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Cancer diagnosis gives Sauquoit coach perspective

Posted: July 21, 2012 at 4:20 am


Tim Clive, the longtime girls soccer coach at Sauquoit Valley, was busy living his life earlier this year, secure in a perspective shaped by his 65 years.

Then, life tapped Clive on the shoulder and reminded him how fragile it all is.

Cancer has a way of altering the landscape.

You think youre doing OK and life is going on merrily on its way and all of a sudden nothing is more important than seeing the sun come out, he said. Seriously. I have 10 grandchildren, and when they talk to me and give me a hug, it means so much.

Last winter, Clive was diagnosed with melanoma, a type of skin cancer that was found initially near his right shoulder.

He first noticed some discomfort when he tried to carry a large bag of soccer balls. When he no longer could ignore the problem, he went to a doctor. Two procedures and many moments of worry later, Clive received good news: the tumor had not spread. The result, he said, is a miracle, considering the size of the mass.

And for awhile, sports and coaching were set aside, but now hes back on the sidelines, perhaps as a slightly different version of himself.

I would say he has always been open and accessible, Sauquoit Valley assistant coach John Del Buono said. But since this has happened hes starting to open up more. I feel like now hes smelling the roses more.

Clive, who will be 66 in October, is coaching Sauquoit players in a summer league and he plans to be with the Indians for his 18th season this fall.

Sauquoit has won sectional titles in two of the last three years, and the team made consecutive appearances in the state finals in 2009 and 2010. Clive is not about to skip out on a chance to guide Sauquoit back to state-level competition. The diagnosis, though, moved athletics and coaching into a different place.

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Cancer diagnosis gives Sauquoit coach perspective

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:20 am

Posted in Life Coaching

Everlasting Restored Health and Fitness – Video

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Everlasting Restored Health and Fitness - Video

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Posted in Health and Fitness

Mobile Health Developer Azumio Acquires SkyHealth, Makers Of Top-Ranked Fitness App

Posted: at 4:19 am


As smartphone adoption increases and mobile technology becomes more powerful, its changing the way in which people interact with health information. The popularity of health and medical apps has begun to explode, and the amount of health data along with it, much of it thanks to those increasingly wearable and user-friendly gizmos that use smart sensors to capture and transmit all shades of biometric data. Smartphones now tap into these health devices, turning our phones into heart monitors and cancer screeners, all with the goal of helping us live longer, healthier lives.

You may not be familiar with them by name, but Azumio is one of a number of young startups tapping into this hot trend, leveraging smart mobile technology to get us making better and more informed health decisions. Thanks to the popularity of its biofeedback apps like Instant Heart Rate, Azumio has attracted 20 million downloads of its iOS and Android apps in less than two years. And today, the Palo Alto-based company is adding to that total and beginning to round out its product set by scooping up SkyHealth, the creators of Fitness Buddy, the top-ranked paid health app on iTunes.

While the terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, the eight-old SkyHealth has seen 5 million downloads thanks largely to Fitness Buddy and Glucose Buddy, its $1 fitness and diabetes trackers. As a result of this and the fact that SkyHealth was one of the early movers in health development for iOS, the startup has been able to bootstrap its way to profitability.

Azumio, on the other hand, chose to go the venture route, raising $2.5 million from Founders Fund, Accel and Felicis (to name a few) last year. The founders tell us that the deal was a combination of cash and equity, and weve been able to learn from other sources that in fact the deal leaned more towards equity, as this war more of an acqui-hire, with SkyHealth founder and CEO Tom Xu joining Azumio as a partner and head of product development, along with the startups three main developers.

For Azumio, the acquisition more than doubles its product portfolio, bringing SkyHealths 15 health and fitness apps to its platform, while SkyHealth now has access to a larger audience and more resources as part of the Azumio team. But, really, both teams said that they share a similar vision, and joining forces gives them a better shot at making that happen. The team wants to create a mobile health and fitness platform that gives users a complete profile of their health, using each piece in the teams collective product suite.

In the next few weeks, the team (now at 13 people) plans to launch a fitness dashboard, which will take readings for each of their applications in an effort to give users a more complete report on their health. With SkyHealths additions, Azumios apps now span heart, stress, and sleep monitoring to fitness and glucose tracking. If Azumio opens that dashboard up to aggregate data from other health devices and apps as well, it could really be a game changer.

