Riding for the Disabled Association of Dubai (RDAD)

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Maria A. Petit

Every Monday afternoon, I escape a little early from the demands of the workday to volunteer for Riding for the Disabled Association of Dubai (RDAD).  It’s a 20-minute drive straight out into the desert to arrive in their home nestled in Desert Palm a place, which is probably Dubai’s best-kept secret.  Upon arrival you feel transported to another dimension of time and space surrounded by lush landscaping, polo fields, horses, dogs, birds, stables and the smell of sweet hay.

RDAD was founded in 1998 when Her Highness Sheikha Hassa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the program by donating 3 of her horses to be used for therapeutic riding.   The non-for profit organization has since then grown substantially and today there are over 60 children enrolled in the program with disabilities ranging from autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, spina bifida, mental retardation, and various learning disabilities.

Research indicates that therapeutic riding leads to improvement in physical, psychosocial and gross motor function in disabled children and that these improvements remain once therapeutic riding ceases.

The children I’ve worked with thus far have been at extreme ends of the spectrum with regards to the severity of their disability.  Some of the children can express themselves relatively well while others have difficulty with their speech and some are unable to speak at all.  Collectively though, they all express excitement for riding the horses and often surprise us with big smiles and spurts of laughter.

MAXI – Riding for the Disabled Association of Dubai (RDAD), Desert Palm, Dubai, UAE

While I’ve previously worked with disabled children in Spain while volunteering for The Red Cross, this particular program is special in that I am able to combine both my love of working with children and education but also my passion for horses.

JAM Language is a supporter of RDAD donating jam.flashcards to be used in the riding sessions as well as jam.flashcards stock whereby 100% of the proceeds are donated to RDAD.

Posted in alternative education, Autism, Desert Palm, Disabled children education, education for children with Autism, Riding for the disabled, Uncategorized, Volunteering in Dubai | Leave a comment

Women are the best thing since sliced bread!

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Jaime Chamberlain

Okay I might be a little biased – I am one…

Today, March 8th, marks the 100th International Women’s Day. Events take place all across the world to celebrate economic, political and social achievements of women. Maybe ‘celebrate’ is not the right word to use. Yes, there are amazing women out there who have achieved some amazing things but they should be applauded for these achievements rather than for the fact they are women. Until society stops pointing out this irrelevant fact that, they are women, women will continue to be classed as inequal.

So yes, today is International Women’s Day and we should also recognise that alot still needs to be done before women achieve equality. Below are facts and figures from Unicef of gender inequality represented in education around the world. It’s a big failure that we still live in a world where people do not have access to fundamental human rights, such as education. Reality check:

  • Over 110 million of the world’s children, two thirds of them girls, are not in school.
  • Of the world’s 875 million illiterate adults, two thirds are women: 3 out of 5 these women in Southern Asia and an estimated 50% of all women in Africa and in the Arab region
  • Half of the girls who live in developing countries (excluding China) will be married by their 20th birthday. Increasing girls’ time in school is one of the best ways to foster later, chosen marriage.

We’ve all been inspired before, for example, Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea, who himself was inspired and then actually went out and did something. There are lots of events going on today all around the world and you can find out more details on the International Women’s Day website.

JAM Language is dedicated to helping learners learn through fun learning tools such as flashcards! JAM has donated jam.english : fruit & vegetable flashcards to Instituto da Criança, Sao Paulo to children displaced in the Rio floods earlier this year. Every little flashcard helps!

Source 1: Unicef

Source 2: Women’s Resource Center

Source 3: Swayam: Ending Violence Against Women

Source 4: Women Deliver

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Chinky-Chonk eyes

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Jaime Chamberlain
You know that children’s song, “Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes“? Where, each time you sing the song, you remove one extra word and just point to your heads, or shoulders, or knees and toes…
In my portuguese lesson the other day, we were talking about Liberdade and my teacher said to me, “You don’t look <gesture> “. Now I know with her gesture she meant ‘asian / chinese / whatever from the Far East’ because she did that thing when you replace a word with a gesture / or with pointing….she put her index fingers to the side of her eyes and pulled backwards. Talk about stating the obvious… yes, I am Chinese. It’s not news to me. Yes, there is a word for Asian (asiático) here in Brazil but I have never heard it used – it’s like this special game (like the Heads, Shoulders, Knees & Toes song) that I’ve finally worked out.
Now it’s not the first time I’ve been told the same thing, in exactly the same way and it always takes me a split-second to remember that I’m in Brazil and no one means any offence by it. I certainly don’t take offence. I believe when people say things or do things, in general, it’s all should be interpreted in the  context it is being said in.
I did take a moment to explain to my teacher that if you did that in some other countries that it would be considered pretty offensive and is rarely done (maybe by a 7 year old in the school playground…) but she assured me it was very common here, and not considered rude at all. I think there must be loads of gestures that would be considered rude in one culture but possibly mean the opposite in another!
“Yes, I’m a <gesture> !” – no doubt about it, I have the eyes to prove it as everyone here keeps telling me.  : )
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The Language of Public Affection

Posted on February 19, 2011 by Maria A. Petit
Maria A. Petit & Richard Wagner at Saks Fifth Avenue Fashion Show, Dubai, UAE

Maria A. Petit & Richard Wagner at Saks Fifth Avenue Fashion Show, Dubai, UAE

World traveller highly educated and dear friend whom will remain anonymous sent me the following email as she prepared for a 6-month journey around the world with her husband to be.

Hi Maria,

I was reading some things about Dubai on the web, and I have to say I’m being put off from going, and thinking maybe changing our trip a bit. But I don’t know how much of these things are actual fact or just myths.  I read that sharing a hotel room, as an unmarried couple, is illegal but that people put a blind eye to that when it comes to tourists. Does this mean however that we have to book two different hotel rooms?

What happens if you kiss in public? or hug in public?

I was dumbfounded.  Really?  This is the outside perception?  I have been travelling to the UAE and lived here on and off for a few years and quiet frankly I never thought twice about greeting a friend in public with a big hug and at least three kisses :)   I’ve witnessed innocent snogs in public places and not so tame public displays of affection on the dance floors of some of the most coveted nightclubs.  And with regards to the hotel rooms, the list is endless of unmarried friends checking themselves into hotel rooms without any set backs.   But the question posed by my dear friend was an honest question and I decided to dive into the subject.  And there it was in black in white under the Dubai code of conduct. What a sobering thought that one can be imprisoned and risk deportation for an innocent snog!?  The bliss of my ignorance has been forever fizzled and now I’m totally self-conscious.  In all fairness though in practice there is a massive gap between the code and what one actually witnesses in public places.  Either we’re all blissfully ignorant, have an irresistible significant other or we’ve opted for taking the risk.

1.4. Public displays of affection: Displays of affection among couples — whether married or not — in public places does not fit the local customs and culture. Holding hands for a married couple is tolerated but kissing and petting are considered an offence to public decency. 
Public displays of affection, as well as sexual harassment or randomly addressing women in public places is liable to be punished by imprisonment or deportation.

But to the point, affection is translated into a universal language of physical display.  The vocabulary that one uses might be considered offensive in some cultures and ultimately one should be sensitive and considerate to these differences.  Similar to saying “¡Qué coñazo!” meaning “what a cunt” which is perfectly acceptable to say when one is sitting around gossiping with friends when in Spain but completely inappropriate and considered offensive in other Spanish speaking countries.

Check out jam.dirty.spanish for the words they didn’t teach in class :)

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The English Language

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Jaime Chamberlain

When I first started my CELTA course I thought this is going to be a piece of piss (= very easy) but when I did my first real English test I was at a loss (=couldn’t figure it out). I racked my brain (=thought very hard) because I can’t remember when I ever learnt about adverbs or the first or second or third conditional! I know how to speak English but if you ask me to break down a sentence grammatically I would run for the hills (=too scared!). I always knew that English was a difficult language to learn but from my CELTA course I learnt that just knowing how to speak English doesn’t mean I can teach it.

