4 Money Habits That Made Warren Buffett a Billionaire (That Will Work, for You Too)

These surprisingly simple changes can make a huge difference to your net worth.

By Minda Zetlin

What makes Warren Buffett one of the riches people in the world? Unlike fellow billionaires Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, he did not create a ground-breaking high-tech product. Instead, Buffett's wealth began with a series of small, simple habits that anyone can follow and that are guaranteed to bring you greater wealth. The personal finance site GOBankingRates has identified some of the smartest habits that have put Buffett in every top-five list of wealthiest humans. Here are my favourites. You can read the full list here.

1. Think like an entrepreneur.

This doesn't mean you need to quit if you have a full-time job. But if you develop an entrepreneurial mindset, you'll always be looking out for opportunities, whether that means starting a small business on the side, finding ways to expand your job, or even doing extra work for your current employer on a contract basis.

Buffett started his fortune as a teenager, delivering newspapers and selling chewing gum and magazine subscriptions door to door. Keep looking for opportunities, even the ones that seem too small to bother with. You'll be surprised how much of a difference they can make.

2. Invest even small amounts.

You don't need a huge amount of money to become a successful investor. (In fact, here are some excellent investments you can make with $500 or less.) If you have your own business, either full-time or on the side, investing some of your earnings back into your business is one of the smartest things you can do.

Buffett did just that when he and a friend bought a pinball machine for $25 and placed it in a local barber shop. When it earned money for them, rather than spend it, they bought additional pinball machines. In time, they had eight machines in different barber shops. When they sold that business, Buffett used the proceeds to start another business.

Some experts recommend investing some of your earnings outside your business so you'll have those funds to draw on if your business faces a temporary downturn or fails altogether. Whether you choose to diversify your investments this way or fold extra money back into your business, it's important to invest some of your earnings in your future and not just live on them.

3. Borrow as little as you can.

As Joshua Wilson of WorthPointe Wealth Management points out, borrowing is an "anti-investment"--it has negative returns. So keep your debt to an absolute minimum if you want to become wealthy. Taking out a low-interest, fixed-rate mortgage with payments you can well afford in order to buy a house may be a good idea. (Although renting has definite advantages.) Taking out a manageable business loan to get a new business up and running might be as well. Borrowing a large sum so you can drive a nice car, or running up credit card debt for meals out and vacations? Not so much. The less debt you have, the better off you will be.

4. Live below your means.

This is one of the most difficult pieces of advice to follow. Who wants to buy a five-year-old used car when you could--probably--afford to lease a brand new one? Who wants to live in a small suburban home when you could--probably--afford a fancy apartment in the middle of town? But living on less than he needs is one big secret to Buffett's phenomenal wealth. Unlike other billionaires who build multiple mansions around the globe, Buffett still lives in the house he bought for $31,500 in 1958.

You don't have to go that far. But every time you consider a new purchase or financial commitment, ask yourself whether whatever you're getting will really make you happy, or whether you're upgrading your lifestyle just because you can, or think that's what others expect of you. Be on the lookout for small changes that create savings without affecting your quality of life, such as staying home and sharing a pizza and beer with friends rather than going out to a gourmet meal.

You'll save money that you can invest so it can work for you. You'll gain peace of mind because you can stop worrying about how to cover your financial obligations. And Warren Buffett would definitely approve.
www.inc.com

Quote for the day

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." - Francis Bacon

CSE - Percentage wise Top 25 Gainers and Losers in April 2017 & YTD

Top 25 Gainers in April 2017

Top 24 Losers in April 2017

Top 25 Gainers YTD (Year-to-date)

Top 25 Losers YTD (Year-to-date)

Quote for the day

"When proven wrong, the wise man will correct himself and the ignorant will keep arguing." - Ali ibn Abi Talib

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 28-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action." - Peter Drucker

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 27-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

“When 99% of people doubt your idea, you’re either gravely wrong or about to make history.” -  Scott Belsky

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 26-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." - Carl Jung

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 25-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try." - Beverly Sills

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 24-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"A lot of people need an infusion of confidence." - Rush Limbaugh

7 Lies Of Success That You Must Practice

"The mind is its own place, and in it self Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven"
-John Molton

The world we live in is the world we choose to live in, whether consciously or unconsciously. If we choose bliss, that's what we get. If we choose misery, we get that, too. As we learned in the last article, belief is the foundation of excellence. Our beliefs are specific, consistent organisational approaches to perception. They're the fundamental choices we make about how to perceive our lives and thus how to live them. They're how we turn on or turn off our brain. So the first step toward excellence is to find the beliefs that guide us toward the outcomes we want.

The path to success consists of knowing your outcome, taking action, knowing what results you're getting, and having the flexibility to change until you're successful. The same is true of beliefs. You have to find the beliefs that support your outcome - the beliefs that get you where you want to go. If your beliefs don't do that, you have to throw them out and try something new.

People are sometimes put off when I talk about "lies" of success. Who wants to live by lies? But all I mean is that we don't know how the world really is. We don't know if the line is concave or convex. We don't know if our beliefs are true or false. What we can know, though, is if they work - if they support us, if they make our lives richer, if they make us better people, if they help us and help others.

