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Home to Walt Disneys famed theme parks, Orlando, Florida is a growing city with diversity. For anyone relocating to Orlando, this information provides a snapshot of the city.

The county seat of Orange County, Orlando is Florida's largest inland city. In 2005, 213,223 people lived in this mid-size city, a 14.7% increase in five years by U.S. Census estimates. In the decade after the 1990 census, the citizenry had grown by 12.7%. Encompassing four counties, Orlando is the hub of "Greater Orlando" with its 1,933,255 people. The average age of Orlando residents was 33.2 years by 2005 census reports. The citys population was made up of 41.7% White non-Hispanic residents, 35% African American and 20% Hispanic. The average household size was 2.3 people. Families made up 54% of city households. Orlando supports large minority populations and has an above average percentage of foreign born citizens for a city in Florida. A large student population can be found in Orlando with the University of Central Florida and its full-time enrollment of 26,717 students. Valencia Community College has another 15,792 full-time students.

People living in Orlando made below average income in 2005. The average household had earnings of $36,699, about $10,000 below the national average. Median family income lagged by over $15,000 with $40,143 yearly. The most common jobs for both men and women were in accommodation and food services, each providing 12% of each genders workforce. Poverty was slightly above average, affecting 15% of the citys people. Greater Orlando had a very low jobless rate of 2.8% in October, 2006. The area economy thrives on the tourism and convention industry, especially with its Disney World attractions. Orlando is one of the busiest for conferences and conventions, home to the second-largest convention complex in the U.S. Manufacturing is another big sector. Because of its location near "Space Coast" and the Kennedy Space Center, many high-tech companies have been relocating to Orlando and the surrounding area. Lockheed-Martin has a large manufacturing facility for missile systems, aeronautical craft and related research. Other notable engineering firms include multiple U.S. Air Force facilities, GE, AT&T, Boeing, HP, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon Systems.

With an increase in the job market, people relocating to the Orlando area impacted a dramatic growth in urban sprawl. As a result, housing prices have soared. In 2005, Greater Orlando home values climbed 34% in just one year. By the summer of 2006, homes surged to $254,900 on average, according to the National Association of Realtors. Within the city, the 2005 median home value was $194,300, according to U.S. Census reports. That figure is nearly double what it was five years prior. Orlandos housing landscape is changing, with 31% of the citys homes built since 1990. Renters occupied over three of every five housing units. With 56% of renters spending 30% or more of their take home pay on housing, the average rent was $808 per month in 2005. There is a serious risk for personal and property crime in the city of Orlando. The FBI Crime Index reports Orlandos crime has been about three times worse than the national average since 1999. The city ranked as the 25th most dangerous city in America in 2006, according to Morgan Quitno Press, an independent research and publishing company.

Anyone relocating to Orlando will find a warm and humid subtropical climate. It can either hot and rainy from May until October, or cooler and drier with moderate temperatures the rest of the year. During the humid season, daytime highs average in the 90s with heat indices as high as 110 degrees. During the summer, violent storms will appear, bringing high wind, heavy rain, hail and lightening. The humidity is lower in winter with an average low of 50 in January and highs around 72 degrees. and temperatures are more moderate, and can fluctuate more readily. Orlando records an average rainfall of 50.6 inches annually, most of it during the hurricane season. While the city faces a considerable hurricane risk, the area is safer than South Florida's urban corridor or other coastal areas. Hurricanes are likely to weaken before reaching Orlando. The Orlando-area has experienced tornado activity that is slightly higher than the rest of Florida, and 96% greater than the U.S. average.

The Orlando area is home to a wide variety of tourist attractions, including the Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Orlando Resort, and Sea World Orlando. The Disney resort is the area's largest attraction with its Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney-MGM Studios. Cypress Gardens Adventure Park is in nearby Winter Haven. Disney operates an animation studio at the Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando. The city is also known as the capital of pop, mainstream and alternative rock music, with music acts like Britney Spears, Mandy Moore, N-SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Creed, and Matchbox Twenty. The NBA Orlando Magic is the citys one professional sports franchise. The Citrus Bowl is also located here, home of the Capital One Bowl (formerly the Florida Citrus Bowl). Orlando is the birthplace of sit-com star Delta Burke.

