Ways to Prepare for Retirement

Being financially secure in retirement just doesn’t happen magically. It takes lots of planning, time and savings.
Some scary facts about retirement: 

• More than 50% of persons do not have enough finances for retirement.
• 25% do not participate in their company’s retirement plan. 
• The average person spends 20 years in retirement.

Here are some tips to help you plan correctly:

1. Talk to a financial professional. Every few years, it’s a good idea to schedule a meeting with a financial planner to get a ‘check-up’. It’s just like a doctor’s visit, and you should really talk about your present situation and future goals.
2. Save, save, and keep on saving. Make it a habit to save as much as you can.
3. Learn your retirement needs. Retirement can be expensive. Learn from today how much you need to save for your retirement. Talk to a financial planner, or find an online retirement calculator.
4. Take part in your employer’s retirement plans. If your company offers one, it is usually the best tool you can use. Talk to a financial professional for all your options.
5. Learn about pension plans. If you have an employer or government pension plan, learn all the details.
6. Keep your retirement savings off-limits. Don’t make a withdrawal until you retire, you might incur penalties and it will be a setback for realizing your goals.
7. Get your employer to start a plan. If your present job doesn’t offer a retirement plan, ask for one to be started. Many times it isn’t a cost to your employer to start one, and it can help you tremendously.
8. Learn about your government’s retirement plans. Every country has different plans some with special tax incentives, so learn what your country offers and plan accordingly.
9. Do your own research. Use the Internet, read the newspapers and magazines, talk to your friends, to find out as much as you can about retirement.  

This One Thing Will Ruin Barack Obama

A few big moves stand out in Barack Obama’s Presidency.

• The $800 billion stimulus plan passed in 2009
• The $5 trillion in debt accumulation—the most of any President in history
• The passage of Obamacare… the assassination of Osama Bin Laden… and huge tax increases

But Porter Stansberry – one of the most widely-read financial journalists in America – says these events are nothing compared to the next big surprise that could devastate Obama’s legacy.

Porter is the founder of Stansberry & Associates, a financial research firm in Maryland. Today, he is making available a free video presentation that gives you his analysis of this situation.

The End of Obama: A Stansberry & Associates Special Presentation
Over the years, Porter has published research that predicted the downfall of certain companies, and even entire industries. 

For example, he accurately described in detail – and well in advance – the collapse of such institutions as GM, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, just to name a few. 

More recently, Porter predicted the bankruptcy of Detroit, detailing the collapse of the city with a series of essays dating back to 2009.

Now Porter says there’s a shocking surprise working its way through the Obama administration. In the free video we’re making available below, he reveals how this one event could single-handedly ruin Barack Obama’s Presidency… and perhaps even his entire career.

Even if Porter is only half right, this situation will have a dramatic impact not only on Barack Obama, but also everyone else in this country. 

Note: For a limited time, Stansberry & Associates is making The End of Obama video presentation available at no charge. We strongly encourage you to check out this important analysis. We believe it will be worth your time, and a real eye-opener.

Herbal Magic Weight Loss & Nutrition Centres

There are millions of adults who would love to find a manageable way to lose their excess weight. Before you figure out how to lose weight, you need to know why and how you gained it.

And in this case, pardon the pun, one size does not “fit all” when it comes to reasons why people gain weight.For some, weight gain is the result of changes in their body’s metabolism—the rate at which your body is able to burn calories. Metabolic rates decrease as you get older, making it harder for your body to burn calories quickly.

For others, weight gain can be the result of physiological factors like the stress associated with work, a personal relationship or a crisis of some kind.

A busy schedule can cause some adults to sacrifice paying close attention to maintaining a balanced diet. They eat on the run, or gravitate toward fast food or junk food and end up packing on pounds through a combination of too much unhealthy food and not enough exercise.

It would be nice if more weight-loss programs understood that not everyone who needs or wants to lose weight gained that weight for exactly the same set of reasons. Everybody is different.

One place that does understand that all people are unique individuals is Herbal Magic Weight Loss & Nutrition Centres. Herbal Magic’s program is specially designed to help individuals meet their goals.Herbal Magic’s approach to losing weight has helped hundreds of thousands of Canadians since 1995. And Herbal Magic does it without gimmicks like injections, or processed, prepackaged meals. Instead, Herbal Magic stresses sensible eating, portion control and a healthy lifestyle.

For a limited time, Herbal Magic is offering new members their Best Offer of the Season when you join (please see website for terms and conditions).  Visit Herbal Magic and go to the “Get Started” box for your own free, no-obligation consultation. Enter your postal code to find the centre closest to you for a free consultation.With nearly 300 weight loss centres in Canada, chances are, there is a convenient location close to you.

Herbal Magic’s approach focuses on one-on-one customized support from a personal coach, real food from grocery stores and natural health products. Its common sense weight loss and it works.

How to lose weight

More than one-third of adults in the United States are obese. In fact, the furor over obesity, which some have termed an “epidemic,” has reached such proportions that one big-city mayor has gone about banning large-sized, sugary soft drinks and the First Lady has been on a crusade to control the dietary offerings in public schools.
Even many adults who do not fit the clinic definition of obese are still overweight, and a large percentage are looking for the best ways to lose weight.

Shedding pounds largely comes down to the two-pronged factors of diet and exercise. Not modifying the first one enough, and not getting enough of the second one, ends up giving the individual a recipe for being overweight. 
Conditions related to obesity include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Counseling someone to eat less and exercise more might be the simplest advice possible, but it’s also, partially, an oversimplification. When it comes to diet, no one needs to starve themselves in order to lose weight. It has more to do with the types of food you eat than how much you eat.

