Improving Your Finances at Any Age

Anyone can find themselves making some financial blunder at some point. Whether it is racking up a mortgage or making a bad investment choice, a lot of us make some major financial mistakes along the way. All's not lost, however, and you may just dig yourself out of that money hole whether you’re an old boot or a young buck. You can improve the state of your personal finances whether you’re in your 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, or beyond.
The key to financial improvement is developing good financial habits; and, it is almost never too late to start doing so.

Save Up!

There’s really no two ways about this step. You need a nest egg in your old age so you need to accumulate a good sized sum over the years. Hence, the best time to start?…now. The longer you wait to grow that egg, the less you will have.
Decide how much of your income you need to set aside after calculating your goal savings. Make a habit of squirrelling this particular sum every payday in a separate account which you assign a strict “Don’t-touch-until-I’m-too-old-to work” rule. You’ll be surprised by how much your savings can grow over the years.
Help your saving habit by:

• availing of an auto transfer of your savings from your payroll account to your designated personal savings account. This way savings becomes automatic, something you don’t actually have to think about.
• scaling back on spending and living frugally. Curb impulse spending. Those absolutely must-haves may not really be necessary. In fact, you don’t actually need that adorable handbag since your other adorables still work your outfit, don’t they?
• Being aware of your [Latte Factor] (http://www.becomingminimalist.com/latte-factor/). The little things you think are too small to put a financial dent do add up to eat into your potential savings. It’s that daily latte from your favourite café. That cup-o’-java can be switched to a home brew to save those extra dollars. Other latte factors can include the magazines you buy, those two dollars-a-pop tracks from iTunes, and the cable subscription you barely even use.

To know your where your money seems to evaporate into thin air, list down the little purchases you make...the ones you think nothing of... for a month or two. See how much you cumulatively spend on these. If you could save this much in a month, isn’t it worth cutting down on these and looking for cheaper alternatives? For example, you may be able to get similar information on fashion trends from the internet without having to buy magazines. You can even cut that cable subscription and opt for a cheaper alternative movie and TV provider through the net. Whatever your decisions may be, remember that your goal is to increase your savings per month so you can reward yourself with a good sized nest egg when you really need it most.

Pay off Debts (There’s No Getting Away from This)

Any debt you have is like a Sword of Damocles hanging over your head. Debts balloon over time especially with an ongoing interest rate on unpaid portions. Formulate an aggressive strategy to pay off any debt, may they be credit card loans or otherwise. One strategy is to list all debts from smallest to the largest. Focus on the smallest, pay it off as soon as you can, and cross it off your list. You’ll feel better after you’ve taken one burden, no matter how light, off your shoulders. Now that you’re on the roll, tackle the next largest one by paying the minimum plus adding an extra. For instance, if the minimum amount due is AU$50.00, adding an extra AU$30.00 for a total payment of AU$80.00 every month would speed up eliminating this debt. Go through the list with same strategy until you’ve paid every cent.
Although in most cases it may take years to pay, you just need to keep doggedly on to be able to live a debt free life. Not only is it necessary to pay off loans, a decreasing debt total or ideally, a life of zero debt, is crucial for financial stress relief.

Considering Working Past Retirement Age

Working past retirement age is a growing trend among seniors still in good health. When the new 50s phenomenon includes having looks and well-being of a 40-year old, and the new 60s equate to 50s, and so forth, retirement has steadily been relegated to the backburner for the truly golden years. Presently, many seniors opt to keep working, often in new fields. If you belong to the “oldies but not yet mouldies” group, why not consider getting further education in your field or in other related fields? Investing in more training and certifications before the company’s official retirement age may go a long way to furthering your employment aptness and marketability.

Educate Yourself

There are more money tips out there to educate yourself on if you truly want better financial stability in the coming years. Together with your newfound financial management knowledge, keep the basic foundation of practicing good money habits such as saving and avoiding debts as personal tenets so that “Thou shalt not want” in your golden years.

