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Nothing is predestined. The obstacles of your past canbecome the gateways that lead to new beginnings. Henry Davis Thoreau
I hear myself saying out loud, “it’s ok, it is really ok.” It’s ok that I am now having a harder time losing 10 pounds, it’s ok that I can’t remember names as well as I once did. I suppose it’s ok that my husband and I no longer have the earning power to make money that we once did.
Change is unwelcome, especially as you get older and yet, change is the only thing in life that is for sure. As we age, I think we are a little reluctant to embrace a different world. Ironically, at this age, we are facing the most changes in our life.
Some of the changes that stand out for me are:
(1) Rearing children in a different way.
(2) Marriage is not accepted by everyone in our society. Some prefer to live together.
(3) Even though technology is moving forward, (cell phones, e-mail) I think people are feeling even more isolated.
(4) Many employers shy away from hiring “older people”, thus making the older population feel unwanted and unappreciated.
Now that I think about it, maybe it’s not so much the change itself, as the realization that values and memories from childhood are disappearing. That makes us feel invisible. That tears our beloved memories apart, as if it never happened.
Remember your childhood. Remember how safe you felt. We never locked our doors. Doctors made house calls. Dry cleaning and fresh milk was delivered to your door. The grocer in the small town where I came from always let you have groceries, whether you had the money or not. He would keep a running tab but I am sure some of the people could never pay.(I am not suggesting that grocers go by this example now.)
Of course, 50’s Music was the best! I don’t remember such a thing as an “R” rated movie. There are times when I feel that God made a mistake and I was supposed to be born in the “Little House on the Prairie” era. Recently, when my grandchild came to visit, she didn’t know what a thermometer was, that is not the kind of thermometer I had. She knew what a digital thermometer was. Needless to say, she was confused when I had to “shake down” the thermometer before taking her temperature.
She also showed me how to open “child-proof” medicine bottles. When I complimented this six year old child on how great she looked in her aqua tee shirt, she answered, “only people over sixty use the word “aqua.” We have a good relationship but I bet she tells her mommy how strange grandmother is at times, especially to use the word, “aqua.”
I have to turn this around quickly, lest you think I am negative and bitter. First of all, if you don’t have a sense of humor at this age, you need to get one. Most of the time, I don’t REALLY listen to my husband and he doesn’t REALLY listen to me. Therefore, we have come to an agreement. Never preface a statement with “like I said” or “I guess you didn’t hear me but…….”
We have to laugh at some of the things we do or don’t do. I think it is funny that we are “Mommy” and “Daddy” to our pet dog, Sunny, I’m sure my grown children think it is funny, too. If you can laugh at yourself and what you are experiencing, you will be a much happier and more age-accepting person.
Besides having a sense of humor, what about the changes I mentioned? Let’s look again.
(1) Rearing children in a different way; this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I see my daughters wisely spending more time with their children versus trying to keep a perfect house all the time. That seemed to be the prize in my younger days. Let’s see who can have the whitest diapers (I hung them on the line) or who can do the most. I would sew all our clothes, cook, do housework and when taking them to dance or swimming class, I would take some craft work to do while waiting. You know what I wish now? Wish I had watched the classes, did less cleaning and played and read more to my four daughters. I think that my daughters are actually better at parenting than I was. Each generation seems to evolve. In my mother’s day, children were seen and now heard…..that wasn’t good. Look how we have improved and evolved.
(2) Marriage is not accepted by all in our society; Maybe this is a good thing. When I was in college, most of the girls came back to school after Christmas vacation sporting an engagement ring. That was the ultimate. Oh, how I worried that I wouldn’t ever get married and have children. You definitely had to have all of your children by the age of thirty. Marriage, for the sake of being married was definitely the ultimate for a young girl. Having said that, I really lucked out because I have a wonderful husband that loves me. We have grown together as time marches on. I really believe in marriage but I am glad the young women of today are preparing to earn a living and be independent. Marriage is a good thing but it is not for everyone.
(3) Even though technology is moving forward, I think people feel more isolated; What can I say about this? I do get so annoyed listening to cell phone conversations everywhere that I go, but then, if you need to get in touch with someone, you can. E-mail is great because it takes the place of letter writing and we are more likely to express ourselves. How about the cute e-cards that you can send out? I have to say that technology wins on this one, too.
