Phallic Play-Doh Accessory Called Disturbing, Hilarious

Tim Boyle/Bloomberg/Getty Images By Michelle R. Smith

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- It was an embarrassing Christmas for Nivea Cabrera after she was accused by her fiance's mother of letting her 5-year-old granddaughter play with a sex toy. A mortified Carbrera asked the child where she got the penis-shaped pla! stic cylinder. "It's from my Play-Doh," the girl replied. Nivea Cabrera/AP Hasbro, the Pawtucket-based toy company, is now doing damage control over the extruder tool in its Play-Doh Cake Mountain toy. The two-piece syringe-like tool, which includes a tube with corkscrew-type ridges around the outside and a dome-shaped top with a hole at the tip, can be used to squeeze Play-Doh to look like decorative cake frosting.

Complaints have been surfacing since at least November, when Tulsa, Oklahoma, TV station KTUL showed the tool to parents and asked them what they thought. The station blurred the image of ! the tool during the piece, saying it was due to parents' react! ions. One woman told the station it was "a pretty phallic cake-decorating piece."

After Christmas, comments started pouring in to Play-Doh's Facebook page, including from Cabrera, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She said Hasbro called her after she posted a photo of the tool and asked about the shape on Christmas Day. She said the company offered to send her a replacement tool in a different shape, which she has not received.

'It Was Hysterical'

Erin Rivers, a mother of two from Melbourne, Florida, thought it was hilarious when she helped her 6-year-old daughter open the box. "I pulled out this extruder tool, and I just started cracking up at it, I couldn't help it. Then I immediately put the Play-Doh in it and took a picture of," she said.

Then, she posted it on Facebook. "My friends have just as dirty minds as I do," she said. "It was hysterical to me. And then I gave it my daughter to play with." She said her daughter and 4-year-old s! on don't notice anything strange about the toy.

Hasbro Inc. has received thousands of comments on the Play-Doh Facebook page pointing out the obvious. "We are in the process of updating all future Play-Doh products with a different tool," it said in a statement posted Tuesday. It also offered to replace the tool for anyone who has complaints.

Rivers, who works in a pediatric dental office, says she's not upset at all. But she is flabbergasted that the toy slipped past so many layers of people at Hasbro. "They have to have someone who creates it, someone who makes the plastic mold, someone who plays with it," she said. "I can't imagine that as many people that probably saw the toy, not one person said, 'Does anyone else think this looks like a penis?'"

Source : http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/01/01/hasbro-replace-phallic-play-doh-accessory/

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Bull Market for Stocks Keeps Going in 2014

Richard Drew/APThis photo from the New York Stock Exchange shows five years of the Dow Jones industrial average on July 3, the first time it topped 17,000.

By Steve Rothwell

Stocks delivered again in 2014. Even after a poor start in January and wobbles in October and December, the U.S. market climbed 11.4 percent and ended the year close to record levels. The solid gain pushed the bull run for stocks into its sixth year, the longest such streak since the 1990s.

Investors have been encouraged by rising corporate earnings and a strengthening U.S. economy, which helped stocks overcome a brief winter chill in growth and tensions with Russia. The stock marke! t also overcame worries about the impact of the end of the Fed! eral Reserve's stimulus program.

Those who stuck out the market's ups and downs were rewarded with double-digit returns for the fifth year out of the last six. "Companies delivered and the ability to produce on the bottom line remained resilient," said Jeff Kleintop, Charles Schwab's chief global investment strategist. "Ultimately, that's what stocks track."

All the major stock averages are ending the year with respectable returns. The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) has returned 13.7 percent including dividends, after a return of 32 percent in 2013. The stock market also experienced its biggest bout of volatility in more than two years. Stocks plunged as much as 9.8 percent in October on concerns about global growth and worries about the spread of the Ebola virus.

