Feed items

A contractor friend of mine once told me that no matter how well you plan, any home renovation project will always take longer than you think. In fact, he has come up with a formula for figuring out a more realistic time frame: Double the number and go to the next unit of time for your estimate. For instance, if you believe your kitchen renovation will take two weeks, according to my friend, it will actually take four months. (See also: Is DIY Home Renovating for You?)

We all want to be happy. It's a desire as universal as our want for water, food, and fresh air.

But happiness is a difficult thing to measure. It's a spectrum — not an absolute. There's a whole science behind our happiness levels, why they fluctuate, and what we can do to boost them.

Ironically, too much time and thought spent in the pursuit of happiness has been found to actually decrease a person's overall happiness. So it's fortuitous that scientists have identified a countless number of small, conscious steps a person can take to elevate their mood with minimal effort. (See also: 29 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Happier This Year)

Like many people, I'm an avid food label reader, and I'm always on the lookout for added sugar. I know to look for high-fructose corn syrup along with sugar and honey. But then I discovered via Mayo Clinic that sugar can be disguised as fruit juice concentrates, fruit nectars, malt syrup, molasses, and cane syrup and lots of other less sugary sounding ingredients. Upon closer inspection, I found many healthy-sounding food and beverage products contained hidden sugar. (See also: 10 Fat-Filled Foods You Should Stop Avoiding)

Whether you call them "Ponzi schemes" or "pyramid schemes," one thing you definitely don't want to call investment scams is "something I fell for."

So take a look at a few of history's biggest and boldest schemes — each illustrates something to keep in mind when weighing your own investment opportunities. And each is a good reminder: scams like these are very real, and a wise investor must be very vigilant.