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Fashion industry attracts many young people nowadays not only because it is a rather new profession, but also it is supposed to realize person’s likes in the field of fashion. Besides, it is quite a high-paid profession today. When a young person decides to connect his or her activity with the fashion industry nothing comes to mind except one its aspect – fashion design. Probably, few people actually know that it’s a separate field of fashion industry. In fact, there is a great number of other professions and specialties in fashion including designing clothing, fashion design, fashion marketing, fashion merchandising, etc. The latter doesn’t get worthy attention, but it is very important. Due to merchandising we have fashionable clothes in the shops and stores.How can one know whether fashion merchandising is the field for him to start work at? Look through the following traits of a potential fashion merchandiser and if at least one point coincides with your way of life, you have all chances to make the career in the field. Do you like to spend your weekend walking through flea markets for the latest retro fashions? Or maybe your friends want to borrow your fashionable shoes and your defiant accessories? If so, maybe you should take a walk down the fashion runway. Being a student in merchandising, you will get an opportunity to learn more about fabrics and textiles. You are also going to study the cultures and subcultures that shape the way people dress.No doubt, in order to become a professional merchandiser, a great desire and talent for this specialty is not enough. If a person wants to get into this career and have success in it one needs to get the right education and training at first. A fashion merchandising college will be of great help for you. Once you study at a fashion merchandising college you will get an opportunity to learn all the ins and outs of the fashion industry because there one can get a practical experience and build a strong foundation necessary for further working in this field.A student has the right to choose whether to obtain a two-year Associate in Art degree or a four-year Bachelor of Science degree in the field of fashion. It depends on the kind of a fashion merchandising college you are going to visit. Besides, you are also welcome to unite this education with classes or even a major or minor in a related specialty, for instance, fashion design or fashion marketing. Students in a fashion merchandising college learn how to manufacture, buy, promote, and sell fashion items, beginning from clothing and jewelry to cosmetics and furniture. They also learn about textiles (fabrics and the fibers used to make them).One should choose his or her future merchandising college very thoroughly. Depending upon the fashion merchandising college you are going to attend a sort of the necessary courses in your degree course will greatly vary. The most preferable courses include subjects like accounting principles, business law, salesmanship, fashion sketching, merchandising math, merchandising, publicity and promotions, fashion development, trend-spotting, and the history of fashion. You are certain to like those subjects, besides, they will give you the fundamental knowledge of the fashion industry.Studying at a fashion merchandising college is not like studying at any other educational establishment. Many core courses in fashion merchandising are hands-on and involve a great amount of project work. Professors tend to rely more on their life experiences than on textbooks. If you are going to become a student expect to take a lot of field trips and listen to many guest speakers. You may visit a fashion magazine or large clothing company. You might even swing by a fashion show or two.Having the profession of a fashion merchandiser is very interesting. It involves much communication with other people. When a person gets the job of a fashion merchandiser he or she is going to spend all days long visiting various fashion shows, buying clothing and designs, speaking with designers, overseeing advertising and marketing campaigns necessary for successful selling of your products, and managing the stores within your business network. You are also expected to find yourself negotiating business agreements with manufacturers and suppliers. Besides, you are going to arrange your own store displays. The scope of your activity depends on the size of the business you have as well as on the level of practical work expected of you.Beginning the fashion merchandising career you should always improve your skills and knowledge of fashion tendencies in the world, and the most important thing you will have to do is to perfect your ability of picking out the next big thing in fashion before anyone else does. This will guarantee your success. This ability carries the foundation of your new knowledge of past fashions and trends. It includes everything you will obtain by attending a fashion merchandising college, but further you should develop this trend adding your own good taste in clothing.Summing up, it would be necessary to say that the career of a fashion merchandiser cooperates with many different fields of the fashion industry. That’s why if you are searching for a more interesting kind of activity, something that’s more than just designing clothes or visiting fashion shows, fashion merchandising may be your piece of cake. But be very attentive while choosing an appropriate fashion merchandising college, try to use your wisdom in this uneasy task, because it may define your future profession and even you life. You should do your research before entering the fashion merchandising college, and beforehand check whether the school or program you are going to attend is properly accredited.

