Getting ahead planning your retirement in your 20s

Getting ahead planning your retirement in your 20s Have you ever heard the old saying that it’s never too early to start planning for the future? If so, you may have decided to ignore it, or just worry about it later- after all, when you’re young you feel as if you have an endless amount of time to plan your life and that your time is better spent having fun and living for the moment. But the truth is, the future is coming faster than you might realize. When it comes to retirement planning, the phrase â€Å"never too early to start planning† can be the best advice you’ll ever get. Sure, there are a lot of reasons why it’s especially tricky to start planning for such a far-off notion like retirement. The truth is, you’re likely just getting started in your professional journey, and you may have little to no idea where your climb up the career ladder will take you. Also, if you’re like most of us, the money you’re earning when you’re new to the work world doesn’t exa ctly leave you with a ton of options for saving and investing for the future. On top of all this, it is much more fun to be carefree and live for the moment when you’re young, and many of us make a deal with ourselves to start taking money matters seriously when we reach a significant (and distant) milestone in our lives (age 30? 40? 70?).That said, you really don’t have to completely overhaul your life or give up on fun in order to start planning for retirement but the more prepared you are for this inevitable end to your career journey the more confident and relaxed you’ll be about money matters at every phase of your life until then. Taking baby steps toward greater financial responsibility while you’re in your 20s will bring you that much closer to whatever your retirement goals turn out to be- and help you avoid (or at least minimize) the amount of fear, worry, and anxiety you feel when you’re focused on your financial health and future. And t rust us, if those days aren’t here yet, they’re right around the corner.If you’re ready to take the next step and get serious about your retirement planning, then consider the following strategies to move you in the right direction.4 steps to planning for retirement now1. Develop a saving mindset.Sure, when you’re in your 20s it’s hard to take savings seriously. Most likely, your main focus is on getting your bills paid and being able to afford the basics, and that makes total sense. However, even saving just a little bit can go a long way.Let’s take a look at a small example- suppose you enjoy a mid-afternoon latte each workday. The average price of a latte is around $2.50. Now, instead of buying the latte, imagine taking that money and dropping it into a savings account- in 5 years, you’ll have saved $3,250 just by making this one small life change. Are there other small savings changes you can make to help you build your nest egg? Probably, and the more money you’re able to divert to savings the better off you’ll be- both for short-term needs and for long-term health as you creep closer to retirement. But perhaps more importantly, just getting into a savings mindset early on in life will set you up for being a more financially responsible adult as you get older- and your ability and desire to save and spend wisely will set you up for a great financial future.2. Take advantage of work resourcesMost of us aren’t thrilled to have to work, but one of the good things about having to hold down a job is that it can often come with some useful employee benefits- which may include a retirement benefits plan. These days, more and more companies are offering a 401(k) plan to help employees save and prepare for retirement, which often provide some incredible perks like employer fund matching (which is as close to free money as most of us will ever get).Taking advantage of investing in a 401(k) is so universally recognized as beneficial (and often essential) that many companies automatically enroll employees in plans to help them start saving their money wisely. If your company offers this benefit, there is absolutely no good reason not to take advantage of it- even if it’s just a small percentage of your paycheck. Don’t worry if you don’t plan on staying at your current job forever- you get to take your money with you.3. Explore other investment optionsIn addition to the retirement benefits that your employer may offer, consider exploring other investment options available to you: IRAs, mutual funds, CDs, and the stock market. Sure, it’s a little scary to jump into the world of investing as a newbie, but there are a wealth of resources available to you, including online tools, wise and trusted friends and family members, and investment professionals tied to your bank (assuming you have a savings or checking account- and if you don’t, consider opening one). Do some research and start small. You’ll be amazed by how well a few wise investment decisions early on in life can set you up for a comfortable retirement.4. Decrease debtDebt is not your friend. Even though it’s often an unavoidable part of adulthood, be sure to make every effort to decrease your debt burden as you move closer and closer to retirement age. The truth is, some forms of debt- like a home mortgage- are indicative of financial stability and solvency. But other forms (like credit card debt) are best left avoided or eradicated as quickly as possible. If you have a credit card (or multiple cards), avoid using them unless it’s an unavoidable emergency, and pay off what you owe as quickly as possible. Nothing creates a financial headache and panic attack faster than an unwieldy amount of unhealthy debt- so be sure to avoid drowning here.

The Concept of Majority Rule Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Concept of Majority Rule - Assignment Example The relationship between the two is that the principles of majority rule and minority rights identically support an egalitarian form of government in the United States of America. An example of this is the â€Å"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which make illegal employment discrimination on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It applies to all colleges and universities, public or private that have at least fifteen employees. The U.S. Constitution prohibits state employment in violation of the equal protection of the laws and applies to all public institutions of higher education. Title VII and the Constitution jointly establish what is required and permitted with respect to affirmative action in higher education† (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1964). Another example which exhibits the duality of the constitution is the No Child Left Behind Act of the NCLB, a constitutional provision ensuring the right of all children to be studying in school (Henley, Mcbride, Milligan, and Nichols, 2007). Practically, this constitutional provision promotes the need for every citizen of the United States of America to gain the appropriate knowledge for wisdom in any chosen field. This must also be inconsistent with the current global trend towards service industry.

Creation of a Teaching environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Creation of a Teaching environment - Essay Example Each learning experience is unique and necessitates different needs, and so they may need a different rubric to address these unique needs of the student. The designing of a rubric can be cumbersome task but at the same time a rewarding and useful experience to nurse educators. Nowadays, health care environment is becoming more complex and diverse. There are an increasing number of patients from at-risk populations as well as an increase in the number of chronic diseases that need to be managed in a community setting. This complex and diverse scenario makes it mandatory on the part of the nurse educators to ensure that their graduates have the skills necessary to be leaders in this healthcare environment (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2008). The utilization of innovative strategies will assist the nurse educators to apply various teaching methods to facilitate learning to ensure core competencies attainment amongst the students, as well as during teaching and mentoring newer nurses. (Billings & Halstead, 2009). This paper will examine the core competencies needed by graduates of today’s nursing programs and how nurse educators can facilitate learning and attainment of these competencies needed for safe evidence-based practice. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has formulated nine essentials competencies that graduates should posses by the end of their various nursing program. These competencies are stated in a different manner by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (NLNAC) as well as various other stakeholders of nursing education, but they fully support it. (Billings & Halsted, 2009; The National League for Nursing, 2005). This paper will discuss the core competencies of scholarship for evidence based practice, inter-professional communication/collaboration skills, the use

Head on vs Tylenol Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Head on vs Tylenol - Annotated Bibliography Example Head on is a product that relieves headaches by simple application on the forehead. The success of this product can be attributed to the vigorous and repetitive advertisement about it that has increased its awareness to people. Tylenol, the competitor brand is effective for temporary relief of aches, pains, headaches, nasal congestions. Its popularity has mainly been backed by the reputation of the Johnson and Johnson companies and the marketing it has been given. Head on is manufactured by Miralus healthcare Company. The ownership and manufacture of this product was transferred to Sirvision, inc. located in North America. Tylenol is one of the products made by the Tylenol Company and ownership is by Mc Neil consumer healthcare which is Johnson and Johnson subsidiary. Headon is made up of three ingredients from a flower, vine and a carcinogen. These ingredients are iris versicolor, potassium dichromate and white bryony. The active ingredient in Tylenol is paracetamol. The ingredients used in making these products have once or more been discredited by users and other groups for some reasons that reveal their failure or ineffectiveness. So far I have identified the population to gather the information from. The age of the people and their geographical location has been identified too. The methods of information gathering to use, and the timeline that will be enough to cover the project have also been ascertained. The information required for analysis of these products will be conducted after a survey by interviewing people to give their opinions on them and their preference. The interviews will cover the effectiveness \of these products, their failure and the most preferred in terms of effectiveness, accessibility and price. Questionnaires will also be used to collect information on the rival products. These data collecting instruments will be evenly distributed in the targeted demographic area to minimize chances of getting biased information. Manufacturers

