Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, April 7, 2018

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, April 7, 2018 

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett

Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown


For the Love of Everything by Lisa 
Cairns 

This book simply points to home 
beyond any experience. It points back to 
that which has always been there despite 
who and what you believed yourself and 
the world to be. It is true freedom – not 
one based on hope or perfection in the 
flow of life. This is about the perfection 
and love of simply being. True Love is 
Everything!

Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon 

Don’t miss the little masterpiece from 
this #1 bestselling award-winning 
author. Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic 
hometown for eleven-year-old Cory 
Mackenson—a place where monsters 
swim the river deep and friends are 
forever. Then, one cold spring morning, 
Cory and his father witness a car plunge 
into a lake—and a desperate rescue 
attempt brings his father face-to-face 
with a terrible vision of death that will 
haunt him forever. As Cory struggles 
to understand his father’s pain, his eyes 
are slowly opened to the forces of good 
and evil that are manifested in Zephyr. 
From an ancient, mystical woman who 
can hear the dead and bewitch the 
living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, 
Cory must confront the secrets that hide 
in the shadows of his hometown—for 
his father’s sanity and his own life hang 
in the balance.

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese 

Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born 
of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun 
and a brash British surgeon. Orphaned 
by their mother’s death and their father’s 
disappearance, bound together by a 
preternatural connection and a shared 
fascination with medicine, the twins 
come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the 
brink of revolution. Moving from Addis 
Ababa to New York City and back again, 
Cutting for Stone is an unforgettable 
story of love and betrayal, medicine and 
ordinary miracles--and two brothers 
whose fates are forever intertwined.

Life After Life: A Novel by Kate 
Atkinson

“One of the best novels I’ve read this 
century. Kate Atkinson is a marvel. There 
aren’t enough breathless adjectives to 
describe Life After LIfe. Dazzling, witty, 
moving, joyful, mournful, profound.”--
Gillian Flynn, author of Gone Girl.What 
if you could live again and again, until 
you got it right?On a cold and snowy 
night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born, the 
third child of a wealthy English banker 
and his wife. She dies before she can draw 
her first breath. On that same cold and 
snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets 
out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life 
that will be, to say the least, unusual. For 
as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, 
in any number of ways. Ursula’s world 
is in turmoil, facing the unspeakable 
evil of the two greatest wars in history. 
What power and force can one woman 
exert over the fate of civilization -- if only she 
has the chance?Wildly inventive, darkly comic, 
startlingly poignant. The preceding book reviews 
are from Amazon.com


FIVE SURPRISINGLY 
COMMON PLANNING 
MISTAKES BABY 
BOOMERS ARE 
MAKING IN DROVES

Baby boomers, which includes those born between 
1946 and 1964, have entered and continue to 
enter into retirement. As they make this financial 
transition, many boomers are learning that they 
have made some of the most typical retirement 
mistakes. 

 But, even if you’ve made a financial mistake or 
two, there’s still time to avoid these five surprisingly 
common estate planning mistakes baby boomers 
are making in droves.

 Mistake #1: Believing Estate Planning is Only 
for the Wealthy: While baby boomers are not 
the only ones guilty of this mistake, the common 
misconception is that only the ultra-rich need 
to have an estate plan prepared. By some reports, 
about half of Americans between the ages of 55 and 
64 do not even have a will. Because estate planning 
encompasses not only protection of your assets 
(regardless of how much you’ve accumulated), but 
also your healthcare choices, a lack of planning can 
leave you in a dire situation should any medical 
issues arise. 

 Mistake #2: Checklist Mentality: For many, estate 
planning is just the preparation of legal documents. 
Once the documents are signed, the client crosses 
off estate planning from his or her to-do list and 
moves on. And truth be told, the legal industry 
itself is guilty of creating this misperception. But 
don’t be fooled! Your circumstances may (and 
usually will) change. And the likelihood of this 
happening increases as time goes by. To ensure 
your estate planning objectives are carried out, you 
should update your estate plan every time a major 
(or sometimes, minor) life changes happen - such 
as retirement.

 Mistake #3: Not Completing Your Estate 
Planning Homework: Just because the estate 
planning documents have been signed does not 
necessarily mean that the planning is complete. It is 
important that any assets which need to be retitled 
are done so as soon as possible, before you forget. 
If the ownership or designations on financial 
accounts and property do not align with your estate 
planning strategy, there can be major problems in 
the future. Improper titling of financial accounts or 
property can result in an unexpected or undesirable 
distribution. This can happen because you may 
make one plan through your will or trust, but the 
ultimate determination of who inherits will rely on 
the ownership or beneficiary designation of those 
assets upon your death.

