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“Not to blow off the Holiday Bowl or anything, but it’s time to get back to Spartan football.
And then taking care of mom.
“I’m doing everything I can to take care of my family,” he said.
Hyundai’s new i30 Tourer has loads more style to go with its space which makes this understated family estate hard not to like, says motoring editor Andy Russell.
A fellow motoring hack and I were discussing what people look for in a car – we concluded it was more space than pace, MPG than MPH and green than mean.
Can it carry people and loads comfortably? What about economy and emissions? Does it drive all right? Can I afford to run it? For many people a car is just an extension of their family, lifestyle or work so head rules heart and they put plain common sense, practicality and peace of mind warranty over dynamics and desirability.
That’s why so many people have woken up to the Hyundai brand.
The old i30 Tourer was dull and dumpy compared to the new model, with its tapering roofline, rakish rear screen and chrome trim framing the side windows.
Add Hyundai’s new family face and cascading grille and it’s now one of the better-looking medium-sized family estates, especially with a set of smart, two-tone alloy wheels.
It also has an attractive range of turbo engines with 120PS 1.0-litre and 140PS 1.4-litre petrol and 110 and 136PS 1.6-litre diesel and seven-speed automatic gearboxes available on the more powerful units.
If you do the miles, the 110PS diesel with a six-speed gearbox is relaxing to drive long distances. With tall gearing, it munches motorway miles in top gear, keeping the engine so muted that tyre noise is more noticeable. The downside is you have stir it into life with the light, smooth-shifting transmission, often dropping a couple of gears to get the engine on the boil. That probably accounted for my 50mpg overall – a lighter foot would have helped economy.
The suspension is firm enough to give decent body control but supple enough to take the sting and buzz out of most road surfaces. You feel little tremors through the soft, supportive seats over big bumps and potholes but progress is acceptably smooth and comfortable most of the time.
The i30 Tourer is also competent through corners with well-weighted steering and good poise and balance so you can confidently tackle winding cross-country routes.
With the same distance between the front and back wheels as the five-door hatchback, there’s enough space for four adults to stretch their legs, even six-footers won’t feel the pinch, but three across the back seat is cosy.
Where the i30 Tourer will win fans is on load space with the extra 245mm over the hatchback creating one of the biggest boots in its class at 602 litres. It’s easy to load with a sill-level floor, with useful storage compartments under it for stowing small items out of sight and stop them rolling around.
Rear seat backs split 60/40 and fold down to create a long, flat-floored 1,650-litre load bay but you realise how heavy the seat backs are when you lift them upright again.
The cabin shows good fit and finish with soft-touch plastics at important contact points and even the harder ones lower down look good.
The fascia cascades down in a series of swoopy contours and curves and is uncluttered and understated. It’s also user-friendly, easy to find your way round and take in information with big, clear instruments and simple heating and ventilation controls with many functions controlled via an intuitive, responsive, high-level, eight-inch floating touchscreen.
There’s also good cabin storage with a large glovebox, lidded locker between the front seats and big doorbins with bottle-holders.
The Hyundai i30 Tourer’s higher-end models have loads of creature comforts but you pay the price while lower trim levels are still well equipped so offer better value.
Whatever you go for, the i30 Tourer does everything you ask of it effectively and efficiently and that makes it hard not to like.
Subject: Possible sale of spine unit?
A Wells Fargo analyst told investors this week that Medtronic's troubles with its Infuse bone graft product could ultimately lead to the sale of the company's Memphis-based spine division, which employs about 1,500 here.
Lawrence Biegelsen, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, downgraded Medtronic stock from "outperform" to "market perform" in a note to investors this week. He said papers about Infuse published late last month in The Spine Journal will have "broader implications" for the company.
The medical journal devoted its entire last issue to what was a public repudiation of the research behind Infuse, a bioengineered material used in spinal fusion surgeries. The articles charged that researchers with financial ties to Medtronic overstated Infuse's benefits and vastly understated its risks by claiming there were none.
Those implications include a "significant reduction" in the company's spine biologics franchise, lower sales of Medtronic's spinal devices, a potential FDA review of Infuse, penalties from the Department of Justice, possible class-action lawsuits and "the potential sale of the entire spine business."
A Medtronic official said today the company does "not comment on rumor or speculation."
