Last week I wrote about?high school reunions, even though I have never been to one. Now I'm writing?about retirement and a mortgage, even though I don't have one. Either I love showing off my ignorance or I am fearless. Maybe it is a combination of both. After all, a satisfying retirement is sometimes a walk on the wild side. Even so the subject is important. Retirement brings its own unique set of concerns and decisions. Near the top of many lists is a decision about housing. Is it best to pay off the mortgage before retirement, or is that extra money better off being invested? If I pay off the house won't I lose a major tax deduction? But, what if I have a major health expense and can't pay the mortgage..could I end up retired and homeless? Good questions with no clear cut answers. But, they are worth asking and taking a look at some of the ramifications. As an obvious disclaimer, I am not a tax expert or a financial guru, so what I offer is opinion and some basic thoughts from my own research. Please think through your own situation carefully, consult a trusted adviser, and proceed with caution.
If you do a Google search about retirement and mortgages the majority of the sites and articles that rise to the top suggest paying off your home loan before retirement. They do admit that many people can't do that, but it should be a goal.
?The reasons most often cited to pay off your mortgage:
1. Peace of mind. Even without a monthly payment you still have real estate taxes, HOA fees, maintenance, repairs and upgrades. But, if you delay fixing a leaking toilet for two months you won't risk losing your home. That big monthly Must Pay bill is gone.
2. Home equity is available. I strongly suggest this source of cash be used only for major repairs and upgrades to your property or something like a large medical expense. Home equity is not a piggy bank so you can take a 12 day cruise to Hawaii or buy a new truck. Too many people got stuck when they spent their home equity only to find the worth of the house dropped below the size of the loan. But, with home equity lines of credit at extremely low interest rates at the moment,? smart use can save you thousands in interest over more conventional loans.
3. You have more freedom to relocate or resize. Get in trouble with your mortgage and someone else might tell you when to move. Have no mortgage and you can decide when to downsize or move closer to the kids....or stay put.
4. You have a large source of retirement money available. If you move to a smaller home or condo or even rent an apartment, any profits after the house sale and purchase are yours. Though expensive and sometimes risky, reverse mortgages can provide a steady income?from the equity you have in your residence too.
On the other side of the argument, these points are made:
1.?Don't pull ?money from other investments to pay off a cheap mortgage. Even losing the tax deduction of a mortgage may not be enough to make up for better performing investments. If you take a chunk of your retirement funds to pay off a mortgage the money left will not produce as much income or growth.
2. Tying up too much of your net worth in an illiquid asset. You own a $300,000 home free and clear. But, depending on the market conditions it might you 6-9 months or more to be able to sell the house and see any net profits. If you need quick cash a house is not the place to find it (except through a home equity loan which comes with its own risks).
3. If you have a low mortgage rate can you earn more in investments/ Then, use your cash to grow your nest egg. Depending on your investment strategy and resources, it is not too hard to get a rather safe return of 5% on your money. With a mortgage of under 4% are you willing to throw away that 1% of growth year and year?
Another?consideration lies in what your plans are when you decide to move. For example, Betty and I plan on moving from our current home in four or five years. Housing prices have been rising in Phoenix for 15 months in a row so the future is looking brighter.?
We know that at some point we want to move into a continuing care community (CCC). The "buy-in" will be somewhere around $250,000. If we own a home or condo and need to move rather quickly into the CCC because of health issues, our buy-in money will be unavailable until we sell. That maybe too late.
So, we are giving serious thought to renting an apartment/town home when we move from our present home. The?bulk of our profits from our current home will be invested?for safe growth. While the yearly rent is lost in terms of equity or tax benefits, we will have liquidity when we are ready to move to the continuing care community.?
Again, I will remind you I am not a financial planner or expert. I have bumbled along pretty well for the past several decades, but there is always more to learn and consider. If you are a financial planner, investment guide, or CPA I welcome your input (as long as you aren't trying to sell something!). I hope readers like Sydney Lagier see this post and respond. I consider her a qualified expert and would welcome her thoughts.
All that said, you have thoughts, concerns, questions, and insight that will help of of us, expert or no. Please add your comments to this important subject. Since a home is generally the biggest expense for most of us in our lifetime, knowing what to do with that resource is vital.
As of Tuesday morning, Sandy was blamed for power outages affecting more than 8 million people. Although?of little help to people in the dark today, so-called smart-grid technologies being installed around the country will make the electric grid more resilient to future storms, according to an industry expert.
One caveat: ?It is economically unfeasible to storm-proof your system, and by storm-proof I mean resilient to anything that could happen,? Dean Oskvig, president of engineering consulting firm Black & Veatch?s global energy business, told NBC News Tuesday.
But utilities are installing technology such as self-healing switches that automatically route power around outages in an effort to minimize disruptions to service, he said.
Much of the smart grid is really about the installation of sensors and other equipment that offer utilities real-time monitoring of the grid so that they can detect and isolate power outages more quickly, which limits their spread and impact.?
Real-time monitoring of the grid also enables integration of small-scale distributed power stations onto the grid, which can provide electricity to a neighborhood, for example, when the city?s main plant is down.
Distributed power stations harken back to early days of the electric system when it was a hodgepodge of ?small individual generators all over the place and it was simply chaotic,? Oskvig said. As a result, greater reliability and efficiency drove evolution toward a system that relies on central power plants.
Today, however, the communications technology that underpins smart-grid systems ?has a way of accommodating a lot more distributed generation than we were able to do in the past,? he added.?
By the same token, a more intelligent grid is able to accommodate increased wind and solar power, which are plagued by intermittency.
?But, when you are faced with something like the storm out east, a smart grid will only take you so far,? Oskvig said.?
Utilities can make their grids more resilient with more traditional approaches such as?putting more of their power lines underground, which puts them out of the way of wind-toppled trees. But undergrounding lines costs several million dollars per mile versus a few hundred thousand dollars for overhead lines.
And even when lines are underground, that doesn?t mean the system is storm-proof. Power lines in New York City, for example, are already mostly underground. That didn?t stop floodwater from shutting down substations, Oskvig noted.
What measures a utility takes to make their systems more resilient to storms is a cost-benefit calculation. Sandy is considered a once-in-a-generation-type storm. Is it worth spending to put in?underground lines, install self-healing technology or build more, smaller distributed generation plants?
Given that Sandy is the type of storm that experts believe is consistent with global climate change, a more resilient grid seems prudent for our stormier future, a future that by some accounts is already here.
In the last year?New York, for example, has seen two tropical storms and a ?freak? snowstorm on Halloween 2011 that dumped a foot of snow. Each of those storms led to costly power outages that were, in isolation, considered rare events.
The cost of implementing the technologies required to smarten up and improve the grid will cost about $1.5 trillion over the next two decades, Mark Brownstein with the Environmental Defense Fund told American Public Media?s Marketplace on Monday.?
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
D-Link has the distinction of being the first networking hardware vendor with a pre-draft 802.11ac wireless adapter on the market. The Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-182) ($79.00, street) can connect notebooks and laptops to pre-draft 802.11ac routers and can do so through push-button WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup).However, during testing, I was unable to connect via WPS to a draft 802.11ac router other than D-Link's. Even when connected to D-Link's own 802.11ac router, the D-Link Amplifi Cloud Router 5700 (DIR-856L) , throughput reached nowhere near the touted speeds of up to 857 Mbps on the 5GHz band?and only slighted boosted performance over that of an 802.11n adapter.
