Tag Archives: health

5 financial tips that save money in the long run

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By Sia Hasan

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

The financial steps you take now can have a major impact on your life. Believe it or not, there are changes you can make right now if you would like to save yourself a lot of money.

Below are five tips you can follow if you would like to handle your finances in the best way possible.

1.) Save for Retirement

First, it’s never too early to start saving for retirement. For example, if you don’t already have one, you can open up a self directed IRA (or its Canadian equivalent, the RRSP.) Contributing money to your retirement account now can help you ensure that you save up enough money for when you are no longer able to work. If you start now, you can help ensure that you earn more in interest as well.

2.) Focus on Maintenance

Maintenance of your home, car and other things you own can be expensive. However, not maintaining your home or vehicle can actually be a lot more expensive in the long run. Therefore, even though it can be tough, it’s important to make maintenance a top priority. This can help you ensure that things last longer and can help you avoid more expensive repairs later on down the road.

3.) Take care of your Health

Along with focusing on taking good care of your car, your house and your other belongings, it is also important to take good care of yourself. Not only can taking care of your health help with your overall happiness and well-being, but it can save you a lot of money as well. Therefore, it’s important to avoid smoking or drinking too much alcohol, and it’s also critical to see your doctor and your dentist on a regular basis. Continue Reading…

Do you want to be younger in 2018 than in 2017?

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By Fritz Gilbert, TheRetirementManifesto.com

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

I hate New Year’s Resolutions, and I can’t remember the last time I made one.

Why make them, if you’re most likely going to break them?  That doesn’t make sense to me.  Call me cynical, but that’s just not the way I think about challenging myself to improve.

Don’t get me wrong.  I love thinking about how I can move life from Good To Great, and I enjoy having goals.  I think often about both my long- and short-term goals, and where my life is going.  I do it informally, by constantly watching for opportunities to create improvements in my life and developing personal challenges.   I push myself to achieve the goals I set for myself (like writing this blog).  Do you?

Make the pursuit of challenges an ongoing habit in your life. It’s a way of Living Life At The Limits, and it keeps life interesting.  Most of you know that I’m a bit of a fitness nut, and I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to challenge myself.  I grab onto interesting things as they cross my path.  It’s why I swam in the cold waters of London on an early November morning.  It’s something that keeps me young.

It works for me.

Try it …  It just may work for you.

Today, I’ll give you your chance …

A Bunch Of Folks Decide To Get Younger Together 

 

Something exciting happened at the beginning of this year, and it generated this post you’re now reading (originally posted early in January).  A new Community/Movement/Revolution was launched, and it’s rapidly taking shape.  It’s only a few months old but it’s starting to run.  And it’s starting to run …

… Fast.

Do You Want To Be Younger?

This development is a legitimate way to make you Younger In 2018 Than In 2017, if you’re willing to commit to doing a bit of work. A bunch of folks are joining in and this thing is gaining momentum.  The fact that it’s (original) timing falls in line with New Year’s resolutions is irrelevant, in my book (tho, in fairness, it’s a good time to launch the challenge, as many folks are thinking about trying to get into shape for the New Year).

This movement is a great opportunity and I’m convinced that it can, indeed, help in your quest to Achieve A Great Retirement (my byline).  It’s a group of friends with similar interests urging each other on to mutual success (on both sides of the US/Canada border).

If you’re interested, check it out.  You don’t have to commit today.  Just explore and see if it’s something that interests you.   I’ll show you below, but in case you’re impatient and just want to head over there now here’s the link, but please don’t go there yet 🙂 

The group’s open to all, and readers are especially encouraged to participate.

The #YoungerNextYear 2018 Community Is Launched! Join In The Fun. EnCourage each other. Succeed. Click To Tweet

The Birth

The excitement all started on Dec 31, 2017 when Vicki @ MakeSmarterDecisions sent the following Tweet and, in the process,  Launched A Movement …

The Birth Of #YoungerNextYear2018:

What’s Younger Next Year All About?

Continue Reading…

5 small steps to improve your physical health & 5 for your financial health

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Duke University conducted a two-year study of 218 healthy adults of normal weight to determine if a modest, sustained calorie reduction would show appreciable benefits. The plan was to reduce calories consumed by 25 per cent, but participants were unable to achieve that much.

(Author’s note: I sure couldn’t do it! A 25% reduction in my 2,000 daily calories would leave me staggering around at only 1,500 per day.)

Participants were able, however, to cut calories by an average of about 12 per cent.  This smaller change allowed them to stick to the plan without any adverse effect on mood (wherein lies a useful message in itself). The results? Lowered blood pressure; decreased insulin resistance; as well as a drop in several predictors of cardiovascular disease.

