By Erika Riggs, Zillow

The hottest acts in the music business earn their pay by living in the recording studio or on the road. On Sunday, the music makers get their chance to shine on the red carpet when awards season turns to the 54th Grammy Awards at the Los Angeles Staples Center. But even pop stars need a place to crash once and awhile. Here is where Kanye, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, R. Kelly and the Kings of Leon call home.

Kanye West

Song of the Year, Best Rap Album, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Performance

Kanye West has increased his bad boy status for his scene-stealing antics at awards shows. And with a critically acclaimed new album, and tour with fellow rapper Jay-Z, Kanye might be ready to pull off another unscripted surprise. The artist is nominated this year for seven awards, including Song of the Year for his  "All of the Lights" with Rihanna, Fergie and Kid Cudi.

West picked up his LA digs in 2003 for $1,750,000. The 2002-built home was described as a "modern masterpiece." Designed by a "world-renowned Italian architect," it likely appealed to West's love of style. The 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath piece of Hollywood Hills real estate sits on a winding drive with views of the city below. It was listed for sale for $3,995,000 in 2010.

Rihanna

Album of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Song of the Year

Another year, another Grammy nomination for Barbados-born singer Rihanna — or three. The ubiquitous crooner, who could sing the phone book and make it sound hot, is up for a trio of awards, including Song of the Year for her collaboration with West.

While Rihanna's luck in her musical career has been stellar, her luck in real estate has been the exact opposite. RiRi bought her Beverly Hills modern mansion, above, for $6.9 million, but later filed several lawsuits against the builder, previous owner, home inspector and real estate agents. She charged that her home was poorly constructed, with numerous water leaks causing extensive damage. She then listed the home as a $4 million short sale. There's no word where the star is staying now, but her real estate drama may leave her a little gun-shy when it comes to purchasing new digs.

Katy Perry

Best Pop Solo Performance

Katy Perry ended her year on a sour note with an impending divorce to husband Russell Brand, but the pop diva could ring in the new year with another Grammy win.

Before Perry and Brand called it quits, the two shared a stately 3-acre Los Feliz home, pictured above, that Brand purchased as a Christmas gift for Katy in 2009. The pair listed the home on the Los Feliz real estate market in May 2011 for $3.395 million; it sold for $3.3 million.

Perry and Brand bought another, bigger, home in Hollywood Hills in June 2011, where movers were spotted hauling Brand's stuff away. Whether Katy sticks with this property remains to be seen.

Taylor Swift

Best Country Solo Performance

The strumming blonde has already won 4 Grammys, as well as numerous other awards, including her Album of the Year in 2010, making Taylor Swift the youngest artist in Grammy history to nab the coveted award.

Although Swift owns two homes in Nashville — one is currently on the market — she left the country music capital to make Tinseltown her primary residence when she bought a private piece of Beverly Hills real estate in April for $3.97 million.

Swift's new home, above, is a charming Cape Cod-style home situated on an over-an-acre lot with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms.

Christina Aguilera

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

A year ago, things were a little rough for Christina Aguilera. There was a lyrical snafu at the Super Bowl, a spill at the Grammy's, a highly publicized divorce, and a public intoxication arrest. So far, 2012 appears to be going a bit better for the diva, who is in her second year on NBC's "The Voice," and has a Grammy nomination for "Moves Like Jagger" with Maroon 5.

Maybe that portends a turnaround in real estate for Aguilera as well. Although she was finally unable to unload one of her properties, she still has a home for sale in Beverly Hills.

The stucco mansion was put up for sale on the Beverly Hills real estate market in March 2011 for $13.5 million and although it's been nearly a year, Aguilera hasn't dropped the price. The home was previously owned by rocker family The Osbournes. They sold the whimsical property to Aguilera and her former husband Jason Bratman in 2007 for $11.7 million.

R. Kelly

Best R&B Album

It's been a decade since R. Kelly picked up a Grammy for "I Believe I Can Fly," which received three nods for Best R&B Song, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture. Now the singer has been nominated for his album, "Love Letter." Maybe he can again add a another trophy to his other award wins, including those at the AMAs, Billboard Awards and BET Awards from years past.

As for real estate, R. Kelly faced a $2.9 million foreclosure suit earlier this summer, although reports were that it was a strategic foreclosure. The singer-songwriter moved out of his mansion and stopped making payments to force the lender to make a loan modification. The home is now formally listed as a short sale for $1.595 million.

Built in 1997, Kelly's Olympia Fields, IL mansion is only 30 miles from his hometown of Chicago. The 22,000-square-foot home sits on a private, wooded lot surrounded by a 12-foot high concrete and wrought-iron wall.

Kings of Leon

Best Rock Album

The Grammys are old hat for Kings of Leon. The American rockers won both Record of the Year and Rock Song of the Year in the 52nd awards. The family band, comprised of brothers Nathan, Jared, and Caleb Followill,  and cousin Matthew Followill, also picked up nominations the following year for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance in the 53rd Grammys. This year, the group is back with a nominee for Best Rock Album.

Amidst the hype of winning their first Grammy Awards in 2010, Jared Followill decided to hop on the real estate train and purchased a gorgeous Nashville home in his home state of Tennessee. Followill's home, above, is a new construction property by Rogan Allen and sits on a private hilltop lot measuring just over an acre in size. The 7,441-square-foot home has three stories, 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms and gorgeous views of the Davidson County countryside. Public records show Jared dropped $1,825,000 for his new pad — a hefty step up from the "small, fixer-upper" he was apparently living in before.

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

On and leading up to Feb. 14, men and women flush with ardor will render florists, fine jewelers, and restaurateurs flush with cash. Valentine’s Day gifts cost the average consumer more than $100 each year, according to the National Retail Federation. High-end chocolates certainly contribute to that outlay. The best inexpensive chocolates may not have wine-like labels that specify geographic origin and vintage as some artisanal varieties do, but they can satisfy for less.

Chocolate comes in three basic varieties: dark, milk, and white. Dark chocolate has enjoyed a spate of positive press in recent years, thanks to research that suggests antioxidants from the cacao bean may, amond other findings, lower blood pressure. The Food and Drug Administration requires dark chocolate to contain a certain percentage of chocolate liquor, which is made from cocoa butter and nonfat cocoa solids (but no alcohol, despite the name). The higher the percentage, the greater the potential health benefits, scientists say. (The National Institutes of Health cautions that, while those benefits are tantalizing, the negative effects of excessive fat, sugar, and calories are beyond doubt.)

Buying dark chocolate could earn you extra brownie points for being concerned with the health of your significant other, but it could also backfire. The ingredients touted by researchers make dark chocolate more bitter than milk chocolate or white chocolate. Milk chocolate is more familiar to Americans and contains milk ingredients (no surprise there) in addition to cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and sugar. White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, milk, and sugar but contains no cocoa solids.

These different types of chocolate can take a few different forms. There are chocolate bars, of course, and the chocolate-dipped candies known as bonbons. Truffles feature creamy ganache encased in a chocolate shell. All can be dressed up with nuts, fruit, or other flavors.

Below are Cheapism’s top picks for affordable chocolate.

• Lindt Lindor Truffles (starting at $8 for a 5.1 oz. box, or 67 cents a piece) come in dark, milk, and white chocolate varieties. In a blind taste test, our panel found the ganache in all three smooth and delectable. The dark truffles proved sweeter than they expected. (Where to buy)
• Cadbury Royal Dark Chocolate (starting at $2.19 for a 4 oz. bar) wins the admiration even of those who prefer milk chocolate. Tasters describe a pleasing texture and a semi-sweet taste with notes of cinnamon. (Where to buy)
• Dove Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate (starting at 79 cents for a 1.3 oz. bar) isn’t exactly silky smooth, according to our tasters. However, it is a mild dark chocolate with a nice sweetness. (Where to buy)
• The Trader Joe's Box of Chocolates (starting at $4.99 for a 16 oz. box, or 15 cents a piece) is unavailable online, so only those with a Trader Joe’s store nearby can get their hands on this assortment. Our panel singled out the all-chocolate bonbons; others are filled with caramel, toffee, or fruit-flavored cream. A guide inside the box reveals which is which, and the whole thing is wrapped in heart-patterned paper.

More from Cheapism:
Cheap chocolate
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Today Money financial expert David Bach joined us for a live Web chat Wednesday to answer your questions.

Here’s one of his answers to questions from the live chat. (See below for the full Q&A and video of David’s TV appearance this morning.)

Guest asked:

“Hi - I am contributing 15% to my 401K but my company only matches 50% up to 6%. Should I be doing something else with my 9%?”

