Retirement Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Retirement Planning - Essay Example While there are many courses of action one can take to retire, some have greater risk while others offer security. For those of us wanting to retire in the next fifteen to twenty years, risk should be tempered through proper management, diverse investing, and proper estate planning that includes a will, estate plan, and life insurance if one is not self insured through a high net worth in personal property (FINRA, 2011). How Much Does one Need to Retire? Retirement goals most often deal with time and money. In order to retire by a certain time, one must have a certain amount of money. This amount can be in a stock account, coming in as passive income, or cash flow, or be a combination of both. In order for me to maintain my current lifestyle in retirement, I will need to have an income of $4,500 with a margin of growth that meets or exceeds inflation. While many people’s expenses go down in retirement, I do not want to take any chances when it comes to matters such as healthca re, which is the reason that many senior citizens end up broke and living off of social security and, in some cases, the equity in their home through a reverse mortgage. So, while some of my current expenses, such as paying for my mortgage, will not be an issue when I retire, I want to maintain the same level of income to allow for a lifestyle that goes beyond living, and allows me to have a life so that I can travel, give money to organizations I feel are important, while having more to leave behind to loved ones. This will be accomplished through proper asset allocation in a diversified portfolio that will come to approximately three-million dollars. Asset Allocation My current asset allocation is split between individual stocks that I manage through Scottrade, a company matched 401(k), and real estate. My equity is split evenly between the stock market and residential properties, but over the next fifteen to twenty years I expect my real estate holdings to be approximately two-th irds of my portfolio. The reason for this forecast is the properties’ appreciation and growing equity. In addition to the properties’ gains, I will also acquire more properties when good deals are available along with the cash to purchase. Owning property is extremely attractive because the investment can grow while paying at least partially for itself if not in full by way of payments made from tenants. In addition to this, owning property allows investors to receive tax breaks from losses even in years when money has been made. This is done after mortgage interest and depreciation is taken into account. For example, if a piece of property is worth $124,000 with mortgage payments of $1,000 per month, and a tenant occupying the home is paying $1,150 in rent for the whole year, then the profit at the end of the year is $1,800. However, the mortgage interest amounted to $9,000, and depreciation on a piece of investment property is incurred over thirty-one years. In the c ase of this property, the depreciation is $4,000 a year. Rather than paying taxes on $1,800, a loss is shown in the amount of $11,200, resulting in a larger tax return, or lower tax burden, at the end of the year (Pascale, 2010). The advantage to being in a 401(k) is that the company I work for matches my contributions up to 3%. If my 401(k) is cut in half from a

African american history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

African american history - Essay Example They include Igbo, Wolof, Mande, Akan, Fon, Bakongo and Makua amongst others. This people did away with their tribal differences and forged a new culture and history that was acreolization to their pasts and present. This African American developed a culture that was referred to as a black culture. The culture is deeply rooted in Africa. This culture has affected the United States as part or distinct from its culture. It has enormously influenced the American culture as whole. Although slavery restricted the practice of African American culture, their beliefs, values, and practices survived and have blended or modified the white culture (Joanne 64). Within 18th and19th centuries, both white and black Americans worked to stop slavery (Franklin and Higginbotham 285). Many antislavery societies were organized to fight so that slaves could be freed. Main slaveholders considered freeing slaves to disrupt British trade. Most notably, Prince Hall a free slave submitted petitions to end slavery but it was largely ignored. The other challenge of revolution against slavery set in when President Washington stopped recruitment of soldiers into the revolutionary army. The free slaves participated in the revolution against slavery and participated in American revolutionary war. America won the battle against the British rule (Franklin and Higginbotham 327). President Thomas Jefferson referred to slavery as ‘abominable crime’ and declared the independence of slaves yet he was a life long slaveholder. During constitutional convention of 1787, there was declaration of freedom of equality between the blacks and

