Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest --Lesson 7: Belong

Participate in a spiritual community

Healthy centenarians everywhere have faith. The simple act of worship is one of those subtly powerful habits that seems to improve your chances of having more good years. It doesn't matter if you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist or Hindu.
Studies have shown that attending religious services - even as infrequently as once a month - may make a difference in how long a person lives. As a group, the attendees had a longer life expectancy, with an impact about as great as that of moderate physical activity. Those who went to church services frequently were 20 percent less likely to die at any age. It appears that people who pay attention to their spiritaul side have lower rates of cardiovascular disease, depression, stress and suicide, and their immune systems seem to work better. People who attend church have a forced schedule of self-reflection, either through regular prayer or from sitting quietly duing religious services.

Lesson seven strategies

Be more involved

If you have already belong to a religious community, take a more active role in the organization. The longevity-enhancing effect may be a function of how you attend rather than the fact that you just attend. Getting involved in activities like singing in the choir or volunteering might enhance well-being and possibly reduce mortality.

Explore a new tradition

If you don't have a particular religious faith, commit to trying a new faith  community.

Just go

Schedule an hour a week for the next eight weeks to attend religious services. Don't think about it, Just go and do so with an open mind. Studies show that people who get involved with the service(singing hymns, participating in prayers or liturgy, volunteering) may find their well-being enhanced.

Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest --Lesson 6: Down Shift

Take time to relieve stress

Lesson six strategies

Reduce the noise

Minimizing time spent with television, radio, and the internet can help redce the amount of aural clutter in your life. Rid your home of as many TVs and radios as possible, or limit them to just one room. Most electronic entertainment just feeds mind chatter and works counter to the notion of slowing down.

Be early

Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to every appointment. This one practice minimizes the stress that arises from traffic, getting lost, or underestimating travel time, It allows you to slow down and docus before a meeting or event.

Meditate

Create a space in your home that is quiet, not too hot and not too cold, not too dark and not too light. Furnish the space with a meditation cushion or chair. Establish a regular meditation schedule, and try to meditate every day no matter what(but also not stressing out if you fail to do so). Start with 10 minutes a day, and try to work up to 30 minutes a day. Try to meditate with others occasionally.

Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest --Lesson 5: Purpose Now

Take time to see the big picture
The individuals who expressed a clear goal in life - something to get up for in the morning, something that made a difference - lived longer and were sharper than those who did not. A sense of purpose may come from something as simple as seeing that children or grandchildren grow up well. Purpose can come from a job or a hobby, especially if you can immerse yourself completely in it. Its characterized by a sense of freedom, enjoyment, fulfillment, and skill, and while you are in it, temporal concerns(time, food, ego/self, etc) are typically ignored. If you can identify the activity that gives you this sense of flow and make it the focus of your job or hobby, it can also become your sense of purpose.
A new activity can give you purpose as well. Learning a musical instrument or a new language give you a double bonus, since both have been shown to help keep your brain sharper longer.

Lesson Five strategies

To realize your purpose, try the following tips

Craft a personal mission statement

If you don't have a sense of purpose, how do you find it? Articulating your personal mission statement can be a good start. Begin by answering this question in a single, memorable sentence: why do you get up in the morning? Consider what you are passionate about, how you enjoy using your talents, and what is truly important to you.

Find a partner

Find someone to whom you can communicate your life purpose, along with a plan for realizing it. It can be a friend, a family member, a spouse, a colleague - as long as its someone who can help you honestly assess your plan and your successes.

Learn something new

Take up a musical instrument or learn a new language. Both activities are among the most powerful things you can do to preserve your mental sharpness.

Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest --Lesson 4: Grapes of Life

Drink red wine ( in moderation)

studies seem to show that people who have a daily drink per day of beer, wine, or spirits may accrue some health benefits. But the secrets of the blue zones suggest that consistency and moderation are key. A daily drink or two has been associated with lower rates of heart disease, but alcohol use has also been shown to increase the risk of breast cancer. Red wine offers an extra bonus in that it contains artery-scrubbing polyphenols that may help fight arteriosclerosis.

