5 Ways to Make Your Office Functional and Stylish

Let's face it, a workplace or home office can be rather dull and boring at times. In addition, how the office space is organized can cause more headaches than efficient actions. That is why it is important for a worker to establish ways that can make their workplace or home office functional and stylish. This will help increase efficiency and can help stimulate the worker's mind during their work day. Here are 5 ways to make a workplace or home office functional and stylish.

1. Layout and Space

One of the most important dimensions to any workspace is maximizing and using the layout and space of a work area. All of these factors will depend on the particular workspace, but if a worker has walls, a high ceiling, and different paths to enter the work area, these factors should be taken advantage of. Use walls to have hangers or cabinets and take advantage of high ceilings and walls by putting in bookcases. Always clear the paths that enter the work space so the worker and other workers can walk by the work area without hindrance. For example, do not have file cabinets, scanners, fax machines, or computer parts in the way of someone's walking path. Committing to using the work layout and space to one's advantage can neatly organize the office.

2. Lighting

Lighting is essential in any office, but the workplace or home office might not have the most effective lighting sources. Try buying desk lamps, floor lamps, or table lamps that can help brighten up the workspace. This will allow the worker to read text easier and the bright light can help energize the worker, improving their cognitive skills. It is also important to have natural lighting in the office, since this can help to improve health and the mood in the office.

3. Use Stylish Office Materials

Sometimes the typical desk and office products can be somewhat dull to the eye of a worker. Luckily, many office supply companies use unique materials to produce the usual office supplies and furniture everyone needs. One great example of this is acrylic plastic. This plastic is not only used to make office supply products like rulers or signs, but it can also be used to make chairs and desks. Acrylic has the appearance of glass, but is lighter and more malleable. This is just one alternative substance a worker can use for their office that will be different than the typical metal desk and office supplies.

4. Ergonomic Choices

Many people are unable to work properly because the office chairs they use do not help their back or posture. This can seriously affect cognitive capabilities and physically harm the worker from day-after-day of bad seat use. Ergonomic chairs help workers use a chair that can help their posture and back, relieving any dull pain that could arise from sitting in the chair all day. This could increase a worker's cognitive capabilities and help the worker work more efficiently.

5. Personal Items Throughout

One way to make the workplace or home office feel comfortable is to adorn the office with personal items. These items may include pictures on the desk, frames on the wall, hand-crafted items, like a hand-made basket, placed across the office, or achievement items, like certifications, diplomas, or pictures from big events in one's life in the office. This can help the office feel more like home and influence the worker to dedicate their time more effectively toward their work while they are in the office.

Work offices do not have to be dull or boring. Whether at work or at a home office, it is important to personalize the office while purchasing appropriate and dazzling products that can increase the worker's efficiency and cognitive health.

Stay Hearty in 2014: 8 Health Tips for Over 50's

They say that 50 is the new 40 which means there is no reason why you can’t look and feel great as you get older.

There are some common myths that aging means declining health and memory loss. Well the truth of the matter is that yes, there are more illnesses that are common as we age however, it doesn’t necessarily mean we’re on our last legs.

What’s more, brain training and learning new things can help to keep the mind sharp and believe it or not, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

So boost your confidence and stay healthy in 2014 with these top tips:

1. Drink plenty of fluids

Older people are more prone to dehydration so even if you don’t feel thirsty, make sure you are getting enough water. 

2. Load up on fibre

Your digestive system slows as you age, so increase the amount of fibre-rich foods you consume including vegetables, fruit and wholegrain. 

3. Start exercising slowly

It’s important that you exercise to stay healthy, even if you have an ongoing injury or disability. The key is to start slowly; just a few minutes every day is great and in time you can increase the duration. Walking is a brilliant starting point but make sure you check with your doctor first before starting any exercise program.

Why not join a local fitness group like water aerobics or Zumba? It can be a lot of fun and you can make new friends. 

4. Get rid of those bad sleeping habits

The main cause of low-quality sleep in older adults is in fact bad sleeping habits. Artificial lights at night-time can destroy your body’s natural production of the hormone that makes you sleepy. Boost your melatonin levels by turning off the TV and laptop/tablet at least one hour before bed, and use low-wattage bulbs. 

5. Watch your calories

On average, a woman who is not physically active needs about 1,600 calories and likewise, a man needs about 2,000 calories. If however you do have an active lifestyle, females need between 2,000-2,200 calories per day and males need about 2,400-2,800 calories. 

