1) Banks meet yoga
The advent of on-line banking is doing what the 21Century has done to churches -- making them obsolete. To keep the bricks and mortar viable, innovators in the banking sector in the U.S. are coming up with some creative uses for the space. One of them is turning bank branches into yoga studios. (The Wall Street Journal smartmoney blog carries the details here). Coming soon to a bank near you, lunch time yoga. I don't like banks much, but I'll give them credit for this move. Hey George F, I'm certified and free for lunch slots.
2) Bending the bank's arm
And speaking of bank flexibility. We received this lovely little email today from a happy reader which I thought I'd share. For free, an interest.co.nz the reader was able to negotiate a higher rate on a term deposit. Go forth and bargain with your bank. Here's the aforementioned calculator.
Hello there You have created a great site. It allowed me to push our bank to increase their term deposit rate and to compound the interest on the term deposit too to match the competitor rates given our your site. Your calculators allowed me to prove to them that 5.85% compounding quarterly is not the same as 6% paid annually. Thanks heaps. Regards
3) Who wants to be a billionaire?
I'm not much a shopper but I uttered a muffled cry of joy when yoga apparel maker Lululemon opened up shop in Auckland. This Canadian rooted company has proven a mega-retail success story cornering the ever growing market world-wide with its groovy mats and clothing making a billionaire of its founder Chip Wilson. Proof positive that even yoga pants can make a billionaire of an enterprising and hard working individual driven by passion.
This article by Forbes.com details how and why America's wealthiest got rich. According to the author, it's not so much the industry that's paved the way to great riches but the passion driving the entrepreneur.
4) Tips for productivity
I was happy to see greenery listed among the top 20 tips for growing productivity at the workplace. I invested $10 in a plant last year to bring some colour and life to our sterile little environs here at interest.co.nz.
The poor plant has had a few brushes with death, on those days when I'm absent from the office, but has proven resilient and a constant companion. According to the article looking at the colour green will bring you optimal health. I'm staring out of the corner of my eye at my freshly resuscitated peace plant (it was on life support Tuesday) and feeling the love. (Eds. I'll make it feel better with a nice drink of berocca...)
5) Devil's advocate
Reality is often out of synch with our expectations. I was therefore amused and interested to read this blog published in Forbes moneybuilder written by a man who quit his passion/purpose job for a 'boring' 9-5 gig. He said he couldn't be happier for the switch and has a go at the Tim Ferris types who disparage the status quo and ridicule everyday working folk. The reality is that most of us our everyday working folk. Whatever works I guess, and whatever makes you happy.
To read other Take Fives by Amanda Morrall click here. You can also follow Amanda on Twitter@amandamorrall
10 Comments
I can relate to 5). Decided some years ago that the easiest way to cure a headache was to quit banging one's head against a the workplace wall. Now i go home at night without a thought of work....loggin on here often the highlight of the day :) If you don't retire with your health intact, your've #### up.
Who doesn't want to become a billionaire? Of course everyone wants to but that's not such a simple goal to gain... I already made my first step toward it though, by founding a business and doing my best to improve it by meeting my customer's requests without flinching. I still have a lot of work ahead but I rely on good marketing accounting to get more customers so who knows, some day I might be the billionaire!
There are many forms of yoga and Yoga.org.nz has information on many of them, they all have their benefits. We will be working to grow the site with new changes and new information, as we continue to explore the wonderful benefits of continued health through the practice of this great discipline.
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