Tag Archives: Growth

Health, Financial and Emotional Well-Being

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“We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.” Anaïs Nin

Recent survey shows Americans are the unhappiest they have been in 50 years. Pandemic and health concerns, social unrest and economic distress have left Americans feeling tired, and living with a constant state of “brain fog” which are just a few symptoms of stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, and poor overall mental health.

People will exercise to help their bodies become fit, but when it comes to mental health, most people do nothing. Let’s be frank, the coronavirus has changed many Americans emotional, financial, and physical health circumstances dramatically and quickly. It’s important to take a holistic approach to your health, financial and emotional well-being. We know that planning for your future is about so much more than your finances – you and your family’s physical and emotional wellness are also a priority.

Time and time again, research has shown that “money cannot buy happiness” and that not only do you need a finite amount of money to be happy, but that prioritizing things like expressing gratitude, friendships, hobbies and family may actually lead to long-term well-being.

Keep physical, emotional and financial health a priority and in the center of your thoughts and daily life.

Overall emotional, physical and financial well-being are what your attempting to holistically achieve. It helps you feel more secure and less stressed in all areas. Sometimes the best thing you can do for your health – and your long-term financial security – is to tune it out the constant negative news. Here are some ways to tune out negativity during uncertain times.

  1. Put down the smart phone and turn off the news. Allow yourself just one hour of news time each day, preferably in the middle of the day. This ensures you don’t start or end your day anxious. It’s important to stay informed, but once a day should suffice.
  2. Stay positive and focus on an attitude of gratitude. List the top five (or more) things you’re grateful for each day. Your list may be the same from day to day or it could change based on the past day’s experience. It could be as simple as being thankful for the roof over your head or a smile from a stranger as you walk your neighborhood.
  3. Get physical and eat healthy. You’ve probably heard it before, and that’s because it’s true – physical activity is just as healthy for your mind as it is for your body. This doesn’t mean you have to participate in high intensity interval training. Start small. Simply going for a walk or doing basic stretches can help keep your mind and body at their best. Additionally, eliminate process foods, refined sugars and saturated fats from your diet. Eat more plant based foods and whole grains.
  4. Connect with family and friends. Having a strong support system is important during good times, but even more so during challenging ones. Reach out to someone you haven’t talked to in a while to see how they’re doing. Send a text or card or give them a call. If your family is spread out across the country, use digital apps to connect and play games.
  5. Stick to a schedule. When you’re stressed, it often takes a toll on your sleep schedule. Keeping a consistent routine can help. Get up and go to bed at the same times each day, even on weekends. Know your stress triggers and pay attention when you notice them flaring up.

While it’s important to be aware of what’s going on in the world, focusing on the bad news won’t help your financial strategy, your emotional well-being or your physical health. Remember, you’re in it for the long term.

During the current coronavirus pandemic, instead of ‘social distancing,’ our focus should be on ‘physical distancing’ and ‘social connection.'”

Maintain mental health and emotional well-being

Focus on the now. Worrying about the past or the future isn’t productive. When you start chastising yourself for past mistakes, or seeing disaster around every corner, you’re only creating more stress and anxiety in your life.

It’s important to stop and to take a breath and ask yourself what you can do right now to succeed. Find something to distract you from destructive thoughts and reset your attitude.

Achieving a healthy frame of mind can seem more challenging than in years past.

Having a daily moment of intentional quiet can go a long way toward a better outlook.

Try this five-minute meditation routine that combines both yoga and balance to steady the mind, utilize the breath to become more mindful, and reduce stress.

Mindfulness meditation does, in fact, decreases anxiety and improves self-esteem, studies have shown.

As you move through Mindfulness meditation, focus on deep breathing. Inhale and exhale through the nose, and start by filling up your lungs with air. Then feel the air rise up into the chest. As you exhale, empty the chest first and then feel the stomach deflate like a balloon. This slow, conscious and specific breath pattern aids in focusing the mind to the present moment.

Finally, if your mind wanders easily during this sequence, you can focus on a one-word mantra to recite silently to yourself. Choosing a word like “serenity” or “peace” or “confidence” and syncing your movement with your breath can help transport you to a different world that quiets distractions from the past and future.

