstock

Financial risk can be notoriously hard to spot, but there is one thing people can be certain of -- we get old. So why do so few people buy long-term care insurance?

In part, it's because only about 20 to 30 percent of the U.S. population is optimally suited to benefit from such coverage, according to a recent study by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research (CRR). But there are compelling reasons to make long-term care insurance a key element in your retirement planning.

For one, long-term care is expensive. In 2012, the average annual cost for a nursing home was $81,030, and the average hourly rate for home health care was $21. Yet only about 13 percent of the population buys long-term care insurance, which could help defray these costs. In theory, if consumers were rational planners, they'd buy insurance to mitigate the risk of running through their retirement savings on care.

Long-term care is defined as assistance with the basic activities of daily living, such as dressing, eating, taking medications, showering and using the bathroom. So it isn't medical care. As a result, neither medical insurance policies nor Medicare pay for most long-term care expenses, although Medicare will pay for up to 100 days in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) following a hospital stay and some medical insurance policies cover a minimal amount of assistance.

Medicaid, on the other hand, is a program operated by the states that pays for long-term care for indigent citizens; it usually requires that an individual first draw down most of their financial assets in order to be eligible. The availability of Medicaid has been cited as one reason why people don't buy long-term care insurance.

The CRR study calculated a "willingness to pay" ratio that analyzed the percent of the population who could expect to benefit from a long-term care insurance policy to cover costs that aren't paid by Medicare or Medicaid. The CRR study took into account:

• The likelihood of ever needing nursing home care in a lifetime, estimated by the CRR as 44 percent of men and 58 percent of women who had attained aged 65.

• The duration of such care, estimated by the CRR as averaging 0.88 of a year for men and 1.37 of a year for women.

Using the CRR's methodology, 19 percent of men and 31 percent of women had a positive "willingness to pay" ratio. These ratios are higher than the 13 percent of the population that buys long-term care insurance, so there's still a significant coverage gap.

So what's the bottom line for you? Consider the possibility that you could one day face potentially ruinous long-term care expenses.

Notably, the people most vulnerable to this threat have substantial retirement savings, since they won't be eligible for Medicaid until their savings are exhausted. Women are particularly in danger, since wives tend to outlive husbands (This is illustrated by the fact that the CRR's willingness-to-pay ratio is much higher for women than for men.)

Everybody should have a strategy to address the threat of long-term care expenses, which can include some combination of the following:

• Hold home equity in reserve as a source that can be tapped in case long-term care is needed (which might argue against using a reserve mortgage to generate retirement income).

• Buy a long-term care insurance policy.

• Maintain a substantial investment reserve that isn't tapped to generate retirement income, or only use interest and dividends for retirement income and hold the principal in reserve for long-term care costs.

• Be aware of lower-cost alternatives to a nursing home, such as a residential care facility for the elderly.

• Be vigilant about taking care of your health to reduce the odds of eventually needing care.

• Move close to family who could potentially take care of you, but make sure they're willing and able to provide this care.

With respect to this latter point, be careful! The need to provide care for elderly parents often derails the career and retirement plans of older workers, most often women, who typically reduce their hours or quit their jobs to care for an elderly relative.

Studies like the CRR analysis look for logical reasons why people should or shouldn't buy long-term care insurance.

Ultimately, the most likely reason people aren't buying such insurance is that the perceived threat of long-term care is so far in the future that it's a lot easier to ignore it. People just hope that they won't need expensive long-term care. But hope is not a strategy.

Culled from CBC money watch

Asian shares, dollar awaits U.S. jobs report-Thomas Peter and Lisa Twaronite

People walk past a screen displaying the dollar to yen exchange rate outside a brokerage in Tokyo, November 6, 2014. REUTERS/

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares drifted while the dollar marked time on Friday ahead of the key U.S. jobs report later in the session that could help it retake ground lost to the euro overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent, on track for a weekly loss of 0.8 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average slipped 0.2 percent, but was on track for a weekly gain of more than 2 percent.

Major Wall Street indexes inched down on Thursday, but the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) briefly rose to set a record intraday high.