6. Still struggling to sleep?

Develop a bedtime routine to help you unwind be it a bath or listening to classical music. Make sure the room is dark and quiet and if need be, use an eye mask to block out any natural light from outside. If all else fails, simply go to bed earlier!

7. Keep your mind sharp

You need to keep your brain stimulated to prevent cognitive decline. Why not play a board game, a jigsaw, or a puzzle game on your iPad or smartphone. Crosswords in the newspaper are great at challenging the mind- try to do something new every day, even if it is getting out of bed the other side or driving to the local supermarket a different route.

Alternatively, there are various workshops across the UK that offer classes in computer technology or cookery. Keep challenging yourself to learn whether it a new language or simply volunteering at the local food bank. 

8. Cut back on salt and decrease iron intake

The likelihood of high blood pressure increases as we age so decrease your consumption of salt to 1500mg or less sodium per day. Elsewhere, after menopause the need for iron decreases to 8mg per day and too much iron can be dangerous.

So how many of these tips do you do already? The main thing is that you look after yourself properly and by doing so; you will be able to live life to the full.



This article was provided by Cheselden Continuing Healthcare UK, the leading experts in all you need to know about care home fees and nursing homes.

What’s Your Game Plan for Retiring Abroad?

Most people who are working in the US are toiling with the goal of retirement in mind. Especially when you get to 50 plus, you’ll want to be aiming for the retirement you actually want, not just the one you can afford.

A big part of a happy retirement for most people is finding the right location. For many, this means starting a new adventure living abroad. Tackling this daunting process can be made much easier when broken down into three major points.

Phase One: Research and Decide

If you’ve got a place in mind, you’re already ahead of the game. Perhaps you know friends who have settled in San Felipe or you’ve always wanted to live in Milan. You probably have preferences about language and culture. But before you get your heart set on a location, you should first make a list of options. What are the places you have traveled to and loved? What places have you always wanted to go to, but haven’t had the chance yet? Make your list and then research the heck out of them.

You’ll luckily be able to sidestep needing to learn about labor laws, but there are plenty of financial considerations you’ll need to educate yourself on. When Googling each place, consider searching for these financial concerns as well:

• Insurance - My GIO personal life insurance plan, for example, covers me when I travel abroad, but it would need to be replaced if I were to move back to the US. Retiring in Australia is a one of my top goals, so I will need to switch to an Australia based insurance plan, but this is not the case for all destinations.
• Currency value - Some areas are much more expensive to live in than others. Your dollars will stretch further, for instance, in Mexico than they will in Britain or Australia. Make sure that you’re getting the most out of your savings.
• Tax laws - Directly related to the value of your currency is how much of it you can expect the resident government to claim in taxes. Pay special attention to how much of your remaining income will be taxed under local law.

Now that you have an orderly metric ton of information in front of you, you can make an informed decision about where you’d like to end up. This should be the fun part; it may even allow you to take that vacation to the place you’ve always wanted to go! I don’t recommend settling on a decision without having visited the area yet, so save up for a short getaway and go see how the locals live. Looking at all of the information you’ve found, make a decision and stick to it.

Phase Two: Preparation

Ok, so you’ve chosen your new home and you’ve learned a lot about it. In the early stages of planning your international retirement, your first priority should be to determine how much capital you’ll have at your disposal. Consult your financial planner (or get one) so that you suffer no illusions about the kind of lifestyle you can afford. Then plot out the cost of living in your new home.

Put in place a financial structure for your new country. This might include investing in their market or setting up accounts with various institutions. During this time, you’ll also want to make sure that you’ve found an insurance provider, bank, and lawyer that you trust in the area.

Bear in mind that you should always leave a chunk of money in your country of origin. If you’re called back for any reason, health problems or family emergencies, you’ll need to have an emergency stash. This is also useful for planning your estate. If you’d like your assets to be passed on to your progeny, it will be much easier to ensure they get their inheritance if you’ve left at least some of it in their country.

Phase Three: The Move

Moving within a country can be costly. Moving internationally will prove at least twice as expensive. The expenses add up quickly: shipping, transportation, storage, visas, and the miscellaneous costs of food, hotels, etc. Most retirees will need to find a home that is smaller and more affordable, so consider downsizing.

On top of this, you must account for loss of US Medicaid eligibility, but chances are there will be some sort of medical assistance for retired folks in your new home. Social security is also a concern, but you can check this list of foreign countries serviced by American embassies and consulates and get information about social security benefits.

