For the math-phobic out there, don’t let the word scare you. An “algorithm” is nothing more than a set of instructions, just like a recipe or how-to book.And the Internet relies on many, many algorithms in order to function properly.

When you type search terms into Google, it follows a very complex algorithm to determine which results to show you. When you buy something on Amazon with a credit card, it uses an algorithm to safely transmit your credit information. And just the simple act of navigating the Internet and loading a webpage requires the use of an algorithm.

From basic and essential to complex and useful, here are 11 of the many algorithms that make the Internet work.

Google search

Image: Google

This is a huge one. You probably use it several times a day without realizing the complexity behind it. It’s an algorithm that’s constantly changing in order to bring you the best search results possible.And it’s VERY protected. It’s the Internet’s equivalent to the recipe for Coca-Cola.

Routing algorithms

Image: Cisco Routing

Routing is the process of finding a path in a network to send traffic. A number of routing algorithms are out there with names like fuzzy routing, heuristic routing, and adaptive routing, but each one helps make network communication possible.Routing is one of of the core technologies at the heart of the Internet — no routing, no Internet.

Encryption

Encryption is the process of turning information into unreadable nonsense characters. It’s what makes Internet credit card transactions possible and it’s at the heart of Internet security.128-bit and 256-bit encryption algorithms are two of the most popular today. Prior to 1996, both were recognized as munitions by the US government — they were literally illegal.

Facebook news feed

Image: Facebook

If you’re the type with several hundred Facebook friends, your news feed would absolutely explode with numerous trivial updates from people throughout the day. Luckily Facebook has put some algorithms into effect that attempt to identify the most important updates and only show you those.

Sendmail

Image: Flickr Zervas

Sendmail is an email routing tool — it’s makes sure that your email gets where you want it to. It supports the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is used by almost every webmail service.It actually depends on several algorithms to handle tasks like queue management and delivery processing.

Netflix Recommendations

Image: Flickr/Hacking Netflix

Netflix already had a pretty good recommendation algorithm, but they wanted to make it even better. In 2009 they announced the Netflix Prize, a competition to see who could design a more successful algorithm that yielded higher customer ratings on recommended movies.The team that won was able to improve ratings by 10% and they walked away with $1,000,000.

Hashing algorithms

Hashes are essential to ensure that transmitted messages haven’t been tampered with. The sender creates a “hash” of a message and sends that along with the message itself. The person on the other end decrypts the message and the hash, produces another hash from the received message, and compares the two hashes.If they’re the same, then it’s almost certain that the message hasn’t been altered by a third party.

Advertising algorithms

Intelligent advertisers will implement an algorithm to determine which ads are displayed on a page in order to make sure that they prove relevant and drive revenue.Take Google’s Adwords, for example — its algorithm relies upon your search terms in order to show you ads related to your search.

Google News

Google’s news algorithm looks at the volume of material that appears on a given topic and considers the number of other pages linking to it in order to determine if it should be displayed.There are likely many more factors involved, but like Google’s search algorithm, those are kept under wraps.

Amazon Recommendations

Going off of its nearly endless list of items customers have purchased together, Amazon can implement an algorithm to show you related products you might be interested in buying.(It’s so useful that I sometimes use it as a way to find new authors or bands.)

Pandora playlists

Pandora follows an algorithm to determine which songs to play for you after you tell it what you like. It pulls its data from the Music Genome Project, an effort to “map” songs based on identifiable elements and group them with similar songs.It worked so well that Pandora went public with a $3.2 billion market cap.

Essential Algorithms That Make The Internet Work

For the math-phobic out there, don’t let the word scare you. An “algorithm” is nothing more than a set of instructions, just like a recipe or how-to book.And the Internet relies on many, many algorithms in order to function properly.

When you type search terms into Google, it follows a very complex algorithm to determine which results to show you. When you buy something on Amazon with a credit card, it uses an algorithm to safely transmit your credit information. And just the simple act of navigating the Internet and loading a webpage requires the use of an algorithm.

From basic and essential to complex and useful, here are 11 of the many algorithms that make the Internet work.

Google search

Image: Google

This is a huge one. You probably use it several times a day without realizing the complexity behind it. It’s an algorithm that’s constantly changing in order to bring you the best search results possible.And it’s VERY protected. It’s the Internet’s equivalent to the recipe for Coca-Cola.

