Ellie Kemper is ready to share her words of wisdom with the world!

The hilarious star of The Office and Bridesmaids, 32, recently filmed a series of videos where she plays a "certified life coach" on behalf of Nescafe Memento. "I've just completed my online life coaching course at lifecoachforlife.org.com.biz," Kemper says in the first clip (above). "They even gave me this amazing new certificate! Ahh! Cool, right?"

PHOTOS: Will these celebrity couples survive 2012?

Kemper -- who wed comedy writer Michael Koman in July -- will gather information using a questionnaire via Nescafe Memento's Facebook page. She will then respond to a select number of fans with personalized messages.

Actress Ellie Kemper arrives at the DoSomething.org And VH1's 2012 Do Something Awards at the Barker Hangar on August 19, 2012 in Santa Monica, California. Credit: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

"We're doing is this Facebook app where I play a life coach and I am coaching the users through their answers," Kemper told Us Weekly while shooting the campaign in June. "They're given a questionnaire and I coach them and help them improve their lives by remarking on their answers. It's a very fun character to play, actually!"

"It's kind of like Choose Your Own Adventure -- once you answer, I am there to give advice to you," Kemper added, laughing. "Only coffee advice! No, I'm just kidding."

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Ellie Kemper Becomes a "Life Coach" in Hilarious Nescafe Memento Campaign

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BuLZ7trZjc

12-09-2012 20:56 This is an introduction to my new YouTube channel, it will be about natural healthy living,Great fitness and mental balance.... Pls join me on Facebook for recipes,updates and heaps more:D

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NATURAL HEALTH AND FITNESS - Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7cePqtra_k

12-09-2012 22:33 Joe Cirulli smokes Illy and me on the X-Force pulldown machine at Gainesville Health and Fitness Center.

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Gainesville Health and Fitness - Video

In the US, it's out with percentile scores and in with "healthy fitness zones." A new presidential youth fitness program for schools now tests a student's physical abilities based on what current research shows promotes good health, rather than rating them against their peers.

Announced this week, the program is shifting its focus to health rather than athletic performance (how many sit-ups you can do, for example) in response to the changing times and obesity epidemic in the country. The original presidential test was developed almost 50 years ago and was designed to measure children's athletic abilities, especially in the event they were called into military service.

In the new program, children will be analyzed based on five different criteria: cardiovascular fitness or aerobic capacity, body composition, muscle strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. Each score is then evaluated using the new "healthy fitness zone" standards. Kids who rank in the zone in five out of six categories are eligible to receive the Presidential Youth Fitness Award. For kids who fall below the ranks, they'll be tutored on ways to achieve better health and fitness.

Officials say that most children who exercise at least 60 minutes a day should be able to score in the healthy fitness zones.

http://www.presidentialyouthfitnessprogram.org

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US school fitness program gets overhaul

Instructor Andrea Gonzalez leads, from left, Molly Thompson, Serena Codiroli and Vicky Mira during a Zumba class at the Petaluma Health Center on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012.

In a move that illustrates how health-care facilities are evolving beyond their age-old mission of treating illness, the Petaluma Health Center has opened its new exercise facility to the general public.

This month, the health center began offering fitness classes to both patients and local residents. Offered at discount prices, the courses include two Zumba classes and two yoga classes, with more offerings on the horizon.

"We're going to be open to anyone in the community," said Luke Entrup, the health center's newly hired wellness program manager.

Entrup said other courses being considered include Tai Chi and Qi Gong, aerobics and 5Rhythms dance classes.

"We're going to start yoga and Zumba classes, but we're going to build many more classes," he said.

The Petaluma Health Center is one of the largest health care providers in southern Sonoma County, with 18,000 patients. Its new "movement room" is part of the center's new 53,000-square-foot facility, which is expected to serve some 35,000 southern Sonoma County and northern Marin County residents.

Fitness classes are part of the health center's wellness program, which is aimed at promoting healthy living and helping patients improve their condition while dealing with chronic disease such as diabetes.

Other health care providers in the county offer similar programs.

In west Santa Rosa, a health program for children called "Muevete!" is offered at the Southwest Community Health Center and the Roseland Children's Health Center, which are part of the Santa Rosa Community Health Centers.

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Petaluma Health Center offers fitness classes to everyone

MADISON The Madison Area YMCA, 111 Kings Road, beckons the public to get back into a fitness routine this fall with its Healthy You Challenge.