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How to Deal with Panic Attacks

Anyone can have a panic attack at some point in his life. About 40% of the Australian population is predicted to experience this intense fear and discomfort.
A panic attack is characterized by a combination of some of these following symptoms:

• Palpitations; rapid heart rate
• Tightness, pain, or discomfort in chest
• Tremors
• Rapid breathing; shortness of breath
• Choking sensations
• Sweating
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Disorientation or feeling of detachment from the world
• Feeling of losing control or feeling of dying
• Feeling of impending doom
• Nervousness; anxiety
• Chills or hot flushes

Although these symptoms may seem to characterise physical ailments like a cardiovascular problem, hospital tests on a person seized with a panic attack may often show negative physical issues. Panic attacks may last anywhere between 5 minutes to half an hour.

Panic Disorder

When panic attacks become recurrent, they characterise a more serious condition called panic disorder. Because of the chronic nature of the attacks, a person with a panic disorder may sometimes find himself unable to go about his normal daily functions.

A person with a panic disorder often exhibit:

• out-of-the-blue panic attacks or attacks that are not triggered by a specific situation
• significant behavioural changes such avoiding public places for fear of getting an attack in public or avoiding exercise because it speeds up the heart rate
• worrying for long periods about the next impending attack
• excessive concern about the consequences or causes of a panic attack. For instance, some people falsely believe their attacks are caused by a medical condition. Despite repeated tests with negative results, these people are not assured that there is nothing wrong with them, physically.

Panic attacks may occur several times a day or just twice in a year. Attacks may also occur during sleep, waking the person up to scary feelings.

Unfortunately, women are more prone to acquiring panic disorder. Stemming from this, more women than men are susceptible to agoraphobia or the extreme fear of crowds and enclosed public spaces.

Coping with a Panic Attack

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

A person with a panic disorder may benefit from some form of psychiatric treatment such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT helps a person change his thinking patterns and behaviour toward understanding what is triggering and sustaining the panic attacks. The therapy allows the individual to look at his fears realistically instead of letting him get carried away with the tide of fear. For instance, when the panic hits, the person is trained to think, “What is the worst that could happen now?” Usually, the fear is more overwhelming than the real situation. Once the person knows nothing disastrous is going to happen during his attack, the panic level can drop significantly.

Exposure Therapy

Exposure therapy is designed to get a person acclimated with his fears by exposing him to trigger situations in a controlled environment. The therapy aims to arm the individual with coping mechanisms by gradually exposing him to many times to the panic sensations. This way the person begins to be less frightened of experiencing the panic sensations and starts feeling more in control during an attack.

Relaxation and Breathing Techniques

Rapid breathing can escalate the fear factor in a panic attack. The first thing to do is make a conscious effort to slow down your breathing by doing these steps:

• Make yourself comfortable. Loosen clothing that seems to restrict breathing.
• Breathe deeply into your nose and exhale through the mouth.
• Breathe steadily and gently. Regulate breathing by counting 1 to 5 on the inhale and another 1 to 5 on the exhale.
• Breathe this way for 3-5 minutes. Closing your eyes will help focus on your breathing.

Preventive Measures

There are no foolproof ways to prevent a panic attack but you can mitigate the frequency. Regular exercise especially those that are aerobic can lift moods, stimulate endorphin or “happy hormone” production, decrease stress levels, and heighten confidence. Avoidance of alcohol, caffeine, smoking, and drugs are also a must as these substances can increase the degree of panic attacks. A good balanced diet and adequate rest are also good preventative measures.

Panic support groups can also help you by providing information about how other people cope with their panic attacks. These organizations will also help you realize that you are definitely not alone in your fight to overcome irrational fear.

What To Do With A Dry Scalp Problem

A dry scalp is a bummer. When you think you look absolutely spiffy in that black ensemble, don’t head out the door just yet. Be sure to glance down and check for those little white flakes that can turn to your look from hot to gross in an instant.
A dry scalp often comes with dandruff, psoriasis, and other scalp-y problems; though not all the time. A dry scalp feels tight and may harbour white flakes on the hairline, top of head, and around the base of the hairline near the neck. Although the symptom of skin flakes doesn’t always mean dandruff, it very much mimics the condition. The good news is that a simple moisturizing strategy can set a dry scalp condition to rights once more.