Routing algorithms

Image: Cisco Routing

Routing is the process of finding a path in a network to send traffic. A number of routing algorithms are out there with names like fuzzy routing, heuristic routing, and adaptive routing, but each one helps make network communication possible.Routing is one of of the core technologies at the heart of the Internet — no routing, no Internet.

Encryption

Encryption is the process of turning information into unreadable nonsense characters. It’s what makes Internet credit card transactions possible and it’s at the heart of Internet security.128-bit and 256-bit encryption algorithms are two of the most popular today. Prior to 1996, both were recognized as munitions by the US government — they were literally illegal.

Facebook news feed

Image: Facebook

If you’re the type with several hundred Facebook friends, your news feed would absolutely explode with numerous trivial updates from people throughout the day. Luckily Facebook has put some algorithms into effect that attempt to identify the most important updates and only show you those.

Sendmail

Image: Flickr Zervas

Sendmail is an email routing tool — it’s makes sure that your email gets where you want it to. It supports the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is used by almost every webmail service.It actually depends on several algorithms to handle tasks like queue management and delivery processing.

Netflix Recommendations

Image: Flickr/Hacking Netflix

Netflix already had a pretty good recommendation algorithm, but they wanted to make it even better. In 2009 they announced the Netflix Prize, a competition to see who could design a more successful algorithm that yielded higher customer ratings on recommended movies.The team that won was able to improve ratings by 10% and they walked away with $1,000,000.

Hashing algorithms

Hashes are essential to ensure that transmitted messages haven’t been tampered with. The sender creates a “hash” of a message and sends that along with the message itself. The person on the other end decrypts the message and the hash, produces another hash from the received message, and compares the two hashes.If they’re the same, then it’s almost certain that the message hasn’t been altered by a third party.

Advertising algorithms

Intelligent advertisers will implement an algorithm to determine which ads are displayed on a page in order to make sure that they prove relevant and drive revenue.Take Google’s Adwords, for example — its algorithm relies upon your search terms in order to show you ads related to your search.

Google News

Google’s news algorithm looks at the volume of material that appears on a given topic and considers the number of other pages linking to it in order to determine if it should be displayed.There are likely many more factors involved, but like Google’s search algorithm, those are kept under wraps.

Amazon Recommendations

Going off of its nearly endless list of items customers have purchased together, Amazon can implement an algorithm to show you related products you might be interested in buying.(It’s so useful that I sometimes use it as a way to find new authors or bands.)

Pandora playlists

Pandora follows an algorithm to determine which songs to play for you after you tell it what you like. It pulls its data from the Music Genome Project, an effort to “map” songs based on identifiable elements and group them with similar songs.It worked so well that Pandora went public with a $3.2 billion market cap.

President Barack Obama addressed the S&P downgrade in a statement to the American people Monday, saying "no matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a AAA country."
 
He called the action by S&P "a warning" and called on the "Super Committee" on deficit reduction to reach a compromise on reforming taxes and Medicare.
 
Obama added that the downgrade was a reflection of the ratings agency’s doubt in "our political system’s ability to act" to rein in growing deficits.
 
He called on Congress to quickly pass an increase to the payroll tax cut set to expire next month, warning it could cost as many as 1 million jobs.
 
In his first public remarks on the subject, Obama also expressed his condolences to the families of the U.S. and Afghan troops killed on Saturday.

President Barack Obama addressed the S&P downgrade in a statement to the American people Monday, saying "no matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a AAA country."
 
He called the action by S&P "a warning" and called on the "Super Committee" on deficit reduction to reach a compromise on reforming taxes and Medicare.
 
Obama added that the downgrade was a reflection of the ratings agency’s doubt in "our political system’s ability to act" to rein in growing deficits.
 
He called on Congress to quickly pass an increase to the payroll tax cut set to expire next month, warning it could cost as many as 1 million jobs.
 
In his first public remarks on the subject, Obama also expressed his condolences to the families of the U.S. and Afghan troops killed on Saturday.

Apparently this movie has some truth in it. The ‘idle hand’ which referred to as the ‘Alien Hand Syndrome’ is an unusual neurological disorder in which the sufferer’s hand seems to take on a mind of its own. This is due to the damage in the medial motor frontal region of the brain and often occurs after a brain surgery, a stroke or an infection of the brain.

