Getting yourself on sound financial footing is a lot like building a successful business. It can be a decades-long enterprise requiring planning, skill, patience and a little bit of luck. The proverbial millionaire next door is an overnight success 20 years in the making. Considering the long road ahead, you have every reason to get started today.

Have a PlanFinancial security won't happen by accident, and it won't happen overnight. Just as businesses have quarterly goals, annual revenue targets and five-year business plans, you need to approach your life with a long-term strategy made up of a series of short-term actions and goals. Success rarely happens at random. You need to have a plan.

Invest in YourselfWhen businesses want to grow, they invest in themselves. The same logic applies to individuals. Before you even begin your career, an investment in education can provide an opportunity to increase your potential lifetime earnings. Going to college or a trade school can provide knowledge and credentials that make you a more attractive and higher-paid part of the workforce.

If circumstances or personal interests do make education an attractive option for you, consider starting a business. Entrepreneurs from all walks of life have started successful enterprises. Working for yourself can bring more satisfaction, more money and greater control over your job stability than working for somebody else.

Keep in mind that investing in yourself is not a one-time effort. Think of it from a business perspective. Investments in research and technology, infrastructure and physical plants are an ongoing part of the business. Keeping up with the times and the competition is part of the process of maintaining a successful business and a crucial part of building and growing the business to take it to the next level. Looking at the situation from a personal perspective, if you have a bachelor's degree going back to school at mid-career can provide a boost to your credentials and help you keep pace with the competition. If you have a trade, continuing your education can open up new opportunities.

Regardless of your profession, adding a new skill or designation can increase your revenue generating opportunities. If you run a business, opening up a new sideline can increase your opportunities in the marketplace. If you don't own a business, moonlighting at mid-career can provide a second source of income that serves as a backup to your primary career.

Learning new skills is an investment that should continue over the course of your lifetime. Expand your interests. Keep an eye out for opportunity. You can continue to build your skill set even during retirement. A second career is not only often more fulfilling than the first one, but it can set up a revenue stream that truly makes your golden years golden. Even if you've been tremendously successful and no longer need to work, you can continue to invest in yourself by building your knowledge base. Learning about your investment portfolio, for example, can be an interesting and lucrative opportunity. In an age marked by scandal, there's no better motto than "trust but verify."

Get out of DebtDebt management is a critical exercise for every successful business, and there's a reason for the saying "cash is king." Be different. Buck the trend. Don't rack up debt in the typical consumer fashion. The cost of an education and a primary residence are generally beyond most people's ability to pay for in cash. Beyond that, if you can't pay cash don't make the purchase. As far as education and the home, pay off the education before you buy the home.

As for the home, don't stretch your budget. Buy what you can easily afford and pay it off as quickly as possible. Forget the advice about good debt and bad debt. All debt is bad. There's a long list of financially strapped investors who had supposedly great and fool-proof ideas about going into debt to put the money to work in investments that would earn a greater rate of return than the cost of the interest rate to service the debt.

If you are an entrepreneur, debt may be a necessary tool. Putting your money in to an appreciating asset is different than using debt to fund a new car, vacation or wardrobe. Paying interest on consumer goods is simply a waste of money and undermines your financial foundation. Investing in your business is a way to increase your potential revenue.

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A 5-Point Plan To Financial Success

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Sept. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Inolex, a leader in the development of innovative ingredients for the personal care and cosmetics industries has launched a new range of 100% natural and sustainable emollients, using bio-based succinic acid from BioAmber. These succinate emollients have the highly appealing and differentiated sensory feel of silicone fluids, including feeling silky, powdery, light, dry and non-greasy to the touch. This sensory experience meets the modern consumer's hygiene and beauty needs, giving the clean, dry and natural feeling consumers want from their personal care routine.

The market for personal care esters is valued at over $500 million. The new succinate emollients are highly-versatile because of their sensory properties and outstanding ability to disperse pigments. These fluids can be used in skin care, hair care, color and antiperspirant products to provide shine and a light fast-drying emolliency. These emollients are suitable as alternatives to silicone fluids for improving skin-feel, as well as enhancing shine and texture in hair care products. In natural formulations, they can be used to reduce the greasiness of natural oils.

Inolex are commercializing a range of succinate technologies as natural silicone alternatives; the LexFeel N range of fluids feel like silicones, yet unlike silicones, they are 100% natural, readily-biodegradable, non-GMO, eco-certified and sustainable.