David replied:

“Dear Guest! You should leave it alone...you are brilliant and doing everything right. You will look back later in life and be sooooooooooooo GLAD you put 15% in your 401k plan. You friends will wonder how you go to retire ten years before them and it will be because you saved three times more than they did! Well done, stay the course.”

Here’s the full chat archive and David’s TV appearance:

If you have a question for our TODAY Money experts, submit it here.

To sign up for an e-mail reminder for our next chat, click here.

Anyone who has ever busted a jaw on a Jaw Buster or singed his lips on a Red Hot should be in mourning today.

Nello Ferrara, the man who led the company that invented those confectionery classics and others (Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans, Atomic Fireballs), has died, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 93.

Ferrara was the scion of a candy-making family that emigrated from Italy early in the last century and set up shop in Chicago with the Ferrara Pan Candy Co. The "pan" refers to the method of making the candy whereby "grains of sugar, nuts or candy centers" get tossed around in revolving pans "while adding the flavor, color and other candy ingredients," according to the company's website. The candy gets tossed around until it becomes the desired size and then it is polished with vegetable wax.

Ferrara came up with the idea for Atomic Fireballs in 1954 after serving in post-World War II Japan, the Chicago Sun-Times said, quoting Ferrara's son, company CEO Salvatore Ferrara II. 

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It's tough out there for America's young adults. Rent prices are climbing. Student loan debt is skyrocketing. Wages are stagnant. Many are delaying marriage and raising a family.

But the biggest problem is unemployment. Some reports suggest that fewer young Americans than ever are participating in the labor force.

Are you an 18- to 24-year-old who is working or looking for work? We’d like to talk to you for a story.

Share your story on Facebook.

Financial aid season kicks in this month, which means that many high school seniors and their parents are scrambling around for help.

According to Princeton Review's Robert Franek, 86 percent of college students need some form of financial aid in order to afford their education. But there is good news: About $170 billion in student aid is available. 

Here is an excerpt from The Best Value Colleges - 2012 Edition: The 150 Best-Buy Schools and What It Takes to Get In  (Published by Random House / Princeton Review Books Copyright © 2011 by The Princeton Review, Inc.)  Reprinted with permission.

Paying for College Tips 

When it comes to actually paying for college, there is a lot of information out there. A great resource is the book Paying for College Without Going Broke by Kal Chany. Here, we have some tips from Kal for applying for financial aid and ways to trim the costs of college.

1. Get the best score possible on the ACT or SAT.

Colleges don’t just consider your standardized test score(s) in their admissions decisions—they consider them in their financial aid decisions as well. Even a 10-point increase in your SAT score, for example, could save your family thousands of dollars. Simply put, colleges want students with high test scores and they give better aid packages to these students. You should enroll in a test preparation course or, at the very least, buy a book with practice tests or sample questions. 

2. Be a smart shopper.

Check schools’ financial aid statistics on PrincetonReview.com. Your chances of getting significant aid will be better at schools that give generous financial aid packages. Make sure you pay attention to our Financial Aid Rating for each school. 

3. Don’t immediately rule out a college because you think it’s too expensive.

The higher the cost, the more aid you may receive. Many colleges—especially the private ones—have increased their aid budgets to attract applicants whose families are now more cost-conscious given the state of the economy. A generous aid award from a pricey private school can make it less costly than a public school with a lower sticker price. But have some back-up schools in case you don’t receive enough aid to attend the pricier schools. 

4. Apply to “financial aid safety schools.”

You should purposely apply to some schools where your test scores and academic record exceed the school’s admission standards. These schools, in addition to being “safety schools” in the traditional sense, are much more likely to give you merit-based aid or a better need-based aid package (i.e. one with more scholarships or grants and fewer loans). You should also apply to schools that you can afford without much—or any—aid. Most likely this will mean applying to a public institution in your home state as well as a nearby school that would allow you to live at home and skip the cost of room and board. 

5. Consider attending a community college for two years.

After two years, you can transfer to a pricier school to finish your bachelor’s degree. The diploma won’t say “transfer student” on it but it will be identical to the one earned by a student who paid high tuition for all four years. Just plan ahead and be sure that the college to which you expect to transfer will accept the community college’s credits. 

6. Be realistic about outside scholarships.

These scholarships account for less than five percent of all aid awarded. Research them at PrincetonReview.com or other free sites. Steer clear of scholarship search firms that charge fees and “promise” scholarships. 

