welcome to "on the money." i'm becky quick. do americans work too long and too hard? one company that has a radical old idea and may be starting a new trend. the million dollar mom. an entrepreneur shares her secrets of building a business and taking it on beyond the table. >> and what we owe to those who sacrificed for our country. >> and the lump coal seniors will be getting next year and what we can do about it. working 9 to 5 is no longer

how most americans make their living. 63% of us consider the traditional workday an outdated concept. instead we're answering e-mails at 10 p.m. and phone calls on sunday. 40 hours has long been considered a standard work week for americans but most are logging more time at their desks. the average is now 47 hours according to gallup. and that's up 4%. 24% of us check on family and friends at work. germans average the least time and get about 400 more leisure hours than american workers. and in denmark, known for its work/life balance, the average work week is just 33 hours. the u.s. does not guarantee

vacation, sick leave or paid time leave. only 33% 3 -- 77% of americans their vacation. one michigan-based mortgage company has a strict 40 hour workweek policy. monday through friday you work for eight hours but they want you out the door by 6 p.m. president and ceo of shore finance services and peter capelli is from the wharton school. matt, why did your company do this and how does it work? >> we're family company at united shore. the way we put it together, we know our people. what matters to them is their family and friends outside of work money your work every day is part of your life, not your life. we're big on a work/life

balance. we want people to work hard for 40 hours, then go spend time outside of work, recharge and come back. >> do they get to set the time to work? >> in the mortgage business, we work different shifts. 9 to 7, 8 to 5. but you know -- >> there's a lot of evidence, particularly when people get to the point of being exhausted, which is the case in a lot of industries, that their performance and their basic cognitive ability falls a lot. pretty good evidence that can you wear people out and you can wear them out pretty quickly. >> matt, when did you first put this plan into action? can you compare in terms of whether you think it's saving you money, costing you money or is this just something that you have to did as the economy improves and workers are able to

ask for more perks? >> we put it into place a couple years ago. it's definitely saving us money. it's not saving because of less overtime. the truth of the matter is we have less turnover, half your team members, they all work harder, they're happen to be part of the team. they know we care about them so they care about the clients. it's helped us become a great mortgage company. >> and even ben bernanke has said he's worried about productivity in america dropping off. is that because you think people are cutting back on hours? what's happening? >> i think in terms of the tie to this work stuff and hours at work, a lot of it is results of frankly not very good management. there's a lot of organizations where people feel they have to show up and put in time, even when they don't have very much to do and this is the idea of face time. so i think the big thing for a lot of organizations is to get better at performance management. how can you tell whether people

are really doing a good job and if they're doing a good job, you shouldn't care that much about how long it takes them to do it. they don't necessarily have to hang around late at night, which is usually the problem to try to impress your boss with the fact you're working hard. >> that's always been my concern. it's not how many hours you're in the office, it's how productive while you're there. matt, is your business something where people can work from home? can they do flex hours or because it's mortgage banking you need to be there for certain hours? >> we have 1,350 people there every day but for the most part people are in the office working hard but we want them out a 6:01 or 5:01 so this can be with their families and spend time. >> does that change, say there's a spike from interest rates, would you keep people longer in crunch time? >> we're able to handle fluctuations. i won't say there's never a time

where we've ever asked people to work extra hours. the fun thing is they always are open to doing it because it's the exception, it's not the rule, it's not the norm, hey, we need this, the business is there and they jump in. >> how many hours do you work sp. >> a little more than 40. i work more 60 to 70. >> that's a lot more than 40. >> i'm there to help our team. our 1,300 people are the most important part of the business. >> do other people feel bad if they're walking out in 40 if the boss is there for 60? >> that's not the culture we have. we have 1,350 different people, they do a fantastic job. they don't have to have face time for us. we want them to do a heck of a job and go home and be with their families and spend time with their kids or their loved ones. >> matt, peter, thank you both for joining us today. >> thank you. appreciate it. >> now here's a look at what's making news as we head into a new week on "on the money." another disappointing number for america's economy.

