As the summer of 2018 kicks off, consider this: 68 percent of Americans are likely to go on vacation, and 85 percent of them will travel by car, based on data from a recent online survey of approximately 1,500 adults.

While aspects of a road trip may be daunting, a majority of these travelers acknowledge that getting there is half the fun: 24 percent strongly agree, and 45 percent somewhat agree that getting to a vacation spot is often as enjoyable as being there.

If you've ever wondered what goes on inside the car during a road trip, read on.

A survey conducted by NACS, a trade association representing the convenience-store industry, reveals that most passengers want to be social: just over 60 percent report that they enjoy talking with fellow passengers and almost 80 percent cite listening together to music, podcasts, or audio books as favorite activities.

However, when it's time to take a break, disagreements can arise, especially when it comes to meals and snacks. A convenience-store stop can be a simple solution.

Today's convenience stores offer more than just gas and restrooms. Many serve a range of hot-meal options such as pizza and burgers, as well as customizable sandwiches, coffee, drinks, and smoothies, so passengers and drivers of every age and taste can find something to satisfy them.

The NACS survey results show that the top three reasons for breaks during summer road trips are to:

* Use the bathroom (96 percent).

* Get gas (95 percent).

* Buy food or drinks (91 percent).

"There's only one place that can satisfy all three of the top reasons for stopping during a road trip: a convenience store," says Jeff Lenard, NACS vice president of strategic industry initiatives.

"From restrooms and fuel pumps to indulgent snacks and healthy options, you can stop once and make everyone happy. And that can certainly make a road trip more fun."

However, regular breaks are an important part of road trips for safety as well as for practical reasons.

Drivers need a quick and easy place to stand up and stretch, or to allow someone else to take the wheel. Kids get antsy and need to stretch, too - according to the NACS survey, approximately 45 percent of the in-car disagreements during road trips center on children fidgeting or arguing.

Convenience stores provide all the services needed for long or short road-trip breaks in a safe, predictable environment.

Many convenience stores offer easy access from major roads, so there's no struggle or lost time navigating to an unknown spot without any sense of the services available. Convenience stores offer clean, well-lit rest stops for single drivers, groups of friends, older adults, and families with children.

Visit convenience.org/more for additional information about what convenience stores offer and how they can help make summer road trips smooth, safe, and enjoyable.

It's a catchphrase that's been described as perhaps the first "I do" for newlyweds, and it's especially relevant as we head into wedding season. Because as much as you may think no two people have ever been more in love than you are - hey, look at the size of that engagement ring! - the truth is that it could be less than smooth sailing ahead if you're not on the same page when it comes to financial matters.

"Couples have a very hard time talking about money," Joan Atwood, a Hofstra University professor of marriage and family therapy bemoaned on an NPR "Money Coach" segment on the issue. "I would say it's the last taboo."

Ready to break it? Read on.

* Set common goals. You probably discussed this in a dreamy sort of way while dating. You know, a large house with a swimming pool ... yearly vacations. But turning those reveries into reality requires habitually saving to pay for them and finance your later retirement years - not to mention deciding whether both partners contribute equally or based on salaries.

"The median ages for brides and grooms are 29 and 31, respectively, these days," said Andrew Peterson, a vice president at Fidelity Investments (fidelity.com). "So while people may come into a marriage with their own assets, they need to take some time after the wedding to sit down and start getting organized as a couple."

* Be transparent. There's no law that says you have to put all your cash into a joint savings account - some couples do, some don't - but at the very least you'd be "less than truthful" by not divulging any outstanding debts. And then figuring out, together, how to pay them down.

* Safely store your information. Quick: What's your new spouse's Social Security number? And what other vital information don't you know if a sudden need arises?

Exactly.

To truly mark your financial coupling, you might consider using an online service like FidSafe.com that lets you store, access and share all your new family's important records and documents anywhere via a web browser or iOS app.

Not only is it free and simple to use with handy checklists, but even before it was officially introduced two years ago by Fidelity - Get it? "Fid Safe" - Barron's magazine gave the service five stars for being what it called "the first cloud-based safe deposit box we've seen that's secure enough to organize everything from financial statements, insurance policies, and real estate records to a will, IRA benefits, and even passwords."

"With all the other things on their to-do lists, newlyweds typically don't focus on all the important financial and other documents they need to begin married life on a solid footing," said Peterson. "This makes things easier for them from the start, as well as through the years as they have even more joint documents to retain - including those related to perhaps buying a house and having children."

You get up to 5GB of storage, which leaves plenty of space left over once you download your new marriage license and the receipt for that engagement ring.

* Investigate this option. Do you both get health insurance through your employer? Congrats. You may have just saved yourselves some money if it works out it's less expensive for one of you to be on the other's plan rather than pay for both.

See full-sized image here.

In his recent book, "Broken Capitalism: This is How We Fix it," Ferris Eanfar explains the state of the global economy and its key problems in a straightforward, accessible style.

"When the 10 largest corporations on Earth have more combined economic power than 92 percent of all countries on Earth combined, the 50 largest financial corporations control wealth equal to 90 percent of Earth's GDP [gross domestic product], the richest 1 percent of humans have more wealth than 99 percent of the world combined, and the eight richest humans have more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of Earth's entire population combined . . . it's safe to say humanity is in trouble," Mr. Eanfar says.

Mr. Eanfar's work is based on over 20 years of unique experience in economics, financial technologies ("FinTech"), blockchain/cryptocurrency development, artificial intelligence, and military and government affairs.

Three key points in the book deal with issues of defining value, following a vision, and managing innovation.

Value: Mr. Eanfar notes that money is not value itself; it represents value. Rather than focusing on money alone, he advises organizations to focus on theway value flows through their stakeholder ecosystems, which benefits all parties in the long run.

Vision: "In business and in life, having 'vision' is about accurately assessing current reality, defining steps to achieve specific goals, and building a bridge between vision and reality based on discipline and effective execution," says Eanfar.

Innovation: Artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and other technological innovations can be used for good or ill. Mr. Eanfar dedicates a chapter of the book to the impact of artificial intelligence [AI] on government and the economy.

"When lightning-fast A.I. controls the political and economic apparatus of countries through their automated manipulation of social media and web-based information channels, humans won't be able to easily differentiate between policy outcomes that serve their interests and policy outcomes that serve those who control the A.I. and their political patrons in the government," he says.

For more information about the book, visit: https://Eanfar.org

Mr. Eanfar is also on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FerrisEanfar (@FerrisEanfar)

All book sales proceeds support the nonprofit AngelPay Foundation: https://AngelPayHQ.org

The fun might include boating and other watersports, such as tubing, skiing, or wakeboarding. Preparation and education are the keys to a safe and successful day on the water. So get the summer off to a great start by making sure passengers of all ages have well-fitted lifejackets and understand safety procedures.

When fitting a child's lifejacket, be sure to select the current size. Don't put a child in an adult lifejacket or buy one in a larger size for a child to grow into. Rather, put the jacket on the child and buckle and secure all straps. Then lift the child's arm up over his or her head and pull up on the jacket. If it slips off, it's too big.

BoatUS offers a helpful video to show correct fit on their website, BoatUS.org/fit-video.

If you don't own a lifejacket and aren't prepared to buy one, borrow one from a friend or neighbor, or borrow one for free through the BoatUS Foundation Kids Life Jacket Loaner program. Find information about their 550 locations at BoatUS.org/life-jacket-loaner.

Be sure a child or anyone else riding behind a boat not only wears a lifejacket, but also knows the hand signals to communicate with the boat driver while being towed.

The following hand signals and rules of the water will ensure that everyone has fun and stays safe:

* If the speed is right, use an OK sign with your thumb and first finger.

* If you want the driver to go faster, use a thumbs up; to slow down, use a thumbs down; and use a slashing motion across your neck to stop.

* If you fall off, raise both arms above your head and clasp your hands as soon as possible to let the boat driver know you are okay.

