Effective Stress Management Techniques- Brian Tracy

The 5 Secrets of Great Bosses

BY S. CHRIS EDMONDS

When you think of your best boss ever, what did he or she do that created an inspiring work environment for you? How did he or she act to enable your high performance and high engagement each day?

I’ve asked thousands of people in my leadership programs and keynote audiences these questions. The answers I hear are consistent. Great bosses do five vital things daily to create workplace inspiration and serve their employees well.

Before I share these five secrets, let me pose a different question: Would your employees, today, say you are their best boss ever? The answer may not be a resounding "yes" from every employee.

Habits of Success- Brian Tracy

10 Time Management Tips That Work

BY JOE MATHEWS, DON DEBOLT AND DEB PERCIVAL

Chances are good that, at some time in your life, you've taken a time management class, read about it in books, and tried to use an electronic or paper-based day planner to organize, prioritize and schedule your day. "Why, with this knowledge and these gadgets," you may ask, "do I still feel like I can't get everything done I need to?"

The answer is simple. Everything you ever learned about managing time is a complete waste of time because it doesn't work.

Before you can even begin to manage time, you must learn what time is. A dictionary defines time as "the point or period at which things occur." Put simply, time is when stuff happens.

How to Discover Your Hidden Potential

By Wvlegacy

Potential is defined as the inherent ability or capacity for development, growth or coming into being. Each of us has the capacity to become someone great which results in us doing great things. Unfortunately, a lot of people never discover the potential they have within themselves. Some of the greatest athletes never play a game and some of the greatest actors never act a part on a major stage simply because they never realize their true potential.

The first key we need to look at when it comes to discovering hidden potential is the environment.

Environment

We are created to flourish in a specific environment. A palm tree will not flourish in Virginia and an pineapple tree will not flourish in Maine simply because of the environment. These fruit trees require a specific environment in order to prosper. There is a specific climate required by these trees and this climate does exists everywhere.

Starting Your Own business- Sam Adeyemi

RECORD/BOOK KEEPING IN BUSINESS (4)

By Oladipupo Clement

stop carrying your company cheque book everywhere you go, except you are still operating a mobile office.

STAY INSPIRED!

6. RECORD/BOOK KEEPING IS OF NO USE IF IT IS NOT ACCOMPANIED WITH PERIODIC REVIEWS AND TURNAROUND DECISIONS.

7. HAVE PERIODIC MEETING FOR FINANCIAL EVALUATION WITH YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM. 
I suggest you meet at least once a month. This way, you are able to redirect attention to where it is most needed.

5 Simple Cures to Work Smarter and Save Time

By MATTHEW TOREN

You’ve heard the expression “work smarter, not harder” before, but what does that mean exactly? When your inbox is packed, there's a giant stack on your desk and the phone keeps ringing, how are you supposed to get it all done smarter?

The truth is many of our common ways of doing things aren’t actually productive. When you focus too heavily on the act of doing over the brilliance of planning, you can be spinning your wheels with a lot of extra activities that aren’t driving any results. That means lots of time wasted on things that aren’t worth your attention, or that could be handled in a more efficient manner.

As Benjamin Franklin said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Here are five simple cures to help you work smarter in the days ahead:

1. Structure. The wealthiest entrepreneurs know that having some structure to your schedule creates a routine of success. If you’re running around willy-nilly stomping out fires instead of planning your business’s future, you’re going to burn out and fall behind. The key to an effective workday is setting some structure in place. Get up at the same time Monday through Friday and carve out a routine, for instance; wake up, work out, eat breakfast, answer emails, phone calls, block out time for actual planning and work, check your email again, phone calls again, then be done for the day.

Eliminate These 8 Distractions That Are Killing Your Productivity

By JONATHAN LONG

As an entrepreneur, you know how valuable every single minute of your day is. We all would do almost anything for more time.

Sometimes your work environment and personal habits can waste precious time without you even knowing. Here are eight common distractions that are responsible for killing productivity.

1. Social media. Facebook status updates, tweets and Instagram pictures are a great way to stay connected to friends and family, but they can also suck valuable time away from your day. Our culture is addicted to social media. Unless you are using it to promote your business, it can wait. Those pictures and status updates aren’t going anywhere.

2. Cell phones. Not only are phone calls and text messages a major distraction, but most of us have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and various other social apps on our smartphones. While putting the phone on silent mode is better than nothing, it may vibrate across your desk, eventually peaking your interest and causing you to check it. If you really want to eliminate distractions, turn off your phone or set it to airplane mode while you work.

The Meaning and Essence of Leadership in Business

By Karen Kleinwort

Change is the only unchanging features in this changing world. Everything surrounding us changes with the passage of time to be in line with modernization. The ongoing business environment is no exception when it comes to this trend. Modern business is on a triumphant march through tracking changes via hard work from the most efficient business leaders.

Effective leaders adopt strategies and techniques to try to win or take the lead in the competitive market, which is ultimately a game of “survival of the fittest.” In both good and bad times, there is always a need for quality leadership. The success of a business or an industry is mostly dependent on the leaders it gets or inherits. The successful implementation of desired leadership techniques is crucial for meeting the changing demands in business. The mystique of leadership in and of itself makes it one of the most widely debated, studied and sought-after commodities in business.

Boko Haram insurgency exposes Nigeria's extreme economic inequality

By GEOFFREY YORK

Widespread corruption in Nigeria is creating a “more permissive operating environment” for Boko Haram

When the first bomb exploded at dawn, it shook the ceiling and floor and the shabby furniture in Alice Mayaki’s small cluttered house. Crying and trembling, she rushed outside and saw dozens of dead bodies.

Two weeks later, another bomb exploded in almost exactly the same spot. More than 90 people were killed in the two blasts. “Everyone is afraid,” Ms. Mayaki says. “I don’t go into town. Should I go, or should I not go? Life is very dangerous now.”

Abuja, the Nigerian capital, is the city of the big men: the politicians who control the enormous oil wealth and state resources of Africa’s biggest economy. But when the Boko Haram rebellion came to the capital this year, the big men were safely protected by guards and checkpoints. The explosions hit the migrant workers in the slums as they queued for their morning buses.

“It was the poor people who were going to work early,” said Ms. Mayaki, a nurse who migrated here from southwestern Nigeria. “It was the people who clean and sweep the offices for the big men. They were the ones who were killed.”

Nigeria’s rich and powerful, its politicians and military leaders from Lagos to Abuja, have been comfortably immune to the brutal northern insurgency – which may help to explain why it continues to escalate. The rebellion has exposed the extreme gulf between rich and poor in one of Africa’s most unequal countries. And this widening gap has fuelled the anger and alienation that makes it easy for Boko Haram to find recruits for its murderous militia.

Wole Soyinka speaks out on CNN

Government of Nigeria has no intention to #BringBackOurGirls

By Peregrino Brimah

The day of the abduction of 234 girls from a school in Borno State, the president of Nigeria continued on a campaign rally in Kano State, in which he was notoriously photographed dancing ecstatically to a twerking backside. At this time, his serenely placid actions in the face of the two worst terrorist acts on Earth to register for 2014 – a bus stop bombing at Nyanya motor park in the nation’s capital which claimed over 72 lives and maimed many others; and the Chibok school abduction happening hours after on the night of April 14^th – were defended as mere happenstance, inexperience and definitely not deliberate complicity

But the Nigerian government did not stop here in the deadly betrayal of the abducted citizens and denial of the severity of this event with deliberate complicity and perhaps, more accurately put, reckless endangerment and treasonable treachery towards citizens of the nation. The week of the abduction, as the public outcry began to persist; the government security department announced that all but eight of the girls had been freed by the security forces. The implication of this attempted colossal act of national sabotage and conspiracy to defraud the entire world and aid the terrorists in getting away with the abducted girls cannot be over stated. The parents kicked back and so did the school authorities and local government. They immediately went to the press to declare, exasperatedly that the government was lying and that even more girls than was being revealed were missing. The parents at this time further made it known that they had dared to go after the terrorists along vigilante’s of the Civilian-JTF, tracing the terrorists deep into Sambisa forest where they saw their camps, but had to turn back as the nation’s military refused to accompany them in pursuit of the terrorists and to free the abducted girls.

12 Business Skills That Will Never, Ever Go Out of Style

By Joe McKendrick

This is the digital age -- throw everything we've ever known about succeeding in business out the window, right? Wait a second, not quite everything.

