Quick Reads »

December 26, 2017 – 12:52 pm | No Comment

This Week 7’s (12.14 – 12.31) Affirmation: Mindfulness – I will reach for mindfulness each day.
Date – 12.26.17
B-Book 44: Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
The key message in this book: Often we stop dead in our tracks …

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Mad Musings


First category I added when I started this blog many moons ago. I jot stuff here I can't otherwise categorize.

what the...?


The section you will see a swear or two in. Not that I am a big fan, but sometimes situation can't be helped

Not So Recent Reads


Here you will find books that I have read, reading or intend to read. More Recent Reads => CLICK HERE.

just Writing


I intend to use this area to catalog my writing journey and collect tidbits of information on the authoring process.

philosophy-religion


These are areas I am very much interested in. From time to time, as I am so moved, I free think here as well

Where Are We in ‘The Cycle’?

March 4, 2018 – 2:34 am | No Comment
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When viewed through a business-cycle lens, the current economy is showing signs of both mid- and late-cycle dynamics.
Source: Where Are We in ‘The Cycle’?
My Comments: A really good primer on the business by Karen Wallace …

Dread accompanies me through life but it is not without consolation

February 21, 2018 – 2:37 pm | No Comment
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One morning, my father died at home. I awoke to a call for help – my name shouted once, loudly, desperately, fearfully, by my mother – ran into my parents’ bedroom, and found my father …

The Secrets to Living a Longer and Better Life

February 18, 2018 – 8:19 pm | No Comment
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Old age demands to be taken very seriously–and it usually gets its way. It’s hard to be cavalier about a time of life defined by loss of vigor, increasing frailty, rising disease risk and falling …

How to Build Self Discipline To Exercise

February 12, 2018 – 12:18 am | No Comment
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Even when you’re not in the mood
If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get in shape, now comes the hard part: sticking with it. This is the time when many of us begin …

Is Constantly Reading the News Bad? 

February 5, 2018 – 4:15 pm | No Comment
reading-news

If you’re bingeing on the 24/7 news cycle, you’re probably asking for trouble
A recent survey from the American Psychological Association found that, for many Americans, “news consumption has a downside.”
More than half of Americans say the news …

Essential Guide to Walking and Steps 

February 2, 2018 – 1:44 am | No Comment
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Walking is one of the most rewarding lifelong activities you can choose. While it may not be a huge calorie burner — the average person burns about 100 calories or so per mile — adding …

What Skill is Hard to Learn But will Payoff

January 30, 2018 – 4:08 pm | No Comment
taming-mind

Taming your mind is one of the hardest skill to learn but pays off in the longer run. Usually this involves self-evaluation and accountability. I will list a few skills, which point towards the master …

As a dying person, what is your advice to the living? – Quora

January 24, 2018 – 10:17 am | No Comment
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I have far more I’d like to say on this topic than can be contained in a single post. So I will summarize my top five here and do follow-up articles on each of the …

Americans are pack rats. Swedes have the solution: ‘Death cleaning.’

October 14, 2017 – 12:17 pm | No Comment
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If your family doesn’t want your stuff when you’re alive, they sure won’t want it when you’re dead.
That’s the blunt assessment of yet another self-help author from abroad who is trying to get Americans, who …

Start planning now to care for elderly parents

October 12, 2017 – 2:30 am | No Comment
To match analysis AGE-EUROPE/BONDS

If you have an aging parent and want a glimpse of what the future holds, look no further than Leslie Glutzer.
The 66-year-old from Chicago has a mom who is 92, dealing with dementia, now living …

A pretty good idea of when humans will go extinct

October 7, 2017 – 12:55 pm | No Comment
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This might strike you as overly optimistic or pessimistic, depending on your worldview. Certain apocalyptic scenarios envision a perfect storm of inequality, resource scarcity and political instability wiping out civilization as we know it in …

The Longevity Gap

October 5, 2017 – 1:20 pm | No Comment
Longevity

The disparity between top earners and everyone else is staggering in nations such as the United States, where 10 per cent of people accounted for 80 per cent of income growth since 1975. The life …

Before you can be with others, first learn to be alone

October 5, 2017 – 1:14 pm | No Comment
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In 1840, Edgar Allan Poe described the ‘mad energy’ of an ageing man who roved the streets of London from dusk till dawn. His excruciating despair could be temporarily relieved only by immersing himself in …

How to put a dynamic retirement spending strategy in place

September 25, 2017 – 8:34 am | No Comment
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Welcome to retirement at the beginning of the 21st century: People are living longer, return expectations are muted for the foreseeable future, and employer-funded pension plans are becoming a thing of the past. This is not …

Should You Make IRA Contributions After 65?

