Memorial Day is a day of remembrance to honor the ultimate sacrifice made by the men and women who have died during their service in the United States military.
In All Things Be Grateful
God is good…All the time.
God is good in every situation and every circumstance, not just in those situations we view as good or favorable. He is with us even during challenging times and problems.
We don’t have to like everything that enters our lives, but we can be grateful for the fact Jesus is with us in whatever we are going through.
Thomas Edison once said that “I’ve never made a mistake. I’ve only learned from experience.”
“We haven’t failed. We now know a thousand things that won’t work, so we are much closer to finding what will.” ~ Thomas Edison
In all things be grateful
Expressing gratitude is an essential skill everyone needs to learn and practice to achieve success and to learn and grow.
Research shows that it impossible to be both fearful and grateful simultaneously. Moreover, it’s possible to worry and to be anxious, and be grateful.
You should be grateful for the multitude of blessings you experience in your life daily. You should as well be grateful for life’s problems and challenges; and view problems and challenges for what they are, opportunities to learn, grow and improve.
So always be grateful and always remember and embrace the adage, in life, there are either successes or learning opportunities.
References:
10 Powerful Quotes ~ “The Psychology of Money”
“Rich is the current income. Wealth is income not spent. Wealth is hard because it requires self-control.” Morgan Housel
10 Powerful Quotes from “The Psychology of Money” by “Morgan Housel”
- “Spending money to show people how much money you have is the fastest way to have less money.”
- “Getting money is one thing. Keeping it is another.”
- “Be nicer and less flashy. No one is impressed with your possessions as much as you are.”
- “You might think you want a fancy car or a nice watch. But what you probably want is respect and admiration.”
- “Use money to gain control over your time.”
- “Saving is the gap between your ego and your income.”
- “Savings can be created by spending less. You can spend less if you desire less. And you will desire less if you care less about what others think of you. Money relies more on psychology than finance.”
- “Rich is the current income. Wealth is income not spent. Wealth is hard because it requires self-control.”
- “Happiness is just results minus expectations.”
- “In fact, the most important part of every plan is planning on your plan not going according to plan.”
https://twitter.com/books_dq/status/1517815934056075264
A few bonus quotes:
“”Be more patient” in investing is the “sleep 8 hours” of health. It sounds too simple to take seriously but will probably make a bigger difference than anything else you do.”
“The formula for how to do well with money is simple. The behaviors you battle while implementing that formula are hard.”
“”Save more money and be more patient” is too simple for most people to take seriously, but it’s the best solution to most financial problems.”
References:
Investing 101: Building Long-Term Wealth
Managing your money and building wealth has to be a priority if you ever want to be in a better financial situation than you are today. Ramit Sethi
If you’re like most people, you probably think investing is something only people with a lot of money can do. But here’s the truth: anyone can invest and everyone should be investing.
Everyone with expendable monthly income should be investing. Even if you aren’t making major bucks and even if you are still paying your student loans, you should be investing. Investing is a great long-term wealth building option that yields major rewards if you’re patient and smart about your investments.
Despite what you see on TV and social media, you don’t need to be (or even have) a stockbroker to get in on investing. In fact, it’s easier than ever to go at it alone, thanks to platforms like Charles Schwab, E-Trade and Robinhood. These sites (and others) offer no or low fee options for individual investors to start building a portfolio. Even better, some also give you access to financial planners who can provide investing tips and help answer questions along your investment journey.
Ready to start investing. Below are six investing tips from Brian Baker, investing and retirement reporter at Bankrate.com.
1. Think about your investing goals. First, people new to investing should ask themselves one simple question before getting started: How soon are you looking to see a return on your money? Or, how soon will you need the money you’ve invested?
If the answer is sooner, like less than six months, then you should skip investing in stocks and instead put your cash in a money market mutual fund or high yield savings account. These options won’t offer as big of a return as investing, but you’ll see steady increases over time. More importantly, all of your money will remain relatively safe and still be there if you need it in a hurry.
On the other hand, if you don’t anticipate needing the money any time soon, then investing is a good option. Successful investing often requires a long-term approach and patience because the market can fluctuate. Over time, however, it often yields positive results for many investors.
Or, you can do both. You can put some of your expendable income in a money market mutual fund or high yield savings account and then use some for investing.