The sufferer has no control over the movements of the ‘alien hand’ nor will they have any conscience idea on what that hand is doing. The person suffering from this condition can often feel disconnected with their hand, and feel as if it was not part of their body.

When the suffer is unaware the alien hand can sometime act out complex movements like unbuttoning clothing, using tools or even tearing pieces of clothing. There are no know treatments or cure for ‘Alien Hand Syndrome’ however the best solution is to give this alien hand an object it can play with to keep it distracted from doing anything harmful to the sufferer.

2. You Could Remove A Large Part of Your Internal Organs and Survive

While the human body may appear fragile, your body is stronger than you could possibly imagine. It is possible for you to survive even after the removal of the spleen, the stomach, one kidney, one lung, 75% of the liver, 80% of the intestines, and almost every organ from the pelvic and groin area.

3. The Strong Contraction of Your Heart Creates Enough Pressure To Squirt Blood As Far As 30 Feet

This is a death erection, which often being referred to as ‘angel lust’. It is a post-mortem erection that occurs when a male individual dies vertically or face-downside and as long as the body remains in this position, the effect will not subside.

How It Could Possibly Happen?

When a man is still alive, the heart pumps blood evenly around the body. When he dies, this mechanism stops and the blood acts by the force of gravity. As with any mass, the blood will settle at the lowest point of the body and cause swelling. So if a man dies vertically, the blood will settle in the legs and collect at the feet.

The pressure will cause the blood vessels and tissues in the feet to swell up to accommodate as much blood as possible. As blood collects, it will fill up to the torso and the blood will attempt to move to a lower position due to gravity, which is the penis (the legs are full by now). The blood causes the penis, consisting of erectile tissue, to fill with blood and expand.

5. Heart Attacks Are More Likely To Happen On Monday

6. Three Hundred Million Cells Die In Your Body Every Minute

It does sounds like a lot but this is actually less than 0.0001% of the amount of cells being replaced in your body every day. (about 10-50 trillion cells are being replace in your body every day)

7. Babies Have More Bones Than You Do

8. Your Hair Is Almost Indestructible

9. You Can Survive Without Food But Not Without Sleep

But a few sleepless nights will cause the person to start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 264 hours. Randy Gardner at the end of which the experiment did not stumble or hallucinate but scientist has said that any more sleepless nights than that is dangerous.

10. You Have A Philtrum

1. Your Hand Can Have A Mind On Its Own

Apparently this movie has some truth in it. The ‘idle hand’ which referred to as the ‘Alien Hand Syndrome’ is an unusual neurological disorder in which the sufferer’s hand seems to take on a mind of its own. This is due to the damage in the medial motor frontal region of the brain and often occurs after a brain surgery, a stroke or an infection of the brain.

The sufferer has no control over the movements of the ‘alien hand’ nor will they have any conscience idea on what that hand is doing. The person suffering from this condition can often feel disconnected with their hand, and feel as if it was not part of their body.

When the suffer is unaware the alien hand can sometime act out complex movements like unbuttoning clothing, using tools or even tearing pieces of clothing. There are no know treatments or cure for ‘Alien Hand Syndrome’ however the best solution is to give this alien hand an object it can play with to keep it distracted from doing anything harmful to the sufferer.

2. You Could Remove A Large Part of Your Internal Organs and Survive

While the human body may appear fragile, your body is stronger than you could possibly imagine. It is possible for you to survive even after the removal of the spleen, the stomach, one kidney, one lung, 75% of the liver, 80% of the intestines, and almost every organ from the pelvic and groin area.

3. The Strong Contraction of Your Heart Creates Enough Pressure To Squirt Blood As Far As 30 Feet

This is a death erection, which often being referred to as ‘angel lust’. It is a post-mortem erection that occurs when a male individual dies vertically or face-downside and as long as the body remains in this position, the effect will not subside.

How It Could Possibly Happen?

When a man is still alive, the heart pumps blood evenly around the body. When he dies, this mechanism stops and the blood acts by the force of gravity. As with any mass, the blood will settle at the lowest point of the body and cause swelling. So if a man dies vertically, the blood will settle in the legs and collect at the feet.

The pressure will cause the blood vessels and tissues in the feet to swell up to accommodate as much blood as possible. As blood collects, it will fill up to the torso and the blood will attempt to move to a lower position due to gravity, which is the penis (the legs are full by now). The blood causes the penis, consisting of erectile tissue, to fill with blood and expand.

