Stress increases your risk of a host of ailments, including heart disease, weight gain, gum disease, and even the common cold, says Dr. Miriam Alexander, president of the American College of Preventive Medicine. That, in turn, will hit your wallet.

Stressed-out workers spend nearly twice as much on health care as their more relaxed counterparts, reports the nonprofit Health Enhancement Research Organization. While a week of sitting on the beach in the Caribbean would almost certainly take the edge off, it’ll cost a pretty penny too. So try these more cost-effective ways to mellow out.

When you call, you’ll be referred to a counselor who will see you for a number of sessions (commonly four, over a period of a few weeks). Some EAPs also offer on-site group sessions on stress management techniques.

EAPs are also confidential, by law, and the records won’t show up in your personnel file, says Martin Rosen, executive vice president and co-founder of Health Advocate, a health care advocacy and assistance company.

, Part 2.

Some 74% of North American employers offer wellness programs, which may include partial gym reimbursements and discounted on-site yoga classes, says a 2010 study from Buck Consultants. Call HR to see what you might qualify for.

Still, if you’re seeing a therapist weekly, the bills for co-pays or co-insurance will add up. The good news is that stress is among the disorders that can be successfully treated with cognitive behavioral therapy, according to a Swedish study.

CBT, a short-duration talk therapy (patients average just 16 sessions) teaches you specific coping techniques to use when you encounter a stressful situation. It costs about the same as traditional therapy — $75 to $175 per session — and you can use your flexible spending account to pay for the co-pays or co-insurance with pretax dollars. If you’re on Medicare, you’ll pay a bit more: Beneficiaries must cover 40% of their mental health bills in 2012, decreasing to 20% by 2014.

Exercise is not only a well-known stress reliever, but it also better prepares you to handle stressors that come your way, says a recent study from Princeton University. Unfortunately, the average gym membership costs $475 a year.

If your company doesn’t offer a subsidy, look for a deal on coupon sites like Groupon and make use of trial memberships to get a free week or two at several places. And don’t be afraid to haggle; many gyms offer New Year’s specials for converts looking to shed holiday pounds, says Debbie Stauble, spokeswoman for gym chain Healthtrax Fitness & Wellness.

Take an e-mail break. E-mail is stressful because of the pressure to respond quickly, says David Gamow, author of “Freedom From Stress.” So put the smartphone out of sight for several hours a day.

Stop multitasking. Dealing with a lot of different things at the same time puts your brain in a state of stress. Make a to-do list in the morning and finish one task before moving to the next.

Breathe deeply. A Harvard Medical School study found that people who meditate daily alter their brains, increasing gray mass in areas connected to learning and memory and shrinking it in those linked to stress and worry. Even 10 minutes a day can help, says Gamow — and won’t cost a dime.

Additional reporting by Judy Feldman contributed to this article. 

The Happiest Place on Earth – now with more facial hair!

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Mickey Mouse can finally grow that goatee he’s always wanted.

Until now, Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) parks and resort employees had been prohibited from growing beards and goatees. Starting Friday they may do so, so long as they’re a quarter-inch or shorter.

Separately, the company has instituted a “casual Friday” dress policy for Disney staff members that don’t deal with guests.

“Disney Look guidelines are periodically reviewed in relation to industry standards, as well as the unique environment of our theme parks and resorts,” Disney spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said in an email.

“While we are careful to maintain our heritage and the integrity of our brand, a recent review of our guidelines led to a decision that an update was appropriate at this time.”

The lift of the beard ban follows earlier fashion reforms at the Happiest Place on Earth. In 2000 the company moved to allow mustaches, and in 2010 it decreed that women were no longer required to wear pantyhose with skirts.

There are still some fashion restrictions on Disney “cast members,” as staff who deal with guests are called. Visible tattoos and body piercings are verboten, as is unnatural hair coloring.

“The Disney Look is a classic look that is clean, natural, polished and professional, and avoids ‘cutting edge’ trends or extreme styles,” the company says on its website. 

First Published: February 3, 2012: 6:01 PM ET

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

“Today, it’s impossible to hide anything. It’s getting harder and harder for politicians to lie,” Sergei Kolesnikov said.

