Survey reveals the spending habits of Millennials

Survey reveals the spending habits of MillennialsSurvey reveals the spending habits of MillennialsNew research from LendEDU shows that 27% of Millennials dole out more money paying for coffee monthly than they save for retirement in that same time period. But while 37% of Millennials admitted to putting no money away each month for their Golden Years, the average one who does,saves $480 a month for retirement using a 401(k), savings account, or another method.As for how the research was carried out, Pollfish surveyed 1,000 American Millennials (ages 22 to 37) for the company.How much Millennials spend monthly, versus saving for retirementKeeping the monthly retirement savings average of $480 in mind, lets take a look at how much Millennials monthly expenses reportedly compare to that amountCoffee $38/month27% spend more on this monthly than they save for retirement27% spend nothing on this itemAlcohol $75/month27%spend more on this monthly than they save for retirement32% spend nothi ng on this itemMarijuana $39/month11%spend more on this monthly than they save for retirement75% spend nothing on this itemRestaurants $163/month49% spend more on ansicht monthly than they save for retirement6% spend nothing on thisGroceries $281/month65% spend more on these monthly than they save for retirement3% say they spend nothing on thisOnline streaming services $18/month26%spend more on these monthly than they save for retirement26% spend nothing on thisConcerts, sports and more $49/month15% spend more on these monthlythan they save for retirement54% spend nothing on these activitiesTobacco, vaporizer, or JUUL products$43/month17% spend more on these monthlythan they save for retirement63% spend nothing on thisNew clothing $82/month32% spend more on these monthlythan they save for retirement21% spend nothing on theseMusic streaming services $7/month12% spend more on these monthlythan they save for retirement61% spend nothing on thisWorking out $23/month11% spend more on this monthly than they save for retirement60% spend nothing on thisRetirement is something I mildly obsess over because I understand my generation might not have access to social security. I prefer to put money in my 401(k) versus setting it aside in a separate retirement savings account because then I dont have to think about saving versus spending it takes away the decision and forces me to save, Bridget Devine, a PR manager in her twenties, told LendEDU. Devinesays she puts 14% of the money she earns from working into her 401(k).

Stress 10 ways smart people stay calm and productive

Stress 10 ways smart people stay calm and productiveStress 10 ways smart people stay calm and productiveThe ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under presaya has a direct link to your performance.TalentSmarthas conducted research with mora than a 1000000 people, and weve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.If you follow my work, youve read some startling research summaries that explore the havoc stress can wreak on ones physical and mental health (such as theYale study, which found that prolonged stress causes dekadenz in the area of the brain responsible for self-control).The tricky thing about stress (and the anxiety that comes with it) is that its an absolutely necessary emotion. Our brains are wired such that its difficult to take action until we feel at least some level of this emotional state. In fact, performance peaks under the heightened activation that comes with modera te levels of stress. As long as the stress isnt prolonged, its harmless.Research from the University of California, Berkeley, reveals an upside to experiencing moderate levels of stress. But it also reinforces how important it is to keep stress under control.The study, led by post-doctoral fellow Elizabeth Kirby, found that the onset of stress entices the brain into growing new cells responsible for improved memory. However, this effect is only seen when stress is intermittent. As soon as the stress continues beyond a few moments into a prolonged state, it suppresses the brains ability to develop new cells.I think intermittent stressful events are probably what keeps the brain more alert, and you perform better when you are alert, Kirby says.For animals, intermittent stress is the bulk of what they experience, in the form of physical threats in their immediate environment. Long ago, this welches also the case for humans.As the human brain evolved and increased in complexity, weve de veloped the ability to worry and perseverate on events, which creates frequent experiences of prolonged stress.Besides increasing your risk of heart disease, depression, and obesity, stress decreases your cognitive performance. Fortunately, though, unless a lion is chasing you, the bulk of your stress is subjective and under your control.Top performers have well-honed coping strategies that they employ under stressful circumstances. This lowers their stress levels regardless of whats happening in their environment, ensuring that the stress they experience is intermittent and bedrngnis prolonged.While Ive run across numerous effective strategies that smart people employ when faced with stress, what follows are 10of the best. Some of these strategies may seem obvious, but the real challenge lies in recognizing when you need to use them and having the wherewithal to actually do so in spite of your stress.1. They appreciate what they haveTaking time to contemplate what youre grateful fo r isnt merely the right thing to do. It also improves your mood, because it reduces the stress hormone cortisol by 23%.Research conducted at the University of California, Davis found that people who worked daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experienced improved mood, energy, and physical well-being. Its likely that