Be Money Aware

Bemoneyaware wishes its readers healthier, wealthier, happier you in the New Year! This article talks about ways to have more love, better health, great career and more wealth, so that it can be your very best year ever.  It also talks about Why is New Year on 1 Jan? Why does Start of the New Year have special significance?

Why is New Year on 1 Jan?

New Year is the time at which a new calendar year begins and the calendar’s year count increments by one. It may seem obvious that the first day of January marks the beginning of the year it’s only been that way for a few centuries.  In the Gregorian calendar, the most widely used calendar system today, New Year occurs on 1 January. This was also the case both in the old Roman calendar and in the Julian calendar that succeeded it. Our article Why Feb has 28 days, Name of months and days talks about these calendars in detail.

The term calendar is taken from the calends, the term for the first day of the month in the Roman calendar, related to the verb calare to call out, referring to the calling or the announcement that the new moon was just seen. Latin calendarium meant “account book, register”, as accounts were settled and debts were collected on the calends of each month.

The Romans had a number of calendars, and the most notable one was the Julian calendar. The Roman calendar was reformed by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE.  The Gregorian calendar, named after Pope Gregory XIII, was introduced by Vatican as a refinement of the Julian calendar in 1582 and is today in worldwide use as the de facto calendar. While the Gregorian calendar is now in worldwide use for secular purposes, various medieval or ancient calendars remain in regional use for religious or social purposes, including the Julian calendar, the Hebrew calendar, the Islamic calendar, various Hindu calendars, the Zoroastrian calendar etc. Wikipedia article History of calendars and The History of the Western Calendar talk about the various calendars.

During the Middle Ages in western Europe, while the Julian calendar was still in use, authorities moved New Year’s Day variously, depending upon locale, to one of several other days, among them: 1 March, 25 March, Easter, 1 September, and 25 December. Beginning in 1582, the adoptions of the Gregorian calendar and changes to the Old Style and New Style dates meant the various local dates for New Year’s Day changed to using one fixed date, January 1.

Our modern celebration of New Year’s Day stems from an ancient Roman custom, the feast of the Roman god Janus, God of doorways and beginnings. The name for the month of January also comes from Janus, who was depicted as having two faces. One face of Janus looked back into the past, and the other peered forward to the future. Astronomically Earth is always closest to the sun in its yearly orbit around this time. This event is called Earth’s perihelion. The word perihelion is from Greek, peri meaning near, and helios meaning sun.

Why does Start of the New Year have special significance?

At one second past midnight on January 1, the day changes, usually an unremarkable transition of no special significance. But somehow we feel that this change, which will end one year and begin the next, is different. Why does the start of the new year carry such special symbolism?

The celebration part is obvious: As our birthdays do, New Year’s day provides us the chance to celebrate having made it through another 365 days. But what about those resolutions? Aren’t they about survival, too—living healthier, better, longer? New Year’s resolutions are examples of the universal human desire to have some control over what lies ahead because the future is unsettlingly unknowable. Just like our birthdays, this unique tick of the clock prompts us both to celebrate and to step outside the day-to-day activity we’re always so busy with—to reflect, to look back, take stock, assess how we did, and resolve to do better going forward. Psychologytoday article Why We Really Celebrate New Year’s Day discusses it in detail.

How to have a Great Year?

As Shahrukh Khan, as Dr. Jehangir Khan in Dear Zindagi, reminded us “Albert Einstein says pagal vo hota hai jo har roz same kaam karta hai, magar chahta hai natija alag ho“. Albert Einstein had said Insanity:  is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Take time to think Where are you heading? Are the actions you are taking right now, today, taking you where you want to go? Take the time to get in touch with yourself, your passions in life. Your happiness depends upon it.

New Year is all about the new beginning, the new desires, and new thoughts. At the beginning of January everyone always seems to be bombarded with the idea of starting afresh. New year is the year to start a new diet, start a new hobby, learn a new language, save money, do more exercise… etc. etc. At the start of a new year, we are sharing ways to have more love, better health, great career and More wealth, so that it can be your very best year ever. And Don’t Let The Past Blackmail Your Present To Ruin A Beautiful Future. This is from Times of India article Forget the same ol’ resolutions. All you need is this game plan

Have a Year full of LOVE

Love, and we don’t mean just romantic love, makes the world go round. Partner, spouse, parents, children, friends, colleagues, even acquaintances — every relationship has an impact on you. In fact the quality of your relationships has a direct impact on the quality of life you lead.

2016 Review

• How much effort have put into your relationships? For anything to bear fruit, it takes work. Are you doing your bit?
• Identify toxic relationships: Any relationship that has a negative impact on your mental and emotional health or have emotionally drained you over the last year should be marked and identified.
  Identify ‘unavoidable’ relationships and their impact on you: the ties you can’t get rid of can drain you unknowingly. Is it a family member? A boss. What can you do to fix it?

2017 Goals

• Prioritize the relationships in your life, and rate them on a scale of 10: You cannot give all of yourself to everyone. List out your most important relationship and set goals that will bring you closer.
• Set smart goals: The goals we make should resonate with the kind of person we are. Do you give too much of yourself? Then slow down and learn to receive as much as you give. Guilty of not doing enough? Promise to do one thing a day that makes a difference to a loved one.
• Make a choice when it comes to toxic relationships: You can try to work things out but there comes a point where you have to make a choice. Hold on? Or let go? Be honest to yourself and make a decision that helps you grow as a person.
• Offset negativity with positive energy: circumstances (like a work place) can bring people into your life who you could’ve lived without. Offset such negativity by spending more time with those who make you happy.
• Ask yourself three questions: When there is a conflict, ask ‘What did I do? What did they do? what did the situation do?’ Unless you have an honest answer for all questions, your perspective is wrong.

Have a Great LIFE this Year

Living a full life means more than just making money, getting a promotion or ticking off a to-do list. You need to ask yourself these questions and set these goals, to ensure a wholesome 2017.

2016 Review

• Did you spend enough time with yourself? This means, not only without friends and family around, it also means without gadgets.
• Did you have a healthy work-life balance in 2016? You need to assess if you are giving too much at work and are too drained out to be accessible to your family and friends.
• Have you spent any time assisting others? Be it people, animals, birds or even plants? Did you give back?
• How often did you ask yourself if a decision or a plan you made is going to enrich your life?
• Have you been overthinking and overanalyzing your life?

2017 Goals

• Spend 15 minutes daily with yourself. Just sit simply, or walk barefoot on grass or earth. Becoming aware of yourself is important
• Smile. No matter how trivial or big it may seem, a smile on another living being’s face uplifts our spirits much more than most other things.
• Learn to draw the line between office and home. This is easier said than done, but you need to make an effort in this direction. start by balancing one day at a time.
• In the new year, try to pause and stock of your decisions, life’s developments. Ensure that every move you make is towards improvement of your personal self and growth and not towards deterioration.
• Don’t analyse everything. Do not over think your life or the people around you. Radiate with unconditional love and everything will fall in place. This is the most important thing you can do.

Be Healthier This Year

Good health is everything… because all the money and success in the world cannot make you happy if you are not healthy. A checklist to help you have a healthy, happy 2017.
2016 Review

• Did you get a medical check-up? When did you last check your BP? How healthy is your heart? Health risks stay hidden till you visit a doc, so this is the first question to ask in a health review.
• Was exercise a part of 2016? Exercise has become synonymous with weight loss, but in reality, it is about making physical activity part of your daily life. Did you indulge in some form of physical activity every single day?
• Are you cheating on sleep?Did social media follow you to bed every night? If yes, you cheated on sleep this year, denying yourself the recommended rest required to rejuvenate your body and mind.
• Did you kill yourself in installments? There is no mild way to put it. Every cigarette and every drink is rushing your closer to death. So how much did you die in 2016?

