Talking Points
Tired of giving the same old presentations? Use these nuggets of information to spruce them up.
Reported by PLANADVISER Staff
- The first department store to hold a Thanksgiving Day parade was Gimbel’s Department Store in Philadelphia in 1921.
- A new study suggests that women who actively take control of their finances are healthier and happier than those who do not. The study, commissioned by Northwestern Mutual, in partnership with LLuminari, a national network of evidence-based health experts, found that women who are proactive in managing their finances are significantly more likely to report that they are: in excellent to very good health, happy, hopeful, optimistic, confident, cheerful, and upbeat. They also are less likely to say they are worried, regretful, conflicted, disappointed, and depressed. According to the study, nearly three-quarters of women place a high importance on financial security, compared to 62% of men. Moreover, the findings show that about half of women who are actively managing their finances are likely to report “far too much stress to somewhat too much stress’ versus more than three-quarters of those who do not take a proactive approach.
- Thanksgivings: On June 20, 1676, the council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, proclaimed June 29 the day for thanksgiving. George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, but President Lincoln made it official in 1861 by proclaiming the last Thursday in November as a national day of “Thanksgiving.” However, President Franklin Roosevelt probably deserves the “credit” for the practice of starting Christmas shopping around Thanksgiving. He moved it to the next-to-last Thursday in order to extend the Christmas shopping season, hoping to lift a struggling U.S. economy out of the doldrums in 1939. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, FDR’s move set off a frenzy of criticism (opponents called the shifted holiday “Franksgiving”)—leading to President Roosevelt’s subsequent action (in May 1941) to move the holiday “back”—establishing the fourth Thursday of November as the national Thanksgiving holiday.
- “Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare. They are consumed in 12 minutes. Half-times take 12 minutes. This is not coincidence.” —Erma Bombeck