My daughter loves being outdoors, but with skin cancer rates rising nationwide, and with her inherited bad skin-cancer luck (three of her great-grandparents and one of her grandparents have had skin cancers ranging from the benign to the quick killing sort), I’m concerned about protecting her. I’m also concerned about putting expensive, toxic gunk all over her…that might kill her more readily than the skin cancer that it’s supposed to prevent!

To put it bluntly: sunscreens suck. By the EPA’s own definition, sunscreens are chemicals that protect skin by absorbing and/or reflecting UVA and UVB rays. PABA, the most common chemical in sunscreen is a known carcinogen, as are many of the other common ingredients found in sunscreen. Sunblocks, on the other hand, are made of ingredients that themselves simply block, reflect, and scatter the sun’s rays, without any chemical reaction. But many products labeled as sunblock really aren’t—they contain PABA or other chemicals. As I noted previously, skin products aren’t monitored for safety the way food products are, even though new scientific evidence suggest that they may be absorbed even more directly into the bloodstream.

So, what’s the best strategy for protecting your kids’ skin?

Shade. Try to find a shady place for your kids to play outside. If you simply avoid direct exposure to the sun, you protect them without having to load on sunscreen. And it’s free! Hats and covering up exposed flesh are also good options.

If they are swimming or doing something else outdoors in which direct exposure is unavoidable, try a product whose main active ingredient is zinc oxide. Yep, good ‘ole fashioned zinc: that white, gooky stuff that lifeguards put on their shnozzes. It works, it’s non-toxic, and if you rub it in, it doesn’t look too weird. There are products which micronize zinc oxide to make it less gloppy, but there are some health concerns about micronized particles—they are more easily absorbed into the bloodstream. So stick with the gloppy stuff. Dr. Hauscha makes a great children’s sunscreen that, while pricey, lasts a long time because you only need a little bit. It smells good, too! Blue Lizard is another one. And here’s a recipe for homemade zinc oxide sunblock!

What other tips do you have for inexpensive, chemical-free ways of keeping the sun’s harmful rays off your kids’ skin?

You may need to purchase a digital converter box to receive network channels if:

1) you do not subscribe to cable or satellite programming
2) you have a television made before 2004 (Most televisions made before 2004 do not have a built-in digital tuner.)

To learn more about the digital broadcasting conversion, click here for the FAQ page at the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration site. (Do yourself a favor and expand all FAQ for faster reading.)

Uncle Sam is offering a $40 coupons towards the purchase of digital converter boxes. You can request up to two coupons for your household. I just received my coupon in the mail after I applied online almost two months ago. Though it took a while to get the coupon, it was worth the wait.

When I received my coupon, the envelope contained a list of places near my address where I can buy a converter box. I had my choice between the never-competent Best Buy, or the ever-awkward Radio Shack. I chose quirky little Radio Shack.

The full price of a converter is $60. Since I didn’t have an antennae attached to my TV, I also got a $17 pair of rabbit ears to help strengthen the signal sent to the digital converter box. Thanks to the coupon, I walked out of Radio Shack with just a $44 tab.

Setup was easy except for maneuvering cables around the hulking entertainment center in my apartment. Ten minutes later, I had amazing picture quality that’s just like cable but without the massive monthly cost and unnecessary channels.

Like I’ve asked before, who needs cable?

Lana Marconi and Martinique Haller join us as more frequent contributing writers. Dr. Lana, as she is known to her readers, earned two doctorate degrees at the young age of thirty: a Ph.D. in Energy Medicine and Th.D. in Transpersonal Psychology. Her professional therapeutic experience has included working as a behavior therapist and psychology researcher at schools, hospitals, and government funded facilities. She travels globally, educating people on natural approaches to self-help and embodying one’s innate greatness. She also has written numerous books on self-help that have been featured in bookstores in North America. Her writings at Queercents will initially focus on developing wealth consciousness from a psychology perspective. To learn more about Lana, please click here.