A great deal of your money lost in transit will be due to property transport and the damage that occurs therein. First, take stock of what you absolutely need to take with you. Obviously, sentimental objects that make your home your own are necessary, but it will most likely be best to sell most belongings and buy new ones once you arrive in your new home. Also, keep in mind that your new country probably doesn’t sell many of the items and brands that you’re used to, but this isn’t the end of the world. For example, Australia doesn't have red Solo cups but the white ones work just as well.

With careful consideration, you can patch up the cracks through which your hard-earned capital might fall through when moving abroad to retire. Particularly when retiring, it’s vital to account for every penny. You might still have some income from a pension or disability, but you’ll primarily be living off of savings and social security. This doesn’t need to be a precarious situation, however. It will most likely be the best time of your life.

Chris Jensen is a “fair dinkum” financial adviser with GIO.com.au. He enjoys traveling all over the Australian continent, picking up the colloquial slang, and planning his retirement there in the next twenty glorious years.

Small Business Stalled by Cash Flow Crisis

Almost half of small companies in the UK have been hit by a cash crisis – for 50% of the small businesses polled by Everline in 2013, money was not readily available to pay for essential financial obligations and expansion was put on the back burner. Regular access to cash flow is crucial. For example, small recruitment agencies set up to handle a specific need in the area are finding it hard to progress beyond making ends meet. If you run a small business, what solutions do you have to avoid cash flow problems and move forward?

Cash Flow Problems

In the survey, 29% of respondents said that a lack of cash flow was restricting their business expansion. An additional 23% of businesses had put marketing initiatives on hold, and 28% said they paid suppliers and other businesses late because of a lack of access to cash. These cash shortages occurred at least once a month, and the main problems happened when clients or customers paid late. 

Bank Loan Solutions?

It is all too easy to fall into the cash flow trap. You run your business efficiently, but if you have no access to cash when you need it, you quickly run into problems. It only takes a few suppliers to pay late or several customers to forget to pay, and you end up stalled, with no money to go forward. Sometimes the only solution seems to be a business loan, but it is increasingly difficult to access loans in the current financial climate, and debt in the form of bank loans can be difficult to sustain. Fortunately, there are other solutions to free up your cash flow and maintain a healthily functioning business. 

Look in a Different Direction

For example, outsourcing functions such as payroll can help streamline your business and make it easier to access cash when you need it. Outsourced payroll services are designed to take the payroll off your hands, so it is guaranteed to be paid. You can then use the cash to generate new business. This access to ready cash flow is vital for recruitment businesses and other companies that need to deliver payments regularly on time. In fact, when you think about how to set up a recruitment agency, one of the first things you need to consider is how you will make payroll.

Additional benefits of outsourcing payroll include no need for a payroll team and, therefore, a reduction in wage overheads. You also do away with other hidden costs such as postage, stationery, and printing. Once you have outsourced financial functions such as payroll, you can develop marketing and sales strategies and concentrate on how to grow the business rather than how you are going to find the cash to meet your regular payment commitments.

Outsourcing can have many benefits apart from not needing to house your payroll team in your office. You only have to pay for the service provided and not for additional expenses like sickness and holidays for team members. You can operate from a smaller office with less overhead for heating and light. You don’t have to provide office equipment and furniture. Perhaps the biggest benefit is that you gain from having a professional, knowledgeable team that specifically understand payroll. It is far better to have a specialist team that is up-to-date with the latest legislation than to have a ‘Jack-of-all-trades’ in your office who has to juggle many jobs at once. Outsourcing shouldn’t be viewed as a cheap option, rather a far better resource than you could otherwise provide.

Of course, this kind of service must be used responsibly, and it is important to know how you are going to ultimately pay your bills as well as the cost of the outsourcing. Outsourcing is no match for sound financial planning – when you prepare for the future, you increase the chances that you can cope with unexpected costs and obligations.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/10504363/SMEs-in-the-grip-of-cash-flow-crisis.html

Image attributed to FreeDigitalPhotos.net David Castillo Dominici

Planning For Your Retirement In 2014

Image source

Retirement is one of those life milestones, with millions of Americans thinking about and planning their retirement at any one time. For a generation, 2014 will be the year they finally retire from the workforce, to live out the rest of their lives in leisure. For others, it will mark the first time they think about retirement, and about setting money aside for their future. In 2014, planning for your retirement is essential to make sure you can live a comfortable existence when you are no longer earning money on a regular basis. But what steps should you be taking to plan for the future, and how can you specifically plan ahead for your circumstances in retirement?