If you do a search using Google, yahoo, Bing or any other search engine using the phrase “how to fix your credit” you will get over 40 million results. Go ahead and try it.If you take the time to click on all of the links on the first few pages of the search results for “how to fix your credit” here is a summary of the results that you would get:All the information on these credit repair websites tell you that all you need to do to fix your credit is write a dispute letter to all 3 credit bureaus… then most of these credit repair websites attach a sample “how to fix your credit” dispute letter for you to use as a template that goes something like this…Dear Sir or Madam:I am writing to dispute the following information in my credit file. The items I dispute also are encircled on the attached copy of the credit report I received from your company.This item (identify item(s) disputed by name of source, such as creditors or tax court, and identify type of item, such as credit account, judgment, etc.) is (inaccurate or incomplete) because (describe what is inaccurate or incomplete and why). I am requesting that the item be deleted (or request another specific change) to correct the information.Enclosed are copies of (use this sentence if applicable and describe any enclosed documentation, such as payment records, court documents) supporting my position. Please investigate this (these) matter(s) and (delete or correct) the disputed item(s) as soon as possible.Sincerely,Your nameEnclosures: (List what you are enclosing.)Then these Credit Repair web sites will give you more BS “How To Fix Your Credit” AdviceThey will tell you that the law requires the credit bureaus to investigate all of the items that you dispute within 30 days – unless they consider your dispute frivolous. Guess how often they categorize your dispute as frivolous? If they don’t respond in 30 days — whoppeeeee — they have to remove the negative credit item from your credit report.They will also tell you that the credit bureaus are also required by law to forward all the relevant data you provide them with about the disputed item to the organization that provided the bad credit information to them. After the information provider receives notice of a dispute from the credit bureau, it is required to investigate your dispute, review the relevant information that you sent to them, and report the results back to the credit bureau. If the investigation reveals that the disputed information is inaccurate, the information provider has to notify the credit bureau so they can correct it in your file.When the investigation is complete, the credit bureau must give you the results in writing, and a free copy of your credit report if the dispute results in a change of any kind. Did you notice the word “if”?Why All The “How To Fix Your Credit” Web Sites Are A Waste Of Your Time & Money!If any of the credit repair web sites that show up when you type in the phrase “How To Fix Your Credit” had any credibility at all here’s what they would tell you.They would tell you what really happens when you send in your how to fix your credit dispute letter instead of what is supposed to happen. But they don’t.None of these credit repair sites want you to know the truth that disputing bad credit items will not fix your credit and neither do the credit bureaus. If you don’t know why I will tell you later.Here’s what really happens when you spend an hour putting together your “how to fix your credit” dispute letter and go to the trouble of attaching copies of your drivers license and SS card to prove who you are along with any other documentation you feel will prove that the the negative credit item on your report is invalid and should be removed.First: Your “how to fix your credit” dispute letter gets delivered to the mailing address of the credit bureau. Then your dispute letter along with five or six thousand other dispute letters the credit bureau received that day get sent UPS to an offshore location in India where thousands of low paid workers given a title of “investigator” open up your certified mail letter that you paid approximately $5 to have delivered and delivery confirmed.The “investigator” that opens your letter has a maximum of 4 minutes to determine what 2-digit code to reduce your dispute to. That’s right. The letter that took you an hour to compose in great detail and all of the attachments that took another 30 minutes to make copies of doesn’t even get read if it is more than 2-3 paragraphs. Then the investigator who doesn’t have a very good grasp of the English language has 4 minutes to scan your paperwork and reduce everything into a 2-digit code.The investigator then plugs this 2-digit code into a computer application called E-Oscar. E-Oscar then sends this 2-digit code to the company that submitted the negative item to the credit bureau. The supporting documentation that you sent with your dispute letter is never read let alone is NEVER sent to the information furnisher even though the law requires them to do so. Guess what happens next?The “investigator” at the information furnisher, who also sits at a computer and also uses E-Oscar, also has 4 minutes to evaluate the dispute and reduce it to a 1-digit code which represents the letter that will be sent to you which basically says, we have verified the item that you disputed and it is valid. The code that this person plugs into E-Oscar also determines the letter that you will receive from the credit bureau that basically tells you that the negative item that you disputed was investigated and found to be valid. The Credit Bureau that you sent your dispute to just broke the law and they do it all of the time and they get away with it because not enough people file a complaint with the FTC.How do I know that this is the way your credit dispute letters are handled? Because I read the transcript of a court case that involved a consumer who sued a credit bureau and the testimony given by a witness who worked at the credit bureau gave testimony on how a dispute letter was handled. In my job I read through court files for cases involving credit reports and consumer debt. That’s what I do for a living.In doing my research I have discovered that Federal Courts have ruled that Credit Reporting Agencies (credit bureaus) are not supposed to “parrot” the information that they get from the creditor (information provider) in response to your negative credit dispute. (See: Cushman v TransUnion, Stevenson v. TRW (Experian), and Richardson v. Fleet, Equifax, et al). The law requires them to conduct an independent REASONABLE investigation to ensure the validity of the debt and the honesty/integrity of the creditor in