The market also managed to climb despite a big drop in oil prices that hit energy companies. Geopolitical tensions flared as Russia seized Crimea, war broke out in ea! stern Ukraine and the Islamic State group seized swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. These were some of the biggest themes in the financial markets in 2014:

A Resilient Economy

The backdrop for the stock market's gains was a gradually strengthening U.S. economy. Hiring and consumer confidence continued to improve. Despite a big contraction in the first quarter caused by an unusually harsh winter, the economy kept growing. The average pace of growth climbed to 2.7 percent by the end of the year, up from 2.3 percent a year earlier.

Don't Count Out Bonds

A widely forecast demise for bonds failed to materialize. Bonds had been expected to slump as the Fed neared the end of its bond-buying stimulus program and economic growth accelerated. Instead, they rallied as investors became more pessimistic on the outlook for global growth as economies overseas weakened.

Bonds also gained because they looked attractive to o! verseas investors. Their yields, while close to historically low levels! , are still higher than in countries like Germany and Japan. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ended the year at 2.17 percent, after starting 2014 at 3 percent. The Barclays Aggregate Index, which measures the performance of a broad range of bonds, returned 5.9 percent, its best year in three.

Still Looking for Income

The biggest beneficiaries of lower bond yields were companies that pay rich dividends as investors looked to them as an alternative source of income. "Investors still want bond-like returns," said Krishna Memani, chief investment officer of OppenheimerFunds. So "the more bond-like parts of the equity market have done quite well."

Those sectors included utilities and real estate investment trusts. The utilities sector is the year with a gain of 24 percent, the best performance of the 10 sectors that make up the S&P 500 index. Utility companies in the index have an average dividend yield of 3.4 percent. U.S. REITs pay abou! t 3.6 percent.

Deal Revival

It was also a good year for deal-making. The value of global mergers and acquisitions rose to the highest point since 2007, while the number of initial public offerings was the highest since the technology bubble days of 2000.

Among the notable tie-ups announced were Actavis' (ACT) agreement to buy fellow drugmaker Allergan (AGN) for $66 billion in November, and Comcast's (CMCSA) deal to buy Time Warner Cable (TWC) for $45.2 billion in February.

In IPOs, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) raised $25 billion in its stock market debut in September, making it the biggest U.S.-listed IPO in history. Strong demand for the stock sent the market value of the company beyond that of Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY) and Facebook (FB).

Keep the Growth Coming

U.S. companies, benefiting from low interest rates and a gradually improving economy, have become adept at driving their profits high! er since the recession. Those rising earnings are underpinning the rall! y in stocks.

Earnings at S&P 500 companies are projected to reach a record of $116.97 per share for 2014, an increase of almost 8 percent from a year earlier, according to S&P Capital IQ.

"If you look at the cash flow and profitability of companies today, especially in the U.S., it is just darn impressive," said Seth Masters, chief investment officer for Bernstein Global Wealth Management.

Cheap Oil Isn't All Good News

Fears of weak growth overseas and worries of a supply glut combined to push oil down 50 percent in six months. After trading at a peak of $107 a barrel in June, oil ended the year at $53.27.

Falling oil prices lead to lower gas prices, which is a good thing for consumers. But there are also losers when crude slumps. Energy stocks, which account for about 10 percent of company earnings in the S&P 500 index, plunged.

As the losses in oil accelerated this fall, investors also worried about the wider implicatio! ns. If prices stay low, some producers could go out of business, costing workers their jobs and prompting defaults in the bond market. The fall in oil also created the year's biggest winners and losers.

Transocean, a provider of offshore drilling services to the energy industry, was the year's biggest loser among S&P 500 stocks as demand for its services was expected to fall. The stock price slumped 63 percent. Airlines, which are heavy users of fuel, were big beneficiaries of the slump. Southwest Airlines' stock has climbed 125 percent, the biggest gain in the S&P 500.

Central Banks Go in Opposite Directions

The Fed ended its bond purchases in October and is inching closer to its first rate increase since 2006. At the same time, other central banks around the world started to introduce more stimulus as growth in their regions slowed.

The Bank of Japan stepped up its efforts to revive that country's economy, as did the European Centr! al Bank. China also lowered a key interest rate.

