Photo courtesy: StatePoint

By StatePoint 

Whether you are a “do-it-yourself” homeowner or a contracted professional, before starting landscaping or home improvement projects, it is essential to protect yourself and stay safe when digging.

Most people are surprised to learn that there are more than 100 billion feet of underground utilities in the U.S. This equates to more than one football field’s length of buried utilities for every man, woman and child in the country, according to the Common Ground Alliance, an organization dedicated to protecting the safety of people who dig near underground utility lines.

Every six minutes in the U.S., an underground utility line is damaged because someone did not call 811, the national “Call Before You Dig” phone number, or connect online at http://www.call811.com.

Each year, August 11 (8/11) is a reminder to dig safely and lawfully. It’s important to dial 811 or connect online to have the approximate location of underground utilities and pipelines marked, whether you’re installing a fence, deck or swimming pool; planting a tree; or beginning any excavation project at home or on your property.

Protect yourself and those around you from injury by contacting 811. Not only is it the law, but knowing where pipelines and underground utility lines are buried prevents unintentional damage, service interruptions, potential fines and costly repairs.

You must contact 811 every time, even if you have done so previously for a similar project, as the depth of utilities can vary, and there may be multiple utilities located in the same area.

Contacting 811

When you contact 811, information will be collected about your digging plans, and local pipeline and utility companies will be notified about your project. Representatives will be sent to mark the approximate location of underground utilities using color-coded paint, flags or stakes. If there are no underground utilities in the area, they will mark “clear.”

The advance notice required to have underground utilities marked varies by state, although most require 48 to 72 hours (excluding weekends, holidays and the day the call was made). You can find state-specific information or place an online request to have utilities marked at http://www.call811.com.

Project Planning

• Regardless of the depth of your digging or your familiarity with the property, always contact 811 before starting a project that involves digging.
• If a contractor has been hired, confirm they have done so. Don’t allow work to start until all utilities have been marked.
• After you have waited the required time for markings, if utilities have not been marked, you must contact 811 again to check the status of your request before digging. Also confirm whether the markings have an expiration date and when they will need to be re-marked.
• If your project is located near the paint, flags or stakes, contact the underground operator for the specific steps you should take.

Protect your safety, the safety of the community and the environment by digging with care.

By StatePoint

Photo Courtesy: StatePoint

Greens for breakfast might sound unconventional, but starting the day with vegetables is a fantastic way to check off some of the daily requirements for vitamins and minerals, plus get the energy needed to stay full and focused all morning.

If your family isn’t exactly keen on greens, these simple breakfast items can ease everyone into a healthier morning routine.

Satisfying Smoothie Bowls

Smoothie bowls are sweet and satisfying — and meant to be eaten with a spoon. Thicker than a typical smoothie, these delicious bowls are a mix of fresh and frozen produce, blended with your choice of superfoods and toppings. Include leafy greens such as kale or spinach and seeds like chia or hemp for a power-packed breakfast. Add avocado for a silky texture, then top with fresh berries, nuts or seeds.

Pumped-Up Pancakes

Use a high-powered blender, such as the Vitamix Professional Series 750, to whip up pancakes with a secret ingredient — zucchini. Mix chopped zucchini right into the batter and your family won’t even notice that their favorite breakfast treat has an extra boost of antioxidants and Vitamin C. For a less intense green color, peel the zucchini before blending into the batter.

Make-Ahead Savory Muffins

Muffins can be sweet or savory and are easy to take on the go. Create tasty, satiating breakfast muffins with a crust made of blended cauliflower, spinach, eggs and spices. Mold the crust into the bottom of muffin tins, top with an egg and bits of cooked bacon or ham, and bake for a make-ahead breakfast item.

Silky Green Smoothies

Smoothies are a great grab-and-go breakfast item that can be customized to each family member’s tastes. A handful of fresh greens can increase the nutritional value of nearly any smoothie recipe.

Use the natural sweetness of fruit as a camouflage for vegetables. Pineapples, oranges and grapes are particularly good ingredients to marry with vegetables. Apples can offset greens with a slight bite. Experiment to figure out your favorite combinations, increasing the amount of greens as your family becomes more accustomed to them.

