Taking away the car keys from an elderly parent may be easy in comparison to taking over their checkbook. Knowing when and how requires some skill, according to Jean Chatzky, TODAY’s financial editor.

“As we get older we lose our ability to make good financial decisions, but we get more confident in our ability to make financial decisions,” Chatzky said.

A recent report in Wall Street Journal Marketwatch noted that about a quarter of the people 65 and over have at least a slight cognitive impairment, according to research by Dr. Malaz Boustani, associate professor of medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the director of the Wishard Healthy Aging Brain Center. But for the population 85 and older, about half have some sort of impairment.

“This is one of the things we know goes first,” Chatzky said.

There are tell-tale signs that something may be amiss, but you need to look for them, Chatzky advises.

“You want to look at how bill payment is being handled. So if you go into the house, or a neighbor goes into the house and sees piles of unopened bills or unopened mail, that’s a trouble sign,” she said. “Also if you’re with them in a restaurant and they seem to think they have more cash than they actually do, or they’re getting forgetful about that, that’s a sign again that they’re not paying attention but also that they may not be able to get to the bank or get to the ATM.”

Other signs include calls from creditors or a lot of expensive items showing up in the home.

It’s best to talk about these issues well before the need arises, Chatzky said. Also, both parents and adult children think it’s easier to discuss the topic when a financial adviser is present, according to the Intra-Family Generational Finance Study by Fidelity Investments.

And lastly, if you have siblings, make sure to keep them in the loop when it comes to your parents’ money, Chatzky said.

American Eagle Outfitters shows its cheeky side in a video ad for a new pair of skinny jeans so tight, they’re practically sprayed on.

That’s because they are.

It takes a brave person to wear the AEO Skinny Skinny, hawked in a 30-second faux ad going viral. The video features young people expressing ways to emphasize their creativity and individuality – and their preference for jeans that feel like almost nothing.

The video contains a link to American Eagle’s website, where limited edition cans of the spray on jeans are sold for $49.95 each. (They’re available in “indigo” or “bright” wash.)

But snap! Try adding the cans to your shopping bag and you get the following pop-up message:

“Sorry! The AEO Skinny Skinny is temporarily sold out. Enter your email below and we’ll let you know when the Skinny Skinny is back in stock!”

For the record, Skinny Skinny spray-on jeans don’t exist, said Bob Holobinko, vice president of brand marketing for American Eagle.

"We are not selling it, just to be clear,” he clarified Friday on TODAY, as two models showed off the "jeans." The brave pair were painted for the appearance in conjunction with CollegeHumor.com. 

“We just wanted to have fun, and have fun with our fans,” he said. “And it was a good opportunity to kind of push it from a brand standpoint and the response has been incredible.”

The YouTube video has generated more than 348,000 views so far.

Story: How to find your dream jeans

In the ad, one young man says, “I like skinny jeans. Sometimes they’re not skinny enough.” He is then shown skateboarding wearing a jacket and nothing below but some dark blue spray paint.

A woman declares, “I love really skinny jeans,” before the camera shows a tight shot of her "Avatar"-blue derriere.

Peter Shankman, an independent marketing consultant, called the campaign “brilliant.” Although people watching the ad knows the product is fake, it still draws them to the retailer’s website.

“Let’s be honest, when was the last time you heard about a good American Eagle ad?” he said. “It was a while ago. So this is phenomenal. A great way to bust out from the mainstream. People are talking about it.”

Holobinko said the video is the first installment of a campaign they consider “a journey.” A second release will be issued next week and people who enter their email on the “Skinny Skinny” site will get additional information.

“So for all of our customers that have come along with us, there’s going to be a really great reveal at the very end,” he said.

Although some may consider the commercial daring, Holobinko said they were very careful putting the final product together.

“We knew we were putting ourselves out there, I think that was the goal,” he said. “But even through the edit and through the filtering process we had to be cautious of what we were showing. But we think we landed in a good spot.”

More: Frugal Friday: How to save money on those pricey pets 
Pepsi bottle gets a makeover after 17 years 

A contentious divorce involving an Oklahoma oil baron could potentially lead to a multibillion-dollar settlement for his estranged wife that would be the biggest in U.S. history.

