Super Young Retirement Savers

Older Americans who haven't saved enough for retirement could learn a lesson or two from these young retirement savers -- they've already socked thousands of dollars away for their golden years.

Fabian Fernandez-Han 

Courtesy: Fabian Fernandez-Han

Age: 14
Age started saving: 10
Amount saved: $10,000
Hometown: Houston, TX

One day I saw my dad trading on eTrade. It looked interesting so I wanted to do it. I had always saved my allowance money and birthday money, and the first thing I bought was Apple stock -- when shares were only $100.

I now have an eTrade account and a Scottrade account. In addition to Apple, I've also invested in other stocks like Google, Microsoft and Rim. I have some money in a savings account, too. But most of the money I plan to use for retirement is invested in stocks.

This January, the New York Stock Exchange was sponsoring a competition where the challenge was to create something to teach other kids how to save and invest. I decided to make an iPhone app called Oink-a-Saurus targeted at kids and teens who want to learn ways to save money, and I ended up winning first place.

I want to help other kids learn to save and invest more responsibly. The current generation cannot rely on Social Security, so we have to save for our own retirement and can't depend on that.

When I was 7 years old, all the kids would get trophies whether they won or lost and I thought they were worthless. I asked my mom, who would actually pay for the trophies and how much they cost. When she said they were $10 apiece and parents paid for their child's trophy, I asked if I could keep the $10 to save in a bank account instead of receiving the trophy.

I'm not planning on spending most of the money I have invested for a very, very long time. I'm not that scared about investing most of it in stocks, because when you're a kid it's not that big of a deal if you lose a little money -- you still have time to get it back. 

Chana Goldstein 

Courtesy: Chana Goldstein

Age: 16
Age started saving: 13


Amount saved: $1,000
Hometown: Jerusalem, Israel

I started saving for retirement when I was 13 years old, as soon as I started working. I started my own website, 2learnhebrew.com, where I tutor people one-on-one who want to learn Hebrew and charge $12 an hour.

I've saved a lot of the money I've made, and I've also spent some on some nice little expensive gifts for myself, like a nice camera and a fancy pen.

Overall, I've put away about $1,000 for retirement into a bank account where I only get a little interest -- but I'm nervous about the stock market. I've probably spent about $800 to $900. And my family gives 20% of everything they earn to charity, so I do that with my money, too.

I'm only in 10th grade, so I haven't yet thought about what I will do when I retire. I don't watch TV now, so I won't then either. But I think having money saved up when I'm older will help me continue doing good things and helping other people.

Tommy Orme

Courtesy: Tommy Orme

Age: 17
Age started saving: 16Amount saved: $3,000
Hometown: Great Falls, VA
I'm only $3,000 in so far, but 20 more years of doing this and it will be pretty substantial. When I'm sitting on something like that, I can maybe step out of the workforce at a younger age or I can do something that I love that wouldn't otherwise give me sufficient income.

I'm a senior in high school and I got a job a year and a half ago at a restaurant. During the summer, I work four days a week. And during the school year, I work two to three nights a week.

My parents and I opened a bank account, and I started putting all my paychecks and half my tips away. The other half of my tips I'll spend on things like gas and food. The tips are harder to put away because they're cash, right there in front of me. But the rest of it goes in the bank account and I think of it as untouchable.

[See also: 6 Habits of Highly Successful Supermarket Shoppers]

It all started from my mom. Even before I started working, she would give me a cut below my birthday money and put the rest away in my account. It would come out in bits and pieces throughout the year when I needed it, but a lot of that birthday money was saved away. So when work started it was a no-brainer to do the same. It's pretty nice to think I could have it 60 years from now. 

yahoo.com

How to Ruin a Grilled Cheese

By Lawrence Marcus, Associate Digital Editor, Food & Wine

It's hard to imagine a bad grilled cheese, but melty perfection isn't a given. Here, the James BeardAward-winning cookbook author behind this year's Grilled Cheese, Please!, Laura Werlin, reveals five ways to fumble this deceptively simple sandwich. 

Laura Werlin's indulgent New American Grilled Cheese recipe, with cheddar, Monterey Jack, cornichons and andouille sausage. 

1. Go overboard with bread. The ratio of cheese to bread should be 50-50. "Too much bread prevents the sandwichfrom getting crisp, which is crucial," says Werlin. Too little cheese also yields disappointing results: "If you cut the sandwich open and there's nothing gooey in the middle, why make one? People do that, amazingly." 

