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7 ways to create realistic financial goals that you'll actually stick to

<p>Establishing robust financial habits not only fosters comfort but also alleviates anxieties about the road ahead. A positive change in our financial circumstances commences with a shift in our money mindset. When you shift to creating lasting change, you can achieve more than you believe is possible.  </p> <p>When creating financial goals that you’ll actually stick to, parallels can be drawn between achieving physical and financial fitness. Let’s take a look.</p> <ol> <li><strong>Precision in Goal Setting</strong></li> </ol> <p>Just like any other endeavour, the path to financial well-being requires setting clear objectives that are both quantifiable and feasible. Whether it's building an emergency fund or saving for a major purchase, your goals need to be well-defined and measurable. </p> <p>Just as a fitness regimen consists of various exercises targeting different muscle groups, your financial goals should cover different aspects of your financial life.</p> <ol start="2"> <li><strong>The Inaugural Step</strong></li> </ol> <p>The hardest part is starting – there will always be competing priorities.   Think of it as taking one step at a time.  Starting your financial goals might feel overwhelming due to competing priorities and uncertainties. </p> <p>Start small and build momentum gradually. Establish a budget, track your expenses, and save a modest amount regularly. </p> <ol start="3"> <li><strong>Avoiding Extreme Measures</strong></li> </ol> <p>Remember, lasting change comes from sustainable actions. Financial quick fixes like waiting for bonuses or tax returns won't foster healthy habits and can lead to financial fatigue. Instead, embrace gradual progress; small efforts compound over time. </p> <p>The allure of crash diets can be tempting, but they rarely yield lasting results. Instead, opt for consistent, manageable actions. Focus on building sustainable habits, like making regular contributions to savings or investments.</p> <ol start="4"> <li><strong>The Power of Knowledge</strong></li> </ol> <p>Equip yourself with information. Education is a powerful tool in achieving financial well-being.  Understanding the options available is pivotal to making informed financial decisions. Gain a comprehensive understanding of your financial options. </p> <p>Research investment opportunities and strategies that align with your goals. Knowledge empowers you to navigate the complex landscape of personal finance confidently.</p> <ol start="5"> <li><strong>Exploration of Strategies</strong></li> </ol> <p>Just as someone might prefer running over cycling, finding financial strategies that resonate with you enhances your chances of long-term success. Experiment with diverse approaches to identify what resonates best, reducing stress and enhancing commitment. </p> <p>Opt for strategies that resonate with your values, minimise stress and amplifying commitment.</p> <ol start="6"> <li><strong>Consistency </strong></li> </ol> <p>Success lies in cultivating steady habits over time, ensuring enduring benefits. Just as regular workouts lead to improved physical health, cultivating small, consistent financial habits over time leads to enhanced financial well-being. </p> <p>Set up automated transfers to savings accounts, make incremental increases in contributions, and avoid overspending.</p> <ol start="7"> <li><strong>Intermittent Rewards</strong></li> </ol> <p>Occasionally treat yourself.  Sporadic indulgences can enhance well-being and acknowledge hard-earned victories. Rewarding yourself for achieving financial milestones enhances your commitment and prevents financial fatigue. It's essential to strike a balance between frugality and enjoyment.</p> <p>By embracing these principles, we not only engineer realistic financial objectives but also cement a commitment to achieving them. That’s the key to lasting financial prosperity.</p> <p><strong><em>Amanda Thompson, author of Financially Fit Women, is a sought-after speaker and qualified financial adviser.  As the founder of Endurance Financial, Amanda is driven to support women to have a great relationship with money and own their own financial success. For more information visit <a href="http://www.endurancefinancial.com.au">www.endurancefinancial.com.au</a></em></strong></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Money & Banking

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Jane Fonda's "realistic" views on her own mortality