Finally, Martinique Haller is no slouch either. After finishing a Master’s in library science and slinging lattes for two years, Martinique landed a job as a librarian at a University in Chicago. She is also taking advantage of her benefits to earn a second Master’s Degree for free. Martinique is the daughter of a CFP Trust Officer and a sensible mother. The combination of these two parents helped make her the frugal woman she is today. Her parents were experts in balancing thrift with splurges on “memories, education and health.” Martinique and her partner have developed a similar approach to their finances and she’s ready to share tips and ideas with our readers. To get to know Martinique, please click here.

Please welcome them aboard. We look forward to their writings!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be taking a look at a handful of queer friends and acquaintances and exploring how they landed in their careers. A gay firefighter, a lesbian CEO of a startup, a gay interior designer, a transgendered community activist, a lesbian newspaper editor, and a closeted gay Navajo artist: what do they all have in common? How did their choices bring them to where they are today?

Risky Business in a Slow Economy: The Interior Designer

The small house next door has been on the market for a long time, at least since last summer. A few weeks ago the For Sale sign came down, and landscaping and patio construction began.

I finally met the new neighbors today, on my way to the laundromat. They’re a couple in their late thirties or early forties, with a little Shih Tzu dog. John pinged my gaydar immediately. (I probably pinged his too, especially since I’d just returned from the hairdresser with a new super-short haircut.) John told me he’d worked at a local retailer for over twenty years as a facilities manager, and last summer he was told his position was being eliminated. John’s partner Terry had a similar story. He worked at a large, prominent bank for eight years, and was also laid off suddenly, with no warning. The two of them are moving into the little house next door because they wanted to downsize.

Terry decided to take advantage of the forced change. He’s switched careers to become a real estate agent, and is now slowly building a clientele. John has started a side business dressing homes, preparing them for sale. It’s a little stereotypical — who hasn’t heard of the gay interior decorator? — but It seems like their two careers work well together. They’re taking risks by running their own businesses in a sluggish economy, but the truth is that their new, risky businesses are probably equally as stable as their old jobs.

I’m hearing this story over and over. Our friends are forced from their comfortable, safe corporate jobs out into the great unknown. And instead of trying to find a new job in a similar career with a similar company, risking the same layoffs and unpleasant surprises, they are forging new paths for themselves and starting their own small businesses.

In a struggling economy, it makes sense that many of us are feeling disaffected with corporate life. People of my generation have been trying to emulate our baby boomer parents by settling comfortably into a single career and working our way up the corporate ladder, but it’s just not working. It’s taking a lot longer than we’d hoped, and those cushy cubicle jobs simply don’t provide the security or upward mobility we thought they did. Besides, all of the baby boomers have seniority, and aren’t leaving anytime soon.

It seems risky to begin new enterprises when the future is so uncertain, but this is actually the perfect time. Large corporations aren’t hiring. We all need to make money, so a network of business-to-business services are springing up. We’re all networking with each other, running our own businesses, paving our own ways. We’re selling houses to each other and offering our computer skills to each other. We’re bartering for massage and graphic design. We’re doing each other’s laundry, and tending each other’s gardens.

Many of us are like John and Terry. After being kicked out of the nest, we have to make different choices about our homes, our careers, and our priorities. And we’re finding that the faux security of 9-to-5dom isn’t what we were led to believe. I know this is certainly true for me.

How about you? Is your job secure? Have you found ways to create stability when no one knows who will be laid off next week?

Jan Hanseth juggles her multiple careers (freelance web developer, dancer, and massage therapy student) in Portland, Maine. She writes occasionally about living and eating in Maine’s largest city at Blueberries and Lobster.

As a quick aside here is a great resource that I wish a financial fairy godmother could have whispered in my ear before I spent the better part of Sunday getting my information organized. The National Student Loan Data System compiles your loan and other finaicial aid information in once place. Even if you have multiple degrees from multiple institutions the NSLDS is a good place to get started.

As part of my research I learned about a new loan forgiveness program Congress recently authorized in the College Cost Reduction Act.  Aspects of this program are sure to offer hope and encouragement to graduates seeking lower paying careers or careers in the public service.

The program significantly eases the burden associated with those who are so-called “high-debt, lower-income graduates” by creating an “income based” repayment plan which is more generous than the best option previously available called the “income contingent” or “income sensitive” repayment plans.

Here is an example from Georgetown University’s professor Schrag:

Suppose that a single borrower owes $ 100,000;… Suppose further that the borrower has adjusted gross income of $ 40,000 in the first year after graduation. On a standard ten-year repayment schedule, such a borrower would have to pay $ 1173 per month (35% of adjusted gross income and a much higher percentage of after-tax income). But under ß 203, such a borrower would pay each month ($ 40,000 - $ 15,315)X(15%)/12 = $ 309, or only 9% of adjusted gross income. That is the monthly repayment in the first year; as the borrower’s income rises, the repayment amount will gradually rise, but that increase will be moderated by parallel increases in the federal poverty level.  36 Hofstra L. Rev. 27.

The most generous aspect of the program is that borrowers/graduates who spend ten years in the program or make 120 payments while full-time employees in designated public service positions will be eligible to have their remaining principle and interest  forgiven.

Previous programs operating with the “income contingent” options required a waiting period of 25 years before any loan amounts would be forgiven.  Borrowers not engaging in public  service will be eligible for the new “income based” repayment plans and remain eligible for loan forgiveness after 25 years.

There is one major problem associated with the new program’s law.  Any amounts forgiven in will count as taxable income generating an unusually high tax burden in that year.  The net savings should exceed any additional tax liability, however.  Either Congress or the IRS could act to change that but it will not be a significant factor until the first group of borrowers exit the program in 2017.

Any Queercents readers plan on accessing the benefits associated with the College Cost Reduction Act?  Any thoughts on how the new program will affect the economy?  Anybody out there who thinks this option might weigh in their decision to return to school?

We think the answer is yes! And as such, this is our weekly series called In Search of Gay Money where we reprint their advice by swapping out pronouns and a few other words to make it seem like everyone is queer!

Millionaires in the Making: Ryan Hope and Bill Wells

By David Goldman and Queercents

Ages: Ryan, 25, Bill, 23
Occupations: Car phone salesman, Customer service representative
Salary: Approximately $56,000 combined
Home and land: $125,000 estimated value
IRA, 401(k): About $22,500
Mutual Funds: $3,000

Utilities: $310 per month
Groceries: About $350 per month
Entertainment: $300 per month
Car payments: $330 per month
Mortgage payments: $570 per month
Credit card debt: $100 per month
School loan payments: $65 per month

Is it possible to retire by 50 with an income under $60,000? Ryan Hope and Bill Wells think so.

Together since 2005, the young Arkansas partners are just starting out. Ryan, 25, works as a car phone salesman, and Bill, 23, works as a customer service representative at a call center. Together they earn an annual $56,000 – above the national average, yet still not exactly easy street in today’s economy.

But with a little discipline, they think they can meet their goal of an early retirement. “I feel pretty comfortable with a target of a little over $2 million,” Ryan says.

It may sound ambitious, but Ryan and Bill have a plan: put roughly 10% of their earnings toward retirement, 10% toward bills, 30% toward debt reduction, 15% into taxable mutual funds, and 35% to daily expenses and emergency savings.

Ryan and Bill have a lot going for their finances. They’re young and don’t plan on having children. They live in Pottsville, Ark, an area that has one of the lowest costs of living in the country. And they’re aggressive investors for their age, currently putting $530 per month into stock-only mutual funds.

“Right now, I am really trying to build a strong foundation in our portfolio so that we are in a very good position to live a comfortable life,” Ryan said.

