College Savings

If you are happy to trust financial information without second-guessing, then you will not enjoy this post.   Personally, I can’t trust anything without significant evaluation.

I recently tried to plan a way of investing in my nephews future, but I do not assume that they will all go to college.  So I want an option that does not require college enrollment to access the money.  Basically, no plan takes away the money because the kid doesn’t go to college.  However, there are fees or penalties for withdrawing money for other purposes.

Surprisingly, Roth IRA’s are listed as an option for savings.  Money used for education can be withdrawn without the typical penalties if the money is withdrawn before the minimum age.  But the child has to be old enough to have a job to enroll in this plan.   I like the fact that this plan encourages the kids to keep the money in the IRA account if they don’t use the money for college; so that the money grows even more over time.

With each savings options, there are concerns over fees, impact on financial aid for the kids, and tax issues.  I found this comparison table very helpful for making my decision.  Also, not all 529 plans are good plans.  I’m not knowledgeable enough to help you decide, but here are a few resources:

• Tips for understanding savings options
• Rankings of 529 plans
• Saving for College website

What will we miss Tomorrow?

I have a favorite towel.  It’s so old, I have no idea where it came from.  It’s super long, which is great for good wrapping coverage out of the shower.  And it’s really soft, like an old pair of jeans that you have worn everywhere.  A section of the towel is worn through, and my boyfriend has repeatedly commented that it’s outlived it’s useful life.  ABSOLUTELY NOT!  It still functions perfectly for my use.  I would be in favor of replacing the towel, but a search of the product name produced no results.  So I believe the company either changed names or went out of business.  Besides, who can survive making good products anymore?

Last year I purchased an immersion blender to ease with blending soups.  When it comes to kitchen items, I rely on the testing and comments by America’s Test Kitchen, I’m actually signed up through Cooks Illustrated to access their recipes and product info.  After extensive testing, they recommended the Kaloric Sunny Morning blender.  Later that year they revised the recommendation and I had a similar bad report to other people, after maybe 5 uses on soup the motor burned out.  I should have read the instruction booklet describing the operating instructions and promptly returned the item.  You can’t operate the blender for more than 1 minute which must be followed by 10 minutes of rest.  That would require about 30 minutes to blend my soup completely.  So back to square 1 for research.

This time I thought to read the product operation manual online before purchasing.  Many amazon shoppers report loving their KitchenAid hand blender that lasted 7 or 10 years, and the revised test kitchen report also recommends that product.  After purchasing, I’m reading some reports of complications with the new model version of this blender.  No motor problems, but the connection of the motor to the shaft has a plastic piece that can break.  I hope this one lasts, but if not, I’m writing to KitchenAid and the Test Kitchen group.  The lack of descriptive information about the motor in all KithenAid info is a bit unsettling for me; if this one breaks, it appears that all major brands use the same plastic connection element so I will be struggling to find a suitable replacement.

It seems like all manufacturers are capitalizing on their past reputation of quality products to sell really cheap goods.  I don’t mind paying extra for reliable products from manufacturer’s like KitchenAid, Pella, Anderson Windows, etc.  But as we are learning in the building design, the products are cheaply made and do not perform well long term.  This certainly helps the economy, when people have to replace products every year.  But what is it doing to the environment, and our psyche that we can’t find anything of value.  No wonder we don’t want to spend a lot of money, we can barely stomach the issue of cheap stuff failing before their time.

Product warranties have very short lifespans, 1 year and sometimes 2.  In the world of building materials, even with a warranty you typically have to hire a lawyer to get manufacturers to own up to their responsibilities, and then spend a year arguing while the manufacturer blames anyone who even looked at the product for errors.

I read a post once of someone struggling through difficulties with multiple appliances.  We all struggle to find legitimate online consumer reviews.  Who can we trust?  Know any good repairmen to recommend?

Do you Struggle with Healthy Eating Choices?

I do love junk food that I should never eat again. I won’t list names because that will make me crave them even more right now.   Mostly I blame this on the incredibly unhealthy habits learned growing up.  My parents struggled financially, and we ate junk food and fast food growing up.  Although I do crave a bit of fast food once in a while, I’m disgusted by most chains to avoid it.

But it seems like no matter how much I enjoy healthy food, and learn to cook healthy recipes, I get cravings for the the junk food too.  It seems like the habits learned early in life never go away, we just try to suppress them.  And if I’m busy and preoccupied, I can’t resist the old favorites.  This article explains the issue of ego-depletion (not what it sounds like) its a natural for people to struggle with making smart eating choices when they are overloaded, stressed, or preoccupied.  So we need to prepare options for dealing with that situation in advance.

