HEARD IT AND READ IT

Prepared by Bassam Mechammil

 

OCTOBER 2009

 

For comments; please email Mechammil@aol.com

 

 

Where the worst germs lurk

They lurk on the kitchen sponge, your computer keyboard and the dirty laundry. Flush the toilet and they become airborne. Strangers leave them behind on airplanes, gas pumps, shopping carts, coffeeshop counters and elevator buttons. Your desktop, office microwave handles, and the exercise bike at the gym are covered with them. Don't even think about the toys at day-care centers or the kids' playground equipment.

Germs—the microscopic bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa that can cause disease—cling to the most common surfaces and then hitch a ride on our hands. As swine flu spreads from person to person around the world, it is most often being transmitted by coughing or sneezing, but it can also infect people who touch something with flu virus on it and then touch their mouth or nose, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns. And like an unwelcome house guest, a flu virus can hang around for days.

Alamy (5); Jon Protas/The Wall Street Journal (cups)

No wonder germophobes—including me—are on high alert, viewing every surface as a potentially lethal petri dish. We're using our elbows to push elevator buttons, forgoing the handshake and social kiss for the fist bump, and fanatically disinfecting everything in sight. Sales of alcohol-based hand sanitizers were up nearly 17% as of the first week of September compared to the same period last year, according to Chicago-based research firm Information Resources. And marketers are taking full advantage of our paranoia, introducing anti-bacterial dishwasher-safe keyboards, machine-washable leather shoes, germ-resistant paper file folders and even hands-free communion wafer dispensers for churches.

Journal Community

“How about encouraging sick co-workers to stay home? Turns out the 'work hero' is really just the work insurgent.” --Chris Georgandellis

But how vulnerable are we to the sea of germs swirling around us? Our immune system protects us from most of them, and in some spots that harbor germs, like household drains, the risk of transfer is low. Experts say there's no reason to panic—even though there may be good reasons to be grossed out, since the spread of germs is often linked to poor bathroom hygiene and bacteria from human waste.

"We take in humongous amounts of live organisms every day, and we are all routinely covered in fecal organisms," says Michael Bell, associate director for infection control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. "It's a testament to our body's own defenses—if they routinely made us ill, none of us would have a chance."

Even the scariest bugs can usually be vanquished through old-fashioned hand washing. "Regardless of what you touch, make sure you clean your hands on a regular basis so you have a better chance of not delivering bacteria into your body through your mouth, nose and eyes or a cut on your skin," Dr. Bell says. He advises thorough and frequent hand cleaning—which may be needed 10 times or more daily depending on your activities—with soap or alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Cleaning and disinfecting things like desks and doorknobs can play a role in protecting us, he says, but "focusing on one surface misses the point, because no surface is not germy." (The CDC.gov Web site offers information on keeping germs at bay in the home, how to wash your hands correctly, and the importance of flu vaccines and other immunizations in preventing disease.)

Also, not all germs are harmful; we need friendly bacteria that live on our skin to help fight off bad bugs, and bacteria in our mouth and gut help digest our food and prevent illness and disease.

Health Blog

·                     Afraid of Germs? Don't Even Think About Becoming a Teacher

Germ Warfare

Hand washing after contact with surfaces and other people's hands is the best protection against germs. Here are some other tips:

·                     At Home: Wash linens and towels in hot water; dry thoroughly. Disinfect bathroom and kitchen surfaces. Keep toothbrushes away from commode.

·                     At the Coffee Shop: Use napkin when handling communal milk pitchers and to cover countertops when preparing coffee.

·                     Commuting or Traveling: Avoid touching escalator rails, elevator buttons and gas pumps with bare hands; wear socks through airport security.

·                     At the office: Use paper towel on microwave oven handles, communal coffeemakers; use disinfecting wipes on desk and phone.

·                     In public restrooms: Avoid touching flush handles, faucets with bare hands.

·                     In the gym: Use towels on mats and between skin and machines.

WSJ reporting

Still, I wanted to know where in my home, office and wider world I should most forcefully brandish my disinfectant wipes and hand-sanitizer. My calls to experts turned up some surprising culprits: the public toilet seats I'd always been warned about are likely cleaner than the desks in my workplace. My kitchen sponge and cutting board harbor the biggest dangers, as do places like elevator buttons, communal coffee carafes and gym equipment, that are touched by many hands and are rarely cleaned.