Of course, I don't expect any router?to come close to theoretical speeds in real-world environments. However, because the DWA-182 is 802.11ac-capable, when it's paired with an 802.11ac router, I so expect that throughput should be faster than with an 802.11n adapter. Since network speed is only as fast as your slowest link, I expected an 802.11ac adapter tested with an 802.11ac router to provide faster throughput than testing the same 802.11ac router with an 802.11n adapter. Remember, 802.11 only provides theoretical throughout of up to 450 Mbps on the 5GHz band.?
?The DWA-182 supports both 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. It's also backward compatible, so you can use it with just about any wireless router?so long as you aren't trying to use WPS.
The adapter is rather wide, measuring 3.8 by 1.1 by 0.5 inches (LWH). If a notebook has stacked USB ports, the DWA-182, when connected to the uppermost port, will likely block the bottom one.
WPA and WPA2 as well as 128-bit WEP, and of course WPS, are all supported. The WPS button and a tiny, blue LED are located on the top of the adapter.
Setup The adapter is so new that my Windows 7 laptop was unable to install or recognize drivers for it upon connection.? This isn't a problem since D-Link ships a CD with the DWA-182. The CD contains not only the driver, install guide, and user manual, but also free trials of Norton Internet Security 2012 and Norton Online Backup.
The CD kicks off an installation wizard. During install, the wizard prompts to either manually type in the SSID and password to the network you want to connect to, or to use WPS.
I opted to install via WPS. The wizard instructs to click the WPS button on the router and then click the "Connect Now" button on-screen. I first tried connecting to a Linksys draft 802.11ac router but the WPS connection failed. I had no problems connecting to D-Link's AC router, the DIR-865L via WPS.
Now of course, I could manually connect to the Linksys 802.11ac router. However, WPS is a standard and is not supposed to be a proprietary technology; that would defeat the purpose of easy push-button setup of wireless devices. Hopefully, the failure of the DWA-182 to not connect to the Linksys router can be attributed to some wonkiness due to this being pre-draft 802.11ac technology and vendor incompatibility issues won't be a problem when products come to market that are fully 802.11ac? certified.
?During install, you can also opt to scan for wireless networks in proximity and connect to them if you don't know the name of the SSID. It's an easy setup but WPS should work for any WPS-capable router.
Wireless Utility The installation process also includes the install of D-Link's Wireless Connection Manager. I typically don?t like third-party wireless managers sitting on top of the Windows native wireless management because the utility usually makes adjusting any settings through Windows Network and Sharing interface useless.? D-Link's utility did not prevent me from using Windows wireless networking settings, though.
?The utility displays all wireless networks in proximity. You can connect to a network through the manager and it shows signal strength, the channel the network is on and whether the network is secured or not. I like the fact that it shows percentage of signal strength and the channel the wireless network is operating on, information that Windows does not show natively.
Networks you connect to most frequently are listed in the utility under My Wireless Networks, and there's a quick link to D-Link support. The utility is not necessary to use, but it does provide a bit more insight into a wireless networks than the operating system alone.
Performance I was disappointed with performance. I did not see anywhere near the speeds vendors are claiming about 802.11ac, and just a sight bump in performance in 5 GHz 802.11ac mode. Below is a table comparing throughput testing D-Link's DIR-865L router using a standard 802.11n 3xe3 wireless adapter versus the DWA-182 in Mixed 11ac mode:
802.11n testing was performed with an HP Elitebook with an integrated Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN wirelessly connected to the DIR-865L; a Windows server machine with a Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet card connected to a LAN port on the DIR-865L and Ixia's IxChariot throughput script.
11ac testing was performed with the same equipment and script but for the exception: the Intel Centrino wireless adapter was disabled on the Elitebook and the DWA-182 adapter installed.
My testing environment has lots of RF interference, and I never see in actual testing the theoretical throughput speeds that vendors put on the packaging of wireless networking products?nor do I ever expect to. Still, I expected better throughput than the numbers in the chart from the DWA-182.
Only 802.11ac Adapter, But Do You Need It? All of the makers of network hardware are rushing to get pre-draft 802.11ac technology to market and I think it's a waste at this point for the consumer. This includes the DWA-182. I'm just not seeing throughput from any of the products that nears the faster-than-Gigabit Ethernet speeds 11ac is supposed to deliver. This doesn't mean we won't see those speeds in the future, and the near future?we will. But robust 11ac isn't here yet. Unless you have just got to have an early 11ac adopter, the DWA-182 is for you?mainly because it's the only USB wireless adapter available. However, with no performance gains over 802.11n, I don?t see a use-case for this adapter for most wireless router owners. I'm also troubled by the inability of the adapter to connect to router that is not D-Link's. The DWA-182 earns 2.5 stars thanks mainly to easy setup and a cool wireless utility manager.?
More?Networking Reviews: ??? Axis M1031-W Network Camera ??? D-Link Wireless AC1200 Dual Band USB Adapter (DWA-182) ??? Linksys WUMC710 Wireless-AC Wi-Fi 5GHz Universal Media Connector Bridge with 4-Port Switch ??? Tufin T-80 ??? Norton Hotspot Privacy ?? more
With most of the attention focusing on the storm that?s bearing down on the East Coast, the legal storm fueled by the bounty case still won?t go away.? In Louisiana, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma has filed his final legal brief in support of the effort to oust former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue as the new bounty appeal hearing officer.
The brief, a copy of which PFT has obtained, doesn?t contain anything new from a legal or factual standpoint.? The players continue to believe that Tagliabue has a conflict of interest via his employment with the league?s primary outside law firm, his direct ongoing employment with the league, and his possible status as a witness.? The NFL believes that the labor deal gives Commissioner Roger Goodell the ability to hand the baton to Taliabue, and that the league has the ability to waive any potential conflicts of interest Tagliabue may have.
The larger question, as one league source posed it recently, is why the players weren?t willing to try their luck with Tagliabue?? He?s regarded as someone who would be fair, and who wouldn?t feel compelled to agree with Goodell.
But as another source put it, ?fair? is a relative term.? ?I personally think he would be as fair as he could be,? the source said, ?but the question is how fair is that and is that really impartial.? Is he capable of that given his position??
Even though the NFLPA has agreed to allow the Commissioner or his designee to handle these appeals, federal law entitles both sides to an impartial arbitrator.? It will be for Judge Helen Berrigan to decide whether Tagliabue fits that description, given his connection to the NFL and the law firm of Covington & Burling.
Carrie Ann Inaba, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli disagree on "Dancing With the Stars"
By Ree Hines, TODAY contributor
The dance floor was a little light on glamour and little heavier on twang Monday night as "Dancing With the Stars" kicked off Country Night in honor of Thursday's upcoming CMA Awards, which just so happens to share a network with the ballroom bash.
But despite the sudden proliferation of cowboy hats and boots in the ballroom, it wasn't the sidesteps and country kicks that really stood out. Instead, the judges stole the "Dancing" spotlight as they just couldn't agree about much of what they saw on the floor or what they heard from each other.
The bickering began after Melissa Rycroft delivered her best routine of the season so far. The countrified Viennese waltz featured a strong solo (in a dance that doesn't exactly lend itself well to solo efforts) and saw the reality-star-turned-host overcome her recent neck injury with smooth moves.
