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What will be your legacy?

<p>Maybe you’ve never thought about it, but how you’ll be remembered, and who you’ll be remembered by will be determined by the legacy you’ll leave. If you want your life to count then why leave it to chance when your legacy can be planned and purposeful, and in doing so, establish a firm foundation which generations can build upon?</p> <p>The mistakes of generations-past will be repeated by generations-future up until someone has the vision and determination to derive a different outcome. If not you, then who?</p> <p><strong>A legacy framework</strong></p> <p>Let’s play a game: what’s a word – just one word – you’d like others to use that encapsulates how you’d like to be remembered after you’re gone? For instance, assuming your name was Bobby, imagine a friend at your funeral saying “You know, I always found Bobby to be so…” </p> <p>It might be loving, or honest, or faithful, or sincere or any number of things. Now ask yourself this: "Is how I’m living congruent with how I want to be remembered?" If it is, great. If it isn’t, will you change while you still have time?</p> <p>If you’re interested in being organised and purposeful in leaving a legacy, consider this: your legacy is the summary of your deeds, which is the summary of your actions, which is the summary of your intentions. If you want to leave a bigger legacy then start by being purposeful with your intentions, impactful with your actions, and altruistic with your deeds.</p> <p><strong>Largesse</strong></p> <p>Your largesse is the way and extent to which you distribute money or gifts upon others. Largesse may be, but doesn’t necessarily have to be, financial. To be significant, largesse must be predominantly selfless. Any contribution to humanity that results in a gift qualifies, which is why the largesse of the likes of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa remain significant.</p> <p>Perhaps the ripples of the contribution you leave won’t be as large or as wide as those of Mother Teresa, but that doesn’t make your effort any less important or less worthy. Many small things done well are usually far better than a few great things done poorly. But remember, a selfless act can’t be called so if there are selfish ambitions behind it. Selfish largesse is rarely remembered beyond one generation or is remembered for the wrong reasons like the legacy of any historical tyrant you care to mention whose selfishness caused the death of countless innocent lives.</p> <p><strong>Remembering Nobel</strong></p> <p>Alfred Nobel was a controversial figure for much of this life, and while his inventions improved the industrialised world, he was not universally loved. His work improving military explosives resulted in him being accused of high treason. Upon his death, Nobel bequeathed 94 per cent of his estate be converted into a fund and invested in safe securities, with the income earned from those investments to be ‘distributed annually in the form of prizes to those who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind’.</p> <p>Why did Nobel perform such a generous act? No-one knows for sure but one possibility is that a French journalist, upon mistakenly reporting his death, eulogised Nobel as a ‘merchant of death’. Reportedly appalled, Nobel shifted his focus to philanthropy and used his fortune to create a legacy to further, not frustrate, humanity. Today, Nobel is revered for his substantial and ongoing contribution to the promotion of peace—a legacy of significance funded by his significant wealth.</p> <p><strong>Do-Doing-Done</strong></p> <p>How do you leave a legacy? First you’ll need to cast a vision for how you want to be remembered. Thereafter every thought and every action in every hour of every day is an opportunity to make a legacy deposit by acting congruently, or legacy withdrawal by acting incongruently, with your vision. </p> <p>The bigger your legacy balance, the more impactful your legacy will be.</p> <p>The trick is to remain persistently consistent with cycling through your intentions (what you want to do), your actions (what you’re doing), and your accomplishments (what you’ve done). Doing so will build momentum and scale. </p> <p>My old high school motto was Spectumer Agendo. It is Latin and means ‘By their deeds they shall be known.’ What are your deeds, and how will you be known?  If you want your life to count, do more things that count! Don’t be consumed with petty people or petty matters. Remained focussed on the things you can control. </p> <p><strong>Greek Proverb</strong></p> <p>Here’s a Greek proverb that caught my attention recently: wise men plant trees under whose shade others will sit. This is a beautiful phrase that captures the notion of sowing a blessing today for others tomorrow; a lovely way to capture the concept of legacy. I might have taken the proverb a little too literally because etched on my heart is a vision to return the 600 hectares of land I purchased back in 2018 into a permanent multi-species native forest. If you don’t have your own legacy project on the go and rehabilitating environments, restoring damaged ecosystems or renewing habitat for wildlife is something you care about, you’re welcome to join with me, my family and others as we change the world one tree at a time. Find out more at www.TreeChange.com</p> <p>Will your legacy be a burden or a blessing? It’s not too late to decide, or change if you aren’t happy with the current situation. </p> <p><strong>Edited extract from Steve McKnight’s <em>Money Magnet: How to Attract and Keep a Fortune that Counts</em> (Wiley $32.95), now available at all leading retailers or online at www.moneymagnet.au</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Mind

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Why you should beware spending rewards and BNPL programs

<p>Malware is software designed to disrupt and destroy, and there are plenty of ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ financial programs doing just that to people’s financial futures. Some that come to mind are programs (yes, they’re called ‘programs’) that make it easier to spend and / or reward and incentivise spending, and harder to make good financial decisions. When you get tricked into spending, or spending more than you otherwise would, you transfer your wealth to someone else. The more wealth you consume, the less you have for later on. Let’s consider two marketing malware culprits to avoid wherever possible.</p> <p><strong>Rewards Programs</strong></p> <p>Beware programs that trick you into thinking that spending is good.</p> <p>Consider Flybuys for example. It is a rewards program where you generally receive one Flybuys point for every dollar spend. Therefore, to earn 1 000 000 Flybuys points, you need to spend $1 000 000. What if I told you that the cash value of one Flybuys point is 0.5 cents? That would mean to earn 1 000 000 Flybuys points you’d have to spend $1 000 000, yet that $1 000 000 is really only ‘worth’ $5000. They’ve actually created a system where you think you’re being rewarded on a one-for-one basis (i.e. one dollar spent equals one point) when really you’re being rewarded at the rate of half of one cent for every dollar spent.</p> <p>Additionally, when it comes time to redeem your points, the products you can ‘purchase’ are valued at top dollar, rather than at any discounted price you might be able to find if you shopped around.</p> <p><strong>Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL)</strong></p> <p>Back in the day, department stores offered something called lay-by. This was where you could grab a product off the shelf, take it to the store’s lay-by counter and enter an arrangement with them to pay it off over two or three instalments. Once you’d made the final payment, the product was yours to own and take home. Lay-by was a great option for people who couldn’t access or didn’t want to use credit cards. There were no upfront fees associated with lay-by, and there was certainly no interest charged. </p> <p>Lay-by has been reborn and rebadged as BNPL; you pay by instalments, and you can take the product with you immediately. You won’t pay any fees provided you make the required instalments in full and on time. If you don’t, then you’ll be slugged with establishment fees, late fees, account-keeping fees and payment processing fees.</p> <p>The danger is that BNPL is easier to access than traditional debt options such as credit cards because BNPL is not technically credit since providers don’t charge interest. But BNPL is consumer debt with instant gratification, and that makes it credit in my book.</p> <p>Afterpay is one of the biggest BNPL providers on the planet. It advertises that it is a ‘free service’, provided you pay on time. If you don’t,  their late fee is $10 per missed payment, plus an additional $7 if the payment is still outstanding after a week. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but if you had bought something that only cost $20 and forgot to make a $5 instalment, then the $10 fee is 200 per cent of the missed payment. Ouch! Don’t forget that the fee is per missed payment. If there were other purchases made, then the fee would compound.</p> <p>Late fees, however small, can quickly cascade into a significant sum of money, potentially many times more than the instalment due or even the price of the item purchased. Plus, there are other consequences of missed payments—black marks on credit records, difficulties borrowing for other debt such as a home loan, and the possibility of additional fees as debts are passed over to debt collectors.</p> <p>BNPL organisations profit from users who fail to meet their repayment obligations, and so part and parcel of running a successful business and growing profits would involve them doing well when their customers do poorly. You can’t expect corporate behemoths to do the right thing by you if it’s the wrong thing by them. The best you can do is gain the skills and awareness you need to know when you’re being played. Marketing malware disrupts your ability to accumulate wealth by tricking you into believing you are getting a better deal than is the case. Ideally, you’d avoid using it at all, but if it’s too late for that, then you need to clean up your code as soon as you can.</p> <p>Being rewarded for spending money you haven’t yet earned is a toxic combination that will poison your efforts to attract and keep a fortune that counts.  Make sure you are a good shepherd of your financial flock by being vigilant in keeping an eye out for marketing malware wolves, and not falling for their enticing yet financially disempowering charms. </p> <p><strong>Edited extract from Steve McKnight’s <em>Money Magnet: How to Attract and Keep a Fortune that Counts</em> (Wiley $32.95), now available at all leading retailers. Visit www.moneymagnet.au</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Money & Banking