question. Does the description above sound like a “reasonable investigation” to you?So to answer the question, “How To Fix Your Credit” the answer is, you can’t fix your credit using the information provided to you from these so-called credit repair websites. The results you get when you use search engines for any subject concerning “credit repair” are totally useless… because they don’t tell you the truth, that writing dispute letters doesn’t work.You may find the odd credit repair site that will tell you that writing your own dispute letters is a waste of time therefore you should pay them to do it for you because they are a big law firm and the credit bureaus will pay attention to a law firm. Credit Repair Law Firm results are not much better and not very cost effective.Bad Credit can NOT be repaired via “credit repair” BUT there is a way to “Restore” a bad credit score into a “Good Credit Score” irregardless of whether the negative credit items you have are valid or not. That’s right. You read that correctly. Let me say it again.You Can Force Credit Bureaus To Remove All Negative Credit Items On Your Credit Report Even If All of Them Are Correct and or Valid. Credit Restoration Is Different Than Credit RepairThe reason credit repair companies don’t tell you about this is because they don’t know how to use the applicable federal laws to force credit bureaus to remove bad credit from your reports. They know that there is a patented legal dispute system to get this done but none of the credit repair companies are able to use it and/or don’t want to use it.Why? Because the majority of the credit repair companies are either owned or controlled by the credit bureaus and or credit card companies and the last thing they want is for you to be able to repair or restore your credit. They’ll even take your money and get some of the negative credit items removed for you but in 3 or 4 months or less they all get put back on.They Don’t Want You To Know How To Fix Your Credit. The lower your credit score is the more money the credit bureaus customers make off of you.Before you get too discouraged I have some GOOD NEWS for you.There is a way to get ALL BAD CREDIT items REMOVED from all of your credit reports. Not only that but there is a company that will do all of the work for you. The Credit Bureaus have removed every single negative credit item that they have asked them to remove. To date, my research has found that they have helped over 155,000 individuals get more than 5 MILLION negative credit items removed from their credit reports. This company has access to the patented legal dispute system mentioned above. Nobody else does. That is how they were able to get 100% of the items that they requested the credit bureaus remove get removed!If you are fed up reading through all of the search results for your search on how to fix your credit then check out the other articles I have written. I think that you will find the solution that you are looking for.

What Is Offshore Investment?Offshore investment refers to a wide variety of investment strategies that take advantage of tax benefits offered outside of an investor’s home country.There is no scarcity of money-marketplace, bond and equity assets offered by trustworthy offshore investment companies that are fiscally sound, time-tested and, most importantly, legal.What Is Offshore?Offshore explains the repositioning by an entity of a trade process from one countryside to another, typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes. Even state governments make use of offshore investment. More recently, off shoring has been associated primarily with the sourcing of technical and administrative services supporting domestic and global operations from outside the home country, by means of internal (captive) or external (outsourcing) delivery models.”Offshore ” is usually to portray a country where there are also no taxes or low taxes for foreign persons either individual or commercial.It is a truth that offshore investment havens have crafted a unique legally recognized and tax free climate for overseas individuals and businesses. They offer specifically to them. More than half the world’s assets exist in such asset havens.Monetary privacy, a steady legal environment and realistic rulings are the trademark of these jurisdictions.When we converse about offshore investment financial companies, the term invokes up an image of enormous, shadowy monetary monoliths, investing funds without any transparency.AdvantagesThere are many reasons why people like investments in offshore:1. Tax ReductionMany nations, recognized as tax havens, offer tax inducements to overseas investors through an offshore investment. The positive tax rates in an offshore investment possible country are intended to encourage a vigorous offshore investment atmosphere that magnetizes outside wealth. For tiny countries like Mauritius and Seychelles, with only a few reserves and a small population, offshore depositors dramatically increased their economic activity.Offshore investment occurs when offshore depositors outline a company in an overseas country. The corporation acts as a shield for the investors’ financial credits, shielding them from the higher tax load that would be acquired in their home nation.Because the corporation does not engage in local operations, little or no tax is enforced on the offshore investment company. Many overseas companies also benefit from tax-exempt category when they put in in U.S. markets. As such, making ventures through overseas corporations can clutch a distinct benefit over making investments as an individual.2. ConfidentialityNumerous offshore investment jurisdictions have confidentiality legislation which creates it is an unlawful offense for any worker of the financial services commerce to disclose possession or other information about their clients or their dealings.But in the examples where unlawful proceedings can be proved, identities are being disclosed. Thus the Know Your Client due diligence documents are becoming just more complex.DisadvantagesThe main drawbacks are those of costs along with ease.Many investors like to be capable to meet up and speak to the person setting up their incorporation of offshore investment companies and traveling to the tax haven costs funds.In a number of nations you are taxed on your universal revenue, so not disclosing offshore investment returns is illegal. In other countries having offshore accounts are unlawful for individuals but authorizations can be obtained from companies.Several banks in offshore jurisdictions need smallest amount in investments of US$ 100,000 and higher, or to possess assets locally.The kinds of offshore investment companies usually existing are:
Trusts
Resident Offshore Company
International Business Company
Protected Cell Company
These types of companies also exist.E.g.: Many mutual funds and hedge funds whose investors favor ‘ off shore country’ ventures.But for average financiers like us too can form offshore companies of relatively small size to fulfill our most everyday needs. Or we can put in, via our off shore investment expert, into offshore companies to own investments in special funds.There are various uses:
Trading Companies
Professional Services Companies
Shipping Companies
Investment Companies
Intellectual Property & Royalty Companies
Property Owning Companies
Asset Protection Companies
Holding Companies
Dot Com Companies
Employment Companies
Trading CompaniesImport/Export and general trading company’s activities are also compatible with the structure of offshore investment companies. The offshore investment company acquires orders from the supplier and has the goods distributed directly to the customer.It does the invoicing to the customer and saves the difference in a tax free country. E.g. Products from China to Kenya could be invoiced by a Seychelles or RAK offshore incorporation and the revenues retained there.Individuals utilize offshore investment companies to acquire mutual funds, shares, property, bonds, jewelry and precious metals. Sometimes they will also apply these companies to trade in currency, equities and or bonds. The wealthy will also have diversified offshore investment companies for different division of possessions; for different countries or by different categories of investments.The diversification evades the risk. But also in cases where capital increases taxes are levied, e.g. in property or equity, sometimes it is cheaper to sell the company rather than the individual asset itself.Professional Services CompaniesIndividuals, e.g. counselors, IT experts, engineers, designers, writers and performers working outside their local country can gain momentously from using an offshore investment business. The offshore investment business demonstrates the individual as a company worker and gets a fee for the services rendered by the ‘employee’ [possessor]. This fee is received and saved tax free. The person can then receive the imbursement as he or she hopes to minimize their taxes.Shipping CompaniesThe utilization of offshore investment companies to possess or license commercial ships and pleasure craft is very familiar internationally. Shipping companies mount up earnings in tax liberated offshore jurisdictions and, if every ship is placed in a separate offshore investment company, it can get hold of considerable asset security by isolating liabilities of each individual craft.Investment CompaniesIndividuals make use of offshore venture companies to then buy mutual funds, shares, bonds, property, jewelry and expensive metals. Sometimes they will also use these companies to operate in currencies, equities and or bonds either via the internet or through managed funds run by banks and financial institutions. The wealthy will also have diversified offshore investment companies for dissimilar class of assets; for different countries or by different varieties of investments.The diversification evades the threat. But also in cases where assets gain taxes are levied, e.g. in goods or equity, sometimes it is economical to sell the company rather than the individual asset itself.Intellectual Property & Royalty Companies Offshore investment companies are being seen as vehicles to own Intellectual Property and royalties received for software, technology rights, music, literature, patents, trademarks and copyrights, franchising, and brands. These companies are in the type of trusts or foundations.Property Owning CompaniesOwning property in an offshore investment company saves you the funds gains taxes that may be levied at the occasion of the property’s deal, which are avoided by selling the business instead of the property. Other significant benefits are the authorized prevention of inheritance and other transfer taxes.Mainly, in some countries, e.g. Islamic ones, inheritance is via Shariah regulation and not your determination. So an offshore possession will make sure that the assets owned outside the country need not be distributed according to Shariah Law.Asset Protection CompaniesIt is estimated that a professional in the US can be expected to be sued every 3 years! And that more than 90% of the worlds lawsuits are filed in the US.Amazing statistics!If you have an income or assets of more than US$ 100,000, you should seriously consider offshore investment companies!Most offshore jurisdictions require that for a lawsuit, a lawyer must be hired and paid up front before a suit can be filed, thus keeping frivolous lawsuits away. Often a substantial bank bond has to be placed by the government, to even implement a lawsuit. It can also (take years of waiting) to get into court in some offshore investment jurisdictions.If you have substantial liquid assets you should consider a Trust which would own the offshore company. This will provide a greater degree of protection, at the least expense.However, we should remember that this structure is for asset protection, not for tax savings and so that the focus should be maintained.Holding CompaniesOffshore investment companies can also be used to own and fund operating companies in different countries. They could also be joint venture partners or the ‘promoter’ of publicly quoted companies. Mauritius is well suited as a country for investing companies because of its favorable double tax treaties.Dot Com CompaniesThe internet has made the cost of business entry very low and consequently the legal protection of the company’s assets, both physical and intellectual, that much easier. Dot Com companies now use this flexibility to develop different software projects in different offshore investment companies to invite different investors and to keep the flexibility of raising funds separately for different projects depending on the project’s success. Both Mauritius and Seychelles have Protected Cell Company [PCC] structures available for just this kind of need.Then there is the possibility of receiving your funds earned on the web into an offshore company’s bank account. Would that be of interest to you?Employment CompaniesMultinational companies use offshore investment companies to employ expatriate staff who are deployed in different tax jurisdictions around the world. To facilitate transfers, reduce the employee’s taxes and administer benefits easily an offshore company employment is preferred. Working on assignments throughout the world.

