Posts Tagged → energy
Know Your Mutual Funds
It is important for the individual investor to know about Mutual Funds. For some people the decision to invest in Mutual Funds is based on the premise that it is low risk investing. By in large this may be true, but it depends on the Mutual Fund and in particular the fund manager.
A Mutual Fund is a collection of stocks and other investments that are packaged by an investment company. Generally speaking it is a means by which the average pay check earner may enter the stock market. Some Mutual Funds require only a $1,000 initial investment and a small number of Mutual Funds may be purchased with as low as an initial $250 initial investment.
The key to investing in Mutual Funds is to read and evaluate the individual prospectives available to potential investors. You may review the performance of the Mutual Fund on-line or request the prospective by mail. The prospective gives you the Mutual Funds performance over the past quarters, years and decades. It also provides you with the fees that are charged to investors of Mutual Funds.
Certain Mutual Funds are no-load funds. Generally these funds are offered by state and municipal entities. It means the fund does not charge a fee to invest and is exempt to some taxes. There may be other charges for handling your Mutual Funds and charges if you decide to withdraw funds or move your investment elsewhere. This knowledge is essential before you commit a single dime to a Mutual Fund.
Your investigation should include the name of the stocks and other investments the Mutual Fund you are considering is currently investing. This point is critical because knowledge of the broader market is essential in determining if a particular fund is going to do well. If you have a penchant for global stocks , technology, financial or energy stocks you want to be assured these sectors are doing well in the overall stock market.
Some investors own single equities and Mutual Funds along with other investments in their portfolio. Most brokerage houses have financial planners who can review all of your investments including realty, equities, bonds and Mutual Funds to give you a full picture of your financial health and goals for your investing.
As with the stock exchanges Mutual Funds investing allows the investor to determine their risk level. There are municipal bonds funds, blue chips funds, growth funds, Asian Funds, Emerging Markets and combinations in between. The investor determines the choice of investment by his or her objective. For some it is for retirement, others income and tax consequences. The range of risk is provided by most Mutual Fund investment companies.
There are some excellent advisory services that provide star ratings on various Mutual Funds. The Morningstar advisors have up to date information on the health of various funds. There are also articles in the Wall Street Journal and Investors Daily about Mutual Fund Managers. There are stars in the Mutual Fund field. The star manager is only as good as his or her last year earnings. It is important to know who is doing well currently before you invest.
There are several families of Mutual Funds I would recommend reviewing. The Vanguard Funds, Fidelity, Oppenheimer and American Mutual Funds. Within these family of Mutual Funds there is a fund for about any level of interest and risk level. The information is available on-line or by mail.
The current bothersome area in the real estate market in particular sub-prime loans for at risk buyers is yet to be fleshed out on a global scale. The possible spill over effect to banks, financial institutions, mortgage companies and the commercial paper they have sold may be a factor in your consideration of which Mutual Fund to select. The true impact at this point is speculative as to the ripple effect that may ensue if the small percentage of risky mortgages end up in foreclosures. Presently the effect is an unwelcome squeeze in the credit market making it difficult to get loans for individuals and some lending institutions.
As with any uncertainty a good rule of thumb is to seek out Mutual Funds with a minimal amount of exposure to sub-prime mortgage woes. The Blue Chip or America’s stand-by stocks may have some advantages as some are undervalued. The technology and some exposure to China and Emerging Markets may be worth a look. Most Mutual Funds companies have stocks and investments that may fit the current trends and moods in the financial markets. Review the institutional investors in each fund. A rule of thumb is that big institutional investors generally do not invest in “dog” investments.
8 Energy Saving Tips
Our environment is suffering and our resources are depleting because we use too much of everything. Did you know that taking small steps to save our environment can also help you save money? If you follow one or all of the tips below, you can actually see real savings on your energy bill. You don’t need to do everything but you can do something.
In a typical U.S. home, appliances and electronics make up about 20% of energy use. The first step is to look for Energy Star labels when buying appliances and products. Energy Star labels are strict guidelines created by the U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency for energy efficiency. Follow some of these tips to help make the environment better for our future generations and save money at the same time.
Light bulbs: Use energy saving CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs) instead of the conventional incandescent light bulbs. Although CFLs cost 3-5 times as much as the incandescent light bulb, CFLs only use one-quarter of the electricity and lasts years longer. Each CFL bulb contains 5mg of mercury so you will have an extra item to sort in the recycling bin.
Dishes: Never load your dishes in a dishwasher unless they are a full load. Air-dry dishes instead of using a dryer.
Laundry: Wash clothes with warm or cold water instead of hot water when you can. Instead of using a dryer, air-dry or hang your clothes on a clothes line. Don’t use the dryer unless it houses a full load.
Refrigerators: Think of what you want to take out before you open the refrigerator. Leaving the door open will waste extra energy.
Take Showers, less Baths: Taking showers instead of baths will reduce water usage and also lower your heating bill.
Turn Off all Appliances Not in Use: Turn off all lights, computers, and electronics when they are not in use. Plug all your electronics such as computers, TVs, and DVDs into power strips. Using a power strip can reduce electricity used to power home appliances. Even when your appliances are turned off, energy is still being consumed from the outlet. To avoid extra energy costs, unplug the appliance or use a power strip. The power strip has an off button to cut all the power from the appliance.
Weather-Strip Windows and Doors: Check windows and doors for air leaks. Air leaks can be sealed by caulking or weather-stripping. By securing the leaks in your home, hot and cool air will be kept in your home longer. Less heating and cooling will help you save on energy costs.
Look for Energy Star label: Energy Star labels are only given when appliances and products meet strict guidelines of energy efficiency from U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency.
Get Your Book Done … Now!
I don’t believe in writer’s block. (I can hear the gasps of disbelief already.) Listen: If you hire a plumber to come to your house and fix a problem, do you expect him to say, “Sorry, I can’t figure out what your problem is. I think I have plumber’s block”? Probably not, and if he did, you’d toss him out and call another guy faster than you can say Drano. Not that plumbing can be compared to writing, but if we follow the proper steps to get the job done, I find that writer’s block melts away, the drains are unclogged, and the words start flowing like water from a faucet. But what are these “steps”? Well, a big part of my job as a book marketing specialist is to help people create something they can actually market: a finished book. Many of us have ideas aplenty but not a clue how to get them down on paper.
Unlike other professions, authors operate under a whole different set of rules. We often can’t just sit down and pound out a story, and those who do have created their own formula for doing so. We see this huge story with all sorts of directions we want to take it, we see the cover, we see the characters, we see the market potential. Then we see Katie Couric or Oprah smiling and holding up our book for the whole world to see. Then we glance back down at our monitor and see a tormenting blinking cursor and blank screen. And we are again reminded of what a failure we are. We have all these stories and nothing on paper. We are idea generators. We have zillions of them running through our minds, but none of them on paper. Unless you make your money in a think tank, operating this way probably isn’t getting you any closer to your goals.
When a project looms before us, it’s like this big elephant — huge, overwhelming and ready to stomp us flat any minute. There’s an old saying: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The same is true for writing. You finish a book, one step at a time. But to create these steps, you first have to break down your book into manageable, bite-size pieces. This can be accomplished by creating a TOC (table of contents) that can guide you through the book. My reasoning behind this is as follows: You’d never think of driving from California to New York without a map, right? Well, how can you expect to finish your book without one? Your TOC is your roadmap, guiding you through your book. If your chapters don’t have individual headings, then write a 2-3 sentence description of what the chapter encompasses. Don’t get too elaborate on this. Remember, it’s not going in your book; it’s just a brief descriptor. Once the TOC is outlined, you’ll have a vision of your book from start to finish.
A few things that creating this TOC will do for you: It will show you any gaps in your story that might need to be fleshed out, and it will give you a sense of completion, of seeing the book or project actually done, and this is a serious psychological turn-on for most authors, because we often live in a world of half-completed projects. Sometimes this step alone can propel an author enough to get their book done, or at the very least give it a darned good kick-start.
Once you’ve developed your TOC, you’ll want to go through it and create a “to do” list. Regardless of what genre your book is, you will always have a to-do list. Whether it’s getting endorsements, doing research, or getting approvals for quotes or excerpts for your book, this to-do list will become yet another item that will help propel your book toward completion.