Black Diaspora in Literature | Essay

Black Diaspora in Literature | Essay â€Å"Survivors. In their diasporan souls a dream like steel† (Caryl Phillips, Crossing the River). This paper discusses in what senses post-slavery literature is structured by the idea of a diaspora. The book looks at two main texts, Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips and Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall, using the books The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness by Paul Gilroy and Black Imagination and the Middle Passage, edited by Maria Diedrich as secondary sources. The paper concludes that the diaspora, a key event in black history, is fundamental to many authors in terms of providing a framework on which to discuss issues of importance to the black community, for example, history, memory, cultural identity, cultural heritage, heritage. As Gilroy argues in his book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness, â€Å"The specificity of the modern political and cultural formation I want to call the Black Atlantic can be defined, on one level, through a desire to transcend both the structures of a nation state and the constraints of ethnicity and national particularity. These desires are relevant to understanding political organising and cultural criticism. They have always sat uneasily alongside the strategic choices forced on black movements and individuals embedded in the national and political cultures and nation-states in America, the Caribbean and Europe† (p.19). Thus, as Gilroy argues, because of the black diaspora, black academics and black writers and artists have travelled and worked within what he terms a trans-national framework that, itself, precludes anything but only a very superficial association of their country of origin. Thus, as Gilroy argues, black post-slavery literature can only be understood in the context of a diaspora, as it is created within the framework that was created by this diaspora. It is, as argues Gilroy, â€Å"a preoccupation with the striking doubleness that results from this unique position – in an expanded West but not completely of it – is a definitive characteristic of the intellectual history of the Black Atlantic† (p.58). Diedrich’s edited volume Black Imagination and the Middle Passage examines the very specific period covering the forced dispossession of the Middle Passage, and analyses the arts (music, literature, dance etc.) that were created, on the transatlantic journey and on the continents in which the slaves were kept, and in the home continent upon their return. The book aims to represent the cultural conscience of the diaspora, as represented not only in the arts but also in myth and history, as a way of analysing what the diaspora meant for this group of people who were forcefully removed from their culture, and then had to live adrift from their culture. Many of the contributions in Diedrich argues, similarly to Gilroy, that the diapsora was a key event in the development of black literature, defining, as it does, a framework for creativity, through analyses of violence, of culture, of trans-national thinking and working. This idea is, again, highlighted in many other literary crit icisms[1]. Caryl Phillips book Crossing the River takes marginalisation and racism as central themes, using his central characters, Martha and Joyce, to explore these issues: Martha is a black woman dealing with racism in North America before and after slavery’s abolition, and Joyce, the white woman who is marginalised following her falling in love with a black man (Martha’s brother, Travis). We see, in the novel, how Martha was sold by her father, Nash, along with her two brothers, Nash and Travis, in to slavery, how Martha is separated from her children, separating her family, as occurred with many other hundreds of thousands of black families, and the novel deals a great deal, from this point on, with memory – her memory of her family, her memory of her loss, her memory of her culture that she has left behind. She grieves not only for these losses, but also for her own loss of dignity, through her placement in to slavery, and for her need to live alone, following aboliti on, no longer physically enslaved, bur emotionally enslaved by her losses and by the fragmented community in which she, and all freed slaves were forced to live. Her story does not end there, and we see the hurt and terrible conditions in which she was forced to live, post-slavery, through Phillips’ descriptions of her surroundings, and the murder of her new partner, Chester. Phillips uses several postmodern techniques to highlight all of the disjointed emotions that Martha feels, such as switching backwards and forwards across time in order to highlight how Martha reacts and feels about events, or the use of many voices in the novel (Martha, Joyce, Nash and others) in order to reiterate the fact that the novel is concerned with many people’s history – indeed, a whole generation’s history, of those people of a certain race who were forced in to slavery, and who, then, were forced in to submission for many years in a racist North American society. The James Hamilton character, the slave trader, is used by Phillips to introduce the ‘dirty’ side of slavery; with his orders for disposal of slaves (i.e., murder of slaves) and his colonial presence. Phillips’ deconstruction of Hamilton’s character, through movements across time, is a way for Phillips to explore history, as he sees it, as a re-definable present, no t an uninterpretable, unchangeable, past. Thus, Phillips’ novel Crossing the River looks at issues of slavery, racism, marginalisation using several main characters, all of whom are intertwined and all of whom are bound together by the main focus of the novel – slavery. Slavery is the theme which binds the book together, allowing Phillips to discuss issues such as cultural transpositions and the ‘diaspora’. Phillips does not, however, simply recount historical accounts of the lives of his main characters, the characters come alive through his particular sort of storytelling, which is argued by many to have an African slant i.e., it has a circular quality that is present in many African cultures in which storytelling is strong. Phillips also leaves as much untold as he tells, whilst giving historical facts surrounding the characters lives, allowing the reader to fill in the gaps and build their own version of the diasporan framework. For example, Nash’s freedom and journey to Liberia as a mis sionary poses many questions for Nash, leaving him, as it does in Africa, but in a foreign land, sometimes feeling more American than African, although as Nash points out, that is ridiculous, he is not American, any more than he is Liberian. This leaves the reader pondering ideas of culture and roots and what effects the diaspora had on the many hundreds of thousands of slaves who were displaced from their homes and forced to work, and then live freely, in a strange country, something which is reinforced, as we have seen by the character of Martha who, as we have seen, feels more for the loss of her daughter to slavery than she does for the loss of her freedom and her displacement. Thus, Phillips succeeds in showing the very human face of slavery, in terms of personal losses, not just the ‘wider’ academic picture of slavery as an exercise in intellectualising the diaspora in terms of its cultural conscience. Paule Marshall’s fiction has been described by Denniston (1995) as â€Å"an imaginative reconstruction of African history and culture, which connects all people of African descent†. Her book Praisesong for the Widow, captures African cultural patterns in contrast with North American materialism, and, as Denniston (1995) argues, through this, Marshall â€Å"reclaims African culture for black diasporan peoples†. As such, this type of fiction is not just African or black – it captures the dynamics of human struggle and so is universal. Many black commentators have denigrated this