References:

  1. https://www.synchronybank.com/blog/millie/money-and-happiness/https://www.synchronybank.com/blog/millie/money-and-happiness/
  2. https://apple.news/Am_LnLhs1Q22oltXhOLcRLg
  1. https://www.edwardjones.com/market-news-guidance/client-perspective/your-health-your-finances.html
  2. https://www.edwardjones.com/market-news-guidance/guidance/tune-out-stressful-times.html

Saving for the Future

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“Saving is about putting aside money for future use. Investing is about putting your money to work for you with the goal of growing it over time.”

Saving money isn’t the easiest thing to do, especially if you’re one of the many of Americans living paycheck to paycheck. But saving for the future remains vitally important — not just to enable you to make large discretionary purchases such as a big screen television or a luxury vacation, but for emergencies, retirement, or buying a home.

  • Saving involves putting aside money for future use.
  • Investing involves putting your money to work for you with the goal of growing it over the long term.
  • To build your financial future, you need to do both, save for the future and invest for the long term.

Unfortunately, many of Americans aren’t where they should be financially. A 2019 Charles Schwab Modern Wealth survey found that about 59 percent of American adults are living paycheck to paycheck.

If you’re having a hard enough time paying the bills and putting food on the table without racking up debt, saving for the future is probably the last thing on your mind. Only 38% of people have an emergency fund, according to Charles Schwab, and one in five Americans don’t have a dime saved for retirement, according to a survey from Northwestern Mutual.

But, being a good saver certainly puts you ahead of the game. And having solid savings’ habits are an important step toward financial security. But saving by itself is not enough. While saving is about accumulating money for the future, investing is about growing your money over the long term. And that can make a huge difference in your financial future.

Begin your savings journey today for a better tomorrow

The hardest part about saving is getting started.

Basically, saving is putting aside money for future use. Think of saving as paying yourself first or an essential expense. From your earnings, you should take out what you intend to save for taxes first, if you’re a freelancer, and then take out 10% to 15% for savings. In other words, before you spend your first dollar on monthly expenses, first you should set aside 10% to 15% of income for your savings.

You can think of it as money you have left over once you’ve covered your essential expenses. Essentially, you should make saving a line item on your monthly budget, so that saving becomes one of your essentials. And, having money tucked away will help you pay for the things you want above and beyond your daily expenses, and also cover you in case of emergency.

Having more month left then money

A savings account is an interest-bearing account that helps you save money and earn monthly interest. Separate from your checking account and long-term investments, savings accounts can grow with regular deposits and compounding interest that you can use for your future, large purchases or emergency funds.

Having a sizeable savings account can help you stay out of debt and give you the cushion you need should you face an unexpected illness, job loss or expense. Plus, when you want something special like a week’s vacation, you’ve got the money.

Building a “cash cushion” is an important step towards financial freedom. In a cash cushion, or emergency fund, you want enough cash on hand to cover three to six months’ essential expenses.

Additionally, a well-rounded savings strategy should focus on both short-term and long-term goals, says personal financial expert, Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz CFP® major moves in order to save money — Those extra dollars are being used in two ways: to pay off debt (credit cards and student loans) and to save for a new home.

Most people keep their savings in a bank account. The upside is that it’s easily accessible and safe; the downside is that it won’t earn very much. Money in savings accounts is not likely to keep pace with inflation. Which means the money you have saved today can actually lose buying power over time. That’s why just saving isn’t enough.

Investing creates the action

Investing, on the other hand, is about putting your money to work for you with the goal of growing it over time. Here’s an example. If you put $3,000 each year in a savings account and earn 1 percent, at the end of 20 years you’d have about $67,000. If you invested that same amount of money and got an average 6 percent return over the same time period, you’d have nearly $117,000. The sooner you start saving the less you may need to save because your money gets to work that much sooner. The more you save, the more you have to invest—and the more those returns can add up.

Nobody knows, especially the talking heads in the financial entertainment media, if the stock market is going up or down tomorrow, much less six months or 12 months from now. Moreover, it should not matter if the market meltdowns one day and melt-up the next. When it goes down, you should invest. And, when it goes up, you should invest. In other words, you must consistently invest in the market. Do not let volatility and market moving news faze you, or cause a bout of investing paralysis.

Investing involves risk

Of course, investing involves risk. And the stock market particularly will have its ups and downs. But there are ‘tried and true’ ways to mitigate that risk. The key to mitigating risk is to diversify by choosing a broad range of investments in stocks, bonds, and cash based assets that aligns with your financial plan asset allocation, risk tolerance and time horizon and never put all your money in one particular stock or asset.

