Be warned: The New Savage Number is not for the faint of heart. Savage is well-known for her investment savvy, and as the first woman trader on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (as well as being a founding member of that exchange). Her book includes numbers and even Monte Carlo modeling. However, she addresses how the numbers and modeling work, and renders them understandable. But sometimes it makes for heavier reading.

Overall, though, The New Savage Number is a comprehensive look at how you can figure out how much money you need for retirement, and develop a plan to meet your goals and needs. The book starts out by looking at the reality of retirement, and addressing the relationship between time and money. There is also a chapter on key questions you need to answer about your retirement, and possible life expectancy.

Savage then shows you how to use Monte Carlo modeling to help you plan your retirement, and looks at how you can create a portfolio of investments to grow your retirement funds, as well as how much you can realistically expect from Social Security. The New Savage Number also addresses long term coverage, and how to get the protection you need, as well as estate planning.

Bottom line: The book may seem a little intimidating at first, but Savage takes you through what you need to know, and helps you plan out a route to a retirement that you can depend on.

Post from: EveryJoe

Jenson Button wins again, make it five out of six for 2009

Rubens Barrichello had a pretty good afternoon and if it wasn’t for his team mate would certainly be leading the point’s standings of the current Formula One season. He did his job admirably on Sunday by almost making it a race, he managed to pull away from the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen at the start and stay ahead of him except when he stopped for gas or rubber. Staying close to Button for the majority of the race, he managed to close the gap by 4.4 seconds in the final stages.

Felipe Massa put on a good show on Sunday as well; he had a strong showing for Scuderia, keeping his F60 in front of hard-pushing and unrelenting Mark Webber in the Red Bull car as they jousted for fourth place. Occurring a few seconds behind Kimi Raikkonen, this jostling for position between Felipe Massa and Mark Webber was one of the more intense and entertaining moments of the entire race.

Nico Rosberg kept his car running consistently fast and straight through the race and managed to take sixth for Williams, just ahead of Renault’s Fernando Alonso. The last championship point awarded in the race went to Sebastien Bourdais driving for Toro Rosso, who managed to beat Giancarlo Fisichella to the finish line after battling with him through most of the race.

After winning Jenson Button didn’t mind showing his joy and enthusiasm at the win, jumping for joy after exiting his car and hollering with delight. It was then he realized he had just made his only mistake of the day and laughed at the simple error he had made while enjoying his win. In his exuberance he had parked his car in the wrong area and now had to show how fit he was by sprinting to the podium to receive his due reward.

Formula One pulls into Turkey next, on June 05 – 07, for the Turkish Grand Prix. The first and second practice sessions will take place on June 05 and the final practice and qualifying will take place on June 06. The Turkish Grand Prix will take place on June 07, it should be an interesting race that will probably be dominated by Jenson button, but then you never know.

“Image: Newscom”

Post from: EveryJoe

Track set up for Monte Carlo

Come Sunday, at around 14:00, when the drivers are revving their engines and preparing to race, the track should be in better race-condition and it should only get better the more laps the cars run on this 3.340 km street-course. Let’s go over a few of the things that the race teams have done to prepare their cars for the challenge of Monte Carlo.

The streets Monte Carlo is run on probably feel glass-smooth to the drivers that use these roads every day, but to the stiff suspension set-up of a Formula One car these roads would feel like a mogul run. To compensate for street-conditions the cars ride-heights will be raised a few millimeters to compensate for the increased variation in chassis height in relation to the road. In addition, in order to help the cars deal with the increased variation in road heights the teams will implement softer suspension settings than they would for a non-street race. The height variations also mean the wheels of the car need to move independently to deal with the bumps, so they’ll soften the anti-roll bars to provide more freedom of movement for the wheels. The objective is to give the driver a neutral feeling that gives them better control over the car and increased confidence in their ability to drive the course, especially in the fast Massenet-Casino Square.

The aerodynamic requirements of the Monte Carlo street-course are different than the course the racers have driven on so far this season. Monte Carlo demands the highest down-force pressure constantly on the cars of any race so far this season. This will benefit the drivers and cars when braking and accelerating, keeping the car stable into the corners and allowing for maximum traction when coming out of the corner.

The infamous Grand Hotel hairpin will be the tightest of the season, combine this with the sharp turn at Rascasse, and Monte Carlo requires a steering angle some two times greater than that used at Barcelona.

When you’re watching the race at 14:00 on Sunday, keep these points in mind as you enjoy the race, and you will see the race from a different perspective more in tune with the physics and engineering requirements of Formula One racing.

Enjoy the race!

Image: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe