Page 2 February 5, 2015 Community Briefs Residents Honored for Community Service KTLA Channel 5 news anchor/reporter Mary Beth McDade and KCBS2/KCAL9 news anchor/reporter Serene Branson were honored with the Mayor’s “I Heart MB” award for distinguished community service at recent MB City Council meetings. Mayor Wayne Powell says of the award winners, “Both are Manhattan Beach residents who, through their distinguished community volunteer work and exemplary careers, have Lisa Garey Chosen as Chair for AHA Luncheon The Neptunian Woman’s Club is gearing up for its annual student art and photography contest. Each year professional Manhattan Beach artists judge submissions and select the winners. All artists in grades Kindergarten through 12 may submit art, and students in grades 6 through 12 may also submit photography. Submission deadline is February 23, 2015 before 3:00 pm. Submissions are collected by the local schools. Application forms can be obtained at any Manhattan Beach school or by contacting the Art Show Chair, maryessman@ aol.com. Students must attend a Manhattan Beach school and must submit through their school office. An awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 8, 2015 at helped make Manhattan Beach the community we all love.” Above: Mary Beth McDade, anchor/reporter for KTLA Channel 5, with Manhattan Beach Mayor Wayne Powell. McDade was honored with the “I Heart MB” Award for community service. Photo courtesy of Wayne Powell. Left: Serene Branson, anchor/reporter for KCBS2/KCAL9 news, with Manhattan Beach Mayor Wayne Powell. Branson was honored with the “I Heart MB” Award for community service. Photo courtesy of Wayne Powell. South Bay native Lisa Garey, financial advisor and senior vice president at Morgan Stanley in Rolling Hills Estates, is this year’s chairwoman of the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women Luncheon scheduled for May 20 at the Manhattan Beach Marriot. Its goal is to raise $500,000 to support the AHA’s mission of building healthier lives, free of heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. Sponsorship and donation information are available at www.southbaygored. ahaevents.org or (213) 291- 7050. Lisa Garey. Photo courtesy of American Heart Association. Entries Sought for Neptunian’s Art and Photography Contest Student art contest entries from the 2015 Neptunian’s annual student art contest. Photo provided by Lynne Gross. Finance 5 Financial Fitness Habits To Begin (BPT) - While many people focus on personal health Gigantic goals in the Ring new year, the System beginning around Planet J1407b of the year is also a great time to check your fi nancial fi tness. So how can you whip your fi nances into shape? South University College of Business, Virginia Beach faculty member Dr. Alan Harper says everyone should adopt these fi ve fi nancial habits in 2015: Establish a Budget Harper says the fi rst step in taking control of your fi nances is to establish a budget. “It is extremely important to know how much money is coming in, where it’s going, and allocating it appropriately,” he says. “Having a budget allows you to gain a broader understanding of your spending habits.” Make sure your budget includes allowances for food, clothing, gas, and even entertainment, Harper advises. Artist’s conception of the extrasolar ring system that circles the young giant planet or brown dwarf J1407b. Credit: Ron Miller for a “The reporting Start Saving free credit those you fi reporting item if Harper score understanding how to Make shop, Finance Your budget should also include money set aside for emergencies. Harper says the old rule-of-thumb that three month’s salary is enough to have in your bank account no longer applies in our current economy. “We found in the last recession that people who lost their jobs tended to stay out of work much longer than three months,” he says. “You should have six months to a year’s worth of income in savings, just in case.” Harper says you should also try to put away 15 percent of your take-home income toward your retirement. Many retirement savings options are available, including 401(k)s, Roth IRAs and individual retirement accounts. It is important to do your homework before deciding on a long-term investment strategy so that you are aware of terms, conditions and any fees associated with your options. Manage your Credit The beginning of the year is a perfect time to check your credit history, and to look for any mistakes on your credit report, Harper advises. Mistakes on your credit report can cost you large sums of money in interest rates, or even keep you from being approved 5 Financial Fitness Habits To Begin In The New Year (BPT) - While many people focus on personal health goals in the new year, the beginning of the year is also a great time to check your fi nancial fi tness. So how can you whip your fi nances into shape? South University College of Business, Virginia Beach faculty member Dr. Alan Harper says everyone should adopt these fi ve fi nancial habits in 2015: Establish a Budget Harper says the fi rst step in taking control of your fi nances is to establish a budget. “It is extremely important to know how much money is coming in, where it’s going, and allocating it appropriately,” he says. “Having a budget allows you to gain a broader understanding of your spending habits.” Make sure your budget includes allowances for food, clothing, gas, and even entertainment, Harper advises. Start Saving Your budget should also include money set aside for emergencies. Harper says the old rule-of-thumb that three month’s salary is enough to have in your bank account no longer applies in our current economy. “We found in the last recession that people who lost their jobs tended to stay out of work much longer than three months,” he says. “You should have six months to a year’s worth of income in savings, just in case.” Harper says you should also try to put away 15 percent of your take-home income toward your retirement. Many retirement savings