MILWAUKEE, June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwestern Mutual announced today a first-of-its-kind retirement planning approach. Consistent with the company's core belief that risk protection and asset accumulation should be managed hand-in-hand, the new Northwestern Mutual Retirement Strategy is designed to provide individuals with tailored and balanced retirement solutions. The approach breaks new ground because, unlike most financial plans, it does not assume a fixed life expectancy. Instead, the company studied longevity at various ages so that income plans succeed with a high level of confidence no matter how long one lives.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120126/CG42140LOGO)

Utilizing the Northwestern Mutual Retirement Strategy, the company's financial professionals help their clients meet three distinct retirement goals: create a stream of reliable income throughout retirement, protect retirement savings so they last a lifetime, and leave behind a legacy.

"An individual's offensive strategy the accumulation of assets is only as strong as their weakest financial defense," says John Grogan, Northwestern Mutual senior vice president for planning and sales. "We've taken our deep expertise in the areas of risk management, investment solutions, and comprehensive financial security planning to develop customized solutions that address our clients' personal needs. It's an approach our field force can use with clients to help them manage risk and grow their retirement assets to generate income for as long as they live."

The defensive strategies address six risks that challenge financial security in retirement:

"What we've realized time and again is that building a prudent plan with the guidance of a trusted financial advisor is key to building a financially secure retirement," continues Grogan. "The Northwestern Mutual Retirement Strategy was developed with the knowledge that the most crucial aspect of retirement planning is having certainty, as well as flexibility, as you move through your retirement years."

About Northwestern Mutual

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Milwaukee, WI (Northwestern Mutual) among the "World's Most Admired" life insurance companies in 2012 according to FORTUNE magazine has helped clients achieve financial security for more than 155 years. As a mutual company with $1.2 trillion of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual has no shareholders. The company focuses solely and directly on its clients and seeks to deliver consistent and dependable value to them over time. Northwestern Mutual and its subsidiaries offer a holistic approach to financial security solutions including: life insurance, long-term care insurance, disability insurance, annuities, investment products, and advisory products and services. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, limited purpose federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company; and Russell Investments.

[1] Annuity 2000 Table with mortality enhancements determined using projection scale G2

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Northwestern Mutual Tackles Retirement Head On

SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --MassMutual's Retirement Services Division is sponsoring a contest for retirement plan advisors with the grand prize being an opportunity for the winning advisor to participate in a professionally recorded interview at the 2012 PlanAdviser National Conference in Orlando, Fla. The interview of the grand prize winner will also be included on PlanAdviser.com as well as in PlanAdviser magazine and the winner will have full usage rights for the video and print materials to use as business development tools.

You're #1 Story Contest

"This is MassMutual's way of recognizing the critical role that retirement plan advisors serve in helping plan sponsors and participants achieve their vision of retirement success. MassMutual recently earned several awards including the #1 overall satisfaction rating from retirement plan advisors(1), as well as the Retirement Leader of the Year(2) award. These accomplishments are due, in large part, to the tremendous service of retirement plan advisors. They are on the ground, helping sponsors and participants every day," says Hugh O'Toole, senior vice president of sales and client management, MassMutual Retirement Services. "Every successful advisor has stories about how they have helped sponsors and participants and we want to hear them and recognize their efforts," adds O'Toole.

Entries may either be in video (two minutes or less) or written form (1,000 words or less). The contest is open to all intermediaries regardless of whether they have ever done business with MassMutual and contest entrants are not required to solicit any MassMutual products or services, nor to have sold, or sell, any MassMutual products or services of any kind. Winning submissions must be stories relative to the retirement plan industry. Examples of possible story themes include, but are not limited to, the following:

All entrants receive a copy of "Made to Stick," the best-selling book about using storytelling in business and sales. The top 10 entries will win a one-year subscription to Audible.com and one grand prize winner will be awarded a professional interview to be recorded at the 2012 PlanAdviser National Conference in Orlando, Fla. this September.

Deadline for entries is August 17, 2012 and official rules and details of the contest may be found at http://www.massmutual.com/number1.

For more information, please call your MassMutual Retirement Services representative or contact MassMutual at (888) 626-4911, http://www.massmutual.com/retire.

Source: (1) Boston Research Group's 2011 Defined Contribution Plan (DCP) Retirement Advisor Satisfaction and Loyalty Study; (2) 19th Annual Mutual Fund Industry Awards sponsored by FundIndustry Intelligence, a premium publication of Euromoney Institutional Investor.

About MassMutual

MassMutual Financial Group is a marketing name for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) [of which Retirement Services is a division] and its affiliated companies and sales representatives. MassMutual is headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts and its major affiliates include: Babson Capital Management LLC; Baring Asset Management Limited; Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers LLC; The First Mercantile Trust Company; MassMutual International LLC; MML Investors Services, LLC, Member FINRA and SIPC; OppenheimerFunds, Inc.; and The MassMutual Trust Company, FSB.

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MassMutual Retirement Services Sponsors "You're #1" Story Contest for Advisors

Melbourne, Victoria (PRWEB) June 21, 2012

According to Monash University Obesity and Diabetes Institute, Australia is ranked as one of the fattest nations in the developed world, but thanks to a local fitness center, South Melbourne residents will now be able to become fit, strong, and healthy inside a new state of the art personal training studio.

We are now up and running and training out of our new center, said Luke Scott, managing director for Revolution Personal Training. We provide training in a boutique setting within our personal training Melbourne studio as well as group personal training and corporate personal training here on site.

Scott added that the company also operates a mobile personal training service that operates onsite within peoples homes, work places or wherever needed across all of Melbourne adding a convenient edge to their services.

The managing director explained that what makes its services so different from all of the other gyms and fitness centers in Australia is that its fitness studio is not a gym at all.

We are definitely not a gym therefore we are set up perfectly for personal training and small group personal training sessions, Scott stressed. We are an appointment only service so our studio is only attended by people working with a personal trainer at all times. Our space is private and dedicated to providing the highest quality personal training service possible.

The opening of the studio could prove to have perfect timing.

The prevalence of obesity in Australia has more than doubled in the past 20 years.

Our personal trainers have the experience to provide excellent results every time, Scott said of the business which recently celebrated its eighth birthday. We are so happy to have finally opened our personal training studio here in South Melbourne. It has been a long time coming but we absolutely love this area and look forward to being here for a long time to come.

Revolution Personal Training customer Jamie described her experience as amazing.

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Revolution Personal Training Opens a New Personal Training Studio in Melbourne

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire -06/21/12)- Drobo, maker of award-winning data storage products for businesses and professionals, today announced a wide range of industry-firsts with innovations in a new generation of storage devices for personal and professional users. The Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini -- the world's smallest and most portable full-featured storage array -- are designed to accelerate workflows for creative professionals managing data-intensive files; home media enthusiasts looking to consolidate and accelerate video, photo, and music files; and small businesses that need fast, portable backup to protect large amounts of data. Drobo, widely recognized as the maker of the easiest-to-use storage device, has added advanced performance to the new systems with Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, automated SSD acceleration and greatly enhanced hardware and software architectures.

"In my 30 years covering the technology industry, I have not seen something as portable, scalable and powerful as the Drobo Mini," said Rob Enderle, principal analyst for The Enderle Group. "The SMB and prosumer market is clamoring for a plug-and-play storage product because it lacks the technical expertise and resources to manage complex storage systems. With the new Drobo products, there is no question that this enigma is solved."

New Era of Performance and Flexibility

Both the Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini include industry-first SSD acceleration -- utilizing the performance benefits of solid state drives (SSDs) and the capacity benefits of hard disk drives (HDDs) to deliver an automated, no-compromise system. In addition to supporting SSDs in any of their drive bays, both units include an additional bay that will accommodate a small-form-factor SSD to achieve significant performance boosts while making all drive bays available for high-capacity HDDs.

The products also support both lightning-fast Thunderbolt (2 ports) and USB 3.0 connectivity, an industry first for storage arrays, that will provide flexibility to both Mac and Windows users. The two Thunderbolt ports allow customers to easily daisy-chain devices to accommodate massive growth, and the USB 3.0 port ensures compatibility to millions of USB systems.

Along with SSD acceleration and Thunderbolt / USB 3.0 interfaces, the new Drobo products have been completely redesigned from the ground up with new hardware and software architectures. These enhancements provide a significant increase in processing capability and several optimizations to BeyondRAID that will increase baseline performance by at least five times -- prior to the addition of SSDs -- easily making the new Drobo 5D and Drobo Mini the fastest storage arrays in their class.