<p>Jane Fonda has revealed why she feels "ready" to die, just months after her cancer diagnosis. </p> <p>The 84-year-old actress said that people her age need to be “realistic” about their mortality, and should “be aware of the amount of time that is behind you as opposed to in front you”.</p> <p data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;}">She told <a tabindex="0" href="https://www.etonline.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;destination&quot;,&quot;t&quot;:13,&quot;b&quot;:1,&quot;c.t&quot;:7}">Entertainment Tonight </a>that she’s “aware” she is “not going to be around for much longer”, adding that she is “ready” as she has “had a great life”.</p> <p data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;}">“Not that I want to go, but I’m aware that it’s going to be sooner rather than later,” she added, stating, “That’s just realistic.”</p> <p data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;}">In September, Fonda revealed she had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, which <span style="caret-color: #2b2b2b; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: Roboto, Arial, Sans-sarif; font-size: 17px; background-color: #ffffff;">is a type of </span>cancer<span style="caret-color: #2b2b2b; color: #2b2b2b; font-family: Roboto, Arial, Sans-sarif; font-size: 17px; background-color: #ffffff;"> that begins in the lymphatic system, a part of the body’s immune system dedicated to fighting germs.</span></p> <p data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;}">She wrote on Instagram, “This is a very treatable cancer. Eighty per cent of people survive, so I feel very lucky. I’m also lucky because I have health insurance and access to the best doctors and treatments. I realise, and it’s painful, that I am privileged in this.”</p> <p data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;}">Fonda said that she would undergo six months of chemotherapy and that, so far, she has been “handling the treatments quite well”.</p> <p data-t="{&quot;n&quot;:&quot;blueLinks&quot;}"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Caring

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Realistic androids coming closer, as scientists teach a robot to share your laughter

<p>Do you ever laugh at an inappropriate moment?</p> <p>A team of Japanese researchers has taught a robot when to laugh in social situations, which is a major step towards creating an android that will be “like a friend.”</p> <p>“We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy,” says Dr Koji Inoue, an assistant professor at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Informatics, and lead author on a paper describing the research, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2022.933261" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> in <em>Frontiers in Robotics and AI</em>.</p> <p>“Conversation is, of course, multimodal, not just responding correctly. So we decided that one way a robot can empathize with users is to share their laughter, which you cannot do with a text-based chatbot.”</p> <p>The researchers trained an AI with data from 80 speed dating dialogues, from a matchmaking marathon with Kyoto University students. (Imagine meeting a future partner at exercise designed to teach a robot to laugh…)</p> <p>“Our biggest challenge in this work was identifying the actual cases of shared laughter, which isn’t easy, because as you know, most laughter is actually not shared at all,” says Inoue.</p> <p>“We had to carefully categorise exactly which laughs we could use for our analysis and not just assume that any laugh can be responded to.”</p> <p>They then added this system to a hyper-realistic android named <a href="https://robots.ieee.org/robots/erica/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Erica</a>, and tested the robot on 132 volunteers.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p214084-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> <p>Participants listened to one of three different types of dialogue with Erica: one where she was using the shared laughter system, one where she didn’t laugh at all, and one where she always laughed whenever she heard someone else do it.</p> <p>They then gave the interaction scores for empathy, naturalness, similarity to humans, and understanding.</p> <p>The researchers found that the shared-laughter system scored higher than either baseline.</p> <p>While they’re pleased with this result, the researchers say that their system is still quite rudimentary: they need to categorise and examine lots of other types of laughter before Erica’s chuckling naturally.</p> <p>“There are many other laughing functions and types which need to be considered, and this is not an easy task. We haven’t even attempted to model unshared laughs even though they are the most common,” says Inoue.</p> <p>Plus, it doesn’t matter how realistic a robot’s laugh is if the rest of its conversation is unnatural.</p> <p>“Robots should actually have a distinct character, and we think that they can show this through their conversational behaviours, such as laughing, eye gaze, gestures and speaking style,” says Inoue.</p> <p>“We do not think this is an easy problem at all, and it may well take more than 10 to 20 years before we can finally have a casual chat with a robot like we would with a friend.”</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=214084&amp;title=Realistic+androids+coming+closer%2C+as+scientists+teach+a+robot+to+share+your+laughter" width="1" height="1" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/robot-laugh/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/ellen-phiddian" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ellen Phiddian</a>. Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

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Hilariously realistic titles of your favourite books