September 25, 2017 – 8:26 am | No Comment
Retire-spend

 

As I was listening to my voicemail on a Saturday morning, I picked up a message from a relative. “Christine, I have some extra money to invest,” she said. “I put some cash into my …

Cheating doesn’t have to kill a relationship. Here’s how to survive it.

September 20, 2017 – 2:19 pm | No Comment
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“If you Google me, one of the first things that comes up is a Cosmo headline that’s like, ‘Why I Cheated on My Husband,’ ” laughed author Ada Calhoun. “I’m not mortified by it, but oh, God, …

The Working Class Can’t Afford the American Dream

September 4, 2017 – 4:10 pm | No Comment
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The national conversation in the U.S. is focused squarely on improving the lives of people in the working class. The debate revolves around exactly how to do that. Politicians and pundits have all sorts of …

5 Things to Never Tell a Contractor 

August 30, 2017 – 10:25 pm | No Comment
Home Renovations - Tear Out

Contractors may be the go-to person during a home renovation, but make sure your homeowner clients avoid these phrases in conversation.
Source: 5 Things to Never Tell a Contractor
My Comments: Interesting set of points made here…

Here’s what health care will cost you in retirement

August 30, 2017 – 10:22 pm | No Comment
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My husband and I were dreaming about what we would do if we won the recent $758 million Powerball jackpot. (We didn’t.) I told him he should keep working his federal government job so that …

Your Financial Life Is Complicated; Your Portfolio Shouldn’t Be

August 30, 2017 – 10:13 pm | No Comment
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The uptake of index products has been widely hailed as an expression of investors’ preference for low-cost investments. And a quest to lower total portfolio costs and cut out higher-priced, underperforming funds may well be …

Straight from Vanguard retirees: 6 retirement-planning tips

August 28, 2017 – 2:14 am | No Comment
frugal-kids

In my last post, The coulda, shoulda, woulda behind every retirement story, I asked for comments. Who better than soon-to-be retirees and recent retirees to share lessons learned about preparing for retirement, right? (Exactly right.)
The record-setting …

Letter from a Region in My Mind

August 10, 2017 – 4:23 am | No Comment
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I underwent, during the summer that I became fourteen, a prolonged religious crisis. I use “religious” in the common, and arbitrary, sense, meaning that I then discovered God, His saints and angels, and His blazing Hell. …

16 Most Segregated Cities in America – 24/7 Wall St.

July 25, 2017 – 3:17 am | No Comment
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Next year will mark the 50-year anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act.
Our nation’s capital and, for many people, the physical representation of unity and freedom in …

A Son’s Race to Give His Dying Father Artificial Immortality

July 22, 2017 – 8:29 pm | No Comment
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The first voice you hear on the recording is mine. “Here we are,” I say. My tone is cheerful, but a catch in my throat betrays how nervous I am. Then, a little grandly, I …

One millennial’s advice to peers on saving for retirement: Don’t live by FOM 

July 21, 2017 – 2:35 pm | No Comment
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If you’ve saved a lot for retirement, do you have any regrets about what you may have given up to achieve your financial security?
Last week, a reader, who is not a millennial, asked what if …

Read like you’re on a diet

July 15, 2017 – 2:44 pm | Comments Off on Read like you’re on a diet
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I think in this context, they’re absolutely necessary. The Internet is like a bunch of fast food restaurants, all within a click’s reach, yelling at your face:
“HEY YOU. READ MY SHIT.”
“NO, READ MINE.”
“YOU’VE GOTTA READ …

Here’s What Happens When You Don’t Exercise for 2 Weeks

May 18, 2017 – 2:36 pm | No Comment
Girl in the gym

How much time does it really take for a healthy person to become measurably less healthy? Less than you might think.
According to new research from the University of Liverpool, just two weeks without regular physical …

The huge cost new parents may be overlooking

April 16, 2017 – 5:20 pm | No Comment
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Some expecting parents may forget to prepare for what will likely be their biggest expense when the baby arrives: child care.
When asked how much they think it costs to raise a baby, 54 percent of people planning …

The meanings of life

March 5, 2017 – 2:52 pm | No Comment
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Parents often say: ‘I just want my children to be happy.’ It is unusual to hear: ‘I just want my children’s lives to be meaningful,’ yet that’s what most of us seem to want for …

How to Talk to Your Kids About Death

February 10, 2017 – 9:01 am | No Comment
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It’s awkward enough talking about death with other adults. It’s even harder when you have to explain to impressionable children that a loved one is gone forever. Here are a few tips for approaching this …