Harold Hamm, 67, the chief executive of Continental Resources, is in the midst of divorce proceedings with his second wife, former Continental Resources executive Sue Ann Hamm. After filing for divorce on May 19, 2012, she has claimed in court documents that her husband was unfaithful during their marriage. He has acknowledged that the couple separated back in 2005, and the two have lived separate lives ever since.

Hamm is worth an estimated $11.3 billion and was No. 35 on last year’s list of the 50 richest Americans put out by Forbes. The potential settlement his wife could receive may exceed the more than $1.7 billion paid out in 1999 to Anna Murdoch, the ex-wife of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, depending on whether or not there was a prenuptial agreement.

“This is the King Kong of divorce cases,’’ divorce attorney Raoul Felder told TODAY. “Vast fortune. Sue Ann stands to make lots and lots of money, more than what is really on the table.’’

The control of Continental Resources also could be at stake, as Harold has a 68 percent stake in the $11.2 billion company that could be considered marital property and divided up in a potential settlement. Since news of the divorce became public on Thursday, shares of Continental Resources have fallen by almost 3 percent.

Hamm was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine, and served as an energy adviser in Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. The couple married in 1988 and have two adult children. Harold Hamm also has three children from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1987.

The couple’s marriage has been tempestuous for the last 15 years. Harold filed for divorce in 1998 and ordered Sue Ann to undergo a psychological evaluation before he later withdrew the divorce petition, according to a report by Reuters. Sue Ann filed for divorce in 2005, but the case was dropped.

Read more: 

Living with less: Tech millionaire downsizes to 420 square feet

Pepsi bottles get a makeover after 17 years

Feds crack down on 'discriminatory' auto loans

After selling his tech start-up for millions in the 1990s, Graham Hill lived in a mansion in Seattle stocked with expensive furniture, the latest gadgets, and flashy cars in the driveway.

Hill still has the money, but now he lives in a sparsely-furnished, 420-square foot studio apartment in New York City — and he couldn’t be happier.

An advocate of the minimalist lifestyle, Hill showed TODAY’S Craig Melvin how less could be more with a tour of his apartment, which features a fold-down bed, a table that extends to seat 12 guests for dinner, and an office space that recedes into the wall.

“People understand that we have super-sized, and it's not really working for us and maybe there's a better solution,’’ Hill said in a segment on TODAY Thursday. “I think life is about experiences and about connections and about relationships, and I think you want to maximize your time focused on that and minimize your time focused on acquiring more stuff and dealing with it."

Hill’s current lifestyle, which he described earlier this month in an op-ed for the New York Times as well as a TED talk last year that has received nearly two million views online, is a far cry from his “MTV Cribs’’ existence in the 1990s. While jet-setting around the world, he realized the things he owned were starting to own him.

“That process of acquiring lots of stuff relatively quickly and feeling sort of wasteful and not very conscious about the whole thing and realizing at the end of the day, it didn't really make me any happier than my smaller, simpler life,’’ Hill said.

At the practical level, Hill now has a lot less clutter to worry about. His dining ware consists of 10 shallow bowls for salads and dishes, he only owns six dress shirts, and he doesn’t have a single DVD. He also points out that having less space to heat and cool means saving money on bills.

“Less stuff to take care of, less stuff to think about, less stuff to maintain, easier to find things — it’s just overall simpler,’’ he said.

Hill does acknowledge that the minimalist lifestyle gets a lot tougher to maintain for those married with children. As Melvin noted after one look into Hill’s stripped down bathroom, “This is a bachelor's bathroom. If you were married, there is no way you share this space with the wife.”

Despite its challenges, Hill still believes the lifestyle can benefit many and is looking to take his approach to the masses by working with a developer.

“I want to build larger buildings composed of small spaces paired with a lot of community,’’ he said.

More from TODAY: 
Photographer aims to meet all 788 of his Facebook friends in person
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At a growing number of companies across the country, sleeping on the job is considered a good thing.

With more Americans failing to get adequate sleep, companies like The Huffington Post and Nationwide Planning Associates have created “nap rooms” for employees to grab a few z’s in hopes of making them more productive at work.

Rather than have their employees snoring under their desks like George Costanza on "Seinfeld," Nationwide Planning’s New Jersey office has a nap room with a recliner that allows one worker at a time to catch up on sleep. Other companies have purchased “EnergyPods,” made by a company called MetroNaps: chairs specially designed for power naps in the workplace. Priced from $8,900 to $12,900, the chairs have been used by companies in 20 countries across four continents, including Google and Procter & Gamble.