I was forwarded this email the other day and thought it was really clever, and even as a native English speaker, it made me think twice. All credit to the author as it must’ve taken awhile to put together. Thanks for the forward Johanna!

You think English is easy???

Read to the end. A new twist.

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2)  The farm was used to produce produce.

3)  The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4)  We must polish the Polish furniture.

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6)  The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7)  Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was  painted on the head of the bass drum.

9)  When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11)  The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12)  There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13)  They were too close to the door to close it.

14)  The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16)  To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17)  The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18)  Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.

19)  I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20)  How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it – English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do  you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables what does a humanitarian eat?  Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.  In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?  Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?  Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?  You have to  marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which  your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you  fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an  alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people not computers and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why when the stars are out they are visible but when the lights are on they are invisible.

You lovers of the English language might enjoy this.

There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is ‘UP’

It’s easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report?

We  call UP our  friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver; we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses.  To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special.

And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night.

We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used.  It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don’t give UP, you may  wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP.

When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP.

When it doesn’t rain for awhile, things dry UP.

One could  go on and on, but I’ll wrap  it …..
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Raising multi-lingual children

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Jaime Chamberlain

I’m a terrible chinese person but a perfect example of chinese kids growing up in western culture. I was born in New Zealand, to Chinese-Malaysian parents, and moved to Hong Kong when I was 10 years old. I wasn’t able to enrol in a local school as my cantonese was non-existent so joined one of the British schools instead. Much to my parents dismay, learning cantonese or mandarin was not my focus as a teenager (!) and me and my sisters were bribed into having private tuition every Saturday morning.

My mother still continues to speak to us in cantonese and I can understand about 80% but for some reason, I just can’t form sentences in my head so it all just comes out in english no matter how hard I try!

I have spent my adult life regretting not making the most of learning cantonese or mandarin, when they were both readily available to me. I wish my parents were harder on me!! Now that we are living in Brazil we are really make a concerted effort to learn brazilian portuguese. We even use our basic vocabulary at home as well as in our every day life (only a few in Tim’s office can speak English and our nanny only speaks Portuguese) to try and ingrain ourselves in this language, and culture, as quickly as possible.

But now that Sophie is on the cusp of starting to speak it has started to raise the question of, with regards to languages, how do we approach her language development. Do we send her to a Portuguese only school or a bi-lingual school? Should we only speak english at home? Should my mother speak cantonese with her (since I don’t use it)? Is it to her advantage to be exposed to lots of different languages?

I found this article on the Myths of Multilingual Families which was interesting. I think it depends on a variety of different factors… where you are living, for example, here in Brazil barely anyone speaks english so we would have to make a special effort at home. As much as I want her to learn brazilian portuguese, I would not want her to lose out on her english either. If she went to an english school here I could very easily see her losing her brazilian portuguese as her communication at school and at home (80% of her life) would be in english.

I would be really interested to hear from other families, particularly here in Sao Paulo or Brazil, about their approach on raising their children in different languages.

Originally posted on http://thebrazilmove.blogspot.com/

Posted in Brazilian portuguese, child development, children, english, esl children, fun for children, learn english, learning english, learning languages, learning portuguese, living in sao paulo, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 2 Comments

What Exactly are the Emerging Markets?

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Bull and Bear Essentials

Bull & Bear Essentials blog for JAM xx

As someone living in one of these emerging markets, Brazil,  I finally understand why we are here – i.e. not just for the sunshine and caprihinias… thanks Bull & Bear!

Even the Material Girl is Getting Excited about Emerging Markets

Emerging Markets.

This is a term tossed around by news commentators and now, even Madonna, who is making her own foray into the world of emerging markets. She is opening a fitness line in multiple emerging market countries including Argentina, Brazil and Russia called:  Hard Candy Fitness Global Gyms.