Reduce the amount of red meat in your diet. If you don’t want to eliminate red meat altogether, choose cuts of meat with less fat content. Limit your intake of salt and starches. If you’ve got to have potato chips alongside your sandwich at lunch, opt for the baked potato chips that are less greasy and contain less fat than the deep-fried chips. You might find you’re really not sacrificing that much in terms of taste.

A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, egg whites, skinless poultry, fish and nonfat dairy products will certainly aid in the mission of losing weight. Drink more water and less sugary drinks. If you have to have a soda, a diet soda is a better option, but seltzer is an even better choice than that.

In terms of exercise, it’s important—if not always easy—to make sure you get at least some physical activity each and every day. Cardio and strength training burn lots of calories. If your feet or your stamina level won’t allow for a regular jogging regimen, then make sure you take lots of walks. Next time you need to mail a letter, walk to the mailbox instead of driving. Try to work in a daily walk in your neighborhood. And if you intend on more rigorous, formal exercising at the gym or fitness center, be sure to pace yourself and don’t build up to an overly ambitious workout agenda too quickly.

There are thousands of diet fads among us.  However, sometimes the best advice is common sense.  Work towards a healthy diet and integrate regular exercise.  You would be surprised at the results small changes can make.

Microsoft Opens .Net, Hops on Devops Bandwagon

crosoft recently established a .Net foundation and open sourced substantial parts of the popular programming language, continuing to spread its newfound love for open source software. However, it's another movement -- devops -- that may be more of a driving factor in Microsoft's .Net move.

In establishing the independent .Net Foundation and making more key pieces of .Net open source, Microsoft was promoting collaboration and community, it said. Many open source technologies exist for .Net, including the recently released .Net compiler platform codenamed "Roslyn."

Microsoft also highlighted the value and innovation that comes from broader community collaboration, even on its own developer tools and technologies, such as .Net.

Embracing Devops

The fact that Microsoft recognizes the power of open source software is not remarkable -- the company has been working actively to change its thinking and strategy on open source software for years now.

What is interesting is the establishment of the foundation and the further opening up of .Net, which highlights how Microsoft technologies, including Windows, Azure and .Net, all have become part of the devops movement -- a trend referring to faster software releases based on collaboration and efficiency among developers and IT operations teams.

This is quite a contrast to the devops landscape that existed three or four years ago. Back then, when Windows admins would dare to speak up or ask questions about how they might get more agile and join the devops movement, they were told to switch to Linux.

Today, most devops tools and providers have integrations, plug-ins, and support for Windows management. Indeed, I have written previously about how the support for Windows in devops tools -- such as the Chef and Puppet configuration and provisioning automation software applications -- reflects the extension of devops to more mainstream enterprises, where Windows and .Net are common.

The PaaS Piece

We also have seen .Net rise in the polyglot programming trend: A much greater variety of languages, databases, infrastructure and other technologies are used in developing, deploying and managing applications in today's market.

While most PaaS platforms have become polyglot and support a variety of languages, the enterprise world is still largely a matter of Java and .Net. Thus, .Net has become an important part of PaaS, particularly private PaaS aimed at enterprises.

The 2013 acquisition of .Net PaaS player Tier 3 by CenturyLink is evidence of this, as the acquirer sought to offer a complete set of outsourced IT services, from hosting to enterprise cloud. Prior to acquiring Tier 3, CenturyLink made a similar move in by acquiring polyglot PaaS player AppFog.

Further evidence of a Microsoft and .Net presence in devops comes in the form of added support of .Net among PaaS providers, including Red Hat with OpenShift.

Although Microsoft's proprietary programming language may not seem like a good fit, Red Hat had been fielding inquiries about working with .Net on its OpenShift PaaS since it launched the service. So, with help from Uhuru Software, which focuses on .Net and Windows support on open source cloud platforms, Red Hat set out to provide more choice to its OpenShift users. The prevalence of .Net applications among enterprise organizations also drove its support of the Microsoft technology, Red Hat said.

Suspicion Waning

The most obvious reasoning for Microsoft's establishment of a .Net foundation and further opening up the technology is the continued presence and prominence of open source software -- and openness in general -- in key, fast-moving enterprise IT trends including cloud computing, Big Data and devops. Indeed, in 2012, when Microsoft spun off its open source-focused subsidiary Microsoft Open Technologies, it cited emerging opportunities in open technology -- including cloud computing and devops -- as the reasoning.

Today, Microsoft continues to reshape its approach to open source software, complete with new CEO Satya Nadella, who replaced one of the world's greatest open source opponents, former CEO Steve Ballmer, earlier this year.

Though there typically is no shortage of pushback against Microsoft when it makes open source moves, the skepticism and suspicion seem to be giving way to technicality and practicality, both within and outside of Microsoft. By continuing to promote openness, integration and true collaboration with other vendors and technologies, including open source, Microsoft is doing its part to ensure its place in key trends such as cloud computing and devops.

Lost Horizon

Lost Horizon is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. Lost Horizon is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamasery high in the mountains of Tibet.

26 January Republic Day

January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 339 days remaining until the end of the year (340 in leap years).
26th January 1950 is one of the most important days in Indian history as was the case this day the constitution of India came into force and India became a truly sovereign state.In date the India became a totally republican unit. The country finally realized the dream of freedom fighters Mahatma Gandhi many who fought and sacrificed their lives for the independence of their country. Thus, on 26 January was decreed a national holiday and has been recognized and celebrated as Republic Day of India, since ....