retail sales rose by just 0.1% last month, about half of what was expected. that number is always closely watched because consumers make up more than two-thirds of the u.s. economy. auto sales were strong while retailers and restaurants were soft. it was a choppy week for stocks with markets following along during the week. the markets continued to rise on friday. earnings were mixed all week. financial giants bank of america, citi and wells fargo came in ahead of expectations. walmart missed expectations and lowered its guidance for future profits. two of the biggest beer maykers in the world are getting set to become one. the multi-national deal faces plenty of regulatory hurdles. up next, the entrepreneur who created little pim, the language

program for little kids is helping others. >> and rick burns joins us to talk about his new project, the true cost of war and how we should honor the men and women who serve our country. as we head to break, take a look at how the stock market ended the week. ♪ ♪ it's the final countdown! ♪ ♪ the final countdown! if you're the band europe, you love a final countdown. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. it's what you do.

women launch 1,200 new businesses a day according to american express. julia pinsler launched her own company called little pim seven years ago and in her new book, "million dollar women," she's aiming to help other women because entrepreneurs.

the statistics are pretty interesting. women start twice as many small businesses as men but only 3% of them ever reach the revenue beyond a million dollar mark. >> when i crossed the million dollar mark with my business, i got a call from a journalist. now we're up to 3% of women running million dollar plus businesses but i want that number to go way up. it's too small. >> what goes wrong along the way? >> it's not a problem of confidence. it's a problem of capital. women start their businesses with six times less capital and their revenues are about 27% of male-run based. >> is that just getting access to capital or is the world built up that it there for male entrepreneurs than females. >> it's really just three things women need to become a multi-medical ceo.

one is the right mindset, the belief that you can go big, picturing your business at scale and you can bring in the right partners. it's the mindset, the skill set, then the network. the mindset is the hardest part, then it's figuring out the parts of the business you're not good at, hiring a team, bringing in consultants and the network is having access to the right networks so can you go big. >> little pim is a program you started to help kids learn other languages. >> that's correct. >> what was the hardest part? >> finding the right partners to go big. that means the funders, the strategic partners to fulfill our products, we're in 22

countries so there are logistical issues with that. once i got my mindset around it, the rest can you figure out. >> was the first million the hardest? >> yes, getting to a million is hard for anyone, man or woman. but i've had a great team and i've had mentors and guidance to get there and entrepreneurs association. >> up next here "on the money," rick burns on his new project. what does america owe our vets who have already paid a heavy price for their military service? and why paying less for gasoline is actually bad news for a lot of seniors. care of my heart.

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wars are not over when the shooting stops. they live on in the lives of the people who fought them. >> that was from the documentary "dead of honor," which tells the story of disabled veterans in american history set to air on pbs next month. joining us is the film's award winning director and writer rick burns. he said this may be one of the most important books he's ever worked on. what inspired you? >> i was brought in by an incredible woman named lois pope, who has made it her life's work to support disabled vets and is the prime mover before

the program baptised by the president. she came and said i like your work and i'd like you to do a film about disabled vets. we don't think about death having a history. the histories of disabled vets in some sense goes back to homer. but after the civil war, not only were we producing casualties in astronomical numbers but we were producing disabled veterans. the ability to save lives ticked up across the centuries and up and up and up in the last 150 years. we a nation producing veterans in ever greater numbers as each war comes. >> how long did you get to work on the project? >> over two years. also to work with the footage we had from eight, nine, ten

incredible americans, including most importantly four incredible americans disabled in war, tammy duckworth, max cleland, j. r. martinez and greg gadsen, each of whom is inspire, grounded, they've been through something which scales for anybody what sacrifice and struggle means and they've come through it. i feel like a better human being having spent a few hours, a few days in their company and i just invite anybody who has ever worried, ever struggled, listen to tammy duckworth who lost two legs and half an arm in the blink of an eye in a helicopter. listen to her about how she struggled through and why she struggled through it. you'll emerge a better person no doubt. >> one of the thing that is very striking is how few a number are actually affected by who is going to war right now. >> that's the biggest reason to

