If you're familiar with Budgeting 101, you know that figuring out how much money you spend--and what you spend it on--is a huge deal. Traditionally, budgeting priorities have been different for men and woman: while there are some expenses that both sexes throw coin at (such as rent, food and clothes), there are others that have been women-only or just for men.
That may be changing with the emerging men's makeup industry. It's conceivable that one day, the phrase "Dad, can I borrow your liquid foundation?" won't be all that uncommon.
In fact, American consumers spent nearly $5 billion on "men's grooming products" in 2009, and that may only be part of the story as online distributors may not have been counted by researchers. If you have a hard time believe that $5 billion is really all that much money, consider that it's the same amount the gaming industry contributed to the economy in 2009.
One last consideration: 88% of men believe their generation spends "more money on grooming products than men of our father's generation." Assuming this trend continues, will there be a day where men spend more time freshening up than playing video games? Their significant others would probably hope so.
--Brandon
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In case you haven't heard, the new CARD Act passed by Congress in 2009 has pushed through several much-needed changes to consumer credit card policies. It forces issuers to give proper notice for rate changes, clearly shows how long it will take to pay off purchases, and otherwise helps keep unscrupulous issuers from nickle-and-diming you.
What you may not know, is that these changes do not apply to business credit cards. This could be bad news. The crackdown on consumer credit policies means that issuers have been looking for ways to make up for revenue lost due to the CARD Act, and because business cards are unprotected, they're going to be a juicy target.
Attention business owners: Pay attention to your credit card statements and fine print. And maybe contact your congressman or woman about adding an amendment to the CARD Act that gives a hand to business owners as well.
Have a great Labor Day weekend!
--Jennie
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I'm married, and my wife is itching for some babies. My response to her constant hints? Do you realize how much those chitlins are going to cost? Setting aside all of the cute expenditures, there's a dirty side to parenthood than can cost a pretty penny too. Of course I'm talking about diapers.
There's generally three ways of wrapping your baby's tookus:
- Single-use, disposable diapers: they'll run about $50 to $80 per month, depending on the brand, but be aware that the absorbent chemicals and plastics used in disposables can cause irritation. Shelling out some extra dough can be worth it for an unrashed rump.
- Cloth Diapers: this environmentally-conscious solution has been around since diapers began. Fortunately, they've evolved for our convenience. We no longer need the giant safety pins or the poo-covered washboards. Now you can purchase weekly diaper services that pick up your baby's soiled garments and replace them with a stash of fresh ones. 60 clean diapers a week and a mess I don't have to clean up for $18? Not bad.
- The crème de la crème: gDiapers. Chic, efficient, and uber environmentally-friendly, gDiapers are chemical- and plastic-free, biodegradable inserts that break down in just 50 to 150 days. Compared to disposables which take 500 years to biodegrade, gs leave a pretty small footprint. Did I mention you can flush and compost them? The only downside is you will spend around $40 for gPants with only six inserts.
The bottom line: all children are different. One heinie may get irritated in disposables and another not. What's important is the wellbeing of your child, so don’t be afraid to try as many options as are available to you. If your baby takes to the cheapest option, great! If not, simply rework your budget to accommodate your baby's expensive tushie.
--Chris
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Regardless of how we may act, young adults are not invincible. Just ask Peter Lenz, professional motorcycle racer of Vancouver, WA. He died last Sunday after succumbing to injuries incurred during a warm-up lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After falling from his bike, Peter was run over by Xavier Zayat. Peter was just 13 years old.
With fluctuating gas prices, motorcycles seem a logical option. They're generally more affordable and have more efficient gas mileage to boot. And let's be honest: they're just plain cool. But does looking cool outweigh danger?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported 5,290 motorcycle fatalities in 2008--increased over 130% since 1998--and some 96,000 motorcycle-related injuries. Of these stats, NHTSA estimates that helmet use saved 1,829 lives.
Outfitting yourself with proper headgear (37% effective in preventing death, according to the NHTSA report), Kevlar-armored jackets, riding pants, gloves and ankle-protecting, composite boots may help avoid brain trauma and road rash, but these items will not account for other drivers. In 2008, 47% of motorcycle fatalities involved collisions with other vehicles. Such was the case for Peter Lenz.
But Peter died on a confined course with professional drivers. The highways of the world, however, are not driven by professionals. They're driven with distraction. They're driven by amateurs.
So consider your options before choosing motorcycles for transportation. The numbers don't lie. The same NHTSA report stated that motorcyclists are about 37 times more likely to die in traffic accidents than car passengers. When investing your life, what's most affordable may not always be the safest. Just ask Peter Lenz, 13-year-old racer from Vancouver, WA.
Rest in peace, Peter.
--Chris
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I recently went out to dinner with my wife. Not an uncommon occurrence--we like to dine out--but our choice of restaurant was unique, something I'd never thought of as an option. But I was so excited after our meal that I thought I'd let you all in on a secret.
