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The odds of success aren't great, of course but even first time entrepreneurs know that on some level. Startlingly few of the ones who do make it think forward to their golden years, however, which could present a big problem when they're ready to retire.

Those who do consider retirement options often consider selling their company as the sole exit strategy, and investment option. A big buyout, after all, is likely to top whatever they can squirrel away in IRAs and mutual funds. Reality has a way of squashing those dreams, though.

Dun & Bradstreet reports small business failure rates rose by 40 percent between 2007 and 2010 and some states had it even worse. California, for instance, had a failure rate of 69 percent. For owners who were counting on those companies to set them up for life, it's a devastating figure.

[MORE ON CNBC.COM: Too Many Start-ups to Survive?]

"It's been my experience that most entrepreneurs think of their business as their retirement," says Rick Rodgers, author of "The New Three-Legged Stool: A Tax Efficient Approach to Retirement Planning" and president of Rodgers & Associates. "At some point, they think 'I'm going to sell the business. I don't need to do anything else unless I need a tax advantage.' So most of their disposable income goes into their business. I don't think that makes sense. One of the founding principles of investing is diversification."

Even among those entrepreneurs who aren't betting the farm on the sale of their business, there's still concern. An October 2011 Gallup poll found 67 percent of small business owners are worried about not being able to put enough money away for retirement. And a survey in February by the American College, a nonprofit educational institution that focuses on financial services, found small business owners particularly unprepared for retirement.

"The lack of retirement planning by so many people is stunning, especially since business owners have no one else to rely on when it comes to putting their retirement plans in place," said Mary Quist-Newins, director of the State Farm Center for Women and Financial Services at The American College. "When you consider that the mean age of our respondents is just over 50 you have to wonder: 'What are these individuals waiting for?' Retirement will be upon them before they know it. Small business owners need to start preparing for retirement now."

The best way to do that is to force yourself to put away a minimal amount each month even in the insane start-up days.

[MORE ON CNBC.COM: How a Vacation Turned Into a New Swimwear Business]

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Entrepreneurs and the Retirement Trap

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When we asked this same question in 2011, 15 percent said they were saving more than the previous year not a significant difference.

But the same proportion of people, 18 percent, say they are saving less than they did last year. That's actually much better than last year, when 29 percent of Americans said they were contributing a smaller amount to retirement savings than the previous year.

"The fact that people have stopped saving less is good but are they saving enough? The data (are) showing, in aggregate, no," says Certified Financial Planner David Littell, co-director of the New York Life Center of Retirement Income and professor of taxation at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pa.

The combined retirement income deficit for baby boomers and Generation Xers is estimated to be $4.3 trillion, according to a May 2012 report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, or EBRI.

Starting younger is better

Ideally, people would increase retirement contributions every year, but they don't because it's very likely that most people have no idea how expensive 30 years of retirement will be.

According to a March 2012 report from EBRI, 56 percent of workers say they haven't calculated how much they need to save for retirement.

Calculating retirement income needs is the first step to establishing an effective retirement savings rate. It may be higher than you think, particularly if you're older than 30.

For instance, with 30 years to save for a 30-year retirement, someone with an investment portfolio split between 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds would need to save 16.62 percent of her income per year in order to replace 50 percent of her income in retirement. Those numbers are from the work of Wade D. Pfau, an associate professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.

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Boomers, Gen X Down $4.6 Trillion on Retirement Income

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Transamerica Retirement Services announced today that it has received awards and recognition from leading industry organizations during the second quarter of 2012, including several awards celebrating its efforts to increase employee awareness about retirement readiness.

Transamerica strives to provide an excellent customer experience, and effective marketing campaigns and materials are critical in inspiring workers to save for retirement, said Stig Nybo, president of Transamerica Retirement Services. We remain focused on helping people transform their tomorrows by being retirement ready, and we are honored that these expert marketing organizations have recognized us for so many of our communications materials.