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How to make your money count

<p> </p> <p>How you use your money will be how you’re remembered. For some, the amount of money or wealth they accumulate is the score by which their success is measured. More wealth equals more success. Yet shrouds don’t have pockets, and dead is dead. In order to make your money count, it has to be used, not hoarded. Others use their wealth to purchase a more comfortable ride through life. That’s certainly possible, yet materialism is like fame: addictive and at the same time self-deprecating; there will always someone else who is richer than you and has more toys than you. The quest for more is insatiable. Instead of being defined by the wealth you’ve accumulated and have stored, why not be defined by the wealth you’ve accumulated and have deployed?</p> <p><span lang="EN-US"><strong>The 3C’s of Significance</strong></span></p> <p>The secret to making your money count is a process I call ‘the three Cs of significance’: care, cause and context. Identifying a care and resourcing a cause that supports it will add a context to your money that transcends dollars and cents. The 3C’s are a way of adding significance to your wealth and giving meaning to your life.</p> <p><span lang="EN-US">Let’s look at each of the 3Cs.</span></p> <p><span lang="EN-US"><strong>Care</strong></span></p> <p>Everyone has at least one care etched on their hearts at birth or engraved on their hearts from life experience. If you were to shut out the ‘busy-ness’ of life and listen to the quiet voice of your soul or engage your self-awareness by looking for issues that trigger an above-average or disproportionate emotional response, you’ll likely identify what you care most about. Possibilities include social justice issues, animal welfare, the environment, politics, gender and social equality, faith, health, nutrition, sport … the list is just about endless.</p> <p>Furthermore, there are niches within niches. For instance, animal welfare might be your thing, and within that, you might be particularly concerned with the wellbeing of koalas, and more specifically, orphaned koalas in south-east Queensland. The ‘thing’ you care about may be a burning passion or just a glowing ember. It may also change over time. For the moment, all that’s important is that you identify something you care about. Does something come to mind?</p> <p>If it helps as an illustration, cancer became an unexpected care that was recently etched on my heart. Prior to being diagnosed with skin cancer, I was aware but not particularly concerned about cancer, but that all changed when a spot on my face turned sinister. Now I had something to care about!</p> <p><span lang="EN-US"><strong>Cause</strong></span></p> <p>Once you have a care in mind, the next step is to find a cause – a person, program, charity or organisation that is doing work that relates to the matter(s) you care about, and offer to become a partner in, or sponsor of, that work by making a financial contribution.</p> <p>The secret to knowing the cause is to stop thinking ‘me’ and start thinking ‘we’. Sometimes the things we care about seem too big, complex or challenging to do anything meaningful about. Or we assume our resources are insignificant compared to the scale of the problem. When we are overwhelmed, the temptation is to feel defeated, to conclude ‘why bother’, and use our time and energy to solve survival problems closer to home. Don’t be put off by what you can’t do—be empowered by what you can. It’s very unlikely you’ll be the only person in the world who cares about the issue on your heart, and you may find an already established ‘cause’ you could partner with to be the change you hope to see.</p> <p>If you’re interested, the Peter McCallum Cancer Centre was a ‘cause’ I found that related to my ‘care’.</p> <p><span lang="EN-US"><strong>Context</strong></span></p> <p>The cares you advance based on the causes you support will provide a context for your money that transcends dollars and cents. Your wealth gains meaning based on the means it provides for the causes you care about. Your life will count because your money counts, and the significance you generate will make you feel more significant. But how will you create the context for your dollars? Will you give time or money or both? And how frequently will you give?</p> <p><strong>Time or money?</strong></p> <p>Many people giving small amounts is just as effective as a few people giving large amounts. You can only give from what you have. If you have money, give money. If you have time (including expertise), give time. If you have both, give both. There’s usually a lack of ‘resource-ers’ over ‘resources’; that is, a shortage of people who can pay for the labour and materials needed to resource the care.</p> <p><strong>Frequent or infrequent giving?</strong></p> <p>Experience has taught me that it is better to give less, more often, than more, less often. Most charitable organisations would rather have guaranteed financial supply over several years, than unreliable and infrequent one-off donations. Why? Because with guaranteed funding they can create, administer and execute programs they know they’ll be able to resource and fund through to completion.</p> <p>Here’s a final suggestion: rather than giving from capital, give repeatedly from the recurrent income your invested capital generates. Giving capital is something you do once. Investing the capital and giving the income is something you can do forever.</p> <p>For example, say you had $50000 to donate. One option would be to donate it in one lump sum. Another option is to invest it and donate the annual income.  Assuming you achieved an after-tax return of 8 per cent per annum, then after 12.5 years of giving you will have given the same amount (i.e. $50,000), except the second option would allow you to keep giving and supporting causes you care about for years and years to come—a magic pudding that gives and gives and never runs out!</p> <p>Some people like to count their money. Others like to make their money count. How will you be remembered – for the way you counted your money, or the way you made your money count? If you don’t like the answer, be sure to do something about it while you still can.  The secret to making your money count is to put it to use by supporting causes that do good work in fields you care about.</p> <p><strong>Edited extract from Steve McKnight’s <em>Money Magnet: How to Attract and Keep a Fortune that Counts</em> (Wiley $32.95), now available at all leading retailers or online at www.moneymagnet.au</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> <p> </p>

