Farnoosh Torabi's Blog, page 26
October 15, 2013
Signs You Suffer From a Financial Disorder
Certain daily habits we take for granted may actually be symptomatic of serious financial conditions. From working extra long hours to an affinity for all-things frugal, here are three financial disorders and their tell-tale signs.
Do any of these financial disorders sound familiar to you? Connect with me on Twitter @Farnoosh and use the hashtag #FinFit.
October 14, 2013
5 Ways to Save on Home Heating
With temperatures dropping by the day, keeping your house warm without a sky-high heating bill can be a challenge. With energy auditor Nick Miuccio from 1LLC, we’ve got 5 simple do-it-yourself steps to save up to 50% on your annual bill. Read more here.
What are your best energy saving tips? Connect with me on Twitter @Farnoosh and use the hashtag #finfit
October 10, 2013
Easy Ways to Replace Missing Pieces
Cracked a piece of dinner China handed down from your grandmother? Can’t host Scrabble game night due to some missing tiles? You’re in luck. A number of websites can help you replace missing or broken items to complete your set. Read more here.
Where else can you find replacement pieces? Connect with me on Twitter @Farnoosh and use the hashtag #finfit.
October 8, 2013
Surprising Relationship Dealbreakers
The next time someone approaches you in a bar and asks for your digits, they may not be after your phone number. For those seeking a soul mate, the following financial dealbreakers may surprise you. Read more here.
Are finances a relationship dealbreaker for you? Connect with me on Twitter @Farnoosh and use the hashtag #FinFit.
October 5, 2013
The $100,000 Haunted House
Amid increased optimism in the ailing party rental industry, Lee Seymour joined forces with MMA fighter Rob Gleckman to unleash Terror Trucks, an expensive and ambitious haunted house business.
Seymour and Gleckman came together a few years ago, when Gleckman rented one of Seymour’s inflatable haunted houses for his big Halloween bash. “A couple weeks after the party, he invited me to a private cigar club, said he wanted in on the business, and asked if I had any other concepts,” remembers Seymour. “Nothing happened for a few years, until I pitched him Terror Trucks in October 2011. We were in production two months later. That’s how much he loved the idea.”
Buried Alive and Cold Storage, the first two haunted trailers, were completed by the following August 2012, just in time for the Halloween season. “The success… was instantaneous,” says Seymour. “We were taking both trailers to every job, booking two to three jobs a day.”
Although the trailer proved to be popular, Seymour admits that the high cost of the project initially made him nervous. “If anything, I tried to dissuade Rob,” he says. “The trucks, themselves, cost anywhere from $100,000 to $150,000 to build, and that’s not including overhead.”
“But Rob saw opportunity beyond just high-concept party rentals,” explains Seymour. “Each of the trailers is like a self-contained horror movie, with its own storyline and unique characters. He saw the value in the brand, itself – manufacture and sale, franchising, merchandising – and that’s what attracted him.”
According to this article from PRWeb.com, IBISWorld expects that revenue in the Party Supply Rental industry to grow 2.7% annually through 2016. With the economy on the rebound, business and households, alike, are expanding their party budgets to include more than just the bare necessities. Seymour is also seeking out new business opportunities that target price sensitive customers. “We’re looking at fairs and carnivals,” says Seymour. “We pay for the spot and give visitors the opportunity to ‘pay for play.’”
Seymour also points out that there are advantages to renting outside the Halloween season. “Obviously Halloween is our peak time of the year,” he says. “But people are interested in horror throughout the year, and our off-peak rates are much cheaper.”
As for the future, Seymour and Gleckman are focused on the merchandising and manufacture-for-sale parts of the business and expansion into broader entertainment and theme park markets. “We just completed upgrades on Buried Alive and Cold Storage,” he says. “After this season, we’ll put those up for sale and start construction on a new theme called Rats, in which you’ll literally have to crawl through a sewer of rats.”
October 4, 2013
Help For Furloughed Federal Workers
Lots of people have speculated on what a government shutdown will mean for the country in the long run. In the short term, one thing is clear: thousands of Americans could be without pay for some time.
About 4.1 million people work for the federal government and just over 800,000 workers – mostly civilian military workers – are currently furloughed without pay. Federal employees were last paid Sept. 30 and will next be paid again on Oct. 15 for work rendered. After that, it’s up to Congress when they’ll see they’re next paycheck.
Now, it’s true that the shutdown could be resolved any day now. The last government shutdown lasted nearly a month and when it was all said and done, government workers received back pay for their time on furlough. But, with no idea of when that will be, many federal employees are probably in danger of missing payments on their mortgages, credit cards and other important bills.
So what can they do to remain financially stable in their downtime? Well, if you ever needed an example of why emergency funds are necessary, this it it. Experts typically advise we save enough to survive for nearly six months without pay. Hopefully, those furloughed workers took that advice and have enough to float until the dust clears. If not, perhaps that can negotiate with their creditors.
Cooperating Banks
A few banks and lenders have announced specific plans to address the needs of furloughed customers and many have policies to address hardship, arrange payment plans and help avoid any catastrophic consequences of salary shortfall. Fannie and Freddie have promised to not charge fees for late mortgage payments made during the shutdown. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have both said that assistance is available to customer effected by the shutdown. Finally, TD Bank has created “TD Cares,” program to help customers. It’ll will run from Oct. 10 to Nov. 2, or until the government shutdown ends. The bank will advance customers up to $1,000, waive credit card late fees, and adjust mortgage payments on a case-by-case basis.
Unemployment Benefits
Finally, while on furlough, federal employees may become eligible for unemployment benefits under the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. UCFE is paid by the states under the same terms and conditions as regular state unemployment compensation. Information on where and how to file can be found on the U.S Department of Labor Web site at www.dol.gov.
