“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” — Jimmy Dean Pain and strain could be two experiences we try to avoid most in life. They also crop up regardless of what we’ve planned – even though we never intend to be in pain or strain, it happens anyway! We can have all our ducks in a row or the best weather for plain sailing, […]
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Pop that balloon… or let it go
A balloon payment (also called a residual value) is quite simply an amount of money that is still due after you’ve finished paying your monthly instalments. The goal of structuring a loan with a balloon payment is to make it more affordable on your current cash flow, making it very attractive. They are ideal for both companies and private individuals who are facing a cash crunch in the short term but expect their liquidity to improve […]
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Visualisation and stress
Not all stress is bad. But, if left unmanaged and unchecked, stress can become quite unhealthy for us. We all know many causes of stress, but we don’t always slow down enough to think about the specifics that are causing stress in our own lives. Money, health, family, friends, work, safety and security – are all prevalent triggers, and the sheer volume makes it difficult to intentionally focus on what’s causing us stress. One of the […]
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Slow down, don’t shut down
“One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, one soon loses control of the head too.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Oscar Wilde wrote that he never wanted to be at the mercy of his emotions. He wanted to use them to enjoy life and have good control over his choices. This is a helpful approach as it allows us to embrace our emotions inside the fullness of who we are, not […]
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Seeing the light.
There are many reasons for our increased stress levels – the use of technology and how it has changed our communication with each other and the world around us is complex and deeply integrated with our wellbeing. But where we used to follow seasons and the flow of the natural world around us, we have now created new rhythms and patterns and this has disrupted our Circadian Rhythm. The term Circadian Rhythm refers to our body’s […]
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Strengthen your heart, close your wallet
“There is no better exercise for strengthening your heart than reaching down and lifting up another person.” ― Joshua Miller We know that every activity costs us something, and most of the time, it will cost us money. But, there are attitudes, moods, qualities and traits that we can draw on from our true essence that don’t require an exchange of money – and will contribute to the well-being of everyone around us, and our own. […]
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Inflation & Interest Rates
Typically, inflation and interest rates are in an “inverse” relationship: When rates are low, inflation tends to rise. And when rates are high, inflation tends to fall. Moneyweb recently wrote “increasing the cost of credit will reduce the demand for it and therefore slow down the pace of ‘new money’ entering the economy via credit channels. This slowdown of funds entering the economy via credit channels will slow down the inflation rate as less money chases […]
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There is a trade-off for everything
“For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson When we become distracted by life, we become disconnected from our power to make healthier, happier choices. Our growing digital culture aims to keep us entertained, not educated, creating a challenge that can lead us to more frustration and disconnection. It’s easy to pick up our cellphones and play a game, watch a video or do some online shopping. Often […]
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Recognise. Interrupt. Change.
“We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” – Sheryl Sandberg The foundation of most of our ongoing frustrations can be traced back to our habits, and the challenge with habits is we often aren’t even aware of them. When the world went into COVID lockdown, there was an increased awareness of face-touching, hand-washing and social distancing. All of a sudden, we became aware that […]
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Rewriting retirement rules of thumb
At the end of any retirement planning conversation, we should always end with how our plan is unique to our own situations. But at the beginning, during the exploratory stage, it’s helpful to have some basic guidelines for where we can begin, or how we can craft our own benchmarks. In the same way that a baby may start to walk anywhere between 8 and 18 months, we all start saving and investing at different stages […]
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