retirement (Photo credit: 401K)

A recent report on the problems with our 401(k) retirement plan provides the latest example how public policy groups want the government to take control of your retirement savings.

A liberal policy advocacy group named Demos recently published a report titled The Retirement Savings Drain which rehashes old complaints about 401(k) plans, overstates the costs of many current plans, and offers a government plan as a solution.

Chief among the complaints by Demos are that current 401(k) plans have excessively high fees, and those fees are hidden from employees. While in many cases employees do pay high costs, 401(k) fee disclosure has been planned to be rolled out in 2012 for some time now, and may help address ignorance of what plans actually costs.

The Demos report lists four reasons for the problem of high fees with 401(k) plans:

1) Complexity

2) Employers lack of knowledge

3) Employees lack of knowledge

4) Inefficient market structure

While all of the above may have some truth, what Demos fails to acknowledge is that all four items are due to the lack of a free market in 401(k) plans, including burdensome rules and penalties on employers who choose to offer plans to help their employees save.

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Ignore The Retirement Experts

Summary: McAfee is refocusing its cloud security platform to hone in on three areas: email, Web and identity.

McAfee is upgrading its Cloud Security Platform with some new features intended to address the three primary channels of traffic, which are defined as email, Web and identity.

Phil Hochmuth, program manager of IDCs Security Products service, defended these choices in prepared remarks, asserting that identity, Web and email security components are critical as enterprise IT customers deploy both on-premise and off-premise Cloud-based solutions over the next several years.

Protection for mobile workers is a big theme here, in particular. Along with an identity manager that extends policy control decisions to both in-network and mobile devices, McAfee is also touting its Client Proxy for providing authentication and redirection of traffic from off-network laptops to a McAfee Web Protection solution.

These improvements might come in handy to alleviate woes about sensitive data and security related to BYOD trends as well as remote workers.

Overall, the framework is designed to enable business customers to extend their security and policy enforcement into the cloud, along with providing real-time protection and data about threats to all verticals, including the three aforementioned channels.

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McAfee shifts cloud security focus to email, personal data

The rest of the Formula One field take note: Lewis Hamilton is back, and he feels good in his skin again.

Video: Lewis Hamilton wins Montreal GP for third time

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After a 2011 season marked by personal troubles a very public break-up with girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger, and tensions surrounding the firing of his manager father, Anthony and several ragged outings on track that saw Hamilton finish a disappointing fifth overall, things are different this year for the 2008 world champion, both on and off the track.

Well, Ive always just said that I was waiting to try and get all the pieces of the puzzle into the right place, getting my life into gear, getting things organized, said a smiling Hamilton, who was relaxed and comfortable talking about his personal turnaround.

I had a lot of bad years. There were certain things that werent right. It took a lot longer to get them right and sorted. I think probably the relationship with my family has made the biggest difference.

Hamilton wouldnt go into detail when asked to elaborate and and only said: Its just better. It was okay before, but its just incredible now.

Scherzinger is also back in his life, cheering him on from the McLaren hospitality area during Sundays 70-lap race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, where the reinvigorated 27-year-old McLaren driver got back onto the top step of the podium. It was a cool, calculated performance reminiscent of his maiden F1 win on the same track in 2007.

Coincidentally, his first victory of 2012 came in the race where he surpassed his hero and F1 legend Ayrton Senna in starts with the famed McLaren team. Three-time world champion Senna raced 96 times for McLaren between 1988 and 1993. He died in a high-speed crash in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola while driving for Williams.

While Hamilton hadnt won until Sunday, the season hasnt exactly been terrible for the British driver. The McLaren ace had two poles and four podiums in six starts prior to Montreal, where his win vaulted him from fourth to first in the championship standings. He now has 88 points. Ferraris Fernando Alonso is second with 86, with Red Bulls Sebastian Vettel third on 85. Drivers get 25 points for a win.

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Hamilton leaves behind personal problems to take victory at Montreal

SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire -06/11/12)- Today, Credit Sesame, the free service that helps consumers easily monitor their credit and loans in one place and save money on debt, announced that it has raised $12 million in new funding. Globespan Capital Partners led the round with participation from Credit Sesame's existing investors, Menlo Ventures and Inventus Capital. The latest round of financing will support Credit Sesame's expansion to reach millions of Americans.

U.S. households carry $14 trillion of debt in mortgages, credit cards, consumer loans, and student loans. Yet the average consumer lacks an easy, objective tool to help them make smart financial decisions. By providing consumers with instant, free access to credit scores and critical financial information, Credit Sesame meets this need and goes a step beyond. Credit Sesame's proprietary analytics engine analyzes a consumer's credit profile against thousands of available financial products in the market to find solutions to help consumers save money and meet their individual financial goals.