7. Earn college credits while still in high school.

You should take AP classes as many colleges award credits for high AP exam scores. Also take “dual enrollment” classes if they are offered at your high school. Dual enrollment classes are special classes at your school that will earn you credit at a nearby college. You’ll be able to take these credits with you when you start college. If your high school doesn’t offer dual enrollment, consider taking CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) exams in the subjects you take in high school. Depending on the college, a qualifying score on any of the 33 CLEP exams can earn students 3 to 12 college credits. Some students have cut a year off their college tuition through AP classes, dual enrollment, and/or CLEP. 

8. Explore whether “cooperative education” (co-op) programs are offered at the colleges on your list.

More than 900 colleges allow students to combine their college education with a job. It can take longer to complete a degree this way, but graduates generally owe less in student loans and have a better chance of getting hired after graduation. 

9. Talk to your parents about maximizing your family’s aid eligibility.

Financial aid awards for your first year of college will be based in part on your family’s income for the calendar year beginning Jan. 1 of your junior year and ending Dec. 31 of your senior year of high school. For this reason, it is not too early to begin planning when you are in the 9th or 10th grade. Your family should consider making the appropriate adjustments to its assets, debts, and retirement funds. If your family has a complicated financial situation, it may be beneficial for your parents to hire an independent financial aid consultant. 

10. Apply for financial aid regardless of your family’s financial situation.

There is no automatic cut-off if your family makes a certain amount of money; you should assume that you’re eligible. Even if you don’t end up being eligible for need-based aid, some merit-based aid (for academic ability, athletic ability, etc.) may only be awarded if you have submitted financial aid applications. 

11. Don’t wait until you’ve been accepted to a school to apply for financial aid there.

Meet each school’s financial aid deadlines. A school’s financial aid office website is the best place to find its filing requirements and deadlines. Most schools have deadlines between January 31st and March 15th. If you submit your forms after a school’s priority filing deadline(s), the amount of aid you are awarded may be reduced. 

12. Complete all of the required aid forms.

All students seeking aid must submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). However additional forms, including special-state aid forms, the College Board’s CSS PROFILE, or the school’s own forms may be required. Check with each school for specifics. For the FAFSA and, if applicable, the CSS PROFILE you will need to meet the earliest deadline for that form among the schools to which you are applying. 

13. Don’t fear the PROFILE.

While this form requests more information than the FAFSA does, don’t be dismayed if a school requests it. This form can actually lead to more aid in many circumstances as schools that require the PROFILE generally have more of their own aid to give out in addition to state and federal assistance. 

14. If your parents’ or your own tax returns cannot be completed prior to the deadline for a financial aid form, estimate income and other tax information.

Aid applications ask for tax return information for those who file or will file taxes. If your parents’ or your own taxes (if applicable) won’t be done in time to meet a deadline, you can put estimated numbers on your aid forms; it is more important that you submit each aid form by the appropriate deadline than it is to be 100% accurate with income and expense figures. You will be able to provide the final numbers later, after taxes have been done. But don’t forget this last step — many schools will request a copy of tax returns or non-filer statements to verify the information on your aid applications. 

15. Don’t rush.

Financial aid forms are like the SAT—you get the most credit for being right and on-time, not “first in line.” To get the most aid possible, you should have some understanding of how each question on each form will impact your aid eligibility. As this information is not provided on the aid forms themselves, you should refer to a consumer-friendly publication for assistance. (Paying for College Without Going Broke, for example, provides line-by-line strategies for completing the FAFSA and PROFILE to your best advantage.) If your financial situation is complicated, you might consider hiring a financial aid consultant to assist you. 

16. If you don’t already have your U.S. Department of Education PIN (Personal Identification Number), apply for it now.

A PIN allows one to sign the FAFSA electronically, which reduces processing time. You can either go to the PIN web site(www.pin.ed.gov) or request a PIN as you complete the FAFSA on the Web. Note: students who are required to provide parental information on the FAFSA will need to have their parent(s) (or custodial stepparent, if applicable) sign the FAFSA. Each person who wants to sign the FAFSA electronically must have for their own PIN. 

17. Frequently check your email and log onto school websites to track the status of your financial aid applications.

Once the schools have received your financial aid forms, they may require additional info (e.g., your parents’ tax returns) that they haven’t already mentioned. Be on the lookout for updates regarding your status. 