Lesson four strategies

Introduce a glass of wine into a daily routine

Buy a case of high-quality red wine.

Treat yourself to a "Happy Hour" 

Set up yours to include a glass of wine, nuts as an appetizer, and a gathering of friends or time with a spouse.

Take it easy

A serving or two per day of red wine is the most you need to drink to take advantage of its health benefits. Overdoing it negates any benefits you might enjoy, so drink in moderation.

Beating index funds with stocks

http://www.moneysense.ca/invest/where-to-invest-10000-3/

Once you have a larger portfolio, you may also start to consider buying individual stocks. It’s a good idea to start with a core balanced portfolio like the one I just discussed and use only a relatively small amount of money to buy stocks. New stock pickers might aim to put 5% to 10% of their overall portfolio into stocks. If you do, you should lighten up on your stock ETFs by the same amount to maintain your asset allocation.

When it comes to picking stocks, I recommend taking a long-term approach, avoiding unnecessary trading, and keeping your costs low. By doing so, you might actually beat index investors at their own game.

Consider the case of an investment trust that got its start way back in 1935. At the time, it was set up to buy and hold 30 large dividend-paying stocks. It acted like a super-passive index fund that used very simple rules. The trust held onto its stocks indefinitely and would only make changes in the event of corporate actions like mergers, accusations or spin-offs.

The amazing thing is, the trust is still going today and is now called the Voya Corporate Leaders Trust Fund. After all these year it holds 22 stocks and, as you might imagine, its portfolio looks a little peculiar, with out-sized holdings in Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway, and Exxon.

Despite its nearly catatonic level of passivity, from 1971 through to 2015 the trust generated average annual returns of 11.6%, which bested the S&P 500’s annual gains of 10.6%. It outperformed by 1 percentage point annually without doing much at all.

I don’t suggest adopting the trust’s current portfolio, but new stock pickers should emulate its philosophy.

If you’re keen on giving it a go, focus your efforts first on the Canadian stock market. While Americans have thousands of large stocks to choose from, there are only a few dozen big companies that trade on the TSX. For instance, you could replace a part of the Canadian component of your Couch Potato portfolio with, say, 20 Canadian dividend payers.

One way to build a buy-and-hold dividend portfolio is to get a few ideas from the Dogs of the TSX method I highlight in my Value Hunter blog at MoneySense.ca. The strategy involves buying the 10 highest-yielding stocks in the large-cap S&P/TSX 60 index, holding them for a year, and then moving into a new group of high yielders.

However, a very passive portfolio can be built by holding on to the stocks indefinitely and adding any new stocks that appear on the Dogs list each year. If you do so, it should be possible to build a reasonably diversified list of 20 dividend-paying stocks in just a few years.

That said, the current list of Dogs is heavily concentrated in financials and telecoms and I’d personally want to begin with a little more diversification by industry. To help start you off, the table “Ten stocks to start out with” on page 41 shows a selection of high-yielding stocks in the S&P/TSX 60 that come from different industry groups.

There are pros and cons for both stock picking and index investing, but no matter which you choose, it’s best to stick with simple and easy to understand low-fee methods. With a bit of luck, they’ll fund more than a few trips to your local coffee bar.

Ten stocks to start out with

Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest --Lesson 3: Plant slant

Lesson Three: Plant slant

Avoid meat and processed foods
Most centenarians never had the chance to develop the habit of eating processed foods, soda pop, or salty snacks, For much of their lives, they ate small portions of unprocessed foods.
Beans, whole grains, and garden vegetables are the cornerstones of all these longevity diets. Tofu, a daily feature in Okinawan diet, has been compared to bread in France or potatoes in Eastern Europe, tofu is an almost uniquely perfect food: low in calories, high in protein, rich in minerals, devoid of cholesterol, eco-friendly, and complete in the amino acids necessary for human sustenance. An excellent source of protein without the side effects of meat, tofu contains a compound, phytoestrogen, which may provide heart protective properties to women. In addition, phytoestrogen seems to modestly lower cholesterol and promote healthy blood vessels. Oddly, pork was common to three of the four blue zones diets, but it was not eaten regularly. Nuts are perhaps the most imprssive of all longevity foods. The best nuts are almonds, peanuts, pecans, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts and some pine nuts. Brazil nuts, cashews, and macadamias have a little more saturated fat and are less desirable. But all nuts are good.