SERGEI KOLESNIKOV is a soft-spoken biophysicist who once thought he would spend his career toiling in placid obscurity inside a secret Soviet military institute.

Then, as Communist rule collapsed, he became a prosperous businessman and part of the crony capitalist web surrounding Vladimir V. Putin, by his own account working with some success to rebuild Russia’s primitive health care system.

But today he is a whistle-blower on the run, working to expose what he believes to be the defining corruption of the Putin era.

It is a risky personal campaign that Mr. Kolesnikov began 13 months ago with a splash, publishing an open letter to President Dmitri A. Medvedev that revealed a billion-dollar palace on the Black Sea that he said he had helped build secretly for Mr. Putin.

Mr. Putin’s aides denied that he had anything to do with the palace and the sprawling estate that surrounds it, whose owner of record was a company run by an old friend of the Russian leader.

But questions keep arising: a Russian version of WikiLeaks posted eye-popping photographs that rocketed around the Web; Russian activists and journalists who tried to visit the site said they were stopped and questioned by the Russian equivalent of the Secret Service; and Novaya Gazeta, the Russian newspaper most critical of Mr. Putin, reported that it had obtained a 2005 contract proving that the Russian president’s office was involved in the construction. Last March, Russian news reports said the palace had been sold to another friend of Mr. Putin for $350 million.

By then, Mr. Kolesnikov had fled Russia, eventually settling in Estonia and providing journalists with documents that appear to support his account of his role in a network of businesses with purported Putin connections. He has also kept a wary eye out for agents of a government he believes would like to see him silenced.

“For me, I think it’s dangerous everywhere,” Mr. Kolesnikov, who wears rimless glasses and looks much younger than his 63 years, said in an interview in a Manhattan coffee shop last month during a brief visit to the United States. “But, you know, if you could show the whole truth to the whole country, about this palace and all these machinations, Putin would be gone in two weeks.”

The sudden ferment in Russian politics, with two big anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow in December and another set for Saturday, has given Mr. Kolesnikov’s crusade a less quixotic feel. He said Russia was responding to the same combustible combination of Internet and video-armed smartphones that propelled the revolts of the Arab Spring.

“Today, it’s impossible to hide anything,” he said. “It’s getting harder and harder for politicians to lie.”

HE is scathing about the hurried political concessions offered up since December by Mr. Medvedev and Mr. Putin, currently the prime minister, who is running for a third presidential term in elections set for March 4.

“People think he’s entering negotiations. No way. He has Qaddafi’s mentality,” Mr. Kolesnikov said, adding that he would cling to power with the tenacity of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the late Libyan leader.

Mr. Kolesnikov’s family history and résumé might have been invented by a novelist trying to reflect the distinctive periods of Russia’s tumultuous recent history. His father was a military man who fought in World War II; his mother, still living, is a physician who as a teenager survived the brutal siege of Leningrad.

He earned a doctorate in biophysics in the early 1970s and spent more than 15 years conducting military research in Leningrad on “biological defenses” against cutting-edge weapons like lasers. He liked the work, which paid well by Soviet standards.

“There were good points to the Soviet system,” Mr. Kolesnikov said. “There was not such a huge gap between the top and the bottom. People didn’t obsess about money. The state controlled too much, but many people could pursue their creative work.”

He married and had a son, who trained in physics and now runs an information technology business. His first wife died of cancer, a loss he described as “the greatest tragedy of my life.” He has since remarried.

In 1989, after private ventures were legalized under Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s perestroika, Mr. Kolesnikov started a medical equipment business. His partner was a bureaucrat in Leningrad’s health department who also was a K.G.B. officer and an acquaintance of Mr. Putin, himself a career K.G.B. man.

New York – Susan G. Komen for the Cure abandoned plans Friday to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood after a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and, perhaps most tellingly, among Komen affiliates.

“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” a Komen statement said.

Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under government investigation, citing a probe launched by Florida congressman Cliff Stearns at the urging of anti-abortion groups.

“We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political,” Komen said Friday. “That is what is right and fair.”

As a result, Komen said, “we will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants.”

Komen officials were unavailable for further comment.