interpretation of this type of fiction, arguing that these arguments are little more than veiled racism, intended to belittle the worth of the intellectual exercise, i.e., the understanding of African history in terms of the diaspora, by reducing the arguments in these novels to universal arguments about reactions to oppression, not, as they are intended to be, arguments about black responses to the diaspora. Marshall’s novel Praisesong for the Widow also, similarly to Caryl Phillips in his Crossing the River, discusses the role of memory in the lives of the characters in the book, describing how Avey sees her body as nothing more than a repository of memory, in which physical sensations are nothing more than a way of recording emotional feelings; through this realisation, Avey comes to terms with her displacement from her natural society, and comes to accept her heritage. Through Avey’s slow realisation of her body as a respository for memory, Marshall echoes the disconnection of herself from her native culture, and thus from herself as a woman born in the Caribbean but sold to slavery in North America. Marshall uses Avey’s physical discomforts, which are described in graphic detail in the novel, to echo her disconnection from her culture, her heritage, and her subsequent journey to well-being is representative, for Marshall, of her restoration of her sense of cultur al inheritance. In addition to Marshall’s use of Avey’s body as a metaphor for displacement and representations of heritage and disposition, in terms of the slave’s body being enslaved, but their mind being free to wander, to develop, to grow, Avey’s physical journeys also somewhat recreate the journey’s her people took as slaves as a way for Marshall to explore the cultural disinheritance of the African people’s through the African diaspora[2] and the slaves’ reconnection with their heritages following their freedom. Avey’s memories are representative of African slaves memories, therefore – they were the only free part of them under the regime of slavery, and, for some slaves, whose histories were suppressed and sanitised, their only history was the one that their memory provided. As with Martha in Phillips’ novel, memory was, however, often too painful, for example, the memory of her lost daughter, with these ‘personalâ₠¬â„¢ memories being far more painful than memories of lost culture or memories of ‘home’. Avey’s constant opposition to recognising her heritage allows Marshall to explore the difficulties faced by ex-slaves when thinking about returning home, or settling in a foreign land under adverse, racist, circumstances. Avey cannot face the idea of acknowledging her heritage, as she is, as she sees it, happy as she is, without knowledge of what happened to her ancestors. Avey has constructed a life for herself based on an omission of her heritage, as a way of coping with the enormity of what happened to her family, her ancestors; her excessive consumption has blinded her to her heritage. Marshall thus seems to be suggesting, then, that the American way of life, of materialism and of consumerism, has a dulling effect, of smoothing cultural differences, and, indeed, the ‘American’ way is all-pervasive, a base laziness which calls to people’s sloth-like si des, and, through this, infiltrates every society in which it comes in to contact. As we have seen, therefore, the work of Phillips and Marshall both deal with the idea of slavery, of the diaspora, of the marginalisation felt by freed slaves in a foreign country, of ideas of cultural heritage. Both books, both examples of post-slavery literature, therefore, deal specifically with the issue of the diaspora, and what effects this had, and has, on the lives of slaves, and freed slaves, and the descendents of slaves. Phillips is, however, somewhat more concerned with the effect of loss on the lives of freed slaves than Marshall, who embodies his ideas within a character who is somewhat immune, for most of the book, to emotions. In terms, therefore, of the senses in which post-slavery literature is structured by the idea of a diaspora, as we have seen, for many authors who are concerned with this issue, through their heritage or for whatever other reason, their literature is framed by the idea of the diaspora: this is the central framework from which all other ideas con nected to this hang. The diaspora acts as a backdrop, if you like, against which all other ideas connected to this (for example, heritage, cultural identity etc.) are understood. It is the understanding of all of these other concepts (for example, heritage, cultural identity etc.) which gives thrust to the work of such authors, and through a search for an understanding of these ideas, it is hoped that the diaspora will be understood, can be come to terms with; much as Avey’s illness is characteristic of an emotional need to know of her heritage, the diaspora is, for many authors and black academics, the tool that is used to gain understanding in to black history, both in countries of origin, and in the countries in which slaves were taken, post-slavery. In terms of the senses in which post-slavery literature is structured by the idea of a diaspora, as we have seen, as Gilroy argues, black post-slavery literature can only be understood in the context of a diaspora, as it is created within the framework that was created by this diaspora. It is, as argues Gilroy, â€Å"a preoccupation with the striking doubleness that results from this unique position – in an expanded West but not completely of it – is a definitive characteristic of the intellectual history of the Black Atlantic† (p.58). Thus, for Gilroy, the diaspora is essential, fundamental, to an understanding of black history. As we have seen, Diedrich’s edited volume Black Imagination and the Middle Passage concludes, similarly to Gilroy, that the diaspora was a key event in the development of black literature, defining, as it does, a framework for creativity, through analyses of violence, of culture, of trans-national thinking and working. Thus, the diaspora, a key event in black history, is fundamental to many authors in terms of providing a framework on which to discuss issues of importance to the black community, for example, history, memory, cultural identity, cultural heritage, heritage. As we have seen in this paper, these issues provide literary fuel for many authors, and critics, and two of the most representative novels in terms of these issues, Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips and Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall, have been analysed and used to illustrate how black authors use the diaspora in this way, i.e., to discuss issues of importance to the black community, for example, history, memory, cultural identity, cultural heritage, heritage. For many authors, writing about these issues is a way of dealing with these issues for themselves personally and, as such, such books provide solace for many blacks who live with the diaspora, and its effects, as part of their history. References Denniston, D.H., 1995. The fiction of Paule Marshall: reconstructions of history, culture and gender. University of Tennessee Press. Diedrich, M. (ed.)., 1999. Black Imagination and the Middle Passage. Oxford University Press. Gilroy, P., 1993. The Black Atlantic: modernity and double consciousness. Verso Books. Marshall, P., 1983. Praisesong for the Widow. Putnam Press. Phillips, C., 2006. Crossing the River. Penguin Paperbacks. Rogers, S., 2000. Embodying cultural memory in Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow. African American Review Spring 2000. Footnotes [1] See, for example, Writings on Black Women of the Diaspora: History, Language and Identity, by Bracks; The African Imagination: Literature in African and the Black Diaspora by F.Abiola Irele, and Brent Hayes Edwards’ The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation and the Rise of Black Internationalism. [2] See Rogers (2000) for further exploration of this concept.