"We are sharing more surfaces than ever before in history, spending more time indoors, travelling on bigger planes and cruise ships and working in bigger office complexes," says Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona's Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science. "The biggest risks are in areas of high contact—like the hundreds of people who have touched that escalator rail before you did."

One of the scariest germ incubators may be the office. Your co-worker eating at the next cubicle isn't just annoying you with the smell of fried onions—he's leaving behind particles of food that can be breeding ground for bacteria. Add in the microbes transferred from workers' hands to keyboards, phones and the computer mouse, and the average office desk is may harbor 400 times more germs than the average toilet seat, since office desks and surfaces may be rarely cleaned, while bathrooms tend to be disinfected regularly, Dr. Gerba says.

After testing surfaces and objects in 113 offices in five cities, the Arizona researchers found that women's offices had more than twice the bacteria of their male counterparts. Makeup cases, phones and purses had the highest number of bacteria; for men it was wallets, hand-held electronic devices and phones. Women's offices had higher numbers of mold and yeast, mostly from food kept in drawers. But the superbug MRSA, isolated in 6% of offices, was found more often in men's offices on the phone, computer mouse, desktop and the bottom of desk drawers.

The studies are funded by makers of disinfectants including Procter & Gamble and Clorox, whose products were also used to test the effectiveness of cleaning and compare regular cleaning regimens to disinfecting with substances like bleach. Dr. Gerba says more research is needed on the link between surface germs and disease, since it's impossible to say who will get sick. "Some people will never get ill no matter what they do or don't do, and others will get ill almost every time," he notes.

At home, the kitchen may be the germiest room. About 50% to 80% of food-borne illnesses happen in the home, where micro-organisms can be spread from raw meat and vegetables on chopping boards, utensils and counters, and then spread on hands. The culprits are dangerous bacteria such as e. coli, salmonella and campylobacter. They cause food-borne illnesses that strike 76 million people each year, sending 300,000 of them to the hospital and killing 5,000.

One problem is haphazard cleaning; a study by the U.K.-based Hygiene Council found that in 12% of cases, surfaces that looked clean in homes were heavily contaminated. Sponges and cleaning cloths can be swarming with bacteria from previous wipe-ups, so to be on the safe side, it's best to use paper towels, disposable cloths or reusable ones that have been decontaminated and dried, the group advises. The CDC advises microwaving sponges for 30 seconds or putting them in the dishwasher every other day or so depending on how often you use them.

In the laundry room, your average load of wash contains more than coffee stains. The Hygiene Council also warns it can be packed with bacteria such as e. coli from clothing, towels and linens. Washing in cold water doesn't kill the germs; if you have to wash at lower temperatures, add a laundry disinfectant. Wash your hands after loading the washing machine and dry clothes immediately, since bacteria and fungi build up on damp items, the group advises.

In the bathroom, the family toothbrush holder can also harbor bacteria; if you have to all share the same one, don't allow the brushes to touch each other, the CDC recommends. But it also says there is no evidence to support disinfecting toothbrushes in the microwave or with ultraviolet devices on the market. Best strategy: Get a new one every few months and rinse thoroughly after using.

And keep your toothbrush away from the commode—especially the powerful flush of toilets on airplanes. Some studies have shown that flushing sends a spray of water containing bacteria that settles on people and surrounding surfaces. In general, fecal particles are only worrisome if they've come from someone with intestinal illness or diarrhea, but the best advice I ever heard was to treat all airplane bathroom surfaces as if they are radioactive; keep the lid closed when flushing, use a paper towel to handle lid, faucets and door handles after washing hands, then use hand sanitizer once back at the seat as an extra precaution.

While surfaces are often the leading source of germs, remember germs can thrive in water we may inadvertently swallow at public swimming pools (don't ever get in one if you see a baby without a swim diaper) and waterparks (think of all those people who may not be diligent about personal hygiene). Hotel hot tubs can be bubbling cauldrons of rash-causing Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as chlorine and other disinfectants evaporate more quickly in high temperatures. And communal showers may harbor foot fungus.

After reviewing all this depressing information, I turned to my own doctor, New York infectious disease specialist Eric Neibart, who helped bring me down to earth—sort of. What are the chances of picking up an infectious disease from the germs we come in contact with daily? "Millions of people touch things every day and nothing happens, so just use common sense," Dr. Neibart advises. "There's a bigger risk of being injured in a taxicab."

 

 

America is on Sale

NEW YORK (AP) -- There has never been a better time to be a consumer. America is on sale.

AP - Karen Wilmes of Hopkinton, R.I. checks out her savings while her daughter, Allison, waits, during a shopping trip ...

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The Great Recession has caused massive job losses and hardship for millions, but it has also fostered a shoppers' paradise. Anyone who still has the means to spend can find unheard of deals.

Prices on everything from clothes to coffee to cat food are dropping, some faster than they have in half a century. Items rarely discounted -- like Tiffany engagements rings -- are now. The two biggest purchases most people make -- homes and new cars -- are selling at steep price reductions.

"This is the new normal," says Donald Keprta, president of Dominick's, a supermarket chain in the Midwest, which just cut prices by as much as 30 percent on thousands of items. "We aren't going back."

Consumers like Karen Wilmes, a mother of two in Hopkinton, R.I., relish the steals. During a recent trip to Shaw's Supermarkets, she bought a basketful of goods, including Eggo waffles, Kleenex tissues and Betty Crocker cake mix. The retail price: $63.89. Wilmes paid $7.31 by buying items on sale and using coupons.

"The deals out there are unbelievable," says Wilmes, 36, who writes the Frugal Rhode Island Mama blog, which tracks local and national bargains. "We can put the money I save toward something else."

And she's doing just that, but only when she can find another deal. Wilmes and her husband recently bought a Samsung television from Best Buy's Web site for $1,299, about $300 less than she found at other stores. She also got free delivery and another $13 back from ebates.com, which receives commissions from online retailers for directing customers their way.

What's happening now has been building for years. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. introduced "every-day low prices" many years ago. Amazon.com redefined the idea of bargain prices during the late 1990s when it helped introduce online shopping. After the 2001 recession, automakers introduced zero-percent financing to boost sales. McDonald's "Dollar Meals" made fast food even cheaper.

But until the Great Recession came along, consumers hadn't seen anything yet.

Last fall's financial meltdown triggered a plunge in stock prices and home values and wiped out 11 percent -- $6.6 trillion -- of household wealth in six months. It also put an end to easy credit, which had fueled the consumption that powered the economy for most of the decade.

Those who still have jobs don't want to spend as they once did. There is a new societal pressure to be careful and smart when buying almost anything. From Chicago's Miracle Mile to malls around Orange County, Calif., it was once a status symbol to trot around with armloads of shopping bags with designer names on them. Now, it's considered ostentatious.

Traditionally, manufacturers and retailers lowered prices to clear inventory. Today, they're cutting prices because consumers are demanding it. If it lasts, the ramifications will be wide-ranging.

"There's almost a new morality to spending," Liz Claiborne Inc. CEO Bill McComb told an investor conference last month.

The bargains being offered at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., make it seem the day after Christmas. But it's only a weekday in September. The deals start at 25 percent off and keep getting better. Neiman Marcus, Forever 21, Ann Taylor, Macy's, Gap -- across the retailing spectrum there are promotions.

Retail sales remain sluggish, and more than half of the people surveyed recently by America's Research Group and UBS said they are shopping less. But when they do shop, most go to stores with lower prices or wait for sales before returning to their favorite retailer, according to the survey.

Dave Ratner sees this price chase first hand. His four-store chain in western Massachusetts, Dave's Soda & Pet City, has never been so focused on promotions and low prices. During the past year, customers stopped buying $50 bags of premium dog food and "special" $10 pet treats. Pet-related Halloween merchandise usually sells well, but he isn't stocking any this year because he doesn't think people will buy it. Instead, he's offering big discounts on cheaper brands of pet food.

"It's killing my profit margins, but if you don't offer specials and lots of promotions, you aren't operating in the current world," he says.

Great buys are not exclusive to retailing. The government's Cash for Clunkers program is over, but more than half of car buyers still get a cash rebate, according to J.D. Power & Associates.

Hotel rooms cost travelers nearly 20 percent less, on average, than last year, the biggest decline since Smith Travel Research began collecting data in 1987.

Home prices have dropped 30 percent, on average, from the peak in 2006. In some markets, they're down more than 50 percent. Homes in parts of Detroit are cheaper than a new car.

Overall, prices are tumbling at the fastest rate in decades. The government's Consumer Price Index, which measures the average price of goods and services purchased by households, has fallen 1.5 percent over the last 12 months. The reading for July showed a 2.1 percent annual decline, the biggest since 1950.

The largest decline has been in energy prices, but other areas have fallen, too. Among them: food, appliances, furniture, jewelry, sporting goods, audio and visual equipment and apartment rents.