The Difference Between Dry Scalp Flakes and Dandruff

A dry scalp can exhibit itchy, flaky skin especially when it is exposed to irritants like residue buildup from styling products or to medications like minoxidil. These flakes are not necessarily dandruff. Flakes from residue buildup tend to be translucent and cling to hair strands. Those born out of a minoxidil reaction form off-coloured scaly sheets which are confined only to areas where the medication was applied.
Dandruff flakes on the other hand are opaque white and have a heavier texture. These tend to cling to both scalp and hair strands.
Simple flaking from a dry scalp is a simpler condition to treat than that of dandruff. Before bedtime, massage some moisturizing lotion into the dry areas of the scalp. During your morning shampoo, rinse out the lotion well and apply conditioner. If the flaking is not a dandruff issue, this remedy will solve it.
Washing your hair often will reduce hair product buildup and keep your scalp flake-free. It would be best not to minimize using hairsprays, gels, waxes, and other styling products that cause unsightly residue.
Flaking from a minoxidil reaction can be reduced if hair and scalp are washed daily to rinse away every night’s application of the medication.

About Dandruff

Dandruff can be a condition not just of a dry scalp but an oily scalp as well. Dandruff is symptomised by excessive flaking of dead skin cells caused by an overgrowth of a fungus called malassezia. Scientists are not very clear, but it seems that the overgrowth may be caused by:

• A diet high in sodium or sugar. A diet also dominated by spicy food may trigger the problem.
• Lack of nutrients such as Vitamins B or D
• Hormonal changes
• Heredity
• Stress
• Neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease
• Infrequent shampooing or cleansing of the hair
• Recovery from a chronic cardiovascular illness
• Excessive consumption of alcohol
• Changes in the weather

Dandruff Treatments

Anti-dandruff shampoos sold over-the-counter and in groceries may work to control some cases of dandruff. Good choices should contain ingredients such as ketoconazole, pyrithione zinc, coal tar, salicylic acid, or selenium sulfide. Use anti-dandruff shampoos a few times a week, alternating with your regular shampoo.
For those who want a more natural, organic approach to dandruff control, here are a few tips:

Tea Tree Oil

A few drops of tea tree oil in your shampoo could be an effective way to control dandruff. This oil has antifungal properties so small amounts could also be applied directly to those scaly patches on the scalp. As it is a strong substance, be on the lookout for allergic reactions and use only for short periods.

Aloe

The thick translucent fluid of an aloe vera leaf may reduce itchiness and flaking skin as it does with people afflicted with seborrheic dermatitis, a skin problem that can also cause dandruff. You can rub fresh aloe directly on your scalp.

Baking Soda

Baking soda is so versatile that it can clean your kitchen, whiten teeth, and do a myriad other things including dandruff control. Wet hair and rub some baking soda vigorously onto your scalp. Then rinse it out directly, skipping the shampooing part. Do this several times in the week. Baking soda seems to work on the fungi causing your dandruff misery. Expect your hair to get a bit dry but after some weeks, your scalp will start making its own oils, balancing out your hair’s texture with an added plus of a flake-free scalp.

Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar balances the pH of your scalp, creating a less friendly environment for the fungi to grow. Spray your scalp with a mixture of equal parts of apple cider vinegar and water, wrap it up with a towel between 15 minutes to 1 hour, and then rinse away. Make this a twice a week ritual until the dandruff goes away.

Virgin Coconut Oil

Virgin coconut oil has both antifungal and moisturizing properties which makes this a great anti-dandruff alternative. Before a shower, massage your scalp with 3-5 tablespoons of it. Leave on your scalp for about an hour or more. Then, shampoo away. You won’t need to use a conditioner as the oil already does the conditioning as well as fight the fungi on your head. Try this treatment for a week or so.
When all else fails, consider visiting a trichologist, a hair and scalp expert. Trichologists can diagnose the cause of the dandruff and recommend the appropriate treatment. Think of them like hair and scalp doctors who can help you bid goodbye to your perennial embarrassing dandruff problem.

