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Consumer
Newsletter – February 2014
By Elyse Umlauf-Garneau
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Holiday Hacks
For some, credit
card debt isn’t the only reminder of December holiday shopping sprees.
The
well-publicized data breach at Target has highlighted the dangers of using
debit and credit cards even at big-name trusted retailers. Word is that other
retailers also may have experienced data breaches in recent months.
It raises
questions about how to know if your information has been compromised and what
to do if it has been.
The first step is
realizing that something is amiss.
And maybe you
think it would be obvious—an empty checking account, for example—that your
personal information has been stolen. But sometimes the signs are subtle. Some
clues from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC):
·
Withdrawals from your bank account that
you don’t remember and can’t explain.
·
Normal bills or other mail stop coming.
Debt collectors call about
debts that aren’t yours.
- Unfamiliar accounts or
charges on your credit report.
- The IRS notifies you that
more than one tax return was filed in your name, or that you have income
from an employer you don’t work for.
Know the immediate steps, including
notifying fraud departments of the major credit bureaus
and the fraud department of creditors for accounts that have been opened or
tampered with, that you need to take if you’ve been victimized.
As for the Target
breach, the retailer has set up a Web page, https://corporate.target.com/about/payment-card-issue.aspx?ref=sr_shorturl_paymentcardresponse#?lnk=Other_012614_HP_0_E1_16_0_2014|E1|T:Template_Home5|C:, devoted to the
problem.
Carefully read
the FAQs about potential scams associated with the Target breach and be wary
about any calls, e-mails or letters you receive requesting personal data. Scams
in which people try to trick you into giving them personal information abound,
so you want to take steps to avoid being victimized twice.
Sitting kills
We sit at home in
front of the TV and the computer. We sit in our cars to run errands. We sit at the office for eight or more hours
daily.
Then we sleep.
The sedentary
lifestyle is a killer.
It’s not just
weight gain that’s a concern. Couch potato habits also lead to diabetes,
cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
For instance, a
recent study outlined in the American Heart Association’s “Rapid
Access Journal Report” found that:
- Men with low levels of
physical activity were 52 percent more likely to develop heart failure
than those with high physical activity levels, even after adjusting for
differences in sedentary time.
- Outside of work, men who sit
five or more hours a day were 34 percent more likely to develop heart
failure than men who spent no more than two hours a day sitting,
regardless of how much they exercised.
- Heart failure risk more than
doubled in men who sat for at least five hours a day and got little
exercise, compared to men who were very physically active and sat for two
hours or less a day.
Women don’t fare
much better. According to a study
about women, “Relationship of
Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity to Incident Cardiovascular Disease:
Results from the Women’s Health Initiative.”
Physically inactive women who spent 10 hours or more sitting each
day were at 63% greater risk for events related to cardiovascular disease
compared with highly active women who spent 5 hours or fewer each day
sitting.
Women who met physical activity guidelines but sat for long
periods each day were still at increased cardiovascular disease risk.
A sedentary
lifestyle has other effects—sore shoulders, mushy abs, and a foggy brain—that
are well illustrated in this infographic, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/health/sitting/Sitting.pdf.
You don’t need to
train for a marathon to improve your fitness and combat the effects of too much
sitting. For instance, guidelines for women who want to improve their health
require:
Either 2.5 hours moderate-intensity (walking, ballroom dancing and
leisurely biking, for example) aerobic physical activity or
1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous-intensity (jogging, uphill
biking, and singles tennis, for example) aerobic physical activity or a
combination of the two, along with muscle-strengthening activities two or more
days each week.
Every little bit of exercise helps. At
work, the American Heart Association suggests trying to:
- Walk during business calls.
- Stand while talking on the
telephone.
- Walk down the hall to talk with colleagues instead of calling or
e-mailing.
- Stay at hotels with fitness centers or pool and use the facilities
while on business trips.
- Take the stairs instead of
the elevator. Or get off a few floors early and take the stairs the rest
of the way.
- Walk while waiting for the
plane at the airport.
Even standing more during your day is
beneficial. Learn about the benefits of standing at http://www.juststand.org/.
For more on ways to improve your health,
incorporate bits of activity into your day, see http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/PhysicalActivity/StartWalking/Get-Moving-Easy-Tips-to-Get-Active_UCM_307978_Article.jsp
Fit Cities
The The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) and MoveForwardPT.com partnered with
Huff/Post50
to look around the United States and pick 10 of the country’s fittest
cities.
They (click on the city name for
detailed information on each community’s fitness resources) are:
In conjunction with APTA’s "Fit After 50,” a campaign aimed at helping baby boomers
get and stay fit as they age, APTA has outlined what cities can do to increase
fitness options for those over the age of 50.
Look around your own city and find free
and low-cost options that already are available to you. For example, look for
baby boomer exercise meet-ups, walking and running clubs,
exercise trails, community recreation centers, parks, tennis courts, pools,
golf courses (see your city’s home page to start looking for options), and
bike-sharing programs.
Real Estate
Matters: News & Issues for the Mature Market
Rose
& Womble Realty
300
Cedar Lakes Drive
Chesapeake,
VA 23322
Bryan
Cerny, Associate Broker, SRES, SFR, GRI, ABR
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