The U.S. nonfarm payrolls report is expected to show that employers added 230,000 new jobs last month, and the unemployment rate is seen remaining unchanged at 5.8 percent, according to analysts polled by Reuters. The figures are scheduled for release at 1330 GMT (08:30 a.m. EST). (ECONUS)

"The U.S. dollar has struggled to rally even on good U.S. data recently so this could be the case again. Yet the multi-day/week outlook for USD remains positive," Sean Callow, a currency strategist at Westpac, said in a note.

The dollar gave up ground against the euro on Thursday, after first ascending to a two-year peak of $1.2279, when the European Central Bank refrained from detailing any expansion of its stimulus program.

But additional actions are still expected next year. In his clearest language yet, ECB President Mario Draghi underlined the central bank's commitment to supporting the euro zone economy. Draghi also made the case for buying assets such as state bonds, a step opposed by Germany.

The ECB's lack of immediate action put a floor under the single currency and gave investors a reason to trim their short positions, sending the euro as high as $1.2457 (EUR=). It was last at $1.2383, steady on the day.

The greenback was flat against the yen at 119.79 yen (JPY=) after breaking above the 120-yen level on Thursday for the first time in over seven years, rising as high as 120.25.

Oil remained under pressure after Saudi Arabia announced deep cuts on Thursday to the prices it charges its Asian and U.S. buyers, a week after refusing to support output cuts championed by some members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"It's another sign that they want to maintain production levels," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp.

U.S. crude (CLc1) was down about 0.4 percent at $66.54 a barrel, though it kept some distance from a five-year low of $63.72 hit a week ago.

(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo and Florence Tan in Singapore; Editing by Eric Meijer and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Culled from Reuters

Carer and widow secretly buried dead man in rockery - so they could claim his benefits - Adam Aspinall, John Siddle

Boqer-Ore Adie and Rebekah Ladan Sturdey secretly buried Geoffrey Sturdey at a religious sect's communal farm after his death in 2008 - and went on to claim £77,000

 

A carer who secretly buried a dead man to claim his benefits is facing jail for a second time - because a plummet in gold prices means she can't repay the stolen money.
Boqer-Ore Adie, 44, covered up the death of Geoffrey Sturdey, 60, for nearly five years - by working in cahoots with his WIDOW.
The pair secretly buried Mr Sturdey in the in the rockery of a religious sect's communal farm in west Wales after he died of natural causes in October 2008 and brazenly went on claiming his state benefits.
Adie and Rebekah Ladan Sturdey, 57, were jailed for 20 months earlier this year after a court heard they raked in more than £77,000 through the scam.
Now Adie faces a return to jail after claiming that she can't repay her ill-gotten gains because of a plunge in gold prices.

 

    

Pa Geoffrey Sturdey: The 60-year-old died in 2008

A proceeds of crime hearing at Swansea Crown Court was told that she had a treasure trove of £70,000 in gold coins and cash in the wake of Mr Sturdey's death.
But Adie said she had sold the gold and only made £37,545 due to a fall in prices. And she said she couldn't get hold of the remaining £8,571 in time for the deadline this week.
Judge Paul Thomas said he would give her a further three months to come up with the missing money - or face a fresh 12-month prison sentence.
Adie and Sturdey were jailed in February for wrongly claiming benefits after hiding Mr Sturdey's body in a makeshift garden grave.
Officials became suspicious after thousands of pounds of disability allowance and pension credits of were paid in Mr Sturdey''s name.
Sturdey and Adie admitted fraud and conspiracy to prevent his lawful and decent burial.
Carmel Adie, 25, who also lived at the farm, was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for a year with 150 hours unpaid work after admitting preventing Mr Sturdey’s lawful burial.

Jailed: Carmel Adie

At a sentencing hearing in February, Swansea Crown Court heard how authorities who inquired about Mr Sturdey’s whereabouts he had “gone travelling in Europe”.
The court heard Mr Sturdey, the defendants and others were involved at the farm in a “hybrid” religious sect based on judaism and the Old Testament.
The sect members, who called Mr Sturdey Shamar (Hebrew for “keeper” or “guardian”), expected Jesus to return to earth seven days after his death.
Mr Sturdey’s body was eventually found buried near a polytunnel on the farm in 2013 by Dyfed-Powys Police following an extensive £20,000 search involving aerial photographs, ground penetrating radar and forensic archaeology.
Around £6,000 in cash was also discovered.