options are available, including 401(k)s, Roth IRAs and individual retirement accounts. It is important to do your homework before deciding on a long-term investment strategy so that you are aware of terms, conditions and any fees associated with your options. Manage your Credit The beginning of the year is a perfect time to check your credit history, and to look for any mistakes on your credit report, Harper advises. Mistakes on your credit report can cost you large sums of money in interest rates, or even keep you from being approved for a loan. “The law requires the three major credit reporting agencies to provide you with one free credit report a year,” Harper says. “Pull those reports and look for discrepancies. If you fi nd one, fi le a dispute with the credit reporting agency and they will remove the item if it is incorrect.” Harper also says to check your FICO score on the report, make sure you have an understanding of what the score means, and how to improve it if the score is low. Shop Smart Make it a priority to save money while you shop, Harper says. He encourages clipping coupons, and says purchasing membership cards to discount stores like Sam’s Club and Costco can help you save money over time. “Those stores will save you money in the long run on purchases like food, gas, and even personal care items.” Check your Insurance Setting aside time at the beginning of the year to check your insurance policies can also save you money. Harper advises that you should review your auto, home and life insurance to make sure you have the proper coverage. “You want to make sure you aren’t paying for coverage that you may no longer need, but you also want to make sure you have adequate coverage in case there is an accident or you need to make a claim,” he says. Many companies also offer discounted rates if you hold multiple policies with them. So, if your auto, home and life insurance policies are with different companies, you may want to explore the benefi ts of choosing just one company. “It’s also important to make sure your life insurance policies are suffi cient to protect your family from a fi nancial crisis in the event that something happens to you,” Harper notes. “Establishing a budget, saving, staying on top of credit and insurance, and shopping smart all take some work,” Harper points out. “But the rewards to your personal and household bottom line are well worth the effort.”• Looking Up Based on press release from University of Rochester, supplied by Bob Eklund Astronomers at the Leiden Observatory (The Netherlands) and the University of Rochester (USA) have discovered that the ring system that they see eclipse the very young Sun-like star J1407 is of enormous proportions, much larger and heavier than the ring system of Saturn. The ring system—the first of its kind to be found outside our solar system—was discovered in 2012 by a team led by Rochester’s Eric Mamajek. The astronomers analyzed data from the SuperWASP project—a survey designed to detect gas giants that move in front of their parent star. In 2012, Mamajek and colleagues at the University of Rochester reported the discovery of the young star J1407 and the unusual eclipses, and proposed that they were caused by a moon-forming disk around a young giant planet or brown dwarf. A new analysis of the data, led by Leiden’s Matthew Kenworthy, shows that the ring system consists of over 30 rings, each of them tens of millions of kilometers in diameter. Furthermore, they found gaps in the rings, indicating that satellites (“exomoons”) may have formed. The result has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. “The details that we see in the light curve are incredible. The eclipse lasted for several weeks, but you see rapid changes on time scales of tens of minutes as a result of fine structures in the rings,” says Kenworthy. “The star is much too far away to observe the rings directly, but we could make a detailed model based on the rapid brightness variations in the starlight passing through the ring system. If we could replace Saturn’s rings with the rings around J1407b, they would be easily visible at night and be many times larger than the full Moon.” See Looking Up, page 3 South Bay Property from front page Because of low turnover and tendency to pass housing along to children, Forecast Realty agents are also skilled at dealing with probate and trusts. Hart noted that since he started his business almost 40 years ago, many of his clients’ parents are getting older and dying, leaving the clients to deal with sticky situations involving living trusts and wills. Many requirements have to be completed within a certain time frame, and Forecast has a network of trustworthy attorneys and specialists. Sometimes the person who receives the trust doesn’t know what they have to do and in what time frame, but “with just a little extra [help], you can get it right.” Forecast also specializes in helping customers find the right home for them, the right area for their family size, and the 1:00 pm in the Neptunian Clubhouse at 920 Highland Avenue. There are cash awards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. • Roger Hart, owner of Forecast Realty. Photo courtesy of Forecast Realty. right loan to buy a place with. Hart loves the community: he has five grandsons and said that he enjoyed having the family close, enjoying Torrance’s parks, and walking around area feeling safe in the community. Forecast is also involved in the community, sponsoring local sports teams and making sure that the Daily Breeze is in the schools so the kids can get a feel for a newspaper. When asked what he wanted to say to the readers, Hart said, Even if they haven’t worked with Forecast in the past or just have questions, all are welcome to give him a call. He added, “Thanks for the many years they [the readers of the Trib] have allowed us to represent them, and we look forward to many more years of taking care of real estate needs.” •
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