The eight-week health and fitness challenge is designed to motivate participants to work out and make healthy food choices, said Jennifer Casanova, associate health and fitness director of the YMCA. Those who take the challenge will experience a lifestyle transformation, have fun and reach goals, Casanova said. We cant wait to be a part of your success.

The Healthy You Challenge is comprised of:

Weekly weigh-ins from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. each Tuesday;

Two body assessments;

Two one-hour personal training sessions, and

One 30-minute nutrition session.

Also part of the program, Casanova added, is a big dose of support and encouragement.

Cash Prizes

Cash prizes will be awarded to the person who loses the highest percentage of body weight; the person who loses the most inches, and the participant who demonstrates the most effort.

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Madison YMCA issues challenge for health, fitness, cash in eight-week program

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki6EJJ43KPE

14-09-2012 03:08 In this edition, we have a question from Charlotte, in Marseille: "I am a Belgian citizen and I currently reside in France. However, during my whole life career I also worked in Spain, France and Belgium. I should retire in two years. How will my pension be calculated?" The answer is brought to us by Vassela Stoyanova, Communication Officer at Europe Direct: "As you have worked in several EU countries, you may have accumulated pension rights in each of them. When the time comes for you to claim your pension, you normally have to apply in the country where you are living or in the country where you last worked. That country is then responsible for processing your claim and bringing together records of your pension contributions from all the countries you have worked in. If you've never worked in the country where you now live, you should apply to the relevant authority in the last country where you worked. Your application will then be processed there. You can only apply for your pension from the country where you now live once you have reached the legal retirement age in that country. If you have pension rights from other countries, you will only receive that part of your pension once you have reached the legal retirement age in those countries. You should apply for your pension at least six months before you retire because receiving your pension from several countries can be a lengthy procedure." For more information about the EU, call 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 ...

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euronews U talk - European pensions rights when retiring abroad - Video

By Chuck Jaffe, MarketWatch

BOSTON (MarketWatch) Most financial rules of thumb have been around for decades, offering guidance like Subtract your age from 100 to determine the percentage of assets you should hold in stocks, or To retire comfortably, your investments must generate 75% of your final salary.

The advice is more imprecise than incorrect, but it frequently is used as gospel. As the late Lynn Hopewell, former editor of the Journal of Financial Planning, once told me: Rules of thumb are for people who want to decide things without thinking about them.

While the market may be welcoming a new round of easing, there was no joy among savers. Chuck Jaffe reports. (Photo: Getty Images)

This week, however, Fidelity Investments unveiled what amounts to a new financial rule of thumb, in the form of retirement-savings guidelines based on its research, effectively laying out a road map that allows workers to check their progress at key points along the way.

The take-away on the research is likely to be considered the next financial axiom: Employees need eight times their ending salary to meet basic retirement income needs. That is the target that people will now be setting and the number they will be aiming for, rather than making decisions about a personalized, appropriate savings level.

Before Fidelitys research moves from suggestion to perceived financial guideline and, potentially to rule of dumb, its important to understand what the company was attempting and how it intends its numbers to be used.

For starters, Fidelity didnt just give the final target number, but rather set up checkpoints markers on the road of life where someone might want to measure their progress toward the ultimate goal. While acknowledging that every individual situation differs based on someones desired retirement lifestyle, Fidelitys target is replacing 85% of pre-retirement income.

Right off the bat, that means they have changed the older rule of thumb that talked about needing your investments to generate three-quarters of your pre-retirement income.

Having sufficient funds to generate 85% of your final salary by age 67 will require hitting the benchmark number of eight times final salary, Fidelity said.

Continued here:
Chuck Jaffe: New rules for a rewarding retirement

(MoneyWatch) Is your retirement on track? Fidelity Investments has a simple retirement savings check-up to help you figure that out.

Based on the Boston-based investment company's calculations, the average person who needs to replace about 85 percent of their working wages, would need to accumulate a nest egg worth eight times their ending salary. This 85 percent figure is a relatively common assumption, which assumes that you don't dramatically change your lifestyle in retirement. Naturally, if you're a big spender, you could need more. If you're someone who spends only a fraction of your wages and expect to pay off your mortgage and other debts before retirement, you could need considerably less.

How do you know if you're on track to hit this eight-times wages goal? By age 35, you should have saved an amount equivalent to one-times your annual salary. So, if you earn $50,000 annually, you'd want $50,000 in your retirement savings plan. By age 45, you'd want three-times your salary. Assuming you now earn $80,000, that means you need $240,000 in savings. By age 55, when you're (maybe) earning $100,000, you should have $500,000 invested for retirement.

