What's Left in Your Wallet?

Some wise words from The Daily Show's Demetri Martin -

Harvard Squash and Happiness

The following list comes from NPR's website. Just today, I heard Diane Rehm interview the Harvard professor who teaches the prestigious university's most popular class, "Positive Psychology".

Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar revealed during the interview that he was a varsity squash player in college, so I was pretty psyched to hear that. I looked him up and it turns out he was national champion in 1995 (he attended Harvard). Not bad.

I have found several references over the years to the idea contained in number 2, and I believe it to be extremely important.

I also think you should listen to NPR if you have any time to do so during your day. You'll learn a lot that you might never have heard about.

Six Tips for Happiness

Advice from Tal Ben-Shahar.

1. Give yourself permission to be human. When we accept emotions -- such as fear, sadness, or anxiety -- as natural, we are more likely to overcome them. Rejecting our emotions, positive or negative, leads to frustration and unhappiness.

2. Happiness lies at the intersection between pleasure and meaning. Whether at work or at home, the goal is to engage in activities that are both personally significant and enjoyable. When this is not feasible, make sure you have happiness boosters, moments throughout the week that provide you with both pleasure and meaning.

3. Keep in mind that happiness is mostly dependent on our state of mind, not on our status or the state of our bank account. Barring extreme circumstances, our level of well being is determined by what we choose to focus on (the full or the empty part of the glass) and by our interpretation of external events. For example, do we view failure as catastrophic, or do we see it as a learning opportunity?

4. Simplify! We are, generally, too busy, trying to squeeze in more and more activities into less and less time. Quantity influences quality, and we compromise on our happiness by trying to do too much.

5. Remember the mind-body connection. What we do -- or don't do -- with our bodies influences our mind. Regular exercise, adequate sleep, and healthy eating habits lead to both physical and mental health.

6. Express gratitude, whenever possible. We too often take our lives for granted. Learn to appreciate and savor the wonderful things in life, from people to food, from nature to a smile.

To Your Health (Revisited)

More news on the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption on WebMD.com -

"Drinking three or more alcoholic beverages per week may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a study shows."

"The study also shows that greater reported alcohol consumption was associated with even lower risks of developing RA. But researchers caution that they are by no means encouraging excessive alcohol consumption."

"The findings were presented here at the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) in Barcelona, Spain."

"While the exact protective mechanism of alcohol is not known, it may act by reducing inflammation, [Henrik Kallberg, a Swedish PhD student] says."

It's Electric, Boogie Woogie, Woogie (Revisited)

I forgot to mention one of the most attractive qualities of an ING Direct Electric Orange checking account, and that is the lack of overdraft fees. In an age when hardly anyone balances his or her checkbook, it is easy to lose track of pending purchases and not have enough money allocated in one's checking account to cover those charges, especially when waiting for a deposit to clear. With Electric Orange, you don't pay a fee if you go into your reserve, which you can set at different intervals. You pay back the amount at a very small interest rate.

It's Electric, Boogie Woogie, Woogie

My brother got me to open an ING Direct (Orange) savings account some time ago. It's an online savings account that earns a high yield (unlike one you would get at your neighborhood bank). The current yield on an Orange savings account is 4.5%. If you'd like to sign up, send me an email and I'll invite you to join (since you'll get $25 for signing up, and I'll get 10, sweet.)

I recently received an invitation to the "ING Savings Summit" in Miami. The CEO of ING Direct, Arkadi Kuhlmann, was there, as was personal finance and debt expert, Jean Chatzky.

I signed up my brother and me and we headed over to the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts to check it out. It seemed like the kind of thing WhealthWatcher$ should be attending.

Once there, we were greeted by friendly, outgoing employees of the company and Arkadi walked around and mingled with anyone willing to talk with him. You can tell that it's a great company from the attitudes of everyone working there.

We were turned on to Electric Orange, the ING Direct online checking account that was just launched, and which pays a 4% yield. Not bad compared to the fees you likely pay Bank of America (by the way, if you do have a B of A checking account, as long as you have a scheduled, automatic deposit each month [it can be just a few dollars], then you don't pay the standard monthly fee).

If you have an Orange Savings account, starting an Electric Orange account is simple and hassle-free. You will be able to pay bills, transfer money instantaneously from your Orange Savings to Electric Orange checking, and have access to any All Point ATM around the country. They have an ATM finder on the site so you can find out where you can withdraw money without paying an exorbitant fee. In Miami, most of the pharmacies have All Point ATMs.

We were surprised at the end of the Savings Summit with a gift of $250 that was just deposited in my Orange Savings account yesterday. One gentleman in the audience went home with a check for $10,000. If you're invited to one of these things, go.

By the way, contrary to popular belief, the song by Marcia Griffiths is called "Electric Boogie" and not "The Electric Slide".

You've Got Gmail

This is from Gmail's "New Features" section on Gmail.com -

"It's a Gmail party and everyone is invited!
You can still invite your friends to enjoy Gmail's spam protection, 2.8 GB free storage and other great features, but now you can also just tell them to visit www.gmail.com and sign up without an invitation."

I highly recommend that you sign up for an account. It takes a little getting used to if you've been an AOL user for most of your email life, but Gmail is intuitive and it's easy to change settings, set up email alerts for topics that interest you, like, oh, say, "WhealthWatcher$".

Don't Call It a Comeback (It's Been Here for Years)

Though people are smoking less these days than before, young adults are the most likely people to smoke. That might surprise you, or it might not.

From today's article on WSJ.com, "The Twentysomething Paradox: We Smoke but We're Not Smokers"-

"According to the CDC, 28% of men and 20.7% of women between ages 18 and 24 reported smoking every day or some days in 2005 -- the highest smoking rate of all age groups. The vast majority of these young adults say they plan to quit in 10 years, according to a CDC survey."

Does the preceding quote apply to your or a friend? Consider this-

"Smokers today smoke fewer cigarettes, says Dr. Matthew McKenna, the director of the office on smoking and health at the Centers for Disease Control and Protection. 'You're going to have many more of these types of folks who smoke on an intermittent basis. The phenomenon has increased between 20% to 25% over the past 10 years. In the past, people were much more likely to say they smoked every day, and that has decreased.' He attributes the difference to changing social norms about smoking, the increased cost of cigarettes and the proliferation of smoking bans in public places."

I found this surprising (and I'm actually a bit skeptical of the point)-

"Whether a person smokes one cigarette a day or seven on Saturday night makes no difference, according to Dr. McKenna, who says the risks of heart and lung disease correlate to the number of cigarettes a person has smoked -- total."

I don't think there are many people who smoke one cigarette every day. I think if you're smoking every day of the week, you're probably smoking a lot more than someone who smokes just when he or she goes out drinking. I also think that your body can probably more easily cope with the toxins when spread out over a longer period than all at one time (like binge drinking versus moderate, regular alcohol consumption). The point, of course, is that you shouldn't smoke at all, so that's what we're supposed to take away from this article.

Thank You for Smoking

Not only is it an hilarious novel by fellow Portsmouth Abbey alumnus Christopher Buckley, but it's what England's NHS (National Health Service) is saying to that nation's smokers. Not only are smokers taxed at exorbitant rates there and in the US, but now they are subject to penalties if they fail to quit during the four weeks prior to undergoing surgery for non-life-threatening conditions. The reason for the new policy is that smokers have been shown to need much longer recovery time than non-smokers.

A quote from an online forum in this article on the Daily Mail website makes a salient point -

"What about drinkers, drug takers, people who eat too much and people who never exercise?"

I'm not sure that I used "salient" correctly just then, but it sounds good. This debate will intensify as personal behavior and lifestyle choices come under increased scrutiny vis-a-vis healthcare costs. The problem is that the line is difficult to draw, as shown in the aforementioned example in England.

Here's another example: Does the exercise benefit that comes with playing in a soccer league outweigh the risks of injury that come with it? Will people start being asked increasingly personal questions about lifestyle? Will EHRs (Electronic Health Records) destroy any shred of privacy that remains in our society? Do you think George Orwell is as smart as I do? Did I use "vis-a-vis" correctly in the preceding paragraph? Where is the accent grave on my keyboard?

All of these are important questions.

It's the State of Health Insurance, Stupid

If you're not old enough to remember the 1992 presidential campaign (when Bill Clinton was elected over the single-term, elder George Bush), then you might be offended by the title of this post. Please don't take it personally, stupid.

The Kaiser Network today posted a comprehensive summary of Barack Obama's recently formulated healthcare proposal. There are links to major news publications about the candidate's proposal, summaries of editorials about it, and even links to radio coverage of the subject. You may draw your own conclusion.

Republicans have been conspicuously silent during the most recent healthcare debate. I look forward to hearing about the plans that will most certainly highlight HSAs and the larger consumer directed market.

He's No Christopher Columbus

This is an African proverb, referenced in Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat, which he saw on the wall of a factory in China-

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion
or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle
or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

I assume it was written in Chinese on that wall.

Bigger is Better

More news on the benefits of breast implants. Is there anything they can't do..?

" Study: Breast Implants Boost Self-Esteem and Sex Drive"

"Of particular interest, [researcher] Figueroa-Haas said, were increases in ratings of sexual desire, with a 78.6 percent increase from initial scores; arousal, which showed an 81 percent increase; and satisfaction, with a 57 percent increase."

Think Again

This one's for my brother, Brendan, and John Stossel. Those guys love this kind of myth-debunking.

MSN Health has a list of things that you probably think are healthy habits, and reasons why they are not. A conspicuous item on the list is the very first; anti-bacterial soap. It kills the weak bacteria and makes strong ones stronger.

Read the entire list here.

Smile

"You can never tell what type of impact you may make on another's life by your actions or lack of action. Sometimes just with a smile on the street to a passing stranger can make a difference we could never imagine."

-Ed Foreman, Congressman, Advisor to 5 US presidents

This is another Motivational Quote of the Day from Nightingale-Conant. It's not the most grammatically consistent statement, but this made me think. Little acts of kindness can have a dramatic effect on the world around us. On the flip side, negativity can spread and hurt more people than just the guy you flipped off while you were driving.

Wealth = Health

How perfect is this?

	"To get rich, never risk your health. For it is the truth that health is the wealth of wealth."
	— Richard Baker: American congressman.

"Health is the wealth of wealth." I really like that.

Oil and Water

This is a tough one for me, since I'd much rather see people buying water than soda, but there is a growing movement against the bottled water phenomenon.

Gina Solomon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, points out that "people complain about the cost of gasoline", but "no one seems to realize that they are paying for a picture of pretty mountains on the label and a product they could get for free from their own tap." She has a water filter at home and carries a reusable bottle for drinking tap water.

There are tons of reasons not to buy bottled water. Here are some of them on CNNMoney.

MQOTD

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today."
— Dale Carnegie

Healthcare Consumer Tools

It's taking some time, but the resources are becoming available to make decisions and comparisons with respect to healthcare and its costs.

The Tennessee Hospital Association has created a website on which one may generate a report to find out what a typical hospital procedure, such as a cesarean section, would cost at hospitals throughout the state (except for the ones owned by HCA [Hospital Corporation of America], the largest hospital group in the US, which promises to publish pricing information soon).

tnhospitalsinform.com

There is no quality data to compare yet, but Health and Human Services has its own website you can check out.

www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Don't Think Fast

People have recently been talking about the lemonade diet; sometimes called the "master cleanse". Beyonce Knowles claims to have lost 20 pounds getting ready for her role in Dreamgirls with the diet, consisting largely of lemonade, maple syrup and cayenne pepper, along with fasting.

Here's an article on WebMD -

"If you weed through all the controversy, you’ll find that most medical experts agree on one thing: fasting is not a healthy weight loss tool. "

And here is a site that goes in depth about a couple of versions of the diet.

Dangers of WiFi

My cousin has been talking about the risks of ubiquitous WiFi for quite some time now. It will be interesting to see the long term effects. Headaches, nausea, and early senility are three possible ones. Click here to see an article on the subject.

1 + 1 = 4

I was recently discussing the fact that a martini probably counts as several drinks, but I think when most people are out drinking, they think "a drink is a drink". Well, a martini is, in fact, more like 2 drinks. So, one martini plus one martini equals four drinks. That explains my wacky arithmetic in the title line, and it also explains the now standard aversion to the old-fashioned "two martini lunch" once popular among businessmen.

One alcoholic drink is the equivalent of a 12-ounce beer (standard can or bottle), a 4-ounce glass of wine, or 1.25 ounces of hard alcohol (a shot). Here is an interesting online resource from Loyola Marymount University that lists the drink-equivalent of some popular drinks among college students and young adults including the Long Island Iced Tea (4 drinks), a cup of keg beer (1 1/3 drinks), and a 40-ounce malt liquor (5 drinks).

If you're drinking Long Islands all night, you are not demonstrating moderation in your behavior.