One other important factor is time. To protect yourself against market downturns, a long-term approach is essential. At your age, you have time to keep your money in the market and ride out the inevitable market lows. The trick is to stick with it through those lows, keeping your focus on the potential for long-term gains.

Beginning with your next paycheck, commit to paying yourself first. Develop a budget, evaluate your spending needs, and understand your long-term goals.

References:

  1. www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/youre-saving-should-you-be-investing-too
  1. https://www.bustle.com/life/3-women-share-how-theyre-saving-for-their-big-life-goals
  2. https://content.schwab.com/web/retail/public/about-schwab/Charles-Schwab-2019-Modern-Wealth-Survey-findings-0519-9JBP.pdf
  3. https://news.northwesternmutual.com/2018-05-08-1-In-3-Americans-Have-Less-Than-5-000-In-Retirement-Savings

Mindset: Two Wolves – A Cherokee Parable

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“Feed your faith and your fears will starve. Feed your fears and your faith will starve.” Pastor Max Lucado

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life…

“A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

“One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.

“The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

“This same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

“Which wolf will win?”

The old chief simply replied,

“The one you feed.”

Takeaway

Your thoughts can be your best friend or worst enemy. That is, if you let them.

Think about how you may be “feeding” your positive or negative thoughts, and allowing them to control your prevailing mood, attitude and behavior.

You have the ability to change anything in your life that no longer serves a purpose. Start today by believing that there is nothing in life that you can’t achieve. It is vital that you maintain a positive mindset and focus on what’s positive in your life. Dreams and goals cannot come to pass with a negative mindset.

References:

  1. https://www.virtuesforlife.com/two-wolves/
  2. https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_580fda27e4b06e45c5c6ffd6

GET YOUR “MINDSET RIGHT”

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“Change your thinking, change your life.” Frank Sonnenberg

If you want to be successful – in both your personal and financial life – you must have the right mindset. Essentially, your mindset represents the way you approach the world and what you believe to be true.  When it comes to success, your mindset is the most important predictor of your future success in personal finance and life. Everything in life begins with your mindset, thoughts, attitude and habits.  

Think of mindset as a set of attitudes, beliefs or ideas each person possesses. These attitudes, positive or negative, may come from your environment, home life and your personal experiences, or they might have been learned while at school. No matter their source, what you do to foster a positive growth mindset really does matter.

A growth mindset helps foster more positive thinking and a belief that intelligence can change, develop and grow. It is the belief that people can learn from their mistakes and that the brain is like a plant, always ready to soak up new information and knowledge. A student with a growth mindset might say: “I’m not going to give up,” “I’m going to keep trying,” or “I can do this.”

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.” Henry Ford

Success and financial security begins with your mindset. If you are determined to do something, and believe that you can achieve it, then you will find ways to succeed. Your determination to develop good financial habits and manage your money better are key to realizing your financial goals and achieving financial security.

Anyone can make a budget and have a financial plan to save for the future, spend less, and invest for the long term. But that is only 10% of the financial equation. The other 90% is how you think, how you behave and what you believe about money.

Your mindset is key to creating the life you desire and deserve. Your beliefs drive your habits and emotions, and in turn, these determine your behavior. If you believe you can, you will. You must believe that, “You are good enough. You are smart enough. You have unique and valuable gifts to offer the world and people notice and respect you for it.”

Studies have shown that allowing stress to overtake you can often have lasting negative effects on more than your mindset. Your health can be affected, your careers can be affected, and your entire lives can be affected!

David Bach, author of the best-selling book, The Latte Factor: Why You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Live Rich, says. “I’m super positive about things [long-term], but I think people need to be preparing themselves for volatility and rockiness.”

But there’s a silver lining to the downturn, Bach says: “Recessions create millionaires.”

If you believe that there is never ending potential to learn new things and grow in your talents, not only will you put yourself in new situations that could help you grow, you will embrace them with eagerness.  Negative feedback is more fuel for growth, not something to be dreaded.

Or, according to Carol Dweck, a professor at Stanford and the author of Mindset, a classic work on motivation and “growth mindset”: “People with a growth mindset believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toll, and training… Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better?  Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them?  Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will challenge you to grow?  And why seek out the tried and true instead of experiences that will stretch you?”