18. Know that the schools are the ones in charge.

The FAFSA and PROFILE processors just give a school’s financial aid office the information it needs to make their financial aid decisions. The financial aid office will determine the types and dollar amounts of the aid you will receive; it can override the analysis done by the form processors. If your family’s circumstances have a taken a turn for the worse since last year, you can request additional aid directly from schools’ financial aid office. But expect that supporting documentation will be required. 

19. Learn as much as you can about how the aid process works.

In theory, financial aid funds are supposed to go to those who need the money the most. The reality, however, is that financial aid funds flow to those who know how to navigate the aid process to their best advantage. The more you know about the process, the more confident you can be that you will get the most aid possible!

***

Top 10 Best Value Public Colleges  

1. University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill NC)

2. University of Virginia (Charlottesville VA)

3. New College of Florida (Sarasota FL)

4. State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton NY)

5. University of Wisconsin (Madison WI)

6. College of William and Mary (Williamsburg VA)

7. University of Florida (Gainesville FL)

8. University of Georgia (Athens GA)

9. University of Washington (Seattle)

10. University of Texas at Austin  

Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges  

1. Williams College (Williamstown MA)

2. Swarthmore College (Swarthmore PA)

3. Princeton University (Princeton NJ)

4. Harvard College (Cambridge MA)

5. Rice University (Houston TX)

6. Pomona College (Claremont CA)

7. Washington University (St. Louis MO)

8. Yale University (New Haven CT)

9. California Institute of Technology (Pasadena CA)

10. Hamilton College (Hamilton NY)  

The Princeton Review chose the 150 colleges (75 public and 75 private schools) on its "Best Value Colleges for 2012" list based on institutional data and student opinion surveys the Company conducted from fall 2010 through fall 2011 at 650 colleges and universities the education services company regards as the nation's academically best undergraduate institutions. The selection process reviewed wide range of factors that analyzed more than 30 data points in three areas:  academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid.

Surviving a meeting with your intellect intact requires having bullet-proof confidence in your own smarts.

We all know that meetings can be dull and boring. A new study shows that they can also make you stupid.

"You may joke about how committee meetings make you feel brain dead, but our findings suggest that they may make you act brain dead as well," says study co-author Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory and Computational Psychiatry Unit at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute.

There's a special social dynamic that occurs in meetings, Montague says, that can not only make us feel stupid, but also make us act that way. All it takes is a colleague who seems smarter than us when he/she does a presentation, says the study’s lead author Kenneth T. Kishida, a research scientist at the institute. That can make us feel stupid -- and that can get in the way of how our brains process information.

To look at how meetings might affect our ability to think, the researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to watch people’s brains as they worked in a group setting, according to the new report published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

At the beginning of the study, 70 college-student volunteers took an IQ test. Interestingly, Kishida says, the group of students turned out to have fairly high IQs, averaging around 126. Next, the students were divided into groups of five, with two randomly selected from each group to be scanned in the MRI.

The study volunteers were then given a second IQ test (two from each group in the MRI during testing), but this time they were given feedback on how they stacked up against the rest of their group each time they answered a question.

Although study volunteers were well matched to others in their groups in terms of initial IQ scores, many had scores that dropped dramatically when they were constantly getting feedback on where they stood compared to the others.

And the brain scans offered some clues as to why. Just being reminded of how others in the group were faring was enough to fire up parts of the brain, such as the amygdala, that are involved in fear, anxiety and emotional response, Kishida said.

“There’s something about being in a group context that interferes with how we express our intelligence,” Kishida says.

The study may show why some “brainstorming” sessions actually turn into brain drains.

Question: Do meetings send you into brain lock?

Eli Meir Kaplan / The Atlantic

A produce aisle of a Wal-Mart is seen in this file photo.

Wal-Mart is unveiling a simple icon that it says will help consumers make a snap decision about whether a food is healthy, without delving into the nitty-gritty of the nutrition label.

The move by the nation's biggest retailer to label some food products as "Great For You," being unveiled Tuesday, could be a significant development in the fight against obesity because of the company's enormous influence in the marketplace, over both consumers and food vendors eager to sell into the Wal-Mart supply chain.

