The holidays may be the most wonderful time of the year, but they are also a time of increased risk. Follow these steps to prepare you for a safe season.
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2CoG4Bk
الأربعاء، 19 ديسمبر 2018
Changes To Medicare In 2019: Sign Up for the Right Plan and Get the Most Out of Medicare
In 2019, changes to Medicare may improve the healthcare options and flexibility for beneficiaries. Learn how to benefit from Medicare changes.
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2SYX6eC
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2SYX6eC
With US Debt Spiraling Out of Control at Nearly $22 Trillion, This Man Is Tasked With Slashing It
The US deficit has been soaring every year for the past decade, and all that deficit spending has spiked the US national debt to a stunning $21.8 trillion.
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2EDTBXZ
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2EDTBXZ
Fed Lifts Rates for 4th Time This Year but Sees Fewer Hikes
The Federal Reserve is raising its key interest rate for the fourth time this year to reflect the U.S. economy's continued strength but signaling that it expects to slow hikes next year.
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2rKyo6g
Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2rKyo6g
How to Increase Engagement on Facebook Videos
Videos are a crucial component of your content marketing strategy. Once your videos are created, you need to distribute them on as many channels as possible.
With more than 2.2 billion monthly active users, it’s only logical for Facebook to be one of those distribution platforms.
Overall, this should be a winning strategy for your business. Here’s why.
According to research, 90% of consumers report that videos help them making purchasing decisions. And 64% of people say that watching a video increases their chances of buying something.
Further, 77% of businesses are using videos on their social media channels. Consumers are used to seeing this type of content from brands.
By using videos to improve your social media marketing strategy, your company will be able to:
- generate leads
- create brand awareness
- increase website traffic
- drive sales
But there’s a catch. You can’t assume that all your videos will be effective just because you published them on Facebook.
Your videos need to drive engagement.
If people aren’t engaging with your content, this strategy will not be effective.
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways for you to increase the engagement rates of your Facebook videos. That’s what inspired me to write this guide.
Use this as a reference to help you produce better videos moving forward and fix some of the videos you already shared. Here’s what you need to do.
Add subtitles
Usually, good audio is a key factor of a good video. Spoken words and other sounds can help you convey a message.
But if you’re relying on audio to drive engagement on Facebook videos, it’s going to be a problem.
That’s because 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound.
If people are speaking in your video, you need to add subtitles to the video. Even if your video doesn’t have people speaking, you can use subtitles as a way to narrate your video.
Explain what’s happening. Your video must be optimized for silent viewing.
Plus, Facebook videos automatically start playing on mute when users scroll through news feeds on both desktop and mobile devices.
If your videos require volume to get the message across, it could be why your engagement rates are so low.
Here’s an example of how Forbes Magazine used subtitles on this Facebook video:
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is speaking throughout this entire video. But even those watching with the sound off will receive his message.
Here are the detailed instructions for how to add closed captions on Facebook.
You can also do this manually with editing software such as:
- Adobe
- Final Cut Pro
- Animoto
Knowing that most people watch videos on silent on Facebook will change the way you produce content.
If you have videos that require audio, you could always add captions asking viewers to turn the sound on to experience the video in a better way.
Here’s an example from Tasty:
You don’t need to completely abandon audio. I’m not saying you should start creating videos without sound.
Just make sure they are optimized for silent viewing. Adding subtitles or captions is the easiest way to do that.
Publish a square format
Square videos have a 1:1 ratio. This format is much better for mobile users.
Why is this important?
Well, 92% of Facebook users access it on their mobile devices daily.
When square videos are played on these devices, they take up more real estate on the screen.
But engagement rates are higher on square videos on both mobile and desktop devices.
Furthermore, square videos have an average higher reach on mobile and desktop devices compared to landscape and letterbox formats.
The only time when a landscape video outperforms a square video is when it comes to the average completion rate on desktop devices.
Do you want people to watch your videos in full? Absolutely.
But remember, we’re trying to drive engagement.
