Make sure that you answer these questions carefully and honestly:

1. I keep spending too much time on unappealing activities and less time doing things that I really want to do.
True
False

2.I often feel I don’t have enough time for myself or for my priorities.
True
False

3.No matter what I do, I can’t seem to get enough done and always feel stressed, tired, overcommitted, and/or exhausted.
True
False

4.Since retirement, I don’t feel that I’m accomplishing my retirement goals.
True
False

5.I often feel guilty when I can’t do the things that make me happy.
True
False

If all of your answers were “false” then you’re on the right track. Congratulations, you’re leading a balanced life and have a very low stress level. If you answered “true” to 1 or more questions then you can really benefit from these 5 steps which will help you more effectively balance your life:

1.Find your purpose. First and foremost, you must take some time for soul searching. During stillness, you must determine what it is that you truly value and what are your priorities. List them from 1-10. Be very specific about what is important to you and how you plan to strengthen those priorities. For instance, let’s say that your first priority is to live a more purpose driven life. If so, what type of activities are you doing to help make your dreams a reality? Are you reading books or listening to purpose driven tapes? Are you attending seminars? The key here is to really hone in on what is most important.

2.Develop a workable plan. Second, now that you know what priorities are important to you, you must develop a workable plan to donate time to each one. To accomplish this, you should write them down and clarify how you can achieve each one. Decide now what steps you will take to fulfill your priorities.

3.Become committed. Third, you must become committed to your plan and realize that you can’t do everything. By being committed to achieving your most important priorities first and getting them done, you’ll enhance your self esteem tremendously and feel powerful.

4.Take care of yourself. Fourth, you must always factor in time to take care of yourself. By being focused on your health and developing a healthy lifestyle, you’ll make sure that you have the stamina to effectively balance your priorities. Therefore, take time to access your current health situation and if necessary, make any needed changes or improvements.

5.Enjoy this time. Fifth, you must be willing to enjoy this precious time. Be grateful that you are gaining control over your retirement goals and take pleasure in being able to live a balanced life.

In conclusion, you can have a healthy and balanced life by finding your purpose, developing a workable plan, becoming committed, taking care of yourself and enjoying yourself.

What does surprise me is that many Americans believe that they cannot retire comfortably unless they win the lottery. A survey by the Consumer Federation of America shows that 27% of Americans believe that their best chance to gain $500,000 in their lifetime is to win a sweepstakes or lottery.

Fortunately, building a comfortable retirement nest egg is easier than you think. Here are five steps to help you build a comfortable retirement:

1. Start early! If you started saving $100 a month beginning at age 18, you would have over $500,000 by age 65. The power of compounding is great, and the earlier you start saving, the greater the benefit.

2. Have a plan. The best way to ensure that you will have a comfortable retirement is to plan how much you will need to retire. You can’t reach your destination if you don’t know where you’re going.

3. Participate in company sponsored retirement plans. Many companies offer matching contributions to your 401K or other retirement plan contributions. This is free money – take it!

4. Invest in a diversified portfolio of stocks and bonds, that fits your goals and risk tolerance. Studies show that your investment return is determined primarily by the allocation of your assets, not the individual investment selections you make.

5. Keep your costs down. Invest in no-load, low cost mutual funds (or other investments).  Lowering the expenses in your portfolio by just 1% can equate to 20% more money in your portfolio after 20 years.

Although winning a large lottery certainly can’t hurt, following the steps above should send you well on your way to a comfortable retirement.

The benefits of early retirement seem obvious. Not having to work full-time means having more time to do things you enjoy more than work. The thought of spending everyday doing things you love sounds too good to be true, right? Who would not love hour after hour to garden, read, get in touch with friends or join clubs in your community? Taking an early retirement means having more time to travel and spend with family and close friends.