make a film like this. 99% of the american have nothing to do with the americans. only 1% are in the armed services. not only that, it's a 1% that's sequestered and siloed as never before. we don't have a national conscription. it's politically unthinkable to have that. it's almost like an ethnic group, the military, they carry this enormous weight for the rest of us. we have a close that gap and bridge that divide between our military and civilian population. it's better for the civilian population as well as for the military. but it's better for us to be in connection, to feel our family, moral, human bond to these people who are in this special group. they go "my country means everything to me." >> i agree with you 100% but as a mother of three children, i don't want the draft brought

back and i don't want women in the military either. >> as a father of a son who is 18, he was about to be called up in the draft. i'm with you 100%. you want a voltairian heart. you want people self-selected. how about obligatory universal national service, not necessarily military. >> how does that work? >> urban corps, peace corps, people required for a year or two between high school or college or as a break during college to serve their nation. if my son to do that, he would understand what the men and women who are making that other higher sacrifice to serve in the military and maybe lay down their lives and i think it would bring us closer together. >> i agree with you 100%. where do you think we are on the political front to do something like that? is it possible? >> i feel like we're on the edge. there's so much interest in veterans affairs, so much interest in not just celebrating

but thanking and embracing our veterans. i think that may be we may be on the verge of a real political breakthrough. we owe these men and women a lot. if they're going to go and lay down their lives, every american has a debt of honor and obligation to give when they come back, make sure they don't struggle when they come home -- >> help take care of them. >> help take care of them. it's our duty. >> it's on november 10th? >> the night before veterans day. it's a project that's meant more to me than any i've had, of the 50 to 60 hours of programming i've been privileged to be part of, this little hour means more than all of them put together. >> i can't wait to see it. thank you so much for coming in and talking about it. we really, truly appreciate your efforts on this.

>> thank you for having me. >> up next, a look at the news for the week ahead and why cola may be a dirty word for people getting social security. we're not talking about soda colas. we'll explain when we come back. made sure everyone got their latest gadgets. what's up for the next shift? ah, nothing much. just keeping the lights on. (laugh) nice. doing the big things that move an economy. see you tomorrow, mac. see you tomorrow, sam. just another day at norfolk southern.

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boeing, at&t, verizon, gm and microsoft and ibm all reporting. >> in 1987 the market lost 22% of its value. tuesday housing starts for september, thursday existing home sales and on thursday you can't hurry love, the motown sound became clear. for just the third time in the last 40 years, millions of social security recipients will not receive a cost of living increase. sharon epperson joins us to talk more about your money, your future and your social security check that's coming up. sharon, this is really uncommon.

what's happening? why is this going this way sm. >> it is very uncommon. you are really excited when you see the low gas price tes at th pump. that means inflation is staying low and the cost of living adjustment you get in your social security check, that's going to hurt a lot of retirees. >> it makes sense except for those who will be facing higher medical bills. >> it's based on an inflation rate that affects workers, not retirees. a lot of folks, including aarp are saying there should be a different rate for those who are elders that reflect true cost. half of recipients rely on social security for 60% or more of their retirement income.

it's affecting a lot of people. >> if you were counting on that money and you're not going to get it now, what can you do. >> we're talking about low gas prices. one of the thing that seniors often pay too much money for is car insurance. looking for what discounts you can get, if you're a safe driver, if you've had your car for ten years or more, you may not need collision or comprehensive coverage. you may also want to think about looking at your mortgage and will you be able to refinance. rates are still at historically low levels. we're not at the very low but they're still low. >> in terms of expenses they're facing, the higher medicare expenses, when does that kick? >> that's another problem. with having no c.o.l.a. increase, that is affecting about 30% of medicare

beneficiaries are who are not protected by a certain legal provision that keeps your premiums from going up. they're going to see higher premiums for their b part of their medicare. that's significant for those enrolling in medicare and for high earners. they're going to have to pay for these extra premiums out of pocket and it's probably going to be about a 50% increase from what they're paying right now. >> that's the show for today. i'm becky quick. thank you for joining us. next week open enrollment season is coming. what you need to know before you lock in your health care choices. have a great one. we'll see you next weekend.

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