Square videos still have a higher completion rate on mobile devices. If your desktop completion rate is the only metric that might suffer here, it’s still worth it to publish square videos.
It’s also worth noting that square videos get more average views per post on Facebook than landscape and letterbox videos combined.
Grab attention early
If people aren’t intrigued by your content within the first few seconds of your video, they won’t watch the whole thing and engage with it.
Avoid slow starts. Put your most interesting shots right in the beginning to pique viewers’ interest from the get go.
Here’s a great example of a video that Thrillist shared via the Matador Network:
As you can see, this video has more than 75 million views.
This perspective is amazing. It’s the type of shot that nearly makes you gasp when you see it.
Notice the progress bar. This is shown in the opening seconds of the video.
As a result, viewers will stick with the video because their attention has been grabbed early on.
This video also illustrates one of my previous points about subtitles.
If you look at the bottom right corner of the screenshot above, you can see that by default, the volume is muted. But you can still understand what’s happening from the captions on the screen.
I also like this example because it’s a shared post.
Not everything you publish needs to be your own. You can share someone else’s video on your page as Thrillist did here.
On the flip side, Matador Network benefits as well since its content is being shared.
The reason why you want people to share your content is it drives even more engagement when it’s viewed by more users. That’s what helped this video reach 75 million views.
Upload native videos
Native videos play in the feed, like in the examples you’ve seen so far. A native video will start playing automatically when a user scrolls to it on Facebook.
This is different from a video uploaded somewhere else and then shared on Facebook as a link, such as a link to a YouTube video.
If you’re not publishing native videos, it could be why you’re not satisfied with your current engagement rates.
Native videos have more comments than links to videos:
On average, native Facebook videos have a 110% higher interaction rate than YouTube videos.
They are also shared at a rate that’s 478% higher than links to YouTube videos.
As I said before, Facebook will automatically play videos on a user’s feed when they scroll on both desktop and mobile devices. But this happens only if the video is native.
Otherwise, you need to rely on the user clicking on the link you shared, getting redirected to another platform, and watching the content, and hope they engage with it.
That’s too many extra steps, decreasing your video engagement rates.
Target your preferred audience
Who is watching your videos on Facebook?
The engagement of your videos will depend on who sees them. You want to make sure your video content is relevant.
You’ll need to identify your target audience. Once you determine who they are, use that information to define the audience for your videos.
Before you publish anything, look for this option in the bottom left corner of the screen. Here’s what it looks like:
Once you click on this button, you’ll see a popup with the option to select your preferred audience and restrictions for the video.
With the preferred audience, you’ll be able to reach users based on factors such as the pages they’ve liked and their interests.
For example, you could choose interests like “swimming” or “baseball” depending on what type of business or industry you’re in.
The audience restrictions tab gives you the chance to narrow down users based on demographics such as:
- age
- gender
- location
- language
Making sure the audience is relevant will increase your engagement rates.
You can take this strategy one step further by publishing Facebook video ads. 71% of people say that the video ads they see on Facebook are relevant to them.
That’s because Facebook does a good job of giving businesses ways to target the right people with ad settings.
For example, you can use lifetime value to create a Facebook audience that converts.
Craft a striking title and description
You spent much time filming and editing the video. Time to publish it on Facebook, right? Not so fast.
You need to put the same effort into your title and description.
Learn how to increase clicks by mastering your headlines. The idea is to grab the attention of viewers and get them interested right away, before they even watch anything.
Descriptive videos will also increase your chances of being seen through organic searches on the platform.
There are more than 2 billion searches on Facebook each day. You definitely want your videos to be optimized for these searches.
I assume you’ll be using your Facebook videos on other distribution channels as well, which you should be. It’s a great idea to repurpose your content across multiple marketing platforms.
But your copy for these videos needs to be Facebook-specific.
Look at this data from Sprout Social about Facebook copy:
Furthermore, Facebook posts with 80 characters or fewer have 88% more engagement.
Facebook gives you a limit of 63,206 characters per post. You can experiment with a longer copy if you want.
But as you can see from the statistics above, fewer words and characters drive higher engagement rates.