The future of bringing mobile health applications to a wider audience is here, and starts by creating a single source for the best mobile health and fitness solutions, said Xu, Azumios new head of product. Consumers can now use their phone to monitor heart rate, stress level, improve workout routines and sleeping behaviors, and even control blood sugar levels. Combining forces, we think that we have the resources and experience to create a mobile health and fitness platform that can have a much wider impact.

For more, find Azumio here.

Azumio, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of a biofeedback app for smartphones.

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Mobile Health Developer Azumio Acquires SkyHealth, Makers Of Top-Ranked Fitness App

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Posted in Health and Fitness

Azumio Acquires Mobile Health and Fitness Developer SkyHealth, Makers of the Number-One Ranked Fitness Buddy and …

Posted: at 4:19 am


PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire -07/20/12)- Azumio, a pioneer in mobile biofeedback technologies and personal health applications, announced today that it has acquired SkyHealth, the award winning developer behind Fitness Buddy, the number-one ranked Health and Fitness paid app on iTunes, and Glucose Buddy, the most downloaded diabetes app in the world. The acquisition will bring SkyHealth's product portfolio of more than 15 leading mobile Health and Fitness applications to the Azumio platform, and provide the company with key developer talent. As part of the acquisition, SkyHealth CEO Tom Xu will join Azumio as a partner and head of product development.

Azumio is one of the fastest-growing mobile health developers in the world, offering users a one-stop-shop for health, wellness and fitness applications. As the leading developer of mobile biofeedback technologies, Azumio's mobile technology solutions enable smartphones and tablets to gain valuable, user-specific information through utilizing the existing sensors and hardware found within current and next-generation smartphones.

"The future of bringing mobile health applications to a wider audience is here, and starts by creating a single source for the best mobile health and fitness solutions," said Xu. "Consumers can now use their phone to monitor heart rate, stress level, improve workout routines and sleeping behaviors, and even control blood sugar levels. Now, with Azumio, we have the resources and experience to create a mobile health and fitness platform that will impact hundreds of millions of consumers."

"Smartphones are playing an increasingly important role in helping people improve their health and wellness, but success pivots around ease of access to new solutions -- mass adoption will only result from building apps that catalyze motivation and increase user commitment to their health and fitness goals," said Bojan Bostjancic, Azumio CEO. "Both Azumio's and SkyHealth's mobile apps have seen massive adoption because we have been among the first to provide a simple solution to live a more healthy lifestyle, directly from your smartphone."

Azumio's Instant Heart Rate, Stress Check, Stress Doctor and Sleep Time apps, along with Fitness Buddy and Glucose Buddy, will see new features and integrations rolled out in the coming months.

To Read More About Azumio's Product Offerings, Please Visit the Following Links: Instant Heart Rate: http://www.azumio.com/apps/heart-rate/ Stress Check: http://www.azumio.com/apps/stress-check/ Stress Doctor: http://www.azumio.com/apps/stress-doctor/ Sleep Time: http://www.azumio.com/apps/sleep-time/ Fitness Buddy: http://fitnessbuddyapp.com/ Glucose Buddy: http://www.glucosebuddy.com/

About AzumioAzumio is a leading developer of consumer health applications with more than 25 million downloads to date. Azumio is dedicated to improving people's health and wellness by motivating and influencing behavior through the development and use of innovative biofeedback technologies.

Azumio's innovative mobile technology solutions enable smartphones and tablets to gain valuable, user-specific information through utilizing the existing sensors and hardware found within current and next generation smartphones. The venture-backed company is at the forefront of the rapidly growing mobile health app movement, which is expected to impact more than one-third of smartphone users by 2015.

For more information, visit Azumio.com or follow http://twitter.com/azumioinc.

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Azumio Acquires Mobile Health and Fitness Developer SkyHealth, Makers of the Number-One Ranked Fitness Buddy and ...

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Posted in Health and Fitness

How Much Money Will I Need in Retirement?

Posted: at 4:19 am


You've spent your entire adult life working toward -- and saving for -- retirement, but it can be hard to accurately predict how much money your will need in your golden years.

If you're unsure about how much money you'll need in retirement, follow these pieces of advice from financial experts:

A Solid Goal: 80% to 90% of your pre-retirement monthly income

Retirees should expect to need about 80 to 90 of their pre-retirement income per month, according to ING retirement coach and planner Larry Rosenthal. That means, if your income is $40,000 per year, you'd want to have $32,000 on hand per year in retirement. "People will spend money on hobbies or some type of entertainment," Rosenthal says. "They'll also tend to spend more money on their grandchildren after they retire. And travel is expensive and becomes a big part of retirement spending." Experts says a good strategy is to withdraw about 3 or 4% of your retirement savings each year. "If you had about $1,000,000 in an interest account, you could live on the income of $40,000," according to Charlie Epstein, author of Paychecks for Life.