Once the to-do list is done, set it aside. Now you should have your completed TOC with a vision of the entire book and a growing list of items that will need to be handled for the book to get done. Now the real fun begins.
Some books on writing will tell you to set aside a day or two a week, or an evening here and there to get your book completed. I disagree with this theory, and here’s why: You need to stay dialed into your topic. When I was working on an upcoming book, I would often put the project aside for days or weeks at a time, promising myself to schedule time “as soon as I could.” Well, that rarely happened. What I found is that if I set aside some time every day to do something on the book, I got it completed a lot quicker.
The more you keep your hands in your project, the more it will stay at the front of your mind and on your radar screen, and the more energy you will invest to finish it. I won’t tell you to set aside hours of your time each day — in fact, you don’t even have to set aside an hour. Take 15 minutes, or even five — whatever your schedule permits. If this seems like a ridiculously short amount of time, consider this: You now have your to-do list and your outlined TOC! . If you are short on time one day, pick a quickie item from your to-do list and get it done. If you have more time, then pound out a chapter or two. The idea behind creating the to-do lists and a TOC is to not only give your project a structure, but to also eliminate any and all excuses for getting it done. Don’t feel like writing today? No problem. There’s probably a mountain of research just waiting to be traversed. Get the picture?
But let’s say you can’t even get through the TOC. “My book has too many layers,” you lament. “Too many back stories, tons of stuff going on. I can’t possibly be expected to filter it down into a neat little TOC.” Yes, you can, and you must. If your book has no focus, your book will have no focus. It’s as simple as that. But it doesn’t stop there — if your book is all over the place and you do actually manage to get it done, you’ll never be able to keep a reader interested because you will be the only one who will get it, and what’s the point of that? What you’ll need to do in this case is find the “core” of your book or the focus of your story. Ask yourself this: What’s the one thing this book cannot do without? What’s the one thing this story circles around? That’s your core. If you’re still coming up with three or four things that your story circles around, you aren’t focused enough and neither is your book. Find that one thing and build your story or book around it.
If you follow these steps, your book will get finished quicker than you could have ever imagined. And the once-dreaded writer’s block will go from a stumbling block to a building block.
Making the Leap into Yachting
For many people, if you truly love the ocean and can’t get enough of it then yachting is the next step. The great thing about buying a yacht is that if you have enjoyed other forms of boating such as fishing or going on a leisurely cruise, you can do all of those things and more from the deck of your luxury yacht. Yachting adds a whole new level of pampering because unlike a smaller boat, it can serve as a home away form home so you can totally relax and let the stresses of life disappear. You will be amazed how even personal problems can be left on the shore for even a few hours out on your yacht. And when you return to the concerns of life and business, you will come back with a fresh view on the world and be able to tackle those problems with a new energy and vigor.
When you do even something fairly routine but you do it on your yacht, it takes on a feel of the extraordinary and the elegant. A business dinner at your home is warm and intimate and effective. On your yacht you can have the identical business meeting and it becomes supercharged because just being out on the water in a luxury environment adds a feel of success and power to what you are discussing. The yacht can close the deal when that final push is needed and in doing so pay for itself in one evening.
A fallacy about yachting that keeps a lot of people from taking that big step into becoming a yacht owner is that they have to know all about sailing and how to manage a boat on the open sea. There have been plenty of movies and news stories about yachting disasters to scare you out of owning your own boat if you think you have to be an expert seaman and manage every technical detail of the voyage yourself.
This is simply not the case. Most yacht owners engage at least a captain if not a full yacht crew who are skilled in managing that sea craft and are also highly trained in what to do in the event of an emergency while you are away from port. Your friends who already enjoy yachting and the venue that is going to sell you your yacht can recommend services that provide such crews on an as needed basis so you can focus on simply enjoying your yachting experience to its fullest.
Another approach to making the decision whether to buy a yacht all your own is to “try before you buy”. Of course you no doubt have been out on yachts owned by your friends or businesses with whom you are associated and that may be what has gotten the wheels turning on making this step into yacht ownership yourself. But you know from other areas of life that ownership is completely different from being a guest and just as owning a home is wonderful, you cannot understand it just from being in someone’s home.