"As investors, we believe that Credit Sesame has tremendous potential to help Americans achieve a better financial future," said Daniel Leff, Ph.D., Globespan Capital Partners. "The company is solving a real problem for consumers and has already demonstrated great success in helping its users simplify the daunting task of understanding their comprehensive credit and debt profile, and how they can improve their finances with little or no effort. We are happy to fuel the company's growth and help Credit Sesame realize its goal of reaching millions of Americans."

Since its public launch, Credit Sesame has experienced tremendous user growth and now oversees more than $22 billion in consumer loans and debt on its personal finance platform. Credit Sesame currently finds $175 million a month in savings for its users. As a result, nearly half (48%) of the users now frequent the site 2- 3 times a month to stay abreast of their finances and realize ways to stop overpaying on their debt. The company's performance is also well reflected in its revenue growth, which has quadrupled quarter over quarter.

"Credit Sesame helps consumers better manage the critical part of their finances they often neglect: their credit and debt," said Adrian Nazari, founder and CEO of Credit Sesame. "While consumers are out investing countless dollars and hours, trying to time the market for a slightly better return on their investments, we're giving them the edge back home, making sure they're not incurring thousands of extra dollars in cost each year on their loans and credit needs."

Credit Sesame will use the funding to expand its market reach and to continue investing in its patent-pending analytic tools developed by Stanford University scientists and vetted by top banks. The company plans on hiring talent in marketing and engineering and enhancing its mobile app, the #1 free credit score app in the iTunes store.

For job inquiries visit http://www.creditsesame.com/about/jobs/

About Credit Sesame

Credit Sesame is a free online personal finance tool that gives consumers an easy way to monitor and manage their credit and loans all in one place and save money on debt. It provides consumers with free access to their credit score, analysis, advice and tools to take control of their finances, unlock their credit potential and borrow smarter. The company was founded in 2010 and is based in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://www.creditsesame.com.

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Credit Sesame Secures $12 Million, Sees Tremendous Growth in Helping Consumers Better Manage Personal Credit and ...

Most of us dream of a successful retirement. But a comfortable retirement doesn't just happen. Retirement security requires planning and effort. As you consider your retirement future, here are four steps to follow for a successful retirement:

1. Figure out what you want your retirement to look like. Your definition of success might be different from someone else's. Your first step is to figure out what you want your retirement to look like. Partial employment, travel, the ability to sit on your porch, service, a new hobby, and visiting with friends and relatives are all things to consider. Think about what you are most likely to enjoy, and be realistic about what needs to happen to make your dream a reality. Starting this process as early as you can will help motivate you to save and invest for your retirement goals.

2. Assess what you need for a successful retirement. Realistically determine what is needed for your personal retirement success. Consider what monthly income you will need from interest on your investments or other income sources in order to meet your goals. How big of a nest egg will you need to support your version of retirement success? Try to realistically account for expenses related to living and entertainment, as well as the effects of inflation. There are online calculators that can help you with your assessment.

3. Create a plan to help you reach your retirement goals. Once you know what you need in order to achieve a successful retirement, it's time to make a plan to get there. Understand the risks and rewards of investing, and learn about your options. Find out what you can do to take advantage of an employee match program from your retirement plan. Look for ways to save up money and create regular passive income to supplement your retirement savings. Diversify your strategies and investments so that you can reduce risk. Make a plan to invest regularly and pay down debt so that you will be more likely to reach your goals.

4. Stick to your plan. Now that you have a realistic plan to achieve retirement success, it's important to stick with it. Your plan should be developed with long-term success in mind, which means it should probably include investment strategies that favor the big picture like dollar-cost averaging and paying down debt. Unless you experience a major financial setback, don't let short-term market conditions scare you into making significant changes to your plan.

While you might need to evaluate and tweak your plan periodically, a good retirement plan rarely needs a major overhaul unless your objectives change dramatically or if there is a fundamental shift somewhere. Remember that a lot of the noise and panic surrounding short-term market movements is just hype and sensationalism. If you stick to a well-made plan, you are more likely to reach your retirement goals.

Jeff Rose is a certified financial planner and U.S. combat veteran. He blogs at Good Financial Cents and Soldier of Finance.

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4 Steps to Follow for a Successful Retirement

CHANDLER, AZ--(Marketwire -06/11/12)- The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and the National Personal Training Institute (NPTI), announced a strategic academic partnership to deliver a world class health and fitness curriculum in a hands-on, classroom setting to individuals seeking to become a certified personal fitness trainer.

Founded in 1987, NASM is the global leader in personal training and sports medicine education, specializing in personal training certification, sports performance training credentials, and corrective exercise training credentials. Accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), the NASM-CPT certification is the preferred choice of fitness professionals & top health clubs throughout the world. NASM's position as the industry's most demanded personal fitness certification reflects the vision of Dr. Micheal A. Clark, CEO, and creator of the Optimum Performance Training (OPT) model and continued support from Andrew Wyant, President and General Manager of NASM.

"NASM is at the forefront of the sports and fitness certification industry. We bring expertise and credibility to passionate people who are the future of this growing profession. The training resources and programs NASM provides not only change the lives of the student, but help transform the lives of those they help to become healthier and happier. This is why we work to improve our products and continue to pursue high certification standards," stated Wyant.

Serving as the new president and general manager of NASM, Andrew Wyant understands the importance of partnerships as his extensive background includes serving as president, CEO and owner of Direct Spotlight Media.

"Combining NASM's market leading CPT certification encompassing the OPT model with NPTI's extensive hands on and comprehensive learning environment, we feel this partnership will benefit not only the students going through the program, but will benefit the industry as a whole by delivering a well-qualified, NASM-certified and career-ready professional who will be ready to contribute to their employer or start their own business on day one," said Mr. Wyant. "NPTI's hands on classroom education with NASM's innovative curriculum prepares professionals not only for a state diploma and NASM's CPT exam, but for a lifelong and successful career in fitness."

Students who complete the Personal Fitness Training Program at National Personal Training Institute are prepared to perform the following responsibilities:

NPTI's instructors and staff are highly educated and are industry veterans with credentials and experience that will translate into high quality student instruction. All graduates of NPTI will receive a state recognized Diploma and be eligible to sit for the NASM-CPT exam. "After much research and comparison NPTI determined NASM certification to be the best fit for our students and schools," stated Mr. Eugene McIlvaine (NPTI founder). "This strategic partnership has the opportunity to create world class Certified Personal Trainers who will have a variety of career options at their disposal upon graduation."

Upon successful completion of the program and the passing of the NASM-CPT examination, NPTI graduates will have the opportunity to pursue flexible, exciting, and financially rewarding careers in one of the following settings: multi-purpose health clubs, corporate fitness centers, independent business operators, community centers, and more.

Students interested in becoming an NASM Certified Personal Trainer through National Personal Training Institute should contact (800) 960-6294 or visit http://www.nptifitness.com.

About National Personal Training Institute (NPTI)

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NASM and National Personal Training Institute Join Forces

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

SRA International, Inc., a leading provider of technology and strategic consulting services and solutions to government organizations, today announced that the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM) has awarded SRA its Defense Personal Property System (DPS) contract, which carries a total value of $17.6 million if all options are exercised.

Under the contract award, SRA will manage two major DPS software releases, in addition to providing training and learning management, engineering services, configuration management and operations maintenance support. SRA also will provide tier-three help desk and cyber security support.

The DPS is a web-based system that supports military members and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) civilians and their families moving from one physical location to another. The system allows the military member or DOD civilian to schedule their move, manage and track their personal and household goods, as well as work directly with transportation service providers that are part of the process. The system also provides analytics to USTRANSCOM and its U.S. Army component, Surface Deployment and Distribution Command.

SRA was involved in the creation and development of this system for our service members and their families, so we understand its importance to them. said Defense Logistics Vice President Jim Curtis. We are proud that we have been selected to enhance the system over the next 18 months; our employees have an abiding sense of commitment to this work.

About SRA International, Inc.

SRA is dedicated to solving complex problems of global significance for government organizations serving the national security, civil government, health, and intelligence and space markets. Founded in 1978, the company has expertise in such areas as cyber security; disaster response planning; enterprise resource planning; environmental strategies; energy systems and sustainability; IT systems, infrastructure and managed services; learning technologies; logistics; public health preparedness; public safety; strategic management consulting; and systems engineering.

