In the wake of the all-consuming
Coronavirus, there is plenty of advice floating around for how to keep yourself
calm and occupied at home.

I personally liked Margaret’s list of things to do if you’re stuck at home. In addition to the usual ideas of crafting and exercising at home, Margaret also had some great suggestions like virtual travel, watching Ted Talks, and doing a “life review.”

But there’s another way to occupy
your time right now that will also help make you calmer and happier: virtual
volunteering. At a time when we’re getting daily reminders to be mindful of the
most vulnerable, volunteering online is not only good for the community, it’s
also good for you.

The Value of Volunteering as You Age

There’s plenty of evidence out
there to suggest that volunteering is good for your physical and mental
health, particularly as you age. As one author wrote long before the
Coronavirus set in, volunteering – by allowing her a place to deposit her
abundant, mid-life energy – became
her personal “chill pill.”

Volunteering also taps into a larger sense of purpose. In his book, The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50, Jonathan Rauch explores the science behind the so-called “Happiness U-curve.” The U-curve, a statistically robust finding which cuts across countries, shows that life satisfaction falls in our 20s and 30s, hits a nadir in our late 40s, and then increases steadily until our 80s.

But that upwards curve, Rauch
suggests, is not only the product of greater personal acceptance and adjusting
of expectations as we age. It also derives from a greater ability to re-direct
our focus away from ourselves and towards our community.

The numbers back this up. As Marc Freedman notes in his book, How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations, fully a third of older adults in the United States already exhibit “purpose beyond the self,” i.e., they identify, prioritise, and actively pursue goals that are both personally meaningful and contribute to the greater good.

That’s 34 million people over the
age of 50 who are willing and able to tutor children, clean neighbourhood
parks, or work for world peace.

Virtual Mentoring

Obviously, in an age of social
distancing, we need to move all of that good spirit and energy online. One of
the easiest ways to do that is by becoming a mentor. The beauty of being a
mentor is that you don’t need to work inside a large company – or even a
formal hierarchy – to make a difference.

All you need is a transferable
skill set, a bit of empathy, and the ability to help someone break down their
work, life, or education challenges into tractable, bite-sized chunks. Writers,
scholars, artists, social workers – not to mention you corporates out there –
can and should mentor.

Nor, in this globally connected
world, do we need to work or live down the hall or street from our mentees.
When I worked at the BBC, I mentored a young journalist via Skype who lived and
worked 5,000 miles away from me.

I gave this young woman tips for
how she might communicate better with her introverted boss. I advised her on
stress-management when she got stopped and questioned by her government for having
taken photos of a taboo region in the country.

We even discussed how she might
navigate societal expectations that – as a single, unmarried woman in her early
30s – she was long overdue to have a baby, even though she didn’t feel ready.

Online Campaigning

You can also get involved with
online campaigning for a cause you’re passionate about. An American artist
friend of mine who lives in London recently launched a Kick-starter campaign to
support a beautiful Haggadah collage she was making for the upcoming Passover
holiday.

Unfortunately, she launched this
fundraising drive about a week before Coronavirus awareness hit “red”
on the dial in the UK and the US. So, she abruptly cancelled her own campaign
to support a friend in Texas who was raising money to build a safety net for
the restaurant workers she was going to need to lay off.

This is also a good time to get
involved in political campaigning. It’s sometimes hard to remember that there’s
a major set of elections in the US approaching us in November.

Going door to door in swing states
is ill-advised in the current moment. But there is plenty to be done online to
support your political party/candidate.

I personally plan to re-direct the
volunteering time I normally spend teaching creative writing to children into
depolying online tools to mobilise the
large and occasionally pivotal swath of American voters living abroad.

Ageing and Wisdom

One of the concepts Rauch talks
about in his book about aging and happiness is “wisdom.” His argument
is that wisdom is not only, or even primarily, about knowledge and expertise.
It’s also about cultivating self-interest in order to promote the common good.

I, for one, feel wiser for knowing
this. And I can’t wait to spread my wisdom online.

Where do you usually volunteer?
Can you continue those activities in the current situation? Is it possible to
volunteer online? In what ways? Please share with our community!

You’ve no doubt heard about the recent market volatility
related to Coronavirus and the reaction to this unexpected pandemic.

Nobody likes sitting on their hands when it feels like they
should be doing something, but acting without thinking has never been the wiser
path to choose. The challenge quickly turns into identifying the things you
should think about doing, and the things you shouldn’t.

While it’s not hard to see that there will be an economic
impact, it is important to remember that the financial markets are not the
economy. It’s even more important to remember that time in the market usually
works better than timing the market.

According to Blackrock, 24 of the 25 worst trading days happened
within one month of the 25 best trading days over the last 20 years. Missing
those “best trading days” can have a drastic negative impact on your overall
return.

By trying to time the market in volatile times like these,
you run the risk that you miss those days, thereby doing more harm than good.