TODAY

Al gives the EnergyPod a test run.

To allow the employee to stretch out and sleep, the EnergyPod includes a bottom component that makes it resemble a chaise lounge, and an adjustable pod top that can block light. The EnergyPod can last for 10 years before having to be replaced, according to the company.

At Nationwide Planning, there is one nap room for the New Jersey office's 20 workers. “We call it the ‘rejuvenation center’ to put a more positive spin on it,’’ Nationwide Planning’s James Colleary told TODAY Friday. “People associate napping with laziness.’’

Colleary pushed for a nap room, and company executives quickly noticed happier, more productive employees.

“The nap for me, personally speaking, really allows me to approach the second half of the day with a lot more force,’’ Mike Karalewich, Nationwide Planning’s chief compliance officer, told TODAY.

TODAY

Companies like Google, Procter & Gamble and The Huffington Post have created "nap rooms'' with recliners for employees to rejuvenate themselves midday with a quick nap.

“I firmly believe that napping breaks will become the new coffee break eventually,’’ Colleary said.

According to a 2011 poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 43 percent of Americans claim they don’t get enough sleep. A power nap can’t replace all of that lost sleep, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. To make the most of your nap, experts say, rest in a cool, dark room and limit your nap to 20 or 30 minutes.

“We all get sleepy in the midafternoon, and it looks like our body clocks are winding down a little bit then,’’ Dr. Steven Feinsilver, the director of the Mount Sinai Center for Sleep Medicine, told TODAY. “If you need an extra two hours of sleep, getting a half an hour is good, and it helps.’’

Huffington Post founder and president Arianna Huffington used to think that working 24-7 was the only way to be productive, but learned the hard way that a midday nap can make a big difference. Five years ago, she fainted from exhaustion, ending up with a broken cheekbone and stitches -- and a newfound appreciation of how being sleep-deprived makes it harder to focus and function.

“Sleep makes us more productive, creative, less stressed and much healthier and happier,’’ Huffington told TODAY. “Even a 20-minute nap in the middle of the day can make a huge difference. I grew up thinking that if you work around the clock, you are going to be more effective, and I realize that is not true.’’

There are now two nap rooms for the more than 400 workers in the The Huffington Post’s New York office, with a third on the way.

“Just putting in 20 minutes off the computer on the couch makes all the difference in the world to me,’’ Nate Hindman of The Huffington Post told TODAY.

Would you use a "nap room" if you could? Weigh in below!

Read more: 

Many moms – and dads – are stressed out by 'having it all'

Most execs believe they can ‘have it all’ – but with a catch

Battle of the bulge: Spanx v. Yummie Tummie over patent

This story was originally published on Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:37 AM EDT

For Jason and Danielle Wagasky, $14,000 is enough for their family of four to live comfortably and debt-free all year.

According to 2012 federal guidelines, a family of four living on $14,000 a year puts them $9,000 below the poverty line. The median household income in the U.S. was $50,054 in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but the Wagasky family’s frugal approach has them living a life that is “blissful and domestic,’’ according to the title of Danielle’s blog.  

For four years, the couple and their kids, Keigan and Libby, have managed with careful planning, using a clothes line in lieu of a dryer and making their own laundry soap. Danielle, 28, shares her tips for frugal living on her blog, writing about how she learned to cook and how her husband built their kitchen.

“I’m happier this way,’’ Danielle told TODAY Friday. “I feel like we’re happier. We’re a better family.”

Their frugal living began when Jason, 31, a former Army sergeant, was stationed in Iraq in 2008, leaving Danielle to manage the family budget.

"He was gone, and I was sad,’’ Danielle said. “Then I had two children to take care of, and all of a sudden, I had to pay these bills. We'd have overdrafts on our bank because I'd be like, ‘Oh man, I forgot that bill that was supposed to come out.’ But I had already spent money."

She was inspired by reading the book "America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money,” by Steve and Annette Economides, who claim they spend $350 a month to maintain a family of seven. Her goal was to save enough money in two years to help them put a down payment on a home.

When Jason returned from his deployment, he decided to return to school. The GI Bill provided him with $14,000 a year in living expenses.

Read story: America's 'cheapest family': 'We are hope and change'

“You have to decide, as a family, this is what we have, so how do we make it work?’’ Jason said.

