Avoid Freezing Your Credit Cards
Many individuals stop using their credit card/s to control their spending. This approach may prove counter-productive. Your credit card company will tag your credit card as inactive or close the account altogether if it remains dormant for too long. While that means you won’t be a spendthrift, it won’t help boost your credit score. It may even have the potential to hurt your credit score. Inactive credit cards don’t contribute recent payment activity, which makes up the largest part of most credit scores. If the account is closed, you won’t get the benefit from the age of the credit card, which is another component that lifts credit scores. Instead of hiding the credit card in a drawer, try practicing discipline as an alternative approach to freezing.
Assistant Professor of Finance
South Carolina State University
Diversification is a strategy that can be described by the adage, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” The strategy involves spreading money among different investments to reduce risk. By carefully allocating your money into different assets, you may be able to reduce the risk of your investment without sacrificing too much potential gain.
Spread out your eggs over many baskets
The effectiveness of the diversification strategy depends on the degree of ‘correlation’ between different investments in a portfolio. The key for successful diversification is to identify investments that perform differently under different market conditions. Consider a portfolio with a pair of assets that tend to move in opposite directions in the short term. This low correlation–one zigs while the other zags — can potentially reduce risk substantially while positioning your investment portfolio for the opportunity to pursue relatively higher returns over the long term.Investors can build their portfolios by investing in several major asset classes. For instance, stocks have historically had the greatest risk and highest returns and are considered as a portfolio’s “heavy hitter” — they offer the greatest potential for growth but also bring highest volatility. Bonds are generally less volatile than stocks but generate less return at the same time. They can be seen as a safe haven when markets are rough and equities are volatile. Property on the other hand, has tended to protect against inflation over the long term, whilst also not moving in line with equities. Cash and cash equivalents – such as savings deposits, certificate of deposit, treasury bills, money market deposit account and money market funds, are the safest investments, but offer the lowest returns. The federal government guarantees many investments in cash equivalents, so the chance of losing money in this asset class is extremely low.
Diversify within asset classes
Within each asset class there are further opportunities for diversification. For example, within equities, the returns of some companies may not be related to others. Investors can invest in different industry sectors, such as biotechnology stocks and utility companies whose performance has little correlation. Within bonds, investors can choose from government bonds versus corporate bonds, longer maturity bonds versus shorter maturity bonds, high quality bonds versus low quality bonds. To fully diversify the stock portion of your investment portfolio, you will need at least a dozen carefully selected individual stocks.
Using Mutual Funds
Diversification comes at a cost – it requires significant amount of time, effort and knowledge. Some investors may find it easy to diversify through the ownership of mutual funds. A mutual fund is a company that pools money from many investors and invest the money in stocks, bonds and other financial instruments. Mutual funds make it easy for investors to own a small portion of many investments. However, investors cannot achieve instant diversification by putting their money in one or two mutual funds, especially if the fund focuses on only one industry or sector. To achieve full diversification, investors may consider stock funds, bond funds and money market fund. Within stock funds, they may consider large company stock fund, small company stock fund and global funds.The pie chart to the right shows an example of diversified portfolio:By varying the weight of each asset class in your portfolio, you can generate different levels of risk and return on your portfolio. Your ideal mix of investment will depend on your unique situation, such as your objective, time horizon and risk tolerance.
Rebalancing
Overtime, market changes can shift your portfolio’s asset allocation away from your ideal mix, creating additional, unwanted or unnecessary risks. You may be exposed to more or less risk than your target. You may consider rebalancing your portfolio to bring your asset back to your target allocation. Generally there are two ways to rebalance. You can choose to direct new contributions to the type of assets that are underrepresented in your portfolio. Alternatively, you can sell some of the over performing assets and use the proceeds to invest in the laggards. Either way can bring your portfolio back to your ideal mix.
When Eating Out, Go The Way of Grilled or Broiled
A recent survey showed that the average American adult eats 5 meals per week in a restaurant. If ever you’re ordering meat or fish while eating out, ask that it be grilled or broiled, and prepared without oil or butter as these are healthier methods of cooking. Additionally, when you eat it, use lemon or herbs and spices to give it flavor rather than heavy sauces. This healthy approach will leave both your mind and body in a much better situation. It’s not just about what you eat, but how you cook and dress your meals can have a significant impact on your health.
Class of 2013 Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine
Ohio University
A: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which the body fails to adequately uptake glucose. Glucose is the breakdown product from the food we eat. Insulin, which is produced by an organ called the pancreas, allows the body to draw glucose into its cells to be used for energy. When the body fails to do this, glucose concentrates in the bloodstream putting an individual at risk for a plethora of serious health problems such as blurry vision/blindness, heart disease, kidney disease, slow rate of digestion, tingling/numbness/loss of sensation in the extremities, and even amputations. Two types of diabetes exist – Type 1 and Type 2. Type 2 is the more common type which entails several forms. One form is where the pancreas over secretes insulin in order to handle the overload of glucose in the system causing it to burn out." Another form is insulin resistance in which receptors on cells do not respond to insulin or there is a decrease in receptors due to down regulation by adipose tissue, or simply fat. Type 1 is an autoimmune condition in which the cells in the pancreas responsible for producing insulin are recognized as foreign and are destroyed by the body’s immune system.
Q: Is there any particular group that is most at risk to develop diabetes?
A: Risk factors for developing diabetes include being obese/overweight, lack of exercise, diet devoid of fruits and vegetables and heavy on fats and sugars, and strong family history of diabetes.
Q: What are the signs? How does one recognize that they do in fact have the disease?
A: The main signs of diabetes are the 3 P’s – polyphagia (increased hunger), polydipsia (increased thirst), and polyuria (increased urination). Other telltale signs along with the 3 P’s are generalized fatigue and lightheadedness.
Q: What steps can one take to derail diabetes, once diagnosed?
A: Steps that can be taken to derail diabetes once diagnosed are maintaining regular checkups with your primary care physician, checking your blood sugars regularly throughout the day, eating more fruits and vegetables and foods less in fat and sugar, regular eye appointments to monitor vision, exercising regularly (exercise stimulates muscles to uptake glucose), and taking medication as prescribed. If a diabetic adheres to these steps, then he or she dramatically decreases their risk for potential health problems mentioned earlier in this article.
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