Twila Van Leer

Your Emergency Savings Can Save You

March 22, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Who plans on having roof repairs? Emergency savings can help cover these costs.

Saving part of your income on a regular basis may sometimes seem to be an unnecessary step that just deprives you of having the things you’d like now. But there are instances when a savings pad may be what saves your bacon in an emergency.

A bankrate.com survey in June 2015 discovered that 29 percent of Americans have no savings at all. They could learn from the personal stories shared by Americans who found that their savings suddenly meant all the difference to their personal finances.

Claes Bell is one of those. It happened under very ordinary circumstance, he related. Those who make Florida their home know that heavy, long-lasting rain is a reality in that part of the country. “It’s sudden and loud and so thick you can’t see much past the end of your driveway,” Bell recounted.

The Bells knew that the roof on the home they bought was 25 years old and becoming a problem, but they’d put off repairs. So when the next storm arrived, they were dismayed but not surprised to hear dripping in their bathroom and find a stain on the ceiling that let them know where the rain was getting in.

Bell tried stop-gap measures, including a sealant, but the drip kept occurring during rainstorms. It became obvious that the only real solution was a new roof. In a poor realty market, the chances for a line of credit or equity loan seemed remote. That’s when the Bells’ emergency fund became the factor that saved their finances.

“Thanks to the sluggish market for home repairs, we were able to get a deal on the roof that allowed us to just cover the cost with our emergency fund,” Bell wrote.

Using up the fund was painful, but it served the purpose for which the family established it. They were able to repair their home without incurring budget-busting debt. They were safe and comfortable, even knowing that Florida’s rains would continue to fall. Starting a new emergency fund was at the top of their priority list.

Thousands of such stories should be impetus for that huge group of Americans who continue to shun saving as a vital part of their budget. As the Bells could tell them, savings and safety are words of a feather.

Increase Productivity At Work

March 22, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Why kill time when you can make it work for you?

What makes some people more productive at work than others? Here are some suggestions from people who are highly productive in business.

Time Management

Learning how to manage your time is the first thing to do. Focus on minutes, not hours. There are 24 hours in a day, but 1,440 minutes. Time spent can never be regained, it is gone forever. Some of the successful people plan their time in minutes, rather than blocking out half hours or hours in their time budgets. The experts say that if you master minutes, you master your life.

One Goal At A Time

It is easy to get distracted during the day. So many things come up that can take you away from your main goals. Try focusing on one thing at a time. Settle on your Most Important Task and work on it without interruption each morning. In other words, invest the most productive time of your day in addressing what is currently most important. To identify the “Most Important Task,” ask yourself what will have the greatest impact on reaching your goals or getting you up the ladder where you work.

Ditch The Lists

Don’t make to-do lists. Studies show that only 41 percent of the items placed on to-do lists actually get done. The undone items can haunt you and lead to stress. Highly productive people have a calendar and work from that calendar, setting aside 15-minute blocks for various tasks. Using such an approach will put you in the 95th percentile, production-wise, the experts say.

Use Resources Wisely

People tend to be time-inconsistent. Defeating your future self is one of the challenges. For instance, we buy bags full of healthy vegetables to get on a better regimen, then let them sit in the refrigerator until they rot. Or we buy exercise equipment that is still in the box a year later. Anticipate ahead of time the areas in which you are likely to self-sabotage and act accordingly.

Cherish Family Time

Make it home for dinner. There’s no such thing as being finished with your work. There’s always more. Even though your work is one of your values, there are others that do or should have equal standing. Each individual chooses his own “most valuable” list, but for many, it includes family time, exercise and giving back to one’s community. Consciously allocate time to your own personal value areas and stick to it. Put time for these things into your calendar and don’t let them be crowded out by work.

Lower Airfares Predicted

March 20, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

For travelers all over the world, the lure of lower airfares is attractive. NASA scientists are working on eliminating a problem that just may drop airfares. Bugs are the target for this new technology. They are developing a coating to be applied to the airplane that will keep insects (and other debris) from sticking to the wings and fuselage of a craft, allowing smoother air flow and lower fuel costs.

Researchers count insect residue on the wing of the ecoDemonstrator 757 aircraft. Photographer: Paul Bagby/NASA Langley

Fuel Efficiency

NASA says the improvement in “laminar flow” reduces drag and improves fuel efficiency. Even very small bits of debris, including bug splats, can cause air turbulence that roils the airstream. The scientists describe it as tiny air waves crashing against each other.

Two Potential Coatings

Eliminating the problem would be no small deal. Two potential coatings, tested last year on the wings of a Boeing 757, showed real promise.

The projected savings in fuel costs are enormous.
“It’s like taking your car from 20 miles per gallon to 200,” said Mark Drela, professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a specialist in aerodynamics.

Estimates are that successful coatings could cut airline fuel consumption by 1 percent. If that sounds like a small amount, consider that it represents 167 million gallons of fuel at a savings of 308 million a year.

Those working on the potential coatings say they would be most effective if incorporated into the design of new planes, rather than adding it to craft already in use. And as with all new technologies, it would have to prove itself effective before the manufacturers would run to get on the bandwagon. But environmentalists are pushing, because of the anticipated benefits to the air. Airplanes are blamed for a significant portion of the climate warming that is happening. Amid predictions that more controls will inevitably be placed on the air travel industry (some prospective new regulations are due to be implemented by 2020), they are looking for better solutions.