Lesson three strategies

Eat four to six vegetable servings daily

Blue zone diets always include at least two vegetables at each meal.

Limit intake of meat

To emulate their diet, try to limit serving meat to twice weekly and serve no portion larget than a desk of cards

Showcase fruits and vegetables

Put a beautiful fruit bowl in the middle of your kichen table, at the bottom of it, leave a note that reads "Fill Me". Instead of hiding vegetables in the refrigerator compartment that says "Produce", put them front and center on shelves where you can see them.

Lead with beans

Beans are a cornerstone of each of the blue zone diets. Make beans or tofu the centerpiece of lunch and dinners

Eat nuts every day

Stock up.

Keep nuts available in your home, ideally in packages of two ounces or less.( you might want to store them in the refrigerator to keep oils fresh) Or keep a can of nuts in the office for an afternoon snack, which may help avoid snacking right before dinner.

Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest --Lesson 2: Hara Hachi Bu

Lesson Two: Hara Hachi Bu

Painlessly cut calories by 20 percent
a Reminder to stop eating when their stomachs are 80 percent full. This simple but powerful practice may amount to painless version of caloric restriction - a strategy that has been shown to prolong life in laboratory animals and has been associated with better heart health in humans.
For most of us, the solution is to eat enough so that we are no longer hungry, but not so much that we are full. Food volumn is only one part of the equation. The other is calories.

Lesson two strategies

Serve ans store

People who serve themselves at the counter, then put the food away before taking their plate to the table, eat about 14 percent less than when they take smaller amounts and go back for seconds and thirds. Learn to recognize when you have enough on your plate to fill your stomach 80 percent.

Make food look bigger

People who eat a quarter-pound hamburger that has been made to look like a half pounder with lettuce, tomatoes and onions feel equally full after eating. Students who drank a smoothie whilpped to twice the volume with the same calories ate less for lunch 30 minutes later, and reported feeling fuller.

Use small vessels.

Drop your dinner plates and big glasses off at a charity, and buy smaller plates and tall, narrow glasses. Your are likely to eat significantly less without even thinking about it.

Make snacking a hassle

Avoid tempting foods. Put candy bowls, cookie jars, and other temptations out of sight. Hide them in the cupboard or pantry. Wrap tempting leftovers in an opaque container.

Buy smaller packages.

When given large packages of spaghetti, sauce, and meat, Wansinks subjects consumed 23 percent more( about 150 calories) than when they were give medium packages

Give yourself a daily reminder

The bathroom scale can be a simple yet powerful reminder not to overeat. Put the scale in your way so you can't avoid a daily weigh-in. In fact, weighting yourself is one of the most surefire ways to reduce your weight and keep it off in the long run.

Eat more slowly

Eating faster ususlly results in eating more. Slowing down allows time to sense and react to cures telling us we are no longer hungry.

Focus on food.

A guaranteed way to eat mindlessly is to do so while watching your favorite show on TV or while emailing a friend at the computer. If you are going to eat, just eat. You will eat more slowly, consume less, and savor your food more.

Have a seat

Many of us eat on the run, in the car, standing in front of the refrigerator, or while walking to our next meeting. This means we don't notice what we are eating or how fast we are eating it. Making a habit of eating only while sitting down- eating purposefully -- better eables us to appreciate the tastes and textures of our food. We will eat more slowly and feel more nourished when we are through

Eat early

In the blue zones, the biggest meal of the day is typically eaten during the first half of the day. All blue zone residents eat their smalles meal of the day in late afternoon or early evening. Some aventistes believe that if you eat a big breakfast with the right ingredients(whole grains, fruits, milk, nut butter), you will fuel your body for most of the day and have fewer cravings for sugary or fatty foods.