2. Consider how much you can afford to invest. If after you’ve paid all your bills and set aside some cash in a savings account, you still have money left over, great. You’re in the perfect position to start saving. While choosing how much to invest all depends on your personal expenses, investing 10% off your income is a great place to start if you’re able.
That last bit is important, though. Not everyone is able to invest 10%, and that’s okay. When you’re just starting out, invest only how much and when you’re able to. What you shouldn’t do is miss important bill payments or slack off on traditional savings just to put more toward your investments.
Another investing no-no? Prioritizing your investments over paying off your debts. This is especially true when you look at interest rates. While the money you invest may yield a 7-8% return, the interest rates on debt are often much higher than that. If that is the case with the debt you’re carrying, you should prioritize paying off your loans before putting lots of your money in the stock market.
3. Choose the right platform for you. Given the rise in popularity in investing, there are lots of different online brokerages and platforms for individual investors to choose from. Some of the most reputable and popular are Marcus Invest, SOFI, Acorns and Robinhood. Here are a few questions to ask when deciding which is best for you:
- Are there account minimums? Many of the online brokers available to individual investors who are new to investing don’t have any account minimums, so most people can easily get started with whatever amount of money they have saved.
- What are the account fees? You’ll want to find out if there are any fees associated with having an account with the specific online broker you’re interested in. Additionally, find out if they charge you for making trades or new investments. Platforms like Charles Schwab, E-Trade and Robinhood all offer commission-free trading.
- Do they offer fractional shares? Many of the brokerages are also now offering fractional shares, which are great if you don’t have enough money to buy a full share of a popular stock like Amazon or Alphabet.
- What investment research is available to you as a member? Chances are you’ll have questions as you begin investing. Some online brokers offer investment research to their members, which can be helpful when you’re just getting started.
- What else do they offer? Some brokerages offer other services like tax planning or access to financial advisors. Others offer different types of accounts like retirement that might be of interest.
4. Start with a diversified spread. Rather than trying to buy shares from specific companies that are buzzy right now, new investors should begin their journey with a more diversified spread. Focusing too much on individual companies often means you’ll need to have an in-depth knowledge of that company and its long-term strategy or plans. Most novice investors don’t have access to that kind of information, nor the time required to acquire it. Thus, it’s better to start by putting your money toward an S&P 500 Index Fund. “That’s going to give you a diversified portfolio of U.S. stocks at a very low cost, and that can be purchased through a mutual fund or through an exchange-traded fund (ETF),” Baker explains.
5. Know when to check in on your investments. If you’re following the more traditional investment strategy above, where you’re putting some savings into a diversified portfolio each month, you really don’t need to check your portfolio every day or even every week. Because this is a long-term investing strategy, checking your brokerage accounts monthly is more than sufficient.
6. Steer clear of common investing mistakes. When you’re finally ready to start investing, it can feel exciting, like you’re finally getting in on the action. But don’t get ahead of yourself. Here are three of the worst things you can do when you first start investing.
- Don’t trade often. “Lots of trading activity is not the path to long-term investment success,” Baker says.
- Don’t obsessively check your account. “If you’ve made long-term investments, there’s really no need to check your portfolio every day,” Baker reiterates.
- Don’t get overly emotional. “Emotion is another enemy of investment success,” Baker says. “No one likes to see their portfolio decline, but stocks are inherently volatile, and it’s inevitable they will go down sometimes. People should keep their eye on their long-term goals,” he adds.
In conclusion, investing can be confusing if you don’t know where to start. Everyone’s circumstances are different, which means what’s right for you may not be right for someone else.
Take the time to evaluate your personal investing options and choose what works best for you. And research shows that investing is the best way to build long-term wealth and achieve your financial goals.
“Keep your eye on the [long term wealth building] goal, keep moving toward your target.” ~ T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth
References:
Major Definite Purpose
It is said widely that ninety-five percent of the people of the world drift through life aimlessly without definite purposes for their lives.
Psychological reason for having a definite purpose in life implies that one’s actions are determined by the thoughts of one’s mind. Therefore, if you deliberately hold your definite purpose in your mind with the expectation of it realization, this will permeate your subconscious mind to the point where it will automatically influence the actions needed to achieve your definite purpose.