A middle ground is to charter a yacht for a few weeks and go ahead and take a step at being the skipper of that big luxury boat. You can go ahead and engage a pilot and crew who will be there to make sure your wishes turn into commands and to manage the ship because of their specialized skills. But because this is your yacht for this period of time, you not only will make all of the destination activities and what kind of things to offer your guests onboard, you will do all the planning and preparation for the trip. Your level of responsibility goes up as does your feeling of empowerment. As you stand out on deck watching the waves break over YOUR yacht, you can enjoy the feeling of power and success and ponder if you want to make the step to make this feeling permanent.
Want to Gain Weight Fast?
Many people—who are basically into bodybuilding and those who want to sustain their good health—would want to gain weight fast in order to achieve their goal as soon as possible. Although it seems that there is nothing wrong in wanting to gain weight fast, many people don’t realize that there could be dangers especially if they are not guided correctly.
If you are one of those people who are looking forward to gaining weight fast, it is very important to take note of your actual gain weight just before you start gaining some more weight. Knowing this fact is very important because it will help you get started on the right track. Once you know your actual weight, you can now determine which weight gain program can give you the results that you want.
Aside from knowing your actual weight, it is also very important to take note or your height and your body type in order to know how much weight gain is perfect for you.
Here’s how
Once you have determined your ideal weight gain by identifying your actual weight and height, you can now proceed in gaining weight fast, easy, and safely.
1. Eat. This is the major factor that would contribute a lot to gaining weight fast. Why, because food is where people get their energies to move around aside from being the primary source of nutrients, vitamins and minerals needed by the body. If you want to gain weight fast, it is very important to plan out your meals carefully to ensure that you will get satisfying results. The most important thing to remember if you want to gain weight fast is that you have to load up on calories. And these calories should not come from just about any food but from those natural sources that will give your body the amount it needs.
It is recommended that people who are gaining weight should double their calorie intake to ensure that they have enough supply to burn. The ideal calorie intake should be from 300 to 500 daily—depending on the appetite and eating habits of the person. If you don’t eat a lot, you can still meet this calorie requirement by adding up a portion generously to your meals for the day.
To gain weight, you must also increase your meals but make sure that they are composed of healthy foods such as lean meats, beans, seafoods, poultry products, fruits and vegetables. You should also drinks lots of fluids such as water and other juices to replenish what you have lost during workouts.
2. Exercise. Having a regular set of physical activities such as exercise and workouts can help you gain weight faster because you are building and strengthening your muscles. The set of exercises that you should focus are those that promote muscle strengthening such as lifting, squats, bench presses, and the like. This is very important because it does not only build your muscles but also helps you in toning them down due to increased food intake.
3. Take some supplements. If you want to gain weight fast, then you should complement increased food intake and exercise with weight gain supplements. These supplements play a very crucial role in achieving fast weight gain because these helps the body to absorb the nutrients from the foods faster and also help the body to endure physical pains during rigorous sets of workouts and exercises.
How to Communicate Confidently
One thing common to all great communicators is that when they speak, everybody listens. However, communicating to people is one of the greatest fears for most of the human beings, and especially when it comes to public speaking. Most people dread public speaking more than death! Do you ever wonder why you don’t seem to get listened to by others even though you too have many ideas to share? Then read on, this article is just for you.
Confident communication however, is more than what you speak. It takes into account your body language as well.
What’s inside the mind of a Successful Communicator?
Confident communicators aren’t a know all
Of course, you need to have good knowledge about the subject you are talking about, but what actually matters is not what you say, but how you say it. Successful people don’t do different things, they do things differently. The first step is to believe in what you say. You must be fully convinced in the idea and only then will there be conviction in the tone of your voice. Your voice now is equipped with the power to hold people’s attention. Once you have conviction in your voice, and what you speak is useful for the other people and it actually helps them or gives some credible information, you get appreciation. This certainly peps up your self-confidence!
Confident communicators don’t let people make them nervous
Most people suffer from fearing catastrophes that never happen. Most people tend to make a very high imaginary impression of other people in their minds.