lower levels of cortisol played a major role in this.2. They avoid asking what if?What if? statements throw fuel on the fire of stress and worry. Things can go in a million different directions, and the more time you spend worrying about the possibilities, the less time youll spend focusing on taking action that will calm you down and keep your stress under control.Calm people know that asking what if? will only take them to a place they dont want - or need - to go.3. They stay positivePositive thoughts help make stress intermittent by focusing your brains attention onto something that is completely stress-free. You have to give your wandering brain a little he lp by consciously selecting something positive to think about. Any positive thought will do to refocus your attention.When things are going well, and your mood is good, this is relatively easy. When things are going poorly, and your mind is flooded with negative thoughts, this can be a challenge.In these moments, think about your day and identify one positive thing that happened, no matter how small. If you cant think of something from the current day, reflect on the previous day or even the previous week. Or perhaps youre looking forward to an exciting event that you can focus your attention on.The point here is that you must have something positive that youre ready to shift your attention to when your thoughts turn negative.4. They disconnectGiven the importance of keeping stress intermittent, its easy to see how taking regular time off the grid can help keep your stress under control. When you make yourself available to your work 24/7, you expose yourself to a constant barrage of stressors.Forcing yourself offline and even - gulp - turning off your phone gives your body a break from a constant source of stress. Studies have shown that something as simple as an email break can lower stress levels.Technology enables constant communication and the expectation that you should be available 24/7. It is extremely difficult to enjoy a stress-free moment outside of work when an email that will change your train of thought and get you thinking (read stressing) about work can drop onto your phone at any moment.If detaching yourself from work-related communication on weekday evenings is too big a challenge, then how about the weekend? Choose blocks of time where you cut the cord and go offline. Youll be amazed at how refreshing these breaks are and how they reduce stress by putting a mental recharge into your weekly schedule.If youre worried about the negative repercussions of taking this step, first try doing it at times when youre unlikely to be contacted- maybe Su nday morning. As you grow more comfortable with it, and as your coworkers begin to accept the time you spend offline, gradually expand the amount of time you spend away from technology.5. They limit their caffeine intakeDrinking caffeine triggers the release of adrenaline. Adrenaline is the source of the fight-or-flight response, a survival mechanism that forces you to stand up and fight or run for the hills when faced with a threat. The fight-or-flight mechanism sidesteps rational thinking in favor of a faster response.This is great when a bear is chasing you, but not so great when youre responding to a curt email. When caffeine puts your brain and body into this hyperaroused state of stress, your emotions overrun your behavior.The stress that caffeine creates is far from intermittent, as its long half-life ensures that it takes its sweet time working its way out of your body.6. They sleepIve beaten this one to death over the years and cant say enough about the importance of sleep to increasing your emotional intelligence and managing your stress levels. When you sleep, your brain literally recharges, so that you wake up alert and clear-headed. Your self-control, attention, and memory are all reduced when you dont get enough- or the right kind- of sleep.Sleep deprivation raises stress hormone levels on its own, even without a stressor present. Stressful projects often make you feel as if you have no time to sleep, but taking the time to get a decent nights sleep is often the one thing keeping you from getting things under control.7. They squash negative self-talkA big step in managing stress involves stopping negative self-talk in its tracks. The more you ruminate on negative thoughts, the more power you give them. Most of our negative thoughts are just that - thoughts, not facts.When you find yourself believing the negative and pessimistic things your inner voice says, its time to stop and write them down. Literally stop what youre doing and write down what youre thinking. Once youve taken a moment to slow down the negative momentum of your thoughts, you will be more rational and clear-headed in evaluating their veracity.You can bet that your statements arent true any time you use words like never, worst, ever, etc. If your statements still look like facts once theyre on paper, take them to a friend or colleague you trust and see if he or she agrees with you. Then the truth will surely come out.When it feels like something always or never happens, this is just your brains natural threat tendency inflating the perceived frequency or severity of an event. Identifying and labeling your thoughts as thoughts by separating them from the facts will help you escape the cycle of negativity and move toward a positive new outlook.8. They reframe their perspectiveStress and worry are fueled by our own skewed perception of events. Its easy to think that unrealistic deadlines, unforgiving bosses, and out-of-control traffic are the reasons were so s tressed all the time.You cant control your circumstances, but you can control how you respond to them. So before you spend too much time dwelling on something, take a minute to put the situation in perspective.If you arent sure when you need