Investors debate! d whether the U.S. will pull the rest of the world up, or be dragged down by it.

Stocks Aren't Cheap Anymore

After big gains in recent years, stocks are no longer a bargain. At the same time, they haven't yet reached vertiginous levels that would keep investors up at night.

The average price-earnings ratio for S&P 500 companies, which measures the price of a stock against the company's expected earnings over the next 12 months, climbed to 16.5, from 15.3 at the start of the year. That's above the 10-year average of about 15, according to FactSet data, but still a long way off from the levels seen during the technology boom fifteen years ago, when the average ratio was as a high as 27.

The slight rise in valuations suggests that investors have moved from being skeptical to being "pragmatically optimistic," said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist for J.P. Morgan Funds.

Source : http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/01/01/bull-market-keeps-going-2014/

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The Year 2014 for Organized Labor

It's something of a disgrace to have to admit that things have been so bad for organized labor for such a long time, that unless something truly horrendous or headline-grabbing happens during a particular year (e.g., an industry fails, a union membership is decimated), we tend not even to pay attention.

So tepid and uninspiring is the labor landscape, even the occasional strike or boycott is met with a collective "ho-hum." Meanwhile, private sector membership continues to dwindle, workers' power continues to be eroded, and corporations continue to find new ways of out-maneuvering the unions.

While 2014 was one of those "ho-hum" years, there were some notable exceptions. By engaging in a collective protest of their abysmally low wages, fast-food workers at national restaurant chains and were able to attract some prime-time media attention. Granted, their time in the limelight was short-lived and ephemeral, but these orchestrated protests were no! t only a step in the right direction, they were way overdue.

And Thomas Perez, who replaced Hilda Solis (and the interim Seth Harris), finished his first full year as Secretary of Labor in the Obama administration. Among the groups to endorse Perez's nomination were the AFL-CIO, UFW (United Farm Workers) and NAACP, so at the very least, Perez looked good on paper.

The woman he's replacing, Ms. Solis, did an adequate job as Labor Secretary (she resigned to run for Congress), particularly in regard to assisting low-level restaurant, hotel and carwash employees ("carwasheros"), most of whom are Latinos, and many of whom are systematically victimized by unscrupulous bosses. In fact, the Department of Labor was able to get criminal charges to stick against a couple of corrupt Southern California carwash owners, guilty of cheating workers out of their pay.

In the two years Perez has left on the job, he will have ample opportunity to show whether he's t! he real deal--a labor reformer and crusader--or just another a! mbitious, over-achieving Ivy Leaguer (Brown, Harvard Law) looking to pad his resume while sucking on the government teat (a la former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, another Harvard Law School product).

The last really impressive Secretary of Labor we had--arguably, second only to the legendary FDR appointee, Frances Perkins, the first woman Labor Secretary in history--was Robert Reich, who served in Clinton's first term before resigning in exasperation. He now teaches at UC Berkeley. Anyone interested in a fascinating insider's look at the Department of Labor would be advised to read Reich's memoir, "Locked in the Cabinet."

There was also a changing of the guard at the UAW (United Auto Workers), with Dennis Williams replacing outgoing president Bob King. Given its illustrious history and immeasurable influence on the American labor movement, focusing on the UAW's current state of affairs is almost too gruesome to contemplate.

Once boasting of 1! .8 million members, the UAW is now down to a mere 390,000. By all accounts, Williams is a gamer, a fighter, ready to push for the reinstatement of boiler-plate contract language (including elimination of two-tier wages and benefits). The only question is: At this late stage, does he have the muscle to do it? Because he'll need every resource he can scrounge up to pull it off.

The year 2014 was a terrible one for public school teachers, as the greedy proponents of for-profit education attempted to demonize and vilify them, pretending that low test scores (themselves very misleading) were the direct result of substandard teachers--not only a specious argument but one calculated specifically to destroy America's teachers' unions.

Arguably, the only union that continues to behave like the proud unions of the 1950s and 1960s is the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union), and that's due solely to the fact that they have a firm grip on job security. ! As much as they would love to do so, the shipping companies can't reloc! ate the West Coast ports to a Third World country, and pay cheap wages.

