"Healthy Finances" by Alan Crews: TAX-RELATED ACTIONS TO CONSIDER NOW
"Healthy Finances"
by Alan Crews | Financial Advisor
Ameriprise Financial
TAX-RELATED ACTIONS TO CONSIDER NOW
IRA contributions: You have until April 18 to make an IRA contribution for 2010! There are income eligibility restrictions (lower limits for traditional IRAs; higher limits for Roth IRAs), but many people qualify for a $5,000 contribution ($6,000 if age 50 or older). You may also be able to contribute to an IRA for your spouse, even if he/she didn't have any 2010 income.
"Back-door Roth IRA": Due to a change in the rules last year regarding Roth IRA Conversions, you may be able to indirectly contribute to a Roth IRA (by April 18), even if your 2010 income level is too high to allow direct contributions. This strategy won't work for everyone, particularly if you already have an IRA funded with pre-tax dollars. But in the right situation, the strategy works beautifully. Don't assume that a high income will exclude you from this opportunity.
Excess IRA contribution: If you have already made your 2010 IRA contribution, but recently discovered that your contribution should have been restricted, there is a process for making a timely correction and avoid an IRS penalty. You may be able to leave the excess contribution in the IRA by applying it to 2011.
Roth IRA Conversion: There's no upcoming deadline for making a conversion, but if this is an appropriate action for you to take, sooner is usually better. Another benefit: you get a free "do-over". You have until October 2012 (that's over 18 months from now) to change your mind and "undo" a 2011 Roth Conversion.
Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs): If you turned 70 1/2 last year, then you were required to take your 2010 RMD by April 1, 2011 (and that's NOT an April Fool's Day joke!). However, you are still required to take your 2011 RMD by December 31 of this year. If you have not done so yet, plan accordingly.
2011 Reduction in FICA: The tax package signed into law in December included a 2% reduction in employee Social Security taxes for 2011 only. For someone making $100K per year, that is an effective $2,000 raise this year. If you have not done so already, plan to use this extra money wisely. Pay off any high-interest-rate debt you may have. Build up your emergency cash reserve. Increase your long-term saving for retirement, children's college, etc. If appropriate, set up an automatic way of using this extra 2% pay hike. But don't let it just fall through the cracks.
Alan Crews | Financial Advisor
Ameriprise Financial
Heritage High Students Teach about Tobacco, Wake Forest NC
Heritage High Students Teach about Tobacco
Students at Heritage High have been learning about the Health and Wellness Trust Fund’s statewide effort to prevent tobacco use among teens in their school TRU chapter. Students have provided interactive learning opportunities about tobacco facts, encouraged others to stop smoking as part of the Kick Butts campaign and recruited more students into the chapter during TRU awareness week.
Listen to Heritage High Students Teach about Tobacco
Poe Center Views White House Summit on Bullying Prevention in Preparation for Upcoming Anti-Bullying Program
Poe Center Views White House Summit on Bullying Prevention
in Preparation for Upcoming Anti-Bullying Program
In preparation for an upcoming program addition on bullying, Poe Center for Health Education Senior Program Manager, Terri Moore attended the White House Summit on Bullying Prevention via webinar held at the White House with President and Mrs. Obama on Thursday, March 10, 2011. The live streaming video conference held on Facebook DC Live, offered opportunities for email questions and included expert panelists in the field of bullying and cyber-bullying. Included on the panel were Facebook’s Chief Security Officer, Joe Sullivan; author and Anti-Bullying expert Rosalind Wiseman; MTV’s Vice President of Public Affairs and the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor, Melody Barnes.
The Poe Center has been researching Ms. Wiseman’s anti-bullying curriculum “Owning Up” and has purchased it for further use in the development of a Poe Center anti-bullying program. Research seems to suggest that the majority of children involved in bullying are the bystanders. When you design an intervention strategy, investing time and skill building into helping bystanders stand up and speak up when it comes to bullying in their schools, neighborhoods, and communities you can make the biggest impact. Stay tuned for more information about an upcoming anti-bullying program for upper elementary and middle school students.