Reflective Essay on Team Building Skills

Reflective Essay on Team Building Skills Writing a reflection is comparable to that of using a Pensive, in the direction of reliving the already lived experience with the objective of learning from the past matters to enhance future performances. This reflection will closely practice (Gibbs,1988) Reflective Cycle. First stage will begin with a description of what happened, followed by feelings about that event or experience, further evaluating and analysing towards arriving at a conclusion along with making of an action plan for performing in a more efficient manner if a similar situation arises in the future. To begin with, in our course Managing Organization and People, Our Professor helped forming the teams by a structured process, he also encouraged to break the ice between the team members, by making us do a very exciting team building activity. Soon after, we were briefed about the case study on decision making; the job was to make a presentation on the given case. My team comprised of 5 members, and four members out of five were from the same country and common native language, I was the one who added country diversity to our team. Since other four members shared one common native language, with English as their second language, it appeared to me that they will be more comfortable communicating in their first language rather than English, which was our course language. In our first meeting we had dialog around the over-all plan, which we will follow to accomplish the goal of making our presentation. Division of the tasks was done, but there was no concrete discussion over how we as a team would check if individuals work is aligning with the overall schema or not. I was feeling confident to have a team with dedicated and friendly members, although few concerns were there, which arose after our first group meeting. The concerns were, communication, trust, fear of conflict, leadership. At the subsequent meeting the worries turned out to be true, instead of progressing we were in retrograde motion. The other four members preferred interacting in their first language rather than our course language not just this, but also everyone had a different point of view concerning the most essential question of the case study, we were asked to state organizations problem and opportunities clearly, but no one was ready to accept others view point, dissatisfaction was fumed and question was left unanswered. Other than Professors first team building activity, no other such activity was performed to better build the relationships and trust amongst the team members. In the absence of a strong connection between team members, we couldnt debate plentiful about how we will resolve this state of disagreement and if a leader was needed to facilitateand direct us in such circumstances. The bright side was that in terms of accountability, commitment, result oriented approach our team seemed standing strong. I felt quiet uncomfortable in this situation and tried taking the step of simplifying things by making everyone indulge in talks and making them to participate more. To ease the situation, we decided that everyone will stick to the chosen parts and at last we will add individual work to arrive at a better collective result. The situation was very challenging, but taking a call of not interfering in each others work till we complete, seemed the best possible way to avoid disagreements. However, the study by (Clark Clark, 2015) proved that team with better individual skills can be outperformed by team with more synergy, and in absence of synergy it was implied that our teams productivity was not going to be the optimum. It is often claimed that by engaging in team building à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦any group can transform itself into a high-performing team (Shandler Egan, 1996 as cited in Riener Wiederhold, 2016) and the study by (Riener Wiederhold, 2016) concluded that members who engage in team building tasks give better efforts than who dont.   