2017 Goals

• Meet the doc: Don’t let year pass by without scheduling an appointment with your physician and finding out what tests needs to be done. Even if you feel healthy, get your BP, cholesterol level, blood picture, BMI checked. cervical smear test and breast cancer screening for women are a must.
• Get out, get fit: Start small. Start with walking or exercising for 10 minutes, but don’t let a day pass without some kind of activity.
• Sleep: Your body requires 7 to 9 hours of sleep per day. If you have sleep disorders, like insomnia or disturbed sleep, see a doctor immediately.
• Quit. Cleanse. Detox: If you are a smoker or indulge in alcohol, get working towards quitting right now. dump junk food.
• Destress: Stress kills. Try yoga and meditation or see a therapist.

Have a Fulfilling Career this Year

A lot of us go from one pay cheque to another, one-quarter to another without any real game plan. But that’s not how great careers are made. If you’ve been wondering why that promotion is so elusive or why you are so underpaid and overworked, or what else to do to break into the big league, then maybe it’s time to take stock of your journey so far.  A few tips
2016 Review

• Review your resume for your skill set: If you have forgotten to update that resume you wrote after your graduation, time to sit down for an upgrade.
• In the profession you are in, what are the types of tasks you aren’t picked for? They might point towards areas that you can improve and give you a chance to grow more.
• Who do you see as a competition — to rise above, not to defeat? Competition, when kept in healthy limits, can give you that extra motivation to do better.
• Are there any factors at work that affect your confidence? List them out and tackle them, one at a time.

2017 Goals

• Increase communication: Conversations with various people will increase your credibility at the work place.
• Add to your skill set: Take that course, nail that project, go for that conference — ensure everything you do adds to your CV.
• Identify your weak points, convert them into strengths: Speak to your manager and come up with a game plan to improve in areas that you are lacking. Review this quarterly.
• Change your attitude: Do not work for appreciation, work for improvement and accolades will follow. But to know how you can improve you have to first assess who or what you think is a challenge.
• Confidence stems from Within: No amount of approval from outside will help if you don’t believe in yourself. Focus on your capabilities and fine tune them.

For a Wealthier You This New Year

Money is not everything, but if you know how to make it and use it, it can surely bring you closer to a lot of things. Stability in the money department can translate into stability in a lot of other areas of life. After all, you need money for health care, for education, for fulfilling needs of loved ones. Don’t let another year go by being broke, or just getting by, only because you haven’t had the wisdom to plan.
2016 Review

• Has a lack of early conversations about investments diminished your prospects? Most families, especially in the middle and upper middle class, don’t speak about money at home. Most of us, therefore, grow up with the attitude that ‘money is bad’. That is the first step that everyone MUST review. Do you think money is bad?
• Have you started saving at all? Most people grow up thinking that saving is for retirement, and therefore the exercise of saving doesn’t begin until much later. All the 40 somethings, trace back to the time you started saving: Assess if you have reached a goal that you might have set for yourself when you began saving or investing.
• Reassess your portfolio: Is your money parked in an FD or an RD? Are you happy with that? Do you think you can afford to take a bit more risk, try mutual funds, equity or SIPs
• Reassess your life goals: Money isn’t for hoarding. Money is a means to enable your life goals. Review if your money is in a place where you can afford your dreams — be it a vacation or a house or a car.

2017 Goals

• I will write down my financial goals: This goes for both who have started saving/investing and those who haven’t begun. Write down your financial goals and the time frames you want to achieve them in.
• Start somewhere: For those who haven’t begun saving, start at even saving 100 rupees and for those who have been saving but not investing, it’s time to research into it.
• I will increase my financial knowledge: Dealing with finances smartly requires a lifetime of learning and unlearning. This process never stops. It helps to stay in touch with the developments and how to maximise your investments at all points.
• I will have regular conversations about money, saving and investing with my spouse, kids, and parents — all people for whom I feel financially responsible.
• I will protect all those people dependent on me: I will review my term insurance, medical insurance, and retirement and make sure it is up to date and adequate, and the nominees are current.

Related Articles:

• Why Feb has 28 days, Name of months and days
• Hindi movies and money
• DhanTeras : Myth Behind Celebrations
• Diwali, Lakshmi and Money

Do you think Like Birthday New year is overrated? Resolutions are meant to be broken? What do you think are ways to have a great life this year?  Share your Goals with us.