There have been fumbles in the past. In 2009, major food makers backed off a plan to label foods as “smart choices” after the Food and Drug Administration, which has been working on a standard system for such logos, noted that many competing nutrition symbols could be confusing. At the time, some food makers were criticized for trying to market items such as mayonnaise and sugary cereals as “smart choices.”

The FDA has not finished its standards, but Wal-Mart is moving ahead to slap a green jumping-jack-shaped icon onto certain in-house Great Value and Marketside products as well as on fresh fruits and vegetables.

Wal-Mart will provide detailed criteria for the "Great For You" label on its website but is trying to give an easy visual cue to busy shoppers roaming the grocery aisles in its thousands of stores.

Wal-Mart plans to slap this label on produce and some house-brand packaged food items.

“If you’re walking down the aisles you’ll basically be able to see the better choices,” said Leslie Dach, the company’s executive vice president for corporate affairs, in a news briefing.

Wal-Mart announced plans to develop the icon last year, as part of a heavily promoted initiative endorsed by first lady Michelle Obama as part of her push to fight obesity. Wal-Mart also has promised to reduce prices on healthier items, offer more stores in underserved “food deserts” and reduce sodium, sugar and trans fats in certain packaged foods.

The first “Great For You” icons will start appearing in produce aisles in April, company executives said. The labels then will gradually roll out on certain store-branded packaged items throughout the year.

Andrea Thomas, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of sustainability, said other companies that supply food to Wal-Mart could choose to use the icon if they wished. If consumers start shifting their behavior as a result of the labels, she said that could provide an incentive to other food makers to adopt the system.

Christina Roberto, a doctoral student with Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity who is studying food labeling, said the idea of a simple label is a good one – as long as the criteria for what gets the label is sound.

“It will be important to think about, ‘What nutrition criteria are they using?’” she said.

Wal-Mart said it conducted rigorous tests to make sure no unusual products squeaked through in its guidelines.

“There are no candy bars that would qualify,” Thomas said.

The company said it developed its criteria by looking at government guidelines and working with health organizations and other parties interested in healthy eating.

For example:

• Raisins will get the icon, but dried fruit with sugar added would not.
• Plain oatmeal qualifies, but sweetened oatmeal does not.
• Brown rice will get the label. White rice will not.
• Plain or artificially sweetened yogurt makes the cut, but yogurt sweetened with sugar does not.
• Skim milk would carry the icon, but whole milk would not.

Some decisions were harder than others. For example eggs ultimately were included because they are a good, low-cost source of protein despite concerns over cholesterol, Thomas said.

Thomas said Wal-Mart looked closely at FDA definitions to avoid potential conflicts but was not willing to wait for the FDA to come out with a standardized labeling system.

FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey said in an email that the government agency is still working to create a standard front-of-package labeling system, and appreciates Wal-Mart's interest in making a tool intended to help consumers make healthy choices.

Other retailers also have experimented with offering healthy food labels, as part of efforts to address nationwide obesity problems.

For example, grocery chain Supervalu has a “nutrition iQ” system that uses color-coded shelf tags to identify which foods at its stores are healthier.

But Wal-Mart, as the nation's biggest grocer, inherently has more power and influence.

Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst with NPD Group and an expert on eating habits, said new health labels tend to get noticed because consumers are always looking for something different.

But he said his research has consistently shown that people think about other things first, such as taste and value.

“Health is always a secondary consideration in the foods and beverages that you eat,” Balzer said.

What do you think of Wal-Mart's new labels? Tell us on Facebook.

Related:

Wal-Mart, other big boxes try out smaller boxes

Food makers’ challenge: Reduce salt, keep taste

He's a great worker, but that joke was terrible!

You may need to have more than a head for numbers to get a job in finance these days.

A new survey of chief financial officers finds that most think it’s somewhat or very important to have a sense of humor if you want to fit in with their companies.

The survey of 1,400 CFOs, conducted on behalf of staffing firm Accountemps, found that 57 percent think an employee’s sense of humor is somewhat important when it comes to fitting in with the company’s corporate culture. Another 22 percent said it was very important.

Only 20 percent thought humor wasn't important at all.

We’re guessing that when you work in an intense field like finance or accounting, it helps to be able to crack a joke to lighten things up. That’s worth keeping in mind should you find yourself at a job interview with a CFO.

Of course, some accountants seem to prefer to save all their humor for their resignation letter.

Ellen DeGeneres, right, and her wife, actress Portia DeGeneres.