As a consequence, the shippers cannot stomach the fact that these longshoremen--unlike so many non-craft, blue-collar workers across the board--actually continue to earn a middle-class wage, something that was common in the 1950s, but is all too rare today. Keep on truckin', guys. You're an inspiration to union workers everywhere.

David Macaray, a playwright and author ("It's Never Been Easy: Essays on Modern Labor," 2nd edition), was a former labor union rep. He can be reached at dmacaray@gmail.com

Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-macaray/the-year-2014-for-organiz_b_6402624.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

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Incarceration and Communication: Why Meaningful Social Relationships Matter

Photo copyright Cosmin Gheorghe

It all became obvious to me while reading Franz Kafka's Letter to My Father, probably one of the finest psychological assessments of a parent-child relationship. Kafka skillfully navigates the line between blame and responsibility, between chance and conscious decision making, which are all so fundamentally different in the case of an adult and in the case of a child.

Kafka never mailed the letter to his father, continuing a lifetime pattern of repressed emotions and lack of communication. We will never know how Kafka's father would have reacted to that letter, but one thing is clear: Connection and communication are essential if a relationship is to exist.

The tremendous negative results of broken or unskillful communication are even more obvious in the light of Ferguson and Staten Island incidents. We live in one of the most prosperous nations in the w! orld, one that even contains the word "united" in its name. Still, no fewer than 458 Americans died at the hands of police in 2013, compared with just eight in Germany and zero in both Japan and the UK.

Deaths from police shootings: USA 458 Germany 8 Britain 0 Japan 0 http://t.co/7hHhuWiuNd pic.twitter.com/boleSgPvZx

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) December 15, 2014

Also, the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the developed world: 2.3 million men and women, or one in every 104 of the nation's adults, are behind bars. The incarceration rate is higher in the U.S. than it is in Russia, China or Iran -- company the U.S. should not want to be in.

Although incarceration seems to be very popular in the U.S., research is ambiguous about its corrective value, specifically when it's about small offenses. But studies have consistently found that prisoners who maintain close contact with their family members while incarcerated have better post-release outcomes and lower recidivism rates. A 2011 report by the Vera Institute of Justice states:

Research shows that incarcerated people who maintain supportive relationships with family members have better outcom! es -- such as stable housing and employment -- when they return to the community.

We can go a step further and argue that what needs to happen in offenders' lives is the exact opposite of incarceration: an increase in quality social relationships, not a complete cutoff from society and a concomitant increase in close relationships with other perpetrators.

Like many children, Blair Sandlain went her entire childhood with her father behind bars, and this experience gave her the idea to create an app that helps families bridge the communication gap that incarceration so often entails. Connect Inmate, which is free to download, aims to make it easy for families to communicate in a meaningful way with incarcerated loved ones.

She explains, "Often times what keeps inmates out of trouble and gives them hope is the awareness that someone outside cares for them."

Meanwhile, however, the U.S.'s habit of incarcerating people has created a profitab! le private prison industry. As David Shapiro, a staff attorney! with the ACLU National Prison Project, writes on CNBC.com:

As incarceration rates skyrocket, the private prison industry expands at exponential rates. The number of inmates in private prisons increased by roughly 1600 percent between 1990 and 2009. In 2010, the two largest private prison companies alone took in nearly $3 billion in revenue, and their top executives each received annual compensation packages worth well over $3 million.

According to the Vera Institute, in 2010 we spent $39 billion in public money on incarceration, a portion of which is generating large profits for private prisons. The questions is: What is the impact on American cultural and social relationships when we, as a nation, allow corporations to profit from incarcerating more and more of our very own citizens?

Our knowledge of social and family relationships has changed significantly since 1919, when Kafka wrote -- but never sent -- that l! etter to his father. We now know so much more about the importance of meaningful human connection. And still it seems that, to a great extent, we prefer circulating money over creating social meaning.

