And What Do You Do? 10 Steps to Creating a Portfolio Career

Do have a look at the new website that explores the concept of portfolio careers. This is now completely redesigned. You can download the first chapter from the new book and get free emailed tips. I know from the many people that I interviewed for the book that this is a career pattern that the over 50's find increasingly attractive.

Look at the Buzz section too and see the early reviews and recommendations that Katie Ledger and I have already received.

Daily portion of chocolate 'protects against ageing'

We have posted before about the health pluses of eating chocolate daily. Nothing to do with the fact that I am a chocoholic of course.

But the latest research, published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, is believed to be the first showing a chocolate treat can prevent against the visible signs of ageing.

Researchers at European Dermatology London, a private Harley Street skin clinic, recruited 30 healthy adults, including 22 women, with an average age of 42.

For three months, half the volunteers ate a daily portion of 20 grammes of dark chocolate droplets that were very high in flavanol.

The remainder ate identical-looking chocolate drops that had much lower flavanol content.

During the three-month experiment, researchers regularly exposed volunteers to controlled doses of UV light to see how long it took before their skin reacted by becoming inflamed.

The results showed that, among those on low-flavanol chocolate, there was no change in the amount of UV light their skin could tolerate.

But among those on the high-flavanol droplets, there was a significant improvement in the skin's resistance to the sun's effects.

In a report on their findings the researchers said: 'Our study revealed, for the first time, that high-flavanol chocolate protects the skin from harmful UV effects.

'The main mechanism is likely to be the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity of cocoa flavanols.

'But conventional chocolate had no such effect.'

Previous studies have found flavanol-rich dark chocolate can lower the risk of blood clots, protect against bowel cancer and even help prevent premature births.

Earlier this year, Swedish scientists also reported that heart attack victims who snacked on dark chocolate at least twice a week slashed their risk of dying from heart disease by about 70 per cent.

Not quite such good news for someone like me who largely eats milk chocolate!

Its good to grumble

Well, this goes against much of what we tend to preach but we should at least examine the research from Australia which states that being grumpy makes us think more clearly

In contrast to those annoying happy types, miserable people are better at decision-making and less gullible.

While cheerfulness fosters creativity, gloominess breeds attentiveness and careful thinking, Professor Joe Forgas told Australian Science Magazine.

The University of New South Wales researcher says a grumpy person can cope with more demanding situations than a happy one because of the way the brain "promotes information processing strategies".

He asked volunteers to watch different films and dwell on positive or negative events in their life, designed to put them in either a good or bad mood.

Next he asked them to take part in a series of tasks, including judging the truth of urban myths and providing eyewitness accounts of events.

Those in a bad mood outperformed those who were jolly - they made fewer mistakes and were better communicators.

Professor Forgas said: "Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, co-operation and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking, paying greater attention to the external world."

The study also found that sad people were better at stating their case through written arguments, which Forgas said showed that a "mildly negative mood may actually promote a more concrete, accommodative and ultimately more successful communication style".

So do you sometimes feel that you would like to have an Eeyore day?

Over 50s Perform Best in Financial Markets

Not only is 80% of the nations wealth vested in us and we contribute 60% of the nations savings but apparantly we are also the most astute investors. Maybe that could explain the statistics above.

A new five year study of financial trading shows that the over 50s are by far the most successful, profitable traders and investors: a full 40% more profitable than their 20-something counterparts, ending the myth that risk and results are the stuff of youth. The research – conducted by financial trading coach and author Vince Stanzione of www.fintrader.net – studied the trading of 1000 UK individuals between October 2004 and October 2009, covering bull and bear markets and the volatile 2008/9 markets.

Time spent trading was a factor for all three groups. The 18-30s and over 50s spent more time on their portfolios, which may be because the 30-50 group had greater work and family commitments elsewhere. But clearly the over 50s had much greater productivity.

