Getting rich fighting fat; 20 ways to lose your nestegg; 11 personal finance equations you should know; Playing the banks; Raising baby

By Amanda Morrall

1) Fat profits

Looking to future proof your portfolio? You might want to rearrange the basket in accordance with some of the emerging themes including companies positioned to deal with global warming challenges; health care; and rest homes. They're the biggies but the fatties could add to the bottomline too, according to this piece in the dailyfinance.

Merrill Lynch, in a new report titled "Globesity - The Global Fight Against Obesity," has identified 50 stocks that could take off as part of international efforts to fight fat. This is no laughing matter. It's estimated that by 2020, 75% of all Americans will be tipping the scales to the point of being classified obese. New Zealand is no light weight here either. It ranks third behind the U.S. and Mexico on the body mass index fatometer. 

Merrill Lynch identified four sectors that stand to gain from the battle against the bulge.

• Pharmaceuticals and health care: companies taking on obesity-related medical conditions; companies that specialise in equipment for overweight patients, like bigger beds and wider ambulance doors.
• Food: companies trying to access the $663 billion health-and-wellness market.
• Commercial weight loss, diet management, and nutrition: companies trying to access this already $4 billion U.S. market and the growing global one.
• Sports apparel and equipment: companies in tune with the belief that governments and the general public will become increasingly aware that exercise is of paramount importance in taking weight off and keeping it off, and as such will do well selling the necessary equipment.

2) 20 ways to lose your nestegg

Forbes Money outlines 20 ways investors are losing money. They include the usual suspects: lack of diversification, ignoring inflation, buying stocks on unidentified tips and ignoring investment expenses. What are you paying in KiwiSaver fees? Find out using our KiwiSaver resources here.

3) 11 equations you should know

When personal finance becomes a formal part of the curriculum I'll be doing a happy dance. In the meantime, here's 11 equations (via businessinsider.com) you can incorporate into home schooling lectures on personal finance. I'll give it a go at home and let you know if it proves more popular than my dance moves. Juxtaposed perhaps personal finance lessons will win the day.

4) Let's talk shall we?

It's great to see people power in action in the financial services sector. Finally, individuals are waking up to the fact that as bank customers they don't have to take what's offered to them. Ask (with authority) and you shall receive, a better deal. Well, you never know until you try. The Age newspaper reports on how big banks in Oz are getting a run for their mortgage money.

"In the year to June, lending to refinance loans swelled by $7.3 billion or 17 per cent from a year ago, and by 30 per cent from two years ago. By contrast, lending to buy existing real estate fell by almost $1 billion, while lending for new construction rose just $24 million."