More Americans living paycheck to paycheck4 money-smart things you're doing now What are the best retirement calculators?

Sound impossible? Not if you start saving just 6 percent of your income at age 25 and boost your contributions by just 1 percent per year until you're contributing 12 percent of wages, according to Fidelity. Fidelity also assumes a fairly conservative long-term portfolio growth rate of 5.5 percent annually; that your wages will increase by 1.5 percent per year; and that you'll receive Social Security benefits to defray some of your income needs in retirement. The fund company figures you'll retire at age 67.

Not satisfied with Fidelity's analysis, or not certain how to get back on track if your savings fall short of these benchmarks? Check out Kiplinger.com's Retirement Savings calculator. It's the best of the many dozens of retirement savings calculators that I've tested over the years. What makes it better than the rest is that it's simple to use, but also allows you to factor in all your potential sources of retirement income, which can include company pensions and home equity. Better yet, if your savings fall short, it tells you just how much you need to save each month now to have the amount you'll need when you stop working.

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How to do a simple retirement savings check-up

Most experts agree that your retirement portfolio's asset allocation--its mixture of stocks, bonds, and cash--will have the biggest impact on how much it grows, as well as its risk level.

Unfortunately, retirement savers seeking guidance on formulating an appropriate asset allocation may have a hard time knowing where to look. Sure, you could certainly do worse than adopting Jack Bogle's simple formula: 100 minus your age equals how much you should hold in stocks. But what if you want to come at the problem with a greater sense of precision? What if your personal situation puts you outside the norm--perhaps you're lucky enough to have saved far more than you'll ever need, or you've not saved enough and are playing catch-up?

Thankfully, you don't have to fly blind. Here are some key information sources you can turn to when crafting your own asset-allocation plan. You may find it useful to sample an array of different opinions; you're apt to find a comforting convergence among various sources of guidance on this topic.

How the Pros Do ItTarget-date funds, which are designed as one-stop investments appropriate for your retirement date, are incredibly handy for do-it-yourself investors interested in building their own portfolios. Target-date funds offer a shortcut for helping to figure out how much is appropriate for someone like you to invest in different asset classes.

Looking at target-date fund holdings is like peering into what professional managers would do with your money. Once you have a sense of how different professionals would invest, you can take the parts you like and leave what you don't. It's important to take a look at target-date offerings from a couple of different fund companies--funds for the same retirement date can vary substantially based on glide-path philosophy and types of holdings.

Morningstar's Target-Date Fund Series reports do a good job of summarizing the glide paths, as well as the pros and cons, of various target-date series. Some target-date programs maintain very high equity allocations before and even during retirement, a stance informed by the view that longevity risk--that is, the chance that you'll outlive your assets--should outweigh concerns about short-term fluctuations in an investor's principal.

Funds in T. Rowe Price's Retirement series, for example, generally have above-average equity weightings relative to other target-date funds in that same age band. Meanwhile, other target-date fund series have steered a more conservative, bond- and cash-heavy course, in the view that big stock weightings add more volatility than most people need or want, which in turn could lead to panic-induced selling amid stock market downturns. American Century's LIVESTRONG series, for example, is generally lighter on equities during the accumulation phase than most target-date series, though its portfolios maintain relatively higher equity weightings for those nearing or in retirement. Thus, sampling an array of opinions from target-date funds geared toward investors in your same age band can help get you in the right ballpark; Morningstar analysts' favorite series are those from T. Rowe Price, American Funds, JP Morgan, and Vanguard.

Morningstar's Lifetime Allocation Indexes, informed by the research of Ibbotson Associates, provide another vantage point on the asset-allocation question. In addition to providing separate asset allocations for various time horizons, the indexes also allow customization by risk profile for each age band: conservative, moderate, and aggressive. In addition, the indexes also show suballocations for various asset classes--they recommend percentage weightings in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities and commodities, for example.

The Customized View Morningstar's Asset Allocator tool provides another, goal-based view of asset allocation, harnessing your own portfolio information if you've saved one on Morningstar.com. The tool calculates how likely you are to meet financial goals based on your current portfolio value, monthly investments, time horizon, and asset mix.

For example, how much would someone retiring in 2045 need to invest each month to accumulate $1 million? Set the number of years to 34 and financial goal to $1,000,000, and enter your current savings and monthly investments.

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Is Your Retirement Portfolio's Asset Allocation on Track?