SRA employs approximately 6,300 employees serving clients from its headquarters in Fairfax, Va., and offices around the world. For additional information on SRA, please visit http://www.sra.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans, and prospects for SRA, including statements about the estimated value of the contract and work to be performed, and other statements containing the words estimates, believes, anticipates, plans, expects, will, and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Factors or risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results we anticipate include, but are not limited to: (i) reduced spending levels and changing budget priorities of our largest customer, the United States federal government, which accounts for more than 90% of our revenue; (ii) failure to comply with complex U.S. government procurement-related laws and other regulations, including but not limited to, punitive damage liabilities under the False Claims Act and other laws, and financial incentives under so-called whistleblower statutes, awarding the whistleblower with a percentage of the recovery if the claims are successfully waged; (iii) possible delays or overturning of our government contract awards due to bid protests by competitors or loss of contract revenue or diminished opportunities based on the existence of organizational conflicts of interest; (iv) entry into new markets or incurring liabilities in hazardous areas; (v)failure to comply with laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or regulations on government gratuities; (vi) failure to comply with Federal Acquisition Regulations and Cost Accounting Standards or the Fair Labor Standards Act; (vii) security threats, attacks or other disruptions on our information infrastructure, and failure to comply with complex network security and data privacy legal and contractual obligations or to protect sensitive information; (viii) any violation of third party intellectual rights; (ix)adverse changes in federal government practices such as insourcing; (x) delays in the U.S. government adopting appropriations necessary for program funding and future appropriation uncertainties adversely impacting customer spending plans; (xi) intense competition to win U.S. government contracts or recompetes and commoditization of services we offer; (xii) failure to obtain option awards, task orders or funding under contracts, or inability to successfully execute awarded contracts; (xiii) any adverse results of audits and investigations conducted by the Defense Contract Audit Agency or any of the Inspectors General for various agencies with which we contract, including, without limitation, any determination that our contractor business systems or contractor internal control systems are deficient; (xiv) difficulties accurately estimating contract costs and contract performance requirements; (xv) challenges in attracting and retaining key personnel or high-quality employees, particularly those with security clearances; and (xvi) adverse impact on employee and customer relations from media speculation regarding the company and its future ownership and operations.

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U.S. Transportation Command Awards Defense Personal Property System Contract to SRA International

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LodeStar Intermediate Pt. 1 - Normandale Online Education - Video

The Pennsylvania Department of Education today kicked off Summer Food Awareness Week, June 11-15, by reminding families of the services provided by the Summer Food Service Program.

Through the program, more than 2,000 sites statewide will be open this summer to provide children 18 years of age or younger with free meals. After June 15, site locations and hours will be available online at http://www.pasummermeals.com.

A free school lunch is the only full meal that some children receive all day, which means the end of the school year can put those children at risk of hunger. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, created the program to make sure children have access to nutritious meals during the summer break.

Site sponsors provide the facility and free meals for local children and then apply for partial reimbursement from the USDA, based on the number of meals served.

Pennsylvanias Department of Education administers these programs by approving nonprofit site sponsors, processing reimbursement claims and providing oversight.

National Summer Food Awareness Week is a perfect time for parents to assess their childrens nutritional needs over the summer and, if need be, locate a Summer Food Service Program site near them.

Last summer, more than 5 million meals and snacks were served to children from low-income families at more than 2,000 sites across the state. The majority of site sponsors from last year will continue to provide free meals with the addition of a few new sponsors this summer.

Nonprofit organizations interested in becoming a sponsor of a Summer Food Service Program site may contact the Department of Educations Division of Food and Nutrition at 1-800-331-0129 or by email at ra-sfsp@pa.gov.

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Education Dept. reminds families of free summer meal program

REDLANDS, Calif., June 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Plenary Sessions at the twelfth annual Esri Education GIS Conference are undergoing a major change in format. Instead of a series of presentations from speakers, the Saturday and Sunday programs will commence with 90-minute facilitated community conversations in which Esri education managers, community spokespersons, and audience members will talk about themes of strategic importance to the education community.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110425/LA88950LOGO)

"We are making a concerted effort to engage the community at this year's conference to help formulate the direction of GIS education for the next 20 years," says David DiBiase, Esri's director of education, Industry Solutions. "Attendees can join the conversation with respected thought leaders about the challenges and opportunities we face at the cusp of a new generation of GIS education."

Conversation topics include education and the cloud; open educational resources; careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); educational policy; campus facilities; and global initiatives.

Daniel Edelson, vice president for education, National Geographic Society, will participate in the opening session on Saturday and discuss online mapping and citizen science.

"Online mapping is a huge opportunity for bringing the power of geographic analysis to learners within and outside the classroom," says Edelson. "It can help us better understand our community and engage with it in a more meaningful way."

Among the nearly 100 user presentations, workshops, and special interest group meetings available at the conference this year is the Education EXPO, which will highlight the demonstration of ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS 10.1, Esri Community Analyst, and more. In addition, Esri education team staff members will discuss the expanded site license program, which has undergone its most substantial upgrade in the 20-year history of the Esri Education Program.

The Esri Education GIS Conference will be held from July 21 to 24, 2012, in San Diego, California, at the Marriott Marquis and Marina hotel near the Convention Center, where the Esri International User Conference will be staged.

Unlike previous years, attendees need not be current users of Esri software. Registration includes the first two days of attendance at the Esri International User Conference. For more information or to register, visit esriurl.com/EducReg.

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12th Esri Education GIS Conference Encourages Community Involvement