The word "lies" is used in this article as a consistent reminder that we do not know for certain exactly how things are. Once we know the line is concave, for example, we are no longer free to see it as convex. The word "lie" does not mean "to be deceitful or dishonest" but, rather, is a useful way to remind us that no matter how much we believe in a concept, we should be open to other possibilities and continuous learning. I suggest you look at these seven beliefs and decide whether they're useful for you. I've found them time and again in successful people. To model excellence, we have to start with the belief systems of excellence.

Belief # 1: Everything happens for a reason and purpose, and it serves us.

Remember the story of W. Mitchell? What was the central belief that helped him overcome adversity? He decided to take what happened to him and make it work for him in whatever way he could. In the same way, all successful people have the uncanny ability to focus on what is possible in a situation, what positive results could come from it. No matter how much negative feedback they get from their environment, they think in terms of possibilities. They think that everything happens for a reason, and it serves them. They believe that every adversity contains the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit.

I can guarantee you that people who produce outstanding results think this way. Think about it in your own life. There are an infinite number of ways to react to any situation. Let's say your business fails to get a contract you had counted on, one that you were certain you deserved. Some of us would be hurt and frustrated. We might sit home and mope or go out and get drunk. Some of us would be mad. We might blame the company that awarded the contract, figuring they were a bunch of ignorant individuals. Or we might blame our own people for ruining a sure thing.

All of that might allow us to let off some steam, but it doesn't help us. It doesn't bring us any closer to our desired outcome. It takes a lot of discipline to be able to retrace your steps, learn painful lessons, mend fences, and take a good look at new possibilities. But that's the only way to get a positive outcome from what seems like a negative result. Take a moment to think again about your beliefs. Do you generally expect things to work out well or to work out poorly? Do you expect your best efforts to be successful, or do you expect them to be thwarted? Do you see the potential in a situation, or do you see the roadblocks? Many people tend to focus on the negative more than the positive. The first step toward changing that is to recognise it. Belief in limits creates limited people. The key is to let go of those limitations and operate from a higher set of resources. The leaders in our culture are the people who see the possibilities, who can go into a desert and see a garden. Impossible? What happened in Israel? If you have a strong belief in possibility, it's likely you'll achieve it.

Belief # 2: There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.

This is almost a corollary belief to number one, and it's equally important on its own. Most people in our culture have been programmed to fear this thing called failure. Yet, all of us can think of times when we wanted one thing and got another. We've all flunked a test, suffered through a frustrating romance that didn't work out, put together a business plan only to see everything go awry. I've used the words "outcome" and "results" throughout this book because that's what successful people see. They don't see failure. They don't believe in it. It doesn't compute. People always succeed in getting sort of results. The super successes of our culture aren't people who do not fail, but simply people who know that if they try something and it doesn't give them what they want, they've had a learning experience. They use what they've learned and simply try something else. They take some new actions and produce some new results. Think about it. What is the one asset, the one benefit you have today over yesterday? The answer, of course, is experience. People who fear failure make internal representations of what might not work in advance. This is what keeps them from taking the very action that could ensure the accomplishment of their desires. Are you afraid of failure? Well, how do you feel about learning? You can learn from every human experience and can thereby always succeed in anything you do.

Mark Twain once said, "There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist." He's right. People who believe in failure are almost guaranteed a mediocre existence. Failure is something that is just not perceived by people who achieve greatness. They don't dwell on it. They don't attach negative emotions to something that doesn't work. Belief in failure is a way of poisoning the mind. When we store negative emotions, we affect our physiology, our thinking process, and our state. One of the greatest limitations for most people is their fear of failure. Dr. Robert Schuller, who teaches the concept of possibility thinking, asks a great question: "What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?" Think about it. How would you answer that? If you really believed you could fail, you might take a whole new set of actions and produce powerful new desirable results. Wouldn't you be better off trying them? Isn't that the only way to grow? So I suggest you start realising right now that there's no such thing as failure. There are only results. You always produce a result. If it's not the one you desire, you can just change your actions and you'll produce new results and commit yourself to learning from every experience.

Belief # 3: Whatever happens, take responsibility.

Another attribute great leaders and achievers have in common is that they operate from the belief that they create their world. The phrase you'll hear time and again is, "I am responsible. I'll take care of it." It's not coincidental you hear the same viewpoint over and over. Achievers tend to believe that no matter what happens, whether it's good or bad, they created it. If they didn't cause it by their physical actions, maybe they did by the level and tenor of their thoughts. Now, I don't know if this is true. No scientist can prove that our thoughts create our reality. But it's a useful lie. It's an empowering belief. That's why I choose to believe in it. I believe that we generate our experiences in life - either by behaviour or by thought - and that we can learn from all of them.

