It's the running o' the green at the annual CASI St. Patrick's Day Races on Saturday, March 15, starting at the River Music Experience, 129 Main St. in downtown Davenport, Iowa, with a 1 mile family fun run/walk and a 5K race beginning at 9 am.

You'll be done with the run in plenty of time to see the annual Grand Parade on Saturday with floats, bands, and family clans. The parade starts at 11:30 a.m. in downtown Rock Island, Ill. The parade proceeds through Rock Island to the Centennial Bridge, and then crosses the bridge over the Mississippi River and marches into downtown Davenport, Iowa.

Immediately following the parade, a Post Parade Bash is held at the RiverCenter, 136 E. 3rd St. in downtown Davenport from 1-4:30 p.m. Entry to the Post Parade Bash is by membership, with $15 memberships available at the door. The Bash includes food, drink, and entertainment.

There is a free Kid's Craft Day at the John Deere Pavilion in downtown Moline on Saturday, March 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. John Deere Pavilion celebrates the American heartland from the first horse-drawn plow to the latest modern-day combines and tractors that people can climb on and sit in the cab. The whole family can enjoy interactive, hands-on computer displays.

CSI: The Experience opens March 1 at the Putnam Museum, 1717 West 12th Street in Davenport, Iowa. This traveling exhibit immerses guests in hands-on science while leading them through the challenge of solving a crime featuring guidance from the CBS show's characters. Through hands-on activities with real equipment, as well as multi-media presentations, guests will understand different science fields' role in cracking crimes. Exhibition hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 Noon to 5 p.m.

The Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, takes you into the beautiful world of glass blowing and glass sculpture with four exhibits including: Kids Design Glass with kid's mythical monsters come to life in glass sculptures; Katja Loher: Videoplanet - Orchestra where videos are projected on suspended weather balloons and glass bubbles; Landscape, a floor-to-ceiling landscape created of glass; and Roman Glass Works showcasing the art of ancient Roman glassblowing.

The Family Museum, 2900 Learning Campus Drive in Bettendorf, Iowa, completed its final phase of its new permanent exhibit galleries. The ThinkShop is a place where families and children use real tools in a supervised setting to build one-of-a-kind inventions in a highly-interactive, hands-on space. Through the use of real building materials and recycled components, kids can bring ideas to life.

You'll feel a spring in your step as you walk through over 20,000 square feet of blooming flowers, dazzling ponds, waterfalls, and hundreds of garden-related displays by the area's landscape architects and garden designers. Attend seminars by Melinda Myers during the Flower and Garden Show at the QCCA Expo Center, 2621 4th Ave. in Rock Island, Illinois.

Even if the flowers aren't quite blooming outside, you can get a taste of spring at these Quad Cities indoor gardens. The Quad City Botanical Center's impressive 70-feet tall skylight peak in the Sun Garden conservatory offers a breathtaking tropical paradise with hundreds of jungle sized palm trees and exotic tropical plants and flowers in a year-round garden, located at 2525 4th Ave. in Rock Island, Illinois.

The Vander Veer Botanical Park is famous for its numerous floral shows and tropical plants, a tradition of over 100 years. Going on in March is the Spring Floral Show. They're located at 215 W. Central Park in Davenport, Iowa.

More History Events at Rock Island Library

(Rock Island, IL) Local history buffs still have two opportunities this month to catch up on free history presentations at the Rock Island Main Library, 401 19th Street.

River of Logs: 19^th Century Logging, 6:30 pm, Thurs., Feb. 20. In an illustrated talk based on her chapter in the 2004 Grand Excursions on the Upper Mississippi, Gayle Rein describes logging in Wisconsin and Minnesota and the rafting of logs down the Mississippi River to lumber companies in the Quad Cities area.  She includes many photos and stories from the early logging camps and rafting.

Historic Bridges, 6:30 pm, Tues, Feb. 25. We cross over them every day, but how often do we think about the history of the bridges under our tires? Illustrated presentation by Professor Curt Roseman on the major bridges on the Mississippi and Rock Rivers in the Quad Cities. Collectively, the bridges represent a great variety of styles and histories.  Included are truss, arch, and suspension bridges. Several QC bridges are historically significant, including one span that was built in 1868 and the first railroad bridge to span the Mississippi. His talk includes stories of how and why these bridges were originally conceived and built.

For more events at Rock Island Public Libraries, visit the library website at www.rockislandlibrary.org, follow the library on Facebook or Twitter, or call 309-732-7323.

Founded in 1872, the Rock Island Public Library serves the area through three locations, which include the Main, 30/31 and Southwest Branches, community outreach efforts, and online opportunities that provide resources to enhance personal achievement and stimulate the imagination.

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Expert & Software Creator Shares Tips for Calculating Withdrawal Rates in Retirement

"Who has my back in retirement?" - That's the question pre-retirees and retirees want answered when it's all said and done, says veteran financial planner David Zolt.

Baby boomers have been retiring in droves in recent years, and will continue to do so throughout the next decade - 10,000 of them a day, the Pew Research Center estimates. Unfortunately, the average boomer is about a $500,000 short on their savings, according to a recent survey by TD Ameritrade.

We have already entered upon an unprecedented moment in retirement history; never has so many people, with such variability in financial wealth, retired at once, Zolt says.

"Clients want to know when they can retire, how much they can withdraw from their savings and how confident they can be that they won't outlive their money," says Zolt, a senior consultant who created retirement income planning software for financial advisors.

"If the facts of their wealth do not support their goals for retirement, then they'll need to do one of three things: adjust their expectations, change their financial behavior or know how to improve their wealth, because the last thing any retiree wants is to run out of money while in their 80s or 90s."

Zolt breaks down some fundamental aspects of retirement that may help boomers and others make better financial decisions after their working years.

The "4 percent" rule - a good target for withdrawals: When can you start pulling from your retirement portfolio, and how much should you withdraw? Twenty years ago, Bill Bengen came up with the answer: A well-allocated portfolio subjected to an initial 4 percent withdrawal, and adjusted for annual inflation thereafter, would survive at least 30 years in almost all scenarios. Given today's market, however, once-stable rules have been significantly challenged. Just one factor in recent years throwing off Bengen's rule are low bond yields, which historically averaged 5 to 6 percent, but today are much lower. "Four percent is still a good target, but it's not absolute!" Zolt says.

The seven variables to consider in retirement planning: Seven variables should be included in an individual retiree's plan: portfolio size, portfolio return, savings, living expenses (including taxes), years to retirement and withdrawal rate. Each of these variables is multifaceted, and it's important to understand how each affects the others. To troubleshoot this complexity, Zolt created affordable, easy-to-use retirement-planning software called The Retirement Planner by RetireSoft, (www.RetireSoft.com) for financial advisors. "Retirement planning is an equation; rather than assuming the 4 percent rule, I've fixed other variables by making the number of years to retirement the variable and solving for the withdrawal rate, which is a key component to retirement planning," Zolt says.

A simple formula calculating withdrawal rates: Whether you're working with a professional or you're a DIYer, retirees and pre-retirees want to know how much they should have in savings; how much they'll receive from fixed income sources, and what they'll be spending for living expenses. Here's a simple formula...Subtract your annual fixed retirement income (Social Security, pensions) from your expected annual living expenses in retirement, including income taxes. That's how much you'll need to withdraw from savings each year. If the figure is 4 percent, and you have a well-balanced portfolio, you can reasonably expect to have a reliable income during retirement for 30 years. If the total is 5 percent, you probably have enough to last 30 years, but you may have to cut back on your spending later in retirement. If the percentage is 8 percent, you don't have enough money to pay for many years of retirement. 

About David Zolt: David M. Zolt, CFP®, EA, ASA, MAAA worked more than 25 years in retirement and employee-benefit planning as a senior consultant. His position as trusted advisor to the managers of some of the largest pools of liquid assets in the world gave him the rare opportunity to watch professionals advise multi-million and multi-billion dollar pension funds utilizing the best practices of investing. In the process, he learned firsthand how seasoned professionals invest. Zolt's clients included The Ford Motor Co., American Greetings, The United Nations, The World Bank and The International Monetary Fund.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - On the verge of celebrating its 100th anniversary, The Toro Company has long been committed to helping customers around the world care for their outdoor environments.  At the same time, Toro has built a legacy of giving back to the communities where employees live and work.  As Toro celebrates 'A Century of Innovation' and 'A Legacy of Caring,' the company is proud to continue its support of communities with the launch of a Legacy Grant Program and Annual Product Donation Program.

The centennial Legacy Grant Program supports non-profit organizations in their efforts to beautify and preserve outdoor environments and enhance green spaces at home, work and play.  Grants will also be made to organizations whose projects encourage and educate the public about the efficient use of water. The objective of the Legacy Grant Program is to provide funding for projects in these focus areas that will serve the community for years to come.

The centennial Annual Product Donation Program will continue to support organizations with equipment and irrigation donations that assist in maintaining their facilities and achieving impact in their communities, such as beautification of their outdoor landscapes or providing job-skills training.

In an effort for more effective collaboration with non-profits, Toro has launched its first electronic application form for both grant programs.  The online application, and additional information, can be found on www.toro.com/community .  Applications for both grant programs will be accepted through March 31, 2014, and are available to non-profit organizations located within 30 miles of a Toro community.  The qualifying list of Toro communities includes the following:

 

Domestic Locations:

California	Florida	Iowa	Minnesota	Nebraska	Texas	Wisconsin
El Cajon Riverside	Sanford	Ankeny	Twin Cities Shakopee Windom	Beatrice	Abilene El Paso	Plymouth Tomah

International Locations:

Australia	Belgium	China	Germany	Italy	Mexico	Romania	United Kingdom
Adelaide Brisbane Melbourne Perth Sydney	Oevel	Xiamen Shanghai	Ludwigsburg	Rome	Juarez	Ploiesti	Spellbrook

 

About The Toro Company

The Toro Company (NYSE: TTC) is a leading worldwide provider of innovative turf, landscape, rental and construction equipment, and irrigation and outdoor lighting solutions. With sales of more than $2 billion in fiscal 2013, Toro's global presence extends to more than 90 countries through strong relationships built on integrity and trust, constant innovation and a commitment to helping customers enrich the beauty, productivity and sustainability of the land. Since 1914, the company has built a tradition of excellence around a number of strong brands to help customers care for golf courses, sports fields, public green spaces, commercial and residential properties and agricultural fields. More information is available at www.toro.com.