To get started, try this recipe for a Basic Green Smoothie:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 banana, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups green grapes
• 1 medium orange, about 5 1/2 ounces, whole, peeled but with pith intact
• 1-inch thick slice pineapple with core, peeled
• 1 1/2 cups packed fresh spinach
• 1/8 teaspoon grated lime zest or thin slice of lime with peel, about 1-inch diameter
• 2 Tablespoons agave nectar
• 1 cup ice cubes

Directions:

• Place ingredients into blender in the order listed and secure lid. If using a Vitamix blender, select Variable 1. Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High.
• Blend for 30 seconds, or until desired consistency is reached.

Subtly incorporating vegetables into your family’s diet can help expand palates and get the day off to a strong start.

By StatePoint  

Photo Courtesy: StatePoint

Do you have a solid plan in place to support your financial goals that includes preparing for emergency expenses, too?

The best time to plan for unexpected expenses is well before they happen. One strategy to consider is to open an emergency savings account where you can stash cash specifically for unexpected expenses or short-term savings goals. That way, you can avoid having to pay for these expenses with a credit card and incur interest.

Regardless of your financial circumstances, a rainy day fund offers peace of mind and, if you plan well, it won’t derail your other long-term savings goals. To get one started, consider the following tips from Ally Financial Inc., which offers personal finance tips, tools and education through its Wallet Wise financial literacy program:

• Create an account specifically for emergencies:

Many make the mistake of assuming that a standard savings account can also serve as a rainy day fund. However, dipping into savings when your roof leaks, may not be the best solution.

Start an account that’s only purpose is for emergencies. Some banks, such as Ally Bank, will allow you to create “nicknames” for the accounts to reinforce their purpose.

• Specify amount to be allocated:

Set a goal for your fund that could cover most emergencies with a little extra to spare. (Some plumbing repairs can easily run close to $1,000.) Determine how much you would realistically need if an emergency were to arise.

Set up a recurring transfer or direct deposit to automate savings. If money is tight, decide where you’ll cut corners to make your plan work. For example, directing $30 a paycheck to a rainy day fund in lieu of going out for dinner one night will help plan for the future.

• Fee free is the way to be:

Maximize your savings potential by finding a bank that won’t charge you a monthly maintenance fee, or penalize you for dipping into your emergency fund. Better yet, an account that earns a competitive interest rate or one that is compounded daily will allow your emergency fund to grow faster on its own.

• Ensure you can access funds:

Many Money Market Accounts come with checks or a debit card to ensure quick access to funds, because emergencies usually don’t happen at convenient times.

The benefits of such accounts allow you to pay a locksmith, plumber or roofer directly without needing to run to the bank. Why add an additional step to a stressful situation?

For additional tips on what you need to know to be smart with your money, visit allywalletwise.com.

Everyone is going to face a situation where an emergency strains their budget. You don’t leave home in the rain without an umbrella, so don’t take on life without the same safety net. A rainy day fund is a smart way to guard against financial stress.

Time Is Truly A Complicated Matter

DidYouKnow.org 

Remember how as a child you were waiting for your birthday and how it seemed to take forever to arrive? And now as an adult, the time from Monday to Sunday passes all too briefly.

How does time do that? How does time trick us?

Looking from a scientific, psychological and biological perspective, the greatest influence on how we perceive time is made by our internal rhythms, gained experiences, and memories.

Everyone perceives time differently– Five minutes seems to be a definite time limit. However, after five minutes, ask ten people how it passed for them – did it go quick or did it seem long? We can bet that each of them would have a different opinion.

Emotions and time are connected– How do you feel? Happy, depressed, horrified, fascinated, angry, or sad? When you look at the full scale of emotions, you will soon realize that time is perceived differently during each of those sensations. However, one study suggests that pleasant emotions theoretically last longer.

Researchers say that negative emotions can be adopted in different ways; especially then it comes to anxiety or tension. Meanwhile, boredom is usually distinguished by the sense that time slows or stops.

The older we become, the faster time seem to pass– Why does time appear to pass more quickly the older we get?

It is argued that as a younger person gets acquainted with the world, all that new information raises a lot of intrigue and thus, according to Scientific American, a lot of “firsts”. But as we get older, we generally lack new experiences.

