Dan Erwin

How to Live Longer, Better. . . and Richer

 
The captive audience for this blog are the Boomers (50 to 70 year-olds), but it’s far more relevant for Generation Y (18 to 30 year-olds). You’re the ones with a future, whereas, plenty of Boomers have already killed off their future by ignoring these recommendations. If you haven’t made these five recommended strategies into your habit machine, the time to begin is now.

This health summary originally appeared in the Harvard Men’s Health Letter, but I’ve adjusted it for both men and women. Entitled 5 Ways exercise helps men live longer and better, the well-researched recommendations are familiar to many of us.

To the Givers Go the Spoils: The Hidden Dimension of Networking Success

Shift your networking orientation from getting to giving and your long term success is assured.

It’s a proven fact that those with the best networks usually get the most job opportunities, the fastest promotions and the top salaries. Yet building a great personal network is not as easy as many think. Recent research confirms what I’ve found to be true in my own business: effective networking is more about giving than getting. 

Rethinking the College Visit

A common work conversation this time of the year is about your kids’ college choices. So, choosing a college is one time when doing your homework really matters. Over this past Easter weekend, I was visiting in Washington, D.C. and spent time at the Capital Mall and its resources, as well as making an overdue trip to Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon reminded me that the European aristocracy had little over the American aristocracy. But among the many visitors at both places were parents with their high school juniors who were also visiting potential colleges in the D.C. area.

The college visit is not something to be taken lightly. In today’s world, with Harvard accepting just 5% of its applicants and Chicago just 8%, our kids are going to need several backups. And some of you will end up spending $300,000 for your kid’s education.  I recently updated my kids’ college costs to this year’s money. I don’t even want to think about how much it cost. So you’re going to need to be very thorough in researching potential colleges if you want to get your money’s worth of education for your kids.

But what’s the right way to choose a college?