There are basic rules for business success that haven't gone away with the digital age -- in fact, they have only become more important. The skills listed below could have appeared in any career book of the 1990s, 1980s, or even 1930s -- and continue to withstand the test of time:

Communication skills:- Management is still tight with budgets, and needs to be sold on new project ideas. The ability to construct an argument and make your case forcefully and clearly to your boss, client or coworkers will move your ideas to fruition. Computer systems can provide all the information you need, but machines don't know how to package it up to get decision-makers excited about lending their support to a project or idea.

Time management and organization:- The ability to stay organized and prioritize tasks will go a long way to moving you and your team forward. An application may accomplish a task within a millisecond, but it doesn't know its context or how it fits into the scheme of things. Just as important, to be able to make a decision and act on an opportunity now -- without getting wrapped up by paralysis by analysis -- will deliver results.

The Habit Of Selling- Brian Tracy

Success Secret- Sam Adeyemi

5 Questions to Determine If You're Ready to Be an Entrepreneur

By Mathew Toren

The only difference between people who want to be entrepreneurs and the ones who actually are is the work and the risk of getting started. 

If you feel like you want to be an entrepreneur but aren’t certain if you’re ready yet, here are five questions to help you determine your capabilities.

1. How comfortable are you with being uncomfortable? Entrepreneurship will mean a lot of uncertainty. If you’re the kind of person who needs a lot of control and a strictly scheduled life, you may not be able to handle the ambiguity that surrounds entrepreneurism. That being said, don’t think just because uncertainty makes you nervous you can’t be an entrepreneur. If you find you have a need for a controlled schedule, that trait could actually work in your favor.

Entrepreneurship requires long hours, hard work and dedication when you start out. Being able to manage your schedule and control your environment could help you with the organization of your business. However, you might want to plan before you leap in. A few great ways to do this are to stockpile savings, already have a business plan you’re prepared to work and seek out a community of support to talk you through the tough times.

Seven Rules for Coping with Sales Rejection

By Jane Porter

Using techniques he learned in a seminar on sales prospecting, Carlson decided to try zapping his negative feelings, “Mark Carlson, president of T. Charles Wilson Insurance Service, with his "thought zapper.” Literally. He started wearing a thick yellow rubber band around his wrist that he called a "thought zapper." Every time he looked at the phone and felt anxious, Carlson snapped the rubber band and thought of something positive. He also made a point of scheduling time each day to call potential clients. Soon his negative thoughts dissipated, and sales rebounded this year to $1.6 million.

Fear of rejection is common among small business owners like Carlson, especially those who are just learning how to sell themselves and their product or service. Consider these seven rules for coping with rejection in your business.

Know your sales ratio. Rejection is inevitable when you're selling, but you may not get as discouraged if you know how much to expect. Trelitha Bryant, a vice president at Behavioral Sciences Research Press, a Dallas-based firm that focuses on how fear affects selling, calls it your "sales ratio" and estimates that on average it takes about 30 calls to get an appointment with a prospective client.

RECORD/BOOK KEEPING IN BUSINESS

By Oladipupo Clement

STAY INSPIRED!

FUNDAMENTALS OF RECORD/BOOK KEEPING

1. HAVE AT LEAST A BOOK KEEPER TO HANDLE ALL YOUR RECORDS. 
This is very essential because it can be very tasking to keep records for your business and run around for business contracts at the same time. You also don’t want to be trapped with paperwork (especially when there is little or nothing to account for).

2. DISCOURAGE CASH TRANSACTIONS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. 
Whatever your business line, encourage bank lodgements to give every income or expense a history or trace. With the bank statement, you are able to track inflows and outflows whenever you choose.

How to Make a Personal Connection with Customers

Seven ways to build relationships with prospects that lead to more sales.

By Lambeth Hochwald

It isn't always enough to create and promote an outstanding product or service. Often, your sales approach matters just as much as what you're selling. The most successful entrepreneurs create a connection with the customer by bringing their own personal touch to the sales process.

"People buy from people that they like and can relate to," says Adrian Miller, a sales trainer based in Port Washington, N.Y. "When business owners overlook the importance of that personal connection, they run the risk of losing the prospect to someone else--usually someone who took the time to create a relationship and help the prospect buy something rather than trying to simply sell to them."

Here are seven tips on salesmanship that can help you develop that special rapport with potential customers:

1. Model your business on the corner store.

Inside the Mind of Your Buyers

A look at what motivates customers to buy -- and six ways to tailor your sales pitch.

By Jane Porter

No two customers are the same. To a small-business owner, that truism means paying close attention to what motivates people to buy.

 Customers approach buying with their own agenda, says George W. Dudley, chairman of the Behavioural Sciences Research Press, a Dallas, Texas-based research and development firm focused on sales productivity. For example, they could be shopping for specific product features, hoping to build a long-term relationship with the seller, or seeking a strong commitment to reliable service.

That means you should tailor your sales technique based on the primary reason your customer wants to buy. "We have our preferred selling style and it's one we have built up with layers over time," says Jeff Tanner, professor of sales and marketing at the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University. "I don't always see entrepreneurs trying to understand the need from the buyer's perspective."

Here are six ways to close a sale by focusing on what motivates your potential customers to buy.

1. If the buyer is detail-oriented, then showcase the features of your product. 

How to Conquer Your Sales Fears

Five common sales worries business owners face -- and ways you can combat them to close the deal.

By LISA GIRARD

The expression, "He could sell ice to an Eskimo," acknowledges that certain people are born salespeople.

For most small-business owners, however, the selling process is anything but easy. In fact, when it comes to pitching their product or service, many entrepreneurs struggle with any number of issues, including lack of confidence in themselves or their product, fear of failure and fear of closing the deal. The good news: Experts say these fears can be overcome with the proper attitude, training and practice.

Here are five of the most common fears about selling and how they can be conquered.

Fear No. 1: You will make a negative first impression. We all know how important a first impression is, and the fear that you will not make a good one can be intense. It may even make you avoid meeting ideal prospects.

How to overcome it: Show credibility through your appearance and nonverbal behavior, says Larina Kase, author of Clients, Clients and More Clients: Create an Endless Stream of New Business with the Power of Psychology (McGraw-Hill, 2011). Research shows that people are attracted to others who dress like them, she says, adding, "If your audience is school-aged girls, you may wear hot pink or purple, or if your audience is conservative business suit types, you may wear a suit with a bright shirt or tie, something that also shows your personal style." Focus on nonverbal behaviour’s like smiling (though not a "perma-smile"), eye contact and open posture, and be sure not to fidget and play with keys or other objects.

Seven Secrets of Self-Made Multimillionaires

By GRANT CARDONE

First, understand that you no longer want to be just a millionaire. You want to become a multimillionaire.

While you may think a million dollars will give you financial security, it will not. Given the volatility in economies, governments and financial markets around the world, it's no longer safe to assume a million dollars will provide you and your family with true security. In fact, a Fidelity Investments' study of millionaires last year found that 42 percent of them don't feel wealthy and they would need $7.5 million of investable assets to start feeling rich.

This isn't a how-to on the accumulation of wealth from a lifetime of saving and pinching pennies. This is about generating multimillion-dollar wealth and enjoying it during the creation process. To get started, consider these seven secrets of multimillionaires.

No. 1: Decide to Be a Multimillionaire -- You first have to decide you want to be a self-made millionaire. I went from nothing—no money, just ideas and a lot of hard work—to create a net worth that probably cannot be destroyed in my lifetime. The first step was making a decision and setting a target. Every day for years, I wrote down this statement: "I am worth over $100,000,000!"

How to Become a Millionaire by Age 30

By GRANT CARDONE

Getting rich and becoming a millionaire is a taboo topic. Saying it can be done by the age of 30 seems like a fantasy.

It shouldn’t be taboo and it is possible. At the age of 21, I got out of college, broke and in debt, and by the time I was 30, I was a millionaire.

Here are the 10 steps that will guarantee you will become a millionaire by 30.

1. Follow the money. In today’s economic environment you cannot save your way to millionaire status. The first step is to focus on increasing your income in increments and repeating that. My income was $3,000 a month and nine years later it was $20,000 a month. Start following the money and it will force you to control revenue and see opportunities.

2. Don’t show off -- show up! I didn’t buy my first luxury watch or car until my businesses and investments were producing multiple secure flows of income. I was still driving a Toyota Camry when I had become a millionaire. Be known for your work ethic, not the trinkets that you buy.

How To Become Wealthy- Warren Buffet

GERMANY BOOST NIGERIAN BUSINESSES WITH €20m

 Story By Benjamin Orisemeke

German Agency for International Corporation (GIZ) has earmarks €20 million to support micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria for three years.

Mr. Thomas Kirsch, GIZ’s country director, disclosed this while announcing the second phase of the Pro-poor Growth and Promotion of Employment in Nigeria programme, SEDIN, at a strategic partner forum of GIZ-SEDIN in Abuja.

Kirsch said the funds, allocated by the German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation, BMZ, for a three extension until March 2017, would be particularly spent on agricultural sector and other value chains like housing and energy, among others.

He informed that the programme, which would also cover vocational training in different trades, works at the federal, states and local levels, especially in Niger, Ogun and Plateau States.

2.4% Of Banks Revenue Goes to fraud

By Niyi Jacobs

 Mr. Adebayo Adelabu,  Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability, said 2.4 per cent of banking revenue was lost to fraud cases.

Adelabu said the 2013 Global Fraud Report showed that Africa had the highest regional level of fraud losses, with about 2.4 per cent of revenue lost to fraud.

He spoke at the 2014 compliance conference held in Lagos by the Committee of Chief Compliance Officers of Banks in Nigeria

Quoting from the report, Adelabu said, “The 2013 Global Fraud Report revealed that Africa had retained its position as the region with the largest fraud cases, while sub-Saharan Africa maintained the unenviable position of the region with the most prevalent fraud problems (77 per cent), among the regions surveyed.

VAST OIL RESOURCES CAN BE USED TO DIVERSIFY NIGERIAN’S ECONOMY

 BY BUSINESSWORLD INTELLIGENCE

The economic nerve centre of Africa shifted northward this year when Nigeria took South Africa’s long-held position as the country with the continent’s largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While GDP neither reflects the wealth distribution nor accounts for the size of the population, it is a significant indication of Nigeria’s emerging economic power. If these growing resources are invested intelligently, the country can benefit and exceed the International Money Fund’s estimated GDP growth of seven per cent this year.

Oil is the lifeblood of Nigeria’s US$510 billion economy, which was rebased – or recalibrated to reflect a more accurate economic picture – in April of this year. Pumping more than 2.5 million barrels of oil a day makes the country the continent’s largest producer. Oil constitutes 80 per cent of revenue and 95 per cent of export earnings, according to statistics from Nigeria’s Finance Ministry. This can be a blessing or a curse: it provides a large revenue stream in good times but also puts the country at the mercy of cyclical prices. A drop in oil prices has the potential of leaving a government with the choice between spending cuts impacting public infrastructure or a damaging deficit.

LETS TALK BUSINESS- OLUMIDE EMMANUEL

RECORD/BOOK KEEPING IN LIFE AND BUSINESS (2)

By Oladipupo Clement

Hello friends! Our contemplation this month has been RECORD/BOOK KEEPING IN BUSINESS. Today, we shall be examining the benefits of record/book keeping. Please ensure that you pause, meditate and take appropriate steps

STAY INSPIRED!

BENEFITS OF RECORD/BOOK KEEPING:
1. It helps to track or monitor the direction of cash flow.
2. It helps in developing an efficient and effective budget.
3. It helps to define the state of your business per time; whether you are doing well or not.
4. It keeps you accountable to government, investors, bankers, etc. Integrity in business is impossible without book keeping. It makes your integrity to lack evidence.

Business Plans: A Step-by-Step Guide

A business plan is a written description of your business's future, a document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ of a plan.

Business plans are inherently strategic. You start here, today, with certain resources and abilities. You want to get to a there, a point in the future (usually three to five years out) at which time your business will have a different set of resources and abilities as well as greater profitability and increased assets. Your plan shows how you will get from here to there.

The power of planing and chages- Dr Myles Munroe

Law Of Influence

World Top 10 - Fastest Growing Economies

 

These 10 countries are set to be the fastest-growing economies in 2014

(1) Mongolia, 15.3 percent
(2) Sierra Leone, 11.2 percent
(3) Turkmenistan, 9.2 percent
(4) Two-way tie: Bhutan, 8.8 percent;
Libya, 8.8 percent
(6) Three-way tie: Iraq, 8.5 percent;
Laos, 8.5 percent;
Timor-Leste, 8.5 percent
(9) Eritrea, 8.0 percent
(10) Zambia, 7.9 percent

How to Realize Your True Potential

Edited by Lesley V., darryl, Flickety, Sondra C and 15 others

Every human being, regardless of race, sex or spiritual belief, has the incredible capacity to accomplish far beyond what they think their limits are.