J.C. Penney is turning its back on One Million Moms, a group which called for the retailer to dump talk show host Ellen DeGeneres as its national spokeswoman because she is gay.

In an emailed statement to Yahoo! Shine on Friday, J.C. Penney confirmed it "stands behind its partnership with Ellen DeGeneres."

One Million Moms, a project of the American Family Association, earlier said that "DeGeneres is not a true representation of the type of families that shop at their store. The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there." The group claims to be "the most powerful tool you have to stand against the immorality, violence, vulgarity and profanity the entertainment media is throwing at your children."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) applauded J.C. Penney's decision to stick with DeGeneres.

"This week Americans spoke out in overwhelming support of LGBT people and J.C. Penney’s decision not to fire Ellen simply for who she happens to love,” said Herndon Graddick, senior director of programs and communications at GLAAD.

GLAAD says it has received nearly 25,000 signatures on a website dedicated to showing support for J.C. Penney and DeGeneres.

Discuss Ellen and the J.C. Penney issue over on Facebook.

TV? Yep, many of you would dump it if someone would pay your bills.

This week, we asked Life Inc. readers the hypothetical question: What would you give up in exchange for having someone else pay your bills for a month?

The most popular answer: Television.

“I gave up TV on my own a year ago. My incentive is not paying that ridiculous cable bill,” one reader wrote.

The most surprising answer: Sex.

About 19 percent of the approximately 27,000 people who took the poll said giving up one of life’s pleasures would be worth it if you didn’t have to worry about the bills.

Many lamented that’s because they wouldn’t be giving up much, anyway.

“Not really giving it up since I haven't had sex since the Johnson Administration (ANDREW Johnson),” one reader wrote.

Needless to say, this is a hypothetical question - in the real world, most people can’t do much about having to pay their bills, or their taxes.

We may also grumble – a lot – about those taxes, but when it comes down to it most Life Inc. readers wouldn’t cheat Uncle Sam.

This week, we also reported on a survey from the IRS Oversight Board showing that 8 percent of people think it’s acceptable to to cheat on income taxes “as much as possible.”

In our poll, about 70 percent of readers said it’s never OK to cheat.

“With so many loopholes, who needs to cheat?” one reader asked.

Another wondered:  “Is the IRS checking these responses?”

If you’re having trouble paying your bills, or your taxes, it may be because you’re one of the millions of folks out there looking for a job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics this week released its outlook for where the biggest job growth will be in the coming decade.

Given our aging population, it’s no surprise that many of those new jobs will be in health care, including registered nurses.

Many of our readers complained that so many of the fastest growing jobs on the list are in fields that don’t pay much.

“Most of those jobs look like they are very low paying. Wow, good for us,” one reader wrote.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

We already know that one key way to make more money and stay employed is to get more education.

Now a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics adds another piece of evidence that it usually pays off, literally, to shoot for that master’s degree or higher.

The BLS this week released a detailed forecast for how it expects the job market to change in the current decade (the '10s?).

Among the findings: Jobs that require some sort of postsecondary degree for entry are expected to grow at the fastest clip from 2010 to 2020.

The report found that jobs that require a masters’ degree or more are projected to grow by 21.7 percent over that decade, to a little more than 2.4 million total jobs, compared with just 12.2 percent growth in jobs that require only a high school diploma.

The number of jobs that require a doctoral or professional degree will grow by 19.9 percent, to nearly 5.3 million, while the number that require a college degree is expected to grow 16.5 percent to a total of 25.8 million.

Despite the higher rate of growth, there will still be fewer total jobs requiring those advanced degrees, and many more that just require a high school degree.

The BLS predicts that by 2020 about 69.7 million jobs, or nearly 43 percent of the total, will only require a high school diploma to get in the door.

Of course, plenty of people who are college educated are working as baristas, store managers and other positions that may not require a college degree.

Overall, the Labor Department expects about 20.5 million new jobs to be created between 2010 and 2020 as the job market picks up steam after a deep recession and weak early recovery. Last year the economy created about 1.6 million new jobs, according to preliminary figures.

Many of the net new jobs to be added in coming years will be in health care and social assistance fields, reflecting our aging population and increased medical needs.

Other industries expected to see big job growth will be playing catch-up from the recession. For example, the outlook calls for about 1.8 million new construction jobs to be created in coming years, making it one of the sectors with the highest job growth. But the BLS notes that even if the projections are correct and construction employment reaches nearly 7.4 million, that will be fewer jobs than before the recession began in 2007.