5. Heart Attacks Are More Likely To Happen On Monday

6. Three Hundred Million Cells Die In Your Body Every Minute

It does sounds like a lot but this is actually less than 0.0001% of the amount of cells being replaced in your body every day. (about 10-50 trillion cells are being replace in your body every day)

7. Babies Have More Bones Than You Do

8. Your Hair Is Almost Indestructible

9. You Can Survive Without Food But Not Without Sleep

But a few sleepless nights will cause the person to start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 264 hours. Randy Gardner at the end of which the experiment did not stumble or hallucinate but scientist has said that any more sleepless nights than that is dangerous.

10. You Have A Philtrum

Obama says US will always be an AAA country, no matter what credit rating agencies say. Do you think US will be able to maintain its supremacy?

Why are Markets Falling?

Since the year 2000 we have seen that there is a definite link between markets across the world. This has happened with the accelerated push for globalization, where investors have the option (which the financial institutions use to the hilt) to invest in most of the markets across the world.

This means that any market can be affected by the happenings of any other market. The present fall in the markets across the world is due to one such prime reason and many smaller reasons.

The Prime Reason – USA’s Debt Crisis

Though USA’s Government got the nod to borrow more, they have also been forced to cut their expenses . The very fact that the so far unassailable US Government was brought to the brink of a loan default on its debt commitments twice within a year gives the shivers to the global investors. With no other currency available in large enough quantities as an alternative investment, many countries’ Central Banks are forced to helplessly see their foreign exchange reserves go down, unable to do anything about it!

Also, there are no signs of USA’s economy making a come back in the immediate future. With a size close to 25% of the global economy, this is a worry for investors across the world. This has created a situation where people wish to shift their investments to safer havens away from the bond and stock markets.

Safer Havens?

At present the only safe option to invest seems to be the lustrous metal gold. This due to the fact that most of the other commodities are linked to industrial production, which is on the downward trend. Gold on the other hand is the only commodity or metal that has the least proportional usage in industry when compared with personal consumption. This can be seen with the metal reaching all time high prices.

Stock Market Investments

Is it a good time to enter the stock market with the prices going down? Does one cut down on the purchase prices allotted for stock in the portfolio?

At present it may be better to get out of the market than averaging or looking for fresh exposure. Going by the trend of the markets there is likely to be a sharp drop before the next bottom. A conservative investor may look for a 10% further fall in the market. It will be prudent to wait for such a time to re-enter the stock markets.

Till that time it will be a much better option to park funds in gold either in the physical form (bars or World Gold Council coins) or in the ETF form.

The US stock and commodity markets crashed by almost 10% during the last week with a 5% drop happening yesterday. Indian markets have also dropped by over 1200 points (Sensex) in less than 10 days. What lies ahead?

Obama says US will always be an AAA country, no matter what credit rating agencies say. Do you think US will be able to maintain its supremacy?

Why are Markets Falling?

Since the year 2000 we have seen that there is a definite link between markets across the world. This has happened with the accelerated push for globalization, where investors have the option (which the financial institutions use to the hilt) to invest in most of the markets across the world.

This means that any market can be affected by the happenings of any other market. The present fall in the markets across the world is due to one such prime reason and many smaller reasons.

The Prime Reason – USA’s Debt Crisis

Though USA’s Government got the nod to borrow more, they have also been forced to cut their expenses . The very fact that the so far unassailable US Government was brought to the brink of a loan default on its debt commitments twice within a year gives the shivers to the global investors. With no other currency available in large enough quantities as an alternative investment, many countries’ Central Banks are forced to helplessly see their foreign exchange reserves go down, unable to do anything about it!

Also, there are no signs of USA’s economy making a come back in the immediate future. With a size close to 25% of the global economy, this is a worry for investors across the world. This has created a situation where people wish to shift their investments to safer havens away from the bond and stock markets.

Safer Havens?

At present the only safe option to invest seems to be the lustrous metal gold. This due to the fact that most of the other commodities are linked to industrial production, which is on the downward trend. Gold on the other hand is the only commodity or metal that has the least proportional usage in industry when compared with personal consumption. This can be seen with the metal reaching all time high prices.

Stock Market Investments

Is it a good time to enter the stock market with the prices going down? Does one cut down on the purchase prices allotted for stock in the portfolio?