Psychologist William James, in his 1890 text Principles of Psychology, wrote that as we age, time seems to speed up because adulthood is accompanied by fewer and fewer memorable events.

One study states that 20-year-olds felt time quite accurately while the persons in their 70s significantly overestimated the time (they said, that the time has passed much faster). The mentioned Scientific American article points out the following:

“How fast did the last 10 years pass for you?” yielded a tendency for the perception of the speed of time (in the last decade, anyway) to increase with age; this pattern peaked at age 50, however, and remained steady until the mid-90s.

Latest technologies changing the concept of time– A few recently done studies state that social networks and smart devices are “stealing” our time more than we think about it. We are always checking the latest news or messages, often wasting time, and we become new technologies’ hostages. In fact, a 2013 Internet Trends report by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers shows that people check their phones up to 150 times a day. According to RawHide, “Every year, teens spend almost 7 full work days taking selfies.”

Stanford University psychologist Dr. Phillip Zimbardo believes that social networking is actually changing the concept of time, and how we take it.

So maybe if you are constantly online but can’t understand where the time passed, log off and enjoy your life without the blue screens.

Joan Rivers said it perfectly: “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is God’s gift, that’s why we call it the present.”

Past, present, future– However, if you don’t want tomorrow to be a mystery, you should realize that every moment is now, because the past and future concepts become one. The essence lies in the fact that every event in the past and the future is and will be affected by what we do now.

As G.I. Gurdjieff explained: “In order to know the future it is necessary first to know the present in all its details, as well as to know the past. Today is what it is because yesterday was what it was. And if today is like yesterday, tomorrow will be like today. If you want tomorrow to be different you must make today different.”

How Banks And Other Businesses Can  Avoid Becoming Cyber-Crime Victims

Courtesy of Gary S. Miliefsky

In February, Bangladesh’s central bank saw $81 million disappear out a virtual window. Now it’s been revealed that, although the computer hackers used custom-made malware, they probably didn’t need to work up a cyber sweat while pulling off their long-distance theft. The bank had no firewalls to defend against intruders and its computers were linked to global-financial networks through second-hand routers that cost $10.

Apparently, the heist couldn’t have been any simpler if it had been drawn up in the lunch line at an elementary school cafeteria.

“It’s stunning that a major institution would leave itself so defenseless in this day and age when everyone should know that cyber criminals are waiting for you to let your guard down,” says Gary S. Miliefsky, CEO of SnoopWall (www.snoopwall.com), a company that specializes in cyber security.

But he says the episode can serve as a cautionary tale for other banks and any businesses that want to protect themselves against today’s cyber versions of Bonnie and Clyde.

“Most companies have some vulnerability and it doesn’t take a sophisticated attack to cause a security breach,” Miliefsky says. “Often on the hackers’ end of things, it just takes patience.”

For example, he says, a cyber criminal can gain access by sending a company an email with an attachment called a Remote Access Trojan, or RAT, that looks like a normal file. All it takes is for an unsuspecting employee to open that file and, voila, security is compromised.

That’s bad for companies, of course, but it’s also bad for consumers, whose bank account, credit card and other private information is at risk.

Miliefsky says it’s important to go on the offensive. Among his recommendations:

• Employers need to train their staffs.Those employees sitting at their computers each day are a company’s first line of defense. An errant click on the wrong email is like unlocking the front door, so employees should be made aware of the dangers and told what do about suspicious email.
  • Companies should routinely update their defenses.Outdated technology and outdated security software make a company’s computers vulnerable to attack. It’s important that businesses periodically review their IT operations to make sure what worked last year still provides the needed security.
  • Consumers must take their own safety measures. It would be nice to expect banks and retailers to protect consumer information, but the average person can’t count on that. Miliefsky suggests consumers take personal security measures such as frequently changing passwords and deleting any phone apps they don’t use. Many apps contain malware that can spy on you.

“Most people log onto the internet every day without much thought about how susceptible they are to being hacked,” Miliefsky says. “It takes vigilance to protect yourself against cyber criminals who are working hard to figure their way around security measures.”

How Women Can Recover After Hitting Rock Bottom

Photo Courtesy: Google Images

By Brittany Thomas

Movies from the 1980s profiled the prototypical “It Girl” – pretty, blond, wealthy, who drove luxury sports cars to high school, was liked by other girls and chased by all the boys.