Know your expenses: Expected and unexpected

While some expenses can be predicted he expenses you anticipate, there will also likely be unexpected expenses. "The most significant and unexpected expense in retirement is due to out of pocket health- care expenses," says John Ulin, a certified financial planner in Boca Raton, Fla. More than 50% of people 65 or older will at some point in their life need either home health care or will enter a nursing home, he says. "This type of 'care' is not covered by Medicare or Medicaid and can financially devastate your nest egg," he says. "Home health care can cost upwards of $35,000 a year and a facility care can cost upwards of $60,000 a year. Plan accordingly."

Common Mistakes

Experts agree that the most common mistake people make is not having and following a financial plan. "How does someone know where they are and where they need to go if they don't have a financial plan in place that analyses retirement cash flow," says Barry Taylor, a financial adviser and money manager based in San Francisco.

In addition, many people planning on retiring don't begin saving early enough. "As a rule of thumb, you need to save 10% of your pay each year," says Epstein.

Another common -- and frequently devastating -- mistake is underestimating the cost of health care in retirement. "The latest projection on cost of health care is that on average, health expenses will equal or exceed $325,000 for a couple from age 65 until death," Taylor explains. "A great deal of this cost will be paid by Medicare and 'Gap' insurance policies that cover most of medical, hospitalization, and drugs. But many soon-to-be-retirees do not understand the conditions of the retirement health insurance they purchase at retirement and the size of the 'gaps' that may not be included."

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Posted in Retirement

8 Signs Your Retirement Will Be Just Fine

Posted: at 4:19 am


With all of the monumental challenges facing retirees, I sometimes wonder if retirement as we know it will survive. Many potential retirees are ill-prepared from a financial and non-financial perspective, and the clock is ticking. Maybe people will just work until they die, rather than attempt to exit the rat race and enter their second act. But theres also the possibility that these doom and gloom predictions are exaggerated and retirement will not be all that bad. Here are eights reasons your retirement will probably be just fine:

1. Average life expectancies have been trending upward for decades. In 1900, the average life expectancy was 46.3 years for men and 48.3 years for women. Today the average life expectancy in the U.S. is 79.6 years, while Japan leads all countries with an 83.2 year average.

2. For many people, retirement represents a time of opportunity. The majority (86 percent) of baby boomers between ages 45 and 65 who have a minimum household income of $75,000 view retirement as a whole new chapter in life and a chance to reinvent the person they are and will be, according to a 2011 survey commissioned by the resort real estate advisory firm Civano Living. And 90 percent of those surveyed believe retirement will give them time to pursue their interests and hobbies more fully. Retirees should be excited about this chance to journey down a different path and pursue what they are truly passionate about, rather than just existing.

3. The nature of work has changed from the physically demanding jobs of old. Todays knowledge workers use their minds more than their backs. When retirement age is reached, these seniors still have a lot of mileage left and can consider the possibility of a second career more along the lines of what they would like to do.

4. With 10,000 people reaching age 65 each day for the next 20 years, the impact of aging baby boomers is being felt far and wide. Senior citizens are a large portion of the population and have powerful organizations like AARP behind them. They are a highly influential group whose interests and impact cannot be ignored. Expect senior citizen voices to be heard and attention to be paid to their specific needs.

5. With longer life expectancies, many seniors see themselves living well beyond the official averages, continuing to remain productive, and developing deeper family relationships. According to a 2011 SunAmerica Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey, two-thirds of adults age 55 and older say their personal goal is to live to 100.

6. With aging comes challenges to health and well being. However, 82 percent of seniors are satisfied with their own physical health, according to the Civano Living survey. And 84 percent of those ages 45 to 65 say they are interested in health and fitness programs designed for them.

7. The years of experience and knowledge gained in the working world will make seniors increasingly more important in the job arena. Older workers are, in fact, not more expensive to employ because their typically higher wages are based on experience rather than age, according to Peter Cappelli, coauthor of Managing the Older Worker: How to Prepare for the New Organizational Order. Changes will need to be made to adapt to the needs of older workers such as increased flex time, age-friendly work environments, and less forced retirement when the worker has many good years still to offer.