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Theres still time to build that retirement nest egg.

History has shown us one of the most amazing financial shifts ever, as weve gone from being a nation of savers to a nation of investors. Even somewhat more amazing is that it has happened in less than a generations time.

Welcome to chronologically speaking, middle age or as I like to call it: The AARP Generation.

With retirement just around the corner and old age looming in the suddenly not-so-distant future for those of us in the baby boomer generation, financial concerns have become critically important. Just where do we find the extra income or the how to generate that extra income for those maybe not so golden years?

In the past we might have skipped the newspapers financial pages to read the sports section or worked on the crossword puzzle. Now we find the earnings reports and mutual fund listings endlessly fascinating weather online or reading the paper.

The challenge facing many of us even if we arent baby boomers is how to finance our busy lives while trying to save for our retirement years or maybe other unforeseen expenses. This challenge looms even larger day by day as we get closer to retirement. One of the best ways to meet the challenge is to start a small home based business.

For generations, security and safety were more important than high returns on investments. Having grown up during or in the aftermath of the Great Depression, they were very reluctant to put their money in anything that involved substantial risk. Investing hard-earned dollars in the stock market was only for gamblers and speculators, not for the average person. A mattress was a safer place for any of their extra money.

Their plan for building wealth was pretty straight-forward. Stay with the same company for a long time and forget about any other business opportunity. Rely on a great pension plan from that employer, and salt away any extra income in a federally insured personal savings account.

For our generation, however the blueprint has changed and earning extra income from home has become a business opportunity for many.

Traditional pension programs and savings accounts have all but disappeared. The number of workers covered by traditional pension plans has dropped 73% over the past 20 years. Nationwide, according to the latest federal data, personal savings have dropped from about 10% of disposable income in 1980 to -1% in 2006. In other words people today, weather a one or two income family, spend more money than they make. By the way, the credit card companies love it.

The primary source of retirement savings/pension income today is a 401(k) account. Again we have gone from savers - investors, safety - risk. Making a home based business one of the best ways to make extra income and take advantage of the many tax savings available to those working at home.

The main problem is that our generation came late to the 401(k) game. Whether through career changes, conversions from traditional pension plans or some unforeseen circumstance we really werent prepared to manage our own retirement funds. Now many of us are trying to make up for lost time with an extra income from a network marketing company or some other small business opportunity.

The 401s always work best if you start saving a good percentage (10%) of your income very early in your working life. Future generations will be much better prepared to invest over their entire working lives and manage their own resources. The problem for those now nearing retirement age is how to invest those dollars to provide a decent return. Even the simplest calculation demonstrates the problem. If youll need $3,000 a month in extra income and you plan on living for 20 years in retirement, youll need to accumulate $720,000 in your 401(k) or by other means. Now thats a lot of extra income to make up for, if you got in the game late.

So, let I ask How is your retirement savings plan doing?

To make up for lost time, some people will be tempted to choose very aggressive, and very risky, equity investment options. This may seem wise today, but tomorrow it could be one of the worst moves you could have made. Has anyone watched what the market has done in the last couple of weeks? Great America theme parks could model one of their rides after it. This also makes an online business opportunity or work at home business all the more palatable.

Ready or not, were all capitalists today. The game of saving for retirement has changed the landscape of our future and betting our futures on what the Dow Jones will be on the day we retire is a high-risk and a high-stakes game that we cant afford to lose.

Eleanor Roosevelt said it very well: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Why risk everything on a roller coaster? The sooner you get in a small business opportunity, the sooner you can earn the extra income it looks like well all need.

Watch for more articles on this and other subjects

As Always, God Bless and Always Remember To Make It A Great Day!!

Michael J Kohn New Image Marketing Group, Inc.