It also packed a rule-breaking lift -- not that the judges saw it that way. They were too busy getting caught up with their own problems.
First, head judge Len Goodman broke from his usual reserved manner and stood up to applaud the dance. He then told Melissa she had the "how" and the "wow" ... whatever that means. Bruno Tonioli was equally impressed, going way over the top by comparing Melissa to Cyd Charisse in "Brigadoon."
But Carrie Ann Inaba? She complained that Melissa wasn't "dancing out enough." Her moves needed more, well, outness.
As far as Bruno was concerned, those were fighting words. He bolted out of his seat and spoke over Carrie Ann until neither one of them could be heard -- save for one comment from him. He looked to Melissa and assured her that Carrie Ann was "making a point that doesn't exist."
Despite all of the hubbub, Melissa's scores put her just a half-point from perfect for the night. So much for all the disagreement.
But the judges weren't through grumbling. When Shawn Johnson cha-cha'd to "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy," Bruno loved the dance and told the gymnast she was the sexy one, while Len just complained about the presence of a tractor on the ballroom stage (and he wasn't too happy about the big plastic cow, either). Carrie Ann didn't like the solo section of the routine, calling it stiff. Bruno endured the dissenting opinions without shouting that time, but he made plenty of exaggerated expressions of disgust. At one point he even stuffed his notes in his mouth to keep from voicing his real take on the matter.
This time the disagreements showed up on the scoreboard, as the points ranged from 8.5 (Len) to 10 (Bruno).
The next incident came when Kirstie Alley took the stage for a sleek and sexy rumba. After a hard week in rehearsals, which saw the actress continuing her recent trend toward teary moments, she pulled off the dance surprisingly well -- though she could have used bit more hip action.
Carrie Anne love it all and called Kirstie the queen of sexy. Bruno agreed. Len, on the other hand, to the obvious disapproval of the others, nitpicked that aforementioned hip problems. He concluded, "I like it, but not much."
Still, with just a one-point spread between the points, Kirstie's 27.5 wasn't anything to argue about.
In fact, that was it for the big fuss between the esteemed panelists. But when the judges weren't judging each other, the viewers (at least this one) sure were.
After all, while Apolo Anton Ohno's emotional Viennese waltz was his best dance of the season -- and certainly scored big as a sentimental favorite of the night -- the perfect score the judges gave it didn't exactly line up with all the moves. The best, most lyrical maneuvers in the routine were Karina's, and Apolo's weren't bad. They also weren't perfect.
Then there was Emmitt Smith's big foxtrot, which turned out to be a big letdown. The retired running back just wasn't feeling the country groove, and save for his wild moment in the solo spotlight, the dance was stiff, with more than one poorly executed pass.
It seemed like the judges felt the same way, as they ticked off some of those problems in their reviews, but when it came time to score it, Bruno really fell under the judgmental glare of fans (or fan, ahem). Len and Carrie Anne gave the routine a very generous 8.5 points each. But Bruno came up with a 9.5 based on ... a bad dance.
There wasn't much controversy when it came to the rest of the night's dances. OK, sure, maybe Sabrina Bryan's comeback rumba wasn't quite worth 30 points. But Gilles Marini's 27.5 point cha-cha, with slightly off steps and loose hips, seemed about right. (Though an extra half point for the see-through shirt and shiny black pleather pants wouldn't have gone amiss.) And Kelly Monaco's snap-free tango might have merited a slightly higher score than 27 (when compared to the scoring curve for the night) thanks to great footwork, but it was close enough too. Plus she was rewarded with a kiss from pro Val Chmerkovskiy, so she's got nothing to complain about.
No, the only other real injustice of the night was the group dance, which saw every hoofer hit the stage in a jumble of moves. The clear standouts were Gilles and Kelly, who outdanced the competition by far. But it was Kirstie who picked up the 2-point bonus for a cute, partner-smacking but not so dance-packed moment. Apparently the judges can agree on one thing: They like to see Kirstie's pro, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, get spanked.
So, after that hoedown, who's set to?giddyap?and get out of the ballroom Tuesday night? It's tougher than ever to say. After all, Monday night's votes will not only be added to the judges' scores from the same night, but also to last week's group efforts and solo dances. In other words, it's anyone's guess.
Who do you think put on the very best performance Monday night? Take our poll below and then share your thoughts about the show on our Facebook page. And be sure to join us on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. PT / 3:30 ET to chat about who you think might be going home!
LONDON (Reuters) - Surging UK coal use should have made 2012 a profitable year for domestic miners but slumping coal prices and high diesel costs have viciously squeezed them.
More production and job cuts will be on the cards unless mining firms can attract investors just to maintain current output because banks are increasingly unwilling to lend.
Britain's largest miner UK Coal, dogged by debt and losses, is battling the clock to restructure and split its coal and property arms by December 31.
The company has said it may have to appoint administrators by next year if that does not happen, communications director Andrew Mackintosh said on Tuesday.
"We have been hit this year by production problems at our biggest mine, Daw Mill, a low coal price and an increase in costs such as fuel," he said.
ATH Resources is also restructuring and Hargreaves looks set to shut its Maltby underground mine. ATH declined to comment on their restructuring.
Britain's coal use has risen this year - but only because it has been cheaper for power stations to use than costly gas, and the winners have been the foreign exporters who dominate the market.
"Coal consumption is up only because generating from gas is double the cost of using coal in Europe," said ATH chief executive officer Alistair Black.
UK imports of all forms of coal were 11.9 million tonnes in Q2, a 64 percent rise from year-ago levels, due to an 81 percent rise in steam coal imports, mainly from Russia and Colombia, according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
Domestic mining will supply less than one-third of the country's needs this year, roughly 18 million tonnes out of a total estimated consumption of over 60 million, although the highest since the boom years of the 1990s, UK industry sources said.
Mining costs worldwide have soared in the past five years as the commodity boom inflated the prices of diesel, labour, explosives and trucks.
Diesel makes up about 25 percent of a surface mine's costs and has added around 4-5 million pounds of unbudgeted costs this year to UK miners' balance sheets, industry sources said.
The majority of Britain's mining is now surface mines which rely on diesel for extraction machinery and truck transport. Most deep mines closed after the 1984 miners strike when the industry shrank from 100 million tonnes a year output and a workforce of several hundred thousand to less than 40 short-life opencast mines and under 6,000 workers in 2011.
While crude oil prices have eased somewhat, the cost of diesel, particularly in Europe, has spiraled higher on a supply crunch due to refinery problems in the region and further afield.
"Diesel prices used to correlate well with coal and provided a natural hedge but then came ... rising oil prices and diesel," Black said.
LOW PRICES, UNCERTAIN FUTURE
International coal prices slumped from $120 a tonne in Q4 2011 to around $80-$85 in October because an unexpected glut of U.S. coal exports, pushed out by the shale gas boom, flooded the market and UK miners were not immune from the price slide.
"Producers in the UK who sold at prices linked to the API2 index (a price benchmark) will not have made money," Black said.
Suppliers have been encouraged by utilities to link their sales prices to a published, floating index because utilities want to hedge their fuel purchases and power sales using swaps.
"The problems the UK miners are facing are not of their making, these API2 levels are no good for them," said a source at one of Europe's largest utilities.