(4) Many employees shy away from hiring “older people.” I do think that is true in some work cultures. However, I think they will be forced to accept older people more willingly as the median age of our society climbs upward. I think the baby boomers will get all of this straightened out. Until then, if you must work, try to find a fun job. Try to do something you have always wanted to do and don’t be so serious. You don’t have to run a corporation in your sixties. Let the baby boomers do it. We don’t have to prove anything anymore. We can just be ourselves. I didn’t mention this earlier but I think as we grow older, there is a certain “knowing” that we really will die. When you are younger, you feel that you have plenty of time but it is different in your fifties and sixties. Just look at the obituaries in the newspaper. I believe you are happier if you accept this fact the best you can. Accept it by making or at least talking about funeral arrangements and get your life in order. Once you face it dead on, it doesn’t seem to be like a monster in the dark. I think most of us face this. It isn’t so much the dying, as hoping that we won’t die an awful, painful death.
Keeping the death thing in mind, enjoy each day fully. The past is gone, the future is not here. So, we only have today. Life is a gift and that’s why each day we live is called the present.
Something wonderful has happened to me the last few months. Underneath the “knowing” that I really will die is an undercurrent of my strong Christian beliefs that there is another life……a wonderful life…and I know that for sure…I hear myself singing hymns that I used to sing years ago. In knowing how to live, I will know how to die……..I hear myself singing and I am happy that I am at this age…..it’s like a well-kept secret. It’s a happy, satisfying time of your life! I’m Moving on….. by Francine Larson, co-author of CHARACTER KEYS TO A BRIGHT FUTUREE-Mail: Threeteacherpress@verizon.net
Francine Larson
Has an AA Degree From St Petersburg College.
Taught Nursery School, Children’s Choir,
Paraprofessional for First Grade
Co-Author of Character Keys to a Bright Future.
Writes poetry, short stories and articles.
Unlimited Minutes published by Taborri.Com
Personal: Married, four daughters
Her web site is: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso4qht
(Three Teacher Press)
Her personal author’s web site at: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso4qht/franniesfineswordsfromtheheart
(Frannies Fine Words from the Heart)
Contact Information: Threeteacherpress@verizon.net
Working to read with Dyslexia simply means one must find help for reading difficulties. Medically, dyslexia would indicate that a child or adult who displays general intelligence and who possesses the ability to learn and had the opportunity to do so, over time continues to demonstrate labored reading. Dyslexia cannot at all indicate that an individual is slow or stupid, just the opposite! By its very nature, Dyslexia exists exclusively in those with at least average intelligence or better and often ingenious people. Despite how students with dyslexia may be, they struggle learning to readlearn to read more slowly than most kids. Several early indicators of dyslexia related reading difficulty include cases such as not understanding small words on a page or a ongoing difficulty learning new words individually, or just faking reading entirely. When a reading student isn’t maintaining pace with peers, dyslexia may be a a cause. Dyslexia may also cause underachievement in subjects like math and science What’s in store after learning one has dyslexia? With some work, can a Dyslexic child finally learn how to read fluently, and comprehend what he/she encounters? Will an adult with dyslexia improve the sub-skills necessary to reading fluency? Yes. Sally Shaywitz, nationally-recognized Dyselxia researcher and chair of the Yale’s Dyslexia Research Center, {makes that point clear in Overcoming Dyslexia, her book. Though, there exists a quite a few of learning disabilities that are overlapping in students with dyslexia. These conditions should be observed by a qualified speech-language pathologist or educational reading assessment.
Many people who had zimmer lawsuit used in their hip replacement operations are learning that there are difficulties that far exceed the typical expectations for recuperation. These poor people are feeling a lot of additional pain for longer periods of time, facing revision surgical procedures and magnified medical expenses, and losing income by not physically being able to work at their regular jobs. Although Zimmer Holdings, Inc. is postulating that that their hip cup implant is not possibly malfunctioning and say it is not their fault for the faililng hip implants, some patients are filing lawsuits against them and taking settlements.