So much so that their mind starts believing that other people are perfect. This creates an unfair comparison between their own personality and the imaginary personality of other people that they create. This thinking breeds a fear of meeting and talking to other people. It lowers their confidence and they fear what it will be to meet and talk to these “perfect” people. However, in real life nobody is perfect and you must realize this. Everybody has their own set of faults and weaknesses. It’s important for you to realize that every human being is essentially imperfect. This will give you greater confidence to go out and face people.
Take it or leave it. You snooze, you lose
Ideally you must be the best of your moods and carry a pleasant demeanor when you go out and meet people. However, it might not always be possible and it may so happen that you are not fully prepared to communicate, or you are a little tense over some other matter. A confident communicator, though, develops an ability to keep control of his emotions. This quality helps the communicator to keep control of the situation. You may still not be in a good moodb but you must make sure that you keep indecisiveness at bay. Your indecision will fritter away your focus and energy and you fail to make any impact. If you decide to communicate. Be yourself, have faith in yourself and go ahead.
Mind your body language
Your gesture, postures and eye contact probably talk louder than your words. Body language cuts across all barriers of communication such as language, time, place, knowledge and so on. Your body language starts getting interpreted unconsciously by everyone around. People start forming impressions about you the moment you make an eye contact and body language certainly contributes a considerably large part of the impression you make.
A few facts you must know
- You may have a sad expression on your face because of some other matter, but the person you are talking to may feel that you don’t approve what he says, leading to misunderstanding.
- A steady gaze may convey intensity, anger, aggression or strong interest. Little eye contact may imply lack of confidence or shyness.
- Open hands may convey honesty and openness; however, making a lot of hand gestures might mean that you are being nervous.
Confident communication, including words and gestures, is something that you do not perfect in a day. You must grab every opportunity to communicate. Try to check your communication skills, your strong points and the mistakes you make along with the overall affect on the other person. Try to learn from your experiences and there is no reason why you can’t make it. Get going. Good luck!
Coming Up With Catchy Advertising Slogans
I want to get this started off on the right foot, so there are no confusions or hurt feelings. I am a big fan of creativity. I think it’s so…unique. If you have that creative energy and use it, I tip my hat to you, for you make the world a better place to shuffle around in. Disclaimer finished, let’s get going.
Did you go to college? Did you major in advertising? Hahaha, really!? Did you party a lot? I bet you did. Did you enter school with the intention of majoring in advertising? I bet you didn’t. Oh you did? I bet you partied a lot in high school.
My point here isn’t that advertising isn’t a serious career that only a select few people can do well, because I think it is. But, that’s the problem, only a select few people can do it well. With that said, advertising is one of the most majored in fields in universities and the general field of advertising has come to permeate nearly every facet of our daily lives. This tells me that a lot of these graduates are getting hired to do what they studied. Which is funny to me, because advertising seems to be a major that everyone can at least pass. But, once they have the diploma they’re qualified. Or are they?
I found an automated advertising slogan machine online. It generates advertising slogans for whichever word you enter into the text box. I have to say I think that it did a pretty good job. But, can it do as good as actual studied experts in the field of advertising. To compare I found a few slogans that were ranked as some of the best slogans in the years 2000 – 2003. Take a look and see if you can tell which slogans an educated advertiser that makes an excellent living off his/her razor sharp wit conceived and which one was made by the automatic generator.
•Lipsmackin’ Thirstquenchin’ Acetastin’ Motivatin’ Goodbuzzin’ Cooltalkin’ Highwalkin’ Fastlivin’ Evergivin’ Coolfizzin’ Perpendicular.
•Reach out and touch someone
•I Wish I Were a Fuscia Weiner.
•Don’t be vague.
Ask for Haig
•I Saw Strategy and I Thought of You.
•We try harder
•It’s Just For Me And My Range.
•You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent
•Puts the Pickles in America
To be fair I want to reiterate that the actual corporate financed and okay’d slogans were chosen among a group recognized as the best of their respective years; whereas the auto-generated slogans were simply the first to pop out of the machine. Again, I’m not bashing the profession or the professionals, but somehow I feel confident saying that a majority of the advertisers out there took on their most ambitious and creatively convincing efforts in their job interviews.