Find more signals at BoatUS.com/hand-signals.

* While waiting in the water, ready to be pulled or towed again, be patient and allow the boat captain a little time to safely deliver the towline or tube to you.

* If you decide to come back aboard, the driver will allow the boat to drift to you with the engine off. When reboarding, use a step, deck, or boarding ladder only after the boat driver has signaled that it is safe to get back in the boat.

* Never swim near a boat while the engine is on.

Visit BoatUS.org for more information about staying safe on the water this summer. Stay hydrated, wear sunscreen, and have fun!

A company car? (How Boomer-like of you.) A 401(k) plan? (Pretty common these days.)

With Millennials now comprising the largest share of the workforce, a growing number of companies are betting that offering to help pay off student debt is the next game-changer when it comes to attracting and retaining the best and brightest.

It's not a bad wager. Total education debt stood at a staggering $1.52 trillion at the end of March. And while the perk is by no means reserved only for Millennials - hey, even 4 percent of those 45 and older are still in the hole, according to the Pew Research Center - it's not lost on anyone that the average student loan borrower will have graduated this year saddled with more than $37,000 in debt.

"It stood at about $600 billion 10 years ago," MarketWatch.com reported.

One of the companies facilitating the new benefit is the same one - Fidelity Investments - that already handles millions of workers' 401(k) plans. Businesses enrolled in its Student Debt Employer Contribution program are able to make after-tax contributions on their employees' outstanding student loans, setting their own parameters as to "who" and "how much" with the help of a modeling tool for estimating their potential recruitment and retention cost savings.

"This is a new and relevant benefit that gives companies a competitive advantage to hire top talent," said Asha Srikantiah, vice president of emerging products at Fidelity (fidelity.com), noting that the average contribution for most companies is about $100 a month, although it can be as high as $800 monthly in some cases. "It also enables employees to pay off their debt faster, which in turn allows them to focus on other priorities - including buying a home, raising a family, and saving for retirement."

Among the "early adopters" Fidelity says it's teaming up with to offer the benefit: tech giant Hewlett Packard Enterprise; the rail industry's New York Air Brake; financial firms Millennium Trust and OCC (The Options Clearing Corporation); and Ariel Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of separable reciprocating gas compressors used in the global natural gas business.

In fact, more than just being a "facilitator" for others, Fidelity helped trail blaze this brave new world by having begun offering its own employees a student debt program back in 2016. To date, more than 8,900 of its workers have received the benefit, paid directly to their loan service provider, with some pretty impressive numbers to show for it: a total of $22.5 million in savings on principal and interest, and 34,625 years of loan payments shaved off.

The company is also taking what it calls "a holistic approach" to the student debt issue by offering open access to its website's Pre-College Planning Resources, which can help avoid the pitfalls of incurring too much debt, and its Student Debt Tool that lets individuals view all their student loans and repayment options in one place.

A deal recently inked with student debt refinancing platform Credible.com now also integrates student debt refinancing into the Student Debt Tool, allowing employees enrolled in the program to receive actual pre-qualified rates from more than 10 refinancing lenders without affecting their credit scores.

"The idea is to help more Americans take control of their debt so they can better save and invest for the futures," said Stephen Dash, Credible's founder and CEO.

DigiTrax Entertainment, a leader in the use of artificial intelligence in the music industry, recognizes this and has found a way to harness the analytical power of AI to help protect musicians from copyright infringement.

The new DigiTrax product, Music Fact Reports, can act as a personal CSI lab for forensic musicology, according to Joseph Vangieri, CEO of DigiTrax Entertainment.

"We believe Music Fact Reports will be a major step forward for rights holders," Mr. Vangieri says in a statement announcing the launch of Music Fact Reports.

The Music Fact Reports program helps individual musicians by saving them the hassle, time, and expense of hiring a professional forensic musicologist to conduct an analysis before deciding whether a copyright infringement case is worth pursuing with a lawyer.

The program also can be used by copyright lawyers to evaluate the strength of potential cases, and by publishers seeking to confirm the originality of a contracted musical work.