Ever-tightening credit and a global rise in costs mean that the UK's industry is unlikely ever to see a significant revival and the country will stay reliant on imports.
"There are large coal reserves in the UK which could be mined profitably and definitely would attract the right investors if they believed in the people running the companies - and miners need to know there's investment in the mines, to believe they have a future," said Richard Budge, who bought most of the UK's pits when the industry was privatised in 1994, forming RJB Mining.
"One positive thing is that you can sell all that you produce," said Alistair Black.
There are about 35 working surface sites but these small mines need replacing every four years, said Dave Brewer director general of CoalPro, the association of UK coal producers.
"We've got plenty of surface coal to be mined in the UK, all the closures after the 1984 strike were mostly old, deep underground mines," Brewer said.
The key will be to get funding for replacement mines.
"One of the biggest issues in the UK has trying to secure new financing facilities because when you look at forward coal prices, your business plan looks much weaker than a year ago because prices have fallen," Black said.
British mining firms need coal prices to be $100-$115 a tonne to make a profit but forward prices for 2013 are $95, 2014 is $106 and 2015 is $111 - with such vulnerable future margins, miners are struggling to raise finance from risk-averse banks.
MIAMI (AP) ? On the eve of the 2012 elections, The Associated Press interviewed dozens of Americans to try to gauge the economic mood of the nation. People were asked about jobs, housing, gas prices, retirement and other issues. Among them was Hilda Mitrani, 51, of North Miami Beach, Fla. The Great Recession and slow economic recovery have devastated her public relations and marketing business. But Mitrani says positive signs are emerging.
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Mitrani's long-time clients are spending cautiously, if at all ? and she has had to adjust her own lifestyle as a result.
She delays making home repairs. She keeps an eye on the thermostat. And only occasionally, she's able to treat herself to a new pair of shoes.
"It's been a hard recovery," says the single mother of two children.
Mitrani is among many feeling squeezed by a painfully sluggish economic rebound. Unemployment remains high at 7.8 percent. Average pay trails inflation. And the economy is growing too slowly to accelerate hiring.
Mitrani's clients in the nonprofit and health care sectors are reluctant to spend on public relations when they may need that money for supplies or other basics, she says. So Mitrani, who used to employ two part-time workers, now runs the business alone.
But even with lower overhead, she still feels squeezed.
"You're not sure if you're going to get paid this month or next month, or if you're going to have a new client to replace the project that you just finished," she says.
Routine utility bills feel like a burden. And thinking about college tuition payments ? her daughter is a junior at Washington University in St. Louis ? is "nerve-wracking."
More than anything else, though, she laments the endless string of payments for insurance. "Between the car, the house, the health ? so much of the income goes to insurance that it's hard to get ahead," she says.
She rations healthcare for herself to cut down on co-pays. And when her daughter needed medical attention earlier this year, she found herself saying dueling prayers in the hospital.
"Please don't let this cost an arm and a leg. And please let her be OK," Mitrani recalls saying.
Mitrani is resigned to the fact that her retirement won't be as comfortable as her parents'. Compared with her parents' generation, Mitrani believes Americans today are a bit more materialistic and might need to ratchet back expectations a bit. There's evidence this is happening: Consumers have been saving and reducing debts more, and spending less, than before the financial crisis.
Still, Mitrani sees some reason for optimism. The stock market is coming back: The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index is up more than 12 percent this year. And slowly, clients are beginning to inquire about using her services in 2013.
"They're asking for proposals and planning expansions," she says. "They're starting to talk about the future."
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To watch video of Mitrani and for more on this topic, go to: http://bigstory.ap.org/topic/mood-of-the-nation
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AP video journalist Robert Ray contributed to this report.
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TORONTO ? When McDonalds first charged into the Canadian coffee market with a new focus on the morning staple four years ago, it faced a country notorious for its loyalty to double-doubles and Timbits ? but an influx of new options are giving coffee aficionados plenty of other ways to get their caffeine fix.
It began with a sweetness for premium-priced specialty brews ? in particular those fancy candy cane and pumpkin lattes that spruce up the holidays ? and continued with a revamp of the way people drink coffee at home with single-serve coffee machines.
Gone are the days when java lovers had three basic options: the local java shop, bitter instant formulas or the kitchen coffee pot.
In today?s coffee world, even a fast food giant best known for its Big Macs and Happy Meals has the ability to corner a segment of the market, and has quite successfully, with major publicity campaigns that included giving away its brew for free.
McDonalds will tap into another segment this week. Once again, its embarking on a free small coffee campaign, every day until Friday. The promotion is timed to coincide with the launch of McDonalds? take-home ground coffee on Nov. 5, a product that will be exclusively available in Canada.
Each bag is priced at $6.99 for 340 grams, and is a shot aimed at its biggest competitors, Tim Hortons (TSX:THI) and Starbucks.
?They?re very successful companies and they?ve got great connections with consumers,? said John Betts, president and chief executive of McDonald?s Canada.
?We had to do something dramatic.?
In some respects, it?s the evolving at-home coffee market that serves up the most potential for growth.
Coffee drinkers average two cups per day and two-thirds of them are brewing some of their drinks at home, according to a report by the NPD Group released in July.
More than a quarter of Canadian coffee drinkers (27 per cent) said they sip coffee at home more than they did last year, and the same percentage stated they now consume the beverage less when they?re out.
The entry of McDonalds into the marketplace has been about as subtle as a triple-shot espresso. Since the launch, advertising campaigns have been splashed across billboards and television screens, while deeply discounted coffees and specialty drinks lured in cost-conscious drinkers.
The relentless publicity has been a pain in the side for Tim Hortons, which is still the dominant coffee restaurateur in Canada.
?You?re up against a competitor that can afford to use coffee as a loss leader,? said Kenric Tyghe, an analyst at Raymond James who covers Tim Hortons.
?It?s very hard to (increase prices) in a market where one of your largest competitors continues to give coffee away with some frequency.?
Tim Hortons launched a wider array of lunch options and specialty drinks in an effort to keep coffee fans coming through their doors after the morning rush, but the response has been mixed at best. The company?s traffic hasn?t grown at any significant rate, and sales transactions declined slightly during the most recent quarter.
This year, Starbucks also launched several promotions designed to get customers back in their stores more than once a day, or to upgrade their coffee orders to include food items.
?The competitive landscape in Canada has become that much more intense,? said R.J. Hottovy of Morningstar, based in Chicago.
?You?re facing competition at both ends and Tim Hortons is kind of getting squeezed in the middle at this point.?
?It?s about a love connection between you and the customer,? said Betts, explaining why McDonalds has decided to launch the coffee bags in Canada.
?If the brand is there in their home, I think it solidifies the relationship.?
Tim Hortons, which already sells both cans and single-serve bags of coffee, launched a line of coffees exclusively for single-cup Tassimo coffee machines earlier this month. Some analysts have suggested that as a leader in the coffee market the company should have made that move a long time ago, as well as launched K-Cups for the Kurig, another popular single-cup machine.
At McDonalds, Betts said the company is keeping its offerings simple for now. The restaurant has decided to sell only bagged coffee, and stay away from the single-cup market.
In the meantime, the company will turn its focus to building more McDonalds locations next year, after spending the past several years on renovating its 1,400 existing locations. About 30 new stores will be added this year, while Betts declined to say how many will open in 2013.
Member Insights by
Cathleen Hare, Plante Moran Partner, Columbus Office
Finding ways
to sustain and grow a business is a challenge at the best of times, and it
becomes even more challenging during difficult economic times such as the
recent downturn. To push an organization beyond a survivor?s mindset to one
that promotes growth and change requires innovation. Most importantly, organizations
that innovate successfully can reap significant benefits. That?s according to a
survey of public and private sector companies in the Midwest including a number
of members from our Chamber.
The findings
can be found in Plante Moran?s second annual Innovation Quotient (IQ) survey that,
with the help of business educators of NewNorth Center,
assessed more than 500 innovators from business, non-profit, health care
and public sector organizations.
The survey
identifies four tiers of innovators ? accidental innovators, disciplined
innovators, top innovators and superstar innovators ? and demonstrates how organizations
that move up the innovation ladder can improve their financial results. The innovation
superstars have innovation in their DNA:?
Their organizations look beyond the next horizon and make a deliberate
choice to build and nurture innovation.
On
average, survey respondents said they generated 16 percent of their revenue
from new products or services introduced in the last three years. However
the elite tier of superstar innovators
was shown toadopt deliberate innovation practices that included
budgeting for innovation to meet strat?egy goals and publicly rewarding ideas
that emerge. This select group innovates in all methods and was rewarded by
products/services introduced in the last three years that accounted for 23.3
percent of their revenue.
Those who achieve superstar status have
innovation-hungry cultures we can all learn from, but a strategy is needed that
includes the following tactics:
Establish
clear and measurable expectations
Monitor
progress on those expectations
Alter
the plan when necessary
Abandon
when not generating results
Innovation
is a long-term investment and it takes leadership from the top down. A participant from the health care industry put it best
when he said ? ?With or without legislation, we should continue to look for
innovations and efficiencies in health care because it is the right thing to
do.?
To
see the complete survey results, click here. Thank you to those members who participated
in the survey this year, and we look forward to continuing the innovation
conversation with all of you next year.
Have you ever seen among those redecorating reveals the location where the people art great household furniture from the beginning and lay porcelain tile like it?s an easy action to take? Yeah, they?re enough to make you plumbers cape town upset. In fact a lot of jobs are really difficult, however the industry experts get them to appearance simple. So it?s vital that you use suggestions such as these to help in the improvement approach.
Plumbing
When you deal with any plumbing or electric job that must definitely be completed, end and make contact with a specialist. These are generally two regions of home remodeling that you ought to by no means attempt to do on your own in the event you aren?t appropriately qualified and informed. Taking care of these places of the house all by yourself could cause a misfortune which costs much more than obtaining a expert to get it done for you personally appropriate the first time.
Before starting redesigning or redecorating a room, generate an experienced to check out the electric and the plumbing related, to make certain that it really is in excellent working situation. It is quite disheartening the need to tear out a fresh ground or rip in a new wall structure, to make a restoration that should have been done prior to doing the task.
Consider adding an additional bathroom to increase the value of your house. Even should you not anticipate working with it apart from in case you have a invitee more than, the expenses linked to one more restroom are worth it. For those who have a residence with two ranges, create the bathrooms on top of each other to bring down plumbing.
To improve your own home try to turn your garage area. This is often a cheap way to improve your home?s size. Rarely do you want organizing permissions given that you?re not enhancing the car port. Take advantage of the room as a bed room, playroom, business office or home extension, etc. You could add plumbing related and transform it into a washroom also.
Always allow for extra time while you are doing a home remodeling project that involves domestic plumbing. No one likes to be without their kitchen or their toilet for an extended length of time. You would want to wish that exist the job carried out in a couple of days and be back again working rapidly. Nevertheless, rerouting plumbing and setting up basins as well as other lighting fixtures will take time, and unpredicted issues more often than not come up. Consider jobs which involve plumbing related to consider beyond you expect these to consider.
When home contractors are actually needed to put in only reduced-stream bathrooms, more mature residences seldom have effective domestic plumbing an old potty may use more than a few gallons water per flush a fresh low-movement commode uses less than half of that particular volume, rendering it a wise expenditure that may spend less on your normal water expenses.
Should you experience any plumbing related or electrical job that really must be accomplished, end and contact a specialist. These are two parts of redecorating that you should in no way make an effort to do oneself when you aren?t appropriately skilled and educated. Taking care of these places of the property all on your own might cause a misfortune that costs far more than receiving a skilled to make it happen for you proper the first time.
Even though it is far less costly to work on your property oneself, making mistakes or otherwise having the determination to perform a task can rapidly improve the expense. It is important to consider what you want to achieve this article is meant to be described as a starting place to suit your needs as you may set out to collect your thoughts as to what you should do.
Increased risk for breast cancer death among black women greatest during first 3 years postdiagnosisPublic release date: 28-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jeremy Moore jeremy.moore@aacr.org 215-446-7109 American Association for Cancer Research
SAN DIEGO Non-Hispanic black women diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically those with estrogen receptor-positive tumors, are at a significantly increased risk for breast cancer death compared with non-Hispanic white women.
"This difference was greatest in the first three years after diagnosis," said Erica Warner, M.P.H., Sc.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass., who presented the data at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012.
Prior research has shown that non-Hispanic black women have lower breast cancer survival rates relative to other racial/ethnic groups.
Warner and colleagues conducted a study of 19,480 women who presented to National Comprehensive Cancer Network centers with stage 1 to stage 3 breast cancer between January 2000 and December 2007. They compared breast cancer-specific mortality among 634 Asian women, 1,291 Hispanic women, 1,500 non-Hispanic black women and 16,055 non-Hispanic white women.
After a median follow-up of 6.9 years, the researchers found that non-Hispanic black women had a 48 percent higher risk for breast cancer death in the first three years after diagnosis compared with non-Hispanic white women. After three years, non-Hispanic black women had a 34 percent increased risk for breast cancer-specific mortality.
"The higher risk for early death among black women was more striking among women with estrogen receptor-positive tumors," Warner said.
Non-Hispanic black women with estrogen receptor-positive tumors were more than twice as likely to die from breast cancer within the first three years of diagnosis compared with non-Hispanic white women. This risk was also increased in non-Hispanic black women with luminal A and luminal B breast cancer subtypes.
"This finding is important because these are the types of tumors that we traditionally think of as more treatable," Warner said.
No difference in breast cancer mortality between non-Hispanic black and white women was found for estrogen receptor-negative, basal or HER2-overexpressing tumor subtypes.
Warner and colleagues also evaluated breast cancer survival among Asian and Hispanic women. Compared with non-Hispanic white women, data indicated that Asian women had a 40 percent lower risk for breast cancer death. The researchers observed this decreased risk in all breast cancers and in estrogen receptor-negative, luminal A and HER2-overexpressing tumors. They found no significant differences between non-Hispanic white women and Hispanic women for breast cancer mortality.
"The results of this study emphasize that clinical management and follow-up for patients with breast cancer, particularly black women, is important in the first few years after diagnosis," Warner said. "Although the difference between blacks and whites was highest for this time period, the risk for death was highest in the first few years after diagnosis for all groups."
###
Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org
About the American Association for Cancer Research
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates residing in more than 90 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 20 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 17,000 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes seven peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the scientific partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration and scientific oversight of team science and individual grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer.