The couple dipped into their savings to pay off their car bills and then bought a home outright with the money Danielle had saved while Jason was deployed. They paid $30,000 in cash in a foreclosure sale, taking advantage of the struggling market in Las Vegas to buy a three-bedroom house.  

By carefully mapping out meals and sticking to the grocery list without any splurges, the couple has been able to make their $14,000-a-year budget work. They pay only in cash and save credit cards for emergencies, and are also firm believers in the do-it-yourself approach.

“We make our own laundry soap, cleaners, and it saves us money,’’ Danielle said.

They use the local public library to check out books for the children, who are home-schooled. The family’s financial situation could soon improve now that Jason is applying for a job in law enforcement, but they say that more money will not change the way they live.

“The American mentality is to have and want more, like, bigger is never enough,’’ Jason said. “So I think that's where we're kind of different."

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Yahoo's new CEO Marissa Mayer has taken a lot of heat for her ban on working from home. The lion's share of TODAY.com readers disagreed with her decision, too, but Kathie Lee thinks that much of the outcry has to to with the fact that Mayer is a woman. KLG said that radical decisions made by other executives haven't been met with as much resistance.

TODAY

"She's trying to get her ship in shape," said KLG, noting that the policy wouldn't be how she'd personally run things. She also pointed out that the value of the company's stock has increased since Mayer took over, and that it's important to give her credit as a leader.

Hoda said that employee happiness is important to consider, too, but that working from home is a potential sap on productivity. When she's home trying to work, Hoda admitted, "I watch soaps."

KLG agreed that it's better for some families to have the option to work from home, but that the job of a CEO is to think about the bottom line. "A lot of people work really hard… and I feel for everybody. But we live in a world where there's a system in place," she said.

"Let's talk about something trivial that doesn't matter," sighed Hoda, transitioning to a much more hard-hitting topic: Ben Affleck's newly shaved beard.

What do you think of the work-from-home debate? Vote here in our poll. 

Julieanne Smolinski is a TODAY contributor who is glad she never got into soaps.

More: Notable women who made the 2012 Forbes billionaire list
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For a Florida time-share mogul and his wife, size does matter.

After the economic crisis of 2008 caused the couple’s dream home in Windermere, Fla., to go into foreclosure and forced an overleveraged David Siegel to put it on the market, building has resumed on what is to be the largest privately owned home in America.

An estimated three more years of construction lies ahead to finish the modern palace dubbed “Versailles’’: a 90,000-square-foot mansion that will include a 30-car garage, 10 bathrooms, a homework room, a roller rink, three pools, two tennis courts and a bowling alley. There is also a grand ballroom with a ceiling high enough to fit a four-story building inside.

Siegel, 77, and his wife Jackie, 47, gave NBC’s Janet Shamlian a tour of the work in progress in a segment that aired on TODAY Friday.

“We never set out to build the biggest house in America,’’ Jackie said. “It just kinda happened.’’

The saga of the home’s construction has been chronicled in the book “The High-Beta Rich’’ by CNBC’s Robert Frank, as well as in the award-winning documentary film “The Queen of Versailles,’’ which made the couple a symbol of outsize spending, debt and real estate in America. Siegel, who owns timeshare resort firm Westgate Resorts, filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers claiming the movie unfairly portrayed his business, but the case was dismissed.

On TODAY, Siegel told Shamlian that he would not have agreed to do the film if he knew then what he knows now. However, Jackie, who is pursuing a reality show, said she still would have participated.

“But what I would have done differently (in the documentary) if I had known so many millions of people would be seeing it is I would have worn more makeup,’’ Jackie joked.

While the nation still struggles with an unemployment rate just below 8 percent, Siegel said he has recovered from the economic crash and that his company has resumed enough profitability to enable him to complete Versailles. 

In the fall, Siegel made national headlines when he sent an email to his employees saying that if President Barack Obama were re-elected and raised Siegel’s taxes, he would be forced to fire workers and downsize his company.

Siegel, a staunch Republican, denied intimidating his workers into voting for Mitt Romney because their jobs might be at stake. "I can't tell anyone to vote," he told Frank in an interview. “I want my employees to be educated on what could happen to their future if the wrong person is elected."

As for Siegel’s future, he and his wife, who have eight children, are planning on living in the mansion once it’s completed and are not building it just to sell it. 

“We are finishing it to actually finish it, but we do want to live there,’’ Jackie said.