…Culinary schools.
My wife is a prospective culinary student. We were given some wise advice by our campus tour director: "What better way is there to check out a culinary school than by tasting their food?" And taste we did. We were treated to a four-course meal of corn chowder, BLT salad (they actually made tomatoes taste good), braised spare ribs (I had an amazing pork chop over seasonal vegetables), and decadent desserts of chocolate torte and rum baba. The best part? It was free. I'll say that again…FREE. For fine dining without the tour, this four-course explosion on your taste buds is only $18. Here's a price comparison: the three-course meal I had on my wedding night was over $100. It was delectable, of course, but I'd pay $18 in a heartbeat. $100 again? Not so much.
This got me thinking:
Why not give students some practice? After all, you can't expect bad service or product. The professional faculties are training the next wave of professionals, who are subsequently performing to impress. So expectations should be high. Ours were certainly met.
This trick should not be restricted to culinary schools either. The country is full of specialty schools, so look at this list of ideas, find schools in your area and take advantage of professional-quality for a student-friendly price.
Cosmetology Schools: haircuts can cost as much as $75 at a salon, but you can find cheap cuts for as low as $10 from students.
Want the whole beauty treatment? Don't waste up to $88 for a manicure and pedicure. Students can do them as low as $8 and $12 respectively.
Massage Schools: a deep tissue massage could set you back $110. But student fingers will rub for 45 minutes for only $25.
Culinary Schools: what's left to say? Around $18 for a meal that could easily rack up $100 or more.
I'll take students any day.
--Chris
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"Rabbit season."
"Duck season."
Classic, hilarious back and forth between Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.
"The recession is over."
"Of course it's not."
Two (less hilarious) independent statements made by Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers, and Outgoing Council of Economic Advisers Chairwoman Christina Romer. On the same day.
So where are we? We were supposed to have been popping champagne corks by now. Instead, we're staring at bad data. The worst part? The data is staring right back. New home sales are the lowest they've been since records began in 1963, when the U.S. population was 189 million (compared to 310 million today.) Unemployment has been above 9% since March of last year. And new orders for durable good rose a paltry 0.3%, much less than the 3% that had been predicted.
The stock market hasn't been showing much hope either. Look at this line that tracks the Dow for the last year looks like it takes two steps up, then one down… then two more up, then one down… then another down… then it spazzes out from May until now.
So the experts are divided, and economic indicators are tough to read. The best thing you can do? Point fingers! It's easy, it's quick, and even if you're wrong, it makes your opponents waste time by refuting your points while you think of a new strategy. Just ask this random blogger, who claims that Democrats' 2008 victories are responsible for this mess, which prompted this response by U.S. News and World Report. Well, at least finger-pointing during a recession (or, perhaps, a recovery) has one purpose: to provide fodder for bloggers and legitimate journalists alike. Form your opinions now!
--Brandon
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Abdulrahman Alzanki is an iPhone app developer. He currently has six iPhone games to his name, one of which averages 20,000 downloads per day. No he's not some 30-year-old computer science grad working directly under Steve Jobs. He's a 10th grader from Kuwait. That's right. He's a 14-year-old gaming entrepreneur.
Alzanki's digitized obsession sprouted out of his tinkering with his brothers' computers. At just 11 years old, he began learning how to create websites, and at 14 he began work on his first iPhone apps.
A gamer at heart, Alzanki's current endeavor is fueled by his interest in how the games of his past were created. This curiosity, encouraged by a close friend, led him to develop his first game for the iPhone, which took him just two weeks to make. The project, which started out between friends, exploded into an international application sensation.
Abdulrahman Alzanki's flagship iPhone app, Doodle Destroy, is now ranked in the top 50 of U.S. applications. With over 880,000 downloads, this free game is sure to have your fingers--and your mind--working overtime. The object is to make a blue block come to rest on top of a gray block whilst eliminating the red blocks that elevate the blue one. Sound complicated? It certainly can be. Luckily there's varying difficulties. Regardless, good timing and strategy is the key to completing this real time physics game.
Alzanki says "[his] goal is to reach the top 10 in the U.S. app store. [His] ultimate goal is Stanford." With the résumé that he's already built up online, I have no doubt that this 14-year-old, Kuwaiti entrepreneur will live out his dreams.
Oh, and did I mention he's only been a developer for about five months? He had zero programming experience before that.
--Chris
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For those of you who haven't seen the sci-fi television epic, Heroes, Claire Bennet is the lead character--a cheerleader with the super power of rapid cellular regeneration. Basically if she gets hurt, she heals automatically. Fast forward to real life: scientists have captured Claire Bennet and bottled her genetic code.
Well, not exactly. But the truth is pretty darn cool.