At present it may be better to get out of the market than averaging or looking for fresh exposure. Going by the trend of the markets there is likely to be a sharp drop before the next bottom. A conservative investor may look for a 10% further fall in the market. It will be prudent to wait for such a time to re-enter the stock markets.

Till that time it will be a much better option to park funds in gold either in the physical form (bars or World Gold Council coins) or in the ETF form.

You never know what’s in store for you! For instance, we cannot control outside events like recession. No matter what you do, it is going to affect all of us in some way or other. However some simple tips like optimum asset allocation, debt reduction, keeping emergency cash will help you tide over the rough times, without much damage.

Check your expenses and adhere to your budget

People tend to forget that good times don’t last forever. If you spend lavishly during good times and continue the trend without adapting to changes in circumstances, very soon you will land in financial trouble. Hence to ensure you lead a consistent lifestyle, always draw out a budget and ensure you stick to it religiously. E.g. if you have allocated Rs 500 per month towards your entertainment expenses, don’t spend a rupee more than Rs. 500. It will not only help you handle your finances better but will develop your willpower by delaying instant gratification.

Don’t rely on future income

Depending on future income in order to spend today, is one of the biggest mistakes we make. This has been evident during a job crisis, where youth racked up a huge credit card debt and took heavy loans. But when the salary cuts and job losses occurred, they were unable to pay off their debt. E.g. if your monthly income is Rs. 20,000 always ensure you spend well within Rs. 20,000 as pay cut or job loss may land you in trouble.

Reduce your debt

Got a bonus? Then pay off any loans that you have taken. If you have multiple loans, first pay off the loans with the highest interest rate, then the one with second highest rate and so on. E.g. if you have a credit card debt, personal loan and home loan, first clear off the credit card debt, then personal loan and finally home loan. For this you will have to plan out your debts and then go on following it systematically and steadily. It will not only save you money but will also give you mental peace.

Opt for strategic asset allocation

Though experts have consistently stated the importance of asset allocation, many investors tend to overlook this fact and invest only in the hottest asset. But remember market conditions do change and what is hot today may be out in the cold later on for a long time. So ensure you divide your portfolio amongst stocks, bonds, gold and real estate to get the maximum returns from your portfolio. Though your portfolio may under perform for some time, it will end up protecting you when the things get rough.

Keep emergency cash

You never know when a crisis can strike your family. Death, disease or job loss can end up upsetting your investments. You might be forced to sell your investments though they have not been given you any profits. Hence it is advisable to keep at least 3-6 months of your household expenses aside as emergency cash.

Sort out Your Finances

Agreed, keeping tabs on and handling your finances closely, may not sound like an interesting job, but it is a necessity. However you can reduce the boredom by putting a system in place. Once it is done, you can spend a few hours a month on this job. E.g. on Sunday, you can spend 1-2 hours to find out how your investments are performing, reading up any news concerning them or talking with your financial planner about the performance of your investments.

Plan in advance

One of the reasons many people land in financial mess is that they don’t plan their finances ahead. So it is imperative to plan your finances properly. Find out your current position, where you intend to go and set up a feasible plan to achieve your objectives. Unforeseeable events may occur and make you stray away from your plan for a short time, but ensure you get back on track at the earliest. Always remain focused and keep a watch on your progress. E.g. you are saving to buy a home and have started investing for the same. But 6 months after you started investing, you lose your job. If that happens, stop your investment, get a new job and again restart your investment.

Invest systematically and gradually

The biggest problem is that most people don’t bother saving till it is quite late. So they don’t have any money to fall back on in case of emergency. Hence it is essential to start small, but regularly and then increase the amounts later on. E.g. you can start a SIP, in which a particular sum is debited from your bank account and invested in a mutual fund. Or you can open a recurring deposit, which acts like a SIP, initiated by the bank. All this will occur automatically, so you have no excuse not to save.

Be in charge of your investments

The markets have crashed, the realty is down in dumps. What do you do? Sell off? Wrong. Unfortunately, this is what most investors do. In this situation, it is advisable to hold on to your portfolio as selling will just end up causing you financial loss. Instead increase your emergency cash reserves and periodically review your asset allocation of your portfolio.

Set a realistic outlook

The days of stocks giving a return of over 40% are over. While it is possible some of them may give you those types of returns, it is setting yourself up for disappointment if you keep your outlook very high. Instead keep a practical outlook of earning 12-15% returns from your investments.