8. It turns out that the adult brain is not a slower version of the youthful brain. Instead, the middle-aged brain maintains many of the abilities of youth and even acquires some new ones. The Seattle Longitudinal Study showed middle-aged adults performed better on four out of six cognitive tests than those same individuals did as young adults.

Retirement will be a big change from the way of life we were accustomed to while we were in the workforce and raising a family. We need to prepare financially and socially if we are to realize the fulfilling retirement we want. But it is encouraging to see that retirement can be an exciting, positive time in our life, even for those with modest incomes.

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8 Signs Your Retirement Will Be Just Fine

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Posted in Retirement

Retirement income review: Financial Engines

Posted: at 4:19 am


(MoneyWatch) This post continues my series on various retirement income offerings that are being introduced in 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans. Today we'll take a look at Income +, the retirement income service offered by Financial Engines.

Founded by Nobel Prize winner Bill Sharpe, Financial Engines is well-known as the financial advisory service that's available on the platforms of many 401(k) plan administrators. Since 1996, Financial Engines has provided online advice to 401(k) plan participants. These services help participants decide how much they should save to reach reasonable retirement savings targets and how to allocate their accounts among the investment funds offered in their 401(k) plans. In addition, participants can elect to receive professional management services, which monitor their retirement savings and progress toward retirement goals, periodically re-balance the investments in their accounts, and prepare personalized retirement plans.

In January 2011, Financial Engines introduced Income +, an extension of their professional management service. Income + isn't a product, such as an annuity or managed payout fund. It's a service that helps plan participants turn their 401(k) balances into monthly retirement income that can last for life. During your retirement, you stay invested in the funds offered by your employer's 401(k) plan, and Financial Engines helps you manage your account balances to generate a retirement paycheck.

401(k) retirement income options coming your way Retirement income review: Hueler Income Solutions Retirement income review: GLWB in retirement Rolling your 401(k) to an IRA? Think twice

With its Income + service, Financial Engines can help you in the years leading up to retirement by developing an asset-allocation strategy that manages your exposure to stock market fluctuations. The goal is to prevent your retirement plans from being thrown off track due to stock market crashes just before your retirement. The services also provides estimates of your retirement income at various retirement ages to help you decide when you can retire.

When you retire, your savings are then divided into three pots. The first generates a retirement income until an advanced age, typically age 85; it's invested in fixed income funds -- either bond funds or stable value funds -- in your 401(k) plan. This pot equals roughly 65 percent of your 401(k) account when you retire.

The second pot equals about 20 percent of your account when you retire and is invested in equity funds in your 401(k) plan. The intent of this account is to provide boosts in your retirement paycheck until age 85 to help your income keep pace with inflation.

The third pot equals about 15 percent of your account when you retire and is invested to serve as a reserve you could use to purchase a lifetime annuity at age 85. The goal is to protect you if you happen to live longer than expected.

Currently, the initial annual income you'll receive if you retire at age 65 is a little less than four percent of your total account balance, not much different from the "four percent rule" that's advocated by many financial advisors.

Financial Engines charges between 0.20 percent and 0.60 percent of your accounts for their services, depending on the arrangement it has with your 401(k) plan. Its charges are roughly one-third to one-half the charges typically assessed by personal financial advisors, who charge a percent of assets under management.

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Posted in Retirement

Promoters’ personal guarantee must prior to loan restructuring: RBI panel

Posted: at 4:19 am


Mumbai, July 20:

A Reserve Bank panel has recommended banks should seek personal guarantee from promoters and adopt a carrot-and-stick policy while restructuring loans of corporates.

As stipulating personal guarantee will ensure promoters skin in the game or commitment to the restructuring package, obtaining the personal guarantee of promoters be made a mandatory requirement in all cases of restructuring, the panel said in its report.

The RBI had in January set up the panel to review the existing prudential guidelines on restructuring of advances by banks and financial institutions and suggest modifications taking into account the best international practices and accounting standards.

The panel, which is headed by RBI Executive Director, Mr B Mahapatra, said corporate guarantee should not be considered as a substitute for the promoters personal guarantee.

In cases where the restructuring package could not be implemented due to promoters nonadherence to terms and conditions, the banks should exercise exit option at the earliest with a view to minimise the losses, the report said.

The terms and conditions of restructuring should inherently contain the principle of carrot and stick, i.e. while restructuring being an incentive for viable accounts, it should also have disincentives for nonadherence to the terms of restructuring and underperformance, it said.

