Personal Financial Planning of a Common Citizen Essay

Personal Financial Planning of a Common Citizen - Essay Example As he would not have any regular inflow of money as with age he would retire from the profession he was into, he needs to save and plan for future, which would take care of his old age. Though at the old age citizens are entitled to state-sponsored pensions still having own money would definitely help them with greater mental assurance to fight the diseases and illnesses which invariably comes with age. Also, the proper financial planning from the right age would also assist a person in fulfilling his other dreams and commitments like those of education of family members and purchasing of house, etc. Jeff, aged 55, works at building trade sites for last 39 years. He started to work at the age of 16 and has earned enough to pay off his mortgages. Jeff is married to Amy, a homemaker. The couple has two children. The first child of Jeff and Amy is Kylie (29) who is married (to Jake) and has two children, of three years and eighteen months old. The other child of Jeff and Amy, named Phil is 26 years old and is still single. Jeff earns a decent sum of  £ 24,000 per annum for last five years. The standard of living of the couple is much simpler and only major indulgence of the aged pair is that they smoke around 20 cigarettes per day. Jeff had been trying his luck by purchasing lottery tickets for last ten years or so but without any fruit. But at last luck supported the man and he has owned a considerable amount of  £ 750,000. The cheque has just reached him and he wants to have proper financial planning for future with the sum he has received as the winner of the lottery. Jeff hopes the amount that he has ownership in the lottery would be able to take care of his needs. The objectives of Jeff includes to receive a decent sum of pension during his period of retirement (approximately around  £ 25,000 per annum and that should also be inflation proof) and to make contributions towards the education of the children of their daughter. Also, the couple wanted to make some contribution towards their children.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Example for Free

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay Ernest Hemingway probably summed it up best when he said, All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn (source). We’re dealing with quite a book here. Published in 1885, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s follow-up to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, carved new territory into the American literary landscape in several ways. As one of the first novels to use a specific region’s vernacular in its narration, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn set a precedent for many other distinctly American works to follow. Some readers didn’t exactly get this new colloquial style, however. Accustomed to the proper prose of Hawthorne, Thoreau, and Emerson, some readers didn’t know what to do with Huck’s particular way of storytelling. Aside from the novel’s new style of writing, Twain’s decision to use thirteen-year-old Huck as the narrator allowed him to include certain content that a more civilized narrator probably would have left out. At first, Twain’s novel was labeled crass by some readers. The book was even banned in schools for its use of the n-word which is ironic, given that the novel is up in arms over slavery. Even today, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn makes Banned Books lists. Look more:Â  social satire essay Twain’s novel jumped head first into one of the biggest issues of its day: racism. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed over two decades before Huckleberry Finn’s original publication date, African-Americans everywhere were still victims of oppression and racism. They were technically free, but often by name only in Reconstruction-era America. Many southerners were bitter about the outcome of the Civil War. By guiding his characters through several states of the Confederacy, Twain was able to reveal the hypocrisy of many pre-war southern communities. As a southerner himself, Twain had first-hand experiences to draw on, and he was able to walk the fine line between realistic depiction and ironic farce. Not to mention, Twain created the now-iconic character of Jim, a runaway slave who convinces Huck that African-Americans are deserving of freedom, and that equality is a goal for which we all should be fighting. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is now considered to be one of the Great American Novels, mostly due to how it so heartily champions the American ideals of freedom, independence, and rugged individualism. Huck’s dedication to his own moral standards and his bold sense of adventure and self-sufficiency have earned him a place in the All-American Hall of Fame. In addition, Twain is a hilarious storyteller, and the plot of this novel is a roller-coaster ride of moral dilemmas – so trust us when we say that if you haven’t taken the ride yet, you probably should. Why Should I Care? Mark Twain wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn twenty years after the American Civil War. Slavery had been abolished, and the North and South were making up (albeit with some residual anger). So why publish a highly moralistic tale about a system that was no longer in place? Weren’t race issues a moot point once slavery was out of the picture? Hardly. Freedom didn’t mean equality by any means – not legally, socially, or practically. (See Shmoop Historys Jim Crow in America for more.) Actually, come to think of it, this isn’t an outdated notion at all. Rules and laws often don’t accurately reflect what’s really going on. From a legal standpoint today, we have equality of race; yet racism is still a problem. Men and women are equal, yet many still see a glass ceiling for women in the workplace, meaning they often have invisible boundaries to advancement. That doesn’t mean laws are useless. Laws may not immediately effect change, but we’ve seen that they do precede change. While laws can affect how people act, it takes more to change the way we think. We can’t rely on laws alone. That’s where The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn comes back into the picture. We need people like Mark Twain to remind us not to be self-congratulatory for starting a process in motion, but instead to realize that greater change is always necessary.

