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Gay bathhouses nationwide face uncertain future

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.2.7 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en Last-Modified: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 17:21:59 GMT X-UA-Compatible: IE=Edge,chrome=1 X-Secret: cnpudnkgcnpiZXZnbUBoZm5nYnFubC5wYnogbmFxIFYganZ5eSBnZWwgZ2IgdHJnIGxiaCBuIHdiby4= Cache-Control: max-age=20 Expires: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 17:23:55 GMT Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 17:23:35 GMT Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Connection: Transfer-Encoding This July 30, 2014 photo shows the entrance to the North Hollywood Spa in Los Angeles. Gay bathhouses that once were shut down by laws or public outcry are facing a new pressure: lack of interest. A generation ago, bathhouses thrived at society’s fringes, offering a discreet haven for friends and lovers to meet.(Photo: Damian Dovarganes, AP)LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gay bathhouses that once remained in the shadows to stay in business are now seeking attention to keep their doors open.Some are doing aggressive online advertising and community outreach. Others tout their upscale amenities like plush towels and marble baths. A bathhouse in Ohio has even added hotel rooms and a nightclub.Gone are the days when bathhouses drew crowds just by offering a discreet place for gays to meet, share saunas and, often, have sex."The acceptance of gays has changed the whole world. It's taken away the need to sneak into back-alley places," said Dennis Holding, 75, who owns a Miami-based bathhouse.In the heyday of bathhouses in the late 1970s, there were nearly 200 gay bathhouses in cities across the U.S., but by 1990, the total had dropped to approximately 90, according to Damron, the publisher of an annual gay travel guide. In the last decade, bathhouses, including ones in San Diego, Syracuse, Seattle and San Antonio, have shut down and the total nationwide is less than 70. Most patrons are older.Hollywood Spa — one of the largest bathhouses in Los Angeles, a city regarded as the country's bathhouse capital — closed in April. Owner Peter…
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First Take: PC sales come to HP's rescue

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.2.7 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en Last-Modified: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 05:20:38 GMT X-UA-Compatible: IE=Edge,chrome=1 X-Secret: cnpudnkgcnpiZXZnbUBoZm5nYnFubC5wYnogbmFxIFYganZ5eSBnZWwgZ2IgdHJnIGxiaCBuIHdiby4= Cache-Control: max-age=20 Expires: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 05:23:13 GMT Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 05:22:53 GMT Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Connection: Transfer-Encoding First Take: PC sales come to HP's rescue 8 2 Share This Story!Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about First Take: PC sales come to HP's rescueSAN FRANCISCO Post to Facebook Try Another Audio CAPTCHA Image CAPTCHA Help {# #} CancelSendSent!A link has been sent to your friend's email address.Posted!A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. The HP logo is displayed on the entrance to the Hewlett-Packard headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.(Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)SAN FRANCISCO -- Hewlett Packard has an unlikely source to thank for its surprisingly strong third-quarter revenue: PC and notebook sales.This is not a typo.Riding a recent resurgence in PC shipments, HP today registered a 1% increase in year-over-year revenue to $27.6 billion.Consumer sales was "one of the key factors" for the rise in revenue, Cathie Lesjak, HP's chief financial officer, told USA Today in a phone interview late Wednesday. "People wanted to perform more complex tasks on a PC."The company's Personal Systems group, which includes PCs and notebooks, grew 12% year over year. Desktops account for about 40% of HP's revenue.HP shares were down slightly, to $34.82, in after-hours trading. HP announced its results after markets closed.HP shares are up 26% since the beginning of the year.The quarterly results today offered a respite from the previous quarter, when HP announced up to 16,000 layoffs amid ho-hum results. The tech giant previously announced 34,000 job cuts as part of CEO Meg Whitman's multiyear restructuring plan. The company currently employs nearly 300,000 worldwide.The cutbacks, which…
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A third of people have zero saved for retirement

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.2.7 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en Last-Modified: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 17:16:41 GMT X-UA-Compatible: IE=Edge,chrome=1 X-Secret: cnpudnkgcnpiZXZnbUBoZm5nYnFubC5wYnogbmFxIFYganZ5eSBnZWwgZ2IgdHJnIGxiaCBuIHdiby4= Cache-Control: max-age=20 Expires: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 17:19:12 GMT Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 17:18:52 GMT Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Connection: Transfer-Encoding A third of people have nothing saved for retirement.(Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto)A third of people (36%) in the U.S. have nothing saved for retirement, a new survey shows.In fact, 14% of people ages 65 and older have no retirement savings; 26% of those 50 to 64; 33%, 30 to 49; and 69%,18 to 29, according to the survey of 1,003 adults, conducted for Bankrate.com, a personal finance website."These numbers are very troubling because the burden for retirement savings is increasingly on us as individuals with each passing day," says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com. "Regardless of your age, there is no better time than the present to start saving for your retirement. The key to a successful retirement is to save early and aggressively."Other recent research confirms that many people aren't saving enough for their golden years. About 36% of workers have less than $1,000 in savings and investments that could be used for retirement, not counting their primary residence or defined benefits plans such as traditional pensions, and 60% of workers have less than $25,000, according to a survey of 1,000 workers from the non-profit Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald and Associates.Many people realize that they are not on track in saving for retirement, and the two most important reasons they give are cost of living and day-to-day expenses, says Jack VanDerhei, the institute's research director.STORY: Many would take lower salary for bigger 401(k) match[1]STORY: How to save a million bucks for retirement[2]STORY: Retirees get creative to eat cheap at restaurants[3]He advises people…
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Microsoft invests in these 10 smart-home startups