If you don't believe that you're creating your world, whether it be your success or your failures, then you're at the mercy of circumstances. Things just happen to you. You're an object, not a subject. Let me tell you, if I had that belief, I'd check out now and look for another culture, another world, another planet. Why be here if you're just the product of random outside forces? Taking responsibility is in my opinion one of the best measures of a person's power and maturity. It's also an example of beliefs supporting other beliefs, of the synergistic capabilities of a coherent system of beliefs. If you don't believe in failure, if you know you'll achieve your outcome, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by taking responsibility. If you're in control, you'll succeed.

Belief #4: It's not necessary to understand everything to be able to use everything.

Many successful people live by another useful belief. They don't believe they have to know everything about something in order to use it. They know how to use what's essential without feeling a need to get bogged down in every detail of it. If you study people who are in power, you'll find they have a working knowledge about a lot of things but often have little mastery of each and 'every' detail of their enterprise.

Belief #5: People are your greatest resource.

Individuals of excellence - that is, people who produce outstanding results - almost universally have a tremendous sense of respect and appreciation for people. They have a sense of team, a sense of common purpose and unity. The companies that succeeded were the ones that treated people with respect and with dignity, the companies that viewed their employees as partners, not as tools. We have to constantly remain alert, readjust our behaviour, and re-calibrate our actions to make sure we're going where we want to go. To say you treat people with respect and to do it are not the same thing. Those who succeed are the most effective in saying to others, "How can we do this better?" "How can we fix this?" "How can we produce greater results?" They know that one man alone, no matter how brilliant, will find it very difficult to match the collaborative talents of an effective team.

Belief #6: Work is play.

Do you know any person who has achieved massive success by doing what he hates? I don't. One of the keys to success is making a successful marriage between what you do and what you love. Pablo Picasso once said, "When I work, I relax; doing nothing or entertaining visitors makes me tired."
Maybe we don't paint as well as Picasso, but we can all do our best to find work that invigorates and excites us. And we can bring to whatever we do at work many of the aspects of what we do at play. Mark Twain said, "The secret of success is making your vocation your vacation." That's what successful people seem to do.

Researchers are finding surprising things about some workaholics. There are some people who seem maniacally focused on work because they love it. It challenges them, it excites them, it makes their life richer. These people tend to look at work the way most of us look at play. They see it as a way to stretch themselves, to learn new things, to explore new avenues. I'm not suggesting you should choose to orient your world around your work. But I am suggesting that you will enrich your world and enrich your work if you bring to it the same curiosity and vitality you bring to your play.

Belief #7: There's no abiding success without commitment.

Individuals who succeed have a belief in the power of commitment. If there's a single belief that seems almost inseparable from success, it's that there's no great success without great commitment. If you look at successful people in any field, you'll find they're not necessarily the best and the brightest, the fastest and the strongest. You'll find they're the ones with the most commitment. The great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova once said, "To follow, without halt, one aim: there's the secret of success." It's just your outcome, model what works, take action, develop the sensory acuity to know what you're getting, and keep refining it until you get what you want. Commitment is an important component of success in any field. Yet the bottom line is are you willing to pay the price? I like to use the term W.I.T. - Whatever It Takes. Successful people are willing to do whatever it takes to succeed. That, as much as anything else, is what separates them from the pack.
Source: www.imbalife.com

Quote for the day

"One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest on themselves. You don't choose your passions; your passions choose you." - Jeff Bezos

15 Habits of Highly Miserable People

By Paula Lawes

The definition of a miserable person is wretchedly unhappy or uncomfortable. That is pretty spot on don’t you think? When a person is miserable they never see or expect the good in anything and always try to make those around them feel just as bad and negative as them. Being miserable is a way of life for some people because they get sympathy, constant reassurance from other miserable people and a sense of self, defined by whatever circumstance they find themselves in.

Unfortunately, highly miserable people are much more accepted in society as opposed to someone that is happy and upbeat all the time, who can be looked at as ‘weird’ or ‘strange’.

If you are tired of being miserable and want a happy existence on this planet, I’ve come up with a few habits of highly miserable people. If you can identify and change one around you’ll be well on your way to a good life again!

1. They are never thankful for anything

Being grateful and thankful for anything in a highly miserable person’s life is a big no! When a person shows gratitude they should do it from a point of view of happiness and are usually ten times more likely to be thankful for things they already have rather than the things they don’t. If you are a miserable person, you’ll avoid any expressions of gratitude at all costs because it goes against what you believe. You’ll think that counting your blessings is a waste of time and life will always be full of something to be ungrateful about.

2. They lead a very unadventurous life

Highly miserable people lead a dull, boring and unadventurous life. They ensure that you have a mundane existence, with no fun, no possibility or excitement and then complain about it! When life is unadventurous and boring, they’ll start to believe that they are boring and project that upon other people. Life is predictable as far as a highly miserable person is concerned. TV is a big activity in this kind of life coupled with addiction and other mediocre activities such as reading tabloid papers and celebrity magazines, none of which stimulate or invigorate the body or mind.

3. They live in and glorify the past

We’ve all done it, said things like ‘it was so much better when I was a kid’ except highly miserable people tend to live their lives stuck in the past rather than remembering it fondly and moving on. They’ll talk about what has happened, what they have done and what it was like back then, saying that life has only gone downhill since. When a highly miserable people vilify the past, they refer to it as being born in the wrong place at the wrong time, or life when they were a kid was unhappy and they never got what they wanted.