Wetlands Research Paper -- Research Paper fc

Wetlands   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When most people think of wetlands the first thing that will pop into their mind will be visions of swamps and flooded plains. These marshy lands would seem to have no purpose, while in reality they are the most precious form of ecosystem that we have in America. Wetlands contribute to biodiversity, clean water, flood control, and provide a habitat for millions of species of plants and animals. Even with all this wetlands still face mass destruction, much like the rain forests they are just as productive and face similar rates of devastation (Mitchell, J. (1992, October). â€Å"Our Disappearing Wetlands† National Geographic, Pg 15).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It really is hard to get someone passionate about a mosquito-infested piece of swamp that seems just to be there to take up space and look bad. This is why wetlands are not backed by too many people to prevent their destruction. The main causes of wetland devastation are all linked to man. Pollution, construction, and farming are what is destroying 300,000 acres of wetlands each year (David Allen, J 1995 Pg. 24). Pollution is one of the most potent forms of destruction in that a small amount can cause such damage to a wide variety to plants and wildlife. Construction is another threat because as the population grows the demand for affordable housing goes up. Also with a rise in population comes a demand for food, which leads the to last and most destructive threat to wetlands, farming. Farming is all the threats to wetlands rolled into one; it builds over hundreds of acres of land and pollutes it with fertilizers and herbicides.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There are many misconceptions about wetlands that the public has due to the fact that there is not much public interest to save the wetlands. Well what exactly is a wetland? A lowland area, such as a marsh or swamp, that is saturated with moisture, especially when regarded as the natural habitat of wildlife, but in actuality a wetland is so much more than that. Depending on the type of wetland suggests the function it performs for the environment. We now realize that wetlands are important and valuable ecosystems. They are home to many beautiful and rare species. They filter runoff and adjacent surface waters to protect the quality of our lakes, bays and rivers. Wetlands also protect many of our sources of... ... they are not all destroyed. Experts believe that due mostly to the intervention of man wetlands may change to fit the surrounding environment. Things like pollution and the intervention of man have caused wetlands to adjust to have life forms more resistant to pollution. Other scientists predict that the wetlands should remain the same the way they have for the thousands of years they have been around. All in all it is our responsibility to preserve these landscapes, and with the clock ticking we are rapidly running out of time to save these precious ecosystems. *By the time you finish reading this 42 acres of wetlands will be gone* BIBLIOGRAPHY Allen, David, Jr. Stream Ecology. Sioux City: Chapman and Hall, 1995. Angel, Heather. The Water Naturalist. Memphis: Windmill Publishers, 1982. Gomez, Jane. The Everglades. Boston: Houghton, 1992. Marshall, Alexandra. Still Waters. New York: William Marrow & Co., 1978. Mitchell, John G. â€Å"Our Disappearing Wetlands.† National Geographic October 1992: Pgs.44. Mairson, Alan. â€Å"Florida Everglades: Dying For Help.† National Geographic April 1994: Pgs. 2-35. â€Å"Wetlands† Encarta Encyclopedia. Ed. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Inc. Copywrite 2001

Altruism Essay

The statement â€Å"People never intentionally act to benefit others except only to obtain some good for themselves† is often described as Altruism or an Altruistic act. This statement is not entirely true. It is possible for someone to intentionally act to benefit others, but this is something that does not happen very often. There are multiple theories as to why people do and do not perform altruistic acts. If someone is a member of your family you are more likely to help a person in need, if you feel sympathetic towards someone you are likely to help a person in need or if it is a social norm you are likely to help them. If in a certain situation helping someone is not a social norm then you are less likely to help this person. Even if someone wanted to perform an altruistic act it is very difficult to do so in our society because we reward people who we perceive to be good, or to have done good things. If you perform an Altruistic act towards a member of your family would be acting within Hamilton’s kin selection theory (1960s). The kin selection theory which states that you are much more likely to perform an altruistic act if the person you are helping is a member of your family. An example of this is recently in Melbourne there was a wall collapse. Three people died as a result of this incident; a woman in her thirties and an eighteen and nineteen-year-old siblings, the older brother and his sister. The older woman died upon impact, as did the brother, but only after he shielded his sister from the collapsing wall. His sister also died later in hospital. (ABC News, 1st April 2013) This is an example of the kin selection theory. Instead of doing what benefited himself, he tried to save his sister, despite it having dire consequences. This would be considered an act of altruism as it did not benefit him, and in this case even had negative consequences, especially as his sister later died in hospital. Another reason people perform altruistic acts is out of sympathy. Sympathy is a natural feeling of concern for a person. Even if you can’t relate to the person you feel bad for them, or concerned for them. An example of someone feeling sympathetic is Julio Diaz, who when a mugger came up to him one night with a knife he handed over his wallet without complaint. When the mugger went to walk away he stopped him and offered him his coat as well, saying he didn’t want the mugger to get cold. He then continued to offer to buy the mugger dinner. (Huffington Post, 17th November 2011). Diaz obviously felt sympathy towards the mugger, or he wouldn’t have given over his wallet, jacket and paid for his dinner. Diaz ended up getting his wallet back from the boy who handed it over after they had eaten. Diaz felt sympathy towards the boy due to the fact that the boy had almost nothing, where as Diaz had enough money to comfortably live. Sympathy makes people feel like they have a moral obligation to help someone in need – the person they feel sympathetic towards. – Sometimes people help others because it is considered a social norm. An example of this is saying please and thank you. This is considered normal in most societies and it is often frowned upon if you don’t use these. A social norm is something people often take for granted and a lot of people are shocked when someone doesn’t follow what they consider to be normal. Another example of a social norm in our society is to wear clothes in public. If you were walking down the street and you say someone walking towards you naked you would not think this was normal. You would wonder why they were naked and often avoid walking to close to, making eye contact with, or speaking to this person. If you were in some traditional aboriginal culture you would wear nothing but animal skin, or even walk around naked. This is/was considered a social norm within that society. There are some internationally recognized social norms, like not engaging in cannibalism, and dressing modestly. While not all societies, past or present, follow these social norms most of the world does. There are also norms within society, religion and individual families. A social norm in our society is mate-ship, not letting down your friends, family, or community. There are plenty of social norms in religion, such as in Christianity it is not exactable to love someone of the same sex. This is an example of a social norm that is slowly changing over time, as do most social norms. It was a social norm in Britain in the 1800’s that you attended church, where as in 2002 only 18. 6% of people in the United Kingdom attended church regularly. (Tearfund report, 2007) This is an example of how social norms change over time, and what we consider to be social norms at the moment may not be considered normal in 40,50,60,70 or more years. These things cannot be considered an altruistic act because you would benefit poorly from not doing these things, so it is good for you to say please and thank you, bringing it back to the first example. There are also plenty of things people do not do to help others because it is considered outside of the social norms. If you saw a drunk person on the street you probably wouldn’t help them because society has shaped us to think that these people brought the state they are in on themselves, therefore it is not our problem to help them once they are in this situation. Social norms can be beneficial, but they can also detrimental. Another instance where helping someone is not considered an altruistic act is if the act is mutually beneficial. This can cover a range of things, from the benefit to you being a smile from someone, to a bravery award. If you see a child drowning and you swim out and save them and when you get back their mother says thank you and buys you an ice cream then you are benefiting, the ice cream being the benefit. If while trying to save this child you drown you do not benefit in anyway, and this even has a negative affect on you. This would be an act of altruism because there is no mutual benefit. A benefit for you may be something as small as a good feeling inside, or a smile, but these are benefits of saving the child, there for there is mutual benefit. You walk away with a good feeling and maybe an ice cream and the child walks away with his life. A real life example of this is Don Richie, who lived just across the road from one of Australia’s most notorious suicide locations. It is estimated that Richie saved more than 160 lives in his lifetime. He received the title of Australia’s local hero in 2011(ABC Radio, 14th May 2012). This is something he got out of stopping these people commit suicide. Despite the fact that he had no knowledge he was going to receive this award when he started saving people, because he received this award it is not an act of altruism. Some would argue that even if he hadn’t received this award these would still not be acts of altruism, as he felt good about saving these people, and it made him a happier person. This is his benefit, making it mutually beneficial and not an act of altruism. People do act to benefit others, without obtaining good for themselves, but this is a rare situation. Whether the person wanted to obtain some good for themselves or not they almost always do, as acts of kindness are rewarded in most societies. While people can intentionally act to benefit others without obtaining good for themselves this almost never happens, simply because of the way our society is shaped.

Fahrenheit 451 Dialect Journal Essay

Predict This sentence has negative and a happy tone at the same time. Bradbury makes the character sound like he’s evil or perhaps has a lot of things to hide, considering that snakes in general slither around and seem to hide themselves. Yet, he has no remorse for what he was doing either with the included phrase, â€Å"and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies. I predict that this person is doing this as it was he’s job. I also wonder why he is burning whatever he was trying to get rid of. This reminds me of a firefighter because of the way the author is describing what this person was doing, but instead of water it is kerosene. Maybe this person’s job was to purify the area in the society by burning it. â€Å"He remembered nothing like it save one afternoon a year ago when he had met an old man in the park and they had talked†¦.† Predict/Clarify This sentence holds a mysterious tone. Who is this man and why is â€Å"they† in italics? Did something peculiar happened a year ago that made him remember  it in a odd way? I think we shall learn more about this other man later in the story. Maybe this man is related to the girl, that’s why Montag suddenly remembers the man after the conversation with the girl. It was said that he saw Clarisse’s face in the walls too. It has been confirmed that the man, Montag, is a firefighter, but with no usage of water what so ever. He’s job is to purify the community by burning book because it is illegal. I wonder why that is and also why other things that should be okay illegal as well. This shows sign of a world that supposedly utopian, but in reality, a dystopian society in itself. â€Å"He felt his smile slide away melt, fold over and down on itself like a tallow skin, like the stuff of a fantastic candle burning too long and now collapsing and now blown out.â €  Evaluate The author explains that Montag is not only unhappy, but he is now incapable of pretending otherwise. Which he is revealing his true emotions. By comparing his smile to a burnt our candle, it shows how definite his unhappiness is. Then when you read the part where it describes the candle that can never be lit again tells us readers that Montage can never truly be happy with himself again. Predict There is something that is bothering him and he has been unhappy for awhile now. â€Å"He felt that the stars had been pulverized by the sound of the black jets and that in the morning the dart would be covered with their dust like a strange snow.† Evaluate The author is describing how Montag feels like the stars are being ruined by the black jets. The starts represent his perfect world and the black jets are something that is destroying his perfect world. Bradbury is creating a somber situation. Predict The sentence shows hidden darkness within Montag. Maybe the black jets represents Mildred swallowing the pills and how he is aware of the imperfect  world that is around him with the author’s usage of the words, â€Å"pulverized† instead of â€Å"crushed† or â€Å"ruined.† â€Å"You don’t need an M.D., case like this; all you need is two handymen, clean up the problem in half an hour.† Predict The word that are placed in this sentence demonstrates insensitive words towards one another humanity has become. Mildred was dying and society cared enough to send only two â€Å"handymen† to fix the â€Å"problem.