Divorce – Are You Feeling Cheated?
Are you feeling relieved after divorce or cheated? After many divorces people feel happy while in many rather more cases they feel cheated. Why? Divorce it self is a very painful process and the times that lead to divorce are more painful. The question is why get the sense of feeling cheated after getting divorce? Let us talk about this.
Relationship demands giving – People give a lot to their marriage; most of them do it except few. Right from the development of relationship, a lot of time, emotional energy and physical resources are given to make it work. During marriage the investment goes higher. Most of the partners want the marriage to work. There are exceptions that unbelievably want to destroy because of psychological problems. When cracks develop in the marriage, lot more effort is made to save the marriage and when the marriage breaks after putting in so much effort, one feels cheated.
Is this true for all? This is not true for all. There are few individuals who don’t give anything in marriage. They ask for it. The demand and contribute nothing. That is the game of selfishness played by them. So these people will never feel cheated. They will only feel bad that they lost an easy victim.
What should you do? The only way out is to forget the losses. Try to erase the past as much as possible. This will be difficult, but break the pain bit by bit. Work on it and it will go away one day. Try to forge another relationship and forget what went wrong. Cut your losses as soon as possible.
Earning Your Degree Online
It is not at all surprising that numerous business schools and universities have established online degree programs. Acquiring your first degree or advancing your education has become very popular for a diverse group of people.
Studying for your degree online has numerous advantages. Some of these advantages are:
1. The classes can be scheduled as you like. Studying can be scheduled at a convenient time for you. If you are a daytime worker, you can take classes at night or on the weekend .
If you have a family in addition to a hectic work schedule, it is tough to combine a working life with a learning life-especially if you have to commute to campus for scheduled classes and meetings.
Online degree programs let you study on your own terms, develop your presentations, or take exams when you have the time and energy to do so.
2. Over enrollment of students in classes is a common problem encountered at universities and colleges. Over enrollment in classes is usually not a problem when you pursue an online degree.
3. Students enrolled in an online degree program do not worry about being bumped out of classes.
4. Since you can take all your classes at home, there is no need for a costly commute to campus. The student never has to sit in traffic, wait at a bus stop, or contend with foul weather.
5. An online degree program is adjusted to your needs, as opposed to campus-based programs, in which classes are organized around the schedules of staff and faculty.
One of the best ways to enhance your career opportunities is to enroll in an online degree program. Online degree programs offer great flexibility; they combine online lectures from qualified business leaders with routine class meetings.
More than ever, companies are paying part or all of tuitions for employees who pursue graduate degrees in their field. From a cost-benefit perspective, online learning looks like a wise choice.
Personal Time Management
Personal time management is one of the greatest steps you can take to improving your life. The six areas that personal time management seeks to improve in anyone’s life are physical, intellectual, social, career, emotional and spiritual.
*The physical part involves having a healthy body, less stress and more energy
*The intellectual part involves learning and other mental growth actions.
*The social part involves developing personal relations and being an active contributor to society.
*The career part involves school and work.
*The emotional part involves suitable feelings and desires and manifesting them.
*The spiritual part involves a personal search for meaning in your life.
Each area contributes to create the whole you. If you are ignoring one area then you are ignoring an essential piece of yourself.
A grand method of learning time management and improving your personal life is to follow a number of basic actions.
*Always settle on which task is essential and which are not necessary in achieving your goals and which activities are helping you preserve a balanced life style.
*Learn to say “No”. You in reality see this advice often. Pay attention to it even if it involves saying the word to family or friends.
*Pat yourself at the back or just reward yourself in any manner for an effective time management result.
*Try and get the cooperation from people around you who are actually benefiting from your efforts of time management.
*Don’t procrastinate. Attend to necessary things immediately.
*Have a positive attitude and set yourself up for success. But be realistic in your approach in achieving your goals.
From the moment you integrate into your lifetime management skills, you have opened several options that can provide a broad spectrum of solutions to your personal growth. It also creates more doors for opportunities to knock on.