For people who think that eating healthy is expensive, that is a myth.  Recently I made a healthy and easy dinner for $3.5o, not per serving, total for 3-4 servings.  I make a stir-fry mix of vegetables and noodles (egg or flour noodles, broccoli, snow peas, carrots, zucchini, and stir-fry sauce).  I was shocked at the check-out stand when it was only $3.50.  This NPR story confirms my experience.  If you can justify $4-6 for a latte, you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

We do have to research what we eat.  Just the other day I read an article discussing the tricks food makers use to get us addicted to their junk food.  They add fat and sugar to low sodium products to get you hooked, and other tricks.  In a capitalist society, this is normal, and we must educate ourselves to avoid getting duped.  Not to mention all the news stories of mislabeled food lately:

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  http://communities.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/by-citypng/

  Mislabeled fish, at grocery stores and restaurants, on average they found errors with 33% of the samples tested.  On the Menu but not On Your Plate.  They even substituting tuna with fish that will give you indigestion.

• Surprise horse meat anyone?  This food swindle has infiltrated across Europe and even into the U.S.

Even Whole Wheat does not mean that it’s whole grain, you have to check the package listing of ingredients.  Multi-grain can also be misleading.  All (wheat) flour comes from wheat, it’ just has been stripped of the most nutritious part of the wheat kernel.  Some prepared foods use a little bit of whole grain in the ingredients, but still have more bleached flour in the recipe.  You have to look for 100% whole grain to get the most healthy version.  This is why people sometimes add wheat germ to a recipe.  Sometimes they use unbleached flour to make it look healthier, but the flour is otherwise the same as white flour.

You have to know what works for you and your body and lifestyle.  Here is an interesting article about the causes of snacking.  No one solution helps all people.  NPR just had a story about the way our natural tendency to be optimistic is counteractive to dieting needs these days.  They have a few suggestions of ways to improve eating habits.  Or trick your kids, or yourself, into eating more veggies with recipes from the Sneaky Chef.

Personally, I love Thanksgiving and all the typical foods that are unhealthy to eat together in one big meal; this meal can be 3,000 for some people.  A biologist friend recently described to me the natural cycle of the human body to put on weight in the fall, when fruits and produce is harvested, and then lose weight in the winter months when food production is more scarce.  This has likely been developed throughout centuries of evolution.  The natural cycle of weight gain likely is a root cause to having so many traditions in the fall associated with food.  I now give myself a little leniency to add a few pounds during the tasty holiday season, and in winter I kick butt working out when there are fewer events and activities happening to keep me distracted.

You can analyze your typical eating habits, and get ideas for teaching your kids how to be healthy, at My Plate.gov.  My friend uses the website to teach her 7 year old how to analyze the types of each food on her plate.

Keep in mind, organic food is not necessarily healthier, although it should have fewer pesticides, but the production of food organically is better for the environment.  But improving the way food is produced is a whole new conversation.

Have you checked your Credit Report?

This week the Federal Trade Commission released a report showing the number of errors on credit reports which can affect a person’s credit score, and therefor their ability to get loans or get reasonable interests rates, etc.  Which is a good reminder to check out your report for free from all three credit agencies, and check for errors.  I once had a credit card incorrectly change my billing address, and that change showed up on my credit report.  This may affect my credit score and may influence an agency I’m hoping to do business with.

Thanks to the Federal Trade Commission in the US, we can get a free credit report from each agency once a year, so why not remember to do so at tax time.  You submit tax information once a year, this is a great time to remember to request your free reports for review.  Not all websites are free for requesting a report, and some of them try to sell you other products.  Ignore the catchy jingles from TV commercials, Annual Credit Report.com is the place to go in the US.  This free information does not include your credit score, but did you know that your credit score could be different for each of the three agencies?

Luckily I was listening to the radio program Marketplace, as they gave advice about reviewing a credit report and how to have errors corrected.   The interview with John Ulzheimer is president of consumer education at CreditSmart.com and was helpful to me, even though I have checked my report in the past.

Equifax has a glossary of terms you may need to review.

Undoing the Benefits of Specialization

The benefit of specialization is that we can diversify tasks and achieve more as a group.  Ha!  Human nature is not so altruistic.  We are finding that when left unchecked, people will take advantage of others and not perform their duty to operate in the best interest of clients or the public at large.  The less connected we feel toward others, in our communities etc., the more likely we are to take advantage of others.  Dan Ariely has showed in simple experiments the factors that influence our likelihood to cheat.

http://www.allbusiness.com/personal-finance/4603394-1.html#axzz2LCHn1I56

Take Adjustable Rate mortgages:  It’s likely that in the United States, you or many people you know have a ARM.  I don’t know how much research people do before accepting this type of load, but US government has an info packet to help consumers, that is 40 pages long.  In the document, it states what you should know when considering an ARM.  “To compare two ARMs, or to compare an ARM with a fixed-rate mortgage, you need to know about indexes, margins, discounts, caps on rates and payments, negative amortization,  payment options, and recasting (recalculating) your loan.”  Who understands all of these financial matters?