But the most appreciable result concerned C-reactive protein, a substance produced by the liver and a marker of inflammation in the body. The participants’ C-reactive levels plunged by almost half: a remarkable 47%!

It’s a no brainer that poor dietary habits would exacerbate internal inflammation. But very often this is an invisible menace (see my article ‘The Truth About Inflammation’, October 2015). Most of us remain blissfully unaware of any chronic inflammation cascading throughout our bodies. Yet this exposes us to chronic health risks as a result of knocking the body out of whack. In my case, I had the aforesaid silent inflammation and observable inflammation, which I felt in my poor old joints. And I am pretty convinced that chronic inflammation was one factor in my developing cancer.

An elevated C-reactive protein level can be a valid identifier of inflammation in the body. So, if just a 12% calorie restriction can reduce this marker by almost 50%, this is as good information as that available to an insider trader.

In the blindness of youth, so many of us can compromise our health in a mad dash for wealth. But from the other end of the lifespan, a good many seniors would gladly sacrifice some wealth for even a smidgen of better health. Those who don’t make time for their health early on in life more often have to make time for illness later.

5 ways to improve your physical health

So, if you are young, young at heart, worried that you are no longer young, here is some insider information. Five smart, little investments you can make, the aggregate interest of which, over time, will have compound into positive health returns. Continue Reading…

How to enjoy a healthy retirement (literally!)

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By Rachel Jackson

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

Whether it’s junk  food, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes or simply laziness there are many things that can lead to an unhealthy life. Not being health conscious can have dire consequences and you can easily walk yourself into an early grave if you don’t take care of your body. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With these tips to live by, you can stay healthy well into your retirement years.

1.) Keep fit

No matter what your age, you should be exercising regularly and doing your best to stay fit. While you don’t need to become a marathon runner or boxing expert, try to exercise for at least 30 minutes every day to maintain a healthy body and mind. Don’t believe that you have to tone it down when you reach a certain age either: your body will keep up with what you offer it. If you don’t start running until the age of 50 then you might have some problems but someone who regularly runs well into their fifties will be able to keep it up. Exercise helps to strengthen your heart, keep your body working and mobile and release endorphins to ease stress and improve mood.

2.) Eat healthily

There’s nothing wrong with a treat now and then but you need to stick to well-balanced meals and healthy snacks for the most part if you want to live for a long time. Eating the wrong diet, can result in  obesity, diabetes, digestive problems, heart problems and high cholesterol. And that’s only the start. Eat well: remember that when you put good stuff in, you will get bad stuff out.

3.) Laugh often

One of the best ways to extend your life is to enjoy it. Failing to spend time with friends and family, to entertain yourself, to have fun and laugh daily can be almost as harmful to your health as smoking or drinking. If you enjoy yourself, you exercise your heart muscles, ease stress and tension and keep a positive mind. If you don’t, you increase your risk of depression, illness, and complications associated with stress such as heart attacks.  Continue Reading…

2 powerful New Year’s resolutions for a wealthy and healthy 2018

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This will be a VERY short blog; nonetheless if you take the two resolutions seriously, you might well transform both your Wealth and Health. As Sandy Cardy wrote in a Hub blog, last week, Health IS true Wealth.

Resolution 1: Health

If I haven’t done it already, I will embark on a lifelong program to improve my nutrition and exercise daily, along the lines of the last Hub blog of 2017: Younger Next Year.

Resolution 2: Wealth

As of January 1st (if I have an online discount brokerage account, otherwise January 2nd or later this week), I will top up my Tax-free Savings Account (TFSA) by a further $5,500: the “new” TFSA contribution room that all adult Canadians qualify for as of the new year. This resolution applies to everyone from age 18 to seniors: especially to seniors and those in semi-retirement or approaching full retirement. The Hub’s second last blog of the year explains why: Retired Money — How TFSAs can give seniors more tax-free retirement funds.

That’s it: one short blog, two simple resolutions; yet with the potential to transform almost all aspects of your existence. So to all who read or contribute to the Hub, a very happy, healthy and wealthy new year. See you in 2018!

P.S. New Younger This New Year 2018 Facebook Group

I’d like to spread the word that this weekend’s Younger Next Year blog triggered via Twitter the creation of a new Facebook group called Younger Next Year – 2018. I believe I am member #5: thanks to Vicki Peuckert Cook for taking the initiative to create this. As with the Hub, the group consists (at least initially) of both American and Canadians. Hope to see you there!