Jane Zarse was that girl, and the persona continued into the ’90s, when she eventually graduated Boston University on the dean’s list and began acting in New York City and in Hollywood films.

That’s what nearly every young woman wants, right? Unfortunately for Zarse, it was a parallel image of her true self, she says. All the while, she’d been devolving into alcoholism and other self-abuses.

“My folks did very well and thought they were doing all the right things for their kids, but we never – never – spoke about our problems,” says Zarse, author of Love and Compassion Is My Religion.

“It was more important to keep up appearances, especially how we appeared to ourselves. After punishing myself with substance abuse, doomed relationships and more, I’d finally hit rock bottom.”

It’s the life story for countless Americans. For Zarse, a non-romantic relationship opened her eyes, aiding her to a robust recovery and a new way of experiencing spirituality. She offers insights for those who need help recovering after hitting rock bottom.

• You can’t change or improve what you don’t acknowledge. Spirituality includes more than mental abstractions; it’s about applying transcendent insights into everyday life. Admitting problems, for instance, means transcending the powerful forces of pride, habit, complacency, etc. Hitting rock bottom forces you to see what you’ve been hiding for so long – that ugly, desperately addicted side of yourself.
  • Don’t fall for a false sense of control. When alcohol, serial dating and unsuccessful job prospects gave Zarse the sense that her life was spinning out of control, she developed an eating disorder. It gave her a false sense of security via an unhealthy expression of discipline. While recovering from rock bottom, such temptations may occur. If so, be honest that you may be grasping, once again, at something unsustainable.
  • Successful relationships require kindness and respect. As the “It Girl,” Zarse received plenty of attention from men. If she wanted a relationship, she was able to find herself in one quickly. But an entitled mentality, coupled with substance abuse, fostered toxicity in her first marriage. You get back what you put into relationships.

“I remember thinking: What’s the point of quitting drinking? – I’ll still be thinking about it constantly,” Zarse says. “If you find yourself with similar thoughts, it may be time seek help. Remember, that help may come in unexpected people.”

Things That Are Often Missed In Financial Planning

By Brittany Thomas

Our relationship with money can be complicated, and it’s for this reason many people seek professional help.

But even when we get help, there are still important aspects that can be overlooked, says Brett King, the managing/founding partner and Senior Vice President Investments for Elite Financial Associates (www.elitefinancialassociates.com). “The wrong way to look at service from a financial advisor is the ‘handing it off’ mentality – that you can put your financial destiny in their hands and not have to think about it anymore,” he says.

“A better attitude is similar to what you might have between your health and your doctor, where your participation is required. Part of that means better understanding your personal wealth by furthering your financial literacy.”

King says some of the important aspects to financial planning that might be missing from your financial wellbeing include:

• A reliable relationship with your money manager. While you have a duty to yourself to understand your own wealth and subsequent goals, so do your money managers. Only recently has the Labor Department issued regulations requiring financial advisers and brokers handling individual retirement and 401(k) accounts to act in the best interests of their clients. You’ll want someone you feel comfortable communicating with, and who makes themselves available.
  • Accounting for inflation. Inflation erodes the purchasing power of your income and wealth. But you can fight it. Stocks, stock mutual funds, variable annuities and variable universal life insurance may be options to consider. These alternatives provide the potential for returns that exceed inflation over the long term. Growth-oriented alternatives carry more risk than other types of investments. Over the long term, however, they may help you stave off the effects of inflation and realize your financial goals. Remember to diversify investments.
  • Utilization of the right annuity. Annuities enable you to accumulate payments, tax-deferred, in exchange for a future income stream in retirement. The different types include fixed, immediate fixed, deferred fixed, variable and the hybrid fixed index annuity – the fastest-growing type of annuity providing principal guarantees and market index upside return. How you use them can make a big difference in reaching your financial goals. If you’re working with a sizeable retirement plan, you probably have some form of annuity, but you want to make sure it’s the right fit.

“Between estates and trusts, tax planning, cash management, risk management, investing and retirement, there could literally be dozens of important factors you’re missing,” King says. “That’s why it all starts with the money managers – you and your advisor.”