Daniel Winn, Business Director, Inolex says, "The new range of biosuccinic acid-based fluids offers an unprecedented opportunity to provide the benefits of silicones in an all-natural format with a sensory experience that is a close match to the modern consumer's hygiene and beauty needs.

Babette Pettersen, SVP Marketing & Sales, BioAmber says, "These emollients demonstrate the versatility of biobased succinic acid in providing performance solutions for a range of personal care applications. Our partnership with Inolex illustrates the benefits of joint application development work to create innovative new products, combining BioAmber's expertise and commercial capability in biosuccinic acid and Inolex's expertise and market access in the personal care market."

For Technical Information and Samples: cosmeticinfo@inolex.com

About Inolex

Inolex is one of the world's leading independent personal care ingredient companies. They are known for their market-based approach, providing ingredients that tackle the greatest formulation challenges and consumer needs. Inolex's more recent creations have included preservative-free technology, natural ingredients as alternatives to traditional chemicals, and high performance excipients that enable optimal formulation of suncare products. Inolex offers customers formulation expertise, market-ready systems, and jointly developed solutions that bring optimal benefits to the cosmetic consumer. For more information, visit http://www.inolex.com.

About BioAmber Inc.

BioAmber is a next generation chemicals company. Its proprietary technology platform combines industrial biotechnology and chemical catalysis to convert renewable feedstock into chemicals for use in a wide variety of everyday products including plastics, nylons, food additives and personal care products. For more information visit the company's website at http://www.bio-amber.com.

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Inolex Launches New, Natural Emollients for Personal Care Made with BioAmber Succinic Acid

HERNDON, Va.and GREENSBORO, N.C., Sept.6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --K12 Inc., the nation's leading provider of proprietary curricula and online education programs for students in kindergarten through high school, and VISNET, an online learning and professional development consortium supported by independent school associations, today announced they have expanded access to a broader suite of online learning options to independent schools in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110113/PH29436LOGO )

VISNET, the Virtual Independent School Network, provides its member schools with access to top quality online resources, such as online courses, blended learning content, learning management systems, and academic support, as well as professional development opportunities. As part of its suite of online offerings, VISNET makes available to its schools K12's award-winning online catalog, the most extensive in the K-12 industry, including full-time online programs, credit recovery, coreK-12 courses, world languages, AP, and high school electives.

Last year, VISNET served more than 50 independent schools in North Carolina, with over 1,800 enrollments in online and blended course options. For the 2012-2013 school year, VISNET is expanding its services to meet the growing needs of independent schools in three additional states. In addition, VISNET has enhanced its online course offering in all four states with Middlebury Interactive Languages, a joint venture that combines Middlebury College's proven language pedagogy with K12's expertise in online learning. Member schools benefit from a selection of robust online offerings that have been vetted by the VISNET staff of experienced independent school educators, as well as program development and other support.

"Technology has taken away the boundaries of time and space and given our schools the capacity to customize and personalize instruction like never before. It's time to rethink independent education and VISNET is here to help. Our resources, tools, and training can give schools, and more importantly, students a competitive advantage in today's world," said Linda S. Nelson, Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Independent Schools. "We are very pleased to offer proven, thoroughly researched curricula from K12 as a key part of our resource offering."

"VISNET is providing independent schools a highly valuable service by making resources, tools and support for online learning programs easily accessible, in a cost-efficient way," said John Olsen, Executive Vice President of Operations for K12. "VISNET's rigorous vetting process ensures that schools can tap into the highest quality online learning resources available to help them meet the needs of more of their students."

Through VISNET, independent schools can access the following K12 curricula:

K12 provides schools and districts the industry's most complete continuum of proprietary kindergarten through high school online learning solutions for full-time virtual, blended, and traditional classroom learning environments. Over the past decade, the company has served more than 2,000 districts and delivered over 4 million online course enrollments from its award-winning portfolio. MDR's market research service EdNET Insight recently reported that K12 is the leading provider of online curriculum to school districts across the United States.

About VISNET

The Virtual Independent School Network (VISNET) is an online learning consortium supported by independent school associations designed to provide member schools with affordable online learning options, digital content, instructional tools, and professional development opportunities to support innovative teaching and learning. Developed by independent school leaders in reaction to market demands, VISNET offers comprehensive array online learning opportunities. For more information about VISNET and information about offerings and partners, please visit: http://www.vis-network.org

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VISNET and K12 Inc. Expand Access to Online Learning Curricula, Tools, and Support to Independent Schools across Four ...

BLOOMINGTON Indiana University will invest $8 million over the next three years to help develop online courses at its eight statewide campuses and extend the school's global reach through online technologies.