Please Visit Us At: http://www.PassiveMillions.com

Michael Kohn has been in sales and marketing for over 25 years. He currently makes a living as president of New Image Marketing Group Inc., an internet marketing and direct sales company. He brings a modern and easy-to-follow approach to direct and on-line selling. A native of Wisconsin, Mike was previously an insurance claims adjuster for the banking industry. He then spent over 20 years as the Director of Account Executives for a specialty lines insurance agency. He was responsible for maintaining a multi-million dollar account base. Mike left the corporate world 5 years ago and continues to enjoy both the time and financial freedom his internet business has provided for him and his family.

This will be quick! Really just want to make a quick list of Web 2.0 applications that I am using to stay productive by working as much as possible in a Web browser. It is really a hot topic for me (again) as I just took a working vacation in california with my family last week. The beach house we had rented had a wireless internet connection, but for some reason, I could not get my pc connected. My wife's ibook connected immediately. So, rather than spend hours troubleshooting my PC, I commandeered the ibook (btw it is about 5 years old).

The first thing I did was download Google's browser sync plug-in (go to Google, click More - click on Google Labs - Google browser sync is second one from the top. This plug-in syncs a Firefox browser on any computer (cross-platform). It syncs bookmarks, folders, tabs, stored passwords, cookies, etc. So, I installed browser sync and logged in. Within minutes, all of my tabs and tab folders were now available on the ibook (I should mention that I have been using browser sync on my other computers: mac G5 and my laptop PC.). So, I could use my tab organization that I have spent months perfecting to quickly access all of the websites I use to do my job.

Tools I use to do my job:

Writely.com - this is for quick word processing with easy-to-use tables. It is collaborative (well mostly - a little wierdness occurs when working simultaneously with others on the same document).

Google Spreadsheets - this is a great, full-featured spreadsheet. It supports multiple sheets and functions from sheet to sheet. It does have limitations in the number of rows/columns that can be created

Gliffy.com - this replaces microsoft Viseo - it is super easy to use and creates beautiful, printable visual documents. It is also collaborative.

DabbleDB.com or GroupSharp.com - these are great database tools - really a toss up between the two - you will have to review their attributes to determine which is best for your application.

Google Mail - I eliminated microsoft Outlook in favor of Gmail. The beauty is that my email lives on the net. I am not tethered to a particular PC or mac where it is archived. I can also easily access it on my smartphone (TREO 650). It also handles spam like a champ!

Google Calendar - I have my entire family using it. That means that I can access all of their calendars and see where we have openings. That way I don't miss the important things (like watching my daughter's performances).

TaDaList.com - this is a 37 signals product. I like it because my family can collaborate on to-do lists and I can access from my smartphone. So, we have a family grocery list - where any of us can add items - whoever is at the store can access via phone and see what needs to be bought.

Backpack.com and iOutliner.com - Backpack is another 37 signals product - it is a to-do list on steriods. I can create a to-do list with notes, reminders (sent to my phone), add images, etc. iOutliner lets me create lists with an outline hierarchy. Both are awesome.

All of the tools listed above are FREE! At least for the beginning version (as you start to find utility, you may end up with a nominal monthly fee).

My goal is to completely move online with all of the applications I use to do my job. I am missing the following applications: Photoshop, Quicken and Quickbooks are all that are left. Then, I am free to use a super cheap PC or mac to do my work. If you know of any great Web 2.0 applications, please email me at info@thoughtlava.com. Thanks!

John-Scott Dixon, President - ThoughtLava

I have over a decade of experience managing and leading the Ecommerce efforts of medium and large companies. I have held sales, sales management, marketing, operations, IS/IT, legal and executive management positions in start-up to multi-billion dollar organizations. I have also served as an adjunct professor of Ecommerce for the MBA program of the University of Missouri. I led the Ecommerce initiative for sprint pcs (PCS) and sprint (FON) as Vice President of Ecommerce. I led the integrated marketing efforts for Insight (NSIT) as Senior Vice President of marketing and Ecommerce. Today, I am the President of Thought Lava, an integrated marketing and Web strategy consulting company. We generate and direct the flow of creative ideas to develop internet marketing strategies that increase revenue and reduce operational costs while supporting your brand. contact us at info@thoughtlava.com or 877.567.LAVA to begin a discussion.