People like Bruce Halkin, 64, an advertising executive in Aventura, Fla., are benefiting. He will soon close on a three-bedroom home in nearby Boca Raton on a golf course. He's paying $335,000, 8 percent below the $365,000 asking price. The sellers bought the home for $410,000 in 2006 and spent $75,000 on renovations.

Halkin's deal-chasing doesn't stop there. On a recent trip to Macy's, he picked up two pairs of Ralph Lauren Polo shorts, a Polo shirt and a hat for $50. At full price, the bill would have topped $200.

"I've learned to buy when I see deals not necessarily when I need anything," he says. "Thankfully, the bargains keep coming."

Those with goods and services to sell hope that the discounting bolsters sales, which would help get the economy chugging along again. Consumer spending accounts for 70 percent of the economy.

But ever-lower prices have risks, too. The more shoppers expect prices to fall, the less they shop until prices drop. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that forces companies to keep cutting. That reduces profits, making it less likely companies will hire workers or raise wages. Economists say the worst scenario would be a deflationary spiral, which Japan has been stuck in for the last two decades.

"The Japanese government has been trying to stimulate the economy there since the 1990s," says Gary Shilling, who runs an economic consulting firm in Springfield, N.J., and has written two books on deflation.

The U.S. economy is not near such an extreme. But what's emerging is the realization that pricing is being redefined.

Dominick's supermarkets announced in late August that prices on a range of items in its 81 stores would fall by as much as a third. Included in the cuts were both private-label goods and national brands, such as Coffee Mate creamers, Bumble Bee tuna and Tombstone frozen pizza.

Profit margins at grocery stores typically are just 2 percent. Dominick's hopes the low prices will attract customers, who will also buy enough full-priced items to make up the difference.

Other companies are assessing pricing as never before. Procter & Gamble long dismissed the idea of cutting prices for its stable of well-known brands, including Tide detergent and Gillette razors.

In September, the world's largest consumer products maker relented. It announced price cuts across 10 percent of its global line and plans to increase its promotions emphasizing value.

Others are learning that aggressive price cutting can move merchandise. Sony cut prices on its PlayStation 3 video game console by $100 to about $300 in August, and sales shot up 300 percent during the following three weeks.

Dick's Sporting Goods sold boxes of a dozen Nike One golf balls for $42.99 at the start of the year. The balls are used by Tiger Woods and other professional golfers, but sales were lackluster. Now, Dick's offers two boxes for $59.

Demand has soared.

 

The 7 New Rules of Financial Security

 

In a world turned upside down, you must re-examine some basic assumptions. A good place to start: understanding the true nature of risk.

Rule No. 1: Risk

Old thinking: If you can stomach the ups and downs that come with risk, you'll be rewarded.

New rule: Risk isn't about your stomach. It's about making or missing an important goal.

You know you have to consider risk. But what is risk? Many of us have learned to think of risk as synonymous with volatility. For years, what came down reliably bounced back even higher. You could easily conclude that risk tolerance was just a matter of taste. As long as you had the fortitude to see the occasional loss on your 401(k) statement and not panic, you would capture superior returns over time.

What to do: You shouldn't run from risky investments just because they lost money - that train has left the station. But the old buy-on-the-dips advice isn't quite right either. This bear market's lesson is that how much risk you can take is a matter of how much you can lose and still meet your basic goals. That may mean scaling back on stocks, even if you miss some of the next market rebound.

Rule No. 2: Cash

Old thinking: Keep enough money in ultrasafe accounts to cover life's emergencies, but no more.

New rule: Relying more on cash can rescue you in an "asset emergency."

For most of your career you'll want to set aside about six months' worth of living expenses in the bank. That money covers the mortgage and puts food on the table should you lose your job. The fact that you'll earn only about 2% is beside the point. You can't take the risk.

The simultaneous crash in stocks and houses has taught us that we need to redefine "emergency."Rande Spiegelman, vice president of financial planning for the Schwab Center for Financial Research, recommends looking at the next one to three years and adding up any big-ticket stuff you see coming: tuition, a wedding, a down payment on a house. Once you have your total, aim to hold that much in a cash account or a low-risk investment such as a high-quality short-term bond fund.

What to do: It's not easy to build cash savings and a retirement fund at the same time. If you have to make choices, build up that emergency fund first because you can't expect to lean on your home equity or stocks if you lose your job. And see if you have some flexibility on the big-ticket obligations. Maybe you plan for a state school rather than a private college, or downsize the wedding. If all your assets are in a 401(k), move some of that balance to low-risk investment options as you build your cash funds. That will preserve more to tap via a 401(k) loan in a pinch. Not a terrific option, but it can beat the alternatives.

In the years just before and after retirement, cash becomes even more important. You don't want to sell stocks during a bear market to buy groceries. Aim for two to four years' worth of living expenses in low-risk assets as you near retirement.

Rule No. 3: Human Capital

Old thinking: The longer your time horizon, the more stocks you should own.

New rule: Time isn't everything. You must also consider your earnings potential.

It's one of the basic rules of thumb: The more years you have to recoup losses, the more aggressive you can be. Unfortunately, the math isn't so clear-cut.

Here's a better way to think about how aggressive your portfolio should be: Imagine that it includes not only stocks and bonds but also your human capital, meaning your ability to earn income by working. The safer it is, the more chances you can afford to take with your other assets - that is, your portfolio.

This doesn't mean that time no longer matters. As you age, the value of your human capital declines, and you'll need to secure more of your savings. So the conventional advice to hold a lot in stocks when you are young and gradually trim back can still make sense.

But not for everyone. The nature of your career may make your human capital more bond-like or more stock-like, says finance professor Moshe Milevsky of York University in Toronto. Tenured professors like Milevsky have human capital that resembles a triple-A-rated bond, especially when they have a solid pension plan. Those lucky souls can dive aggressively into stocks and even stay there as they approach retirement, he says. The human capital of a commission-based mortgage broker, on the other hand, is pretty clearly a stock - and it's not a blue chip. That person should own a fair amount of bonds, even when young.

What to do: Assess your human capital. A typical worker's income is about 70% like a bond and 30% like a stock, says Thomas Idzorek, chief investment officer for Ibbotson Associates. Use that as your baseline and then think about how long you'll be working, the stability of your current job, and your ability to change careers if you have to. You've probably realized in the past few months that your human capital is not as secure as you once thought. If you've been an aggressive investor, that alone may be a reason to shift more of your assets to safer ground.

Rule No. 4: Borrowing

Old thinking: Borrowing sensibly is a good way to build wealth.

New rule: Borrow cautiously. You have to worry about the other guy's debt too.

The quarter-century leading up to 2007 wasn't simply a golden age for stocks. It was also a bull market for leverage. (That's Wall Streetspeak for debt.) Since 1982, mortgage rates have fallen from 16% to below 6%. The levy on college loans dropped to around 3%. Americans responded to easy credit in a predictable way. The personal savings rate fell from over 12% to zilch, and household debt payments as a percentage of disposable income rose by a third as families "put it on the card" and paid for lavish kitchen upgrades with home-equity loans.

Looking back, America's borrowing binge was nuts. Families were leaning on housing wealth, and that wealth was shaky.

The obvious moral here is to be conservative. There are always good reasons to borrow, even today. You need a mortgage to buy a house, and a college education provides enough of a lifetime payoff to justify a loan. But you ought to stretch less.

There's a subtler lesson too. David Ellison, president of the FBR Funds, says that you have more exposure to leverage than you think, especially now that everyone is trying to unload debt. Perhaps your employer borrowed a lot over the past decade and now needs to conserve cash, so it's laying off staff. Suddenly that HELOC you could easily handle on your salary doesn't look like such a super idea. You can't lean on your investments for help, because many of the companies you owned used leverage to pump up profits, and now they can't borrow, so their earnings and stock prices are falling. And it's harder to shore up your own balance sheet by selling your house when banks are reining in lending and potential buyers are scared to borrow for an asset that may decline further.

What to do: Be conservative about debt? Make that very conservative. Especially when your neighbors aren't. Get a mortgage you can afford for the life of the loan, and put at least 20% down.

Rule No. 5: Housing

Old thinking: You can expect your house to appreciate handsomely over the long run.

New rule: Your home won't make you rich. But it is an important savings tool.

If you live on one of the coasts, you probably guessed sometime around 2005 that home prices couldn't keep rising the way they were. But the severity of the crash was still a shock: You heard a lot about how the market would have to "cool off" or "get back to normal" - the implication being that slow but steady appreciation was the future.

But the long-run data always told a different story. Yale University economist Robert Shiller looked closely in 2005 at the history of home prices since 1890, using a database he constructed. What he found was surprising. Except for two spectacular booms - the first after World War II and the second starting in 1998 - real estate appreciation has been unimpressive after figuring in inflation. As Shiller wrote in "Irrational Exuberance," technology has allowed builders to nail up more houses faster, ensuring that supply never gets too far behind demand (and often gets ahead of it).

Even when prices are rising, gains on real estate aren't as dazzling as they look, once you account for expenses. Maintenance costs typically run at about 1% of a home's value annually, in addition to insurance and taxes. If you remodel, the most you can expect to recoup is about 80%. You have to pay steep fees when you buy (up to 3% in closing costs) and sell (up to 6% for realtor fees).

What to do: This doesn't mean you have to rent, just that you should have modest expectations for your house as a wealth builder. There are still financial pluses. First, owning a house gives you a hedge against rising values in your own community so that you don't risk being priced out as rents go up. (Ask a New Yorker about that.) Second, a traditional 30-year mortgage acts as what economists call a "commitment device," or a tool that forces you to save. Instead of writing a check to a landlord, you gradually pay off principal. At the end, you own a house. Aside from your 401(k), no other asset enforces such discipline.

Rule No. 6: Diversification

Old thinking: A diversified portfolio lowers your risk.

New rule: Diversification won't always save you - and you need more of it than you think.

Diversification hasn't stopped you from getting hurt in this downturn. Both U.S. and foreign stocks are deep in the red. Holding bonds did cushion your losses, but most kinds of bonds still declined. What happened?

Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist at GMO, observed back in 2007 that we had a bubble not just in one or two kinds of assets, but in risk. Investors around the world were so confident, and so hungry for even a little extra return, that they were throwing money at anything that might deliver. Now that the risk bubble has burst, all those investors want now is the safety of U.S. Treasuries. So everything has moved roughly in sync, both up and down, for a few years.

Bear in mind, though, that these times are, to say the least, unusual. Over a longer period - as little as a decade - diversification still looks effective. While large U.S. stocks are down the past 10 years, U.S. corporate bonds earned 4.6% a year for the same period.

But in a global economy where money moves quickly, you have to work harder at diversification than before.

What to do: To ensure you are diversified, you don't have to go out and buy 16 new mutual funds. First, look under the hood of the funds you have to see if you already own some of those assets. An easy way to do so is to plug your holdings into Morningstar.com's Instant X-Ray tool. And buy funds that kill two birds with one stone. The T. Rowe Price International Bond fund, for example, invests up to 20% of its assets in emerging markets and the rest in developed countries. Put that together with a high-yield fund and a broad U.S. bond fund, and you'll own most of the bond universe.

Rule No. 7: Retirement

Old thinking: Retiring early is a prize.

New rule: Retiring early is a problem.

Ever since Uncle Sam set 65 as the age you could retire and collect full Social Security benefits (it's 66 or 67 for boomers today), workers have been trying to beat that bogey by quitting early. And that seemed well within reach earlier in this decade after a bull market that gave workers confidence that their money could work for them rather than the other way around.

But the reality of early retirement, even before the stock market's sickening plunge, was never quite that rosy. More than half of early retirees leave work before they intended, and of those, nine in 10 depart because they get sick or are downsized.

And now the financial prospects for those who had a shot at a secure early retirement have dimmed: Long-tenured workers nearing retirement have seen their 401(k) accounts shrink an average of 30% over the past 14 months, according to EBRI. There's no way around it: The numbers require you to rethink your plans.

What to do: "By delaying retirement just one year you could increase your annual retirement income by 9%," says Richard Johnson, senior fellow at the Urban Institute. If you can hang on to your current high-paying post, great. The reality, of course, is that in an era of harsh cost cutting, well-paid older workers are more vulnerable. And you might not want to stick it out any longer anyway if the severance is decent. But there's much to be gained from finding another job, even if it's a lower-paid or part-time position. If you can earn enough to avoid collecting Social Security benefits early or dipping into your retirement accounts, research by T. Rowe Price shows, you'll barely feel a hit to your income when you do retire. If your new job comes with health benefits, so much the better. The average health-care tab for an early retiree before he is eligible for Medicare runs to $8,500 a year, says an AARP study.

Despite all those benefits, if you are still many years away from the retire-or-work decision, you should think of working longer as Plan B. As we noted, you won't have complete control over your ability to work - your health or the job market could make it difficult. That means you can't afford to assume that you'll just work a few more years if things go wrong. You will still have to stick to rules 1 through 6.

