June-Marie Raw Food and Fitness Health Making a Shake etc 005 – Video
Posted: February 7, 2012 at 3:03 am
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50PlusPlusFit.com Offers Interactive Social Fitness for Adults 50+
Posted: at 3:03 am
HOUSTON, Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Merz Ventures, LLC has announced the launch of the first interactive fitness website designed exclusively for people fifty years of age and older. 50+/+Fit will focus on the life-stage needs and lifestyle desires of the 50+ demographic, helping this group realize their full lifestyle potential through fitness. "Whether just starting out or a veteran of fitness, site visitors will find a wealth of helpful information, advice, motivation and support, plus free tools and calculators. From weight loss and diets to cardiovascular and strength training, from Pilates to running to water exercise, this site has it all in a language and environment just for the 50+ crowd," said Bob Merz, Chief Experience Officer.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120206/CG48396)
In addition to the free tools and features of the site, 50+/+Fit also offers subscriptions to the most powerful set of interactive diet and fitness tools, dedicated to helping people over 50 in their effort to lose weight, build strength and reach and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Subscribers will have access to a broad range of easy to use interactive fitness tools including customized exercise plans created by 50 plus fitness professionals, advanced diet and exercise tracking, and a convenient meal planner to keep healthy eating habits on track. The subscription option includes a database of over 800 exercise videos and over 40,000 foods and recipes.
"Beyond the site's tools and informative content, the brand itself is a critical component of this initiative," added Merz, "this is all about the over 50 individual, 50+ fitness and a positive +Fit attitude." A robust social platform, including forums and organic groups created by the site members themselves, reinforces the 50+/+Fit brand personality and attitude.
"Bottom line," Merz concluded, "today's 50+ audience is not like their parents… they're online and interactive, and they're not about to sit by idling away. They are ready to be 50+/+Fit."
For more information or to join 50+/+Fit visit http://50PlusPlusFit.com
About Merz Ventures
Merz ventures LLC is the first multi-faceted fitness enterprise targeting the growing and prosperous 50 plus demographic. Providing expert resources, detailed tracking, online accountability and motivation, and a premier social network, 50+/+Fit offers appeal to health seekers and fitness enthusiasts alike. Until now mostly ignored by the fitness industry, the 50+ demo represents fertile territory for the broad portfolio of 50+/+Fit brand extensions planned by Merz Ventures through manufacturing and licensing agreements. 50+/+Fit is a registered trademark of Merz Ventures, LLC, Houston, TX.
For More Information Contact: Bob Merz - 832-244-6305 Bob@50PlusPlusFit.com
Media Contact: Bob Merz of Merz Ventures, LLC, +1-832-244-6305, Bob@50PlusPLusFit.com
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50PlusPlusFit.com Offers Interactive Social Fitness for Adults 50+
Fitness and "fatness" both matter to the heart
Posted: at 3:03 am
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Losing fitness or packing on fat with age each can be bad for the heart -- but avoiding either one of those fates may protect the ticker, a study published Monday suggests.
U.S. researchers found that of more than 3,100 healthy adults they followed, those who improved -- or simply maintained -- their fitness levels were less likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol or other well-established heart disease risk factors.
Similarly, people who maintained their weight had fewer of those red flags than people who became heavier over time.
That may sound logical, but part of what's new in the findings, researchers say, is that changes in fitness and "fatness" each appeared important on their own.
In general, people who kept their fitness levels over time seemed to counter some of the ill effects of weight gain. And dips in fitness levels weren't as bad if a person lost some excess body fat.
The results suggest that protecting heart health is not as hard as some people think, according to lead researcher Duck-chul Lee, of the University of South Carolina in Columbia.
That is, just maintaining your weight and fitness levels as you age may be enough to see benefits.
"If you're overweight, losing weight and improving your fitness may be the best combination," Lee told Reuters Health. "But that's very challenging."
For many people, "maintenance" may be more achievable, Lee said.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, included 3,148 men and women in the Dallas area who were in their early 40s, on average, at the outset.