to do this, try looking for clues that your anxiety may not be proportional to the stressor. If youre thinking in broad, sweeping statements such as Everything is going wrong or Nothing will work out, then you need to reframe the situation.A great way to correct this unproductive thought pattern is to list the specific things that actually are going wrong or not working out. Most likely you will come up with just some things- not everything- and the scope of these stressors will look much more limited than it initially appeared.9. They breatheThe easiest way to make stress intermittent lies in something that you have to do everyday anyway breathing. The practice of being in the moment with your breathing will begin to train your brain to focus s olely on the task at hand and get the stress monkey off your back.When youre feeling stressed, take a couple of minutes to focus on your breathing. Close the door, put away all other distractions, and just sit in a chair and breathe. The goal is to spend the entire time focused only on your breathing, which will prevent your mind from wandering.Think about how it feels to breathe in and out. This sounds simple, but its hard to do for more than a minute or two. Its all right if you get sidetracked by another thought this is sure to happen at the beginning, and you just need to bring your focus back to your breathing.If staying focused on your breathing proves to be a real struggle, try counting each breath in and out until you get to 20, and then start again from 1. Dont worry if you lose count you can always just start over.This task may seem too easy or even a little silly, but youll be surprised by how calm you feel afterward and how much easier it is to let go of distracting thou ghts that otherwise seem to have lodged permanently inside your brain.10. They use their support systemIts tempting, yet entirely ineffective, to attempt tackling everything by yourself. To be calm and productive, you need to recognize your weaknesses and ask for help when you need it. This means tapping into your support system when a situation is challenging enough for you to feel overwhelmed.Everyone has someone at work and/or outside work who is on their team, rooting for them, and ready to help them get the best from a difficult situation. Identify these individuals in your life and make an effort to seek their insight and assistance when you need it.Something as simple as talking about your worries will provide an outlet for your anxiety and stress and supply you with a new perspective on the situation. Most of the time, other people can see a solution that you cant because they are not as emotionally invested in the situation. Asking for help will mitigate your stress and str engthen your relationships with those you rely upon.Bringing it all togetherOverwhelming anxiety and empowerment are mutually exclusive. Any time you are overcome with enough stress/anxiety to limit your performance, just follow the steps above to empower yourself and regain control.Travis Bradberry is the co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the co-founder of TalentSmart.This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

5 Ways to Add Value Today

5 Ways to Add Value Today5 Ways to Add Value TodayIn the creative age in which we live, these elements are critical to your success.When I was a kid, there was a very popular song on the radio called Aquarius. It was written in 1969. Some of the lyrics includedThis is the dawning of the Age of AquariusHarmony and understandingSympathy and trust aboundingNo more falsehoods or derisionsGolden living dreams of visionsThat age never quite happened, but right now we are living in an age that really is happening. Its called the Creativity Age. The world has evolved from the Stone Age to the Agricultural Age to the Industrial Age to the Information Age to the Creativity Age. This era is relatively new. It began with the weiterverbreitung of the Internet and e-mail and has gained speed ever since with technologies that have connected people all over the world and given people the opportunities to do things they could never have done before.The Creativity Age caused massive upheaval for many organizations and individuals and shut down many businesses. It certainly upended many peoples otherwise wonderful careers. It cut across national borders, shrunk the planet, and changed how organizations and individuals interact with each other. It also created enormous opportunities for people all over the worldand the crazy thing is its impact is only going to get bigger and bigger. The Creativity Age is here to stay.Where Paid-Work HappensIf youre going to earn a paycheck, its going to happen in one of a few ways. You will either work for a for-profit or a not-for-profit organization. You will either own a business or work for someone else. You will either manage the efforts of other people or you will not. You will either work with other people in an organization or you will work completely by yourself. Your work today and in the future is going to fall into one or more of those categories. We can break it down even further. Toss out your title and your industry and the size of your organization and your bonus and where you went to school. None of that stuff really matters. Regardless of the way in which you work, there are certain key elements that absolutely matter in the Creativity Age. Here are five of the fruchtwein important.Add ValueValue is anything that increases the chances that the other person will achieve what he or she wants to achieve. Regardless of your title or your income or the size of your organization or your industry, you have one critically important job to do today. That job is to add value. Every day you have to ask yourself, Today how am I going to create value for other people and deliver it as well as I