<p>A book’s title should never give away the story, but sometimes it would just be so much better (not to mention save us a lot of time) if it just got right to the gist – especially if that book is well over 1,000 pages long (we’re looking at you, <em>War and Peace</em>).</p> <p>So, with this in mind, the <a href="https://www.theonlinepencompany.com/blog/50-hilariously-honest-new-titles-for-your-favourite-books/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Online Pen Company</span></strong></a> have recreated the covers of some of the most popular books with slightly more realistic titles “to reflect what the essence of the story is about”.</p> <p>These 14 “honest” titles for some of our all-time favourite reads will have you in stitches.</p> <p><strong>1. “Clowns Are Scary”</strong> –<em> IT</em> by Stephen King.</p> <p><strong>2. “The Odd Couple”</strong> – <em>The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde</em> by Robert Louis Stevenson.</p> <p><strong>3. “All the Best Characters Die”</strong> – <em>Game of Thrones</em> by George R.R. Martin.</p> <p><strong>4. “He’s Rich. She’s Feisty. Nobody Dives into a Lake”</strong> – <em>Pride and Prejudice</em> by Jane Austen.</p> <p><strong>5. “Sugar Induced Hallucination”</strong> – <em>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</em> by Roald Dahl.</p> <p><strong>6. “Honey I Shrunk the World”</strong> – <em>Gulliver’s Travels</em> by Jonathan Swift.</p> <p><strong>7. “What Happens When You Leave Planning to Elves”</strong> – <em>The Hobbit</em> by J.R.R. Tolkien.</p> <p><strong>8. “2017”</strong> – <em>1984</em> by George Orwell.</p> <p><strong>9. “Pretend You Have Read This Book to Impress Your Friends”</strong> – <em>War and Peace</em> by Leo Tolstoy.</p> <p><strong>10. “Don’t Mess with Jilted Brides”</strong> – <em>Great Expectations</em> by Charles Dickens.</p> <p><strong>11. “Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold”</strong> – <em>The Count of Monte Cristo</em> by Alexandre Dumas.</p> <p><strong>12. “Anti-Ageing Panting Ruins Man’s Life”</strong> – <em>The Picture of Dorian Gray</em> by Oscar Wilde.</p> <p><strong>13. “Sobbing for Days”</strong> – <em>The Book Thief</em> by Marcus Zusak.</p> <p><strong>14. “Grumpy Man Hates Christmas”</strong> –<em> A Christmas Carol</em> by Charles Dickens.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Lindsay Ball-McQueen/The Online Pen Company.</em></p>

Books

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5 realistic weight loss tips for men

<p>Today we’ve got some quick tips for men who are looking to lose some unwanted kilos. Rather than a drastic weight loss regimen, there are some small tweaks that you can make to your routine that can help you to see big results.</p> <p><strong>1. Head out for breakfast instead of dinner</strong></p> <p>Losing weight doesn’t have to mean that your social life gets reduced to nothing. Just mix things up a bit! It’s much easier to make healthy choices from a café’s breakfast menu than it is to find tempting healthy dinner options at a restaurant. Eggs on toast or some bircher muesli is going to be much better for your waistline than chicken schnitzel and chips.</p> <p><strong>2. Swap the pub for the park</strong></p> <p>Instead of meeting a mate for a beer, why not meet them for a walk or a bike ride instead? You still get to socialise and catch up, but you’ll be getting in some exercise instead of downing a few schooners.</p> <p><strong>3. Crowd out your plate</strong></p> <p>Food deprivation can make someone trying to lose weight miserable. So instead of thinking about what you can’t have, think of all the good stuff you can enjoy. Fill your plate with loads of steamed carrots and beans, roasted sweet potato and cherry tomatoes, and salads packed with feta and olives. You can overload your plate with these and you won’t feel as though you are missing out on anything. </p> <p><strong>4. Keep the drinks to the weekend</strong></p> <p>It’s easy to get into the habit of having a beer at the end of the day or a wine with dinner. But at around 100 calories a pop it can easily add up to around 700 calories a week just by having one drink per day. Why not limit yourself to just drinking on the weekends, and keep weeknights booze free? Water has no calories and will actually quench your thirst. You’ll sleep better and wake up fresher too.</p> <p><strong>5. Pack away the leftovers</strong></p> <p>Instead of serving your meals at the table, get into the habit of plating up and then packing away any leftovers to use for lunch the next day. This stops you from overdoing your portion sizes, as you won’t be tempted to go back for seconds.</p> <p>Have you got any tips for men who are trying to lose weight? We would love to hear from you in the comments.</p>

Body

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The 10 most realistic political TV shows

<p>Thanks to the political academics at Australia’s University of Melbourne, we now have a definitive list of the 10 most realistic shows that would satisfy any political nerd.</p> <p>Surprisingly, the number one show wasn’t critically-acclaimed <em>The West Wing</em>, but Danish political drama <em>Borgen</em>, which wrapped in 2013.</p> <p>Professors agreed <em>Borgen </em>showed the realistic wrangling of policy debate, as well as the personal consequences of a life in politics.</p> <p>“[It] does a fantastic job of portraying the links between politics, media and business, the conflicts and compromises these entail, and the consequences for the public and personal lives of the politicians,” said Dr Nicholas Geard from the Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics.</p> <p>The award-winning drama follows the first female prime minister of Denmark, who becomes leader against all odds.</p> <p>Associate Professor Sven Feldmann, from the Melbourne Business School, was also full of praise for the series.</p> <p>“Like <em>The West Wing</em>, [<em>Borgen</em>] shows us how politics should be: primarily a vigorous debate about policy, not intrigue and back stabbing.”</p> <p>Amongst the top 10 were Sarah Ferguson’s gripping <em>The Killing Season</em> in eighth place, which was pipped at the post by the back-stabbing mafia drama <em>The Sopranos</em> (at number six).</p> <p><em>House of Cards</em> finished second, which was surprisingly hailed by one professor as realistic viewing.</p> <p>“Much as we would love our politics to be like <em>The West Wing</em>, it’s probably much more like <em>House of Cards</em> and the politics of power,” said Lillian Kline, coordinator of Pathways to Politics Programme for Women.</p> <ol> <li><em>Occupied</em></li> <li><em>Homeland</em></li> <li><em>The Killing Season</em></li> <li><em>The Thick of It</em></li> <li><em>The Sopranos</em></li> <li><em>Scandal</em></li> <li><em>The Hollowmen</em></li> <li><em>The West Wing</em></li> <li><em>House of Cards</em></li> <li><em>Borgen</em></li> </ol> <p><em>Written by Ebony Bowden. First appeared on <a href="http://Stuff.co.nz" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>.</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/07/2016-year-of-tv-reboots-and-remakes/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>2016 is the year of TV reboots and remakes</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/06/best-tv-shows-from-the-60s/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">10 best TV shows from the 60s</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/entertainment/tv/2016/06/shocking-facts-about-tv-shows/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>10 shocking facts you didn’t know about your favourite TV shows</strong></em></span></a></p>

TV

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Hyper-realistic paintings so small, you’ll need your glasses

<p>It’s time to get out your glasses! An Alabama-based artist has created a series of tiny paintings so small, you’d have to squint to see them in person.</p> <p>The miniature artist, Karen Libecap, uses a tiny paint brush to create hyper-realistic depictions of animals, food, objects, and people, all no larger than the size of a small coin.</p> <p><img width="499" height="500" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10589/1_499x500.jpg" alt="1 (99)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="498" height="495" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10591/2_498x495.jpg" alt="2 (104)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="500" height="499" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10592/3_500x499.jpg" alt="3 (101)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="500" height="485" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10593/4_500x485.jpg" alt="4 (93)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="498" height="490" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10594/5_498x490.jpg" alt="5 (88)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="500" height="488" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10595/6_500x488.jpg" alt="6 (85)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="500" height="495" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10596/7_500x495.jpg" alt="7 (77)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="500" height="489" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10597/8_500x489.jpg" alt="8 (71)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="500" height="485" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10598/9_500x485.jpg" alt="9 (58)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><img width="499" height="500" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/10599/10_499x500.jpg" alt="10 (44)" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"/></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://instagram.com/klibecap/" target="_blank">See more of Libecap’s work here.</a></strong></span></p>

Art

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10 realistic quotes about love

<p>Despite what romantic movies portray, love isn’t always rainbows and butterflies (although sometimes it definitely is). These are the quotes that sum up what love is really like.</p> <p>“Love yourself first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world.” – Lucille Ball</p> <p>“The strongest relationships are between two people who can live without each other but don't want to.” – Harriet Lerner</p> <p> “There's all kinds of reasons that you fall in love with one person rather than another. Timing is important. Proximity is important. Mystery is important.” – Helen Fisher</p> <p>“Behind every complaint there is deep personal longing.” – John Gottman</p> <p>“Love isn't something natural. Rather it requires discipline, concentration, patience, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism. It isn't a feeling, it is a practice.” – Eric Fromm</p> <p> “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in.” – Morrie Schwartz</p> <p>“When we are in love we seem to ourselves quite different from what we were before.” – Blaise Pascal</p> <p>“It takes courage to love, but pain through love is the purifying fire which those who love generously know. We all know people who are so much afraid of pain that they shut themselves up like clams in a shell and, giving out nothing, receive nothing and therefore shrink until life is a mere living death.” – Eleanor Roosevelt</p> <p>“Love is of all passions the strongest, for it attacks simultaneously the head, the heart and the senses.” – Lao Tzu</p> <p>“We are shaped and fashioned by what we love.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</p>

Relationships