There is more information on the White House Summit to Prevent Bullying on www.stopbullying.gov
The Torch of Women’s Lib
New York Times article by Tara Parker-Pope
For centuries women have been told not to smoke. Today, it’s with good reason — smoking is killing women in record numbers.
But historically, the message that women shouldn’t smoke was mired in gender politics, as chronicled in a fascinating column in The Wall Street Journal. The column, Deja Vu, written by Cynthia Crossen, takes a colorful look back at early anti-smoking efforts aimed at women.
Secondhand Smoke Tied to High Blood Pressure in Kids
Secondhand Smoke Tied to High Blood Pressure in Kids
Exposure poses risk for lifelong cardiovascular problems, experts say
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Jan. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Young kids who live with a parent who smokes face an increased risk for developing high blood pressure while still children, a new study has found.
Warning that children with high blood pressure often become adults with the same problem, the researchers suggested that secondhand smoke poses a substantial and long-term risk to the cardiovascular welfare of young children.
"The prevention of adult diseases like stroke or heart attack begins during childhood," said the study's lead author, Dr. Giacomo D. Simonetti, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Children's Hospital at the University of Bern, in Switzerland. "Removing any avoidable risk factors as soon as possible will help reduce the risk for heart disease later on and improve the long-term health of children."
And, he added, "Passive smoking is a risk factor. And an avoidable risk factor. So do not smoke because it is not healthy for you and for your children. Smoking increases your -- and your children's -- blood pressure."
Stephen Strasburg attempts to quit smokeless tobacco
Stephen Strasburg attempts to quit smokeless tobacco
By Adam Kilgore
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, January 31, 2011; 12:09 AM
Like any other high school kid, Stephen Strasburg wanted to emulate the major league baseball players he watched on television. He mimicked their actions down to the last detail. He rolled his pants up to reveal high socks, wore wristbands at the plate and, during downtime, opened tins of chewing tobacco and pinched some in his lower lip.
Years later, having developed a powerful addiction, Strasburg regrets ever trying smokeless tobacco. Last fall, Tony Gwynn - his college coach at San Diego State and one of those players he grew up idolizing - began radiation treatments for parotid cancer, a diagnosis Gwynn blamed on using smokeless tobacco.
In the wake of Gwynn's cancer diagnosis, Strasburg has resolved to quit smokeless tobacco while he recuperates from Tommy John surgery. He doesn't want to face the myriad health risks borne from tobacco use, and he doesn't want kids who want to be like him to see him with a packed lower lip. Strasburg conflates many activities with dipping, and he has yet to eradicate the habit. But he is determined he will.
"I'm still in the process of quitting," Strasburg, 22, said. "I've made a lot of strides, stopped being so compulsive with it. I'm hoping I'm going to be clean for spring training. It's going to be hard, because it's something that's embedded in the game."
Smokeless tobacco has long been entrenched in baseball. In the 1980s, wads of it bulged in batters' cheeks. More recently, tins of what players call "dip" form circular outlines on players' back pockets. Managers, players and coaches use it occupy time during the lulls of a game and to feel the rush of nicotine it provides, a momentary buzz of energy that many come to believe - erroneously - benefits their performance.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Local Teens Celebrate One Year of Serving Smoke-Free Air in NC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2011
Media Contact: Jahan Paleja
Poe Center for Health Education
[email protected]
919-231-4006 x. 303 (O)
919-231-4315 (F)
Media Alert
Local Teens Celebrate One Year of Serving Smoke-Free Air in NC
THANKS FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR LUNGS
Celebrate with “Tasty Tuesdays”
Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law One-Year-Old January 2, 2011
Wake Forest - Celebrate the First Birthday of the Smoke-Free Bars and Restaurant Law in North Carolina. Wake County residents have enjoyed one year of restaurants and bars serving up smoke-free air, without the health hazards of tobacco smoke.
Residents are encouraged to eat out each Tuesday in January – for breakfast, lunch or dinner – to celebrate smoke-free restaurants and bars.