The IU Online education initiative will build on IU's 15 years of experience in online education by creating undergraduate and graduate degree programs, providing online options for high enrollment undergraduate courses and exploring new education methods, officials said Wednesday.

IU's new Office of Online Education will oversee and coordinate all of the university's online activities, which IU President Michael A. McRobbie said will result in "a major expansion" of the university's online education programs by tapping into new technologies that are reshaping higher education.

"We will bring the same energy, enthusiasm and commitment to IU Online as we devote to on-campus education," McRobbie said.

The $8 million will be used to hire additional designers and technicians, expand computer systems and fund an Office of Online Education. Money also will go to academic units on all campuses to develop online programs.

Part of IU's new push will include developing programs that can help Indiana boost its workforce and reduce the time it takes students to complete degrees. IU's regional campuses will jointly develop and deliver undergraduate degree programs, particularly those oriented toward workforce development.

Online graduate degree and certificate programs will be offered primarily by IU's Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses through programs promoting their distinctive academic strengths.

By fall 2013, IU officials expect to increase online undergraduate degree and certificate programs in areas such as business, technology and the liberal arts and sciences.

At the graduate program level, every IU professional school has developed, or will begin developing, at least one online degree or certificate by fall 2013. The university also expects to offer several new online courses by summer 2013 for undergraduates or high school students.

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Indiana University unveils $8 million plan to expand online education

Claire Santos helps Stacey Barrineau during a yoga class at Family Wellness, at 4817 NE 2nd Loop, on Saturday in Ocala.Claire Santos is involved with Yoga Gangsters, an outreach to help at-risk youth.

Dont let her smile fool you Claire Santos is a gangster.

Absolutely, Im a gangster a yoga gangster, Santos, 37, said as she took a break Saturday while leading group sessions at Power Yoga of Ocala.

Santos, a registered yoga instructor with 400 hours of certification, who also teaches private lessons, is spearheading an effort to form an Ocala chapter of Yoga Gangsters, a Miami-based nonprofit that provides free yoga to troubled youth. The program, given a fun name to connect with kids, has a goal of turning young people away from destructive behavior and toward a positive self-image by instilling self-esteem, confidence and peace of mind.

Santos, who moved to Ocala from Oregon in 2009, heard about Yoga Gangsters through family members.

We want to empower youth who are mired in addictive, criminal and violent situations, and circumstances from teen pregnancy to HIV, to find their presence with the science and practice of yoga, Santos said. When someone is more connected due to the practice of yoga, its harder to do things that are harmful.

She said hatha yoga is more than 5,000 years old and that the word yoga has to do with combining of mind, body and spirit.

Marisol Tamez, 28, a former MTV television producer, has served as executive director of Yoga Gangsters since 2011. The group was founded in 2008 by Terri Cooper. Tamez said the focus is to establish self-awareness, self-respect and self-control among youth who are at-risk or in crisis.

One of the many organizations Yoga Gangsters has served is Stand Up for Kids, an organization that focuses on homeless teens in the Miami area. We also conduct programs at local hospitals and childrens rehabilitation centers to work with children as young as 2 years old, using yoga in an attempt to lower blood pressure without medication as well as address numerous other health conditions, including Autism and Down syndrome, Tamez wrote in an email.

There was an 18-year-old homeless youth in one of our Yoga Gangsters programs who participated for several months and then suddenly stopped appearing. I assumed he went back to a bad environment, Tamez wrote. A few months later, I ran into him on the street. He looked like a new person, was well-dressed and groomed, and shared that he had moved back home after restoring a positive relationship with his mom.

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Instructor hopes to bring Yoga Gangsters chapter to town

Painters, designers, architects and other creative individuals are typically thought of as right-brained. But a new study from the University of Southern California suggests that creativity may require more logical left brain thinking than previously thought.

Zach Stemerick THE CHRONICLE

The study, published online last month in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, showed that while the right brain does the bulk of the heavy lifting in creative thinking, the left side of the brain also plays a critical role.

In the popular media, people usually associate the right brain with creativity, said lead researcher Lisa Aziz-Zadeh, an assistant professor of neuroscience. But its definitely more complicated than that.

Aziz-Zadeh and fellow researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging to scan the brains of architecture students, who tend to be visually imaginative, while they performed creative tasks.

As they were scanned, participants were asked to visualize images that could be created by rearranging the No. 8, a circle and the letter C. They also mentally pieced together shapes to create rectangles, a task that requires spatial processing but not necessarily creativity.