Culled from the Mirror

Segmenting the Market for proper business penetration-Odunze Reginald

Anyanwu, a professor of Marketing noted that “For any company to assume that every person is a consumer of its product is an attempt at economic suicide” Anyanwu (1993:152)

And according to Adirika et al (1997:123) “ the marketer recognizes that different segments exist in the total market and design a version of the basic product that would more precisely meet the needs  and preferences of each segment” this is the true spirit of the marketing concept.

And according to business resource software inc (2011:I ) it states that the purpose of segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subsets of prospects that are mostly likely to purchase your offering” continuing it states “that strategic –your offering is in some way important to the enterprise mission, objectives and operational oversight” for example a service industry that helped evaluate capital investment opportunities would fall into this domain of influence, the purchase decision of this category of offering will be made by the prospects top level executive management”

Busch and Houston in 1985 defined market segmentation as the process by which an organization attempts to match a total marketing programme to the unique manner in which one or more customer groups behave in the market place.

Pension market can be segmented in to the following,

public and private sectors,

Public can be categorized into Federal , state, and Local government with the introduction of pension Reform Act 2014 that makes mandatory for state and local government throughout the federation.

Even the federal government can be categorized as Federal Ministries, like Federal Ministry of Education

Federal Parastatals like National Communication Commission.

Federal Tertiary and Research institutions.

The paramilitary that will include Customs, civil defense, fire service etc

And private can be categorized into the following:

Financial services, like banks, insurance companies, discount houses, Micro finance banks, Finance houses, Stock brokering firms, Building societies, Savings and Loans Company.

Oil and gas like oil exploration companies, up stream and down stream, petroleum marketing company, and oil service companies, and petrol stations.

Constructions, manufacturing and agricultural companies

Road constructions, Building construction companies, Rail construction etc.

Small and medium scale companies

Transport , aviation companies, airlines, shipping companies, courier, air ticketing,  media houses, electronic and print, printing and publishing, advertising and public relations agencies.

Equipment vendors like Huawei, Ericson, and Dizengoff etc

Communications

Professionals like consultants, Estate firms, law, accounting, audit, actuary firms, professional bodies like ACCA, ICAN, NIMN, COREN etc

By volume of remittances,

By number of registration

By geographical location like north east ,north west, south east south west, south south, north central.

In a competitive environment of today, it is neither possible nor profitable for a marketer to try to sell to all consumers, you can never satisfy the world is an old saying that best describes the rational in market segmentation, Anyanwu op cited. Continuing Anyanwu  stated that  “a market is made up of heavy and light users while the heavy users account  30 percent of the total market segment, they account for as much as 60-70 percent of the consumption of a given good or service” this is in agreement with  the 80/20 Rule which was first propounded by Vilfredo Pareto in 1897 known as the Pareto principle or the principle of the least effort, it goes to stipulate that 20 percent of the world hold 80 percent of the world economy, also that 80 percent of our success comes from 20 percent of our effort. Kiosaki and Leitcher.    Kiyosaki went on to say that 10 percent of the people hold 90 percent of the money in 90/10 Rule of money.

In emails, Jobs determined to keep iPod Apple-only-Brandon Bailey

FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2005 file photo, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs holds up an iPod during an event in San Jose, Calif. Jurors in a class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014 saw emails from the late CEO and his top lieutenants that show Jobs was determined to keep Apple's popular iPod music players free from songs that were sold by competing online stores. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs had seven words for a subordinate when he learned that a rival company was about to introduce a program that would let music fans buy songs anywhere and play them on Apple's iPod devices.