But their financial picture isn’t all rosy. Like many gays and lesbians in America, they’re saddled with credit card debt: about $4,500. But they continually roll their balances onto new 0% APR promotional credit cards to avoid paying interest. They plan on making steady payments of $100 a month and paying off their debt in less than four years.

They bought a one-year old used Honda Civic for $19,000 about 4 months ago and put monthly payments of $330 toward the $17,500 left on the loan.

Ryan and Bill are working to pay off Bill’s student loans, which total $5,500.

For the more distant future, Ryan maxes out his IRA, which currently stands at about $22,000. His job doesn’t offer a 401(k) plan, but Bill has access to a company-sponsored plan through his call center employer. He only contributes the 2% that his employer matches, but sometime in the near future he expects a promotion that could nearly double his salary. When his salary increases, he will also max out his retirement contribution.

“We each have some room to grow based on income potential,” said Ryan, who has fairly steady pay despite earning the majority of his salary on commission from car phone sales.

Ryan and Bill say their priority now is to replenish their emergency fund, which they recently depleted to pay down some debt, as the promotional period on one credit card was ending. They would like to get their savings up to about $10,000, or six months of expenses.

Our expert’s take

With their current plan, Ryan and Bill are on their way to millionaire status, but maybe not as soon as they’d like, according to Diana DeCharles, a Certified Financial Planner with AIG Financial Advisors.

She says that even with an aggressive 9% to 10% annual return on their investments, Ryan and Bill will be worth about $1.3 million at age 50 – no small sum, but probably not enough to retire so young.

DeCharles believes that Ryan and Bill are smart to prioritize their emergency savings, which she recommends they keep in a money market fund with no stock exposure.

“Forget the funds for now,” DeCharles said. “Especially with the market heading down, they have to build up their cash reserves first.”

She also thinks they are managing their debt well, but they should be wary of opening too many cards. “Although they are moving their balances to new cards with 0% interest, if they continue to open new cards to do this they are bringing their credit score down,” she said. “Their credit score will take a hit for having cards that are maxed out, getting inquiry hits, and opening new cards.”

To save up, she suggests they cut into their monthly entertainment expenses. “Cook at home, or get movies from the library – they’re free!” said DeCharles.

But overall, DeCharles thinks Ryan and Bill are in a good position, even if they can’t retire by 50. “They’re doing pretty good, frankly. They did pretty well with their home, and it’s great that they’re saving so much.”

“When Ernest Hemingway was writing his works of literary genius, he certainly wasn’t dining on filet mignon and caviar. Nope, most of his books were written on a diet of peanut butter sandwiches.”

“British wrestler Sir Athol Oakley maintained his physique by drinking 11 pints of milk every single day for three years. That’s 12,012 pints of milk. When asked how he had arrived at that particular amount, he said it was because a wrestler he admired, Georg Hackenschmidt, gave an interview once in which he had professed to drinking exactly that amount. Hackenschmidt met Oakley and informed him that the 11 pints had been a typo - he actually drank just one pint of milk a day.”

After reading these I thought that it was interesting how far they would go to the extreme or cut back in order to attain the goal that they desired. So many people want a pill or a secret answer to making the debt go away or to become a millionaire, but it takes time, hard word and SACRIFICES. Some sacrifices that may seem extreme.

Take a pause and reconsider just how out-there someone might be when you hear that they re-use the same tea bag all week, water down their bottles of condiment or pick up pennies.

It is good to see that some people are seeing that the need to sacrifice or even just cut back is starting to sink in for some outside of the ‘frugal living’ community. In CNN’s article “Americans tightening their belts” it appears the CFL bulb is flickering to life and they are understanding that changes have to made.

Across America, there are growing signs that consumers are worried about the weakening economy, which could slip into recession. While some say Americans are not famed for their belt-tightening tactics, there are signs that people are trying to improve their personal balance sheets so they’re ready for tougher times.

But Americans are much better spenders than savers, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com, an online financial information service.

“Consumer spending isn’t something that gets turned on and off like a light switch,” he said. “People will say they need to cut back, but they often lack the willpower to do it.”

—–
Dawn C. is site owner of Frugalforlife.com where this is a repost from: A Diet to Something Better. Dawn is residing in Colorado with her spouse, Teri, of 11 years.

Last week, Penelope Trunk, my favorite career authority, wrote a post providing 4 tips that will improve productivity at work. Number 3 on her list: Go to church.

She points her brazen careerists to The New York Times article where:

Lisa Cullen reports that girls who go to church work harder than other people. Maybe you think this is because church girls are so bored in their upstanding lives that they can’t think of anything better to do than work. But I think it actually has something to do with optimism.

People who go to church regularly are more optimistic people in general, and optimism makes people feel more positive about their work. If you feel like you will affect your work in a positive way, you’re more likely to dig in and do it.

What do you think? Does faith influence optimism? And how does this translate in the workplace?

One of her readers suggested it’s because Christians are great sheep. Depending on the day of the week, their shepherd could be their employer, pastor or Christ himself. Baa, baa… you get the picture. The commenter writes:

To my point though, each religious poster has a similar take on why Christians are more productive at work - be it faith in decision-making, optimism, or simply not being distracted by YouTube, flirting, my space, etc. But here are other possible reasons, self esteem and adherence to duty.

At the heart of all major religions is the concept of respect for self (self esteem) as a child of God. Treat yourself with respect, and by implication, do whatever you do with diligence and pride because your actions are an extension of your physical self. If you do something, do it well as it represents you.

Second, in terms of adherence to duty, the saying, “…give onto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” and a myriad of other Judeo-Christian parables abound, about how servants, slaves, etc should be dutiful to a master or employer. Basically, we make great sheep.

In the past, the most pliable and easily ruled population has been a religious population. Religious employees simply work harder because they are less distracted, rebellious, and questioning. This fact while not entirely complimentary, also seems to be an overlooked variable in the religious/hard worker equation.

I’ll give Christians the hard work award. After all, I’m a product of this tradition and wholeheartedly give the church due credit for the development of my work ethic. It takes discipline to do your “daily devotions” and observe “quiet time” with God.

You also have to be pretty studious outside of school to memorize scripture. Of course, I wasn’t quite as diligent as one of my sisters who memorized several books written by the disciple known as Paul and for this she earned the top spot on the church Bible Quiz team. I know, it almost sounds cult-like. Well it was. But it kept me on the straight and narrow until I graduated from college and started questioning everything from my sexuality to an afterlife.

Another commenter on Penelope’s post summarizes these questions best:

Christianity: The belief that some cosmic Jewish Zombie can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.

100,000 Burmese - women, children, families - were just washed off the planet. I guess if you believe in a Christian God you can call that extreme productivity.

Apparently, I’m not alone in my questioning. Here’s a study that found:

The fastest-growing religious group is people without any religious affiliation. But that doesn’t mean the U.S. is experiencing a secular surge. Most in this group aren’t atheists; they just describe their religion as “nothing in particular.”

So I guess most people aren’t going to church. And those that do, why do they get the monopoly on optimism as suggested by Penelope?

Are you optimistic? How does this impact your work day? And is there a correlation between optimism and income? Please let us know below.

I’d argue that a cheerful mood and buoyant personality doesn’t require a belief in God. Your disposition can be improved by any number of things. Say, chocolate for instance. Especially the kind with “good intentions” as one of its main ingredients. Seriously, take a look at Intentional Chocolate. It’s not a gimmick:

• The strategic advantage is an innovative technology that embeds the intentions of advanced meditators into chocolate and bridges the gaps between spirituality and science. This is the first mind matter product in the market.
• The target market addresses a market segment that is being described as a mega-trend by 76% of executive’s worldwide, health and well-being. A recent Youtube video about Intentional Chocolate received over 150,000 hits in a 48-hour period.