The results showed that the logical, mathematical left side of the students brains lit up just as much as the creative side while performing the artistic task.

I think that the two hemispheres do complementary processing, Aziz-Zadeh said. The right hemisphere of the brain provides the big picture, and the left controls sequential processing. Both of those are important for creativity.

The research also showed that the students medial frontal cortexes, the area of the brain that controls planning and problem solving, were highly active while performing tasks. According to Aziz-Zadeh, this suggests that the left and right hemispheres of the brain have an equally important influence on the creative process.

I think what was most surprising is how simple the results were, she said. Usually, studies produce all of these results that you dont know what to make of, but our results on this study were very clear.

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Home » Health and Fitness , Science and Health » Neuroscience of creativity

Aurora Wellness Center

Healing with Yoga: This series is open to those currently undergoing cancer treatment and those who have completed treatment. Learn techniques to relieve stress through imagery, breathing, gentle stretching and deep relaxation. The focus for cancer patients is on restoring and nurturing all parts of mind and body, and on regaining a sense of control, optimism, energy and wholeness. Participants may start six weeks after surgery; a doctors permission slip is required. 10:30-11:45 a.m. Tuesdays through Sept. 25 at Aurora Wellness Center, 300 McCanna Parkway, Burlington (participants may join at any time). Free, registration is required, go to http://www.aurorahealthcare.org or call (800) 499-5736.

Kenosha Visiting Nurse Association

Flu shots: 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, Kenosha Visiting Nurse Association, third floor, 600 52nd St., Kenosha. The fee is $32 and payable by cash, check or charge. Medicare Part B, WEA and Select Humana Plans accepted. Call (262) 656-8400 for more information.

Western Racine County

Immunizations and free blood pressure clinics: Childrens vaccines include: Chicken pox, diphtheria, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, Hib meningitis, HPV, measles, meningococcal, mumps, pertussis, pneumococcal, polio, rotavirus, rubella and tetanus.

Adult vaccines include: Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis), hepatitis A (severe food poisoning) and hepatitis B. TB skin test (must call 24 hours in advance to schedule), $10 plus the following administration fees.

Resident fees: Administration fee is $10 for one immunization, $15 for two and $30 for three or more. Non-resident fees: Administration fee is $20 for one immunization, $25 for two and $$30 for three or more. Payment must be made by check or cash only. Badger Care and Medicaid fees are exempt with card.

Sept. 12, Western Racine County Health Department, 156 E. State St., Burlington, 4-6 p.m.

Sept. 17, Waterford Library, 101 N. River St., Waterford, 5-7 p.m.

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Health and Fitness File, Sept. 5

CLINIC Wednesday Life Line Screening at Central Christian Church. Life line screening uses painless ultrasound to see the plaque build-up in your arteries. Pre-registration is required: 1-800-364-0457.

Thursday Free Medical Clinic, 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.

Tuesday Free Medical Clinic, 4 to 6 p.m. Templo Del Espiritu Santo United Methodist Church, 3715 Elaine Drive, Bryan. 450-7258.

Free Medical Clinic, 6 to 8 p.m. The Bridge Ministries, 1002 E. 29th St., Bryan.

Ongoing Brazos County Health Department immunization clinics. 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Mondays; to 10:30 a.m. (19 and older) and 2 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays; 10 a.m. to noon Fridays. 201 N. Texas Ave., Bryan. $5 per child, $30 per adult. http://www.brazoshealth.org, 361-4440.

Move Wednesday Seniors Golf Tournament, 7:30 a.m. Bryan Golf Course, 206 W. Villa Maria Road in Bryan. $5 entry.

Brazos Valley Laughter Yoga Circle, 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. Unity Church, 4016 Stillmeadow Drive. Combination of laughter exercises, deep breathing and relaxation. Good for seniors, but open to everyone. No mats required. $5 suggested donation. laughwithangelika@yahoo.com or 693-0402.

Thursday Sit and Fit Chair Exercise Class, noon to 12:45 p.m. Southwood Community Center. mrodgers@cstx.gov or 764-6371.

Friday Senior Ladies Tennis, 8 a.m. Gordons Tennis at Aerofit, 4455 Carter Creek Parkway, Bryan. 846-8925.

Line Dancing for Senior Adults, 10 to 11 a.m. Southwood Community Center. No partners needed. mrodgers@cstx.gov or 764-6371.

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Health & Fitness Calendar for Sept. 5 to 11

By Kristen Hallam - 2012-09-05T08:29:06Z

Mario Tama/Getty Images

People walk and bathe on opening day of the newly renovated McCarren Park Pool on June 28, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

Being fat isnt always a bad thing, according to two studies by European and U.S. researchers.