Save and Protect

All Drobos are based on patented BeyondRAID technology, which automates sophisticated data-protection algorithms so users can enjoy the peace-of-mind of safe data protection without having to be a storage expert. The new Drobo arrays add an advanced safety feature that also protects user data during and after power outages, another industry-first for professional storage and a feature that has traditionally been reserved for more expensive, enterprise-grade storage.

"Our customers love Drobo's ease of use, but they want it all -- the easiest, the fastest, the safest for their data, plus the smallest and quietest," said Tom Buiocchi, Drobo CEO. "That's why we're here -- our new Drobos will deliver on our promise of the best storage experience ever."

Drobo 5D: Capacity and Speed with No Compromise

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Next-Generation Drobos Once Again Redefine Personal and Professional Data Storage

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire -06/21/12)- Ernst & Young LLP has announced that Ron Moelis, CEO of L+M Development Partners (L+M), a leader in developing quality affordable, mixed-income and market rate housing, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Award in the Real Estate and Construction category in New York. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Moelis was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a special gala on June 19, 2012 at the Marriott Marquis.

"It's an honor to receive this influential award, and we appreciate Ernst & Young's recognition of social impact business in the category of Real Estate and Construction," said Ron Moelis, co-founder and CEO of L+M Development Partners. "L+M is a double bottom line firm, where our success is measured not only in financial returns but also by the positive impact we make. This recognition belongs to the nearly 200 L+M employees, each of whom are owners in the company and truly share our mission to make investments in communities most in need of high-quality affordable and mixed-income homes." L+M, which was co-founded in 1984 by Ron Moelis and Sandy Loewentheil, is responsible for more than $2 billion in development and construction and has worked with community, government and investment partners to build over 10,000 units in the tri-state area.

Now in its 26th year, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program has honored the inspirational leadership of such entrepreneurs as Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com, Michael Dell of Dell Inc., Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines, Fred Smith of FedEx, Larry Page and Sergey Brin of Google, Richard Schulze of Best Buy, Andrew Mason of Groupon, Mindy Grossman of HSN, Inc., Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, and many more.

As a New York award winner, Moelis is now eligible for consideration for the National Entrepreneur Of The Year 2012 Award. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the National Entrepreneur Of The Year Overall Award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, on November 17, 2012. The awards are the culminating event of the Ernst & Young Strategic Growth Forum, the nation's most prestigious gathering of high-growth, market-leading companies.

SponsorsFounded and produced by Ernst & Young LLP, the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards are nationally sponsored in the United States by SAP America and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

In New York sponsors include Marsh, HSBC, Scherzer International, Merrill Corporation, SolomonEdwardsGroup, Empire Valuation Consultants, WithumSmith +Brown, Murray Devine, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, DLA Piper and Cooley.

About L+M Development PartnersSince 1984, L+M Development Partners has been an innovator in developing quality affordable, mixed-income and market rate housing, while improving the neighborhoods in which it works. A full-service firm, L+M works from conception to completion, handling development, construction and management with creativity that leads the industry. L+M is responsible for more than $2 billion in development and construction and has created more than 10,000 high-quality units in the tri-state area alone. Community leaders, government officials and investment organizations turn to L+M because of its consistent track record of excellence.

L+M is a double bottom line company, where its success is measured not only in financial returns but also by the positive impact it makes. L+M takes pride in its long-standing dedication to the communities it serves, demonstrated through an annual scholarship fund, job training programs and substantial support for local nonprofits. L+M brings a superior level of commitment to its investments in developments, and equally important, to its investment in people. Additional information can be found at http://www.lmdevpartners.com.

About Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year is the world's most prestigious business award for entrepreneurs. The unique award makes a difference through the way it encourages entrepreneurial activity among those with potential, and recognizes the contribution of people who inspire others with their vision, leadership and achievement. As the first and only truly global award of its kind, Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses, recognizing them through regional, national and global awards programs in more than 140 cities in more than 50 countries.

About Ernst & YoungErnst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 152,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.

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Ernst & Young Announces L+M Development Partners CEO Ron Moelis Is the Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2012 Award Winner ...