Whereas our team never positioned team building activities in high importance ranking. We should have engaged in more team building to help us develop a good bonding. It was a major step missed by our team for turning out as a high performing team. Advancing to other key interconnected issues related to team structure were: Self-managed or leader driven, which best suited us. Avoiding arguments or shaping them to healthy discussions. Well defined by (Phillips, 2001) Whether a team is leader driven or self-directed; higher level of productivity and greater results are desired in a team, we as a team had the same goals of achieving higher level of productivity and our team was a self-directed team with no leader present, I think with the type of team mix we had, there was a leader required to reduce the differences between team members to help us in achieving higher productivity. Discussing more about a leader and importance of a leader in team, as stated by (Hamlin Jennings, 2007) Leaders influence both the mode of interaction and outcome of these interactions, therefore, in presence of a leader with right approach, our team interactions which were whirling as never-ending arguments, could have been shaped to fruitful debates, instead of it our arguments were gradually shaping to conflicts, again the big question; conflicts are helpful or obstructive for a teams productivity. There have been different views on this, The Study by (De Dreu Weingart, 2003) tells that conflicts adds tensions, increases gap and troubles between team members, therefore they should be treated as obstructions in any teams progress. Whereas, the study by (Amason, 1996, Cited by Brockmann, 1996)has a different view anddivides conflicts into two types. Type one is cognitive conflict, which aims at issues, ideas or process, it is constructive and useful for a team, whereas the second type is affective conflict which aims at people, emotions and values, it is harmful to a team and is destructive conflict. As a self-directed team, when we were not able to manage conflicts, a leader with positive influencing approach was required to route our teams destructive conflicts in direction of cognitive conflicts and we could have better responded to the case study question of stating organizations problem and opportunity. (Claus Langfred, 2007) suggested that Self-managing teams when cannot manage conflicts; tend to reform themselves in an inefficient structure, and with higher conflicts the trust level decreases. It was well reflected in our response to conflict, we decided to work on individual tasks without much interference and with greater autonomy we built a greater level of trust. Trust is a crucial factor for team performance (Erdem, 2003, cited by Aki   Mila, 2012) and with the developed trust we started performing slightly better. Cooperation followed by trust is what we gained next, which also resolved the perception of imbalanced diversity that I had in my mind. (Mitchell Boyle, 2015) concluded that Professional diversity could be good for innovation if team members have openness, Though initially, I was bit concerned that our team is not very diverse as all members except me were from the same culture and same language group, which was different from our course language, but later I realized that we all were very diverse in our professional experiences and fields; with openness to suggestions, creative thinking did prosper in our team and after divisions of task and developed trust, team members were very cooperative and communicated in English only. The five characteristics of a dysfunctional team stated in (Lencioni, 2010) are: lack of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, inattention to results, we were able to overcome four out of five characteristics by having a team with trust, commitment, result oriented approach and accountable members but we could never reach a stage of having a healthy conflict. We knew our presentation was not going to be the best, but it was time to feel motivated and deliver our finest with the available resources. Conclusion If given a chance to go back to the time, when teams were formed, definitely I will make the team indulge in more team building activities for achieving a greater bonding, which would have further helped us to sensibly handle and shape the conflicts into cognitive conflicts. Although, every member of the team worked with dedication and commitment, but we failed to understand the importance of synergy, thats how collective effort could have helped us to accomplish the given task with distinction. Our team achieved the required coordination, trust, communication, but we were too late to reap the benefit of these gears, so time management is one another important aspect we missed at. Action Plan This team project experience is one key asset that will help me in future to grip better the alike situations, and being a business student such teamwork situations will certainly come again in my professional career. Learnings which I have gained from this experience are that when working in a team conflicts are essential for success, but only if