Expensive Research

The technology being tested borrows a lesson from nature. For instance, they looked at lotus leaves, which has pits and ridges that repel water. The costs of research are enormous. Some $400 million has been spent. Those working on the coatings (at a cost of some $10 million) expect that royalties paid by airlines for use of the technology will recoup their investment.

Future Plans

How soon we will be seeing airplanes with the new coating remains to be seen. And whether it will portend less expensive air fares also is part of the unknown equation. But the prospects are worth thinking about.

While the science is still in its infancy, the prospect offers a number of advantages: less pollution of the air from air flight, (aircraft emit 3 percent of the greenhouse gases in the U.S.) and, down the road, possibly a drop in the cost of air fares.

Should I Cut The Cable Cord?

March 15, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Dropping Cable Or Satellite TV? Make An Educated Choice

Thinking of dropping live tv. — Many people are trying to decide whether to drop live tv.

The great majority of Americans, some 83 percent as of 2015, pay for TV service, according to Leitchman Research Group. They put out money for cable, satellite or fiber-optic providers. The percentage actually has dropped slightly since 2010, when it was at the 87 percent level. The difference, according to the researchers, is that fewer households are signing up for cable to replace those who have dropped the service. And some couples moving into their first home don’t sign up as a matter of course.

The percentages may continue to drop as people catch on to the fact that they don’t need cable or satellite to watch their favorite TV shows. Streaming, downloading, library discs and network TV are all reasonable alternatives.

Streaming:

Services such as HULU, Netflix and Amazon Prime give you access to thousands of shows, including past seasons of popular cable series, current episodes of network TV shows and original shows that are only available online. The average price of the services is just $9 per month, only a fraction of the $99-per-month average cost of cable or satellite. An advantage: you can tune in on your own schedule, rather than the network’s.

Downloads:

You have access to many TV shows from iTunes or VUDU for $2 to $3 each. That could become more expensive than cable or satellite if you get all your shows this way. But if you are an occasional viewer or if you want to watch just one particular show that you can’t get through a streaming service, it’s practical.

Library Discs:

Most modern libraries now offer videos for patrons. Check out your local library.

Network TV:

Despite the many delivery choices now available, it still is possible to watch TV the old-fashioned way without any additional fees. All you need is a good antenna, preferably a roof-mounted version. Various indoor antennas also are available if you don’t have easy access to a roof. You can even build your own with instructions from such publications as Popular Mechanics. Online tutorials can guide you in making an antenna from materials that are readily available, such as scrap wood and old coat hangers, cardboard and aluminum foil.

Choosing among the alternatives could save you a bundle. For instance, compare a $99-per-month cable fee with an $8-per-month HULU subscription. Over a year, that’s a $1,092 savings.

Black Friday: What Happened This Year?

March 11, 2016 By Twila Van Leer

Well, the annual bacchanalia of holiday bargains has come and gone. Whether it was the standard grab-for-the-goodies frenzy or a ho-hum just another day depended to a large degree on where in the country you are located.

As predicted, some of the oomph of the post-Thanksgiving spree has eased, with fewer shoppers willing to brave the early hours and crowds, reports from around the country indicate. In some locales, demonstrators piggy-backed on the opportunity to attract a crowd. And some people opted to stay home and peruse the ads in newspapers or online before making spending decisions.

Bottom line, according to an Associated Press rundown, crowds this year seemed to be smaller than in the past. But there were variations on the theme in some places.

Colorado

In Colorado, which legalized marijuana recently, discounted weed and specially wrapped holiday combinations were on sale for the Black Friday crowd. In traditionally snowy Denver weather, some crowds lined up and braved the cold to get in on the weed deals.

Chicago

Some Chicagoans linked arms and tried to block traffic into stores in protest of the shooting of a teenager in their city. In some of the stores, employees safely ushered shoppers out of side doors to prevent possible clashes with the protestors. Some of the shoppers took it all in stride and used their smartphones to photograph the event.

Kansas City

Some shoppers who have reveled in the competition and excitement of Black Fridays past were actually disappointed to find themselves in stores without crowds. One woman in Kansas City listlessly shuffled through racks of clothing and wondered where the fun went.

Arizona

In sunny Arizona, people told news reporters they preferred hiking in the saguaro-studded hills rubbing elbows with crowds of shoppers. For some like-minded non-shoppers, it was an opportunity to impress upon children the true meaning of the holidays, one Tucson mother was reported as saying.

Online

As technology takes over more and more of the country’s shopping functions, the experts reported that – as predicted- more retail shoppers used their phones than their desktop computers to order goods. The option of sitting at home quietly digesting the Thanksgiving turkey while ordering online rather than facing the mobs in stores, seemed to make even more inroads into the Black Friday events.

Big Retailers

Even with the slight slackening of Black Friday traffic, some of the nation’s biggest retailers reported brisk sales. WalMart reps reported that its stores dotting the country saw increased sales this year, both in the stores and online, over last year. Ditto Target, which racked up a record in online sales, particularly electronics. Business in Target’s stores also was satisfactory, spokesmen said. Penneys put considerable effort pre-season into making its apps more user-friendly and said the results were good. It was apparent that many shoppers were researching online then going to the stores for purchases, a spokesperson said.

Black Friday may be losing a little of its luster, but don’t count it out yet as a holiday event of great magnitude.