In the meantime, the two have been living in a home that is a two-minute drive away from Versailles. Their current house is 26,000 square feet and has 15 bedrooms, four kitchens, and closets bigger than many New York City apartments.

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This week in celebrity real estate, Pamela Anderson lists her Malibu home and Ethan Hawke puts his New York townhouse on the market.

Pamela Anderson
Malibu home: $7.75 million

Trulia

Pamela Anderson's Malibu home is one block from the beach. Asking price: $7.75 million.

Pamela Anderson is downsizing – and her teak-sided Malibu home is on the market for $7.75 million. She bought the five-bedroom, three bath home 12 years ago, and if she sells at that price, she stands to make a neat $5 million profit. The 2,700-square-foot house was previously listed for rent for $50,000 a month. It’s one block from the beach, and the airy living room has a fireplace and enough room for a baby grand. The sleek master bedroom has a wall of sliding windows that open to a private deck. The roof terrace has a poured concrete fireplace and wide open views of the Malibu Lagoon and surrounding hills. 

Zillow

Ethan Hawke's colorful Chelsea townhouse, listed at $6.25 million, features a wall of built-in bookcases

Chris Bosh
Pacific Palisades, Calif., mansion for rent: $45,000 a month 

Zillow

Miami Heat basketball star Chris Bosh is renting out his Pacific Palisades mansion for $45,000 a month.

The Miami Heat’s eight-time NBA All-Star Chris Bosh has put his Pacific Palisades mansion up for rent for $45,000 a month. The six-bedroom, eight bath home has nearly 11,000 square feet of mock-Mediterranean style. The home has stunning views and a gigantic resort-style pool with a sunken banquette and fire pit smack in the middle. The living room is formal with columns, a trey ceiling, big windows and a centered glass front fireplace. There’s a screening room equipped with fat leather recliner seats with built-in cup holders. The billiard room is every rich guy’s dream and is separated from the living room by a built-in wet bar.

Sen. Marco Rubio
Miami home: $675,000

Zillow

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., has listed his West Miami home for $675,000.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., currently has his West Miami home on the market for $675,000. Rubio and his wife Janette bought the 2,600-square-foot home in 2005 for $550,000. They've picked a good time to sell – Miami home values are up a whopping 16 percent over a year ago according to Zillow. The four bedroom, 3.5 bath home has a soaring great room with double height windows and Mediterranean touches throughout. The kitchen has dark wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances. The dining room has large windows and wide crown molding.  

Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo! CEO and president who famously returned to work two weeks after giving birth last fall, said her job and baby are all she has time for these days.

TODAY

Marissa Mayer came on TODAY Wednesday, and talked motherhood and work.

“There’s not a lot of room for anything else,” she said Wednesday on TODAY. “Overall, I’ve been having a terrific time with both being a mother and with being a CEO.”

Mayer was named Yahoo! CEO last July, along with the news that she also was six-months pregnant. She then ran into controversy for her decision to come back to work only two weeks after giving birth to her son, now four months old.

TODAY

Marissa Mayer is the country's youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

“I wouldn’t have missed a minute of either experience. They both are great,” she said. “It does take a lot of focus. You need to make sure you’re really prioritizing that.”

At 37, Mayer is the youngest chief executive of a Fortune 500 company. She appeared on TODAY to unveil a new design for the Yahoo! home page.

“I’ve had a ton of fun coming into the company,” she told TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie.

She said she spends her attention at work focused on Yahoo's extremely loyal users. She spends less time on the public’s attention to her as a role model for working mothers.

“I haven’t spent a lot of time thinking looking at it or even thinking on it. I’ve really been focused on the products, what we need to do,” she said. 

More: The new Yahoo! design: What's changed? 
What to expect when he's expecting 
Social media profiles replacing resumes in the job hunt 
On love, marriage and awkwardness around the office 

For the Everything Cheaper special hour, TODAY asked viewers to tweet @TODAYshow your top tips to save money via the hashtag #MySavingsTip.

Seventeen of the best ones are highlighted below, and find all of your responses here. 

Everything Cheaper on TODAY.com:
Video: Save with apps that make everything cheaper
Chicken challenge! Feed a family of 4 for less than $12 
Video: Upcycle! Save worn-out furniture from the trash
Video: Willie’s biggest spending regret: Big-screen TV