Live the Best Life

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Live the best life, we must overcome and free ourselves from bitterness. Focus on what you need to focus on. Take Personal responsibility, it is what you choose to do:

1. Let it go!

An individual can’t keep blaming the past for their current predicament.

  • Get rid of all bitterness.
  • Bitterness hinders the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
  • Bitterness is deep seated anger that comes from hurt.
  • Never base forgiveness on restitution or the actions of others.
  • Forgiveness must be based on one’s own choices and actions. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
  • Whatever you pray for, believe you’ll receive it. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
  • Live in the power of forgiveness.
  • Jesus said…Father forgive them, they do not know what they do.

2. Live it Up!

  • Stop living in the past; start living in the present.
  • Seek the peace and prosperity of that city;
  • Increase and don’t decrease.
  • Build something. Plant something.
  • Enjoy the land of abundance.
  • Bitterness keeps us from abundance; Forgiveness leads us to abundance.

3. Look Ahead!

  • Whatever that difficult season is will end.
  • God will bring you back to peace, prosperity and abundance.
  • Don’t be a victim of your past. Be a visionary of your future.
  • I can do all things through Christ whom strengthens me.
  • Be a Visionary of your Future.

Source: Jeremiah 29:4-11

Retirement Realities

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Running out of money pales in comparison to running out of family, friends, good health, and time – Robert Laura

Retirement can result in a full-blown disengagement from work and colleagues, leaving those who aren’t well-prepared feeling lost, unfulfilled, and misguided.  Therefore, it’s crucial for new and existing retirees to “Retire to Something” such as traveling, planting a garden or volunteering at a local non-profit, otherwise they can lose their sense of purpose and stability.

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Retirement planning should focus the more personal areas of life that are crucial to creating a purposeful, happy, healthy, and connected retirement.  Retirees can unknowingly put off taking care of themselves, their relationships, and the pursuit of passions and hobbies. Therefore, new and existing retirees have to take the time to discuss and plan for those things that lay beyond the scope of traditional planning.

Retiree who are financially able to maintain their standard of living can still miss the boat.  Financial resources can’t buy love, health, family or friends. At the end of life, very few people ask to see their financial portfolio when they’re on their deathbeds. They want to be surrounded by those family members and friends that they love and mean the most to them.  

Retirement magnifies what retirees already are, not necessarily what they want to be.  If a pre-retiree is unhealthy, has bad habits, or prefers to keep to themselves, retirement will foster more of that unless those habits and patterns are purposefully altered.  

Retirees need to understand that true independence and freedom come from managing life’s challenges and trials.  Success in retirement is truly the result of good judgment. Only by experiencing the difficulties of life and going through the transition that retirement presents each day can retirees truly appreciate the independence it offers.

Retiree’s attitude, understandably, can play an important role in how a person acclimate to retirement.  A positive attitude is contagious and can help build stronger relationships and a greater sense of purpose, as well as help an individual stay relevant and capable. 

One of retirement’s greatest paradoxes is that it takes work to achieve a successful retirement. Retirees have to work at staying active, developing a active schedule that gets them out of the house, learning new things and pursuing their passion… not to mention meeting new people. Retirees have to work at replacing their work identity, keeping busy, as well as staying relevant and connected to family and friends.  As a result, they need new skills, time to practice them, and in some cases a retirement coach to help guide them.

Retirees should focus on purpose, relationships, health, and well-being.  They should always be on the lookout for ways to stay motivated… and continually seek out new things and opportunities.  The ultimate goal of Retirement is making the most of Retirement. 

