Merry Christmas!

Just a short note wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and I hope you have enjoyed these posts.  I want to thank everyone for your support and hope you will continue reading them.

Peace to all and to all a "good day and night!"

How to Save For Retirement the Easy Way

How would you like to save for retirement the easy way?  We all would, of course.  The statistics consistently show that Americans are simply not saving enough for their retirement.  Here is a possible easy solution that you can use to make sure you are on track for that retirement.

In this month's AARP The Magazine, there is an article by author, Jeffrey Yeager, adapted from his new book, "How to Retire the Cheapskate Way:  The Ultimate Cheapskate's Guide to a Better, Earlier, Happier Retirement."  The plan is very simple:  Yeager suggests that each year, you plan on saving at least an amount equal to your age---and two zeros. In other words, at age 40, you would save $4000 and at age 50, $5000.  If you are going to follow this plan, you might want to consider having a set amount deducted automatically from your checking account each month and transferred to your IRA or other retirement account.

According to Yeager, if you follow this plan beginning at age 20 and assuming a 5% annual return compounded, you would have at least $500,000 at age 60.  Not an insignificant amount .Of course, no one can predict the future as to rates of return or the effect of inflation, but this seems like a relatively painless plan to save for the future.

How to Save Money Buying a Car and House and Everything Else

The Guidelines to Saving Money When Making a Purchase

1. Establish reasonable goals resulting from solid preparation.

2. Listen in order to understand the other party’s position and interests.

3. Always be polite and avoid showing your emotion.

4. Never make the first offer or bid against yourself.

5. Work through impasses.

6. Hold people to their representations

Establish reasonable goals through research

I sometimes think that this is the most important aspect of preparing for any negotiation. Before you can begin negotiating you must know what it is you want. Often people have no clear understanding as to what they would like to accomplish by the negotiation. They may well have some vague idea about what they would like, but have not established in their heads where they want to end up. Nor do they have any plan on how to get there even if they do have some goal. Such vague notions and lack of preparation will almost surely mean that you will not reach your goal.

There was a folk song that was popular in the 1960s that became the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement, "Keep Your Eye on the Prize." It sounds simple enough. Nonetheless, this is exactly what you need to think about each time you negotiate: What is the prize you hope to receive through the negotiations? What is it that you really want? The late Stephen Covey in his popular self-help book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," identified the most important of his habits for a successful negotiation: "begin with the end in mind."

 

That is what I am asking you to do each time you begin a negotiation: "begin with the end in mind." Every time you are engaged in a negotiation, and as we will discuss, you are probably engaged in some form of negotiation many times every day, keep this principle in mind. If you do, you will be more successful in those negotiations. Why does this formula work? Because, if you keep your goal in mind, you are more likely to negotiate in a way that will facilitate the accomplishment of that goal. It does not matter whether you are asking for a raise from your boss or discussing where to go to dinner tonight with your spouse. These are negotiations and having a firm goal in mind will enable you to achieve that goal. Sometimes people are afraid to express that goal to the other party. That can be a major source of frustration. Who hasn’t stood outside with their co-workers deciding where to go to lunch and no one speaks up until finally someone does and then you end up going someplace you hate. Believe it or not, that is a negotiation and you just lost it.

 

How do you decide upon your goal? Let me suggest that one way of doing so is to do your research and plan out what you want to say and do. Let me give you a few examples. Let’s say you are interested in buying a new car and you want to make sure that you get the best price. When you go into the car dealer’s showroom, you will see the sticker price on the side window of the car you are interested in. As you know, that is really just the beginning price; it is not the price you should pay. You will soon be entering into negotiations with the salesperson and perhaps the manager. You want to be prepared; you want to know what the best price you can expect to get for the car you want.

 

One way to find out is to research the price paid by the dealer so that you know how much the automobile has been marked up in price. Two excellent sources of that information are Edmunds.com and Consumer Reports magazine. Edmunds will show you what other people are paying for the same car you want to buy. Consumer Reports, in addition to its yearly car issue and periodic reviews, has an online product that for about $14 will give you a printable guide for the exact car with options you are interested in buying. It will show you not only the cost of the vehicle to the dealer (what he paid for it from the manufacturer) but also the costs of any accessories and packages available for that model.

 

Armed with that information, you can confidently go into the dealer, present your research and ask for the best price based upon the cost to the dealer. Now, the dealer will complain that he will not make a profit if he sells you the car at his cost. Certainly, he is entitled to some profit. Your research also should have taught you that frequently the dealer will receive certain incentives from the manufacturer that are not shown anywhere. That may be the only source of profit he needs.  So don’t be shy about asking for the car at the dealer’s own cost. Who knows, you might actually get the car at that price. In any event, as a result of your research, you have established your goal: get the best price from the dealer. And you have used that research to get that price.

 

This same strategy can be employed when buying a house or a new television as well as many other products. For example, when buying a house, before making an offer, you should research the real estate records  for your county (some of these are available online, so start there) to determine the price paid by the seller as well as research the price recently paid by buyers of comparable homes. Now, your agent may say that she has done so, but I suggest you do your own research. It is your money and no one has a greater interest than you in making sure you do not overpay for your dream home.

 

When buying appliances such as televisions, a good practice is to go to one of the big box stores such as Best Buy or Target, find the product you are interested in, noting its price. If you then go online and check on Amazon, eBay or similar sites, you can determine the price others are paying for that same product. Of course, you can purchase the item from Amazon if the price is lower; or, as an alternative, take your research to the big box store and ask that they either meet or beat that price. You will probably be surprised how often they will make the sale at the lower price. You have established your goal through research and will probably reach that goal.

