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Recently, bad practices caused a client’s accounts receivable to get extended well past 90 days. In fact, the client had 20% of its receivables dated further back than 120 days. Company staff knew that much of that would prove to[...]

Having Your Identity Stolen by Family Hurts Worse Raphael’s Story Raphael was distraught and confused to learn that his son, Raphael Jr., had unknowingly and quite fraudulently signed his dad’s name to his own student loans several years back. Dad[...]

You Can Drive Business Growth Forward- or Backward Many businesses on the precipice of growth or those preparing to enter a new chapter are searching for ways to drive business growth, but can find themselves struggling to move into that[...]

Don't Underestimate the Benefits of Vacation Are you “too busy” to take a vacation? What if I told you that some of the benefits of vacation include better health and an improved bottom line? Would you take one then? Reducing[...]

Choking on the Words During Sensitive Family Business Every cat owner knows the sounds. The deep retching and heaving. The cough that sounds like your cat just may turn himself inside out to eliminate a fur ball. Next may come[...]

Are Wage Discrimination Claims Avoidable? An employer can be sued by an employee for all sorts of things. Specifically, wage discrimination claims is an area that every employer should understand because they are so easy to avoid. One example would[...]

Stock Market Volatility Circles Back Around Stock market volatility isn’t a new concept, especially for baby boomer women who have lived through some of the market’s most tumultuous times. However, with headlines proclaiming catastrophic losses and record point drops for[...]

How much is dinner out costing you? As we were heading out from a restaurant dinner party last week, my friend, Ann, leaned over and griped to me about the group decision to split the check evenly. While grumbling about how[...]

Someone once told me that, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” We have all seen how constructive feedback improves performance and helps employees to avoid mistakes. The challenge is getting actionable feedback to people early enough for them to use[...]

Wellness is a Daily Journey Your physical and financial well-being add up when you have good nutrition, proper rest and adequate exercise. In fact, study results conducted by researchers at Duke found that low credit scores could be used to[...]

How to Identify a Scam Email: Exhibit A My dad got an email a few days ago. It looked like this: From: John Maryline [mailto:john.maryline@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, February 16, 2018 1:21 PM Subject: Your ATM Cards Released.. Attention: This is[...]

The Needs vs. The WANTS I try very hard to be a minimalist. First, because I like to practice what I preach; and second, because leaving a colossal carbon footprint negates the simplicity I try to reflect in my lifestyle.[...]

So far in this column, we have talked primarily about fraud committed at arms’ length by salespersons or investment advisors. These sorts of sales fraud are but two of the many flavors in the Cold Stone display of frozen, delicious[...]

What do Real Estate Investments Cost- in Sheer Effort? Savvy investors make real estate part of a diversified portfolio to grow and preserve their wealth. The challenge with many real estate investments, however, is that they can require considerable work[...]

Private Company Board Strategies Create Advantage Strategy has been defined as the art of finding an unfair competitive advantage in the marketplace. It is implemented through defined objectives, strategies and tactics. Whether public or private, driving strategy is how boards[...]

Assessing Confidence Being someone who provides leadership assessments and 360° evaluations, I’m often fascinated by the results I see. A recent Confidence Assessment survey I came across speaks to the overconfidence certain people seem to possess more than others. This[...]

Who’s in Charge of What We’re Doing Online? Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is a little-known statutory provision that is far more powerful and important than most casual internet users realize. Section 230, as its commonly known, is[...]

Creating Healthy Soil Saves More than Plants When I first picked up Josh Tickell’s latest book, “Kiss the Ground,” last November, I thought it was going to be a book about regenerative agriculture. While it does cover this topic, the[...]

Marital Satisfaction + Baby You and your partner have likely been preparing for the arrival of your baby for months, if not years. You’ve rearranged the house, shifted your schedules, arranged for help and support, and you finally feel ready-and[...]

Learn How to Use Facebook Ads to Keep Up with the Pace Chances are if you’re reading this, you may be one of the 50 million businesses maintaining a Facebook page. Businesses in all shapes and sizes have a Facebook[...]

