Above anything else in a room – art brings all the tangible components including furniture, fabrics and finishes together – but that is only where it begins. Art really contributes to the totality of a space, through creating atmosphere with enhancing the mood and personality of a room. Art presented together in such a way, heightens your senses, making the room a more inviting and inspiring place for you to be in.For this cohesion to occur, the selection of art that best compliments a room comes about through a careful blending of discernment and paying close attention to your sensory responses to art.It is important to discover the mood of the space through reviewing its style. The idea here is that art needs to reflect and be in concert with the existing space… to be in harmony with the room style.It is best to start with thoughtfully observing the context and atmosphere the art will inhabit. Although there are numerous room styles, there are 4 that most will fall within. As a guideline these briefly include:1. Contemporary rooms that show soft lines and linear shapes in neutral tones that are complete with one overriding bold colour as the feature.2. Eclectic rooms present a variety of styles and moods through patterns, colours and textures that complement one another.3. Traditional rooms tend to be classic in style and timeless in appeal. Warm complementary colours and warm wood appeal together present a cozy and relaxing atmosphere.4. Romantic rooms present a more feminine expression with an emphasis on soft, sheer fabrics and light to pastel colours – subtle contrasts of between light and colour and other specialty textured design pieces are central to achieve this feeling and look.Once the room style has been deciphered, it is time to consider what your preferences are for art. Whether buying original art from a gallery, limited editions prints, reproductions or poster art – the decision of what art to buy is the same.For your residential space be sure to, above all, make it personal. You need to think about your preferences for art – what appeals to you – consider that whether you are sometimes glancing casually at your art, there will be days when you will want to study and stare at it – to that end, what is going to have staying power for you? Remember this art will be on your walls for an indefinite period of time so you will wish to exhibit art that has the potential to be pleasing and inspiring to you over the long term.Don’t be too methodical or overthink it, just try to become one with what you like about certain art, but try to keep it simple and somewhat spontaneous. If you are working with an art consultant or interior designer, they will draw this from you and that will help you to better understand yourself when it comes to choosing art.If working on your own, ask yourself: What really appeals to you in terms of colour and style including abstracts, post-modern or vintage art? Is there a particular subject that you connect to – landscapes, animals, seascapes or people? What about the medium used to create the art – acrylic, water colour, digital, photography or something more adventurous? Do you prefer large expressive pieces, or smaller, dainty images presented in relational groups? The options are truly endless and not limited to your imagination…Next, it is advisable to think about the money that you have to spend, as you can’t appreciate your art purchases if you spend beyond what you are comfortable with. Like anything, it is easy to become carried away with the beauty and breadth of art selections that are available to you. To that end, it is wise to have a working budget that will provide you with a general guideline for your spending. The art medium that you choose will often dictate what you can spend; however there are lovely and desirable pieces to be found with every medium, style and taste.Through being prepared and enlightened with all of the above, you should be well on your way to choosing art that will not only tie your space together… but it will make you feel that you belong to a place that is positively reflective of you.

Financial issues are the most crucial and the sensitive issues in life. Everyone wants to save money for which they think of alternatives. In an attempt to curtail the expenses in life, one should not ignore the health care requirements. If in life, a person falls ill or faces any severe health ailment, the medical bills poses as a challenge. Admission to a hospital and seeking treatment is not in everyone’s reach today. Any unforeseen event in life results in all savings getting vanished away in mere few days. In such cases the health cover acts as a weapon against uncertain monetary risk.People tend to ignore the beforehand preparation for any health risk. Most of them prefer to pay the hospital expenditure from their pocket. This is the result that they do not realize the relevance of a health cover. The medical treatment cost stands above as compared to the premium cost. An affordable health insurance provides financial security with the benefit of quality treatment.The innumerable cost effective plans are in the list that insurers offer. Paying for such plans is not difficult as they don’t have huge premium amount associated with them. It just requires a careful look at adjusting this premium amount in your budget. The reasonable plans look after the health needs of the insured. They provide coverage and are there to settle the medical expenses that may come upon unexpectedly. It is the insurer who settles the medical bills with the hospital.These reasonable plans easily finds place in the budget of all income level people. They eliminate the hassles in the path of quality health care services. The health cover provides the financial security that ventilates the monetary stress during the medical emergency. Any serious health ailment puts a question mark on the savings that a person has in store. An affordable health insurance is an answer to all such critical questions. It makes the quality medication accessible and affordable to all.The expansion of insurance sector has resulted in increasing the number of policies. It has lead to the wider choice for people. Today innumerable health plans are available in market. But to select a health cover for oneself it requires an extensive research. The readily available information makes the work simpler for all. The person can lay access to numerous health policies.Amidst the enormous health plans, one has to make the right selection. It is essential to select a plan that can meet most of your health needs. Various plans are at display that can cater the specific health risk. Thus the interested must analyze one’s own health preferences first. It is better to devote some time so as to acquire the most suitable plan than to regret later for having invested in the wrong plan. There have been cases where people have suffered the difficulties in getting claims. So it is advisable to delve into a thorough study.Considering the health needs of people the insurer have designed products of benefits. The reasonable health coverage plan aims at providing quality health care in cost effective rates. It safeguards the insured from the burden of medication expenses. Clearing the path, an affordable health insurance makes the best medical care accessible for all. The insured is simply required to pay the premium amount at the time policy issuance. The reasonable premium is easy to afford by all income groups.One must pick up the plan that can best serve your health requirements. In addition the premium cost should make comfortable space in your budget without disturbing it. The comparison is another important step in the process of selection. The individual must cross check the plans on the crucial parameters like exclusions, coverage limit and associated terms.The increasing cost of living has raised the medical cost as well. It thus becomes necessary to avail a health cover. It is the only and the best solution that resolves the problem of medical expenditure. A health cover is devised to offer financial coverage to the policy holder. It makes the insured feel protected against the medical contingencies. It protects the insured from the peril of the medical expenses. Hence it clears the path towards the quality treatment allowing the policy holder to avail the best health services.These plans take care of health needs at the crucial moment. The insured takes the benefit of visiting the doctor without worrying about the treatment charges. These plans have proved of great help to people. The unplanned expenditure that accompanies any unpredictable event in life brings a complex situation for many. People find it difficult to cope with the high medical cost. At times the treatment cost exceeds the budget frame of many. Seeking treatment is not as difficult as coping up the hospital charges. Such instances hamper the financial stability. It generates a threat on the hard earned money of people. Thus it is suggested to take a protective measure before any such situation comes in life. It would be justified to buy a health cover. The affordable health insurance assists the individual to settle the huge medical bills yet avail the quality treatment.While purchasing the plan a reputed insurer is a must watch feature. Only a trusted insurer like Apollo Munich can promise the delivery of benefits as and when required. Its easily affordable health insurance plan allows all to get insured as per their budget allowance.

Let’s start today off with a little pop quiz. What if you were presented with two stocks: Company A which will likely grow earnings at 10% annually, and Company B which will grow at 3% annually – which would you choose?Most investors might likely prefer A, the high growth company, over B, the low growth company. But here’s the catch, a stock often trades at a value that has less to do with its fundamentals and more to do with investor expectations.Where Company A might be well positioned to grow, investors may feel way more bullish about Company A’s prospects that Company A might be able to deliver on. And that can cause more harm than good. So while Company A superbly executes and consistently delivers 10% growth, investors may have expected say 15% growth – and will punish Company A’s shares when results show a “mere” 10% increase.On the other hand, investor expectations for Company B may be at 1% annual growth and its stock could well get a boost when it delivers 3% growth.Crazy, but such expectations-based stock performance is rather common in the stock market. In fact, I remember my early days following stocks and being surprised when great stocks would get hammered even when they delivered fundamentally sound results… I’d be genuinely confounded but I soon caught on, and it’s this learning that I want to share with you… that it’s not enough to know how much a Company expects to grow its earnings, it’s equally important to also know what investor expectations are for that company.And this knowledge, my friends, also creates buying and selling opportunities. So if your fundamental analysis shows a certain stock value based on say 10% growth for Company A – you’d know when to sell if the stock rises above its fundamentals based on over-optimistic expectations, and when to buy when a solid performer gets unfairly beaten down.So, in a nutshell, and to quote Jeremy Siegel – a respected economist, “the long-term return on a stock depends not on the actual growth of its earnings, but on the difference between its actual earnings growth and the growth that investors expected.” So much for efficient market theories that say a stock price is based on its fundamentals!In fact, in his recent book – The Future For Investors – Siegel shares his research which shows that the top-performing firms in the S&P500 Index, grew earnings at a greater pace than expected, and that virtually all of these star performers paid out consistent and rising dividends which underscored their sound financials in investors’ minds.Siegel tells us that the top S&P500 performer was cigarette-maker Philip Morris, which delivered an average annual stock return of 19.5% since 1957 – incredible! – and paid out an average 4% dividend. Siegel attributes Philip Morris’s performance to low investor expectations because of ongoing investor lawsuits and smoking bans – and these low expectations provided the perfect environment for outperformance.So, as you go looking for stock superstars for your portfolio, I’d advise you to look for companies with the following characteristics:- has a consistent history of beating Earnings Per Share estimates (most analysts put out EPS estimates ahead of earnings calls so it’s easy to see if a company beats estimates or not)- grows earnings at least 5% annually, so it’s at least ahead of inflation- pays dividends consistently and increases this payout at some rate consistent with its earnings growth- as low debt so it does not run the risk of cutting dividends to service debt, or the risk of bankruptcy in an extreme case- and choose a company that has built a moat around itself. This means make sure it is difficult for other companies to get into the business. You want a company that can fight off the competition and keeps its financial structure intact.So the next time you’re screening for shares to buy for the long run, weigh investor expectations into your analysis… and if you need a refresher, you can always find this commentary on my blog or in the archives at onthemoneyradio.org.Good luck!