Work + Money

Before you meet Anderson Cooper, you have to meet Dena Blizzard. She's what is known in the talk show circuit as "the warm-up coach." Blizzard is "Anderson Live's" pre-host: she entertains the studio audience before the show starts. She reminds us not to chew gum, or pick our nose when the camera pans over our seats. She makes it okay for audience members to break out into 'running man' during commercial breaks. And that's just scratching the surface of her job. I spent the day at the "Anderson Live" studio and fell totally in love with Blizzard, a mom of three, who proudly wears an apron over her jeans with the words "one funny mother" emblazoned on the pocket. So when she got a break today, I pulled her aside for a little post-show interview.

How did you land this sweet gig?
I love when people ask me what they'd have to do to get my job. What I usually tell them is you only have to work in crappy bars in Philly as a waitress getting beer splashed on you for about six years.

That

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With emotional Venus in intense Scorpio through December 16, now is the ideal time to lift the lid on any politics creating tension in your office. Truths are bound to come to light as hiding your feelings in your workplace becomes more and more difficult.

If you're ready to take on more responsibility, this is not the time to be shy about making it known. The timing couldn't be better than it is right now, as Venus in Scorpio encourages you to identify your long-term professional goals -- and make them manifest!

Unearth how your ambition, natural skills and sociability can get you on the fast track to success with a free sample Career Strengths Reading!

Scorpio is ruled by ambitious Mars, so managing power means taking action. What you do now will set you up for success down the road, so don't waste time engaging in tiresome power struggles between colleagues. Keep your nose out of others' business, be direct about requests for change, and shut down any "he said, she said" dramas by

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By Paul O'Donnell, CNBC.com

The good news coming out of this year's "New Retirement Mindscape City Pulse Index," an annual survey conducted by Ameriprise Financial Services, is that women are more confident about their retirement prospects: two thirds of affluent women consider themselves confident or somewhat confident about being comfortable in retirement.

The bad news, said Suzanna de Baca, vice president of wealth strategies at Ameriprise, is that women "shouldn't be feeling this good."

In the survey of 10,000 affluent,middle-aged Americans, women lagged behind men in nearly every category of retirement planning. Only 44 percent contribute to a workplace retirement plan and 42 percent are investing for retirement on their own. Slightly more than half of men do both. Less than 20 percent of women know how much income they'll need when they retire, the survey found, compared with 28 percent of men.

According to another recent study, by the Employee Benefits Research Institut

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As we all know, air travel has become a nightmare, from long security lines to flight delays and it's only worse at the holidays. Though it's easy to blame the airlines for everything that goes wrong, the quality of passengers has also declined, according to a new tell-all book, "Tales from the Tarmac."

Self-published by Claudia Helena Oxee, "Tales from the Tarmac" has already received a good deal of publicity, with a write-up in the Los Angeles Times and PRNewser. Oxee worked in airline ground operations in major airports like JFK and for airlines like TWA and Pan Am for 16 years.

Modern manners: travel ettiquette

“Once, a passenger of considerable size, a bride, stampeded the gate area in her complete wedding gown attire, tiara and all,” Oxee writes. “After asking her to change into comfortable clothing for her overseas flight, she boldly refused and demanded an upgrade using locker room profanities.” Another passenger demanded a ticket to Germany in spite of the fact that he lack

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By Leila Brillson, Photographed by Atisha Paulson, Refinery29

Tipping isn't a city in China and it's certainly for more than just cows, but during the holidays, our general 15- to 25-percent rules are thrown into a tizzy. Who gets a gift? Is giving cash insulting? With so many different, complex relationships in our lives - our barristas often act as therapists and confidantes - how much is enough? We linked up with Tessa Baker at Lifehacker to chat about holiday extras, and whether or not to give the old greenbacks, or a more personal gift.

1. Every Day Relationships: Cash
Your old, faithful doorperson. That mail carrier who gives you a friendly wave. The superintendent who really helped you out over Sandy. All of those people deserve to be thanked during the holidays, but common etiquette is a sliding scale: You don't have to tip everyone equally. Those who have helped you plenty in the past should get a heftier tip than those who you rarely see. The more they have helped you, o

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