References:

  1. https://www.dollarbreak.com/wealth-creation-mindset/
  2. https://justmind.org/mindset-matters-most/

Disruptive Innovation Equals Growth

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Innovation is the key to growth.

In the late nineteenth century, three innovation technologies evolved at the same time and changed the way the world worked and its paradigm. Thanks to the introduction of the telephone, automobile, and electricity, the world’s productivity exploded as costs dropped, unleashing demand across the globe.

Today, the global economy is undergoing the largest technological transformation and displacement in history thanks to disruptive innovations.

ARK defines ‘‘disruptive innovation’’ as “the introduction of a technologically enabled product or service that changes an industry landscape by creating simplicity and accessibility while driving down costs.”

Innovation meets three criteria

“Over time, innovation should displace industry incumbents, increase efficiencies, and gain majority market share, offering growth opportunities for investors. More importantly, disruptive innovation impacts and concerns all of our lives and changes the way the world works.” Cathie Wood, Founder, CEO & CIO, ARK Investment Management LLC

According to ARK Investment Management, disruptive innovation will:

  • Experience significant cost declines and unleash waves of incremental demand. When a technology crosses certain cost or performance thresholds, its addressable market can widen and diversify dramatically.
  • Cut across sectors and geographies. A technology that cuts across industries and geographies can enjoy dramatic increases in addressable markets as applications are “discovered” by different business sectors. Spanning across sectors also provides better product-market fits, insulates against business cycle risk, and garners attention from multiple disciplines.
  • Serve as a platform atop which additional innovations can be built. A technology upon which other innovations can be built may expand its use-cases in ways that are almost impossible to imagine. As a result, innovation platforms may be underestimated over expansive time horizons because successful forecasts require anticipation of the scope of new products and services.

Today’s disruptive innovations include:

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Robotics and Automation
  • Blockchain and Cryptoassets
  • DNA Sequencing and Gene Editing
  • Fintech Innovation
  • Energy Storage and Battery Tech
  • Next Generation Internet

For example, artificial intelligence (AI)  learning systems will transform not only retail, media and telecom, as did the Internet, but all sectors in the economy, even those previously thought impervious to disruption, notably health care and financial services.

Invest in the future

Disruptive innovation displaces industry incumbents (like digital photography has erased Kodak and Fuji film companies), increase efficiencies, and gain majority market share.

The threat to existing businesses is grave. The long-term opportunities for companies participating in this change could relate to exponential growth.

References:

  1. https://ark-invest.com/investment-process/
  2. https://research.ark-invest.com/hubfs/1_Download_Files_ARK-Invest/Marketing_Material/ARK-Invest-Thematic-Investment-Process.pdf?__hstc=13933160.99f789dd545191653572e5ece0571091.1584118328216.1587939706096.1587954906355.105&__hssc=13933160.8.1587954906355&__hsfp=101573855
  3. https://ark-invest.com/invest-in-innovation/

Shopify and Operation HOPE to Create One Million Black-Owned Businesses by 2030

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Operation HOPE and Shopify Join Forces to Help Create One Million Black-Owned Businesses by 2030

See the source image Operation HOPE and Shopify Join Forces to Help Create One Million Black-Owned Businesses by 2030

Operation HOPE in partnership with Shopify today announced a new initiative called ‘HOPE One Million New Black Business & New Black Entrepreneurship Initiative (1MBB)’.  The initiative’s goal is to help create one million new Black-owned businesses in the U.S. by 2030. To realize this mission, Operation HOPE is working with Shopify, a leading global commerce company.  Shopify intends to provide up to approximately $130 million of resources through 1MBB over the course of this initiative.

Shopify advances mission with up to ~$130 million of resources

Shopify’s mission is “Making commerce better for everyone”  The ‘all-in-one’ e-commerce company helps “people achieve independence by making it easier to start, run, and grow a business.” They “believe the future of commerce has more voices, not fewer, so…[they’re] reducing the barriers to business ownership to make commerce better for everyone.”

“We [Shopify] work to break down the barriers to entrepreneurship every day,” said Harley Finkelstein, Shopify President. “By collaborating with Operation HOPE and working together on our shared passion for helping underserved communities succeed, we believe we can help unlock even more economic opportunities for Black business owners across the country, leading to greater choices for shoppers everywhere.”

