Unable to help emitting bad odor
DEARANNIE » I have horrible body odor and halitosis due to a rare medical condition called trimethylaminuria. It makes me emit several odors — mostly rotting food, ammonia and fish. However, there is no medical cure, and I struggle with the condition daily. Lately, with age, I have developed “old people odor” associated with nonenal.
Around me, people very often cover their noses, cough, frown and make rude comments. My former boss made faces and covered her nose in my presence. I left that place of employment and have not worked for two years. I feel depressed and avoid leaving my home at all costs.
Social interactions and mental stimulation from work are greatly missed, but what can I do when I smell and cannot help it?
DEARALIENATED » What a cruel condition. Our culture has become more sensitive to many ailments and disabilities, but I’m afraid this one might still be a far frontier.
I’m sure that you’ve spent plenty of hours researching this already. But a quick rundown of some possible treatments according to the National Institutes of Health, on the slim chance you haven’t tried these: Avoid foods with high levels of trimethylamine and its precursors, including milk, eggs, liver, peas, beans, peanuts, soy, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower and seafood; ask your doctor about taking laxatives (to reduce the amount of time food spends in your system) as well as low doses of antibiotics; use soaps with moderate pH; take nutritional supplements such as activated charcoal; avoid stress and anything else that causes sweating.
You should see what accommodations an employer might be able to make for you. For instance, if you work in an office, can you have your own space?
Join an online support group and consider attending counseling to help deal with the emotional component. Try to remind yourself that when people react to the trimethylaminuria, they’re not reacting to the real you.
And to those of us who are unaware, let this be a wake-up call: Don’t turn your nose up at someone who offends it. The person might have no control over how he or she smells.
DEARANNIE » “An Earful” wrote to you about her sister, who repeats herself in the process of explaining her “stress, problems and anxiety.” She sounds just like my own sister. A wise, dear friend of mine once suggested that such people often repeat themselves because they don’t feel heard, and that paraphrasing their words back to them — without correction nor advice — enables them to stop repeating themselves.
It worked like a charm with my sister. After the second iteration (so I knew she felt she hadn’t explained herself well enough), I would interrupt her, saying, “Hang on, hang on. I want to make sure I’ve understood what you’re trying to say.” Then I rephrase my genuine understanding of her words, together with adding, “and I think it makes you feel...” Then I shut up, not offering any explicitly unasked-for advice. She happily either affirms or adds to my understanding and then moves on. It doesn’t stop the talking, but it does provide a more enriched two-way communication and prevents most of the repetition.
DEARBLESSED » And how blessed she is to have such a friend and sister of you. This is excellent advice. Thanks for writing.
“Ask Me Anything: A Year of Advice From Dear Annie” is out now! Annie Lane’s debut book — featuring favorite columns on love, friendship, family and etiquette — is available as a paperback and ebook. Visit http://www.creatorspublishing. com for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com.
Over the past 25 years for the calendar year- ending 2018 the S&P 500, excluding dividends has returned an average of 8.12% on an annualized basis.
Add in a couple percent in dividends and that average moves up to a little over ten percent. However, it is the lack of statistically normal dispersion around the mean or average that is discomforting for many investors during times of market volatility.
Over that same twentyfive year period, on a calendar year basis, the S&P 500 has never returned within 25% of either side of 6.96%, that is, between 5.22% and 8.70%. Moreover, it has returned only twice within 50% of either side of 6.96% or between 3.48% and 10.44%. That was in 2004 and 2007 when the S&P 500 returned 8.99% and 3.53%, respectively.
It is precisely for these reasons that investors tend to panic when stocks decline. That is to say that if annual returns were clustered around the average then the average would be much more meaningful. Let’s look at an example of driving to Florida. If one were to leave the Capital District and drive straight through to Daytona it would take approximately twenty hours. Now let’s assume that you did this 25 times.
How often do you think the trip would take between 15 and 25 hours or how about between 10 and 30 hours of continuous driving? The answer is certainly the majority of time between 15-25 hours and the vast majority if not 100% of the time between 10 and 30 hours.
The two examples of driving to Florida described immediately above used ranges of 25 and 50 percent on either side of the twenty hour average. Now compare that to the average return of the stock market over the past twenty-five years. Again, not once has the return within a 25% of the average and only twice within 50%. This does not render the average meaningless when planning.
However, it does render it somewhat meaningless when allaying client anxieties.
What is an investor to do? First of all, allocate your investable assets in accordance with your objectives with equities comprising the majority of your long-term holdings and bonds and cash the short-term.
Have faith. Over the past 90-plus years, equities have had positive returns 74% of the time. That percentage increases to 86%, 94% and 100% over five, ten and twenty year timeframes. Can we be certain that these percentages will hold true in the future? Of course not. However, given the fact that the 10-year U.S. Treasury note currently yields less than 2.70%, the odds are in your favor that equities will outperform other asset classes.
Correlate your investments relatively tightly to the underlying asset class. Make certain that you diversify your holdings across four to six different industries. You therefore will be able to weather any unexpected downturn in a particular sector.
Recognize that there will most definitely be periods of volatility. There will be market downturns. You will lose money periodically. It is unavoidable. You will not be right all of the time. However, the important factor is to be right over time. Don’t appraise your portfolio on a daily basis. It becomes not unlike weighing yourself every day. You will never be happy as the market moves higher on a daily basis only 54% of the time.
Eventually, if you monitor your portfolio too closely you will become exasperated and give up. Measure your performance versus appropriate indices over time and recognize that you will make errors.
What matters during periods of consolidation is that you exit with the right portfolio. Simply put, when evaluating your portfolio you must assess the potential of your holdings in addition to the recent results. For example, do you own the companies with earnings growth potential?
Do you own the companies that are increasing their share of the market? Do you own the companies with a proprietary product or service?
Continue to dollar cost average, investing on a systematic basis through your company sponsored pension plan such as 401(k) or 403( b). Assuming that you are allocated appropriately between stocks and bonds to meet your long-term objectives, it is imperative that you do not make major changes to your investment patterns during periods of market downturns.
Finally, upgrade your portfolio to industry leaders. Do not accept the marginal investments that might you currently own. Trade up.
Please note that all data is for general information purposes only and not meant as specific recommendations. The opinions of the authors are not a recommendation to buy or sell the stock, bond market or any security contained therein. Securities contain risks and fluctuations in principal will occur. Please research any investment thoroughly prior to committing money or consult with your financial advisor. Please note that Fagan Associates, Inc. or related persons buy or sell for itself securities that it also recommends to clients. Consult with your financial advisor prior to making any changes to your portfolio. To contact Fagan Associates, Please call (518) 279-1044.