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.2.7 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en Last-Modified: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 05:08:48 GMT X-UA-Compatible: IE=Edge,chrome=1 X-Secret: cnpudnkgcnpiZXZnbUBoZm5nYnFubC5wYnogbmFxIFYganZ5eSBnZWwgZ2IgdHJnIGxiaCBuIHdiby4= Cache-Control: max-age=20 Expires: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 05:10:13 GMT Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 05:09:53 GMT Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Connection: Transfer-Encoding Tyler Wells Lynch, Reviewed.com 6:43 p.m. EDT August 15, 2014 Microsoft is betting big on the smart home, and hopes the next big start-up rises from within its ranks.(Photo: Tyler Wells Lynch)Microsoft is betting on the future of the smart home, and it's hoping to discover that future within its own ranks.Earlier this summer, the company announced plans to launch a start-up accelerator focused specifically on home automation and the Internet of Things. It was a move made partly in an attempt to compete with Apple and Google, both of which have made significant strides in home automation. It's also a simple acknowledgement of a market that's expected to double in size over the next five years.This week, Microsoft announced the 10 start-ups that will participate in the accelerator program, which will run from September to December of this year on Microsoft's Redmond, Wash., campus. The chosen outfits were selected from a pool of more than 400 candidates."The goal of this Accelerator is simple: to help a new generation of companies create smarter and safer homes," said Steven Guggenheimer, chief evangelist at Microsoft Developer Experience, in a statement."We share the belief that over time the home automation trend will fundamentally change how we interact with and manage our homes — making them more efficient, communicative and ultimately safer."These are the 10 lucky start-ups.1. Chai Energy[1]Chai's "gateway" device communicates with your smart energy meter to deliver real-time energy understanding — from the whole house to individual appliances.2. Heatworks[2]Heatworks is the world's first fully connected water heater. The…
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Sizzling auto sales spur shortages of hot models

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.2.7 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en Last-Modified: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:04:00 GMT X-UA-Compatible: IE=Edge,chrome=1 X-Secret: cnpudnkgcnpiZXZnbUBoZm5nYnFubC5wYnogbmFxIFYganZ5eSBnZWwgZ2IgdHJnIGxiaCBuIHdiby4= Cache-Control: max-age=20 Expires: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:08:36 GMT Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:08:16 GMT Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Connection: Transfer-Encoding A row of new Ford Fusions is seen at an automobile dealership in Zelienople, Pa.(Photo: Keith Srakocic AP)This summer's auto sales have been so sizzling that dealerships are running short of the hottest new models.Last month, 27 models spent an average of fewer than 30 days on dealers' lots before being delivered to an eager buyer, about half the average that automakers consider optimal. The in-demand models span the spectrum from luxury SUVs to performance cars, Kelley Blue Book reports.Most wanted: Land Rover's pricey LR4 and Range Rover SUVs.With gas prices moderating, boxy vehicles are back in vogue. There is only an 11-day supply on lots of the new Lincoln MKC compact crossover — "a very new vehicle ... in a really hot segment," says Ford sales analyst Erich Merkle.Chrysler, meanwhile, is short of Ram pickups, Jeep Grand Cherokees and Wranglers. General Motors says its premier performance car, the Chevrolet Corvette, and its biggest SUVs, including the new Cadillac Escalade, GMC Yukon and Chevrolet Tahoe, won't stay on lots."Every one we get, we're selling," says Inder Dosanjh, a GM dealer in Dublin, Calif. "No rebates, no special leases, not even $100 off the car." Some barely touch pavement. Dosanjh says he has pre-sold all the Escalades that he has been able to snag.Some dealers say they tried to prepare for the crunch. "We've been selling like crazy, and we beefed up," says Adam Lee, chairman of Lee Auto Malls in Maine, where sales at his two Chrysler dealerships have been strongest since the 2003.Typically, August is…
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5 money habits of unhappy couples

HTTP/1.1 200 OK Server: nginx/1.2.7 Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 Content-Language: en Last-Modified: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 05:05:23 GMT X-UA-Compatible: IE=Edge,chrome=1 X-Secret: cnpudnkgcnpiZXZnbUBoZm5nYnFubC5wYnogbmFxIFYganZ5eSBnZWwgZ2IgdHJnIGxiaCBuIHdiby4= Cache-Control: max-age=20 Expires: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 05:07:56 GMT Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 05:07:36 GMT Transfer-Encoding: chunked Connection: keep-alive Connection: Transfer-Encoding By Richard M. Rosso, NerdWallet 9:46 p.m. EDT August 10, 2014 Financial harmony is crucial to a couple's long-term synergy with money.(Photo: iStockphoto)You know this couple. They met, fell in love, moved in together — and then slowly began to sink under the weight of their money habits. He ran up her credit card; she kept purchases secret. They ignored their financial woes.Financial harmony is crucial to a couple's long-term synergy with money. In my experience, couples with cohesive financial strategies have the most successful relationships. Over the years, I've seen the same bad money decisions tear apart couple after couple. In fact, of couples exhibiting these behaviors, more than 95% ended on bad terms.Here are the top five bad money habits couples have:1. They disrespect each other's credit. One of the worst fiscal violations I've witnessed is how credit is misused in a relationship, causing a party's credit score to falter as credit card balances are increased and leaving the trusting partner in a relationship on the hook for the bills. I have seen otherwise smart individuals allow a partner to use their credit and turn a blind eye to misuse, until it's too late and they're in a hole financially — and spend years paying back big debts.Rule: Never permit a loved one, including a marriage partner, to take advantage of your available credit and perhaps ruin your credit score, whether it's intentional or not. It's not a matter of trust; it's a matter of control. You must be the steadfast gatekeeper of your…
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