America’s Rich Soil Has Growth Potential Between 2009-2014 America’s farmland values grew rapidly, according to the USDA. In 2009, the value of an acre of farmland was $2000, and by 2014, the value of increased upward of $3000 per acre.[...]

You know that sickening feeling you get when you are happily driving along and a light on your dashboard pops up, indicating the need for some immediate repair? Or worse yet, when the lights that pop up are those of[...]

The Risks and Rewards of Chasing Your Dreams- Worth it? What is the risk of chasing your dream? There is a lot to unpack in this succinct question, so let’s take a moment to break it down: To answer the[...]

“Risky Business” is: A)  The title of a big Hollywood hit from the early 1980s that launched actor Tom Cruise to stardom and recorded a spectacular $63.5 million gross; B)  A description of what investing in movies may be faced[...]

The Federal Circuit just ruled that the “scandalous” clause of the Lanham Act is unconstitutional in view of the Supreme Court decision in Matal v. Tam. The Lanham Act is also known as the Trademark Act. Recapping The Slants’ Fight[...]

How Unemployment and Depression Affect Military Spouses Everyone knows that people get down in the dumps when they are out of work, but did you know the “out-of-work-blues” can become full-blown depression that often requires medication to resolve? Unemployment and[...]

The tax prep season perennially stirs financial advisors to reach out to their retirement-minded clients to review asset allocation strategies. There are several 2018 IRA alerts and reminders that may make this tax season a little smoother for everyone. 2018[...]

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) works for (and against) everyone If you have not had the good fortune to litigate a fraud claim in federal court, you might not be aware of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b), which[...]

Whether a company is public or private, the mission of its board of directors is to provide leadership in four key issues: strategy, capital structure, succession planning, and risk management. While regulators will enforce matters at public companies, outside directors[...]

From natural disaster after natural disaster, to terrorist act after terrorist act, there are a lot of things going down in the world right now. The Survivalism Industry (did you know that was even a “thing?”) has even started to[...]

The Complexity of Real Estate Partnerships Owning investment real estate can be a complicated undertaking. Add in real estate partnerships and the complexity only increases. However, real estate can be a valuable part of your investment portfolio. It provides asset[...]

Vanessa and David were swimming in financial debt. They bought real estate at the height of the market and were in over their heads. They owed credit card debt to numerous banks, had significant student loan debt, monthly daycare costs[...]

Invest in Your Health, and Wealth With the new year finally here, it is pretty much accepted as canon that weight loss resolutions must be made. That makes investing in weight loss companies a potentially lucrative resolution in and of[...]

Beauty Bias: The Ugly Truth Right or wrong, the reality is that when you put your best face forward, it positively impacts your bottom line. While being too pretty backfires and results in the “bimbo effect,” research shows that 84%[...]

You're at Risk if You're not Recording Your Assets From maintaining farmland to purchasing real estate investment properties to  owning jewelry to possessing all kinds of precious metals in general, or even delving into collecting wines and fine art and[...]

Who's at Fault? The Money Will Speak for Itself It’s really scary to be involved in a car accident. Having all your necessary car accident information ready to go before such an event occurs will help guide you and may[...]

Retiring Abroad May be Better When You're Older, Wiser- and Richer While in college, did you ever dream of spending a year abroad? You might have hoped to study Spanish in Mexico, or perhaps you wanted to master art and[...]

Consider Using Your Assets for Good if You Want to Feel Good About Giving Using your assets for good is part of the joy of having enough wealth to make a difference in the lives of others. For many people,[...]

If you were recently widowed, you are likely feeling a range of emotions and are overwhelmed by the prospect of managing things on your own. Advice for recent widows will range from person to person, but the tax, estate and[...]

Avoid Fees from Free Trial Offers By Avoiding "Free" Stuff Surely, you’ve been in this harrowing moment: You’ve got your cup of coffee, you’re going through your inbox, and your eyes dart to an email informing you that your account[...]

Venture Capital Unicorns are as Rare as Real Unicorns A unicorn is an imaginary horse-like creature with a large, pointed horn. Venture capital unicorns are companies still privately owned with valuations exceeding $1 billion. Valuation is based on share price[...]