One of the most important thing in our lives is to organize / manage your money. If you can not manage money (financial management) you with the best of it, then you like to put wine in a plastic bag with holes. In other words, your hard work in collecting the money would be wasted. What arises in your mind, when asked about how to manage your money? Here is an outline of our finances:

You never know what’s in store for you! For instance, we cannot control outside events like recession. No matter what you do, it is going to affect all of us in some way or other. However some simple tips like optimum asset allocation, debt reduction, keeping emergency cash will help you tide over the rough times, without much damage.

Check your expenses and adhere to your budget

People tend to forget that good times don’t last forever. If you spend lavishly during good times and continue the trend without adapting to changes in circumstances, very soon you will land in financial trouble. Hence to ensure you lead a consistent lifestyle, always draw out a budget and ensure you stick to it religiously. E.g. if you have allocated Rs 500 per month towards your entertainment expenses, don’t spend a rupee more than Rs. 500. It will not only help you handle your finances better but will develop your willpower by delaying instant gratification.

Don’t rely on future income

Depending on future income in order to spend today, is one of the biggest mistakes we make. This has been evident during a job crisis, where youth racked up a huge credit card debt and took heavy loans. But when the salary cuts and job losses occurred, they were unable to pay off their debt. E.g. if your monthly income is Rs. 20,000 always ensure you spend well within Rs. 20,000 as pay cut or job loss may land you in trouble.

Reduce your debt

Got a bonus? Then pay off any loans that you have taken. If you have multiple loans, first pay off the loans with the highest interest rate, then the one with second highest rate and so on. E.g. if you have a credit card debt, personal loan and home loan, first clear off the credit card debt, then personal loan and finally home loan. For this you will have to plan out your debts and then go on following it systematically and steadily. It will not only save you money but will also give you mental peace.

Opt for strategic asset allocation

Though experts have consistently stated the importance of asset allocation, many investors tend to overlook this fact and invest only in the hottest asset. But remember market conditions do change and what is hot today may be out in the cold later on for a long time. So ensure you divide your portfolio amongst stocks, bonds, gold and real estate to get the maximum returns from your portfolio. Though your portfolio may under perform for some time, it will end up protecting you when the things get rough.

Keep emergency cash

You never know when a crisis can strike your family. Death, disease or job loss can end up upsetting your investments. You might be forced to sell your investments though they have not been given you any profits. Hence it is advisable to keep at least 3-6 months of your household expenses aside as emergency cash.

Sort out Your Finances

Agreed, keeping tabs on and handling your finances closely, may not sound like an interesting job, but it is a necessity. However you can reduce the boredom by putting a system in place. Once it is done, you can spend a few hours a month on this job. E.g. on Sunday, you can spend 1-2 hours to find out how your investments are performing, reading up any news concerning them or talking with your financial planner about the performance of your investments.

Plan in advance

One of the reasons many people land in financial mess is that they don’t plan their finances ahead. So it is imperative to plan your finances properly. Find out your current position, where you intend to go and set up a feasible plan to achieve your objectives. Unforeseeable events may occur and make you stray away from your plan for a short time, but ensure you get back on track at the earliest. Always remain focused and keep a watch on your progress. E.g. you are saving to buy a home and have started investing for the same. But 6 months after you started investing, you lose your job. If that happens, stop your investment, get a new job and again restart your investment.

Invest systematically and gradually

The biggest problem is that most people don’t bother saving till it is quite late. So they don’t have any money to fall back on in case of emergency. Hence it is essential to start small, but regularly and then increase the amounts later on. E.g. you can start a SIP, in which a particular sum is debited from your bank account and invested in a mutual fund. Or you can open a recurring deposit, which acts like a SIP, initiated by the bank. All this will occur automatically, so you have no excuse not to save.

Be in charge of your investments

The markets have crashed, the realty is down in dumps. What do you do? Sell off? Wrong. Unfortunately, this is what most investors do. In this situation, it is advisable to hold on to your portfolio as selling will just end up causing you financial loss. Instead increase your emergency cash reserves and periodically review your asset allocation of your portfolio.

Set a realistic outlook

The days of stocks giving a return of over 40% are over. While it is possible some of them may give you those types of returns, it is setting yourself up for disappointment if you keep your outlook very high. Instead keep a practical outlook of earning 12-15% returns from your investments.