But what exactly are the emerging markets and why are people so excited about them? Let us help you out here.

First question- What are the Emerging Markets?

Emerging markets are the nations around the world who are experiencing incredible growth.

Who Are these Emerging Market Nations? China?

China is one—and an important one. But, it’s certainly not the only one. There are 28 emerging markets around the world.

What are some of the other Emerging Market Nations?

Examples include: Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Egypt, Russia, Peru and Pakistan.

Why Do People Like Them?

Growth: Their growth rate is higher. Growth rates for Emerging Market economies average around 5.8%, nearly quadruple that of the developed world, 1.6%.

GDP: And with growth levels that are so high, they will begin producing more of the world’s “stuff” or global gross domestic product (GDP). By 2017, Emerging Markets are predicted to account for 50% of world GDP.  Their consumption today is already 30% of global consumption!

Deficits: On top of all of this, their governments are young and are not burdened with the deficits that the developed markets are saddled with. Emerging market fiscal debt levels are lower than developed markets. For that reason (and others) their credit quality has been improving. The U.S., Europe and Japan all have very high debt levels that, unaddressed, will ultimately act to slow growth in those nations.

Are these the Reasons Why People Invest in Emerging Markets?

Yes, the reasons above are all considered good “fundamental” reasons to invest.

In addition, people expect more money to flow into Emerging Market economies, as research shows that pension funds are under-allocated to the asset class. Translation? In the future, pension funds will need to make future investments into emerging markets, pushing up the price.

Seems too good to be true? Take heed – for investing in emerging nations is far from a ‘sure thing’. These economies can be very volatile and risky.

How Do People Take Advantage of these Growth Trends?

Many people believe these regions are ripe for investment. What type of investment? All kinds.

You can move to one of these regions and take part in the growth first hand.

Your company can begin selling goods to people in these growing economies as they develop and have more money to spend.

And if you are not interested in either of those options- you can simply invest in their stock and bond markets from firm developed-market soil. Here is a link from Seeking Alpha on different options for emerging market ETF investing: Broad Emerging Market ETFs.

Related Articles: What is an ETF?,  Forbes Emerging Markets – a great source on emerging markets.

Learning a language is the key to understanding and working in Emerging Markets. That’s why we love JAM Language!

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The history of making New Year resolutions

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Jaime Chamberlain

The first day of January is the one day each year that everyone takes into account their year just past and makes plans for the New Year. Whether you believe in making resolutions, it’s something you will do consciously or not.

The history of making resolutions is believed to have started in 2000 BC when the Babylonians used the first day of their year (March 23rd) to reflect on their past errors, paying off debts and returning borrowed goods.

The Roman Senate changed the date to January 1st in order to honour the god Janus, who had one face looking forward, and another looking back. This was symbolic of looking back at the past year and looking forward into the new year. Historically resolutions were about doing good deeds as people wanted to curry favour with the gods. It would be considered bad luck not to fulfil your resolutions so they had to pick them carefully!

.

Janus, the two-faced God

Today resolutions are centered around breaking bad habits (why is it easier to start doing something, but not to stop!!?). Good luck traditions (Source 2), as you would expect, differ from culture to culture. If you’re in Sicily, make sure you eat lasagne (macaroni = bad luck!) and if you’re in Peru make sure you eat all your 13 grapes to ensure good luck (only 12 required for a good year in Spain), Norwegians make a rice pudding hiding a whole almond inside so if you get the almond you are guaranteed lots of money (this is my favourite).

Now I am one of those that have always been pretty skeptical of making resolutions (mainly because they have only ever been fluffy resolutions that I’ve never kept) but let me try for 2011…

1. According to the Babylonians I should probably return the dictionary I borrowed from my Auntie 12 years ago.

2. Drink more water (does the ice in my caprihinia count?).

3. Don’t spend money on things I don’t need (just the things I want, haha, this isn’t going to work already…).

4. No more swearing infront of Sophie (Mum, I’m talking about other people, not me…).

5. Learn Portuguese fluently (90% will do).

6. 2011 is the year for JAM!