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk8N9ADBNok

20-06-2012 15:21 For more information, visit: Learn how AIU's MUSE (My Unique Student Experience) content delivery system works. Using MUSE, students earning an online degree can take control of how they learn material. Whether students learn best by reading, watching video, practicing, problem solving or other methods, MUSE allows them to study content and pursue their online education in a way that can suit them best.

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MUSE - Online Education Content Delivery System - AIU - Video

Newswise College and university faculty members are more pessimistic than optimistic about online education and remain far more skeptical about learning outcomes in online programs than are academic technology administrators on their campuses. But faculty members with a greater exposure to online education take a more optimistic view than their peers.

Those are among the key findings of a new study by the Babson Survey Research Group and Inside Higher Ed on faculty views on online learning. The study is based on two national surveys, one of more than 4,500 teaching faculty and a second of academic technology administrators. Inside Higher Eds article on the study (and links to the report) can be found at: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/conflicted-faculty-and-online-education-2012.

Among the findings:

58 percent of the professors surveyed describe themselves as having more fear than excitement about the growth of online learning; more than 80 percent of academic technology administrators, on the other hand, say they feel more excitement than fear. Nearly two-thirds of faculty members say they believe that the learning outcomes for an online course are inferior or somewhat inferior to those for a comparable face-to-face course. Even among those with a strong vested interest in online education faculty members who are currently teaching online courses considerable concern remains about the quality of the learning outcomes. A third of instructors think that their institutions are pushing too much instruction online, compared to fewer than 10 percent of administrators. For all the faculty skepticism, the study provides evidence that professors gain more confidence in online learning as they become more involved with it. And on the most basic question asked of faculty at institutions with online offerings have you recommended an online course to a student or advisee? 60 percent of faculty reported that they had. The figure grows to 87 percent for those who teach online.

"We conducted this survey in the hope of bringing all voices to the debate over online education, and in particular the views of faculty members, who frequently argue that they are ignored on these matters," says Scott Jaschik, editor of Inside Higher Ed. "What's striking is that many of the questions suggest both faculty skepticism and faculty engagement with online education. We hope these results may be conversation starters at many campuses as they consider ways to enhance online programs."

For more information about the study, please contact Editors Doug Lederman (doug.lederman@ insidehighered.com) or Scott Jaschik (scott.jaschik@insidehighered.com).

Financial support for this project was provided by CourseSmart, Deltak, Pearson and Sonic Foundry.

***

The Babson Survey Research Group in the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College conducts regional, national, and international research projects, including survey design, sampling methodology, data integrity, statistical analyses, and reporting. Visit Babson Survey Research Group online at http://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com.

Inside Higher Ed (http://insidehighered.com) is a national online publication and jobs service for all of higher education. The site's 1 million unique monthly visitors and 93,000 daily e-mail subscribers count on Inside Higher Ed for authoritative news coverage, insightful commentary, helpful career advice, and a vibrant jobs service with roughly 7,000 positions advertised.

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Conflicted: Faculty and Online Learning, 2012

HERNDON, Va., June 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --K12 Inc., the nation's leading provider of proprietary curricula and online education programs for students in kindergarten through high school, today introduced PEAK12, a new way for schools and districts to implement, personalize and manage their online learning programs, all in one place.

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

As online learning continues to proliferate in many different models and as more technology resources and options become available, schools and districts are seeking a higher level of integration across their various programs. At the same time that administrators and teachers juggle multiple systems and vendors, they also face the challenge of growing their online learning programs to meet the needs of more students.

PEAK12, which stands for Personalize, Engage, and Achieve with K12, is an intelligent management center for online learning that enables schools and districts to manage and personalize their online learning program solutions including K12 and third-party solutions, open education resources, and district-authored or -generated content from one place. PEAK12 eliminates the hassle of managing multiple accounts and roles and provides a consistent online environment for students, teachers and administrators, whether they are managing or participating in full-time online schooling, credit recovery, world language classes or in blending online learning with traditional classroom programs.

Beginning next month, schools and districts using K12 curricula, services, and support can take advantage of the intelligent management center. Free to current and new customers for a limited time as part of promotional launch offer, PEAK12 also features robust personalization and program management capabilities.