Over six years, they developed high blood pressure at a rate of four percent each year, high cholesterol at a rate of three percent per year and so-called metabolic syndrome at a rate of two percent per year. (Metabolic syndrome refers to a collection of risk factors for heart disease -- including high blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels, abdominal obesity and high blood sugar.)
But people who kept up or improved their fitness levels -- as measured during treadmill tests -- had lower odds of developing those heart risk factors.
Their risks of high blood pressure or high cholesterol were 26 percent to 30 percent lower, versus people whose fitness levels declined. And their risk of metabolic syndrome was 42 percent to 52 percent lower.
Similarly, when people increased their percentage of body fat over time, they were more likely to develop heart risk factors.
For each one percent increase in body fat, the odds of those risk factors climbed anywhere from three percent to eight percent.
But in general, people who gained weight stayed healthier if they kept up their fitness levels. And if overweight people shed some fat, they countered some of the negative effects of waning fitness.
The bottom line, according to Lee, is that people who are active should stay active. Even if you don't see a benefit on your bathroom scale, you'll stay fit.
"If you're already exercising, keep it up, and maybe increase the intensity if you can," Lee said.
If you're sedentary but healthy, he said, you can safely take up moderate exercise like brisk walking. Lee added, though, that people who are obese or have chronic health conditions should talk to their doctors first.
"It's the sedentary people who will get the most benefit from exercise in a short time," Lee said.
He was, however, referring to the benefit of improved fitness. Overweight people often fail to see the pounds fly off when they first start exercising -- possibly because they are hungrier and start eating more.
Don't get discouraged by that, Lee said. You can improve your cardiovascular fitness even without shedding the extra body fat. One way to tell if your fitness is improving, Lee said, is to simply notice how you feel when you go about your normal exercise routine; if it's getting easier, you're getting fitter.
To actually lose weight, diet changes are needed as well.
"Most people will lose weight with exercise," Lee said, "if they also pay attention to the calories they're taking in."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/dIuKje Journal of the American College of Cardiology, online February 6, 2012.
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Fitness and "fatness" both matter to the heart
New Study Suggests an Unconventional Approach May Help Boomers Prolong Retirement Savings
Posted: at 3:02 am
SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwire -02/06/12)- Brandes Investment Partners today released a new study by the Brandes Institute suggesting ways for investors to improve their financial prospects in retirement, including reducing the risk of outliving their assets ("money death"). The baby boom generation is now moving towards retirement age while longevity estimates suggest that their retirement may last much longer than expected. The study suggests that many of America's baby boomers could increase their retirement assets at advanced ages by maintaining a larger portion of their portfolios in higher-potential investments such as equities (rather than re-allocating prematurely into fixed income) and managing the risk of money death by investing a modest portion of their portfolio in longevity insurance. The study comes on the heels of the U.S. Treasury's plan to make it easier for defined contribution plans and IRAs to offer annuity options.
"Retirees in good health have a risk of outliving their assets regardless of their investment strategy. Our study suggests they may do better by aiming for superior long-term returns in their investment portfolios and dealing with money death risk separately," said Barry Gillman, Research Director, Brandes Institute Advisory Board. "This contradicts the conventional wisdom, which tells people to play it safe when they retire by moving a large portion of their portfolio to bonds.
"One problem with the conventional approach is that about 60% of the money distributed from typical retirement accounts should come from investment returns earned after retirement. Today's historically low yields are just not providing the returns retirees will likely need to sustain them.
"Until now, this approach has not been widely understood or used even by the healthy and wealthy individual investors who stand to benefit from it most. With the Treasury's new initiative to tear down some of the barriers to investing retirement savings in annuities, this could also become a practical solution for many participants with 401(k) and IRA savings."
