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Holiday Greeting – How to Keep a New Year’s Resolution
Eat healthier. Get more exercise. Save more money. Those were the top New Year's resolutions for 2018, according to Statista.1 Few people achieved them. One of the reasons so few resolutions become reality is because people tend to think too big. For resolutions to succeed they must be small and easily managed, according to Susan Weinschenk in Psychology Today.1, 2 For instance: If your goal is to eat healthier, commit to having a piece of fruit or a [...]
Holiday Greeting – Fill Your Holidays with Happiness
Holidays can be joyful and a little stressful. Here are a few ways to bring a moment of happiness into your life and the lives of those around you:1 • Take time to call an old friend. • Buy coffee for a stranger. • Briefly chat with your next cashier. • Invite an older neighbor to dinner. • Leave a nice tip for your server. • Sing out loud. Thank you for entrusting us [...]
Stewarding Family Time During the Holidays
Christmas is almost here and with each passing day, we scramble to make sure we have not forgotten a detail so our Christmas will be perfect. But perhaps the biggest detail has been forgotten: just "being" with family. Really being there. Sure, we all treasure the goodies that Christmas brings, but nothing beats giving and receiving the attention and love our souls crave. So, how do we steward the time we have with one another? So [...]
Are Volatile Stock Markets Good for Investors?
When the ups and downs of stock markets leave you stressed and wondering whether stocks really will help you pursue your long-term financial goals, there are two things to remember: 1. Historically, over long periods, stocks have tended to move higher. • For instance, at the start of October 1987, the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 Index was valued at 327. On Black Monday, October 19, the Index lost 22 percent in a single [...]
How Challenging Times Cultivate Gratitude
True gratitude is formed in the oddest of places. Sure, we are thrilled when something we ached for finally comes to pass, but had we not gone through the waiting room first, we might have a more lackluster response when we are blessed and take blessings for granted. Expected blessings don't likely cultivate as much gratitude as troubles do. It's how we are wired. We tend to think we will achieve a certain outcome [...]
Holiday Greeting – Thanksgiving: A True American Holiday
Thanksgiving is a true American holiday. It celebrates generosity and gratitude, and it recognizes the relationships that helped colonists who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 survive beyond their first winter. History.com explained:1 “Only half of the Mayflower’s original passengers and crew lived to see their first New England spring. In March, the remaining settlers moved ashore, where they received an astonishing visit from an Abenaki Indian who greeted them in English. Several days later, he [...]
Holiday Greeting – Gratitude for Our Veterans
There are more than 20 million veterans living across the United States. These men and women fought in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the War in Afghanistan, which continues today, and many other wars, operations, interventions, and encounters.1 Our veterans deserve our gratitude for their service and sacrifice. There are many ways to show appreciation. You can:2 • Attend a Veteran’s Day event • Celebrate [...]
What We Wish The Former Generation Taught Us
Each generation passes the baton to the one behind it, hoping that they will carry that baton to the next one and then the next one, never ending. With each subsequent generation that comes and goes, will the original vision remain? Like a game of telephone, the original message can be lost when it is not interwoven within the family. From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations, the heritage that prior generations worked feverishly [...]
Should Parents Pay for College Tuition?
It’s a pricey question.It’s a pricey question. College Board estimated the average cost for full-time, in-state students who live on campus at four-year public colleges or universities during the 2017-18 school year is $25,290.1 Out-of-state students can expect to pay $40,940. Students who choose four-year, private, non-profit colleges and universities will spend about $50,900 a year.1 If pricing increases continue to follow the trend of the last five years, tuition and fees may increase by [...]
Holiday Greeting – Halloween Jokes for Children
If trick-or-treating in your neighborhood requires a trick to get a treat, your little ghosts and goblins will need some short and easy-to-remember options. Here are a few that were recommended by Reader’s Digest:1 • What has hundreds of ears but can’t hear? (A cornfield) • Which fruit is a vampire’s favorite? (Neck-tarine) • How do you fix a damaged jack-o-lantern? (With a pumpkin patch) • What do ghosts wear when their eyesight gets [...]
LifeStyle Newsletter – Just Give Me that Countryside…
Remember the television classic, Green Acres? Eddie Albert, who portrayed a New York City lawyer, and Eva Gabor, who portrayed his sophisticated spouse, move from the big city to the country – and it’s not quite what they expected.1 Recent retirement migration patterns appear to be producing a real-life version of the show. The search for warm weather and affordability has driven some people out of Florida and into Appalachia. In May, Cameron McWhirter of The [...]
Women and the Retirement Crisis
Here’s a number that will knock your socks off: $400 trillion.1 By 2050, the retirement savings shortfall in eight of the world’s largest economies is expected to reach $400 trillion, according to estimates from the World Economic Forum (WEF). The shortfall is the difference between the amounts of money retirees may receive from government and/or employer pensions and individual savings. The amount they need to replace 70 percent of their pre-retirement income is also factored [...]
