Scoring big with safe money strategies, secure investments

By Al Martinez 
Guest Columnist

1. Entering the Red Zone: Nearing Retirement In football, the red zone is the area of the field between the 20-yard line and the opponent’s end zone. It’s where scoring opportunities are close at hand but require precision and skill. The “Retirement Red Zone” refers to those critical years leading up to retirement, where financial decisions are pivotal, and mistakes can be costly.

2. Building a Solid Offensive Line: Diversification To score in the red zone, you need a solid offensive line. In retirement planning, this means a diversified portfolio that balances growth and security...

Ghost words are the invisible words lurking in the shadows of our dictionaries, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting writers and speakers. They are the words that we think are real but are actually just figments of our imagination.




Some ghost words are simply misprints or typos. Others are invented words that never caught on. But whatever their origin, ghost words can be a real pain in the neck. They can make us look foolish, and they can even make it difficult to communicate effectively.




Esquivalence is a ghost word invented in 2001 by Christine Lindberg, an editor at the New Oxford American Dictionary, as part of a copyright trap. She defined it as "the willful avoidance of one's...

This column was originally published in Gallup City Limits in 2013

“He’s tried to make me go to rehab, I won’t go, go, go”—Amy Winehouse

In the science of psychology “enabling” is a form of positive reinforcement or rewarding of destructive behavior. For political conservatives this is merely common sense. Tough love and workfare are forms of negative reinforcement. Workfare requires able-bodied adults to work or train in order to receive welfare. It’s like Mother Teresa or Gandhi with big sticks. And it works!

In 1996 the Republican’s welfare reform brought a workfare system resulting in soaring employment rates and earnings among single mothers. Child poverty...

Colons are one of the most misunderstood punctuation marks. Many people think they are only used to introduce lists, but they can be used for much more. For example, colons can introduce quotations, explanations and even jokes.

By the way, this column has nothing to do with the colon body part, although we will discuss human anatomy in any sentence now. I wouldn’t want a colon to be the butt of any joke.

What better way to learn about colons than from vampires? After all, vampires are known for leaving two marks on their victims’ necks that resemble colons.

So, here are a few things that vampires can teach us about colons:

The colon is a versatile punctuation mark that can...