Are you controlling your money, or is your money (and debt) controlling you? Basic personal finance may not be that interesting to most women in their 20s or 30s, but it’s one of the keys to a happy, fulfilled life!

These money tips from the horses’ mouth: the female financial gurus over at Women & Co:

Money Tips for Women in Their 20s

1. Set Financial Goals. The first step to putting together a financial plan is to identify what you want, when you want it, and what it will take to achieve it. Be sure to write down your goals so you have something to refer back to as you plan.

4 ways to get your finances in order for 2010

2. Live On a Budget. A budget doesn’t have to be onerous and it’s a key component of a solid financial plan. Start by writing down your monthly income, track and total how much you are spending monthly, and determine your debt-repayment obligations (i.e., credit card, student loans). After calculating your monthly expenditures, subtract that from your total monthly income. Allocate the amount you have left over toward savings. If you’re falling short on savings, think creatively about ways to cut spending.

Click here for more tips.

7 “money personalities” to avoid when dating

When the news broke yesterday that a 35-year old woman suffered a massive stroke, social networking sites and blogs exploded with messages of support and prayers.

As scary as it is to read the statistics, we need to know what we, as young women or people who care for young women, are facing when it comes to stroke risks. Not only do the studies and numbers underline that strokes are a very real, very serious medical issue for our segment of the population, it will also help us to encourage and empower one another to be aware of the symptoms and lower our own risk as much as possible.

Here are few key things every woman needs to know about strokes from shine.com:

The chances of a young woman having a stroke are small but the consequences can be dire. For every 100,000 women of childbearing age, 4.4 will have an ischemic stroke. Ischemic strokes account for 85% of all cases. More than 250,000 women between the ages of 18 and 44 will have some kind of stroke. Stroke is the most common cause of long-term disability.

Mammogram age pushed back to 50

Women’s stroke survival rate is concerning. Sixty percent of women who suffer from a stroke do not survive. Although more men have strokes, they are less likely to die as a result. Young women are more likely to die of a stroke than their chances of dying from both breast cancer and AIDS combined.

Age makes a difference. One study showed that there is a comparable rate of women and men who have strokes between the ages of 35 – 44 and 55 – 64. However, in the 45 – 54 age range, women are twice as likely to have a stroke than men. This startling disparity is thought to be caused by increased waist size and heart disease among women of this age. Researchers say reversing this surge of mid-life strokes for women will require greater attention to women’s cardiovascular health beginning in the mid-30s.

Click here to read more

New breast cancer guidelines could “devastate” black women

Take a look at the hottest celeb pics on the net

Usually when I hear someone break out the “age ain’t nothin but a number” argument, it has something to do with romantic relationships.

Is your man too old for you?? Read more here.

But let’s think of age beyond the boyfriend/girlfriend context. Is it just me or is a lot of grown folks behavior being seen at younger and younger ages?? What are the correct ages to start acting more “adult”, anyway? Consider the following:

1. You’ve noticed 12-year-old’s walking around in full makeup. What the hell?? What’s with girls barely out of elementary school caking on eyeliner?

…And what was with the underage girls onstage with Drake and Weezy at the BET awards??

2. There’s no difference in female clothing styles. At all. Am I the only person who’s noticed that bikini’s are now available for ages 1-100? This isn’t the fault of (really) young girls in skimpy swimwear but rather clothing manufacturers and our society for pushing the youngest among us into the sexual spotlight.

2.  You’ve heard men say, “but she told me she was 21!” over and over: Okay, I don’t usually buy the “I thought she was older than she really was” excuse from men either. But if you’ve seen how certain young women present themselves, you can’t always blame men for being confused.

What do you think, Hello Beautiful? Is becoming too grown and sexy too soon an epidemic??

]]> http://hellobeautiful.com/special-features/hello-beautiful-staff/is-too-grown-and-sexy-becoming-an-epidemic/feed/ 8 http://hellobeautiful.com/sex-love/hello-beautiful-staff/is-your-man-too-old-for-you/ http://hellobeautiful.com/sex-love/hello-beautiful-staff/is-your-man-too-old-for-you/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:16:20 +0000 Hello Beautiful http://hellobeautiful.com/?p=342617 We've all heard the "age ain't nothin but a number" pearl of wisdom more than once. But is it actually true? At the risk of sounding close minded, I'm going to say that age USUALLY represents a whole lot more than a number. I'm saying usually because, obviously, maturity levels... Read more..]]>

We’ve all heard the “age ain’t nothin but a number” pearl of wisdom more than once. But is it actually true? At the risk of sounding close minded, I’m going to say that age USUALLY represents a whole lot more than a number. I’m saying usually because, obviously, maturity levels obviously vary from person to person, regardless of age. But what are some signs that your man might really be, well, too old? Here are some:

1. Your man says things like “When I was your age…” Statements like this can take you from a hot and heavy moment to making you feel like you’re chillin with your grandfather.

2. You feel “behind” your man. Even a minimal age gap in a relationship can mean that the people in it are not experiencing life milestones at the same time. For example, imagine that you are a college student dating a man who has been out in the working world for a couple of years. Although you may only be five years apart in age, the experiences that this man has of the world COULD be very different from yours. You may then feel “behind” your man in all that he has seen and accomplished.

Ditch that older man and work on your abs!

3. You’re getting ready for the club and he’s getting ready for bed. You get what I mean: having an older man in your life sometimes means they have a “been there, done that” attitude about activities and experiences that you’re still enjoying. This could leave you feeling dumb and, well, young.

Leave your older man as a friend instead!

What do you think, Hello Beautiful? Is age really just a number??