Include a CTA
What should viewers do when they finish watching your videos?
If you don’t know the answer to this question, they certainly won’t have a clue.
Your Facebook videos need to have a CTA. That’s what’s going to drive engagement.
Here’s an example from Thule:
The CTA is a link to its website, trying to drive sales of the products showcased in the video.
That’s one approach.
But you can drive engagement by other means. It all depends on the goals of each campaign.
If you want to expand your reach and create brand awareness, you’ll want your videos to be shared on Facebook.
A potential CTA could be as simple as “share this video with your friends.”
Ask viewers to comment on it as well by ending the video with a question to spark a debate. All of these strategies will increase your engagement metrics.
Broadcast live
While you may not want to do it every day, live video streaming is a great way to boost engagement on Facebook.
With Facebook Live, you can have a more authentic interaction with your audience.
As you broadcast, they’ll be able to add comments and questions. This gives you the opportunity to respond to those users in real time.
When should you go live?
Late at night and late in the evening are the two best times to go live if you’re trying to drive engagement.
I’d say you can use this strategy about once a week.
Try to stick to a schedule, similarly to a TV show. If your audience knows you’re going live every Wednesday night at 9:00 PM, you’ll have more viewers.
Showcase your best videos
Not all your content is the same.
As someone who produces tons of blog posts, videos, and podcasts, I know this reality firsthand.
It would be amazing if everything you produced and published was perfect, but that’s unrealistic.
Some of your videos will be better than others. You know it, and your audience knows it too.
That’s why those videos have more views, likes, shares, and comments.
Feature those videos on your Facebook page. Here’s an example from The Wall Street Journal:
Usually, the most recent videos are displayed first.
But if a user navigates to your videos page on the left menu, you have the option to have your best videos shown ahead of your newest ones.
The idea behind this strategy is that you can hook people with your best videos.
Once they engage with that content, they’ll be more likely to watch your other videos and keep coming back for more in the future.
Conclusion
Your video content might be great, but it’s useless if nobody is engaging with it.
Since the vast majority of Facebook videos are played without sound, you need to add subtitles to optimize them for silent viewing.
Publish square videos. Your content should be native to be played automatically in everyone’s feed.
Start with your best content to grab your viewers’ attention early. Don’t slack when you’re writing a title and description.
Take advantage of the preferred audiences feature to make sure your videos are shown to relevant viewers. All of your videos should end with a CTA.
Go live. Highlight your best content as a featured video.
If you follow the advice I’ve outlined in this guide, you’ll see a major boost in engagement metrics for your Facebook videos moving forward.
What strategies is your company using to drive engagement on Facebook videos?
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Will It Help?
As I’ve mentioned before, one extremely helpful practice that I’ve been employing for years in terms of keeping my spending in a healthy place is something I call after action reporting and visualization. It’s simple and I do it all the time when I’ve got a few spare minutes, like when I’m in the car or waiting at the dentist’s office. I’ll write down more complicated ones in my journal.
All I do is reflect on a recent time when I spent money on something that wasn’t an obvious need. (I use it for other potential mis-steps in my life, too, but bad spending choices are a stellar example.) I’ll simply think back through the spending choice I recently made, ask myself whether or not it made sense, and look for potential alternatives that give me a better outcome, either in terms of spending less money or getting a better result. Then, I visualize myself doing it the “better” way the next time I’m in such a situation.
The part I really want to center on here, and it’s something that I use (and you can use) even in the heat of the moment, is the “ask myself whether or not it made sense” part.
For me, this really boils down to one question: will it help?
That question might need a bit of explanation.
I have a handful of really big long term goals – one might even call them life ambitions. I want to write some novels. I want to finish raising my children to successful adulthood and then, if it happens, be an involved grandparent. I want to “retire” early, which means I can move on to other activities without the need to earn an income (though one is welcome if it works out). I want to spend some extended time in every national park, hiking lots of trails. I want to be in good physical and mental shape for as long as I can. I want to establish and maintain a healthy handful of lifelong relationships and friendships. I want to be involved in the community, doing some of the grunt work of things like budget preparation that people don’t often see when they see a functional public service or community. Those are just a few key ones.
