For the last decade, it seems like we have been fighting this economic “war” with China. Manufacturing in North America was drying up and moving to places with cheaper labor and materials, such as Asia. The “made in China” label has a lot of stigma attached to it, as it’s associated with low quality, low price items with poor environmental and social attributes. However, as our economies continue to evolve, we need to start looking at China in a different way: not as a producer, but as a consumer. The size of the middle class has been rising dramatically in...
Many house hunters struggle to overlook design choices, wall colors and furniture layouts in previously-owned homes. Some despise the idea of living in another individual’s home. Others fear bacteria and germs from bathrooms and kitchens, no matter how much bleach is used to clean them. To avoid second-hand homeownership woes, many turn to new construction properties for fresh, sparkling abodes. Aside from being neutral and clean, new construction homes have further benefits – starting when buyers begin their searches to years after signing contracts. Consider the following four qualities unique to new construction homes for sale. Buyers are Active in...
An emergency may be unexpected, but it is not necessarily unforeseeable. If you’re not planning for life’s emergencies ahead of time, you may end up turning to short term loans as your only way to finance them. However, there are other ways to stash away emergency cash for when life hand’s you one of its little emergencies. Medical Expenses Health insurance is one way to plan for medical problems you can’t predict, but are due to happen. To plan even further to pay for co-pays and the deductible, you can also set up a flexible spending account with your company....
What an interesting week last week, now back to the grind of things. Today we received a question from a reader who asks, “Is it too late to get an MBA?” Let us define what the reader considers too late, they consider their mid 40’s too late to obtain the advanced degree. What is his dilemma? Mark is a mid level manager who strives to take that next step but all of the upper echilon have advanced degrees. Some organizations only recruit talent for upper level positions if they have an advanced degree, his organization is one of those. Mark...