Teachers can individualize content and instruction in just a few clicks by personalizing courses managed by PEAK12 using a variety of K12 curricula and content, as well as district-generated content, to better meet student needs. For example, teachers can easily tailor Aventa Learning by K12 courses using content from over 5,500 lessons and assessments in the PEAK12 library. Soon, content from other popular third-party providers and open education resources, as well as PEAK12 compatibility with a growing number of learning management system platforms, will further augment the options for course personalization.

Also available through PEAK12 are new, powerful program management, enrollment, tracking and intelligent reporting capabilities. Teachers and administrators can quickly and easily create and publish course sections, set up enrollments, communicate with students, monitor progress and analyze results across a full range of online programs that can span multiple schools. Featuring new dashboard functionality available only through PEAK12, a multi-dimensional student engagement and performance summary categorizes each student's status in red, yellow, or green so teachers and administrators can know immediately which students require intervention.

"We have eight different campuses involved in our secondary blended learning programs. We currently use two different online learning products. With PEAK12, I will be able to look at all students, all campuses and all products," said Jan Streich, Director of Instructional Technology for Spotsylvania County Schools in Virginia. "From a school division management perspective, PEAK12 will provide me with a 'one stop shop' for monitoring student progress, improving seat allocation, and producing timely, more accurate data reports on our current programs."

"The teachers at my school will love the student engagement summary in PEAK12," said David Knoche, Principal for Falcon Virtual Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "Being able to quickly and easily see a complete view of each student's progress, no matter how many courses they are taking, will help our teachers focus their time and attention on providing more challenging lessons for those students who are progressing well, or additional help for students who may not be on track. Teacher efficiency will increase as students receive further individualized instruction."

"As online learning proliferates, schools and districts are demanding a higher level of integration and a single point for managing the many facets of their programs," said John Olsen, Executive Vice President of Operations for K12. "We believe that by providing robust content and management tools, and by enabling a centralized yet open system to support all of their online learning programs, K12 will empower its clients to deliver highly individualized educational experiences for more of their students, at a dramatically reduced cost."

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K12 Inc. Changes How Schools and Districts Manage and Personalize Online Learning

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

20-06-2012 08:23 Gotta be done lol 🙂 xx

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Excercise ball faceplant - Video

Home business 4 Thais among Forbes Asia's 48 Heroes of Philanthropy

Philanthropy

The Nation June 21, 2012 3:12 pm

Released today, Boonchai, founder of Cellphone Network and Total Access Communication, was honoured for his devotion in supporting education and culture since selling control of the company in 2005. This year, he plans to open the Thai Contemporary Art Museum in Bangkok, an US$8.4 million showcase for his collection of modern Thai painting, sculpture and miniatures that will be the nations largest privately funded museum.

Tan pledges half his net profit to his Tan Pan Foundation, which works to improve education, the environment and tourism. Gave $67,000 from his TV appearances with a standup comic for new buildings at Bor Thong Kindergarten in Chon Buri, his hometown. He also contributed to Japanese earthquake relief and raised more money via his restaurants and Facebook fan page for a total of $143,000.

Bilaibhan, chairperson of the family-owned Nai Lert Park Hotel, is helping lead efforts to conserve the nations fast-disappearing architectural heritage as president of the Siam Society. She also serves as president of a Thai fund involved in protecting wild elephants. Runs the Lert Sin Foundation, which supports health care and education and is funded from the legacy of her grandfather, who built real estate, retailing and transport businesses.

Thongma, CEO of Pruksa Real Estate, donated some $660,000 to hospitals, Buddhist organisations and schools in 2010 and 2011. A civil engineer by training, hes channeled most of his education-related giving into the engineering field.

Forbes Asia enlisted 48 most remarkable givers from across Asia Pacific. From each of 12 jurisdictions, four are selected for their mark in philanthropy in innovative ways.

"The selections are subjective and we aimed for a mix of notable people and causes. We also try to identify new philanthropists each year and pick only true philanthropists who are giving their own money. If highlighting these 48 generous souls encourages more people to support worthy causes, then we will deem our project a big success," said John Koppisch, Senior Editor, Forbes Asia.

Education for the poor remains a strong theme for many of the philanthropists.

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4 Thais among Forbes Asia's 48 Heroes of Philanthropy