How to Manage Anger

Anger is a natural emotion and an evolutionary necessity that humans need to ramp up aggression fast for survival. Anger helped early man to ward off or hunt down our own predators. The behaviour of violence toward prey, predator, and other enemies may never have occurred if man kept his emotions on a calm, even keel. Anger has helped man hunt successfully and protect kith and kin from threats. Cold anger may have also sparked sharpened intellects that plotted both offensive and defensive strategies for the good of the whole community.
As man’s social structures evolved, so have the use of anger. Anger was utilised as a powerful negotiating tool. As a bargaining ace, the emotion of anger proved generally advantageous to winning a conflict of interest, especially for those most blessed with physical strength and propensity toward physical violence.
Modern life with its system of laws, social behaviour and religious mores, however, frowns on displays of anger and violence, both which disrupt the civilised flow of modern life. Indeed, unwanted expressions of anger can damage personal and social relationships, cause law-breaking, inflict harm on others, and even harm to one’s self.

Anger Management

The emotion of anger includes a wide range of feelings from simmering annoyance to stark, white rage. As an emotion, anger is not wrong. It is how it is expressed that can makes it undesirable or downright dangerous.
While lashing out to express anger may not be a good thing, suppressing a natural emotion such as anger does not make a healthy alternative either. Indeed, it is a “damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t” acknowledge anger situation. One has to find that sweet spot by which to effectively manage anger in a positive and healthy way. In other words, we need to learn to how to handle our temper.
When our temper gets the best of us and creates trouble for us at work, home, and even in the area of our general well-being, it is time to learn some anger management skills. Anger does not just affect the angry person but also those around him. Anger can cause us to be physically, verbally, and psychologically abusive to others. In cases where children get into our angry crosshairs, we can effect some psychological injury on them, making it doubly necessary to watch our temper.
Handling our anger does not mean suppressing it. The keyword here is defuse...anger must be defused in order to manage it.

Defusing Anger

Recognize the Red Flags

Know that there are physical warning signs that clue us into your state of emotion, if we care to be more aware of them. These warning signs are significant because recognizing them can help us control anger and take steps to defuse it before letting the emotion spiral out of control. These are some signs of mounting anger:

• Sensation of increasing pressure in the head
• Heated and flushing face
• Increased heart rate
• Increased breathing
• Increased sweating
• Muscular tension especially around the jaw and arms
• Chest tension
• Shaking
• Anxiety
• Pacing

Know the Triggers

What can set off our fuses? Write them down. Even little things can trigger anger especially when stress is starting to get the better of us. A person who unintentionally ignores us, a restaurant running out of our favourite food, cold coffee, a small dent on the fender...recognize what specifically trips our wires so we can either avoid them or learn to trivialize these annoyances as not worth our angry time.

Time Out

Blow the whistle on ourselves when we encounter a foul. We need to get away from the situation by leaving the room, going out for a brisk walk, taking the car for a drive, or hiding in the bathroom as a calming technique. During this time out, we need to assess how we can talk about the situation later on and stay calm in the process. It is important to make time to get back and resolve whatever made us angry but we need to do so sans our ire.

Distract and Relax

When we start gritting our teeth and feel smoke rising from our ears, we need to shake our mind to focus on something else. Soothing music, talking to a friend, or scrubbing the oven spotless are examples of distractions that could defuse our tension and help us relax.
To take tempers down a notch or two, relaxation techniques can be very helpful. Focusing on deep long breaths and consciously relaxing each muscle gradually decreases feelings of stress and tension.

Hone Skills on Assertiveness

Sometimes people make us angry because they are not clear or are ignorant of what ticks us off. That is because we have not been assertive enough to draw clear boundaries.
Assertiveness does not mean aggressiveness or forcefulness. Assertiveness does not mean being intractable and uncompromising on our stand. That is being aggressive. When we feel angry or annoyed about something, being assertive about how we feel can channel our anger towards expressing it in clear and respectful ways. Being assertive means being able to stand up for one’s dignity and rights by :

• communicating plainly to others about one’s feelings, needs, and wants
• feeling comfortable about communicating those feelings and needs
• respecting other people’s needs and feelings also
• compromise or negotiate toward a resolution

Standing up for ourselves does not need us to attack or provoke other people unnecessarily. We also cannot remain passive, swallowing our anger, and letting things slide all the time. This is why we need to develop the skills to walk the line of assertiveness. Self-help books, seminars on anger management, and the like can point you toward honing your personal skills on being assertive.
When we start to feel angry, we should neither sit and stew nor go about in a rage. We manage our anger to get us what we feel we deserve. This way we gain control of ourselves and gain the respect of others.