Wish me luck! Feliz Ano Novo everyone!

Sources:
1. http://www.examiner.com/elementary-years-parenting-in-mesa/history-of-new-year-s-resolutions
2. http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-of-New-Years-Resolutions&id=245213
3. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/6142550/history_of_new_years_resolutions.html?cat=62
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“The Sandwich Swap” by Her Majesty Queen Rania

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Dr. Alexandra A-Gabriele

jam has invited Dr. Alexandra A-Gabriele, a native Spanish speaker from Colombia to contribute  to jam.blog in SPANISH.  ’malex’ is a dentist by profession, a dear friend and the mother of jam.baby - Charlotte aux fraises ’Jam strawberry baby’jam.baby - Charlotte aux fraises 'Jam strawberry baby'.  We hope you will enjoy the sweet jam.spanish.blog  x Jamlanguage Ltd.

Su Majestad La Reina Rania de Jordania, añade a su repertorio la autoria de este libro titulado “The Sandwich Wrap”, su primer libro para niños.  En Español, lo llamaríamos “El intercambio de empadenados” de manera general aunque cambia de país en país.  Esta historia cuenta que dos amigas; Lily y Salma aprenden una valiosa lección de tolerancia y diferencias culturales inspeccionando  mutuamente el contenido de sus loncheras que llevan al colegio.

El libro se ha convertido ya en un “best –seller”, es decir “mejor vendido” especialmente en Nueva York; donde fue editado; y mi hija Charlotte lo ha recibido de regalo de cumpleaños  segundo aniversario!  Aunque Charlotte todavía no lee, si comprende el español el francés y el ingles, 3 idiomas que se hablan en mi casa. Juntas hemos leído y disfrutado esta historia tan bonita que nos deja muchas enseñanzas…

Es la infancia de Su Majestad  La Reina Rania de Jordania que  ha servido como base de inspiración para este relato.  Cuenta La Reina Rania que cuando era niña su madre, siempre  le preparaba su lonchera con un “wrap” un “empadenado“ de hummus.  Un buen día Su Majestad La Reina Rania vio a su amiga abrir su lonchera y morder un “empadenado” de mantequilla de maní y mermelada.  Si, la historia comienza allí; imagínense lo que pasaba por su cabeza? Si era algo cuyo sabor y presentación eran completamente desconocido para ella! Y fue gracias a esta historia que S.R.M La Reina Rania aprendió una gran lección  ; y que hoy al escribir este libro quiere compartir con el mundo entero.

Sentí una gran emoción al leer la historia, ya que hoy en día nuestras familias se encuentran dispersas, nuestros hijos expuestos a vivir lejos y conocer otras culturas, sentí que de pronto un día mi Charlotte será una Lily o Salma….

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah’s book, “The Sandwich Swap”, is the number one bestselling children’s picture book in the United States.  Her Majesty promotes the values of understanding and compassion through the story of Lily And Salma, two friends from two different backgrounds, who, after swapping peanut butter and hummus sandwiches, find out that they have more things in common than different.

All of Her Majesty’s proceeds from “The Sandwich Swap” will go to Madrasati Jordan, an education initiative launched by Queen Rania to renovate and better the learning environment in 500 public schools.

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Finance Made Simple? And Fun?

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Bull and Bear Essentials

Bull & Bear Essentialsjam.fans, we absolutely LOVE Bull & Bear Essentials and have invited them to be an ongoing contributor to the jam.blog.  We hope you LOVE their finance language as much as we do! jam x

Bull & Bear Essentials

It has taken us a very long time to find this: Financial news and information, written in a way everyone can understand.

Bull & Bear Essentials, understands that the financial world is not a private club where men in dinner jackets arbitrarily establish interest rates. In fact, it teaches us that finance can be (drum roll please), fun.