Many of Komen’s own affiliates nationwide had rebelled against cutting off the grants, which totaled $680,000 in 2011.

In addition, Komen was inundated with negative comments via emails, on Twitter and on its Facebook page. Many of the messages conveyed a determination to halt gifts to Komen – the organizer of Race for the Cure events – because of the decision.

Planned Parenthood officials in Wisconsin applauded Komen’s dramatic reversal.

Although Wisconsin’s Planned Parenthood organization was not among those getting Komen grants, the state’s chapter was overwhelmed with an outpouring of support, said Tanya Atkinson, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin. “Komen’s decision to restore funding for thousands of women who rely on their partnership with Planned Parenthood for access to lifesaving clinical breast exams is the right one,” she said in a statement. “What these past few days have demonstrated is the deep resolve we all share in the fight against cancer.”

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood was reporting an outpouring of donations, large and small, that totaled $3 million between Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon. Planned Parenthood said the funds would be used to expand its breast health services, which already provide nearly 750,000 breast exams each year.

Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, said in a telephone news conference that she was astonished by the flow of donations and the often emotional support expressed for her organization on the Internet. “This was simply a story, when it broke, it just caught fire,” she said. “This kind of political bullying – folks are just saying, ‘Enough.’ “

Abortion foes applauded earlier this week when the funding cutoff was reported, and were dismayed by Friday’s turnaround. “The Susan G. Komen Foundation has caved in to the demands of radical abortion apologists,” said Douglas R. Scott Jr. of Life Decisions International, which had been mulling whether to remove Komen from a “boycott list” of Planned Parenthood partners.

In Washington, Stearns said he would press ahead with his investigation of Planned Parenthood, including assertions that it has improperly used public funds for abortions.

But members of Congress who support abortion-rights were elated. “It’s a great day when our deeply held belief that breast cancer can only be wiped out if we all work together has triumphed over right-wing politics,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

John Fauber of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report from Milwaukee.

Man, the 80s haven’t aged very well.

By Peter Hartlaub, msnbc.com contributor

Spuds MacKenzie would be 25 years old this year.

That’s 175 in dog years, but the blink of an eye for Anheuser-Busch InBev, which has kept the same go-for-broke Super Bowl advertising strategy since well before the original party animal became a national sensation.

While other corporations wring their hands over the decision to pay an average of $3.5 million for30 seconds of Super Bowl ad time in a down economy, The King of Beers continues to spend. Anheuser-Busch has committed to 4 minutes, 30 seconds in advertising for this year’s game, a minute more than 2010.

The extra push will help promote Bud Light Platinum, ahigher-alcohol beverage that is the brewer’s first new beer for the mass market since Bud Light Golden Wheat in 2009.

Below are our picks for the best commercials from Budweiser and Bud Lightof all time.

“He’s Spuds MacKenzie, Bud Light’s original party animal!” And with those words from Robin Leach, a merchandising juggernaut was born. Spuds was a bull terrier who wore trendy clothes, partied with the ladies and (never on camera) drank Bud Light.

The buzz: Trendsetting, sexy. The commercials were filled with dancing girls, good-time parties and timely stunts:Spuds pole-vaulted in one ad before the summer Olympics.

Aftertaste: Spuds was still going strong in 1992, when Mothers Against Drunk Driving accused Anheuser-Busch of marketing the ads to children. Even so, two decades later youcan purchase close to 500 Spuds MacKenzie items on eBay.

Trivia: The real Spuds MacKenzie, named Honey Tree Evil Eye, died in 1993 of natural causes.

A football fan impresses his roommate by installing a rotating wall that can hide the refrigerator and replace it with a table and chairs, so friends won’t drink all his Bud Light. On the other side of the wall, fans worship the return of the “Magic Fridge” to their apartment.

The buzz: Humor. More than one fan poll rated this commercial the best in an otherwise lackluster year.

Aftertaste: There was no sequel, but the advertisement appeared to spark several refrigerator-themed beer commercials, including a Heineken ad featuring a man whose friends squeal with joy after getting a tour of his walk-in fridge.