How a cold shower can help relieve stress

A stressful day often calls for a warm, soothing leisurely bath to calm the nerves and relax tense muscles. Calming bath aromas and romantic candles are extra balms that add to the serenity. With this in mind, a jolting cold shower is the last thing you think you may want as a stress reliever. Believe it or not, though, a cold shower is what you actually need.
Here is something even stranger, particularly if you live in the cold regions of Australia such as New South Wales or Victoria…our bodies love cold water. Brrrrrrr!! How so?
A cold water shower or a chilling ice bath has numerous health benefits. According to Ned Brophy, a sports scientist who advocates cold water therapy, immersion in cold water changes blood flow direction “from the peripheral to deep blood vessels, thereby limiting inflammation and swelling and improving venous return (the amount of blood returning to the heart).” With improved venous return, a person’s "metabolites and waste products built up during exercise can be efficiently removed by the body and nutrients quickly replenished to fatigued muscles.” In other words, cold water helps the body improve its detoxification process. A little aside: the famous actress, Katharine Hepburn, was quite the advocate of such hydrotherapy.
Because cold water helps the body detoxify itself, it can beef up your immunity and improve blood circulation. Cold water can be shock, especially early in the morning but that is what makes it therapy. As cold water hits your body, it shocks it into breathing deeply and jumpstarting your heart to rapid pumps. This causes one to take in more oxygen to feed muscles and tissues via better blood flow. The benefits accrue to lower blood pressure, better cardiovascular health, ramped up energy, and improved sense of well-being.
As the bonds of the body and brain are closely linked, better physical health oftentimes translates to better mental health as well. If cold showers and baths can do wonders for the body, these can do good for the mind, too.

Cold Showers Lower Depression

Ice cold baths and showers jolt the skin receptors which transmit an intense volume of electrical impulses from the skin’s nerves to the brain, driving it to produce beta-endorphins and noradrenaline. Beta-endorphins are pain suppressors. Noradrenaline or nor epinephrine is a feel-good neurotransmitter much like dopamine and serotonin as it lifts moods and has an antidepressive effect. In fact, noradrenaline is present in several antidepressant drugs. Cold water can simply call up these two brain chemicals to provide a quick pick-me-up without side effects of medication.
The brain has a “blue spot,” the main production centre of the natural antidepressant, noradrenaline. Research at the Virginia University School of Medicine disclosed that short cold showers stimulate this spot toward noradrenaline production. A depressed person usually registers low amounts of noradrenaline so production stimulation of this hormone helps better his moods.

Cold Showers Increase Resilience to Stressors

We love comfort so much that many of us negate exercise for the comfort of the couch, opt for fast food takeouts instead of a home-cooked nutritious meal, or take the car instead of walking down a few blocks. In our quest for comfort, we weaken our bodies instead of strengthening it. What we need is to subject ourselves to stress gradually to help us develop our ability to adapt to it.
An icy bath plunge or a freezing shower is a stressor. Although cold showers are definitely not on most people’s daily bucket list, subjecting one’s body to the cold bath stressor builds up its tolerance level, making it stronger in many aspects.

Cold Showers Reduce Anxiety

When one’s anxiety levels start to rise, for sure their cortisol levels are way off base as well. When this happens, our blood pressure goes up in response.
Cortisol is a steroid hormone also known as hydrocortisone. It is part of the fight-or-flight reaction to stress as it shuts down what it deems as non-essential body functions such as reproduction and immune system actions in order to channel the body’s resources in dealing with the threat.
Research by the University of Osaka in Japan revealed that cold water therapy could decrease cortisol levels thereby helping relieve anxious people of their doom-and-gloom outlook, at least for some time.
Cold showers can toughen up a person’s nervous system and make him more tolerant of stress. As cold showers can double as oxidative stress, the body in time can be made to adapt to it. When the body becomes more resilient, the mind follows suit; so at length, anxiety levels may markedly decrease and moods may stabilize.
So, if you’ve been in doldrums lately, embrace the cold. There’s nothing as cheap, healthy, and side-effect-free as the bite of a nice cold shower to perk up your morning and your overall health.