The panel further said that conversion of debt into preference shares should be done only as a last resort. Also, conversion of debt into equity/preference shares should be restricted to a cap (say 10 per cent of the restructured debt).

Conversion of debt into equity should be done only in the case of listed companies.

The banks should disclose all recast loans on books, and from hereon keep a 5 per cent provision for new standard loans recast, as against the existing norm of 2 per cent.

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Promoters’ personal guarantee must prior to loan restructuring: RBI panel

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:19 am

Personal guarantee must before loan restructuring: RBI

Posted: at 4:18 am


Personal guarantee must before loan restructuring: RBI The panel said corporate guarantee should not be considered as a substitute for the promoters' personal guarantee Press Trust of India / Mumbai Jul 20, 2012, 17:49 IST

A Reserve Bank panel has recommended banks should seek personal guarantee from promoters and adopt a 'carrot-and-stick policy' while restructuring loans of corporates.

"As stipulating personal guarantee will ensure promoters' skin in the game or commitment to the restructuring package, obtaining the personal guarantee of promoters be made a mandatory requirement in all cases of restructuring," the panel said in its report, on which it has invited comments of stake holders by August 21.

The RBI had in January set up the panel to review the existing prudential guidelines on restructuring of advances by banks and financial institutions and suggest modifications taking into account the best international practices and accounting standards.

The panel, which is headed by RBI Executive Director B Mahapatra, said corporate guarantee should not be considered as a substitute for the promoters' personal guarantee.

In cases where the restructuring package could not be implemented due to promoters' non-adherence to terms and conditions, the banks should exercise exit option at the earliest with a view to minimise the losses, the report said.

"The terms and conditions of restructuring should inherently contain the principle of 'carrot and stick', ie while restructuring being an incentive for viable accounts, it should also have disincentives for non-adherence to the terms of restructuring and under-performance," it said.

The panel further said that conversion of debt into preference shares should be done only as a last resort. Also, conversion of debt into equity/preference shares should be restricted to a cap (say 10 per cent of the restructured debt).

Conversion of debt into equity, it further said, should be done only in the case of listed companies.

The banks, according to the report, should disclose all recast loans on books, and from hereon keep a 5 per cent provision for new standard loans recast, as against the existing norm of 2 per cent.

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Personal guarantee must before loan restructuring: RBI

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:18 am

Greg Johnson: Obama's insults make politics personal

Posted: at 4:18 am


Now, it's personal. Our naf of a president has again insulted every American who has worked hard and attained some measure of success. President Barack Obama last week again belittled business owners, diminishing their industry, dismissing their perseverance and deriding their ingenuity. Yes, this is very personal.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help," Obama said at a Virginia campaign event. "There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges."

Of course somebody helped us. In my case, it wasn't a community organizer. David Johnson worked hard to buy the food Dorothy Johnson prepared for me and my brothers. Ralph Sims, my maternal grandfather, helped me get a job in construction, hefting shovels to dig ditches in 100-degree heat. The federal government didn't lift a single shovel.

Gladys Sims pinched pennies and counted quarters so she and my mother could stock my pantry on trips to Cookeville, where I was the first in our family to attend a university. My irascible uncle, Arley Johnson, hired me to work summers servicing swimming pools so I could pay my own way at Tennessee Technological University.

Norma Blair, my high school English teacher, taught me to write. Julia Householder, my history teacher, challenged me to think. Bill Williams, my science teacher, took me to the University of Tennessee, where I first set foot on a college campus. Chick Graning, my high school football coach, later hired me to coach college football before recommending me for my first job in financial services.

Of course many more helped, but not one did it for the money. Not one was part of some grand plan by a Harvard graduate who can barely mask his Marxism. They did it for love.

Obama's biggest insult was to business owners. "If you've got a business you didn't build that," Obama said. "Somebody else made that happen."

Is he nuts? Seriously. Is our president insane? Or just stupid? Is this why we've never seen his college transcripts? Would they reveal his ignorance in its totality?

I've worked with business people for more than a quarter of a century now. Want to know why hiring is slow? The people who took the risk, worked their behinds off and built something from nothing feel belittled by this president. He hates them, and they don't trust him.

Obama speaks of "paying it forward." Well, my family did. Those teachers did. Now many, many, many of us are paying it forward to our kids, to our churches, to our communities. And this president has the audacity to equate taxation with family, friends and community? He insults us all and the American Dream.

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Greg Johnson: Obama's insults make politics personal

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July 21st, 2012 at 4:18 am

Posted in Personal Success


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