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How Do I Start Saving?
By: Lavanya Podcast
Tags: Saving Money, Money Management, Money, Saving

Photo by Micheile Henderson on Unsplash

Most people feel that the hardest thing about saving is getting started. This is kindly true since saving is part of the habit, and it is not easy to start a new habit consistently especially if we have never done it before.

However, no matter how difficult it is, we must start to realize that it is very important to start saving. There are many benefits that we will get from saving, for instance like it can protect us from an event of financial emergency, control consumptive behaviour, as the beginning step to reach financial freedom, etc.

Here are some tips you can do to start your saving journey:

1. Records all the expense daily

At first, it may sound overwhelming and tiring to keep track of all our daily expenses. However, by recording all expenses, we can know how much we spend on average each week or month. In addition, we can also find out our consumption limit. Like when we are tempted to buy tertiary goods. Only by looking at the financial records (which shows that we already spent quite a lot today), we will be encouraged not to buy those tertiary goods.

2. Decide your priority

Every time we want to spend money, it is a good idea to first determine the priority scale of the items we want to buy. We can ask ourselves, do we really need this item or not. Do not let our money be spent on items that will just be a pile without any value and benefit.

3. Prepare two bank accounts

To support our savings, we should choose our saving platform. This can be done by having at least two bank accounts. By separating the savings from the money we use for daily needs, it can prevent the savings from being used.

4. Save in the early of the month

Many people think to save at the end of the month. The fact is that many will fail because the money will run out first, especially if we still cannot control our expenses properly. Now is the time for us to make saving a priority by having regular savings at the beginning of the month or every time we just get money. Like the previous tips for having two bank accounts, we can immediately transfer the money to a bank account that we create for our saving.

5. Be aware of self-reward

After successfully doing difficult work, we definitely want to give a form of appreciation to ourselves. It, of course, is allowed in order to love ourselves more. But self-reward can also be something ‘tricky’ because many of us will overuse the word self-reward when in fact we are just being consumptive people with great desire to buy everything we want. So, be wise when defining self-reward.

Of course we need money to save, especially with an amount that is more than what we spend. However, the success of saving is not about how much we earn, but how wisely we use the money. We can still save as long as we are aware and make saving a priority. Otherwise, no matter how much we earn, if we cannot control our finances properly then we will still run out of money.

-Northern Ingo-
Are We Really Saving Enough In A Pandemic?
By: Shivangi Agrawal
Tags: Self Improvement, Personal Growth, Saving Money, Life Lessons, Finance

Source: BloombergOpinion

Large numbers of households are extremely vulnerable to the economic downturn. It is alarming how little the households save in such times of emergencies. This lack of saving is also one of the major reasons for bad debt. According to my observation, in India even with the income shocks a lot of people still favour premium products. People are reluctant to compromise on their quality of life rather than achieving financial security. This results in a major challenge to encourage and increase savings. Is life really unpleasant without a daily consumption of Starbucks latte or pre-orders of luxury brands?

People may differ. For instance, a group I was in conversation with responded, “it brings me happiness and I can afford it, so why not?” However, I argue that disciplined frugality may be a way of life. Isn’t a simpler life a richer one?

Interventions such as Education and Awareness have failed to provide a lasting effect and are very expensive. One of the most cost-effective measures that tend to get neglected is Nudge. Nudge, as described by Richard Thaler is a concept that “predictably alters people’s behaviour without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.” One way to nudge and positively reinforce desired behaviour of savings is through Social norms.

Social norms strongly influence our decision-making. Thus, this measure is not only progressive, and effective but also has a greater and lasting impact on people. The characteristics of Social Norm nudging are Imitation (If most of my peers are doing it then it might be a sensible move) and willingness to Conform (the feeling of guilt and shame for not following the herd).

This is an opportune occasion to learn from your neighbours and peers and reset life to its bare essentials. With limited resources, it may be crucial to not squander but identify opportunity cost. If the purchase is profitless with low impact on your happiness, then best to eliminate it. I understand calculating the smallest of expense may be mentally exhausting, but isn’t frugality a commendable quality to have especially in times like these? Isn’t it crucial to ask whether less is more? As Warren Buffett very rightly quotes, “if you buy things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need.” Perhaps an important trait of being rich is to save a lot.

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Our 5 tips for saving
Tags: Saving Money, Savings Plan, Money, Saving

We know you have heard so many tips on how to save: put together a budget, stop spending here or there, save every month, and the list goes on and on.

We thought we should also share something with you. Something more practical and which we believe will actually HELP.

Here goes…

1. Have a target in mind

Saving towards a specific amount, event or goal puts things in focus. Its like a compass guiding you to your destination. Think of the reward that your goal will bring and use this to always motivate yourself

2. Automate your savings

You can easily forget or get tempted not to save, if you have to manually move money into your savings account every time. Using a platform like Savebox will help you automate and control your savings.

3. Do it your own way

Set out how to reach your target your own way. Many institutions tend to dictate how much you must save each month to reach your target. In many cases, this may not work for you. With Savebox, you have the flexibility to design your own savings plan and reach your target given your unique circumstances.

4. Celebrate your saving successes

Celebrate each time you reach a savings target or goal. This will motivate you to save for the next goal. Sharing your savings journey with close family and friends will help set a positive example and also motivate them to do the same.

5. Just start

The most important tip of all. Just start with your first savings. Even if it’s a small commitment, this will eventually become a habit. Yesterday was the best day to start and today is the next best day.
Your New Plan for unpredicted times…
By: Hani The Honey
Tags: Stretegy, Saving Money, Money Making Ideas, Money, Money Management

So much has changed since 2020.But in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, some things remain the same, including the need for smart money management. The start of the new year is an ideal time to revisit your financial goals and plans to ensure they work for you. No matter how the pandemic may have impacted your financial situation, consider taking these important steps now to maximize your money in 2021:

Avoid or pay off debt. Resolve to pay credit cards and other bills each month by spending within your limits.

Try to avoid taking on additional debt outside of a mortgage.

If you have debt, pay off the highest interest loans first, and also try to accelerate loan payments when you can.

Reducing debt is especially important as you approach retirement age.

Look for simple ways to save. Make saving a New Year’s resolution, especially this year, as the pandemic continues to affect the economy, and job stability may be less uncertain.In addition to setting aside part of a paycheck for saving, consider how little things you can do now can add up to savings later. For example, use ATM machines for your current banking institution, only to avoid usage fees charged at other banks, consider generic medications or prescriptions, which are often less expensive than “name brand” products, and use cash-back and rewards cards and apps to reduce expenses or to earn rewards on purchases.

Think retirement now. Even if you are early in your working life, it is never too soon to save for retirement. Don’t underestimate the power of compound interest: earning interest on your savings over many years is how you build wealth, and the sooner you start saving, the longer the time to compound your savings, and the more wealth you can build.

Resolve to maximize retirement savings through your employer and explore additional ways to save on your own.-

Set up a financial plan. Managing your money is easier when you have a plan. Resolve to consult a financial planner for guidance on how to get the most from your money to help ensure that you reach your financial goals and secure your financial future.
Credit Scores, Explained
By: Harikrishnan Mohan
Tags: Saving Money, Financial Planning, Finance, Credit Score

At some point in our life, you must have heard of “CIBIL Score”. We all know it is used to give us loans. But how does it work and how to improve it?

Before we go there, let’s get some details right. In India, the term “CIBIL Score” is used as a proxy for credit score. Credit Score is an indicator of how “credit-worthy” you are, so your credit score is evaluated before you get a loan.

These Credit Scores are generated by organizations called Credit Bureaus. In India, we have four major Credit Bureaus:

CIBIL Experian Equifax Highland

Out of the four, CIBIL is the oldest in India and the most popular. So people refer to credit score as their “CIBIL Score”. In reality, the company giving you a loan could use data from any bureau.

These Credit Bureaus have something called the Credit Report of the person. This credit report contains her personal information, loans taken to date, payment history, etc.

They then generate a “Credit Score” based on the credit report. This score is used by lending companies to give you loans.

Typically, a score greater than 700 is considered a good score across all bureaus.

How does it go down?

Credit Scores get reduced due to:

Late repayment of Loans and Credit Card Bills Reaching Credit Card limit frequently Multiple enquiries for Loan/Credit Card in a short period.

How to improve your credit score?

Ensure that you repay your EMIs and Credit Card bills on time. Try not to utilize greater than 30% of your credit limit per card. If required have multiple cards to ensure you stay within 30% utilization of each card.

TL;DR

A good credit score helps you get a loan at low rates of interest. So it becomes very important for you to ensure that your credit history is clean.

Use your credit card wisely and pay your dues on time. The rest will take care of itself.

If you have any doubts or any suggestions on what to write about next, drop a mail to hoomans@savemo.app. Or, you can slide into our DMs on Instagram(@savemo_in) or Twitter(@savemo_app).

Finance is not as complicated as they’d like you to think, so we’ll be putting out a post every week to help you understand the basic things you should know (No jargon, promise). Subscribe to our Newsletter to get them in your inbox.

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More power to you.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO IMPLEMENT MARKETING WITHOUT A BUDGET?
By: Creative Digital Agency
Tags: Digital Marketing, Business Development, Marketing, Marketing Strategies, Saving Money

Even though you may have a tight marketing budget you still can use plenty of different marketing tools.

1. Increase your social media presence. Social media is a free way to build your online community. You can do this by writing posts, streaming live video, or stories to talk about your company culture, encourage user-generated content, interact with your audience, and build your brand.

2. Implement content marketing. If you like writing you can start a blog or posting on social media. These are a great way to reach your audience and build organic traffic to your site. Also you can use this space to answer customer questions and gain leads.

3. Arrange collaborative giveaways. If you can use someone else’s audience to market your own, you should. It will help you to improve your brand reputation and reach an audience you might not have otherwise. At the end you will have more leads and followers than you had before.

4. Go public: produce your podcast, record a video, or organize a webinar. These are other cost-effective ways to reach your audience through sharing your experience and useful content. These content materials can be used to boost conversions, improve brand awareness, increase revenue, and establish yourself as an expert in your industry. Additionally, you can use them to gather leads and build your email list. You can promote all these materials through your own media channels.

5. Encourage user-generated content. User-generated content is usually a part of a crowdsourcing campaign when a company asks users to submit ideas or content they can republish. You also may ask your clients to submit photos of themselves using your product and a hashtag on it on social media. This can improve your online presence and reputation for free and help your team to make product and marketing decisions.

6. Offer a free trial period or 80% discount. While this might seem like a corporate or financial decision, offering a free trial period or a big discount are great marketing tactics. When you offer these you build trust with your customers and improve your brand reputation. It can help your customers to try your product and to experience how amazing it is. Even if you lose a few people after the trial or discount period, you may get valuable feedback.
The Power of $5
By: Julie Grandstaff
Tags: Saving Money, Small Steps, Money, Pay Off Debt

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

We tend to overlook the power of small steps. We want a magic bullet to somehow make us thinner, richer and more successful. But much of life is simply putting one foot in front of the other in the direction we want to go. If your financial goals seem out of reach, consider what you could do with just $5 a day.

If you could find $5 a day to save instead of spend, by the end of the month you would have $150. By the end of the year, you could have saved $1,800 toward an emergency fund or expenses that would have otherwise gone on your credit card.

If you used your $150 to contribute to your company retirement savings plan, and your employer matches your contribution, you could turn it into $300 a month just like that. In a year you would have contributed a total of $3,600 toward retirement.

A recent CNBC article highlights a survey done by Creditcards.com. In it they found 42 percent of those aged 18 to 37 don’t know when or if they will ever be able to pay off their debt, and 20 percent expect to die with it. The average non-mortgage debt was $36,000.

You could use your $150 to make an extra payment on your debt. If you add $150 to the current minimum payment and make the same payment every month going forward, you could have $36,000 of debt completely paid off in as little as three years, depending on your interest rate. Of course that assumes you stop adding to it.

Once your debt is gone, instead of making payments on it, you could work toward your other financial goals, like saving more for retirement, saving for your children’s education and other things that are important to you. If your $36,000 of debt is credit card debt, the minimum payment is over $800. With your extra payment, it’s $950. That is a lot of money that could be going toward all your other goals.

Where could you find $5? Most of us spend money on things that aren’t important to us. Did you eat take out lunch at your desk? If so, you probably don’t even remember what you had, and you could have saved $5 by bringing your lunch from home.

You might be able to shave $5 a day, or $35 a week, from your grocery bill by changing the store where you shop or shopping more carefully so you have less food waste. There might be a combination of things you could do, like changing your phone plan, getting rid of the gym membership you don’t use, and turning down the heat when you aren’t home.

It doesn’t seem like much money. Just $5 a day. But the impact can be so powerful. You can have more financial security and your big financial goals are within reach. You only have to take the first step, even if its a small one. Whatever you do is progress, and you may be able to do more in the future. It may not be a magic bullet, but it will do the trick.

For a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to building your own financial plan, pick up my book, “Save Yourself; Your Guide to Saving for Retirement and Building Financial Security”. It is now available on Amazon.
20 Easy Ways to Save More Money This Month
Tags: Saving Money, Budgeting, Personal Finance

A recent study found that 70% of UK employees reported being ‘chronically broke.’

By taking control of your finances, you’ll improve your mental well-being and increase your family’s sense of security. While managing money can be difficult for everyone, there are numerous tips to learn how to save more. Let’s get into some of the best strategies.

1. Create A Budget

One of the first steps towards saving more money is by identifying where your money goes each month.

Today, there are numerous software programs and applications, such as Mint or Personal Capitol, allowing you to sync your bank accounts and credit card information.

If you’ve never created a budget, the first step is simply identifying your spending habits. For example, what are your nonnegotiable purchases, such as insurance or mortgage, every month? After that, what does your discretionary spending look like?