Technology is the leader of the enterprising world. And it leads using a constitution. Unlike the traditional political structure, this constitution is Algorithms written by engineers, scientists, etc and not congressmen and politicians.The global competition is largely who has the best technical group to write the best one; in this case, Algorithms, that comprise of patents, technical processes, tools, and so on. As a nation develops, adopts, applies and diffuses appropriately the contents of this constitution, it elevates the lives of its citizens. The more innovation a nation pursues, the more it refines this constitution.Economists have shown a correlation between Knowledge Economy Index (KEI), productivity and standard of living. The challenge for any nation is to improve its KEI number. Doing that involves good education, economic regime and other variables that help to improve technology capability.The age of natural resources dominating global commerce and industry is gone. What matters now is creating knowledge and applying it. Some nations will create, others will merely consume. But wealth is concentrated at the creative stage and nations that focus on consuming, without creating technology will not prosper.Even with abundance of natural resources, which in many instances, the consuming nations cannot independently process without the knowledge partners will not change this trajectory of limited national wealth without technology creation.On this basis, I separate the two layers where nations use and compete with technology as upstream and downstream layers. It is like a two layer pyramid where the downstream is at the bottom with the upstream seated on top. What happens here is that some nations focus on the downstream layer while others combine both the downstream and upstream layers.The most advanced nations combine the two layers as they seek international competitiveness. They provide technology roadmap that looks at the future and have plans to take advantages that technology brings. They create and develop things and in the 21st century are classed as knowledge driven economies. In those nations, there is planning for continuity and technology succession.For the other nations, usually developing, they compete at the technology pyramid primarily at the downstream layer. They lack the know-how to create things and commercialize technology intellectual properties. The nations are not driven by technology, rather commodities. They are prone to trade shocks and are usually economically non-vibrant. They fail to create wealth using technology and participate in the pyramid as consumers or prosumers.Let me illustrate using Nigeria where they speak the language of petroleum. In the petroleum industry, there are the downstream and upstream sectors. While the upstream focuses on exploration of crude oil, downstream does the distribution and marketing.The money is in the upstream sector, a major reason we have the foreign partners concentrated therein. That is where the knowledge creation is done and utilized in the industry. I am cautious to say, without the knowledge partners in Nigeria, helping to explore this crude oil, Nigeria cannot mine this product. Verdict: the oil will be there and of no tangible economic use.This will follow a pattern where villages have water underneath them but no drilling expertise to harness the water for cooking and drinking. That is the problem of anchoring national strategy at the downstream level. It lacks inventiveness.In Africa and many developing countries where ICT has been embraced, they rarely know that there is more value than what ICT gives them. Sure ICT has helped many developing countries to improve their business processes, tools and people. They are so excited on the powers of quicker and faster communication. They savor the wonders of email, Internet and mobile phone and many more. These experiences are primarily on marketing, distributing and installation of these ICT systems. They rarely make them and can only play at the downstream layer.There economists point out repeatedly the innovations ICT has brought to the economies. I agree, ICT is wired for innovation in so many areas. Nonetheless, the good news is that there are more benefits up in the pyramid if you move up to the upstream layer. By not creating technology, our techno-economic benefits are limited and this will not change until we move up the pyramid.Though this point can be illustrated with any technology, I will use the ICT because it is common and familiar to people. I have already illustrated the point in the petroleum industry where many developing nations depend on petroleum refining technology of the developed countries to extract the oil. Even if they develop technologies for the distribution, the upstream idea will triumph. Nations make more money to license technologies at the upstream level compared to the downstream.Back to ICT, the upstream level will involve designing computing systems, cellphones, routers, device drivers, and all other infrastructures that enable ICT revolution. Instead of importing the latest cellphones, we will think how to design them. In 80% of the developing nations where mobile technology is used, less than 2% of the technologies are designed and manufactured there.Yes, there are businesses that distribute and sale these gadgets and make marginal profits. They can import a laptop from China at $500 and sell to their customers at $650. Because the barrier to entry is so weak, the margins are small. Everyone is selling and there are shops everyone. They are technology firms to their nations because they can load the software and configure the networks and get the laptop working.Compare that with giants like Intel and AMD that take a piece of sand (silica) and process it. At the end, that piece of sand of say a $1 can be sold for $3,000 because of the knowledge involved to transform the sand to a microprocessor. That is knowledge and the very best of human imagination and creativity. It is playing technology at the upstream level and that is where the value is.Nations win at the upstream level because the sale margins are so huge because the products are niche and in most cases innovative with few players internationally. It is not just the trade or margins. Upstream technology layer create good jobs, whether in developed or developing nations. Some of the best jobs in Africa are in the oil giants where upstream technology rules. You create enviable good jobs for the citizens. They have the money to spend and lift other areas of the economy. They hold jobs that bring honor and dignity and they use their brains to shape the world.You can make the same case for Pharmaceutical firms that mix elements, compounds, etc to create drugs. Some of the drugs are really expensive but the ingredients are cheap. People pay for the R&D invested in developing that drug. In developing nations, they focus on marketing and selling the drugs. As in petroleum, ICT, it is all about the downstream. Why the big Pharma can have margins of 1000%, these entities can barely command 6% margins.So in essence, in this century, there are opportunities for nations. For developing nations, if they continue to compete at the downstream layer of the pyramid, they will find it hard to move forward since competition is basically synonymous with technology. There is more risk, more knowledge requirement and more value at the upstream. And we need to get there.How do we do that? Our nations must have fundamental changes in our national policies on technical education or better Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). That is the answer. I believe in knowledge and education evolves it. It is about expansion of commitments on microelectronics, nanotechnology, biotechnology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, medicine, and so on and within a generation we can become players at the upstream level of technology pyramid. And reap that great value therein.

Whether it is business communication or personal communication, communication is all around us.But what is communication? Do we really know? Do we realize how important it is and how much of a factor it is in making our personal or business lives succeed or fail?Experts tell us that many of the inmates in prisons are there because of a lack of communication skills issues. We are also told that eighty percent of the workers in our nations are unhappy in their job because of this lack of skills issues as well.Here’s what communication is:”the act of transmitting. A giving or exchanging of information, signals, or messages by talk, gestures, writing, etc. To make known. To give information, messages. To have a systematic and meaningful relationship. A system for sending and receiving messages as by telephone, telegraph, radio, etc… A system as of routes for moving one place to another. The art of expressing ideas, esp. in speech and writing. The science of transmitting information, esp. in symbol.” (Websters New World Dictionary).Thus, communication is a system for sending and receiving messages.We send and receive messages all day long, in our personal and business lives. But, we don’t know how to do it properly and we mess up enough daily to affect the outcome of society.In business, so much of the results depends on our ability to communicate — people to people, department to department, sales to accounting, production to processes, marketing to finance, company to customers, etc.From my observations, in most cases, the biggest need for improvement in business is found in the following three areas — in that order:1. Organization2. Communication3. TrainingCommunication cannot be implemented on top of disorganization. Training cannot be implemented on top of non-communication. And, organization cannot be implemented without the effective communication of trained people.For years, we’ve seen seminars and training on this subject become more and more popular, yet we still want more of them. We especially want those that offer something new that will help us to improve our business communication.But we still have problems communicating. Why? It is because of the missing link. Then what is this missing link?The missing link is the “contextual part” of all communication.So, to pick up from our three critical need areas listed above, “contextual” communication is the bridge that connects and sustains organization, communication and training.What is the difference between communication and contextual communication? Communication is still communication but contextual communication is communication within the “context” as it is described here:Context: “the parts of a sentence, paragraph, discourse, etc. immediately next to or surrounding a specified word or passage and determining its exact meaning (to quote a remark out of context). The whole situation, background, or environment relevant to a particular event, personality, creation, etc. Contextual: of, depending on, or belonging to the context. (The New World Dictionary).The problem is that we communicate without an awareness of this “contextual” parts of our daily business communication as well as personal communication.So put these two descriptions of “communication and context” together and you have the recipe for better and improved business communication in the three critical areas of needs in business communication: organization, communication and training.