Lessons for living longer from the people who've lived the longest -- Lesson 1: Move naturally

Lesson one: Move naturally 

Be active without having to think about it
Longevity all stars dont run marathons or compete in triathlons; they don't transform themselves into weekend warriors on Saturday morning. Instead, they engage in regular, low-intensity physical activity, often as part of a daily work routine. The data suggests that a moderate level of exercise that is sustained in quite helpful.
An ideal routine would include a combination of aerobic, balancing, and muscle-strengthening activities. The overal goal is to get into the habit of doing at least 30 minutes ( ideally at least 60 minutes) of exercise at least five times a week. It doesn't have to be all at once, although that seems to be better.

Lesson one strategies

- inconvenience yourself.

By making life a little tougher, you can easily add more activity to your days. Little things, like getting up to change the channel or taking the stairs, can add up to a more active lifestyle. Get rid of as many of the following as possible: TV remote control, garage door opener, electric can opener, electric blendre, snow blower, and power lawn mower, be ready to use as many of these as possible: bicycle, comfortable walking shoes, rake, broom, snow shovel.

Have fun, keep moving.

Make a list of physicla activities you enjoy. Rather than exercising for the sake of exercising, make your lifestyle active. Ride a bicycle instead of driving. Walk to the store. At work, take a walking break instead of a coffee and donut break. Build activity into your routine and lifestyle. Do what you enjoy. Forget the gym if you don't like it - you are not likely to go there if its a chore. Don't force yourself to do things you dislike

Walk.

This is the one activity that all successful centenarian did - and do - almost daily. Its free, easier on the joints than running, always accessible, invites company and if you are walking briskly, may have the same cardivoscular benefits as running. After a hard day, a walk can relieve stress: after a meal, it can aid digestion.

Make a date

Getting out and about can be more fun with other people. Make a list of people to walk with; combing walking and socializing may be the best strategy for setting yourself up for the habit. Knowing someone else is counting on you may motivate you to keep a walking date. A good place to start is to think, whose company do I enjoy? who do I like to spend time with? who has about the same level of physical ability?

Plant a garden.

Working in a garden requires frequent, low intensity, full-range-of-montion activity. you dig to plant, bend to weed, and carry to harvest. Gardening can relieve stress. And you emerge from the season with fresh vegetables- a blue zones trifecta
Enroll in a yoga class
Be sure to practice it at least twice weekly.

Bird festival at Point Pelee National Park

We went to Point Pelee National Park over long weekend. camped in Wheatley Provincial Park. Very similar to this trip found on rolia.net, So I will save my time by just keeping this link.

http://www.rolia.net/zh/post.php?f=0&p=5257404

Canadians turning to peer-to-peer Web loan providers

http://www.bnn.ca/News/2015/5/15/Canadians-turning-to-peer-to-peer-Web-loan-providers.aspx

...........
Online lenders entered the Canadian marketplace six months ago with the launch of Grouplend Inc., a Vancouver-based firm, has seen $60-million in loan applications since January. While the firm hasn’t released numbers of how many of those loans are approved, its clear that consumers are looking for options. A second provider, Borrowell Inc., launched its platform last month.
..........

These will be something to keep eye on as alternative investment option.

Portfolio Update - May 2015

Financial:   BNS.to, TD.to, BMO.to, RY.to, SLF.to, MFC.to
Telecom:  BCE.to T.to, RCI.B.to
Utility: IPL.to,  TRP.to, PPL.to
REIT: NPR.UN, OHI
Energy: NOV, XOM, CFW.to
Industrial: CNR.to, EMR, BIN.to, ADM
Consumer:  UL, SBUX, VIAB
Tecknology: GOOGL
Healthcare: JNJ
Total: 26 stocks
Total value: $65,143
Yearly dividend: around $2161

Bot OHI at $35.6

Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc. (Omega) is a self-administered real estate investment trust (REIT). The Company invests in income producing healthcare facilities, long-term care facilities located throughout the United States. The Company provides lease or mortgage financing to qualified operators of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and assisted living facilities (ALFs), independent living facilities, rehabilitation and acute care facilities. It finances investments through borrowings under its revolving credit facilities, private placements or public offerings of its debt and equity securities, secured indebtedness, retention of cash flow or a combination of these methods. Its portfolio of real estate investments include over 900 properties located in 41 states and operated by 81 different operators. Its portfolio includes healthcare facilities and mortgages on healthcare facilities. It also offers fixed-rate mortgage loans.