During October, 2008 Zimmer declared that it had set aside $47.5 million to pay for lawsuits filed against them. Many docs aren’t so sure that the implant is as good as the company says it is. In fact, when Zimmer provided on-line training to surgeons in order to instruct them what they said were more precise methods for doing the implant surgical operation, roughly 1/2 of the physicians declined to participate. Therefore, the entire state of affairs continues to be disagreeable for all patients participating, but none more than the hundreds of individuals who are required to undergo revision surgery because of the issues with their implant coming loose in the socket.
These tormented patients definitely deserve some assistance and restitution which is why product liability lawyers are suggesting and telling them to start the filing of lawsuits. zimmer hip lawsuit has been paying out of court for some of these claims. Nevertheless, even if the payoff they are being offered seems like a fair amount, in most cases poor people are resolving too quickly and without allowance being made for reoccuring troubles if it happens again. If they don’t wait to find out what an actual case is worth, people could find themselves incurring alot more expenses out of their own pocket when further complications return.
If your orthopedic Dr. lets you know that you require a revision surgical procedure to resolve your Zimmer Durom hip replacement device, get in touch with an attorney as soon as humanly possible.
As soon as attorney figures out that you havea viable case, be ready to stick it out for awhile in order to get the very best settlement that your attorney can get you. Heed the good advice that your attorney offers you and don’t demand speedy restitution. Being patient at this stage of the case can pay off vs. just rushing the process.
A good many people get really lost when the theme of debate gets down to exchange rate industry terminology, nevertheless the industry terminology truly is quite straightforward. Hence regardless of whether you are an individual or a big company looking to change foreign money; the following are a number of straightforward and elementary explanations that might without a great deal of effort get rid of some of the obfuscation & make the process of making monetary income by trading overseas currency a small fraction simpler.
Commencing with the most painless of definitions an exchange rate is the specific price at which one specific nations money may be swapped to another’s. So that, for an example the rate would be the quantity of Estonia Krooni you will receive for every Jamaica Dollar.
Fixed exchange rates are additionally known by the term ‘pegged exchange rates’; fixed exchange rated are useful to stabilize the current value of a countries currency; particularly when that specific currency is fluctuating a lot; to assist overseas trade & investment.
Floating exchange rate - this is when a currencies exchange rate is worked out through natural market forces. This is a much more risky way to conduct business but of course this is the situation wherein you can often enjoy the chance to turn a profit,
You might often also read talk of animals in exchange circles; a bull is an individual that predicts that market prices will go up conversely a bear is an individual who foresees that market prices will fall. A bull market is a marketplace where prices are at present moving upwards and a bear market is the exact opposite - a market where values are moving downwards
A currency broker is an individual that acts as an intermediary man in-between you and the market - they are actually ofttimes in a position to really get you the best price when you are looking to buy or sell.
The dollar rate is the current value that one unit of any currency has against one unit of the US Dollar; this is a useful indicator for a currencies current value. Do you want to exchange foreign currency, have look here.
This is very obviously by no means an exhaustive list - it is merely a good starting point; but with a smidgen more research you may be well on your way to becoming a financial expert in no time.
Some days we have a stellar morning. A lot of the things we bought keep
going and some of the stuff we had held over is up pretty big. Then as
the market starts weakening, we start selling halfs. Why?
Because if you are up nicely on something, we don’t need to see it fall
all the way back to the stop before selling it!
We put the stops in as guidlines to go by. They are most often used as a
safety measure to keep you from losing too much on an entry. But once you
are in a stock and the thing has moved up, it really doesn’t make sense to
leave that stop below where you bought it right? Right. Move it up.
But, and this is very important, sometimes we get really lucky and see a
stock blast off. Take PDLI for example. One time we said to buy it on a
move over 60, and it opened a bit over 60, then a bit of a wiggle and up
it started. We jumped in at 60.45 and by that noon it was up to 66.10!
Well we are NOT going to let a gift horse like that get away, so we sold
half at 65.90. Then we decided to move the stop on the balance up to 64.
As you can see, the stops aren’t written in stone folks. if we were sitting
by your side, this would be easier for all of us, but with the letter
coming out in the evening, you have to make a few value judgements during
the day. In other words don’t let a great run get spoiled by sticking to
some stop we attached to the stock. The heck with that, they are there to
protect you, not tell you where a stock may drop back to and bounce! Sell
that puppy if you have a good gain! (or at least sell half, you can always
buy more!)