Source:  Laura, Robert, 7 Of The Best Retirement Quotes To Get You To And Through It, Forbes Magazine,  May 26, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertlaura/2017/05/26/7-of-the-best-retirement-quotes-to-get-you-to-and-through-it/#566a3b746c2b

17 Best Places to Visit in the Caribbean

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Best Places to Visit in the Caribbean
Based on user votes and expert insights, plus factors like accessibility to beaches, tourist attractions and comfortable accommodations, U.S. News compiled a list of the best Caribbean getaways. Help us evaluate next year’s top places by voting for your favorite destinations. And if you’re heading to these ports of call by way of a cruise, visit our ranking of the Best Cruise Lines in the Caribbean »
— Read on travel.usnews.com/rankings/best-caribbean-vacations/

How to start a side hustle: Many Americans want a side job, data shows

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Side hustles are all the rage these days, so it’s not surprising to learn that more people want a piece of the action. In fact, in a survey of 2,000 workers with full-time jobs commissioned by Vistaprint, an online provider of marketing products and services to small businesses, 55% said they’d like to turn a hobby into a side business.

If you’re eager to earn extra money, a side hustle is a great way to go – especially since those surveyed added an average of $14,705.16 to their annual income as a result of that side work. Here’s how you can start a successful side hustle and, ideally, join their ranks.
— Read on www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/08/04/55-of-americans-want-to-start-a-side-hustle-data-shows/39875257/

Nine Charts about the Future of Retirement | Urban Institute

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Social Security cuts, shrinking employer-sponsored pensions, low savings rates, and longer life spans have raised fears of a looming retirement crisis. But other trends point to better retirement outcomes, such as women’s increased employment and earnings, longer working lives, and economic growth that raises wages.

— Read on www.urban.org/features/nine-charts-about-future-retirement

How grim is the future of retirement? – MarketWatch

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Dire jeremiads about America’s looming retirement crisis are so common that it seems “retirementcrisis” is one word. The doom-and-gloom narrative goes something like this: Spendthrift Americans aren’t saving enough, so their living standards will plunge in retirement, and Social Security will buckle from the financial strain of too few workers supporting too many retirees.

Dark visions about retirement in America may be somewhat understandable considering the following: the nation’s deeply flawed retirement savings system; the forecast that Social Security’s reserves will run out in 2035 and the fact that local government retirement systems’ obligations to public sector retirees are increasing faster than the assets set aside to pay for them.

Depressed? Then take a moment to learn about a new report by the nonpartisan Urban Institute think tank: “Nine Charts about the Future of Retirement.”
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/how-grim-is-the-future-of-retirement-2019-08-06

The biggest bull market ever — yet disaster looms for millions of retirees – MarketWatch

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The coming ‘tsunami of poverty’ for retirees — and what to do about it.

The wealthiest 10% of households own 84% of all stocks—and that includes pension plans, 401(k) accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) as well as trust funds, mutual funds and college savings programs like 529 plans. That means 90% of American households own the remaining 16% of all stock.
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/the-biggest-bull-market-ever-yet-disaster-looms-for-millions-of-retirees-2019-07-18

What is Beta

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Beta is a measure of share price volatility. Volatility is considered to be a measure of risk in modern finance theory.

Investors may think of volatility as falling into two main categories.

  • The first type is company specific volatility. Investors use diversification across uncorrelated stocks to reduce this kind of price volatility across the portfolio.
  • The second sort is caused by the natural volatility of markets, overall. For example, certain macroeconomic events will impact (virtually) all stocks on the market.

Some stocks mimic the volatility of the market quite closely, while others demonstrate muted, exagerrated or uncorrelated price movements.

Beta is a widely used metric to measure a stock’s exposure to market risk (volatility). Before going on, it’s worth noting that Warren Buffett pointed out in his 2014 letter to shareholders that ‘volatility is far from synonymous with risk.’

Beta can still be rather useful. The first thing to understand about beta is that the beta of the overall market is one. A stock with a beta below one is either less volatile than the market, or more volatile but not corellated with the overall market. In comparison a stock with a beta of over one tends to be move in a similar direction to the market in the long term, but with greater changes in price.

A beta of 1.51 is well above 1 indicates that its share price movements have shown sensitivity to overall market volatility. Based on this history, investors should be aware that stock price are likely to rise strongly in times of greed, but sell off in times of fear. Many would argue that beta is useful in position sizing, but fundamental metrics such as revenue and earnings are more important overall.