So it’s Monday morning… anybody out there working hard? Are you giving credit to God or that square of dark chocolate? We want to know…

What I’ve since learned now that I am a business owner is that networking isn’t any of that. Well, in some circles it still is…a flurry of desperate people trying to hand out as many business cards as possible. However, effective long term networking that matters isn’t that at all. It is about being open and creating relationships.

This morning I had the pleasure of listening to productivity expert Neen James speak on the topic of sales. She’s a lively Aussie who is known for her energetic presentation style. She started the presentation by throwing the old model of selling into the rubbish. “It is not about closing the sale. It is about opening a relationship.” As I’ve come to learn business success is all about relationships. Sure you need to deliver the goods (product or service), but you need good relationships if you are going to be successful over the long haul.

If you’re like me and initially feel awkward at events, rest assured it is all about being yourself and being genuinely interested in others. Here are two of Neen’s many tips on How to Meet & Greet and Functions:

Ask people what they like to do in their spare time.
This is a great question and most people become energized when you ask them about their life outside of work. Watch their eyes sparkle as they tell you about the activities they most enjoy. Take the time to discover that people are far more interesting than their work.

Listen intently.
Give the person you are speaking with your full attention. Use active listening techniques such as nodding, smiling and leaning towards them while they speak. Ask questions about the topics you are discussing. People will appreciate your attention. It is very rude to look beyond the person you are speaking with or to look around the room for someone more interesting. Effective networking can help you to maximize your productivity.

Whether it is sales, finding that next career move within a company, or selling a product — people like to buy and be with people they know, like, and trust.
Robin Jay shares in “Why Building Relationships Beats Sales”:

And even though a particular store may have better pricing or be more convenient, we, as consumers, will go out of our way to patronize another business because we LIKE THE WAY THE PEOPLE MAKE US FEEL somewhere else. People prefer to do business with people they like!

I am a business relationship expert who personally hosted more than 3,000 client lunches and, as a result of that, I saw my sales increase by more than 2,000%! It’s remarkable just how much people want to work with you when you take the time to build a solid relationship.

I can personally attest to the fact that the moment I made the internal shift from networking and sales as bad words to simply getting out there, being myself, acting genuinely curious about others, and learning how to connect with like minded people my business and career started to take off. Learning how to ask for help and being willing to serve others is at the key of true relationship building. I am grateful to both give and receive.

In today’s world you don’t have to limit your networking to in-person events. The Internet offers a plethora of possibilities from blogs to social networking sites. Just because you’re online though doesn’t mean there aren’t rules. And at the end of the day it is not about the number of comments you posted on blogs or the number of pokes or good karma you sent someone on Facebook. It is again about building a real conversation and relationship. As Elana Cantor said in “What do you really mean when you say you are networking”:

Networking, when done correctly can be a beautiful thing. But,( this is a BIG BUT)when the rules are not followed, eyebrows are raised, emails deleted and blog posts are written.

That’s why the simplest rules are best. Be yourself and treat others as you’d like to be treated. There is great simplicity and wisdom in that. You wouldn’t want someone spewing blather at you going on and on about some boring thing trying to hard sell you something, right? Well, then you know you can trust your own instinct and let it be your guide as you build relationships with others.

Consider these 5 steps for building productive business relationships from Neen James. These are the exact items she shared with us this morning.

1. Reach Out
2. Network
3. Serve
4. Follow Up
5. Persist

Common sense? Yes. But certainly not common practice. Make them an integral part of your overall connection strategy and I guarantee you’ll increase your business, find that job you’ve been coveting, increase your income, and simply ENJOY the process of building your professional life a heck of a lot more.

1. You turned sixty not too long ago. How will you define retirement?
It will be synonymous with either senility or cremation, both of which I hope to avoid.