A young man and woman slow down as they approach a scraggly-looking guy with an axe on a dark road. Their conversation: “Should we pick him up? He has Bud Light.” … “But he has an ax!” … “But he has Bud Light!” Man, woman and ax guy are later in the car when they come across a masked man with a chainsaw holding Bud Light.

The buzz: Humor. After playing it safe with a conservative approach in the wake of Janet Jackson’s exposed breast during a 2004 halftime show, Budweiser’s darker vibe was a hit with fans.

Aftertaste: Despite two “Friday the 13th” movies and a reboot of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” since 2007, there has been no sequel to this popular commercial.

When a firehouse picks one Dalmatian puppy over another, the chosen dog sticks its tongue out at the apparent loser. Years later, the dogs cross paths again. The firehouse dog is jealous of his litter mate’s even better job – as a Budweiser Dalmatian riding with a team of Clydesdales.

The buzz: Humor, cuteness. After years of party dogs and smart-mouthed frogs, this was an ad clearly intended to appeal to women.

Aftertaste: The Dalmatians were a big hit, and have made at least four more appearances over the past 10 years.

Based on a short film by Charles Stone III, four friends manage to communicate on a four-way phone call mostly by using one word: “Wassup?”

The buzz: Humor, trendsetting. If you were a male between the ages of 15 and 40, you answered the phone with a “Wassup!” for at least the next three weeks. Possibly much longer. (Editor’s note: Some of us still do.)

Aftertaste: The beer company milked this campaign until we couldn’t stand it any more, then milked it a little bit more. Versions with parrots and yuppies and a wasabi theme were included. Stone and cast returned in 2008 with a pro-Barack Obama version.

Trivia: Stone brokered his “Wassup!” success into a directing job for the Bernie Mac movie “Mr. 3000.”

In a salute to U.S. soldiers, the camera follows airport patrons breaking into a building applause. The ad reveals that the support is for a weary group of military personnel, presumably returning from overseas. The ad ends with the words “Thank You.”

The buzz: Emotions. No Budweiser beer or beer signs appear in the one-minute ad – just a short glimpse of the Anheuser-Busch logo over a black screen at the end.

Aftertaste: The “Applause” ad was a critical favorite, running only twice in 2005 – at the Super Bowl and Daytona 500 – before the beermaker brought it back as part of a United Service Organizations partnership in 2008.

A year after a commercial where Clydesdales played football on an open plain, two teams of horses wait while a zebra keeps rewinding footage in an instant replay booth. A rancher says: “This referee’s a jackass.” His friend responds: “I believe that’s a zebra.”

The buzz: Humor, timeliness. The ad played off recent rules changes in the NFL, which expanded coaches’ ability to call for instant replays – leading to delays that frustrated fans.

Aftertaste: The Budweiser zebra didn’t have the marketing success of the Dalmatians, frogs or Spuds, but the ad continues to show up on all-time-best lists.

Budweiser used stop-motion animation to stage a bowl game between anthropomorphic bottles of Budweiser and Bud Light. High jinks ensued before Budweiser won 27-24.

The buzz: Humor, special effects. In the years before movies such as “Terminator 2” and “Jurassic Park” pioneered digital effects, the animation in this commercial was considered pretty amazing. And if the real Super Bowl was sometimes a blowout,the Bud Bowl was always a close game.

Aftertaste: The Bud Bowl was played eight times, withdiminishing success. Guests over the years included Joe Namath and Corbin Bernsen.

Trivia: Sadly, Don Meredith’s commentary for Bud Bowl III in 1991 was his final job as a football broadcaster during the Super Bowl.

Three frogs sitting on a log croak the words “Bud,” “weis” and “er.” At the end of a commercial a neon Budweiser sign can be seen hanging over a bar at the edge of the swamp.

The buzz: Humor, trendsetting. Budweiser delivers another earworm. After one of the most one-sided Super Bowls in history (49ers 49, Chargers 26), more people seemed to be talking about the frogs the next day than the game.

Aftertaste: The frogs were a huge hit, followed by talking chameleons Frank and Louie who talk about killing the frogs, and then a ferret. The storyline continued into the 2000s.

Trivia: “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Rango” director Gore Verbinski was behind the camera for this ad.

