January 2022
Features
The Voyager 5
Activities for maintaining winter wellness
ing, despite the seasonal sadness you are experiencing. Take in as much sunlight as possible. When the body doesn’t get enough sun, here’s something about the the brain creates less happy hormones change of seasons, particularly and melatonin levels rise. The sun is at its the transition to frigid winter brightest between noon and 2 p.m. If it’s weather, that can throw your too chilly to go for a stroll, opening the entire routine and perspective off. The curtains in your home or office to allow cold weather and few hours of sunshine the light in might provide a nice mood make it difficult to maintain enthusiasm boost. and stick to your daily routines. It might Exercise can also be beneficial. Even put you in a constant state of sadness or if you don’t think you’re up to it, you’ll grumpiness. thank yourself once you get started. Aside When your body receives less daylight from the physical benefits, it is extremely on a regular basis, you may feel slugbeneficial to your physiological health. gish and gloomy. Because of this, some Thirty minutes of exercise can help the people are more depressed than normal. brain by increasing serotonin release. Because of the sunset around 5 p.m., you Put on your favorite music, TV show, or might want to go to bed early or feel like podcast and enjoy those thirty minutes! you don’t have enough time in the day to It may truly improve your attitude, and if get everything done. It’s tough to go from you’re doing it every long, hot summer days day, you’ll have someto shorter, cold winter thing to look forward days. Create a self-care Not to add that cold regimen that makes to. During the winter, and flu season coinyou happy. it’s easy to forget to cides with darker days look after your skin and unpleasant weathand lips. Self-care has er. The combination the power to completeof all of these factors ly improve your mental health. Your mind might make you feel down and unmotiwill feel more confident and at peace with vated to follow your passions in life. You everything if you feel good about yourmay feel dispirited, have difficulty focusself. Winter is a difficult season for your ing, lose interest in things you normally skin because of the dry air outside and the like, or notice changes in your eating and moisture-sucking heat indoors. Your skin sleep routine. is begging for some hydration. If you think you have seasonal affecCreate a self-care regimen that makes tive disorder or have been diagnosed, you happy. It will make you feel a lot better your symptoms may go away by the time whether you buy new skincare that works spring arrives. However, if you begin for you or just moisturize your body every implementing some activities into your day. Look for new lip balms or scents that daily routine throughout the winter, you you like. You could give yourself a facecan begin to regain some sense of wellbeBy JENNA PRESTON ‘22 Associate Editor-in-Chief
T
Activities to help you beat the cold and feel like yourself again. mask as a treat, a conditioning hair mask, or introduce a new serum into your skincare. Find self-care items that you love to treat dry and chapped lips in the winter. It’s a considerate gift for yourself. Not only does your skin need moisture, but so does your entire body. Keep yourself hydrated! In the winter, we usually forget that we need eight glasses of water — just as much as we do in the summer. If you have a hard time shying away from coffee and caffeinated drinks, try adding a dash of lemon or herbal tea to your water to make it more interesting. Your body and skin will reward you if you stay well hydrated. Try something new! This is your sign to pick up for something you’ve maybe never tried before, or something you’ve been wanting to try for a while. Whether it’s a new exercise class such as Pilates,
Photo by Jenna Preston ‘22
Soul Cycle, or Yoga, this is your chance to include something different into your everyday routine. Sometimes we need a push to start something new, it can be a tad bit scary to introduce yourself to things you’ve never done before. However, once you do, new hobbies can really offer a moodlift and you could find yourself really enjoying it! Maybe you’re more interested in building some new skills. Creative activities can open your mind and inspire you. Inspiration is a great motivation, especially if you’ve been feeling blue lately. There are so many different things You could learn how to crochet, yarn, dance, or play the guitar in your free time. If you go to a class to learn these skills, it might be fun to change your environment and get out of the house. You might even make some new friends during the process!
Suggesting five hot stocks for investments By TIANA CYRELSON ‘22 Media Editor
F
or new investors, the stock market can be scary. It can be challenging to know which stocks to invest in, which to drop, and when to do all of it. Mr. Sherman teaches a full-year investment course for students interested in learning and covering taxes to day trading. As Eastern’s only Investments teacher, Mr. Sherman was asked which stocks he is investing in currently, and which ones he would recommend. While Mr. Sherman may be the Investments teacher, these stock suggestions are for informational purposes only. One of the first lessons in Sherman’s class is that each investor should do his or her own research and analysis before making any decisions. Without any further ado, here are Sherman’s suggestions for five stocks to invest in right now.
The first stock mentioned is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. Sherman highly recommends Exchange-Traded Funds as their expense ratio is fairly low. In layman’s terms, an expense ratio is the fee to invest in an ETF. Unlike mutual funds, the expense ratio of an ETF is significantly lower. “To paint a picture, the expense ratio of this ETF is less than 0.01%. Which means that a $10,000 investment into this ETF with an average return of 9% over 30 years will result in a future value of 130k and only cost you approx $3500 in fees. As a comparison, a 10,000 investment into a mutual fund that tries but usually fails to beat the S&P 500 and has a rate of return of around 7% over 30 years will result in a future value of $76k and cost you over $5k in fees. Sometimes, it’s just smarter to put your money into these indexes and let them work.” The second stock on Sherman’s list is Shopify. Like Ebay, Shopify is an online
Although the stock market can be scary, here are the reasons why you should invest. Photo by Tiana Cyrelson ‘22
buying and selling website, where users can price and list their own goods for sale. “Shopify is one of the fastest growing growth stocks out there. They have taken a bit of a hit, as have other high-growth stocks, due to the Omicron variant and the possibility of higher interest rates from the Fed, however, I believe this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are going to result in a big earnings win for the company when they announce in February.” Third up is Ford. The well known automobile company has recently come into the limelight due to their announcement that the F-150 Lightning electric pickup was on track to ship in the spring of 2022. “Getting into this giant in the auto industry at these prices seems like a steal. Over the next few years, I think their revenues grow nicely as they continue to revamp their product line.” The fourth name on this list is American Eagle Outfitters. They are a popular clothing brand among the teen and young adult demographic. Like Shopify, this investment decision is based on the holiday sales. “Yes, there were supply chain issues, and a new COVID variant to battle but I think they will end up reporting stronger than expected sales in the 4th quarter and a healthy profit for the year. With two acquisitions in 2021, there is a lot of upside in this stock for years to come.” Last, but most certainly not least, is the SPDR Bloomberg SASB Corporate Bond ETF. While this may be a mouthful, it is important for each profile to have an appropriate level of diversification. This should be based on age, income-level, risk tolerance, and other similar factors. The fund’s current top holdings are Bank of America, Cisco Systems, and
Investments for Dummies Dynatrace Inc., as well as many others. “You don’t invest in bonds to get rich, they are there for one of two reasons, to diversify your portfolio so you can weather the storm when your riskier investments underperform, and/or to provide you with some investment income.” With each of these suggestions is a recommendation towards personal research, as no investment should be made without consideration to one’s own personal profile. Smart investing can be a helpful secondary source of income, but each investment should be carefully evaluated.
Featured Stocks 1. SPDR S&P 500 ETF 2. Shopify 3. Ford 4. American Eagle Outfitters 5. SPDR Bloomberg SASB Coporate Bond ETF