 

 

 

Special Report

 

 

CEO Compensation

Rank 1- 25 Rank 26 - 50 Rank 51 - 75 Rank 76 - 100 Rank 101 - 125 Rank 126 - 150 Rank 151 - 175 Rank 176 - 200 Rank 201 - 225 Rank 226 - 250 Rank 251 - 275 Rank 276 - 300 Rank 301 - 325 Rank 326 - 350 Rank 351 - 375 Rank 376 - 400 Rank 401 - 425 Rank 426 - 450 Rank 451 - 475 Rank 476 - 498

Rank	Name	Company	Pay ($mil)	5-Yr Pay ($mil)	Shares Owned ($mil)	Age	Efficiency
1	Lawrence J Ellison	Oracle	556.98	944.45	21,987.4	64	103
2	Ray R Irani	Occidental Petroleum	222.64	743.55	394.3	74	106
3	John B Hess	Hess	154.58	234.83	2,016.8	55	115
4	Michael D Watford	Ultra Petroleum	116.93	174.17	104.1	55	28
5	Mark G Papa	EOG Resources	90.47	170.69	51.7	62	92
6	William R Berkley	WR Berkley	87.485	178.29	627.4	63	67
7	Matthew K Rose	Burlington Santa Fe	68.62	140.73	39.8	50	40
8	Paul J Evanson	Allegheny Energy	67.26	143.54	33.1	67	NA
9	Hugh Grant	Monsanto	64.60	135.30	28.0	51	NA
10	Robert W Lane	Deere & Co	61.30	142.40	11.8	59	109
11	Keith A Hutton	XTO Energy	54.786	NA	96.4	50	NA
12	Mark V Hurd	Hewlett-Packard	51.93	114.402	17.9	52	NA
13	John H Hammergren	McKesson	51.29	137.78	9.4	50	124
14	Bradbury H Anderson	Best Buy	49.265	80.63	92.9	59	68
15	David J O'Reilly	Chevron	47.56	121.62	15.8	62	119
16	Frederick W Smith	FedEx	44.49	131.10	1,001.9	64	165
17	Robert J Stevens	Lockheed Martin	42.68	101.39	26.3	57	NA
18	Ronald E Hermance Jr	Hudson City Bancorp	42.27	65.89	42.8	61	13
19	Brian L Roberts	Comcast	39.26	159.70	283.5	49	137
20	John W Rowe	Exelon	39.22	155.13	20.9	63	83
21	Richard C Adkerson	Freeport Copper	38.665	142.85	58.6	62	NA
22	Ronald A Williams	Aetna	38.125	77.863	28.0	60	NA
23	Chase Carey	DirecTV Group	36.865	54.362	15.3	55	NA
24	Thomas M Ryan	CVS Caremark	36.72	119.14	84.7	56	72
25	Aubrey K McClendon	Chesapeake Energy	36.015	189.67	45.4	48	126

The World's Billionaires 2009

Rank 1 to 25 Rank 26 to 43 Rank 51 to 75 Rank 76 to 98 Rank 98 to 124 Rank 124 to 149 Rank 151 to 164 Rank 164 to 196 Rank 196 to 224 Rank 224 to 246 Rank 246 to 261 Rank 261 to 296 Rank 296 to 318 Rank 318-334 Rank 334 (tie) Rank 376-397 Rank 397 (tie) Rank 397-450 Rank 450 to 468 Rank 468 (tie) Rank 468-522 Rank 522 (tie) Rank 522 to 559 Rank 559 (tie) Rank 601 (tie) Rank 601 to 647 Rank 647 (tie) Rank 647 (tie pg.2) Rank 701 (tie) Rank 701 (tie pg. 2) Rank 701 (tie pg. 3) Rank 701 (tie pg. 4)

Rank	Name	Citizenship	Age	Net Worth ($bil)	Residence
1	William Gates III	United States	53	40.0	United States
2	Warren Buffett	United States	78	37.0	United States
3	Carlos Slim Helu & family	Mexico	69	35.0	Mexico
4	Lawrence Ellison	United States	64	22.5	United States
5	Ingvar Kamprad & family	Sweden	83	22.0	Switzerland
6	Karl Albrecht	Germany	89	21.5	Germany
7	Mukesh Ambani	India	51	19.5	India
8	Lakshmi Mittal	India	58	19.3	United Kingdom
9	Theo Albrecht	Germany	87	18.8	Germany
10	Amancio Ortega	Spain	73	18.3	Spain
11	Jim Walton	United States	61	17.8	United States
12	Alice Walton	United States	59	17.6	United States
12	Christy Walton & family	United States	54	17.6	United States
12	S Robson Walton	United States	65	17.6	United States
15	Bernard Arnault	France	60	16.5	France
16	Li Ka-shing	Hong Kong	80	16.2	Hong Kong
17	Michael Bloomberg	United States	67	16.0	United States
18	Stefan Persson	Sweden	61	14.5	Sweden
19	Charles Koch	United States	73	14.0	United States
19	David Koch	United States	68	14.0	United States
21	Liliane Bettencourt	France	86	13.4	France
22	Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud	Saudi Arabia	54	13.3	Saudi Arabia
23	Michael Otto & family	Germany	65	13.2	Germany
24	David Thomson & family	Canada	51	13.0	Canada
25	Michael Dell	United States	44	12.3	United States