4. They do things for personal gain

“All the happiness in the world stems from wanting others to be happy, and all the suffering in the world stems from wanting the self to be happy.” – Shantideva

Being self-centred and only doing things for personal gain is an extreme habit of a highly miserable person. Life is about having and gaining more and getting it no matter how they get it, even at the expense of others. They’ll surround themselves with like-minded people and even take on ‘professions’ that involve criminal activities. They’ll have no qualm about taking from others or acting as if they are doing good whereas their intentions are not so.

5. They are afraid of economic loss

Fear is a good habit to have if you want to be a highly miserable person. Fear will keep miserable people from doing a job they absolutely hate; it will make them work long unbearable hours working for a company that doesn’t care about its employees. They’ll be greedy and stingy with money, generosity isn’t even in their vocabulary and if it is, there will be personal gain involved. They’ll become ill because of their money worries, probably depressed and lose friends/family as a result. If they could, they’d sit and worry all day long, thinking about what they could lose if they took a risk, left their job or tried something different.

6. They love to pick fights

Every now and again a highly miserable person will pick a fight out of the blue with someone close to them. They usually pick a fight about something absurd and completely unrelated to their current situation. Secondly, they’ll expect that person to respond with kindness and sympathy and if they don’t, they’ll be quick to point it out. If however the other party mentions it again, they’ll be sure to make it seem as if they don’t know what they are talking about and that they never intended for the situation to occur. They’ll quickly act to be hurt and be the victim, even though they started the fight.

7. They blame others and play the victim

Highly miserable people are brilliant at blaming their parents, because, after all, they were the ones who brought them to this world and shaped who they were. Typically, they’ll also blame the bully who bullied them as a kid, a teacher who didn’t like them or a friend who never wanted to do what they wanted to do. Blame is essential; it must never be forgotten and used almost every single day to ensure miserableness is continued.

8. They think people’s intentions towards them are always dishonourable

They’ll take any remark, comment or opinion the wrong way believing that whoever gave it is trying to insult, belittle or put them down. They believe that humiliation is at the forefront of most people’s intentions of which will make a highly miserable person distrustful, resentful and always on the defence. Miserable people expect the very worst from people and can’t imagine a person acting on good intentions.

9. They will give themselves a negative identity and revel in it

To be highly miserable they must, without doubt, ensure that any perceived emotional problem absorbs their very core. For example, if they suffered from anxiety, depression, grief of some sort they’d make sure it defines them as a person. They also have the habit of making sure everyone knows exactly what’s wrong with them. They make this the focus of their life, talking about it constantly, and bringing it up at every opportunity. The highly miserable people will ensure that they know about their ‘condition’ inside and out, reading up on it and knowing all the symptoms.

10. They will make sure they are involved in other people’s drama

They will be the centre point of all the drama in their lives and others’. This will include family and community dramas, so that they can be the person that people will turn to, to share their miserableness with and to help carry the drama to new levels. Exaggerating situations and consoling others with their own sorry stories about how life has dealt them a cruel hand.

11. They always expect the worst

Life sucks and all the bad stuff happens to them, is the mantra of a miserable person. Optimism for the future is nonsense and being positive will only be done in vain. Their marriage probably won’t work out, their children are bad and don’t love them, their house will fall apart and their job is an unbearable chore. If a disaster is going to happen, it will most certainly happen to these people, and they definitely won’t be surprised.

12. They focus only on themselves

Highly miserable people focus on themselves, their needs and their problems, as nobody else’s issues or struggles are as bad as theirs. They will worry all the time about why they do things, why they behave in certain ways, while analyzing their flaws and chewing over their problems.

13. They are critical of everything

Nothing is good enough, nothing works and nothing makes a highly miserable person happy. They will be critical of everything whether people agree with them or not. Miserable people will always voice their opinion before everyone else. They will criticize something that someone loves just to make sure their point is heard. They love to antagonise and truly believe they are always right while everyone else is always wrong.

14. They worry too much

Worry makes people miserable, so a highly miserable person will make sure to do plenty of that! They won’t listen to reasons and will be obsessed with situations and things they have no control over. Worrying feeds into their misery so it’s only natural that these types of people are worrisome by nature.

15. They are envious of other people’s success

Miserable people won’t outright say they are envious of other people’s successes, what they will do however, is to put down other people’s achievements and successes by pointing out the negatives or downplaying the news so the other person’s excitement is immediately deflated. When someone is happy, a highly miserable person will make sure to point out all that could possibly go wrong in great detail!

If you feel as though you have some or all the traits of a highly miserable person, now is the time to change some of these habits so you can be a happier, cheerful and more successful person.

