Guest Post ? Personal finance, goals, and the relationship factor ...

Posted on December 23, 2011 in guest post ?

NOTE: Today?s guest post is from?Robb Engen who writes about Canadian personal finance at?Boomer & Echo, as well as at Moneyville.ca.

We all know that teenagers are out of touch with reality, expecting to earn $90,000 per year by age 30. In my experience, many single 20-somethings are just as clueless when it comes to creating a realistic financial plan.

I read an article recently about a 22-year-old man named Sean who just graduated from college and started working for an investment bank. His goal was to be financial free by age 33, and here?s how he planned to do it:

Sean had a great starting salary of $75,000 per year, with the potential to earn an additional $50,000 in bonuses. To maximize his income, Sean?s brilliant plan included working 85-hour weeks for the next 11 years. He shared an apartment near his office downtown so he could walk to work.? Sean planned to save money on food by bringing his lunch and dinner to work so he could eat at his desk.

The end result of Sean?s financial plan was to save over 60 per cent of his income and have an investment portfolio worth $1.5 million by the time he reached age 33. I?m all for setting lofty goals, but this plan doesn?t stand a chance. It?s just a dream.

I can remember when I was in my early 20?s and single, dreaming of financial freedom. I worked long hours, socked away money inside my RRSP, and lived on Pizza Pops and Kraft Dinner. I was going to retire young and wealthy, and then live it up over-seas. But then something happened that usually foils the financial dreams of all single men; I met a girl.

The one thing that is rarely accounted for in the financial dreams of young singles is the relationship factor. Suddenly you have to consider someone else?s needs other than your own. I don?t know about you, but my significant other wouldn?t really appreciate me working 85-hour weeks while sharing a cramped two-bedroom apartment with my old college roommate.

My financial priorities have changed dramatically in the last 10 years. When I was single I put any extra dollar into my RRSP without even thinking about my short term financial needs. Now that I?m married and have a family, I find myself more concerned with paying off our mortgage, building an emergency fund, and saving for a nice family vacation. I?ll stop myself before I end up buying a used mini-van.

I?m not suggesting that young single folks can?t make their financial dreams come true. Just remember to have a back-up plan that includes a significant other in your life.

?-
**NOTE: I absolutely agree with Robb. Everything you thought you knew and wanted in life can be turned upside down once you meet someone special. I think even the biggest relationship skeptic can change if the right person comes along. But maybe that?s just me wanting to believe that it?s true. :)

Robb Engen lives in Lethbridge, AB and writes about Canadian personal finance at?Boomer & Echo. Together with his mom, (she?s the Boomer, he?s the Echo) they offer their own unique perspectives on saving, investing and personal finance. You can follow him on Twitter?@BoomerandEcho.

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Source: http://www.givemebackmyfivebucks.com/2011/12/23/guest-post-personal-finance-goals-and-the-relationship-factor/

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Source: http://n4g.com/news/911311/a-future-gaming-world-of-100-digital-games

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Secret US memo now key evidence in baby thefts (AP)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina ? A long-classified memo describing a secret meeting between diplomats in a clubby Washington restaurant has become key evidence in the trial of two former Argentine dictators charged with stealing babies from political prisoners.

The 1982 memo was fully declassified by the U.S. State Department this week at the request of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. The human rights group has spent decades gathering evidence against the 1976-1983 military junta.

"Its content is key to proving that, far from treating them as isolated incidents, there existed a defined policy at the highest levels of the armed forces to make sure that the babies were appropriated," the group said in a statement.

At the time, the junta officially denied any knowledge of systematic baby thefts, let alone responsibility for the disappearances of political prisoners. In public, the U.S. government also was circumspect, even as the junta's death squads kidnapped and killed its opponents, eventually eliminating more than 13,000 "subversives."

But the memo by former senior State Department official Elliot Abrams suggests close communication between the governments.

He wrote it after meeting with Argentina's ambassador to the U.S. at the Jockey Club in Washington's Ritz-Carlton hotel. At the time, Abrams oversaw human rights at the State Department, and the junta was eager for certification that its rights record was improving.

"I raised with the Ambassador the question of children," Abrams wrote.

"Children born to prisoners or children taken from their families during the dirty war. While the disappeared were dead, these children were alive and this was in a sense the gravest humanitarian problem. The Ambassador agreed completely and had already made this point to his foreign minister and president," Abrams wrote.

The Abrams memo suggests the junta spurned his appeals to come clean on its rights record by "telling everything it could about the fate of individuals," or by inviting the Catholic Church to reunite the children with their birth families.

"The military is absolutely united and determined to avoid widespread and vengeful punishment for its acts," Abrams noted.

But Abrams also reported that he told the ambassador certification would not be a problem, based on the junta's public record.

Asked about the memo by The Associated Press on Thursday, Abrams said through a spokeswoman that "he will not comment on the substance of this memo or any other questions due to the fact that he may have to testify in the coming future."

The document was found among nearly 5,000 records on Argentina declassified by President Bill Clinton after a Freedom of Information campaign by the nonprofit National Security Archive.

"This is a prime example of the power of declassification to advance the cause of human rights in Argentina," the archive's senior analyst, Peter Kornbluh, said Thursday. "As a humanitarian act of archival diplomacy," he said, President Barack Obama "should release all U.S. military and intelligence records that shed light on these particularly heinous acts of repression."