"We may need to change things here," Jobs said in a terse, 2005 email that was shown to jurors in federal court Tuesday, on the opening day of trial in a billion-dollar antitrust lawsuit that accuses Apple Inc. of using unfair tactics to maintain its dominance in the digital music business.
Attorneys for an estimated 8 million consumers and iPod resellers say Jobs' email spurred an internal campaign to keep Apple's popular iPods free of music that wasn't purchased from Apple's own iTunes store. By updating the iTunes and iPod software to block music from competing online stores, Apple maintained a closed system that discouraged consumers from buying competing music players, plaintiffs' attorney Bonny Sweeney argued Tuesday. That froze out makers of rival devices, and allowed Apple to sell iPods at inflated prices, she told jurors.
Plaintiffs' attorney Patrick Coughlin also showed jurors a 2003 email from Jobs, written about the launch of another competitor's online music store, which said, "We need to make sure that when Music Match launches" their store, "they cannot use iPod."
Apple lawyers deny the company competed unfairly. Several high-ranking Apple executives are expected to testify during the trial.
And while Jobs died in 2011, he is a central figure in the class-action case. Sweeney said she will show a video of Jobs testifying in a 2011 deposition later this week. A partial transcript of that session shows Jobs asserting he couldn't remember details of actions taken several years earlier, while also betraying signs of his legendary impatience. In one exchange with attorneys, Jobs acknowledged that he helped write a press release statement that accused RealNetworks of "adopting the tactics and ethics of a hacker to break into the iPod."
Jobs' statements have turned out to be pivotal in other antitrust cases that Apple has faced in recent years, including one in which a judge found Apple conspired with publishers to set e-book prices. In another, a federal judge cited "compelling evidence" that Jobs was a central figure in an alleged conspiracy by leading tech companies to abstain from hiring each other's employees.

A Stanford economist will testify later in the iPod trial that Apple overcharged iPod buyers by nearly $350 million. Under federal antitrust law, the Cupertino, California company could be ordered to pay three times that amount if jurors agree that Apple's actions were anticompetitive.

But attorneys for Apple said their own experts will testify that the plaintiffs' economic analysis is deeply flawed. Apple lawyer William Isaacson also told jurors that Apple had legitimate competitive reasons to update its software with new consumer features as well as code that blocked music from other sources. Legitimate product improvements are allowed under antitrust law, regardless of their impact on competitors.

The close integration between Apple's iPods and its iTunes store allowed them to work better for consumers, Isaacson said, adding that software developed by rival music sellers such as RealNetworks could have posed a security threat to the iTunes software.

"Apple products would not be as good or secure if third parties can come into the system," he said.

Culled from Associated press

The 5 Colleges Where Graduates Earn the Highest Salaries-Erika Rawes

Source: Thinkstock

 

Why do people go to college? Well, aside from the experience, knowledge, and foundation they receive, there’s one main reason above all that most people choose the higher education route: They want to increase their earnings power.
At the end of the day, a college degree is an investment, and it’s a pretty good one. “Data from U.S. workers show that the benefits of college in terms of higher earnings far outweigh the costs of a degree, measured as tuition plus wages lost while attending school,” as reported by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. “The average college graduate paying annual tuition of about $20,000 can recoup the costs of schooling by age 40. After that, the difference between earnings continues such that the average college graduate earns $800,000 more than the average high school graduate by retirement age.”
So, going to college is obviously better than not going. But, what about your degree and your specific institution? Do degrees from certain schools payoff more for graduates?
PayScale recently released its 2015 College Salary Report, which ranks graduate, undergraduate, and two-year schools by graduates’ earnings. Based on the median mid-career salaries of graduates across the country, these schools have the highest paid alumni and may just be some of the places to be if you’re looking for a degree that really pays back.