For more information about the AACR, visit www.AACR.org.
Racial/ethnic differences in breast cancer survival and mediating effects of tumor characteristics, sociodemographic and treatment factors. Erica T. Warner1, Rulla M. Tamimi2, Melissa E. Hughes3, Rebecca A. Ottesen4, Yu-Ning Wong5, Stephen B. Edge6, Richard L. Theriault7, Douglas W. Blayney8, Joyce C. Niland4, Eric P. Winer3, Jane C. Weeks3, Ann H. Partridge3. 1Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 2Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 3Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, 4City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, 5Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, 6Roswell Park Cancer Insitute, Buffalo, NY, 7University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 8Stanford University Cancer Center, Palo Alto, CA.
Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between race/ethnicity and breast cancer specific survival and to investigate the mediating effects of tumor characteristics, treatment, anthropomorphic and sociodemographic factors on racial/ethnic disparities in survival.
Methods: Analysis included 19,480 women presenting to National Comprehensive Cancer Network centers with stage I-III breast cancer between January 2000 and December 2007 with National Death Index survival follow-up through December 2009. Multiple Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to compare breast cancer specific mortality by Non-Hispanic Asian-Pacific Islanders (Asian, n=634), Hispanics (Hispanic, n=1,291), Non-Hispanic Blacks (Black, n=1,500) as compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (White, n=16,055) respectively. Additionally models were analyzed overall and also stratified by tumor subtypes. Cox models were analyzed with control variables in steps: age adjusted, plus SES factors, plus tumor characteristics, plus treatment variables. Mediation analyses were performed to estimate the proportion of excess breast cancer mortality mediated through exposures.
Results: Median follow-up time was 6.9 years. Due to non-proportional hazards among Blacks, overall and within certain clinical subgroup models, analyses for total breast cancer, estrogen receptor positive and negative (ER+ and ER-) and basal tumors were performed in two time periods (0-3 years and 3 years to end of follow-up (EOF)). In multivariable fully adjusted models, Blacks had higher risk of breast cancer specific death overall (years 0-3: hazard ratio [HR] 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.94; years 3 to EOF: HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.06-1.69), among ER+ tumors (years 0-3: HR 2.85, 95% CI 1.75-4.62; years 3 to EOF: HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.11-2.00), and for luminal B subtypes (HR 1.76, 95% CI 1.30-2.39) as well as for luminal A subtypes (HR 1.66, 95% CI 1.03-2.67) subtypes. After adjustment for age, SES factors, tumor characteristics and treatment variables there were no significant differences between Blacks and Whites for ER-, basal, or Her2 over expressed tumors. In fully adjusted models Asians were at significantly lower risk of death from breast cancer as compared to Whites (all cancers: HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.40-0.90; ER- tumors: HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.27-0.94; luminal A: HR 0.23, 95% CI 0.06-0.93; HER2 over expressed tumors: HR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07-0.92). There were no significant differences in breast cancer mortality between Hispanics and Whites. The estimated proportion of excess breast cancer mortality among Blacks that was mediated by tumor markers (estrogen, progesterone, and her2neu) and grade was 24.8% (p
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Increased risk for breast cancer death among black women greatest during first 3 years postdiagnosisPublic release date: 28-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jeremy Moore jeremy.moore@aacr.org 215-446-7109 American Association for Cancer Research
SAN DIEGO Non-Hispanic black women diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically those with estrogen receptor-positive tumors, are at a significantly increased risk for breast cancer death compared with non-Hispanic white women.
"This difference was greatest in the first three years after diagnosis," said Erica Warner, M.P.H., Sc.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass., who presented the data at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012.
Prior research has shown that non-Hispanic black women have lower breast cancer survival rates relative to other racial/ethnic groups.
Warner and colleagues conducted a study of 19,480 women who presented to National Comprehensive Cancer Network centers with stage 1 to stage 3 breast cancer between January 2000 and December 2007. They compared breast cancer-specific mortality among 634 Asian women, 1,291 Hispanic women, 1,500 non-Hispanic black women and 16,055 non-Hispanic white women.
After a median follow-up of 6.9 years, the researchers found that non-Hispanic black women had a 48 percent higher risk for breast cancer death in the first three years after diagnosis compared with non-Hispanic white women. After three years, non-Hispanic black women had a 34 percent increased risk for breast cancer-specific mortality.
"The higher risk for early death among black women was more striking among women with estrogen receptor-positive tumors," Warner said.
Non-Hispanic black women with estrogen receptor-positive tumors were more than twice as likely to die from breast cancer within the first three years of diagnosis compared with non-Hispanic white women. This risk was also increased in non-Hispanic black women with luminal A and luminal B breast cancer subtypes.
"This finding is important because these are the types of tumors that we traditionally think of as more treatable," Warner said.
No difference in breast cancer mortality between non-Hispanic black and white women was found for estrogen receptor-negative, basal or HER2-overexpressing tumor subtypes.
Warner and colleagues also evaluated breast cancer survival among Asian and Hispanic women. Compared with non-Hispanic white women, data indicated that Asian women had a 40 percent lower risk for breast cancer death. The researchers observed this decreased risk in all breast cancers and in estrogen receptor-negative, luminal A and HER2-overexpressing tumors. They found no significant differences between non-Hispanic white women and Hispanic women for breast cancer mortality.
"The results of this study emphasize that clinical management and follow-up for patients with breast cancer, particularly black women, is important in the first few years after diagnosis," Warner said. "Although the difference between blacks and whites was highest for this time period, the risk for death was highest in the first few years after diagnosis for all groups."
###
Follow the AACR on Twitter: @aacr #aacr
Follow the AACR on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aacr.org
About the American Association for Cancer Research
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's first and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates residing in more than 90 countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise of the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, biology, diagnosis and treatment of cancer by annually convening more than 20 conferences and educational workshops, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 17,000 attendees. In addition, the AACR publishes seven peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients and their caregivers. The AACR funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the scientific partner of Stand Up To Cancer, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration and scientific oversight of team science and individual grants in cancer research that have the potential for near-term patient benefit. The AACR actively communicates with legislators and policymakers about the value of cancer research and related biomedical science in saving lives from cancer.
For more information about the AACR, visit www.AACR.org.
Racial/ethnic differences in breast cancer survival and mediating effects of tumor characteristics, sociodemographic and treatment factors. Erica T. Warner1, Rulla M. Tamimi2, Melissa E. Hughes3, Rebecca A. Ottesen4, Yu-Ning Wong5, Stephen B. Edge6, Richard L. Theriault7, Douglas W. Blayney8, Joyce C. Niland4, Eric P. Winer3, Jane C. Weeks3, Ann H. Partridge3. 1Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 2Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 3Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, 4City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, 5Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, 6Roswell Park Cancer Insitute, Buffalo, NY, 7University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 8Stanford University Cancer Center, Palo Alto, CA.
Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between race/ethnicity and breast cancer specific survival and to investigate the mediating effects of tumor characteristics, treatment, anthropomorphic and sociodemographic factors on racial/ethnic disparities in survival.