Before you can start to put plans in place to provide for your pensionable years, you need to think about how much it will cost to survive in your current lifestyle. Write down your essential living costs every month, and calculate this figure over a year. Be sure to be generous in your estimations, so as not to be caught out by initial optimism. Calculating this annual amount will allow you to work out a total amount you need to secure to fund your retirement, and you should make calculations based on a long and healthy life post-retirement. This figure is still abstract, thanks to the effects of inflation, but it gives you at least some idea of the amount of money you will need to have access to in order to fund your retirement.

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Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be a lump sum. Private employer pensions can be set up long in advance, and many people of working age already pay in to pension schemes in order to set aside some capital for their retirement. Similarly, investments you make during your working life can continue to pay you into your retirement, so there are many practically positive reasons for getting your excess money tied up now for that future. The sooner you start to plan ahead with your financial affairs, the more benefit you will be able to see from your money when you retire.

Pensions and savings schemes are often linked to market performance, and as a result, capital can decrease as well as increase. However, this money is often treated in a more tax-efficient way, and investment in the right pension or savings vehicle will ensure these risks are kept to a minimum. Ernst and Young global chairman Mark Weinberger and other executives understand these topics well, but so can you with the right amount of research and planning.

Retirement is an inevitable stage in each of our lives, and one that most people look forward to. Leaving the workplace forever is daunting, particularly in the current uncertain climate. But with the right planning and preparation ahead of the event, it can be possible to retire with enough money to live comfortably for decades to come. Whether you have pension provision in place, or whether you’re considering starting to save for your pension in the new year, planning well in advance of the event means you have the longest runway to ensure a happy, financially-sound life beyond the workplace.

How Bitcoins Can Revolutionize The World Of Finance

Bitcoin Art (Photo credit: btckeychain)

Bitcoins are a new kind of currency that shows promising value to the financial world. They are digital coins that can be exchanged between two individuals involved in a transaction without the involvement of any bank or finance company. They are used with the help of an open sourced project that enables users to review the code freely. 

This project is named – Bitcoin Miner, where bitcoins are created at a limited rate. These coins are being used despite none of the financial institutions officially approving of them. Bitcoins are assigned to you with the help of a secure electronic signature. Currently there are only 7 million bitcoins in use and the total number of bitcoins cannot exceed 21 million for security reasons. 

It is being said that bitcoin is going to grow further and become an indispensable E-commerce tool. This is strengthened by the fact that the bitcoin has emerged as the independent and transparent currency bringing about the great financial revolution. Due to the low transaction fees associated with bitcoins, many merchants prefer to use bitcoins. 

Apart from this, another advantage is this that you can make faster transactions just by paying a voluntary transaction fees in case you need to make emergency money transfers.

No Centralized Authority And Global Presence

Since there's no one individual or company involved as an intermediary who looks after or controls the transaction between two individuals using bitcoins, they are catching popularity with many users. Only a secure network is involved in the transactional process thus created greater freedom for the investors and users alike. 

Bitcoins have also managed to replace wire transfers such as PayPal and others. All that one needs to use bitcoins is Internet access, bitcoin wallet and bitcoin address of the person whom you want to transfer. All this is achieved once you create an account online that is going to be secure and cannot be frozen either.

Competitive Enough

Bitcoin offers you to make transactions through various currencies including Euros, Dollars and others. You can make easy money transfers by transferring these bitcoins to the recipient’s accounts. 

They are termed competitive because they can now be compared to the electronic mail that helps you send or receive mails from anywhere in the world or Skype , that helps you make video and voice calls and messaging to anyone across the globe.

Faster And Secure Transactions

You can easily make transactions over the distributed bitcoin networks, that too within no time. Unlike banks and other financial institutions, bitcoins never let you go through rigid and time consuming processes. 

Military grade cryptography for transactions makes payments safe for the users as only the user will have access to the private keys assigned to him to make the transactions. So you need not worry about money transfer security. It will be better to go for the best Bitcoin investment companies that are perfect for providing better results.

Conclusion

If you really want to save time with that very essential security that entails bitcoin money transfer, then log on to Invest Online Ltd. The Invest Online is termed as the best investment company that deals with all other kinds of new investments.