You must take time to consider with caution all of the ways your life will change because of taking early retirement. Think beyond all of the pleasures and freedoms you will enjoy and consider your financial situation for a moment. Do you have funds in place that will be able to support you if you take early retirement? How will you pay for your home, cars, insurances, and desires to travel? It is much easier to dream about the kind of life early retirement would allow than it is to pay for that kind of life. If you have a family, you must also consider the responsibilities you have to provide for and support them. Are all of your children through college? Are there significant events like weddings that are yet to be paid for? All of these questions must be answered honestly before you decide that early retirement is right for you.

Another thing to carefully question before you decide on early retirement is how your life will really look without a full-time job in the picture. Sure, having no job sounds great now, but are you really prepared to break away from all that your job has required of you? Many people that have chosen an early retirement end up regretting the decision when they start to actually miss work and interaction with co-workers. Chances are strong that your job has played a bigger role in your life and happiness than you realize, so be careful to weigh carefully the pros and cons of leaving your job for an early retirement.

The main thing in deciding about early retirement is not to rush the decision. Take your time, consider all of your options and know yourself well before making a huge life change. If it is right for you, early retirement can be full of joy and blessing. If, however, you jump into early retirement prematurely, you may be sorry for the rest of your
life.

Some wait to long before they decide to plan for their future. This is not a good idea because we can never tell what lies ahead. So, here’s how and when to start retirement planning:

1. The retirement year.

First, decide on what year you would like to retire. It is always best to start something with a goal in hand. This will keep you focused and determined to push it through.

2. Do your homework.

The best way to help you start making your retirement planning is to consult your “employer-sponsored 401(k) or IRA,” or to any of your retirement schemes and investigate on the objective date of your mutual funds and see if it matches your target date of retirement. If it does, then start funding your nest egg immediately.

3. Backups.

There are many instances where your plan can backfire. So, it is best to have backups.

So, when making a retirement plan, better include a backup that will serve as a fallback in case your nest eggs fails or if something else goes wrong. It is best that you do not depend entirely on your funds because sometimes there are circumstances that are beyond our control.

3. Opt for annuities.

When doing a retirement planning, you should take note also of the different retirement planning strategies that will surely make your plan work. One good example of a retirement planning strategy is the annuities.

Basically, annuities are adaptable indemnity bonds that are exclusively patterned to bestow additional wages at the same time assist you accomplish “long-term” saving goals.

These annuities are the “long-term’ items recommended by most insurance companies, though, there are brokers and other financial establishments that provide this kind of service. They will help you set-up a specific goal and aim for it.

There are two types of annuity: the immediate and the tax-deferred annuity.

In the immediate annuity, you start your retirement planning by giving a hefty amount of money to the insurance company or any financial institution for that matter. After which, your payment scheme will start at once. This type of annuity is usually applicable to those who are already 60 years old and above.

On the other hand, the tax-deferred annuities you may choose whether you will pay the retirement amount instantly or make a monthly disbursement until the time you reach your target date.

This is usually appropriate to those who start their retirement planning early, generally those who are 20 years old at the least.

4. Consider the Modified Endowment Contracts.

Annuities had been heading the limelight for so many years now. Most people would go for annuities, as this is the most popular retirement planning strategy. However, like most plans, it is still vulnerable to problems and crisis. That is why, it is best to make an alternative option when making a retirement planning.

The next best retirement planning strategy is the Modified Endowment Contract or the MEC. This is, basically, one kind of “insurance policy.”

In reality, MEC is similar to annuity, especially the tax-deferred annuity, in terms of the preliminary premium rates. Though, they differ in terms of tax codes.

In annuity, the tax code appears to be very unfavourable especially when the benefactor dies while the “annuity accumulation” stage is in full force. This, in turn, makes the deferred wage taxes on development suddenly becomes payable.

In contrast, the MEC resolves this problem by providing the benefactor or the beneficiaries with an “insurance rider” included in the agreement. The “insurance rider” is made to hand over the full amount to your recipients absolutely free from any taxes.

Moreover, MECs can give you the suppleness of choosing between the variable and fixed account preferences. This, in turn, will make your retirement planning relatively easier.