“Eating out is the best way to say, ‘thanks from the bottom of our lungs,’ to all those who helped create a healthier, smoke-free environment for North Carolinians and visitors dining in our great state,” said Jahan Paleja - Wake TRU (Tobacco. Reality. Unfiltered.) Program Manager. “Just remember to pick healthy options.”
“Secondhand Smoke is deadly, and it smells bad when you breathe it in. Thanks to the smoke-free restaurants and bars law, I can breathe easier and worry more about what I’m eating, not what I’m inhaling.” stated local youth advocate Anita Adams, a student at Wake Early College of Health and Sciences.
“The smoke-free law protects workers and customers from the known health hazards of secondhand smoke, and may encourage many folks to eat out more than ever, now that doing so is safer,” said Shaquana Aikens a student at Raleigh Charter High School and an active member of Wake TRU.
Many communities around the state are hosting local events to celebrate the First Birthday of the Smoke-Free Restaurants and Bars Law in North Carolina. Local Wake TRU teens are hosting a virtual event, a Facebook status challenge. Students and community members are devoting their status to mention a restaurant that they did not like visiting because of the smoke that they now love to visit because it is smoke free and thanking them from the bottom of their lungs.
“Wake TRU is encouraging everyone to join the Facebook Challenge and celebrate ‘Tasty Tuesdays’ by going out to eat every Tuesday in January to show support for the smoke-free restaurants and bars law and to express their appreciation to the restaurants and bars that are doing their part to create a healthier North Carolina,” said Paleja. “You don’t need a coupon to celebrate Tasty Tuesdays – just head out to eat on Tuesdays in January”
For more information about the law or to report a violation, visit www.smokefree.nc.gov or call the CARE-LINE at 1-800-662-7030.
Anyone who needs help to quit smoking can call QuitlineNC at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). Quit coaches are available 8 a.m. until 3 a.m. daily. Calls are free and confidential.
About TRU:
ABOUT THE ALICE AYCOCK POE CENTER FOR HEALTH EDUCATION:
The Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education is a nonprofit organization dedicated to positively impacting the lives of North Carolina youth through health education. Since opening in Raleigh in 1991, the Poe Center has educated over 850,000 participants from 74 counties using innovative teaching theaters, exhibits and community programs. By engaging in fun, highly interactive lessons, preschoolers through twelfth graders receive information that follows the NC DPI Healthful Living Standard Course of Study on a variety of health topics; including nutrition, dental health, general health, reproductive health and safety and drug education. For more information, or to schedule a program, visit www.poehealth.org or call 919-231-4006.
ABOUT THE NC HEALTH AND WELLNESS TRUST FUND:
The NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund makes North Carolina stronger, both physically and economically, by funding programs that promote preventive health. Created by the General Assembly in 2000 to allocate a portion of North Carolina's share of the national tobacco settlement, HWTF has invested $199 million to support preventive health initiatives and $102 million to fund prescription drug assistance programs. For more information, please visit www.HealthWellNC.com.
ABOUT TRU:
Tobacco. Reality. Unfiltered., commonly known as TRU, uses testimonials of real North Carolina teens as well as hard-hitting facts to dissuade teens from using tobacco. Funded at $65 million from the North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund, this grassroots initiative includes the TRU media campaign, as well as grant programs to organizations working in all 100 counties to reduce teen tobacco use. To find out more about TRU, please visit www.realityunfiltered.com.
For more information about HB2 / SL 2009-27 or Wake TRU, contact Jahan Paleja [email protected], (919) 231-4006 or (919) 455-8992.
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NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund Launches Statewide QuitlineNC Mobile Campaign to Help Keep New Year’s Resolutions
NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund Launches Statewide QuitlineNC Mobile Campaign to Help Keep New Year’s Resolutions
Text messages provide encouragement, support for smokers who want to quit
New Year’s resolutions can be difficult to keep – especially if your goal is to quit smoking. But with help from the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF) and its phone-based tobacco cessation service QuitlineNC, North Carolinians will have additional support right at their fingertips with the first-ever statewide mobile campaign aimed to help North Carolina smokers quit for good. Starting January 12, participants who text “COACH” to 44264, will receive cessation advice via their mobile phones. The text messages will provide some of the “quit tips” that one would get from a Quit Coach at QuitlineNC.