Source: http://www.lifehack.org

Quote for the day

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." - Albert Schweitzer

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 21-Apr-2017

Sri Lanka's Top 100 Valuable Brands - 2017

Source: www.lmd.lk

Quote for the day

"Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought." - Albert Szent Gyorgui

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 20-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time." - Steve Jobs

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 19-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"Vision is perhaps our greatest strength... it has kept us alive to the power and continuity of thought through the centuries, it makes us peer into the future and lends shape to the unknown." -  Li Ka-shing

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 18-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be. " - Jack Welch

Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 17-Apr-2017

Quote for the day

"Human nature drives us to do what everyone else is doing when everyone else is doing it. Those who want to achieve financial success must learn to fight against this basic instinct."  - Jan Somers

Recommended Trader Disciplines

Learn these healthy trading disciplines!

Remember...Trading is more about who you are..not about an entry or exit point.

• Always keep a positive attitude win or lose.
• Continually strive for patience, perseverance and rational action.
• Never cancel a stop loss order after you placed it!
• You are the most important element in the equation for success. The most difficult task in speculation is not prediction but self control. Successful trading is difficult and Frustrating.
• Expect and accept losses gracefully. The who brood over losses always miss the next opportunity.
• The difference between winners and losers isn't so much native ability as it is discipline exercised in avoiding mistakes.
• Accept failure as a step towards victory.
• Taken a loss? Forget it quickly. Taken a profit? Forget it even quicker! Don't let ego and greed inhibit clear thinking and hard work.
• The deepest secret in day trading is to subordinate your will to the will of the market. The market is truth as it reflects all forces that bear upon it. As long as you recognize this your safe. When you ignore it your doomed.
• A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it. But being wrong and not taking the loss, that is what does the damage to the pocket book and to the soul.
• If you don't know who you are, the markets are an expensive place to find out.
• Lose your opinion, not your money!

Source:www.protradersignals.com

Quote for the day

"Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected." - George Soros

Trading emotion cheat sheet

Emotions are a big part of trading and being able to understand which emotion influence your trading decisions can help you deal with emotions better. With this cheat sheet, you can easily see how your trading behaviour is influenced and how to correct your decisions.

Source: www.edgewonk.com

Top 10 Cashless Countries In the World

By Kar 

Cashless transactions have become very popular in recent time. Such transactions entail the use of an account that contains money you have added previously. It helps you to take care of payments immediately. Today there are many online wallets out there as well as an assortment of card-based payment options that can be used. 

In fact, cashless transactions have become especially desired in many countries. This is especially the case in India where some monetary notes were suddenly taken off the market due to laundering and corruption issues. 



Cashless transactions are great for many reasons: 

• They make it easier for people to move money between countries. Cashless transactions can be transferred with automatic currency exchange functions if needed. 
• This also helps to get money moved immediately. There’s no need to worry about funds being certified or confirmed, a process that often takes a while. 
• It is also a secure option. There’s no need to send bank account information or credit card data to anyone. All that is required is a proper account with a cashless money service to get money sent out. 
• The risk of fraud is also eliminated thanks to cashless transactions. This comes as such transactions are easy to prepare without the risk of fake money being transferred. 

Many countries have greatly adapted cashless transactions over the years. India is not on this list of the top 10 cashless countries in the world but considering how that country is making a massive push for it, don’t be surprised if it gets there soon. 

Top 10 Cashless Countries In the World 

1. Singapore – 61 percent 

The culture of Singapore has focused heavily on technology over the years. This is different from other countries where ATMs are prevalent. The government has especially helped to encourage cashless transactions around the city-state. National ID numbers are also being used to send money to bank accounts rather than traditional bank account numbers, thus improving upon how secure such payments are. 

2. Netherlands – 60 percent 

The Netherlands has long been known for being a country where people often act differently. The efforts by the government to promote cashless transactions have been strong. The Schiphol airport in Amsterdam is especially a popular place for cashless functions. Most high-value items like rent payments are also made with cashless systems. 

3. France – 59 percent 

Contact-less payments are becoming more popular in France. This allows people to use a card or phone to take care of small payments without having to enter a PIN. Digital wallets are also popular around the country. In fact, cash payments of €1,000 or higher are outlawed in France as the country is aiming to get high-value transactions handled in a cashless manner. 

4. Sweden – 59 percent 

Many of the largest banks in Sweden no longer deal with physical cash. Many street stalls take online wallet or credit card transactions only. It is big part of why 59 percent of transactions are online or cashless. Mobile transactions are especially easy to work with in many parts of Sweden. 

5. Canada – 57 percent 

The Canadian government does not take cash payments for many charges anymore. Nearly three-quarters of transactions are handled by credit card with a vast number handled through online wallets. The Interac system has also become popular around the country. It allows people to make payments through debit cards throughout the entire country. 

6. Belgium – 56 percent 

The Belgian government has established limits on how big cash-based payments can be around the country. This is to establish a cashless and online payment society. Cash payments of €3,000 are prohibited and all cash payments are not allowed when taking care of real estate investments.  

7. United Kingdom – 52 percent 

It is estimated that a typical person in the UK has less than twenty pounds in physical money on hand. In fact, buses in London no longer take physical cash. Whether the UK will eliminate money altogether in the future is uncertain. The Paym mobile payment system is the most popular solution available in the country. 

8. United States – 45 percent 

In addition to online wallets, NFC payments are becoming commonplace in the United States. This is where people can use their phones linked to proper accounts to pay off different transactions at many points of sale all around the country. The development of chip-based debit cards has especially helped to bring about a cashless society. 

9. Australia – 35 percent 

Credit card companies have been testing many quick-pay services around Australia over the years. These include contact-free payment systems that improve upon how well transactions may be used. In fact, contact-free payments have become popular in the debit card world around Australia, thus keeping personal data from having to be shared. 

10. Germany – 33 percent 

Online wallets are a key part of what is causing Germany to go cashless. PayPal has especially become an essential system in Germany. The online wallet allows for fast transactions and has spawned various competitors all around Germany. 
Source: www.top10songs.org

Quote for the day

"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness." - James Thurber

The SriLankan Share Market Wishes its readers a Happy Sinhala and Tamil New Year

Quote for the day

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” - Steve Jobs

6 Toxic Beliefs That Hinder Your Success

By Oskar Nowik

Oftentimes, the only barrier that prevents you from becoming successful is your own mind. If you don’t control your brain, it will control you. When the latter is your case, you likely gathered tons of toxic beliefs and negative affirmations which taint your life and limit your perspective. It’s a mental cage that enslaves many people, sometimes for good. The fact is, you can and should eradicate the harmful thoughts and finally break the bars of your mind cage.

The purpose of this article is to point the damaging beliefs so you could find out whether they took up residence in your brain and separate yourself from the negative energy.

1. “It’s not the right time.”

Procrastination is a dangerous disease and if you don’t take action, it will eventually eat all your dreams for breakfast. Achieving something extraordinary scares our minds since it requires leaving your comfort zone and facing the unknown.

The truth is, however, every single remarkable achievement involves discomfort. Fortunately, the final result is worth the effort. But to start getting closer to your goal, you need to stop believing that today isn’t the right time to start.

Based on my experience, putting any of my goals off was a bad decision. It’s when I finally began working toward something that I realized there’s no reasonable excuse for postponing. Every time you do it, you harm yourself only because a fictional belief your mind serves you.

From now on, accept the fact that it’s always better to start, fail and then get up stronger and wiser, instead of waiting for the perfect moment (which never arrives).

2. “I’m not good enough.”

If you base your opinion completely on your mind and you didn’t train it yet to work for you, you are probably stuck. Lack of self-belief can be extremely damaging, but in reality, there’s no fair reason not to believe in yourself. You are the first person that need to truly believe in your abilities.

Once you make a switch, the rest will adapt your assumption. It never happens the other way around. What I’m getting at is that being good enough or being inadequate is only a state of mind and not an absolute fact. That’s why you should always believe in your competences even when you face the worst moment in your life. Self-belief leads to more confidence in your strengths which is required to survive the tests life throws at you.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.” - Henry Ford

3. “I’m not an expert.”

There’s a weird assumption in some people’s brains that you need to be really good at something to be allowed to do it. Although they believe experts are born, in real life you need to start from scratch and go through moments of uncertainty so that one day you become savvy and experienced.

If you are completely inept at something, that’s the perfect point to begin at. Sometimes we fool ourselves believing in the overnight success the Television tries to inspire us with. In fact, behind every true expert there is a story of a beginner who went through countless failures, tons of hard work and constant practice.

4. “I will surely fail.”

It’s impossible to foretell the future, yet many people spare no effort to envision the worst scenario. It’s very likely that you’ll fail at something completely new, but it doesn’t mean you can’t succeed as well. In fact, every successful person admits that failure is an inseparate part of their success. One cannot exist without the other.

What you need to believe is that failing is momentary. Even if it feels like forever, achieving your goal is closer than you think, so don’t give up and try once again.

Do you know what’s bitter than failure? It’s asking yourself a regretful question, namely “what if”. What if I tried one more time, maybe I would succeed? You don’t know until you do it.

5. “I will start once I have more…”

More time, more money and more willpower? The fact is, none of these things happens by accident. It’s always a result of preparation, work, and perseverance. You need to abandon the toxic belief that a better environment for success will originate by itself.

To have more time, you must eliminate the unnecessary commitments and learn to say no. To have more money, you must take care of your financial stability or maybe create your own business.

The very same thing applies to willpower — it’s earned, not given. Once you realise that you are the master of your universe, you are on the right path to success.

6. “I’m not lucky.”

Whereas successful people take a full responsibility for their achievements, the crowd tends to believe the luck made them outstanding. The truth is, luck plays a role, but it’s a drop in the ocean of hard work, right attitude and persistence.

My advice would be to exclude luck from your visions. Assume that it doesn’t matter at all and everything can be influenced by your actions. Actually, that’s truth and you realize it at the moment you see the results of your efforts.

www.lifehack.org

Quote for the day

“I think the things you regret most in life are the things you didn’t do.” - Steve Jobs

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Quote for the day

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." - Soren Kierkegaard

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Quote for the day

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." - Eleanor Roosevelt

24 of the Most Powerful Life Lessons

If you are going to succeed in life, you have to learn life's most important lessons.

By Lolly Daskal

How you approach life says a lot about who you are.

There are some who are content to passively coast through, hoping they land where they need to be and know what to do when the time comes.

Then there are others, who make active choices to understand who they are and what they want, and set the goals that will keep them moving in the right direction.

But a big part of having a successful life, is learning how to cope with the lessons that life has to teach us.

Here are 24 powerful life lessons that will happen to us, learn how they will be significant:

1. Make yourself necessary and you will always be needed. If you want to feel successful, learn to create, innovate or design something other people can use and need.

2. Your thoughts are like boomerangs. What you pass along to others is what will come back to you.

3. You are more defined by what comes out of your mouth than what goes in it. The way you speak and the things you say have power. Speech gives us the power to create or destroy.

4. The journey of your success will always begin with the small step of taking a chance. In business, in relationships, and in life, it all begins with a small step grounded in a desire to be better and do better.

5. Your education is never complete. Determine to live fully and continually learn. Prepare for what life has to teach by being open to the lessons in everything you do and experience.

6. Don't allow the voice of your fears to be louder than the other voices in your head. Make sure the voice of reason, the voice of belief, the voice of confidence are all strong enough to drown it out.

7. A good reputation is more valuable than money. Your reputation is built on the foundation of your character; it entails the words you speak and the actions you take. Take care of your character above all other things and your reputation will take care of itself.

8. You never really lose until you stop trying. The words I can't never accomplish anything. I'll try, on the other hand, can perform wonders. Until you try you don't know what you can do.

9. You get more by giving more. Success doesn't result from how much you get but from how much you give. If you want an abundant life, give as much as you can.

10. Rule your mind or it will rule you. When you rule your mind by controlling negativity and doubt, you rule your world. The choice is yours to make every day.

11. Great heroes are truly humble. Most of us underrate the importance of humility. It's an important skill because it keeps you teachable, regardless of how much you already know.

12. Defeat isn't bitter if you're smart enough not to swallow it. At one time or another we will all experience failure. In fact, the more we are willing to risk, the more we will fail. The trick is to think of failure not as the end but as part of the process.

13. Your thoughts are powerful, make them positive. To have a life that's more abundant and more successful, you must think in the limitless terms of abundance and success. Thinking is among the greatest powers we possess, and it's our choice to use it negatively or positively.

14. Forgiveness benefits two people--the giver and receiver. The bravest and the smartest thing you can do in a bad situation is to forgive and move on. Don't allow grudges and grievances to add to the weight you carry on the road to your own success.

15. The word impossible contains its opposite: "I'm possible." What impossible may be a matter of a limited point of view. Allow no limiting beliefs to restrict your outlook on life.

16. Preparation is a stepping stone to success. As the old saying goes, failing to prepare means preparing to fail. Success can be defined as being totally prepared.

17. You are constantly creating your own reality. Your reality is built out of your thoughts, so remember how much power you have. What you think you become, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you create.

18. You are in control of your own heaven or hell. You're the master of your own destiny. You may not always be able to control your circumstances and environment, but how you respond is always within your control.

19. Envy consumes itself. And if you give it a foothold in your life, it will take you with it.

20. You can become bitter or better as a result of your circumstances. Your attitude is always up to you. No matter the circumstance, remind yourself that you have a choice. It's up to you to get the results you want.

21. Those who seldom make mistakes seldom stumble upon new innovation. Mistakes are proof that you're trying, creating, exploring and discovering. Every success story, every fulfilled life needs mistakes. We may think of mistakes as meaning you've done something wrong, but in truth they mean you're doing something right.

22. It's in losing yourself that you find yourself. The greatest challenge in life is discovering who you are, and the second greatest is being happy with what you find.

23. When you're facing the right direction, all you need to do is keep walking. If you're lucky enough to know what you want, you can apply your passion and always love what you do. If you're still working to discover what you want, keep exploring. Either way, stay persistent and determined.

24. Be grateful every day, because that's the source of true power. The most important power lies in a grateful heart. Practice turning your thoughts toward appreciation and thanksgiving, because that is where you will find your gifts, strength and power.

Source:www.inc.com

Quote for the day

"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself." - Wayne Dyer

Understanding Your Gaps: Why Some People Succeed and Others Don't

Within each of us are two competing sides, a polarity of character. Only one leads to greatness

By Lolly Daskal

Do you ever wonder why some people succeed and others don't? We've all seen deserving people who never quite got things off the ground, and others who made it look easy. It doesn't always seem to make sense.

Over the past three decades of coaching top leaders and entrepreneurs all over the world, I have worked with every type of person and every type of personality you can imagine. The thing I've found consistently in people who succeed is the understanding that the same traits that made them successful have a flip side--a opposing counterpart--that can lead to their downfall through a gap in their leadership.

In my new book, The Leadership Gap: What Gets Between You and Your Greatness, I identify seven leadership archetypes that lead to success. And within each I also identify a polarity, an opposing counterpart. For every archetype that can make you great has a flip side that leads to a gap. This is especially true for high-achieving individuals. Your success hinges on knowing your own attributes and how to leverage them to play from your strengths and avoid the gaps.

