Wells Fargo is Fortune 41

Today Wells Fargo was announce on the Fortune 500 list.

Exercise and the Brain

Read Daniel 1:3-20. (Health Connection)

Then read this article I just read today from Newsweek from this last March. The title is “Can Exercise Make You Smarter?”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17662246/site/newsweek/

PS- Can anyone find me a exercise photo?

Porter Family Avatars

Lauren helped with a few of these. Can You guess who is who?

Healthy Eating

By demand, here is a healthy eating meal plan. First Calculate your BMR to know how many calories your body is burning daily at a normal rate to know how many you should be taking in. Google BMR Calculators.

Then read food labels and eat essential nutrient rich foods like WHOLE grains, fruits, veggies, and water in appropriate amounts. And stick to it!

Hope that helps.

Pace, Joy, & Chase at the Porters!

I heard you were at my house, sorry I didn’t get the message till after you left. Sounds like you had a good time. I suppose Mom wished you happy birthday!

Have a good time in NC.

Money

Per request, I have researched some and found that a Roth IRA is a brokerage account with tax benefits. With a brokerage account you can leave your funds in a Money Market Cash account and earn money above the inflation rate (my initial motivation). However, more importantly you can use it to invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, cds, etc.

ROTH IRA - the earnings are tax free when you retrieve them upon retirement (at 59.5?). You can contribute up to 4k a year and the principle is extremely liquid, so if you need your savings for an immediate need, the principle is easily acquired, unlike the Traditional IRA.

Traditional IRA-is tax deductible, however, so you you can deduct contributions in that year for taxes, but when you cash out at retirement, the money is fully taxable.

Different companies have difference methods (WF, Edward Jones, Charles Schwab, etc.) of contribution I believe.

401(k) – is definitely an option to use if your employer offers it. Works much like a traditional IRA, with tax deductible beniefits, but your employer matches the contributions!

Let me know if you have additional info.

Roth IRA and Brokerage

I am entering the stock brokerage and retirement accounts arena. It is a complex world, but worth learning about. Do any of you have these type of accounts? Do you prefer one over the other? What about a traditional IRA vs. ROTH?

Oatmeal

What are your thoughts on Oatmeal? I eat Wheaties every morning for breakfast and I am thinking of converting. It advertises a ton of health benefits.

Apple TV

Enough said in the title.

Excpet that my roommate got a sweet new Apple TV for his tv. The trailers are fantastic!

New Avatar!

Thanks to Pace, I have a brand new Avatar!