When I look at the thing I’m doing in the moment, the question I ask myself is whether or not the choice I’m about to make will help me move toward those life ambitions. Will it help?
For example, spending extra money to buy an unhealthy treat doesn’t help at all with several of those goals, so it gets a resounding “no” unless there is a very strong compelling reason to do otherwise. Spending money on a fleeting want does not help any of my long term goals. Eating an unhealthy treat does not help any of my long term goals. That choice just doesn’t help.
But what if I’m hungry? Well, in that case, I’m fulfilling a need, so it’s okay to spend some money to eat. However, that still doesn’t justify buying unhealthy food – unhealthy food doesn’t help with any of my long term goals.
But what if I’m with friends? I can go along with them and just skip out on eating if I’m not hungry. I don’t have to eat to be social.
But what if I’m with friends and hungry? That still doesn’t prevent me from choosing one of the healthiest options available? I don’t have to choose something absurdly unhealthy in that moment – I can seek out the healthiest option available.
I think you get the idea. “Will it help?” is a simple question that reframes a choice in the heat of the moment in the context of big goals and life ambitions.
You’re thinking about calling in sick to work today so you can play a video game. Will it help?
You’re thinking about sitting on the couch aimlessly channel surfing. Will it help?
You’re thinking about buying a book when you have a bunch already on the shelf and a great public library nearby. Will it help?
You’re thinking about skipping your daily workout so you can do some relatively unimportant chores. Will it help?
You get the idea.
But doesn’t “will it help?” just strip everything fun out of life? If the things you consider “fun” in life are in direct opposition to the big things you want out of life, then that’s a conflict you need to resolve before the question can really make your life better.
For example, let’s say I have the big lifelong goal of being healthy – being in decent physical shape and having a normal BMI. Yet, in the moment, I yearn for really unhealthy foods – I love having a few cookies each day and I love drinking several craft beers each day.
That’s a conflict that I need to resolve, because the short term “fun” is in direct opposition to what I want out of life. Which one is truly most important to me? Whichever answer I come to is entirely up to me, but it means effectively choosing one path over another. You can’t have both.
Thus, “will it help?” is also useful in helping a person clarify what they really want out of life. If you find that the question is “draining fun” out of how you’re spending your life, then your life ambitions are out of alignment with what you’re actually doing. The things you think you want aren’t in alignment with what your everyday actions are showing that you want. So… which is it that you actually want?
You might think that you want financial independence, but if you’re spending money on silly things all the time without a very strong and coherent reason, then you actually want the ability to spend frivolously more than you want financial freedom.
You might think that you want to be healthy, but if you’re choosing to veg out instead of exercise and you’re consistently choosing unhealthy foods, then you actually want other things more than you want to be healthy.
Again, there’s nothing really wrong with any of those paths. What matters is that the things you’re doing on a daily basis are in alignment with the big things you want out of life, and that simple “will it help” question pretty quickly reveals where they’re out of alignment.
If you find the question really helpful, then that’s great! You’re probably on the path to achieving the things you want most in life.
If you rather resent the question, then it probably means your daily actions and choices are out of alignment with your big ambitions and you haven’t figured out which one really matters more to you, and that means that some time for reflection is in order.
Lately, I’ve found this question to be incredibly powerful, whether it’s just helping me eliminate bad habits that I was doing without thinking or whether it’s helping me to see situations where my goals and values are opposing each other and not helping me make the progress I want to make. Those three simple words open up both paths. It’s been the source of a lot of thinking while I’ve been running errands as of late and it’s also been at the center of a lot of journal writing, too.
In terms of actual results, it’s been really nudging me to clean up my eating habits as well as some of my spending habits, too. It’s also made me think quite a lot about some of my choices about how I spend my leisure time.
Three simple words. Will it help? Ask yourself this about all of your choices and you might be surprised at what comes out the other end. Whatever it is, piecing through that answer and how you feel about it will put you in a better place.
