Joe Battista
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Avoiding the Financial ‘Boomer’ang
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“In 2017, 49% of adults from the ages of 55 to 66 had no personal retirement savings, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation.” – Erin Lowry, Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering personal finance. Let that sink in for a minute. Sorry folks, this will not necessarily be one of my…
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The Joys of Coaching Youth Sports
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It was a gorgeous sunny Sunday morning just south of Sun Valley, Idaho for our final day of Overspeed Hockey’s Winter Clinics at the town of Hailey’s Campion Ice House. Riley, a young “Squirt” player (ages 9-10) was changing shifts when she slipped on the ice and slid feet first into the foam and vinyl…
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The Circle of Life: Hockey Style
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It’s Dec. 20, 2022, and I am walking on the main concourse of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ PPG Paints Arena as they are about to take on long-time rival the New York Rangers. Gathering directly in front of me are excited 7–8-year-old hockey players, their equally excited siblings and grandparents and their anxious parents wondering if…
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The Real Reason for the Season: Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward All
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Happy Holidays! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! We often hear these phrases from family, friends, colleagues and even complete strangers at this time of the year. Most of the time it is said sincerely and with a hearty smile. But they can also be uttered as a reflex without real feeling or meaning.…
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We Are… at the End of an Era. Or Is It Just a ‘Paws’?
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On Saturday, Dec. 17, over 5,000 new graduates are expected to walk across the stage at the Bryce Jordan Center to receive their Penn State diplomas. One of those students will be our youngest son, Ryan, the last of our three children (Brianna – 2015 and Jonathon – 2016) to do so. It will be…
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Snow Storms and Sunshine: It’s All Relative
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The early snow in Happy Valley and the cold streak here in the South seem to have caught everyone a little off guard. It’s all relative folks. You could live in Buffalo. Take it from me, I did. It was November of 2014, and I was working for the Buffalo Sabres. I had just moved…
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Choose Wisely
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“Stay away from politics,” I am told. “If you do write about politics, you must pick a side,” they tell me. That’s a real problem for someone who cares as much as I do about the greater good and likes to be a part of the solution. I just don’t see many political candidates who…
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A Different Homecoming
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My wife, Heidi, and I are Penn State alums. Both of her parents were Penn Staters. All three of our children are Penn Staters. We have nieces and nephews and cousins and good friends and their kids who are Penn Staters. I played on the hockey team as a student, and worked at the university…
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Of Hurricanes and Sunshine
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If you read my column from two weeks ago,“Home, Sweet Home: Joe and Heidi’s Excellent Adventure Comes to an End (with Plenty of Help from Penn Staters),” you know that our last few months have been filled with plenty of adventure. Yet one week after we moved into our newly constructed home in Bluffton, South Carolina,…
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Home, Sweet Home: Joe and Heidi’s Excellent Adventure Comes to an End (with Plenty of Help from Penn Staters)
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Joe and Heidi’s Excellent Wandering Adventure has finally come to an end. We had our official closing Thursday on our new home in Bluffton, South Carolina. It was a beautiful sunny day, albeit a 90-degree day, but it was well worth the wait after moving from our Happy Valley home on June 30. That’s 11 straight…