Once you determine your definite purpose, make sure that it is well-defined. You must write it down and place it where you can see it as soon as you open your eyes in the morning and the last thing that you see before you close your eyes at night.
An excerpt from Brian Tracy’s “Goals”
Your major definite purpose can be defined as the one goal that is most important to you at the moment. It is usually the one goal that will help you to achieve more of your other goals than anything else you can accomplish. It must have the following characteristics:
- It must be something that you really want. Your desire for this goal must be so intense that the very idea of achieving your major purpose excites you and makes you happy.
- It must be clear and specific. You must be able to define it in words. You must be able to write it down with such clarify that a child could read it and know exactly what it is that you want and be able to determine whether or not you have achieved it.
- It must be measurable and quantifiable. Rather than “I want to make a lot of money,” it must be more like “I will earn $100,000 per year by (a specific date).”
- It must be both believable and achievable. Your major definite purpose cannot be so big or so ridiculous that it is completely unattainable.
- Your major definite purpose should have a reasonable probability of success, perhaps fifty-fifty when you begin. Set huge, audacious goals, and you will still be motivated to take the steps necessary to achieve them. But in the beginning, set goals that are believable and achievable and that have a high probability of success so that you can be assured of winning right from the start.
- Your major definite purpose must be in harmony with your other goals. You cannot want to be financially successful in your career on the one hand and play golf most of the time on the other. Your major definite purpose must be in harmony with your minor goals and congruent with your values.
“Decide now what you desire from life and what you have to give in return.”
To achieve success, you have know exactly what you want and what you are willing to give-up in return….success is a two-way street.
References:
12 Timeless Rules of Investing
Guidelines Every Investor Should Embrace, But Few Actually Do
An Investment U White Paper Report written by Dr. Steve Sjuggerud, Advisory Panelist, Investment U
In the the white paper report, Dr. Sjuggerud identified 12 classic investing rules that every investor can use throughout their lifetimes.
These guidelines are provided to help investors achieve their goals, sometimes in capitalizing on gains and sometimes in mitigating losses.
1. An attempt at making a quick buck often leads to losing much of that buck.
- The people who suffer the worst losses are those who overreach.
- If the investment sounds too good to be true, it is.
- The best hot tip is “there is no such thing as a hot tip.”
2. Don’t let a small loss become large.
- Don’t keep losing money just to “prove you are right.”
- Never throw good money after bad (don’t buy more of a loser).
- When all you’re left with is hope, get out.
3. Cut your losers; let your winners ride.
- Avoid limited-upside, unlimited-downside investments.
- Don’t fall in love with your investment; it won’t fall in love with you.
4. A rising tide raises all ships, and vice versa. So assess the tide, not the ships.
- Fighting the prevailing “trend” is generally a recipe for disaster.
- Stocks will fall more than you think and rise higher than you can imagine.
- In the short run, values don’t matter. In the long run, valuations do matter.
5. When a stock hits a new high, it’s not time to sell something that is going right.
- When a stock hits a new low, it’s not time to buy something that is going wrong.
6. Buy and hold doesn’t ALWAYS work.
- If stocks don’t seem cheap, stand aside.
7. Bear markets begin in good times. Bull markets begin in bad times.
8. If you don’t understand the investment, don’t buy it.
- Don’t be wooed. Either make an effort to understand it or say “no thanks.”
- You can’t know everything, so don’t stray far from what you know.
9. Buy value, and sell hysteria.
- Paying less than the underlying asset’s value is a proven successful investing strategy.
- Buying overvalued stocks has proven to under perform the market.
- Neglected sectors often offer good values.
- The “popular” sectors are often overvalued.
10. Investing in what’s popular never ends up making you any money.
- Avoid popular stocks, fad industries and new ventures.
- Buy an investment when it has few friends.
11. When it’s time to act, don’t hesitate.
- Once you’re in, be patient and don’t be rattled by fluctuations.
- Stick with your plan… but when you make a mistake, don’t hesitate.
- Learn more from your bad moves than your good ones.
12. Expert investors care about risk; novice investors shop for returns.
- If you focus on the risks, the returns will eventually come for you.
- If you focus on the returns, the risks will eventually come for you.
Good investing.