So, to wrap this up, we are pretty quick to take
profits. Some of you may think we are “too quick” and that’s okay,
Whatever style suits you is fine. But that said we would always rather sell
too soon and pocket a profit than to let the market whipsaw us and take our
profit away! So when you are up nicely, move the stop either mechanically
or mentally and if the stock starts falling go ahead and sell.
Learn How To Make $60,000 a Year Trading Stocks Under $10
http://lb.bcentral.com/ex/manage/subscriberprefs?customerid=12826
Networking is often identified as a key business building activity for small business owners, especially those just getting started. Often we think of networking as meeting as many new people as possible. However often, as was pointed out to me following a recent presentation I gave on networking, we overlook a key group of people as we set out to develop our network. And that is those people we already know.
Incorporating the people you already know into your networking activities is crucial because you already have a relationship with them.
They are people with whom you already have credibility.
They already know the quality of your work.
Therefore, you don’t have to go through the relationship and credibility building stages before these contacts are willing to do business with you or recommend you to others.
Many of the people you already know may be people you haven’t spoken with in awhile and most certainly if you are just getting started with your business, they have known you in another context. So how do you begin to develop an active network of these individuals?
Develop a list. Start by developing a list of everyone you have worked for in the past, everyone who has worked for you, and those people you have worked with. If it does not raise legal or ethical issues, consider clients or customers you have worked with in former positions. Include family, friends and associates from other activities that you have participated in such as civic organizations, church or social/hobby groups. Go through your address book, both the one you currently use and any old ones you might have lying around; review membership lists of any organizations you belong to; if you have phone directories for any companies you used to work for or client listings from these companies review those.
Prioritize the list. If you are like most people, your list will probably be pretty long and it may seem like a daunting task to begin reconnecting and re-establishing relationships with those you are no longer in contact with. Prioritize the list with those who are most likely to have a need for your services or know someone who is likely to have a need at the top.
Gather contact information. It is likely that you have lost touch with at least some of the individuals on your list. Who do you have contact information for that might be able to provide you with a current telephone number or e-mail address for someone else on your list? The process of collecting contact information for those you have lost contact with is a great way to begin the process of reconnecting with those on your list that you do know how to reach.
Commit time to the process. Commit a set amount of time each week to re-connect and maintain contact with the people identified above. This is not about making a phone call, shooting off an e-mail or sending out a letter to let these individuals know about your business. It is the process of re-establishing and maintaining relationships with these individuals.
Look for ways that you can assist and support them. Before you make a request for help from the person you are connecting with, think about ways you can be of assistance to them. When you contact someone from your list, especially if it is someone you have not had contact with on an ongoing basis, tell them you want to update them on what you are doing and that you want to find out about what they are doing. Ask them what they need and how you might be of assistance. If appropriate based on your previous relationship, re-connect on a personal level as well as a business level. Ask how the kids are and what they’re doing now.
Stay in touch. Networking is about relationships and relationships require ongoing contact and communication. The most effective way to maintain contact is to follow-up with referrals, information, or ideas that you can assist them with. It is not about calling once a month or once a quarter to see if they have any business or any referrals for you.
Don’t neglect those lower on your list. Don’t overlook those individuals who did not make the top of your list, especially if they are people whom you have or had a strong connection with. These people may be able to assist you (and you may be able to assist them) in ways you never even dreamed of.
Incorporate everyone into your “Rolodex”. In this age of computerized address books and PDAs it is easy to maintain an up-to-date address book and carry it with you everywhere you go. You never know when you might be able to provide a referral for one of the members of your network and it is powerful to be able to provide their name and contact information right on the spot. Add them to the mailing list for your newsletter, Holiday Cards, and any other mailings you might do. It’s just one more way to maintain ongoing contact.
Focusing on the people you already know to jumpstart your network can be not only profitable but also very enjoyable as you reconnect with old friends and re-establish neglected relationships.
© 2003 Strategies-by-DESIGN. May be reprinted with credits and contact information.
Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-DESIGN, a Dallas based firm that helps businesses from professional services firms to specialty retailers Map A Path to Success by developing more leads, turning those leads into loyal customers, and obtaining a greater return from their marketing investment. The firm provides marketing consulting, training and skills based coaching. For more information or to sign up for their free marketing tips newsletter go to http://www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.
Longitudinal approach to the study of development implies repeated observations of phenomena during some time with the object of revealing constant aspects and changes, and also with the object of their explanation.
Longitudinal method is a special kind of observation. Its task is to determine causes of inward individual changes that happen to one person, or to different individuals or to various groups of people.
This approach is considered to be the ideal one for development psychology which can be defined as a science that studies changes that happen in human’ s behavior depending on his age.
The usage of the longitudinal method was closely connected with the growth of development psychology. Indeed, there are a lot of biographies and journals where children’s behavior is described in the process of their development. The longitudinal method was widely used from 1916, when testology appeared.
In order to receive data with the help of longitudinal approach some tests, questionnaires, observation method are used. Time distance between longitudinal measurements depends on the period of life that is investigated. For instance, for an adult person a week is a very short period of time, while for an infant a week is a very considerable period.
Advantages of longitudinal approach:
1. Longitudinal method explains changes that happen according to age. Longitudinal method consists in observation or measurement of the same examinees. They are conducted during certain time. That’s why attention is paid to changes that happen inside of the individual, but not to changes that occur between different individuals.
2. This approach admits the comparison with other examinees.
3. Longitudinal approach allows to compare changes that happen under various external circumstances.
4. Higher accuracy in prognosis of psychic development of a certain person and of future process of psychic evolution in general (in comparison with cross-sectional approach).
5. Longitudinal method gives the opportunity of defining genetic connections between phases of psychic development. It also allows to establish the diapason of fluctuations of age norms and the moments of transformation one phase into another.
6. Longitudinal method takes into account individual social, psychological and psychophysiological peculiarities of a person.
Using of longitudinal method gives the opportunity of defining the curve of child development and to determine whether his development correspond age norm. This method allows to reveal turning-points in this curve when sharp qualitative changes occur.
Longitudinal method is not free from shortcomings. It does not give the opportunity of penetrating into phenomena, of understanding the mechanism of psychic processes. The facts received by this method can be explained only by various hypotheses. There is no necessary accuracy of their interpretation.
Disadvantages of longitudinal method:
1. Time. It requires much time to finish the investigation.
2. Siftings. It can happen that some examinees will quit the instigation or it will not be possible to find them.
3. Repetition of trials. The matter is that something can happen that will bring down the validity of investigation. For example, examinees can learn the answers or can guess experimenter’s goals and they start to play “good” examinee.
4. Outdated theoretical and methodological base, that was used at the beginning of investigation.
5. Equivalence of tests that are used, if they are repeated several times.
6. Labor-intensiveness of organization and carrying out of longitudinal method. It is very important for receiving reliable data to determine definite duration of the whole investigation. Besides it is essential to define the quantity and periodicity of carrying out the control measurements. It is known that the longer longitudinal investigation is, the higher reliability of results is. But at the same time investigators want the longitudinal research does not exceed the bounds of their life.
7. There are some difficulties connected with the demands to methods. The matter is that for conducting longitudinal investigation the parallel series of methods are needed. But it takes mush time to work out them. Otherwise the results will be conditioned not by changes in person’s psychic organization, bur by person’s adaptation to tests and training.
8. There should be paid much attention to the quantity of examinees. From the one hand a small quantity of chosen examinees make it difficult to reveal age peculiarities. From the other hand long - term investigations are accompanied by reduction of participants because of their diseases, removals, death.
The hypothesis of longitudinal method consists of the suggestion that person’s development is determined by his age, by biological causes, individual and historical events and by conditions of the surroundings.
Cross-sectional approach is the alternative method to longitudinal method. This method implies the comparison of different groups of people according to their age, education, activity work and communication. The main task of cross-sectional approach is to compare examinees of different age. This comparison can be more useful in case that longitudinal comparison of a small quantity of examinees was already carried out.
Originally, cross-sectional approach was used for studying the phylogenesis of behavior and psychic activity. Nowadays it is widely used in development psychology and it covers a lot of grounds, namely:
• Various level of development, for example, comparison psychic organization of a human being and primates.
• Various periods of development, for instance the comparison children of pre - school age with children of school age.
• Different phases of the same period. For example, the comparison psychic organization of people of early and of late adulthood.
Besides this criterion of age, there are some other ones, such as: investigations revealing psychic peculiarities according to age, to professional belonging, state of health and so on.
There are some advantages of cross-sectional approach:
1. The usage of cross-sectional method to carry out quite extensive investigations for a short period.
2. It allows to cover various age categories and to reveal a lot of determinates.
3. Cross-sectional method gives the opportunity to retrace the dynamics of age development, succession of different phases and periods of formation of psyche.
4. Moreover it permits to reveal evolution characteristics of the dynamics of psychic formations that are studied under the identical social, cultural, historical and economic circumstances.
5. Cross-sectional method allows to conduct the comparison of people of different age for a short time.
There are also some disadvantages of cross-sectional approach, namely:
1. There are some limitations in application of cross-sectional method, that are connected with underestimation of the role of individual variability of psychic manifestations when studying general processes.
2. Cross-sectional method is characterized by levelling individual, social, psychic, physioligic peculiarities and be equalization of all examinees of the same age and belonging to one group.
3. The problem is that cross-sectional method presupposes the creation of equivalent groups according to many factors, such as sex, education, social level and others. But as a rule examinees belong to different cohorts, that’s way they undoubtedly have various experience.
The investigations with the help of cross-sectional method consist in the following:
• The groups for investigation are chosen. They should differ one from another according to the given criterion. It can be definite social, psychological, physical factors.
• Necessary psychodiagnostic methods are chosen.
• The same methods are proposed to the groups that take part in the investigation.
Sometimes these two methods are opposed to each other. But it is not quite correct. The comparison is used in both of them but in one case facts about different objects are compared, and in other case fact about one object are compared during all his development.
But nevertheless the opposition is quite rightful. As each method has its pros and cons. If cross-sectional method allows to cover more people, longitudinal method allows to discover different tinges of individual development, that are elusive for cross-sectional method. These methods practically are considered to be mutually complementary.
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SpadeClub Poker has tipped its hat in appreciation to its players this month. There has been a major rehaul of the point allowance, and even decreases in tournament entry-fees; creating much more opportunity for the poker online players.
SpadeClub has been an active poker membership-based tournament community for a little over a year. You begin with 1000 points that you can use to buy into casino tournaments and sit and gos. In the past, if you went broke, you could add-on 200 points a day, and at midnight you would be automatically renewed to 400 points (if you ended the day with less). The biggest buy-ins they offered on a daily basis were the 500 point sit and gos. Other games could be played for as low as 10 points, with most tournaments ranging from about 25-400 points. Still, if you wanted to play the big poker onlinegames, you would be risking essentially your entire daily allowance.
The old program definitely favored the better players. The winners didn’t have to worry much about scraping by on points; they likely never ended the day below 400 anyway. The newer players must have had a tough time though. They were given very few opportunities to turn their meager beginnings into voluminous rewards. Given this system, they might be able to play one or two regular to big buy-in games, or a handful of micro-stakes ones.
Somewhere along the way, SpadeClub figured out that people who are spending money on a membership deserve to play a lot more than they could afford on their current stipend. Now, players who are below 1000 points can add-on 500 once a day, and at midnight if they are still below 1000 they will be automatically renewed to 1000. This is a 250% increase in playability. Players can take bigger shots, and more of them.
As if this weren’t enough, some of the tournaments dropped their buy-ins to a lower amount, but kept the same prizes. Blue token sit and gos, which formerly cost 100 points, now cost 75. Red token sit and gos dropped from 400 to 300 a game. These prizes are now more tangible for the casual player. The only problem I foresee is that the players who were already doing well and making it to the qualifiers, now have to deal with the influx of entrants created by this surge in extra points. The multitable tournament fields will increase in size, and the prizes will stay the same.
Sports footwear is perhaps the most needed piece of equipment you’ll splash out on so it’s crucial that you elect to choose the best pair. Find superb deals on fishing reels online today.
Many people don’t appreciate that there are various differences in the way in which sports trainers support your feet. It’s not great for your feet if you play football or tennis in the identical footwear you use for jogging.
