International funds are poised for growth
Inflows to long-term mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) focused on international stocks have been increasing this year, and also outpacing flows into funds invested in U.S. stocks, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. The trend reflects optimism on the part of investors that a broad global economic resurgence that began last year will continue in 2018. And... READ MORE
How did Dr. Ruth come to be who she is?
“I’m so glad you’re here,” Dr. Ruth tells the Theater J audience. “This is much better than talking to myself.” So for the next 90 minutes, the famous short, sweet, giggly, no-nonsense, common-sense sex therapist — as wonderfully performed by Naomi Jacobson in the one-woman show, Becoming Dr. Ruth — tells us all about her life and loves (three husbands, two children),... READ MORE
Protect your assets in this volatile market
After a long stretch of calm and a relentless rally, the stock market recently took a breather. No one should be surprised — unless you’re surprised it took so long for this bull market to take some downtime. Stock market corrections, typically defined as a loss between 10 percent and 20 percent from the peak, occur about every two years, on average. The last one began in May 2015,... READ MORE
Do men suffer more, or just kvetch more?
Q: Do men really suffer more with the flu than women? A: I’d never heard of “man flu,” but according to a new study of the topic, the term is so ubiquitous that it has been included in the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries as “a cold or similar minor ailment as experienced by a man who is regarded as exaggerating the severity of the symptoms.” As commonly used, the term... READ MORE
Secure passwords with less headache
Security experts have warned for years that to protect our online accounts we need to change passwords frequently and make sure that those passwords are “complex” — meaning, filled with letters, numbers and random characters. But that advice may have done more harm than good. Such passwords are nearly impossible to remember (try recalling something like “Tri3cer&top$”). So, ... READ MORE
Stores’ floors may track your every move
The next phase in data collection is right under your feet. Ads you click on online give retailers valuable insight into consumer behavior, but what can they learn from your footsteps? It’s a question Milwaukee-based startup Scanalytics is helping businesses explore, with floor sensors that track people’s movements. The sensors can also be used in office buildings to reduce energy ... READ MORE
Why so many keep coming back to ‘PV’
The destination that my wife Fyllis and I were visiting isn’t for everyone. Some beaches consist of more pebbles than sand, and the ocean in places lacks the clarity and multi-hued colors of the Caribbean. Despite those drawbacks, in recent years Puerto Vallarta, Mexico has grown from a sleepy village into a magnet for people who favor it for a variety of reasons. When I asked... READ MORE
This one is on us
My column last month, about my experience with an outrageously and unnecessarily overpriced prescription, generated a great deal of reader comment. In case you missed it, in brief: I was repeatedly encouraged by a doctor, despite my protests, to try out a “new” anti-inflammatory (which turned out to simply combine two readily available over-the-counter drugs into a single... READ MORE
Wishes don’t come true by themselves
Family, doctors need to know what you want As a nurse, Kim Von Asten of Dousman, Wis., knows it’s important to document how you want to be cared for at the end of your life, or when you can no longer speak for yourself because of a major illness or accident. She has seen too many families agonizing at a hospital bedside, trying to decide whether a loved one would want to be taken off... READ MORE
Raising awareness of dementia
It began with forgetting appointments and the slow erosion of remembering names, before losing the keys only to find them in the freezer. Eventually, like many Alzheimer’s patients, Anita Dahan began to walk out of her home in Rockville, Md., wandering the neighborhood lost and afraid to ask for help. Married 52 years to her husband Fernand, “she made my life heaven on earth,”... READ MORE