Slideshow: Best Grilled Cheese in the U.S. 

2. Slice the cheese. Grated cheese melts more quickly and evenly. If you're using the right amount of cheese and it's sliced, it won't melt before the bread burns-unless you cook it over a low flame for a long time. "Who wants to wait half an hour?" asks Werlin. "Grilled cheese is all about immediate gratification" 

Slideshow: 10 Amazing Grilled Cheese Recipes 

3. Add butter to the pan. "The minute you put your sandwich in the pan, it absorbs the fat, and it doesn't get distributed evenly," explains Werlin. Instead, spread butter on the bread first. Press down on the sandwich with a spatula to achieve ideal crispiness. 

Slideshow: Amazing Cheese Dishes 

4. Use anything other than a nonstick pan. Cast iron might seem rustic, but the benefits of nonstick are twofold, according to Werlin. "First of all, the sandwich doesn't stick, but neither does the cheese that inevitably comes oozing out," she says. "So then you get to pick up those little extra bits of cheese that get all toasty at the bottom of the pan. You don't want to leave those behind." 

Slideshow: Hot Melted Sandwiches 

5. Skip condiments. This depends on your audience, since kids might not appreciate chutney, but "myriad ingredients can elevate a grilled cheese sandwich from good to great," notes Werlin. She likes roasted peppers, arugula, olives and herbs, as well as artisanal breads, like those baked with olives, dried cranberries or herbs. Werlin's favorite alternative to traditional bread might be the croissant: "You've already got the butter built in, and it becomes supercrisp because it smashes down so well. Boy is that good." 

Slideshow: Warming Soups 

More from Food & Wine: 
Best Grilled Cheese in the U.S. 
Best Burgers in the U.S. 
Best Sliders in the U.S. 
Best Fried Chicken in the U.S. 
Best Pie in the U.S. 

Lavish Athlete Birthday Bashes

By Matt McCue
TheDailyMeal.com

It's the best kind of present sports fans could ever ask for this year -- the season openers for the 2011-12 NBA season on Dec. 25. Many eyes will be on LeBron James and his Heat teammates this year, already championship favorites according to the New York Daily News. But it's not just about the game this year. December 30 is a mere five days after that season opener, and you know what that means -- James' 27th birthday.

Remember his over-the-top celebration last year? His actual birthday party, a "Full Court Birthday Celebration," was just one of 11 stops on the LeBron James Dinner Party Tour. Members of his inner circle sent out a 12-page PowerPoint presentation to garner interest from companies looking to sponsor the event at a swanky Miami club for $10,000 -- or $500,000 for all 11, according to CNN -- and, according to James' people, be involved with the athletes, musicians, actors, and politicians, who "reinvent and set the tone for a chic lifestyle." You have to wonder how on Earth he is going to top things this year. (And there sure will be celebrating -- birthdays and the return of the NBA season.)

Slideshow: Lavish Athlete Birthday Bashes

The presentation, which all but said "King" James is God, probably wasn't the best way to win back fans that soured on him after his "The Decision" debacle. But it showed how many professional athletes work every inch of their marketing platform, from the shoes they wear on the court to the birthday parties they throw off of it.

Take, for example, Dennis Rodman's 50th birthday party in Las Vegas that also served as the launch for his new cigar line. And Reebok gave Washington Wizards guard John Wall 21 pairs of signature shoes created exclusively for his 21st birthday.

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While the pros have the money, sometimes they lack any event planning sense. Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade blew out candles on a cake covered in frosting and ... Swarovski crystals for his 28th birthday bash. Crystals?! Former Washington Wizard guard Caron Butler scheduled his birthday party to start while his team was playing the Cleveland Cavaliers down the street. Then there is the downright scary (though not surprising.) At Michael Vick's 30th birthday party, his buddy got shot over a heated argument. The topic of discussion? Birthday cake.

Whether you're looking for the good, the bad, or the ugly, here are 10 professional athlete soirées that take the cake.

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  Gilbert Arenas' 25th Birthday Party

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  The talented and troubled NBA star spent as much on his 25th birthday party at Love nightclub in Las Vegas as he did on his Orlando homes shark grotto: between $1 and $2 million, says The Washington Post. The party boasted Diddy as a guest, but the grotto has a couch in it so Arenas can chill in the water. You decide which is the better investment.

World's shortest woman wants to be Bollywood star

NAGPUR, India (AP) — A high school student in central India was recognized as the world's shortest woman by Guinness World Records on Friday as she turned 18 and said she hopes to earn a degree and make it in Bollywood.