The Music Fact Reports program works on the power of artificial intelligence by extracting sequences from pieces of music and comparing them to other works using music theory-based algorithms.

"We are working towards a future in which analyzed sequences of data for all copyrighted pieces of music are stored in a database that can be accessed and searched to detect levels of extrinsic similarity instantly," says DigiTrax Chief Technical Officer Marcus Matusiak in a statement announcing the Music Fact Reports launch.

The Music Fact Reports program is currently being used by attorney Richard Wolfe of Wolfe Law in Miami, Florida, to pursue a copyright-infringement case involving instrumental music.

"I think the technology is cutting-edge for purposes of identifying substantial similarity in two pieces of music in terms of rhythms, beats, and extrinsic similarity," says Mr. Wolfe.

To promote the launch of the Music Fact Reports program and showcase its potential, DigiTrax engineers have developed Music Fact Reports for the top 10 copyright infringement cases of all time, Mr. Vangieri says.

Visit MusicFactReports.com for the reports on the Top 10 music-copyright-infringement cases, and for more information about how DigiTrax helps protect musicians.

Before inviting loved ones onto your boat, however, it's important to review some safety procedures to help ensure a relaxing experience for everyone.

Check out the tips below to ensure safe and enjoyable boating all summer long:

1) Watch the weather - Summer weather can turn nasty in an instant, and a boat can be a dangerous place to get caught in a storm. Before hitting the water, check the weather forecast and make note of any chance of precipitation or storms. If you see lightning while you're out on the water and cannot get to shore, crouch down in the middle of the boat or go below deck, if possible.

2) Boat maintenance - A well-maintained engine is key to enjoying your time on the water. So be sure to check your oil levels before heading out on the water, or invest in an engine that doesn't require oil changes, such as the E-TEC G2 by Evinrude. With an E-TEC, there's no need to remove any engine components to check oil levels before every use as with other engines, so you can get out on the water faster.

3) Life jacket required - Although warmer weather may make swimming irresistible, safety stillcomes first. It's important to always wear a life jacket while in the water, and to have access to one while in the boat. According to a 2014 study by the United States Coast Guard, 84 percent of victims who drowned during a boating accident were not wearing a life jacket at the time of the incident. While they may seem like a hassle, life jackets really do save lives.

4) Don't drink and boat - An ice-cold beverage and boating can go hand-in-hand. However, just as with driving a car, it is illegal to operate a boat while intoxicated across the United States and Canada. In fact, being intoxicated on the water can be even more dangerous than being intoxicated on land. Unsteady footing, sun, wind, and even engine noise accelerates a drinker's impairment.

Keeping in mind a few simple safety tips can make all the difference for boat owners everywhere. So, before your next outing, make sure you, your boat and your passengers are all ready to go - and enjoy the ride!

After having waited on the sidelines for what seemed like forever, first-time homebuyers last year made 38 percent of all U.S. single-family home purchases - the biggest share since 2000 - and the 2.07 million new or existing houses they bought ended up being 7 percent more than in 2016, Bloomberg.com reported.

"Pent-up demand" is how the news site described it, citing Millennials as one of the driving forces.

But the market for house-hunting newbies like yourself has changed considerably from that most recent high mark of nearly two decades ago. And you know what they say: "Forewarned is forearmed." Read on.

* Inventory is tight.

So tight, in fact - especially for lower-priced starter-homes - that, as the Wall Street Journal wrote, even "buyers in historically calm markets such as Boise, Idaho, and Minneapolis are facing bidding wars, prompting them to dig deep into their coffers to win deals."

Not into bidding wars? Well, there's always Little Rock, Arkansas.

Unlike Denver, Seattle and San Francisco - which LendingTree named the "most challenging" cities in the nation for first-time buyers - Little Rock was rated a veritable paradise for house hunters.

* There's still a lot of all-cash buyers out there, so don't be afraid to get creative.