The study cites evidence generated by the Brandes Retirement Simulator, a proprietary online model that projects a range of long-term asset outcomes based on an individual's personal finances and expected lifespan, as well as portfolio allocations and investment assumptions, and the use of longevity insurance. The full study is available on the firm's website at http://www.brandes.com/institute. Access to the Brandes Retirement Simulator will soon be available on the firm's website at no cost to retirees and advisors who can customize the inputs and integrate it into their retirement planning.
About Brandes
Brandes Investment Partners is a global investment advisory firm based in San Diego and along with its affiliates, manages more than $32 billion of assets as of December 31, 2011, for institutional and private clients worldwide. Since its inception in 1974, Brandes has applied the value investing approach to security selection pioneered by Benjamin Graham. Among the first investment firms to bring a global perspective to value investing, Brandes manages a variety of investment strategies.
Brandes Investment Partners, L.P. is a U.S. registered investment adviser. Brandes does not sell or endorse any insurance policy. More information can be found at http://www.brandes.com.
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New Study Suggests an Unconventional Approach May Help Boomers Prolong Retirement Savings
Children’s Hospital Boston Achieves Dramatic Employee Retirement Savings Improvement after Consolidating Benefits with …
Posted: at 3:02 am
BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Fidelity Investments®, the leader in helping employees of health care organizations save for retirement1 , announced today that Children’s Hospital Boston dramatically improved the number of employees participating in its workplace retirement savings plan after consolidating plan administration solely with Fidelity last year. At year-end 2011, 95 percent of Children’s Hospital Boston’s 9,400 eligible employees were participating in the plan, up from 37 percent at the end of 20102 -- an unprecedented 160 percent increase. Fidelity services all the hospital’s nearly 11,000 retirement plan participants, including both current employees and retirees.
Together, Children’s Hospital Boston and Fidelity developed an innovative and comprehensive approach to serving the diverse needs of Children’s Hospital Boston employees and retirees. The offering includes comprehensive investment guidance, proactive and multi-touch communications, automatic enrollment of all new employees, and re-enrollment of those who were not in the retirement plan at year-end 2010. This powerful combination of automatic enrollment, guidance and engaging communications programs designed to meet the specific needs to Children’s Hospital Boston employees and retirees helped drive the hospital’s exceptional participation rate increase.
“At Children’s Hospital Boston we are committed to providing our employees and retirees with high-quality service and investment guidance to help them achieve their retirement goals,” said Dawn Socha, director of benefits for Children’s Hospital Boston. “We are thrilled with the progress that has been made with the innovative program we developed with Fidelity.”
“Fidelity is proud to be the sole retirement plan provider for Children’s Hospital Boston, an organization synonymous with building better futures for children and their families,” said John Ragnoni, executive vice president, Tax-Exempt Retirement Services, Fidelity Investments. “We are excited to work with Children’s Hospital Boston to develop and implement a program that has been so successful in helping their employees get on the path to reaching their long-term financial and retirement goals.”
Tailored Investment and Retirement Guidance
Fidelity’s comprehensive guidance programs help Children’s Hospital Boston participants across all ages and employment tenures make educated investment decisions. Programs include one-on-one consultations by phone or in person at Children’s Hospital Boston locations or at one of Fidelity’s eight Greater Boston Investor Centers. Participants also benefit from a wide range of onsite and online workshops and webinars, plus Fidelity’s full suite of online planning tools. In 2011 alone, more than 75 onsite workshops were offered at regional Children’s Hospital Boston locations across Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Three distinct age-based workshops provide educational investment guidance tailored to participants in various life stages:
For participants ages 25-40, workshops focus on enrolling in the plan, setting a deferral rate and financial topics beyond retirement planning, such as day-to-day budgeting. Guidance for participants ages 40-55 helps ensure optimal asset allocation and goal setting. For participants ages 55 or older, workshops are available to help participants prepare for retirement by creating a comprehensive retirement income plan. This includes getting to know the participants and their retirement goals, helping to create a retirement “paycheck” and explaining ways to help protect against taxes, inflation and rising health care costs.
About Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, with assets under administration of $3.4 trillion, including managed assets of $1.5 trillion, as of December 31, 2011. Founded in 1946, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and many other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit http://www.fidelity.com.
Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
900 Salem Street, Smithfield, RI 02917
Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Inc.
100 Salem St., Smithfield, RI 02917
Although consultations are one on one, guidance provided by Fidelity is educational in nature, is not individualized and is not intended to serve as the primary or sole basis for your investment or tax-planning decisions.
604124.1.0
© 2012 FMR LLC. All rights reserved.
1 Based on 2011 data sourced from LIMRA and Fidelity Market Insights Group.
2 Fidelity business data as of January 9, 2012.
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How Ethnicity Affects Retirement Savings
Posted: at 3:02 am
Ethnicity is a growing area of interest for banks, largely because they want to understand their customers better.
[50 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2012]
By 2050, says Fred Makonnen, vice president of multicultural sales at ING, African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans will make up the majority of the U.S. population, compared with just over one-third now. “We need to have, as an industry, products that can speak directly to these consumers. We’re seeing time and time again there is a significant gap between various ethnic groups … and the reasons tend to be embedded in cultural differences,” he says.
While he’s quick to add that the study reveals more similarities than differences, African American and Hispanic respondents tend use shorter time horizons when it comes to financial planning, which, he says, can get in the way of saving enough for retirement.
A new ING study, which was commissioned by the ING Retirement Research Institute and polled households with incomes over $40,000, found that 31 percent of African Americans, a higher percentage than any other group, list debt as an obstacle to saving, but they also were more financially prepared in certain areas, such as life insurance coverage. The study found that 1 in 4 African American respondents had life insurance valued at four to five times their current salary, compared with just 18 percent of total respondents.
The ING study also found that Hispanic respondents were more likely to sacrifice their own financial future for their children, a choice Makonnen says is most common among first-generation immigrants. “If you’re first-generation, the family unity is much stronger, especially in the Hispanic community. Over time, you’ll see less and less of that leaning on family as a financial security blanket,” he says.
A recent Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll similarly revealed that African American women are more likely to loan money to family or friends compared with white women (60 percent versus 52 percent) and to help friends or family with child care on a regular basis (36 percent versus 24 percent for white women).
In the ING study, Asian American respondents were the most prepared for retirement; on average, they had built savings of $81,000 in employee-sponsored plans, such as 401(k)s and $58,000 in other types of savings vehicles, such as CDs and IRAs. By comparison, Hispanic respondents reported having just $54,000 saved in retirement savings accounts.
Meanwhile, Asian American respondents demonstrated a different weak spot: estate planning. They were the least likely group to have a last will and testament (26 percent) compared with 37 percent of white respondents. Asian-American respondents were also more likely to prioritize splurges such as a nice car or home, over retirement savings. “Overall, Asians seem to believe that purchasing short-term goods and materials is a sign of success, and having physical possessions is very important,” says Makonnen.
[10 Ways to Save Your Retirement]
The ING study clearly demonstrated that the challenge of saving for retirement cuts across all ethnic groups. Close to half of all ethnic groups said they feel unprepared for retirement, ranging from 54 percent of Hispanic respondents to 44 percent of Asian American respondents. And when it comes to planning, close to 30 percent of all groups reported having formal investment plans, ranging from 28 percent for white respondents to 32 percent for African American respondents.
These findings suggest to Makonnen than banks can provide better tools and resources to reach out to certain groups to help them plan for retirement, he says. He works with historically black colleges and universities, for example, to launch “culturally-relevant” financial literacy programs. Because the study found that Hispanic and African American respondents were especially likely to look to their employers for retirement planning assistance, he also wants to investigate how ING can help employers with that. “[Employees] are not going to seek out information if they’re not in their comfort zone,” he says.
Among all groups, Makonnen adds, “We’re seeing less emphasis on planning going forward.” That’s a trend he wants to help reverse.
Twitter: @alphaconsumer
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How Ethnicity Affects Retirement Savings
Thought of the Day: Conversations create Momentum – Video
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