can? This is not a fun little saying to post on your wall and smile about. You have to have a ferocious and committed drive to creating and delivering value every day This is the one and only way to survive and thrive in the Creativity Age.The job of today is not the heavy lifting of the 1800s or the gathering of information of the 1970s. The job is purely to create value and deliver it to other people. You might be creating and delivering value to your team members who are part of a huge organizational effort. You might be on the front-line with your customers. You might be running a training session or deciding who to hire or serving as an engineer on a new product development or working in a not-for-profit organization focused on delivering food to the needy or teaching elementary school kids or deciding on the strategic direction of a Fortune 100 company.It doesnt matter what your role is or where you work. What does matter, and it matters a lot, is that you step back from your activities and ask yourself, What can I do or make that would be of greater value for these people? This is the first step to working successfully in the Creativity Age.If you are unemployed or are looking to work at a different organization, answer the same question. What can you do to create value for that organization? Be ver y, very clear in your own mind so you can clearly communicate it to other people.Observe, Listen, Read, and CombineThe old saying, There is nothing new under the sun is true, but only tells part of the story. The creative person looks to create new value by observing other people in action, listening to their thoughts, reading their stories, and combining the ideas into new products and services. The great advantage of today is you can observe what is happening anywhere in the world via the internet, you can listen to what people have to say from anywhere in the world via Google.com and Bing.com, you can read any book or magazine in an instant on an iPad or Kindle or Nook, and you can combine an incredible array of products and services and ideas that already exist into something that is new and is of great value for other people. These four skills (observing, listening, reading, and combining) make up the generator of creativity. And theyre free Use them every day.Care Immensely ab out What You DoI had lunch with my mom yesterday. When I drove her back to her condominium, we paused in the parking lot. She pointed to a group of men who had raked and swept a giant pile of leaves together. They were putting the leaves into a giant mulching machine. She said, Those men care about their work. Look how clean the parking lots are. Im going to go tell them what a great job they are doing.In the Creativity Age every detail matters a lot. Regardless of where you live you are competing with other talented people all over the world. No country has an insurmountable advantage over another. Its an open game of competition. Consequently, the key is to create and deliver as much value as you can every day. Ultimately, it comes down to caring enormously about what you do.Where can you learn to care?Think about your closest family members, your best friends, the people you admire the most. Describe how you care about them. Write it down. Then apply that level of caring to the w ork you do every day.Go to a distributionspolitik you admire a restaurant, a store, a barbershop or beauty salon, or a favorite vacation destination. Study how the people who work there care about their customers. Write down what you see.Fix in your mind how you will apply some of those approaches in your work.Tomorrow at work care more than you have ever cared before. Take caring about the details of your work to the highest level that you have ever done. Then when you go in to work the day after tomorrow care more than you did the day before. Dont obsess over your bonus or your title. Just care about everything you do and you will find yourself doing it as well as you possibly can.Connect to a PurposeThe people that I know who are riveted with a purpose in their professional lives are the ones who care the most about every detail. They see their work as merely the mechanism for fulfilling a greatly engrained purpose. You have to know why you do what you do. There are only three gr eat sources of passion that I know of. You either have to love what you do, love who you do it for, or both.Some people love the work they do. They love building teams or they love making something that no one thought was possible or they love some aspect of their work. Some people dont love what they do, but they love who they do it for. They are helping to send a child to college or helping a child who has been mentally or physically challenged or being there for an aging parent. They love the person so much they are driven to do their best work every day.Fit within a Larger PictureIn the Creativity Age no one works in a silo. We are all connected to other people in our work. Even if you run a one-person business, your efforts are still interlinked with the work of other people. How does the value you create and deliver today fit within the larger picture of your organization, your community, or the worlds market place? Working hard on the details of a project is only of real valu e if it helps other people to achieve what they want to achieve.Those are five of the critical keys for working successfully in the Creativity Age. In many ways, these are the same keys to a successful career that were true in earlier ages. However, back in those days you could count on getting a job in an organization and keeping it for the rest of your career. You could count on competition being limited to your geographical area. Those parameters no longer exist. Now more than ever before you have to constantly be creative in finding ways to add more value to other people.