Taking responsibility for your money; 5 golden rules for working from home; Recipe for a happy employee; Mistakes parents make with money; Investing vs speculating

1) Taking responsibility

Becoming a parent has given me a whole new appreciation for my own. I was a good kid, or so I've been told, but one of my weaknesses as a youngster was failing to own my issues.

For example, if I got a bad grade it was because the teacher didn't like me. It was a constant source of frustration, or amusement for my mother. What goes around truly does come around so now in addition to living with the "how much longer" karma kickback, I find myself struggling now with an otherwise really good kid who deflects big time when things don't go his way. Usually, it's me and his younger brother who cop it. 

Why am I boring you with this domestic blather? The parallel I would like to make here is taking responsibility for your own financial well-being. All to often it is easy to blame your circumstances on this, that, and the other whereas in actual fact, 95% of the time it comes down to individual responsibility. More on this issue here from www.smartonmoney.com

2) Working from home

Working from home isn't for everyone so I won't try to idealise it. It can be lonely, challenging to stay on task in the face of a myriad of other distractions, and frustrating not having colleagues to bounce ideas off or having technical support for the inevitable IT problems.

On the other hand, it can be incredibly liberating having total control over your own circumstances and opens up vast swaths of time not spent commuting. Here's five golden rules for working from home via the Guardian.

3) Happy = productive and profitable

Progressive companies like Google operate on the basis that a happy employee is a more productive employee. As a consequence of their job satisfaction, they are more likely to stay loyal and also contribute to boosting company profits by virtue of their creative input or else their optimal output.  

So what makes employees really happy? Obviously, most of them want to have fair remuneration however in the absence of big bonuses and fat pay cheques, simply showing them gratitude works wonders - for them and your business. Here's some tips on how to express it, via fastcompany.com

4) Parental blunders 

What is one of the worst money mistakes we can make as parents? Not talking about it with our kids. Conversely, making money a source of contention and exposing them to arguments about it is neither good. More on common money mistakes parents make here via repaid.org.

5) Investor or speculator?

What's the difference between an investor and a speculator? Wall Street Journal money writer Jason Zweig explores the question in part one of a series on this subject.

Bonus link:

I'm not much of a television viewer and ads (apart from those really cool ones that make it into film festivals) tend to annoy me rather than pique my interest but because I'm a TED fan (and I know many others are as well) here's a link to TED's picks for ads worth spreading.  No surprise, the best ads they've nominated are based on great ideas.

And science writer and media theorist Steven Johnson talking about the conception of good ideas in this TED talk below. Caffeine addicts rejoice; coffee shops get credit for bedding the best "sex" of ideas. 

.

To read other Take Fives by Amanda Morrall click here. You can also follow Amanda on Twitter @amandamorrall or at www.amandamorrall.com