Net sales for Medtronic's spinal division were $3.4 billion in fiscal 2011, according to the company's annual report. Revenues for its biologics division were $884 million in 2011.
A research report this week from J.P. Morgan analysts predicts sales of Infuse will slide 25 percent in 2012 and 33 percent in 2013. The company surveyed 48 high-volume spine surgeons who said they would cut back on their use of Infuse in light of The Spine Journal controversy.
"The results confirm that Medtronic's biologics franchise is at significant risk, with average utilization among our respondents expected to fall by 26 percent over the next year," the report said.
The J.P. Morgan analysts also said much of Medtronic's businesses are unlikely to grow in the next three to five years.
"In light of these challenges, Medtronic is increasingly focused on cutting costs and reallocating resources among its businesses," the report said.
This article notes that revenue from the biologics division (Infuse sales are housed within biologics, which is housed within Spinal) were $884 million.
If we assume the worst case, Infuse sales make up 100% of biologics, and Infuse sales drop 25% in 2012, thats only $221 MM in lost sales (1.4% of MDT annual sales). Hardly catastrophic.
To be fair, the cost of clearing the air, fighting lawsuits, performing additional tests, and spending energy on this matter instead of other matters is real -- and not a good thing. However, I continue to believe Medtronic's long-term earnings power remains strong and shares compensate us adequately for this issue.
The largest potential risk here is that the pay-for-research arrangement is pervasively impure and the ethics throughout Medtronic are suspect. Aside from this issue, I have no idea to believe that is the case.
But perhaps most important to the dressing is crumbled feta cheese. Not only does this salty, assertive cheese contribute tons of flavor, it's dry texture also serves as sponge for the other flavors in the dressing. This is why the dressing is made first.
At this point, you could stop and enjoy this as a typical side salad. To turn it into a meal, several cups of rotisserie chicken meat are all that's needed. Vegetarians could substitute seasoned tofu.
August saw the passing of two formidable talents - the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin and United States Senator John McCain.
Between them they represented a huge cross-section of the human experience from the 1960s to the present day - race, gender, music, war and politics.
The principles and dreams of both were cast early on in that tumultuous social foundry that was the 1960s.
Their outlook may have been unmistakably American but their reach was global.
I had the privilege of hearing John McCain speak at the 2006 Conservative Party Conference in Bournemouth. He was exactly as I hoped and expected him to be, an inspiring, thoughtful man, a war hero with a great sense of humour, so important in politics.
He spoke passionately and enthusiastically from a wealth of experience and whether you agreed with him or not, you just got the feeling he would have cut it as President.
John McCain inspired a more gracious, compassionate politics than that which we have become used to. Let the pursuit of those ideals be his legacy.
The purpose of all politicians, wherever they may be, is to speak up for those individuals and groups suffering adversity who need a voice.
During a recent visit to Chepstow Stroke Club I was acutely aware of something that stroke sufferers know only too well.
Adversity means that even performing the simplest task can feel like climbing a mountain.
Those in power can at least make lives a little easier by addressing some of the challenges people face in their day to day lives, such as the ongoing threats to rural bus services or rural banking services (currently a pressing issue in Usk with the loss of the town’s last bank, Barclays).
As some of the most inspiring leaders have shown, changing the world often starts by making a difference in your own corner of it.
Finally, this corner of the world recently said farewell to Eliot Lewis, known to many across Monmouthshire as the former landlord of the Beaufort Hotel, Raglan, who has passed away after a short illness at the age of 45.
Eliot was based at the Beaufort from 2002 to 2015 before moving on to the Greyhound in Tetbury. Like many who knew him I will remember his friendliness and generosity.
Our thoughts are with his family at this time.
KUWAIT CITY, Dec 16: An Iranian expatriate was arrested for attempting to smuggle large number of books that are considered offensive to the Islamic religion and contain sentences that abuse and curse the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) into the country via a boat.
According to security sources, when the customs officers of Doha Port were inspecting a boat that arrived at the port from Iran, they discovered cartons of food stuff and banana.
They found a large number of books inside the cartons and they checked the books to discover they contain sentences that abuse and curse the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Tine & Cellar construction started in September. The Weston restaurant's grand opening is scheduled for Jan. 18.
Construction on Tine & Cellar in Weston started in September.
Learn how to avoid these pitfalls.