References:
3 Estate-Planning Tools That Most People Overlook
Source: Barron’s
When you think about estate planning, you probably think first about wills and trusts. But there are other financial tools with estate-planning potential. Here’s what to consider.
Food, Sleep, and Exercise Impacts Your Success
The secret to becoming successful in life and business starts with how healthy you are. And that means that you’re eating healthy, getting enough sleep, and exercising daily.
Health is wealth. Why food, sleep, and exercise can impact your success?
You Are What You Eat
When it comes to your productivity, you are what you eat!
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Ron Friedman states, “Food has a direct impact on our cognitive performance, which is why a poor decision at lunch can derail an entire afternoon.”
“Just about everything we eat is converted by our body into glucose, which provides the energy our brains need to stay alert,” Fredman continues. “When we’re running low on glucose, we have a tough time staying focused and our attention drifts. This explains why it’s hard to concentrate on an empty stomach.”
Certain foods like pasta, bread, cereal and soda, “release their glucose quickly, leading to a burst of energy followed by a slump.” High fat meals, however, “(think cheeseburgers and BLTs) provide more sustained energy, but require our digestive system to work harder, reducing oxygen levels in the brain and making us groggy.”
Replace that junk food with options like kale, blueberries, fish, walnuts, and green tea if you want to give your cognitive functions a boost.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Adequate, quality rest each night is essential for good health. Sleep provides the foundation for all our daily habits and decisions. A lack of quality sleep can negatively impact our mood as well as our ability to focus on daily tasks and activities.
The Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School reiterates how essential a good night’s sleep is. “Lack of sleep exacts a toll on perception and judgment. In the workplace, its effects can be seen in reduced efficiency and productivity, errors, and accidents. Sometimes the effects can even be deadly, as in the case of drowsy driving fatalities.”
While sleep is important, it doesn’t have to be eight hours. In fact, only 27% of highly successful people sleep between 7-8 hours. Another 27% get 6-7 hours, while 32% only sleep for 5-6 hours. Most of these individuals sleep from the hours of 11pm to 5am as well.
To get a good night’s sleep, create a schedule and stick to it. You should also avoid drinking alcohol and regular coffee, keep you room dark and cool (between 60 and 67 degrees is ideal), have a comfortable mattress, and have a relaxing ritual before you go to bed, such as reading or meditating.
Exercise – Get Your Sweat On
One highly effective habit of successful individuals is daily exercise. Besides keeping off unwanted pounds, exercising daily can help with;
- Decreasing stress,
- Boosting your immune system,
- Keeping you productive, and
- Helping you sleep better at night.
Even if you can’t go to the gym for an hour everyday, you can always start taking baby steps. For example, you could start using a standing desk, taking the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator.
These small actions add-up and ensure that you stay at your best physically, mentally, and emotionally.
Food, sleep, and exercise can impact your success. Thus, it’s important that you make your health a priority.
References:
The Next Pandemic: Mental Illness has Arrived
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is a time to bring awareness to this pervasive issue affecting millions of Americans and people worldwide.
Within the past couple of years, this country has been facing a crisis that can no longer be ignored, the number of Americans dealing with mental health continues to grow.
Mental Illness is the emerging post-Covid reality that a building crisis of poorly treated mental illness, anxiety, depression and suicide, writes Daniel Henninger, Opinion Columnist, Wonder Land, The Wall Street Journal.
Depression, self-harm and suicide are rising among young people. Suicide, already the second leading cause of death among people 15 to 34 before the pandemic, has increased.
The 2020 pandemic highlighted the significance of prioritizing mental health yet the number of those walking around untreated continues to grow. At some point, we will have to realize that mental health is a serious crisis for the country.
America is facing a national mental health crisis that could yield serious health and social consequences for years to come. —American Psychological Association (APA).
According to the Centers for Disease Contro and Prevention (CDC), a study released in August 2020 that showed that over 40 percent of adults in the United States reported dealing with mental health challenges or substance use.
Additionally, suicidal ideation continues to increase among adults in the U.S. The number of youth struggling with depression has increased, according to Mental Health America.
What’s alarming is that more than 50 percent of of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment, totaling over 20 million adults in the United States who are being untreated. White youth with depression were more likely to receive mental health treatment while Asian-Americans youth were least likely to receive mental health care.