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How Emotionally Intelligent People Deal with Difficult Persons

Negativity drains people’s wills and emotions and derails them from achieving their goals. Some people wallow in negative attitudes and thoughts, making them difficult to deal with. Unfortunately we are bound to know or run into a few of them. They may be a colleague, a boss, an in-law, or a gym classmate. In the reality of an imperfect world, we cannot always be surrounded by people we like; so, we must learn to deal with those we don’t.
It is worth knowing how to deal effectively with negative or difficult people. For one, toxic individuals can stress one out. If you are in a situation that calls for dealing with people who dish out emotional toxicity on a frequent basis, you must take steps to manage your stress from sucking out your emotional vitality.
Keeping all that negativity in check from rubbing off on you may require some forethought and effort. Here are some advice emotionally intelligent people may give you for handling toxic people:

Set Personal Boundaries

People who know their self worth are not afraid to set their boundaries and stick to them. Emotionally intelligent people have realized that they are in control of what they want or not want to do. They are equipped to handle guilt trips, anger, emotional withdrawals, and other conscious or unconscious actions people take when someone says “No” to their requests or demands.
One does not have to be rude to say No. A polite but firm refusal should send the message of your limits and your expectation of respect for these limits. To illustrate: If you happen to need the day to shop, relax, and get ready for a personally important Christmas party, yet your tiresome Aunt Cora requests you to accompany her “for a little while” to do her own Holiday shopping, you can choose to politely turn her down. Yes, doing so may merit her ire especially if you have been her “yes man” for quite a while; but in the long run, she will learn that you are no pushover. More importantly, you will not think of yourself as one either.
You cannot please everyone, no matter how reasonable you are. The sooner you realize this, the better you will be at respecting yourself and sticking to your personal limits.

Pick Your Battles; Win Your Wars

Emotionally smart people know when to let go and when to dig their heels in. If you let your emotions get the better of you and get sucked into fighting a difficult adversary bent on emotional blackmail, you probably won’t make it out emotionally in one piece.
Distance yourself from your emotions and take stock of how difficult people push your buttons. This way you get to analyse why they do it and how they do it. With this information, you can more or less plan how to react and how to stand your ground later on. You will also get to know where to draw your intolerance line. As the saying goes, “Know thy enemy.”
In the interim, treat difficult people with civility. Being equally rude will only serve to exacerbate their negative behaviour for which you may be scathed. So while they haven’t crossed your tolerance line, maintain poker-faced diplomacy.

No One Can Dampen Your Happiness, Unless You Allow It

People who have a strong emotional quotient tend to have high self-esteem. They do not permit anyone’s negative opinions to take away the joy from their personal accomplishments. Emotionally intelligent individuals measure their achievements against their personal capacity and the circumstantial odds stacked against them. This strong belief in self make snide remarks or overt criticisms roll like water off a duck’s back.

Stick to Facts, Not What-Ifs

Negative people can leave you following disconsolately along their dismal line of thought. The trick is not to get caught up in their irrational behaviours and hopelessness. Assess the facts and controllable issues. Can something be done with these? If so, look for the solution to these. Do not waste time stressing over what you cannot control.

Take Care of Yourself Physically

The mind and body are tied. A physically fit body often goes hand-in-hand with some degree of mental tenacity. A balanced diet, consistent exercise, and rest are the basic foundations to your general well-being and mental health.
Physical fitness is a contributory factor to self-esteem and positivity; so being very healthy also means being more impervious to the pitfalls of stress and anxiety. In this case, difficult people have less power to stress you out.
Try to limit caffeine and alcohol consumption. This goes without saying to stay away from smoking and recreational drug consumption.
There are other ways to handle difficult people; but, the important thing is having control over your reactions. You can never control other people but only you can control your attitudes, emotions, and behaviour. Use this knowledge wisely.
References:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/243913
http://www.success.com/article/defend-your-boundaries-to-take-back-control

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