The realities you face when you stop working might be a far cry from your retirement dream. Of course, retiring broke or not being able to retire at all are among the worst-case scenarios.
But there are plenty of other snags you might encounter. If you haven’t properly prepared for leaving the working world and living without a paycheck, you’ll have to face the ugly truths about retirement.
Click through to find out 14 downsides of retiring that no one talks about, along with solutions to avoid each potential problem.
You might have diligently been setting aside money for the future and have a big nest egg now. But even $1 million might not last long in retirement if you live in a state where the cost of living is high.
For starters, don’t assume that you’ll spend a lot less in retirement. Most retirees spend between 80 and 90 percent of what they were spending during the year before they retired, Geary said. So your savings need to be able to generate enough monthly income to sustain your current spending habits.
If you’re already retired and didn’t calculate how much income you would need to cover monthly expenses, you might have to make adjustments in your spending. Geary recommends distinguishing your needs from your wants and calculating how much you need to get by each month versus what you’re also spending on wants.“That gap has gotten pretty big,” he said. Eliminating many of your wants might help you make your retirement savings last longer.
If you’ve saved most of your money in a tax-deferred retirement account such as a 401k, you will have to pay taxes on your withdrawals at your regular income-tax rate. So if you need, say, $50,000 a year to cover expenses, you’ll have to withdraw even more than that to cover taxes.
You need to have savings that you can access tax-free to reduce your tax bill and keep more of your money. You can do this by saving in a Roth IRA or Roth 401k because you can withdraw money from accounts tax-free in retirement. “Ask your employer if you have a Roth option,” Geary said. “Most of the time, the answer is yes.” If not, ask your employer to add a Roth 401k to your account options.
Funding a permanent life insurance policy also can provide a source of tax-free income in retirement because you can borrow from the cash value of your policy. Talking to a financial planner can help you decide if this is a good retirement savings strategy for you.
As you calculate your retirement income needs, you’ll need to take inflation into account.
“It’s important to understand that the effects can be stealth. Inflation affects our purchasing power,” said Marguerita Cheng, CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth, a financial planning firm in Gaithersburg, Md. If you want to maintain your current standard of living in retirement, count on spending more over the years as the cost of living rises.
Over the past several years the annual inflation rate in the U.S. has hovered around 2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If you don’t want your purchasing power to be eroded by inflation, invest in assets with a higher rate of return to avoid running out of money in retirement.
“The solution is to include equities in your investment mix,” Cheng said. Because you will need your savings to continue to grow while in retirement, you should keep stocks or stock mutual funds in your portfolio even after you retire.
When asked, most people would likely say they want to live a long, healthy life. But this can be a downside to retirement for those without adequate savings.
The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.8 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, about one in four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90, according to the Social Security Administration. That means some people could spend decades in retirement.
It’s impossible to predict the future. But the Social Security Administration does have a life expectancy calculator that will show you the average number of years you can expect to live based on your gender and date of birth. You can use this figure as a starting point when calculating how long your retirement savings need to last.
To be safe, though, your plan needs to provide you with enough income to meet your needs for potentially 30-plus years, Geary said. If you’re not on track to have enough savings, you might need to delay retirement.
Even if your nest egg is large enough that you won’t outlive your savings, you still could run out of money if you don’t have a plan to cover long-term care costs, Geary said. If you reach age 65, there’s about a 50-50 chance you will need some sort of long-term care, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This sort of care isn’t cheap.
The median annual cost of an assisted living facility is $45,000, and the median monthly cost of a private nursing home room is $97,452, according to the Genworth 2017 Cost of Care Survey. “You could easily burn through $1 million taking care of one person,” Geary said.
Don’t expect to cover long-term care costs with health insurance or Medicare. These provide only limited coverage for specific types of long-term care, according to the Administration on Community Living. And you likely won’t have enough money to self-fund your care, Geary said.
That’s why you should consider a long-term care insurance policy. If you don’t like the idea of paying for insurance you may never use, you could get a life insurance policy that provides a long-term-care benefit. You can save money on premiums and reduce your risk of being denied coverage if you apply for a policy before age 50, Geary said.
If you aren’t prepared to cover healthcare costs in retirement, you could be in for a shock. Fidelity Investments estimates that a 65-year-old couple retiring this year will need $275,000 to cover medical expenses in retirement. That doesn’t even include long-term care costs.