Until this week, several paragraphs had been censored. The complete file shows they merely describe speculation about Argentine politics, and are irrelevant to the case. But there was no way to know that until the memo was fully declassified.

"The newly released parts don't deal with the grandchildren issue at all. They never should have been redacted in the first place," Kornbluh said. "But having the whole document dispels any suspicions that the U.S. is hiding information relevant to the missing grandchildren cases. So it is important to release it."

The Grandmothers group thanked U.S. Ambassador Vilma Martinez in Buenos Aires for her help.

"We hope that this will be the start of the declassification of all the documents that the United States has, in particular those of agencies like the CIA and FBI, to contribute to clearing up the crimes of humanity that occurred in our country."

Abrams wants it known that he also is "in favor of having relevant U.S. documents declassified" as well, said Rachel Steyer, his research associate at the Council for Foreign Relations in Washington.

___

Follow Michael Warren on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mwarrenap

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_argentina_stolen_babies

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45780121#45780121

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China's Baidu removed from U.S. "notorious markets" list (Digital Trends)

Since 2006, the Office of the Unites States Trade Representative has identified so-called ?notorious markets??online and physical marketplaces that specialize in the sale and distribution of counterfeit or pirated goods. Earlier this year, the USPR started issuing out-of-cycle reports on notorious markets, and the most recent update (PDF) lists the usual spate of Torrent sites, deep linkers, and online lockers, along with infamous physical markets like New Dehli?s Nehru Place, Kiev?s Petrivka Market, and China?s PC Malls. However, one long-time entry in the list has been removed: China?s leading search engine Baidu, which this year inked a major licensing agreement with music publishers.

However, China?s widely-used online consumer- and business-oriented online shopping service Taobao remains on the list. China also accounts for four of the 15 physical markets on the list.

?Several commenters reported that pirated and counterfeit goods continue to be widely available on China-based Taobao,? the USTR said in its report. ?While stakeholders report that Taobao continues to make significant efforts to address the problem, they recognize that much remains to be done.?

The report also called out Modchip.ca and Consolesource?both well-known purveyors of game console mods?along with pay-to-download services that appear to be clones of Russia?s former Allofmp3. Torrent indexers weren?t exempt from the list, either: whlie the report notes Torrent indexers can be used for lawful purposes, sites like The Pirate Bay, IsoHunt, BtJunkie, Kat.ph, and torrentz.eu are well-known for carrying unlicensed and illegal material?the report also singles out Torrent-trackers like Demonoid and zumunda, both of which are the subject of criminal prosecutions. Other online services getting the squinty-eyed stare from the USTR include online storage services like Megaupload and Putlocker, and the online forum Warez-bb.

Although the USTR?s report doesn?t claim to be exhaustive?or even reflect legal proceedings against alleged pirates?it does try to call attention to marketplaces where ?copyright piracy on a commercial scale and trademark counterfeiting continue to thrive.?

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/digitalmusic/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111221/tc_digitaltrends/chinasbaiduremovedfromusnotoriousmarketslist

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More top Chinese leaders mourn Kim Jong Il (AP)

BEIJING ? Premier Wen Jiabao and other top Chinese leaders paid their respects Wednesday to North Korea's late leader Kim Jong Il, a further sign that China is working to reassure Pyongyang of the strength of ties and retain its influence amid an uncertain leadership transition.

Wen and four other members of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee made a morning visit to the North Korean Embassy in Beijing to offer their condolences, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

President Hu Jintao and the other three members of the supreme ruling body visited Tuesday.

China has moved rapidly to reaffirm unique, deep-seated ties and assure the North of its continuing support as Pyongyang's most important ally and biggest source of food and fuel aid.

China has called Kim a "close friend" and hailed his son and successor Kim Jong Un as the North's new leader.

In the Chinese border city of Dandong, there was no sign that North Korea was shutting down, with trucks and tourist busses crossing the Yalu River bridge and tourists aboard pleasure boats cruising along the North Korean bank.

On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin left the door open for an invitation to the younger Kim, noting that China maintains high-level exchanges with North Korea.

"We would welcome North Korea's leaders to visit China at their convenience," Liu told reporters at Tuesday's daily briefing. The words Liu used could refer to one leader or more than one leader.

China has been expected to push for an early visit by the younger Kim to cement ties with the new leadership, in contrast to the six-year gap between his father's rise to power and his first trip to Beijing when relations drifted. The younger Kim is believed to have already visited China at least once as part of his father's retinue.

China's response to Kim's death highlights the government's growing emphasis on North Korean ties despite its annoyance at the North's refusal to reform its listless economy and its recurring provocative acts against South Korea that whip up tensions in the region.

Beijing sees North Korea as a strategic bulwark against a democratic South Korea allied with the U.S. In recent years it has become North Korea's indispensable diplomatic protector and economic partner, accounting for the bulk of its trade, much of its investment and all of its oil. In recent years, Kim was a frequent visitor to China, coming twice this year alone, most recently in August when he stopped off while returning home from Russia.

Chinese experts say they don't anticipate any change in relations but that Beijing will likely beef up security to guard against disorder that could potentially send millions of impoverished, starving refugees across their long border.

Above all, China wants to preserve the North Korean regime and ensure stability on the Korean peninsula, while hoping also for economic reforms that will make the North less reliant on Chinese help.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il_china

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