Obese people who are otherwise physically fit had no greater risk of dying prematurely than those whose weight is normal, according to research partially funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and Coca-Cola Co. (KO), the worlds biggest soft-drink maker. A separate study found that obese people with heart disease have a lower risk of dying early than underweight or normal-weight heart patients.

The findings undermine decades of public health messages, also supported by research, that obesity can accelerate the development of heart disease, diabetes and cancer and shrink lifespans, three European researchers who werent involved in the two studies wrote in an editorial that accompanied the results in the European Heart Journal today.

The prevailing wisdom holds that being slim must be generally good for you, Stephan von Haehling, Oliver Hartmann and Stefan Anker wrote in the editorial. Obesity may carry a benefit up to a certain degree, and it should be recognized that obesity is not necessarily associated with abnormal metabolic function.

The findings dont give people license to expand their waistlines, said Amy Thompson, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation. Instead, the studies serve as reminders that carrying fat around the belly and how fat affects your fitness may be more important than the numbers on the scale, Thompson said.

In the majority of cases, obesity is an undeniable risk factor for developing coronary heart disease, Thompson said in a statement. However, these studies remind us that it is not always your weight thats important, but where you carry fat and also how it affects your health and fitness.

Obesity belongs to a group of early warning signs of heart disease and diabetes known as metabolic syndrome, which affects about 25 percent of the worlds adults, according to the Brussels-based International Diabetes Federation. Obesity is usually defined by body mass index, which is calculated using a persons height and weight. The researchers in the first study used body fat measurements taken from skin folds or using water displacement, techniques thought to be more accurate than BMI.

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Fitness Trumps Fat as Health Gauge, Coke-Funded Research Shows

For women heading toward retirement, theres good news and bad news. The good news is theyre likely to be blessed with long life. The bad news: They may not be able to afford it.

SEE ALSO: 12 Retirement Strategies for Women

That, in effect, is the conclusion of a recent study by the U.S. General Accounting Office. Despite the increase in womens workforce-participation rates over the past two decades, the poverty rate in 2010 for women 65 and older was 9% -- nearly twice the rate for men, at 5%. And while 6% of widowers lived in poverty, 12% of widows were poor.

According to the GAO report, women have a tougher time saving for retirement in part because they take time out from the workforce to care for family members, and when they do work they have lower earnings than men. Other studies bear this out: Women who are 50 to 69 have about 20% less in retirement savings than men in that age group, according to a recent report by the ING Retirement Research Institute. Another report notes that while half of baby-boomer men have retirement savings of at least $200,000, only 35% of female boomers have that level of savings.

Women who are five to ten years from retirement can take some steps to improve their financial readiness. Many of these moves can apply to women of all ages.

Maximize your own retirement benefits. If youre looking for a new job, make sure it has a good retirement plan. Its unlikely these days that you will find a job with a pension plan that guarantees a stream of income in retirement. But you can seek out employers that will match all or part of your contributions to a 401(k) or a similar employer-based plan. A company match is free money.

Even when married women are working, women tend to set aside a smaller amount of their income than men, says Suzanna de Baca, vice-president of retirement and wealth strategies at Ameriprise Financial Services. The couple may decide that the womans income is more discretionary, she says. But any woman who is working should contribute as much as possible to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. If her employer doesnt offer a retirement plan, de Baca says, she should set up an IRA.

Indeed, Kelly O'Donnell, vice-president at Financial Engines, which provides asset management for 401(k) plans, told the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging at a recent hearing that men tend to save nearly twice as much as women. "Among our clients, the median 401(k) account balance for men age 60 and older is $82,000 and only $46,000 for women age 60 and older," O'Donnell said.

In 2012, you can set aside up to $17,000 (plus up to $5,500 in catch-up contributions if youre 50 or older) in a 401(k). If youre self-employed, you can make deductible contributions to a retirement plan, too, such as an individual 401(k). If you dont have access to an employment-based retirement plan, you can make $5,000 ($6,000 if youre 50 or older) in deductible contributions to a traditional IRA, or you make the same amount of after-tax contributions to a Roth IRA, which grows tax-free.

Working longer can help maximize your Social Security benefits. The Social Security Administration uses your highest 35 years of earnings to calculate your benefit. Any zeros -- perhaps for years you left the workforce to care for children -- will pull down the average. If you keep working, youll be able to raise your benefit -- and maybe knock out a zero or two.

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The Rules of Retirement for Women