Methods: Analysis included 19,480 women presenting to National Comprehensive Cancer Network centers with stage I-III breast cancer between January 2000 and December 2007 with National Death Index survival follow-up through December 2009. Multiple Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to compare breast cancer specific mortality by Non-Hispanic Asian-Pacific Islanders (Asian, n=634), Hispanics (Hispanic, n=1,291), Non-Hispanic Blacks (Black, n=1,500) as compared to Non-Hispanic Whites (White, n=16,055) respectively. Additionally models were analyzed overall and also stratified by tumor subtypes. Cox models were analyzed with control variables in steps: age adjusted, plus SES factors, plus tumor characteristics, plus treatment variables. Mediation analyses were performed to estimate the proportion of excess breast cancer mortality mediated through exposures.
Results: Median follow-up time was 6.9 years. Due to non-proportional hazards among Blacks, overall and within certain clinical subgroup models, analyses for total breast cancer, estrogen receptor positive and negative (ER+ and ER-) and basal tumors were performed in two time periods (0-3 years and 3 years to end of follow-up (EOF)). In multivariable fully adjusted models, Blacks had higher risk of breast cancer specific death overall (years 0-3: hazard ratio [HR] 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.94; years 3 to EOF: HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.06-1.69), among ER+ tumors (years 0-3: HR 2.85, 95% CI 1.75-4.62; years 3 to EOF: HR 1.49, 95% CI 1.11-2.00), and for luminal B subtypes (HR 1.76, 95% CI 1.30-2.39) as well as for luminal A subtypes (HR 1.66, 95% CI 1.03-2.67) subtypes. After adjustment for age, SES factors, tumor characteristics and treatment variables there were no significant differences between Blacks and Whites for ER-, basal, or Her2 over expressed tumors. In fully adjusted models Asians were at significantly lower risk of death from breast cancer as compared to Whites (all cancers: HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.40-0.90; ER- tumors: HR 0.51, 95% CI 0.27-0.94; luminal A: HR 0.23, 95% CI 0.06-0.93; HER2 over expressed tumors: HR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07-0.92). There were no significant differences in breast cancer mortality between Hispanics and Whites. The estimated proportion of excess breast cancer mortality among Blacks that was mediated by tumor markers (estrogen, progesterone, and her2neu) and grade was 24.8% (p
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Getting the initial home can be extremely exciting, but it is also extremely overwhelming. The guidelines which were presented mount Olympus homes for sale under will help you greater recognize what you should expect when selecting a home along with the techniques that needs to be undertaken. Investing in a house might be simple knowing what you can do.
Take care when you use a realtor who represents the needs of both home buyer as well as the house retailer. Buyers and sellers want different things the purchaser wishes to have a good deal about the house, in contrast to the vendor would like to make as much dollars as is possible. It is not most likely that a double broker will be in a position to remember to keep the best interests at coronary heart.
Look at your people demands when it comes to a floor plans of possible new properties. When you have aged family members living with you, a 2-narrative home might not be the best option. Furthermore, privacy issues may give you towards a residence with bed rooms on independent flooring surfaces for many different family members. Take into consideration the way your lifestyle will flow when making a choice.
If you want to make use of a professional, ensure that you do research. Building contractors really are a major purchase of money and time. Spend the time to perform price reviews, find testimonials, and grow more experienced. Choosing a professional that does poor quality work or careers which are not up to computer code may become an enormous frustration.
When you get into real estate market place usually do not be seduced with the posh charm of private neighborhoods. These local neighborhoods because of their personal exclusive safety measures provide property owners a feeling of stability which may appear worthy of paying for. Bear in mind that the safety great things about gated communities are marginal at greatest, and over time criminal activity rates in these local communities tend to match up those in around places.
Having an broker or even a agent might appear to be a lost hard work, but they are the individuals who truly know the things they are accomplishing. They can find you the greatest bargains and should be able to discover the actual value of a home. They are the individuals that you need to have answer any the questions you have.
If you are searching to acquire a location with a feeling of neighborhood, it might be smarter to buy an apartment. A lot of condo properties have locations where neighborhood friends could possibly get with each other and become familiar with the other. Also, by getting an apartment, you do not have to worry about sustaining a lawn.
Even if you do not have kids which go to school it can be nevertheless a great strategy to purchase property that is situated in an area that has a excellent institution district. This is because it can make the property more pleasing to upcoming possible buyers who may have or want kids.
Following a huge transfer, leasing can be quite a better option than purchasing a property. Time are at a premium following a moving. This will make it luring to discover and buy a home rapidly, but hurrying from the residence-shopping process might be dangerous. Hiring for the short term, gives the potential property owner some time to get the best residence and the best deal.
For specific house purchasers, it may be best if you buy a foreclosed residence. Even though these homes frequently will need job since they are marketed as they are, they are also less costly. You can take the cash that you simply preserved by not purchasing a typical residence, and employ it to produce the appropriate fixes.
Be aware of greatest sum that you might want to pay for a property or that you can afford to pay for to fund a property. Getting a pre-acceptance from a lender can help you know how much this can be. Simply because you received pre-authorized for the certain quantity does not necessarily mean that you need to buy a home for that a lot.
If you are searching for any property, it can be not just checking out residences. Although you need a good property, you also want to are now living in a secure local community. It is well in your own privileges to learn if there is an authorized sexual intercourse offender inside your would-be area, and realtors have to response that concern honestly if it is posed in their mind.
When purchasing a residence that you wish to rent out, make sure to take into account the basic safety of the house. While safety factors are crucial in your personal house, you might be not likely to sue on your own in case there is any sort of accident. Especially if you are leasing to an more mature mature, take care of pitfalls for example shallow staircases, drive-ways or pathways susceptible to icing, as well as other possible risks.
A great piece of advice when buying property would be to shell out far beyond what exactly is really expected around you really can afford the initial many years. This is very important because the fascination obligations are the most significant from the initially several years, as well as the more additional you pay smaller the attention due to the fact you will be reducing the volume of primary.
Question every person you might have worked with regarding the residence importance. Check with broker agents, brokers, insurance agencies, and inspectors. These people will be able to offer you a correct shape as to in which the residence definitely holders in the marketplace. Take advantage of this to assist you evaluate which to give the retailer.
Retain the services of your very own men and women. Don?t talk about the seller?s broker, inspector or appraiser. Because they were actually appointed through the owner, it?s an apparent discord appealing and besides, you wouldn?t do oneself any favors as they have a fiduciary tie to the seller. Also, don?t mindlessly go for any professional-known real estate experts. You are producing too big of a capital purchase for this kind of niceties.
Figure out how typically you may be hanging out with your getaway property, if you wish to get holiday real-estate. If you are intending on booking it out, as well, estimate whenever you will lease and how very much you are going to cost for rental. Generally price range the annual price of a vacation property and consider a distinct area or a smaller sized vacation property, in case the once-a-year fees will put you more than your loved ones budget.
It wasn?t as terrible as you thought, proper? Like all other issue, the realm of property getting is big and it has a great deal of information located on it. Sometimes, it merely requires a little bit touch regarding where to start. Hopefully, you received that tip in the suggestions in the following paragraphs.
