Are you overspending and under-saving, just like the rest of the nation?

 “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” – Helen Keller

 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, on average American household spends 36.9% of their gross annual income on rent/mortgage and utilities!

 

So let’s do the math…

 

If your annual household income is $50,000, you’ll spend $18,450 on rent and utilities and will have $31,550 to cover all of your other remaining expenses.

How about this one: an average American household spends 5.7% of their annual income on restaurants – not counting regular grocery items. That’s $2,850 a year, or $237.50 per month, based on the $50,000 annual income.

South Africa, 95 years of "critical but stable"

Please find below the press release from the Africa Alliance of YMCAs celebrating
Nelson Mandela's 95th birthday. The content from this press release
is free for distribution but must include the rider and attribution to the Africa
Alliance of YMCAs. Please contact Christine Davis on
news@africaymca.org for more information.

TEXT BEGINS

 

South Africa, 95 years of "critical but stable"

By Christine Davis, Africa Alliance of YMCAs
Over the past month our collective focus in South Africa has turned to the health of
Nelson Mandela with much speculation turning to what the future

Rethinking The Responsibility Of Business Leaders

What is the primary responsibility of business leaders today? Is it to make a financial return for their shareholders? Or is it to contribute more broadly to the welfare of employees and society as a whole?

This question has always been important, but it takes on greater significance as we seek to recover from the worst contraction since the Great Depression. How business leaders respond, and how they prioritise different stakeholders, will have a major impact on the speed of recovery.

The Most Important Choice

It Is Up To You

Every day, every minute, every hour, we are faced with choices. Most are minor, but some are the most important decisions we will make in our lives. How do we make the right choices? Today, Jason Leister gives you some guidance.

Craig Ballantyne

"The most important things to know in life take a lifetime to learn. Our first lessons come early -- but we grasp only the surface. As we gain life experience we gain deeper understanding. All great truths are both simple and complex, easy to understand yet difficult to master. "- Mark Ford

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Tummy Work Out Tips

‘To get a noticeably flatter stomach within a month, do this workout three times a week. Start off with three sets of 10 to 15 reps of each move, building up to 20 reps as you get fitter,' says Flavia. 'If you're a runner or you do a lot of cardio exercise, try to fit in one circuit of these moves at the end of your workout, as it will strengthen your core and help you to run better.'

The core strengthener

An oldie but a goodie, the plank is the move to perfect if you want a solid core.

1. Lie face down, resting your forearms and hands on the floor. Your legs should be straight.

2. Lift your stomach off the floor, keeping your back fl at and straight, head facing the floor and your weight in your toes and forearms.

3. Pull your stomach muscles in tight and hold for between 30 to 60 seconds. Aim for three repetitions.

The tummy tightener

Words "viral" and "epic" consigned to college trash

This story might be epic, and could even go viral, but not if Lake Superior State University has anything to do with it. Just sayin.'

The small college in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, released on Friday its annual list of "banished words" -- terms so overused, misused and hackneyed they deserve to be sent to a permanent linguistic trash can in the year ahead.

"Viral," often used to describe the rapid spreading of videos or other content over the Internet, leads the list for 2011.

"This linguistic disease of a term must be quarantined," Kuahmel Allah of Los Angeles said in making a nomination.

Runners-up included "epic" and "fail," often twinned to describe a blunder of monumental proportions.

A total of 14 words were on the list.

Cliched terms such as "wow factor," "a-ha moment," "back story" and "BFF" (Best Friends Forever) rated highly. The very au courant use of "Facebook" and "Google" as verbs got a thumbs down as well.

As usual, election-cycle zingers and catchwords quickly look as worn out as last year's campaign posters.

In that vein, voters suggested the banning of "Mama Grizzlies," used to describe right-wing female politicians in the mold of Sarah Palin, and "man up," famously used by Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharon Angle in a testy debate with Democrat Harry Reid and a favorite Palin expression as well.

"A stupid phrase when directed at men. Even more stupid when directed at a woman, as in 'Alexis, you need to man up and join that Pilates class!'" said Sherry Edwards of Clarkston, Michigan.

LSSU began its popular list in 1976, when it named "at this point in time," as substituted for the concise and elegant "now," as a linguistic dud. The college now receives well over 1,000 nominations each year through its website, lssu.edu/banished.

Previous winners and nominees include the terms "shovel ready" for 2010, "battleground states" for 2005, "24/7" for 2000 and "family values" for 1995.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Black parents... white baby!

THE stunned black dad of a newborn, WHITE, baby girl declared yesterday — "I'm sure she's my kid ... I just don't know why she's BLONDE."

British Nmachi Ihegboro has amazed genetics experts who say the little girl is NOT an albino. 

Dad Ben, 44, a customer services adviser, admitted: "We both just sat there after the birth staring at her."

Mum Angela, 35, of Woolwich, South London, beamed as she said: "She's beautiful - a miracle baby."

Ben told yesterday how he was so shocked when Nmachi was born, he even joked: "Is she MINE?" 

Little 'miracle' ... Nmachi Ihegboro

He added: "Actually, the first thing I did was look at her and say, 'What the flip?'"

But as the baby's older brother and sister - both black - crowded round the "little miracle" at their home in South London, Ben declared: "Of course she's mine."

Blue-eyed blonde Nmachi, whose name means "Beauty of God" in the Nigerian couple's homeland, has baffled genetics experts because neither Ben nor wife Angela have ANY mixed-race family history.

Pale genes skipping generations before cropping up again could have explained the baby's appearance.

Ben also stressed: "My wife is true to me. Even if she hadn't been, the baby still wouldn't look like that.Recovery