 

 

 

 وصية أب لولده
بقلم: بتاح حوتب
كثرت التجاعيد في وجهي وأصابني الكبر
وأصبحت كثير النسيان
أنفي يصارع مع الأنفاس نسمات الهواء
وعظامي ما تنفك تخبرني
بأن الألم يسكن في قيامي وقعودي
وأنت يا بني.. أرى فيك عكازي
فخذ بيدي
وخذ أيضاً مكاني
وأعطني أذنك
لأحكي لك الذكريات
فالجاهل الحقيقي من يجهل نعمة الاستماع
هؤلاء يموتون وهم أحياء
أنا يا بني أريد لك المعرفة
فالمعرفة سر الحياة
صناعة الكلام أصعب من أي حرفة أخرى
احترس منها ومن الأيام
وإن أصبحتَ عظيماً يوماً
فلا تنس وضعك في زمن فات
اجعل العقل مرشدك
وإن أردت أن تعرف الصديق، فلا تسل عن اسمه
اقترب منه وامتحن قلبه
شيّد لنفسك بيتاً صغيراً
وابحث عن زوجة تحبها
املأ قلبها بالفرح.. تكن لك حديقة ورد
بتاح حوتب

------------------------------------- 

 

من طرائف برناردشو

11/9/2009
- قبل اسبوعين من احتفال برناردشو بعيد ميلاده الثالث والتسعين كتب إليه مدير احدى الشركات السينمائية الجديدة راجيا فيه أن يأذن له بإخراج احدى رواياته لقاء اجر زهيد

معتذرا بأن الشركة ما زالت ناشئة ولا تستطيع دفع مبلغ كبير له فرد عليه شو قائلا: “أستطيع أن أنتظر حتى تكبر الشركة”. دعي جورج برنارد شو إلى حفلة ، وانزوى مع شابة جميلة في مكان ما يتحدثان فيه وبعد انقضاء ساعة ظل يتحدث خلالها مادحاً في نفسه وفي عمله التفت إلى الشابة وقال : “ لقد أطلنا الحديث عني، وجاء دورك لتحدثيني عن نفسك ... ما رأيك بمسرحيتي الأخيرة ؟ “ - ذات يوم قالت له امرأة رائعة الجمال: “يعتبرك الناس أذكى البشر ويعتبرونني أجمل النساء، فلو تزوجنا لجاء أولادنا أجمل الأولاد وأذكاهم.” ابتسم برنارد شو وقال : “ لكني أخشى يا سيدتي أن يأتي أولادنا على شاكلة أبيهم بالجمال، وعلى شاكلة أمهم بالذكاء، وهنا تكون المصيبة الكبرى .” - لما مثّلت ملهاة برنارد شو “ كانديدا “ على أحد مسارح لندن صفق لها الجمهور تصفيقا حادا وتهافت الناس على تهنئة صاحبها بحرارة . إلا أن سيدة مسنة ، غريبة الأطوار ، التقته وهو خارج من المسرح وقالت له : “ يا برنارد شو إن ملهاتك لم تعجبني أبدا “ . فقال لها : “ وأنا أيضا كذلك لم تعجبني، ولكن ماذا بوسعنا أنا وأنت وحدنا أن نفعل إزاء هذا الجمهور الغفير المعجب بها حتى الهوس ! “ - كان برنارد شو صديقا حميما لونستون تشرشل ، رئيس وزراء بريطانيا ، وكان هذا يحب النكتة البارعة فيتحرش ببرنارد شو ليتلقى قوارص كلامه. قال له تشرشل _وكان ضخم الجثة_ : أن من يراك يا أخي برنارد _ وكان نحيل الجسم جدا_ يظن أن بلادنا تعاني أزمة اقتصادية حادة ، وأزمة جوع خانقة. أجابه برنارد شو على الفور : “ ومن يراك أنت يا صاحبي يدرك سبب الأزمة “ .‏