Investments

If you shouldn’t sell your investments and try to time the
market, what can you do? The first strategy is to rebalance.

Rebalancing your portfolio means to sell investments that
have gone up to purchase more of the investments that have gone down. This allows
you to buy low and sell high on a relative basis. It also maintains your
overall allocation you decided on when you created your financial plan.

Rebalancing assumes you had the right overall stock/bond
allocation in the first place. If the markets have genuinely spooked you to the
point you are considering selling out of the market, or already have, then you
probably didn’t have the right allocation to begin with.

Now is the time to revisit your “risk tolerance” since it is no longer a hypothetical scenario.

Time horizon is another component that determines your
asset allocation. If you need money from your portfolio in the next 5–10 years,
that portion shouldn’t have been in stocks to begin with because of how quickly
stocks can go down.

A proper asset allocation requires that you coordinate
your financial plan, risk tolerance (aka volatility tolerance), and your time
horizon. It’s never too late to get this part right, but make sure you read the
next section.

Beware the
Salespeople

Much like the media uses fear to generate eyeballs and
clicks, so too do annuity salespeople use fear to sell annuities.

They can play on your fear and tout the ability to “never
lose money” and will have their charts to convince you an annuity is the
greatest thing since sliced bread. We all know guarantees like that must come
with some serious tradeoffs.

An annuity may or may not make sense for you, but don’t
let the recent market performance make that decision for you. Annuity
salespeople do not have to act in your best interest the same way a full time Fiduciary does.

A Fee-Only advisor has a legal obligation to act in your
best interest at all times and can be a thinking partner in times like these,
especially if you are navigating retirement
solo.

You can learn more about the difference between Fee-Only
advisors and “fee-based” here.

Tax Strategies
Before Tax Day

There are a few strategies you can pursue before you file
your 2019 taxes. If you have earned income, you can still contribute to an IRA
or Roth IRA for the 2019 tax year.

Also, you can make Health Savings Account contributions if
you are covered by a qualifying health plan. Other than the Roth IRA, these
strategies can lower the amount of tax due on your 2019 tax return.

Refinance Debt

Interest rates usually drop when stocks do, and this
episode has been no different. This means it may be a good time to refinance some
of your debt, and here are the two reasons why you should consider it:

The first is to lower your monthly payment in times of a
cash flow crunch, but this can mean you’ll pay more in interest overall.

The other reason to refinance is to pay less interest
overall. Depending on your unique circumstances, a refinance may be able to do
both. This short video discusses refinancing in more detail.

Whatever your retirement portfolio
and financial goals, times of crisis should never be taken lightly. Consider
your options before acting.

Download Robert’s ebook, 9 Mistakes to Avoid When Retiring Solo, if you’re on the path to
retirement and need guidance.

What financial actions did you take in the past week? How
did they impact your retirement portfolio? Now that you thought things through,
would you act differently? How? Please share with our community!

Even though we might have a little more time on our hands than usual, for some reason that doesn’t mean we’re washing our hair any more often. There’s just always something better to do, even during self-isolation, right? The Billie Floof Dry Shampoo came at a clutch time. The cult-favorite razor brand has stepped outside the shower and expanded into clean beauty products. It launched a line of “essentials” for everyday use: dry shampoo, skincare wipes and tinted balms. All are formulated without parabens, phthalates, harsh foaming agents, DEA and hundreds of other toxins that the EWG deems toxic.

There are two shades of Billie’s new dry shampoo, one for light hair and one for dark hair. It contains baking soda, biotin, rice starch and plant-based fibers to not only soak up an oily scalp, but also add some much-needed volume. The powder comes out of a little pinhole in the bottle and you just shake it into your scalp. Don’t worry—it doesn’t come pouring out all over your floor like others tend to do. It’s pretty mess-proof. Plus, it’s just cute.

Image: Billie.

While you’re home working and washing your hands and trying not to eat all your quarantine snacks, it’s not realistic that you’ll put a full face of makeup on. Sure, you might want to have fun and experiment with products but a face beat? Nah. These are the low-key, laid-back items to add to your WFH routine. Take the new Wonder Wipes, for example. The 100 percent plant-based, biodegradable wipes are thick with an almost towel-like feel to remove makeup, dirt and grime from skin. They contain  cleansers, hyaluronic acid and vitamin C for hydration and brightening.

Image: Billie.

Finally, when you’re not in the mood for a matte lipstick, pop on a Super Salve lip balm. It’s made with sunflower oil, candelilla wax, avocado oil and vitamin E for the ultimate hydration. There are five unique “flavors” to chose from that deliver a subtle wash of color and smell delicious: Fig (deep purple), Rhubarb (red), Sorbet (candy pink), Classic (untinted and unflavored) and Parsley (untinted with an herbal flavor).

Image: Billie.

Launching with all the newbies is what Billie is calling a Clean Cash Calculator. It’s powered by the technology used by The Environmental Working Group (EWG), which ranks products from 1-10, from “safe” to “toxic” depending on its ingredients. All of Billie’s products fall within 1-2. You can search for items in your beauty routine and find out what the EWG ranks it. For now, the calculator only searches face wipes, dry shampoo, lip balm, body lotion, body wash and shave cream so Billie can compare its own product’s ranking. If Billie’s ranks lower on the safety scale, it’ll give you a discount to use towards replacing your product with theirs.

Finally, since the world is a scary place right now, Billie announced it is donating $100,000 as part of ts 1 percent social mission to local food banks across America, helping those affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. Big or small, we can all do our part.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

As we get older, it is particularly important that we nurture our immune systems. They help to fight bugs of all sorts, including the current COVID-19 infection.

There are
lots of suggestions about how to do this, but here are six that are based on
solid scientific evidence. Some of them may need to be adapted at this time to
take into account the movement restrictions.

Boosting Your Immune System with Soluble Fibre

A University
of Illinois study shows the benefits of soluble fibre. Insoluble
fibre is found in wholemeal bread and similar foods and is important for the
regularity of our digestive system.

Soluble
fibre is found in various common foods. The study shows that it reduces the
inflammation associated with obesity-related diseases and strengthens the
immune system.

One of the
researchers, Professor Gregory Freund, says: “Soluble fiber changes the
personality of immune cells –
they go from being pro-inflammatory, angry cells to anti-inflammatory, healing
cells that help us recover faster from infection.”

This
sounds like exactly what we all need right now. Diabetes
UK says that good sources of soluble fibre
include:

• Oats
• Fruits and berries, particularly apples, strawberries, and blueberries
• Nuts and seeds
• Beans, pulses, and lentils
• Vegetables

Choir Singing Boosts Immune System Activity

Research
by Daisy Fancourt and colleagues shows that singing in a choir boosts immune
system activity. Their research was done on cancer patients and their carers.

They found
that singing in a choir for just one-hour boosts the levels of immune proteins
in people affected by cancer. It also reduces stress and improves mood, which
in turn could have a positive impact on overall health.

While this
research was done on cancer patients, I can imagine it would be true for the
rest of us as well. You probably won’t be able to sing in a physical choir
right now, but could you organise a virtual choir via Skype or Zoom?

Spending Time in Nature

Simply
spending time in nature has been shown by numerous research articles to provide
protection against a startling range of diseases, including depression,
diabetes, obesity, ADHD, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and many more.

University
of Illinois environment and behavior researcher Ming Kuo
believes an important part of the reason for this is that spending time in
nature strengthens the immune system. She said:

“When we
feel completely safe, our body devotes resources to long-term investments that
lead to good health outcomes –
growing, reproducing, and building the immune system. When we are in nature in
that relaxed state, and our body knows that it’s safe, it invests resources
toward the immune system.”

It may
well be difficult to spend a lot of time in nature right now, as many countries
are experiencing extensive movement restrictions. Research has shown that even
looking at the sky through a window helps sick people get well. So, if you are
stuck in a small apartment, deliberately take time to look at the sky.

Check out
this simple way to reduce
your stress levels even if you can’t have the healing
benefits of nature.

Get Enough Sleep

We all
know how we feel if we aren’t getting enough sleep. Researchers have shown that
it affects our immune system too. A study by
Luciana Besedovsky and colleagues shed light on how the
immune system replenishes itself during sleep.

T cells are
a type of white blood cells and are the foundation of the human body’s immune
system. Large quantities of T cells are present in the bloodstream and are
ready to attack viruses and other pathogens that invade the body.

Even
during a deep resting phase, the body is able to release T cells, growth
hormones, and epinephrine back into circulation to fight pathogens when needed.

Take a Beta Glucan Supplement

Beta
glucan is among the best supplements for fighting colds or priming your immune
system, and you have probably never heard of it. It’s found in nutritional
yeast, which adds a wonderfully cheesy flavour to sauces etc. You’ll find it in
your health store. Or take a supplement.

A study
from the University
of North Texas looked at how beta glucan can help athletes
who undertake major endurance sports such as marathon running. The researchers
concluded that beta glucan may reduce upper respiratory tract infections and
improve mucosal immunity (salivary IgA) post-exercise.

It seems
like it works particularly well when you are under mental or physical stress.

Lead a Healthy Lifestyle

The bottom
line from all research is simple –
we need to embrace a healthy lifestyle for our immune system to be able to
function optimally.

The Harvard
Medical School website says: “our first line of defense is
to choose a healthy lifestyle.” They see these as healthy living strategies:

• No smoking
• Eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables
• Regular exercise
• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Drinking alcohol only in moderation
• Getting adequate sleep
• Taking steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly
• Finding ways to minimize stress

Being fit,
healthy, and happy doesn’t have to be hard work, but it does need to be based
on solid factual
information about best practices.

How
do you boost your immune system to fight various infections? What ways have you
found helpful to minimize stress? What do you include in your healthy lifestyle
habits? Please share with our community!