Recognition of Transamerica during the second quarter of 2012 includes:

Hermes Creative Awards

The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional and emerging media. Hermes Creative Awards recognizes outstanding work in the industry, while promoting the philanthropic nature of marketing and communication professionals. Transamerica received five separate honors, including:

Integrated Marketing Materials: 2011 401(k) Day Campaign

Website Element/Web Based Multi-Media: RetireTrackSM

Video/Marketing (Service): Annual Retirement Plan Review Tutorial

Integrated Marketing Materials: RENEW Your Commitment to Retirement Planning Brochure

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Transamerica Retirement Services Announces Second Quarter 2012 Industry Accolades Celebrating Marketing Initiatives

Everton defender Phil Jagielka was pleased with his performance in victory over Manchester United.

He was individually praised by Sky's analysts for his excellence at centre-half as United's multi-million pound strikeforce was blunted.

Jagielka told evertonfc.com: "We knew it was going to be hard but it was a game we were all up for and all ready for. It was nice to have a goal going into the last 20 minutes to give us something to hang on to and we defended really well.

"It was hard with the amount of people they had popping into holes, but fortunately we had enough people in the right places making blocks and tackles and we managed to keep them out.

"We won't get carried away," he added. "The game was perfect for us with everyone expecting us to lose like we normally do first game of the season, so it was nice to get three points. We have now got a hard game at Villa where hopefully we can get a point or three."

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Everton defender Jagielka proud of personal performance for victory over Man Utd

MACON, Ga., Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --MidCountry Financial Corp., a financial services holding company with organizations serving customers around the world, today celebrates its 10th anniversary of service and success. Founded August 20, 2002, MidCountry, headquartered in Macon, Ga., made its first acquisition that same month.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110310/AQ62349LOGO)

Each company in the MidCountry Financial family is focused on a unique, niche market opportunity. The banking subsidiary, MidCountry Bank, provides community banking services through branches in southern Illinois, central Minnesota, and Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, the Bank offers consumer loans in Minnesota through its MidCountry Finance division, investments through its MidCountry Investments subsidiary, mortgages through the MidCountry Mortgage division, and leases through MidCountry Equipment Finance, Inc. It also offers customers the benefit of insurance services through its wholly owned subsidiary Insurance Planners. Pioneer Services, the military banking division of MidCountry Bank, has been providing the military community with unsecured personal loans and award-winning financial education for more than 25 years. Heights Finance Corporation provides civilian consumers with consumer loans in small communities throughout Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

"This 10th anniversary milestone speaks to the service, commitment, and dedication of today's 1,000-plus team members around the country," said Bob Hatcher, President and Chief Executive Officer of MidCountry Financial Corp., "and to the continued focus on our core values, doing what's best for customers, and giving back to the communities we serve."

MidCountry organizations have received numerous national and local awards over the last decade, including recognition for their commitment to corporate social responsibility, focus on financial education, commitment to the military community, as well as volunteerism and philanthropic leadership in their local communities and around the country. In 2011, the company was presented with the Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Central Georgia.

MidCountry Financial Corp. is a financial services holding company with subsidiaries that deliver diversified financial services to targeted markets. Since 2002, its team members have been dedicated to building a high quality financial services organization respected by its constituencies, and characterized by a commitment to the values of integrity, fairness, honesty, excellence, and compassion. For more information, visit http://www.MidCountryFinancial.com.

Contact: Scott Cahill, Public Relations 816-756-2020

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MidCountry Financial Corp. celebrates 10 years of service and success

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire -08/22/12)- Symantec Corp. (SYMC) today announced Symantec Data Loss Prevention, Symantec Control Compliance Suite and Symantec Endpoint Protection have achieved Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEK of Russia) certification.

The Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEK of Russia) is a federal body of executive authority responsible for implementing national policy, ensuring inter-departmental cooperation and coordination, and special and control functions in state security. According to FSTEK Order 58, a mandatory certification is required for the security products deployed for protecting the government confidential/classified information and/or personal data and information of restricted access. The personal data and information of highly confidential nature and of restricted access is categorized by FSTEK as K1-category personal data. Institutions and companies processing K1 personal data are required to use only NDF certified security technology. TU certification involves testing the product functionality to validate its compliance with technical conditions (black box testing) and NDF certification establishes the absence of undeclared capabilities in the product such as buffer overflows, debug passwords and covert channels (source code testing).