Money & Banking

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13 nifty uses for magnets around the house

<p>Magnets are a really useful tool for organising your bits and pieces around the house. Try some of our tips to see if they can help you.</p> <p>1. Install magnets in your bathroom cabinet for storing things like bobby pins, nail scissors and nail files.</p> <p>2. Glue a small magnet to the bottom of your hammer to hold onto nails.</p> <p>3. Mount a magnetic strip near the front door to hold onto your keys.</p> <p>4. Use magnetic paint to make a bulletin board for bills and reminders (rather than overloading your fridge door).</p> <p>5. Install a magnetic knife block inside a cupboard to store things like scissors or metal kitchen utensils.</p> <p>6. Keep a magnet in your desk drawer to hold onto paper clips or staples.</p> <p>7. Use magnets to keep your shower curtain closed and avoid slippery floors.</p> <p>8. Find a wall stud by sliding a strong magnet along the wall until you feel the pull.</p> <p>9. Save sore fingers and easily remove stuck batteries by placing a magnet near the battery.</p> <p>10. Screw a magnet onto your broom handle to keep it attached to the side of your fridge.</p> <p>11. Make a fridge pen by gluing a magnet to a pen so that you are always ready to make a note.</p> <p>12. Save a key or earring from a drain by dangling down a magnet tied to a piece of string.</p> <p>13. Clean an aquarium without removing the fish and water by embedding a magnet inside a sponge. You can guide the sponge around the glass from the outside with another strong opposing magnet.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Home & Garden

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Experience true waterfront luxury on Magnetic Island

<p>With temperatures plummeting around Australia, we can’t think of anything better than a gorgeous island escape. And where better to experience true waterfront luxury than on Queensland’s stunning Magnetic Island?</p> <p>From just $196 a night, you and five of your family and friends (that’s less than $50 per person!) can escape the icy winter and head north to this beautiful, spacious and modern property thanks to <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.au/?af=61160407&amp;c=apac_au_over60_auhomepage" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Airbnb</span></strong></a>. Just a short stroll to the beach, <a href="https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/9413259/?af=61160407&amp;c=apac_au_over60_terrace_magnetic_island" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">“The Terrace”</span></strong></a> is perfectly located – close to all the best restaurants, cafes, shops and bushwalking trails the island has to offer.</p> <p>Located in the serene Nelly Bay, this holiday home is perfect for a family get away, with three air-conditioned bedrooms, a swimming pool and a huge, open-plan kitchen and living space. The large outdoor terrace is perfect for a BBQ and a couple (or more) glasses of wine overlooking the Magnetic Island Marina.</p> <p>The island, situated just 20 minutes by ferry from Townsville, boasts some of Australia’s lushest greenery and incredible wildlife. If you’re lucky enough to make it up there, make sure you keep an eye out for koalas, wallabies and even whales.</p> <p>Have you ever been to Magnetic Island? What activities would you recommend to newcomers? Tell us in the comment section below.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/travel/accommodation/2016/05/the-place-to-stay-in-swansea-nsw/"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">The place to stay in Swansea NSW</span></strong></em></a></p> <p><a href="/travel/accommodation/2016/05/4-lighthouses-converted-into-luxury-cottages/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>4 lighthouses converted into luxury cottages</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/travel/accommodation/2016/05/best-beach-houses-in-mollymook-on-airbnb/"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">4 of the best Airbnb beach houses in Mollymook</span></strong></em></a></p>

Accommodation

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How-to mini succulent planters fridge magnets

<p>Here’s a great use for those wine corks you’ve been throwing away – make them into cute magnetic succulent planters to stick to your fridge. It’s a fun and unique way to brighten up your kitchen with a little colour, and succulents are such low-maintenance that you can pretty much stick them on and enjoy their beauty without worrying about taking care of them.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What you’ll need:</span></strong></p> <ul> <li>Wine corks</li> <li>Succulent clippings</li> <li>Soil</li> <li>Small magnets</li> <li>Hot glue gun (or strong craft glue is fine)</li> <li>Phillips head screwdriver</li> <li>Paring knife</li> <li>Newspaper</li> </ul> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Method:</span></strong></p> <ol> <li>Lay a sheet of newspaper down on your work surface to catch all the cork shavings.</li> <li>Use the head of your screwdriver to punch a small hole in the cork.</li> <li>Carefully use the paring knife to carve out that hole into a deeper cavity that goes about halfway down the cork. Don’t go too close to the edges, or you may split the cork.</li> <li>Glue a magnet to the back of the cork and let it dry completely.</li> <li>Add a little soil to the cavity in the cork and plant your succulent clippings in. Add a little more soil to fill up the cork.</li> <li>Arrange your magnets on the fridge and admire your handiwork, you clever person.</li> </ol> <p><em>Image credit: UpcycleThat</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/diy/2015/05/diy-river-pebble-trivet/">Make this beautiful river pebble trivet for your kitchen</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/diy/2015/05/ribbed-scarf/">Get out your knitting needles for this simple but gorgeous ribbed scarf</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="/lifestyle/diy/2015/05/leaf-stepping-stones/">Make your own leaf-shaped stepping stones</a></strong></span></em></p>

Home & Garden

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Magnetic pulses reduce symptoms of tinnitus

<p>If you don’t know what tinnitus is, count yourself lucky. It’s a physical condition that causes the affected to hear ringing noises in their ears and head with no external cause, generally a result of a fault within the person’s hearing symptom.</p> <p>Fortunately, a recent study has found a solution: VA Portland Medical Center and Oregon Health &amp; Science University’s researchers have found that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) vastly improves tinnitus symptom in at least half of their subjects.</p> <p>Research investigator with the National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research, Robert L. Folmer, described the hope these findings brought for participants:</p> <p>"For some study participants, this was the first time in years that they experienced any relief in symptoms. These promising results bring us closer to developing a long-sought treatment for this condition that affects an enormous number of Americans, including many men and women who have served in our armed forces," he said.</p> <p>The study worked with 64 people, all with symptoms of tinnitus, and used a TMS system, which generates a magnetic field that penetrates the skull. Subjects received one pulse per second to their skull for ten days, receiving a total of 2,000 pulses per day. Over half of the active participants found relief as a result.</p> <p>Melanie West, Chair of the American Tinnitus Association's Board of Directors congratulated the researchers on their innovative discovery. “We applaud the work of Dr. Folmer and his colleagues. The results of the joint National Center for Rehabilitative Auditory Research/OHSU study are promising for tinnitus patients everywhere.”</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/hearing/2015/08/adjust-to-new-hearing-device/">How to adjust to a new hearing device</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/hearing/2015/07/how-hearing-is-tested/">What happens when your hearing is tested</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/health/hearing/2015/07/osteoporosis-and-sudden-deafness-link/">The link between osteoporosis and sudden deafness</a></strong></em></span></p>

Hearing

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