Bull & Bear’s weekly summary consolidates the financial news in a clear, concise fashion. Ever laughed out loud while reading about stocks? Hardly – but you will now.

And the best part? They don’t dumb it down. They realize their followers are smart – everyone from Wall Street veterans to students, architects to entrepreneurs. So get excited, you’ll read about credit default swaps, the stability of the Euro and everything in between. And, you’ll understand it. Beautiful!

So let’s get started with some basics on investing.

So…. You have enough money to invest. Fabulous!  But, perhaps it’s not quite enough to pay for an investment advisor. Don’t worry – we have the basics.

There are three key things you need to tackle with respect to investing: cash, financial markets, and real estate/alternative investments. While people make a science of it, it’s actually not terribly complicated.

Step One: Cash

This is called your liquidity. It’s important. Here are the things you need to examine.

How Much Cash Should You Hold?

As a general rule, we all hold too much cash. Ok, so how much is enough?

First, aggregate all the cash you hold. Second, deduct major future expenditures- a home, an engagement ring, a baby. Third, deduct living expenses for 6 months (in the event you lose your job). Viola! If you still have left over cash, you are probably holding too much.

Earn More off of the Cash You Hold

Focus on two things: safety and yield.

Safety:  The FDIC guarantees up to $250,000 of your money on deposit at a bank. Make sure your bank has this protection. They have similar programs outside the U.S. as well.

Yield:   Call your bank and ask if they can give you a better rate: a savings account, a 6-month CD, a money market fund. As a friendly cross check, compare different checking rates across banks atbankrate.com. This simple step could earn you thousands every year.

Step Two: Investments in the Market

With your excess cash, which is not set aside for real estate, you should begin to invest in markets. Think of this as money that you should not touch for the next 2-5 years, at least.

What is the best mix (sometimes called allocation)? It depends. A good rule of thumb is to admit how old you are (need not be out loud). That number is the percentage of your excess cash that you should hold in bonds. The rest should be in stocks. So if you’re 30, it is conservative to have a 30% bond allocation and a 70% stock allocation.

Stocks

Stocks are also referred to as equities. You should hold both U.S. stocks and international stocks. For simplicity sake, let’s take a 50/50 split between the two. The easiest way to do this is through ETF’s (a stock which mimics a basket of stocks) or a very low fee mutual fund. Why? These are typically very low cost and well diversified (p.s. if you clicked on that link and did not fall in love with the brown penguin, please tell us immediately).

Bonds

Bonds are considered to be safer than stocks. Why? If a company goes under it will pay its bondholders before stockholders. Great! However, because they are less risky, bond returns tend to be lower than stocks over the long run.

If you are in the highest or close to the highest tax bracket, the best type of bond to own is a municipal bond or municipal bond fund. These are historically very safe and exempt from taxation at the Federal level. Try to pick a fund with a low duration or maturity (between 3-5 years). Longer dated funds can be more volatile.

If you are in a low tax bracket or pay no taxes (i.e. you have somehow structured yourself into a foundation), a core taxable bond fund would be appropriate.

Step 3: Investment in Real Estate or Alternative Investments

This category mainly consists of your illiquid investments: your home, a piece of art, a private equity investment. Something which would be difficult, if not impossible, to sell before 4 PM on any given Thursday with a perfect market of willing buyers and sellers.

Real Estate: Can be a long-term blessing or a big time burden. Before committing to the American Dream, make sure you can afford it (the chapter of the American Dream not so often discussed).

Art, Antiques, Stamps, Wine, Old Cars (sorry – the totaled jeep doesn’t count): If you decide to invest in these, it is probably out of passion or love so we’re not going to knock that. Just make sure you keep them to a reasonable percentage of your overall wealth (no more than 15%). These markets can be very hard to transact in and the only certainty about the future is that nothing is certain.

Private Equity and Hedge Funds: While expensive, some of these investments have very attractive returns. They can also come with high fees, high minimums and long investment timelines so make sure you understand them before investment.

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