In addition, Symantec PGP Whole Disk Encryption has achieved CEGS/CAPS certification in the United Kingdom. CEGS, which operates as the National Technical Authority for Information Assurance (IA) for the UK's wider public sector (including the Health Service, law enforcement and local government) and the essential services that form the UK's Critical National Infrastructure (such as power and water), provides policy and assistance on the security of communications and electronic data, working in partnership with industry and academia in the United Kingdom.

These certifications enable governments to enact regulations intended to protected personal data. Compliance with personal data protection regulation is the responsibility of the organization, governmental or commercial, who store and process personal data. The compliance with these regulations is controlled via audits carried out by the government appointed entities. Symantec's certifications enable organizations to meet the requirements of compliance by using certified security products.

Symantec Control Compliance Suite, the company's enterprise-class IT governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solution, provides a comprehensive compliance and risk management solution that enables security leaders to communicate IT risk in business-relevant terms, prioritize remediation efforts based on business criticality, and automate time-consuming manual assessment processes to improve their organization's overall security and compliance posture while reducing cost and complexity. Symantec Data Loss Prevention solution delivers a proven, content-aware solution to discover, monitor, protect and manage confidential data wherever it is stored or used. It allows organizations to measurably reduce their risk of a data breach, demonstrate regulatory compliance and safeguard customer privacy, brand equity and intellectual property. Symantec Endpoint Protection solution provides integrated antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and intrusion prevention as well as device control and application control.

"With the increasing amount of data that exists in IT environments, it is essential that protections are in place to guard against intrusions from unauthorized users," said John Bordwine, chief technology officer of Symantec's Public Sector organization. "These certifications provide assurance that organizations like banks, telecommunications, and health companies that handle personal data are using technologies that uphold the standard of protecting critical personal data."

Symantec Corporation Worldwide Public Sector Enablement Program is committed to providing IT security products that provide significant value to private and public sector customers. As part of that program, Symantec is continuously improving its internal development efforts and business processes to ensure that it meets and/or exceeds requirements from Common Criteria, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS), CEGS/CAPS, VPAT/Section 508, Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG), Security Content Automation Program (SCAP), Federal Service for Technical and Export Control (FSTEK of Russia), and other local, state, government, and worldwide requirements. Additionally, Symantec maintains active participation in various government working groups and policy development organizations.

Connect with Symantec

About Symantec Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world. Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at http://www.symantec.com.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please visit the Symantec News Room at http://www.symantec.com/news. All prices noted are in U.S. dollars and are valid only in the United States.

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Symantec Solutions Achieve International Certifications for Critical Personal Data Protection

School district is offering Great Lakes Online Education program

by Dan Sanderson-Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 22, 2012 10:12 AM EDT

Home-schooled and parochial school students will be able to take advanced placement courses and students that don't do well in a traditional classroom setting will be able to take classes through a new online program offered by the Crawford AuSable School District.

The Crawford AuSable School District is rolling out a new online program called Great Lakes Online Education (GLOE).

Changes in federal and state education laws allow students to gain credit toward graduation by taking online courses.

One popular online education program claims it is non-profit and is a free virtual school. The program, however, collects state funding for the student, gained from the fourth Friday student count in September, but does not continue to mentor the students, said Brian Banda, the director for GLOE.

Often, students return to public schools, but the school district are not getting reimbursed for costs incurred.

"They're dropping the ball on these students once they receive the funding and that's our concern," Banda said. "We want to be able to provide that education for everyone."

Banda stressed that school officials want to keep students enrolled in the schools since the district has received high state and national recognition.

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School district is offering Great Lakes Online Education program

TORONTO, Aug. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --A top online continuing education provider, eCornell delivers online professional and executive development programs to over 50,000 students worldwide in more than 200 countries. By partnering with Destiny Solutions, eCornell will transition from its homegrown enterprise system onto Destiny One, allowing the company to focus on the implementation of a strategic expansion plan, including curriculum development and corporate engagement.