Monosodium Glutamate Essay -- MSG Health Food Essays

Monosodium Glutamate I.INTRODUCTION Have you ever had a situation were after a busy day at work, went to a restaurant for a nice dinner and enjoyed the taste of the food that was presented to you, but soon after the dinner was over, you felt really tired and sick? Did this ever made you regret the fact that you went there instead of taking the time of preparing to yourself something â€Å"light† and â€Å"healthy† or maybe you were promising to yourself that you would never do this again? But how long did that promise last? Unfortunately, probably not that long until the next time you were in a similar situation - having had a pretty long, tiring day, being quite hungry and because of the convenience you choose that restaurant again,... and again,†¦ and again†¦.. Did you ever think of what makes you so tired and takes off your entire energy for couple of hours after that dinner?....This is due to the food additive so called MSG, the â€Å"taste enhancer† in a form of Monosodium Glutamate. It has been ten years since I have lived in the US. Before that I have never heard about MSG, I have never experienced any of it. Everything that we consumed in the past was pure, really â€Å"home made†, without any additives, but it would take so long to grow and prepare. This is because people back there did not have a choice. Their life just was not â€Å"hit† by the technology or they simply did not know much of it. Maybe this has to do with where in the world you are and how much access to the global information you have, therefore how much you know. Since then I got more and more involved in the different aspects of the technology. More I learned, I discovered that things are not that simple. I see that there are lots ... ...sodium Glutamate (MSG) 4."Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills" by Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. Health Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, c1994 ISBN 0-929173-14-7 5."In Bad Taste: The MSG Syndrome" by Dr. George R. Schwartz, M.D. Health Press, Santa Fe, New Mexico, c1988 Articles: 6."The MSG Convtroversy" / "MSG Cautions Advised" / "Monosodium Glutamate Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" March/April 1994 issue Informed Consent Magazine P.O. Box 1984 Williston, North Dakota 58802-1984 (701) 774-7760 or (701) 859-3002 7.MSG: The Truth & Consequences by Jack L. Samuels and Adrienne Samuels, Ph.D. Search For Health Magazine September/October 1993 issue Valentine Communications Corp. P.O. Box 11089 Naples, FL 33941-1089 (813) 263-8614 Contact Jack L. Samuels, (312) 642-9333.