Many Americans spent the 26 months of the pandemic drinking too much alcohol or using drugs. One result: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just reported a record number of deaths from drug overdoses last year, nearly 108,000 and 15% higher than 2020, prominently from fentanyl.
Absent medical treatment, some of the most severely mentally ill individuals self-medicate on the street with alcohol or drugs, turn violent and typically end up in filling the jails and prisons across the country.
The solution to the deinstitutionalization movement of the 1970s emptied the mental hospitals was supposed to be outpatient “community care.” It never happened.
With the incidence of disorders and suicides rising, there will be postmortems on the damage done during the pandemic to young people. With their schools closed, some isolated from friends and disintegrated inside social-media sites like TikTok or the online cauldrons.
It was clear the lockdowns and closings were wrecking mental health, especially among children and teens. Sadly, the National Institute of Mental Health did not have a seat at the decision table at the national level. Political officials ceded complete control of pandemic policy to public-health authorities. Next time, private and personal mental health should get a voice.
Between the social isolation, economic instability, political turmoil, racial violence, death and sickness, and overall uncertainty about the future, it is no wonder that mental health in America is on the decline, that depression and anxiety levels are on the rise, and that the demand for mental health and addiction treatment is skyrocketing.
Mental disorder has become too pervasive to sweep under a rug. The current national solution has been to let families alone pick up the broken pieces. It’s not enough.
Write henninger@wsj.com.
Your mental health matters!
Mental health is just as important as physical health. Good mental health helps you cope with stress and improve your quality of life.
References:
- https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-next-pandemic-mental-illness-homelessness-buffalo-shooting-online-hospital-11652906894
- https://afro.com/mental-health-in-a-pandemic-take-it-seriously/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nurturing-self-compassion/202103/is-mental-health-crisis-the-next-pandemic
- https://go.usa.gov/xuQPu #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth
Protect Yourself Against Inflation
“Rising costs can erode your purchasing power if you aren’t careful.” Fidelity Investments
Adding certain asset classes, such as commodities or real estate, to a well-diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds can help buffer against inflation, according to Fidelity Investments.
The last 12 months have seen the highest increases in the consumer price index (CPI) and producer prices (PPI) in decades, and many investors are concerned about the impact that inflation might have on their ability to reach their financial goals.
A trip to the supermarket or your local restaurant brings home the reality of inflation.
The consumer price index (CPI) has risen 8.5% over the last 12 months. Meanwhile, producer prices (PPI) have jumped by 11.2%. Those are the highest rates since the 1970s. And the forces driving prices up such as war, the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, and surging demand from consumers and businesses don’t look to be going away anytime soon.
While it may not be possible to avoid or eliminate the effects of inflation completely, there are actions you may be able to do to reduce its sting.
Add inflation-resistant assets
Though the rise in inflation may be troubling, investors who already have a well-diversified portfolio of traditional stocks and bonds may already have some degree of protection, as portfolios such as these have historically tended to grow even in periods of high inflation. “We still believe that a mix of stocks and bonds can help investors experience growth while managing risk,” says Naveen Malwal, an institutional portfolio manager with Strategic Advisers, LLC.
Source: Bloomberg Finance, L.P.
Malwal recommend specific steps to help provide additional inflation protection. They emphasize that certain investments that have historically done well in inflationary environments. This has included adding diversified commodities, such as energy, industrial metals, precious metals, and agricultural products, as well as real estate stocks and international stocks.
In the bond market, Malwal notes a greater emphasis on high-yield bonds. “While these carry more risk than investment-grade debt, the higher yield may allow them to more easily withstand any increases in interest rates that might occur in response to rising inflation.” He also highlighted a greater exposure to Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which are designed to help protect investors from the impact of inflation.
Lastly, short-term bonds have typically experienced less volatility during periods of higher inflation. “We generally have more exposure to short-term bonds than to intermediate-term bonds in client accounts,” says Malwal, “But we also have more exposure to long-term bonds, as they have historically provided stability within well-diversified portfolios during periods of stock market volatility.”
References:
- https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/wealth-management-insights/6-ways-to-help-protect-against-inflationhttps://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/wealth-management-insights/6-ways-to-help-protect-against-inflation
- https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/markets-sectors/peak-inflation