Top 5 undergraduate schools

1. Harvey Mudd College: Harvey Mudd alumni have a typical early career salary of $75,600. Based on 80 grads who reported their salaries for the PayScale report, earnings varied between $71,834 for grads with less than one year of career experience, to $150,429 for graduates with at least 20 years of experience.
2. United States Navel Academy at Annapolis: Among the 192 alumni who reported their salaries, those with less than 1 year of experience earn around $71,500, while those with more than 20 years of experience earn around $144,000. Many grads from this school work in military or government positions. Those Navel Academy alumni in the U.S. Navy reported salaries ranging from around $64,000 to $156,000.
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: The typical early career salary for an MIT alumni is around $71,300. Based on the 768 alumni who reported their salaries, MIT grads in the middle of their careers (with five to nine years of experience) earn slightly less than $100,000, and those who are later in their careers (with more than 20 years of experience) earn around $128,000.
4. Colgate University: Of the 144 Colgate grads who reported their salaries to PayScale, their earnings range between $45,509 for grads who are just beginning their careers, to around $117,000 for those who are later in their careers. However, some Colgate grads reported salaries higher than $300,000.
5. Stanford University: Nearly 1,000 Stanford alumni reported their salaries for the PayScale report, and they typically start off earning around $63,000. Alumni who have worked their way up the ladder a bit (with five to nine years of career experience) earn around $100,500 and alumni who are late in their career earn upwards of $143,000.

Source: Thinkstock

Top 5 graduate schools

1. Harvard Law School: Grads in the survey earn between $94,000 and $220,000. Of course, their exact salary level depends on factors like their choice of career and their level of career experience.
2. Emory School of Law: Grads earn as little as $57,000 or as high as $200,000.
3. Santa Clara University Law School: Grads generally earn between $60,000 and $210,000.
4. Stanford Graduate School of Business: Grads generally earn in the range of $112,500 and $185,000.
5. UCLA College of Law: Grads typically earn between $87,500 and upwards of $130,000.

Top 5 two-year schools

1. Fashion Institute of Technlogy — NY: This school has a female-to-male ratio of 6-to-1 and alumni salaries typically range between roughly $36,000 and $89,000, depending on their level of career experience.
2. San Diego City College: Grads from this school typically earn between $42,000 and $75,000.
3. De Anza College: De Anza alumni typically earn between roughly $47,500 and $80,000.
4. Lee College: Typical Lee alumni may earn between $41,300 and $82,500.
5. NHTI-Concord’s Community College: Grads here typically earn between roughly $38,000 and $76,000.

Culled from Wallstreetcheatsheet

The Need for Infrastructural Development a case for Housing as the Pension Fund Assets Hits 4.5 Trillion NAIRA.-Odunze Reginald

The importance of housing can be seen in its place in the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. S.16 (I)(d) provides as one of the fundamental objectives  and directive principles of the Nigeria state policy, the provisions of suitable and adequate shelter for all citizens, the same was made in the 1979 constitution ( Nigeria constitution 1979, 1999 and FMBN 2006)

Continuing the FMBN bulletin 2006 stated that FMBN Act 1993 and the Mortgage Institutions Act 1989 all fell short of desired impact on housing and Mortgage industry. The National Housing Policy 2002 according to FMBN is to ensure that all Nigerians own or have access to decent, safe and sanitary housing accommodation at affordable cost and secure tenures. But this is not been achieved, as NHF has been involved in the refund of contributions which cannot afford enough blocks talk less of building houses.

Therefore there is that urgent need for infrastructural development, a case of housing as most retirees are faced with the great task of building their own houses. In an article on 15 costly mistakes pensioners make, Odunze (2014) in the verynewsinfo.com highlighted that one of the pension mistakes is using retirement money to build a house after retirement. It should be noted that building houses after retirement aggravates the retiree health as the retirement money  is not enough to erect a house coupled with the ignorance of the retirees who thought that they will  be paid everything in the retirement savings account balance only to hear the bitter truth of the provisions of the Pension Reform Act  2004  for 25 percent. And so the need for such housing development cannot be over-emphasized as in all investments instruments, it is investment in housing that appreciates astronomically. In an article in the Telegraph Newspaper of London, Richard Dyson noted in article captioned “ £1,250bn and rising , how buyer to let is overtaking Pension”  that  “The value of property owned by Britain’s growing army of buy-to-let investors is fast approaching the value of the entire workforce’s pension savings built up over decades of employment. At £1.25 trillion – £1,250bn – the value of the flats and houses owned by almost two million small-time landlords is catching up on the £1.6 trillion total amassed in workers’ pension schemes.“

In a recent announcement while announcing the world pension summit, the Acting Director General of National Pension Commission, Chinelo Aholu stated that the pension assets has hit 4.3 Trillion and still counting. That provides enough investment outlay for infrastructural development in housing.

