If you’re around 30 years old, every dollar you spend wastefully today (and don’t invest wisely) could be as much as ten or twenty dollars you wont have for retirement in 30 or 40 years.

Sound investments can grow exponentially in the long term. That $2000 you spent on your recent (and forgettable) trip to Vegas will be about $20,000 to $40,000 you won’t have when you need it in Sun City.

Sign up for a local fundraiser – you know, a walk-a-thon or bike-a-thon or dance-a-thon.

Raise money for a worthy cause while getting in shape yourself. Be sure to warm up to the event by training for several weeks ahead of time. Larger events usually have online training programs, as well as suggestions for fundraising. Local events are fun because you often know the people or agency benefiting from the event.

It’s our new favorite breast cancer awareness slogan – SAVE 2ND BASE!

The slogan comes from a t-shirt at a Philadelphia breast cancer walk in 2005. It was designed by Kelly Rooney to celebrate a team of walkers participating in a 60-mile trek to raise money for breast cancer. At the time Rooney, a 42-year-old mother of five, was in the final stage of breast cancer. Since then, the slogan and t-shirt design have been trademarked. You can get a t-shirt here.

This is the first post of the month on breast cancer awareness.

If you haven’t had a mammogram in the past three years, schedule one now. Call your clinic or health care provider and take care of it. Yes, there is dissention among the experts about how necessary mammograms are – but they’re the most available diagnostic method we have for breast health right now. Combined with a visit to your health care provider for a manual check, it’s pretty good. Not perfect, but pretty good.

And yes, a mammogram is uncomfortable. Kind of like backing over your boob with your car tire, while sitting in the driver’s seat. Suck it up. We have members who have battled, and members who are battling breast cancer. They want you to know that early diagnosis makes everything easier. So deal with the mammogram and the manual check. Save 2nd base!