Historically, the Black community has faced systemic barriers to entry that have prevented their full participation in the entrepreneurial journey. Together with Shopify, Operation HOPE aims to reduce these obstacles, encouraging more aspiring Black entrepreneurs to start and scale businesses, and provide them with the tools, resources, and education they may need to succeed.

Operation HOPE research has shown that 58% of Black businesses were deemed at risk or distressed and suffering from low profits, low credit scores, or income shocks in the months immediately following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020). Over the course of the pandemic, the number of Black workers and business owners fell sharply, over 40%, a more severe economic impact compared to other racial groups. The pandemic’s disproportionate effects on Black businesses result in both acute and long-term impacts on Black families and future generations. At present, four in 10 Black adults belong to families in which someone lost a job, was furloughed, or had hours cut, or lost work-related income because of the COVID-19.

To level the playing field, 1MBB intends to focus on critical tools for business success such as technology and resources, educational programs, and the opportunity to access capital. Through this program, Black business owners have the opportunity to sign up for Operation HOPE’s programs of community uplift, financial literacy and education, and upon graduation, Shopify plans to provide aspiring Black entrepreneurs a tailored education with tools and resources to launch or expand their businesses.

“Creating generational wealth through the creation of new Black businesses and Black entrepreneurs is a direct gateway to social justice. The creation of ownership, jobs and opportunity in a generation helps to strengthen democracy and ensure freedom through self-determination. This is empowerment at scale,” said John Hope Bryant, CEO and Founder of Operation HOPE. “To have Shopify actively supporting the 1MBB Initiative is a true game changer. Working together, we can scale our business creation platform to help underserved communities and enhance economic prosperity across America.”

To learn more about this initiative, visit www.HOPE1MBB.org.

References:

  1. https://news.yahoo.com/operation-hope-shopify-join-forces-122900144.html
  2. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201020005715/en

Healthy Aging and Lifestyle: Avoid Muscle Loss as You Age

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Declining muscle mass is part of aging, but that does not mean you are helpless to stop it.

“Older men can indeed increase muscle mass lost as a consequence of aging,” says Dr. Thomas W. Storer, director of the exercise physiology and physical function lab at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It takes work, dedication, and a plan, but it is never too late to rebuild muscle and maintain it.”

The best means to build muscle mass, no matter your age, is progressive resistance training (PRT), says Dr. Storer. With PRT, you gradually amp up your workout volume—weight, reps, and sets—as your strength and endurance improve.

This constant challenging builds muscle and keeps you away from plateaus where you stop making gains. (See “Working on a PRT program.”) In fact, a recent meta-analysis published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise reviewed 49 studies of men ages 50 to 83 who did PRT and found that subjects averaged a 2.4-pound increase in lean body mass.

if you want to burn more calories and lose weight, the answer is simple: build muscle, according to the Cleveland Clinic.  

Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat

Ten pounds of muscle burns 50 calories at rest, whereas 10 pounds of fat burns 20 calories. This means, long after you’ve stopped working out, your body is still burning over twice as many calories when you’re toned than when you’re not. 

Strength training

When you lift weights and build muscle, you’re actually creating tiny tears in the muscle fibers within your body. This is why you’re sore after a tough workout.

Strength training comes when your muscles build against those tears. athletic trainer Tom Iannetta, ATC, CSCS explains that strength training is beneficial at any age. “As we age, we lose muscle mass, which decreases metabolism, so establishing a strength program will not only increase muscles, it will boost metabolism,” he says. 

Get moving a little every day.

Work out every morning and some evenings. Some moves take just minutes to do. Here’s a few ways to do it right:

  • Start slow—incorporate regular walks or body weight exercises to feel the burn.
  • Workout when you’re working—like with a stressball or a hand grip strengthener
  • Incorporate a complete exercise plan for building muscle. Use it and you’ll avoid back pain and get injured less

A general guideline for improving strength is to exercise each major muscle group at least twice a week. This could be performed as a full-body workout or by doing a split routine performing upper body exercises twice a week, then lower body exercises twice a week.”

