Monthly Archives: September 2020

3 Unique Investments To Try Your Hand At

If you enjoy the thrill of trying to make your savings account work more aggressively for you, the chances are that you are not happy with the woefully low-interest rate on your savings. You want to be proactive and find new investment opportunities that can see your retirement fund or nest egg grow faster. Spreading your investments to create a diverse and less risky portfolio is crucial. The tried and tested methods of investing are viable, but you should also check out these more unique and exciting ways to invest your hard-earned cash.

Stocks And Shares

If you thought the ‘buy, buy, buy!’ and the ‘sell, sell, sell!’ were just for suited and booted professional investment bankers, think again. In the twenty first century, trading has become more accessible to the masses. If you have a laptop and a WiFi connection, you could try your hand at trading currencies, investing in the stock market or buying commodities. If you don’t know where to start, consider share CFDs, allowing you to hook up with a broker and trade the shares that they offer. You have a huge amount of flexibility, choosing when to your leverage or whether its a long or short position. 

Alternatively, you might fancy a foray in Forex, buying yen against the dollar and selling sterling against the krona. You need to keep an eye on the markets and work out the trends and market forecasts. If you don’t have any experience of this sort of trading, you can open up a dummy account and have a practice before taking the plunge for real.

Wine

If you love a tipple of the latest fashionable chardonnay or rioja, why not consider investing in some vintage labels? Find a label and vineyard that has produced some excellent quality tipples. Do your research and see which years produced the best wines. Buy a fine vintage and keep it. You need to think of wine like antiques or art – the more scarce they get, the more desirable and sought after they become. Store the wine in a cellar or ask a professional to store it for you. Before long, that 1989 vintage shiraz that you have locked away could be worth a small fortune.

Property

While property has been the go-to asset that amateur investors have sought to accrue more money from for their nest egg, you don’t have to go down the buy-to-let route. While purchasing a second property to rent out long term is viable, you might be in for a more lucrative return if you purchase a potential holiday home. Opt to purchase a pad in a desirable location near the coast or near a tourist hotspot and you could charge a premium in the height of the summer season. In just six months you could earn over double what you would with a simple buy to let near to where you live over twelve months. Consider it as a double asset as when it is not rented out, it is a readymade place to head to relax and unwind for you and your brood.

Investing needn’t be boring. Take a look at these unique investments to inspire your foray in financial freedom.

 

Ways To Ensure Your Website Stands Above Competitors

In this day and age, we’re constantly surfing through websites. They’re such a big part of the way we live daily life now, that a lot of us don’t even think about how they were created or the work that goes into them. We just kind of expect them to be around in order to give us the information we need. That’s the standard of the internet in the year 2020. 

If you’re looking to create a business or start your own personal project, then you’re probably going to need a website to accompany everything. Now, you could just create some random space that has information on it, or you could actually put in some effort and make it look as perfect as possible. You’ll know full well that opening up a subpar website is one of the most tedious activities in the world, so the chances are that you probably don’t want to create anything like those monstrosities. If you’re just starting out in the web design world and want to know quick, simple ways you can make your website stand out positively, then here are a few pointers:

 

Watch Tutorials And Lessons Frequently

New techniques and skills are being utilized every single year, so you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled just in case something needs to be picked up. In general, you’ll want to watch tutorials and various other pieces of content just so you can get the overall idea of web design into your mind. While it’s not rocket science, you’ll still want to cover every corner and outperform those around you.

 

View As Though You’re Visiting 

When you’re designing your site and figuring out what should go where, you need to view it from the outside looking in. Take the approach of someone who has literally never heard of you and is visiting for the first time. When you do this, you’re able to get a new perspective. You stop overthinking and trying too hard.

 

Work With IT Professional And Get All Kinds Of Advice

If you don’t really know what to do in this regard, then you could always get expert advice. Web designers will lend their hands to you at a price – as will graphic designers. You could also visit www.nquest.com and similar other IT firms if you want any guidance with regard to your computer systems. They’ll be able to point you in the right direction. The best and most successful people have the right contacts – they don’t do it on their own, even if it looks that way.

 

Give People Space To Breath 

You need to make sure you’re not bombarding your visitors with content. While having great items on your website is important, shoving it in their faces is a terrible idea. Have you ever visited a website and been annoyed by how many pop-ups invade your space? What about when you click onto a website, and there’s very little order – just lots of different articles, adverts and pictures scattered all over. It’s not fun, right?

 

How to Help A Loved One Through the Grieving Process

People grieve for all sorts of reasons; losing a job, the ending of a relationship, the death of a pet, and of course, the loss of someone that they care about. Anyone that has ever lost someone that they care for knows that it is a deeply painful process. If your close friend or relative recently lost someone that they care for you may be wondering how best to support them through this difficult time. No one likes to see people that they care about in emotional pain, so you may want to see if some of these tips can help:

Understand the Grieving Process

Understanding the grieving process can help you better support your loved one as they come to terms with their loss. People go through many emotions when they are grieving, and it can be uncomfortable to witness, but understanding how the grieving process works will help you to prepare and help your loved one in the best way possible.

Suppose your friend or relative seems to be particularly struggling with their feelings. In that case, they may find it helpful to see a counsellor so that they can get some professional support through this challenging period in their lives.

Relieve Some of the Pressure

When a loved one dies, there is not only the feeling of loss to come to terms with but also the practical arrangements that need to be made. Getting affairs and paperwork in order and making arrangements for the funeral can be a source of significant stress which is the last thing needed at this deeply upsetting time. Offering your assistance with the practical arrangements can be a welcome relief for your loved one and will help to alleviate some of the pressure that they are under. Tasks such as looking online at headstones by Memorials.com to help them decide on the best option could help, and assisting with organizing the wake could also be a big help.

Offer a Listening Ear

When someone suffers a loss, the best thing that you can often do is to be there for them. Trying to ‘fix’ the situation to make them feel better, or attempting to play down their feelings can cause them added pain, and could damage your relationship. Simply being present and providing companionship and a listening ear may sound like something small, but it can make all the difference to your loved one. Just knowing that you are there and ready to listen can provide great comfort at this difficult time.

Talking can be extremely beneficial for people coming to terms with a loss. Discussing feelings and remembering the good times can help your loved one to process their grief and keep their special memories alive. Remember, you mustn’t try to pressurize your loved one by forcing them to think or act in a certain way.  You just need to be around to support them while giving them space to process their feelings and discuss them at their own pace.