Though the number of all-cash transactions peaked at 40 percent in 2011 and 2012 - with savvy investors still taking advantage of the subprime mortgage crisis by buying up homes many then rented out - last year's 28.8 percent figure remains above normal. (One reason for the tight inventory: "Investors (are) making too much money as landlords to sell," according to MarketWatch.com.)

Granted, you're at a disadvantage if someone else waves $500,000 in cash in front of a seller even if you arrive pre-approved for a mortgage. However, HDTV.com tells the story of a couple who got a "great deal" on their Denver home - yes, Denver - by adding a contingency to their $300,000 bid that they'd pay $1,000 over any other competing offer up to a maximum of $329,000.

"Although unconventional," the site admitted, "a creative strategy like this can be very effective in today's market."

* Don't automatically reject a fixer-upper because you're not handy enough to fix things like the roof.

Everyone knows you can save a bundle by buying a house that needs work, but some things - including electrical system overhauls and extensive roof repairs - are safer left to the pros. So the question becomes this: How far ahead would you come out, financially, after deducting those costs from the house's likely post-renovation market value?

"An attractive roof is the ultimate curb enhancer, so it's important to figure that into your calculations," said Patsy O'Neill, a sales associate with Sotheby's in Montclair, New Jersey.

You can play around with different looks (i.e., Victorian vs. ranch) by using the free Virtual Home Remodeler launched by GAF (gaf.com), North America's largest roofing manufacturer. And the website's GAF Master Elite Contractor database can help you find the most reputable and adequately insured professionals in your area.

* You may be being watched.

Literally.

With owners leerier these days of strangers walking through their properties, they're increasingly employing devices capable of tracking prospective buyers' conversations and actions.

Yes, it can be creepy. The bigger danger, though, as MarketWatch.com noted, is that - if you don't watch what you're saying - there's "a real risk" of tipping your hand enough that you wind up overpaying.

While it's true that families tend to flock to these familiar venues, (the city has been named one of Travelocity's "Coolest Places to Go in 2018 for Families" and AAA's "Top Domestic Summer Destination"), it is also so much more than the sum of these two theme parks.

So if you're considering a trip to Orlando, read on about how to score the best deals and some sights to see with the fam that you may not have known even existed. 

Attraction Tips & Deals 

The destination's only official visitor center, operated by Visit Orlando, offers deals, discounted tickets, unbiased expert advice and Insta-worthy photo ops for guests. 

Movies & Fantasy Worlds Come to Life 

Universal Studios Florida will put guests right in the middle of the action with the new Fast & Furious - Supercharged ride, based on the popular film franchise, where an after-race party turns into a high-speed race to escape a criminal cartel.

Disney's Hollywood Studios opens Toy Story Land on June 30, featuring two new attractions. The rides, Slinky Dog Dash and Alien Swirling Sauchers, will take visitors right into Andy's imagination as they join beloved characters on their adventures.

Madame Tussauds Orlando's "Justice League: A Call for Heroes," will give guests the "sidekick" experience to Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, and Ben Affleck's Batman.

Legoland Florida Resort found its niche when it debuted "The Great Lego Race," on March 23.

This thrill ride is the first virtual reality roller coaster experience designed for kids and features Lego minifigures, a rocket-powered surfboard, and an espresso-fueled scooter. 

Outdoor Adventures and Record-Setting Thrills 

SeaWorld Orlando debuts Infinity Falls this summer, a whitewater rapid-adventure raft ride through a lost jungle. The journey will send guests through fountains and waterfalls before dropping 40 feet - a world record for a river raft ride - into churning whitewater.

The Orlando Starflyer is the world's tallest swing ride, and opens on June 1. At 450-feet tall, the ride offers open-air views of the city for up to 24 guests at once, swinging them through the air at up to 60 miles an hour.

Just in time for their 20th Anniversary, Fun Spot America opened HeadRush 360, a spinning and swinging new attraction that takes riders 40 feet in the air - upside down.

And Orlando Watersports Complex is home to Central Florida's first Aquapark, which features a modular series of inflatable, interlocking climbing obstacles, pathways and slides for hours of fun.

For more information, visit VisitOrlando.com.