Helpful strength training tips:

  • Warm up. Always begin with a light warm-up such as riding a stationary bike or an elliptical machine. Five to 10 minutes should be sufficient.
  • Sets are key. Three sets of an exercise with eight to 12 repetitions has been the gold standard for an effective strength program. However, finding time to exercise may be a challenge.  Recent research shows that many people see results with one or two sets of eight to 15 repetitions of a particular exercise.
  • Push it. Pushing the muscle to fatigue is a key factor. Choose a weight that is heavy enough to fatigue your muscles in eight to 15 repetitions. As exercise becomes easier, you can progressively increase the amount of resistance.
  • Variety is the spice of life … and muscle building. As you get stronger, try varying the exercises you perform. Different exercises or varying the weight training equipment in your routine should keep your program challenging.

The important thing is to find an activity that you enjoy. With consistency, you’ll shed that quarantine weight in no time. 

References:

  1. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/build-muscles-lose-weight-by-adding-strength-training-to-your-workout/?_ga=2.29316282.743021087.1601167027-783556893.1601167027
  2. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-can-you-avoid-muscle-loss-as-you-age/
  3. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/preserve-your-muscle-mass

Age-related muscle loss | Harvard Men’s Health Watch

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After age 30, men begin to lose as much as 3% to 5% of muscle mass per decade, according to WebMD.com. Most men will lose about 30% of their muscle mass during their lifetimes. Less muscle means greater weakness and less mobility, both of which may increase your risk of falls and fractures.

A 2015 report from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research found that people with sarcopenia, age-related muscle loss, had 2.3 times the risk of having a low-trauma fracture from a fall, such as a broken hip, collarbone, leg, arm, or wrist.

“Older men can increase muscle mass lost as a consequence of aging,” says Dr. Thomas W. Storer, director of the exercise physiology and physical function lab at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “It takes work, dedication, and a plan, but it is never too late to rebuild muscle and maintain it.”

Increasing strength and endurance

One possible contributor to sarcopenia, age-related muscle loss, is the natural decline of testosterone, the hormone that stimulates protein synthesis and muscle growth. Think of testosterone as the fuel for your muscle-building fire.

The FDA has not approved taking testosterone supplements to build muscle mass in men due to their side effects.

The best means to build muscle mass, no matter your age, is progressive resistance training (PRT), says Dr. Storer. With PRT, you gradually amp up your workout volume—weight, reps, and sets—as your strength and endurance improve. This constant challenging builds muscle and keeps you away from plateaus where you stop making gains. To gain more muscle mass, older men need a structured and detailed PRT program, says Dr. Storer.

Set up a detailed progressive resistance strength training workouts

You should do strength-training that works all major muscle groups—legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders, and arms—at least two days a week.  Strength training can involve lifting weights, using resistance bands, or exercises like push-ups and sit-ups, in which your body weight furnishes the resistance.

A typical training program might include

  • 8 to 10 exercises that target all the major muscle groups
  • sets of 12 to 15 reps, performed at an effort of about 5 to 7 on a 10-point scale
  • two or three workouts per week.

After you have established a routine, the way to progress is to add a second and then a third set of the exercises. Another way is to decrease the number of reps per set and increase the weight or resistance to the point where you are able to complete at least eight reps, but no more than 12.

Increasing muscle power

Building muscle is not all about strength, says Dr. Storer. You also need power. “Muscle power, how fast and efficiently you move, is more connected to the activities of daily living and physical function than muscular strength,” he says.

A good way to improve overall muscle power is with your legs, since they are most responsible for mobility. “Doing quicker movements against resistance, like one’s own body weight, can be an effective means of developing power,” says Dr. Storer.

For instance, when rising from a seated position, try to do it quickly. When climbing stairs, hold the handrail and push off a step as fast as possible. “It does not have to be every step—begin with one to three steps—but this teaches your muscles to use strength in a more effective way.”

References:

  1. https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide/sarcopenia-with-aging
  2. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/preserve-your-muscle-mass

Growth vs. Value

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“Empirical evidence suggests that value stocks outperform over the long term, even if growth has out performed value in recent years.” Bankrate

Recently, growth stocks, such as Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla and Apple, have handily outperformed value names. But it’s not always that way, and many seasoned investors think value will once again have its day, though they have been waiting on that day for more than a decade.

The difference between the two approaches are:

  • “Growth investors look for $100 stocks that could be worth $200 in a few years if the company continues to grow quickly. As such, the success of their investment relies on the expansion of the company and the market continuing to value growth stocks at a premium valuation, as measured by a P/E ratio maybe, in later years if the company continues to succeed.”
  • “Value investors look for $50 stocks that are actually worth $100 today, not in a few years, if the company continues its business plan. These investors are typically buying stocks that are out of favor now and therefore have a low valuation. They’re betting on the market’s opinion changing to become more favorable, pushing up the stock price.”

“Value investing is based on the premise that paying less for a set of future cash flows is associated with a higher expected return,” says Wes Crill, senior researcher at Dimensional Fund Advisors in Austin, Texas. “That’s one of the most fundamental tenets of investing.”

Growth investing and value investing differ in other key ways, too, as detailed in the table below.

Many of America’s most famous investors are value investors, including Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Ben Graham. Still, plenty of very wealthy individuals own growth stocks, including Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos and hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, and even Buffett has shifted his approach to become more growth “at a reasonable price” oriented as of late.

Yet, sometime in the future, and unfortunately no one can forecast when, it appears guaranteed that value will outperform growths as an investment for a long period of time.

Typical investing wisdom might say that “when the markets are greedy, growth investors win and when they are fearful, value investors win,” says Blair Silverberg, CEO of Capital, a funding company for early-stage firms based in New York City.

If you’re an individual retail investor, it is wise to stick to fundamental investing principles or otherwise consider buying a solid index fund, such as the S&P 500 that takes a lot of the risk out of investing.

References:

  1. https://www.bankrate.com/investing/growth-investing-vs-value-investing/

Federal Debt has Surpassed the Size of the U.S. Economy | New York Times

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By Matt Phillips. Aug. 21, 2020 Updated 7:48 a.m. ET

The national debt of the United States now exceeds the size of the nation’s gross domestic product. That was once considered by economists a doomsday scenario that would wreck the U.S. economy. So far, that hasn’t happened.

“Economists and deficit hawks have warned for decades that the United States was borrowing too much money. The federal debt was ballooning so fast, they said, that economic ruin was inevitable: Interest rates would skyrocket, taxes would rise and inflation would probably run wild.”

“The death spiral could be triggered once the debt surpassed the size of the U.S. economy — a turning point that was probably still years in the future.”

“It actually happened much sooner: sometime before the end of June 2020.”

“”This is a 40-year pattern,” said Stephanie Kelton, a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University and a proponent of what’s often called Modern Monetary Theory. That view holds that countries that control their own currencies have far more leeway to run large deficits than traditionally thought. “The whole premise that deficits drive up interest rates, it’s just wrong,” she said.”

“At the end of last year, the United States was about $17 trillion in debt — roughly 80 percent of the gross domestic product. In January, government analysts predicted that debt would approach 100 percent of the G.D.P. around 2030. But by the end of June, the debt stood at $20.63 trillion, or roughly 106 percent of G.D.P., which shrank amid widespread stay-at-home orders. (These numbers don’t count trillions more the government owes itself in bonds held by the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.)”

“Economists have long told a story in which debt levels this large inevitably ignited an economic doom loop. Towering levels of debt would freak out Treasury bond investors, who would demand higher interest rates to hand their cash to such a heavily indebted borrower. With its debt payments more expensive, the government would have to borrow even more to stay current on its obligations.”

“Neither tax increases nor spending cuts would be attractive, because both could slow the economy — and any slowdown would hurt tax revenues, meaning the government would have to keep borrowing more. These scenarios frequently included dire predictions of soaring interest rates for business and consumer borrowing and crushing inflation as the government printed more and more money to pay what it owed.”

“But instead of panicking, the financial markets are viewing this seemingly bottomless need for borrowing benignly. The interest rate on the 10-year Treasury note — also known as its yield — is roughly 0.7 percent, far below where it was a little over a year ago, when it was about 2 percent.”

“There’s a debate about whether a large amount of government debt hamstrings economic growth over the long term. Some influential studies have shown that high levels of debt — in particular debt-to-G.D.P. ratios approaching 100 percent — are associated with lower levels of economic growth. But other researchers have found that the relationship isn’t causal: Slowing economic growth might lead to higher levels of debt, rather than vice versa.”

“Others have found that they don’t see much of a relationship between high levels of debt and slow economic growth for rich developed countries.”

“The experience over the last decade has drastically shifted the way economists and investors think about how the United States funds itself.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/business/economy/national-debt-coronavirus-stimulus.html?referringSource=articleShare