Here is a summary of the seven archetypes and their gaps: understand them and learn how to use them to guide yourself to stand in your greatness.

The Rebel

The Rebel wants to make an impact on the world and embarks on quests to achieve remarkable things. The rebel is driven by confidence. But leading to the gap, the Rebel can instead feel like the Imposter, characterized by self-doubt. The Imposter appears when you find yourself constantly having to fight off negative messages in your mind

Three ways to leverage the Rebel and banish the Imposter:

• Make a list of all things you do well and review them daily. When your competence goes up, so does your confidence.
• Surround yourself with people who believe in you. When you spend time with people who reflect who you want to be and how you want to feel, their energy is contagious.
• Stop comparing yourself with others. It's a waste of time and a thief of success.

The Explorer

The Explorer is driven to innovate and create new opportunities, new products, new businesses. Fuelled by intuition, they test the boundaries and limits of what is known. They reject the status quo and are constantly looking for something new, listening to their inner voice to forge a new path. But leading to the gap, the Explorer can become the Exploiter, characterised by manipulation. The Exploiter appears when you feel stressed or out of control, bringing a need to micromanage and feel in control of things. It's especially damaging to anyone whose work depends on creativity.

Three ways to leverage the Explorer and banish the Exploiter:

• Quiet the analytic mind and let the intuitive mind speak loudly. No problem can be solved with the same mind that created it.
• Let go of control. You lose only what you cling to.
• Allow yourself to wonder. Accept what is, let go of what was and hold to the wonder of what will be.

The Truth Teller

The Truth Teller embraces candor, even when it makes people uncomfortable. They speak with openness and honesty, driven by a sincere desire to be of service. For truth tellers, speaking up is a duty. But leading to the gap, the Truth Teller can become the Deceiver, characterised by the creation of suspicion. It's the leader who withholds information, the boss who tells half-truths, the manager who doesn't address concerns--all forms of holding back that create a culture of suspicion.

Three ways to leverage the Truth Teller and banish the Deceiver:

• Always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It may hurt for a while, but deceit hurts forever.
• Let people be part of the solution. Whatever the problem, allow others to participate in solving it.
• Talk straight. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

The Hero

The Hero is courageous--willing to put their career at risk for a shot at greatness. Heroes act when others will not, even in the face of fear and overwhelming opposition. But leading up to the gap, the Hero can become the Bystander, characterized by fear. The Bystander is paralyzed by inaction and driven by fear. They keep you playing small and stuck where you are.

Three ways to leverage the Hero and banish the Bystander:

• If you see something, do something. The things we fail to do become our limits.
• If you hear something, say something. Treat fear as an obstacle that can be overcome.
• Feel the fear but do it anyway. Everything you want is on the other side of fear.

The Inventor

The inventor is brimming with integrity, constantly searching for the best way to improve processes and products and to perfect their craft. They are experimenters who make many small bets and are willing to fail in pursuit of big wins. They seek quality and excellence, with integrity always paramount. But leading up to the gap, the Inventor can become the Destroyer, characterised by corruption. Willing to cut corners and do whatever is expedient, the Destroyer works by compromising quality.

Three ways to leverage the Inventor and banish the Destroyer:

• Make excellence a habit. Treat everything you do as your very best work.
• Keep your promises. Don't agree to anything you don't intend to do.
• Make integrity part of everything you do. There's no other path to becoming a person of thorough integrity.

The Navigator

The navigator has a way of making the complicated simple and the simple understandable, masterfully steering their organization and the people within it to ever better outcomes. Their hallmark is trust--given and received. But leading up to the gap, the Navigator can become the Fixer, marked by arrogance. The Fixer tells people what to do instead of navigating the way alongside them, bossy and often aggressive.

Three ways to leverage the Navigator and banish the Fixer:

• Fix the fixer within you. Remember that trying to fix people isn't a good way to be valued or appreciated.
• Empower people. Show them they're smarter than they think.
• Set boundaries and don't cross them. Teach people how to treat each other by modelling a good example of not crossing boundaries. Once you set them, keep them.

The Knight

The Knight loyalty is everything. They are always looking for opportunities to serve and protect. But leading up to the gap, the Knight can become the self-serving Mercenary, who tries to lead by self-absorption or self-obsession is a person who will not succeed.

Three ways to leverage the Knight and banish the Mercenary:

• Learn what it means to serve others. Everyone can succeed when everyone serves.
• If you want respect, first give respect. It's a two-way street.
• Protect what you love and those you love. The best protection of all is loyalty.

The people who succeed -- the Rebels, Explorers, Truth Tellers, Heroes, Inventors, Navigators and Knights -- know how to stand in their greatness, while the others -- the Imposters, Exploiters, Deceivers, Bystanders, Fixers and Mercenaries -- lead from their gaps inevitably fall short of the mark.

Quote for the day

“One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” - Rita Mae Brown

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"When happiness points in one direction while wisdom, truth, integrity, and common sense point in another, that's when really smart people start doing really stupid things." - Andy Stanley

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Quote for the day

"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." - Benjamin Franklin

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Quote for the day

“If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you’ll never enjoy the sunshine.” - Morris West

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