“QuitlineNC has proven to be an effective tool in helping North Carolinians stop smoking,” said Dr. Laura Gerald, Executive Director of the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund. “New technologies allow us to give people a chance to see the kind of sound advice QuitlineNC offers through a simple process – texting.”
More than 27,000 North Carolinians have called QuitlineNC at 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) for support in navigating the rough waters of smoking cessation. Now, the helpful tips of a “Quit Coach” remind texters that quitting smoking is possible and offer up advice that is tailored according to the texter’s responses to a few questions. Text messages will be sent over a seven-week period and will provide information as well as encouragement to quit smoking.
Texting has become a central form of communication, especially for young adults, and people who may be reluctant to call QuitlineNC may be willing to opt in for the text messages. With a better understanding of the kinds of things they might hear if they were to speak with a Quit Coach, they may eventually follow up the texts with a call to QuitlineNC where help from coaches can double their chances of successfully quitting.
First launched as a pilot program in Wake County in May 2010, 741 opted in to receive the text messages. QuitlineNC’s call volume was also impacted by the text campaign, increasing 40 percent in Wake County during the month of the campaign. The success of the pilot mobile campaign prompted HWTF’s leaders to extend the program statewide. Radio spots to promote QuitlineNC’s text campaign will begin airing statewide today and will run for three weeks. For more information about QuitlineNC, please visit http://www.quitlinenc.com/.
Cooking Light's 12 Healthy Habits
While flipping through the January issue of COOKING LIGHT magazine, I came across their 12 Healthy Habits challenge for 2011. I like the idea of replacing bad habits with good habits gradually over time. I believe that this is a more sustainable way of improving our lifestyle, so I really was attracted to this idea. At the Poe Center, the staff will be tracking our progress with these habits and challenge you to join us! Have fun eating more fruits and veggies during January! Click here to download your own January Healthy Habit "Veggie Up!" Tracking Sheet.
Cooking Light's 12 Healthy Habits
2011 Can Be Your Healthiest Year Ever. Let’s Do This Together.
Forget the grandiose, impossible New Year’s resolutions: The path to a healthier lifestyle begins one little habit at a time. Welcome to our 12 Healthy Habits program: Each month this year we’ll focus on one healthy practice that you’re probably already doing but want to do a bit more (usually food-related, but we’ve thrown in a couple that focus on exercise). We’ll profile people and explore their challenges and goals, then recommend food or fitness strategies, and provide recipes and nutrition tips. Want to join us? The plan challenges you to add a new habit each month, and by year-end, the accumulated effect will be a much healthier you. Here's what to expect, month by month:
January: Eat More Fruits and Vegetables—Add 3 more servings of fruits and vegetables to your diet each day.
Feb: Get Moving—Increase the amount of aerobic exercise you do.
March: Get Cooking—Cook at least 3 meals more per week than you are now, even if that means cooking breakfast or lunch (for freezing, maybe).
April: Go For More Grains—Add 3 servings of whole grains per day.
May: Eat Breakfast Daily—Eat a healthy breakfast every day.
June: Get Stronger—Add strength training to your fitness regimen: at least 2 sessions per week.
July: Ease Up on Salt—Cut back on salt/sodium and increase your sodium awareness.
August: Go Vegetarian at Least 1 Day a Week—Expand the number of all-vegetable dishes that you eat by making 1 dinner or main-meal-of-the-day vegetarian.
September: Go Fishing—Cook fish or seafood for dinner 2 times a week.
October: Focus on Healthy Fats—Swap healthy fats for unhealthy fats in your diet.
November: Be Portion Aware—Cut your portion size of less-healthy or higher-calorie foods at least once per meal.
December: Eat Mindfully—Be mindful of the Earth, be thankful, be giving, be happy this holiday season.