Risk insights also came to light from the research. Stanzione continues: “Another myth that the research busted was that older people are less willing to take risks. The 50+ traders took higher risks for higher returns than the 30-50 group, with a strong appetite for commodities and commodity companies: gold, crude oil and silver featured highly in their portfolios.”

The secret to the difference between youth and age lay in discipline, says Stanzione: “The 18-30s tended to break trading rules and failed to follow systems through. Maybe they had poor attention spans as they would often close out winning trades too soon. Older traders kept better records and managed their money better.”

Bingle

We talk a lot about keeping up to date with new technology if you are to be successful in any of your life roles so as we discover things which we find helpful we will pass these on to you. This is one such tool that enables you to search with google and bing at the same time. Check it out.

Rainbow cupcakes

Thought you might like to see these little beauties. Wonder why I like them so much! They are actually the product of Hannah Miles who has a portfolio career which Katie and I describe in our new book on portfolio careers. As well as being a high flying freelance lawyer, she was a Masterchef finalist and is now a professional cook and author. It is quite dangerous to look at her site!

Life expectancy at birth and at age 65 by local areas in the United Kingdom, 2006-08

Latest from the Office of National Statistics. In 2006–08 life expectancy at birth for males was highest in the South East of England (79.2 years) and lowest in Scotland (75.0 years). For females, life expectancy was highest in the South West of England (83.1 years) and lowest in Scotland (79.9 years). Life expectancy at age 65 in 2006–08 was highest in the South East and South West of England for males (18.4 years) and in the South West of England for females (21.2 years). Scotland had the lowest life expectancy at 65 for both men and women; 16.3 years and 18.9 years respectively. For local areas, life expectancy at birth for males and females in 2006–08 was highest in Kensington and Chelsea (84.3 years and 88.9 years respectively) and lowest in Glasgow City (70.7 years and 77.2 years respectively). In 2006–08 life expectancy at age 65 for males and females was highest in Kensington and Chelsea (23.1 years and 26.3 years respectively) and lowest in Glasgow City (13.8 years and 17.4 years respectively). Not sure whether this will cheer you up or not!

A new survey on adventurous sex drive

Good news for those of us on the wrong side of 50. It seems that your sex life doesn’t dry up as you get older after all, at least not in Canada! The research was conducted online and more than 494 people over the age of 50 participated in an in-depth interview about their sex lives and sexual desires. The results indicated that many of the older participants were anything but past it. The survey found that many Canadians over the age of 50 reported having adventurous and frisky sex as they have grown older. The word ‘ferocious’ was also used to describe some of their sexual encounters. This stands in stark contrast to the common attitude that sexual desire and activity decreases with age. Nearly half of the people surveyed said their sexual inhibitions had decreased since they turned 50, and more than a quarter said the quality of their sex life has improved since turning 50. Also more than half of the respondents said they wished their sex life was more spontaneous. One possible explanation of the significant increase in sexual activity in the over 50’s is that the life stresses are often reduced dramatically with retirement and with children leaving home. The reduction in these day to day stresses could have a direct influence on the renewed interest in sex.

Lords support anti age discrimination

Have a look at Chris Ball's blog in which he describes a debate in the House of Lords about older workers along with some other issues. We have quoted Chris before who is the CEO of TAEN.

Latest from the National Statistics

Out today. We have reproduced the stats that are most relevant to this age group.

The population of state pensionable age is expected to rise by 32% over the next 25 years from 11.8m in 2008 to 15.6m in 2033.

• The number of people over 85 is projected to more than double over the next 25 years from 1.3 million in 2008 to 3.3 million by 2033.
• The number of centenarians - people who live to 100 - is expected to rise more than sevenfold from 11,000 in 2008 to 80,000 in 2033.
• The proportion of people aged 65 and over is projected to increase from 16% in 2008, to 23% by 2033.

The population of working age is projected to rise by just under 14%, from 38.1m in 2008 to 43.3m in 2033.

In 2008 there were 3.2 people of working age for every person of state pensionable age, but this ratio is expected to fall to 2.8 by 2033, taking into account the future changes to state pension age.