After you’ve eliminated your bad debt, you’ve started a retirement account, and you’ve saved an emergency fund. It’s now time to start the intermediate levels to Financial Freedom and on to Level IV – Investing!There are few things you need to think about determining how you are going to achieve this level. First, do you have the time and inclination to learn about investing? If yes, then you can consider the complex option to this level. If not, then you need to proceed straight to the simple option.For you to be able to take on the complex level, you’re going to need to read a few books, understand how to value an investment, and start to understand broad markets like the stock market and the commodities markets. You need to start understanding how inflation (or disinflation), commodity prices, interest rates and their direction, the growth in the economy and public policy affect the markets. So which option is best for you?Investing OptionsSimple OptionA first possibility is a simple option and it is to use the robo-advisor. A robo-advisor is a platform like Betterment, Wealthfront or Personal Capital that manages a portfolio for you of index funds based on an investment plan and a managed asset allocation. Using a platform like Betterment, in particular, allows you to set up goals with time horizons and an investment profile for each goal. You can set the duration of how long to reach the goal based on your risk profile and it will help create an investment plan for you. This makes the whole process automated, simple and manageable. The investment plan will outline your asset allocation for your portfolio and how much per month you need to contribute. This is a very good approach towards solid systematic goal-based investing.For example, you want to have a goal of buying a house in 3 years. You think you need $60,000 for a down payment and you have a moderate risk profile. How much do you need to contribute every month and what do you need to invest in to reach your goal? Betterment’s platform handles the entire process. Based on these assumptions and configurations, the platform recommends you save $1,500 per month towards this goal. As time goes on and you start generating returns, the estimate contribution to stay on the target may change, but you get the idea how this will help you manage to your goal.Complex OptionA more complex approach requires you to set up a brokerage account and learn much more about investing.If you’re going to pursue the complex option to investing, then you’re going to have to learn a some of the basics. One of the basics is about how to value an investment. Let’s start with stocks. Some of the basic fundamental indicators for how to value a stock includes PE ratio (Price / Earnings), PEG ratio (PE to Growth) Ratio, dividend yield and ROE (Return on Equity).Valuation Criteria for StocksLet’s take each of those ones by one. The PE ratio is the price to earnings ratio. This is generally how much you’re willing to pay per dollar of earnings. The average PE for a large cap company in the S&P 500 is 15. This means that most investors are willing to pay $15 in stock price for a dollar of earnings. The standard valuation model will change depending on the company sector and industry. For example. the high-growth tech sector may have an average PE of 25 while the low-growth utility sector may average a PE of 8. But, the general criteria to learn here is what is a good PE ratio that represents value and what PE ratio represents over-valuation.The next indicator is the PEG ratio, that is the price to earnings to growth ratio. This indicator measures price earnings to the company’s growth. In other words, this indicator is measuring how much an investor is willing to pay for growth. If a stock has a PE 15 and an average 15% per year of growth then the PEG ratio is 1.0. If the company has a PE ratio 30 and company has 15% annual growth, then the PEG ratio is 2.0. Generally speaking, a PEG ratio of 1.0 indicates a good investment opportunity, and a PEG ratio of 2.0 or higher indicates a time to sell a company’s stock. An investor wants to be mindful of how much they are willing to spend on a company relative to its growth. If you’re investing for growth, this is a key indicator to follow.The next indicator an investor wants to consider is the dividend yield of the company. This is the main indicator for the value sector of your portfolio; if you’re investing for value, this is an important indicator to follow. An investor would like to see a company have a dividend yield that is higher than the 10-year Treasury interest rate. So, for example, right now the 10-year Treasury is 2.3%. An investor would like to find companies that have a dividend yield higher than 2.3%. This will obviously adjust over time as inflation and interest rates change. This is indicator does not work well for evaluating growth-based in assets or investments held. But, it is something that should be considered within your overall investment strategy.When evaluating stock investment options, the final base indicator that should be considered when evaluating a stock investment is the ROE or a return on equity. The return on equity indicator demonstrates a companies’ ability to generate a return per invested dollar. Generally, companies with good brands that don’t need large capital expenditures can generate a good ROE. Companies with lower ROEs have less defensible business models. ROE is important because it shows a business’ efficiency in generating a return for shareholders.DiversificationThe next important factor to learn to become a good investor is diversification. I think it was Jim Cramer who said diversification is the only free lunch. Diversification allows an investor to manage and mitigate against various market changes. As an investor, you want different asset classes in your portfolio, which will all be affected differently against interest rate changes, inflation, economic growth and commodity price changes. One of the basic diversification calculation is a percentage of stocks and bonds in your portfolio. Generally, I would break it into owning most of the following 9 asset classes – US Stocks, Developed Market Stocks, Developing Market Stocks, Real Estate (REITs), Natural Resources (Timber & Oil), Gold, Corporate Bonds, US Govt Bonds and International Govt Bonds. Many go into other diversification like sector diversification or company size (large cap or small cap), but I think it’s more important to think about these larger asset classes. Based on your goal(s), time horizon and risk profile, you should think about diversifying your investment portfolio over these general asset classes. My favorite book on the subject is David Swensen’s, “Pioneering Portfolio Management”.ConclusionThere’s no way to cover all the details that are required in handling personal investment in one article, but I hope I’ve given you some ways to approach winning at Level IV. The goal is to set up a system of investment. All investment dollars should be tied to a goal and all goals should have a time horizon, risk profile which leads to an asset allocation. You can use a platform like Betterment to help manage to your goals, you can hire a professional, or if you have the time and inclination, you can start learning about investing.Most people start investing by learning how to invest in the public stock market. I agree with that, so I’ve outlined a few points to think about on how to value whether you’re getting a good deal on an investment and how you should broadly diversify your investments. Once you’ve built a system and reach one financial goal, you’ve won at Level IV – Winning at Financial Freedom.Happy hunting!

If you’re a tech marketer, you’re already aware of the particularly difficult challenges you face. Sure, all marketers have difficult challenges, but the ever-changing tech world introduces new complexity to the marketing mix. After all, the technology industry is growing and changing so fast that no one can possibly keep up. No one, of course, except for the tech marketer, who is not only charged with keeping up, but also staying one step ahead of the marketplace.LinkedIn recently published an article discussing some of the top challenges experienced by tech marketers today. Here are two of those challenges, along with actionable information you can use to start overcoming them now.Challenge #1: Identifying the decision maker?All marketers know how important it is to identify and understand the decision maker. Without this knowledge, it’s difficult to build a successful marketing strategy to win them over.The difficulty with tech marketing, though, is that the decision maker isn’t a single person. Instead, it’s now a cross-functional group comprised of IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, Finance and more.This complexity makes it all the more important to fully understand the needs, challenges and motivations of each group member and appeal to them directly.A recent LinkedIn study of groups that hold decision-making power over IT and technology purchases discovered that nurturing prospects with informative content is a vital part of the sales process. Why? Because members of these groups are typically not ready to talk to a sales rep until they have consumed at least five pieces of “relevant, unbranded, non-sales focused content”.Additionally, LinkedIn’s post highlights the importance of producing content for every role on this cross-functional buying committee… at every stage in the buying process. Because, as the post explains, the tech decision maker is a group, not an individual, marketers have a responsibility to reach out to and engage with every one of them. You never know who will make that first contact, who will lead the buying committee, or who will have the most influence over the other members.That’s why it’s critical to have a strategy for how to reach, engage and ultimately convert every member of the group at each stage in the buying process. It sounds like a lot of work, yes, but tech marketers have the opportunity to influence every member of the buying committee and begin to win them over through always-on education. What’s “always-on”? It’s content that provides valuable, educational information at every stage of the buying process – anytime the users may want it. When you consider that, according to the Content Marketing Institute, 63% of tech buyers are more likely to consider vendors that take an always-on approach, it’s worth the effort.Challenge #2: Creating Engaging ContentAccording to the Content Marketing Institute, 93% of tech marketers use content marketing. However, they also say that “creating engaging content” has been a top challenge for the last five years. What does this tells us? While tech marketers see value in content marketing, they also have limited time and resources, which keeps them from creating content that is as successful as it really could be.So how do you compete in the saturated tech marketplace? According to LinkedIn’s post, build a reliable toolbox. If you think about it, there are more content marketing tools and resources available today than ever before – many of which are free or very reasonably priced. Marketers have more options available now than ever before to design, create, write, build and develop on their own – free of any outside support. Just think about what has done for marketers!If you’re a tech marketer, you understand the pressure to stay ahead of the ridiculously fast-paced world of innovation. It’s our job to not only reach out to, but also engage some of the brightest, most forward-thinking minds in the industry. Thankfully, there are tools and resources to help make it possible.