teams are mature enough to be self-managed or there is a right leader appointed who can shape conflicts in a positive direction to help teams achieving the synergy. which is the most desired element of team performances. Therefore, I will never shy away from such situation rather I will take first move to make team talk about it. References Aki, S., Mila, H. (2012). Building Trust in High-Performing Teams. Technology Innovation Management Review, Iss June 2012: Global Business Creation, Pp 38-41 (2012), (June 2012: Global Business Creation), 38. Brockmann, E. (1996). Removing the paradox of conflict from group decisions. Academy of Management Executive, 10(2), 61-62. doi:10.5465/AME.1996.9606161555. Clark, C., Clark, B. (2015). Is the Sum of the Parts Greater Than the Whole? Skill vs. Synergy. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 14(2), 23-35. De Dreu, C. W., Weingart, L. R. (2003). Task versus relationship conflict, team performance, and team member satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 741-749. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.88.4.741. Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. Oxford: Oxford Polytechnic Further Education Unit. Hamlin, A., Jennings, C. (2007). Leadership and conflict. Journal of Economic Behavior Organization, 64(1), 49-68. Langfred, C. W. (2007). The Downside of Self-Management: A Longitudinal Study of the Effects tf Conflict on Trust, Autonomy, and Task Interdependence in Self-Managing Teams. Academy of management journal, 50(4), 885-900.doi:10.5465/AMJ.2007.26279196 Lencioni, P. M. (2010). Overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team: A field guide for leaders, managers, and facilitators (Vol. 16). John Wiley Sons. Mitchell, R., Boyle, B. (2015). Professional diversity, identity salience and team innovation: The moderating role of openmindedness norms. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 36(6), 873-894. doi:10.1002/job.2009. Phillips, C. (2011). Managing team conflict. Center for Human Systems. Retrieved from http://www. chumans. com/human-systems-resouces/managing-teamconflcit. Htmlip. Riener, G., Wiederhold, S. (2016). Team building and hidden costs of control. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 1231-18.doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2015.12.008

The War of 1812 Essays -- History, The Battle of Baltimore

The War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain. This all started on June 12, 1812 and finished sometime in 1815. Many of the battles were on land but also there were a lot of sea battles. The United States declared War because there were many different disputes among the two countries. The main target for the British is the American ships (War of 1812, 2). The battle of Baltimore was one of the most important battles of the war. The U.S. Naval forces were under Commodore Macdonough. They beat a British fleet at Lake Champlain. Baltimore was home of U.S. privateers and also, Baltimore was the third largest city in the U.S. On September twelfth, the British ships arrive at Baltimore. They were under command by General Ross(War of 1812, 2). The Battle of Raisin River was on January twenty first, 1813. General Winchester was the commander of the United States forces. In this battle, the U.S forces were in three different divisions in order to attack the British forces at the right time in Detroit. One of the groups went off mission and went to find food and a place to sleep because of the cold weather. There were 700 Kentuckians. They eventually went to a battle and captured a Frenchtown market and set up camp there. It was a very bad defense system. Because of that, they were attacked by 1,200 Brits and 1400 Indians. Around 15 U.S. troops escaped. At the end of the battle, the U.S had 100 dead and around 500 troops held captive. They then surrendered to British Colonel Henry A. Proctor (American History, 4). The Battle of Lake Erie was fought on September 10, 1813. The U.S. forces were under command of Perry. Th... ...ort Malden, but he failed to take it. He then moved on and the British had more troops moving in and Hull surrenders to the British (War of 1812, 1). The War of 1812 ended in 1815 (War of 1812 Web, 2). Some people say that the British won the war and the Americans lost but to me, it is an even match only because the Treaty of Ghent and most of the War was over by that reason. The Americans got a lot of respect for withstanding the British Empire. The country had a great outcome even though the American’s lost a lot of troops, the government help strong. There are many heroes in the War of 1812, but the most recognized ones are, Judah Touro, a Philanthropist, Jean Lafitte, a Buccaneer leader, Uriah Phillips Levy, the first Jewish Commodore of the U.S. Navy, and Captain Mordecai Myers, part of the 13th Pennsylvania Infantry (National Archives and Records, 3).