Clydesdales are shown getting in harnesses, and then pulling a wagon slowly across a snowy landscape. They stop with New York City in the distance and kneel in the direction of the empty space where the World Trade Center once stood.

The buzz: Emotions. The commercial ran just a few months after the Sept. 11 attacks. There was no voice-over or narration, just images and the Budweiser logo at the end.

Aftertaste: Budweiser chose to run the spot only one time, to deflect criticism they were trying to profit offthe national tragedy. The ad is popular on YouTube and often listed among the best Super Bowl ads of all time.

What is your favorite? Discuss on our Facebook page.

Peter Hartlaub is the pop culture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Traders gather at a post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

A surge in hiring last month lifted U.S. stocks Friday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq index hitting an 11-year high, as the data boosted hopes the world’s largest economy has turned a corner.

The broad-based rally also lifted the Dow Jones industrial to its highest level since before the 2008 financial crisis. More than 450 stocks across all sectors hit 52-week highs, including Apple, United Parcel Service, Yum Brands and MasterCard.

The U.S. economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to nearly a three-year low of 8.3 percent, the government said.

“This is a continuation of a grinding but measurable improvement in the U.S. data,” said Stephen Wood, chief market strategist at Russell Investments in New York.

He said there are still risks, like the European debt crisis, but “to the extent the market has the time or luxury to focus on the U.S. economy, this is a modestly positive environment for U.S. equities.”

In another report signaling strength, the pace of growth in the services sector unexpectedly accelerated in January to its highest level in nearly a year.

On the NYSE, more than four stocks rose for each one that fell and on the Nasdaq a little less than four stocks rose for each decliner.

More than half way through the earnings season, 60 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported have beaten expectations according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data.

Gilead Sciences was one of the top gainers on the S&P 500, up 8.8 percent to $53.65 a day after announcing promising early results from a trial of a hepatitis C drug. It also posted adjusted fourth-quarter profit below consensus.

CNBC looks back at the week’s top business and financial stories:

Reuters contributed to this report.

In particular, investors may want to look at how to play the health insurance space. 

Health care remains a subject of divide between the two parties, with Republicans trying to repeal Obama’s nationwide health care reform since 2010. And, while it is unlikely they can overturn the entire law, they can certainly chip away at parts of it. 

If Republicans take control, Citigroup estimates that large commercial providers of health insurance plans may see their earnings grow by 5% to 10%. That kind of growth would increase these companies’ worth by 20%. The companies are currently estimated to see a 5% to 15% drop in earnings, according to a recent analyst report by the firm. 

Within the broader managed care sector, which includes commercials plans, and Medicaid and Medicare plans, Citigroup says that valuations on most stocks should tack on at least an additional 2 multiple points. If a Republican fails to win the presidential seat but the party gains control of the senate, the valuation of the group would add up to one point. 

This is all good if Republicans make a sweeping win, but what if President Obama takes office for second term? Even then, investors may benefit yet. 

“The market seems to be discounting maintenance of the political status quo,” writes Citigroup, which estimates that managed care stocks are trading under the 9.5x 2012 earnings estimates. 

Investors may want to skew their picks toward companies providing commercial plans. Under a Republican victory, Citigroup says stocks that would benefit most in this category rank in the following order: WellPoint (WLP), Coventry Health Care (CVH), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Aetna (AET), CIGNA (CI) and Health Net (HNT). 

For Medicare plans, the firm picks Humana (HUM), HealthSpring (HS), Universal American (UAM) and WellCare (WCG). All these companies provide elderly with Medicare through private health insurance plans called Medicare Advantage. 

The idea behind investing in the above Medicare plans is that Republicans have historically encouraged seniors to enroll in Medicare Advantage programs. In addition, Citigroup notes that Republicans have been willing to give the programs a fair reimbursement. By contrast, under Obama’s reform, government subsidies to the Medicare Advantage program would be gradually eliminated altogether. 

On the Medicaid end of the spectrum, stocks are a tougher pick. Republicans might impact Medicaid in two ways: 

The Medicaid market is expected to increase by around 30% in 2014, according to Citigroup. But, Republicans may try to do away with this expansion and cut back the money that states use to fund Medicaid programs. A company like AMERIGROUP (AGP), with a $3.3 billion market cap, for example would lose a whopping $2.5 billion in revenue, according to Citigroup. 

Even so, Citigroup say that Medicaid companies would still prefer a Republican administration to a Democratic one. “Republicans are much more philosophically aligned with moving the care of the dual eligibles into managed care organizations,” writes the firm. 

What that means is that that those qualifying for both Medicare and Medicaid benefits maybe more inclined to find Medicaid programs under a Republican administration. According to analysts’ estimates, that opportunity would deliver more than $320 billion in revenue per year for Medicaid managed care providers. By contrast, Medicaid revenue would only add over $40 billion without dual eligibility.

The bottom line is: Keep an eye on opportunities within health insurance providers, particularly commercial providers, if you believe Republicans will win the election this year. But if you believe otherwise, the space is still worth your consideration.

– Written by Chao Deng at The Street.

You can’t afford to tackle every big home repair project at once. So use this list to help you prioritize.

(MONEY Magazine) — Lean times call for budgetary triage. But while you should clearly opt for orthodontics before Disneyland, the choice is tougher when it comes to home maintenance.

Should you get a paint job or a new furnace? “There’s no homeowner’s manual that tells you when to do what,” says Naperville, Ill., home inspector and structural engineer Mark Waldman.

Emergencies aside, the project that could cause the most damage and expense if left unfixed is the priority. Below, the order in which to tackle your biggest repair needs.

Wiring problems claim the No. 1 spot for good reason: They can lead to fires and electrocution. “That trumps everything,” says Waldman.

Danger signs: Circuit breakers that trip frequently, lights that dim when you turn on the vacuum or outlets that are loose, hot, or accept only two-prong plugs.

How to check: Spend $300 to $500 for a licensed electrician to open up your main panel to look for trouble and to tighten any loose connections. He’ll also spot-check switches, outlets and light fixtures to ensure that the wiring is in safe working order.

Replacement cost: $4,000 to $10,000 to rewire the house.

Prolong its life: Flip every circuit breaker off and on again once a year to prevent corrosion. Add new circuits ($100 to $500 each) to take the heaviest electrical loads, like window air conditioners, off the old wires.

Structural problems downstairs mean shifting and cracking upstairs — at the very least — so there’s little point in doing other repairs until you’ve fixed the building’s foundation.

Danger signs: Bowed or split beams, rotted posts, piles of sawdust (evidence of wood-boring insects), tiny mud trails (indications of termites), or large cracks in the masonry foundation — especially if the cracks are horizontal, which tends to indicate a bigger problem.

How to check: A contractor will usually take a look free of charge. If he recommends significant repairs, hire a home inspection engineer (find one at nabie.org) to investigate ($350 to $500).

Replacement cost: Major foundation work can cost $3,500 to $8,000; new posts or beams could run $1,200 to $2,500.

Prolong its life: Water is the cause of cracked concrete, rotten timbers and wood-eating pests. So keep your basement dry by making sure the landscape slopes away from the house and maintaining the next two items on the list: the roof and gutters.

Water leaking into your home from above can lead to a host of pricey problems: rot, insects, electrical shorts and mold.

Danger signs: Dampness or stains on ceilings; curling, missing, or broken shingles; smooth spots where the granules have worn away; green algae growth.

How to check: Have a roofer inspect your home. This is typically free, but the pro, of course, is looking for business. So check the company’s reputation at angieslist.com ($5 a month).

Replacement cost: $5,000 to $15,000

Prolong its life: Prune tree limbs so they’re at least 10 feet from the roof to keep squirrels away and to let moisture evaporate quickly after storms. If shingles blow off, replace them immediately, and repair small leaks promptly.

Your gutters are just as important as the roof. The only reason they’re lower on this list is that if you replace gutters first, they’re likely to get damaged when you reroof later. So if you need a roof too, it’s better to wait — or do both projects at the same time.

Danger signs: Dented or disconnected gutters, pooled water around your home’s foundation, or basement flooding near the downspouts.

How to check: Head outside during a rainstorm and watch the gutters in action, says Caitlin Corkins, stewardship manager for Historic New England, which maintains dozens of historic properties. “The best time to see clogs and overflows is when the system is working,” she says.