Sounds like people with money are creating a complicated product (the mortgage) and hoping the general public blindly buys this product without understanding the risk or influencing factors.  That’s essentially the crux of the sub-prime loan issues.  We will never agree on who is to blame, those who create sophisticated products and sell them to people lacking the knowledge to understand the decisions, or people who make these decisions without doing enough research?

Which leads back to diversification.  In western civilization, we are not expected to be an expert on everything.  We take our car to a mechanic, go to financial advisers to invest for retirement,  hire a contractor when repairs or changes are desired on our homes, etc.  We need enough basic information to keep these employees honest, but cannot reasonably master each of these subjects to know when these employees are not working for our best interest.

So what we need is more honesty.  How do we promote altruistic behavior?  It’s challenging to incentivise honest behavior.  Step one is to build a strong sense of community as referenced above in the studies by Dan Ariely.  I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this subject.

 

Well this should not be considered the most reliable study, performed by the makers of Honest Tea.  Check out the results.

Money, Power, & Wall Street

Wall Street sign on Wall Street (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just finished watching the PBS Frontline show of that title.  Granted it’s 4 hours long, but a good summary of the financial crash, bank and financial risk, the banks bailouts and the government’s role.  As an uneducated citizen in these topics, I learned a lot.  “We can absolutely reform banks… it was a political will issue and it continues to be.  And the question isn’t, are we going to create something perfect.  The question is are we going to create something better than this.  It’s actually a pretty low bar.”

Makes you wonder if we can ever trust these markets, and any job with this type of financial incentive.

So if you think you have a sure bet for gaining financial profit, make sure you understand the risk associated.

Watch out for Arsenic in your Rice!

I just heard about a concern for arsenic in rice.  This is a major problem, especially given the number of food items with rice as a major ingredient.  Think about cereals and baby food which you may be giving to your children on a daily basis.

Right now there are no conclusions that the arsenic levels are directly causing specific problems, and the FDA is actively evaluating this risk and Consumer Reports have issued a warning.  My local NPR station has some tips for consumers to limit their risk:

1. Pay Attention to where the rice is grown:  Apparently the southeastern US has more arsenic in the soil, therefor growing rice with higher arsenic levels. Jasmine and Basmati had lower levels compared to other white rices.
2. Use more White Rice:  The processing of rice to make white rice reduces the amount of arsenic, by a bit.
3. Cook with more Water: the extra water will keep some of the arsenic
4. Better yet, switch to other grains like quinoa, oats, millet, or amarynth.
5. Check foods you give to small children, especially food for babies ages 4 months to 1 year.  Also check for brown rice syrup which is used as a sweetener.

If you want to learn more about arsenic, its toxicity and how it effects the human body, read the Agency For Toxic Substance and Disease Registry public health statement here.

Boiled white rice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Who would have guessed Oakland, CA to be the most Honest city?

Well this should not be considered the most reliable study, performed by the makers of Honest Tea.  Check out the results.

http://thenationalhonestyindex.com/

Given that the tea stands were set up in busy locations of major cities we can presume that the study was less about how honest the people are, and more related to their sense of community judgement.  So what does it say about the bottom of the list, NYC, and their views of being judged by their peers?  Or just a general feeling of protection to break the law in that city?

is Sugar bad for us?

There is a lot of concern over obesity and diabetes in western civilizations.  It might be a significant reason for increasing health care costs, because of so many people needing treatment for these preventable diseases.

Sugar (Photo credit: oskay)

Dr. Robert Lustig has been spreading his views on sugar, making appearances on 60 Minutes, and being interviewed by Alec Baldwin, in advance of his book “Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease”.

The interesting points from his discussions:

• We don’t really need sugar for any bodily function, but it releases dopamine in our brains making us feel good.  Which is why our brains get addicted to sugar.
• He suggests that sugar should be regulated like alcohol.
• The food industry is making so much money from adding sugar to their products, it will be very difficult to control the industry to reduce or eliminate sugar from foods.
• We are learning the results from eating too much sugar, without fiber, our liver will turn the sugar into fat.
• As we overeat sugar, we increase insulin, and we lose the natural bodily regulation of cravings and hunger.

A lot of people are concerned with the amount of high fructose corn syrup in foods, as they notice the energy levels and other health effects.  It looks like we should have a similar concern for regular sugar.

Report Reveals Dismal Conditions for Many Food Chain Workers

Especially in the U.S., how can we spend so much money on sports and entertainment while ignoring the conditions of people working to provide our daily food?
See this post from the Humane Connection Blog