2. Commit to Cooking

If you eat out for lunch or dinner every day, you can end up seriously overspending and blowing your monthly budget.

Cooking doesn’t need to be complicated. Many people benefit from meal prepping a few batch meals at the beginning of the week. They then portion out the food and either freeze or refrigerate it for later consumption.

This doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing choice. Dining out with friends and family can be an enjoyable experience. But, if you need to trim back on your expenses, consider how you can bring your own food.

You’ll probably end up eating much healthier, too.

3. Take Advantage of the Library

Did you know there are 4,145 public libraries in the UK alone? Library cards are free and they come with many benefits.

In addition to renting out books, many libraries also offer:

magazines

video games

DVDs and videos

newspapers

audiobooks

manuscripts

If you have children, this is a great resource for free entertainment.

If you’d like to know more there’s 17 more tips in our article on Ways to Save More Money
A simple way to get better Amazon search results
By: José Duarte
Tags: Search, Saving Money, Shopping, Ecommerce, Amazon

When you do a text search on Amazon, by default you’ll usually get suboptimal results. There’s an alternative, much better results page.

In this example, we’ll search for fire extinguishers. Here’s the default results page:

Notice the Fire Extinguishers section I’ve marked with an arrow on the left pane. You’ll often see this kind of thing — an official section that matches your search. What you want is that official section — it will give you the best results. But we’re not getting it yet. Let’s try clicking on it:

We’re almost there, but notice that Amazon is still running our search term even though we’re already on the official Fire Extinguishers section. We’re running a search for fire extinguishers in the official Fire Extinguishers section, which turns out to be suboptimal.

What we need to do is turn off that text search and just see the curated Fire Extinguishers section — this will give us much better results, as you’re about to see. There’s no X next to our search term to delete it, so what you’ll want to do is go into the search box and just delete “fire extinguishers” or whatever you have in there, and then press Enter on your keyboard. This will produce the curated Fire Extinguishers section:

Notice that we now have curated results, organized on useful criteria like Best sellers, Top rated (my favorite), and beyond what you see above, it will have Most wished for, Most gifted, Hot new releases, and Under $25.

I think these curated results — basically a well-organized storefront for each product category — are much better than the scattered results you get from a text search. It really helps to have the top rated products listed for you, as well as top sellers, lower priced, etc.

You’ll see the same phenomenon for lots of products and searches — toothbrushes, computer repair kits, men’s shaving lotion, women’s shaving lotion, etc. In all those cases, there will be an official section with curated results that you can get to following the steps above. Now, you can sometimes navigate to the section you want using the Amazon dropdown menu, if it’s something broad like Computers. But most of the time you probably won’t be able to navigate straight to the product categories you want. So do it this way and you’re golden.
grains
Tags: Saving Money, Rice, Oats, Cooking

Grains are an important part of a balanced meal (despite the hype and marketing around Atkins, keto, and other low carb diets). They are also very cost effective when compared to other ingredients.

rice. we buy rice in bulk (20–50 lbs) from the local Asian market. using our rice cooker, we can cook a batch in 30 min, which makes for a quick meal even with little preparation. when buying in bulk, the cost of rice is approximately $0.50/lb. cooking the rice, our cost per meal for the rice is approximately $0.05 per person.

steel cut oats. while generally people have oats only in the morning, steel cut oats are also very nutritious and goes well with any meal of the day. and while oats for breakfast are paired with sweet condiments (sugar, honey), savory oats are also very tasty. they even make a great substitute for arborio rice to make risotto! to cook steel cut oats, we use our pressure cooker, which can can cook a batch in 20 min (heat up, 11 min pressure, quick depressurize). in our neighborhood, there’s a bulk food store which sells Bob’s Red Mill steel cut oats for $19 for 25 lbs. This translates to less than $0.10 per person per meal. Amazon carries the same Bob’s Red Mill 25lb for $51, Honeyville 50lb for $69, Pure Organics 5lb for $17. ultimately, still a very cost effective option
4 simple saving solutions to help you stay solvent and stress-free
By: Helen Wallace
Tags: Freelancers, Freelance, Saving Money, Freelancing, Money

Joslyn at Pexels

One of the biggest things preventing people from taking the solopreneur plunge or cutting their freelancing career short is because of money. While freelancing can be a fun and flexible career path, it can also be inconsistent. Some months you might yourself rolling in cash…

… while others might have you looking through every pocket in your clothing collection, hoping to come across some coins you may have forgotten. In fact, according to SA Freelance Media Industry and Rates Report 2018/2019, which was conducted and compiled by SAFREA last year, indicated that rates and payment issues were among the top five challenges facing freelancers. If you often find yourself pinching your pennies, here are four simple saving tips to keep you solvent as a solopreneur. You’re welcome!