Cell Biologist David Becker and his team are currently working to produce a toothpaste-like substance that, when applied externally to wounds, causes the affected areas to heal up to five times faster than normal. The gel, called Nexagon, interrupts cellular communication, preventing certain proteins that prohibit healing to make way for those cells which cause regeneration.
The substance is in testing right now on patients with chronic leg ulcers. These wounds have a reputation of healing in no less than six months or not at all, with a 60% chance of returning. Yet Nexagon patients reported total healing in just four weeks with no return ulcers.
Wait…leg ulcers? Don't these generally affect the elderly? Yes, but another cause of ulcers is diabetes, and a major cause of diabetes is obesity. The CDC reports that in 2008 obesity among youth between age 12 and 19 was up to 18.1%. Those within this percentage are at a greater risk of staying obese into adulthood, which further increases the chance of developing diabetes and, in turn, ulcers. Nexagon will surely treat the skinned knee from that failed kick-flip, but it's also applicable to chronic wounds that young adults are susceptible to.
Becker's team has tested 100 subjects so far--including a 25-year-old New Zealander who, after spraying liquid cement in his eyes, was treated with Nexagon, which regenerated his outer eye lining and inner blood vessels, ultimately saving his eyes. Nexagon has already been endorsed by the FDA for use on serious eye injuries.
Consumer costs haven't been listed yet, but Nexagon should cost only a fraction of typical chronic wound treatment.
So basically, with little cost to the consumer, Nexagon will turn the average paper cut or chronic wound victim into a first-grade superhero. I don't know who this David Becker is reporting his findings to--if it's Superman or Doc Ock--but it sounds to me like he's doing something amazing.
--Chris
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Our sun, the giant ball of hydrogen that it is, has been around for several billion years. Since its birth, it's been supplying our small corner of the universe with solar energy--energy that enabled photosynthetic bacteria, the rise of plants, and finally animals that feasted on those plants. There's no doubt about it: without the sun, we wouldn't be here.
So it may seem odd that it's taken humans so long to see the potential in our planet's star for other kinds of energy production, mainly electrical energy that can be used to power the myriad of devices that we just can't live without.
While it's true that the sun has long inspired technology both practical (magnifying glasses) and hard-to-believe (bronze plates used in the 2nd century BC to reflect light and set fire to wooden ships), the cost of solar energy today is still greater than conventional energy sources like gas or coal.
Those looking to supplement their own energy needs by installing a residential solar setup have traditionally needed deep pockets: a 3 kW system might run over $16,000. The sun doesn't always shine, and the average American home uses 11,000 kWh per year, so such a system might not even be enough to cover a home's thirst for power. It's been estimated that a 6kW system with a perfect location would be sufficient for the average home's energy needs.
But what if you don't have an extra $15,000 lying around? A Seattle-based start-up might have a solution: a single solar panel, and everything you need to hook it into your house, for $800. It's pretty cool: you just plug it into an electrical outlet, plug in the monitor to another outlet, put up the solar panel, and you're golden. It even has Wifi so you can check your power usage stats whenever you want.
From burning ships to powering laptops, we've come a long way in figuring out how to use the sun. Now we just have to keep working on making it affordable.
--Brandon
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I heard the sirens wailing--first one, then two and three in rapid succession--their horns blared and cut across the fog of my Monday morning eyes. Then I looked out the window: A building just a few hundred feet from brass headquarters was going up in smoke.
Fires are scary, made even more so by their unpredictability. Many of us have probably seen a campfire throw an ember from its pit and burst a nearby leaf into flames. But seeing the building's roof darken, slump, and fall into the charred chasm of what used to be someone's bedroom served as a reminder: be prepared for emergencies.
First, make sure you have working smoke alarms that are properly powered (that means fresh batteries or a secure electrical connection). Replace smoke alarms every 8 to 10 years, replace the batteries yearly and check both monthly. And remember: you're twice as likely to survive a fire in residences with working smoke alarms.
In the Summer issue of brass|MAGAZINE, we urged you to get renters insurance if you don't own your place: compare the couple hundred dollars per year it costs to the cost of replacing all your possessions, and you can see why it's a smart idea. You can find more information at netquote.com or esurance.com, and check with your car insurance provider as they may provide a "muliple line" discount.
If you have important documents, make sure you know what to do with them. Back in '08 we advised that certain documents (like a birth certificate) should be placed in a safe deposit box. Trying to get on with your life after a disaster is hard enough without having to prove who you are. For other documents you might need more frequently, like a social security card, consider a fire-proof safe. A museum in Alberta, Canada found out the hard way: lacking any fire-proof storage, the artifacts that did escape damage did so with an enormous amount of luck. If you have any photos, certificates, or other heirlooms that you wouldn't want to let go of, make sure they're properly protected.
While a fire may catch you off guard, take these steps to make sure you (and your finances) make it out okay. For more information, visit firesafety.gov, and be safe.
--Brandon