If you haven’t factored healthcare costs into your retirement savings and spending calculations, you might have trouble paying for medical care in retirement.
There are several steps to deal with rising healthcare costs in retirement. You might benefit from working longer to continue receiving subsidized health insurance from your employer. Also, you can contribute to a health savings account while you work if you have a high-deductible health plan. You can withdraw HSA funds in retirement tax-free for qualified medical expenses.
Opt to have any significant medical procedures you know you will need while still employed to optimize the use of your health coverage, said Laurie Kane Burkhardt, a certified financial planner with Modera Wealth Management in Boston. “Consult with health insurance experts to evaluate your choices for post-retirement insurance coverage and ensure that you select the best coverage for you,” she said.
The average monthly Social Security retirement benefit is $1,413, according to the latest figures from the Social Security Administration. That’s only $16,956 a year. “If Social Security is all you have, you will find out very quickly you do not have enough money to meet your needs,” Geary said.
He said there are people in Johnson City, Tenn., where he lives, who are trying to get by on Social Security alone and have to make a decision each month whether to buy their medication or food. “It’s a very scary and sad place to be,” he said.
Of course, if you want to avoid retiring on Social Security alone, you’ll have to build savings while you’re working. If you can’t amass that big of a nest egg, make sure you don’t start collecting Social Security early at age 62. If you do that, your benefits could be permanently reduced by as much as 30 percent.
You can maximize your Social Security income by waiting to claim benefits until after your full retirement age. If you wait until age 70, the maximum benefit currently is $3,698 per month, which is almost $1,000 more than the maximum benefit for someone claiming benefits at the full retirement age of 66.
Getting your financial house in order before retirement is important. “But don’t overlook how you’ll stay relevant or spend your time being impactful in your golden years,” Anderson said.
If you don’t plan what you will do with your extra time in retirement, you could become depressed and may end up spending more than you planned in an attempt to fill your time, said Byrke Sestok, president of Rightirement Wealth Partners in White Plains, N.Y.
To prevent boredom in retirement, Sestok recommends making a bucket list of all the things you wanted to do while working but never did. They can include volunteering, exercising more, learning a new skill or language or developing a hobby. “This is the time to pursue those activities, and jumping right into the retirement mindset is likely to provide satisfaction,” he said.
You might have to go back to work after you retire for a variety of reasons. And it might not just be part-time work.
There’s a higher percentage of older workers who now work full-time rather than part-time in retirement, according to a report published by the Brookings Institution. In 1995, 56 percent of workers 65 and older worked part-time, and less than half worked full-time. By 2014, 60 percent of workers ages 65 and older were full-time, and 40 percent were part-time.
You shouldn’t necessarily view returning to work in retirement as a bad thing. In addition to the financial benefits, working can help ward off boredom. “There is a sense of fulfillment in work. It keeps us busy and also provides us with a sense of purpose,” said Alexander Rupert, a certified financial planner with Laurel Tree Advisors in Pepper Pike, Ohio.
You don’t have to return to the job or field you left. There are senior-friendly jobs that are perfect for retirement and might offer the chance to explore other interests you have. And many retirees are finding a niche in the gig economy, Rupert said. “Working in the gig economy entails setting your own hours, only working as often as you like and earning as much as you’re willing to work — the flexibility that many retirees seek while still getting a sense of fulfillment and earning a little extra cash,” he said.
An overwhelming majority of parents don’t expect any financial support from their children in retirement, according to a recent GOBankingRates survey. But that doesn’t mean they won’t end up turning to them for help.
In fact, the percentage of older adults living with children has increased in recent years, according to the Center for Retirement Research. Those who move in with their kids are usually forced to do so because of economic distress.
If you don’t want your kids to support you in retirement, one thing you can do is stop giving them financial handouts. A survey by TD Ameritrade found that baby boomers are losing $11,011 a year to their millennial children because they’re helping support them financially. That’s money boomers could be stashing in savings to improve their chances of not having to rely on their kids for help in retirement.
If you’ve spent years pinching pennies so you can build your nest egg, you might be ready to retire to enjoy the fruits of your labor. But you could find that breaking out of your frugal mindset is difficult because you’ve developed an addiction to saving money.
“People who have done an excellent job of saving for retirement often have a difficult time spending the money they accumulated because spending does not feel natural,” Sestok said.

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