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1965, photo, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a ceremony in the President's Room near the Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington. Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Now, opponents of a key part of the Voting Rights Act are asking the high court to finish that provision off. Surrounding the president from left directly above his right hand, Vice President Hubert Humphrey; House Speaker John McCormack; Rep. Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y.; first daughter Luci Johnson; and Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill. Behind Humphrey is House Majority Leader Carl Albert of Oklahoma; and behind Celler is Sen. Carl Hayden, D-Ariz. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this Aug. 6, 1965, photo, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in a ceremony in the President's Room near the Senate Chambers on Capitol Hill in Washington. Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Now, opponents of a key part of the Voting Rights Act are asking the high court to finish that provision off. Surrounding the president from left directly above his right hand, Vice President Hubert Humphrey; House Speaker John McCormack; Rep. Emanuel Celler, D-N.Y.; first daughter Luci Johnson; and Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill. Behind Humphrey is House Majority Leader Carl Albert of Oklahoma; and behind Celler is Sen. Carl Hayden, D-Ariz. (AP Photo)
FILE This July 27, 2006 file photo shows President George W. Bush, center, surrounded by members of Congress signing legislation extending for 25 years the Voting Rights Act, on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington. Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Now, opponents of a key part of the Voting Rights Act are asking the high court to finish off that provision. Front row, from left are, Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2010 file photo, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. speaks at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Now, opponents of a key part of the Voting Rights Act are asking the high court to finish off that provision. (AP Photo/Don Heupel, File)
FILE This Sept, 27, 2012 file photo shows the covered Supreme Court building in Washington Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, with a protective scrim, as work continues on the facade. Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Now, opponents of a key part of the Voting Rights Act are asking the high court to finish off that provision. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Three years ago, the Supreme Court warned there could be constitutional problems with a landmark civil rights law that has opened voting booths to millions of African-Americans. Now, opponents of a key part of the Voting Rights Act are asking the high court to finish off that provision.
The basic question is whether state and local governments that once boasted of their racial discrimination still can be forced in the 21st century to get federal permission before making changes in the way they hold elections.
Some of the governments covered ? most of them are in the South ? argue they have turned away from racial discrimination over the years. But Congress and lower courts that have looked at recent challenges to the law concluded that a history of discrimination and more recent efforts to harm minority voters justify continuing federal oversight.
The Supreme Court could say as early as Monday whether it will consider ending the Voting Rights Act's advance approval requirement that has been held up as a crown jewel of the civil rights era.
The justices sidestepped this very issue in a case from Texas in 2009. In an opinion joined by eight justices, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote then that the issue of advance approval "is a difficult constitutional question we do not answer today."
Since then, Congress has not addressed potential problems identified by the court. Meanwhile, the law's opponents sensed its vulnerability and filed several new lawsuits.
The advance approval, or preclearance requirement, was adopted in the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to give federal officials a potent tool to defeat persistent efforts to keep blacks from voting.
The provision was a huge success, and Congress periodically has renewed it over the years. The most recent occasion was in 2006, when a Republican-led Congress overwhelmingly approved and President George W. Bush signed a 25-year extension.
The requirement currently applies to the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also covers certain counties in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina and South Dakota, and some local jurisdictions in Michigan and New Hampshire. Coverage has been triggered by past discrimination not only against blacks, but also against American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives and Hispanics.
Before these locations can change their voting rules, they must get approval either from the U.S. Justice Department's civil rights division or from the federal district court in Washington that the new rules won't discriminate.
Congress compiled a 15,000-page record and documented hundreds of instances of apparent voting discrimination in the states covered by the law dating to 1982, the last time it had been extended.
Among the incidents in the congressional record:
?In 1998, Webster County, Ga., tried to reduce the black population in several school board districts after citizens elected a majority-black school board for the first time.
?In 2001, Kilmichael, Miss., canceled an election when a large number of African-American candidates sought local office following 2000 census results that showed blacks had become the majority in the city.
?In 2004, Waller County, Texas, sought to limit early voting near a historically black college and threatened to prosecute students for illegal voting after two black students said they would run for office.
But in 2009, Roberts indicated the court was troubled about the ongoing need for a law in the face of dramatically improved conditions, including increased minority voter registration and turnout rates. Roberts attributed part of the change to the law itself. "Past success alone, however, is not adequate justification to retain the preclearance requirements," he said.
He also raised concern that the formula by which states are covered relies on data that is now 40 years old. By some measures, states covered by the law were outperforming some that were not.
Jurisdictions required to obtain preclearance were chosen based on whether they had a test restricting the opportunity to register or vote and whether they had a voter registration or turnout rate below 50 percent.
In the federal court of appeals in the District of Columbia, Circuit Judge Stephen Williams objected that the law specifies that these criteria are measured by what happened in elections several decades ago. But writing for a majority that upheld preclearance, Circuit Judge David Tatel said the question is not whether old data is being used, but whether it helps identify jurisdictions with the worst discrimination problems. "If it does, then even though the formula rests on decades-old factors, the statute is rational," Tatel said.
Shelby County, Ala., a well-to-do, mostly white bedroom community near Birmingham, adopted Roberts' arguments in its effort to have the voting rights provision declared unconstitutional, but lost in the lower courts. The county's appeal is among those being weighed by the high court.
Yet just a few years earlier, a city of nearly 12,000 people in Shelby County defied the voting rights law and prompted the intervention of the Bush Justice Department.
Ernest Montgomery became the only black member of the five-person Calera City Council in 2004, winning in a district that was almost 71 percent black. The city redrew its district lines in 2006 after new subdivisions and retail developments sprang up in the area Montgomery represented, and the change left Montgomery's District 2 with a population that was only 23 percent black.
Running against a white opponent in the now mostly white district, Montgomery narrowly lost a re-election bid in 2008. The Justice Department invalidated the election result because the city had failed to obtain advance approval of the new districts.
A lifelong resident of Calera and a church deacon, the 56-year-old Montgomery said he doesn't know whether discrimination was involved in the redistricting decision six years ago. But, he said, discrimination still exists and the law is still needed.
"I think things have gotten a lot more leveled out, but we're not to the point we need," he said.
Google recently added a new feature for its nonprofit program that aims to help charity organizations and other nonprofits that run YouTube channels gain traffic and views to help their fundraising or awareness campaigns.
Campaigns acts as a progress bar that tracks views for nonprofit video campaigns, much like the classic thermometer display that shows how much money a nonprofit or charity has raised toward a goal, event, or milestone.
With the Campaigns tool, nonprofits can not only track how many views they have and how many they need to reach their goals, but it can also actually help nonprofits drive traffic to their videos by showing the company?s measurable goal and prompting users to share the videos with others. Nonprofit videos on YouTube can also display prompts for volunteering, signing petitions, or donating to an organization or cause.
The YouTube Nonprofit Program is an extension of Google for Nonprofits that was created to help charities and causes gain an audience through YouTube?s video platform. It offers tools such as call-to-action overlays within videos, community forums, channel branding, and donation options.
Though views aren?t everything when it comes to raising money, getting petitions signed, or passing laws, public awareness is an essential first step to these actions and YouTube can be a very useful tool in helping nonprofits achieve these goals.
Giving these organizations a visual tool to help illustrate to viewers what they want and or need to achieve can help to make certain videos or channels go viral within a network of target users.
Google for Nonprofits offers many of the same tools and features as it does for other businesses and entrepreneurs, but often for discounted prices or even free of charge. Businesses need to apply to the Nonprofit Program to gain access to these discounted tools. Users that have been accepted to Google for Nonprofits are automatically given access to the tools in the YouTube Nonprofit Program.
The post YouTube Nonprofit Program Adds New Causes Feature for Measuring Views appeared first on Small Business Trends.
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Public release date: 28-Oct-2012
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