Good luck!
The post Will It Help? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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WIN a copy of The Meaningful Money Handbook by Pete Matthew
Want to build a secure financial future for you and your family? Personal finance expert and podcaster Pete Matthew has put together a guide to what you need to know and do to achieve that and to make sense of money.
It comes down to three simple steps: spend less than you earn and clear debt; insure against disaster; and build up your savings and invest wisely.
The Meaningful Money Handbook is a practical, jargon-free guide.
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Interview with David Wise and Richard Peacock: we meet the co-managers of Kames Property Income
Richard Peacock and David Wise, co-managers of Kames Property Income, give Edmund Greaves the lowdown on their fund – a Moneywise First 50 Fund for beginner investors
What is Kames Property Income?
Kames Property Income fund is a pooled investment vehicle for investors to get an exposure to the UK commercial property market.
We have three key objectives that we're trying to deliver for those investors. To deliver an attractive income return for investors. To deliver above-benchmark performance over rolling three-year periods. And to provide investors with liquidity if they require it.
In the market stressed period of 2016 we were one of only two funds in that custom peer group who were able to remain open throughout Q3. We've been open every day since the fund was set up.
We're primarily about investing in property that we think is going to give attractive returns and we'll actively manage the portfolio to do that. Many managers just say they do it, we actually do.
What do you look for when you’re buying commercial property?
We’re not prescriptive, we very much select stock based on whether it can deliver attractive returns.
The key theme is looking for sustainable income returns, looking for buildings that meet tenant needs in a changing world, meeting requirements of occupiers in locations where hopefully there is an imbalance between supply and demand.
At the same time, we are in some cases looking for shorter-term leases because that offers attractive income returns and defensive stock. We have different elements in the portfolio.
What’s your favourite type of commercial property?
You can talk about sectors that have the strongest fundamentals but there is an overlay of market pricing. The sector that looks most attractive to us at the moment is probably regional offices. But at the same time, you've got to be very selective where you find those.
The supply and demand dynamics in a lot of regional centres are very supportive and suggest the income returns will be stable and that there's potential for rental growth. That’s very positive, but we're not the only people who recognise it. Market pricing and herd mentality mean many chase the same kind of stock.
We've always been very selective in trying to identify buildings we think will offer value. We've acquired good quality buildings in poorer locations which are improving, or poorer quality buildings in good locations that we can upgrade.
We expect some decent growth to come out of the industrial sector, but the value of that sector is high. It’s the property equivalent of a ‘FAANG’ tech stock: very highly rated but cannot afford any slip up in the growth in earnings, otherwise it could see major setbacks.
Within our fund we own no shopping centres, no department stores and no large-format food stores. There's a good reason for that. We believe that those are legacy formats and not the sort of assets that we want to own, or think will deliver a good return.
What properties have you recently bought and sold?
We've had a very active couple of years. The fund’s been seeing very strong inflows. Since the beginning of last year we've bought over 50 buildings. We've deployed the capital quite well.
We've bought regional office buildings in places like Sheffield and Cardiff that show an imbalance between supply and demand. They are cities with really good graduate retention rates where occupiers are fighting for talent.
We have also bought a portfolio of restaurants and pubs around the south east of England for around £20 million, an average lot size of 2.5 million square feet, in towns like St Albans and Beaconsfield.
We're very much looking at having the right tenants in the restaurant sector, we're naturally shyer of heavily-leveraged businesses but investing in that sort of stock so we fall back on the old property mantra of good quality locations.
What has been your best investment decision?
A building called The Hive in Manchester (pictured). It encapsulates the themes that we're trying to introduce to the portfolio. We identified an opportunity before the herd had recognised that Manchester is really on an upward trajectory. We brought a grade-A office building in an area called the Northern Quarter. Its Manchester's equivalent of Shoreditch.
When the fund acquired the building it was 22% vacant and it needed a few cosmetic improvements. We spent some money on the reception and within 18 months we'd let all that vacant space.