Learn how to promote yourself effectively Sit at your desk, do a good job and before long, you’ll be noticed. Ah, what a nice idea that is. But don’t kid yourself. Grinding away without knowing how to promote yourself may[...]

Giving Charitable Donations is One Thing... Debby lives paycheck to paycheck, always struggling to make ends meet, although she does believe in giving charitable donations and helping others where she can. After a long day at work, on a windy,[...]

Getting Enough Sleep and Finances that Add Up Makes Good Sense Everyone has heard the term “beauty rest,” and it is common knowledge that sleep deprivation speeds up the aging process. But did you know that there is also a[...]

Curing America’s Obesity Epidemic May Look Different (and Younger?) than We Thought Several months ago, I had this strange encounter with my high school-aged daughter. It was a bit of an “aha” moment that sparked a lot of other ideas[...]

Is Investing in Comics Big Money, Big Fun- or Both? If you’ve ever thought that investing in comics is for the birds, you could be missing out. It’s well-known that diversifying your portfolio with hard, tangible assets is a sound[...]

Arthur Andersen. Enron. Bernie Madoff. Harvey Weinstein. Wells Fargo. Equifax. Again and again and again with these unscrupulous companies, their boards and their leaders, we hear the same questions repeated: 1) How did this happen? 2) How could nobody else[...]

If you ever watch Saturday morning cartoons, you may notice that every time a hero like Bugs Bunny gets stuck in a tight spot, there is always an “eject” button to catapult him safely out of danger. Not only is[...]

The Fundamental Rules of Living Frugally Living a life of fiscal responsibility sounds so boring. Delayed gratification and a lifestyle of responsible spending aren’t exactly the things people are celebrating on magazine covers or TMZ Live. Yet living frugally is[...]

Investing in Cryptocurrency If you haven’t heard about investing in cryptocurrency, chances are high you have heard about Bitcoin. Are you one of the many who have pondered allocating some investment dollars to this mysterious but revolutionary new currency? If[...]

Selling a Business – Planning Is Key There are several factors that determine if an owner is selling a business at the right time. The greatest challenge for many owners is creating a strategic plan based on the owner’s individual[...]

Many would-be investors don’t understand the basics of Investments 101. In a way, the process of spending a little money to make more money is a lot like magic: $100 goes into the top hat, and with a wave of[...]

Balancing Finances and Family: Good Intentions, Bad Behaviors After another 12-hour day at work, Julie was disgusted and dismayed when she walked into her kitchen to start pulling dinner together. As she approached the kitchen, she saw broken potato chips[...]

Puffery as a Legal Defense- a Family Affair On Oct. 4, 2017, the New Yorker, in collaboration with ProPublica and WNYC, reported that Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr. were subjects of an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office relating[...]

Best-selling smooth jazz musician Kenneth Gorelick, affectionately known by his stage name, Kenny G, doesn’t drink coffee, but he does own some. Are you buying it? Actually, you probably are. That’s because it’s not just ANY coffee business--it’s Starbucks. As[...]

Fresh Leads = New Client Potential According to a report published by the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), using a lead generation strategy is one of the top marketing approaches for 2017. Approximately 80% of B2B and 66% of B2C organizations[...]

Mainstream Alternative Investments Defy Tradition It wasn’t too long ago that investments in commodities, real estate or hedge funds were considered somewhat exotic. That may be all about to change if recent surveys prove correct. According to one paper, “Alternatives[...]

I Am Special. Are you? I know this to be true... Because a stranger who wants my money told me so Thought Leadership Opportunities aren't Opportunities I am special because people frequently seek me out to offer me thought leadership opportunities,[...]

Timeshares are one of those things people love to hate. Sort of like network marketing or President Trump. Lots of bad press, but enough positive aspects and flashy hype that people keep coming back wanting more. But are they really[...]

Venture capital investment opportunities have enabled many exciting endeavors for investors. Huge winners like Facebook, Amazon and Apple are great examples. But there are also well-known disappointments. Blue Apron and Snap are two recent startups that disappointed their late-stage venture[...]