Photo copyright Cosmin Gheorghe

Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cosmin-gheorghe/incarceration-and-communication-why-meaningful-social-relationships-matter_b_6398730.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

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Why 2015 Will Be the Year of Solar Energy

Lester Lefkowitz Whether you realize it or not, solar energy is becoming a more and more important part of our energy future. In 2013, 29 percent of new electricity-generating capacity in the U.S. was solar energy, and so far in 2014, 36 percent of new capacity is solar.

Falling costs and improving technology will drive wider adoption, and 2015 could be a tipping point, bringing the solar industry to new parts of the country.

The Year Solar Caught On in the U.S.

2014 has been the start of consumers and utilities alike underst! anding the positive impact solar can make. GTM Research expects about 6.5 GW of solar energy to be installed in the U.S. in 2014, enough to power nearly 1.1 million homes. But over half of those installations fall in a relatively small area in California and Arizona, so this isn't a nationwide trend -- yet.

You can see below that 10 states (not including Hawaii, where solar has long been cost-competitive) are now seeing residential solar systems cost-competitive with the grid, and by 2017 the estimated number jumps to 28 states. In 2015, a growing infrastructure from solar installers will bring solar to new states, expanding the industry's reach.

Union of Concerned Scientists
Expansion Plans Kicking into High Gear

The solar industry knows that more states are s! eeing competitive prices and is expanding quickly to fill the need, especially in the residential market. SolarCity (SCTY) and Vivint Solar (VSLR) install more than half of the residential solar systems installed in the U.S. today, and they both have big expansion plans in 2015.

SolarCity expects to grow from 168,000 customers in September 2014 to over 1 million customers by mid-2018. As the company showed in a recent presentation, its addressable market grows exponentially as it cuts costs. SolarCity's costs today, including sales and general costs, are $2.90 per watt, down 26 percent from just two years ago. If costs continue to fall at anywhere near that rate, the company should be able to keep growing.

SolarCity
Vivint Solar was founded just three yea! rs ago, but it's already grown into the second-largest solar installer in the country, with operations in seven states. Next year, it plans to open another 20 new sales and operations offices, growing beyond a high concentration in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.

States to watch in the residential solar market next year include Nevada, Texas, and Florida, which have only been small players in residential and commercial solar until now but have high solar insolation and relatively high energy costs.

Rooftops Aren't the Only Place Solar Is Popping Up

Residential solar is getting most of the attention in the media, but it's actually large utility-scale projects where the biggest impact is coming. These projects account for over half of all solar installed, and states you'd never imagine are starting to see solar growth.

Minnesota, Colorado, North Carolina, and Oregon have made solar more cost-effective through policy that gives! incentives for utilities to adopt solar and policies that make solar e! nergy cost-effective and easy to connect to the grid. Growth in these states won't likely come on rooftops; it'll be ground-mounted small utility-scale projects that gain adoption, because they're lower-cost than residential solar.

And 2015 Is a Tipping Point

It's possible that 2015 will be the first year in which over half of new electricity generation capacity in the U.S. will come from solar. It's also likely that the industry will start to solve its intermittency issue, installing energy storage in a growing percentage of homes that decide to go solar. Both would be big milestones for the industry.

The potential growth for the solar industry isn't measured in billions of dollars, it's measured in trillions, and in 2015 we'll begin to see the industry's leaders take a larger role in our overall energy future and spread their wings across the country. Like it or not, solar energy is coming to a town near you.

Motley Fool contri! butor Travis Hoium has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of SolarCity. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Is your portfolio ready for the new year? Check out our free report on one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.

Source : http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/12/31/2015-solar-energy/

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Market Wrap: S&P, Dow, Nasdaq All Up for the Year

Seth Wenig/AP By Ken Sweet

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks ended a strong 2014 with moderate declines Wednesday. Even with the losses, the Standard & Poor's 500 index (^GPSC) finished the year with an 11.4 percent increase, its sixth straight year of gains. Oil, by contrast, had its worst annual performance since 2008, ending down 45 percent for 2014 after a sharp slump in the second half of the year.