1. Hold back on unnecessary spending

This might be stating the obvious, but if you want to save more of the money you have, you need to spend less of it. But this is often easier said than done! What might make it easier is remembering that freelancers have no fixed income or company benefits, so it’s wise to funnel money away into a savings account for household or medical emergencies which will, at some point, arise.

2. Stay on top of your taxes

Dealing with taxes is another area in which many freelancers struggle, mainly due to lack of understanding as well as the complicated and mind-numbing admin that comes along with it. But staying on top of yours can actually be of financial benefit in the long run, as you will be able to claim back for work-related expenses, such as your work-from-home office space and equipment.

3. Create new budgets monthly

Just as your income as a freelancer is likely to have some months be more lucrative than others, life has a way of making some months more expensive than others, such as the sudden onset of sickness or a burst bathroom pipe. This is why creating a new budget ahead of each month is a good idea, as it will give you an overview of any upcoming expenses as well as incoming money.

4. Download a financial app

It’s 2020, and there are plenty of apps on the market that can make managing your money a whole lot easier. And Guild is one of them. Guild is totally free and allows you to sync your profile with your bank account, get an overview of your business and personal finances (making tax season a breeze!) and generate professional invoices and quotes to send to clients from your dashboard.
Millennials, 3 first steps to your financial fresh start
By: K. Aaron
Tags: Millennials, Fintech, Personal Finance, Investing, Saving Money

3. Open your first investment account

I know what you’re thinking — easy there cowboy, you got me to open a new checking and a new savings account, and now you're assuming that I’ve got a pile of extra cash I can now use for investing?

Plus, isn’t investing for rich people? (kidding here, but you get my point)

You’ve probably said this exact phrase “I should invest”.

Well let’s not build Rome in a day here, but let us lay the first brick of our future kingdom by opening an investment account.

Don’t worry about what to invest in or even having extra money to use for now.

One last time, you can read why here [3 investment accounts that you need now — link], but I recommend that you use a Fidelity individual investment account (temporarily until Robinhood adds fractional share purchasing and hopefully mutual funds).

I would like to have recommended Robinhood outright, but they still need to add the few crucial aspects I mentioned. The other concern to look out for these guys is the classic case of being valued at billions of dollars and then morphing into “just another brokerage” without any new innovation, it happens people. (here’s a link to them anyway)

Until that day comes, Fidelity will do just fine for you.
Thinking Of Upgrading Your Devices? Ask Yourself These 3 Questions First.
By: Eric Kert
Tags: Devices, Saving Money, Minimalism, Money, Technology

Can I afford it?

This is a bar you should be setting for yourself whenever you are about to make a ‘non-essential’ purchase. If you’re in credit card debt or living paycheck to paycheck it’s probably not the best time to spend $1000+ on a new phone. Your phone upgrade is not an essential — getting out of debt and paying off your credit card bill and starting a retirement account — those things are. So, if you’re not doing great financially maybe suck it up for a couple more years until you get yourself in a better financial standing.

How is my current device holding up?

If you do have the money, the next question to ask is ‘How is my current device holding up?’. There is a time/frustration correlation — the amount of time you can deal with a slow functioning, highly frustrating device before your reach a breaking point. At this point you can consider upgrading. In many cases you can save money by fixing small things like swapping the battery or broken screen or replacing the foam on your earphones instead of buying another pair completely.

Is the difference worth it?

When considering an upgrade it’s good practice to think — are the features worth it and is there an actual difference between one phone and the next. In many cases from year to year that might not really be the case. Over the course of about 3 year, you can start to notice some significant improvements. Two major factors to look for are the screen and the camera. Face detection and thumbprints might not be such important components. We all have different factors we look for depending on how we use our phones.
Payment Due
By: Adam Taneski
Tags: Credit Cards, Covid 19, Personal Finance, Saving, Saving Money

If you’re anything like me, this month’s credit card bill is WAY down. All this staying at home business means my pay check is actually sticking around in my bank account for longer!

And yes, I’m thankful that for now, I still have my job.

From a financial perspective, it’s great. I’m spending way less and saving way more. It begs the question though, when we’re clear of this pandemic, will my spending go back to normal? Sure there’ll be an initial snap back when we’re re-released into the wild and able to live a little larger than normal but what about after that?

Maybe the question isn’t “ will” my spending go back to normal but “ should” my spending go back to “ normal “?

I’m currently living off way less than I normally do. And, it’s not that bad. I’m not saying that I’ll never need to leave the house again but are there some things I don’t need?

Eating out at restaurants and going to concerts and travelling are my favourite things but you know what, if I did them a little less and lived off less money I could probably be just as happy and in a much better financial position… and headspace.