Steps

1. Accomplishing what many adults believed to be unrealistic. Growing up, these dreams no longer seem possible. Cast off concreted beliefs about what was possible.

2. Consider your ideas about your talents and capabilities - These beliefs were suggested to you by society. Identify beliefs that inhibit your career. Stop allowing these beliefs to govern you or your capabilities. Insert new convictions and beliefs that do not impose limits on your talents. Use the power in your subconscious mind, and master it over time with self-suggestion, hypnotism and constant positive input.

RECORD/BOOK KEEPING IN BUSINESS (1)

By Oladipupo Clement

A wise man once said, “You don’t grow big to manage well rather, you manage well so you can grow big”. Truer words could never have been spoken.

Improper/lack of record has hindered many businesses from succeeding, eventually rendering them insolvent or bankrupt. Such business failures could have been prevented if only proper accounting books were kept and periodic evaluation were done. This is why I say that in order to succeed in business finance, you must first succeed in personal finance.

Record/Book Keeping is a lot of hard work yet it is critical for business success. Attaining and retaining success in business are two different things. Record/Book keeping is an inescapable task if you must retain or maintain what you have attained. If you consider it a stress, then be prepared to be out of business.

Law Of Explosive Growth

How to Take Action to Acquire Enough Wealth for Goals

Edited by Garshepp, Teresa, Jesusfreak132, Darrelljon and 6 others

Method 1 of 6: Emergencies

•       Make a tiny emergency fund of about $1,000. Plan to "Never borrow again!" Pay cash for life's little surprises. Expect the unexpected: job loss, a new baby, car breakdowns (engine, transmission?), and such responsibilities continue. Pay from that fund -- not by getting a loan when possible! You try to make that work.
•       Save up to 2, then 3 and prepare, eventually, for up to 6 months in an actual "emergency-fund", perhaps in an insured "money market account", for only true emergency expenses: for the loss of a job, having a serious illness, etc. -- not for stuff.
•       Ask yourself, “What would it take for me to live for three to six months, if I lost my income?” That is your beginning of having enough.

Do not "invest" yet; at first, pay yourself as "insurance" against the shocks and lightning bolts, tornadoes of life.

Five Creativity Exercises to Find Your Passion

BY LISA GIRARD 

Benjamin Disraeli, a 19th century British Prime Minister, once said, "Man is only great when he acts from passion."

For today's aspiring entrepreneur, exploring avenues of creativity to find your passion is likely the quickest route to increase your chances of launching a successful business. Where to start? Here, five exercises to help you uncover your passion.

Exercise 1 - Revisit your childhood. What did you love to do?
"It's amazing how disconnected we become to the things that brought us the most joy in favor of what's practical," says Rob Levit, an Annapolis, Md.-based creativity expert, speaker and business consultant.

Levit suggests making a list of all the things you remember enjoying as a child. Would you enjoy that activity now? For example, Frank Lloyd Wright, America's greatest architect, played with wooden blocks all through childhood and perhaps well past it.

Four keys to retire rich

By ECONOMICTIMES.COM

You work all your life in hope of a comfortable retirement. However, unless planned carefully, retirement can be all your nightmares coming true-your salary, the regular stream of income would dried up while expenses, such as health care and living, would have only shot up. Here are four simple keys to ensure your golden years are spent comfortably. 

1.Know how much to save: More than 24% of the 2,578 respondents to an online survey conducted by economictimes last year said they were saving less than 5% of their income for retirement. Another 25% are putting away 5-10% of their income for their sunset years. It is unlikely this will be enough to sustain their current lifestyles when they stop working. 

A 2012 study by the US-based Putnam Research Institute says that the fund selection, asset allocation and portfolio rebalancing do not impact the final portfolio as much as the quantum of savings. You should ideally be saving to cover 80-90% of your current expenses if you want a comfortable life after retirement. Anything less than that will require lifestyle compromises. Don't include EMIs, education and other children-related expenses in this calculation. This should just be the amount you and your spouse will need to sustain your desired lifestyle after you stop working. As mentioned earlier, the pattern of expenses will change-health care, insurance and transportation costs are likely to go up, but entertainment and clothing may come down. We assume that education and loans will no longer be a worry.