Earn $30 statement credit with american express

Be one of the first 30,000 American Express® Card members to register between Apr 30 to May 30,2015. Once registered, when you make a purchase of $50 or more (including taxes) with your registered Card at any of the participating merchant locations in Canada before May 30,2015, you’ll earn a $10 Statement Credit! Up to a maximum of three statement credits per registered Card.


1. Register your eligible American Express Card between Apr 30 to May 30, 2015 at amexnetwork.ca/swipeenjoy. To qualify for the statement credits, you must be among the first 30,000 American Express Card members to register.

2. Once you’ve registered, make a single in-store purchase of $50 or more (including taxes) with your American Express Card at any of the participating merchants in Canada before May 30, 2015

3. Earn a $10 Statement Credit for an eligible purchase of $50 or more (including taxes) – up to a maximum of three statement credits for each registered American Express Card

Book Reading: Thrive - Finding happiness the blue zones way (3)

Lessons in Thriving

1, Community
 - Economic freedom
 - High employment rate
 - Tolerance
 - Quality of government
 - Provide more community space
 - limit shopping hours
 - Limit the workweek
 - Support the arts
 - Encourage walkability
 - Grant maternity leave
 - Educate Teens about birth control
 - characteristics of a good neighborhood: sidewlks, quiet surroundings, walking distance, safety, status equality

2, Workplace
 - The right job
 - The right way to wrok: avoid long commutes, limit your workweek to 40 hours, don't skip vacations, Enjoy happy hour, Seek out the right boss
 - Employ yourself
 - Get into teaching

3, Social life
 - Upgrade your social network
 - Join a club
 - Create your own Moai
 - Reconnect with your faith
 - Marry the right person: kiss lots of frogs, look more than skin deep, marry someone similar to you, avoid cohabitation, try marriage training, nice reminder, be realistic about the joys of parenthood.

4, Financial life
 - pay off your house
 - enroll in automatic savings or investment plans
 - avoid credit cards
 - create a giving account
 - invest in experiences

5, Home
 - Fewer TV Screens
 - Cancel Cable
 - Own a pet
 - Create a meditation space
 - Designate a "flow" romm
 - Create a pride shrine
 - Grow a garden
 - Let the sunshine in
 - Paint your mood
 - Optimize your bedroom for sleep

6, Self
 - Personal mission statement
 - Find a purpose partner
 - Develop arts appreciation
 - Find a hobby
 - Develop your people skills
 - volunteer
 -
Thriving Children
 - Put friends first
 - After-school or summer job
 - Music lessons
 - Civics and arts appreciation
 - Instill hope for a richer future
 - Encourage sports

Book Reading: Thrive - Finding happiness the blue zones way (2)

Singapore: Can you manufacture a happy nation?

Lessons from Singapore

- Security is essential
- Policies of "Basic Culture"
- Strive for status equality
- Build an environment of trust
- Live your values

Bot CFW @ $9.04

Bot back CFW.to at $9.04 that was sold at $9.78 a while ago. dividend yield is 5.53%

Calfrac Well Services Ltd. is a provider of oilfield services in Canada, the United States, Russia, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia, including hydraulic fracturing, coiled tubing, cementing and other well stimulation services. The Company operates in four segments: Canadian, United States, Russian and Latin America. The Canadian segment is focused on the provision of fracturing and coiled tubing services to a diverse group of oil and natural gas exploration and production companies operating in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The United States segment provides pressure pumping services from operating bases in Arkansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Texas. The Company’s Russian segment provides fracturing and coiled tubing services in Western Siberia. The Latin America segment provides pressure pumping services from operating bases in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.