Related:

Here's where the jobs will (and won't) be in 2020

The majors with the best job prospects

Do you think it pays to get a graduate degree or higher level or education? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

A registered nurse prepares to administer a flu shot.

Considering a career change? You may want to think hard about nursing, and you probably don’t want to set your sights on a job as a mail carrier.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday released its predictions for what jobs will see the biggest growth – and the biggest declines – between 2010 and 2020.

Overall, government analysts expect employment to grow show growth of 14.3 percent from 2010 to 2020, meaning 20.5 million new jobs will be added.

But job growth will hardly be equal across all industries and job categories. The BLS projects registered nurses will see the biggest job growth over the decade, adding more than 711,000 jobs.

Retail sales will be the second-biggest area of growth, with a predicted 706,000 jobs added.

The government also offered projections on where jobs will disappear fastest. Two words come to mind here: Snail mail.

Postal service mail sorters, carriers and clerks make up three of the 10 occupations projected to have the largest declines over the decade. That should not be too surprising given plans to close thousands of post offices nationwide.

The farming and ranching business, which employed about 1.2 million people as of 2010, is expected to shed 96,000 jobs over the position, the largest number for a single occupation.

And if you had your heart set on work operating a sewing machine or switchboard, bad news: Those were also on the list of jobs expected to become much more scarce.

And now for the good news. Here’s a list of the 15 occupations expected to see the largest job growth by 2020:

• Registered Nurses
• Retail Salespersons
• Home Health Aides
• Personal Care Aides
• Office Clerks, General
• Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food
• Customer Service Representatives
• Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
• Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
• Postsecondary Teachers
• Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants
• Childcare Workers
• Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
• Cashiers
• Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education

Click here to see all the employment projections at the BLS website.

Today Money financial expert David Bach joined us for a live Web chat Wednesday to answer your questions.

Here’s one of his answers to questions from the live chat. (See below for the full Q&A and video of David’s TV appearance this morning.)

Jennifer asked:

“My husband and I are 30 and because we were in graduate school most of our 20s, we are just starting to save money. At what point in life does it make sense to get a financial planner? How much should a financial planner cost?”

David replied:

“I think the sooner you get a financial planner the better. With that said, you should read up on investing before your hire one so you know what questions to ask and you are prepared better to screen a good advisor from a bad advisor. Read Smart Couples Finish Rich, before you hire a financial advisor. In this book I also layout how to hire and how to pay a financial advisor. The cost to do a basic financial plan is around $500 to $5,000 depending on how detailed it is. Then there are costs to work with the financial advisor. Most advisors today charge a flat fee on assets of around 1%. You can also hire financial advisors by the hour. Hope that helps you get started! Lastly before you hire a financial advisor check out their background online by visiting the NASD website and make sure there are not any complaints or legal issues with the advisor.”

Here’s the full chat archive and David’s TV appearance:

If you have a question for our TODAY Money experts, submit it here.

To sign up for an e-mail reminder for our next chat, click here.

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What would you give up in exchange for not worrying about those monthly bills?

In the real world, the weak economy has left far too many Americans fretting about getting their bills paid each month.

That’s why it can be a stress reliever to take a trip into the hypothetical world, where you can consider what you’d give up in exchange for going one month without worrying about the bills.

A new survey finds that — hypothetically, of course — 18 percent of Americans would give up sex for six months in exchange for having someone else pay their bills for just one month.

The same survey, conducted by polling firm Toluna on behalf of a bill-paying company called BillFloat, found that 26 percent of respondents would turn off the TV for a month if those bills were paid for them.

In exchange for no bills for a month, 21 percent would give up digital devices and their cell phone, and 14 percent would go without Internet access.

It turns out we’re more willing to give up sex than vanity. Only 9 percent would add 15 pounds of body weight in exchange for not having to pay their bills this month.

It says something about the state of the economy that so many Americans would give up life's pleasures in exchange for relief from financial worries. Still, most of us would rather just lump it and pay the bills: 52 percent of those surveyed said they wouldn’t do any of those things.

The survey of 1,045 people was conducted in mid-January.

Of course, all these questions are hypothetical. In the real world, we’ve never heard of anyone offering to pay our bills if we just went a month without TV.

Anyone?