Life is all about choices. And so is the way you communicate. You can fill your days with frustrating high stress communication or you can have days of low stress effective communication with your peers.


Now take a moment to learn three ways to have low stress communication.


1. Recognize Positive Intentions


When someone you are talking to is unkind Patrick Roy Canada Jersey , negative or downright rude it is easy to get annoyed, angry and even aggressive.


However this will just makes the situation worse and even faster than you can imagine.


There is a better way. Instead look for the positive intention of the person you are talking to. What do I mean?


Ask yourself -- what is the positive intention behind this behavior?


If the person you are talking to is angry maybe the positive intention is to express some hurt or frustration. What is important is looking for a positive not to get the correct answer.


When you assume the person has a positive message hidden underneath the negative exterior you will have more compassion and patience and you will not feel so stressed dealing with the individual.


2. Choose Your Own Emotional State


I talk a lot about the importance of managing your emotional state. Why? Because it is an essential life skill.


Unless you are in charge of how you feel your ability to communicate effectively will always be limited and dependent on other people.


When you are in a potentially stressful situation and everyone around you is losing their cool this does not mean you have to join them! You will be able to contribute a lot more if you remain calm and centered.


Staying calm and resourceful is a choice you can make. Unfortunately it is all too easy to be a sheep and simply follow the crowd. Nobody says you have to be a sheep!


Instead make a point of keeping yourself in a resourceful state.


3. Step Outside The Situation


Whenever I am in a highly charged situation I will often step outside the situation -- in my mind. This helps to defuse the event for me.


You can do this too. Simply imagine that you are at the other end of the room watching the interaction between you and the other person or people.


It is as if you are a neutral observer with no emotional involvement in the discussion at hand.


When you do this you will think of ideas to handle the situation better and you will also feel less bothered by the stress of the other people.


This is one technique you need to play with first in easy everyday conversations. Once you get familiar with it you will find it easy to mentally step outside the event while still participating with the people in front of you.


Stress or relaxation which do you prefer?

The bear market that showed up at the end of 2000 has every brokerage house-as well as the entire mutual fund industry-scrambling to find creative ways to boost both their image and bottom line. Unfortunately, this is often at the investors' expense.

Fund managers are ever on the lookout for ways to spin the stats to hide lousy track records and to find ways to obscure fees. To add insult to (financial) injury, investors end up being penalized for selling. So what's an investor to do? In this case Patrick Marleau Canada Jersey , knowledge is power. Here are some of the ways mutual fund investors are being taken advantage of:



Performance is always an issue for any investor. Formerly great funds, which I've used myself during the 90s, are the junkyard dogs of this century. Janus Fund comes to mind and is one of many that buy-and-hold investors got stuck with. It's down 59%, since we acted on our Sell signal on 10132000.

Most of the funds today have 12b-1 fees place Patrice Bergeron Canada Jersey , and some go as high as 1% of a fund's assets per year. Between fees, commissions and management charges, the mutual fund industry is always getting paid, even if you P.K Subban Canada Jersey , the investor, are losing money. For example, if you had bought SunAmerica 2-12 years ago, you would have paid the above fees at 2.35% per year. And Mike Smith Canada Jersey , if you finally decided your investment wasn't going anywhere, you would have been stuck with a 5% deferred sales charge.

If you hold a fund less than 180 days, plan on being hit with a redemption fee. It's almost standard. What's the deal? Brokers only get paid while you hold their fund. So, if you're going to sell Maurice Richard Canada Jersey , they get a last whack. It's a great deterrent for selling, too. Can this be avoided? Not completely, but if you have your money managed by an investment advisor, the holding period is reduced to 90 days.

Then there's the deceptive no-load rip-off involving B-shares. Sure investors don't pay anything up front for these Matt Duchene Canada Jersey , but you'll pay hefty surrender fees when you sell. Plus, they carry higher management fees.



Keep in mind that mutual fund companies have market share in mind, not your best interest. If you think that might not be true, consider the skyrocket growth rate for pure technology funds. But look at them now: they've crashed & burned and no buy & holder has come out with a win.

Then there's the sad story of incompetence in the mutual fund industry. There are hordes of inexperienced financial planners (commissioned salesmen) just waiting to sell you load funds (A and B shares) Martin St. Louis Canada Jersey , or to recommend an asset allocation approach with no real plan or strategy that will serve you in a bear market.

Of course, there's always the option of having a perfectly balanced portfolio designed. Such was the case when a prospective client phoned me in 1999 during the height of the technology boom. He felt left out because everybody was making money in one of history's great bull markets, but his portfolio was so well balanced that he was neither making nor losing anything. He would have been better off in a money market account.

To me, the term balanced portfolio translates into this: I have no clue what I'm doing Mark Messier Canada Jersey , where the major trend is, what I should b. Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Cheap Basketball Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale College Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Adidas NHL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys