Are you often travelling to destinations abroad and cannot get your normal newspaper everywhere? Go for Financial Times – it isn’t what the name suggests only about financial matters but a valuable source of information about how things are going around in our dynamic world.I must admit that I went on many travels abroad before I recognized the general value of Financial Times and asked for it in a plane. I think it wasn’t before I had engaged in some stock trading as part of my pension savings that I dared to open Financial Times.But ever since Financial Times has been my favourite ‘on plane newspaper’, and I often keep parts of it for future reference. It is true that Financial Times brings a lot of information about business, corporate companies and the stock market around in the world. But for me the real value of Financial Times has been the newspaper’s thorough reports and reviews of what is going on around the world. In general Financial Times brings rather neutral information and evaluation reports of the situation. Sometimes with a very critical approach fitting to real professional journalism.I interpret this level of seriousness as a part of the function of Financial Times as an important source of information for decision making of big business. Fake information or biased news about the situation in a country could not only mislead the reader but be a catastrophe for some decisions related to big business.Honestly, many American politicians would be much better informed about the world outside US if they took the time to read Financial Times daily. I don’t dare to recommend Financial Times to the general American, as many Americans unfortunately aren’t reading a daily newspaper but are just trusting television news.The television news and especially the most popular ones aren’t that trustworthy, especially not their information about the rest of the world. To say it mildly I guess the world would look much different if more Americans were informed at the level of Financial Times as a background for their political stand and views on the world.My original motivation for opening my first Financial Times was my personal interest in how the stock market was doing. It was the year before the dot.com collapse and through my early warnings of that catastrophe for many stocks related to IT and the so-called new economy I was able to avoid any serious loses.So, also for the more common man who cares for his own future the reading of Financial Times would be a good investment of time – and then at the same time the important benefit to achieve a much deeper understanding of how the world is working and how the life is going on around in our beautiful but fragile world.

During difficult times the easiest thing to do is to blame someone. In a health crisis, when we look to blame someone, our focus is directed externally and we become victims unable to change our inner reality. Do we really want to become victims during difficult times?We may not be able to control the International financial situation, but we can control how we deal with it. Regardless of how you think politically, how you interpret our economic situation causes the stress your body creates. If a negative part of you becomes the way you see that problem, negative responses are natural. If a wise connected part of you deals with economic difficulties, positive responses naturally bubble up to deal with it.We may learn valuable lessons when we focus on what went wrong, but the solution will not come from looking in the rear view mirror. We have plenty to do within us, for we have to change the way we perceive reality. In health Norman Cousins said “You either reside in your body or you preside over your body”. In this difficult financial times you either reside in poor economic times or you preside over your difficult times using the Wisdom of your Body.In a health crisis, you can change your self image to better deal with your health threat. You can consciously develop the skills of self trust so you rely on powerful inner resources and you learn how to control negative thinking. In a financial crisis those skills are essential also.A person facing the threat of death often relies on the Wisdom of the Body to take an active role; it is instinctual to survive. In a financial crisis the Wisdom of the Body is easily replaced by logic. In difficult financial times we have to consciously decide to rely on our inner wisdom in harmony with the experts in the same way patients respond to their doctors. In both cases, responding from inner wisdom creates less stress and preserves a quality of life.When you face a difficult challenge, be responsible to what part of you responds. That may be the only thing that you can control. This will not pay your bills or recover lost money, but it will sustain a quality of life as you go through your struggle.© Marc Lerner & Life Skills 2009

The Financial Times is a British newspaper that is issued in London England as well as in twenty more sites around the world. The most important competitor of the Financial Times newspaper is the US-based Wall Street Journal newspaper.  The paper started small, serving mainly City traders, also having a local rival, Financial News. As years went by the paper evolved, grew and increased its depth and width of coverage. The paper developed a network of correspondents around the world that reflected in their stories the move towards a global economy from the early days. The paper attributes very much of the quality and coverage on this network of correspondents that still holds very well until the present days. The newspaper is usually divided into two parts: the first part covers national and international news, and the second part covers company and market news. Financial Times offers content that contributes significantly their main newspaper; the most important is:  
The Financial Times magazine; it is distributed in the weekend edition and parts of the magazine are included in the US printed edition of the newspaper
How to spend it; posh advice on how rich people can spend their wealth
Opinions; supports global markets and the world economy in general. Through Opinions, the paper supported Margaret Thatcher, Gordon Brown and Barrack Obama
The Lex column; covers business and financial news on a daily basis.In 1995, Financial Times made it online, starting a Website. The site started with providing a high summary of worldwide news; the paper added stock prices in 1996. The second version of the site was launched in 1997. Gradually the site grew in content and services. Currently it is one of the few subscription-based newspaper sites (Wall Street Journal also supports this Business model). It is also possible to purchase online a printed Financial Times subscription. The users who visit FT.com are 3 million every month from the US alone. They are mostly single men with no kids, some college education and an average income of $30,000 – $50,000.