† This sentence has surprisingly cold connotation which shows Montag and the readers the heartlessness of the world. I wonder why that is? Also, why they didn’t send professional help instead of people (who we don’t know if they were qualified) with machines to essentially replace almost all the inner liquids of the body with new (from a stranger) liquids. Again, the question of why Mildred was trying to kill herself? I think this is one of the reasons why Montag is unhappy with life. â€Å"He felt his body dive itself in a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon the other.† Evaluate The author is showing us that Guy was having contradicting feelings about what Clarisse has said. Bradbury has chose to put the contradicting words next to each other to create a pulling effect. As a result, it makes the reader feel the confusing tug-of-war effect as Montag did. Even though he has an uneasy feeling about the girl, Montag is still fascinated by her and is interested enough to stick around to listen to what she says. Predict This is character development and where Montag learns more about her. Then afterwards, they go on an adventure to figure out why their society is the way it is. Eventually, Montag will regain his happiness again by spending more time with Clarisse possibly. I wonder what kind of a relationship they will build as we progress in the plot. â€Å"Montag’s hand closed like a mouth, crushed the book with wild devotion, with an insanity of mindlessness to his  chest.† Evaluate Guy’s hand represents his subconscious and his true desire. Bradbury illustrated this by describing it like Montag’s hand has a mind of its own. This is change in Guy’s heart and the start of something new. He is beginning to show what he really wants as opposed to what he’s supposed to be doing. Predict Eventually, Montag will have a change of heart of what is right and what he is required to do. It makes me wonder if Clarisse and Guy will find the truth of the world they live in. Why isn’t everyone curious about why they are doing what they are doing? â€Å"He felt her there, he saw her without opening his eyes, her hair burnt by chemicals to a bottle straw, her eyes with a kind of cataract unseen but suspect far behind the pup is, the reddening pouting lips, the body as thin as a praying mantis from dieting, and her flesh like while bacon.† Clarify I never really thought that Clarisse would disappear like that. I thought Clarisse was a character that would come back and continue the story with Montag. Also, it seems to be that Mildred was really scatterbrained. I honestly never really thought that she had that kind of personality. It makes me wonder even more why she wanted to kill herself and if the society is doing it to her. Evaluate Bradbury used imagery to describe the detailed features of Mildred and how she doesn’t seem to be a healthy being. The abnormally white flesh and burnt hair shows that they live in a place where artificial beauty through hair dye and diets are required. They way she is described is almost like a walking corpse and is hopeless. The only Montag remembers her is that he â€Å"saw her without opening his eyes† because she is so distant. â€Å"If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to  worry him; give him one.† Predict This sentence is optimistic and gives a general picture of how the society is looking at things. They’re seeing that if we give people one choice then everyone can be happy or at least content with life. Which I don’t understand why since there are still people upset because they are losing their books and other odd events such as children killing other children. I have a feeling that after reading a book or two, Montag could question the motives of the society and where it is heading like the reader is. I don’t understand how the people agreed to this to let the world involve into this. If this was America and the â€Å"Land of the Free,† shouldn’t the people be allowed their freedom of owning books? It looks as though the â€Å"authors† are more worried about books and pedestrians then the lives of the citizens. â€Å"Again he found himself thinking of the green park a year ago The thought had been with him many times recently but now he r emembered how it was that day in the city park when he had seen that old man in the black suit hide something, quickly, in his coat.† Clarify Again, we hear about this man Montag met at the park. He can’t seen to shake that memory. Although this time he describes it in more detail. Predict What is so significant about this person? Was that man hiding a book in public? Is he connected somehow with Clarisse? Guy mentioned the man after talking about her, so maybe they are connected in some relevant way. At this point he is stuck and doesn’t know what his move is next. I think that he’s going to go out and find this man to learn more about books. Assuming he find the old man, possibly he will fight for the rights for books and for things to go back to the way it used to be, breaking the dystopian society he is facing.