"eCornell's unique approach to eLearning requires sophisticated software to administer students and manage programs throughout the customer lifecycle," said Rob Kingyens, Chief Technology Officer of eCornell. "By shifting away from our homegrown system and onto the Destiny One platform, we are able to focus our technology efforts on new product development and solutions that enhance the learning experience and engagement with our global customer base."

eCornell eLearning combines the most effective elements of a world-class, Ivy League classroom with the flexibility of an online learning environment. eCornell courses -- self-paced and 100 percent online -- are "instructor-facilitated" and "cohort centric" helping guide participants in each course through challenging, real-world exercises with practical on-the-job application. Destiny One will allow staff to manage the scheduling and capacity of courses while providing students with rich, contextual portals and the tools to track their progress to certificate completion.

Destiny One will also support and streamline eCornell's direct and online sales to both retail and corporate customers, which occur locally and through a network of international resellers. Furthermore, the solution will fully integrate with the organization's financial, customer relationship, and learning management systems.

"eCornell is an award-winning leader in online professional certificates in a wide variety of business disciplines," said Shaul Kuper, President and CEO of Destiny Solutions. "Destiny One will enable eCornell to reimagine its market potential and provide organizational agility to further accelerate growth and streamline operations."

For more information on Destiny One, please visit: http://www.destinysolutions.com/product/destinyone-overview

About Destiny Solutions

Destiny Solutions is the leading innovator of lifelong learning business solutions. Since 2001, Destiny Solutions has delivered breakthrough technology designed exclusively to meet the divergent needs of non-traditional higher education. Our flagship product, Destiny One, is the only business solution that offers integrated constituent, enrollment and administrative management on a single software platform so educators can grow revenue, enhance student experience and success, and improve operational efficiency.

For more information, please visit: http://www.destinysolutions.com.

About eCornell

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eCornell Partners With Destiny Solutions to Further Accelerate Growth and Streamline Operations

KALISPELL, Mont. -

FWP officials in Northwest Montana are reminding folks that online registration is now required for many towns holding hunter education courses. FWP officials say online registration helps streamline the process, allowing students to register on their own time.

The process also allows people to pick up a manual and other pre-course materials at an FWP office without attending an orientation session. FWP staff say folks without access to a computer can stop by a library or an FWP office to sign up.

Some classes required online registration last year, and this year online registration is required for virtually all the local classes in Northwest Montana, including courses in Kalispell, Bigfork and Polson.

Folks looking to find more info on registration and classes can visit http://fwp.mt.gov. Everyone born after January 1, 1985 is required to take a course before obtaining a hunting license.

Copyright 2012 by KECI, KCFW, KTVM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Online registration kicks off for hunter education courses

When I was living in Arizona a few years ago, I lived within walking distance of a yoga school. For a few months, I attended class a couple times a week and loved it. Since then, I've wanted to get back into yoga, but cost and scheduling prohibited it.

The solution comes in the form of Pocket Yoga, which gives you a good, basic yoga workout on an iOS device. While you can use it on the iPhone, it's best suited to the iPad. You also can use the AirPlay support to transmit it to an Apple TV.

Pocket Yoga has three practices that can be done for 30 minutes, 45 minutes or an hour. There's an extensive library of poses to check out if you're not familiar with them, and two sun salutation routines. The poses are represented by a cartoon avatar with a voiceover narrating the workout. Whoever did Pocket Yoga's narration did a fantastic job, for it and the accompanying music are easy to listen to during the workout. If you don't care for the default soundtrack, you can customize it using tracks from your music library.

One of the things that Pocket Yoga lacks is the ability to do shorter exercises. I'd love to see a 15-minute version of the main exercises. I'd also like to see the example poses be animated to help beginners along. It won't take the place of a good yoga class, but it's a great supplement if you want to workout on your own.

Pocket Yoga is on sale for $1.99. If you're a pro and want to build your own practices, Pocket Yoga - Practice Builder is $4.99. Or this week, head to Starbucks and pick up a promo card to download Pocket Yoga - Practice Builder for free as part of its "Pick of the Week" program.

Developer Sergio Tacconi said that Starbucks picking Pocket Yoga - Practice Builder happened to be a coincidence. "The original app was created mostly at Starbucks," he said, "since I didn't have an office for the first year I was starting this venture."

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Daily iPad App: Pocket Yoga channels your inner yogi