TAKEAWAY | Screen Time for Kids

“Screen time”, according to Wikipedia is the amount of time spent using a device with a screen such as a smartphone, computer, television, or video game console. Thus, research has it that “Screen time” is correlated with mental and physical harm in child development. So, we now ask “How bad is screen time for kids?”

While we begin to ponder on that, it is important to note that the positive or negative health effects of screen time are influenced by levels and content exposure and to prevent harmful exposure, some governments and family homes have placed regulations on its usage.

According to a recent publication on Yahoo lifestyle, “Screen time has been a hot-button topic for parents for decades and particularly over the past few years. The rise of personal devices like tablets, phones, and smartwatches, along with the use of screens in schools, has made screen time common for kids. Data also shows that screen time skyrocketed during the pandemic as parents struggled to juggle working with managing their children being at home.

TakeAway | ‘We live a rather lavish lifestyle’: My wife and I are 33, live in New York City, and earn $270,000. Can we retire at 55?

A letter writer on his travel and dining out: “I justify it because we’re saving $50,000-plus a year toward retirement and have zero bad debt.” GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life.  A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload.

Now that you have an idea of what this write-up is about, check this out: A couple seeks answers for a retirement plan by writing to Quentin Fottrell, a MarketWatch's Managing Editor-Personal Finance and The Moneyist columnist.

‘We live a rather lavish lifestyle: My wife and I are 33, live in New York City, and earn $270,000. Can we retire at 55? We travel a lot, eat at nice restaurants and essentially buy what we want’

Courtesy, MarketWatch, read the letter below and follow up with Quentin’s response, certainly, you would learn something from it.

Dear Quentin,

My wife and I, both 33, are lucky enough to have high-paying jobs in New York City. 

Collectively, we make $270,000 a year.  We own a home in Seattle, worth $500,000, that is rented out and covers the mortgage and cash flow. We have zero debt outside of our mortgage. We have an emergency fund of $45,000. We rent our house in Brooklyn. Collectively, we max out our 401(k)s, and I receive a pension of $8,500 a year, so we’re saving approximately $53,000 a year toward retirement. 

We have about $75,000 in our retirement accounts from our work in Seattle. We have no kids and likely don’t plan on having any. We’d like to retire at 50 to 55. My question is: Are we saving enough? We live a rather lavish lifestyle. We travel a lot, eat at nice restaurants and essentially buy what we want. I justify it because we’re saving $50,000-plus a year toward retirement and have zero bad debt.

TakeAway | SHOULD YOU ADD A BANANA TO YOUR SMOOTHIES?

Banana Smoothie

New research now reveals why you shouldn’t add a banana to your smoothies. Disappointed? Please, don’t be.

A smoothie is a beverage made by puréeing ingredients in a blender, according to Wikipedia. A smoothie commonly has a liquid base, such as fruit juice or milk, yogurt, or ice cream. Other ingredients may be added, including fruits, vegetables, non-dairy milk, crushed ice, whey powder, or nutritional supplements.

On the other hand, a banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe.

TAKEAWAY | DID YOU KNOW that to prepare for her role in the television film Search for Grace, actress Lisa Hartman Black underwent hypnosis?

DID YOU KNOW that to prepare for her role in the television film Search for Grace, actress Lisa Hartman Black underwent hypnosis?

Search for Grace is a 1994 American fantasy thriller television film directed by Sam Pillsbury from a teleplay by Alex Ayres. It was produced by CBS Entertainment Productions and stars Lisa Hartman Black and Ken Wahl. The film tells the story of Ivy (played by Hartman Black), a landscaper who leaves her long-time boyfriend to be with the mysterious Johnny (Wahl). Ivy begins experiencing flashbacks to the life of a long-dead woman named Grace (also played by Hartman Black), whose life in 1927, including her doomed relationship with the gangster Jake (Wahl), mirrors her own.

TAKEAWAY | DID YOU KNOW ... that Ned Beatty turned down the role of John Doe in the film "Seven"?

DID YOU KNOW ... that Ned Beatty turned down the role of John Doe in the film Seven because the script was the "most evil thing" he had ever read?

Ned Thomas Beatty was an American actor. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in Hollywood". His film appearances included Deliverance (1972), White Lightning (1973), All the President's Men (1976), Network (1976), Superman (1978), Superman II (1980), Back to School (1986), Rudy (1993), Shooter (2007), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Rango (2011). Beatty was nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, and a Golden Globe Award; he also won a Drama Desk Award.