Smart Investing

In an economy that is as unstable as ours is today, it’s important to make smart investments with your money to be able to ensure cash flow for the future and secure financial stability. I believe our economy has slipped due to a high number of bad investments particularly, due to the real estate market.  This had an impact on small businesses and their capabilities to invest properly. In this article, nine steps are explained about small businesses and investment advice. One of the biggest pieces of advice this article has to offer is to keep things simple. Try to invest in multiple stocks and spread your money around so that if an investment falls through, “ all your eggs aren’t in one basket and won’t find yourself bankrupt ” (nytimes). Two of the more solid investments are mutual funds and extended traded funds. Several smart funds to invest in are Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund and Charles Schwab, which follow the trends of the entire U.S. Stock market. The Index fund tends to be a more stable portfolio than an actively managed fund due to the fact actively managed funds tend to go for the next hot stock and eventually the investor cannot keep up with the trends of the market. According to this article the single most important factor of investing success is asset allocation, which is the mix of stocks, cash, and bonds in a portfolio. Roughly 50% of your portfolio should be bonds, enough cash for a year of expenses, and the rest then allocated to stock. Another thing small businesses need to keep in mind is saving money and planning for the month. With no capital, then no investments can be made.

Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/business/smallbusiness/16investing.html?pagewanted=2&_r=2&ref=personalfinance& 

Blogging; the upcoming genre of choice

Why Blogs have Evolved:

Genres have long been construed as constraining labels to distinguish between different categories of literature, art, media, and music. However, I believe otherwise. What most people forget is that humans group together memories and past experiences to shape the way they interpret the world and approach decision making. Association is another component of genres. Linking memories or previous information has not only allowed humans (and other animals) to adapt and evolve, but is a safety mechanism as well. If we didn’t use association and grouping to create genres, then essentially it would be hard for any person to master one task. In the context of literature, genres have helped us choose categories that are of interest and the reader has prior experience and knowledge on the subject. So if someone were well versed in the Renaissance they wouldn’t have difficulty understanding related topics or new information on the subject. If someone was more interested in the genre of Science Fiction you could assume certain concepts or the language used would be difficult to understand or would be relatively uninteresting. What we expect to find in a particular genre is called genre conventions. Genre can affect the form, structure, style, and content of literature (englishbiz). Genres essentially are shortcuts our minds use in order to categorize and use past experience to interpret what we are reading. Genres lead to expectations of what your going to read which then develop into a trust (englishbiz). Therefore these categorizations are much deeper and important than most realize.

Genre Creates Catarogies:          

 In the context of blogs, genres are extremely vital. Since a blog is expressing your personal opinion it is important to be able to quickly distinguish a genre or theme of the topic. It is important to do this so that your argument and thoughts are cohesive. Otherwise your blog might sound like a long rant or word vomit. In writing and literature it is important to be able to speak to your audience and connect with them. By being well versed in a particular genre you have inside knowledge and experience to write to your target audience. We live in the age of the “blogosphere” and where the Internet is becoming the largest tool for networking, information sharing, and of course opinions. In order to be able to navigate through countless blogs and posts, genres can help categorize posts so that endless searching will not be required. Genres can also help blogs allow readers to scan through the information to find the key concepts. It’s also important to understand that genres can be an important tool for attracting a particular audience, but the writer does not need to center their entire content over it. Great writing, particularly in blogs incorporates a genre and then explores new ideas as well.

Evolving Way to Connecting and Sharing:

            Blogs are becoming a genre of their own because they are a new form of literature in the online world, and over time have grown into great popularity. Blogs are considered a genre of their own because they are relatively different than websites and other networking sites. This is largely due to blogs being very personal. A blog is collection of someone’s’ thoughts and opinions expressed on the Internet for a mass amount of people to see. Blogs became popular so quickly because it allowed people with similar interests to comment on topics of interest or send readers to other places on the web to further their searches. It’s another sign of the expansion of the Internet and media. People want access to information at the click of the button, and answers to follow that click, so blogs provide the solution. Blogging is now connecting people through the Internet and new communities of like-minded thinkers are formed. “Because the personal form of the blog is what seems to both motivate and satisfy the readers and writers of blogs and thus to have particular evolutionary survival value, we expect that the generic exigence that motivates bloggers is related less to the need for information than to the self and relations between selves” (blog). Just as literature started as a way to inform, then transformed to a way to connect with people, so did blogging. It began as a way of information sharing and sure enough led for a way for people to interact and connect. After all human beings strive to connect with one another and to find others with similar interests. The genre of blogging is quickly the biggest form of networking and information and I believe it will be the number one way to do so in the next couple of years. Who knows with the emergence of blogging and the growing popularity surrounding it, newspapers and the opinion columns will continue to diminish and the Internet will be the sole source of information and communication.

How to Connect on Blogs:

Articles: 

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/blogosphere/blogging_as_social_action_a_genre_analysis_of_the_weblog.html

http://www.englishbiz.co.uk/popups/genre4.htm

Invest in School

        Finance is a every important aspect of every individuals life. Your finances can make you or break you when applying for a job, loan, and many other important things. I believe that one should understand their finances from a young age. The article I choose was one that was about a program called, 'Invest in Girls." I choose this article because I liked the message it was trying to persuade. This is because they were starting a program that taught the subject of finance to young middle school girls. In the program the girls  learned about stocks, investments, financial services and many other important aspects in the industry. I wish when I were younger they had a program similar to this because, I could have gotten a head start on my knowledge of finance. I would also be more knowledgeable about the subject that is very important in making everyday decisions. The first time I ever learned about stocks were in my senior year of high school. This was in my economics class, we were all give one thousand imaginary dollars to invest in stocks. My stocks came out to give me a negative number. Instead of making money I was losing it. If I had started learning about finance in middle school I would have probably done good and most likely better than any other student in the class. So why don't we have this education start earlier in student lives is a question. It was also interesting how the article thought that learning the jargon of finance was important to young girls. This was because it would help them further themselves as future business professionals. Overall this program would be beneficial to any young child and therefor, i'd like to see it expand to every school.

Article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/30/your-money/investing-in-girls-gives-close-up-view-of-finance.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0