Want More Productive and Less Stressed Employees? Try This
Jul28

Want More Productive and Less Stressed Employees? Try This

You help your employees work through business challenges and take an active interest in their professional growth. So why should you care if your top performer spends $20 on spider rolls for lunch every day? Financial stress can have a profound impact on your employees’ ability to focus, manage work-related stress and be productive on the job. According to a recent study, nearly half of American full-time workers say they spend work time worrying about personal finances. Twenty-nine percent said they manage financial issues on the job, and 46 percent admit to doing so up to 2-3 hours per week. While most wellness programs focus on physical fitness, stress management, preventive care and chronic disease management, they often ignore financial health — a factor that can be the primary cause of stress and distraction. If you’re ready to help your employees get their financial health in order, follow these seven simple and relatively hands-off steps. (Click here to tweet this list.) 1.  Know where you stand Measure the levels of stress your workforce is under and investigate the causes. Many Fortune 500 companies give employees comprehensive assessments of personal, organizational and financial health. Make sure to tailor your assessment to the specific needs of your company and your employees. Questions like “I am satisfied with my current financial situation,” “I live paycheck to paycheck,” or “Financial stress is taking a toll on me,” will give you a sense of the pulse of your workforce. 2.  Educate, encourage and force choice about 401ks Saving for retirement with […]

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The Truth About SBA Loans
Jul08

The Truth About SBA Loans

When you’re a small business looking for funding, you’ll find one of the first places people recommend you go is the Small Business Administration. The SBA has a variety of loan programs available, and given their consistent support of Main Street, it’s easy to see why you would choose this as a starting point. However, you might be surprised to learn that the SBA doesn’t make direct loans. Instead, it provides loan guarantees to businesses, promising banks to pay back a certain percentage of a loan if the borrower is unable to.Sadly, that’s a clarification often not made. So, if you’re pursuing this as an option, it’s important you learn the truth about SBA loans. The Most Popular Types of SBA Loans The SBA offers many different loan programs, unique to small businesses and the varying obstacles they face. They have loans for export assistance, disaster recovery, veteran and military communities, CAPlines (to help with a short-term need), businesses that are working to control pollution, and businesses working in areas affected by NAFTA. Talk about choices! However, three of the most popular SBA loan programs are focused more on generally helping businesses to start and expand. 7(a) Loan: 7(a) loans can help both new and existing small businesses get financing, and is by far the most popular and most used in the SBA loan program. A huge plus about the 7(a) loan is that it can be used for more general purposes, such as working capital, purchasing or renovating land or buildings, equipment, furnishings, debt […]

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How Taking Care of Your Knees Can Save You (Big) Money
Jun13

How Taking Care of Your Knees Can Save You (Big) Money

Protecting your knees is part of protecting your overall health, and protecting your health helps ensure your financial security. For runners, joint problems can creep up slowly, and runner’s knee is among the most common. Even if you don’t have minor pain or signs of weak knees, you’ll want to take proper care of those joints — especially if you’re a runner. Bad form, injuries and nutrition can all contribute to gradually sorer knees, and sometimes osteoarthritis. You may think it’s just a little pain to work through, but sore knees are often a sign of serious problems in the future. Ignoring that sign may cost you, in the form of a serious injury in the near future or a serious surgery in the more distant future. Either way, pretending it’s no big deal is a risk you shouldn’t take. For you, devoted runner, prevention and appropriate care mean you’ll be a runner much longer. It means more miles, more races, more hours and more of that runner’s high. It just might also mean more money in your pocket later. Here’s why. 1. Knee surgery is insanely expensive. Not taking care of your knees can result in more than pain. Your knees might become deformed, or “bowed,” from joint degeneration. Chronic inflammation might also result, which can make knee pain even worse. When that pain starts limiting your ability to carry out daily activities, or becomes unbearable, you might need knee replacement surgery. This is a major surgery with weeks of recovery […]

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Twitter snaps up Namo Media to dive deeper into native ads
Jun05

Twitter snaps up Namo Media to dive deeper into native ads

Twitter keeps pumping money into its mobile ad business. The microblogging company today announced that it has agreed to purchase Namo Media, a native advertising startup. Neither company disclosed the terms of the deal. Back in September 2013, Twitter bought advertising firm MoPub for $350 million to begin advertising outside its own properties. Namo Media will end its autonomous operations and integrate fully with the MoPub platform, the native ad company said in a blog post. At Twitter we’ll continue to work on building the best native advertising platform for app developers with the goal of continuing to improve the native ad landscape for all mobile app developers. Combining our technology with MoPub will offer our current and future customers a more powerful platform to generate revenue, all while preserving an amazing user experience. Namo Media has focused largely on native mobile ads. That makes it a logical acquisition target for Twitter, which has a mobile userbase of around 198 million users — or around 78% of people on Twitter — according to the company’s latest earnings report. Over 75% of Twitter’s ad revenues come from mobile. Unlike banner ads, which a lot of folks have learned to ignore, native ads attempt to match the context of peoples’ experience wherever they appear, blending seamlessly with (or even mimicking) the other content. The most widespread example of native advertising is on Facebook, which inserts sponsored posts into users’ news feeds. But lots of other platforms and publishers are readily adopting the new form of marketing, because it typically offers publishers more control — and often more […]

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Death Plans Delayed by Millennials, Pressuring Insurers
May29

Death Plans Delayed by Millennials, Pressuring Insurers

Usman Ahmad is in no hurry to insure his own life, even after buying protection for his gray BMW and the house he bought in Toronto. “I’m not planning on dying any time soon so it’s a waste of money,” the 30-year-old said while eating lunch and browsing his iPhone at a food court in Toronto’s financial district, where he works for Gemini Aviation Inc. as a manager. “When I get married and have kids, maybe then I’ll consider it.” Young adults who wait longer to start families are also putting off death planning, pushing insurers like MetLife Inc. (MET) in the U.S. and Canada’s Manulife (MFC)Financial Corp. to expand in regions such as Asia or Latin America and push into asset management or retirement planning. Companies are also investing in technology and advertising, hiring younger agents and expanding at workplaces to help stem the sales decline. “The industry needs to learn how to better communicate with that generation,” Bob Kerzner, chief executive officer of insurance trade group Limra, said by phone last week. “Frankly, it’s a lot easier to market an iPod or a consumer good on the Internet.” Individual life insurance sales in the U.S. slipped 45 percent to 9.7 million policies in 2012 from a high of 17.7 million in 1983, according to Limra. About 18 percent of people age 18 to 29 had life insurance, compared with 43 percent for baby boomers, Limra data from 2010 show. The coverage is optional, unlike auto coverage, which is mandatory for drivers. Colleges, Internet Insurers have been investing […]

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