Book Reading: Thrive - Finding happiness the blue zones way (1)

Denmark: The world's happiness All-Stars

Lessons from Denmark:

- Build an Environment of Trust
- Tolerance
- Seek status equality
- Seek Economic equality
- Care for the young and old
- Freedom
- Get the right job
- work Just enough
- Cultivate the art of living
- Make cozy, well-lit home environments
- Nudge people into interaction
- Optimize cities for activity
- Volunteer
- Use Taxes

Disney World deal - One Delicious Offer

Time to make 2015 the unforgettable year for the kids. I am taking family to disneyland in Dec.

Get a FREE dining plan when you purchase a non-discounted 6-night/7-day package including room and tickets with Park Hopper or Water Park Fun & More Options at select Disney Resort hotels.

Book by August 7, 2015.

Offer valid at select Disney Resort hotels for arrivals most nights:

• August 15 – October 2, 2015
• October 25 – October 31, 2015
• November 8 – November 19, 2015
• December 15 – December 21, 2015

Sunlife beats earning estimate, hike dividend

http://business.financialpost.com/investing/analysts-bask-in-sun-life-financial-incs-better-shareholder-returns-earnings

Sun Life Financial Inc. hasn’t been very popular with investors craving dividend growth in their portfolios over the past few years, but the Canadian life insurance giant’s decision to increase its payout for the first time since 2008 is a first step to winning them back.

“This quarter’s dividend increase, along with the repurchase of three million common shares reaffirms our expectation that Sun Life will return a greater share of its earnings to common shareholders for the foreseeable future,” said Peter Routledge, analyst at National Bank Financial, in a note to clients. “We expect regular dividend increases every two or three quarters and recurring common share repurchases.”

Sun Life on Tuesday announced that it is raising its quarterly payout by six per cent to 38 cents per share from 36 cents, a level that had remained unchanged since April 2008.

The increase comes after the company easily beat analysts’ earnings estimates.

sold FCX @ $23.4 for 21% gain

FCX is in over bought zone, I am taking profit here, for 21.2% gain. Its dividend is too little right now, so its no longer the stock I want to hold.

Bot ADM @ $50.28

Archer-Daniels-Midland-Company is engaged in the processing of oilseeds, corn, wheat, cocoa, and other agricultural commodities. The Company’s operations are classified into three business segments: Oilseeds Processing, which includes activities related to the origination, merchandising, crushing, and further processing of oilseeds, such as soybeans and soft seeds (cottonseed, sunflower seed, canola, rapeseed, and flaxseed) into vegetable oils and protein meals; Corn Processing, which is engaged in corn wet milling and dry milling activities, primarily located in the United States, and Agricultural Services, which utilizes its United States grain elevator and global transportation network to buy, store, clean, and transport agricultural commodities, such as oilseeds, corn, wheat, milo, oats, rice, and barley, and resells these commodities primarily as food and feed ingredients and as raw materials for the agricultural processing industry.

Bot XOM at $89.78

Somehow this major oil is looking good. I am taking a position for long term holding.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (ExxonMobil) is a manufacturer and marketer of commodity petrochemicals, including olefins, aromatics, polyethylene and polypropylene plastics and a wide variety of specialty products. The Company engages in energy, involving exploration for, and production of, crude oil and natural gas, manufacture of petroleum products and transportation and sale of crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products. ExxonMobil has interests in electric power generation facilities. The Company has divisions and affiliates including ExxonMobil, Exxon, Esso, Mobil or XTO. The Company’s ongoing activities are in United States, Canada / South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia / Oceania.

Market watch

Market bounced up today, I have a feeling that natural gas may go up soon. I might buy ECA back if it goes below my sell price. Natural gas and crude oil are two separate markets.

As its Friday today, I will just watch and rest. prepare trip plan for the coming long weekend.