Management of Acid Rain

First of all, as the name suggests, acid rain is rain that is too acidic; with a pH of 5 or below. PH is based on the concentration of hydrogen ions. Acid Rain is caused by emissions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. These major contributing pollutants come from factories, power plants, automobile exhaust, chemical fertilizers, and other sources. Acid rain harms man-made objects as well as humans, animals, plants, aquatic systems, soils, forest, and etc. The list goes on and on. Acid rain reaches the earth in five different forms: rain, snow, hail, sleet, or fog. There are also dry acidic particles that fall from the atmosphere. Most people do not think that acid rain is a big deal, but it is. There have been laws passed to help control this issue, but it has not helped the United States as much as it should have. In this report I will explain controversies in the past over acid rain and I will say a little bit about what is going on in the present. In the 1980†³s acid rain was a major environmental issue. Environmentalists believed that acid rain was poisoning lakes and killing fish in North America. Because the political debate was so fierce, and the scientific process was so acrimonious, Congress created what was then the country†s biggest environmental research project which consumed half a billion dollars in 10 years. Following this research project, Congress amended the Clean Air Act in 1990, which required polluters, mainly electric power companies, to reduce their emission of sulphur dioxide. After this act, the problem seemed to be solved. Now we have come to realize that acid rain has not at all disappeared. In many lakes across North America the water is less acidic, but there is no sign of recovery across the northeastern and midwestern United States-and there may not be for decades. Gene Likens, an ecologist at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. quotes, † The problem is complex, and it has not gone away.† Here is a list of some of the effects of acid rain in aquatic ecosystems: v As the pH approaches 6.0, crustaceans, insects, and some plankton species begin to disappear. v As pH approaches 5.0, major changes in the makeup of the plankton community occur, less desirable species of mosses and plankton may begin to invade, and the progressive loss of some fish populations is likely, with the more highly valued species being generally the least tolerant of acidity. v Below pH of 5.0, the water is largely devoid of fish, the bottom is covered with undecayed material, and mosses may dominate the areas near the shore. v Terrestrial animals dependent on aquatic ecosystems are also affected. Waterfowl, for example, depend on aquatic organisms for nourishment and nutrients. As these food sources are reduced or eliminated, the quality of habitat declines and the reproductive success of the birds is affected. When a lake is too acidic, many fish, insects, amphibians, birds, plants, and etc. die. Eventually every form of life will die. Because the young fish are weaker than the fully-grown ones, a whole generation of young fish can die if the water is too acidic. Even if the fish were to survive the water, they may die because their food supply has decreased drastically because of the acid rain. Birds also suffer from this problem. They depend on the lakes for food, and when the lakes and fish are poisoned or dead, therefore the birds goes hungry. Aquatic systems are not the only things that are affected by acid rain. Humans, plants, forests, and a whole bunch if other things are too. Acid rain can harm us (humans) in several ways: v If the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe has come in contact with acid deposition, it can cause health problems for us. v Studies have shown that there is a link between acid rain and respiratory problems in sensitive populations such as children and asthmatics. v Also, acid rain can increase the levels of toxic metals such as aluminum, copper, and mercury in untreated drinking water supplies. Plants can be harmed by acid rain in many ways also. For example, it can alter the protective waxy surface of leaves, lowering disease resistance. Here are a few more examples: v It may inhibit plant germination and reproduction. v It accelerates soil weathering and removal of nutrients. v It makes some toxic elements, such as aluminum, more soluble. High aluminum concentrations in the soil can prevent the uptake and use of nutrients by plants. Its effects on animals are hard to assess. As a result of pollution-induced alteration of habitat or food resources, acid deposition may cause population decline through stress and lower reproductive success. Acid rain affects forests and soils. When sulphuric acid falls onto the earth, nutrients present in the soil are washed away. Aluminum, which is present in the soil, is released and this element can be absorbed into the roots of trees and plants. As a result, the trees and plants are starved to death as they are deprived of their vital nutrients such as calcium and magnesium. The needles of some trees will turn yellow because of this; eventually they will fall off. Besides just killing the trees and plants, they also, acid rain also makes them grow when they don†t have the proper nutrients. Also, trees are forced to grow well into late autumn when it is actually time for them to prepare for severe frosts in the winter. Man-made objects are also harmed. Rust can be formed on metal and statues, buildings, graves, and many other things can be ruined because of acid rain. Acid rain wears down rock structures down gradually, and can be devastating over a long period of time, sometimes causing bridges to collapse or become unstable. In conclusion, acid rain may not sound all that harmful, but it really is and it is not a subject to be taken lightly. There are some things that you can do to reduce the acidity in acid rain, so maybe this report will change your mind and make you think!