The global economy is built on perpetual growth and people consuming more and more.

It’s why corporations are always trying to sell you more things. It’s why we have planned obsolescence. That’s what’s best for the economy… but is that what’s best for you? I don’t think it’s best for me.

Pay attention to your needs and habits in this locked-down period of your life and let it help you figure out what you need post-lockdown. One of my goals for the post-Rona world is simple, it’s to lower my credit card bill, because I don’t actually need that new jacket.
Froogal Mafia: Building Millionaires
By: K. Aaron
Tags: Fintech, Millionaire, Saving Money, Wealth, Retirement

The prior generation is f*cked. It’s time for a millennial millionaire uprising.

In the most reductionist framing possible, you either are working towards being a millionaire or you gave up.

The latter is likely because you grew up (or currently still live) around people who would rather b*tch about how hard it is to save money than actually save money.

If I’ve just described you, and you're not extremely old, you still have a shot, my friend. If you are extremely old, do the next generation a favor and continue to ramble on and on at all family gatherings about how easy millennials have it and how poorly the youths are doing at (insert literally any activity here, but money is a classic). Everyone loves that uncle/aunt. Nothing screams like the financial voice of reason more than someone who has lived an entire life and has zero savings to show for it.

If you still are fighting for the 7-figures, let’s get to work.

Froogal is here. More specifically, www.froogal.us is here (there are a few knockoff companies out there that are using the name “Froogal” as well, feel free to tweet/message them to cut the sh*t and change their name).

Froogal was founded by yours truly (Kale) and my lifelong friend, Nick Habib.

Now we’ve come a long way since we started this thing back in 2019, but a few things haven’t changed at all:

Total disdain for all things “traditional banking”

Completely fed up with consumer exploitation by every single old financial institution

Zero desire to follow the pack of overpaid clowns

Absolute desire to spark a millennial millionaire movement (retire early, start trouble, whatever — your time is your own once you are no longer shackled by money needs)

We want you, and ourselves, to beat the “house”. It’s rarely described as such, but banking has always been a “the house always wins” type structure where you go home (if you have a home considering this house also probably owns your house) sad, distraught, and way worse off than when you first started (i.e. when you opened the ol’ checking & savings accounts at a JP Fargo of America — type bank).

A quick caveat, not all banks (but almost all) are like this and some truly do serve their communities and customers incredibly well. I cannot describe the joy of encountering these institutions in my line of work as humanity has all but left the industry.

This starts by getting your savings the f*ck out of large banks (or the small, useless banks that underpay/underserve you) and then planning your path (life events/goals) to becoming a millionaire.

All of this is possible now that we have Froogal.
Why I don’t like Mother’s Day
By: Usha Rajak
Tags: Mothers Day, Mothers

Why I don’t like Mother’s Day

Human society glorifies mothers and I do not like it. Mothers are just people, who by chance happened to be in a relationship with their particular offsprings. The “sacrifices” she makes is just actions set in her by nature, a.k.a. maternal instinct. She goes beyond herself to nurture and provide for her child for she is built for it. Just like a father is built by nature to protect and provide.

I can say so because I’m a mother. Tested and tried. All the glorified actions comes to me by nature. Nothing special about it. Also, not all mothers are the same: there’s a certain standard every mother has to meet to equal this “celebrity mother” of Gorky, of Deewar (Bollywood film), of Aama (recent Nepali film). And it’s sad.

There’s this pressure each mother has on her because of this glorification, which as a result creates problems between a mother and a child in the long term. Love between the two, which is to happen naturally, is then polluted because of this pressure to meet this unprecedented standard of a “perfect mother” the society has created.

It’s ok for a child to appreciate a mother, for as a child I’ve felt it too: it’s nice to be related by this profound bonding energy with another human. Yet glorification and over-sensitising ruins the way for unadulterated love, for a mother is trapped in the expected idolatry, along with the child. The result of this suffocation is seen much later, how (generally) disdained their relationship becomes as the mother weakens with age and child now becomes an adult equipped with power of freedom and financial independence. Example of severe proofs are old age homes and streets filled with “discarded” mothers.

Also, every time a mother is hyped, a father is under appreciated. Where all aspects of the society requires positive discrimination, this sector requires for us to tilt towards idolising fathers a little more. Masculism.

Basically: let us mothers be. Don’t worship our statues, don’t write elaborated poems for us, don’t sell our emotions in mass media like movies and books.

All this so that we can actually love you. Without pressure, without manipulation, despite the maternal instinct.