Replacement cost: $1,500 to $3,000

Prolong its life: Hire a gutter company to clean, check, and repair your gutters ($100 to $200) at least once a year — two or three times if you’re in a wooded area. And have someone clear the eaves of deep snow to prevent icing, which can split open gutters or rip them right off the house.

“People think paint is just a decorative element, so they let it go,” says Robert Niemeyer, a Winston-Salem, N.C., handyman, contractor, and electrician. But without a weather-tight seal, water can infiltrate the siding, causing rot and attracting wood-damaging insects. Still, leaks from a vertical surface generally aren’t as quick or lethal as ones from a roof and gutter.

Danger signs: Paint that’s peeling, cracking or blistering

Replacement cost: $4,000 to $10,000; make sure the painters replace loose putty around the window glass and caulking gaps around molding.

Prolong its life: Hire a pro to do touchups every year. Trim foliage so it’s at least a foot from the house, and kill any mildew growth with a bleach-and-water solution.

An old heating or cooling system is costly to operate — and the risk of a breakdown increases with age. But as long as your old furnace, boiler, or AC is operating safely, there’s no rush to upgrade.

Danger signs: The system cycles on and off frequently to hold your thermostat setting; you spot corrosion on the vent pipe; the natural-gas flames are yellow or orange instead of pure blue.

How to check: Get a repair estimate: if it’s more than a third of the replacement cost, spring for a new machine, says Indianapolis plumber Larry Howald.

Replacement cost: Typically $2,000 to $4,000 for a furnace (forced air); $4,000 to $8,000 for a boiler (hot water); $1,000 to $3,000 for a water heater; $6,000 to $10,000 for an air conditioner.

Prolong its life: Have your systems cleaned and tuned annually, including flushing the water heater to remove sludge, replacing all filters and lubricating any pumps.

American Airlines’ bankruptcy could make it an attractive takeover target.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — American Airlines’ bankruptcy has many in the industry questioning if a merger is in its future.

US Airways (LCC, Fortune 500), whose management has a history of making bids for larger airlines that are in bankruptcy, confirmed that it has hired investment advisors to weigh the opportunities presented by American’s parent AMR Corp. (AAMRQ) bankruptcy reorganization.

US Airways CEO Doug Parker told analysts last week that there isn’t as much need for airline industry consolidation today than there has been in the past, but he said US Airways was “always interested” in studying such opportunities.

Delta Air Lines (DAL, Fortune 500) hired its own investment advisors at Blackstone Group to study a bid for AMR according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, although neither Delta nor Blackstone would comment on it.

The threat of a merger is one of the factors hanging over the head of American’s unions as they start negotiations on the company’s proposal to slash 13,000 jobs at the airline out of its staff of 88,000 announced Tuesday.

Jim Little, president of the Transport Workers Union, which represents 26,000 ground workers at AMR, said that his members are worried about the possibility of a merger, saying it would be an “agonizing process.”

Little said AMR CEO Tom Horton’s assurances that he wants to stay independent are of limited comfort to employees.

“That may be out of his control in this process,” said Little.

Horton tried to dismiss the threat of a hostile bid for AMR.

“There will be a lot of M&A speculation. There always has been, there always will be in these situations,” Horton said Tuesday during a press conference. But he said such deals during bankruptcy process are rare.

In fact, hostile bids have generally fallen short in the airline industry. US Airways’ bid for the then bankrupt Delta was eventually dropped. And AMR has far more cash than most bankrupt companies — $4.1 billion of cash on hand at the time of its filing on Nov. 29.

“American went into bankruptcy with a huge cash pile to allow them to manage their bankruptcy,” said Jim Corridore, airline equity analyst with Standard & Poor’s. “I don’t see why they would want to partner up.”

Ray Neidl, airline analyst with Maxim Group, said that given its current cost disadvantage, AMR isn’t a very attractive property for takeover. He said if the turnaround efforts fail, it is likely to be sold off in pieces or be forced to liquidate.

“They’ve got one chance. This is it,” he said. “If they don’t succeed, there’s probably no chance for American.”