The 11.4 percent rise in the S&P 500 w! as double what strategists expected for the market at the beginning of the year. "It turned out to be a great year for U.S. economic growth, which got us higher corporate profits as well," said Cameron Hinds, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank.

U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for New Year's Day and will reopen Friday. Most strategists believe the stock market will also rise in 2015, but they expect more modest gains of between 4 percent and 6 percent.

There was no major catalyst for Wednesday's selling. Trading has been slow all week because of the holidays and most fund managers have closed their books for the year. However, some investors do reshuffle their portfolios in the last few days of the year for tax purposes. Roughly 2.6 billion shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, compared with the 3.6 billion typically traded on an average day.

A Hit in Energy

Energy stocks edged lower as th! e price of oil fell. Benchmark U.S. crude dropped 85 cents to ! $53.27 a barrel in New York. Oil has plunged since June amid abundant supplies and weak global demand. In total, the price fell 45 percent in 2014, the worst year for crude since the 2008 financial crisis.

Oil drillers fell the most Wednesday. Diamond Offshore (DO) was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500, declining 3.6 percent. The energy component of the S&P 500 is down 10 percent this year
"I think most of the selling you're seeing today is related to the fall in oil, as well as repositioning before the end of the year," Hinds said.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell 160 points, or 0.9 percent, to 17,823.07. It ended 2014 up 7.5 percent, lagging behind the S&P 500 and Nasdaq (^IXIC). The Nasdaq lost 41.39 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,736.05. The Nasdaq rose 13.4 percent in 2014. The S&P 500 fell 21.45 points, or 1 percent, to 2,058.90.

Prices for U.S. government bonds rose. The y! ield on the 10-year Treasury note edged down to 2.17 percent. Bonds were an unexpected strong spot for the market in 2014. The 10-year note started 2014 at around 2.99 percent. Bond yields fall as prices rise.

Gold fell $16.30 to $1,184.10 an ounce. The precious metal barely budged in 2014, falling 0.2 percent, compared with its drop of 28.3 percent in 2013. Silver fell 68 cents to $15.60 an ounce and copper fell three cents to $2.83 a pound.

What to Watch Friday:

• The ISM manufacturing composite index is released at 10 a.m.

• When it comes to items you use on a regular basis, sometimes it's worth shelling out a little more to buy a better-quality product that will last longer.

  If you spend a lot of time on your feet, investing in a pair of high-quality shoes is much smarter than grabbing a cheap pair that will wear out in a matter of weeks.

  If you live in an area that gets socked with snow in the winter, investing in a mid-range snowblower makes more sense than buying the clearance model with the one-star reviews.

  Think not just in terms of price, but also how much value you'll get for that price.

  1. The item will last longer
• Spending a little more each month to get better insurance coverage could save you hundreds, if not thousands, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to make a claim on that coverage.

  Opting for regular car maintenance and preventative health care can save you from costly bills down the line if you neglect to keep things in good working order.

  Fixing something right, rather than doing the bare minimum to keep it running (or, worse, paying a handyman with less-than-great credentials) is much smarter than doing shoddy work that will only result in a much worse (read: more expensive) repair bill later.

  2. It will save you money down the road
• Sometimes it's worth spending a little time to save a little money -- like cooking at home rather than paying twice as much to get a pre-made meal. But sometimes, working too hard to save a buck wastes more time than it's really worth.

  We've all heard stories about those extreme savers who spend an hour making their own laundry detergent, refill their condiment bottles with packets from fast food restaurants or spend an entire afternoon driving from store to store all across town for one or two items that are on sale. (Trust me, I speak from experience –- I once wasted an hour of my life to save $3.60.)

  When it comes to extremes like this, you need to ask yourself if your time investment is really worth the return you're getting. Spending hours of your life to save a few cents here or there is probably not worth it.

  3. It will save you (valuable) time
• There's no doubt a dollar-menu fast food burger is cheaper than making a healthy meal from scratch. But the money you're saving is probably not worth the risk you're taking when it comes to your health.

  Failing to take proper care of yourself could wind up costing you more down the line in terms of doctor's bills, medication and (let's not forget) pain and suffering. So don't feel guilty about springing for healthy food, medical care and other items that help you live a longer, healthier life. Don't skimp on your health.

  4. The item is better for you
• DIYing can save you tons of money-if you know how to do it yourself properly. If you don't, you could wind up doing more harm than good.

  If you don't know a hammer from a hacksaw, it's probably not a wise idea to try to fix that plumbing problem. If you're all thumbs, cutting your own hair is probably not the best way to save some money. Sometimes it's better to leave a job to the professionals; know where your own strengths and weaknesses lie and be mindful of them.

  5. You can't do it right yourself
• A life of deprivation never helped anyone stay motivated to reach a goal. Just like dieters need to allow themselves a small, healthy treat now and then to keep their spirits up, savers need to grant themselves some small splurges or else they risk becoming so miserable they commit a big splurge out of frustration.

  Identify the inexpensive treats that give you a big boost. Yours may be grabbing a fancy coffee, subscribing to your favorite guilty-pleasure magazine or keeping a fresh bouquet of flowers in the house. These are little expenses that can give you a big payoff, especially when you're working hard to save money across the board.

  6. It's a small splurge that gives you a big boost
• More from Paula Pant:

Source : http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/12/31/market-wrap-indexes-up/

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Intrapreneurship: The Launchpad for Entrepreneurship

Be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

As we're entering the New Year, I find it's always a great time to reflect on the past year before we start to plan for our business in the upcoming year.

As such, I've been reflecting on a theme I'm noticing quite a bit while conducting my personal branding for leaders training program for corporate employees. I also offer the workshop to entrepreneurs. And the difference is that a lot of corporate employees are looking for the workshop to help them find a new job, while the entrepreneurs see it as an opportunity to learn how to better serve their employees, customers and causes they're committed to.

In a way, I find it sad that the state of the American workplace for corporate employees still only shows that 48% of workers are happy, according to Pew Research Center findings. I've always ! considered myself a champion for employees becoming intrapreneurs, i.e. entrepreneurs on the job, and using employment as an opportunity to create change. Yet what I hear from employees during the training program is that they've become burnt out from pushing change and the resistance within to implement the new practices and initiatives. They're disillusioned - especially younger women.

I can relate. I worked for companies ranging in size from 500-10,000 employees. I always prided myself in being a change agent. However, larger organizations can mean more bureaucracy, entrenched cultures and analysis paralysis. While I was always fortunate to have bosses who supported my change agent nature, it didn't mean that the rest of the organization was so gung ho. I also found that my independent and freedom-seeking nature wasn't necessarily supported by traditional organizational policies. These were big motivating factors for me to take the leap into full-time ent! repreneurship. However, I never could have made the move if I! hadn't acquired the knowledge and expertise as an intrapreneur within a company.

If you're a corporate employee who believes that breaking down the old corporate structure isn't enough to facilitate change, but starting something anew is what will, I'd encourage you to embrace intrapreneurship as the launchpad for your entrepreneurial venture. Why?

• Your current place of employment will allow you to test your business and product ideas. You can use it as market research.
• Your organization has existing funding that supports your research and your training. This will help you reduce your own costs for when you start your own business.
• You can learn from an established brand and marketing. See what works and doesn't work.
• Having a job can be a safety net for failure. Find out what works while still being gainfully employed and financially supported.

All this being said, it isn't just about taking everything from your employer and not giving back. As the saying goes: "How you show up here is how you show up everywhere." Your attitude toward your employer is important. You don't want to burn your bridges. You also want to display an attitude of gratitude for all that you're learning. It might be that your employer is just a teacher in what not to do. Nonetheless, your leadership is still a teacher. So, as an intrapreneur look for ways to serve. Take responsibility for the direction of your career. Then have courage to take action and follow your entrepreneurial dreams.

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This post originally appeared on my blog at http://marionchamberlain.c! om.

Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marion-chamberlain/intrapreneurship-the-laun_b_6390248.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

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