Nevertheless, whatever retirement planning strategy you choose, the bottom line is that it is really important to save for your retirement as soon as possible.

Most often than not, people linger on a little longer before they start making their retirement planning. This should not be the case because you can never tell what will happen next.

As they say, life is suspense; you will never know what it can offer you until the end. So, the best time to do retirement planning is now.

But statistics show that golden dream comes true for only a very few of Americans. Some studies reveal less than 10 percent of us ever retire. Even more alarming, other studies show a large percentage die within a year or two after retirement.

Clearly, an enjoyable, healthy retirement is not something that just “happens.” To get past all the challenges that lie in your way, you need to plan for your retirement wisely.

I advise people in my seminars NOT to retire, but to RE-FIRE. Instead of looking at retirement as merely leaving the world of work, look at retirement as a time when you can finally achieve the things you’ve always wanted to do.

Most retirement advice centers around telling you to put a lot of money in a savings account. While saving for retirement is important, most of what you should do to retire well can be accomplished within five years of retirement.

Much of what you need to do to retire successfully is mental and spiritual. When many of us retire, we walk away from a life of work that filled our days, exercised our minds, and included most of our good friends. Once you’re retired, you find your days become empty and unfulfilling, even depressing.

That’s why it’s critical to plan new tasks, goals, and attitudes for retirement. While sitting in an easy chair and relishing not having to go to work can be fun for a while, you’ll soon need activities and relationships to make your days fulfilling. You’ll also need ways to create a satisfying social life that often includes important new friends.

That’s why RE-FIREING in your retirement years is the right approach to take. Rather than giving up, you’re recharging and moving forward to an even more exciting life.

Focus on attaining optimum good health, creating the fine-tuned relationships you’ve always wanted, and finally accomplishing some of your true purposes in life. Re-firing can help you figure out what has been missing from your life, what you really want to do in your senior years, and help you develop solid strategies for quickly achieving your important goals.

Household work, volunteer work, family roles and community service actually increase after retirement. The familial roles of grandparents increase because of the expanded time available for travel.

The skills and knowledge acquired before retirement have value in the life of a retiree. Even if learning something new education and training affects the ability to do various activities at retirement. Lack of skill and a low literacy tends to limit the leisure activities of retirees.

A very difficult task to prepare for later on in life is the ability to cope with losses that increase as people get older. The productivity is the first loss in retirement but adjustment usually is short. Loss of a spouse generally has the biggest impact, and in general is the hardest to anticipate unless a terminal illness is diagnosed before death. The best preparation for a loss of spouse is to work on a sense of independence and self-reliance.

The two biggest concerns for retirement living were security of finances and health coverage. This is according to the GSA (Gerontological Society of America). Another great concern identified was isolation or lack of social support for well-being and loneliness or lack of support for emotional well being.

Planning for retirement must have preparation for financial well-being, a social support network, a set of meaningful activities and health care coverage. All of these concerns actually relate to each other. When a retiring person has a sound financial plan, the person can buy adequate housing and health care coverage. Retirement lifestyle is a continuation of the person’s middle-age life.

A sound lifestyle can last a long while. Friendship and family can provide the support network later on in life. Retirement planning which includes developing economic and social skills cannot anticipate everything but provides a good foundation for enjoyment of life later on.

A successful retirement living includes the creation of a network of groups, family members and friends. Few people choose to be alone from the rest even if approximately forty four percent of women and roughly 18 percent of men aged 65 or older lived without relatives. Fifty percent of women above 65 were widows.

First E-mail: It was the first time, but it’s still around and still used. However, it is always a little difficult to use, as more and more government restrictions on, it will be placed. Still … it works.

Second Newsletter: This is an extension of e-mail, but it is a very effective tool. If you include enough timely and valuable information, a good newsletter, the number of visits to your site drive.

Third Blogging: Providing the tools on your site so that bloggers to interact with each other, is an excellent way to get the message about your product of service out there and talked about. Bloggers have their ears to the ground for new products and services.