2. If you had to boil down how to build a “vast fortune” into a few simple tips, what would they be?
Start with the tongue-in-cheek quotation marks around “vast fortune,” so it’s actually within grasp, and then: (a) always live beneath your means, saving/investing as much as you can; (b) keep your transaction costs low; (c) read my book. (To save money, get it at the library.)

3. What money lessons did you learn from your parents, both directly and indirectly?
Waste not, want not. Give to those less fortunate than you. Putting kids through college is very, very expensive.

4. How did being gay play into your career pursuits?
Out of business school in 1972, I was offered a job with “the” consulting firm at the time, but I couldn’t imagine how I would ever fit in or be able to keep up the ruse. How would I socialize with the clients and their wives?

What would I say when people tried to fix me up? All those horrible things that used to so debilitate us in those days. I felt somewhat the same way about an offer to write for FORTUNE Magazine, although obviously that would have been less stressful. But in the end I decided to write for NEW YORK Magazine, which had already been very good to me, and when — quaking — I told my boss before accepting that I was gay and might want to write occasional stories related to that (albeit, presumably under a pen name). Best choice I ever made — and unbelievably fortunate to have had it to make.

5. What is your most significant memory about money?
Failing to buy 10 shares of Berkshire Hathaway at $300 a share after writing a glowing story about Warren Buffett for FORTUNE, but concluding it had “gotten a little ahead of itself” and I’d wait til it fell back. (Last I checked, it was $127,000 a share.)

6. How often do you give your partner, Charles Nolan, financial advice?
Hah. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

7. As DNC Treasurer, do you see money doing anything good when it comes to the political process?
Sure. Politics is tacky and all the awful things it is — but you can’t have democracy without politics, and politics requires money. That said, it’s wonderful how the balance of power is shifting away from the $500,000 and $5 million contributions (now illegal) — and even the $28,500 contributions (the current annual max to a federal political party like the DNC) — to the potential for millions of $10 and 25 and $100 and $250 contributions over the Internet.

8. Why do you think Suze Orman waited until her fifties to come out?
She did it when she was ready — and she and her partner, Kathy, have both maxed out to the DNC to be among the co-chairs of our June 26 DNC Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council dinner in New York.

So better late than never, and bully for her.

9. In an interview about ten years ago, you encouraged readers to live light on the land. How has your footstep lightened up over the last decade?
I used to have at least 1,000 watts burning most of the time. Now, with CFL’s and generally having the lights on only in the room I’m in, it’s more like 40 watts. I still have a shamelessly large footprint compared to most inhabitants of the planet; but quite modest for someone with even a tongue-in-cheek “vast fortune.”

10. What major mistake do you see young people most often making with money?
Not doing the basics: setting a goal and making a budget to reach the goal. In other words, letting life “happen” to them instead of taking control of their finances. Young people really should rush to the library and read THE ONLY INVESTMENT GUIDE YOU’LL EVER NEED. The leverage to be had from getting this perspective and starting when you’re young is *enormous.* It’s a huge mistake not to learn the basics, which are really very, very simple.

More about Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias, treasurer of the Democratic National Committee since 1999, is the author of THE ONLY INVESTMENT GUIDE YOU’LL EVER NEED and THE BEST LITTLE BOY IN THE WORLD, among several other books.

Over the years he has been a frequent contributor to NEW YORK, ESQUIRE, WORTH, TIME and PARADE, among others. His computer software, MANAGING YOUR MONEY, helped thousands of people take control of their finances in the early days of personal computing. In the past decade, he has posted 2,961 daily comments at andrewtobias.com. (“About fifty of them are really good,” he says, “but I forgot to flag them, so they’re hard to find.”)

Tobias is a graduate of Harvard College, where he ran the student business enterprise, and Harvard Business School. He lives in Miami and New York with his partner Charles Nolan, the designer.

Read other Queercents interviews in the Ten Money Questions archive.