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How to become a millionare!
As children, we have all said "when I grow up I'm going to be a millionaire," at one point or another. Then we grow up and face the harsh reality, of that being nothing more than a pipe dream. The average American probably hasn't saved enough for retirement comfortably, let alone enough for the Million dollar club! Well until now, I honestly don't think many people realize just how attainable, becoming a millionaire really is for any working class individual. Let's take an inside look at the road to "becoming a millionaire"
If you start with an initial $10,000 investment and your portfolio grows by 5 percent every year, here's how much you need to save each month to reach your $1 million goal by age 70, according to Bankrate.com's calculator.
• 25-year-olds have to save $450 a month. That's just $15 a day for the rest of your working years.
• 35-year-olds have to save $850 a month.
• 45-year-olds have to save $1,700 a month.
• 55-year-olds have to save $4,000 a month. (Of course, with an average inflation rate of 3 percent, that $1,000,000 nest egg will only be worth $642,000 in today's dollars. So that means you'll likely wind up having to save even more.)
Still, for those who start early and save often, becoming a millionaire doesn't have to be a pipe dream. So let's get to saving, so we can all join the Millionaire club! Yasssssss!
Many Americans say their College degree wasn't worth it!
Drugs Like Viagra Linked to STD's
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the University of Southern California say the fault lies not with the drugs but rather the high risk behaviors of the men who request them. And doctors should counsel these patients about safe sex practices, they said.
Small studies of men who have sex with men have associated the use of ED drugs with higher risk behaviors and increased rates of STDs, but this report, published in the July 6 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, is said to be the first to examine the relationship between ED drugs and STD risk in a large, representative sample of privately insured older men. The researchers had no way of knowing how many of the men were bisexual vs. homosexual.
"Primary care doctors don't usually talk to older men about safe sexual practices, and that's partly because rates of STDs are much lower in this group than in younger men, on the order of one per 1,000 individuals," said study author Dr. Anupam B. Jena, an internal medicine resident at Massachusetts General. "But what our findings suggest is that just by virtue of asking for an ED drug, these men are identifying themselves as being at two to three times higher risk of STDs."
Jena and his co-authors examined health insurance claims records covering 1997 though 2006 from 44 large U.S. employers. The study group included about 34,000 male beneficiaries over 40 who used ED drugs, for whom the researchers collected data covering one year before and one year after the first prescription was filled, and nearly 1.37 million men over 40 who were non-users, for whom claims data was also collected.
Men who had been prescribed an ED drug were two to three times more likely than non-users to have sexually transmitted diseases, and this was true both in the year before and after the first prescription was filled. The most frequently reported STD was HIV/AIDS, followed by chlamydia. The data gathered could not indicate whether ED drug use itself increased STD risk, but Jena said he and his colleagues are investigating that question in a separate study.
Jena speculated that HIV/AIDS was the most frequently reported STD because "the symptoms that are associated with a primary HIV infection are the kinds of things that make men more likely to show up to a doctor, rather than go to a free clinic where they know they can get tested for an STD anonymously."
Use of medication to treat ED has grown significantly since the introduction of sildenafil (Viagra) in 1998, and earlier research has found that men over 50 are much less likely than young men to use condoms, according to background information in the study.
"This study confirms what we've suspected for a while, which is that the men who are using these drugs aren't just those who have erectile dysfunction, but they're also men in high risk groups who take it to enhance sexual activity," said Dr. Peter Leone, a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina and board chair of the National Coalition of STD Directors. "So it's not that the drug is leading to the behavior. It's really the other way around."
The findings suggest a need for greater responsibility in prescribing ED medications, added Leone. "Doctors need to realize that unless these patients are always using condoms or are in mutually monogamous relationships, they need routine STD screening with repeated follow-ups."
SO In Other Words guys Viagra should only be used as a tool for incompetence not as a sex tool to get more and do more. Be Safe, Be Smart and be strapped with protection, there is nothing Fabulous about STD's!
Black Cancer Patients Twice As likely to die from Cancer!
I was shocked when I read in Health Day News that, Black cancer patients in the United States are up to two times more likely to die prematurely from CANCER than patients of other races. The biggest disappointment was that a disparity linked to factors that include patients, doctors and hospitals, a new review from the University of Michigan shows.
Racial disparities exist for nearly all types of common cancers, but are largest for cancers that benefit most from treatment. This suggests that blacks are less likely to receive lifesaving treatments, according to researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M) Comprehensive Cancer Center.
They noted that five-year survival rates varied by 10 percent between blacks and whites with colorectal cancer and by 25 percent among patients with uterine cancer. Both types of cancers can be cured with surgery and medical treatments, but tend to be fatal if patients don't receive these treatments.
The researchers said three factors appear to play a role in these disparities: black patients are often diagnosed with more advanced cancer and are more likely to have other underlying health problems; black patients are less likely to be advised about cancer screenings and less likely to receive surgery or chemotherapy; and hospitals that mostly treat black patients tend to have fewer resources and offer lower quality care.
"Black cancer patients don't fare as well as whites. Their cancers are diagnosed at a later stage, the care they receive is often not as good -- or they get no care at all. Black patients may trust their doctors less, they may be unable to pay and the hospitals that serve more black patients tend to have fewer resources," study author Dr. Arden Morris, an associate professor of surgery at the U-M Medical School and chief of general surgery at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, said in a U-M news release.
"This is a complex problem and it won't be easy to solve," she added.
Morris and colleagues recommended a number of policy changes, including expansion of public insurance systems to make cancer care more affordable for patients and changes to pay-for-performance programs for hospitals that meet certain standards.
"Programs that reward better quality with more money need to take into account what that does to hospitals that already have far fewer resources. Perhaps pay-for-performance could take into account where a hospital is starting from and could be considered as pay-for-improvement," Morris said.
The study appears in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
This was a very interesting article and I think that these healthcare desparities should be addressed. Race or class should not be a factor in a person's healthcare!
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