 Mistake #4: Leaving Out Little (And Not So 
Little) Things: It is important to consider all forms 
of property, not just the high-value assets when 
putting together an estate plan. Some of the most 
commonly overlooked assets include digital assets 
and family pets. If not expressly addressed in 
your estate plan, your family may end up fighting 
over valuable assets, abandoning those they deem 
worthless, or not even realizing certain assets 
existed. 

 Mistake #5: Not Preparing for Life Events & 
Emergencies: No one has a crystal ball. However, 
with proper estate planning, you may be able to 
weather the storm brought on by some of life’s 
unexpected events or emergencies. With long 
term care costs increasing year after year, planning 
for the future possibility of that level of care can 
save you money and reduce worry if and when it 
becomes necessary.

Estate Planning Help

 Although many baby boomers have made these 
mistakes – and unfortunately, won’t realize it until 
it becomes too late – you do not have to be one of 
them. Please let me know if you have any questions 
about your estate planning options and how to 
make sure you and your family are protected from 
these common mistakes.

 Dedicated to empowering your family, building 
your wealth and defining your legacy,

 

A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on a 
mission to help parents protect what they love

most. His office is located at 55 Auburn Avenue, 
Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an appointment 
to sit down and talk about ensuring a legacy of love 
and financial security for your family by calling 
626.587.3058 or visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more 
information.


All Things By Jeff Brown

PLASTIC PARTICLES FOUND IN BOTTLED WATER!

More than 90 percent of some of the most popular bottled 
water brands contain tiny particles of plastic. That’s 
according to research conducted at the State University 
of New York by Orb Media, a nonprofit journalism 
group, which detected “constellations” of plastic in 
brands including Aqua, Aquafina, Dasani,Evian and 
Nestle Pure Life.Tests on more than 250 bottles from 
11 brands showed contamination with plastic including 
polypropylene, nylon and polyethylene terephthalate. 
Plastic particles in the 0.10 millimeter size range were 
found in bottled water at an average of 10.4 per liter, 
while smaller particles likely to be plastic averaged 
314.6 per liter.”Orb’s findings suggest that a person who 
drinks a liter of bottled water a day might be consuming 
tens of thousands of microplastic particles each year,” it 
said. The health ramifications are far from clear, but 
the findings are part of the impetus behind a World 
Health Organization plan to review the potential risks 
of drinking plastic in water, according to the BBC.The 
impact of digesting plastic on human health is not 
known. That said, the organization’s priority remains 
“promoting access to safe water for 2 billion people 
who currently use and drink contaminated water,” 
the spokesperson added. The concern about plastic 
contained in the plastic bottles is somewhat ironic 
considering the bottles themselves are inefficient and 
environmentally unsound, given that the majority are 
not recycled, Lovera added. Orb’s findings are “pretty 
disturbing,” said Lovera, who noted the world is still 
“playing catch-up” in determining the potential harm 
to humans from all the plastic disposed in oceans and 
the environment.


BUSINESS TODAY

The latest on Business News, Trends and 
Techniques


By La Quetta M. Shamblee, MBA

LESS WORK, MORE PLAY

I recall reading a passage in one of many books 
written by the late renowned best-selling author, 
Steven Covey that went something like this, “I 
worked hard to climb up the career ladder, then 
when I got to the top I realized it was leaning against 
the wrong wall.” This conveys the experience of 
people who are so focused on the next promotion 
and the next raise until they lose sight of the things 
in life that are most important. Created from a 
combination of the words “work” and “alcoholic,” 
a workalcoholic is defined as a person who is 
obsessively addicted to work.

 It is a general belief that the word workalcoholic 
was introduced into the American lexicon in the 
late 1960’s, but it was not until the 1990’s that the 
term began to be used widely. Initially, being a 
workalcoholic was viewed as a positive character 
trait but over the years it has come to be associated 
with high levels of stress, and in its most extreme 
form may be classified as a work-related obsessive-
compulsive personality disorder.

 Working to provide for one’s livelihood is a fact of 
life, and people who are able to make a living doing 
something they absolutely love is the best possible 
scenario. However, working excessive hours on 
a consistent basis, without little to no regard for 
balancing work to allow for personal time, has it’s 
own set of consequences. It is understandable that 
an employee may put in extra hours from time to 
time. But when the extra hours become the rule, 
as opposed to the exception, it’s time to take an 
inventory – especially when the extra hours begin 
to interfere with one’s ability to be available for 
other important things in life, like family, friends 
and fun from time to time.

 A parent has the best of intentions when they 
work hard to ensure that their children have 
everything that they need and much of what they 
may want. This often requires long hours at work, 
and when those hours are extended on a regular 
basis, it reduces the availability of what children 
want most from their parents – personal time.

 In the end, making time for personal relationships 
and taking time to pursue life’s simple pleasures 
are the types of time investments that add meaning 
to life. Though I’ve not been able to identify the 
source of this quote, I find it appropriate to provide 
context, “No man ever said on his deathbed, I wish 
I had spent more time at the office.”


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