Photo Courtesy, Glyn Lowe Photoworks.
October 3, 2013
When to Toss Your Sneakers
October 2, 2013
Lose Weight: 6 Small Changes, Big Results
Weight loss is a $20 billion dollar industry in the U.S., so make your diet dollars work harder by layering on a few extra metabolism-boosting strategies to aid in fat loss.
An old friend and trainer of mine — a Tier 3+ certified trainer & nutritionist from New York’s prestigious Equinox Gym – used to barrage me with this weight loss wisdom, so much so it’s now ingrained. She couldn’t be reached for comment for this story, but her advice helped me shed and keep off over 20 pounds last year and it could help you, too:
Exercise When It Counts
A workout is a workout is a workout, right? Wrong. It turns out a workout right before a meal can be more effective than one after. My trainer always emphasized that if you know you’re about to eat a caloric meal (particularly one heavy in fat, carbs, or alcohol), your best bet is to work in an exercise beforehand, specifically within 2 hours. That’s because there’s an “after burn” period in which your body chews through extra calories, particularly simple sugars like carbs, faster and more efficiently the couple hours after exercise.
That said — and I’m a big fan of this strategy — if you’re feeling full and bloated after a meal, an after-dinner walk is the best possible remedy (much better than falling asleep on the couch watching a movie).
Eat When It Counts
Speaking of that after-burn, this is when your body is busy repairing muscle tissue. Which means if you’re not setting yourself up for a meal, after an intense work-out is the best time for a light, protein-rich snack (examples include a low-fat milk, half a protein bar, or low-fat string cheese). Your muscles have just been “torn down” or “shredded” from heavy, weight-bearing exercise so feeding your body the exact nutrient it needs to build and maintain new muscle fibers will help your body recover faster, work better, and make more muscle. And considering that the amount of muscle your body has at any given time determines how fast your metabolism runs, building muscle should be top priority.
Add Weight to Lose Weight
What’s the best possible way to build new muscle to increase your metabolism? Lift weights! Cardiovascular training is important for fat loss, but equally important is weight training. You’ll also prevent calcium loss that could lead to osteoporosis, and combat those extra pounds that come with aging. Another Pro tip: if you have good form, free weights burn slightly more calories than machine weights because you use your own body to stabilize. If you’re new to weights, machine weights are the safer bet.
Swap Dinner for Breakfast or Lunch
This particular advice isn’t my trainer’s, but it was gleaned from months of studying my own personal food diary: eat your biggest meal earlier in the day and you’ll feel better, sleep better, and probably lose weight, too. Why? Right before bed isn’t ideal for digestion anyway, and you have far less time to burn off the calories you ate that day. There’s simply no reason why the biggest meal of the day has to be dinner – in fact, according to my food diary some of my more successful “diet” days were on weekends when I ate brunch. Despite frequent indiscretions (whether a bloody mary, buttered toast, or something sweet), with a heavy mid-morning meal I only really needed a light, healthy dinner to satiate me the rest of the day (cutting a huge swath of calories from my daily total).
Don’t Fuss About Fat
For my trainer, the magic formula for weight loss was a diet that emphasized protein over empty carbs. What didn’t she care much about? Fat. When we broke down the ratio of calories I was eating during the period when I was losing the most, it was when my protein to carb ration was roughly 40:20. With that ratio, the ideal percentage of fat I should have been eating would be around 30%, yet by working in more protein (for me that meant more meats, nuts and dairy), my fat content hovered higher than usual — it was almost 40%. But nobody freaked out, least of all my trainer. She said to keep doing what I was doing, because despite it, the proof was in the pudding: I was continuing to lose so who cares if I indulge in peanut butter, high-fat cottage cheese, and avocado?
Protein at Every Meal or Snack
This may in fact be the golden rule of fueling fat loss, at least according to my trainer and frankly, my results. Even if you’re not on a diet, make sure you’re getting a minimum of .45 g per every pound for exercising men, and a minimum of .36 for women. Specifically for fat loss, experts like my trainer advise doubling that number. So for a 150 lbs woman, that’s 110 g of protein. Additionally, replacing empty calories (ie, carbs) with energy-dense alternatives has kept me feeling full longer, eating less at each sitting.
Photo Courtesy of: yahoo/financially fit
Fall Homebuying Tips
Over the summer, market watcher became nervous as mortgage rates crept up more than a full percentage point and home sales stalled. In mid September, however, the Federal Reserve announced it would continue its efforts to keep rates down. It worked. The average 30-year fixed-rate home loan rate dropped to 4.32% last week, according to data from Freddie Mac. With the Fed’s plan likely to continue into the market stabilizes, it’s a pretty safe bet that rates will remain low for some time.
If you’re buying a home this fall, in the off season, here are a few tips to keep in mind.
Hold Out For Lower Prices
With the peak season passed, sellers with property still on the market will be eager to sell. In fact, according to National Association of Realtors, home prices fall by an average $7,000 after Labor Day.
Find a Fixer-Upper
Fall is a slow time for home sales but also for contractors, according to the Census Bureau, and home and garden stores. So when it comes to deciding to make an offer among fewer properties, remember that you can also get repairs at a discount. Consider that it might be worth it to buy a home that needs minor or aesthetic changes, like a kitchen upgrade or central air system, when home stores and builders will be discounting their inventory. The right repairs and changes could even end up adding value to the property.
Take Advantage of the Season
Summer’s a comfortable time of year, when houses and neighborhoods are primed for home sales. Shopping for a new home during the fall may not be as easy but it will present a unique opportunity to get a good look at a property. Want to know if the gutters work, how much you’re going to have to rake and if there are any drafts? Fall is the perfect time to view a house under those less than desirable conditions.
Photo Courtesy, Henrik Sundholm.