 

 

Health Updates

Recently, I have written on the studies that show that lack of sleep can torpedo your efforts at dieting.  "How to lose weight while sleeping," December 11, 2012.  Well, a recent study in the medical journal, Sleep, has shown that losing sleep may also reduce your tolerance to pain. Although it is not known why, there appeared to be a connection between chronic sleep loss and acute pain.  So there is another reason to get your 8 hours every night.

In my November 29, 2012 post, "The Benefits of Tea and Why Starbucks is Getting into the Act," I wrote about all the health benefits of drinking tea.  A new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology has now demonstrated that coffee may also have some unexpected benefits.  The study conducted by a researcher from the National Cancer Society has found that drinking caffeinated coffee may reduce the risk of oral cancer. The risk was shown to be reduced significantly by those drinking 4 to 6 cups of coffee a day. 

Today's New York Times contains an article entitled "Grapefruit is a culprit in More Drug Reactions." I first reported on this same subject in my December 6, 2012 post, "Should You Be Eating that Grapefruit?" The Times article reiterates that eating grapefruit can heighten the effects of  certain common medications including birth control pills and estrogen.  The full list is on  the Times' website, www.nytimes.com.

Hitchcock: The Movie

Anthony Hopkins does not merely play the famed director, Alfred Hitchcock, in the new movie, "Hitchcock," he literally seems to inhabit his body.  Because the movie is about the filming of the horror movie, "Psycho," which shows a man taking on the personna of his dead mother, that seems particularly appropriate. 

The movie is both a technical exploration of the making of Psycho and also a love story of a sort, between Hitchcock and his long-suffering wife, Alma Reville.  As most people probably know by now, Hitchcock was obsessed with his blond leading ladies such as Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren.  Although it is believed that these were strictly fantasies on the part of Hitchcock, the movie shows that his obsession had a lasting effect on his relationship with his wife. Helen Mirren portrays Alma with her usual strength of character and shows that Alma, in her own way, was as impportant figure as her noted husband in the success of his movies.

The movie gives Alma quite a bit credit for the success of "Psycho", suggesting she was responsible for the terror of the famous shower scene involving the stabbing of the main character very early on in the movie. There is now some controversy over just how large a role she played.in the changes that made that scene so memorable as the movie downplays the work of the screenplay's author.

 Psycho starred Janet Leigh and in this movie she is played by Scarlett Johansson as a rather sweet, family-oriented woman who was amused by Hitchcock. Jessica Biel has a rather small role as the actress Vera Miles, who also appeared in "Psycho".

Hopkins' portrayal of Hitchcock is clearly Oscar worthy.  Wearing all sorts of prosthetics on his face and presumably on the rest of his large and imposing stomach, he is totally believable as the tortured genius. Anyone who has heard Hitchcock's voice on the reruns of his famous television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, will recognize how closely Hopkins has captured that unmistakable diction and accent.

Sherlock Holmes and Mindfulness

In an interesting article in the Sunday New York Times, author Maria Konnikova, suggests that Sherlock Holmes was one of the early practitioners of mindfulness.  "The Power of Concentration." www.nytimes.com.  She points out that Holmes frequently was able to solve his cases while sitting in his rooms at 221 B Baker Street, by concentrating on one aspect of the case at a time.  Rather than a multitasker, he was the ultimate unitasker.

The article also discusses several studies which have shown that as little as five minutes a day of mindfulness (sitting quietly, observing the breathing and clearing the mind of all thoughts) can have a beneficial effect on both your emotions and your thinking ability.  Based on those studies, mindfulness may even have an effect on preventing the decline in mental ability as we age, including, perhaps, helping to prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Bottom line:  if it was good enough for Sherlock Holmes, it surely is good enough for all of us. After all, don't we all want to remain mentally sharp as we age? 

Please see my November18, 2012 post, "What is Mindfulness?" for a further discussion of how to use mindfulness and its cognitive benefits. You will be glad you did.

Lincoln

"When it rains, it pours."  I recently wrote about the latest James Bond movie, Skyfall, and gave it the highest marks. Well, there is another movie that recently came out that surpasses even that movie, Stephen Spielberg's "Lincoln".  Recently, it received 7 Golden Glove nominations, including best picture, best director and best actor.

There is probably no president who attracts more attention than Abraham Lincoln. It is said that more books have been written about Lincoln than any other person in history, with the exception of Jesus Christ!  He is a fascinating figure and is on Mount Rushmore for a reason.

The movie captures Lincoln in a way we have never seen him before.  Played by the English actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, he comes to life on the screen. You may remember the movie, "Young Mr. Lincoln," which is sometimes shown on late night television. Henry Fonda played the young Lincoln as he came into his own as a lawyer and politician. I always thought that was one of the best performances of Lincoln I had ever seen.  Day-Lewis does not merely portray Lincoln, he is Lincoln for almost two and one half hours.

Now no one knows exactly how Lincoln sounded or moved because there are no movies or recordings, but based upon contemporary accounts, Day-Lewis, with the help no doubt of Spielberg, has captured the man and not just the president

The movie, based upon the book by Doris Kearns-Goodwin, "Team of Rivals," details the last few months of Lincoln's life. It shows both the intimate side of his relationship with his children and his wife, Mary, called Molly, played by Sally Fields, and his frantic efforts to get the 13th amendment banning slavery passed by the House of Representatives and to end the Civil War.

The Lincoln in the movie has the warts of every man and is not portrayed as just the saint he is sometimes seen as.  He is not above offering postmaster jobs and other patronage to congressmen in return for votes for the amendment. Although we all know the outcome of his efforts, nonetheless, it makes for exciting viewing.

If you haven't seen it yet, now is the time to see "Lincoln".