4th Chat Rooms: A chat room is on your site and will encourage interaction between your customers and that can not be bad. You too can have the chat room for special events such as an expert available to answer questions on a certain day at a specific time schedule to answer.

5th Tell-a-friend Script: If you can add this with a statement that e-mail addresses supplied will never be disclosed to third parties, you increase your potential customer list significantly.

6th Video Clips: Including cool video clips on your website to keep the interest and traffic.

7th Flash Games: Although they run a little too expensive, they are an extremely effective tool is your viral marketing campaign. Once they are launched, they require nothing more from you.

The campaign is based on a site that a person in a chicken costume features. The actor has a broad range of actions based on a user’s input, showing pre-recorded footage and seems like an interactive webcam. The takes literally the advertising slogan “Get chicken the way you like it”.

There are responding to more than a hundred commands the chicken, including:

· Michael Jackson dance moves such as moonwalk
· River Dance
· The Elephant
· Put an egg
· How an Egyptian foot
· Yoga
· Anger
· Spank
· Taco Bell
· Combat

When I told him all the Subservient Chicken thinks to do offensive, like perform sex acts or take off his mask, the chicken goes into the camera and shakes a scolding chicken finger in disappointment. If he to east food from rival fast food places like McDonald said he is approaching the camera and puts his finger into the throat, but when told to eat Burger King he has a positive answer. The chicken responds to the command “smoke crack” by smoking but when told “smoking bong” He wags his finger scoldingly.

Burger King’s Chicken Fights campaign was recently introduced. The two cockfighting chicken characters are modeled by this chicken.
There seems no end to the variations on the theme of Burger King. It also has a lot of criticism of the chain about the Subservient Chicken but now it looks kind of like Burger’s crying all the way to the bank was leveled.

A successful viral campaign is not always in good taste … maybe that’s what makes them so tasty.

People like using file services to download music for two simple reasons, they are free, and there is an incredible selection. The fact is the Pandora’s box was opened. In the wake of Napster other quasi-legal services quickly became clear, … a lot of them. Even if they are closed, others succeed.

Major record companies would like anything else, but they are never to stop file sharing. Net user file sharers … plain and simple. Long before the Internet was created, the people of their favorite music tapes for their friends … cd burners are so much easier and faster.

So, how can this viral marketing campaign for your helping hand? Think about it. Once someone downloads your MP3 files and the files are on the listener to the hard disk begins to viral marketing. After two users start to share your files, suddenly, the music on the hard disk of a second computer … then a third … and so on. When users search and find your music on a lot of different computers, they are more likely to download the files. It’s just a matter of time before it shows your files can be found in more places.

No matter what genre music you play … Rock and Roll, Country, Tejano, Mozart sonatas, Heavy Metal, of Brazilian Jazz, there is an audience for it somewhere.

In this new paradigm, you are not peddling a product that you offer free music via a medium that can be connected directly with your audience.

Producing a message with a quality offer or incentive for pass-along is what viral marketing is.

Exactly suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and relatives not viral marketing. A message at the bottom of the e-mail that reads “Feel free to forward this message to a friend” viral marketing is nowhere near his best.

On the other hand, if something worth sharing, such as a valuable discount, vital information, additional entries in a competition, an additional discount or premium service, a joke / cartoon or a hilarious video in the e- mail contain viral marketing happens naturally and very successful.

The bottom line is that your message needs to be perceived as the value. Relevant or timely information, research or studies are good examples of content that could be viewed as potential pass-along material. Interactive content like a quiz or text inspire forwarding, especially if it’s fun. Personality tests, fitness tests, questionnaires or compatibility are all things that has always been passed on by many people many times. Why? Because they are entertaining and entertainment has value.

A multimedia experience is always some pass-along to achieve. Someone is always touting the benefits. It’s a bit more of a time and money investment but the news a great attraction and Rich Media has the advantage of being new. The tech factor alone is often sufficient for the message to be perceived as valuable.