When we bought the building, the average rent in the building was around £15 per square foot, compared to core central Manchester where the cost was £30-£35 for similar quality buildings.
We've now achieved rent of £21.50 within the building and if we had more space we'd be confident quoting £25 a foot. That's a quantum leap from where the building was only a couple of years ago.
We've also added 25-30% capital value while receiving a solid income return.
And the worst?
Our biggest disappointment was one of the earliest deals that we did. We backed a car supermarket called Carcraft. We did a standard lease on a former food store site in Rochdale, and ultimately tenant failed and we ended up with an empty property.
However the good news coming out of that eventually was that we managed to get residential consent for what was a very strong underlying site. One of the things that we always look at when we're buying an asset is what is Plan B if the worst does happen.
What is the first thing you ever invested in?
David: At the time of decimalisation I managed to work out that the old 1/2 penny coin at the time was worth precisely the same as the new 2p coin.
I invested in a large bag of the old 1/2p coins and managed to convert them into 2p coins which at the time generated a phenomenal return for an 11-year-old. I was very happy with that.
Richard: My introduction to investing was a bit later because I’m not sure I had a great deal of free cash until I had a job. I did become a student landlord for a while. I lived in London and I had buy-to-let student house in Reading. My dad was basically the janitor for some students for a couple years.
If you had one tip for an investor getting started today, what would it be?
Understand the market dynamics and herd mentality. You can get investment fashions and that can lead to herd-like behaviour. Understand the impact that it has on the value of the assets that you're investing in.
Make long-term decisions, not short-term ones based on fads and looking at short-term track records. Get comfortable with something as a long-term investment and be willing to commit for the long haul.
Kames Property Income Key Stats:
Launched: 2014 (i)
Number of assets: 61 (i)
Yield: 4.35% (ii)
Ongoing charging figure (OCF): 0.87% (ii)
Sources: (i) Kames Capital, (ii) FE Trustnet, 4 December 2018.
The team behind the fund
David Wise
David Wise joined Kames Capital in October 2007. He is head of the Direct Property Investment team and co-manages the Kames Property Income Fund. David was previously at Morley Fund Management (now Aviva Investors) for 21 years. David has 36 years’ property industry experience.
Richard Peacock
Richard Peacock is a fund manager in the property team and co-manages the Kames Property Income Fund. He joined in 2016 from Aviva Investors, where he was manager for the Aviva Investors Pensions Ltd Property Fund. Richard has 21 years’ industry experience.
Five-year discrete performance of Kames Property Income
| Year | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kames Property Income | — | 8.3 | 3 | 6.1 | 2.3 |
| Benchmark | 11.2 | 8.4 | 0.3 | 7.9 | 4.2 |
Source: FE Trustnet, 4 December 2018
Top 10 property holdings
- The Hive, Lever Street, Manchester
- Lockmeadow Leisure Complex, Maidstone
- St James’s House, Cheltenham
- New Hall Hey RP Phase 1 & 2, Swaney Lodge Road, Rawtenstall
- The Martletts, Crawley
- 2 City Walk, Leeds
- Central Court, Orpington
- Units 40/98 Queensway, Stevenage
- Ventana House, 2 Concourse Way, Sheffield
- The Balance, Sheffield
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Could Waking Up an Hour Earlier Change Your Life?
Getting enough exercise has always been an issue for me, mostly because I think working out is so incredibly boring. I love the initial rush I get when I hop on my elliptical or take a brisk walk through the neighborhood, but I always wind up counting down the seconds until I’ve satisfied my goal for the day — whatever it is.
The humdrum of repetitive movement is bad enough, but I also struggle to find the time. Not only do I have two kids ages 7 and 9, but I work full-time and I have groceries to buy, meals to make, and a home to take care of. We also have piano lessons, gymnastics classes, and an array of school activities to plan for each week. I love my life, but it’s also exhausting.
My husband and I have tried several strategies to get a workout in each day. For a while, we tried getting up at 6:30 a.m. before the kids get up at 7 a.m., but we would get out of our routine quickly if one of us overslept. We also tried doing our exercise videos in the late afternoon for a while, but we were always so distracted. After all, it’s hard to crank out a T-25 video when the kids are home and asking 300 questions the entire time.
The obvious answer here is one I’ve fought against for as long as I can remember— getting up even earlier. If I could just get out of bed long before everyone else does, I would have plenty of time for exercise without my kids asking for things or any other distractions.
Why I Started Getting Up Earlier
Earlier this year, I decided that I had finally had it with constantly failing to achieve my goals. While I have never been one to get out of bed super early, I started setting the alarm for 5:55 a.m. That’s not so early that it makes me miserable, but it gives me plenty of time to drink some coffee and do 25 minutes on my Bowflex M3 Max Trainer.
And, my oh my, what a difference this has made! Now that I have the hang of getting up early, I have no excuse not to work out. I never feel rushed or distracted, and I am in much better physical and mental shape. I also feel like I’m in a much better mood and much more prepared to handle whatever life throws my way. Simply put, the change has been amazing!
The thing is, this isn’t really all that surprising. I’ve read countless articles about the virtues of rising early for years, and many successful people swear by this practice. For example, Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly gets up at 3:45 a.m., and Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck gets up at 4 a.m.
Plenty of other successful early risers have been profiled in publications like Business Insider and Forbes, and the story is usually the same. People who get a lot done believe that getting up earlier gives them more time and more mental energy to be successful.
And, while a lot of people believe that staying up late can also help them gain more free time, getting up early is usually the more advantageous option. Either strategy can give you more hours in the day, but financial advisor and life coach Natalie Bacon says that waking up early is way more helpful for a few reasons — including the fact that you generally don’t have what she calls ‘decision fatigue’ in the mornings.
“Your brain is ready to go and isn’t tired,” she says. Even if you’re a ‘night person,’ you still run the risk of being more exhausted at the end of the day because you’ve been making decisions all day long.
How Getting Up One Hour Earlier Can Improve Your Life
If you’re someone who wishes you had more hours in the day and more time to get things done, you may be wondering if getting up early is the answer you’ve been looking for. Here are a few reasons you may want to set your alarm clock an hour earlier from now on.
You can live more intentionally.
Bacon says that getting up can give you the time and space to be the creator of your life instead of “responding, reacting, and putting out fires.” When you wake up as late as possible, you’re constantly having to rush to solve problems and prepare for the day, whereas getting up earlier can help you plan your day more intentionally.
While Bacon works full-time as a life coach now, she used to work on her side hustle on top of her full-time financial planning job. Instead of burning the midnight oil to get things done, Bacon said she would wake up at 4 a.m. to brainstorm for her new business. “This way, I knew that I got it done no matter what. Nothing could interfere with it,” she said.
Getting up early helped her be more intentional in this case because she was prioritizing her goals instead of waiting to see if she had time for them later in the day.
You can work toward big goals or your own peace of mind.
Most of us have something we wish we could accomplish, whether that’s exercising more, learning a new language, or pursuing higher education. While it can be difficult to find time to accomplish anything when you’re working and raising a family, getting up early can buy you the time to work on these goals a little bit at a time.
Bacon also said that morning time is excellent for self-care that you can’t find time for during regular daytime hours. If you’re not working on a business goal, you can wake up early to read, journal, meditate, or pray — basically anything that improves your state of mind or makes you happier.
“A morning routine with specific habits, even if they’re small, can compound over time to have a huge positive impact on your life,” she says.
You could finally get in shape.
I already mentioned how I get up early for the sole purpose of drinking coffee and working out. For me, early morning is really the only time I can exercise consistently and without interruption. And since I sit at a computer all day long, I have to work out.
Todd Mitchem, who is a life coach, speaker, and the author of You Disrupted: Seizing the Life You Want by Shaking, Breaking, and Challenging Everything, says that it’s pretty common for fitness-minded people to use their mornings to take care of their health. And really, mornings may be the only time for people like me (who have to force themselves to work out) to make it happen.