“It has been reported, that 65% of the England’s recreational men sportsmen and women wear the wrong footwear for their elected sports activity,” he says. “Trainers are the most imperative piece of exercise equipment you’ll ever get & altering what you wear on your feet can put off injuries.”
Football can put lots of stress on the feet, especially when playing on artificial surfaces such as AstroTurf. The shoes can also put pressure on your feet, & it is not exceptional for a footballer to suffer from corns, calluses or damaged, thickened & ingrown toenails. A wonderful, well-fitted pair of shoes is critical and there shouldn’t be any signs of pressure on the foot after a match or training session.
Racquet sports: It is vital when participating in racket sports, such as table tennis or badminton, to select shoes expressly intended for the purpose. These sports activity involve a great amount of side-to-side movement and sports footwear will not provide the best strength. Racquet sport trainers are heavier & more firm than jogging footwear, because their toes are produced for stop-&-go action. Comfort ought to be your key concern & It’s essential to change your sports trainers on a regular basis.
Hill walking is a tremendous way to begin a gentle exercise regime, whereas the more daring go for climbing. It is excellent for your cardiovascular health but is lower impact & so comes with reduced risk of injury.
In an ideal world you would start your working career with a great company in your early 20s, steadily climb the corporate ladder, retire at age 65, and draw a sufficient income from your accumulated 401k account to live happily ever after.
Unfortunately, that’s not how the real world works. If you are like most people, you will change careers, or at least companies, several times. Each time, you’ll be faced with the question of what to do with your accumulated 401k benefits.
You will likely have a few choices: keep your 401k with your old employer (sometimes possible), roll the proceeds into your new employer’s 401k plan, or put them directly into a self-directed IRA at a brokerage firm of your choice.
Since leaving your 401k with your ex-employer has no benefits whatsoever and most employers will prefer you transfer out anyway, that leaves only the last two as viable options:
1. Roll your 401k proceeds into the new employer’s 401k plan of (if allowed)
This is the most painless solution and the one that does not require much decision making. While this is certainly acceptable, there is a bigger picture.
The ultimate goal of having a 401k plan is to provide you with a comfortable retirement. To accomplish this you really need a wide variety of investment choices and the opportunity to move among them in response to market variations.
Most 401ks are limited to maybe 15 mutual fund choices which rarely change, even if market behavior dictates they should. Additionally, the canned advice provided through plan sponsors is generally not terribly useful.
The only benefit to this type of rollover is that if your plan has a loan provision, you’ll be able to borrow funds easily.
2. Roll your 401k proceeds into a self directed IRA
This is the preferable solution for most people, and with it you again have two choices: roll your 401k into a “Contributory” or a “Rollover” IRA.
Contributory IRA:
Once you roll your proceeds into this type of IRA, you may still contribute annually if you qualify (check with your accountant). However, the 401k portion can no longer be rolled back into another 401k with a new employer, should you ever want to do that. So you eliminate the possibility of using the loan provision with those funds. While it is possible to borrow against an IRA, it’s more limited than borrowing against an employer 401k. Check with your tax preparer for details.
Rollover IRA:
This type of IRA allows you the most flexibility. You may roll the proceeds back into a 401k plan if you want to utilize a loan provision. However, for tax reasons you should not make annual contributions to this IRA. If making annual contributions becomes important to you, simply open another contributory IRA.
Since Rollover IRAs are usually set up at a brokerage firm, you’ll have access to their entire universe of mutual funds. With this type of IRA, you can also employ an independent investment advisor to manage the account for you. (Yes there is a cost for that, but an effective advisor will more than make up for that in greater returns than you would get without him or her.)
Most of my clients have found that the investment results we’ve obtained with their personal IRAs were far superior to those yielded by their employer 401k plans or their personal investing efforts. This has been mainly due to a combination of better choices and a methodical approach to investing which has kept my clients in the market during good times and out of it altogether during severe declines.
Bottom line: Rollover IRAs offer opportunities to maximize benefits and provide flexibility not usually available with employer 401k plans.
About The Author
Ulli Niemann is an investment advisor and has been writing about objective, methodical approaches to investing for over 10 years. He eluded the bear market of 2000 and has helped countless people make better investment decisions. To find out more about his approach and his FREE Newsletter, please visit: www.successful-investment.com; ulli@successful-investment.com