#MothersDaySaga

Pic: Me and my daughter Luna. 2013. By Ganga Sagar Rai
Journey through COVID-19 RSNA Papers
By: Shadi Albarqouni
Tags: Radiology, Covid 19, Machine Learning, Medical Imaging, Deep Learning

CT Imaging features

Key CT findings have been studied and investigated by Guan et al. [10] in a large cohort of 1099 patients with confirmed COVID-19, and Chung et al. [1] in a group of 21 patients infected with COVID-19 in China. Their key results that the majority of RT-PCR confirmed patients (some are asymptomatic) show typical CT findings such as the presence of bilateral ground-glass opacities (GGO) and/or consolidation, with a rounded morphology and a peripheral lung distribution (cf. Fig.1). In another cohort of 104 patients, from the cruise ship “Diamond Princess”, Inui et al. [4] have reported similar findings of lung opacities and airway abnormalities in both asymptomatic and symptomatic cases. In addition to the key characteristics of peripheral GGO, Caruso et al. [7] have also observed an association with sub-segmental vessel enlargement (> 3 mm) in his cohort of 158 participants from Italy (cf Fig.2).

Fig.1: Image adopted from Chung et al. [1]

Of 21 patients with the 2019 novel coronavirus, 15 (71%) had involvement of more than two lobes at chest CT, 12 (57%) had ground-glass opacities, seven (33%) had opacities with a rounded morphology, seven (33%) had a peripheral distribution of disease, six (29%) had consolidation with ground-glass opacities, and four (19%) had crazy-paving pattern. [1]

Fig.2: Image adopted from Caruso et al. [7]

Surprisingly, 14% of the patients (3 out of 21), studied by Chang et al. [1], show negative CT findings in their initial chest CT scan. Follow-up scans, however, show rounded peripheral ground-glass opacity (cf. Fig.3). Xie et al. [3] and Caruso et al. [7] have also reported similar percentages of 4% (7 out of 167), and 3% (2 out of 62), respectively, of their cohorts who show no findings in their initial CT scans.

Fig.3: Image adopted from Chung et al. [1]

Contrary, Xie et al. [3] found out that 3% of their cohort (5 out of 167), who had initially negative RT-PCR, show positive Chest CT with similar findings of viral pneumonia reported by Chung et al. [1] (cf Fig.4). A few days later, and after repeated swap tests, the RT-PCR had become positive. This has been. also confirmed in another cohort, reported by Fang et al. [8], where the percentage was around 29% (15 out of 51).
Lockdown — Lets Watch (22/04/20). Lets Watch!
By: Lee Wilson
Tags: TV, Films, Movies, Lockdown

Lets Watch!

Deathgasm! (£1.99 Rental Youtube / Google / Amazon)

If they gave out oscars for wonderfully silly old school comedy horrors — and they should — then this would have won, hands down. What do you want from a old style comedy horror? Nudity? — It has a little. Violence? — shit loads. Laughter? — If you do not laugh at the syphoning scene then I am afraid you have no sense of humour and you should quit now.

Two teenage goth misfits find each other over the record collection at a local shop and hit if off straight away. Both having a love of metal they form a band with a couple of classmates. Discovering some old music they play it only to bring about the end of the world.

All Hail Satin!

Supernatural (Amazon Prime)

Supernatural started out life a decade and a half ago as a pretty normal monster of the week type show. There are two brothers (hunters) who hunt monsters whilst looking for their father. It has now been running for fifteen years and was one of The CWs biggest shows, it had little love in the UK. It is ending this year and recently amazon prime picked up the previous series. The later series have descended a little into a parody of itself but the first five still have some great stories to tell. You name it and from a monster point of view they have probably covered it. Just from a storytelling perspective some of the one off episodes are great but then you have the fact that it can be incredibly aware of itself. There is an episode later on where they end up at a Supernatural Fan Convention with fans asking questions such as “You are always dropping you guns, why don’t you put them on a bungie or something”

Lucifer & iZombie (Lucifer S1–3 Prime S4 — Netflix | iZombie — Netflix)

I’ve put these two together for a few reasons. Firstly the premise is similar procedural cop show with a twist. Ones the devil, ones is a zombie, duh. It would actually be more shocking to see a cop show without a twist, but hey ho. Secondly they both started around the same time and finally I had absolutely fuck all interest in either of them when they first started. How very wrong I was. They are both very funny, sometimes even laugh out loud funny. Both work the same was for most of the run. Body gets found, gotta work out who did it etc… Lucifer can find out what anyone desires so he uses that to solve crimes. Liv eats brains and gets flashes of the victims life. If you have not laughed in the first episode of each then they are not for you, you boring boring grumpy sods.
Netflix Review: My Next Guest Needs No Interruption W/David Letterman ft Kanye West
By: Raymond Mbifngwen
Tags: Netflix, Mental Health, Politics, TV, Kanye West

Source: Pinterest (Cover of his latest LP “Ye”, mentioning his mental health disorder)

Mental Health

Back to the interview in front of a live crowd, David asks about his latest LP called Ye, wondering about the artwork mentioning the effect of his mental health disorder. Ye explains this by telling the audience about how people with bipolar disorder have a ramp up cycle where when not medicated go erratic.

He humorously says “crazy” as the way TMZ describes it, but the undertone sounded like he didn’t like the word being associated with his disorder. And who can blame him? It’s nice to see David Letterman make jokes to make the interview more comfortable, but still doing it in a respectable manner.

Wondering how medication from a doctor vs weekly psychiatrist visits differ in results, and Kanye really brings a clear perspective about this whole outlook when in a hyper-paranoid state in his ramp cycle. Kanye says he’s been off medication for 8 months and get weekly visits instead. He says unfortunately if you’re a schizophrenic or someone with a really uncontrollable illness, then medication is what you need.

But he doesn’t advocate for it, just for extreme circumstances. It is also due to the fear of being drugged up and taking to the bed where you could be tied up and you lose access with everyone you knew. I thought this stuff was what you would hear from creators of fictional settings like Arkham Asylum, but to people like Kanye, they feel like this could happen in their everyday life. He then further proves my point about the crazy label.

He explains they try to write people off as crazy without examining what’s wrong with them. Kanye describes the brain as sprained when dealing with his illness, but people don’t characterize the brain as a muscle like an ankle sprain. They (critics, enemies, ignorant people) instead, keep making it worse without seeing that mental pain can hurt as much as physical pain. He speaks with such conviction and the same passion as he does when talking about his mom.

Examples Kanye gives out when David tries to not interject in order to not seem insincere was the way were bullied in society to think alike, do what we don’t like. Which makes sense why he has his appreciation with Trump because he doesn’t want to be with the norm of what the media is telling you to do. Yes, I don’t agree with Trump at all, but now I know why Kanye likes him. He literally says the words “I love to argue”, which can be seen as “I love to be different”. Being the opposite of what he thinks the media is loving is what he has been.
THE WORLD’S FASTEST 40W WIRELESS CHARGER (OPPO RENO ACE 2)
By: Chan Kulatunga
Tags: Wireless, Charger, Fastest, Colombo, Mobile

THE WORLD’S FASTEST 40W WIRELESS CHARGER (OPPO RENO ACE 2)

While we apparently have 30W wireless charging to look forward to on OnePlus’ next flagship phone, its sister company Oppo pulled a cheeky move earlier today by offering something more appealing. The freshly-announced Reno Ace 2 is the world’s first smartphone to support 40W wireless charging aka “AirVOOC,” which fully charges its 4,000mAh battery in 56 minutes via the optional wireless charger. Much like its non-5G predecessor (and the more recent Find X2 Pro), the phone also supports Oppo’s 65W SuperVOOC 2.0 wired fast charging, which takes charging time down to just 30 minutes.

Oppo

Save for its 10W reverse wireless charging feature, the Reno Ace 2 holds the fastest charging time for both wired and wireless amongst commercially available smartphones. The Huawei P40 Pro+ comes close with its own 40W wireless charging tech, but it only has up to 40W for wired charging; and besides, the phone won’t be available until June.

Just last month, Xiaomi demoed its own 40W wireless charging tech with a modified Mi 10 Pro (which originally does 30W), and its 4,000mAh battery apparently took just 40 minutes to be fully charged up. We shall see if Xiaomi can stay on track with its next major smartphone release.

Let’s not forget that there’s also Vivo’s “Wireless Super FlashCharge 60W” which may arrive later this year, though it’s unclear how fast it will be for a battery of the same size.

The rest of the Reno Ace 2 is very much a moderate flagship phone based on the increasingly common Snapdragon 865 platform. Starting off with the display, this device comes with a 6.5-inch FHD+ AMOLED panel featuring 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+ certification and a 16-megapixel punch-hole camera. This is all sandwiched between Dolby Atmos stereo speakers. Alas, the headphone jack is gone this time.

As for the rear cameras, we’re looking at a 48-megapixel f/1.7 main shooter with a Sony IMX586 sensor, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and two gimmicky 2-megapixel special effects cameras — one for vintage portraits and one for light leak effects.

Oppo

The Reno Ace 2 comes in grey, silver or purple, and much like how its predecessor got a Gundam edition, this time we can expect an Evangelion special edition in the near future. For now, the phone starts at 3,999 yuan or about $570 for 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 3.0 storage, then capping at 4,599 yuan or about $650 for 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB storage. As for the optional AirVOOC wireless charger (which doubles as a 10W Qi charger), it’s asking for 249 yuan or about $35. Pre-orders are already open in China ahead of the April 20th launch.

This article first appeared on Engadget