Jyoti Amge stood just 62.8 centimeters (24.7 inches) tall — shorter than the average 2-year-old — when Guinness representativesvisiting from London measured her at a ceremony attended by about 30 relatives and friends in the town of Nagpur, in Maharashtra state.

A teary-eyed Amge, dressed in one of her finest saris, called the honor an "extra birthday present" and said she felt grateful for being small, as it had brought her recognition. After receiving a plaque, she and her guests cut a birthday cake.

"I have put Nagpur on the world map. Now everyone will know where it is," said Amge, who says she dreams of one day becoming a Bollywood film star as well as pursuing a university degree after she finishes high school this year.

"I want to be an actor," she said.

She measured 7 centimeters (2.76 inches) shorter than 22-year-oldAmerican Bridgette Jordan, who had held the title since September.

"Jyoti encourages us all to look beyond mere size and to just celebrate our differences," Guinness adjudicator Rob Molloy said.

This was not Amge's first Guinness record. Until Friday she was considered the world's shortest teenager, but in turning 18 qualified for the new title. She has grown less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) in the last two years, Guinness said in a statement, and will grow no more due to a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia.

Her teenage title brought the chance for multiple Guinness-sponsored trips to Japan and Italy for tours and meetings with other record holders, she said.

The title of shortest woman in history continues to be held by Pauline Musters, who lived in the Netherlands from 1876 to 1895 and stood 61 centimeters (24 inches) tall.

(This version CORRECTS dateline to Nagpur instead of Agpur)

U.S. military marks end to nearly nine bloody years in Iraq

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military officially ended its war in Iraq on Thursday, rolling up its flag at a low-key ceremony with Defense SecretaryLeon Panetta nearly nine bloody years after the invasion that ousted dictator Saddam Hussein.

"After a lot of blood spilled by Iraqis and Americans, the mission of an Iraq that could govern and secure itself has become real," Panetta said at the ceremony outside Baghdad's still heavily-fortified airport.

Almost 4,500 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives in the war that began with a "Shock and Awe" campaign of missiles pounding Baghdad, but descended into sectarian strife and a surge in U.S. troop numbers.

U.S. soldiers rolled up the flag of American forces in Iraq and slipped it into a camouflage-colored sleeve in a brief, symbolically ending the most unpopular U.S. military venture since the Vietnam War of the 1960s and 70s.

The remaining 4,000 American troops will withdraw by the end of the year, leaving behind a country still tackling a weakened but stubborn Islamist insurgency, sectarian tensions and political uncertainty.

"Iraq will be tested in the days ahead, by terrorism, by those who would seek to divide, by economic and social issues," Panetta told the rows of assembled U.S. soldiers and embassy officials at the ceremony. "Challenges remain, but the United States will be there to stand by the Iraqi people."

Saddam is dead, executed in 2006, while an uneasy politics is at work and the violence has ebbed. But Iraq still struggles with insurgents, a fragile power-sharing government and an oil-reliant economy plagued by power shortages and corruption.

In Falluja, the former heartland of an al Qaeda insurgency and scene of some of the worst fighting in the war, several thousand Iraqis celebrated the withdrawal on Wednesday, some burning U.S. flags and waving pictures of dead relatives.

Iraq's neighbors will watch how Baghdad tackles its problems without the U.S. military, while a crisis in neighboring Syria threatens to upset the region's sectarian and ethnic balance.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who made an election promise to bring troops home, told Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that Washington will remain a loyal partner after the last troops roll across the Kuwaiti border.

Miley Cyrus: I Didn't Get a Boob Job!

Miley Cyrus is a natural woman, y'all!

The 19-year-old singer-actress showed off some extreme cleavage Sunday at the CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute  in Los Angeles. Wearing a plunging Robert Cavalli yellow dress, her buxom look led many to believe she'd had a boob job, but Cyrus says that's not the case.

PHOTOS: Miley's raciest outfits

"Thank you for the compliment, but these babies are all mine," the former Disney star tweeted. "I wish [people would] realize you don't have to be fake to be beautiful!"

PHOTOS: Disney stars through the years

"I'm 19!" she added. "BOOBS GROW, PEOPLE!"

PHOTOS: Which celebs went under the knife in 2011?

Although Cyrus didn't enhance her assets through surgery in 2011, several other stars -- includingLeAnn Rimes, Nicole Richie and Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham -- opted to go under the knife.

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