[From Time.com]

For decades, heart disease has had the dubious honor of being the leading killer of Americans. Most heart-related deaths happen among the elderly, by far the largest at-risk group for cardiovascular disease. But a new study finds that an alarming portion of heart failure cases are occurring in a much younger group – under age 50 – and overwhelmingly among African Americans.

In the first large-scale study to document the extent of the race gap in heart disease, researchers report that one in 100 black adults develop heart failure in their 30s and 40s – a rate 20 times higher than that of similarly aged white men and women. In fact, the heart failure rate among young black adults was more like that of white men and women in their 50s and 60s. “What these data point out is that it’s important to recognize that disease patterns differ in different populations,” says Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, one of the study’s authors and co-director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the University of California, San Francisco, and San Francisco General Hospital. “We would have completely missed this at-risk group had we only been looking at older age groups. We would have also missed them if we had not been studying African Americans in large numbers.”

The new report, published in the March 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, is a large government-funded survey that began in 1985. The aim of the study was to document the frequency of heart disease among young adults, so researchers recruited more than 5,000 volunteers from four cities and tracked them for 20 years, measuring their blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, fasting blood sugar and kidney function. These tests were repeated six times over the two-decade period.

The black adults who developed heart disease early had at least one of four risk factors – high blood pressure, being overweight, chronic kidney disease or low levels of “good” cholesterol (high-density cholesterol, or HDL). Blood pressure and heart risk rose in step: for each 10 mm increase in diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number of the ratio), the risk of having heart failure in their 40s doubled. For each 5.7 increase in body mass index (BMI), a ratio of weight and height, the risk of developing heart failure increased by 40%. And each 13.3 mg/dL drop in HDL levels also boosted the risk of heart disease by 40%.

But the largest risk factor for heart failure among this group was chronic kidney disease, a condition that is often triggered by untreated diabetes and obesity. Black adults with chronic kidney disease experienced a stunning 20-fold jump in their risk of heart failure, compared with black adults without kidney disease. “Here we have tangible evidence that heart failure in the young is a real dilemma,” says Dr. Clyde Yancy, president-elect of the American Heart Association.

To read the rest of this article, click here.

THESE make for a good way to keep your blood pressure down!

Heart disease is also the number one killer of African American women. Here are ways to help save your heart!

It seems like the water from a particular spring in Europe is the closest to the Fountain of Youth as we’re gonna get!

[From Daily Mail]

It found favour with Queen Victoria, whose 64-year reign was the longest in British history.

Flowing from a spring on the edge of the Balmoral estate, it is also ideally placed to have played a role in the youthful looks of the current Queen.

Scientists certainly seem to think that the pure waters of the Pannanich Wells in north-east Scotland could help hold back the hands of time.

A duo of experiments show that the spring water, bottled and sold as Deeside Water, mops-up dangerous molecules that have been linked to ageing as well as a host of diseases.

The water was also found to beat other brands in hydrating the skin, making it appear more youthful and smoothing away wrinkles.

If that were not enough, previous studies have credited the water with easing the pain of arthritis and thwarting the growth of cancerous cells.

Scientist Dr Mary Warnock said: ‘We didn’t think something as simple as water would necessarily have benefits other than boosting rehydration.

‘We are all looking for simple ways to stay healthy and look our best. Deeside mineral water could be one of those solutions and therefore much more research is required in this area.’

To read the rest of the article, click here!

Is age really just a number? I can say, from experience, that it certainly is not. I am in the midst of an eight-month slump in my now nonexistent dating life. So, feeling slightly undesirable and kind of like everyone thought I had scales underneath my clothes, I accepted a date from someone who was definitely not my type.

When I first met him, he was really nice and I assumed he was trying to make me feel comfortable in my new environment – that is, until he asked me out on a legit date. My first inclination was to say ‘no;’ not because he was a troll or anything, but mainly because I think all men are trolls and am the most awkward person in the dating situation, mainly for two reasons: If I don’t lubricate the situation with alcohol, I have nothing to say, but if I drink I usually end up making out with my date because, for some reason, making out is less awkward than speaking. But, due to intense peer pressure, I accepted.

Approximately half way through my first martini I knew the ‘zsa zsa zu’ (or “that spark,” for non-Sex and the City fans) just wasn’t there, but I didn’t want to be a bitch and jump in a cab with the excuse that I forgot to turn off my straightening iron, so I endured for two more martinis and a couple games of pool. At this point, I was dying to get back to my book at my apartment and immediately call my best friend and inform her that not only am I an awful person, but I will also spend my life alone. My date was a complete gentleman and walked me to a cab, and on the way we stumbled onto the subject of my impending graduation from college. I knew he was older than me – possibly 28 – and me being 21, seven years is manageable. But then, the now-troll wouldn’t spill his graduation year and I was getting more internally hysterical by the moment. Then he dropped it: 1991. For those of you who are not great with math, that would make him 39! My stomach literally fell out of my butt and I wanted to throw myself in front of a moving cab.

After he revealed to me that he was practically twice my age, I promptly ended the date, but since we worked in close proximity of each other I didn’t want to pull the total bitch move of the handshake – I mean, I did get three martinis out of being with the geriatric. So I went for the side-cheek kiss, but he snaked around and kissed me on the lips! After having forty-year-old mouth on mine, it was time to shamefully climb into the cab and end my life.

In the end, this experience wasn’t so horrifying because he was forty, but believe me, that played a huge part. The real problem was that he withheld this vital information. I mean, I guess there is no good way to drop it in – ‘hey, I am old enough to be your dad,’ would have totally killed my buzz. Needless to say, I have yet to be on another date because I am frankly terrified. Now, I am not saying that a large age gap is a total deal breaker (look at Whitney and Ray J! Totally one for the storybooks), but I just couldn’t imagine bringing my forty-year-old boyfriend home to meet my 31-year-old brother…something about that just screams Deliverance.