The Former Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Sanusi had canvassed for the use of the fund for infrastructure development. In an article in Punch 2011 captioned ”Safeguarding Pension Funds”  it reported that the Central Bank Governor has canvassed for the use of the pension fund in rescuing the decayed infrastructure , however the paper was quick to add “but this should be discouraged because of the underlying factors of mismanagement” continuing it states that as “plausible as this idea may seem to have, are problems of corruption, inflated contracts and abandoned projects which may threaten investments in such areas. The paper concluded that it is necessary to “avoid a situation where money may not be available when pensioners are ready to collect their life savings”  All these stems from fear of the unknown which I don’t blame them because corruption had at one time or the other affected, the smooth running of some laudable policies.

Be as it may , it is a good proposition but do we because of fear of corruption allow the retire to suffer in  using the pension to start building a house and the risk of inflation on the said fund, bearing in mind that the majority of the retirees still use the retiree fund to build houses. The result is more abandoned project as most retirees are the last phase of their circle of existence and may not be able to complete such projects.

In most developed countries in Europe and America, pension fund are being used for infrastructural development especially in the area of housing. But what they do here is that they build houses for lease and rent, and non is used for outright sale. They discovered that of all investment in life, it is real estate that has the highest rate of return. As a house that was bought in 2012 for 5 million cannot be sold for the same amount even within a period of 3 months. As both land and building appreciates over a period of time.  Jerry Lewis, the owner Macdonald, once stated that he is getting his wealth through real estate and not through the restaurant.

Since the masses are afraid of corruption ravaging the fund, if it used for infrastructural development, they can work out the following:

The retirement saving balance can be used to access mortgage under strict compliance

The commission in conjunction with PFA and PFC can embark on massive housing project with part of the fund as a way of ensuring housing for all.

Let us remember and bear in mind the words of Richard Dyson that “ while traditional pension saving is complex and unpopular with many, the phenomenon of buying-to-let is now growing at its fastest rate ever, spurred by rising rents and house prices and cheap mortgages.” Will the pensioners be able to afford the rising prices of houses and rents knowing quite alright that if they know they can’t afford it at their point of retirement they make resort corruption during their working life.

Odunze Reginald

IDEA, THE POWER TO CREATE WEALTH AND CHANGE THE WORLD.-Odunze Reginald

What the world lack is idea and not money, While Roentgen was working in the laboratory, he mistakenly forgot his key, on coming back in the morning, he discovered that the machine has photographed his key, he was fascinated and he did not know what to call that picture , he called it  x ray, that was the origin of x ray that is used today. Most scientists discovered what is being used today by accident, they are working on a different thing all together and end up discovering another thing, they called it serendipity. 

We are more interested in ideas that can change the world, “in 1948, an Engineer, Theodore Elliot solved a problem that hindered commerce for decades” Mr. Elliot conceived a brilliant idea – the first suspension bridge. Elliot was puzzled for a moment, then he got an idea, why not organized a kite contest  for the kids – a kite flying contest.  Elliot announced the contest and offered to pay 10 ten dollars, but none succeeded, until one day,  an eleven year old boy named Homer Walsh took advantage of the good south wind , instead of kite falling landed over on the other side , his friend ,who was waiting on the other side tied the string, Homer collected the prize”  Schuller  (1988:204) , with that Engineer Elliot constructed the First Suspension Bridge that spanned the Niagara River  and connected  New York to Canada.

“In 1953, Dr Michael Debakey started the first intensive care unit, at that time there were great objections, to it not only by doctors but also nurses” fortunately, one administrator agreed, with Dr Debakey and he set up the intensive unit solely for his patient” it was so successful that doctor after doctor began to say “ I  would like  to have my patient there too”  Today there is no hospital without the intensive care unit.  There is hardly an intensive unit in any hospital in this world that doesn’t use instrument with “Debakey” on them. (Schuller op cited)

Idea can come up at any time, so it is always wise to carry a jotter and pen as you move about so that when that idea comes, you can put it in paper, Bishop David Oyedepo used to say that he carries his jotter and pen all about because you may never know when that  great idea that can change will come up.  The great man of God went on to say that a he makes more money from his publications more than  any other sources as those publications were products of his ideas.