“If you have a busy family, the early morning is often the only quiet time in the house for you to take care of you without distractions,” he says. The rest of the day and evening is usually jam-packed with family time and errands, and it is way too easy to put exercise off. But most people don’t face these challenges when they work out first thing.
How to Wake Up Early When You Don’t Want to
While I never like the sound of an alarm clock — and especially not at 5:55 a.m. — I’ve gotten used to hopping out of bed without hitting the snooze button once. I’m a coffee junkie, so I just set my coffee maker to start brewing early and remind myself that a warm cup of my favorite beverage is waiting for me downstairs. That may not work for everyone, but it does work for me.
Mitchem says that if you’re struggling to wake up early, you can start small and set the alarm clock back slowly over time. For example, you could start by waking up just 15 minutes earlier for a few weeks. From there, you could set your alarm back another 15 minutes slowly until you’re getting up at the exact hour you desire.
Also remember that you don’t have to wake up at 4 a.m., like some CEOs do, to have more free time. “A schedule of waking up just 15 minutes earlier each day, for example, will gain you over an hour in just the first week without wrecking your life in the process,” said Mitchem.
Bacon also says that, if you’re someone who’s always struggling to get out of bed until the last minute, you may need to focus on reorganizing your life so you can go to bed earlier.
“Getting up early starts the night before,” she says. “You need to consciously choose to go to bed early enough that you feel good about getting up early.”
That might mean cutting your The Walking Dead binge off earlier than normal or getting in bed and turning off the lights instead of scrolling Facebook on your phone. It may also mean going to bed even if other members of your household are awake, which isn’t always easy.
You may even need to let yourself be exhausted for a while to give your body time to reset to a new sleeping schedule. If you get up early several days in a row, for example, it should start getting easier to go to bed at a decent hour.
The Bottom Line
If you wish you had more time and can’t seem to meet your goals, getting out of bed earlier might be exactly what you need. Whether you dial back the alarm 15 minutes or an hour, that extra time could help you have the time to accomplish simple tasks, take better care of your health, or simply relax and enjoy some peace and quiet for once.
But, don’t take my word for it. Try getting up an hour earlier for a week to see how it feels. Schlepping out of bed at the crack of dawn may not be easy, but you may find that it’s worth it.
Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer and the author of Zero Down Your Debt. Johnson shares her obsession with frugality, budgeting, and travel at ClubThrifty.com.
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- Seven Cheats to Trick Yourself into Exercising
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- Think You Don’t Have Time to Focus on Your Money? Think Again
The post Could Waking Up an Hour Earlier Change Your Life? appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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I’m 65. Should I take my pension pot now or save it elsewhere until I do retire?
Question
I have a £77,000 pension pot. I’m 65 but I don’t want to retire for another three years. Is it better to take the money now and put it into a current account?
From
TS/Dunfermline
The pension freedoms introduced in April 2015 gave unprecedented flexibility to how people take their income in retirement. It is a tempting idea to be able to take your pension as a lump sum, and for some it will be the right approach, but there are several things you need to think about.
The first thing is taking an overall view of your retirement wealth. This includes looking at your state pension as well as any other occupational and personal pensions you may have. If you have more than one pension, then taking one as a cash lump sum may not have a major impact on your overall retirement planning. However, if this is the only pension you have then you will need to consider your options carefully.
Do you need the money now to fund or supplement your lifestyle? If you don’t need it for any specific purpose, then it might be worth leaving it where it is.
You also need to think about what you are planning to do with the money once you get it. Interest rates are extremely low at the moment, so putting your money in a current account is unlikely to yield much in the way of interest. If the money remains invested in the markets it stands a better chance of earning decent returns and boosting your overall pension.
Another key area that is often overlooked is tax. While you can take 25% of your pension tax-free the remainder will be taxed. There is a chance that if you take it all while you are still in work you may be pushed into a higher tax bracket and pay more tax than you need to.
While it is tempting to take the money because you can you should consider whether you actually need to do so and the tax implications of taking the money now.
You mention that you hope to work for another three years, so with this in mind it might be worthwhile leaving the money where it is for now.
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