March, 2009

THE DIFFERENCE

Launching The Difference

This morning I had my first television interview for The Difference, my new book that comes out tomorrow. Meredith Vieira and I talked about all of the ways you can implement The Difference in your life to secure your financial future. Watch the whole discussion here:

THE DIFFERENCE

“Opportunity in the midst of great crisis.”

That was what President Obama asked us to do in his Saturday radio address — to be open to discovering  “great opportunity in the midst of great crisis.”  In other words, be resilient — a key component of The Difference.

It’s not only possible, but I am starting to hear the sort of stories and examples that we should all be not just listening to but learning from — and being inspired by.  Marcia, from Sacramento, for instance. Marcia called my Oprah Radio show on Friday.  The dismal jobs number had just come out and we were talking not about crying in our beers but about where the opportunities actually were.  Marcia’s job — she didn’t say what — had been eliminated about six months earlier.  She’d given herself a few days to have a pity party but that was it.  Then she started to think about what she  could do to make some money in these tough times to keep herself afloat. More…

DC Comics

Managing Expectations

Stocks rallied in early trading today.  Why?  Because the jobs number — as dismal as it was, and it was dismal, bringing us to an 8.1 percent unemployment rate, a 25-year high — was on target.  It was as expected.  As in — not a surprise, not out of left field. The market quickly gave back the gains (what else is new) but I think there’s a bigger lesson here.  More…

Money 911

Planning for a Rainy Day

Where should I be putting my money now? That seemed to be the theme of this week’s Money 911. Personally, I see it as a great sign: Clearly, people are beginning to think about saving when they come into a little extra money, rather than spending. That’s the kind of attitude we need right now.

Here’s the clip, in case you missed it:

MORNING JOE

Investing Tips from the Top

You’ve probably heard me say it a hundred times: If you have a long time horizon, getting in the stock market now is a good idea. Eventually, things are going to turn around, and this opportunity to buy low shouldn’t be missed. But is that the kind of advice we want to hear from President Obama? That was the hot topic when I stopped by Morning Joe this morning.

THE DIFFERENCE

Good News, #1 – #2

Where is the good in this economy?  When are you going to have something good to say?  These are the sorts of questions I’ve been hearing for the past few months.  And so, I’ve decided, when I see good things I’m going to simply report them here.  When the good outweighs the bad — which I fully expect to take a while — we’ll know that we’re turning the corner. More…

THE DIFFERENCE

Learning To Savor

Recently, my 11-year-old daughter came home from Health class with a pocketful of Hershey’s Kisses and a new strategy for eating them.  If you just put one in your mouth and let it melt, it will last longer, you’ll enjoy it more and you won’t need to eat as many, she told me.

Of course, she’s right. But not, as it turns out, just about chocolate.  The Mind column by Benedict Carey in yesterday’s Science Times takes the position that stretching out almost any enjoyable experience seems to make it, well, more enjoyable.  He didn’t go for what would seem to be the easy example (sex, see Tantra), he went with one that wouldn’t seem to be enjoyable at all: television commercials.  More…

The Pepsi Tax

From the latest issue of Self magazine:

Increased taxes on liquor make a night out more expensive, but that heftier tab saves lives, the American Journal of Public Health finds.  Higher alcohol taxes in Alaska cut drinking-related ailments such as oral cancer and liver disease by one third.  Cheers to that!

I agree — so why was it that New York Governor David Patterson’s idea of a soda tax went nowhere fast? More…

Food, Glorious Food

They say three makes a trend.  At least, that’s what my editors at monthly magazines used to say.  And this morning I got three in five minutes.   From TodayShow.com a story entitled, Is The Recession Making You Fat? And two from The New York Times, one about how the menus on charity fundraisers have been tweaked from filet mignon to chicken pot pie and another that says: Food Magazines Begin To Consider Cooks’ Budgets. “As the high-end magazines try to survive a shaky 2009,” it reads, “it is out with the truffles, in with the button mushrooms.”  (Oooh, wait, there’s more.  A piece by Ask Kitty, Today’s depression-surviving 86-year-old columnist, about how gardening can help you eat well in troubled times.)

There is definitely something cooking (pun intended). More…

Me and Mila

My friend Elisa has many things to admire about her — but the thing I admire most is her enthusiasm.  She’s one of the many women I know who stopped working full-time when her children were little (it was hard for her, she enjoyed her work in employment law but the hours were unsustainable).  But unlike those who have been tentative about how to get back in, when to get back in, if they should get back in, Elisa always knew she wanted to find something else to excite her and fill her days — and though she hasn’t exactly found it yet, she has been willing to try many things.  And I think that’s great. More…