What You Eat Is Your Business Radley Balko Summary

In his article â€Å"What You Eat Is Your Business,† Radley Balko argues that the way the government is spending a lot of money for anti obesity measure is the wrong way to prevent obesity. Balko suggests that the people need to responsibility on their own health matter. He thinks the best way to slow down the public health is to include obesity in our private matter, which means having people pay for their own medical needs because he believes that it would force people to face the consequences and to make them more responsible.I agree with Balko’s position because people tend to be less responsible for them when they are not the one paying for their prices, but what they don’t know, is soon they will be paying the price no one can offer to help. Balko stated at the end of his article,† We’ll all make better choices about diet, exercise, and personal health when someone else isn’t paying for the consequences of those choices. I strongly agree with Balko because I do also believe that the only way to make to make people make better choices about their health is when someone isn’t paying for their consequences. My experience with this, people I know who are not under their parents insurance, they tend to watch what they eat and exercise daily to stay healthy. They know if something was to go wrong, they will have to pay their medical bills out of their own pocket. Those who I know that do have insurances, tend to careless of what they do and eat, because they someone else is paying for your consequences.

Obesity in America

Obesity in America Obesity has become a concern for many Americans. The obesity rates have gotten worse over the years. People are constantly looking for ways to better themselves and improve their appearances. In our society, obesity has become one of the biggest problems of American culture. So many people are obese or overweight due to a number of factors that include behavior, environment, genetics, and medical conditions. Each play significant roles. Behavior relates to a person eating to many calories and not getting enough physical activity.Environment involves work, home, school, or community that provides barriers for active or inactive lifestyle. In addition to all the other factors, Americans do not get enough physical activity. Ehow. com states one of the main reasons of obesity is lack of exercise. A lot of the new technologies have taken up most of our time that going outside and exercise has been taken out. Many of our schools have taken physical education course out o f their curriculum’s. Exercise is not a priority for many Americans, and if we are taking the courses out of the curriculum’s, how are our youngsters able to learn good habits. It also statesLivestrong. com states several factors that contribute to the overall obesity problem. Getting too little sleep can increase a person’s body weight. Lack of sleep can contribute to hormonal changes, which in turn can increase appetite. CBS News conducted a study and ranked lack of sleep as the new overlooked cause of obesity. People tend to eat more during the day to increase their energy, because of not sleeping the recommended number of hours. Livestrong. com also states that Americans are smoking less. This leads to weight gain as your metabolism may slow down after one quits smoking, therefore burning fewer calories.There are many medical conditions that can cause obesity (WebMD. com). Hypothyroidism is a condition that affects ones thyroid. The thyroid produces too litt le hormone in the body and this slows down the metabolism and cause weight gain. Cushing syndrome is another. This is when the adrenal glands produce too much of a steroid hormone called cortisol. This can cause fat to build up in certain parts of the body. Some people with depression also tend to overeat. A doctor can test for symptoms and treat accordingly, if possible. Another possible reason for obesity is stress. According to yesword. om stress could be the main reason for obesity in America. Most Americans have very busy schedules, and eat on the run. Managing one’s life from work, family and social standpoints have stressed many Americans. Setbacks in personal or professional lives sometimes make one indulge in high caloric foods, known as comfort foods. CBSNews. com cited an article by David B Allison, PhD, University of Alabama at Birmingham as saying we are paying attention to the â€Å"Big Two†. They are fast food and too little exercise. He goes on to say t hat other factors are not explored. He and his colleagues suggest other possible reasons for obesity.Pollution can affect hormones. Hormones control our body weight. Most people live and work in temperature-controlled environments. Being in a room too hot or cold actually helps burn calories. Medicine can affect hormones. Drugs used to treat blood pressure, diabetes, and depression can cause weight gain. It has been suggested that the older a woman is when she gives birth; the risk is higher to the child to be obese. , Obese woman tend to marry obese men. There are studies that obesity is genetic, thus a union of two obese people, may pass down this trait for generations.In Conclusion, Obesity is one of the biggest problems people face every day. With better knowledge of contributing factors that can make a person obese, Americans can and will change this trend. It is important to eat properly and exercise, one's life could depend on it. Works Cited http://www. theyesword. com/main_ causes_of_obesity_in_america. htm http://www. webmd/diet/medical-reasons-obesity http://www. livestrong. com/article/354282-what-are-the-main-causes-of-obesity-in-america http://www. ehow. com/how-does_5558417_causes-obesity-america. html David B. Allison, PhD http://www. cbsnews. com/2100-500368_162-1757772. html