Ideas rule the world but people have the erroneous mindset that money rule the world, no ideas rule the world, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, internet, Amzon.com , LinkedIn  , Google and so many others  too numerous to mention are all products of great ideas that have transform the owners of the ideas into Billionaires.

Dr Debakey and Engineer Elliot discovered earlier in life that ideas rule the world and they made no joke about it, by using the idea to transform the world, they ended up transforming that their lives as the old saying has it that you can’t light the path of others without lightening  up your own path. 

They made used of their brain and ended up achieving a lot to mankind, their name were enshrined in history and they make their mark and left an indelible foot prints in the sands of time and history.

American and other western countries have scientists whose duties are to think and embark on researches on how to improve the world, unlike most African countries, this was clearly manifested in the period of Ebola ravaging the African countries, while other countries have something working on, and most African countries were utterly devastated because nothing was on ground as drugs to curtail the Ebola Virus.

When that great idea comes up in your mind,  make good use of it and you may never can tell where it will lead.

Think and be rich

Odunze Reginald

Why You Should Think Twice About Early Retirement-William J. Bernstein

The Experts Say the Financial and Lifestyle Challenges Can Be Daunting

For many, retiring early is the Holy Grail of a career. But should it be? There are lots of reasons to reconsider, according to The Experts, an exclusive online group of industry and thought leaders who comment on topics raised in Encore and other Wall Street Journal Reports.

What Advice Would You Give People Retiring Early—Say Before 55 or 60?

The Case Against Early Retirement

Don’t do it! The few exceptions might be those fortunate individuals whose early retirement is facilitated by a major financial success. But even in those circumstances, there are nonfinancial pitfalls to consider.
For example, the best-laid postretirement plans to travel, relax or pursue a beloved hobby can go awry when interest wanes over time, illness intervenes or resources wither. Relationships that once were on autopilot, nestled within the daily routine of work, may now take a lot more time and energy to sustain. And finally, it can be challenging to rechannel the purpose provided by one’s job or career into equally meaningful pursuits for the 30 to 40 post-early-retirement years, given current life-span projections.
—Marc Agronin, geriatric psychiatrist, author, medical director for mental health and clinical research at Miami Jewish Health Systems

First, Ask Yourself This Question

Have you really put aside enough money to support yourself for 35 or 40 years?
If so, go ahead: Play golf, go fishing, do whatever you want. But my suspicion is that most people would say, “No, I haven’t saved that much,” in which case retiring early is a foolish thing to do. And the notion that they may start a business or do something entrepreneurial is excessively optimistic given that so many small-business efforts fail.
— Alicia Munnell, director, Center for Retirement Research, Boston College, professor of management sciences, Carroll School of Management

Why Early Retirement Often Backfires

Research suggests that in two years, most people begin to run out of activities that give them meaning, a sense of purpose, continuous engagement and support their overall well-being.
So, before you retire, do some careful planning that goes well beyond financial security. Ask yourself what will you be doing in between the vacations, fixing the house, visiting grandchildren and occasional community activity? Those activities are highlights, not life.
— Joseph Coughlin, director, Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab

The Real Math on Retiring Early

Planning to retire at 50, eh? Well, young man, you have a tough row to hoe. Two rows, in fact.
First, you’re going to have a very long retirement. The Social Security Administration projects today’s 50-year-old male living, on average, to 82, while a female should live, on average, to age 86.
The second row: Expected portfolio returns ain’t what they used to be. At the moment, a 60/40 portfolio can be expected to provide a five-decade safe 2% stream of inflation-adjusted retirement income.
So if you can live on, say, 1.5% of your nest egg ($15,000 a year of a million dollar portfolio), you’re all set. If you need more, you’re going to have to choose among part-time retirement work.

Culled from wall street journal