However Neidl said the $2 billion in annual cost cuts laid out by management Tuesday could make the airline competitive again and thus make it an attractive merger target.

“We do expect there to be a suitor for the carrier once they straighten out their cost structure,” he said. And he said that despite management’s stated desire to remain a stand alone, Neidl believes they would consider the right deal at that time.

Other analysts agree that American would be ripe for a deal — assuming it wins approval of its turnaround plan in the bankruptcy process.

And bankruptcies and mergers frequently have gone together in the airline industry. America West purchased US Airways out of bankruptcy in 2005. That was followed by Delta’s purchase of Northwest Airlines in 2008 soon after each went through bankruptcy. United, which went through bankruptcy itself, purchased Continental to form United Continental (UAL, Fortune 500) last year.

American, which formerly was the world’s largest airline, has fallen to No. 3 as its rivals got hitched and it stood on the sidelines. Its last deal was its purchase of bankrupt TWA in 2001. 

But in fact, the belongings of the Geneva region’s 450,000 inhabitants may not be any safer locked up at home. The number of break-ins climbed 20 percent last year to about 8,200 — an average of over 22 a day — according to figures provided by the Swiss city’s police chief, Monica Bonfanti.

The crime surge has been such that last summer the city’s tourism office removed from its advertising any mention of Geneva as a safe destination. Depicting Geneva as the secure and tranquil lakeside city that it once was would have been “misleading, if not actually a lie,” said Bernard Cazaban, spokesman for the tourism office.

Under pressure to halt the crime wave, the city authorities recently announced changes at the police department, notably requiring officers to spend more time patrolling the streets rather than handling paperwork back in the office. But the changes have run into opposition from the police officers’ powerful union, which last month started a partial strike, refusing to issue fines for traffic offenses, amid concerns that the overhaul would worsen their employment conditions rather than improve efficiency.

Ms. Bonfanti, the police chief, showed understanding for the discontent among her troops. “I don’t believe that we ever had to work under such pressure,” she said. In addition to crime, she argued, the police have also been overstretched by a doubling in the number of street protests last year, mostly held near the grounds of the United Nations in connection with the Arab Spring upheaval.

Besides pushing for the proposed overhaul, she suggested her 1,300-strong police force should also add 200 officers. But she said fighting crime also required “behavioral changes” in a city where people never had to show much vigilance. “Many people here still go out without locking their front door or leave their bag at the restaurant table when they go to the restroom,” she said.

As a private banking hub and one of Europe’s wealthiest cities, Geneva is arguably an obvious target for criminals. But other factors also explain why Geneva has become Switzerland’s most dangerous city, ahead of the larger Zurich.

High on that list is Geneva’s geography. Apart from sitting on the shores of the eponymous lake, Geneva is surrounded by a 105-kilometer, or about 65-mile, border with France. With the removal of border controls under the Schengen agreement, which Switzerland joined in December 2008, international crime gangs have taken full advantage of the easier access. Some gangs, which previously operated mainly in French cities like Lyon and Marseille, have instead switched to Geneva, often spending only the time there needed to commit their crime before escaping back to France and its separate jurisdiction.

Police and judicial cooperation between Switzerland and its neighbors has been tightened — but within limits. For instance, under a bilateral agreement with France, the police gained the power to pursue criminals into each other’s territory. But any cross-border car chase must be abandoned as soon as the pursued vehicle falls out of direct sight of the police car, Ms. Bonfanti said, restricting such cross-border interventions to five last year.

Meanwhile, the police in Geneva are concerned that changes made last year to the procedures under the Swiss penal code have paradoxically placed additional hurdles in their path, notably when dealing with first-time offenders. “When we arrest criminals who come from France, some actually tell us upfront that they expect greater clemency in Switzerland than in France,” Ms. Bonfanti said.

Yves Bertossa, a public prosecutor, noted that the revised code made it significantly tougher to justify holding suspects in preventive detention. The legal change, he added, was “designed with small and quiet Swiss towns in mind, not a city like Geneva.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

In an earlier version of this article, the first name of a man who works for the Geneva government was misspelled. He is Olivier Coutau, not Oliver.