Month: December 2013

Life is wonderful

Published by Anna Kazakova

I ran away from cold Sweden to warm and sunny Spain and find myself on one of the Canary Islands for Christmas. I took a friend with me and now everyday is characterized by sleeping, eating, laying on the beach and reading, reading, and more reading. Massage, detox, fresh sea air, meditations and yoga in the mornings at the beach, power walking in the evening… Diving with beautiful fish. I left my computer at home on purpose and took paper books, audio books and beautiful bikinis instead 😉 This picture, full of inspiration, is a special gift for Life as an Investment readers. Merry Christmas! Love,  Norda.

Christmas is coming…. and again about spending habits

Published by Anna Kazakova

 A special for you today with some tips on how to avoid debt hole after Christmas celebration, how to manage your fears, think wisely and make good presents without great expenses.   All cultures have different traditions of celebrating Christmas. Even the days differ: Swedes celebrate the 24th of December, USA and UK on 25 th, Russia and Greece go nuts as usual and celebrate on 6th and 7th of January. The traditions of giving the presents on Christmas also vary.  While Swedes are very overly generous when distributing Christmas presents compared to other countries, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) recently published an article about the dangerous situations that arise as a result of giving gifts in the Christmas spirit.  The following quote stuck out to me especially:  “20% of people, according SvD, are ready to take a credit in the bank to buy Christmas presents.” Idiots! (It makes me angry! I simply cannot tolerate stupidity). I have nothing against generosity, but I have a lot of against the stupidity of people that allows them to  put themselves into debt hole.  All because of certain …

Embracing failure at TEDx Stockholm

Published by Anna Kazakova

This Thusday  TEDx Stockholm was holding an event “Embracing failure” in the heart of Östermalm at Grev Turegatan 30. Life as an Investment visited this event in order to get some new viewpoints on the “failure” from very inspiring speakers: Johan Ernst Nilson –  “environmental explorer”, Tor Rauden Källstigen -CEO & Founder of Loopcam and Mona Sahlin a former Minister of Labor and Deputy Prime Minister in Sweden. All the speakers had something to say and share but the most memorable, logical and clearly formulated points were by Johan Ernst Nilson. Here are some notes that were taken during his speech: 1. Always define your goals. There is very thin line between your dreams and your goals. By giving your dreams a definition, they became goals, and therefore they become achievable. 2. Learn from other people’s mistakes. It is cheaper, easier and less painful. 3. Postpone the success for the later time. If you did not achieve the goal today as you planned, tell yourself, “I have not lost; I just postponed the result I want till the later …

Spending habits….. part two

Published by Anna Kazakova

It seemed to be much easier to describe bad spending habits than to write an article about how to change them. And it is quite clear why: many people have these bad spending habits, but the correct way to change them varies individually. 1. Parents’ example. If you spend the way you spend because of your parents and their example and you are 19 at that time – it is okay. But if you are 30 and you are still blaming your parents for your bad habits – it is your choice to do so!  You can choose to blame them until the end of your life, instead of sitting down and writing a list about what they did with their assets, what you think they did wrong and why.  Put that list on the door so it will be the last thing you see  before leaving your home on the way to work every day.  Promise to yourself to never return to your old spending habits.  You might also need to go to psychotherapist and talk with …